Review HZ113: Uruto—Strongest

Eeee there he is, Looker cameo. It's like Christmas has come early. There's another quick cameo from both Liko and Dot as well as the other RVT members too.

Really great to see Emma making her anime debut and she's easily the best part of the episode, a real joy to watch and definitely better than last week.

On the other hand though... Wow, they are doing their absolute best to make this Lucario the least interesting one I've seen in the anime to date. Even Kukui's Lucario has more personality than than Roy's and he was only in three episodes. Last episode of this mini-arc next time and at this rate it's pretty much too late for me to turn my opinion round on it.

Next week it seems they're facing off against Waluigi and Wario's long lost cousin.
 
The second part of the episode featuring backstory of Uruto and how Emma want to become like Looker as greatest Detective. Follow with a battle of Uruto and Roy with their respective partners. That end up Uruto loss. Because of heart to heart. Before Shiny Lucario lure them back to their domain to battle once more.

On top of that, Spinel prepare to propagandised the world to claim RVT as villain as he took over as Explorer leader mastermind of manipulation. Not a bad episode, just average.

Overall rating: B+
 
now that's a bigger crime than Grand theft Pagogo at the first part of Volume 1: Chapter 1
 
Poke Trey said:
Emma and Ult. A combination that should not work, but someone the show does. Especially with Legends ZA out now.
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And Emma's Ampharos Mega Evolve to restore restaurant power after no power. It just really unnecessary and overload.
 
One more Time Next Week, Rising Again next week after that
 
Dang, Emma really did just pick Ult up off the streets... that's... kinda sad I'm ngl.

LUNCHBOX GUY MENTIONED, AND SHOWN.

I don't mind Roy beating Ult (I honestly expected and prefered it), but he won so overwhelmingly, which also isn't the problem, but I feel like the battle was hyped up more than it deserved.

Dang, how down bad was Ult?!

And those two guys at the end. Uuuuh, sir I think I have some One-Piece characters in my Anipoke.... (I honestly love their designs tho)

I did like this episode a lot though, it felt like a good in between episode, which is what it is. I've seen a lot of people complaining on how the mini-arc isn't fleshing out Lucario very much (and that's very fair), but I feel like this arc was more for filling in Ult's background, as the general consensus on him from most, is quite negative, I think this mini-arc does a better job fleshing him out.
 
This episode was alright. Roy defeating Ult isn't too surprising, and it did allow them to grow a bit closer to one another. It is a bit disappointing that all we got out of Emma's Mega Ampharos was it powering up the house where they were staying that experienced a blackout. I really hope that we can see some other new Mega Evolutions or ones that don't really get too much of a focus, but I am guessing that it won't be too likely.
 
I really enjoyed this episode a lot more than last week. I thought it was pretty great!
First off, I want to talk about Emma. I like her! She's just such a fun character, I love her using Mega Ampharos (my fave Pokemon) to light up the house.
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She's so silly, love her. I haven't played XY's post game or Legends Z-A, so my only previous interaction with this character was the pretty short Generations episode and as such this was basically my introduction to Emma.
Pretty great introduction, I see why she's so popular. Also great to have a cameo from Looker, he's one of my favourite characters and it's nice basically having 100% confirmation that Horizons takes place in the same universe as the Ash era.

But the character I really want to talk about is Ult.
Poor kid. Just this boy who lived through homelessness with no one but Sableye against the world.
His backstory really touched me, I didn't cry but honestly I feel like tearing up the more I think about it.
The fact that such a bleak backstory that unfortunately reflects many people in the real world got it's way into the Pokémon anime of all things shows how special this show is.
I went from liking Ult before to now loving him, knowing that this kid seemed to have not much empathy and doesn't treat others with kindness because for a time nobody's ever been kind to him.

Roy and Ult's battle was also solid, at first I was like "okay is he just gonna keep dodging or..?" (I was being just like Ult!), but I started enjoying it once Roy actually started attacking.

I also like Master Mayonaise as a mentor figure, I feel like he didn't mean it when he told Ult to give up on Mega Evolution, he was just saying that to further motivate him.
His criticisms of Ult are valid though, I do feel like Ult's biggest problem at the time was his lack of empathy and it's nice to think that he's gained that empathy since this episode. We know that Sableye now Mega Evolves and we saw him help that character of the day.

Finally I'd like to touch on Yellow Blast aka Lucario.
It didn't do much but I loved it aura farming lol, I didn't like how last episode didn't have eyecatches but this time that last shot of Lucario before cutting to commercials was so cool that I didn't mind!
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I know people don't like Yellow Blast, which is fair, but a Pokémon being cool is enough for me to like them lol.

Overall, when next week's episode airs, I think we'll look back on the Mega Evolution arc as something special. At least, I will haha.
Maybe with the benefit of hindsight, I'd even like the first episode more! These three episodes probably would work best all watched in a row, so I might do that sometime once all have aired to see how different the experience is.

I also liked the ending theme being different this episode! Hope next week's is also different, guessing it'll focus on Master Mayonaise.
 
Uruto sure went through a lot. Seeing him and Yamirami out there in the rain sure made me have more empathy for him and his behaviour, the kid just is on edge all the time, because how could he not be, considering his circumstances?

My face when you have to mega evolve just to make tea:
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Lumiose city my ass, more like Tenebrose city, if they have power outages like that on the regular.

Pikachu woke up at the words of "oops, didn't i tell you?"

Seems like Pikachu going with Roy and it not being shown at the end of the previous season is just being retconned here.

Mayonnaise is quite the harsh master, telling Uruto to give up.

I have no thoughts about Lucario at all tbh. Literally none.

The weird trainers at the end are so outlandish and hilarious, wonder what that battle will be like.
 
It's funny how Emma uses her Mega Ampharos to turn her power back on that even her neighbors are well-aware of it.

The fact that she taught Ult how to read and write means either two things: Ult grew up in poverty with his father in Lumiose or Ult lost him very young and he didn't have anyone who could teach him.

Still, for a flashback that told the story about how Roy got Lucario, Lucario has the least amount of focus...
 
I had never noticed the parallel between Roy and Ult both having non-standard Poke Balls passed down to them in some way as kids containing a Dragon-type Pokémon who won't come out` before until it was spelled out for me in this episode.

Emma has a fun personality. Very carefree and chill. With the picture of Looker we can see, I wonder how this would connect with the previous Ash-centered series considering Looker was a reoccurring character there and what we can assume from their game storyline. Though my assumption is that Horizons will never touch on it, which has pretty much been their philosophy so far, which is fair. Wild that Ampharos has to Mega Evolve just to power a building.

We get to see the origin of Roy and Ult competing over who will catch the Black Rayquaza. Turns out he has been living on the street for some time, but the even more concerning thing (though being a homeless child is definitely depressing, but in the universe of Pokemon, kids camp out in the middle of forests with wild Pokemon all the time) is that Emma had to teach him how to read and write. We know he received the Dragonite from his father, so what happened that resulted in him not being able to teach his son those skills?

It was really cute/sad to see Cap perk up at Emma saying "Did I forget to mention that?" because of how much Friede used to say it.

Mayonnaise getting serious for a moment to give Ult the wake-up call he needed to realize that he has too stubborn to fully connect with Sableye was actually a good moment. That even though people and Pokémon can't communicate through speech, they can communicate in other ways and that you have to make the effort to understand. Seeing Ult trust Sableye and the reveal that what they once thought was just a painted wall was actually paper they could jump through was a good payoff to that lesson.
 
After a brief recap, it cuts to Ult and Roy eating a feast provided by Matière, who debuts in the anime by telling Ult to chew his food. Matière is excited that Ult brought a "close friend" over (Roy seems happy to be classified as such this early; Ult denies that they are close friends). Matière nearly drops some of the food, but her Espurr, Moko, saves it. While Matière does the dishes, Roy and Ult discuss their respective important Pokéballs (but Ult doesn't let Roy tell him what was in his yet). Matière declares that they really are close friends and then goes to make tea, but the power goes out. She sends out an Ampharous and then Mega Evolves it (probably not a necessary step) and has it restore the power. Ult asks her if there is some trick to successfully Mega Evolving a Pokémon, but she just comments on his sudden interest.

Later, Roy and Matière talk about why Roy was in Kalos and about the Rising Volt Tacklers (Moko retrieves a relevant news story from a large pile of newspapers, being quite the helpful and adorable Espurr). Roy mentions the Black Rayquaza, and Ult decides to catch it just because it would be cool (Roy reluctantly concedes that anyone can try to catch it since it is a wild Pokémon). Ult then runs off to continue his Mega Evolution training. Matière then asks Roy to be friends with Ult (who has apparently never been interested in other people before his sudden interest in Roy) and explains his backstory (just showed up one day, was living in a back alley until Matière took him in since she's been through the same thing). Matière also mentions being a detective (and comments on forgetting to mention it, which wakes up Cap). Matière apparently even taught Ult to read and write. Roy agrees to try talking to Ult more and then heads out as well.

Ult is at the Mayo-Maze Palace, insistently knocking on the door. He then decides to break in when Roy stops him (not because breaking and entering is bad, but because Ult still doesn't stand a chance against Lucario). They head back while the Yellow Lucario watches them from the roof. The next day, Ult tries to Mega Evolve Sableye with no success and decides his Mega Ring must be fake. Mayonnaise shows up and assumes, correctly, that they lost to the "Yellow Blast". Ult declares that he hasn't lost yet, and Mayonnaise approves of his ambition. Mayonnaise declares that bonds will guide them to Mega Evolution, and then has Roy and Ult battle. Crocalor vs Sableye, Ult loses due to overusing Sableye's Power Gem while Crocalor just dodges. Ult tries to send out his other Pokémon (which, since this is a flashback, we know to be Dragonite), but it doesn't come out. Mayonnaise gives Ult a Full Restore to heal Sableye, then lectures him about the importance of observing his Pokémon.

After Mayonnaise tells Ult to give up on Mega Evolution and leaves, the Yellow Lucario shows up and leads Roy and Ult back to the Mayo-Maze Palace. They are able to navigate it much more easily this time thanks to Sableye remembering the route. And to further demonstrate Ult taking the lesson about paying attention to his Pokémon to heart, Ult notices that Sableye noticed the wall with a door painted on it was paper and jumps through it. They then encouter a couple of strange trainers going by Count Oyster and Shoyu the Shinobi. The episode ends on Roy and Ult asking who these two are.

In conclusion, Matière is adorable (if a bit unreliable on the surface), and Ult has no idea how lucky he is to be looked after by such a charming girl. She really is the highlight of this arc. Next time, we get to the whole point of the arc, which will probably be cool enough, but not as enjoyable as the cutest detective being cute.
 
SarahSango said:
Also great to have a cameo from Looker, he's one of my favourite characters and it's nice basically having 100% confirmation that Horizons takes place in the same universe as the Ash era.
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No, this doesn't confirm continuity. Looker could very well be an AU.
After thinking about it, I think the definitive confirmation would be Ash himself appearing (which doesn't look like it'll happen).
 
I don't see any reason why Horizons would ever want to confirm or deny the canonicity of the series that came before it. They get to have their cake and eat it too by not doing either and leaving it open.

The only way I see Ash appearing in this series is a movie crossover and they haven't done a movie since 2020. So far Horizons has been a very self-contained story and I don't see that changing. I think they specifically wanted the first series without Ash to be unconnected to what came before so it could stand on it's own.
 
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