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Review SM021: Nyabby, Time to Begin the Journey!

Mooland is heavily implied to be dead. No actual body though, he simply vanishes like Obi-Wan.
Relationship between Satoshi and Nyabby seems forced to me. There is no reason for Nyabby to go with him. They didn't even finished their battle.
Nyasu is really interested in Nyabby, too bad it didn't go with him.
 
That's it, this is the best episode of S&M now. The emotionalness was handled well, I could feel the pain that poor Litten was going through knowing that Stoutland's dead and the grief Meowth had.

Also
Ash finally caught Litten, officially ending our long wait.
 
Mooland is heavily implied to be dead. No actual body though, he simply vanishes like Obi-Wan.
Relationship between Satoshi and Nyabby seems forced to me. There is no reason for Nyabby to go with him. They didn't even finished their battle.
Nyasu is really interested in Nyabby, too bad it didn't go with him.

Hmmm... Did he just disappeared on-screen or was it off screen?
 
Offscreen. Nyabby was sleeping on top of him, then wake up alone.

Then I shall take it that Nurse Joy removed Stoutland from the bed for Litten's sake. I do have to admit, though I'm not surprised, the light-hearted Sun and Moon has done something no other Pokémon series has ever done (unless you count old humans)...

Dealing the death of a Pokémon. And it's not like dying from a heroic sacrifice or being resurrected shortly afterwards. No avenging either. Just natural old age taking its course. And there's nothing you can do about it.

Now I know some people would prefer the old Stoutland to live, but this is honestly the best course of direction for Litten's arc.
 
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Also Bewear holding Meowth, even it knows it's pain.
 
It is very sad to see that the Stoutland has died. And this episode was an actual shocker as well, given in twenty years of its history, it has finally shown a sense of reality as opposed to a purely kiddie fantasy. To show mortality, and the aftermath of those who's loved ones have died.

This episode is absolute proof that the anime is actually going in the right direction again even long after Takeshi Shudo left and died. The humor is good again, the writing is stronger, we get actual character development, and the first time an established character has passed on of old age. I cannot call it a landmark episode on death in a kids show; Sesame Street already did that in the 80s.
 
I loved so much in this episode. Ash's maturity, Meowth's involvement. The whole atmosphere was great. The use of symbolism with the tree and the leafs. Pikachu and Litten's fight was really nicely animated as well. Music was on-point too. Not every day we get the hear Meowth's Song.
 
Shit, they actually had the balls to kill the dog? Bye bye, dead doggy.

In all serious, one of my griped with this season was that the show was too much of a comedy. The humor was often good, but it got repetitive and relied too much on having over-the-top meme faces. The traveling aspect was all but gone, and I felt the show focused too much on throwing out jokes than adding depth. But this episode, and a few recent others, proved me wrong. SM is finding its footing and gearing towards becoming a fun, but also poignant. And this episode proved that they can handle mature ideas gracefully and without making it feel shoehorned in.

My only gripe is that they didn't do this episode later in the series, because I can't picture a way for them to top this one later. But I understand how they needed to get this out of the way for Ash to get Litten.
 
The music really sold it (apart from Meowth singing, that kind of ruined it a bit). The Snowbelle theme was really fitting here. Surprisingly the anime is best when it focuses less on comedy.
 
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