Review HZ090-91: Once More, To the Skies, Parts 1-2

What a comeback with one hour special of both episode. It seems the reunion of Liko and Roy stirr up many student of raising question of suspecting them as Rising Volt Tacklers and ultimately accept it. The ironic, that I'll write about piling up L for Liko. It occur again. Look like Liko haven't changes as she is not the one that love to battle a lot. What a shame.

Overall rating : B+
 
Not a bad way to kick off this timeskip arc although I think the first episode was slightly better than the second (especially in the animation department which was really stiff). It's very exciting that we're really plunging into something like this that the anime's never done before and yet there's also a real sense of emotion too what with coming off of the cliffhanger from the last arc.

Can't blame Liko for really feeling down in the dumps after not only losing Friede but the fact that the Rising Volt Tacklers are now being framed as villains for what they've done in Laqua whilst Spinel is gloriously sitting at the top and revelling at the fact he's now leader of the Explorers. Nice to see Anne getting some more time in the spotlight too since she only tends to appear every so often.

These two episodes however really were Roy's big moment of the hour since he not only gets some really great moments and character interactions but also gets two battles for the price of one and wins both of them so I guess that'll make his fans happy.

Not sure what to make of Uruto as of now. He could be a fun character or he could be annoying so we'll see where things go for him.

Also shiny Lucario already doesn't look too great but its Mega Evolution makes the yellow colors look even sicklier and pale, eeugh.
 
Really great start to the newest arc. I liked seeing how the characters have progressed since the 1 year gap. I love how much spotlight Roy got and it's interesting to see how he's grown. His dynamics with Ult are hilarious. It's funny how Roy used to be the energetic one of the crew, but now Ult is the wacky one, while Roy seems annoyed by his over the top actions. :lapras: It was nice seeing him battling with all of his Pokémon and Cap against the Slaking. I didn't expect a new move from Killowattrel, but it's nice he got something more than just being air travel.:bulbaLove: It's so funny how Roy wound up ditching Ult to go find Liko. And speaking of Liko, I enjoyed seeing her and Ann spending time together back as roommates. It's nice that they've remained close as ever and are still training together. It was also nice seeing her Pokémon have fully evolved.

It's really cool seeing how Ann has become such a respected student. Here battle with Roy was also fun. As a Samurott fan, I always adore seeing more of it. :bulbaCute: Liko and Roy's battle was nice too. Seeing Meowscarada battling with her new powers was a treat. I'm super happy Roy won the battle as well. It's so great seeing how he's grown from a rookie who never won to now being able to defeat two opponents back to back. I'm so proud of him :bulbaLove:

I do wish we could have seen a bit more of Dot, but I know her spotlight time is coming. Honestly, I'm just glad to FINALLY get another Nidothing video after ages. I really hope they actually bring these back as a major element of the show. I also would have liked to get a bit more backstory for Roy and Ult's meeting, but I'm sure we'll get an episode dedicated to that later, so I'm not too bothered. Overall a wonderful start to the new arc. 9.5/10
 
One thing with this that did disappoint me was the unfortunate plot point of Liko basically seeing that everyone else had grown over the year but she had stayed the same and needed the push from both Roy and Meowscarada to step forward. I get what they were going for with trying to hark back to her start of series self, but it kinda felt regressive to the character development development that she’s gone through in the series and felt like retreading the same ground with her again that we’ve long since been past.
 
Kurolegacy said:
One thing with this that did disappoint me was the unfortunate plot point of Liko basically seeing that everyone else had grown over the year but she had stayed the same and needed the push from both Roy and Meowscarada to step forward. I get what they were going for with trying to hark back to her start of series self, but it kinda felt regressive to the character development development that she’s gone through in the series and felt like retreading the same ground with her again that we’ve long since been past.
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Totally agreed. The writer truly don't like her and keep piling up more L in order for her to achieve. Don't be surprised, she is going to lose in the league (If that ever occur) to milk the series for next 25 year. That is absolutely disgusting.
 
All I will say is while many may continue to see Roy as a "discount Ash" (Remaining on the fence about that), I feel the distinction between both them is more prominent now. And their respective Lucario's are a sign of that, particularly in their movesets. With Ash's finalized set, you had Aura Sphere, Bullet Punch, Double Team, and Reversal, which feels to reflect Ash's greater Aura connection, battle-style, and love for competitive battling (A move that never misses and grows greater in size and strength the more connected he and his partner are, swift 1+ priority move, a move for quick evasiveness, and a power final gambit for when things look grim). And with Roy's, so far you have Metal Claw, Close Combat, and Flash Cannon, which most likely reflects Roy's usual style, with Close Combat being a move that's strong, but greatly leaves you more suseptible to damage in the long run (mirroring Roy's early style of just charging in without fear of damage taken) and his shift in character, since he has more Steel-type moves than Fighting, reflecting how the loss of Friede drove him to seek greater strength and develop a steel-like focus towards his current goals

Basically, while they have the same species of Pokemon, they have them for completely different reasons (At least until they reveal the backstory of how Roy came across his)

Also, big-ups to Killowattrel finally learning a 4th move. Should've happened a long time ago, but, as most know, this series never really made execellent use of the secondaries. Knowing that Killowattrel managed to learn something during the year apart from everyone shows that Roy managed to not only develop his team further by adding a new member, he also started properly balancing them out in battle, meaning every memeber will be more effective going forward. And for the new move to be Electro Ball, the move that not only gets stronger the faster the user is compared to the opponent, but also most likely will receive a boost in STAB strength due to Wind Power, it's currently holding the title for "strongest secondary of the trio" (That is until Dot returns and we see if Tinkatuff learned anything new and/or evolves)

Karakuri18 said:
This is her first fight in this chapter. That's why I think it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that her L is growing.
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Is it, really? It can't be denied that Liko has won more battles than she's lost. But, one issue with that is that those wins mainly come from opponents that she never really had to KO (The Heroes, Zygarde, Katy, etc) and/or she battled more than once, enough for her to adapt to counter their battle-style (Diana, Sidian, and even Roy himself prior to the end of arc 3). And in more cases than not, she always battled with the others in a group

Be it for narrative-purposes or a show of how the gap between them has expanded, it can't be ignored that Liko's loss here is a clear sign that while she's progressed in some way, she hasn't in the areas she needs to, like actually developing ambition for herself rather than just for others. Going back to school was fine, but it highlights that after losing Friede, she stuck to being in her comfort zone and with what's familiar to her. Catching pokemon? She clearly just didn't bother with it. Being at school didn't stop Ann, so it shouldn't have stopped her. Battling? She may have adapted a new style, but, like catching, she still lacks the drive for wanting to seek out battles rather than just get emotionally into them. And, even if she did, it was most likely against those in her school. A few students, maybe some teachers, and I wouldn't be surprised if her main method of training was just to battle against Ann on a consistent basis. And, that in itself limits her from progressing how she needs. And, at the center of it all, she still finds herself in unable to move past losing Lucius and Friede, which is most likely doing additional harm since its apparently limiting her from being completely present and cleverly use every angle she can in battle

If anything, while making progress compared like the others, taking this L would be note-worthy. Especially given so much praise she received after "becoming so strong that she was able to knock Zygarde down for 20 seconds", as some of her supporters have put it, not 2 or 3 episodes prior
 
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Crispin Freeman ain’t voicing Lucario since I know by default it’s voice by Bill Rogers regardless I have my standards
 
DaemonGuard26 said:
Is it, really? It can't be denied that Liko has won more battles than she's lost. But, one issue with that is that those wins mainly come from opponents that she never really had to KO (The Heroes, Zygarde, Katy, etc) and/or she battled more than once, enough for her to adapt to counter their battle-style (Diana, Sidian, and even Roy himself prior to the end of arc 3). And in more cases than not, she always battled with the others in a group

Be it for narrative-purposes or a show of how the gap between them has expanded, it can't be ignored that Liko's loss here is a clear sign that while she's progressed in some way, she hasn't in the areas she needs to, like actually developing ambition for herself rather than just for others. Going back to school was fine, but it highlights that after losing Friede, she stuck to being in her comfort zone and with what's familiar to her. Catching pokemon? She clearly just didn't bother with it. Being at school didn't stop Ann, so it shouldn't have stopped her. Battling? She may have adapted a new style, but, like catching, she still lacks the drive for wanting to seek out battles rather than just get emotionally into them. And, even if she did, it was most likely against those in her school. A few students, maybe some teachers, and I wouldn't be surprised if her main method of training was just to battle against Ann. And, that in itself limits her from progressing how she needs.And, at the center of it all, she still finds herself in unable to move past losing Lucius and Friede, which is most likely doing additional harm since its apparently limiting her from being completely present and cleverly use every angle she can in battle

If anything, while making progress compared like the others, taking this L would be note-worthy. Especially given so much praise she received after "becoming so strong that she was able to knock Zygarde down for 20 seconds", as some of her supporters have put it, not 2 or 3 episodes prior
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Which is why, studio might foreshadowing Liko's to get L over the next 25 year till she win the league. That I'll afraid.
 
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Die-Hard Dragon Devotee said:
They will? What makes you say that?

You don't think they were just giving it a passing reference and that'll be it?
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Depressing answer would be it's just a wink/nudge, but delusion/hope is the lifeblood of Anipoke fans
 
Twilight-Kun said:
Depressing answer would be it's just a wink/nudge, but delusion/hope is the lifeblood of Anipoke fans
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Fair enough, I hear that! (y) I definitely hold onto my own personal hopes for Anipoke as much as possible. Well, I for one hope you're right about that and it's not the depressing answer, Horizons has outright skipped or barely covered too much of Gen 9 already as it is. (Koraidon, Miraidon, the Treasures of Ruin, etc.)
 
I'm divided about these episodes. The fight against the Slaking in the first one was pretty cool, we've got to see Roy use his whole team, and Ult was cool too, even if the character sounds annoying as hell (he will probably become more tolerable).

Liko expectedly retreated to her shell from the beginning of the series. I don't really like that but eh. I also don't know about Miascarada's new "personality"? She used to be REALLY annoyed by Liko moping around and a LOT more expressive about it. She still did the thing where she isolates on the roof, but was overall nicer to Liko, rather than trying to force her out of moping. I just hope she still is somewhat cat-like and mischievous, the individual personality of the Pokemons used to be a huge thing in Horizons.

I wish they did one of two things with Liko:
-Giving her a big moment where she was revealed to have secretly trained just as hard as Roy, blindsinding him for a second, and insisting on how her moping didn't impact her battle skills. We got close to that idea in their fight, she did have some more creative uses of Flower Trick. But not only the fight was really slow and stiff, but then some things were just like... why?? What was the point of catching Crocalor in vines and holding it above Miascarada for two minutes, in perfect Flamethrower range??! This was so infuriating to watch!
-Pushing way more on the emotional side. Having her open up to Ann and/or Roy about what happened and how bad she truly feels about losing Friede and the RVTs disbanding, and/or how much she wants to go back to adventuring and clear up their name. I'm not asking for a full-on emotional breakdown, but she apparently wasn't even fully honest to Ann (whom she trusts), she just kept most of the story for herself until their talk in the episode. Again, we got close, but not enough.

Another thing. Did I forget, or did we never get a conclusion on the other students asking about the RVTs? In the end, do they start hating on Liko? Do they change their minds on the RVTs because they were impressed by the fight? Do they call the police? Do they not care at all?

I just think this pair of episodes was a cumulation of missed opportunities, for everything about Liko. Her reawakening didn't feel strongly earned to me, it's more like the writers couldn't decide between having her at rock bottom or in top form, they tried a bit of both and neither side felt fully right in consequence. Adds the sloppy animation on top, and this isn't a great return for Horizons.
 
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