Review S20 EP42: Alola, Kanto!

[PokeMasterLA]

I watched the episode and here's my take on the dub:

Misty sounded way off, nowhere close to Rachel Lilis but it's understandable. Michele Knotz only voiced her once, and that was 11 years ago on the Mirage Pokemon special, and only said one line in a BW episode.

Brock sounded okay to me, I don't know if it's because I got used to hearing him during the DP series, or Bill Rogers really tried his best to sound close to Eric Stuart because of the episode taking place in Kanto. But either way he sounded pretty good.

It's sad that just when Kayzie Rogers decided to retire, they happen to show a Pokemon episode showcasing almost all the Pokemon she voiced. (Vileplume, Bellossom, Bellsprout, Gloom, Totodile, Corsola, Mr. Mime, Wobbufet) and having to hear them all be voiced by someone else. She had unique way of voicing all those Pokemon, it just wasn't the same today.

I think this is also Michele Knotz's first time singing as Jigglypuff since the voice cast changeover.

 

[BigDocFan]

I think this is also Michele Knotz first time singing as Jigglypuff since the voice casr changeover.

I believe it is

Rachel Lillis did a fantastic job as Jigglypuff in the past but Michele Knotz didn't do a bad job with Jigglypuff, though not to the level of Rachel Lillis

Does feel sad hearing many of Kayzie Roger's roles in the voice of different actors

 

[IncineROAR]

Pity that, would have been interesting for some Charizard/Charizard interaction, could have been like with Dragonite

Well, unless Kiawe's Charizard is female

In regards to Jigglypuff, I'm surprised they just didn't use stock vocals. Jigglypuff's song isn't really any different...

 

[BigDocFan]

Well, unless Kiawe's Charizard is female

Starting to wonder what happened to Charla

 

[IncineROAR]

Starting to wonder what happened to Charla

The homie Charizard was probably caught with another girl, so Charla threw his hiney out.

 

[Rajas20]

Just some of my points from the episode:-
Well Brock's VA was decent but Misty's was new to me but I can't complain I guess.
Still dunno how Kiawe was allowed on a plane barebacked XD.
Sophocles' Togedemaru is a nuisance and needs to disappear.
Kiawe is really funny, he deserves more lol.
That little second I heard Totodile make his Donald Duck sounds made me so happy, also hearing Staryu's hiya.
Hearing the old TRio motto made me feel like crying.
Jigglypuff's song was great to hear again.
Based on what Rotom said about his mission to complete Kanto's dex, I feel like the Pidgeot we saw was Ash's own .
Decent nostalgia episode if anything.
Oh and Bewear is a god of some sort.

 

[IncineROAR]

Pikachu electrocuting everybody was pretty hilarious. The Muk smothering Ash was more comical in the original version, not the dub.

 

[Islander Princess]

Just like with the original airing (which I have watched several times already), I smiled the entire time I watched this. There were definitely a few faults in the episode (mainly dub stuff) but it's honestly very hard for me to not just absolutely love an episode that reunites my favorite group and gives me my absolute favorite character who I haven't seen in years. The whole episode, regardless of flaws, just made me insanely happy.

Misty's dub voice definitely threw me. But truthfully, I'm not going to complain about it because since Misty really never makes appearances, it's not like I had a long time to get used to it like Ash and Brock (who both sounded really great here, btw). It was just fantastic to see her in an episode again, and her personality was all there. I also have to give them credit for what seems to FINALLY be a carry over of how she calls out her Pokémon from the Japanese (I know it wasn't exactly the same, but I found the "Ready Steady" to be really cute.) I hope they use that from now on in any future appearances (which I hope there are!)

I loved seeing the Alola group meet the Kanto group. They are among my favorites and I thought the interactions were all spot on. The episode didn't have a totally coherent plot, but like I said, I was enjoying myself too much to care. I at least found the shenanigans were very entertaining.

Team Rocket had some awful dialogue, as usual, but I loved them calling Brock and Misty "the original twerp and twerpette," and reciting the old motto. Made up for some of the bad stuff (Meowth's "P" alliteration in the beginning literally made my eye twitch. So bad.)

I just wish Disney had aired this episode and the next one together instead of the Charjabug episode. Waiting another week for this kind of sheer joy is going to be torture.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

The episode itself was pretty entertaining stuff, been a long while since we properly saw Brock and especially Misty so these two eps brought back some good old memories.

As for the dub itself, I’d never thought I’d say this but Bill Rogers was the highlight as Brock. Found him to be quite entertaining and kinda funny here which is surprising since I wasn’t too found of his voice during the D&P days so this was a big improvement. Man, all that work in LA he’s doing must have paid off.

As for Michele Knotz’s Misty voice well it’s kinda dropped in quality a bit. Sounds very May-ish at times too.

The others are obviously their usual selfs so no need to go through them though Kiawe was another good point.

 

[Sakuraa]

Okay, so this episode had some really nice moments. It was cool to see the Squirtle Squad, Tauros, Bulbasaur, Crobat, Staryu, Muk, Totodile and Corphish. It was hilarious and adorable seeing the Kanto Exeggutor trying to tip toe to reach the Alolan one's height. I also thought it was really funny that Kiawe put his Dugleo wig on the Kanto Dugtrio who was confused as hell. The Marowak feuding was kind of funny as well. I love how Togedemaru attacked them after they flung Pikachu in the air. (But girl, what did that poor Raichu do to you?) I also thought it was really interesting that Misty ran from Gyarados along with Mallow and Lillie when she has one of her own and should have been calmer around one. Same with Brock and the Onix. Also the scene of Snowy going up to the Ninetales kind of confused me since...well Alolan Vulpix are supposed to hate heat.

And Bewear falling from a plane to take TR...okay ya know what. Forget the fact that it ran off with them once again. Just how the hell did that thing get on a plane by itself? Did it buy a plane ticket, go to the airport, give someone a ticket, walk onto the plane, and just sit down in a seat and ride like a human being? And how the hell did it know where TR was that he had the ability to perfectly jump out at that moment when Mimikyu was about to attack? How? Seriously wtf is this? End of rant trying to analyze an already nonsensical kids show

But other than those nice moments and the totally ridiculous Beware scene, this episode really was nothing all too special. It was nothing more than a giant Kanto fest placed smack in the middle of Ash's Alola journey for no real reason. The cast really didn't do much outside of seeing the differences between Kanto forms and Alolan forms. Other than they they just wandered around and looked at Kanto Pokemon. Often times Misty and Brock just kind of felt...there...with no real reason for it other than the fact that they were in Kanto and this episode was just for nostalgia. Jigglypuff felt so damn forced it's not even funny. And Delia was just added at the end which didn't feel special at all since we just saw her for Ash's presentation (though I did like how they showed her playing with Litty again ). Also, I was super disappointed that we didn't get to see any of Ash's other Pokemon other than Bulbasaur for a decent length of time. 2 seconds of Corphish and Totodile, 1 bit of the Tauros, and 1 second of Muk. We didn't even see his new Pokemon interacting with the old ones that actually showed up.

Also, Misty's voice sounds really off. I literally thought it was a different voice actress throughout the entire episode

I'll give this a 6.8/10. It just felt like a wasted opportunity.

 

[kantoskies]

I actually thought Knotz's Misty sounded different than her May, though I guess she hadn't voiced either character in years so it's understandable. This is also the first time she's ever voiced Misty in an episode where she has any substance since the Mastermind special and that's not really a good gague for anyone's talent. Overall she sounded better than I expected but still it would have been a nice treat seeing Lillis return for this.

(No I wasn't expecting Rachael Lillis to actually return, please don't get all high-and-mighty "well I thought it was obvious Knotz would do her voice, she has been since 2006" on me).

 

[Poke Trey]

So finally I got I got to watch the episode everyone's been talking about and after many consideration, I am so convinced that Bill Rogers and Michele Knotz are the voices for Brock and Misty because WOW this was a massive improvement over what we had during DP and Battle frontier. They sound more into their roles and given that we have a more competent Voice director being Lisa Ortiz, man this was just so nice to finally witness. Now about the episode itself, It was a good way to start the Kanto arc even if it's just for 2 episodes unfortunately. Everything was here: Ash's old mon's, Delia and Prof.Oak, obviously Brock and Misty, the Alolan crew seeing a different region for the 1st time but Ash of course, TR being there old kantonian selves again, New music from the Dub and this just being a really fun episode again despite this being a 2-parter. Now I'm really excited for what the season 20 finale could give us going into next week! As for now this one gets a 9/10

 

[GuyWhoTellsTruth]

Well, I'm going to be that guy who gets called a "Genwunner" most likely just for stating my opinions on a dub of a children's Anime because, god forbid, I say how I really feel but...

(1) Voice Acting Rant:

- Ash's voice is all over the place, as usual, can't believe it's been 11 years of Sarah Natochenny as Ash and she ranges from making him sound like a teenage girl to a teenage boy to a grown woman depending on the emotion expressed, all of which still just don't sound like a 10 year old boy to me. Veronica Taylor will always be the best dub Ash to me, no contest. If anyone is "getting worse" as time passes, it's Natochenny to me (but of course Dogasu's fanclub and others will disagree, too bad, I have the right to a different opinion- freedom of speech). While I'd rather listen to Natochenny as Ash than Rogers on Brock or Knotz on Misty, it's certainly not what I would call "good" to me.

- Brock's current dub voice is just awful. He cannot yell or flirt without sounding consistently strained, constipated, and like a gruff, burly old man who works out at a gym whenever the character needs to express emotion. Bill Rogers as this character, has always been among my least favorite changes since the whole change happened, and that unfortunately hasn't changed here. While Eric Stuart will always be the best dub Brock to me, I'd rather even Johnny Yong Bosch recycling his Ichigo voice from Bleach in Origins than Bill Rogers in the part: the reason why I feel this way is that I feel both Stuart and Bosch are capable of emoting without sounding so aggressive and agitated when the emotion requires it, and more like teenagers than Rogers ever has and still does, imo. I'd rather Rogers' BF take on Brock than what he has done for the rest of his run, as flat as that was, there was less of an strained and pissed off feeling to his take than in DP, BW116, or SM.

- Misty dub's voice is godawful. I didn't think Michele Knotz's performance could get any worse than in BW116, but this takes the cake: it's nasal, the voice is stilted and the acting affected by weird deliveries, but she also sounds more like a school teacher mother trying to be a girl, than a girl. Similar to Lillie's dub voice, I feel they are "putting on" voices rather than emoting naturally- it just doesn't work for me, and I find Rachael Lillis to be the best dub Misty to this day.

- Samson Oak still sounds like a pirate to me in English, Professor Oak still a young, nasally doofus with a cold, James still sounds like an old man with a cold to me, Meowth has the usual gruff voice, and Knotz on Jessie has this awkward valley girl vibe to me that just doesn't mesh well with the role- like Rogers on Brock, I liked Knotz on Jessie more in BF than the rest of the Series (though her Jessie was better in BW than now, imo, it's gone back downhill again). Even Kyle Hebert in Origins was a better Oak than James Carter Cathcart to me, but Stan Hart will always be the best dub Prof. Oak to me.

- I may give Natochenny flak for her Ash even now because I genuinely don't find it to fit, but good grief, her Delia has this very deep like timbre and wooden emoting that comes across as making her Ash sound positively *energetic* in comparison- Taylor was the best to me on Delia in English, no doubt.

- Lillie, see Misty, just feels too put on, only dub Lillie sounds 30 to me at times, to boot.

- Kiawe and Sophocles are the only two characters I feel have actually good dub voices, but the emotion from Kiawe's VA when comedic simply feels forced and put on at times- I wish the rest of the cast was as good as them, but sadly, doesn't seem to be the case.

- Kukui is just okay to me- unsure why I find his dub voice generic, but it's just there: I guess considering it's TPCi, it could've turned out a lot worse.

- Mallow, see Lillie and Misty, sounds way too old to be a little girl to me, except she also has a weird accent thrown in I can't seem to make sense of. Lana in the dub still has this nasal affliction to her voice that if eliminated, would make her sound a lot better.

(2) Music Rant:

- They only kept 2 pieces of Japanese music, of course, one of which was the title card. I'm sure I'll be told to "get over it" because they clearly didn't make profit back in DP & Early BW from not changing the Japanese music as much, even though they made millions then and TPCi are just too greedy to keep more of the OST nowadays so that totally excuses...wait, no it doesn't excuse anything, that's just a lame defense for TPCi. Also, the "Batman" theme got played 3 times: easily the worst piece of dub music in the Series run to date, IMO, obnoxious and it never fits.

(3) Script Criticism:

- James calling Brock/Misty "lowlifes" in the dub was just bad dialogue from good old JCC, as was "quash those rumors" awkwardly phrased dialogue from Kukui in the dub, etc. Not to mention anything Meowth says in the dub being the usual lame TPCi dub exclusive alliterations and such, of course.

(4) OP Criticism:

- Under the Alolan Sun is a weak opening as always, 30 second OPs are standard for TPCi from BW onwards so I know what to expect by now on that front, but still, irksome in this case.

Overall, N/A out of 10 is my rating, because why bother? I try to be as open minded as I can be about this, and give things a chance, but TPCi continuously disappoints me.

 

[technickal]

Overall, N/A out of 10 is my rating, because why bother? I try to be as open minded as I can be about this, and give things a chance, but TPCi continuously disappoints me.

You're entitled to your opinion, as is anyone, but I'm legitimately curious. If TPCi "continuously disappoints" you, why do you even bother watching their dub in the first place? To give an analogy, it would be like a critic returning several times to a restaurant they dislike just so they can write scathing reviews of all their food.

 

[SammyW27]

Nice nostalgia, but boy what a mess.

First Movie 20, now this. Were they SO busy doing stuff for the anniversary they forgot to make better stories???

Anyway:
- Yeah, Misty sounds weird, but I'll give it a pass since Lillis voiced her for SO long while Knotz barely voiced her at all, let alone to get used to.
- Seeing the classmates with Kanto 'mons is cute and all, but we could use a more focused story. Less random Kanto pokes, more of Ash's.
- Alolan Marowac: A Ground-type?! What, was Arceus drunk when he made you guys?; Kanto Marowac: Funny, I was just thinking he must've been high to make you lot Fire/Ghost-types.
- Oh hey, Misty wore her Gen 1 outfit for the occasion!
- Arceusdammit, Bewear...
- Jeez, everybody wants to get on the act! (though I'm not sure any of the target audience will get this...)
- Yep, no one can do "Sing" like Rachel could. Nice new animation though.
- Again, EVERYBODY wants to get in on the act!
- Of all the times we needed a PokeProblem segment in the sub

 

[Gabo2oo]

The subtle Pokémon Theme arrangement during the flashbacks was pretty nice.

By the way, they changed the adults' drinks from orange to green. I guess those looked too much like beer jars so they decided to have them drink a grasshopper cocktail instead.

 

[Cookiefication]

Well, I'm going to be that guy who gets called a "Genwunner" most likely just for stating my opinions on a dub of a children's Anime because, god forbid, I say how I really feel but...

No. You'll probably get called a "Genwunner" because you just wrote half a book complaining about the voices of characters who have played their roles for more than decade at this point, for no particular reason other than to just complain about them and compare them to the 4Kids VAs. You can sugarcoat it with "I'm just stating my opinions" but don't pretend like this wasn't anything other than another lengthy TPCi lambasting/4Kids praising post in thread that didn't need it. Freedom of speech doesn't mean I don't get to call you out for incessant complaining that is not going to change things like that at this point.

I could understand if you had particularly commented on Misty and Brock, considering how long it's been. But instead, you took the opportunity to go after literally everyone and everything. That right there was clearest sign.

And here's the thing: I genuinely don't even disagree with you on a lot of your points about TPCi. I 100% support that you should be able to express your feelings about whatever you want to, children's anime dubbing practices or not, and I wish the show was handled better.

You're entitled to your opinion, as is anyone, but I'm legitimately curious. If TPCi "continuously disappoints" you, why do you even bother watching their dub in the first place? To give an analogy, it would be like a critic returning several times to a restaurant they dislike just so they can write scathing reviews of all their food.

^This. TPCi dubbing practices (both movies and TV) starting bugging me in XY. Guess what I did?

Moved. On.

I still check in on the dub every once in a while to see how it's going, and although I'm still disappointed more often than not, I don't inflict self-torture on myself like you seem to be a fan of doing by habitually coming back what you consider Mankind's Greatest Entertainment Mistake.

Edit: ...I feel like I should copy+paste this for Charmander04, too.

 

[Likeitornot.]

Hey guys, just a reminder that this thread is for discussing this particular episode and not for the discussion which dub users prefer, TPCi or 4Kids. Please make sure to keep your posts relevant to this particular episode, thank you.

 

[SammyW27]

By the way, they changed the adults' drinks from orange to green. I guess those looked too much like beer jars so they decided to have them drink a grasshopper cocktail instead.

Or some veggie shake (I think grasshopper cocktails would be better)

4Kids would be SO proud!

 

[Felix-Culpa]

I anticipated seeing this dub so yay to finally airing. I'm used to watching the Japanese version that it was weird hearing them in English lol.

The voice acting was pretty good overall, but I didn't expect Misty to sound so... different. Not bad - just different. Either way, happy to see her (and Brock) in the dubbed version again -- missed them lol.

The dialogue sounded off at times (I guess watching the Japanese version can do that), but overall the scenes were the same from before.

Overall, pretty good. Excited about the next episode too.