Review JN009: The Promise We Made that Day! The Houou Legend of the Johto Region!!

[kantoskies]

So I'm going to create an episode right now. Let's call it...

Hoenn Region! Contest Spectacular!

Some other episodes I'm excited to see:

• Look Out! The Worst Togepi in the World!? where Satoshi and Go travel to an unnamed city in Sinnoh, Go attempts to catch a wild Togepi that has a bad attitude. It takes him 22 minutes to do so.
• Fierce Fighting! The Orange League! Satoshi and Go travel to a recently-discovered archipelago off the coast of southern Kanto after hearing rumors of a rare Pokemon. Arriving, Satoshi is amazed as he has never been to an area quite like it before. They take part in a generic tournament called the "Orange League". Satoshi wins, of course, and Go captures about a dozen Kanto and Johto Pokemon.
• Musashi and Miyamoto! Reunification! Satoshi and Go hear word of a Mew being spotted in some mountain range in northern Isshu(?) and chase after it. The Rocket trio follow and Musashi is separated from the rest in a snowstorm. She befriends a wild Pinpuku and is only in the episode for 4 minutes. Go catches a herd of wild Shikijika and Satoshi slips on some snow.
• The Legend of Hiwada Town! The Prized Monster Ball! Satoshi and Go travel to the Johto region and meet Minoru (based on a Fisherman trainer on Johto Route 42), an eccentric man who specializes in crafting unique Monster Balls. Satoshi and Go use these unique Monster Balls to head into an unnamed nearby forest (does not look like the Ubame forest but isn't explicitly contradicted) to try and catch a lot of Pokemon. Go is given a special golden Monster Ball that was passed down through Minoru's family for generations.
• Decisive Battle! Gekkouga vs Gaburias! Satoshi and Go travel to the Kalos region to research a new phenomenon known as "Mega Evolution". Once there, they find a wild Gekkouga who is being bullied by a Gaburias who can Mega Evolve. Satoshi and Go help the Gekkouga train to beat the Gaburias. Satoshi still only has Pikachu on his party.
• Let's Go to Poni Island! The Strongest Pokemon!? Satoshi and Go travel to the Alola region's Poni Island. They meet a local unnamed trial captain who needs help finding his lost Gyarados. Go catches a herd of wild Gyarados in the process. The Rocket trio haven't been seen for twenty episodes.

But of course, it will be the entitled older fans expecting too much and reading too much into things. No one explicitly said that Miyamoto would appear, or Satoshi would reunite with his Gekkouga, and the fans are ridiculous to even think this might happen, episode titles be dammed. Oh sure, there was promo art of Satoshi holding what looked like the GS Ball, but to even think the show would bring that up again is ludicrous.

 

[Almonds]

So, judging by the general consensus of this episode...

Poll Question: Do you think Pokemon 2019 is trying to set up retiring Ash in the near future by reducing his screentime?

1. Yes. This has never happened before, and it looks suspicious - especially since the Ho-oh episode wasn't Ash-centric.
2. No. Ash is too iconic to replace. He's going to stay even if it is for a 1-minute screentime per episode in the future. He doesn't even have to do anything.
3. Too early to tell. Let's wait until at least episode 12 where Leon appears and then discuss.
4. Other.

 

[P_S_B]

So, judging by the general consensus of this episode...

Poll Question: Do you think Pokemon 2019 is trying to set up retiring Ash in the near future by reducing his screentime?

1. Yes. This has never happened before, and it looks suspicious - especially since the Ho-oh episode wasn't Ash-centric.
2. No. Ash is too iconic to replace. He's going to stay even if it is for a 1-minute screentime per episode in the future. He doesn't even have to do anything.
3. Too early to tell. Let's wait until at least episode 12 where Leon appears and then discuss.
4. Other.

I think they wanted to retire him at the end of Sun and Moon but the executives said no because he was too marketable. What was pitched as a series about Gou and Koharu going from region to region so Gou can catch pokes while Koharu mentors him and acts as the straight man ended up being forcibly retooled into a series about Ash and Gou going around so Gou can catch pokes and Ash can tag along making DP Brock look like the pinacle of character usage because his journey ended in Alola and they've got no idea where his character should go now. Why they didn't turn it into a group of Ash, Gou and Koharu if Ash had to be there I don't know, but maybe the executives said they liked the dual protagonist idea.

 

[Daenerys]

So, judging by the general consensus of this episode...

Poll Question: Do you think Pokemon 2019 is trying to set up retiring Ash in the near future by reducing his screentime?

1. Yes. This has never happened before, and it looks suspicious - especially since the Ho-oh episode wasn't Ash-centric.
2. No. Ash is too iconic to replace. He's going to stay even if it is for a 1-minute screentime per episode in the future. He doesn't even have to do anything.
3. Too early to tell. Let's wait until at least episode 12 where Leon appears and then discuss.
4. Other.

I mean I do agree that he's too iconic to replace completely, but even I - the biggest cynic of this forum - don't see anything pointing towards Ash retiring.

I will say this though, it's hilarious to me that almost everyone and their pets wanted to see Ash win a major Pokemon league because it would get Ash closer to his goal or whatever justification people liked to use in past years to make Ash winning a big league seem like something that should happen yet now that they got their wish the same people are making a big ruckus over Ash not having anything to do.

Like, y'all got what you wanted and this is the end result of that. This is one of those 'be careful what you wish for' moments.

 

[Panky..]

To be fair, they did say this series was going to be episodic.

And that somehow excuses the bad/lazy writing and the aimlessness? That it excuses the bait-and-switch misleading advertising/promotion?

Besides, the reason they gave for it being episodic was that they didn't want people to miss out on it, which is a stupid excuse. It's the age of the internet and the company themselves upload the episodes to their YouTube channel so there's zero chance of missing out on the ongoing series. If you ask me, they're just being lazy and gave the excuse that it's "episodic" because they can't be bothered to write a cohesive plot.

I will say this though, it's hilarious to me that almost everyone and their pets wanted to see Ash win a major Pokemon league because it would get Ash closer to his goal or whatever justification people liked to use in past years to make Ash winning a big league seem like something that should happen yet now that they got their wish the same people are making a big ruckus over Ash not having anything to do.

Like, y'all got what you wanted and this is the end result of that. This is one of those 'be careful what you wish for' moments.

I don't see why this is a "be careful what you wish for" moment? Winning a League is not the be-all-end-all as there's a lot more to do past a League Conference like the Elite 4/Champion challenges, World Tournaments etc. Yes, there's a glimmer of hope for SS012 but I'm going to stay cynical for now, especially after yesterday's bait-and-switch.

 

[BugCatcherinVF]

Misdreavus and Stantler were actively attacking the group, it made no sense for Gou catch them when Satoshi could have battled them. They were hostile!

 

[Schemer99]

Misdreavus and Stantler were actively attacking the group, it made no sense for Gou catch them when Satoshi could have battled them. They were hostile!

That pissed me off to high hell. I was thinking that this battle was going to be interesting, especially since Scorbunny has no moves that could damage Misdreavus. But nope, one Pokeball does them in instantly. I actually like Go's gimmick of catching all of these Pokemon, but he has to at least seriously battle a few of them, especially hostile ones.

Is anyone else getting really annoyed by some of the music selections in this series? I especially hate the song that played when Sakuragi was showing information on Ho-oh.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

yet now that they got their wish the same people are making a big ruckus over Ash not having anything to do.

Like, y'all got what you wanted and this is the end result of that. This is one of those 'be careful what you wish for' moments.

Who said there’s nothing to do after winning a league conference? Anyone with an ounce of creativity can come up with it, specially when you’re paid for that.

 

[Daren]

So, judging by the general consensus of this episode...

Poll Question: Do you think Pokemon 2019 is trying to set up retiring Ash in the near future by reducing his screentime?

1. Yes. This has never happened before, and it looks suspicious - especially since the Ho-oh episode wasn't Ash-centric.
2. No. Ash is too iconic to replace. He's going to stay even if it is for a 1-minute screentime per episode in the future. He doesn't even have to do anything.
3. Too early to tell. Let's wait until at least episode 12 where Leon appears and then discuss.
4. Other.

I was suspecting that after the early reveals, but after this episode didn't actually hint at a plan for Ash's Ho-oh connection to go anywhere I think the chances dropped even lower.

I think they wanted to retire him at the end of Sun and Moon but the executives said no because he was too marketable. What was pitched as a series about Gou and Koharu going from region to region so Gou can catch pokes while Koharu mentors him and acts as the straight man ended up being forcibly retooled into a series about Ash and Gou going around so Gou can catch pokes and Ash can tag along making DP Brock look like the pinacle of character usage because his journey ended in Alola and they've got no idea where his character should go now. Why they didn't turn it into a group of Ash, Gou and Koharu if Ash had to be there I don't know, but maybe the executives said they liked the dual protagonist idea.

I think this sounds possible. It would explain why Gou's goal feels like it could support a series as a main lead better than earlier co-protagonists.

Honestly if so I kind of agree with the executives in that Ash's big win being Alola was already thematically questionable and ending his story there would have even worse (unless in this alternate universe the Alola League was much more impressive than in ours).

 

[Silktree]

I didn't expect Ash to meet Ho-Oh here, but I did think that the Movie 20 ambition would rub off on him (as well as the Nebby story). He said that being a Pokemon Master is about much more than being the best trainer, and yet all he could think of was battling Ho-Oh and when that didn't happen, he moved on. It's cute that he helped Jiei regain his goal, but why does he deserve to meet Ho-Oh? Just wanting it?

Misdreavus and Stantler were actively attacking the group, it made no sense for Gou catch them when Satoshi could have battled them. They were hostile!

Maybe they were just lonely and wanted to get noticed. They didn't physically attack them, either.

The "no battling" part is boring, but Go is highly enthusiastic about captures and the wild Pokemon would seem to be drawn to that. They get a better home in exchange. The question is if some of them will battle as the BF episode implied. I think he needs to take a break from catching every few episides, which seems likely for the Koharu and Leon episodes.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

They get a better home in exchange.

"Better" is really subjective for most Pokemon.

 

[Pulsaro23]

It's as you say, it's a showcase of the pokemon world. A world tour of sorts.

The show isn't even focusing on the locations the cast is visiting and what makes them interesting and unique (which is what one would expect from a world tour), instead choosing to focus on some random people that are gonna be gone by next week and their troubles of the day, with the fact that they are form or live in city/town/region X being so irrelevant that they might as well be from the middle of nowhere and nothing would change. Not to mention that this is a world tour where Ash visits places he's already been to. I'm not saying this entire series should be a never-ending nostalgia trip, but you'd at least expect Ash to mention that "hey, I remember this" or "hey, I've been here before" instead of acting like he's never seen these places before.

After many years of Ash going for the same goal, do we really need a plot that'd essentially be the same?

Well, between an adventure series that has Ash journeying through a region, visiting new places, making new friends, catching new Pokémon, with him actually progressing towards a goal and him going through some challenges that he has to overcome and an aimless series that's banking on false advertising, fake promises and clickbait summaries in order to generate hype and get people invested, I'll gladly take the former, even if it's a formula that we've seen it be done before. At least then Ash would get the chance to shine, at least then we would have an actual story to be interested in and the series would lead up to something, at least then there would be a point to the series.

To be fair, they did say this series was going to be episodic.

To be fair, they also said that this series is for all fans, both old and new. To be perfectly fair, there are other episodic series that are able to tell a story and have episodes that focus on their main characters, their ideals, their personality and maybe even their past, without having to sideline them in order to focus on characters that will never return ever again. To be completely fair, they made this episode about Ho-oh, titled it "the promise we made that day" and had art of Ash seeing Ho-oh and him holding a Rainbow Wing be made.

 

[nickdt]

I didn't know Stantler could teleport.
Its on the ground floor, only one way up, suddenly, its above the first set of stairs.
Also, can Gou's Pokedex hold its mouth shut: Its getting annoying.

 

[Pulsaro23]

I will say this though, it's hilarious to me that almost everyone and their pets wanted to see Ash win a major Pokemon league because it would get Ash closer to his goal or whatever justification people liked to use in past years to make Ash winning a big league seem like something that should happen yet now that they got their wish the same people are making a big ruckus over Ash not having anything to do.

Like, y'all got what you wanted and this is the end result of that. This is one of those 'be careful what you wish for' moments.

I will say what I said to someone else who defended this series' horrendous writing: if the writers really had no idea on how to further develop Ash after he won the Alola League, then they must really be lacking in creativity. Ash's main goal was never to become the Champion of a league/region, but to become a Pokémon Master. Winning a league and becoming Champion is just considered a step towards that goal, so him finally becoming one shouldn't be the end of his story, nor should it mean that he has no room to grow or improve.

There are definitely ways in which they could've had Ash actually develop and get more focus. They could've integrated the idea of researching Pokémon into the goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, by stating that having a great knowledge of Pokémon is a step towards becoming a Pokémon Master (which was alluded to, in a way, in the last two episode of Sun & Moon), just like how they did with the idea of winning a Pokémon League, and have Ash pursue this goal of understanding and studying Pokémon more actively. Or, considering how lackluster and unconventional the Alola League was for the most part, they could've had him participate in the Galar League, a Pokémon League that's very competitive and considered very challenging in the games story wise (with a lot of the Gym Leaders like Kabu, Piers and Raihan being considered huge obstacles for the Gym Challengers), and even have him win it, just to further solidify how incredible his skills as a Pokémon Trainer really are. Them choosing to do nothing with him and have him just be there and contribute nothing to the series doesn't mean that this was "the end result of" him becoming Champion, which would imply that there is nothing else that can be done with Ash.

 

[P_S_B]

Also, can Gou's Pokedex hold its mouth shut: Its getting annoying.

Whenever it screams, "NICE!", "GREAT!" or, "EXCELLENT!" I just want to set it down on a railroad track as if it were a coin to be flattened.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Misdreavus and Stantler were actively attacking the group, it made no sense for Gou catch them when Satoshi could have battled them. They were hostile!

Just shows that Go can solve any future problem pokemon by instantly catching them without issue, which is going to make Go look like an idiot when he doesn't do so just for the sake of tension and drama


I'm glad we got more Screamydex entries at least

 

[BigDocFan]

Youtube review for this episode


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GciM9nkgTU4


One thing I was disappointed at seeing this episode was not seeing the Magnet train which Ash and Go could have used to get to Johto

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Another review:


View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Wpuvplc2OK4

 

[Mokuroh_chad]

Overall pretty mid episode, it was just an excuse to shove in the Episode 1 flashback for the 100th time. God this series is so bad.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

I like they just took a cab

Which means there's a road from Kanto to Johto now instead of having to Surf or Fly, or use the train