SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion


The new OP song for Horizons' Rayquaza Rising chapter, "Only One Story", by ZEROBASEONE.

Horizons keeps rocking it with its OP songs, and this one is no exception!

The new chapter is off to a good start so far, and I'm excited to see what's in store here. Seems they'll be in Kitakami starting next episode, so that'll be fun.
 
Horizons is doing the right thing again by having old Hisuian mons in Kitakami.

That was screaming to happen in the games, but we only got Basculegion (and tecnically Growilthe?) I know this is probably just Kleavor and they will make a big deal out of it being alive and everything, but it still fits so much better than in the Terrarium randomly.
 
DrrT said:
Horizons is doing the right thing again by having old Hisuian mons in Kitakami.

That was screaming to happen in the games, but we only got Basculegion (and tecnically Growilthe?) I know this is probably just Kleavor and they will make a big deal out of it being alive and everything, but it still fits so much better than in the Terrarium randomly.
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Reminds me of how the fossil Pokemon were treated. Initially they were only found via regeneration from fossils, but as time went on they eventually became available in the wild in a couple of games and their dex entries hinted at this being possible:

Kabuto Emerald dex entry: It is a Pokémon that has been regenerated from a fossil. However, in rare cases, living examples have been discovered. Kabuto have not changed for 300 million years.

Kabuto Ultra Sun dex entry: This Pokémon thrived 300 million years ago. It's said that living specimens can still be seen in a certain region—a rare sight.

Omanyte Sword dex entry: Because some Omanyte manage to escape after being restored or are released into the wild by people, this species is becoming a problem.

So while a lot of people assumed that the Hisuian forms are extinct in the present day, there's precedent for them being available in some small niche enclaves. Presumably the elements needed for the Hisuian forms to evolve (like Black Augurite or whatever else) are only found naturally in certain places.
 
FWIW what few instances of talk about Hisui pokemon we have:
-Basculin & Basculegoin have no special notes about being especially rare. Presumably they just changed migratory plans over the years
-Ursaluna just "used to be more common [in Perrin's homeland]". So it's still around we just arbitrarily don't have access to peat blocks.
-Kleavor lives around volcanic areas
-Qwilfish & Overqwil live in cold seas
-Growlithe/Arcanine have no special caveat given. Perrin just has two and comments they come in pairs. They seemed to have been around Kitakami at one point-they have statues for them like temple dogs- but not anymore but nothing indicates they're especially rare.

Wyrdeer seems to be the only one that has any asterisk to it since they doubled down on Stantler losing access to its greater powers. But even that is resolved by "wow suddenly there's been a come back" or "actually stantler here...." or what have you.

Presumably even GameFreak thought it'd be too limiting to have these things be fully extinct, so they're just around the world in various other environments, and only not around in modern day Sinnoh due to environmental factors (& even then, probably are around we jsut dont have access to them. gameplay contrivance born of "not thinking of these yet").
 
QuentinQuonce said:
For anyone without a Netflix account, PokemonTV are currently dropping the original series on their Youtube channel.

Watched the shipwreck episode the other day and remembered why it was always one of my favourites, absolute classic.
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i skimmed through a couple and mfw the free youtube releases of the pokemon cartoon seemingly have more accurate color grading and aspect ratio than the vast majority of db/dbz home releases
 
QuentinQuonce said:
For anyone without a Netflix account, PokemonTV are currently dropping the original series on their Youtube channel.

Watched the shipwreck episode the other day and remembered why it was always one of my favourites, absolute classic.
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So I've been watching a bunch of episodes lately as it's been literal years since I first watched the original series and I'm not even sure which ones I've seen or not. Some, like "Princess vs Princess" (where Jessie captures Lickitung) stand out to me in my memory but others, like "Riddle Me This" and "Volcanic Panic" (the Blaine two-parter), I'm not sure I ever actually saw back in the day.

The dub gets a fair amount of hate from fans but there's so much wit (particularly from Team Rocket) that goes over your head as a younger viewer, which I've appreciated this time around. And it's actually a lot more accurate to the games than you might think in terms of mechanics, moves, and adherence to types (even if characters constantly say "Rock-types are immune to Electric moves"... I know what they actually mean). So it's been fun and so much more convenient than using Netflix, whose selection of episodes annoyingly ends before the Pokemon League arc starts up.

Some reflections/takeaways:

  • Both then and now, the way in which Psychic-type Pokemon are portrayed as unbeatable is terrifying. Being telekinetically controlled and prevented from moving is scary enough, but the way in which Kadabra simply takes control of Pikachu's Thunderbolt and redirects it into a massive dragon that chases it as nothing short of nightmarish and far beyond what the games portray. Really, if they can control elemental forces, teleport out of the way of any incoming projectile, and psychically prevent any foe from even physically touching them, what can't they do? Even Haunter doesn't actually beat Kadabra - it just stops her from battling. It's no wonder that the first thing we see beat an Alakazam in the anime is... stronger psychic power. In the first movie, Alakazam is one of the Pokemon that fails to defeat Mewtwo when it's fighting for Giovanni, getting completely overwhelmed by Mewtwo's superior force.

  • Similarly, several fairly ordinary Pokemon species are depicted as impressively strong, like Blaine's Magmar. The way it dramatically emerges from the lava and the way it shrugs off Pikachu's Electric attacks portray it as monstrously powerful. Something I think anyone who's used one would find not to be the case. Magmar is impressively rare in Gen I... but it's not even close to being the Fire-type with the highest BST! Certainly overhyped...

  • Given how hard the series goes on "there's 150 Pokemon in the world" early on, it's funny that when Togepi shows up... none of the people the gang meet are ever that curious about it. Obviously there being 150 gets retconned fairly swiftly both as an in-universe attitude and as a marketing thing, but it's notable how few people ever say "hey, I've never seen that Pokemon before!" once Misty starts carrying it around. It'll be interesting to watch further and see how the Orange Islands arc develops this, as a fair few Johto Pokemon obviously start showing up by this point - I remember liking the OI arc of the anime a lot though again I don't remember the specific details of most of the episodes I watched particularly.

  • I'd completely forgotten Todd Snap's inclusion in the series, even though I remember "The Breeding Centre Secret" as an old favourite (sidenote, Butch and Cassidy are great). Strangely, the ending of "The Ultimate Test" has Ash and friends leave the examination centre and seemingly leaving Todd behind, but he's with them next episode as if nothing happened. What gives? ...oh, apparently the dub cut out an explanation that he got blasted off with Team Rocket, which explains why he found Meowth. Still weird.

  • Because Ash gets badges from Brock, Misty, Surge, Sabrina, Erika, and Koga by the 31st episode, there's 23 whole episodes between Koga and Blaine. Which means a LOT of the filler comes in that part of the show. This really drags out the pace of things considerably; I had not remembered Koga being quite so early. I'd also thought Charmander evolved much sooner than episode 40.

    This also implies a lot of the filler towns are supposedly somewhere between Fuchsia and Cinnabar, strangely. There's all manner of space to fit in little towns and settlements around Saffron, Celadon, Cerulean, Pewter, and Lavender but... not so much between Fuchsia and Cinnabar.

    1734952580560.png


    I know, I know, anime Kanto =/= game Kanto... but still, bizarre. They even somehow leave Cerulean and somehow entirely avoid Saffron entirely to find themselves in Vermilion.

  • Speaking of Charmander, it's funny how little time it spends as a Charmeleon. I've always bought into the idea that it evolved rapidly and didn't obey Ash because it's technically a traded Pokemon, but then even once he has all eight badges it still doesn't.

  • I always have in general, but I find the way gyms work in the anime fascinating. Bulbapedia's article on gym badges makes it sound as though there being other gyms is something no-one really talks about, but when Ash is struggling to defeat Blaine Brock openly tells him "just give up, there's lots of other gyms you can try".

    Relatedly, Ash gets a lot of flak for how often he gets badges easily, but no-one ever talks about how many gyms just straight-up try and cheat him. The entire "Showdown in Dark City" episode is about a group of trainers trying to become respectable and authorised to open a proper gym, yet the behaviour of many officially-licenced gyms is pretty terrible. Erika full-on refuses to let him enter her gym because she took a dislike to him; Misty's sisters initially refuse to battle him. The less said about Sabrina the better...
 
The first season was basically written before they realized Pokemon would become a huge hit/phenomenon worldwide, so they able to take more creative liberties back then. Takeshi Shudo was the original director of the early seasons, and he said he didn't care for the whole concept of Ash becoming a pokemon master or competing in a league. He flat out wanted Ash to give up being a trainer (which is probably why the Indigo league ended the way it did with Charizard refusing to obey and Ash losing to Richie), and many of the Gym leaders particularly Sabrina were completely different takes than the game version of the characters at the time. Erika, Blaine and Sabrina are definitely the most different than their game counterparts (not counting Misty/Brock themselves), and how mean spirited most of them were to trainers.

It's also pretty funny to notice how early on they gave up the idea of Ash capturing every pokemon when they realized it wasn't feasible to show Ash literally capture 150 pokemon on-screen. It's also why some pokemon get released so fast because they didn't know how to balance his team and wanted pokemon departures to be emotional. Also with only 150 pokemon, it's why average pokemon now like Magmar, Alakazam, Electabuzz and Scyther were considered so powerful back then, because the sample size was less and there were less fully evolved pokemon and only 5 legendaries at the time.

To a lesser extent I do like how Misty/Brock were kept relevant in Kanto, once you get to Johto the writers pretty much run out of things to do with them, so their characters get pretty stagnant. Ash also gradually improves as a trainer so he stops relying on them as much so that aspect of their characters gets dropped too. But taken in a bubble Season 1 through the Mewtwo movie is an iconic part of the anime, it's almost self-contained where you don't even have to watch anything after and feel the show is complete despite Ash losing the league.
 
QuentinQuonce said:
So I've been watching a bunch of episodes lately as it's been literal years since I first watched the original series and I'm not even sure which ones I've seen or not. Some, like "Princess vs Princess" (where Jessie captures Lickitung) stand out to me in my memory but others, like "Riddle Me This" and "Volcanic Panic" (the Blaine two-parter), I'm not sure I ever actually saw back in the day.

The dub gets a fair amount of hate from fans but there's so much wit (particularly from Team Rocket) that goes over your head as a younger viewer, which I've appreciated this time around. And it's actually a lot more accurate to the games than you might think in terms of mechanics, moves, and adherence to types (even if characters constantly say "Rock-types are immune to Electric moves"... I know what they actually mean). So it's been fun and so much more convenient than using Netflix, whose selection of episodes annoyingly ends before the Pokemon League arc starts up.

Some reflections/takeaways:

  • Both then and now, the way in which Psychic-type Pokemon are portrayed as unbeatable is terrifying. Being telekinetically controlled and prevented from moving is scary enough, but the way in which Kadabra simply takes control of Pikachu's Thunderbolt and redirects it into a massive dragon that chases it as nothing short of nightmarish and far beyond what the games portray. Really, if they can control elemental forces, teleport out of the way of any incoming projectile, and psychically prevent any foe from even physically touching them, what can't they do? Even Haunter doesn't actually beat Kadabra - it just stops her from battling. It's no wonder that the first thing we see beat an Alakazam in the anime is... stronger psychic power. In the first movie, Alakazam is one of the Pokemon that fails to defeat Mewtwo when it's fighting for Giovanni, getting completely overwhelmed by Mewtwo's superior force.

  • Similarly, several fairly ordinary Pokemon species are depicted as impressively strong, like Blaine's Magmar. The way it dramatically emerges from the lava and the way it shrugs off Pikachu's Electric attacks portray it as monstrously powerful. Something I think anyone who's used one would find not to be the case. Magmar is impressively rare in Gen I... but it's not even close to being the Fire-type with the highest BST! Certainly overhyped...

  • Given how hard the series goes on "there's 150 Pokemon in the world" early on, it's funny that when Togepi shows up... none of the people the gang meet are ever that curious about it. Obviously there being 150 gets retconned fairly swiftly both as an in-universe attitude and as a marketing thing, but it's notable how few people ever say "hey, I've never seen that Pokemon before!" once Misty starts carrying it around. It'll be interesting to watch further and see how the Orange Islands arc develops this, as a fair few Johto Pokemon obviously start showing up by this point - I remember liking the OI arc of the anime a lot though again I don't remember the specific details of most of the episodes I watched particularly.

  • I'd completely forgotten Todd Snap's inclusion in the series, even though I remember "The Breeding Centre Secret" as an old favourite (sidenote, Butch and Cassidy are great). Strangely, the ending of "The Ultimate Test" has Ash and friends leave the examination centre and seemingly leaving Todd behind, but he's with them next episode as if nothing happened. What gives? ...oh, apparently the dub cut out an explanation that he got blasted off with Team Rocket, which explains why he found Meowth. Still weird.

  • Because Ash gets badges from Brock, Misty, Surge, Sabrina, Erika, and Koga by the 31st episode, there's 23 whole episodes between Koga and Blaine. Which means a LOT of the filler comes in that part of the show. This really drags out the pace of things considerably; I had not remembered Koga being quite so early. I'd also thought Charmander evolved much sooner than episode 40.

    This also implies a lot of the filler towns are supposedly somewhere between Fuchsia and Cinnabar, strangely. There's all manner of space to fit in little towns and settlements around Saffron, Celadon, Cerulean, Pewter, and Lavender but... not so much between Fuchsia and Cinnabar.

    View attachment 697853

    I know, I know, anime Kanto =/= game Kanto... but still, bizarre. They even somehow leave Cerulean and somehow entirely avoid Saffron entirely to find themselves in Vermilion.

  • Speaking of Charmander, it's funny how little time it spends as a Charmeleon. I've always bought into the idea that it evolved rapidly and didn't obey Ash because it's technically a traded Pokemon, but then even once he has all eight badges it still doesn't.

  • I always have in general, but I find the way gyms work in the anime fascinating. Bulbapedia's article on gym badges makes it sound as though there being other gyms is something no-one really talks about, but when Ash is struggling to defeat Blaine Brock openly tells him "just give up, there's lots of other gyms you can try".

    Relatedly, Ash gets a lot of flak for how often he gets badges easily, but no-one ever talks about how many gyms just straight-up try and cheat him. The entire "Showdown in Dark City" episode is about a group of trainers trying to become respectable and authorised to open a proper gym, yet the behaviour of many officially-licenced gyms is pretty terrible. Erika full-on refuses to let him enter her gym because she took a dislike to him; Misty's sisters initially refuse to battle him. The less said about Sabrina the better...
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Been watching some more and we're finally at the Pokemon League, hooray! Trying not to rush through all the episodes since they only drop every other day.

Some more reflections:

  • I used to think Ash was an outlier for hardly ever evolving any of his team but one of the amusing effects of having a smaller roster (compared to the present day) is that you see a lot more trainers with NFE Pokemon than is typical in modern Pokemon media. As a random example, in the first episode of Journeys we see a bunch of trainers get involved in the Lugia raid battle and they use Wartortle, Jolteon, Gengar, Corviknight, Sudowoodo, Sableye, and Bisharp (at that point a fully-evolved species); I feel like if that scene had happened in the original series they'd be using Nidoran-F, Spearow, Growlithe, Haunter, Rhyhorn, and Gloom.

    But yeah it's really funny seeing random walk-on characters saying "we're training hard for the Pokemon League!" and their team is, like, Venonat and Pidgey. Like oh you kids, I've got to admire your optimism. That said, when Ash gets to the Pokemon League he actually does face a bunch of unevolved Pokemon, so...

    This has the knock-on effect of making characters like Gary, who use fully-evolved species like Arcanine and Nidoking, actually seem genuinely outstanding and I completely get why he's supposed to be this incredible prodigy.

  • Speaking of evolution, am I crazy or do a disproportionate amount of Pokemon we meet in the anime have an antipathy or outright dislike for their evolutionary relatives? Pikachu doesn't want to become a Raichu, Bulbasaur refuses to join in the evolution ceremony, Squirtle's terrified of Blastoise, Meowth loathes Persian. Lt Surge's Raichu even seems to find its unevolved self contemptible. It makes for an interesting parallel to the idea of a child hating the thought of growing up (which may well have been the actual intention). Pretty sure of all Ash's Pokemon, Caterpie was the only one who actually actively wanted to evolve; for all the others which did it was basically a happy accident. I know why most of those Pokemon don't evolve for meta reasons but it's funny they made it into an actual thing.

  • So after me previously wildly speculating over the way gyms work... what's up with the Elite Four in the anime? In the episode where they meet Bruno, Brock gushes that he's one of the Elite Four but what this is and why it's important is never made remotely clear. Are they a formal group in any sense or just four champion trainers? Does it work the same way later regions indicate it does where the winner of the Pokemon League gets to challenge them all? Agh, endless speculation.

  • Never watched The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémopolis back in the day. What a fun episode full of interesting ideas, striking imagery, and evocative lore that never went anywhere or got any sort of followup.

  • Alright, hot take time - Brock should have gotten Charmander*. Obviously Ash getting all three starters was something that varied according to region but I feel like Kanto had it going on in spirit - Misty obviously fits Squirtle as a Water trainer, but Charmander always seemed more suited to Brock. In Charmander's debut episode, Ash tells Brock he should get it for being the one to look after it and... yeah, makes sense. Brock was so passionately concerned for its welfare and did the most of the three to ensure it survived. There's just lots of little moments where it feels to me like Brock and Charmander connected in ways Ash and Charmander didn't - perhaps I'm reading too much into it but it's funny that in Island of the Giant Pokemon Charmander calls for Brock, and Brock calls for Charmander (the same is true of Misty and Squirtle)


*I thought this was a hot take but then I googled it and apparently it's not, but I've never actually heard this opinion from anyone
 
QuentinQuonce said:
Speaking of evolution, am I crazy or do a disproportionate amount of Pokemon we meet in the anime have an antipathy or outright dislike for their evolutionary relatives? Pikachu doesn't want to become a Raichu, Bulbasaur refuses to join in the evolution ceremony, Squirtle's terrified of Blastoise, Meowth loathes Persian. Lt Surge's Raichu even seems to find its unevolved self contemptible. It makes for an interesting parallel to the idea of a child hating the thought of growing up (which may well have been the actual intention). Pretty sure of all Ash's Pokemon, Caterpie was the only one who actually actively wanted to evolve; for all the others which did it was basically a happy accident. I know why most of those Pokemon don't evolve for meta reasons but it's funny they made it into an actual thing.
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just as humankind, so too do the beasts fear change. much to consider here
 
If the new Lucario is supposed to be a tie in of sorts with the random shiny one we got in SV, damn Horizons really is always late with their tie ins.

If it isn't, I guess someone at TPCi really must like shiny Lucario. Either way, I wonder who is its trainer.

edit: seeing the trailer again, it's probably Roy I guess? Fits the skintone, I doubt Friede would not be using Mega Charizard. It's just that...him randomly getting a Lucario now is so well, random. Feels like yet another of those mandate impositions to make the anime more like the games after it managed to be its whole thing and doing pretty good at it. Say what you want about Gibeon having Zygarde, but it doesn't feel like it's out of nowhere. Why not have him get a shiny Riolu way earlier?

Speaking of Zygarde, it's interesting they are already facing it...and struggling with 50% form. Well, I guess they still need to evolve their starters again, but still.
 
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Alright, just watched all four episodes of Pokemon Concierge. It was a nice series (or I guess now I should be saying the first season), obviously the most notable thing about it is the stop motion animation which was a charming visual style. Infact, I think "charming" is in general the way I'd describe the season.

Haru is a nice and I'd even say relatable character, having a rough string of events (from minor things like gum on her shoes and bad curry to major like her longtime boyfriend breaking up with and losing out on a project at her previous job) and does what many of us wish we can do: get away from it all by working at a tropical island resort. Despite being given a bad hand (and having a good heaping of stress & anxiety), she not only tries to keep a chipper attitude but wants to prove herself through her work. Luckily her new employee and the other staff are there to help her to ease up as she learns how to take care of the needs of the Pokemon and trainer guests. If this season was the only season I'd say that we would have left Haru on a good note, though I'm glad they are making a second season to further see Haru's development (I would say next season should focus on her gaining more confidence in herself).

Psyduck was a good partner for Haru, it's problems being something somewhat relatable to Haru thus for both of them to work through. It pretty much gets wrapped up by the end of the second episode and for the third and fourth Psyduck is mostly there for comic relief or accidentally using its psychic powers to cause some conflict. Though Psyduck does have additional depth, it trying its best to help Haru and going along with her plans even though it looks to be in over its head. I'd even argue that Haru's Psyduck is a better representation of Psyduck than Misty's Psyduck. That said I'm not sure if there's any development Psyduck could have during the next season, if anything I'd say next season have Haru gain another Pokemon partner which relates to her development while Psyduck continues providing support, comic relief, and causing shenanigans with its psychic powers.

I guess that just leaves the rest of the staff. Watanabe is the nice and kind boss of the Pokemon Resort and she's fine, I like her; she's the boss everyone wishes they have. While certainly in charge she's caring for her staff and guests, has that "mentor sense" (such as knowing when to leave a task to Haru), and has some quirks of her own.
Tyler says he's the custodian though he more feels just like a general handyman, cooking and moving around supplies. He's very laidback, surfer himbo energy, though he is reliable and just wants everyone to be having a good time. Of course that's humorously foiled by his partner Pokemon, the Elemental Monkeys, who tend to instigate things more than help (at least Pansage and Panpour).
Finally there's Alisa (yes, counting Haru there's only four staff, actually three full-time because Alisa says she's part-time). She's the more serious one though not in a bossy way, more of an "experienced older sibling" way though she tells Haru to think of her as they're the same rank (I'm also not sure of Alisa's age, she's short so looks young but is an adult; not sure if she's meant to be older, younger, or around the same age as Haru). Also not sure what she does, she looks to be in charge or activities though does clean-up work along with Haru. Her partner is Mudkip though it's only major contribution is spraying water and standing around hinting to Haru that Alisa is nearby. She also seems to be the one who handles the resort's Dragonite who gives rides.
Don't think there's really any of the Pokemon staff who stand out in this season, infact I'm not completely sure on if some are workers of just guests. Ones I know are workers (that I haven't mentioned yet) are Bulbasaur and Lampent; there also Wild Pokemon who call the resort home such as the Woopers. Otherwise its a toss-up, I guess with season 2 cycling out the guests we'll have a clearer picture.
And hopefully in season 2 maybe have the staff, both humans and Pokemon, have more of an active role to see more of their character.

Anyway, as I usually do, I went through all the episodes a second time and wrote down some quips and observations... mostly quips.
EPISODE 1:
0:33: So would you categorize all that as a #millennialproblems or #genzproblems?
1:18: Shouldn't it be a Comfey giving leis? :Bulbasaur:: "Yeah but I'm more marketable."
1:59: :lampent:: "This way to your room, you must be tired from your life force draining... I mean the boat ride."
2:22: I don't know, I feel a Metagross's ideal vacation spot would be someplace like Mt. Coronet or Chargestone Cave (maybe an abandoned factory).
2:49: They just have this scene to show off they went out of their way to include gender differences.
3:15: :furret:: "I wasn't running next to the pool, I was running after my lunch."
4:42: They're the Elemental Monkeys and they're not allowed to appear anywhere unless all three are present.
5:02: That's not how you exercise, this is how.
5:16: And this is why the Elemental Monkeys ranked at the bottom of favorite Pokemon.
6:09: Poops.
6:35: Remember when Dragonite was considered a super powerful Pokemon only highly skilled trainers could control? Actually could say the same thing about Metagross...
7:00: Water Gun to face.
7:10: We also call it the May Special.
7:45: Haru went from thinking Alisa was going to scold her to kill her in 3 seconds.
8:20: I would hope they would feed their workers and guests.
9:40: Asleep? I thought massages were supposed to increase a Pokemon's Friendship.
10:17: Note Pansear is the only one actually helping here, should've ranked higher.
10:52: Was that candy? She just took them like they were some kind of caffeine shot.
12:06: Watanabe is just asking how your day was yesterday, geez Haru.
13:21: A neat detail with Tyler and Alisa is that they also are wearing these handkerchiefs. Tyler's is tucked into his pants (can be seen at 5:08) and I think Alisa is using her's as a headband.

EPISODE 2:
0:15: How does a 105kg Graveler overhead pick-up a 550kg Metagross?
0:30: :rattata:: "Chase? It's trying to eat me!"
1:03: Trying to get a signal on a tropical island, haven't seen that trope done a thousand times, no siree.
2:49: Why did you give Pikachu a snout?
3:20: Alisa, what Psyduck do you know with red cheeks and two black-tipped ears?
3:37: And here I thought it would be Fearow who didn't like Pikachu.
3:46: Wait why wouldn't it be able to fly in the city? Buildings only go so high.
4:56: Misty is laughing her shorts off. "Oh you poor sweet Summer child".
6:07: Just make a Regional Form that's part Psychic-type already, GF; You can even get rid of its Water-typing.
6:40: :Diglett:: "I have caused chaos and destruction. A job well done. Out."
7:22: :Diglett:: "Did someone say there's a cart that needs obstructing?"
7:40: GO AROUND THE ROCK.
8:38: :Mudkip:: "Silly human, I want to knock the flowers over! Speaking of which, here's a faceful!"
9:05: Tyler's head explodes.
9:10: OH GEEZ, I was joking about the explosion!
9:15: Tyler, if Haru didn't put the fruit in front of Psyduck that was going to be your head.
9:26: :Metagross:: "Pfft, amateur. Well waste not, want not" *Opens mouth wide open underneath guy*
9:55: Well gotta give this to Haru, she was able to better train her Psyduck than Misty, and all within a day.
10:37: Wait, you didn't tell us which Pokemon was the red and purple.
10:44: You must be your dentist's favorite customer.

EPISODE 3:
0:22: But what Pokemon is the pink color candy going to be now?
1:12: :Psyduck:: "I'm all for staying in bed at the current moment..."
1:35: I think you're making Psyduck's brain vibrate.
1:48: Alisa, it's okay, you can come down, you don't need to liek Mudkipz!!1!
2:10: :Graveler:: "Who cares, he travelled one final season with the World Champion and didn't bother swapping me into his party, I bet no one even knew I evolved after the Sun & Moon seasons."
3:20: Be careful what you wish for, nowadays you'll probably be given a "playground rumor"-like evolution method.
3:42: Hey, don't knock basic office skills, you'd be surprised how many high-positioned, computer-illiterate people there are.
3:48: Let's not conflate "able to float thanks to waterproof feathers" with "swimming".
4:03: Haru, let's be honest, you're lucky that you have two Magikarp that can swim.
4:33: Judgemental much?
4:38: And now I think that makes Pansear the only Elemental Monkey not to have caused mischief (infact it was the only one that ever helped).
4:42: Well could have been worse, could have been a hungry Pidgeot like in New Pokemon Snap.
4:59: Oh my Arceus, that's actually so sad, the Magikarp has tears in its eyes!
5:09: You can put it back into the water, just because it sinks doesn't mean it can't breath (at least according to Pokemon logic).
5:29: :Psyduck:: "NO! Just because I'm a duck doesn't mean I should fly!"
5:47: :Wingull:: "Mine. Mine. Mine."
6:18: Dragonite can fly as fast as a jet plane, it couldn't catch up to the floatie before it hit the ground?
6:28: :Diglett:: "Hey folks, remember me? It's chaos and destruction time again."
6:43: That wasn't the floatie bursting, that was Dedenne's bones crushing.
7:07: :Lampent:: "No problem, I made it with the souls of the Concierge's before you."
7:15: And what is the Concierge supposed to do about that? Provide the wild Pokemon with a meal? Is that how Lampent got all those souls?
7:27: I would think by now Tyler would have fetched Magikarp a new floatie.
7:38: Deflating, but here's a hint: DON'T PUT SAFETY PINS IN IT! That kind of works against patching it.
7:47: :Psyduck:: "Actually I tried scavenging for food. Humans eat sea shells, flowers, and other things even we Pokemon don't eat, correct?"
8:00: Your ex-boyfriend never got you a bouquet, did he?
8:09: CAN'T SWIM MY @$$!
9:00: Hours later at one end of the island everyone hear's loud roars, blasts, and the death screams of many Wingulls.
9:15: Considering what the Pokedex says happens to Magikarp's mind upon evolving I don't think Gyarados is a good example for that metaphor.
9:49: I'm going to assume Alisa mean Haru is good at arts & crafts cause "fake it till you make it" I wouldn't consider a talent to congratulate someone on.
10:00: Meanwhile I think the sea shell said something very mean to Psyduck with how it looks at it after listening to it.

EPISODE 4:
0:22: So are those implied to be drawings Haru made? Cause those Pikachu look great while the one she draws at the end of the episode looks like a kid's drawing.
0:30: Incase you thought Pikachu wouldn't get more than a drawn cameo. :pikachu:: "Remember who's the star of this franchise!"
0:47: Okay so that's at least one female Pikachu, I could have sworn all previous shots had only male Pikachu.
1:51: More marketable.
3:24: Breaks leg-, er, feet.
5:22: Would have been funnier if Pikachu liked the spicy food (could have hinted at it being a Lonely Nature).
6:10: Meanwhile I'm going to guess Watanabe's Nature is Brave.
6:23: Well let's see, we don't see it electrocute anyone or one of those scooters, so yeah it does seem kind of defective.
6:58: You could probably just plug the end of Pikachu's tail in the charging slot for a second or two, that should give it enough power long enough to take a picture.
7:49: How come Houndour's was "just afraid"? Would be ironic for it to be skittish of sudden noises since they're known for barking and howling in the Dex.
8:58: :Psyduck:: "What makes you think anything I do is on purpose or planned?"
11:33: Not sure why Haru says it was Psyduck's doing. It was a team effort, Haru and Psyduck were kind and understanding to Pikachu while Haru explained to Nao that Pikachu may be different but that's okay. Or I'd also understand a "Pikachu had it in it all along".
13:00: Did the Wailord call? Or did Wailord's trainer just send it all on its own... is its trainer in its mouth?
 
So...there are Horizons leaks, apparently from CoroCoro? (that really takes me back) Not sure if discussing them here would be alright, but we should know for sure if they are true by Friday. If they are going to be officialy revealed this soon it may be pointless to warn people anyways, but just in case.

For what is worth they do sound pretty good and they fit with the Mega Lucario shown at the last trailer.

- timeskip with the trio now being 16/17 (internet please do not get weird with this, age of consent does not work like that)
- Roy has the shiny Mega Lucario from the trailer
- new character that is a rival to Roy and has Mega Sableye
-Liko now has Meowscarada

A bit torn, because as awesome as all of it sounds (and I'm happy they are willing to experiment) it also means that the Horizons trio will be indeed be dropped by the time of Gen 10. But the show is so much better than most of Ash's that they really deserved to stay around for more. I mean come on, this sounds like it will be completely unrelated to Terapagos and Laqua which were what the entire show was built on, surely you can do that multiple times.

The timeskip also does solve my previous problem with Roy getting Lucario out of nowhere.
Also I know it's probably a nightmare to animate but I want my boy Skeledirge soon, please.
 
DrrT said:
So...there are Horizons leaks, apparently from CoroCoro? (that really takes me back) Not sure if discussing them here would be alright, but we should know for sure if they are true by Friday. If they are going to be officialy revealed this soon it may be pointless to warn people anyways, but just in case.

For what is worth they do sound pretty good and they fit with the Mega Lucario shown at the last trailer.

- timeskip with the trio now being 16/17 (internet please do not get weird with this, age of consent does not work like that)
- Roy has the shiny Mega Lucario from the trailer
- new character that is a rival to Roy and has Mega Sableye
-Liko now has Meowscarada

A bit torn, because as awesome as all of it sounds (and I'm happy they are willing to experiment) it also means that the Horizons trio will be indeed be dropped by the time of Gen 10. But the show is so much better than most of Ash's that they really deserved to stay around for more. I mean come on, this sounds like it will be completely unrelated to Terapagos and Laqua which were what the entire show was built on, surely you can do that multiple times.

The timeskip also does solve my previous problem with Roy getting Lucario out of nowhere.
Also I know it's probably a nightmare to animate but I want my boy Skeledirge soon, please.
Click to expand...
Lmao Ash is NEVER going to live this down, Liko and co. aged more in one series than he did in a quarter century

All jokes aside I wonder if this timeskip will coincide with a tonal shift. No blood and guts, of course not, but maybe a move towards a tad heavier and more mature themes kinda like what Steven Universe and Adventure Time did in their later seasons. Growing with the audience and all that. There's actually something you didn't mention that might point to this: Supposedly Roy will be taking possession of Captain Pikachu which if correct does not bode well for Friede
 
Yung Dramps said:
Lmao Ash is NEVER going to live this down, Liko and co. aged more in one series than he did in a quarter century

All jokes aside I wonder if this timeskip will coincide with a tonal shift. No blood and guts, of course not, but maybe a move towards a tad heavier and more mature themes kinda like what Steven Universe and Adventure Time did in their later seasons. Growing with the audience and all that. There's actually something you didn't mention that might point to this: Supposedly Roy will be taking possession of Captain Pikachu which if correct does not bode well for Friede
Click to expand...
I would love that as a huge AT fan, but I'm not really expecting it from Pokemon, it sounds more to me like they are just using it as an excue to start a new arc now that the main objective is complete, and to have the trio be more experienced without needing another training arc. Then again Horizons has surprised me before, and maybe they do want to fit Teras and Megas like in Champions instead of only Mega focus.

I didn't mention Cap cause there are apparently conflicting issues about if it's actually happening or if it's just that it appears without Friede in CoroCoro which has happened before. We know from the Teraleak it isn't a crazy idea tho, and if they still want to go with the "rouge" Friede idea this timeskip may be their only real chance to do so. I would actually welcome it with a tonal shift, my issue with it previously is that it would have been too abrupt so yeah...

As a sidenote I wonder what they plan to do with Rayquaza and Zygarde. Learning they were actually not Z-A tie-ins is fascinating because of the timing. I would expect the later to at least show up in Complete form at some point, and there is no way they would not use a black Mega Rayquaza...but really their arcs are pretty much closed with the current arc. Yet, there is no way they won't show up to promote Megas.

Horizons is kind of fascinating about how it's being shapen because of the writers doing their own thing too much, which I love but fear that won't ever happen again if GF is not happy about it.
 
If they didn't want Horizons to be doing its own thing, they would have stepped in significantly sooner. I think TPC likes having the anime do its own thing and probably encouraged it as something different to go alongside their other properties. Horizons was an opportunity to keep things fresh and it has seemingly succeeded.


I mean hell, even when the animes were "following the games" they deviated pretty hard. XYZ's climax is entirely different, SM was almost a slice of life anime that only occasionally touched on the game's plot and-when it did- often did its own twists, exclusions and changes on them and Journeys barely did anything with Galar because it was a world-hopping show. If anything Horizons is arguably a logical continuation of their experimentation with what they can do with Pokemon as an anime.
 
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