Crazy Feels! This is a Pokémon Contest, Dearie!! - Pokémon Horizons Episode 147 Review - Hit the Feels, Dearie

I do wonder why people make wild assumptions before an episode even airs. No; Dawn, Serena, May and even Chloe were not going to show up in this episode of Pokémon Horizons. Why did you think they actually would? I do get the mild frustrations of Liko not using the other Pokémon in her roster like Armarouge and Hatterene, but now that this episode has aired, it makes sense why she wouldn’t, since Liko wanted to replicate a cool shot combination move they accidentally created.

Anyways, this was a cute episode and a rare Liko-focused one at that. I feel like it’s been a while since Liko was in the spotlight. Though, the spotlight was sort of forced onto her here, since she was the representative as she won the rock-paper-scissors game. It was interesting to see her anxious, and also struggling with Contest performances since she’s more of a battler than a performer. It was rare to see her frustrated and annoyed, which I welcome since it’s a normal human feeling; it also gives Liko more nuance to her in a way. I also like that Navi also shares some of the spotlight since she’s a fan of the Contest Judge Yuzuko, and even mimics her speech pattern.

I think this episode is also a rare case where Meowscarada is mostly playful, and not overprotective and jealous. She’s mostly goofing off in this episode alongside her best friend Ditto. It’s to the point that she even caused Liko to get disqualified because she wanted her bestie to be a part of the performance, not realizing that Ditto wasn’t registered. It’s honestly nice to see her friendship with the blob, since she was so wary of it when she first met it a few episodes ago.

It seems that Contests in the Horizons universe have evolved to the point that they’re mostly spectacles and not the familiar two-round formats we’re familiar with. The game features like Coolness, Beauty, and Cuteness were mentioned, and the Contest Hall theme from the Hoenn games was also used in this episode. I think Journeys had established that Contest Spectaculars and Contests are different types of Contests. So, I’m guessing that the Contest Liko partook in is more of the Spectacular type and not the regular format; I assume there are sub-branches of Contests in the anime universe, but all get labeled as Contests. Anyways, I do wonder why people think Contests are for girls when there have been male participants in past series, and even in this episode.

By the way, if you noticed, the kids used the word “emo” a lot. That's not the English word being used as a loanword, but rather a Japanese slang term that basically translates to feels. It’s derived from another Japanese slang term, “emoi”, which means emotional. The Pokémon anime doesn’t normally use a lot of slang in their character dialogue, so it’s kind of rare that Liko and the gang are behaving like real kids and using this kind of slang. I do like that Ult was the only one who’s not really getting the slang, since he’s not really tech-savvy or much of a hip kind of kid. The “zamasu” or “dearie” meanwhile was more old style, which is why Dot tends to quip about Navi using that sort of outdated language since they live in the modern era.

Another trivia before I end this review: the Pikachu idol group featured in this episode is from the idol group CUTIE STREET, who perform CUTIE SPHERE, the ending song of the Wonder Voyage arc! I think it was a nice way to incorporate a cameo—all members voice a Pikachu that’s their representative color! Yuzuko was voiced by Yukako Kiuchi, who voiced the Liko cosplayer back in Episode 138. The announcer was also the same one from the Pokémon UNITE promotional episode, so it’s nice to see him be a recurring character. Let me know what you thought of the episode!