I can see why Rika is such a popular character, especially with the female audience. She just oozes charisma even with her laid back personality, and I'm finding I like her a lot more than I did before. I love that Horizons never makes anyone be pushovers in these matches. Rika may be the weakest of the Paldean Elite Four, but she was seriously a tough opponent here. I think that the Paldean Elite Four would be more respected by the fandom if they were doing Double Battles like in the anime. Rika was seriously a force to be reckoned with here with the strategic use of Dig with her Dugtrio before she had her Clodsire use Sludge Wave, so that it's just hitting her opponents and not Dugtrio too. I also like that her Pokémon were using projectile moves, and that Clodsire would use Poison Jab whenever Liko's Floragato got close. I’m glad that Floragato got to learn Acrobatics in this match. The way the match finally ended with both Liko and Rika having their Pokémon terastallize, only for Clodsire to overpower Floragato with Earth Power and secure a win for the Elite Four member. One thing I really liked about her was that she was trying to get Liko to relax by joking around and for her to find an answer on what battling truly meant. Like how Kabu helped Liko take a step forward in her battling journey, Rika helps her take another step forward.
Liko was paired up with Katy for this battle, whom many may consider to be the weakest of the Paldean Gym Leaders, but she also was no pushover. I never had much thought for Lokix, but this episode seriously changed my opinion of the Grasshopper Pokémon. Katy, both in-game and in the anime, had to hold back in gym challenges due to league regulations. For this match though, she was able to go all out, and she absolutely did, having Lokix purposely take the Poison Jab so she can activate its Swarm ability, and then go on a full on assault with Struggle Bug, Lunge and Bounce was serious animation beauty. I can see now why people were lauding this bug.
The side plot for this episode is seeing Terapagos getting lost once again. This time, Dot has to find it. I am seriously getting a little annoyed with that turtle wandering about as a recurring plot point. However, there were some good things that came out of that debacle. Dot is revealed to be a fan of the Occulture magazine that you can find in-game. She also meets Penny who finally gets the chance to speak. Penny’s role in the story is basically her role in the post game of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, where she works as an engineer for the Pokémon League. Specifically, she’s in charge of maintaining the Terastal Course system. However, there’s one person that’s on her mind, and it turns out to be Chalce, who is disguised as a student named Agepan (a type of deep fried bread roll—befitting the food aliases that Sidian and Coral also use). Her data just appeared in the system one day and it’s bothering her. It seems that Penny will be the one to expose the Explorers. I liked the little detail that Dot wasn't able to recognize Chalce because she was in such a rush to stop the machine back in Episode 44 that she couldn’t get a good look at her face. The Scarlet Book also appears in this episode, with Terapagos showing interest in the drawing of Stellar Terapagos. Penny mentioned that the book was written by Heath, so possibly they're going to play a part in how this story continues to develop.
I’d just like to add in some voice actor trivia with this episode's review. Penny's voice actor is Ryo Hirohashi, who voices Allister in Twilight Wings and in Pokémon Masters EX. Some of her non-Pokémon roles include Tails from the Sonic franchise, Minoru Mineta from My Hero Academia, and Luna from Sailor Moon Crystal. Grusha meanwhile is voiced by Chiaki Kobayashi. He appeared as the Scarf Psyduck’s trainer back in Pokémon Journeys Episode 57. Some of his non-Pokémon roles include Mash from Mashle: Muscles and Magic, Langa Hasegawa from SK8: The Infinity and Stark from Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. I think these voice actor choices are quite interesting. Penny’s voice suits her well. Grusha, on the other hand, might need some time for me to get used to since it’s a bit deeper than how I imagined the character, but it certainly will help people realize that Grusha’s male.
I honestly can’t wait to see the future battles. The trailer got me hyped up because I'm now anticipating evolutions from Dot's Quaxly and Roy's Fuecoco. I’m also hyped because it will be 2 vs 2, meaning that the kids will use their second Pokémon in official battles for once! Finally! What are all your thoughts on this amazing episode?
