Review JN074: Darkrai - A Midsummer Night's Dream

[FinnishPokéFan92]

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Discuss the episode here.

 

[BigDocFan]

Now that was a fun episode

A bit disappointed that we only saw Piplup with no mention of her other team, here's hoping for the next episode

It was great to have more focus on Chloe's travel than it was Ash and Goh's

It was funny having Yamper and Mimey do Meowth and Wobbuffet's part of the motto in the nightmare as their Japanese VA's are the same

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I may be mistaken here, but I think Dawn told Chloe about where she's been traveling, and one of the regions she mentioned was Unova.

 

[Singaporean]

What a fun episode to see Chloe meeting Dawn for the first time and got argument with each other after getting lost in the wood. Until, it was resolve to claim a random Rhydon attack them. Looking for next episode to see how Dawn and Chloe treating the injury Cresselia from Team Rocket attack lead by Matori.

Overall rating: B+

 

[nickdt]

I may be mistaken here, but I think Dawn told Chloe about where she's been traveling, and onto of the regions she mentioned was Unova.

Yeah, Continuity.

 

[ii kanji]

Ah that was SO GOOD!!

Koharu remains the most relatable character IMO. I love that she is the straight man even in her family, and doesn't get swept up in anyone's emotional crazy train. Her fixation on the guidebook and getting from A to B are unusual in this series and it was so enjoyable to watch her task-focused ethos clash with Hikari's daijoubu ethic! I wish this were more than a 2 parter, I would love to see a Hikari/Koharu travelling dual protag series because they are such a fun combination and I love that they weren't just instant bffs. All good friendships need some initial dramz to take them all the way...

My other highlights were the dream sequence which was simple but very effective (Sakuragi as a hammed up Sakaki-sama style super villain made me laugh out loud (which I'm not sure I've done since SM ended...)) and the return of some of Miyazaki's old travelling-around-deciduous-forests-type BGMs

Overall so happy I remembered to tune in for this one, looking forward to Musashi foiling Matori's plans next week!

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

It was nice to see Johanna again too.

 

[BigDocFan]

It was nice to see Johanna again too.

Agreed, guess not getting the full VA list last week left us with something unexpected

 

[KrspaceT]

It was nice to see Johanna again too.

Wonder what her interview was about.

"So Johanna want to tell the world about the benefits of single parenting?"

 

[BigDocFan]

I'm starting to wonder if Chloe might be taking an interest in Pokemon Contests

 

[VetProf]

Aside from Dawn's mom making an unexpected appearance, there were several other bits of continuity that I noticed.

• Ash mentioned that he has encountered and battled Darkrai before, stating that it's a very strong Pokemon. This could either be a reference to the Darkai in the movie or the one owned by Tobias. Either way, it's nice to see Ash acknowledging his previous encounters with a legendary/mythical Pokemon, since it's not something that we often see.
• In addition to all of the different regions that Dawn has traveled to, she also mentioned that she used to travel with two other friends. This marks the second time Brock has been indirectly referenced in this series, so that's kinda neat.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Ash mentioned that he has encountered and battled Darkrai before, stating that it's a very strong Pokemon. This could either be a reference to the Darkai in the movie or the one owned by Tobias. Either way, it's nice to see Ash acknowledging his previous encounters with a legendary/mythical Pokemon, since it's not something that we often see.

I noticed that too, and I'm pretty sure he's talking about Tobias.

 

[BigDocFan]

Full VA list courtesy of Adamant

Satoshi and Go suspect that Darkrai might be the one causing people to be unable to sleep due to nightmares. As they head off to investigate, Koharu and Satoshi's former travelmates Hikari and Pochama end up...

Summary:
Satoshi and Go learn that people in the Sinnoh region are unable to sleep due to nightmares, so they head there to research whether or not this is the work of Darkrai, a Pokémon with the ability to give others nightmares, but...?! Meanwhile Koharu has gone to the Sinnoh region on her own, and believe it or not, she encounters Satoshi's former travelmates Hikari and Pochama there!

Voice Cast:
Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi
Daiki Yamashita: Go
Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu
Kana Hanazawa: Koharu
Yuichi Nakamura: Professor Sakuragi
Megumi Hayashibara: Musashi
Shinichiro Miki: Kojiro
Inuko Inuyama: Nyarth
Yuji Ueda: Sonansu
Etsuko Kozakura: Pochama
Kei Shindo: Eievui
Hana Takeda: Sarunori
Tatsuki Kobe: Darkrai
Megumi Toyoguchi: Hikari
Makoto Tsumura: Ayako
Kiyomi Asai: Matori
Tomo Sakurai: Yoshino
Risa Shimizu: Junsa
Sayaka Senbongi: Kikuna
Noriaki Kanze: Renji
Chihiro Ueda: Sota
Yuki Shin: Rocket Gang Subordinate
Daisuke Namikawa: Koharu's Smartphone Rotom
Kenyu Horiuchi: Narration

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I liked the reference to Following A Maiden's Voyage! with Chloe's overpacked suitcase.

 

[Craiden]

Alright, as many have mentioned, this was very good (perhaps outside of the Daijoubu gag being overplayed a bit). As many have mentioned, Dawn/Koharu was just a fun duo to follow for a bit (granted, seeing Ash/Gou following a trail like this was rather interesting to see). And as some mentioned, really cool for Ash to acknowledge having battled Darkrai. And one more really enjoyable thing, we may have had the best "TRio motto" of the series...and it was done by Kikuna/Renji. Well done.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

This was a surprisingly fun laid back episode and a nice reintroduction to Dawn. I like that they’re actually taking their time setting up the relationships and stakes of the conflict rather than rushing through it all like Journeys tends to do. Ash and Goh having the same nightmare and Dawn and Chloe coming across an insomniac Rhydon are good ways to link them to the plot, and through all of that some sweet Chloe development.

 

[Squad_Broke_Down]

Solid episode. Not much with the plot but it does set up the encounter with the two groups. It's also nice to see Chloe and Dawn interact with each other. Also the episodes show Chloe learning about contests i think, and also learning about battling, and by dawn, a good mentor figure, of all people. It's like Dawn's arc with May and her passing the torch to Chloe.
Another thing that makes it stick is also like in JN065, the large number of references for fan service that are subtly done right. Also they actually take their time with the development.
The only issue is that nothing much advances the plot with Cresselia in the episode, but since thats coming next week i dont mind.
please for the love of god pokemon dont make chloe our fourth coordinator figure especially since we've already had three
8/10

 

[BigDocFan]

It was interesting to see Matori recruit Team Rocket to search Cresselia

 

[nickdt]

It was interesting to see Matori recruit Team Rocket to search Cresselia

Maybe she was forced to do so by Giovanni, cuz of Matori's failure last time.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Dawn and Chloe interacting was nice alongside Johanna's cameo and Ren and Chrysa pretending to be Team Rocket was great but I dunno... I really wasn't feeling this one at all.

But then again it's just me losing interest in Journeys like a grumpy old person who's taken to yelling at clouds in the sky.

Breaking news, Pokemon fan yells at clouds!