Preview JN102: Trial Mission! A Freezing Raid Battle!!

[BigDocFan]

Summary courtesy of Dephender at Serebii

Project Mew's next Trial Mission is to "Have a Raid Battle against Freezer". Go heads to Twin Islands, where Freezer is said to be, alongside Satoshi, where he reunites with two others searching for Freezer: Tokio, his friend who wants to get Celebi, and Satoshi's childhood friend Shigeru. Together with these two rivals of his who likewise aim to become eligible for Project Mew, Go challenges the Legendary Pokémon Freezer to a Raid Battle.

Seafoam Islands confirmed

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I know this is really late of me to say, but everyone who correctly predicted this as an Articuno episode back when it was first announced, give yourselves a pat on the back! Also, damn, this episode is crazy! Like, I wasn't too interested when I first heard about it (since I never played Pokemon Go for any real length of time and therefore never participated in a raid battle and am therefore unfamiliar with and....wary of the concept I guess you could say,) so I kinda wrote this one off in my mind I think.....until I heard about all the craziness going on in this one! Like, first Gary's back again, then he's bringing back Umbreon and Arcanine (first time since Johto!!) aaaand he's got s 'freakin Tyranitar too! (Just like in the games, and seriously, that thing can beat Articuno all by itself, like it doesn't even need help.) But then you've got Tokio coming back too, who admittedly I'm not....too crazy about. He's just.....ehhh to me. But still, he's got Bayleef, one of my favorite Pokemon (who does not stand any chance here, let's be real ,) aaand Gardevoir, another favorite of mine! Dude's got some cool Pokemon! (Oh yeah, and Indeedee....okay. Ehhh. Not crazy about that one.) And Ash, bringing Lucario and Sirfetch'd too! Finally, Sirfetch'd gets to do something! (Hoping for some decent screentime/battling from it, maaaaybe a new move, and no jobbing please. Oh who are we kidding, not to sound cynical, but Lucario's probably going to steal the show again, isn't he? ) Not that I hate Lucario, not at all, but give poor Sirfetch'd the focus, please! He neeeeds it. Oh and hey, Goh's using Pokemon with a type advantage, very textbook. Hoooow typical of him. (Watch them all faint except for Cinderace .) Also, this is like the first thing Darmanitan has done besides harassing Goh's starters since it was captured, isn't it? And what was the very first thing it did after its capture? Be used in a raid battle.

Edit: I meant to post this image I found on Twitter (which is a higher quality version of the same image someone already posted for this episode,) along with the response above, but I forgot. So, I'll post it now. (Those look like Stone Edge pillars in the background/foreground, don't they? Probably Tyranitar's work. Seriously, just one of those attacks would finish Articuno instantly.)

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

reunites with two others searching for Freezer: Tokio, his friend who wants to get Celebi, and Satoshi's childhood friend Shigeru.

How funny would it be if Gary and Tokio had a relationship like Ash and Goh

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Staff list (provided by Dephender):

Screenplay: 米村正二 (Shōji Yonemura)
Storyboard: 樋口香里 (Kaori Higuchi)
Episode Director: 佐々木純人 (Sumito Sasaki)
Animation Director: 五十嵐俊介 (Shunsuke Igarashi)
Animation Director: 南伸一郎 (Shinichiro Minami)

 

[Kurolegacy]

How funny would it be if Gary and Tokio had a relationship like Ash and Goh

Please, don’t give the fujoushis more fuel. They’re wild enough as is.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

How funny would it be if Gary and Tokio had a relationship like Ash and Goh

Love tetragon.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I feel like Sirfetch'd is just being used here a fodder for Pikachu and Lucario

 

[Kurolegacy]

I feel like Sirfetch'd is just being used here a fodder for Pikachu and Lucario

Given that it’s going up against a legendar, that’s most likely the case. Now if only there were a certain fire monkey who’s proven to be quite strong and would have an advantage here. Alas, no such thing exists for Ash to use.

 

[Unireon]

I feel like Sirfetch'd is just being used here a fodder for Pikachu and Lucario

Satoshi's team as a whole is going to job horribly in order to make both Gou and Tokio look competent/strong.

It sucks to be Satoshi or his Pokemon.

 

[SammyW27]

I feel like Sirfetch'd is just being used here a fodder for Pikachu and Lucario

Not to mention Boldore and Bayleef...

Sure, the Show likes to say screw the type-chart, but with SO many Pokemon some are gonna go down quick, and may as well be the poor dopes weak against Ice.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Satoshi's team as a whole is going to job horribly in order to make both Gou and Tokio look competent/strong.

It sucks to be Satoshi or his Pokemon.

I’m reminded of Zapdos and how Ash got removed from the battle because TRio are a bunch of flipping morons who’d rather go after Pikachu than a friggin Zapdos. And then once TRio was dealt with Ash continued to sit the battle out so Go could fight it solo because….reasons despite the fact that he wanted to battle Zapdos in the first place.

 

[puddleths]

Not to mention Boldore and Bayleef...

Sure, the Show likes to say screw the type-chart, but with SO many Pokemon some are gonna go down quick, and may as well be the poor dopes weak against Ice.

Boldore isn't weak to Ice.

 

[Superior Serperior]

Does losing to a legendary really count as jobbing lol

 

[Unireon]

Does losing to a legendary really count as jobbing lol

If the script calls for his Pokemon to be defeated easily and without adding anything, yes.

That's what I think that they are planning.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

In retrospect I am glad Inteleon isn't here because they likely would've made him the fall guy for Cinderace.

I already know Goh's Darmanitan and Boldore are probably just here to job lol

Yeah yeah I know Type Advantages and stuff but since has the Anime ever given a frick about that?

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

In retrospect I am glad Inteleon isn't here because they likely would've made him the fall guy for Cinderace.

I already know Goh's Darmanitan and Boldore are probably just here to job lol

Yeah yeah I know Type Advantages and stuff but since has the Anime ever given a frick about that?

Ash’s Pokemon are water types and totally weak against fire types

 

[Enzo]

Well, not only are we under the treath of a Pokémon being made the jobber here (especially considering that we have, what? 3 per person?), but the ''Fall Guy'' cancer has spread to the humans of the show as well???? Oh, f*** me...

Anyways, I believe Tokio is in a weird position here: he's the only one we know nothing regarding his power levels, so I could see them not having him job in order to stabilish his power, or they could indeed having him jobbing, because he's the only one we know nothing of. It's,,, tricky, really.

I highly doubt neither Gary nor Goh would be the fall guy(s) here, so I'm hoping to whatever higher powers is out there for them not make Ash the jobber. Or anybody, really. I just wish this fall guy trope would die in Pokéani, or at least they would pump the breaks on it.

 

[BigDocFan]

Summary and Partial VA list courtesy of Adamant

While on a search related to his next Trial Mission, Go encounters two of his rivals that are likewise trying to become eligible. How will they battle Freezer, which is said to be a Legendary Pokémon?!

Summary:
Project Mew's next Trial Mission is to "Have a Raid Battle against Freezer"! Go heads to Twin Islands, where Freezer is said to be, alongside Satoshi, and while searching for Freezer, he reunites with Tokio, his friend whose goal is Celebi, and Satoshi's childhood friend Shigeru. Together with these two rivals of his who likewise aim to become eligible for Project Mew, Go challenges the Legendary Pokémon Freezer to a Raid Battle!

Voice Cast:
Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi
Daiki Yamashita: Go
Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Project Mew's next Trial Mission is to "Have a Raid Battle against Freezer"!

Do these guys have a Whatsapp group chat with some legendaries to pinpoint these down to the amount of people needed

 

[Alola]

Do these guys have a Whatsapp group chat with some legendaries to pinpoint these down to the amount of people needed

It certainly is contrived. Before when Ash would travel from city to city, we would often get insight into what needed to be done to reach it. For example, cross this mountain here, take this path instead of this one there, we need a boat but have to wait for a certain day for departure, etc. Same thing for Contests. But for Go's goal, the mission and or Legendary shows up the day of. There's no research, Articuno tracking, or mention of such an arduous task being worked towards in prior episodes, to the make the eventual episode that much more substantial; research is a process that takes time, but it's super duper oversimplified here for the "research fellows" that Go and Ash are supposed to be. Which I think is a missed opportunity.

I also think Raid Battles are a bad idea to be adapted into the anime, because it just seems super unfair to have several Trainers beat up on one Pokémon to catch it; regardless of it's a Legendary or Mythical. When you have instances like Ash's Charizard defeating an equally wild Articuno single-handedly, whereas it will take Ash, Go, Gary, and the other guy several Pokémon (at once) to do the same thing, there's some dissonance there for me. I'm sure the animation will be nice, though.