Review JN135: Pokémon! I'm Glad I Got to Meet You!

[Kurolegacy]

Watched with subs. First of all, again, not a single f**k could be given about Satoshi's accomplishments by the residents of Masara Town. No big homecoming, no celebrations, not one person was seen coming to greet him apart from his mother (even Kenji was off visiting Hanada Gym again it seems). While the people of Alola chant his name and Galar recognises him as the strongest trainer in the world, ask anyone in Masara Town about Satoshi and they'll just go "oh him, isn't he that research fellow of Professor Sakuragi?". It shouldn't infuriate me this much, but it does.

I did like Satoshi reuniting with his all his Pokemon, and the show taking the time to inform us that we won't be seeing his reserves for a long time after this if ever. Shame the Journeys crew will be getting put out to pasture soon too. I can't help but wonder if Satoshi was even going to go home before he set off for the institute, considering that he was intended on setting off on his next journey straight from there.

A lot of people are upset at Go's reaction to Satoshi telling him he wants to go on a journey again, but I think it's kinda understandable; Go has invested a lot in this friendship (his first real one) to the point where he was afraid to tell Satoshi he was leaving only for Satoshi to casually drop his news extremely casually. Go seems to be sensing that he cares about their friendship than Satoshi does since he didn't have any issue with telling him or worrying about his reaction. My only real issue with it is that Journeys has minimalised international travel so much that the two could easily pop over to visit each other in the time it takes to run a scene transition.

Personally, I find that the scene with Ash and his reserves would have felt a lot more meaningful had Ash actually used them in this series and this was Ash basica giving his thanks to them while saying his goodbyes since he’ll be away for a while. With this, it’s basically the writers rubbing our noses in the fact that they have no interest in using Ash’s reserves even as a fan service but will still make an empty gesture with the reserves.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Speaking of Goh's starters, I swear when Goh was talking about how much of a partner his Cinderace is I was like "You two are partners? We see much more of Grookey than Cinderace!" Hell, during the last 2 Project Mew episodes how much of Cinderace did we even see? I swear, the only time I remember Cinderace appearing was to battle Mew.

Aside from my problem with them giving Goh all three, I don't like how they've essentially sidelined Cinderace for Grookey, despite it being his first Pokemon. I mean in the climax of Goh's story, Cinderace wasn't even used.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Aside from my problem with them giving Goh all three, I don't like how they've essentially sidelined Cinderace for Grookey, despite it being his first Pokemon. I mean in the climax of Goh's story, Cinderace wasn't even used.

Which is made all the worse when you consider that the climax of Ash’s story was all about his partner. Hell going further, I don’t think there’s been a finale for any of Ash’s co-stars where their partner wasn’t involved.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Which is made all the worse when you consider that the climax of Ash’s story was all about his partner. Hell going further, I don’t think there’s been a finale for any of Ash’s co-stars where their partner wasn’t involved.

Let's be real with ourselves here.......does Goh even really have a true "partner" Pokemon (like one he shares a meaningful connection with) anymore?

 

[Kurolegacy]

Let's be real with ourselves here.......does Goh even really have a true "partner" Pokemon (like one he shares a meaningful connection with) anymore?

The fact that the writers thought that his “partner” could be interchangeable simply because they gave him all 3 starters shows just how much of a soulless advertisement he was in this series. Like Battle Frontier made a point of how special Ash’s bonds are with Bulbasaur, Charizard and Squirtle as his oldest Pokemon but even they could never replace Pikachu.

 

[InfinityHelios]

Seriously, giving Goh all 3 starters was a huge mistake, especially when you remember he isn't even much of a battler, he's a collector. Doesn't help that even ignoring the fact Goh got Grookey that episode is still the worst Pokemon episode I've ever seen. You familiar with the tropes Designated Hero and Designated Villain? Well both of those tropes fit in that episode as well as Unintentionally Unsympathetic and Unintentionally Sympathetic. It hurts even more because I'm not even against Team Rocket having a starter Pokemon. James catches a lot of grass types, why not give him a grass starter? Hell, Meowscarada is part dark, so wouldn't that be a good pick for them in the SV anime? At the very least it'd be better than freaking Morpeko, who's without a doubt the worst Team Rocket Pokemon ever. It pretty much exists only to keep the running gag of James' Pokemon attacking him, except in all the other cases it was funny because they do it out of love. Morpeko attacks because he's hungry. Hell, I dare you to find even one scene in all of the Masters 8 where Morpeko is not eating. Except, you can't. Every single time it was on screen it was doing nothing but eating. Let's not forget in one of the Ash vs Cynthia episodes they cut to that thing at last 4 whole times. Yeah, Grookey won't be the only Pokemon I won't be missing when SV starts.

 

[Gard81]

I can defnitely see Goh's POV in going their separate ways. It's just that: a) I developed no emotional attachment to him, so I'm not that invested in his plight and b) I'm really hoping for either Nemona, Arven or Penny to be the new main companion.

 

[RileyXY1]

I can defnitely see Goh's POV in going their separate ways. It's just that: a) I developed no emotional attachment to him, so I'm not that invested in his plight and b) I'm really hoping for either Nemona, Arven or Penny to be the new main companion.

I don’t think that any of the game characters will be companions. I think that the companions next time will be anime original characters instead.

 

[Gard81]

I don’t think that any of the game characters will be companions. I think that the companions next time will be anime original characters instead.

Well, that would be a waste of opportunity, especially since they're all already pretty well-defined and wouldn't need to come up with someone from scratch.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

One more "What if", that wasn’t featured in the episode. These comics remind me of someone turning in an exam paper and immediately after saying "I wish I could’ve written this", and arguing with the teacher that they should get full credit even though they didn’t put it in the paper. This way of adding soul and genuine interactions to the series feels "too little, too late" to me, and shows the issue of "show, don’t tell".

 

[VetProf]

One more "What if", that wasn’t featured in the episode. These comics remind me of someone turning in an exam paper and immediately after saying "I wish I could’ve written this", and arguing with the teacher that they should get full credit even though they didn’t put it in the paper. This way of adding soul and genuine interactions to the series feels "too little, too late" to me, and shows the issue of "show, don’t tell".

I'm... genuinely unsure of what's being complained about here. The comic here simply shows Koharu's thoughts after she chased after the boys, with her being relieved that they've made up with each other and being amused at how similar both of them are. This is literally what happened in the episode. The only difference is that her thoughts weren't directly spelled out to the viewers in the episode itself, because it's assumed that viewers could understand what she was thinking just by observing the way she smiled while watching the boys from afar. This is literally "show, don't tell" being put into action.

I'd understand the complaint if the comic was showing something that really should've been included in the episode itself (eg. Cilan's cameo in the TR radio episode, or Ash talking with Alain during the Masters Eight tournament), but here, the comic is simply spelling out Koharu's thoughts that were already obviously being shown through her actions in the episode itself.

Honestly, judging by how some people here react to the comics, this feels like a lose-lose situation for them. Either the comics show something unimportant and they ignore it completely, or the comics show something interesting and they berate it for not being directly included into the episode.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I'm... genuinely unsure of what's being complained about here. The comic here simply shows Koharu's thoughts after she chased after the boys, with her being relieved that they've made up with each other and being amused at how similar both of them are. This is literally what happened in the episode. The only difference is that her thoughts weren't directly spelled out to the viewers in the episode itself, because it's assumed that viewers could understand what she was thinking just by observing the way she smiled while watching the boys from afar. This is literally "show, don't tell" being put into action.

I'd understand the complaint if the comic was showing something that really should've been included in the episode itself (eg. Cilan's cameo in the TR radio episode, or Ash talking with Alain during the Masters Eight tournament), but here, the comic is simply spelling out Koharu's thoughts that were already obviously being shown through her actions in the episode itself.

Honestly, judging by how some people here react to the comics, this feels like a lose-lose situation for them. Either the comics show something unimportant and they ignore it completely, or the comics show something interesting and they berate it for not being directly included into the episode.

I guess it was an annoyance more about the comics in general and not this comic in particular. 90% of the time these comics show Pokémon interactions that the series is devoid of with the main characters interacting with the each other.

I feel if the comics are required to be emotionally invested in relationships (like Lucario/Cinderace being the most prominent example) I think it should be a part of the episode. The criticism towards this particular comic might be misplaced from my part, I admit, but the concept being used to show things that should be in the show, and kind of being a further excuse to not show bonds in the actual show still stands.

The comics are less “Oh here’s a cute interaction behind the scenes!” and more “These two Pokémon are now best friends in the show which we didn’t bother to put in the actual episode!”

 

[Hidden Mew]

Okay, stop discussing Scarlet/Violet spoilers. While they have been kept mostly in spoiler tags, we still have a rule about not discussing unannounced Pokemon and characters outside of the Scarlet/Violet section. It is the first thing you see when you log into the site and we have a rule in the Anime and Manga about not posting Scarlet/Violet spoilers too. There is absolutely no excuse for doing this when we have made it as clear as possible where Scarlet/Violet spoilers can be discussed. I am quite frankly tired of having to remind people of this incredibly simple rule.

This is also pretty off-topic with the review thread itself. There are other places to discuss potential new traveling companions without diving into spoilers from the games too. The posts about Scarlet/Violet characters will be deleted. Please remain on topic and do not post about Scarlet/Violet spoilers outside of the Scarlet/Violet section.

 

[InfinityHelios]

I don't even know why people are assuming the companion(s) wil be game characters only. Even ignoring Journeys, remember Max? Anyways, I can't exactly see Ash and Goh beating Lugia. I mean, Ash just barely beat Leon and I'm pretty sure Leon's Charizard doesn't measure up to Lugia in strength. I can possibly see them dealing some damage, but beating it? No way. Also Goh, no, you're not gonna catch that thing. I shouldn't have to explain why, that's not even my hatred of Goh talking, there is a legit 0% chance that he will catch it.

 

[R1ke]

Kinda wholesome ep, nice seeing the three just hang out. Goh and Ash splitting is all good with me, they ultimately have their separate goals and need to be independent to complete them. I like how they’ve shown Goh/Chloe’s growth here, they have changed a lot throughout the series. But you can grill them for how it’s been handled. Goh was handled well here imo, we can still see his flaws manifest here. It’s also cool how they brought things full circle, Ash and Goh first met on a Lugia hence they end by battling it together

For a 2 part-finale it does feel rather underwhelming though. Especially with the brief M8 celebration

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Watched with subs. First of all, again, not a single f**k could be given about Satoshi's accomplishments by the residents of Masara Town. No big homecoming, no celebrations, not one person was seen coming to greet him apart from his mother (even Kenji was off visiting Hanada Gym again it seems). While the people of Alola chant his name and Galar recognises him as the strongest trainer in the world, ask anyone in Masara Town about Satoshi and they'll just go "oh him, isn't he that research fellow of Professor Sakuragi?". It shouldn't infuriate me this much, but it does.

So, I found this on Twitter:



I have to say though, I totally agree with you, as well as others, such as Handy Man and Islander Princess who expressed similar disappointment. As a matter of fact, I meant to respond to this back in the preview thread for this episode, and I agree with what those two said there as well. It's about what this series was sorely lacking in: heart and soul. Like, there is just so little heart and soul in this series sometimes, it's just........incredibly disappointing to me. Like, as my post above insinuates, there is just a distinct lack of heart and soul here. Like, Ash just became the strongest trainer in the world, would a big celebration have really been that much to ask? Instead, what we got, it felt more like.......him winning a small tournament or something. It didn't feel big or important at all. And those cameos we got of all of Ash's friends watching him in TV during the battle with Leon? Sure, that was great, I'm not complaining, but you know what would have been even more amazing? If they had actually been there cheering for him like Dawn was, instead of just watching it on the big screen.

Honestly, I (and others,) didn't ask for much from the finale of this series, and they couldn't even give us that, that being Ash's friends being there for him during the final battle (you really mean to tell me Dawn's voice actress was the only person avaliable, and/or that Dawn was the only one of his friends who had the free time to make it there for the what was supposedly the biggest, most important battle of his life,) and a big celebration in Pallet Town afterwards. Instead, we got cameos and a brief little congrats from Oak and his mom. Literally nobody else.

Uggggh. I'm just so ready for this series to be over with already. Hopefully, they won't keep this souless style of writing either, otherwise they really should just retire Ash here and now, if this is how they're going to continue writing this series.


(Oh yeah, I almost forgot. What's going to happen to Ash's Journeys team now? I mean, he was just in Pallet Town and he didn't drop them off there....you think he's taking them with him on this new journey? I doubt he's leaving them at Cerise's lab, since I think that place is about to become pretty irrelevant.)

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I may be an exception here, but I don't mind the smaller congratulations compared to a bigger party. Ash is already on the move towards his next objective, and the episode was dedicated to setting up his and Goh's departure. There was really no time or necessarily even need for a bigger celebration.

 

[Handy Man]

I may be an exception here, but I don't mind the smaller congratulations compared to a bigger party. Ash is already on the move towards his next objective, and the episode was dedicated to setting up his and Goh's departure. There was really no time or necessarily even need for a bigger celebration.

What exactly is Ash’s next objective? Ash hasn’t really said what he wants to do next, just that he wants to go on another journey. When DP and XY were ending, he just planned to return home with no expectations on his future. Both BW and SM happen some unspecified time afterwards, with SM implying that Ash just went to go on vacation at first, only then discovering that he wants to stay there. To compare with other series, Ash went straight to Hoenn after the Johto league because of Harrison, and Ash went straight to Sinnoh after hearing about it from Gary. He also went straight to Kalos after hearing about it from Alexa. When Ash usually decides to begin a journey immediately, it’s because he experienced something recently that makes him want to check it out. So, in my opinion, Ash saying that he wants to go on a journey right after the PWC, which already involved him traveling the world as-is, feels hollow to me. To me, it feels like he says it for the sake of it instead of having an ulterior motive, which is actually uncharacteristic of him.

I also feel bad for all of the people in the PWC who finally have a new #1 seed, then he chooses to dip out of the bracket with zero consequences and wants to do something else. It just makes it feel like the PWC was a toy for Ash to play around with until he got bored of it, which undermines the value of it. Considering Ash defeated Steven, Cynthia, and Leon all in a row, he would probably be harassed by interviewers and have gained a lot of fans from the experience, as we see with Leon in JN100. However, Ash completely escapes stardom somehow, as far as we know. Yes, the lack of a party stinks, but no one even cares to treat Ash as some kind of celebrity afterwards either. It makes me wonder what the point of it all was, since Ash also didn’t learn much as a character in Journeys, since he won every single battle except for against Bea and random CotDs in JN036. Ash has no reason to stay in the PWC if he won the whole thing and wants to do something new, but Journeys should at least show us the gravity of him winning such a milestone. I really don’t think it’s asking for much, and it’s really not worth sweeping under the rug.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

What exactly is Ash’s next objective?

His objective is to travel more. The more concrete goal will come later.