Review HZ010: With Nemo and Colza

[BigDocFan]

https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/HZ010

The latest episode of Pokemon Horizons has aired, discuss here

 

[RetroPokeFan]

This was a pretty great introduction to the Paldea region and with it the gimmick of the region - the Terastal phenomenon.

Nemona and Brassius make their anime debuts as well and they were especially a lot of fun with their personalities too.

Even Roy gets a shot at battling Brassius and although he lost, it still happened to be a good battle.

Here's hoping both of them will get to pop up again soon. The Paldea folks really deserve it after how Journeys treated Galar like a huge afterthought.

 

[Eitarou]

Stomping Tantrum is an unconventional choice, but preferable to Flame Charge, which is what thought Fuecoco was going to use. Nice to see it on a Pokemon that matters this time.

 

[BigDocFan]

I liked how the Rising Volt Tacklers only had a background role this episode, it freed up their actors to be credited for other roles

Minori Suzuki: Liko
Megumi Hayashibara: Nyahoja
Yuka Terasaki: Roy
Daiki Yamashita: Hogator
Eri Kitamura: Nemo
Kazuya Nakai: Colza
Kei Shindo: Pamot
Arisa Shida: Olinyo
Tatsuki Kobe: Usokkie

 

[Sakuraa]

Easy 10/10 episode from me. Everything was perfect. FINALLY we get an adventure with just Liko and Roy. No Friede, no crew of any sort, just our protagonists on their own exploring a new place. I hope we can get more episodes like these, especially once they start region hopping. It was so nice and refreshing. Nemona as a character was surprisingly not as annoying as I expected her to be. Seeing her have just one battle and quickly challenging Liko and Roy was enough. Brassius was so awesome here. I loved seeing his personality as it was in SV. I really enjoyed seeing his personality throughout his house, mainly the furniture and decor based on grass-types.

I was shocked to see Roy battling the gym leader. I thought for sure Nemona, if anyone, would be the one to battle Brassius considering Roy (and Liko) have such little battling experience. That said, it was nice to see more battling focus on Roy, since Liko had a battle in the last episode. In the beginning it's clear he was struggling with the Double Team just like in the training episode, yet he was able to get past it once Fuecoco learned Stomping Tantrum. I loved seeing Terastalization in this episode! I really didn't know if it would be shown, and I'm glad that it was. I looked really great. Hopefully we'll see Liko and Roy learn more about it and eventually use it themselves.

Overall, like I said 10/10 episode. I hope we can get more bangers like these moving forward.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

This episode was amazing! Nemona and Brassius were handled so well. I loved their charaterization, especially seeing Nemona challenging Liko and Roy right off the bat. Seeing Roy actually face Brassius in a gym battle was unbelievably satisfying and I did enjoy the battle. Seems Fuecoco even learned a new move. I seriously hope this leads to more in an effort to get stronger to challenge Rayquaza. Overall this episode was amazing.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Interesting that Roy correctly guessed which Sudowoodo was the right one (...the...right one) after it used substitute, but then the plot said he chose wrong because...reasons

Good to know the plot will literally retcon itself within seconds if it needs to

 

[Juliko]

I liked this episode, but I hated that they seemed to make Roy dumber than usual. I mean, thinking the word slump is a Pokemon? Assuming Sudowoodo is a grass type? Really? I hope to God they don't turn him into another Ash, as in the Ash who thought therapy was a Pokemon.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

I liked this episode, but I hated that they seemed to make Roy dumber than usual. I mean, thinking the word slump is a Pokemon? Assuming Sudowoodo is a grass type? Really? I hope to God they don't turn him into another Ash, as in the Ash who thought therapy was a Pokemon.

And who would've told him?

Were there sudowoodo on his island?

Roy isn't exactly the creative type, so how would be know what artist's block is?

 

[Singaporean]

What an exciting episode! To see both in-game character of Nemona and Brassius debut in the series is expected. But to see Brassius personality in whole level of depression is truly astounding. Also, finally showing the Gen Nine Gimmick of Terastal Phenomenon. It is everyone that have been waiting for in the series. Despite, Roy lost but he will learn.

Overall rating: B+

 

[nickdt]

The episode started off slow, which i am not bothered about, since that gave time to set-up Nemona (Which i feel like won't be her only appearance). I don't think this is the last we see from Brassius either, since i suspect Roy will eventually have a rematch with him and win.

I feel like this episode is also setting up Roy attempting Gyms, in order to become stronger.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

I liked this episode, but I hated that they seemed to make Roy dumber than usual. I mean, thinking the word slump is a Pokemon? Assuming Sudowoodo is a grass type? Really? I hope to God they don't turn him into another Ash, as in the Ash who thought therapy was a Pokemon.

Sudowoodo's whole schtick is that you think its a grass type if you haven't seen it before. Happened to everyone who played gen 2 without knowing of the pokemon beforehand

 

[Eitarou]

Sudowoodo's whole schtick is that you think its a grass type if you haven't seen it before. Happened to everyone who played gen 2 without knowing of the pokemon beforehand

Also, Roy's entire shtick is he spent his entire life on a remote island far from any known Kanto civilization. In the words of a certain green-haired boy, he is quite literally "from the boonies." It's entirely possible he just legit isn't as educated as the others. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Juliko]

Also, Roy's entire shtick is he spent his entire life on a remote island far from any known Kanto civilization. In the words of a certain green-haired boy, he is quite literally "from the boonies." It's entirely possible he just legit isn't as educated as the others. Nothing wrong with that.

I suppose that's fair, but I also hope that they don't take his lack of knowledge of certain things to ridiculous levels. I mean, we don't want a repeat of BW Ash trying to battle Elesa with one Pokemon again.

 

[ena9219]

Nemo demonstrates an ability to think about things other than battle (a trait not found in her game counterpart), Nemo's Pawmot now smells like olive oil, Colza is cured of his slump shortly after we find out about it and defeats Roy despite terastalizing into a type disadvantage. Baby Terapagos surprisingly didn't react to Terastal being used. and the team is on their way to a forest that shiny Rayquaza has been to and apparently caused the local pokémon to glow for some reason.

At this point, I don't expect many Gym battles in this series but we've at least gotten one.

 

[Karakuri18]

I was shocked to see Roy battling the gym leader. I thought for sure Nemona, if anyone, would be the one to battle Brassius considering Roy (and Liko) have such little battling experience.

When I read that, I had to laugh.
Little experience in combat does not prevent you from fighting Gym Leader. Where are young trainers supposed to gain combat experience, if not while fighting in the Gym?

 

[Nicolas721]

I'm mixed on the first half. It was fun to see Nemona and Brassius, their personalities were great and we learnt interesting things about Dolliv. However the episode wasn't sure about portraying Brassius' depression with comedy or with realism so it did ended up doing a weird mix of both with a bunch of redundant scenes.

The battle was definitely good though. It had good animation and fun twists, I like how Fuecoquito got a coverage move and how it played on the Terastal feature. Looking forward to how the rest of the arc develops as it really seems to be building to both Liko and Roy choosing their career paths.

 

[VetProf]

Really liked how Brassius's personality and interests were showcased in this episode, especially with the décor in his house. As dumb and ergonomically impractical as the Ferroseed mug is, I wouldn't mind having one just because of how cute it looks.

Nemona's introduction in this episode was quite good too. She didn't feel too overbearing with her eagerness to battle, and her presence was overall quite delightful. The brief summary on Terrastalization from her was appreciated as well.

The battle in this episode was definitely my favorite part of it. It's funny seeing someone being genuinely tricked by Sudowoodo's appearance, and it's understandable that Roy got bamboozled here due to his lack of knowledge about stuff outside of Kanto. Sudowoodo itself was oozing with personality throughout the battle, especially with how it utilized Substitute and Taunt to annoy the heck out of Fuecoco. Surprisingly it managed to get Stomping Tantrum out of this whole ordeal, which is not a move I was expecting it to get but a really cool one that will definitely help with type coverage.

The climax of the battle with Sudowoodo Terrastalizing was really cool, and I think it addressed my issue with how the in-game Gym Leaders tend to use Terrastalization too predictably. In the games, once you figured out that Gym Leaders always Terrastalized their ace into their specialty type, you could usually just hammer then in with the same super-effective move that you've been spamming throughout the battle. But here in the anime, Brassius actually had a plan in mind by having Sudowoodo use Trailblaze's speed boost to dodge Fuecoco's attack before hitting it with a boosted attack, which was enough to knock out Fuecoco even though it was a resisted hit. Seeing this battle makes me hopeful that Terrastalization will be shown off in similarly creative ways in the future, making full use of the anime's dynamic battles.

 

[Emelie]

For some reason this episode made me wonder if Liko is older than Roy. He almost feels a little like a younger brother character while she gives advice from the sidelines like a Brock-type of character. Maybe it's because the adult characters weren't too involved with this episode.

Disappointed that Liko didn't get to battle the gym leader. We haven't had a girl battle a gym leader since Dawn if I remember correctly? Liko seems more strategic maybe she could have found a way to defeat Sudowoodo after it became a grass type.

Not sure what Nemona added to this episode. They could have given her role of being the knowledgeable one to Liko.

 

[Torchic W. Pip]

I would do everything for Brassius and his Dolliv daughter.

That's it that's my review.