Review JN055: The Tale of You and Me in Luminous Maze Forest!?

[Kurolegacy]

Sooooooo real talk, are most Galar Gym Leaders going to appear this way? In slice-of-life episodes that have nothing to do with battling or their gyms. I'm going to be a bit bummed out if that's the case.

Sad thing is, in a traditional series, something like that would serve to introduce us to the gym leader Ash would be challenging and so it wouldn’t be much of a big deal but with Journeys, we really have to question if a glorified cameo is all we’ll be given with most of them who aren’t Bea or Raihan.

 

[Silktree]

I'd much rather see Ash take on Elite Four members from past regions, thank you.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I'd much rather see Ash take on Elite Four members from past regions, thank you.

I’d rather the characters of the current gen actually have relevancy considering this is basically their only chance to. The previous regions had their times in the limelight.

 

[Silktree]

Many Elite Four members haven't appeared yet, let alone battled Ash. Also, I don't think Ash should battle characters so that they get fleshed out. Ultimately, OLM aren't interested too much in Dynamax battles and the animators are thankful for it.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I personally found the Opal scenes amusing, and her quizzes nice references to the games.

 

[GrookeyFan77]

I personally found the Opal scenes amusing, and her quizzes nice references to the games.

It was funny but still pointless.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I personally found the Opal scenes amusing, and her quizzes nice references to the games.

While nice, it kinda comes across as shallow given that, even as a current gen gym leader, at best all they did was make a reference to her in-game counterpart as opposed to really doing anything with her.

 

[Unireon]

Agreed. I came to watch Koharu's first solo episode, and we got Satoshi and Gou being there and adding nothing.
Not surprised that she didn't catch Ponyta, I've already felt that it won't happen.
But we got Eevee getting more characterization, so at the end it's a nice episode.

Yah, I don't trust promotional material that puts a character with a certain Pokemon, those are misleading.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Is this the first "It was all a dream" episode in Pokemon?

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Is this the first "It was all a dream" episode in Pokemon?

The end of the episode proves that it wasn't: Goh's Morelull was still there.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Sooooooo real talk, are most Galar Gym Leaders going to appear this way? In slice-of-life episodes that have nothing to do with battling or their gyms. I'm going to be a bit bummed out if that's the case.

Journeys apparently has a conceptional problem: We still don't know where the journey (pun intended) will eventually lead us to. So far, the series appears to be an arbitrary collection of single episodes with no or little logical connection.

So, I'm afraid we won't get to see any proper gym battles like we used to in previous regions. And thus, the Galarian gym leaders from the games will most likely be "degraded" to mere CODs. While Bea still had a quite relevant role in the show, Opal's appearance so far has been pretty pointless and for some reason, I don't think it'll get better when it comes to the rest of the gym leaders.

Is this the first "It was all a dream" episode in Pokemon?

Well, strictly speaking DP043 had that "it was all a dream" scenario as well. In the end, it was an illusion caused by Mismagius

 

[Twilight-Kun]

The end of the episode proves that it wasn't: Goh's Morelull was still there.

He's caught pokemon offscreen before though

 

[Nicolas721]

I'm very mixed on this. It's clear that they wanted this to have a fairy tale atmosphere, but failed because:

1. Very weak buildup. Chloe just reads one page and she already wants to go to the forest, we don't even know what the fictional story is about.
2. The situations are extremely commonplace and we´ve seen them hundreds of times before: An injured Pokemon, a group of mischievous Pokemon, a plant cure...
3. The music is painfully generic and doesn't fit the atmosphere. The piece used when Goh and Ash chased Morelull should NOT have been used in such a magnificent location.

However, the situations were definitely fun, it was nice to see Eevee use its powers, and the parts with Opal were funny. As someone said, if this had been the beginning of a Ballonlea Arc it would have been passable, but as a self-contained story there's many pieces missing.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

He's caught pokemon offscreen before though

But not this one.

 

[ii kanji]

Serious question: how did Koharu climb up those tall mushrooms after it had rained? I can barely hold onto mushrooms after washing them to slice before cooking, but I digress...

It was a disappointing episode, wasn't it? It didn't really hold my attention at all. @Nicolas721 has described pretty much exactly why. Satoshi and Go crowded the episode out for sure, and whilst the pink clothes were cute it was a waste of time as well as a very weak appearance for Her Majesty - let's hope she gets another proper opportunity.

Also, whilst the scenery was gorgeous, it didn't feel earned ya know? Like a beautiful setting in a travelling series meant that the characters and us had been wandering for months through deciduous forest to unlock it, meanwhile they just... arrived there...

Meh.

 

[KrspaceT]

Time to see what this episode has with subs. So first off....

1. The book fell on its own....you know that is either coincidence or something mystical strangey. Think we'll get a Glimwood tied Mythical Pokemon a la Zarude that comes in later?
2. Wait did Eevee also see in Chloe's magical horsey vision? Okay....
3. ...I'd say there is a context to the fact you didn't see Chloe get angry at Goh for wanting to catch the G horses instead of saying 'calling dibs'.
4. Ash came off as Goh's sidekick in the Morelull hunt. Not going to lie. Also why did they think running into a maze forest was a good idea.....
5. Seriously was that vision she got? Is Chloe somehow connected to the aura of the Glimwood Tangle? Is that a thing? Is she going to suddenly be drawn to living in Ballonea in the future?
6. There is going to be R34 of Impdimp stealing girl's clothes soon, isn't there? Or does it already exist?
7. Chloe shook a tree to shake berries out, and some Pokemon.
8. Nice classic music for the riding sequence.
9. Is Opal a witch? Some sort of forest mystic? ...Not going to lie that's a fun angle.
10. I heard people complain about Ash and Goh scaring the horses off but hey being impressed by Chloe rarely happens so...
11. Why the dream fake-out? Seems....a bit weird is odd of a choice

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Seriously was that vision she got? Is Chloe somehow connected to the aura of the Glimwood Tangle? Is that a thing? Is she going to suddenly be drawn to living in Ballonea in the future?

Probably was Ponyta sending out a plead for help.

 

[GrookeyFan77]

Probably was Ponyta sending out a plead for help.

Bond Phenonemon!!!!!!

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Meh. Wasnt that great. A total waste of Ponyta and it not be captured. Why the heck was Opal even here? 6,5/10

 

[TheGoldenToon]

I really don't want this to be another True Blue Swablu situation. I really hope Koharu and the Ponyta meet again in a future episode.