Review JN075: Cresselia - A Midsummer Night's Light

[Twilight-Kun]

Well, that was aggressively milquetoast, and why was Koharu the only one that didn't need an alley-oop from a legendary pokemon to land a hit on her opponent?

Also nice of Go to butt in and tell them to save their reunion for offscreenland so they can dedicate more screen time to the pokemon being cute with one another

 

[Craiden]

I don't know if it was because Dawn was more "grounded" this episode, the Koharu stuff (which is fantastic, especially them bringing what I thought was part of the comedy bit with her dad from 74), or the "beach day" they enjoy at the end of the episode, but while I get a couple of the complaints, by and large, thought this was really good, and a good "return" for Dawn in general. Also, unlike DP 104, like how Darkrai/Cresselia were looked at this episode.

 

[Adelon]

Subs came out and the word geek was used. Hikari was telling Koharu that she used to travel with someone that was ALWAYS on about Pokemon, so she called him a Pokemon Geek. When they met Satoshi and Go later, Koharu realized she meant Satoshi.

Never heard baka used like this, though. Interesting!

Interesting.

I was thinking from the context she was actually calling him something like a geek or a nerd but I wasn't sure why she didn't say "Otaku".

 

[Johtohfiller]

Excellent 2-parter for Koharu but a disappointing showing from Team Rocket. Full thoughts later.

 

[Fiamette]

Pretty good episode, loved the scenes between Dawn and Koharu. As much as I would have liked to see some more interaction between Ash and Dawn I don't care too much about what we got since Koharu and Dawn's interactions were pretty fun. Honestly felt like the episode would have been better if it was more focused on those two and leave the interaction between Ash and Dawn for a later episode (if old companions are allowed to come back again) and the Rocket squabble felt too rushed.

Having a contest mixed with Darkrai, Cresselia, TRio, and Matori would have been too much so I'm not too disappointed with no contest.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

The subtitles seem to imply this is the same Cresselia that appeared in DP.

 

[Neo Blaze]

Such a disappointing two-parter. I don't have much to add to what some others have already mentioned here regarding that. Though I'm not in the least bit surprised after last week's episode.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

This episode was the definition of a mixed bag. The only thing I truly liked was Koharu-Dawn dynamics. Do keep in mind that I watched both episodes together right now, if it influences things, which I doubt honestly. Thankfully this episode was much, much better for Dawn than the previous one. Why does she sound like someone put JN!Ash in a Dawn costume for most of the first episode? Liking to enjoy things in the moment is one thing and whatever dose of hyperactivity they showed in the first episode is other. It seemed like one of the ideas was to copy paste the Ash-Go dynamic here. Thankfully they improved on this in the second episode. It is only me or was the music for these episodes very hit and miss? It was good at certain portions like Koharu and Cresselia, but honestly it felt so out of place compared to what I've seen from the previous sagas. It honestly removed my immersion at times. I know it might be nitpicky to some but I’ve literally never noticed the music of an episode before, unless it’s too good, but today it actively reduced my concentration on the actual episode.

Coming to the second episode...
As I predicted earlier, the cost of this two parter was the actual Ash and Dawn reunion. The positives first: The Cresselia/Darkrai dynamic was top notch. I’m thankful Darkrai wasn’t the villain (honestly I’d have loved to see a specialised nightmare for Go because he villainsed Darkrai, but not enough screentime). Honestly, any member of the gang not named Koharu was unneeded, since Eevee and the Lunar duo were pretty much the only things required to fight off TR. It slips into the negatives of the episode in my next paragraph- the entire final battle.

Thankfully they didn’t replace Koharu with Go for this episode, but it was honestly jarring. And where are Dawn's Pokémon? Where are Ash's Pokémon? Why won’t you send out Pokémon when you’re losing?
Togekiss would've been perfect for this episode. I kept expecting Dawn to send it out but it never arrived. And honestly, what was up with the power levels of those Pokémon? You know there’s a problem when Pikachu can do nothing after basically carrying the PWC on its shoulders, and Piplup was just as much of a veteran as Pikachu. I didn’t expect much from Cinderace. Honestly this felt forced and such a battle realistically would've carried onto a third episode.
And if Ash's Pikachu could cut the net with Iron tail why did they simply watch Darkrai being beaten up and Cresselia having to heal it?
I don’t expect Ash to send out his other Pokémon so discounting that, Dawn sending out Togekiss would've solved most of the issues. The Matori Matrix had a surprising downgrade too. Honestly it felt rushed to stuff into the two episode limit. I can’t help but echo the sentiment of everyone who felt Ash and Go were pointless here. I have no issues with Go being pointless for a change, but Ash being mentioned so many times leading to... nothing was weird. The TRio was genuinely out of place as well.

They could've replaced literally any filler with a third episode and brought up the arc from a 6 to a 9/9.5/10. But right now it’s a solid 6 for me. It had a lot of promise, and the Dawn/Koharu dynamic is precious. However many of the choices like the rushed-ness, the final battle, and the music choices sincerely hindered my enjoyment of this episode.

This whole arc gets a 6/10. Not devastatingly bad, but it didn’t deliver even when I went to watch this with no expectations at all.

 

[VetProf]

Several months ago, we were complaining about how the Alola episode should've consisted of two episodes instead of being crammed into one episode.

Today, we are complaining about how this Lunar Duo arc should've consisted of three episodes instead of being crammed into two episodes.

If the writers give us a three-episode arc in the future, we'll probably complain about how it should've consisted of four episodes instead. See ya'll there.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Several months ago, we were complaining about how the Alola episode should've consisted of two episodes instead of being crammed into one episode.

Today, we are complaining about how this Lunar Duo arc should've consisted of three episodes instead of being crammed into two episodes.

If the writers give us a three-episode arc in the future, we'll probably complain about how it should've consisted of four episodes instead. See ya'll there.

If the three episodes somehow still had content crammed in it with many aspects of the content neglected then I'd say bring on the four episode arc!
This seems like a strawman to me.

 

[Blob]

Subs came out and the word geek was used. Hikari was telling Koharu that she used to travel with someone that was ALWAYS on about Pokemon, so she called him a Pokemon Geek. When they met Satoshi and Go later, Koharu realized she meant Satoshi.

Never heard baka used like this, though. Interesting!

Wouldn't "Pokémon geek" fit Takeshi more? What about Satoshi is particularly nerdy?

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Wouldn't "Pokémon geek" fit Takeshi more? What about Satoshi is particularly nerdy?

He just loves Pokémon a lot. That's what they meant.

 

[Blob]

And where are Dawn's Pokémon? Where are Ash's Pokémon? Why won’t you send out Pokémon when you’re losing?
Togekiss would've been perfect for this episode. I kept expecting Dawn to send it out but it never arrived. And honestly, what was up with the power levels of those Pokémon? You know there’s a problem when Pikachu can do nothing after basically carrying the PWC on its shoulders, and Piplup was just as much of a veteran as Pikachu. I didn’t expect much from Cinderace. Honestly this felt forced and such a battle realistically would've carried onto a third episode.

Pretty much called out this would happen... of course Hikari wouldn't bring out any of her other Pokémon, because Pochama always has to be the centre focus, so Hikari would rather lose than use Togekiss.

As for Satoshi, maybe he forgot to bring some from the lab, since he has the "excuse" of rotating his Pokémon.

 

[Craiden]

Do not get this mixed up, the "lack" of Pokemon and particularly the Team Rocket critiques are fair. To address the Pokemon one (though the time to "show off" Dawn's Pokemon, as I don't really think the Team Rocket battle gave either Ash or Dawn an adequate venue to use other Pokemon given Darkrai) this episode had to give action sequences to Pikachu, Cinderace, Piplup, Eevee, Darkrai, Dusknoir, Lunatone (kind of), Skuntank?, Rhyperior, Toxicroak, and Purugly. Contrary to what I think is popular belief, outside of League battles, a lot of the time in Pokemon, while we certainly saw Pokemon more before (don't know honestly though if it is to the extent people make it out to be) but rarely did the animation staff have that many Pokemon to deal with, and while they could've had Dawn have a "look at my Pokemon moment" and I still don't quite know why this battle looked as good as it did, it would've come at the cost of this.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Do not get this mixed up, the "lack" of Pokemon and particularly the Team Rocket critiques are fair. To address the Pokemon one (though the time to "show off" Dawn's Pokemon, as I don't really think the Team Rocket battle gave either Ash or Dawn an adequate venue to use other Pokemon given Darkrai) this episode had to give action sequences to Pikachu, Cinderace, Piplup, Eevee, Darkrai, Dusknoir, Lunatone (kind of), Skuntank?, Rhyperior, Toxicroak, and Purugly. Contrary to what I think is popular belief, outside of League battles, a lot of the time in Pokemon, while we certainly saw Pokemon more before (don't know honestly though if it is to the extent people make it out to be) but rarely did the animation staff have that many Pokemon to deal with, and while they could've had Dawn have a "look at my Pokemon moment" and I still don't quite know why this battle looked as good as it did, it would've come at the cost of this.

I think I can understand the limitation there, but I guess they could've simply replaced Piplup for the time being given that it had already displayed its moves. Or I guess even with the Pokémon they had, it’s weird that Eevee was the only one that looked competent enough.

 

[Craiden]

Oh, for sure Eevee being the only Pokemon to affect an opposing Pokemon at all prior to Darkrai was a weird choice, and certainly they could've "lessened" Piplup screen time (though Piplup is Dawn's Pikachu). I just wanted it on record how many unique Pokemon they were working with already.

 

[Gabo2oo]

The Matori Matrix scene was just like the "competent" TRio's schemes back in BW, they're presented as this huge threat but then everything gets resolved way too quick and easily for what they are. The thing is... I don't feel like Koharu and Dawn's conversation in the first half was "wasted" time at all. Maybe if it was presented a bit faster? I don't know, honestly.

What I do know is that I loved the 4v4 battle sequence, that animation style with camera movement is something I've been missing a lot since XYZ ended. I wouldn't mind battles being a bit shorter if they look as dynamic as this one did.

Another thing is that I'm surprisingly loving is Hayashi's BGM. The music when Koharu approaches Cresselia, the tense music when Matori lands on the beach, the more dramatic version of Galar's battle theme... I didn't like the BGM as much when the series started, but it's all sounding much better nowadays.

I think in the fantasy he was similar to SM Brock, but in the flashback he looked more "classic" (also, his green shirt looked brighter than it was in DP).

I think it's because Brock had his hair pointing upwards in SM. This one's much more on-model.

 

[Pokemonfan5]

You know there’s a problem when Pikachu can do nothing after basically carrying the PWC on its shoulders, and Piplup was just as much of a veteran as Pikachu.

Does Piplup ever shown a powerful Pokemon? I don't remember him beating a really strong pokemon in DP or BW.

 

[thomaswiencek]

Can, anybody available reply to me, please? I know that Dawn’s Piplup had physically appeared in JN075 and JN076, too. In this episode, Her Togekiss appeared in a flashback from this JN076, but as cured by Brock. However, in JN075 and JN076, none of Dawn’s other on-hand Pokémon, than her Piplup and Togekiss, have appeared, while her Mamoswine had never actually received its new voice actor ever since its original voice actor Unshō Ishizuka already passed, now I wonder why you think that Dawn’s on-hand Pokémon, other than her Piplup and Togekiss, had physically appeared in JN075 and JN076, and were they mentioned in these episodes?

 

[Dogasu]

I don't understand why this series appears to have this rule that the Rocket trio can never, ever have any interactions with the special guest characters from previous series. Would a simple "Jaari Girl!?" be too much to ask?