Review HZ034: Respective Departures

[BigDocFan]

The latest episode of Pokemon Horizons has aired, discuss here

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/HZ034

 

[Singaporean]

An alright episode. Nothing spectacular except Villain of Amethio getting the power up of Terastal after training with Hamber. Which make other jealous of him as for Rising Volt Tackers to have a farewell party to Grandma and all the slideshow. Before heading to another location to search for the three remaining Lucia's pokemon.

Overall rating: C+

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Really nice way to round out Horizons's first year.

Diana will no doubt pop back up in the future but I'm still gonna miss her as she was such a great character and a fun addition to the team.

Even Amethio got something out of his little training battle with Hamber despite losing now that he can use Terastalization that could turn the tide (or not if the writers have anything to say but who knows? Maybe they'll give the poor guy a victory for once.)

 

[Weddingbells]

Man I felt absolutely nothing with the rvts handshake. We're past 30 episodes and there relationship with each other still feels so freaking surface level. Heck, Diana has a stronger relationship with friede than freaking molly

 

[Poke Trey]

Packed! Amethio training, Diana's party, Iono back again and just more to learn about Terapagos. I enjoyed this alot! 9.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Is it just me, or is Amethio a more interesting character than Liko and Roy? He certainly was here. I mean, the training battle between him and Hamber and subsequently being gifted a Tera Orb by the latter was literally the only interesting part of the episode to me.

Man I felt absolutely nothing with the rvts handshake. We're past 30 episodes and there relationship with each other still feels so freaking surface level. Heck, Diana has a stronger relationship with friede than freaking molly

Agreed. In my opinion, the RVTS are some of the most boring characters we've ever had in the anime. Hell, I forgot Mollie even existed until I read your post here.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

Looks like theres basically 3 teams for the whole Rayquaza thing, Amethio with Zir and Conia, Spinel and Agate, and I can only assume Sango and Onyx although we haven't seen that. All trying to do it first.

Anyways, fun enough episode. I've been enjoying the RVT, all the banter and stuff has been sufficient to me but I can absolutely see how it wouldn't be for others.
The whole thing with Dot saying she would need to actually Terastalize for her video to truly be flashy plus Amethio just getting a tera orb makes me think the others could be getting ones soon-ish. They are heading to Paldea next due to ancient sightings of Terapagos being there. (Area Zero? Maybe?)

 

[Eitarou]

As an unabashed SM Apologist™, the RVTs are just a slightly different version of that type of friend group. What can I say, I like a good found family dynamic.

Also, it’s funny how we had not one, but two well-animated Iono scenes this past week thanks to Paldean Winds. Guess we know who the animators prefer.

Speaking of, the opening features Agate standing next to what appears to be Levincia. So maybe that’s where she’ll get her proper introduction.

I never made the connection, but what if Amethio and Hamber are related. They have similar eye colors.

 

[Eclipsical]

This episode actually had a lot more development and surprises than I expected!

Firstly, we are heading back to Paldea. Obviously, I want Paldea to get proper screen-time, but I would also like to visit some other regions soon. We've basically spent most of the series in Galar, weirdly. It'd just be a little weird for all six heroes to be within the boundaries of Paldea and Galar.

Terastalization got a lot more emphasis suddenly. We're heading to Paldea because of it, Gurumin's video was about it, Hamber is revealed to have it, and Amethio was given a Tera Orb. I was expecting Diana to gift Liko a Tera Orb after all of that, lol.

Iono making an appearance was a pleasant surprise, and so was the amount of Dot and Quaxly screen-time. I wonder how she will think about Iono said, how her life has changed since becoming an actual trainer, because it seems like more of the same to her.

They let Wattrel out of whatever dungeon they were keeping them in for this episode!

We get to hear more of Gibeon and he refers to Rakua as "my paradise". Very curious about his motivation and the Explorers connection to Lucius.

Spinel and Agate seem to be forming a partnership, interestingly. I wouldn't expect Spinel to be the type to do that, but we don't know that much about Agate and I suppose the two of them were absent from the Galar mission because they were off doing something else together, so they have some sort of connection.

 

[Rockapheller]

It was quite monotonous. Some conflict was quite much needed. The main issue I have with the main gang is that they just don't feel naturally connected. They need some more personal interactions with each other, I believe. Glad that we had some action with Explorers, otherwise it would have been a very forgettable episode. If it wasn't an all-year-on series, the farewell would have been a 3-minute scene at best instead of a whole episode dedicated to it.

 

[ena9219]

Iono calls Dot. Ametheo loses another fight (this time against Hamber) but gets a Tera Orb (back to tieing against Friede?). The Rising Volt Tacklers throw a farewell party for Liko's grandmother (with a little mischief from Sinistea and Polteageist and a video made by Dot) and then head back to Paldea to learn more about Terapagos (Area Zero soon?).

Not the most exciting episode but it's setup for the future.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

but gets a Tera Orb (back to tieing against Friede?)

Please dear god no.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Side note: Anyone else glad they changed Shadow Ball's animation here? Like, just look at the difference compared to Journeys:

Personally, I prefer what they're going for with the new animation (of Shadow Ball, that is,) in Horizons. Like, Journeys' animation of the move wasn't bad, per se, but as a person, I definitely prefer darker colors to lighter ones, and the colors for moves in Journeys, Shadow Ball included, was much too light for my opinion. Plus, the new animation for Shadow Ball reminds me of my favorite animation for the move in the anime, the way it was depicted from BW to SM.

Y'know.......this one, of course:

 

[skynerel]

The battles and the explorers were the only interesting parts of this episode. Amethio vs. Hamber is probably the best battle in horizons so far. Well animated with an interesting choreography. While the training battle between Diana and the kids wasn’t as good, it at least provided some much needed training for them. Although not wanting them to fight till their pokemon KO seems pretty stupid. They are constantly facing danger and they should be going all out in their pokemon battles, Liko and Roy are way to cuddled by Friede and the others. I really miss when young trainers were allowed to be more independent. Lastly, I’m looking forward for Spinel and Agate’s plan, she seems very interesting to me and it’s the only explorer that we have yet to see in action.