Review JN073: Captain Pikachu! Advance, Tairetsu!!

[Reborn Talonflame]

I haven't seen the episode but it sounds like it could have been planned a two-parter, until they changed minds at the last minute because they likely wanted to have more of both Eiscue and Fallinks, as what happens in those two-parters is barely canon.


[links added for context]
Are you a Steven Universe fan by any chances? lol

I’ve seen clips of the show before, I thought it look good, but never really intrigued me enough to watch. What a coincidence, though!

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Seems like Grookey will slowly but surely turn into the new Togepi or Happiny.

Except they actually contributed to the plot

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Seems like Grookey will slowly but surely turn into the new Togepi or Happiny.

Or Oshawott.

As a person who is NOT keen on "gagmons" as a whole, If I’m being honest, Togepi was probably the only Pokémon whose gags didn’t annoy me. It sincerely came across as a baby finding its way in the world and the rest of them got progressively worse.

 

[Dogasu]

They should have swapped out that unnamed ice cream truck girl with the Rocket trio.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

By this point, I'd say Grookey is starting to become worse of a gagmon than Pokemon like Oshawott or Rowlet. Grookey has become so annoying.

 

[Squad_Broke_Down]

By this point, I'd say Grookey is starting to become worse of a gagmon than Pokemon like Oshawott or Rowlet. Grookey has become so annoying.

Overall I'd say so far it's one of the worst. It was already at a disadvantage of having it's main gag be annonying, but it gets worse when you realise the gag is often applied with Grookey and it also gets no character development. Hell, it doesn't even get a punishment for it!
also if you say that oshawott's gag is bad i will come for you

 

[Queen Cynthia]

I bet you next week we'll say "Oh the Darkrai and Dawn episode would have been better if it had been a two-parter" and we'll regret this episode wasted valuable time that could have been used for said two-parter.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

As a person who is NOT keen on "gagmons" as a whole, If I’m being honest, Togepi was probably the only Pokémon whose gags didn’t annoy me. It sincerely came across as a baby finding its way in the world and the rest of them got progressively worse.

I've never really been a fan of the "baby/child character has amazing powers but does not comprehend them" trope, which Togepi falls into. For me, the best moment for Togepi was its evolution, when it got to mature and stop being Misty's baby.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

So what happens if Go had caught just the captain falinks while Ash captured the troop falinks?

What happens if you only catch one part of dugtrio, exeggcute, or magneton?

Can you capture Probopass's mini-nosepass?

You'd think they would play around with this more, given how many pokemon are just "second verse, same as the first, only a little bit louder and a little more worse"

 

[VetProf]

I bet you next week we'll say "Oh the Darkrai and Dawn episode would have been better if it had been a two-parter"

But... it is going to be a two-parter. The Darkrai and Cresselia plot (feat. Dawn) will take place across the next two episodes, so there probably won't be any complaints about this episode taking away "valuable time" from the next two episodes.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

But... it is going to be a two-parter. The Darkrai and Cresselia plot (feat. Dawn) will take place across the next two episodes, so there probably won't be any complaints about this episode taking away "valuable time" from the next two episodes.

I have a feeling wink at the end meant it was a joke.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I like Grookey. But I do wish there was some kind of consequences to it's actions. At the rate it's going it's I fear it's treading very closely on Karma Houdini territory. It's certainly not on Morpeko levels of bad but still

 

[Unireon]

It is already a Karma Houdini.
Gou pinned the blame on Pikachu.

Its gag wasn't even funny to begin with.

I already disliked the full line in the games, now the anime is making me hate it.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I like Grookey. But I do wish there was some kind of consequences to it's actions. At the rate it's going it's I fear it's treading very closely on Karma Houdini territory. It's certainly not on Morpeko levels of bad but still

I’d say that it’s worse than Morpeko with that. At least in Morpeko’s case, its actions had resulted in TRio wanting to get rid of it until James got too attached. With Grookey, Go won’t even so much as scold it for doing wrong when it does the same mischievous antics constantly.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I find it both concerning and fascinating that this episode's events were so inconsequential that the only thing people are talking about is how annoying the Designated Gagmon is...

I personally don't think Grookey is as annoying as some other past gagmons (yet), but if Goh shielding it from the consequences of its recklessness becomes a habit, it's definitely not gonna be a good thing.

EDIT: By the way, has anyone taken notice of how Goh's Raichu is apparently small for her species? In the past, a big deal was often made about Raichu's overwhelming size advantage over Pikachu, yet Goh's Raichu has been shown both here and in the Suspect Pikachu episode to be barely bigger than him. Dunno, I think that's interesting and kinda should get a bit more notice, especially since Ash's Noctowl also got its unusually diminutive size highlighted in its capture episode.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I find it both concerning and fascinating that this episode's events were so inconsequential that the only thing people are talking about is how annoying the Designated Gagmon is...

I personally don't think Grookey is as annoying as some other past gagmons (yet), but if Goh shielding it from the consequences of its recklessness becomes a habit, it's definitely not gonna be a good thing.

EDIT: By the way, has anyone taken notice of how Goh's Raichu is apparently small for her species? In the past, a big deal was often made about Raichu's overwhelming size advantage over Pikachu, yet Goh's Raichu has been shown both here and in the Suspect Pikachu episode to be barely bigger than him. Dunno, I think that's interesting and kinda should get a bit more notice, especially since Ash's Noctowl also got its unusually diminutive size highlighted in its capture episode.

I wonder if the size difference could be a reference to Pokémon Go where Pokémon of the same species can come in larger or smaller sizes compared to one another. Of course at the same time, it wouldn’t be the first time either considering that Ash’s Noctowl was noted to be smaller than the average Noctowl.

 

[Sheep]

omg someone else noticed Raichu's height, I was starting to think it was just me! It really hit me how small she was when all of Go's mons were following each other - she's barely bigger than Panpour/Pansear iirc, who are on average 0.6 m tall vs an average Raichu's 2.0 m. It's adorable to have a tiny Raichu, don't get me wrong, but I keep thinking it's an error or some strange angle haha.

 

[JinksChow]

It is already a Karma Houdini.
Gou pinned the blame on Pikachu.

Its gag wasn't even funny to begin with.

I already disliked the full line in the games, now the anime is making me hate it.

In fact, now that I think about it, this isn't even the first instance of Go doing this.

In JN069, one of the things which kicked off the episode was because Grookey messing around with Chansey, prompting Eevee to join in and nearly breaking Chansey's egg. As Ash and others were walking out of the Pokemon Center, Koharu pointed out that Grookey was a bit too michievous, while Go retorted that Eevee was even moreso. This of course led to a back-and-forth between the two, which thankfully eventually gave us an above-average filler episode.

However, Go's reaction to Koharu's accusation in JN069 still reflects his actions in this episode. Despite seeing with his own eyes that Grookey was the one who initially went up to Chansey and started messing around, Go still tried to shift the blame towards (or at least share the blame with) Eevee.

You might say that Go is just being protective of Grookey. But as others have pointed out, you can't just keep accommodating the thing when it keeps making the same mistakes. At least with Eevee, we haven't seen it being up to no good since JN069 (Although that probably has more to do with Koharu being sidelined).

 

[Kurolegacy]

In fact, now that I think about it, this isn't even the first instance of Go doing this.

In JN069, one of the things which kicked off the episode was because Grookey messing around with Chansey, prompting Eevee to join in and nearly breaking Chansey's egg. As Ash and others were walking out of the Pokemon Center, Koharu pointed out that Grookey was a bit too michievous, while Go retorted that Eevee was even moreso. This of course led to a back-and-forth between the two, which thankfully eventually gave us an above-average filler episode.

However, Go's reaction to Koharu's accusation in JN069 still reflects his actions in this episode. Despite seeing with his own eyes that Grookey was the one who initially went up to Chansey and started messing around, Go still tried to shift the blame towards (or at least share the blame with) Eevee.

You might say that Go is just being protective of Grookey. But as others have pointed out, you can't just keep accommodating the thing when it keeps making the same mistakes. At least with Eevee, we haven't seen it being up to no good since JN069 (Although that probably has more to do with Koharu being sidelined).

To even add to that, you can even attribute Eevee having joined in on the mischievous events to the fact that she likes to mimic others. So even with that, it still circles right back to being Grookey’s fault. The writers really need to do something about this situation with Grookey because it’s really become tiresome. Of course I fully expect the writers to do nothing and only have the situation vanish with a rushed evolution that it did nothing to actually earn.