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Review HZ115: Tera☆Sparkle! Blueberry Academy

An alright episode for the beginning of the new arc with the introduction of Lacey and Cyrano. Also with the reunite with Nemona and Ann. Before Roy battle against her and lost. That triggering the going strong with training with more L to be foreshadowing to come.

Overall rating: B-
 
Oh my giddy aunt, Nemona gets a win for a change. You go girl!

Pretty good start to the Blueberry Academy visit and it's nice to see both her and Anne again as well as both Lacey and Drayton making their debut and they're both off to a decent start.

Looks like we'll be seeing Penny and Carmine next week too.
 
I'm surprised, that many are surprised that Roy lost. It looked kinda obvious (to me at least) he was set up to lose, as he had just beaten Nemona not too long ago. Nice to see Nemona again though, best Rival coming in strong! It's a shame that people have just hyperfocused on the fact Roy lost instead of also mentioning the rest of the episode... which all in all was great! Definitely a good introduction to the Terrarium, showing that it really is for training.

I've come to terms with the fact that saying Kieran will appear is just coping, but I do wonder if Crispin or Amarys will show.
 
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da man/man said:
I'm surprised, that many are surprised that Roy lost. It looked kinda obvious (to me at least) he was set up to lose, as he had just beaten Nemona not too long ago. Nice to see Nemona again though, best Rival coming in strong! It's a shame the people have just hyperfocused on the fact Roy lost instead of also mentioning the rest of the episode... which all in all was great! Definitely a good introduction to the Terrarium, showing that it really is for training.
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I mean, can you really blame people considering how the writers have essentially been treating Roy as their golden boy for the past arc? All the struggles seemed to be reserved for Liko. Heck, even with the preview summery for the next episode, Roy basically gets special training with an Elite Four member while everyone else just has to settle for wild Pokemon so things weren’t exactly painted in a way that the writers would actually have Roy actually lose for a change.
 
Thank goodness we actually got a legitimate double battle and not one where it ends when one side loses a Pokémon. I'm not surprised that Nemona got a Decidueye, and it was pretty neat seeing Spirit Shackle actually shackle a Pokémon's shadow to prevent it from moving. Otherwise, the battle was looked fine. I do hope that the other kids also get a chance to develop with some of the other trainers in Blueberry Academy like Roy. I also hope that we get to see some shenanigans in the Terarium.
 
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I'm kinda disappointed in this first episode of the arc. Maybe I was having too much expectations for the battle to be the rematch of Liko and Ann, instead of Nemona and Roy 2.0 with 1 different Pokemon. It's pretty cool that Nemona has a Decidueye. I'm just among the people who wanted a bit of a break from Roy after the Roy mini-arc though ^^"

Let's hope this arc will be great. The opening and ending make me feel like they're very clearly teasing upcoming evolutions. Notably, you see an Auspicious Armor in the opening and a bit later you also see a Gimmighoul coin. In the ending, multiple specific Pokemons have these "negative/inverted colors" shots, which I would bet are here to hide the future shots of their evolutions and/or upgrades (because Lucario is one of these mons, but I don't know what kind of new upgrade he could seriously get).
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So we might end up with Haterenne, Gholdengo, Armarouge and Lucario being major players in the arc. We also have these very interesting other two shots:

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The first is two shadowy characters in front of the Explorers emblem. I don't think we know them already, they might be two new Explorers admins that will get introduced. But I previously made the theory that Agate would get a bit of a backstory in this arc, on why she's the "sensei" of Hamber and not the opposite. So my gut feeling tells me one of these two could be connected to her.

The second shot has a character holding a Strong Sphere, someone with a yellow sleeve. I actually have no idea who it could be, I looked at the artworks of some characters and haven't found anyone with a similar sleeve (which made me realize most of the main characters of Horizons don't even have sleeves). The picture makes me think that whoever holds it is considering if they want to use it or not. Not really any basis on that idea though.

That's it for my initial thoughts and observations. Hoping for an amazing arc!
 
Doubl - Echo said:
The first is two shadowy characters in front of the Explorers emblem. I don't think we know them already, they might be two new Explorers admins that will get introduced. But I previously made the theory that Agate would get a bit of a backstory in this arc, on why she's the "sensei" of Hamber and not the opposite. So my gut feeling tells me one of these two could be connected to her.
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Might just be Indy and Rubella but who knows? The one on the right definitely has hair looking similar to Indy's.
 
Kurolegacy said:
I mean, can you really blame people considering how the writers have essentially been treating Roy as their golden boy for the past arc? All the struggles seemed to be reserved for Liko. Heck, even with the preview summery for the next episode, Roy basically gets special training with an Elite Four member while everyone else just has to settle for wild Pokemon so things weren’t exactly painted in a way that the writers would actually have Roy actually lose for a change.
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Nope you can't. Its nice to see the scales being balanced a bit
 
This episode really reminded me why I love Horizons. The characters and the music just makes me so happy, this is just such a lovely show.
I don't have too much to say on the episode though. I'm happy that it opened with Ann and that it looks like she's going to be a bigger part of the arc. Ann's always been one of my favourites and I've wanted her to be a main character for so long, so hopefully she'll play a major role.
I'm kinda mixed on the battle this episode, like there were some cool moments and it was fun overall, but idk. Maybe it's just because I've been watching through XY lately, where each battle has been really visually interesting, that this more standard Pokémon battle doesn't seem as cool in comparison? I don't know, I still enjoyed it.
I do wish that Nemona didn't leave in the end and I really hope we'll see her battle Ult one day, Ult would definitely lose but it'd still be fun.
Overall, a solid first episode. I did prefer the opening episodes of past Horizons arcs however this is still good.
Oh yeah and the opening theme made me so happy! Especially when Sango appeared!!
Ending theme, I think I like, but it's a little slowpaced for my tastes. Idk, it'll have to grow on me.
 
Doubl - Echo said:
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These are definitely Rubella and Indy, I have zero doubts about that.

Also this shot literally gave me a heart attack i just cant omg ahbjdsmnsfnafnfqagfqsfs
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Other than that, this episode was a decent introduction for the arc, the new(to the anime) characters showed their personalities, and Nemona kicked ass. She was really cool here. Lacey, always roped into doing all the duties no one else wants to do ... I liked her subtle sarcastic roast of the chairman.
I wonder if the blocks/boxes in the terrarium have self regenerating properties, after all they got quite wrecked with all the digs and stomping tantrums lol. Blueberry academy is truly a technological wonder.
Briar was quirky as always.
Looking forward to what happens next.
 
too many people talking about nemona vs roy as if it was the ONLY thing that happened in the episode.

i loved cyrano's characterization and his voice is super fitting, he 100% wouldve been voiced by the same guy who voiced Oak if he were still alive.
lacey was about as expressive and charming as in the games, she's such a sweetheart.
drayton's voice has gotta grow on me but it fits, he's a delinquent who goofs around most of the time. i didn't expect him to have a "cool" voice.

probably the best part of the episode was seeing how ult was completely awestruck with everything while the main three - while still taken aback - didn't really react much. theyve seen cooler things.

roy vs nemona was rough, i kinda wish roy used kilowattrel here because it's showed up like three or four times in mega voltage, only appeared in the first few minutes of the mega specials, and it's last win was against liko's hattrem in 067, to which it only won because hattrem chose to heal floragato's paralysis with healer as opposed to dodging a spark.
seeing lucario and kilowattrel would've been so cool because of their matching palettes, and we couldve seen the flying tera on kilowattrel (we've already seen electric and even then i think cap is gonna be tera electric anyway).

overall a good starter to an arc. 8/10, i wish the battle had just a little bit more. i feel like spirit shackle shouldve missed crocalor but it's whatever.
 
Doubl - Echo said:
someone with a yellow sleeve.
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Right, forgot to reply to this even though I meant to:
This is most likely Spinel's sleeve, the color matches the edges of his sleeve/ornaments on his suit. Or could be also Indy/Rubella, they have matching sleeves. Or someone in the same uniform as them.
 
A cool episode overall, clearly a calm introduction to the arc. Not my dream episode, but good overall because it sets up the Blueberry crew as people with personalities and relations with each another which is promising for the future.

I think the dynamic between Lacey, Briar, Cyrano and the protags is quite close to what one could see in a scientific outpost far away from civilization. They're big brains with responsible jobs, but they're also a bunch of nerds with each other as the only company (at least for a time). Of course Briar forgot about the arrival, she's nerding out over high-tech terastal and has nearly zero connection to the "normal" world with its "normal" society and "normal" day/week routines. Of course Cyrano calls everyone "-chan" and is fully open about pushing his tasks on Lacey and does it all in front of new students, after n months in the middle of the ocean the group doesn't care about the customary academic hierarchy anymore.

Slightly disappointed Nemona had to leave, I hoped she'd join the cast for the entire arc. We'll see if we retain Penny and Carmine for longer than 1 ep.

A throwaway line about attaching it to a resource extraction operation doesn't make Blueberry less ridiculous as a building. The sky is projected onto the dome who thought it was a good idea, I didn't vibe with it in the game and I don't in the anime.

We'll see where the writers go from here, it can be some awesome character-based storytelling borne from the Blueberry's limitations (at the end of the day it's an isolated battle arena with dormitory, not a whole region to explore accessible to all manners of villains) but it can turn into several months of grinding XP.
 
After the three-episode flashback to how Roy and Ult became friends, and the break beforehand, we are finally at the beginning of a new arc. I was not expecting the story to take us to Blueberry Academy, to be honest, but here we are! It is always fun and interesting to see game locations be adapted into the anime, especially one as unique as Blueberry Academy. It brings back memories of when I played the Indigo Mask DLC, and makes me realize that was almost two years ago already...

With their arrival at the academy, we naturally get to meet characters from the games. Cyrano, Lacey, and Drayton to name them. Again, seeing characters from the games animated is always fun. I really liked how surprised the gang were at Lacey and Drayton being part of the Elite Four, and Roy making Ult bow his head.

We also have a few familiar exchange students from Paldea in attendance, namely Nemona, Penny, and Ann. I forget how many they've had so far, but Roy and Nemona have yet another battle. This time, Roy is the loser. I find it funny how Nemona has only been there for a short time but has already managed to evolve a Rowlet all the way into a Decidueye. It's also good to see that Terastal is still playing a role in the story. Unfortunately, Nemona is already leaving.

Nonetheless, their training to rescue the five heroes still in captivity begins now.

The new opening is pretty good, too. Eve has also done great songs for Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia. In terms of visuals, nothing too crazy, but they are definitely teasing that Charcadet and Gimmighoul will probably be evolving this arc. I'd throw Hattrem in there as well. It makes sense to me that each of their secondary Pokémon would fully evolve around the same time, in the same arc, leaving Crocalor and Wattrel for last overall. Funny how Sango was the only member of the Explorers to get anything other than a still frame, she really is the best one.

I hope we get to see Kieran, but I'm not keeping my hope up. I think he'd probably be in the opening if that were the case. I just find it weird to have Carmine but not Kieran, especially when they didn't include him when they went to Kitakami, which made me think they were potentially saving him for Blueberry Academy. Unless they for some reason just want to keep him a secret.
 
You know, I've been thinking Kieran would be a perfect fit for the Strong Spheres. He's that kind of character, desperate to become strong. He would absolutely try them.
 
I do like that the the start of the new arc just goes right to the point and explains how Blueberry Academy works and its history without leaving out too much!

I don't remember if Cyrano was as forgetful as he was in the games, but it's a nice little touch since he is old.
Lacey's still an absolute sweetheart and I still want TPCI to sell her cardigan. Also, was I the only person who lost to her rats in the game because they, alongside the mole, beat the snot out of me.

Wait, if Nemona came with Penny and she went back on the boat...did she just leave Penny behind???

Also, it's finally nice to see Ann's Sandslash battling on-screen! I hope that we get a Liko vs Ann round 4 this arc!

By the way, Cyrano's voice actor is mainly an actor, but he has some dubbing experience like voicing Holland from CCFFVII. He's also known to be a big Pokemon fan and loves the Quaxly line.

Lacey's voice actress is a former child actress with some voice acting experience. Both her and Cyrano's VA had been in the Lion King live action Japanese dub.

Drayton's VA voiced Siebold in the Mega Evolution specials during the XY era.

By the way, since the BB League and E4 are a thing in the anime and Carmine shows up in the preview...does this mean Carmine is a member of the E4 in the anime?
 
Doubl - Echo said:
You know, I've been thinking Kieran would be a perfect fit for the Strong Spheres. He's that kind of character, desperate to become strong. He would absolutely try them.
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it's almost implied that horizons is taking place AFTER SV with how penny works for the league, but we've not got any idea about the DLC storylines. teal mask can take place concurrently with the main story given how nothing storywise changes if youre the champion or not, but only indigo disk can take place AFTER the story. which doesnt really prove anything since we've only seen carmine and no kieran, and she didn't mention anything that'd give away the timeline. so.
 
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