Secret Ditto Rhapsody - Pokémon Horizons Episode 139 Review - Can We Keep The Pink Blob? Pretty Please?

Hands down, this is the best episode of Wonder Voyage so far and possibly a top 10 episode for Pokémon Horizons in general. For an anime that revolves around Pokémon, rarely do we get episodes that focus on the creatures themselves. This might be a hot take, but I feel like the Pokémon in Horizons have much more personality than those in the Ash anime.

The fact that these Pokémon don’t talk human language, yet express themselves as if they can, is honestly the biggest charm. I like the idea of the dialogue implications more than giving them actual dialogue. Body language does speak a lot louder than actual words, so props to the anime staff for this. The story for this episode is that the Pokémon in the Brave Olivine discover the stowaway Ditto and become so attached to it; however, overhearing the humans squabble about airship space caused them to assume that Ditto would be the same, so they try their best to protect their new friend. It’s basically an episode of kids who found a stray pet and try to hide it from their parents.

I do like that while everyone develops an attachment towards Ditto, Meowscarada is the only one not keen on the idea as she’s a bit wary. Fortunately, the second half of the episode is mostly Meowscarada slowly warming up to Ditto as it helps her resolve the conflict of her accidentally throwing away the wooden Squawkabilly statue that Liko got as a gift from Diana. After she recovered the item from Alolan Muk, she and Ditto become best friends to the point that she steals him from Sableye every night so they can cuddle. That’s how you know they’re best friends.

I love that each of the Pokémon have such distinct personalities. Skeledirge and Lycanroc are gluttons, but they’re also very chill. However, Lycanroc does have a dislike for Tamato Berries that Murdock keeps trying to feed it because he’s gotten chonky—Murdock, you don’t understand the power chonky Lycanroc has over the masses. I wonder if Lycanroc’s dislike for the spicy berry a nod to how dogs can’t handle spice at all. Quaquaval also joins in the shenanigans as the voice of reason, where he’s mostly the one trying to keep the Ditto in check. The way he stuffed Ditto into Skeledirge’s mouth and then ran off carrying the 720 pound crocodile is just pure comedy.

The humans have their fair share of comedic moments such as Ult trying to bring in a stone twice his height onto the airship with Roy telling him to take it back where he got it from. There’s also Liko freaking out when Meowscarada was stretching her tail that was Ditto taking form of it and also her trying to stop her cat from trying to go inside Alolan Muk. I feel like I’d react the same way as Liko if I was in her position.

Anyways, a fun little trivia about the spotlighted Ditto. It’s voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi who voiced Katy in Horizons. In the Ash anime, she voiced Domino and several characters of the day like Callista in AG. However, there is one role that is of note: Duplica’s Ditto. Mitsuishi even points out in her Twitter account that it’s been around 30 years since she last voiced a Ditto in the anime, so she’s excited to be voicing one again. I wonder if the casting was done on purpose. Speaking of which, it’s been exactly one year since Katy showed up in Horizons, and now she’s part of the crew as a Ditto. The animation staff feel as if they don’t want to let go of her just yet. I mean, if Sailor Moon was voicing a Ditto, I’d want to watch it too! Also, did you notice that Lucius was narrating the episode? It’s been a while since he narrated; the way he did it seem as if he was narrating a documentary or something. Though, Lucius’s voice actor Daisuke Namikawa is still active in Horizons as he voices Quaquaval.

I honestly can’t wait to see what more shenanigans Ditto will bring to the show now that it’s a permanent member of the airship. It does make me wonder how long it’ll take until Ditto meets its awaited trainer. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!

 

I cant believe it's just gonna be filler until 2027...

 

This might be a hot take, but I feel like the Pokémon in Horizons have much more personality than those in the Ash anime.

Honestly have actively tried to not compare the two (the more time passes between them, the less sense it makes to me). That said, the concerns some people have about Wonder Voyage being to HZ what the Orange Islands and Decolore Islands were to their respective seasons are understandable. At the very least, there was some clear throughline to what came next for all the faults of those arcs; and the uncharted waters we're in is among the reasons why I'm holding off on starting this arc for now. The idea to introduce Ditto before its partner Navi was certainly a choice, though I do like how they're keeping this in-joke about previous cast members having bit parts of the new anime going.