Preview JN030: The Reluctant Pikachu and the Exasperated Barrierd

[Silktree]

I don't blame Pikachu for lashing out at an attention hog/dog, a fixated trainer and, above all, a judgmental fanbase.

Cool. Regular Farfetch'd is getting used again. Goh's third permanent party member?

Also: They are going to Pallet. I wonder if we get cameo's of Ash's older mons (The Kanto ones here), that might be foreshadowing for a return.

Only if one of them decides to leave the lab to say hi, seeing as how Prof. Oak's VA isn't listed. For that matter, I'm pretty sure that the Kangaskhan baby had a special VA, who isn't listed.

 

[Eclipsical]

Cool. Regular Farfetch'd is getting used again. Goh's third permanent party member?

Also: They are going to Pallet. I wonder if we get cameo's of Ash's older mons (The Kanto ones here), that might be foreshadowing for a return.

Most likely it’s the PWC Trainer’s Pokémon that Riolu is gonna beat, makes sense since he has the type advantage, and later gloat about to Pikachu.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

as well as most other Ash's Pokemon including Greninja or Infernape) rivaled Pikachu for the role of team's ace and trainer's favorite.

Greninja literally invoked a thousand year old form due to its strong bond with Ash... Ash has often given some Pokemon more focus.

I don't blame Pikachu for lashing out at an attention hog/dog, a fixated trainer and, above all, a judgmental fanbase.

Then I guess that it’s too good for us and too bad for Pikachu that it’s just a fictional character who’s completely incapable of lashing out and hurting the fully living and corporeal fanbase.

 

[Kitasuki]

Most likely it’s the PWC Trainer’s Pokémon that Riolu is gonna beat, makes sense since he has the type advantage, and later gloat about to Pikachu.

How does Riolu have type advantage?

 

[Eclipsical]

How does Riolu have type advantage?

I forgot it was a flying type—.

 

[Kitasuki]

I forgot it was a flying type—.

That explains it. It's alright. It's just a hobby after all.
However I think the Farfetch'd is Go's

 

[Nicolas721]

SM126 at least had more creative backgrounds than just a field and a road...They're being true to games' Kanto though.

It's possible that Kangaskhan appears as the preview seems to be focused on the first half of the episode, but don't get your hopes up.

 

[Yami-no-Game]

The preview looked a little bit bare but I loved how Mr. Mime was using his charms to catch a lift. Pikachu and Mr. Mime are an unlikely pair but I love them together.

 

[Daren]

From a worldbuilding perspective I find the implication Pokémon can go hitchhiking and possibly get a ride very interesting.
Maybe it would only work for human like ones?

 

[0cerge]

With Greninja, it was literally a phenomenon where Ash and it became linked as one and yet you don't see Pikachu throwing a tantrum there despite the bond looking to rival his s own with his trainer.

Greninja literally invoked a thousand year old form due to its strong bond with Ash... Ash has often given some Pokemon more focus.

As I said before, Greninja didn't try to present himself as somebody special. He and Pikachu were good friends from the beginning. It was mainly fanbase who declared him Ash's team ace for his unique abilities.
Riolu is another case. It literally feels that Ash is a person who is related to it. So it respects other pokemons' bonds less than its own and can see Pikachu as possible rival. But if Ash allows Riolu to keep him from other Pokemon, it's rather Ash's fault than Pikachu's selfishness.

 

[dman_dustin]

Going by that logic, you could say that Pikachu is keeping Ash from Gengar, Dragonite... and all the other reserves. It works both ways, especially against Gengar who's pretty much disappeared since JN025. I guess Pikachu is very much at fault, yes?

On a serious note, where does it say that Riolu is keeping Ash from Pikachu though? Even after Riolu's birth, Ash tends to instinctively default to Pikachu unless a scenario arises. Just because Riolu is a bit more headstrong and is a bit more assertive about going into scenarios doesn't mean Ash has ever and will ever neglect Pikachu. We've seen proof of this time and time over throughout the years, to the point that he literally dove off a tower for Pikachu. Just because Riolu and Ash share an aura connection doesn't automatically negate what he has with Pikachu.

I agree, its even worse given that Ash used Pikachu in today's episode to train Riolu, which means Ash is paying attention to it.

There was no build up here, the only instance that I can imagine Pikachu being mad at Riolu/Ash is when Riolu wanted to battle Galarian Farfetch'd.

But that one instance isn't enough to suddenly make Pikachu so mad that its traveling to Pallet Town. It literally makes no sense.

Plus like you said, Pikachu was used exclusively by Ash even when Ash had other Pokemon. He only used Dragonite when Pikachu was knocked out by Golurk, he only used Gengar because it was a 2 vs 2. And Ash likely used Gengar and Dragonite against Korrina solely because they have advantages over fighting types unlike Pikachu and Riolu being a baby Pokemon. But Ash used Pikachu against Meganium and Tauros, and was going to be used against Farfetch'd until Riolu decided to jump in.

Pikachu will always get focus, will always get to battle at some point. Ash's other Pokemon are not nearly as likely. Like in Best Wishes where Pikachu was used against Burgh instead of Tranquil, so Pikachu being used often screws Ash's other Pokemon over. I'm not suggesting Pikachu take the backseat, but at the very least Ash should be allowed to use who he wants without Pikachu throwing a tantrum. Just like against Elesa which was the worst case just to make Ash look like an idiot, and Ash used the same team he used in the Don George battle tournament which was kind of annoying.

I don't get the character trait Pikachu has, because it feels like a stand in for the writers/producers to take jab's at the audience who doesn't like Pikachu being overused whereas other Pokemon get screwed over in the process because Pikachu is more important than any other Pokemon so you're going to enjoy it being shoved in every scene, and every battle and you're going to like it. Pikachu is a mainstay it isn't going anywhere. Dragonite, Gengar and Ash's other Pokemon are not, they're going to be dumped at the end of the generation and we may likely never see them again, the least they can do is get their moments of shine where Pikachu can have its couple of moment's of shine.

Like look at the Kalos league, Pikachu was Ash's best Pokemon in that league. It beat four Pokemon. We only saw Greninja beating 3, and one of them was Alain's Bisharp, and one was an Altaria, whereas Greninja's only impressive win was against Mega Sceptile. Pikachu defeated Clawitzer (not as impressive), Aegislash (pretty impressive), Tyranitar/Metagross (very impressive).

Pikachu is not hurting for attention nor screen time no matter how much they want to paint the narrative in that manner. Pikachu can absolutely get an episode focused on it, but I don't think this is what the episode should have been about. Pikachu wanting to see Delia and getting mad at Ash would've been better or even Ash (I meant Pikachu LOL) wanting to see its friends at Oak's lab, a much better story than Pikachu getting mad at Ash training/using other Pokemon.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Even with the argument that Riolu might be actively trying to get between Ash and Pikachu (and that’s unclear), Chikorita, Oshawott and maybe even Aipom have done the same many times and never got more than a stare or maybe a smack. And unlike Riolu, they didn’t have the excuse of being a baby that doesn’t know any better.

 

[nickdt]

My love for Mr.Mime grows with the minute. Hated the line at first, but the one in the Detective Pikachu movie stole my heart (It was basically the MVP) and it was the first time i realized it wasn't creepy at all (And it made me us it in Lets Go as well and then i came to the conclusion that Mr.Mime is a really underrated Pokemon).

 

[Panky..]

Even with the argument that Riolu might be actively trying to get between Ash and Pikachu (and that’s unclear), Chikorita, Oshawott and maybe even Aipom have done the same many times and never got more than a stare or maybe a smack. And unlike Riolu, they didn’t have the excuse of being a baby that doesn’t know any better.

And none of those cases resulted in Ash getting the deflected blame while Pikachu behaves like a total brat followed by zapping his trainer. If anything, this behavior would make more sense from a newborn like Riolu and not a longtime veteran like Pikachu.

 

[lonerlotad]

It's weird that we're going to have another episode about a jealous Electric-type Pokemon. Pikachu must've gotten the idea when Prof. Sakuragi was talking about jealousy.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

If they wanted to do a Pokémon go away alone plot like every series, I’m pretty sure they could've managed a better one. Two electric types being jealous back to back due to focus on a new arrival is odd, to say the least.

 

[Schemer99]

The sad part about being apart of any fandom is when fans can write more compelling stories out of weird premises than the writers.

 

[game3524]

It may seem OOC for Pikachu, but I am glad they are showing a different side of him. Despite his status as the face of the franchise and the most important character on the show, the writers rarely do anything with Pikachu character wise. Even back in the OS, Ash's character arc wasn't centered around Pikachu at all (it was centered around Charizard). So it would be nice to see Pikachu in that role, instead of just being shilled for battles.

Also, I hope Ash gets reprimanded by Delia for being inattentive. Honestly, his attitude towards his Pokemon isn't new. Like when was the last time Ash just called Oak to check up on his Pokemon at the ranch? Or when was the last time he wanted to bring back a reserve for reasons that weren't battle-related? The only times I can think of was back in AG with Bulbasaur and BW with Charizard. His one track mind in recent years is very Gokuesque and not in a good way and I hope the writers actually address it for once.

 

[Eeveely]

Maybe he's not throwing a tantrum and instead it just went:
Pikachu: I'm excited for my daily training!!!!!
Ash: Nah I forgot how to train more than one(or two if he's using farfetch'd since training only one would be the training montage of the magikarp jump) pokemon,I don't wanna play with you anymore ,gotta level and friendship grind, sorry!!
Pikachu:......well....frick, Imma head out.

Then goes to the only place he knows, that's in Kanto, and has someone he knows and will give him food to avoid returning when hungry.
Probably not but I don't wanna write him off as OoC until I watch the episode. They won't make a "chill big bro (who is even smaller than Ed Elric but whatever)" character into a spoiled brat out of nowhere, unless who ever wrotes this stopped watching before AG.

 

[Daren]

It may seem OOC for Pikachu, but I am glad they are showing a different side of him. Despite his status as the face of the franchise and the most important character on the show, the writers rarely do anything with Pikachu character wise. Even back in the OS, Ash's character arc wasn't centered around Pikachu at all (it was centered around Charizard). So it would be nice to see Pikachu in that role, instead of just being shilled for battles.

This is something that struck me a while ago; although Pikachu gets a lot of screen time most of his character development happened in Kanto when he went from being hard to work with and fearful to more dependable and highly competitive (the main post Kanto thing that stuck is that after Bound for Trouble he gets along better with Meowth when they're having a truce--and it's honestly not that hard to combine the OI with Kanto since it was still gen 1 and mostly using gen 1 Pokémon). He sometimes gets an opponent or rival to overcome but that's mostly it in terms of arcs.
So some sort of character driven plot for him would be nice--we'll see how this one goes.

Also, I hope Ash gets reprimanded by Delia for being inattentive. Honestly, his attitude towards his Pokemon isn't new. Like when was the last time Ash just called Oak to check up on his Pokemon at the ranch? Or when was the last time he wanted to bring back a reserve for reasons that weren't battle-related? The only times I can think of was back in AG with Bulbasaur and BW with Charizard. His one track mind in recent years is very Gokuesque and not in a good way and I hope the writers actually address it for once.

I agree with the second part about only using them to battle, but I always assumed he at least checks up on them off-screen in the same way I assume the characters are buying supplies and doing other necessary things they don't want to devote screen time to.