Review HZ110: The Six Heroes Bare Their Fangs

What an intense episode. Which Super Strong Sphere by the Laquium can done to five of six heroes as it become clear. They must be defeated completely. Otherwise, their berserker will not.

With now, Amethio's dad now become refugees. It should be know, they might stay with RVT for now.

Overall rating: B+
 
Bit of an average Explorers encounter this time.

First of all the animation was absolutely garbage. I think this is one of the worst episodes in the series animation wise with so many still shots and cut corners taken. It's a shame as it really brought down the fight for me. I was more interested in what Dot and Hamber were doing and not only did Tinkaton give Dot the win over Chalce but they found Cervantes too.

All hail the tink!

Super excited for Amethio's return too next week. He's looking real cool.
 
I have to admit Indy and Rubella are stupid or very ignorant if they think what they are doing is for the greater good. I can believe they want to put down the Rising Volt Tacklers and that they honestly think that the Volt Tacklers are evil. But they really don't seem to realize that the Strong Spheres are harming the Pokémon they use them on.
 
That was quite intense indeed.
Poor Uruto seemed to feel as if he was out of his depth. Can't blame him really.
The rest of the team is already used to encountering the Explorers and managed to mostly keep their cool and stick to a plan - have pagogo purify the laqurium in the six heroes.
However, the effort was futile, as the Explorers had more laqurium at hand... At this rate this battle could turn into a war of attrition... But it seems that Amethio will be back to turn the tides. His new outfit is great, (it makes him look even more like a kindergoth than before (not a bad thing at all imho lol))
Meanwhile Dot is hacking. And Tinkaton is also hacking. Hacking at Medicham with a hammer. The battle was... A little weird? Not sure what I think about it tbh.
I think it really made a lot of sense that Medicham kept its cool despite being on Laqurium, it really fits well.

I wish Agate got more developement too, we know almost nothing about her!

Poor Crave got imprisoned for having morals. Oh well. That happens.

Spinel seems to be quite sure of his victory here. I wonder if he has another ace hidden in his (Umbreon themed) sleeve.
 
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the animation was,, rough. but overall its still a good episode, because i guarantee you theyre saving the budget for the finale. cut corners are fine because as long as we the viewer get the gist of whats happening, i dont see the problem? like its different than if they were to just cut the action shots and only do the yap-no-jutsu.
 
To me this episode is 7/10. Animation looks horrific and this made episode somewhat harder to watch, but let's be honest, I do not care much about animation quality. What matters more is the writing and substance of this episode, which more often than not carried Horizons by its own. I get I might be biased, but that's the point. Personally, my own complaint is far more directed towards the OLM higher-ups, not animators nor the writers, but that should be out of topic.

So, Dot managed to get another W, and Tinkaton fought against Medicham by using the environment while charging up the hammer to finally learn Gigaton Hammer. Since Quaxwell has been on a slump in this arc, it looks like Tinkaton has finally usurped Quaxwell as her battling ace, for now. I could see Quaxwell inevitably evolving early in the next arc and regain this position until Gimmighoul evolves into Gholdengo, and I expect Dot to get involved in battle against Six Heroes with her terastalized Tinkaton. I get that Dot is the weakest but she's also by far the smartest. I expect the power gap to close once Quaxwell and Gimmighoul evolves.

Hattrem did well in the battle against Six Heroes. By holding back Kleavor with the continuous use of Confusion, she kept Meow alive for most of the first phase of this fight - I won't be surprised if she learns Psychic once she evolves into Hatterene. Still, she was overtaken by her own timidity against Rakurium-powered Hydro Pump by Lapras, forcing Terapagos to tank the move, making it unable to absorb Rakurium for most of the fight until at the end of first phase, but at least she got it at hand once Kleavor was involved. She may be passive, but she will throw down when things get serious.

This time, just like the first time Dragonite came out from the Dusk Ball, Dragonite did everything on its own and Uruto didn't appear to command it either except for calling it out and Mega Evolving it. Cap is also apparently did everything on his own without command from Roy.

About both Hattrem and Terapagos getting knocked out, this is a lot more about both of them being somewhat exhausted after using their moves (Confusion and Protect) for long duration alongside the power of Six Heroes. I do not mind them losing, they have done well as long as they could.

No comment about the rest of RVTs Pokemon, but they will be the focus of next week's episode.
 
vnillabunny said:
the animation was,, rough. but overall its still a good episode, because i guarantee you theyre saving the budget for the finale. cut corners are fine because as long as we the viewer get the gist of whats happening, i dont see the problem? like its different than if they were to just cut the action shots and only do the yap-no-jutsu.
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As it was for most of the Arc 6. If anything, Horizons has always consistently delivered on story and substance, which makes this show a lot more watchable regardless of the animation quality. Compare that to the disjointed nature of Pokemon Journeys. A lot of Journeys episodes are skippable.
 
da man/man said:
Hattrem, girl got so close, only to get absolutely brutalized at the end. Oof.
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Just more of the same, really. Hatrrem continues to be one of the most woefully neglected Pokémon in all of Horizons/the entire Pokémon anime. It's really quite sad. :sadsola:
da man/man said:
At least Kilo's still up
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We'll see for how much longer into the next episode. Considering it didn't show up in the preview at all, my guess is......not long.
da man/man said:
so I'll take the positives when they come!
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Also don't you think it's kind of sad that the positives for poor Kilowattrel are so few and far between that you're addressing the fact that it hasn't fainted yet as something to be happy about? Like......idk, it's just pathetic if you ask me how poorly the writers have treated my boy Kilowattrel, it's my favorite Pokémon among the entire cast in Horizons and it's just been utterly shafted to all hell. It's little more than a veritable flying taxi almost 95% of the time it's on-screen, and its moveset is just atrocious.
 
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unrelated but assuming the move that medicham used against tinkaton was axe kick, given how it didn't confuse her, it kind of confirms that her ability is own tempo. so thats a fun thing
 
Dr. Gro 3001 said:
I have to admit Indy and Rubella are stupid or very ignorant if they think what they are doing is for the greater good. I can believe they want to put down the Rising Volt Tacklers and that they honestly think that the Volt Tacklers are evil. But they really don't seem to realize that the Strong Spheres are harming the Pokémon they use them on.
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It's probably just that they believe Spinel blindly on also the Strong Spheres.
 
This battle deserved better animation and choreography. It lacked the tension it needed bc it looked so terrible and quite frankly I didn’t believe at all that Meowscarada could take Kleavors attack head on or that Kilowattrel is capable of shooting down G-Moltres with Electro Ball while completely going through its dark aura like nothing. They looked cheap and it feels like their power has been demoted for plot reasons, it is even more egregious that all of this happened while being “powered up” by the strong spheres. It is what it is I guess.
 
Honestly, really good part one!! They balanced the two POVs super well (an issue a couple of eps this arc have had), the secondary mons got great screentime, and the character writing was on point as per usual. Biggest issue was the animation, but frankly the rough animation works well here considering smoother animation would have just made the rvt's loss a bit more brutal at best, and I'd rather them save the budget for the finale. Also nice seeing proper agate screentime!!
 
vnillabunny said:
unrelated but assuming the move that medicham used against tinkaton was axe kick, given how it didn't confuse her, it kind of confirms that her ability is own tempo. so thats a fun thing
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Not necessarily, it did indeed use Axe Kick, but it only has a 30% chance to confuse.
Die-Hard Dragon Devotee said:
Also don't you think it's kind of sad that the positives for poor Kilowattrel are so few and far between that you're addressing the fact that it hasn't fainted yet as something to be happy about? Like......idk, it's just pathetic if you ask me how poorly the writers have treated my boy Kilowattrel, it's my favorite Pokémon among the entire cast in Horizons and it's just been utterly shafted to all hell. It's little more than a veritable flying taxi almost 95% of the time it's on-screen, and its moveset is just atrocious.
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Not gonna disagree with this, but it's more that I'm gonna be happy when my favorite mons get screentime. If my favorite was Meowscarada I'd still be happy whenever she showed up. But since Kilo is very(unfortunately :sadsola:) neglected it feels sweeter when it does get some screentime!
 
Indy, Rubella, and a few unnamed grunts are in front of the distribution center. They inform Liko, Roy, and Ult that Crave is not there. Then a trio of trucks pull up and reveal that they contain the captured five of the Six Heroes. Meanwhile, Dot is about to inform Liko and the others about the trap they've already been caught in when Hamber shows up and informs her that Crave has been imprisoned. The Explorers let the Heroes out and use the new Super Strong Spheres (Exceed should fire their marketing department for such an unimpressive name) on them. Sango and Onyx show up and watch from a distance. A battle starts (Pagogo, Captain Pikachu, Meowscarada, Crocalor, and Sabeye vs the Heroes).

After a bit, Roy sends out Kilowattrel, then Liko sends out Hattrem, leading to a stalemate. Dot and Hamber are heading to the management office, where Crave is imprisoned, when they have to stop because Dot isn't suited for long-distance running. Hamber then explains that he needs Dot to hack the door lock (because apparently, even the most innocent computer programmer knows how to break into places for some reason). Agate shows up and convinces Hamber it is a bad idea for him to battle, leading to a one-on-one battle between her Medicham and Dot's Tinkaton. Tinkaton struggles to hit Medicham for most of the battle but eventually scores a hit with Gigaton Hammer, and that alone ends the battle in her favor. While Dot celebrates her victory, Agate retreats.

At the same time, Liko realizes that Pagogo can purify the Heroes, and she, Roy, and Ult send out their remaining Pokémon (Terastalizing Mewoscarada and Crocalor and Mega Evolving Dragonite while they are at it) and manage to break the stalemate long enough to purify the Heroes. However, Spinel is unconcerned with the results of the battles. Dot has no problem breaking into the management office and rescuing Crave. The Explorers use the Super Strong Spheres at maximum power on the Heroes, basically negating Liko, Roy, and Ult's efforts. Kleavor knocks out Pagogo and Hattrem, leaving our protagonists in much worse shape than before. The episode ends on this note.

Are our protagonists doomed? Probably not, but they've got a rough time ahead of them.
 
An alright first episode to what will likely be the conclusion to this arc.

We are introduced to the concept of Super Strong Spheres. As you can guess, they're like Strong Spheres on steroids. I feel as though the Explorers' plan to use them on the Six Heroes to be a tad shortsighted. Sure, they'll probably hypothetically defeat the RVTs. But then they'll just go ballistic on the grunts directly behind them as well. Though I guess they're presuming the Raquium will wear off by then and they'll be too exhausted to resist being recaptured.

The fight itself was... fine, I guess. Like others have pointed out, the animation quality felt worse than usual, especially for what should be an important battle. I agree that they are probably saving the animation budget/time for the actual finale, since the Six Heroes just got a second dosage of Raquium after Pagogo purified them the first time. I did like the fact that they played the second opening, though. Honestly felt nostalgic already.

The same goes for Dot vs. Agate. Tinkaton learning Gigaton Hammer was to be expected, but now we can get the funny ha-ha hammer move.

We finally get to see a little bit into Agate herself. So far, she has just been a lackey for Spinel. But she seemingly has her own goal to fulfill, and warned Hamber about taking direct action against her so he could remain a spy for Amethio within the Explorers/Exceed.
 
i am finally caught up! i was going to write reviews of all the episodes i haven't written reviews for but i've actually decided i'm just going to write about this most recent episode here.

the animation was indeed rough but i feel like this always happens. we get an episode with really rough animation towards the end of an arc and then the episodes directly following it look great. so as much as i wish this show was allocated a higher budget/was better managed so that there don't have to be episodes that look like this, i'm taking it because this just means the true finale episode should look great!

animation aside, i think this episode was great in all other regards. like serena said, the two POVs were balanced really well here. and the character writing was really good in my opinion. i really enjoyed seeing ult out of his depth; it says something when a character that cocky actually feels afraid. seeing dot interact with hamber was something i didn't know i needed! i'm probably beating the dead horse with this comment, but it really is striking just how far dot has come as a character. i love how she didn't hesitate when hamber asked her to hack the lock to where crave was being held. i loved her confidence in fighting against agate. and um... well i'm the resident likodot shipper so i gotta say that i really liked how she decided to put her trust in "liko and the others" (liko's name being the only one she mentioned) to be able to handle themselves... liko & co have grown enough and dot has bonded with them enough for her to trust them so clearly on the spur of the moment... in strict contrast to situations like when dot finally left her room to look for liko all over levincia, worried sick. and it does remind me of when liko told roy to step back and let dot figure things out on her own in HZ049 because liko trusted dot's abilities. i'll probably write something about all that in shipper's paradise later

in speaking of agate though, i'm glad we're finally getting some lore about her, or well, hints at future lore. she has her own goals, but what are those goals? and what was with hamber calling agate "sensei"? because dot also seemed confused about that and hamber referring to her that way goes against what we previously understood about agate with regards to hamber teaching her in the explorers. very curious. i wonder how aware spinel is of agate supposedly using him for her own goals, or letting hamber go. really, what is spinel planning... he's such a good villain lol

this episode really had me thinking about the contrast/comparison of mega evolution and the strong spheres/rakurium. mega evolution is supposed to cause suffering for the pokemon, but when mega evolution is brought out by the bond between a trainer and their pokemon, they are able to do it without suffering and channel that energy properly. they are even more in tune with their trainer than ever before. the strong spheres also give pokemon something of a power boost, but instead, they do cause the pokemon suffering. and the pokemon under its effects becomes more disconnected from its trainer, relying on instinct and unable to properly listen to most commands. additionally, there is something to be said about mega evolution being something old, something natural, something born from a pokemon's life force, and meanwhile the strong spheres are futuristic technology created by humans to abuse the powers of nature, the rakurium and the pokemon affected. i feel like this is a purposeful duality; it really feels like mega evolution is the antithesis to the strong spheres. and i just think that's cool!

really excited to see where things go this upcoming week!
 
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