Review JN069: Watch Over My First Errand!

[90'sPokéfan]

Still, I also didn't get why Gou decided to wear Satoshi's clothes, that was random

I was under the impression he wanted to use those clothes as a disguise to lead Grookey to the good way again. And with what we've seen this disguise could have worked I think.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

My main question...Why on earth was Go putting on Satoshi's things? It was never stated why. xD

That's exactly what I was wondering, too. Probably the most puzzling moment of the episode because it was never explained why.

He wanted to wear his boyfriend's clothing

What?

Funny how Meowth points out that the trio could've just supplied themselves with ice cream from their van in the first place.

Even Meowth realized it was bad writing

 

[SonansuMan]

Have the writers for the past few episodes been frequenting the forums? A lot of these recent ones have been killing it

Though this episode was pretty average, I appreciate how well they handled the cast this week, and it addressed a lot of the tiny things that hold this series back. It did just about exactly as the trailer and title suggested, and rather than make it into a generic rehash of XY083, I think the concept was done pretty well. Having Goh and Chloe butt heads against each other, while Ash played both the straight man and leader here was a great way to make the dynamic of the three feel more cohesive and I liked that Ash actually got to play an active role in this episode by using both Gengar and Sirfetch'd too. The way they also incorporated them into the plot in a way that is also relevant to their personalities made it feel very natural. The Grookey and Eevee shananigans were funny and I loved the gang using bushes TRio-style to conceal themselves. The moment towards the end where Grookey slowly walks up to Goh that for some reason was actually animated really beautifully and was able to strongly convey how determined Grookey was to still finish the errand. Lastly, Team Rocket was handled relatively well this episode, and I love that they tried to flesh out Pelipper by incorporating it into a subplot by having it do an errand of its own. Morpeko's role in this episode despite being a little tired at this point, was also a good way to setup it's focus episode next week and I like that they're progressively giving it's nuisances more buildup (though it is pretty funny that it's allowed to have consecutive episodes over Project Mew). The best Team Rocket appearances in this series have almost always been the ones where their stories aren't solely just relegated to them coming up for a curbstomp battle, and this one didn't disappoint

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

For such a mundane filler, this episode was surprisingly charming. Definitely not a showstopper or anything, but it gave us some nice treats: Eevee and Grookey being sent on an errand to prove they can be responsible led to several cute and sweet moments, such as Eevee showing Grookey to be careful when crossing the street. This was also the anime debut of Appletun though it was a bit part, so I hope the little apple pie dragon gets to appear in a bigger role in a future episode. We also got to see Gengar and Sirfetch'd play a part here, and the former especially was a delight because it hasn't done anything in such a long while (also notice how Gengar actually succeeded in scaring Eevee this time XD). Now if only they could participate in a battle...

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

After watching this episode, I have to ask.

Why were Grookey and Scorbunny allowed to have fun, but not Sobble? The writers gave a lot of love to those two, but Sobble didn't get much of that love before evolving. Not gonna lie, I'm rather irritated by this.

 

[Kurolegacy]

After watching this episode, I have to ask.

Why were Grookey and Scorbunny allowed to have fun, but not Sobble? The writers gave a lot of love to those two, but Sobble didn't get much of that love before evolving. Not gonna lie, I'm rather irritated by this.

From the looks of things, because Scorbunny was Go’s starter and this allotted the most attention and Grookey was given a mischievous and wild personality leading to it being natural to get into shenanigans while Sobble was relegated to just a gag of being a timid crybaby that the smallest things would set off which limits it a lot.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

From the looks of things, because Scorbunny was Go’s starter and this allotted the most attention and Grookey was given a mischievous and wild personality leading to it being natural to get into shenanigans while Sobble was relegated to just a gag of being a timid crybaby that the smallest things would set off which limits it a lot.

And then when it became a Drizzile it became notoriously asocial, which means having it interact with the rest of the Pokemon would be difficult. That said, I don't think any of these reasons are enough justification to not even give it so much as a cameo, since at the end of the day it's the writers who made the decision not to give it roles. And it's not like it's impossible to make an introverted character interact with others anyway, if anything it could make Drizzile an interesting foil to some of the other MC Pokemon, so it's pretty jarring that it hasn't even appeared since its evolution episode despite openings showcasing it prominently.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

After watching this episode, I have to ask.

Why were Grookey and Scorbunny allowed to have fun, but not Sobble? The writers gave a lot of love to those two, but Sobble didn't get much of that love before evolving. Not gonna lie, I'm rather irritated by this.

There's 2 reasons I can think of why.

Reason #1:

Sobble is a lot more shy and withdrawn than Scorbunny and Grookey are. This makes it a lot harder for the writers to come up with scenarios for it to interact with the other more Peppier Pokémon. It only interacted with Raboot because it was almost just as Introverted as Sobble was. (And notice how that mostly faded away after Raboot Evolved?)


Reason #2:

When Scorbunny was around, it was still pretty early on into the show and there were no other Small Cutesy Pokémon around yet to divert attention from it so the writers had no choice but to focus on it

With Grookey, (at least for now) once again there's no other Small Cutesy Pokémon to divert attention away from it (except Eevee but she only shows up once in a blue moon). So the writers focus on it more because there's no more small and cutesy Pokémon left. All the others have either Evolved or Rarely appear.


Poor Sobble had to share it's screentime with both Raboot AND Riolu and of course Sobble got overshadowed by them because the Writers only care about Shillmons

 

[Unireon]

In either way, Messon was screwed from the beginning.

It really sucks that it ended being wasted due to the writers' lack of interest/drive.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

In either way, Messon was screwed from the beginning.

It really sucks that it ended being wasted due to the writers' lack of interest/drive.

It feels like the Writers just got bored of Sobble.

If you notice, in throughout all of the Pokémon Anime, they only like to give attention to either Lively characters or Edgy characters but never Shy characters.

Even Lana's personality was changed in the Anime. She was a shy girl in the games but the anime made her much more peppy
They very obviously don't care for writing Shy/Timid characters because they find them boring
Only exception I can think of is maybe Serena's Eevee who got over it after she Evolved


Sobble was screwed no matter what

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Even Lana's personality was changed in the Anime. She was a shy girl in the games but the anime made her much more peppy

That reminds me of something: in Pokémon Adventures, Lana also appears pretty timid most of the time, but when the situation gets serious, she becomes so serious she can be scary, kinda like anime Lana when she's angry.

 

[ii kanji]

Oh, hey there Sakaki:

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

Oh, geez! I'm not sure why I didn't watch this episode sooner, because it is now the second Journeys episode to go on my list of "favorite episodes"...which is to say I ADORED this episode. Every moment brought a smile on my face and I can happily say this was one of the few episodes that actually made me laugh and I actually teared up a bit at the end of the episode with how well executed the reunion was. The banter and dynamic between Goh and Chloe was such a treat to watch, as was the dynamic between Grookey and Eevee, Pelipper and Team Rocket, and Ash with the other two. The pokemon were such a prominent part of this episode, which made it all the more enjoyable and it felt really fresh and unique. Also, adorable leader Satoshi and Pikachu combo...they're both so BALANCEDDDD...

On the more technical aspect, the animation was a mix here as they used far more stock footage than normal but it was decent. But, oh, the LIGHTING was gorgeous and especially the ending scene...it felt almost like I was actually there with the Ash, Goh, and Chloe as they waited for Grookey and Eevee. ESPECIALLY the score. Seriously, who the heck is scoring these past episodes? It feels like Miyazaki music...hey, Hayashi isn't doing too bad of a job! I felt like I was watching Fairy Tail, listening to the music while watching the episode, which is a big plus.

Also, kudos to Pokeani for teaching children traffic safety.

Overall, really enjoyable filler that'll make you smile throughout. I give this episode an 8.5/10(interesting how that's all I've been giving Journeys episodes lately...)!