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Review JN022: Goodbye, Rabbifoot!

I have mixed feelings about this episode.

I guess we can talk about what I liked first. While I adore and crave battle episodes, I do like episodes that feature character development as well as humanization for the main characters. For what it was, this episode did do that. Ash and Go escape to Hoenn for a "research" trip, for an interesting total of four days; while cramming four days in one episode isn't the best idea, I do appreciate that the narrative establishes that Go's feelings about Raboot are spread out over several days (rather than achieving understanding between the two over the course of a...say, an afternoon). There were a lot of quiet moments that helped accentuate the bond between Ash and Go; the two certainly act brotherly at this point, and that shoulder bump from Ash was sweet. I like seeing that; reminds me of his relationship with Clemont. The other thing I liked were all of Go's sad facial expressions and noises; admittedly I found them cute, amusing, and relatable (ever had your dog walk past you and go sit with a sibling? sad face indeed). And that selfie at the end was just adorable; we need more heartwarming moments like that. That's about it though, for the praises I have.

On to the stuff that matters.

Okay, first off-they took a train to Hoenn? Last time I checked, Hoenn and Kanto aren't attached...Unless they flew in and then took a train...Sorry, but that immediately broke the immersion for me. I was also going to comment on Ash's crude drawing, due to the previous artwork he's displayed, but Panky made a good point about the differences between drawing on paper and on a smartphone; all is forgiven.

Like everyone else, I had hoped that this episode would finally address the elephant in the room-how Raboot truly feels about Go, in light of the frustrations it had in its recent evolution episode. Unsurprisingly, all the plausible causes and rich development we thought up was simply smacked aside in favor of just having Raboot be moody. Or tsundere. Tomato, tomato. Now, it's not to say the writers did that wrong-they're actually capturing Raboot as a species really well, according to lore. But, they really missed out on an opportunity to have Go reevaluate his relationship with Pokemon, both in how he catches (although kudos to him not ruining the Beautifly moment by trying to encapsulate one of them) and raises them. I really thought Raboot was mad at Go for everything, if not most of, we listed before, but I was clearly wrong.

In regards to how Go handled it, that sucked too. Rather than proactively try to understand the issue between himself and Raboot (or, you know, ask his friend with years and 50+ species worth of Pokemon raising experience for advice), he just whines about it sporadically through the episode...and then, on a whim, decides to flat-out abandon Raboot (in a completely different region, nonetheless) over some new Pokemon friends it made. Just because it smiled with others and not him.

Whoo boy, if my parents had his mentality, I would have been abandoned before I ever hit middle school.

Not even the contrived "rebellious" advice the apple lady gave him half-way through the episode influenced his decision. Ash, rightfully, calls him out on how the decision was made, that Go needs to at least be upfront about it rather than taking the easy way of just leaving...which is a roundabout way to my original point of talk to your Pokemon. And before someone responds "but he did, when he told Raboot it's been acting strange"-no. Those were complaints addled with, understandable, frustration-no attempts to rationally figure out what's going on between Pokemon and Trainer.

I like what they tried to do in this episode, but I feel that the pacing and certain plot elements were off; having a B-story didn't help as well as the Beautifly scene ate up too much screen time (how many times do we have see butterfly-like Pokemon fly off towards the sun or moon) in lieu of the central conflict. We could have had a new move debut here as well, sigh. And yes-Raboot's dancing was completely random (though the Coordinator in me thought "enter it in a Contest, stat!"). I wouldn't say it's lost its interest in battling though, or that that has been forgotten-we can be more than one-dimensional. Still, it felt forced and out-of-character. Now, Raboot sneaking away into an underground fight club? Like Rockruff? That's something I can get behind.

There's always the next focus episode.
 
This episode shows that some of you guys don’t understand Raboot. There were no major implications that Raboot was interested in battling since the episode he evolved. People use episode 18 as a way to say that he was interested in battling, but that seems more like cheering on his friend Pikachu and not wanting him to get destroyed instead of being interested in battling. Ever since then, there were no major signs that Raboot was interested in battling. There were no moments where he was practicing his moves, no times where he was training.

And if you mention the episode where Raboot evolved, that can be explained as him wanting to prove to himself and Gou that he could use a fire type move instead of some sort of battling motive.

I feel like some of you made serious assumptions about Raboot so that Gou’s goal could change to be more about battling, as you don’t like his current goal of catching Pokemon.
 
At least Team Rocket were absent. It'd be contrived for them to be in Hoenn at all, and take even more time from the already underserved Go and Raboot storyline. I'll echo what people are saying in how Go doesn't really do much to earn Raboot's loyalty, and the dance thing comes out of nowhere. The whole episode Raboot is on another wavelength from Go and it's not until the very end that Raboot acknowledges Go outside of the dance battle territory conflict. Forgetful filler.
 
This episode shows that some of you guys don’t understand Raboot. There were no major implications that Raboot was interested in battling since the episode he evolved. People use episode 18 as a way to say that he was interested in battling, but that seems more like cheering on his friend Pikachu and not wanting him to get destroyed instead of being interested in battling.
If that was so they didn’t do a good job of showing it.
The circumstances of Raboot's evolution combined with Scorbunny wanting to battle and capture combined with what looks like Raboot studying the battle and not cheering gives the impression that the thing is interested in battling. That’s how people have inferred it in the 20 episodes (not even people defending Go disputed this much regarding Raboot's desires).

Raboot's segment in Ash's gym battle definitely looks like someone studying and admiring the battle. With all these things on hand, it is a natural assumption that Raboot (if not Go) is interested in battles.

I feel like some of you made serious assumptions about Raboot so that Gou’s goal could change to be more about battling, as you don’t like his current goal of catching Pokemon.
Why are you trying to pit this again on a group of people who share an opinion on Go? Literally almost everyone took the situation as Scorbunny being interested in battling and questioning how the situation might be resolved. There was literally no foreshadowing towards the dance goal, and a reasonable amount for battling. I've yet to see someone defending Go who thought Raboot would go to dance before the episode aired.

If the writing can’t get the point across to a large portion of people (yes that includes children. I’m pretty sure any reasonable child is going to assume that starting from the gym battle episode and not before. I can say that as I’m not drastically older than them), then flat and simple, it’s bad writing.

And even if you argue that Raboot wasn’t actually interested in battling and people were just looking for ways to hate on Gou's goal, that doesn’t change the fact that the dancing angle is much more convoluted.
 
Raboot is most likely going to use dance moves in raid battles. Let's stop pretending that dancing, battling and catching are mutually exclusive, even if Go usually just throws Poke Balls. For that matter, Scorbunny throwing a fit over Darmanitan's insults didn't really set up a shift to Go following Ash's footsteps or whatever it is you guys wanted. The reason Scorbunny followed Go had nothing to do with battling, and the fact that he helped it evolve was enough - the teenage angst was unrelated.

This was a cute episode. Not nearly as good as Pikachu's Goodbye or Charizard Chiils, but oh well.

Alola said:
Okay, first off-they took a train to Hoenn? Last time I checked, Hoenn and Kanto aren't attached...Unless they flew in and then took a train...Sorry, but that immediately broke the immersion for me.
1. They might have taken a plane, but it wasn't shown just like with the Unova trip.
2. There's a train from Chugoku to Kyushu. Hoenn shouldn't be far off from whatever region corresponds to Chugoku, but we're supposed to ignore it.

In regards to how Go handled it, that sucked too. Rather than proactively try to understand the issue between himself and Raboot (or, you know, ask his friend with years and 50+ species worth of Pokemon raising experience for advice), he just whines about it sporadically through the episode...and then, on a whim, decides to flat-out abandon Raboot (in a completely different region, nonetheless) over some new Pokemon friends it made. Just because it smiled with others and not him.
Raboot made Go feel that it didn't even like him anymore. What Go did was wrong, but I think he was afraid of Raboot not even pretending to care that he's leaving, and we know that Go has a low self-esteem when it comes to making friends. Either way, he regretted it the minute the train started moving. By the way, Ash meant to leave Pikachu without saying anything, but it showed up quickly.
 
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I noticed that Hoenn is the first region with pokémon contests and that's why they might have chosen it if Rabbifoot wants to do contests.
I don't think Gou will become a full-time coordinator, but maybe each of his pokémon will have a hobby and he will be a coordinator for Rabbifoot.
(Unless Gou gets shiny eevee/sylveon :p, then he will be a full-time coordinator)

I think the dance thing might tie in with the introduction of Grookey, which has a musical element to his design. Perhaps Gou catches Grookey or a third companion does and they work together towards a musical objective.
 
I noticed that Hoenn is the first region with pokémon contests and that's why they might have chosen it if Rabbifoot wants to do contests.
I don't think Gou will become a full-time coordinator, but maybe each of his pokémon will have a hobby and he will be a coordinator for Rabbifoot.
(Unless Gou gets shiny eevee/sylveon :p, then he will be a full-time coordinator)

I think the dance thing might tie in with the introduction of Grookey, which has a musical element to his design. Perhaps Gou catches Grookey or a third companion does and they work together towards a musical objective.
I would be fine with that tbh
 
Raboot is most likely going to use dance moves in raid battles. Let's stop pretending that dancing, battling and catching are mutually exclusive, even if Go usually just throws Poke Balls.
I don’t think Raboot wanting to dance is the problem. The problem is that the interest suddenly comes out of nowhere.
didn't really set up a shift to Go following Ash's footsteps
Irrelevant. Next time you use that argument please come with enough evidence that the general opinion is that people want Go to follow Ash’s footsteps (whatever it means).

—————-

It would’ve been better if it had been a 2 parter or the conflict studied under multiple episodes to actually convey to the audience what went wrong. The dancing theme could’ve worked if they had elaborated on it with prior episodes.

The main issue imo is the extremely poor job done to show Raboot’s desires to the audience beforehand. And, then resolving the entire thing in one episode. If they wanted the thing to resolve in one episode, the least that could’ve been done was a general buildup.
It’s pretty undeniable that the dancing subplot is random as hell.
————————————-
Here’s a proper review after a rewatch with subs...

Ash's drawing is still good compared to Gou, I didn’t even know Go was supposed to draw a Garchomp, so I guess one of the flaws is that he isn’t a good artist? Go shedding tears when Raboot declined to review was awkward...
The Ash-Beautifly jokes is one of the few times I’ve genuinely laughed out loud watching this anime.
Go shedding tears over the smallest of Raboot's actions was, again, awkward. But I couldn’t help but empathise somewhat. And I’m not sure what was Raboot actually supposed to do when Go tried to capture Wurmple and cried due to no involvement from it?

The old lady's "It’s like my son" could be applied to both Go and Raboot I like to believe.
Go's research work and logical reasoning is good for anime standards, I think. The Zigzagoon trying to steal bags for food was a nice strategy, but strange when Go observed that the area already had a lot of resources at the end of the episode.

I’m glad Go didn’t capture the Silcoon/Beautifly, and his reasoning explanation using a counter question to Ash was great. Go can be tolerable, and even relatable as long as he's written correctly and it shows at moments in this episode. There’s definitely potential there, it’s just some segments/writers make him appear awkward and selfish at times, and amicable at others. The train scene could've been done better and it just felt that a lot of drama had been deliberately injected into it. What happened to solving issues by talking? Someone as logical as Go would've tried to find Raboot's desires in depth, specially when he already knows it’s in the "rebellious phase" (is it canon that all Pokémon go through teenage now?)

Going into the train was quite drastic on his part and I’m glad Ash talked some sense into him. Also "You should've said it sooner!" was quite brotherly of him.

I still maintain Raboot's issues could’ve been portrayed better, and I agree with Go's conclusion that the issue is; it’s bored. It just wants to keep doing stuff, and it may not be exclusive to dancing: which opens a wide gate of opportunities like contests. This interpretation also doesn’t discard the earlier observation of it being interested in battles. Raboot wants something it can actively be a part of. Like I said in the other thread, Pokemon catching is a passive process, and that’s why Raboot ended up being bored and uninterested.

I hope they don’t regress Go after this. He can be a really likeable character who isn’t a copy of Ash, but I’ve found his personality being written in quite an inconsistent manner: sometimes he runs on dopamine rushes of capturing Pokémon with some element of selfishness, sometimes he actually shows foresight and emotion. I greatly prefer the latter.

6-7/10.
 
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The really important question raised by this episode:
Are we going to get decades of Ashifly fanart like we got for Ashchu? :unsure:
Nah, since it wasn't a plot point like Ashchu was
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The observation part of the episode was a standard filler I'd say but the Raboot-Go-conflict was quite nice and intriguing to watch. It gave us some insight into Raboot's character and what's been "wrong" with him since he evolved: He felt unchallenged and bored and it surely was because Go has been a pretty bland, cookie-cutter character so far who doesn't really seem to care about his Pokemomn and just keeps throwing Pokeballs at randomly appearing Pokemon. No wonder Raboot was feeling so bored! He kind of reminds me of Charizard. Maybe that hot-tempered attitude is something lots of Fire-type Pokemon have in common?

Anyways, while the episode as a whole will probably not be remembered as a particularly good one, at least that last part when Go thought he had lost Raboot was quite emotional and their character development was worth watching as well.
 
This episode shows that some of you guys don’t understand Raboot. There were no major implications that Raboot was interested in battling since the episode he evolved. People use episode 18 as a way to say that he was interested in battling, but that seems more like cheering on his friend Pikachu and not wanting him to get destroyed instead of being interested in battling. Ever since then, there were no major signs that Raboot was interested in battling. There were no moments where he was practicing his moves, no times where he was training.

And if you mention the episode where Raboot evolved, that can be explained as him wanting to prove to himself and Gou that he could use a fire type move instead of some sort of battling motive.

I feel like some of you made serious assumptions about Raboot so that Gou’s goal could change to be more about battling, as you don’t like his current goal of catching Pokemon.

I totally agree that a lot of viewers made very bold assumptions about Raboot and Go's development as a result. Those 'Raboot loves battling so Go should battle more!' and the also popular 'Go should trade Raboot to Ash so Ash can train it!' arguments look extremely silly in hindsight and I told y'all that having high expectations for either Go or his rabbit was going to come back to bite. Now there's more of evidence for Raboot wanting to dance than for it wanting to battle in a more serious manner... not that I think either scenario will play out.
 
By the way, Ash meant to leave Pikachu without saying anything, but it showed up quickly.

In which he would also be criticized by me (just like Dawn and Clemont, since we're putting the notion on the table); but we're not reviewing that episode. I don't believe that subsequent main characters should be immune to criticism from poor choices that were made prior by other main characters. Two wrongs don't make a right.

I totally agree that a lot of viewers made very bold assumptions about Raboot and Go's development as a result. Those 'Raboot loves battling so Go should battle more!' and the also popular 'Go should trade Raboot to Ash so Ash can train it!' arguments look extremely silly in hindsight and I told y'all that having high expectations for either Go or his rabbit was going to come back to bite.

Except, making assumptions and predictions are vital elements to the discussions we have in these forums. You should hypothesize what you think may happen based off previews and established material that we've already witnessed; it'd be boring and make for non-engaging discussion if everyone had the same, "obvious" opinion. Provided it's done respectfully, people should be able to posit their ideas here whatever they may be. While I admitted in the same post I made that it was outlandish, I stand by my earlier suggestion several threads back at the possibility of Raboot going to Ash; just because that idea didn't happen here, nor any of the more desired development I was hoping for, it doesn't mean that I'm going to regret what I said or feel silly for sharing it (nor would I want anyone else to). Nor is there truly any consequence here for failed expectations.


Now there's more of evidence for Raboot wanting to dance than for it wanting to battle in a more serious manner...

I wouldn't say so. We've gotten one episode showcasing Raboot dancing, while we've had several episodes illustrate Scorbunny/Raboot's interest in both actively battling and watching battles. The two aren't mutually exclusive, but it's going to take more episodes, imo, until we get a clear picture on where Raboot's interests substantially stand.
 
Dancing could play into the football theme of the Scorbunny line, as both activities involve quick precision steps and movements as well as teamwork.
 
I'm so glad we're going on hiatus knowing Go's future trajectory: aiming to become Kalos Queen with his dancing Rabifoot! A series-long struggle for this lone boy to break into the exclusively female ranks of that competition should address some of the issues we had with Serena's Tripokalon arc :wynaut:
 
I'm so glad we're going on hiatus knowing Go's future trajectory: aiming to become Kalos Queen with his dancing Rabifoot! A series-long struggle for this lone boy to break into the exclusively female ranks of that competition should address some of the issues we had with Serena's Tripokalon arc :wynaut:
"Where is it written in this one sided society that a boy can't be beautiful?" That's the mental image I'm having right now.

This is a reference to the Fairly Oddparents, if you're wondering.
 
I would love that.Really I will buy it if we stop with the whole catch all Pokemon nonsense.

Also now that I think off Serena goal was not established untill episode 40. So we still have time of make something with Go.
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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