Review JN033: Would You Like To Do a Pokémon Trade?

[nickdt]

I haven't seen the episode yet, but judging from photos on Twitter, maybe Gou catching Sobble was better than having Ash catch it? I say that because I really like those precious moments with Raboot and Sobble together. It's so precious.

Well yes and no. We have seen that Dragonite calms Sobble down, so Ash getting Sobble, would have given Dragonite more to do and would have given it more screen time.

 

[ii kanji]

On one hand, the episode was essentially boring and pointless and I have many, many, many questions about Morpeko and TRio and how they are living their lives in this series.

On the other hand, they were funny and normal and the precious minutes we had with them have given me some life to take me through the next unknown number of weeks until their next worthwhile appearance. So I can't really complain...?

 

[Eclipsical]

The episode was fairly average but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Also it continues my fascination with the Rotom Phone and it’s Poké Dex app and how I so badly want one.

Heracross and Pinsir are cute. Goh had to battle on his own without Ash to back him up. Goh is improving his battle skills (even though Team Rocket isn’t the strongest opponent to get most of your battle experience from). Heracross already has a full move set.

The trading sequence was lacking, I was hoping for something a little more interesting. They didn’t even show like the Poké Ball becoming energy thing that they’ve done for most trades which I quite liked.

Goh’s Heracross is cool and I like it. It’s good at battle, it’s a charmer, and it likes to show off. I like how they expanded on Goh’s Pinsir from what we already knew about it, like being more of a pacifist and such. It has a fairly unique personality for a Pinsir, after all.

Team Rocket’s personalities were great even if they were just there to lose. The Gacha was there but the Pokémon they received didn’t battle. Of course, the Gacha’s existence is only to push the “Show every single Pokémon” quota they have with this series. It was a shame for this episode especially since they actually got pretty sick Pokémon.

How did Morpeko follow them? They most likely haven’t caught it since if they did it would be in the Gacha Machine like Chewtle. Jessie, James, and Meowth just see it as a nuisance and pest they want to get rid of.

Koromi was a very fun CoTD. I loved her and all her weirdness.

 

[Malte000]

Things I‘ve noticed:

Satoshi has become quite weak tho:


Look at THOSE EYES

Spoiler

Deflated Sonansu is best Sonansu

Spoiler

Spoiler: Some funny faces that could’ve been straight from SM

Also, I would have loved to hear the TRio reciting their motto with their exhausted/almost starving voices

 

[Daren]

Satoshi has become quite weak tho:

During Sun and Moon one site wrote an article about Ash losing his super strength in it.
It's a pity since Ash's unexplained super strength was one of those fun in-jokes.
Edit:
I adore that Farfetch'd/Spearow trade.
Edit: Wow, Japanese twitter is having fun with the log thing.
*Ash's gloves or cap gave him power.
*He is faking weakness ("A wise hawk hides it's claws" as one put it) to avoid hurting Gou's feelings.
*Something about Konami.
*The tree weighs "10 Groudons".
*He got "patched" and was nerfed for being OP.
*The tree was "buffed" instead.
*One thing I can't fully translate what is translated as variants of "human appeal" keeps popping up--I get the impression they're saying it's to make him more realistic/relatable?

 

[SonansuMan]

This episode was a pretty mundane watch, but seeing Go's Pokèmon not restricted to being lab slaves with 10 seconds of screentime is always a plus. It pretty much had the general flow of a regular COTD episode and while nothing really happened to make me hate it not much was interesting enough to make me enjoy it either.

PROS:
+ The COTD was more fun than the average one and I liked the bug schtick

+ Team Rocket's appearance this episode was pretty amusing and a major improvement from the last one

+ Deflated Sonansu is terrifying.

+ Goh's Pinsir having feelings for Heracross gives me hope that it'll probably get featured more later on in this series

CONS:
- Besides dragging the episode for an additional 30 seconds that could've explained how Morpeko went from Galar to Kanto, what the hell was the point of the Gacha this episode? Only having Jessie and Meowth attack this time is really telling about the elephant in the room

- The whole trading aspect about the episode felt more like a subplot if anything

- Pikachu getting used for the umpteenth time in a PWC battle over Gengar whose been gone for nearly 2 MONTHS is driving me crazy

OVERALL SCORE:
5/10

 

[L-05308]

Galarfetch'd: Come on, dude...

Mimey: I’ll just set the table shall I?

 

[Kurolegacy]

I haven't seen the episode yet, but judging from photos on Twitter, maybe Gou catching Sobble was better than having Ash catch it? I say that because I really like those precious moments with Raboot and Sobble together. It's so precious.

I mean, nothing about Ash getting it would have prevented that especially considering that cross ownership relationships have happened. Buneary had that crush on Pikachu and showed it when they were together, Snivy was basically the cool big sister of the group and had the mature vs wanna be alpha dynamic with Emolga, Togedemaru had an extremely playful dynamic with Pikachu and I’m sure there’s other examples throughout the anime.

 

[Eclipsical]

The subs confirm that Morpeko is living at their base despite them trying to get rid of it.

 

[Johtohfiller]

 

[L-05308]

Something interesting about this episode is the bug girl mentions she has caught all of the bug type Pokémon in Sinnoh and shows she has Yanma, Scizor, Dustox etc implying she caught them in Sinnoh, and later says that Pinsir can’t be found in Sinnoh. which seems like they are really trying to adhere by regional dex and not just generation.

 

[Kurolegacy]

The subs confirm that Morpeko is living at their base despite them trying to get rid of it.

Have they considered capturing it and sending it to Giovanni?

 

[Eclipsical]

Have they considered capturing it and sending it to Giovanni?

I’m guessing they don’t want to send him a Pokémon that will eat all of his food before he can and cause general chaos, Meowth even specifically calls it a pest in the episode.

 

[Eitarou]

So how long 'til Goh starts finding Eggs littered around the Park.

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

So how long 'til Goh starts finding Eggs littered around the Park.

If eggs do appear, I wouldn't be surprised if Skwovet eats them all.

 

[Eclipsical]

If eggs do appear, I wouldn't be surprised if Skwovet eats them all.

Pokémon just go mysteriously missing because Skwovet has started to get too big of an appetite.

 

[Rockapheller]

I find the execution of trading a bit odd in this episode. Gou has had minimum interact with his Pokémon up to this point, but he does not want to trade it away because he cares for it, which is understandable. How come Koromi wants to trade her Pokémon, though, which she apparently prepared for official PWC battles and counted on it while being in a battle, despite having five others.

 

[Mew29240]

I find the execution of trading a bit odd in this episode. Gou has had minimum interact with his Pokémon up to this point, but he does not want to trade it away because he cares for it, which is understandable. How come Koromi wants to trade her Pokémon, though, which she apparently prepared for official PWC battles and counted on it while being in a battle, despite having five others.

There was a shot where she noticed Goh's Pinsir falling for her Heracross. She probably wanted to let them stay together, and with Goh conveniently catching another Pinsir, she gets something out of it, too. It's a 3-person/pokemon (the only neutral party being the Heracross) win scenario.

 

[Panky..]

This will be my strangest write-up yet. The Pros and Cons of this episode were far too intermingled for me to write them in any other detailed way without the individual point feeling like they're lacking, not to mention that they connect to stuff outside the episode as well.

Thoughts:

• The entire episode being named after trading ends up falling flat because the actual trade between Goh and Koromi was weak, uneventful and treated like an afterthought, a mere reason for Goh to acquire a Heracross which he could have gotten from a trip to Johto. It was a wasted opportunity as they could have gone into some detail for new viewers, about the mechanic as well as the implications on both the Pokemon and the trainers, the advantage and disadvantages of trading etc. The actual trade lacked any weight which is made worse by the fact that Goh ends up trading a second Pinsir (that catch of said Pinsir was terrible) and the revelation that Koromi had... a full party of Heracross. That, and I can't bring myself to connect to Goh and Pinsir's relation or even believe that it exists in the first place given how lacking it was when it comes to substance. Recall what I said back when JN006/JN007 aired, that Goh and his Pokemon will suffer from this 'tell but don't show' issue where they'll only give 15-30 second scenes about some surface interaction between Goh and his Pokemon, and we're somehow automatically supposed to believe that each party has a genuine bond with the other without anything of substance being shown. It makes Goh's sudden reluctance to trade (when he was really excited just a few minutes prior) come out of thin air especially when there was no catalyst for that reluctance (like trade regret with Ash and Butterfree, or attachment to Pinsir which we've seen none of). It's pretty cool that they revisited the exact location where Pinsir was caught though, since it was initially an anime original location.
• The PWC battle in this episode was very lacking especially when compared to the battle in JN020, which was similar and quick yet the execution felt better due to being more organic. It ends far too quickly and in a simplistic manner, with Heracross using a few moves that are evaded, followed by Pikachu trapping and one-shotting it with Iron Tail, and it's not very well animated to be engaging either. Oh yeah, let's not forget the Pikachu overexposure again, so much for JN030's "Ash neglects Pikachu out of nowhere for a day followed by emotional moments". That Heracross was pretty cool though, I loved it's showboat personality, I was really hoping for some comparisons or references to Ash's Heracross though. One thing I wonder is how Heracross is shown as really strong against TRio despite being wiped by Pikachu earlier, begs the question if TRio are indeed that weak or Pikachu is just ridiculously strong. Or both because .
• TRio, like I mentioned in my initial post, was the one that kept the middle portion of this otherwise slow episode quite interesting due to them displaying some of that SM flair. The reveal that Morpeko somehow followed TRio to their Kanto base is giving me mixed feelings though; the optimistic part of me hopes that Morpeko will receive some positive development sooner rather than later and become a beloved members of their team kind of like an anti-Mimikyu... the pessimistic part of me on the other hand thinks that it'll only be utilized in what will become a running gag that automatically has Morpeko teleport to TRio's location and ruin their plan in some way and leave them hungry. It's a shame that their role becomes bland in the final segment of the episode with the generic 'evil catch Pokemon' manner. There didn't even need to be a conflict in this episode in the first place, TRio were just really hungry (that's not "wasting food" Koromi, be a bit more sympathetic) and not even after Pikachu, each party could have just let it slide after some explanations. This episode also somewhat proves that they're running out of ideas with that Gacha machine when the Pokemon from it turn out to be useless and result in TRio attacking by themselves. The entire concept of the Gacha being there to 'showcase more Pokemon' is obviously not working out well given how weak the presentation has been. Bewear+Stufful >>> Gacha.

Verdict: Not the worst episode but certainly nowhere close to being even in the okay range. It would have been a regular filler if not for the fact that it was a focus episode for Heracross and Goh’s subsequent acquisition of it, it’ll be 5.5/10 from me.

Spoiler: MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILER

Ash is not dense, or at least not as much as he was before the kiss.

Koromi only points that something is going on between Heracross and Pinsir, Ash comes to this conclusion by himself.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

WOW ASH DIDNT ACT DENSE AT ALL FOR ONCE!

I

This will be my strangest write-up yet. The Pros and Cons of this episode were far too intermingled for me to write them in any other detailed way without the individual point feeling like they're lacking, not to mention that they connect to stuff outside the episode as well.

Thoughts:

• The entire episode being named after trading ends up falling flat because the actual trade between Goh and Koromi was weak, uneventful and treated like an afterthought, a mere reason for Goh to acquire a Heracross which he could have gotten from a trip to Johto. It was a wasted opportunity as they could have gone into some detail for new viewers, about the mechanic as well as the implications on both the Pokemon and the trainers, the advantage and disadvantages of trading etc. The actual trade lacked any weight which is made worse by the fact that Goh ends up trading a second Pinsir (that catch of said Pinsir was terrible) and the revelation that Koromi had... a full party of Heracross. That, and I can't bring myself to connect to Goh and Pinsir's relation or even believe that it exists in the first place given how lacking it was when it comes to substance. Recall what I said back when JN006/JN007 aired, that Goh and his Pokemon will suffer from this 'tell but don't show' issue where they'll only give 15-30 second scenes about some surface interaction between Goh and his Pokemon, and we're somehow automatically supposed to believe that each party has a genuine bond with the other without anything of substance being shown. It makes Goh's sudden reluctance to trade (when he was really excited just a few minutes prior) come out of thin air especially when there was no catalyst for that reluctance (like trade regret with Ash and Butterfree, or attachment to Pinsir which we've seen none of). It's pretty cool that they revisited the exact location where Pinsir was caught though, since it was initially an anime original location.
• The PWC battle in this episode was very lacking especially when compared to the battle in JN020, which was similar and quick yet the execution felt better due to being more organic. It ends far too quickly with Heracross using a few moves that are evaded, followed by Pikachu trapping and one-shotting it with Iron Tail, and it's not very well animated to be engaging either. Oh yeah, let's not forget the Pikachu overexposure again, so much for JN030's "Ash neglects Pikachu out of nowhere for a day followed by emotional moments". That Heracross was pretty cool though, I loved it's showboat personality, I was really hoping for some comparisons or references to Ash's Heracross though. One thing I wonder is how Heracross is shown as really strong against TRio despite being wiped by Pikachu earlier, begs the question if TRio are indeed that weak or Pikachu is just ridiculously strong. Or both because .
• TRio, like I mentioned in my initial post, was the one that kept the middle portion of this otherwise slow episode quite interesting due to them displaying some of that SM flair. The reveal that Morpeko somehow followed TRio to their Kanto base is giving me mixed feelings though; the optimistic part of me hopes that Morpeko will receive some positive development sooner rather than later and become a beloved members of their team kind of like an anti-Mimikyu... the pessimistic part of me on the other hand thinks that it'll only be utilized in what will become a running gag that automatically has Morpeko teleport to TRio's location and ruin their plan in some way and leave them hungry. It's a shame that their role becomes bland in the final segment of the episode with the generic 'evil catch Pokemon' manner. There didn't even need to be a conflict in this episode in the first place, TRio were just really hungry (that's not "wasting food" Koromi, be a bit more sympathetic) and not even after Pikachu, each party could have just let it slide after some explanations. This episode also somewhat proves that they're running out of ideas with that Gacha machine when the Pokemon from it turn out to be useless and result in TRio attacking by themselves. The entire concept of the Gacha being there to 'showcase more Pokemon' is obviously not working out well given how weak the presentation has been. Bewear+Stufful >>> Gacha.

Verdict: Not the worst episode but certainly nowhere close to being even in the okay range. It would have been a regular filler if not for the fact that it was a focus episode for Heracross and Goh’s subsequent acquisition of it, it’ll be 5.5/10 from me.

Spoiler: MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SPOILER

Ash is not dense, or at least not as much as he was before the kiss.

It is a miracle. Hope JN35 doesnt ruin it