Review S06 EP16: You Never Can Taillow ・ EP17: In the Knicker of Time!

[Dogasu]

Japanese Episode 004: "Lots of Taillow, Lots of Danger! The Capture in Petalburg Woods!"
American Episode 004: "You Never Can Taillow"

Lots of hungry people, lots of Subame, lots of happy fans today, and lots of FLCL-type off-the-wall animation makes the episode lots of fun.

And then later today...

Japanese Episode 005: "Zigzagoon and the Youngster! May's First Battle!"
American Episode 005: "In the Knicker of Time"

In today's second new episode, Kiyo, a boy with Son Goku's hair and Bill's taste in hobbies, battles Haruka in her first real pokemon battle. Will she be able to finally control her pokemon long enough to achieve a victory??

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

 

[Orange Soda]

That knickerbocker-what's-his-name was interesting. Seemed like he was the show's version of Ruby and Sapphire's PokeManiac (who's sprite is some guy in Charizard leg-shaped pants), the way Max is the School Kid (the boy version, anyway).

EDIT: The first episode had a semi-interesting bit of continuity: Ash wiped Taillow's beak with Misty's handkercheif.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Heehee. The Taillow ep was strange...ever notice that Taillow's tongues take up the entire lower beak, rather than just a part of it?

And why did they call onigiri 'sandwiches' now? I mean, wasn't it established all the way back in Todd's introduction that they were rice balls? They don't even have to use the Japanese name!

And that chocolate that Taillow took looked like a Twix bar, but the box looked like the sort Pocky comes in.

And yes, on the Zigzagoon ep...

*laughs ass off* Nicholai is a hoot and a half! He's fantastic! I want to see him in another ep!

Although I'm surprised they didn't work in the best line in the games for him..."I like shorts! They're comfortable and easy to wear!"

 

[Trainer Lisa]

LOL, BJ! ^_^

I loved that first new episode about all the Taillow. I thought it was pretty good. And it had a lot of great parts in it too. I liked the part when Taillow took the chocolate, ate it, and then Max asked the Taillow how it was. That was funny! I also liked how Taillow just wouldn't give up no matter what. I guess they really wanted to show off its Guts ability from the games....lol. Anyway, it was cool to see Brock return! And I loved the part when Ash used the handkercheif Misty gave him to wipe Taillow's beak off. :-D Also, it was really cool to see Ash catch his first Pokemon in the Hoenn region! And, overall, this episode was pretty good, so it gets an 8 out of 10.

The second new episode about that guy, Nicholai, and the Zigzagoon was pretty good too. The knickers part was funny, but weird though. And I thought it was interesting how he said that the reason he dresses up as the Pokemon was so he could become one with them. That was cool! And it was really funny when Max was trying to get back at Nicholai for saying whatever that was he said about the Petalburg Gym, and he put that food down to get the Zigzagoon to come over to him, and all those Zigzagoon came! LOL!!! :-D Oh yeah, and it was cool that May had her first battle with Nicholai, even though I knew she would lose. Oh, and another thing, when this episode went to the last commercial break, the stupid station that airs Pokemon here skipped the ending, and went straight to some movie. I didn't get to see any of the ending!!!! :-( So, can someone tell me what happened when it came back? Did it show all of the battle? If so, who won it? Also, I'd really appreciate it if someone could tell me word-for-word what everyone said when it came back at the end.

And, BTW, does anyone know when this episode will reair? Because, I can't exactly rate this episode until I see all of it.

 

[GeneralStar]

Bah, I missed the earlier one of the two... what is it with me and missing episodes lately?? (I mean, I know last week it was pretty well justified, but still)

The Zigzagoon ep at least I thought decent, if not a bit disappointing only because I suppose I was expecting something more (and don't ask me what I mean by that exactly, since at the moment I'm too tired and hungry to bother with details). That Nicolai kid seemed a few nuts short of a granola bar in my opinion, but I'm sure it goes without saying that I quite enjoyed seeing his adorable little Mudkip in action; dammit, I'm still wishing I had one of those... such a cutie.

The Taillow ep was strange...ever notice that Taillow's tongues take up the entire lower beak, rather than just a part of it?

Indeed I did, but probably only because of that Subamekiri pic that I did for Murg a ways back. In my opinion, it's actually quite cute. ^.^

 

[Rocketshipper]

Taillow episode: I really liked this one!! It had tons of hilarious lines, some weird quirky animations and visual jokes, and an awesome battle. That final attack during the pikachu vs taillow battle was awesome!!! I loved how The twerps did that visual joke where they boxed Team Rocket into a tiny frame when they were yelling about the rice balls, and how Ash blasted TR off in the end. I was a little anoyed that Brock had to tell Ash to catch Taillow, I mean hello Ash, aren't you supposed to be catching new pokemon, you shouldn't need Brock to remind you. Taillow's dub voice isn't as good as its japanese voice. And even though it was a good episode, I'm kind of sad/mad that Brock's back. Why couldn't they have made the team Ash, May, Max, and Misty, or brought back Tracey!?!?!? Score: 4 stars

Zigzagoon episode: The first half of this episode was really funny, and it had some great lines. Kiyo/Nicholai was hilarious!! I really liked the Zigzagoon's new dub voice. I kind of though that "speaking from your heart" thing was cheesy and inconsistant with the rest of the show. I mean, it obvious that Pokemon can understand what humans say so I didn't see the point. I also thougt the episode went down-hill a little after Team Rocket showed up since they just weren't as funny as they were in the last episode. score: 3 stars

 

[Roses Ablaze]

Well, Max kind of got on my nerves in the second ep., but I heard he gets better (I hope he does...).

Yay! Brock returns!

And yeah lol I liked how Ash used Misty's handkie.

Does it seem strange to anyon else besides me how pokemon are automatically friendly once they're captured?

We finally find out how pokemon can understand trainers.

Sorry for being so random.

 

[A Concerned Solomon]

Ah, I'd have loved to hear that line. Just for once.

There have been a few wacky people in the Gameboy games, but none are quite so memorable as the shorts guy. I think one of the swimmers in R/S believes herself to be a mermaid until you whoop her. Then she yells at you for ruining her fantasy. Or something.

Let's see, the Rocket from G/S/C who can never talk straight and is sort of slow...Lass Haley from R/S has become a cult figure on the GameFAQs boards because she bathes with her Breloom. Then there's a Bro and Sis pair in which the older sister is eternally screaming that if she had a boyfriend, she'd have beaten you - the younger brother tartly replies that this is EXACTLY why she does not have a boyfriend. And who can forget Hiker Anthony, who lost his shot at a Zubat because he was staring at a passing Beauty?

 

[Geodude]

Originally posted by The Tater Tot
Let's see, the Rocket from G/S/C who can never talk straight and is sort of slow...

I thought that was because English was his second language...it was as if the game was trying to get across that he was speaking with a thick accent, which is a tough job to do with only text. You're referring to the Rocket who stole the machine part from the Power Plant right?

 

[A Concerned Solomon]

No, I'm not. You met this particular guy during both TR raids in Jhoto. The other dude was sorta normal, if poorly informed.

 

[Geodude]

Oh ok I know who you mean now.

 

[Sweet Veil]

You Never Can Taillow

Thus the AG group has formed completely, Brock's return was quite epic and the Taillow were equally as badass. The way they kept standing up to those Thunderbolts from Pikachu was simply astounding, especially the leader which endured and sponged so many powerful moves it was ridiculous, yeah Ash gets his first Hoenn capture and a pretty tough one at that. The first personality-having bird, very stubborn nature unlike the other birds. I liked how Max was so eusthiastic about seeing a Pokemon, it was refreshing since he's just a naive kid who really love Pokemon, like young Ash, but smart. I thought May's jab about Ash not having any food was amusing.

Brock's Forretress getting rid of the Taillow with Explosion too. TR trying to convince the Taillow to do their dirty work only for the Taillow to drop them a second later due to Brock's food was pathetic, Pikachu sent them blasting off like they were nothing. Not even a Pokemon battle. Poor May, her Torchic once again is treated like a complete comedic joke. We get it writers, it's very very weak. Shame because I actually got excited when May sent out Torchic to take on the Taillow flock & Team Rocket alongside Pikachu. Max was entertaining and this overall was a solid capture episode and somewhat amusing. Throwing Brock's return, Ash getting a new Pokemon, and group interactions into this worked like a charm. We have May's love of food highlighted again, or rather the entire group's intense love of food. It was fun.

 

[Joshpho]

(Are these being re-aired somewhere or are we just rewatching them? Either way, happy to see AG on my bulbagarden )

 

[Sweet Veil]

Nope, I'm just doing an AG rewatch.

In the Knicker of Time

Meh episode I guess. Can I just say, holy hell, have Beedrill always been that massive? That thing was HUGE. I really liked Max's snark comment about how Ash could have won if he had done Quick Attack at some point and says how Ash is still "just in training" really like how rattled Ash was too. Don't really care for Zigzagoon tbh, typically early route normal type is bland. I was legit surprised that that large Zigzagoon was actually a person. Again, Max's snark comments throughout this whole episode, this time aimed at May were amusing. My mind kept hearing something else when Nicolai said "knickers" and something else when the word "bocker" was used. It's thanks to that the dialogue exchanges with him managed to be entertaining. Poor May and Torchic got skewered and Torchic still made out to be a joke. Constant use of Water Gun by Mudkip got on my nerves for some reason, maybe cause that's all Misty's Pokemon + Totodile really used daily against TR in Johto every episode they appeared. Otherwise, TR were expelled from this episode rather quickly.