Review JN020: Go Towards Your Dream! Satoshi and Go!!

[nickdt]

Gou says a Pokemon, grabs a Pokeball

Me and Raboot: Welp, there we go again.

 

[P_S_B]

Wasnt this the debut of the move Roar?

It's not; Suicune used Roar against Eusine in Johto and I have vague memories of it being used in other episodes as well. I'm thinking maybe Team Magma's Mightyena used it at some point in Hoenn.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

It's not; Suicune used Roar against Eusine in Johto and I have vague memories of it being used in other episodes as well. I'm thinking maybe Team Magma's Mightyena used it at some point in Hoenn.

Houndoom, actually. Not Mightyena. And there was also an Arcanine that used it during the Battle Frontier, Entei in Johto, and Steven's Aron in Hoenn.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

The battle with Meganium makes me appreciate how much the movements have improved over the years. Back in Johto, Bayleef’s body was usually static whenever she moved, but here Meganium’s neck and tail followed its movements and the stalks were even affected by inertia at some points.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

This episode wasn't completely bad because it was nice to see the passion in Ash's and the kids' eyes but that was basically it when it comes to positive aspects...

For the rest of the episode, I must say there were too many flaws in it and the episode itself felt extremley rushed, too.
A few examples:
- Go catching Pokemon constantly as if they were souvenirs and without any effort is getting on my nerves so badly... it contradicts everything we've learned both in the games and, of course, in the Anime itself so far. It's by far the worst aspect of the new show and I'm starting to like Go less and less. This has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the way a real Pokemon trainer should act....
- Ash's PWC battle was nice but pretty rushed at teh same time. What somehow left a bitter aftertaste was the fact that after winning only two (!) battles, Ash already climbed up the ranks from 10.000th to the 1251th place. Really?? Sure, his first opponent was very strong, but this time he climbed up too quickly. I'm afraid the writers are planning to rush through the different classes and I don't know if it's such a good idea...
- TRio was really unnecessary today. They had such a great episode last time, so why did they have to ruin it again this week?
- And finally, the random Lugia/Mew appearance felt a bit forced if you ask me

All in all, too many flaws and way too rushed.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

- Ash's PWC battle was nice but pretty rushed at teh same time. What somehow left a bitter aftertaste was the fact that after winning only two (!) battles, Ash already climbed up the ranks from 10.000th to the 1251th place. Really?? Sure, his first opponent was very strong, but this time he climbed up too quickly. I'm afraid the writers are planning to rush through the different classes and I don't know if it's such a good idea...

Well, they can always bring in a powerful trainer like a champion or a E4 member to beat him and force him down the ranks.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Well, they can always bring in a powerful trainer like a champion or a E4 member to beat him and force him down the ranks.

But that wouldn't make it any better if you aks me...rather reminds me of good old deus-ex episodes ...

 

[Dogasu]

Team Rocket weren't really necessary, existing only to provide a conflict which didn't need to be there and could easily have been excised to give screentime to showing Gou actually battling his catches so his half could have been not awful.

You know just as well as I do that that's not what would have happened. A Rocket-less episode would have just meant that Gou would have chucked more Monster Balls at more Pokémon, or we would have gotten more shots of Rabifuto being all moody, or we would have gotten a longer explanation about Pokémon Orienteering (an explanation that wouldn't have affected the storyline whatsoever), or something other than what we'd actually want.

Y'all need to stop pretending that removing the Rocket trio is the secret to magically making every episode good.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I feel the episode actually acknowledged Go's faults. He and Ash are set up as having completely opposite opinions in regards to battling (Go battling only when he's catching a string Pokémon, while Ash is happy to battle whenever he gets the chance) and bonding with Pokémon (Ash believes in bonding with Pokémon through battles, while Go believes in bonding with them by just catching them). I actually believe Go believing in this kind of bonding could be because of his limited social skills. It was established right at the beginning of the series that he's not very good at making friends. I hope I'm conveying my thought process here in an understandable way.

 

[Panky..]

What somehow left a bitter aftertaste was the fact that after winning only two (!) battles, Ash already climbed up the ranks from 10.000th to the 1251th place. Really??

I like to think that the Normal class mostly consists of hobby trainers and low skill upstarts trying their chance to become World Champions, which is why Ash climbed so quickly, since he already outclasses everyone else in his rank range. I expect the climb to slow down the further he moves up in rankings.

You know just as well as I do that that's not what would have happened. A Rocket-less episode would have just meant that Gou would have chucked more Monster Balls at more Pokémon, or we would have gotten more shots of Rabifuto being all moody, or we would have gotten a longer explanation about Pokémon Orienteering (an explanation that wouldn't have affected the storyline whatsoever), or something other than what we'd actually want.

Y'all need to stop pretending that removing the Rocket trio is the secret to magically making every episode good.

They could have done anything else like extending Ash's battle, having Gou battle a few captures, have a raid battle with Lugia, have Gou iterate in how his path helps him to his goal (like how Ash did in this very episode), give Koharu more development etc. instead of throwing TRio down the drain just to add some cheap conflict which was executed in a poor manner.

Hey, at least they managed to show the difference between Ash/Gou as being complete opposites and selfless/selfish respectively.

while Go believes in bonding with them by just catching them).

Your points about Gou makes sense, except in regards to this. After catching a Pokemon, they automatically accept him and are completely fine with no issues, which makes it a Deus ex machina.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Your points about Gou makes sense, except in regards to this. After catching a Pokemon, they automatically accept him and are completely fine with no issues, which makes it a Deus ex machina.

Usually, that is true. But in this episode, you can see that Pidgey and the Nidoran clearly felt a little alarmed when Go just suddenly started hugging them like old friends.

 

[Panky..]

Usually, that is true. But in this episode, you can see that Pidgey and the Nidoran clearly felt a little alarmed when Go just suddenly started hugging them like old friends.

True, I did notice that and I hope that they go somewhere with it instead of instantly having those three be all goody goody two shoes buddies with Gou. If you noticed something else, those very three started swarming and cuddling with Koharu much to her discomfort so there's a possible sub-plot for her right there.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Gotta say, there’s a bit of an annoying feeling knowing that chances are that, with Go catching a Pidgey here, that he’s going to have a Pidgeot before the anime even acknowledges that Ash ever owned one himself.

 

[BigDocFan]

This episode highlights to me how much more exciting the battles are this series compared to Sun and Moon, albeit brief, it was enjoyable

 

[DarkraiKnight]

This episode highlights to me how much more exciting the battles are this series compared to Sun and Moon, albeit brief, it was enjoyable

Mostly 'cause they don't always end with a Z-move, like a majority of SM's battles did before the Alola League happened.

 

[Johtohfiller]

Mostly 'cause they don't always end with a Z-move, like a majority of SM's battles did before the Alola League happened.

Z-moves worked way better in the Alola League than in most of the series; with longer battles they weren't chewing up such a large percentage of battle time.

 

[BugCatcherinVF]

True, I did notice that and I hope that they go somewhere with it instead of instantly having those three be all goody goody two shoes buddies with Gou. If you noticed something else, those very three started swarming and cuddling with Koharu much to her discomfort so there's a possible sub-plot for her right there.

It was kind of embarrassing when Gou's pokémon CHOSE Koharu.

 

[SonansuMan]

I am whelmed.

Like a few other people have pointed out already, this episode was just a 20 weeks-late-introductory-episode that covered all 3 of the main what to expect going into the rest of the anime: Ash battling other strong trainers to rank up in the PWC, Go catching every Pokemon to pursue Mew, and Team Rocket showing up with the Gachat machine to create conflict. I don't have a problem with the concept of the episode itself but the way it was actually executed was dull and aside from the Meganium battle nothing out of the ordinary caught my eye and it felt like an average episode. Go continues to be one-note by catching every Pokemon with relative ease, and TRio didn't add anything to the episode besides doing a 30 second battle to say "we exist!" Overall a fine first episode if someone wanted to get into the series, but as an actual episode? Kinda weak to me.

OVERALL SCORE:
6/10

 

[Max1996]

The new ending variant's animation all but spells out that the Egg will have Riolu. Yes, I know magazines already confirmed it.

 

[BigDocFan]

It was kind of embarrassing when Gou's pokémon CHOSE Koharu.

I found that rather funny, especially Koharu's reactions

Maybe suggesting they prefer her over Go