Review JN136: Satoshi and Go! Embark on a New Journey!!

[Eitarou]

Chloe's resolution basically amounts to "the exact same thing she's been doing for the past 80-ish episodes but we're acting as if it's different because she technically wasn't officially a research fellow". Yay?

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Gee I wonder why a mobile game advertisement was stronger than the literal ancestor of pokemon who could actually shrug off literally everything thrown at it rather than getting clobbered by a monkey with a hammer

What is this "shilling" and "favoritism" of which you speak?

 

[Bluemew1512]

Honestly, I'm just annoyed that the endpoint of "Chloe's Eevee can't evolve" is just to have it not evolve. Did they even provide an explanation for why it couldn't evolve?

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Honestly, I'm just annoyed that the endpoint of "Chloe's Eevee can't evolve" is just to have it not evolve. Did they even provide an explanation for why it couldn't evolve?

Not beyond it potentially being due to indecisiveness.

 

[flowerfun]

These last two episodes of journey were fine, not amazing but they were able to give the series a satisfying conclusion despite how disappointing the rest of Journeys' final season was. They were a bit boring but they did a good job of wrapping up Journeys. Also, is it just me or did JN136 have better animation than a lot of the other episodes before it?

Anyways, these are my scores for the episodes:

JN135: 7/10
JN136: 7.8/10

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Also, is it just me or did JN136 have better animation than a lot of the other episodes before it?

No, it's not just you, I noticed it too. (They gotta save the best for last, right? )

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Honestly, I'm just annoyed that the endpoint of "Chloe's Eevee can't evolve" is just to have it not evolve. Did they even provide an explanation for why it couldn't evolve?

It was wasted potential. They ultimately didn't truly give an explanation. It felt more like they didn't know what to do with the character's story honestly.

 

[Nicolas721]

A Raid with Lugia? Interesting...Oh wait, it's done.
A celebration party in Cerise Lab? Interesting...Oh wait, it's done, and Goh's parents, Ren and Chryssa are just gone without any noteworthy lines. What a disservice to the later two.
A battle with Team Rocket where they can finally use Morpeko? Interesting...Oh wait, it's done.
A Butterfree return? Disservice doesn't even being to describe it. There's some hope we might see the full reunion in the upcoming series and that this was just foreshadowing, but if this is it then they'd just have used Lapras or Primeape and not troll the audience like that.

I wouldn't call it an overbloated episode like the SM finale, but certainly should have placed its elements better. What saved it was the animation and ambientation, specially in the end. I really admired their compromise to show the full roster of Generation I in one episode.

 

[Audino1008]

Lugia apparently ships SatoGo or at least that's my explanation for the sudden appearance right when they needed to make up.

That explains the rainbow

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

A Raid with Lugia? Interesting...Oh wait, it's done.

It was there to make Ash and Goh's journey come full circle: it all started with a Raid Battle with Lugia, and it ended with another one.

A celebration party in Cerise Lab? Interesting...Oh wait, it's done, and Goh's parents, Ren and Chryssa are just gone without any noteworthy lines. What a disservice to the later two.

I think it was still nice for it to happen. One last gathering between all of Goh and Ash's Pokémon. Even Suicune was there.

A battle with Team Rocket where they can finally use Morpeko? Interesting...Oh wait, it's done.

That short scene was there to demonstrate that Team Rocket will also continue on their path to try to steal Pikachu with as much determination and persistence as Ash has for his Pokémon Master goal.

A Butterfree return? Disservice doesn't even being to describe it. There's some hope we might see the full reunion in the upcoming series and that this was just foreshadowing, but if this is it then they'd just have used Lapras or Primeape and not troll the audience like that.

I'm personally happy it happened at all. A reunion precisely 1200 episodes in the making.

 

[Nicolas721]

It was there to make Ash and Goh's journey come full circle: it all started with a Raid Battle with Lugia, and it ended with another one.

I think it was still nice for it to happen. One last gathering between all of Goh and Ash's Pokémon. Even Suicune was there.

That short scene was there to demonstrate that Team Rocket will also continue on their path to try to steal Pikachu with as much determination and persistence as Ash has for his Pokémon Master goal.

You misunderstood me. I really think all of those were good ideas (hence why I said "interesting"), they just didn't have the best executions.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

You misunderstood me. I really think all of those were good ideas (hence why I said "interesting"), they just didn't have the best executions.

Ah, okay. I personally didn't mind the ways they were executed, even if those executions were not optimal.

 

[jbmasta]

I didn't realize it until now because no subs but I just read on Bulbapedia that Koharu became a research fellow, and I really don't like this. Seems to go against her character, where people assumed that she's gonna be a Pokemon researcher just because her father is one, and she wants to find her own path. This is a really bad conclusion to her character.

It's not like she got much of a fleshed out arc anyway.

 

[jbmasta]

The Team Rocket stuff felt representative of the TRio in Journeys as a whole, tacked on because it's tradition and fairly generic. We've seen them report to and get assignment from Giovanni before, and the standard capture Pikachu before blast off only had Morpeko ruining the containment as an interesting point. Journeys didn't know what to do with the TRio beyond the gacha Pelipper thing, and that robbed us of their best part in the bond they have with their pokemon. This time the only memberable addition was Morpeko, and that was an abusive relationship.

 

[Handy Man]

Pokémon Journeys is the second series where I watched all of the episodes as they aired in Japan, the first one being XY. I thought the premise of a world traveling series was exciting, and I was curious on how they would handle Goh's character. The beginning of Journeys certainly feels different to the end of it, but nonetheless, this episode wrapped up Journeys pretty well. I like how the Lugia raid battle comes full circle with the beginning of Journeys, as well as the scene where Ash and Goh travel on Lugia. I appreciated the Mewtwo reference from JN046, and Ho-Oh appearing was my favorite part of the episode. The scene at the Cerise lab afterwards was alright, but Journeys didn't really do a good job of getting me attached to Chrysa or Ren. They had a handful of good episodes, like JN057 and JN093, but overall, they didn't appear often enough to the point where it feels like I'll miss them. Chloe becoming a research fellow also feels anti-climatic, because she said earlier in Journeys that she didn't like that others thought she would be a professor, just because her dad is one. Chloe had so many interesting ideas in early Journeys, like her mother being a manga artist, and her dynamic with her brother Carter. However, Chloe's character fell flat as soon as she caught Eevee unfortunately, and that's reflected in this episode. Professor Cerise himself also doesn't have many episodes that explore his character further either. Overall, the Cerise lab folks have been so inconsistent, that I don't really feel a strong attachment to them at all despite watching all of the episodes. It's disappointing, but expected.

I predicted in the review thread that Team Rocket would tell Giovanni about Pikachu being the world's strongest Pokémon, and it looks like I was correct after all! However, the vibe I got from Team Rocket in this episode was that, as long as Ash and Pikachu are around, they will chase them to the ends of the earth. I liked that we got the whole package; the motto, them stealing Pikachu, and the blast-off. However, when you consider that Team Rocket barely appeared throughout Journeys, it feels bittersweet in this episode. It gives a "let's do this one more time, for old time's sake" kind of feeling to me, and is done to make up for the lack of Team Rocket stealing Pikachu plots in Journeys. I'm happy we got one more capture Pikachu scene from Team Rocket in this episode, but it has more weight than it would otherwise due to the infrequency of those kinds of scenes in Journeys. Morpeko breaking the glass is also hilarious, I'm surprised they decided to keep it though instead of turning it in to Giovanni. No gatcha machine in this episode is nice, although it's a shame that Journeys will be remembered for being the last Team Rocket series, as the gatcha was a big part of them and received a ton of backlash. The lack of Team Rocket disguises in Journeys is very weird too. I think JN061 is the only time they wore a disguise? On top of that, Ash saw through the disguise too. Oh well, I'm just glad that the last Team Rocket scene in Journeys was treated with care.

The farewell with Goh felt anti-climatic to me. I liked that they were trying to show that both Ash and Goh wanted to stay on the same path, but eventually decided to go into opposite directions. We also saw Ash and Goh give a fist bump, saying "the future lies in our hands", then reaffirming their dreams of becoming friends with Mew and becoming a Pokémon Master. However, the farewell itself didn't feel too sad in my opinion. It's not quite as bad as the Iris and Cilan farewell in BW, but I found the goodbyes in OS, DP, XY, and SM to be much sadder. Goh doesn't let out any tears, he doesn't tell Ash that he was his first friend and how important that is to him, or how grateful he is for letting him meet so many people and go to so many places. It just feels like they reaffirm their goals to each other and move on to me. Nothing wrong with that, but other goodbyes have been stronger in my opinion. There's also the scene in the post-credits that shows that Chloe, Goh, and Ash are all in close proximity to each other. It kinda makes it feel like they choose to isolate themselves on purpose, when they aren't actually that far apart from each other. It feels like everyone split up just for traditions sake in a way, but it is what it is.

The other post-credits scenes were great. I appreciate that we got a montage of a bunch of Journeys episodes, as 1-2-3 plays one more time. Misty meeting Goh's Intelleon is neat, and Ash meeting Butterfree again is surreal. Butterfree was the first ever character to leave the main cast of the show, so it being the last main character to return feels poetic. However, the Misty and Butterfree scenes define both my favorite parts about Journeys, as well as contradictorily, why it's my least favorite series at the same time. In short, the identity of Journeys has become all about the callbacks and references to past characters. The parts that everyone loves the most about Journeys have to do with older characters. The Masters Eight consists of older characters plus Leon. A lot of Ash's opponents are also older characters, like Korrina and Volkner. Characters like Erika, Butch & Cassidy, and Ritchie appear throughout. Not to mention, a lot of Ash's friends and rivals get episodes focused on them. Iris, Dawn, Gary, Clemont, Serena, Lillie, Paul, and more. It just feels like the returning characters steal the show, and rightfully so. However, it makes Journeys feel weak as a series when you don't factor them. The Cerise lab characters are pretty forgettable overall, Goh is very controversial, and only a handful of Galar characters are important, with most of them being no-shows. As a series that celebrates the end of Ash Ketchum's adventure, all of these returning characters were a delight to behold. However, they don't really carry the overall story of Journeys, as characters like Goh and Chloe don't get affected by them too much. If any series had to be labeled as the "fan-service" series, then Journeys absolutely deserves it. However, it doesn't really hold much weight to it outside of that in my opinion. It's a shame in terms of seeing Journeys as a stand-alone series, but for including it as a greater part of the Ash Ketchum story, it's very much appreciated overall. At the end of the day, the Misty and Butterfree scenes are amazing, and I'm happy that they're there. But it also reinforces my point that Journeys is all about the callbacks more than anything else, as Journeys saw it fit to end with them.

Overall, I'm sad that this is the last Ash Ketchum series, and I'm happy I decided to watch all of Journeys as it aired. However, Journeys is too inconsistent in its quality in my opinion, and the callbacks and references hard carried the experience for me. I felt a lot sadder when XY ended, because I felt incredibly attached to Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie, and went into a depression when Sun & Moon started. I didn't even watch all of Sun & Moon until after the Lillie episode aired this year. However, with how frustrating Goh's accomplishments are to me, and how shallow Chloe's character development was, I feel much more neutral on saying goodbye to them. Regardless of that, saying goodbye to Ash Ketchum himself is by far the hardest goodbye in the entire anime's history; Ash Ketchum is the anime. The end of Journeys is sad alone just for Ash leaving, because Ash leaving means that the show itself will go in a drastically different direction. When Ash won against Leon, with all of his friends watching, and all of his Pokémon being remembered, it felt like a death to his character at the time. I was feeling like Ash's story was over as soon as that happened. Turns out I was correct. Thank you Pokémon Journeys for giving us one last Ash Ketchum adventure, I'm glad I was born in time to watch ever since his humble beginnings in the Indigo League. I've been looking forward to new Pokémon episodes with Ash Ketchum in them as long as I've been alive, so it's going to be an incredibly hard change to live in a world where Ash's story is no longer continuing. I also got nostalgia when the camera zoomed out and the classic "To Be Continued" text popped up at the bottom right corner. What a perfect way to close the episode out.

 

[SonansuMan]

After three years, we finally reach the end again. Despite the majority of the series being mediocre I’m glad it at least had a solid enough finishing episode

NOTES:
* It was sick to see Ash and Goh come back to square one with all of the front runners fighting Lugia together. The animation was nicer than usual and the battle did a great job at showing Lugia’s true power

* The scene that follows with them flying across Kanto was great and I like that they showed so many to really sell that feeling of finality. Ho-Oh reappearing made it hit even more

* The Mewtwo cameo sprinkled in was the background was so random but I loved it

* Chloe’s arc conclusion was.. OK I guess? Wish they were more ambitious with her send off but it works

* TR scenes were fairly brief but nothing terrible. Not too much to say about them here but it was sick to see Wobbuffet fully cemented as the fourth member of the team not only with him appearing in the Giovanni scene but also being acknowledged as such later in the episode

* Morpeko actually got a laugh out of me lol. No Gacha in the finale is a plus too

* We got the celebration party!… Sort of

* The goodbye scene did not hit nearly as hard for me as either of the last two series because it conflicts too much with Goh’s independent mindset in JN037 but it was wholesome either way and great to see them diverge into their own paths

* The Butterfree scene gave me goosebumps, but finding out that the future mini series will focus on reuniting with old friends afterwards hurts this scene a little for me. The novelty is either gone if it reappears or it’ll only be relegated to a 10 second scene compared to others if more Pokémon show up

* The Misty cameo at the end was perfect, such a shame she didn’t get to appear when Inteleon was at any other stage though

Overall I think the episode was good. Not nearly as strong as most of the finales before Journeys but it did what it wanted to do just fine

OVERALL SCORE:
8/10

 

[Imtnt]

Didn't you guys notice the most important part?
Ash is using Lucario and not throwing him on the park with Goh's pokemon... It is huge. Not using only Pikachu in his next travel is a surprise, even though they don't need anothr reboot..

2nd best, yesteday my 3yo son saw episode 20th goodbye bfry and I just told him by the end of that epiaode "yeah right till this day he never met bfry again". And after 3 hours or so I was in shock I was wrong... My guess is they will put more on the subject in one of the few episodes left for Ash. Maybe even a closer with Greninja if they are already fixing problems.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I didn't realize it until now because no subs but I just read on Bulbapedia that Koharu became a research fellow, and I really don't like this. Seems to go against her character, where people assumed that she's gonna be a Pokemon researcher just because her father is one, and she wants to find her own path. This is a really bad conclusion to her character.

Honestly, it’s not a bad thing for her though it would have been better if it had happened after she got Eevee since she was basically doing that as was when she did travel with Ash and Go. And, given that while being research fellows Ash pursed the PWC and Go Project Mew, it creates the perfect opportunity for her to try out different paths as a trainer as she travels the world.

 

[Alola]

A pretty underwhelming finale for me. I can't say I teared up here like I have with some of the past ones (like when Ash left Alola or when he left Misty & Brock).

• I thought Ash & Go Vs. Lugia would be the saga's last hurrah for some good animation via battling, and maybe evening having Go's Cinderace & Inteleon recycle Leon's pair's animations for some moves as they were quite good, but we got blur background footage of attacks just randomly being called after another (Mud Shot...on a Flying-type?) without much happening. At least for Go, this could have been a neat way to show how far he's come regarding his strength and developed battling prowess, but instead we got both boys being outclassed yet again by a flying Legendary Pokémon via Raid Battle.
  • Speaking of the battle, my goodness, has Go's Japanese VA always been that screechy when calling attacks? Just...note the difference between how Ash says an attack and Go does.
• Chloe's going to be...a research fellow. As in, following in her father's footsteps despite how being against such an idea was a core part of the little initial development she had. As cheap as it feels, and it is indeed cheap, it also makes sense? What else could she do that would realistically fit with the narrative they've given her over the past year? Chloe's biggest growth as a character has been her coming to appreciate Pokémon whereas she was pretty indifferent before. She's not someone seriously interested in battling, traveling, or Pokémon Contests, so I couldn't see them ending her time any other way barring allowing her to come along with Ash (which wasn't going to happen). At least she can continue to develop her interest this way while still having the comfort of her home and family while she thinks about what she passionately wants to do.
  • That said, it's a crying shame nothing came out of her Eevee. No new Eeveelution, no Let's Go Eevee promotion, not even Gigantimax Eevee - it really begs the question of what was the goal with giving her said Pokémon, making a big deal around its not able to evolve phenomena, and then taking that nowhere. It's even antithetical to the whole "It's okay to not know what you're going do" as Chloe ends the saga with knowing what she's going to do in the foreseeable future. Just a horribly handled character all around. This, along with Go, is why I am not a fan of anime original characters as main characters for this franchise - they don't know what to do with them.
• Back to Go, given everything that happened in the previous episode's dramatic blowout, I honestly expected a heart-to-heart with Ash where Go told him just exactly how much he means to him. Which would have been neat coming from a male character for a change. But...we got none of that. Just the boys ripping off the the fork in the road Misty & Brock had already done prior, sentence exchanges, and Ash telling Go to meet Mew. But, given Journeys, can I really be surprised? These are the same writers who thought it wise to make the co-lead absent for his best friend's biggest life achievement. I just -hsiojsnossapk.
  • It must be nice having a Pokémon Professor willing to watch, feed, raise, and care for your ever-growing collection of Pokémon free of charge. I thought it was just a one off thing with Oak and Kukui, but now I suspect all one (child) has do is but ask.
• I don't know why Giovanni entertains the TRio at this point. I would honestly be rolling my eyes at their report given how all the Pokémon he lent them with the Gatcha, in order to secure more Pokémon, ended in failure. it just makes the whole scene ring hollow for me. At least Morpeko wasn't left at the HQ.
• To make myself feel better, I'm going to assume the surprise party for Ash & Go was partly to celebrate Ash becoming the World Champion.

Random Epilogue Thoughts

• Misty meeting Go and seeing an Inteleon for the first time should have been fully animated and voiced. Period.
• After how many years, Ash has finally reunited with Butterfree! That was a cute scene. However, Butterfree was honestly the last Kanto capture that needed to be visited given how Ash formally released it so it could start a family. Why did we return to Kanto and not visit Primeape? Pidgeot? Ambipom? All of his retired Kanto captures should have been featured in this world tour of a saga, but I digress.
• Lucario Vs. Lapras was interesting to see as it appears Ash has not left his party at Oak's following the end of this saga...
• Chloe continues to prove why she's the most fashionable female companion.