Review JN103: Satoshi and Citron! Great Friendship Training!!

[Rockapheller]

Assuming the new pokemon game comes around November/December, and that there are no weekly breaks (which is unlikely) yeah, basically. I don't know how the writers thought letting him get a Froakie this late would be a good idea. If I had to guess it probably has something to do with Ash-Greninja

I find it hard to understand the idea of Goh keep catching Pokémon by the time we have 30~ish episodes left until the end of the series is a bad idea.

Goh's goal is to catch every species that is known to exist, regardless of how much time left for the series to be over. Unless he changes his goal, he is going to continue catching Pokémon even after he leaves the anime, for all we know. We are going to see Goh catch a Pokémon or two every now and then until the last episode he appears in, because he is still working towards his goal.

 

[Enzo]

Serena really said:

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Weird how Go said he would battle Froakie to catch it, then caught it without actually battling it

 

[KrspaceT]

Weird how Go said he would battle Froakie to catch it, then caught it without actually battling it

Vinyl they both looked beat up don't be asinine

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Vinyl they both looked beat up don't be asinine

Then where was the pokemon Go used to battle it with?

 

[KrspaceT]

Then where was the pokemon Go used to battle it with?

Obviously returned. Goh often has knockouts occur against himself. It isn’t that hard to connect the ideas together

 

[jbmasta]

That was clearly sarcasm

You need to add /s at the end to indicate sarcasm

 

[jbmasta]

• At least Froakie made Goh work for the capture, seeing him get hit in the face by balls will never not be funny and the frubbles were the icing on the cake. The episode having Bonnie explain the frubbles but not that Ash used to have one was a good balance of continuity for those aware yet not going into exposition. Also Goh needing to use the stick to float the ball over to him was worth a giggle.
• I like how the storyline of using science and Ash's unique training methods was used to help Sirfetch'd master the new move, calling back to Clemont using technology to work out how the Ash-Greninja link worked back in the XYZ series. The lack of inventions exploding and overly descriptive device names that Bonnie calls out was missed.
• The Lickilicky trainer who looked like it was a funny sight.
• Serena erasure, not even in the flashback thing. Best not to get hopes up she'll make a return

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Well, I guess Serena really has turned into the Xion of this franchise.

 

[jbmasta]

Well, I guess Serena really has turned into the Xion of this franchise.

I know the full context of this line (there's a specific scene in III that reduced me to tears), but who else will Ash have ice cream with?

 

[R1ke]

Clemont and Bonnie were great this ep but man it’s funny how Serena’s not even in flashbacks here

Even Cilan got to be in one despite not appearing in the episode

 

[BNSF1995]

My guess as to Serena seemingly getting the No Way Home ending treatment is that the writers know AmourShipping is still a hot-button topic, and they’d rather not start the shipping wars anew.

Either that, or they’re saving her for a big return as a traveling companion in the Scarlet and Violet anime (assuming the Scarlet and Violet anime isn’t just a continuation of the unfocused Journeys formula).

 

[Nicolas721]

The good:
+Clemont and Bonnie's characters being nailed, it was a nice return overall and I liked how he helped Ash using his technology.
+Clemont being able to progress with Bunnelby evolving and Clemont being fully rebuilt.
+The science/psychics behind Meteor Assault made sense and were interesting.

The bad:
-Horrendous pacing with many repetitive movements and animation recycling.
-Bad double battle, I know Ash is supposedly better than many champions at this point but Clemont deserved more than two OHKNOs.
-Were Goh and Bonnie supposed to have some kind of dynamic? Because they didn't.

The other:
Dedenne. I mean, we're used to it not doing much but knowing his popularity in Japan I expected the writers to make it more revelant.

6/10

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

I know the full context of this line (there's a specific scene in III that reduced me to tears), but who else will Ash have ice cream with?

Spoiler

 

[Dogasu]

Serena not being in that little flashback isn't the show trying to pretend like she didn't exist or anything like that. It's just that Serena had absolutely nothing to do with the discussion at hand LOL. The show is allowed to bring up Satoshi's journey through the Kalos Region, or Citron and Eureka, or anything else that happened in that region without name dropping her, y'know.

I'll bet the reason we didn't get to see Gou battle Keromatsu is because battles are hard to animate and this episode was already clearly struggling with its main battle as it is. Every budget saving trick in the book was used in this one; shots where the only thing moving are the characters' mouths, characters sliding in and out of frame, recycled animation used over and over again, lots of camera pans to hide the fact that nothing on the screen is actually moving...it was, animation-wise, one of the worst looking episodes I've seen in a long while.

A battle between Gou and Keromatsu is largely unnecessary in the grand scheme of things and so they just cut it. I'm perfectly OK with that.

 

[Alola]

Serena not being in that little flashback isn't the show trying to pretend like she didn't exist or anything like that. It's just that Serena had absolutely nothing to do with the discussion at hand LOL. The show is allowed to bring up Satoshi's journey through the Kalos Region, or Citron and Eureka, or anything else that happened in that region without name dropping her, y'know.

I feel like this take rings hollow somewhat since Cilan was drawn in for Iris' flashback for the same narrative recounting of Ash's prior travelling party for the region he was revisiting. Cilan had absolutely nothing to do with Ash & Iris' battle, yet was acknowledged as a part of Ash's Unovan experience. I think it's fair for people to be concerned that the same, for some reason, was purposely not done for Serena.

 

[Dogasu]

Just because they included an unrelated companion in a flashback during a previous episode doesn't mean they're obligated to do the same thing every single time from now until the end of time.

 

[Alola]

Just because they included an unrelated companion in a flashback during a previous episode doesn't mean they're obligated to do the same thing every single time from now until the end of time.

I'm pretty sure everyone here, at least, is aware that the writers don't have to ever bring Serena (or any character) back in any capacity; this doesn't mean they agree with the possibility (as well as other decisions that have and have not been made in Journeys). Also, I never said they had to - I just wanted to draw attention to the recent subversion of your "______ wasn't in the regional party flashback because they weren't relevant to the episode" reasoning. Which has been the precedent; little wonder why Serena's absence is a current discussion point.

 

[Dogasu]

I don't think there being a precedence is at all relevant. They felt like including Dent last time, but didn't feel like including Serena this time. It's really not any more complicated than that.

 

[JinksChow]

I don't think there being a precedence is at all relevant. They felt like including Dent last time, but didn't feel like including Serena this time. It's really not any more complicated than that.

Yet for all previous flashbacks in JN, the anime staff had chosen to recreate the scenes in JN's artstyle, backgrounds and all.

The fact that the anime staff chose to depict only the main subject of Ash's flashback as a translucent fantasy in the background (mind you, the first time they went with this style of flashback in JN) strongly indicate that this is a conscious decision on their behalf, and not just something that they felt like at the time.