Review S06 EP15: There's no Place Like Hoenn

[Dogasu]

Japanese Episode 003: "Petalburg Gym! VS Vigoroth"
American Episode 00e: "There's No Place Like Hoenn"

Today, Satoru (whoops...Satoshi) visits his first Houen Gym, meets Haruka's brother Masato (Max), and fights through the Rocket-Dan's smoke attacks without the aid of his trusty silverware or hankerchief

Post your thoughts about the episode here. Also, please avoid posting spoilers for events that happen in future episodes since this isn't the Anime Spoilers forum.

 

[Shiksa ♥]

To me, this epi was good and bad for a few reasons.

One good reason is that Haruka May seems to be growing to love her Torchic and Torchic is returning that love right back. She reminds me a lot of Kamina (my playable character is Sapphire) and Carla (her Achamo). Yeah, so I can relate a lot. ^_^ It just annoys me how she still seems to be so clueless. We know she's smarter than that. ;-)

I also liked seeing Norman. He voice fit him well and he looked really good. I can't wait to see Winona! *fangirlish things* Caroline kinda annoyed me though, she looked like and had the same voice from a character from another show, so I kinda judged her before I knew much about her. I guess she kinda rubbed me the wrong way.

Grr grr grr I hate Masato Max! My brother is suddenly obsessed with him for no reason, and now he's really mad at me since I told him Max's name is Wally....oops. He'll add a lot of humour as he already has, but he'll still be annoying. I loved how he kept annoying Ash about the SC, and how the Pokémon attacked him instead. I got a kick out of that! :lol:

The AG seems to be moving along nicely, no fillers yet. *knocks on wood* Still, May's voice is a little off. Masato Max's voice really fit the character. I like how they have a map on the title screen now. Although I'm pretty familiar with Houen, but the map is still nice and probably helpful to other people.

I think this is the best AG epi so far (out of three...woo).

 

[Barb]

I liked the episode, but Max got annoying real fast, which is typical of little kids. Did anyone else notice Ash's slightly demented smile as he watches May's Torchic peck Max?

 

[The Muyo]

Not only noticed, but thoroughly enjoyed it, Barb.
Max is annoying as just about any character we've come to experience in Pokemon thus far, and guess what, he's a recurring character. It's been a while since we had a character who really got on Ash's nerves though, so we'll have to see where things lead. I loved Haruka's Torchic blasting Max, then delivering the peck, and was quite amused by her yelling for an "amber" attack, and seeing that mushroom going floating by. Made no sense in the dub, but when you've seen the original, it's funny >>;

 

[Orange Soda]

Originally posted by Dogasu and fights through the Rocket-Dan's smoke attacks without the aid of his trusty silverware or hankerchief [/B]

Wow. I've become a subject of infamy. Cool.

At any rate, I liked the episode, but Norman's voice irked me a little. Mainly because the same voice was used for Prof. Birch, a mere two episodes ago (not sure why it doesn't bug me that Yami is the same voice as well... probably just because they're different shows).

 

[Kauri]

Seeing Vigoroth in action made my day.

Hum~ A few times, I couldn't tell whether it was Ash or May saying some lines. If I wasn't looking right at the TV screen (or, actually, even if I was - since the reception in my room is crap), either May or Ash would say something, and I'd mistake it for the other character. It might just be a fault of mine, but I doubt it's a good sign that people might confuse the dialogue for two main characters like that.

The hinoko/kinoko thing was -cute-. So out-of-place for amber/ember, but -cute- (I've never seen the original, so that pun was completely new to me ^^;.

I kinda liked Max. Yeah, he was an uber-annoying know-it-all brat... but to be honest, after seeing May, I was completely expecting him to have that sort of attitude. Whooh.

 

[InfiniteBlue]

Originally posted by Kauri:
I kinda liked Max. Yeah, he was an uber-annoying know-it-all brat... but to be honest, after seeing May, I was completely expecting him to have that sort of attitude. Whooh.

Same here. :-D Norman's voice is OK, but there were times when he sounded like a robot. Caroline's voice I wasn't a big fan of either, mainly because I'm not a big fan of Lisa Ortiz. ^^; And I happy Team Rocket got a little more screen time than usual, considering this was supposed to be a Gym Leader Battle episode, so I give this episode at 6/10.

 

[Shiksa ♥]

Originally posted by InfiniteBlue
Same here. :-D Norman's voice is OK, but there were times when he sounded like a robot. Caroline's voice I wasn't a big fan of either, mainly because I'm not a big fan of Lisa Ortiz. ^^; And I happy Team Rocket got a little more screen time than usual, considering this was supposed to be a Gym Leader Battle episode, so I give this episode at 6/10.

Are you sure? I'm a big Lisa Ortiz fan, and I'm almost positive that wasn't her. Even though it was supposed to be a gym battle epi, it was an unofficial battle, so I'm sure Ashy-kun will return later to win and claim a badge. ^_^

I did love Caroline's one line: "Oh May, it's always so nice to meet your friends! Thanks for being there for my May!" (not word for word) I laughed out loud when I heard that. :lol:

 

[InfiniteBlue]

Originally posted by Hitchi:
Even though it was supposed to be a gym battle epi, it was an unofficial battle, so I'm sure Ashy-kun will return later to win and claim a badge. ^_^

I knew it was unofficial. ^^; I just... almost forgot at first...

And yeah, what Caroline said about Team Rocket being May's friends was funnier than Hell. :-D

 

[birdboy2000]

Like the previous two episodes, this episode looked to be really good. I loved how well Masato got on Satoshi's nerves, and the part about how he would have picked Kimori combined with Achamo's peck and ember barrage. After so many years of the trio without much interesting chemistry, now we have a group like Masato, Haruka, and Satoshi, which could be quite fun to watch. And besides, Norman was so cool in this. I know eventually I'll get used to advance generation and not heap praise upon every episode, but that time has not come yet.

 

[YumeHeart]

Originally posted by Hitchi
I did love Caroline's one line: "Oh May, it's always so nice to meet your friends! Thanks for being there for my May!" (not word for word) I laughed out loud when I heard that. :lol:

So did I! And we thought Ash's mom was buzzed out...

And you're right--she wasn't voiced by Lisa Ortiz. It was Megan Hollingshead (best known for doing the voice of Nurse Joy) who did the voice. I think this is one of the, eh, two or so times in the whole series in which a kid has had TWO parents!

Overall, I really enjoyed this episode. I think the fights between May/Ash and Max were really quite amusing. Also, I just liked seeing May's family. And, of course, seeing Ash fight TR without the use of his trusty silverware or hankerchief. :-D

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Not merely Joy, but it's her Mai Valentine/Cassidy voice.

Why give someone who's clearly meant to be a ditz that voice?

But at any rate, I can't seriously be the only one who wants to give Max a massive swirly. But then, I wanted to do the same to JP from Digimon 04 when I first saw an ep with him, and he wound up being my favorite. But yeah...

I love how Torchic got jealous...

And I think the Ember/Amber joke worked, but they could have taken the mushroom out. As it stands, it's just confusing. I mean, usually I'm against changes, but you have to admit, that's one of the only ways that *could* have been translated.

 

[Dogasu]

Oh, they still found a use for their digital paint program...

Anyone wanna take a crack as to why 4Kids changed the insignia on the badge cases Norman gives to Ash and May?

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

There was an insignia? I just saw a band running around the length of it...

 

[Trainer Lisa]

I loved this episode! :-D It was really good. I loved how Max kept annoying Ash with the Silver Conference thing! And it was so funny how he kept getting Ash's name wrong, lol! ^_^ And seeing Ash have that practice battle with Norman was cool! For a minute there, I thought Ash was actually going to win that match....but, oh well, it was still pretty good though. And Norman's Vigoroth is really strong! I look forward to when they have an official match. Oh, and I loved the song they played during that practice match. It was good....definitely a remix from Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire! Also, I really loved the part when May and Max ran to get Torchic (after Team Rocket stole it) and Ash tried to warn them of the hole, but they still fell in. That was funny! And it was even funnier when May's parents fell in the other hole, when Ash tried to warn them too. I loved Ash's lines when he was warning all of them! And yeah, I also loved how he didn't need to use his handkerchief or silverware to beat Team Rocket. LOL! Oh, and the song that started playing right when May and Max got out of the hole was also a remix from the games. And it was really good too! And it was so funny when May told Torchic to use "Amber" attack, and Max corrected her. Although, I didn't get why the mushroom was there. Anyway, when Ash and May were getting ready to leave at the end, I liked how Max said that he better go with them too, because Ash didn't know anything about Pokemon. That was funny! And I liked the part when Norman gave the badge cases to Ash and May. That was cool! And it was also cool that he gave Max a Pokemon Navigator! Hehe....I guess they'll never be getting lost now!! :-D LOL. Overall, this episode really deserves a 10 out of 10. So, that's exactly what it gets....a 10 out of 10.

 

[Zhen Lin]

Originally posted by Koryu
Max is annoying as just about any character we've come to experience in Pokemon thus far, and guess what, he's a recurring character.

Max is more than merely just a recurring character - he's a main character.

 

[Shiksa ♥]

Originally posted by PokemonTrainerLisa
And it was so funny when May told Torchic to use "Amber" attack, and Max corrected her. Although, I didn't get why the mushroom was there.

That's because "hinoko" is ember in Japanese and "kinoko" is mushroom. Haruka made a similar mistake in the Japanese version, and since the Japanese creaters don't think about any dubs they put the mushroom, because she really said, "Achamo, use mushroom!" instead of, "Achamo, use ember!" ;-)

 

[Rocketshipper]

the best AG episode so far, but thats not saying much. Masato/Max (stupid dub name grrrr.) was more annoying in english than in Japanese. The first time I saw this episode I found him funny, in english I wanted to strangle him ^^. But he still had some good scenes and lines. Ash's battle was cool, I can't wait for his official battle. TR had good scenes and lines, but their first appearance was kind of random. Still has great animation. Overall, this was a good episode. 3 stars.

the dubbers edited out a shot of Achamo setting Jame's head on fire . It was extremely hilarious in the japanese version. I guess they didn't want to give kids any ideas.

 

[InfiniteBlue]

Originally posted by Rocketshipper:
the dubbers edited out a shot of Achamo setting Jame's head on fire . It was extremely hilarious in the japanese version. I guess they didn't want to give kids any ideas.

I barely noticed. What I saw was the embers hitting James' face, but the skin didn't char right away; only in the next set of frames was his hair on the friz, but his skin was OK. What happened in the Japanese version?

And speaking of giving kids ideas from this: why would they think about this now when they could have edited all similar shots that were aired early on in the series?

 

[Dogasu]

Comparison's up. I have the picture of the badge case and everything.