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Review JN146: Satoshi and Latios!

It was a decent episode; it's true that it's not something we haven't seen lots of times before but I liked that after all this time they're still treating Hunters as some of the biggest menaces in the anime. He looked like a movie character design-wise, I've never been a big fan of that style to be honest but I liked how run-down he was, showing there was a huge struggle we simply never got to see.

Anyway, this episode managed to get a little bit of everything. There's a sweet camping scene with the original trio, there's some physical action going on with Ash, there's a showdown where he uses his signature battling style (assuming that's what they were going for with the Latios trick there), and it all felt naturally incorporated into the episode. I liked it overall, but as the second-to-last episode it was not much to write home about, admittedly.

That said, my only notable issue is how forced/cheap it felt when the Hunter knocked Brock and Misty's Poké Balls. They didn't even show them retrieving them after, it was so obvious the writers didn't want to have any of their Pokémon other than Steelix there. A big shame too since if there was a time for Brock and Misty to shine... it was a sorta now-or-never scenario here.

Looks like Team Rocket's headquarters got de-remodeled back to their DP design. Oh well, the scene did give me lots of nostalgia from the older era when their series "renewal" scenes were more than just a Giovanni meeting. I liked how Jessie didn't follow up on the dialog Meowth and James got about being alone, since she had Wobbuffet with her. But now I'm wondering what happened to their other Pokémon from last episode. I'm getting a dready feeling for their storyline as they're approaching Giovanni...

Man, I love the "Mysterious Girl / Labyrinth " OST, easily one of my favorite compositions for the anime. I wish the scene was a bit longer so they didn't have to ax the music so much, but the episode still ended on a pretty high note to me. I think I'll go watch the original series movies again.

Edit: I forgot to mention Rica Matsumoto's acting was one of the highlights here, especially during the cave confrontation.
 
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Mr.Snack said:
Ash and Team Rocket will get an open ending so they can be brought back if the new series fails.
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Yeah sure, that will work wonder. Especially seeing Liko and Roy witness Ash lose in the worse way imaginary with both of them will success our eternal 10 year old boy for infinity L forever.
 
Subs revealed that Latias' wounded state in the first episode was due to Pokémon Hunter, and not because she crashed into Team Rocket as we assumed.
 
Gabo2oo said:
That said, my only notable issue is how forced/cheap it felt when the Hunter knocked Brock and Misty's Poké Balls. They didn't even show them retrieving them after, it was so obvious the writers didn't want to have any of their Pokémon other than Steelix there. A big shame too since if there was a time for Brock and Misty to shine... it was a sorta now-or-never scenario here.
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I actually quite liked that moment since it reinforces the idea that he's a villain who doesn't play by the rules. If he sees an opportunity to outright prevent his opponent from sending out their Pokemon, of course he's gonna take it. Highlights his quick thinking and reaction, too.

But yeah, I do agree that Brock and Misty could've taken a more active role in the conflict. Especially Misty, since she wasn't able to send out a Pokemon at all. When I saw the scene transitioning to a watery area, I was fully expecting Misty to bring out her Gyarados or something, which unfortunately didn't happen.
 
in the last episode, i was happy to watch it just to see the few moments with infernape. it was great; i felt that seeing the episode was time well spent for me, regardless of anything else happening in the episode.

so, (to my surprise) i was actually legitimately upset at how little satoshi cared when swellow was frozen. why wasn't he diving into the river this time to save it, like he did for pikachu? wasn't that what this whole series was supposed to be showing? it needed to be takeshi rescuing it? and takeshi was the one happy that swellow was normal? i honestly, to my surprise, found that's what stuck with me from this episode.

but this series in general is what i want to talk about.
i've seen all the episodes of the aim to be a master series. i've seen all of journeys as well. i don't think anything i'm about say right here will be original or unique, but next week won't be the place for it. actually, i don't doubt that the next episode will actually be somewhat good/great/memorable. so this is the time. almost all of this series is done; hopefully enough to say some general things.

i think, to start off with, it's a shame satoshi is ending his journey this way. he deserved better. maybe fans deserved better, too. but he certainly deserved better. i felt the writers really didn't care for what they were writing (for the most part) in journeys and in the aim to be a master series and just tried to grit their teeth and get through it/be professional. to go back to the lapras episode which didn't even hide that the plot was nonsensical, if you're at this point having to make fun of yourself so that the episode will work or even just be watchable (as if to tell the viewer, yes it's not good but we do know it's not good), then that's just not good. i'm sure, for the writers who really wanted to write satoshi "correctly," they just can't, aren't being given the freedom to write him, and they've given up trying to.

essentially, this is what aim to be a master ended up being.
the brainstorming for this
in charge guy: "we're getting rid of satoshi!!!"
writer who likes satoshi: "fans are going to be upset. we should give him a going away 11 episode series, and showcase his old pokemon. we weren't able to do that for journeys (for whatever reason). but here we can do it, right?"
in charge guy: "welllllllll, okay. you can have your series. but. it's got to have these things!!!"
writer who likes satoshi: "okay."
in charge guy: "takeshi and kasumi. they're the originals. they might have almost no chemistry with satoshi, at least in this series, so you'll have to actually insert obvious moments to give them things to do or justify why they are even in this series for an extended time, like pokemon healing moments or bug moments or cooking moments. but they. must. be. there."
writer who likes satoshi: "oh. some people might be a little sad that takeshi seemed to have achieved being a pokemon doctor in the arceus special and in this series we're introducing him by saying he just threw away his dream for something ridiculous. but the first kasumi episode will be fine/good, and she definitely deserves an appearance like that in a sendoff series. maybe that'll make up for it? well, all in all, it will be a noticeable they will just be here in this series for almost reason. but that's not a big deal. no one will be too bothered."
in charge guy: "okay. as for satoshi..."
satoshi writer: "as for satoshi? wait, you wouldn't..."
in charge guy: "this is a GREAT way to showcase why we are getting rid of him. so look here. he's going to be as shallow as can be. the only thing people will be able to say about him is that he cares about pokemon. he'll do things that literally every single other traveling companion would have at least attempted to do. but we'll make it seem like that's all there is to him' that's why anybody likes him. such an easy/simple quality that is."
satoshi writer: "i mean, it's true that was all there was to him in kanto, for the most part. but we worked really hard and moved him past that. that's why we had satoshi start over when he went to hoenn, and slowly changed the tenor of the series. we wanted satoshi to grow. when it was time for him to finally defeat the other pokemon champions, it would be because he had worked, grown, and matured to that level; not because he did just ridiculously obvious things that anyone would do."
guy in charge: "how satoshi was in kanto is all that matters. who cares about the rest of that. at least i don't. and i make the decisions here. and about the opening. make it almost all kanto. mayyyyyyyyybe some blink and you miss moments from other regions, if you must. but. almost all kanto!"
satoshi writer: gives sad face.
guy in charge: "and so, people will see that there must be a change. it can't be done with satoshi, because there's nothing interesting about him. we must have a new series with new protagonists. people will be happy to see us get rid of satoshi, or at least understand it"

and so, that's what this series was. satoshi was essentially kicked out the door. the "congrats satoshi" campaign from earlier, all of it, wasn't sincere in the slightest. if all the person in charge wanted to say about satoshi in his final series was that he cared about an obviously injured, troubled pokemon or helped out when need be, that's not much to say about a character who genuinely had some incredible development over the long history of his story. taking him back to how he was in kanto, essentially (he is more mature in aim to be a master than kanto, but the justification for why he has succeeded and is why the viewer should watch him is the same as in kanto) is, i feel, missing out on years, and regions where he moved past that,

i genuinely saw/see satoshi as a very skilled trainer. not a genius, but definitely very talented, someone who with enough experience and growing up was definitely going to be champion. his defeating darkrai with sceptile in the sinnoh league was an incredible moment for him, i believed. it was a, "someday, i will be champion, and be able to defeat the other champions." moment. it was that amazing of an accomplishment, and doing it with sceptile, a pokemon ace he raised from treeko and worked with and trained every step of the way to make it as strong it became, was incredible. and he did it in a regions where sceptile wasn't even a main pokemon! obviously, satoshi's character had resets along the way in different regions. that's unavoidable. but i always believed when the time came for it he would be given a "proper" farewell, that would really take into account all of his journey. not this. pokemon came very close to showcasing a very special character, but in the end they (whoever's in charge) did a disservice to him. and to pikachu, too, i think. i think pikachu's characterization in journeys and in aim to be a master was not that good either. it devolved into too much, "pikachu is the strongest. pikachu is the most understanding. pikachu is so clever." i saw/see pikachu as satoshi's best partnet, one of the aces of his team over time (which i'm okay with), and always the leader of whatever team he was on, even if infernape/greninja/lucario outshone it in their respective regions. pikachu was the one who, more than any pokemon, would defend satoshi with pride until the battle's end.

specifically about aim to be master i wanted to talk about a particular scene, and that was satoshi seeing ho-oh before he went to hoenn. i actually do remember seeing that. takeshi and kasumi had parted ways with satoshi, and satoshi was wondering what to do. he then saw ho-oh, and that gave him conviction. watching it, it was as if the writers were saying, "yes, we know this will be different. but satoshi will grow from this. you will see." and satoshi really did. he reset himself, and gave belief to the viewer in the next few regions that, whenever it was time for him to win, he would win with skill and maturity, not simply because he "cared the most" or was a "good guy." but journeys for the most part was unable to honor that (satoshi not being able to use reserves is the main thing), and aim to be a master just didn't care.

so, i think satoshi deserved better than this.
 
VetProf said:
I actually quite liked that moment since it reinforces the idea that he's a villain who doesn't play by the rules. If he sees an opportunity to outright prevent his opponent from sending out their Pokemon, of course he's gonna take it. Highlights his quick thinking and reaction, too.
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Scene is fine and it would be cool if he actually disabled their pokéballs, but then Brock used Steelix without trouble, which begs the question why he waited.
 
marshiyanmisuta said:
Subs revealed that Latias' wounded state in the first episode was due to Pokémon Hunter, and not because she crashed into Team Rocket as we assumed.
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Gabo2oo said:
I like this direction to start things off (it could be setting up an ongoing plot with Latias? I'm not 100% convinced she was hurt that badly just by crashing into Team Rocket).
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I called it since the first episode! About time I get one prediction right lol
 
VetProf said:
I actually quite liked that moment since it reinforces the idea that he's a villain who doesn't play by the rules. If he sees an opportunity to outright prevent his opponent from sending out their Pokemon, of course he's gonna take it. Highlights his quick thinking and reaction, too.
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I'm always down for "outside the box" combat that involves something else than Pokémon battling (which is why I love it so much whenever Ash tries to physically intercept the villains and whatnot). It's just that Misty and Brock's Poké Balls were knocked way too easily, and their reaction was like "oh noes" without even visibly attempting to retrieve them or send out more Pokémon, which we know they have.

(And that's without considering the fact that Pokémon can get out by themselves, since that's historically been ignored when convenient, to the point we barely even question it anymore.)
 
I never liked the serious hunter stuff because of things like that. It's why as large as a threat as hunter J and half the enemy teams were, they're off to me in what the show has. (Characters with full teams using 1 Pokemon at a time and being sidelined for some scenes. Though Satoshi going for tackles will always be funny). I do find this episode to do the concept better than some of the past episodes.
 
Okay finally had a chance to watch the whole thing in decent subs

So my expectations were low ever since i saw the description for this episode when it was first announced, the plot basically sounding like "Ash helps the Eon Duo from the nameless hunter, and then they fly off unceremoniously, never to see each other again"

It went exactly how I thought it would it go, I had low expectations but I still ended up disgusted by the writers choices

I mean really, the pen-ultimate episode, after 9 episodes of Latias staring at Ash from afar, only to be given a handful of nothing to show for it.

And all of this is just after the dog**** season that was Journeys, where not only did Ash not get as much as he should, but what and who he did get, didn't much in the way in the way of proper screentime or development, because most of the episodes it was just him and Pikachu either goofing around in some dumb fiiler/slapstick that contributed nothing to the season, or standing on the sidelines while they kept spoiling Goh
You know I heard somewhere that Ash was supposed to catch Latias long ago, but then they made the really stupid choice to not let him have it, oh but then during the Sinnoh league that self-insert grade a******e decided Tobias just waltz in with his cheat level team full of Mythicals and Legendaries, one of them being Latios itself, and I'm supposed to believe this edgelord fan character was worthy enough to have all those Ubers and throw their power around to win the Sinnoh League. Then there's that spoiled 8th stringer writers pet Goh who was apparently good enough to earn Suicunes favor, and let him catch it, and then later get Regieleki cause he piggybacked off of Gary, on top of everything that was handed to Goh. Same with his friend Horace, you're saying some rando was able to catch Virizion like that?

At the end of the episode, after helping the Eon duo from Hunter, what did Ash get at the end, his kindness slapped away, and I know that of course Latios would be distrustful of humans, but you can not tell me Ash didn't get done dirty compared to everyone else I listed off, especially compared to Goh

And for anyone who wants bring Naganadel, Melmetal and Solgaleo

1. Ash had to let Naganadel back to its own world
2. Ash should have used Melmetal a bunch in JN, relating to whole not using reserves problem
3. I didn't see Solgaleo go into a ball, so I can't count it
 
Ash capturing Latias definitely has no basis, I think fans are passing off wishlists as rumors to other fans. I can't think of a single "he was originally going to win/capture" statement actually being true besides, Clefairy?
 
The good: Movie 5 references, the villain design, some aerial battles (though they don't reach the highs of BW and XY).

The meh: Anything else. The action was very straightforward, and Misty not being able to participate was extremely lame. Also, it's hard to take it as a climax when the previous episodes didn't give much to be excited for, and the conclusion didn't change the status quo at all. It's nice that Ash met a Pokemon that wasn't completely friendly, but that will make his obvious statement in the next episode "I want to befriend every Pokemon" sound like "I will force every Pokemon to like me" so...was it worth it at all? It's too late to introduce something like that.
 
Lightning Flame Blast said:
10 episodes of building up Latias, only for the spotlight to be on this random Latios we just found out existed and Latias to be useless in the final conflict.

Yeah, they really had no clue what they were doing in this final stretch.
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Indeed. The premise felt pretty stupid to me, if I'm being honest. So, Latias and Latios were being pursued by this hunter, which led to the both of them being injured. Latias gets away, happens upon Ash, then spends several days up to essentially a week following him to deem him worthy enough to help her help Latios... Meanwhile, Latios is battling for its life during said time, hurt and alone. It's a concept that didn't need to be extended as an overarching plot for what is Ash's epilogue after an over-a-decade-long animated journey; I could see a two-parter at most. They didn't even end it on an outlandish note with a capture of either Lati twin; just an ungrateful Latios handslap that's supposed to demonstrate Ash's maturity or some such. It's also all such a recycled element - when aren't the Lati twins in trouble of some kind in Pokémon media?

Again, it just bums me out that this was the direction they chose to go with regarding the final 11 episodes; but I won't go into too much detail as to not derail this thread's topic. At least the animation for this episode was nice.

I don't really have high hopes for next week.
 
jungle_penguins said:
Ash capturing Latias definitely has no basis, I think fans are passing off wishlists as rumors to other fans. I can't think of a single "he was originally going to win/capture" statement actually being true besides, Clefairy?
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It matters because Goh doesn't deserve half of the Pokemon he catches, and I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief and believe that he actually is worthy of Pokemon like them.

Are you serious? It's a very big accomplishment that he would have deserved, especially after the lousy, unacceptable season that is JN it would have shown how far has come in this 25 years of his journey, and not only that it would have been amazing to see and least make the wrap up a bit better, but nope all where left with is an upcoming finale for Ash in a season that barely paid attention to him.

This is all the more reason why Ash should have had two more Gens anime to make up for this total freaking god-awful season, especially in Paldea where he could have had a chance to get a starter again and own and bond with Koraidon like we did in the Scarlet/Violet
 
jungle_penguins said:
Ash capturing Latias definitely has no basis, I think fans are passing off wishlists as rumors to other fans. I can't think of a single "he was originally going to win/capture" statement actually being true besides, Clefairy?
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To be fair, them having Ash walking around with an open slot in his team for the vast majority of this epilogue while Latias continued to follow and watch Ash did create the impression that the writers were building up to him capturing her after observing his kindness across the regions. Instead, with him not catching her or anything else, it just kinda raises the question of why he near constantly had no more than 5 Pokémon on him this whole time.
 
Kurolegacy said:
To be fair, them having Ash walking around with an open slot in his team for the vast majority of this epilogue while Latias continued to follow and watch Ash did create the impression that the writers were building up to him capturing her after observing his kindness across the regions. Instead, with him not catching her or anything else, it just kinda raises the question of why he near constantly had no more than 5 Pokémon on him this whole time.
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At best the first 2 episodes were odd in 5 Pokemon each, but otherwise I found it clear the team composition didn't mean much especially when there was a full team in the Lapras episode.
 
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