Review HZ116: Training Begins! Terarium Dome

An alright episode for the gang to train at the dome. Which Roy being caught up by Drayton trick for doing those unnecessary stuff before Lacey discover. Following that with battle that Roy lose. Then, it will be Uruto turn to train for next week episode.

Overall rating: C +
 
Amusingly I honestly have very little to say about this episode.

Liko does barely anything though seems she'll be paying Briar a visit next week, Penny's a quick cameo and it definitely looks like Dot and Carmine's battle will be a gag one sharing time with Ult and Lacey.

Speaking of which both Lacey and Drayton continue to shine once again with their fun personalities and it's nice to see Carmine again even if Liko can barely recognise her, lol.

Also another L for the useless electric bird although this time the croc goes down with him too.
 
It is pretty neat to see each of the kids hit up a different part of the Terarium while connecting with someone else like Liko meeting up with Ann in the Savannah part. Roy and Drayton's battle was pretty short since it was in the last third of the battle. It looked pretty neat, but Kilowattrel goes down pretty quick, and Crocolar didn't last much longer. I am glad to see Archaludon fight and Kingdra floating around was a little odd, but it does stink that we didn't see a Dragon terastalization. Otherwise, let's see how the rest of the kids' time in the Terarium pans out
 
Poor Lacey, she has to act like a kindergarten teacher to Uruto, if I was in her place I would be beyond exhausted lol. I hope she gets extra credit for this.
Carmine being forgotten by everyone as, well, she was essentially character of the week to them, was quite funny.
Drayton's training method is quite...unique, to put it euphemistically haha. But knowing when to be chill is a pretty good lesson.
Did anyone else catch that Liko is a bit overprotective of Tebrim? She clearly wanted to battle too, was told it was dangerous...
 
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Drayton: Draw me like one of your Kalosian girls.

Anyways, I'm glad that Drayden gets a mention and that Roy had been trained by Hassel who is a friend of his grandfather like in the game.

The way people forgot about Carmine was funny, but it made sense as it's been a year and they saw Briar more than her. I'm in the notion that Carmine didn't mention Kieran because he's off doing his own thing and that her personality isn't entirely revolved around her brother for her to mention him.

Still, I'm glad that each of the kids are getting their own training done. Hopefully, this arc will be one where Hattrem and Kilowattrel will be able to get some redemption.

I do wonder if Crispin and Amarys will show up as they are the Elite 4 and only 2 are present.
 
NumberOneSpinelApologist said:
Poor Lacey, she has to act like a kindergarten teacher to Uruto, if I was in her place I would be beyond exhausted lol. I hope she gets extra credit for this.
Carmine being forgotten by everyone as, well, she was essentially character of the week to them, was quite funny.
Drayton's training method is quite...unique, to put it euphemistically haha. But knowing when to be chill is a pretty good lesson.
Did anyone else catch that Liko is a bit overprotective of Tebrim? She clearly wanted to battle too, was told it was dangerous...
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Liko’s overprotection of Hattrem will likely end up being a plot point covered in this arc that leads to her evolution. Liko’s thing is wanting to understand the feelings of Pokémon so the fact that there’s a clear disconnect right now between her and Hattrem will be a moment for character growth. She means well in wanting to keep her Pokémon safe but in the process is once again missing Hattrem’s feelings that she also want to get stronger. Once she does evolve, she’s very likely to become the Red Mage of the team being equally a battler as she is a support.
 
The episode begins with Liko saying good morning to Anne, Dot calling Botan to meet up once the latter finishes her work, and Roy checking in on the Brave Asagi. Ult then shows up in front of Roy, complaining he's hungry. As a result, Liko, Roy, Dot, and Ult meet up in the cafeteria (where Meowscarada gets to sit at the table, but the other Pokémon sit on the floor). They chat about their training goals for a bit, then it cuts to them waiting for Briar's assistant to meet up with them in front of the Academy. It turns out that her assistant is Zeiyu (whom our heroes had totally forgotten about until reminded, of course, Ult is just meeting her for the first time). They meet up with Briar and explain about Strong Spheres and Super Strong Spheres (still a terrible name for a product). Briar says she will look into it but needs a little time and asks what they plan on doing while they wait. Liko answers that they will be training with Taro and Kakitsubata. Zeiyu is surprised that the latter would help.

Next they meet up with Taro to begin training. True to Zeiyu's doubt, Kakitsubata is not there. Taro sends recommendations for training locations to Liko, Roy, Dot, and Ult. The latter wanders off while the rest discuss their plans. Taro says she will look for Ult and Kakitsubata while the rest train. Liko goes to the Savanna Biome, where she finds a male Pyroar, which she challenges with Charcadet and Meowscarada. Hattrem wants to join too, but Liko says it's too dangerous. Anne then shows up. Dot heads to the Coastal Biome, where she challenges a Crabrawler. Ult is in the Polar Biome, where he encounters an Overquill. Taro spots Ult approaching the Overquill and warns him to be careful. Ult is not worried until Overquill attacks in its sleep. If it wasn't for Taro telling him to watch out, he would have been hit. Taro explains that it attacks moving things even in its sleep and tells Ult he needs to examine Pokémon he hasn't met before closely, using the Pokédex. Ult, embarrassed by being close to a girl as usual, runs off ("That's just not right"). Roy heads to the Canyon Biome, where Kakitsubata is watching. A Skarmory blows Crocalor off a bridge, KIlowatterl rescues Crocalor, and Kakitsubata approaches and compliments Roy on his Pokémon's teamwork. Roy asks Kakitsubata to train him, and he hands Roy his phone and heads back to his clubroom.

Roy's "training" is to wash his Pokémon, make a sandwich that has at least three ingredients, take a photo of Pokémon wearing glasses, and find ten types of berries. At 7 out of 10 berries, Roy runs into Taro, who asks what he is doing. Roy explains that he is training under Kakitsubata, and Taro asks where Kakitsubata is, rather annoyed. Ult wanders into a cave while Taro enters the clubroom and yells at Kakitsubata (leading to the second "That's just not right" of the episode). It turns out that Kakitsubata was just having Roy complete BBQs for him. Cyano shows up and explains that BBQs are Blueberry Quests, and Taro explains what those are. Cyano mentions that Roy battled Hassaku, which leads to Kakitsubata challenging Roy to a battle since Hassaku is a friend of Kakitsubata's grandfather, Shaga. Roy accepts rather excitedly.

Ult is wandering Chargestone Cavern when he runs into a Galvantula. He has Sabeleye attack it, but it gets caught in the Galvatula's Electroweb. Taro finds Ult just as he defeats the Galvantula and lectures him. Ult runs off again. Dot is gathering coins when she encounters Botan, brainwashed and also gathering coins. Liko is training with Anne (Charcadet vs Samurott), the battle against the Pyroar having ended offscreen. Zeiyu shows up and says that Briar wants to meet with Liko and Terapagos. Liko calls Dot to meet up with them as well. Zeiyu warns Liko not to mention that she is a part of the Rising Volt Tacklers at the academy, leading to Liko being a bit down until Zeiyu encourages her not to worry about what people who don't know the full story think.

Kakitsubata shows Roy the battle court in the Polar Plaza, and their battle begins (Kingdra and Archaludon vs Crocalor and Kilowattrel). The battle is relatively even until Kakitsubata has his Kingdra use Rain Dance. The battle then swiftly ends in Kakitsubata's favor. Kakitsubata advises Roy he needs to relax more (not advice Roy would have needed before the time skip, but he needs it now). Taro finds Ult yet again and tells him that if he wants to get stronger, they should study. The episode ends on this note.

After a substantial winning streak, it seems Roy may be on a bit of a losing streak. Hopefully, he takes Kakitsubata's advice and regains some of his old personality in the process. It seems Roy and Ult are still getting plenty of attention, even though they got a whole three-episode special to themselves, and Liko and Dot could use a bit of extra attention since they missed out on those episodes. It's not that big a deal as long as whatever happens is entertaining enough, but I still hope they'll give Liko and Dot a bit of extra focus at some point in this arc.
 
This sure was the episode of all time :wynaut:
I don't actually mind that at all, feels nice to have a solid downtime episode where the main four (again) share equal screentime, which I hope stays the case going forward for anything that isn't a focus ep. I liked the Carmine and Anne screentime, kinda felt like the anime team making up for neither really getting much of anything prior. Now to wait for an eventual Dot episode...
 
i finally caught up on horizons after falling behind a few episodes due to stuff in my real life!! yippee! i had to watch HZ114-116 all at once. we are only two episodes in but i'm enjoying rising again so far! i think i might need to rewatch HZ115 and HZ116 to fully develop my thoughts because i watched them while i was a little bit sleepy but i digress. i'm posting this now. whatever.

so personally i do not care at all about characters from the games showing up unless they service the plot/characters of horizons in some way (even though i love the games!) so back when we had terastal debut i was tentative about all the game characters showing up and now with rising again i've been tentative about blueberry academy characters showing up. thankfully just like with terastal debut i've been enjoying character inclusions. taro and kakitsubata are both delights to watch in this episode (though i never expected kakitsubata's voice to sound like that, not that it Isn't fitting but i'm adjusting LOL); i think these two really work as the included blueberry e4 members because they're like total opposites of each other and play off of each other well. taro is struggling to wrangle ult as her student but roy is struggling to wrangle kakitsubata as his teacher. taro scolding kakitsubata in the league club room was really funny, i definitely had an amused exhale out the nose about it.

in speaking of kakitsubata, i really enjoyed the battle between him and roy, though this was definitely amplified by me and my friend watching this episode together and joking around in the chat about SIR WHERE IS YOUR PELIPPER. using VGC rain staples with no rain LOL. when he did set up the rain and use it to his advantage i cheered! i don't actually care about the anime battles being accurate to the games, that's just not the point of the anime and i was just being silly with my friend, but it is really cool when they pull unique/special interactions from the games, particularly with abilities such as swift swim. i still remember when i predicted that spinel would use skill swap on cap's lightning rod in HZ086 and i was so proud of myself when i was right, but also that was like, the coolest thing ever. my pokemon game nerd self is definitely down for more interactions like that.

also interested to see seille return! i thought it was really strange that she was in all the promotional material for rayquaza rising despite essentially being a character of the day. i mean she was so absent the main cast did not remember her lol. it makes a little more sense now that she's back and appears to be a more prominent character. i really liked the little character moment between her and liko in this episode and i hope they develop a proper friendship over the course of this arc. it will be interesting to see how her headstrong personality combines with her softer and more down-to-earth side which is clearly on display when she tells liko to not care what other people think.

it was also sooo nice to see liko training with ann. i know ann has the characterization and story of more or less a cardboard cutout but i'm attached to her for my own reasons and i'm so happy she's back in this arc, even if only a little. those are my girls!!

my only actual criticism of this episode is something tiny but god i am just so sick of the bit with dot's collecurei influencing her (and now botan too) to collect coins for it. she said when she caught it that she'd help it on purpose. and it just had what i thought was character development in HZ109 that endeared me to the little guy, so i'm frustrated that they've already gone back to this annoying bit that's kind of ruining all of the good will it developed for me in HZ109. when collecurei was introduced i was annoyed but i wasn't as worried about it because thus far i feel like horizons has been pretty good about knowing how to space out their running gags or when to stop them. the thing with liko not knowing about dot's secret identity as gurumin ended right when it needed to. cap's allergy to cuteness has been going on forever but it's harmless and spaced out enough to not get repetitive or annoying. but i feel like lately sometimes all dot shows up to do is be tricked by her own pokemon again, the one she said she would help of her own autonomy, and it's just so frustrating. i don't find it cute or quirky or funny, i just feel dot's frustration and wish she would put her foot down with her own pokemon. dot is not the type of person to like being pushed around by others and i feel like we're supposed to find the joke funny because of exactly that but it just irritates me lol. i really hope we get some honest to god good dot episodes in this arc and that this damn collecurei evolves soon so it can stop being like this

rant aside, some incredibly non-serious not-actual-criticism: i really wish we could see everyone's dorm rooms, even if just for a single frame/shot or something, but this episode just starts with them already having left their dorm rooms and meeting up with each other outside... this isn't a criticism, my fan heart just wants to have a canon dorm location and layout to work with in fanwork since school settings are so easy to write fanwork in. perhaps in a future episode they will happen to fulfill my wish... lol

and in speaking of them meeting up, i am so obsessed with masquernya eating at the table with the four of them with her own bowl and everything while every other pokemon is on the ground. i laughed.
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overall good episode! i don't mind things being slow and more character focused right now. actually i think that's exactly what i want from horizons at the moment
 
terashards said:
my only actual criticism of this episode is something tiny but god i am just so sick of the bit with dot's collecurei influencing her (and now botan too) to collect coins for it. she said when she caught it that she'd help it on purpose. and it just had what i thought was character development in HZ109 that endeared me to the little guy, so i'm frustrated that they've already gone back to this annoying bit that's kind of ruining all of the good will it developed for me in HZ109. when collecurei was introduced i was annoyed but i wasn't as worried about it because thus far i feel like horizons has been pretty good about knowing how to space out their running gags or when to stop them. the thing with liko not knowing about dot's secret identity as gurumin ended right when it needed to. cap's allergy to cuteness has been going on forever but it's harmless and spaced out enough to not get repetitive or annoying. but i feel like lately sometimes all dot shows up to do is be tricked by her own pokemon again, the one she said she would help of her own autonomy, and it's just so frustrating. i don't find it cute or quirky or funny, i just feel dot's frustration and wish she would put her foot down with her own pokemon. dot is not the type of person to like being pushed around by others and i feel like we're supposed to find the joke funny because of exactly that but it just irritates me lol. i really hope we get some honest to god good dot episodes in this arc and that this damn collecurei evolves soon so it can stop being like this
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god I feel this so bad. I've hated dot's gimmighoul since before she even caught it, then it became the worst capture in all of horizons, then it had a tolerable (not good, but tolerable) episode when tinkatuff evolved, and now we're back to it being an annoying little shit. I really hope it evolves soon so we can stop dealing with that thing.

Overall I am enjoying rising hope so far though, I like how they paired drayton with roy because drayton's chill attitude might lead roy to being back to his more cheerful, younger self at least a little bit. and it's also just nice to spend time with liko again after three weeks of boys' club (though I liked those episodes too).
 
Mialentia said:
I like how they paired drayton with roy because drayton's chill attitude might lead roy to being back to his more cheerful, younger self at least a little bit.
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definitely agree the message to relax a little bit is something roy needs to hear right now! even if it has been delivered with a little bit of trickery LOL
 
terashards said:
my only actual criticism of this episode is something tiny but god i am just so sick of the bit with dot's collecurei influencing her (and now botan too) to collect coins for it. she said when she caught it that she'd help it on purpose. and it just had what i thought was character development in HZ109 that endeared me to the little guy, so i'm frustrated that they've already gone back to this annoying bit that's kind of ruining all of the good will it developed for me in HZ109. when collecurei was introduced i was annoyed but i wasn't as worried about it because thus far i feel like horizons has been pretty good about knowing how to space out their running gags or when to stop them. the thing with liko not knowing about dot's secret identity as gurumin ended right when it needed to. cap's allergy to cuteness has been going on forever but it's harmless and spaced out enough to not get repetitive or annoying. but i feel like lately sometimes all dot shows up to do is be tricked by her own pokemon again, the one she said she would help of her own autonomy, and it's just so frustrating. i don't find it cute or quirky or funny, i just feel dot's frustration and wish she would put her foot down with her own pokemon. dot is not the type of person to like being pushed around by others and i feel like we're supposed to find the joke funny because of exactly that but it just irritates me lol. i really hope we get some honest to god good dot episodes in this arc and that this damn collecurei evolves soon so it can stop being like this
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I am so desperate for a proper episode about it but I'm worried they won't do it and it'll evolve without consequence </3
At least when it does evolve Dot would officially have one of my favourite pokemon so maybe its not that bad :wynaut:
 
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My man looking like he's tryna be in a fashion magazine LOL

A nice downtime episode after all the flaming hoops that have been jumped through in the last few. Strangely I enjoyed watching Ult the most. Which is surprising, but I think he's showed more personality here (and not just the tv tropes rowdy boy) than in the past. And Lacey and Drayton show up so what's not to love :ayeaye:

Also echoing the sentiments that Gimmighoul needs to get their dang coins already, because I want Ghouldengo on the main cast already XD
 
At least, give Gimmighoul a little more character than being obsessed with collecting coins before it evolves.
 
This episode was essentially setting up the dynamics and plot points of what is to come later in the arc. Liko focusing on training Characadet & meeting up with Briar, Roy training with Drayton, Dot meeting up with Penny, Ult training with Lacey, etc. As it's own episode, it felt like a lot of different things cutting back and forth between each other.

I can't hear Drayton without hearing Franky from Spy x Family and it kind of throws me off.
 
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