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Review HZ003: As Long as I'm With Nyahoja, I'm Sure

It was decent. For a gang to buy time for Liko to rescue Sprigatito. Leafage is truly is truly a wise move to make an escape. As for Liko, she starting to get used around Pokemon.

Overall rating: B-
 
So this three parter wasn't a bad way of starting up this new era for the anime. The animation continues to be pretty good and there's more development for Riko and the rest. Honestly don't have too much to say for this one.

Still loving Captain Pikachu too, especially with him at the end just relaxing with that coffee of his.

Next up, it's the turn of Roy and let's hope he can fit right in with the rest.
 
This episode felt uneventful. I'm starting to dislike Friede and Captain Pikachu stealing Liko's spotlight. Why not have Terapagos help Liko rescue Sprigatito? I think that would have been much more interesting.

Not a fan of the female explorer member. Seems like they might be comedic after all (except for the leader?). I hope they will at least give them interesting backstories like they did with TR.
 
This episode was okay, but I feel like it could have been more action packed. There was a lot of time of the cast just doing random stuff, like Liko sitting at the Pokémon Center and Orla working on the ship, when I feel like they could have focused more on the actual Sprigatito rescue mission, which felt really rushed by the end. In general I thought Liko rescued Sprigatito a bit too easily. Like why was not one of the Explorers in the same room guarding it? I'm also so lost on why Ludlow even exists. He seems distant from the rest of the crew. Lastly, this episode really made me wish they would have chosen a different partner Pokemon for Murdock. There are so many Pokemon we've not seen in major role yet, and they gave him Rockruff of all things.

Not gonna lie, the highlight of this episode was seeing Roy. I predicted he'd be the one to find the Volt Tacklers flag when it flew off the the ship last time. I'm much more excited for his introduction next week. I also love the new ending. Total bop. I'll give this a 4/10.
 
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Overall it was pretty decent.

I am liking the members of the Rising Volt Tacklers. I hope they continue to have a larger role than Ren or Chrysa did in Journeys. I don't understand what's up with Ludlow yet though. I'm still hoping he's secretly Nidothing.

I can't say I'm fond of the Explorers yet though. Seems liks they are gonna be Horizons' version of the TRio, but only one of them is gonna be more comedic. The confrontation with Amethio was nice, but I hope Friede doesn't steal Liko's spotlight much. Or it becomes a plot point.

Roy's intro was a highlight for me. He's certainly energetic. I just get a feeling he's going to be one of my favorite characters.

Overall a decent episode. 7/10
 
Staff for this episode:

Screenplay - Naruki Nagakawa
Storyboard - Tetsuo Yajima
Assistant Director - Junya Koshiba
Animation Directors - Yoshitaka Yanagihara, Yūsuke Oshida and Makoto Shinjô

This is Naruki's franchise debut as well having written for Battle Spirits, Ergo Proxy and Puzzle & Dragons X.
 
Solid episode! Not as fast paced as the first two but still enjoyable. I hope Liko continues to grow as a person (and trainer) and eventually is able to take down the villains on her own. Very interested to meet Roy next week!
 
After the dramatic ending of episode two, this one was unfortunately anticlimactic. Friede's plan went exactly as he wanted it to, Liko got Sprigatito back with little fanfare and the Explorers came off as far more incompetent than they were last time. There's probably some big brain plan here, what with the tracker on the ship and Amethio accepting Friede's challenge when he didn't need to, but I expected at least one thing to go awry somewhere along the line. On the more positive side, Conia showed an actual personality, which bodes well for the future. Amethio's lackeys came off dry in the two-parter as they simply followed his orders, so I was glad to see at least one of them has more going on in their heads.

The big takeaways from the episode was the reveal Friede and his crew were sent to be Liko's bodyguards while they take her to her mother in Paldea, and Liko buying into her being an actual Pokemon trainer and expanding her horizons (also, I believe she's taking remote lessons if she's out on an adventure, so hey, more chances to see Ann, I guess). The former is interesting because a) it means Liko's family are probably loaded and b) the true nature of the pendant isn't as mysterious to them as it is to Liko and the Volt Tacklers. It does beg the question why Liko was even sent to a Kanto school in the first place, but I'm sure this'll come up at some point in the future. There's clearly more going on with Liko's family than we initially thought.

As for Liko, they're doing a good job with her so far. She lacks the battle prowess to directly take part in the big action scenes, but they've still given her stuff to do so she isn't passive and letting others handle everything for her. When the time has come for her to battle, she's recognised how outmatched she is and focused on escaping rather than fighting a futile battle. It's highlighting a tangible strength she seems to have (actually using her brain) without dumbing down the antagonists too much.

The other character of note? Mollie! Looks like a Nurse Joy, had a bunch of medical supplies on order from a Pokemon Centre yet refused to go inside it and made Liko go and do it instead. I'll be damned if there's nothing going on there.

Some other takeaways:

- Friede: "No money, no adventures." Very true. Something's gotta be funding that giant airship.

- Seems Friede not sharing pertinent information with people is going to be a running gag.

- Liko's grandmother has too striking a design to not be involved at some point in the future.

- The theory that the old man is Nidothing lost some momentum. While Liko was watching a stream in the Pokemon Centre, the old man was fishing.

- Roy's here! And not living by himself, either. I've a feeling him and Friede will get on very well.
 
Another strong episode! Horizons is definitely starting off with a bang!

Liko continues to grow as her journey continues! Her determination to rescue Sprigatito as she finally realizes that she has truly become a Pokemon Trainer for real is great development. It appears that she is now an official member of the Rising Volt Tacklers, too. I think we're in for a treat with her character.

We get more time with the various members of the Rising Volt Tacklers (excluding Ludlow, wonder what his deal is gonna be... I hope he isn't Nidothing, it'd be pretty weird). I am 99.99% Mollie is a member of the Nurse Joy family, as her not wanting to enter the Pokemon Center was suspicious. I love how doting Murdock is with his Rockruff. Friede continues to be the most effortlessly smooth man on the planet. Him falling off the roof onto Charizard was awesome. He also seems a tad forgetful, considering he keeps forgetting to tell Liko important information.

Conia is already fixing one of the concerns I had that the Explorers would feel pretty generic personality-wise, but Conia have a sweet, affectionate side for cute Pokemon is a nice character trait for her to have. I hope we see something that makes Zir feel unique. Amethio seems to take things very seriously, and dislikes being messed with, making Friede a perfect antithesis for him.

We also learn some other misc. details. Liko's mom was the one who hired the Rising Volt Tacklers' to protect Liko. I wonder why she felt that was necessary. Maybe she knows something about the pendant? Liko also tells Anne that after the break ends, she'll try and take classes remotely, so I guess that'll explain how she can keep adventuring even while actively attending school.

Nurse Joy retains her design and we specifically see all of the partners they used throughout the previous series, a point in the direction that this is indeed the same universe as what came before.

And finally, we get our first tease of Roy, and he seems like a lot of fun. Can't wait for more! Seems like we'll be heading off to Paldea soon, because the Volt Tacklers might be a tad bit broke... I guess HZ006 might be our first Paldea episode after we pick up Roy? Also, the ending is a banger, tbh. Definitely an upgrade from Pokemon Shiritori and Supereffective Type.
 
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Cute episode.

I think i have figured out who Nidothing is, and that is Mollie. Its very suspicious she was going to the Pokecenter with Liko, then let her go alone and then Nidothing started talking about Pokecenters.

So... interesting that Roy found that flag... since that Flag is similair to Mela's Fire Crew flag, so i wonder of Roy and Mela are related or if he is gonna do the Paldea stuff.
 
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nickdt said:
Cute episode.

I think i have figured out who Nidothing is, and that is Mollie. Its very suspicious she was going to the Pokecenter with Liko, then let her go alone and then Nidothing started talking about Pokecenters.

So... interesting that Roy found that flag... since that Flag is similair to Mela's Fire Crew flag, so i wonder of Roy and Mela are related or if he is gonna do the Paldea stuff.
Click to expand...
We saw Nidothing flailing around in her room during the storm chase, so she can't be anyone we've already seen on the team

The flag has Pikachu on it, who's very clearly not a Fire-type (yet) so I doubt Mela's going to show up any time soon
 
"Freide is stealing Likos spotlight"

...You're kidding right? She is a new trainer with one pokemon (0 for most of this episode) that had learned 1 move with her. Chill. It's a bit more realistic than Pikachu beating Onix because the sprinklers went off. Episode was great but yeah it was a bit strange that no one was guarding spirgatito.
 
Eclipsical said:
Nurse Joy retains her design and we specifically see all of the partners they used throughout the previous series, a point in the direction that this is indeed the same universe as what came before.
Click to expand...
Not sure how that is an indicator that this is the same universe as when Ash was the protagonist.
 
I do agree that not a lot happened in this episode. It did just move the plot along so Liko could have Spirigatito back. I hope that Amethio’s organization is more than just him and the other two. If that’s all there is right now, it’ll be interesting to see how they grow their organization if they do.

If Ash ever does appear in this series, it’ll be interesting to see Ash interact with Friede. Friede is kind and a little oblivious like Ash but he’s less impulsive. I sort of see Friede in this episode as a father figure to Liko. I felt that especially in the scene where they were planning to get Spirigatito out.

I suspect that eventually, the Volt Tacklers and Liko can’t keep running and eventually have to fight the organization.

I hope that Liko just doesn’t have Spirigatito. I don’t mind if she doesn’t have a full team but I’d like do see her get at least two more Pokémon.
 
Liked this episode as well.

  • I like the use of leafage to escape, very clever.
  • So Liko might be wealthy? After all, they are getting paid to protect her and they could afford sending her to another region to study abroad. Friede also mentioned that they can’t adventure without money. Something that never mattered in previous sagas hehe. Not that I care much for this, but just an observation.
  • So far all the battle sequences between Friede and Amethio have been cool.
  • Liko taking classes remotely will be the excuse to spend most of the time flying around in the ship, specially if they are running away from Amethio while trying to protect the pendant. Staying in a stationary place like school would be a bad idea.
 
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