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Review JN070: Please! Catch Morpeko!!

I think I would've enjoyed Morpeko's capture in this episode a lot more if not for the fact that 90% of Full Belly Mode's screentime came from this episode alone. I appreciate that this episode is trying to show us how nice and friendly Morpeko can be when it isn't hungry, but that won't make the bonding between Morpeko and James in this episode feel any less abrupt to me since this is basically the first time we've seen Morpeko acting friendly in any notable capacity. With that said, the rest of the episode was fairly enjoyable IMO, so I'm not too bothered by that. Hopefully Morpeko's capture means the trio will rely less on the gacha machine in the future, though I kinda doubt that.
 
Super cute episode! I have mixed feelings about Morpeko as Team Rocket's pokemon, especially with its gag still in full force(and the last twenty seconds of the episode was such a jarring tonal transition), but it was kinda cute this episode so I'll give it that. Nothing felt like it was dragging on for too long except maybe the beginning where Team Rocket tailed Ash and Goh. The jokes were actually pretty funny this episode(still didn't laugh at Morpeko's gag, but it WAS funny when it fought with Greedent) and I was smiling a bunch. My favorite part was definitely the part that took place at the institute, as we saw SO much pokemon interaction~! I love Raichu even more now, Lucario and Cinderace are being best buddies, Drizzlie was really cute, Ash and Goh were both well done in this episode, and we saw Ash and Goh doing stuff that makes them actually look like they work at the lab~!!!

On a more technical aspect, the score was still perfection and the funny music used this episode was actually pretty amusing. That being said, the animation was...pretty low quality, not gonna lie. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that they actually drew a lot of people throughout the episode, making the city feel more lively than usual...

Anyway, mixed feelings on the ending but overall it's a good episode with a few technical hiccups here and there. I give it an 8/10~! :bulbaLove::bulbaLove::bulbaLove:
 
Yea, it especially feels weird having Go capture 2 Pokémon that are the evolved forms of Pokémon he already owns so far away from the debut of the pre-evolved form, especially having a running thing of him trying to get one of them. It’s like, dude just train your Pokémon if you want the evolved forms so badly. Would’ve thought we were past that bit of redundancy by now.
Didn't they have a whole episode where he decided to evolve a Digglet instead or catching a Dugtrio? What happened to that? So yeah...More pointless captures.

It was so great to finally see someone catch Morpeko though. I'm actually happy it was James. I was worried for a moment that Goh would, but its great to see James pulled through. It was great to see more of Ash's Pokemon again also.
 
Didn't they have a whole episode where he decided to evolve a Digglet instead or catching a Dugtrio? What happened to that?
Technically, no. Goh caught both Diglett and Dugtrio, but he felt okay giving away Dugtrio, because it was already in his dex and was still keeping Diglett.
 
With James catching Morpeko, every side of the main characters have had their Pikachu or Pikaclones

Ash - Pikachu

Goh - Pikachu
Dawn - Pachirisu
Iris - Emolga
Bonnie - Dedenne
Sophocles - Togedemaru

They are all travelling companions

James - Morpeko

Member of the TRio
Don't people usually condider Minun and Plusle a part of the Pikachu clones? Those haven't been caught.
 
I really don't understand it. Are Drowzee, Bunnelby, Pidgey, etc. just doomed to never reach their fully mature forms and stay as part of Goh's collection? I would've been fucking depressed by my fate if I was one of Goh's Pokemon.
Most wild Pokemon don't get caught and have to fend for themselves frequently. I don't see a reason to feel sorry for Go's Pokemon. They lead very cushy lives.
 
Ok, pretty much have the same opinions I had before with the subs. Solid episode, just feels weird that I like the Lab stuff more than the TRio/Morpeko stuff, think I just really like seeing Morpeko/Greedent interact. Once again, really liked seeing TRio traversing Vermillion, also coming across the twerps, and then trying to use them to solve their Morpeko issue. Oh, thinking on it, though I know this is likely what they do when we don't see them, it was good seeing Ash/Gou performing Lab tasks, and particularly seeing Drizzile again (also Raichu MVP). And like I think I've been saying since The DD arc, I feel Team Rocket is getting back into form character-wise, so their fans have something to enjoy too.
 
Finally got around to watching this episode in subs, and after 25 years of stalking a ridiculously OP yellow rodent, the TRio catches a ridiculously OP yellow rodent of their own! How did the first TRio centralized episode in over a year do? Pretty well, I think :giggle:

The shenanigans around the first half with them trying to get rid of the electric gremlin were hilarious, and watching James get to genuinely bond with Morpeko was great to see. I like that they actually quietly set him up to be the most caring towards Morpeko in some of his appearances (such as him being the one to drag Morpeko back into his van over ditching it in JN067 or being the one to enter the food contest with it in JN043) so the catch felt justified. It was also just a breath of fresh air to see Morpeko show any type of personality in this episode beyond "give me food or you die" and a lot of its scenes were really funny. The lab segments were great in that we got to see a lot of the more uncommon Pokemon, and I'm happy the writers remembered Drizzile exists. The Gacha once again continues to be useless though Natu's appearance in this episode was hilarious, and I loved how much of a powerhouse they established Morpeko to be during the battle with it not only sending Pikachu and Cinderace flying with Stomping Tantrum, but also creating an explosion with said move. Overall this episode just had a lot of really great moments and I ended up relatively surprised James actually ended up being the one to catch it though Goh throwing the Pokeball almost gave me a heart attack lol

My only issue with this episode is that like JN066, they really didn't do a lot to make Morpeko particularly likeable beforehand beyond being cute and I think that it could've benefitted from much more scenes with James to make the capture feel more impactful. On top of that, it still ends up attacking the TRio even after the capture, so whether or not it'll actually make much of a difference with the status quo is up in the air. At the end of the day though I'm happy we finally got not only the first TRio capture of the series but their first Electric type as well, and I'm really satisfied with a good amount of their appearances in this series beyond the DD arc. Maybe we can get a Jessie capture too before the series ends?

OVERALL SCORE:
9/10
 
...Wow, what a waste of Iwane's talent on an episode that ends in the exact same place it began

Can't wait for the Scooby-Snack jokes to begin while mimikyu sues for copyright infringement on the "only battles for Team Rocket under specific circumstances" basis
 
Most wild Pokemon don't get caught and have to fend for themselves frequently. I don't see a reason to feel sorry for Go's Pokemon. They lead very cushy lives.
Quite a few wild Pokémon also tend to get to grow and evolve on their own. And while having a trainer tends to help them further their potential, this is not a liberty most of Go’s Pokémon get because of the laziness of the writers having Go capture different stages of an evolution line redundantly rather than raising his Pokémon.
 
Quite a few wild Pokémon also tend to get to grow and evolve on their own. And while having a trainer tends to help them further their potential, this is not a liberty most of Go’s Pokémon get because of the laziness of the writers having Go capture different stages of an evolution line redundantly rather than raising his Pokémon.
I don't even remember a single time when a character was training a Pokemon specifically to get it to evolve, and if that did happen, it was probably because that's what the Pokemon wanted. The writers may or may not be lazy, but Go loves catching Pokemon. He'd rather go seek a Pidgeotto than train a Pidgey that probably wants to be left alone; it can battle its friends without anyone bossing it around.
 
My god, Morpeko is a nightmare; and why is it never full for long? Good luck, James!

It was nice seeing Lucario again :bulbaLove:
 
I adored the moments when Morpeko wasn't being evil, although the execution of that Stomping Tantrum and it nailing both Pikachu and Cinderace was absolutely delicious; I never envisioned the move that way - it also is very fitting personality-wise for Hangry Morpeko. And also, wow - I did not see James being the one to catch it, let alone it officially becoming a Rocket Pokémon; I figured it would remain a wild Pokémon by the day's end. This marks the first time the TRio, and someone villainous, has ever owned a Pika - Clone and that is wild!

Between the two, James catching it makes sense though; he's the one to own gag Pokémon that hurt him in some way, shape, or form. It is Cramorant, but it will do I suppose. Here's hoping Morpeko puts its strength to use from here on out.

And also, shouldn't you be training Ash? Leon isn't exactly going to beat himself, at this rate.
 
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