Review HZ023: Galar Fire Blazes Up

[vivian20]

Fixing problems with pokemon through the power of friendship was what Ash did in most episodes in the anime. Thats what Liko wants to do.

 

[VetProf]

Friede nonchalantly returning to the Pokemon Center at the start of the episode after escaping the mines off-screen was kinda weird, but aside from that, I quite liked this episode. Everyone present managed to contribute towards slowly calming down Galarian Moltres, and it was really nice seeing them all work together. Even Hattena, who barely did anything, was the key factor towards identifying that Galarian Moltres was feeling sad about something, and that calming it down was the best option for resolving the issue.

I know others have brought up their worries about Lucius's Pokemon being too convenient of a plot device for Liko and her group, but I quite liked Arboliva's role in this specific episode. It makes sense that Arboliva would want to try talking to its fellow team member, and when that failed, it took on a more supportive role instead by summoning Grassy Terrain to heal the others and boost Sprigatito's Leafage. The only oddity about its appearance here is the question of why it didn't appear last episode, but that aside, I'm fine with its appearance here.

Of course, now that the crew has access to two of Lucius's mons (one of which is an actual offensive powerhouse), I do worry that the power balance might be shifting way too heavily in favor of them and away from the Explorers, but I also do think it's still a bit too early to judge how much it'll affect the stakes of the show. At the very least, I'm not worried about the presence of Lucius's mons taking away from the growth of Liko and Roy as trainers, since it's very clear that those two are constantly trying to improve themselves even if they have those powerful mons around as safety blankets. This episode alone already showed Liko and Roy showcasing the result of their training with Kabu, with Liko using Leafage creatively by combining the move with its aromatic scent, and Roy managing to immobilize Galarian Moltres a bit using Fuecoco's Flamethrower.

Overall, this and the previous episode have been really nice action-packed episodes, and I'm looking forward to where the plot will move on from here.

 

[ena9219]

I just hope that there’s more to Liko’s story than just approaching and resolving everything that isn’t the Explorers coming at them by sitting down and singing Kumbaya but given how much emphasis they put on that the kind of trainer she wants to be is one who understands the feelings of Pokémon, I don’t have much hope in her doing much that’s actually interesting to watch in action. And while I get that being empathetic is pretty much the point of her character, it’s just kinda annoying to me that we finally get a female protagonist and of all the paths they can take, the one they choose to take with her is the stereotypical role of the girl being the the nurturer.

Would Satoshi have handled this situation any differently? It's not that Liko is more empathetic because she's a girl it's that this series has nothing to do with the Pokémon League so there's less reason for Liko to battle. Satoshi was just as empathetic and in the end his quest to be a Pokémon Master had nothing to do with battling and everything to do with understanding and befriending Pokémon. The biggest difference between the two is that Satoshi battled as a hobby while Liko doesn't and that's mostly because their respective series have a different emphasis. Put Liko in a league-focused series and she'd pick up battling as a hobby and do quite well. Put Satoshi in a lore-focused series and he'd battle a lot less than he did.

Caring for Pokémon is the core of what it means to be a Pokémon Trainer of any gender. The anime has been consistent on that point the entire time.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Would Satoshi have handled this situation any differently? It's not that Liko is more empathetic because she's a girl it's that this series has nothing to do with the Pokémon League so there's less reason for Liko to battle. Satoshi was just as empathetic and in the end his quest to be a Pokémon Master had nothing to do with battling and everything to do with understanding and befriending Pokémon. The biggest difference between the two is that Satoshi battled as a hobby while Liko doesn't and that's mostly because their respective series have a different emphasis. Put Liko in a league-focused series and she'd pick up battling as a hobby and do quite well. Put Satoshi in a lore-focused series and he'd battle a lot less than he did.

Caring for Pokémon is the core of what it means to be a Pokémon Trainer of any gender. The anime has been consistent on that point the entire time.

That’s the key difference, for Ash his empathy was a facet of his character. It didn’t prevent him from being a battler nor for striving for his goals. For Liko’s case that the entirety of herself as a trainer where they try to make it out that it has to be one or the other as if being a battler or being empathetic are mutually exclusive. If they wanted to make her empathetic fine but what bothers me is the writers going the extra mile to ensure that the girls aren’t allowed to be battlers for the sake of simply enjoying that facet of being a trainer, always treating it instead like it’s some boys thing in spite of us having 5 female champions at this point. Instead, the girls end up type cast into stereotypical roles. It started with XY and hasn’t changed since.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

You say this but it's not exactly like Liko has been entirely avoiding battle or anything. I feel like the lesson has been misunderstood, its not never battling but rather 'you dont have to solve everything with battle'. Which is a good thing, imagine if Arboliva and Moltres were just solved with making them faint, much less interesting (Ignoring the fact that Liko and Roy aren't even strong enough for that at this point). Now if she was like, idk trying to reason with the Explorers every time they were encountered and never sending out Sprigatito I would see the problem, but she isn't.
She has only taken the not winning through battle route against opponents she would never be able to beat normally anyways.
Take this episode for example, Liko wasn't using "Winning in battle isnt the only path" just to get out of battle, it was countering Roy who was stuck on just trying to figure out how to beat moltres through brute force and nothing else. It's not nessecarily that she is not a battler, but rather she doesnt see 'faint the opponent' as the only way to victory.

Edit: Plus its not like the action is all gone or anything either. There were still moves being used against Moltres in a fight like manner, the end goal just wasnt to faint it. It's not like the entire encounters have been them peacefully standing there and having a conversation with no action going on whatsoever.

 

[Kurolegacy]

You say this but it's not exactly like Liko has been entirely avoiding battle or anything. I feel like the lesson has been misunderstood, its not never battling but rather 'you dont have to solve everything with battle'. Which is a good thing, imagine if Arboliva and Moltres were just solved with making them faint, much less interesting (Ignoring the fact that Liko and Roy aren't even strong enough for that at this point). Now if she was like, idk trying to reason with the Explorers every time they were encountered and never sending out Sprigatito I would see the problem, but she isn't.
She has only taken the not winning through battle route against opponents she would never be able to beat normally anyways.
Take this episode for example, Liko wasn't using "Winning in battle isnt the only path" just to get out of battle, it was countering Roy who was stuck on just trying to figure out how to beat moltres through brute force and nothing else. It's not nessecarily that she is not a battler, but rather she doesnt see 'faint the opponent' as the only way to victory.

Edit: Plus its not like the action is all gone or anything either. There were still moves being used against Moltres in a fight like manner, the end goal just wasnt to faint it. It's not like the entire encounters have been them peacefully standing there and having a conversation with no action going on whatsoever.

Firstly, of course sh’s not gonna stand a chance against a legendary Pokémon of all things so that’s not a particularly good example. Frankly, it’s ridiculous that the writers even threw a legendary Pokémon at them period this early on especially with the plot having it written in that they succeeded against it. You weren’t going to see them faint it. And with the sheer amount of times that they harken back to Kabu’s words of battle not being the only path of a trainer and her outright declaring this to be the kind of trainer she wants to be, it doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence that unless it’s an Explorers situation, she’s not exactly gonna be too interested in stepping up to the plate to battle. If I’m wrong and they make her more rounded as a trainer, good, I’ll be glad to be wrong. But at this point, I’m not confident in these writers when it comes to female characters.

 

[vivian20]

Liko is a trainer that is not interested in battling for sport. She battles to protect her friends. She doesnt have a main goal of collecting badges and going to pokemon league. Ash had this as one of his main goals even if his ultimate goal was to be friend of all the pokemon . In Liko´s point of view, gym battles are only a way to train her pokemon to "actual" battles . Many anime main characters have this point of view. Most anime main characters in shounens battle only to protect their friends. In legends Arceus we see that in the begining, pokemon trainers used their pokemon mostly as their bodyguards , and competitive battle was rare. Maybe Liko will become an officer Jenny. Her grandmother might have been an officer Jenny in the past. She has an arcanine and blue hair.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Liko is a trainer that is not interested in battling for sport. She battles to protect her friends. She doesnt have a main goal of collecting badges and going to pokemon league. Ash had this as one of his main goals even if his ultimate goal was to be friend of all the pokemon . In Liko´s point of view, gym battles are only a way to train her pokemon to "actual" battles . Many anime main characters have this point of view. Most anime main characters in shounens battle only to protect their friends. In legends Arceus we see that in the begining, pokemon trainers used their pokemon mostly as their bodyguards , and competitive battle was rare. Maybe Liko will become an officer Jenny. Her grandmother might have been an officer Jenny in the past. She has an arcanine and blue hair.

You treat it as though Pokémon battles are only ever meant for gathering badges to go to the league. We’ve met countless battling trainers over the years of the series who never even expressed an interest in the league. Just like when it comes to playing any kind of game, that doesn’t mean that your interest in it is in going to tournaments to win titles. There is a such thing as battling just for the fun of it and given the sheer number of non-serious battles that the series presents, I find that it’s a mistake to only treat battles as something that you have to be in for sport or life or death as that’s not an accurate representation of the Pokémon World much less any activity.

 

[iornhide132]

But at this point, I’m not confident in these writers when it comes to female characters.

I think it's fair to not be confident that the writers will make her a more well-rounded battler, however, this series is pretty much fully written by newcomers to the Pokemon anime, so basing judgements on past series isn't really fair since only a few writers have returned, unless you're basing it on how Horizons has been up to this point.

Plus, we have seen Liko battle a few times outside of when she was forced to, for example, the episode right before Kabu's episode where she initiated a battle to try and help out Murdock.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I think it's fair to not be confident that the writers will make her a more well-rounded battler, however, this series is pretty much fully written by newcomers to the Pokemon anime, so basing judgements on past series isn't really fair since only a few writers have returned, unless you're basing it on how Horizons has been up to this point.

Plus, we have seen Liko battle a few times outside of when she was forced to, for example, the episode right before Kabu's episode where she initiated a battle to try and help out Murdock.

Even as a series written by newcomers, they know the type of series that they’re coming into and for Pokémon, battle is a cornerstone of the series. And whether it be judging based on past treatment of females or what they’ve done with Liko thus far, they still write her in a very stereotypical manner of the female character in spite of the vast sea of personalities and roles that a female character can have especially in a series where they’re the protagonist.

And even in the rare opportunities that they do have her initiate a battle, they don’t allow for her to see it through to the conclusion, either having the plot intervene or, as seen in the Kabu episode, her just stop. The last time that she battled from start to finish was all the way back when she battled Roy in their first training episode. Say what you will about Roy’s losing streak but at least his battles start and finish with him.

Again, I hope that I’m wrong on the matter of Liko, especially since she does seem to have a talent with battle, but the recent episodes kinda dashed my hopes.

 

[Mew2]

Even as a series written by newcomers, they know the type of series that they’re coming into and for Pokémon, battle is a cornerstone of the series. And whether it be judging based on past treatment of females or what they’ve done with Liko thus far, they still write her in a very stereotypical manner of the female character in spite of the vast sea of personalities and roles that a female character can have especially in a series where they’re the protagonist.

And even in the rare opportunities that they do have her initiate a battle, they don’t allow for her to see it through to the conclusion, either having the plot intervene or, as seen in the Kabu episode, her just stop. The last time that she battled from start to finish was all the way back when she battled Roy in their first training episode. Say what you will about Roy’s losing streak but at least his battles start and finish with him.

Again, I hope that I’m wrong on the matter of Liko, especially since she does seem to have a talent with battle, but the recent episodes kinda dashed my hopes.

I could easily see an arc where she is either kidnapped for real or loses something or someone important (if someone, they don't necessarily have to die, just disappear when battling better could have helped her save them) and she has to learn to use her talent for battling to get better at battling since her enemies are battlers and won't be pulling their punches unless it helps their plans. From what I've see, she definitely has a talent for battling and it would be a crime for it to go to waste in an animé and franchise where battling is one of the two main things.

 

[ena9219]

That’s the key difference, for Ash his empathy was a facet of his character. It didn’t prevent him from being a battler nor for striving for his goals. For Liko’s case that the entirety of herself as a trainer where they try to make it out that it has to be one or the other as if being a battler or being empathetic are mutually exclusive. If they wanted to make her empathetic fine but what bothers me is the writers going the extra mile to ensure that the girls aren’t allowed to be battlers for the sake of simply enjoying that facet of being a trainer, always treating it instead like it’s some boys thing in spite of us having 5 female champions at this point. Instead, the girls end up type cast into stereotypical roles. It started with XY and hasn’t changed since.

It's not "Liko's a girl so she can't battle for fun" or "Liko's empathetic so she can't battle for fun" it's "Liko's busy learning about Lucius and his Pokémon so she doesn't really have time to pick up the hobby ". Who exactly is she supposed to battle? She's already beaten Roy once, Dot's busy being Gurumin, and the rest of the crew are much more experienced and also generally busy. Roy hasn't really battled that much more than Liko for the same reason despite growing stronger as a trainer being a large part of his role in the series. The writers aren't trying to enforce some arbitrary rule against girls battling they're trying to focus on the actual plot. It's slow-paced enough without the writers adding a bunch of filler battles to meet some imaginary quota.

The prior anime didn't have any of Satoshi's travel companions, boy or girl, battle as much as he did because none of them were the protagonist, Satoshi was. The current anime doesn't have Liko in a battle-focused role because she's busy being the protagonist of a series not focused on battling. In neither case is sexism or stereotyping the reason.

 

[Kurolegacy]

It's not "Liko's a girl so she can't battle for fun" or "Liko's empathetic so she can't battle for fun" it's "Liko's busy learning about Lucius and his Pokémon so she doesn't really have time to pick up the hobby ". Who exactly is she supposed to battle? She's already beaten Roy once, Dot's busy being Gurumin, and the rest of the crew are much more experienced and also generally busy. Roy hasn't really battled that much more than Liko for the same reason despite growing stronger as a trainer being a large part of his role in the series. The writers aren't trying to enforce some arbitrary rule against girls battling they're trying to focus on the actual plot. It's slow-paced enough without the writers adding a bunch of filler battles to meet some imaginary quota.

The prior anime didn't have any of Satoshi's travel companions, boy or girl, battle as much as he did because none of them were the protagonist, Satoshi was. The current anime doesn't have Liko in a battle-focused role because she's busy being the protagonist of a series not focused on battling. In neither case is sexism or stereotyping the reason.

She’s literally traveling around the world. It’s not as though she has to be limited to just the people who are on the ship as potential opponents. And while you say that they’re trying to focus on the plot, that hasn’t stopped them from having some occurrences that halt them from moving on in their quest this stalling them in a location for even longer. Hell, the last time they apparently had time to spend half of the episode on having a picnic.

We’re 24 episodes into the series and half of Lucius’ Pokémon have either been found or captured. Unless they plan on spending 100+ episodes somehow stretching out 3 Pokémon, they have the time to allow them to have experiences that aren’t 100% Lucius. And it’s not as though allowing them those opportunities are completely wasteful considering that they’re up against opponents that are far more experienced than them. It’s going to seem pretty ridiculous for them to suddenly be trading blows with Explorers admins after a couple of training sessions with Cap. Allowing them chances to battle grants them experience rather than constantly being up against a wall that they’re not strong enough to overcome.

And if you’re really going to use Ash as the measuring stick of what is declared a battler, you’re seriously moving the goalposts. Even without them being the protagonist, there was no question that the people who Ash traveled with from the OS through BW were battlers. Even in cases of Coordinators, being a battler was half of the job. It was only XY and beyond where the writers suddenly decided that girls were’t allowed have battle focus in their story and then in Journeys, went full on one-note in having that because Ash represented battle, he was the only one allowed to.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

I feel like this part of the Argument lies less in Liko and more in the series its self and how its set up so far, even if say, Roy was the main protag instead, this specific problem would still be the case.
Fine argument to have just making sure its clear its a different one.

Also, i'm going to use this opportunity to spew the math I did in boredom once. If the gap between every ancient adventures pokemon is the same as between Arboliva and Moltres (The episode caught, rather than episode encountered), they would all be done by episode 56.
67 if you add Rayquaza, this isn't part of any argument just a fun fact. Unlikely itll actually be that even because thats still like, 90 episodes or something left of the series assuming its 3 years.

 

[Eitarou]

Given that we're reaching the end of the first arc + Terapagos is now permanently(?) out of its pendant form, I wouldn't be surprised if the Heroes start taking a backseat in favor of focusing on the tortoise.

Plus, there's the "Rakua" Lucius mentioned.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Given that we're reaching the end of the first arc + Terapagos is now permanently(?) out of its pendant form, I wouldn't be surprised if the Heroes start taking a backseat in favor of focusing on the tortoise.

Plus, there's the "Rakua" Lucius mentioned.

Unless the focus that Tarapagos gets is pertaining to what we end up finding out about in the Indigo Disk, that just kinda all seems to fold into the same story as the Heroes given that it’s connected to them.

As for this Rakua person, that’s an entire can of worms for me given they decided to add another mystery box before even explaining why Lucius and the ancient Pokémon are such a big deal.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

Am I the only one who just assumed Rakua was a nickname for Rayquaza? It's named Rayquaza, pronounced Rekkuza in japanese. Rakua is spelt and pronounced like a kind of mix of both.

 

[ena9219]

She’s literally traveling around the world. It’s not as though she has to be limited to just the people who are on the ship as potential opponents. And while you say that they’re trying to focus on the plot, that hasn’t stopped them from having some occurrences that halt them from moving on in their quest this stalling them in a location for even longer. Hell, the last time they apparently had time to spend half of the episode on having a picnic.

The picnic episode was setup for Roy catching Wattrel and for Spinel's efforts to steal the pendant. Slow-paced but focused on the plot like I said. When the plot has given Liko and Roy an opportunity to battle they've generally taken it. They just don't have time to look for opponents they don't happen to meet on their journey.

We’re 24 episodes into the series and half of Lucius’ Pokémon have either been found or captured. Unless they plan on spending 100+ episodes somehow stretching out 3 Pokémon, they have the time to allow them to have experiences that aren’t 100% Lucius. And it’s not as though allowing them those opportunities are completely wasteful considering that they’re up against opponents that are far more experienced than them. It’s going to seem pretty ridiculous for them to suddenly be trading blows with Explorers admins after a couple of training sessions with Cap. Allowing them chances to battle grants them experience rather than constantly being up against a wall that they’re not strong enough to overcome.

We'll find out what they've got planned for those episodes when they come out. It might even be those filler battles you've been complaining about the absence of.

And if you’re really going to use Ash as the measuring stick of what is declared a battler, you’re seriously moving the goalposts. Even without them being the protagonist, there was no question that the people who Ash traveled with from the OS through BW were battlers. Even in cases of Coordinators, being a battler was half of the job. It was only XY and beyond where the writers suddenly decided that girls were’t allowed have battle focus in their story and then in Journeys, went full on one-note in having that because Ash represented battle, he was the only one allowed to.

If battling as much as the least battle-active of Satoshi's pre-XY traveling companions counts Liko qualifies as a battler. More importantly, Satoshi had multiple male traveling companions who didn't battle particularly often and Roy still doesn't battle much more than Liko so there's really no justification to claim sexism as the reason some of Satoshi's female travel companions didn't battle much if at all.

Turing Contests into a battle-focused goal was a good excuse for Haruka and Hikari to battle a lot while not doing the same thing as Satoshi but that excuse disappeared once Game Freak decided to stop including Contests in the games. They had to come up with new ideas and didn't really have many battle-focused ones for Satoshi's traveling companions. Even then they made sure to include prominent female characters in BW, XY, and SM. The only reason Koharu didn't do that much was because the writers really liked the dynamic Satoshi and Go had when it was just the two of them. We can disagree with that decision but that doesn't make the writers sexist. If they really didn't care about female characters then Serena wouldn't have had a goal beyond her crush on Satoshi, Koharu wouldn't exist at all, Bea wouldn't have been Satoshi's most prominent rival during the World Championships Shirona and Carne wouldn't have had wins in the Masters 8, and Liko wouldn't be the center of the current series plot.

 

[Kurolegacy]

The picnic episode was setup for Roy catching Wattrel and for Spinel's efforts to steal the pendant. Slow-paced but focused on the plot like I said. When the plot has given Liko and Roy an opportunity to battle they've generally taken it. They just don't have time to look for opponents they don't happen to meet on their journey.

We'll find out what they've got planned for those episodes when they come out. It might even be those filler battles you've been complaining about the absence of.

You claim that the picnic episode served as setup for Roy to catch Wattrel yet you discount that any plot point could stem from them getting the opportunity to battle other trainers. An episode that seemed completely filler stemmed into plot relevant points so tell me, why exactly is it apparently an impossibility for that kind of thing to either set up or act as some form of development for either of them? Last I checked, an episode that would seem to have zero effect on the plot with delving into Murdock’s past led to Kabu’s training which further led to the whole thing with the Galar mines. Instead, you just deem it to be filler saying they don’t have time for that as if there’s some clock that they’re racing against. Not everything that isn’t instantly Lucius focused is some filler waste of time like you seem to imply just because they’ve decided to be more story based especially if it benefits the cast in some way. Like I said, and you bas agreed, we’re only 24 episodes in , they have time.

 

[Eitarou]

Am I the only one who just assumed Rakua was a nickname for Rayquaza? It's named Rayquaza, pronounced Rekkuza in japanese. Rakua is spelt and pronounced like a kind of mix of both.

I'm theorizing it's his wife or some family member.