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Review JNS05: The Distant Blue Sky

I enjoyed the touch of wild Mankey stealing the hat and Ash later giving one his hate, they certainly seem to be reminding us of a certain Primeape Ash briefly owned
 
VA list courtesy of Adamant

Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi
Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu
Megumi Hayashibara: Musashi
Shinichiro Miki: Kojiro
Inuko Inuyama: Nyarth
Yuji Ueda: Sonansu
Tatsuki Kobe: Mankey
Mariko Nagai: Mankey
Noriaki Kanze: Mankey
Masami Toyoshima: Hanako
Akemi Okamura: Sae
Satoru Inoue: So
Arisa Sekine: Haruto
Wakana Minami: Ren
Unsho Ishizuka: Narration
 
Well, that was a weird episode. Ash hangs out with a dead person, his dad just doesn't care about him but also managed to give him the same cap that he already won at a contest? But then again this seems to be movie Ash so maybe that makes sense?

I like the scene where Ash cries at the end though. Is he crying because Haruto died or because his father doesn't seem to care about him in this universe either?

Or is it something even darker like Ash's father is actually dead just like Haruto and Delia lied to Ash by pretending that he was busy? Wild theory, but the way this episode is themed around death and Ash crying (having realized the truth?) at the end made me wonder.

Interesting how Delia seems to work at a restaurant because she did that in Shudo's novel if I remember correctly.

I like the scene where Mankey cried too. It's interesting to see it express other emotions than anger. Makes me wonder if the reason Mankey tried to steal Ash's cap in the original universe was because it was grieving Haruto? Assuming Haruto exists in the other universe as well. Not to mention Mankey is a Pokémon that is also themed around death thanks to its SM dex entry and the new evolution in SV.

I think the scene where Delia decides to share their food with Team Rocket is sweet. Especially if you consider Jessie's backstory in the Japanese dub. Remember the Johto episode when Misty made awful food and Jessie was the only one who ate it because she was taught not to waste food as a child? Makes me wonder if they will ever adress what happened to her own mother.
 
Emelie said:
Or is it something even darker like Ash's father is actually dead just like Haruto and Delia lied to Ash by pretending that he was busy? Wild theory, but the way this episode is themed around death and Ash crying (having realized the truth?) at the end made me wonder.
Click to expand...
He's not dead. If I understood correctly, he just had already left by the time Ash arrived.
Emelie said:
Remember the Johto episode when Misty made awful food and Jessie was the only one who ate it because she was taught not to waste food as a child?
Click to expand...
I've not seen that episode. That sounds really sweet.
 
FinnishPokéFan92 said:
He's not dead. If I understood correctly, he just had already left by the time Ash arrived.
Click to expand...
He couldn't physically touch people or Pokemon (his hand went through Pikachu when he tried), he couldn't eat food and he could only be seen by Satoshi - he was as dead as a doornail. He even had that spooky blue ghost aura surrounding his body when he was seen at the end standing between his parents!

I also found Satoshi crying at the end whilst he ate his dinner touching. This was a sweet enough filler to pad out the winter break. Despite the really heavy theme of a dead child it felt overall rather insubstantial, but as it's just a special tbh I expected very little from it anyway. An inoffensive outing for the TRio.

Also, I know it's AU-verse but what was the point of trolling us about Satoshi's father? It added nothing whatsoever.
 
ii kanji said:
He couldn't physically touch people or Pokemon (his hand went through Pikachu when he tried), he couldn't eat food and he could only be seen by Satoshi - he was as dead as a doornail. He even had that spooky blue ghost aura surrounding his body when he was seen at the end standing between his parents!

I also found Satoshi crying at the end whilst he ate his dinner touching. This was a sweet enough filler to pad out the winter break. Despite the really heavy theme of a dead child it felt overall rather insubstantial, but as it's just a special tbh I expected very little from it anyway. An inoffensive outing for the TRio.

Also, I know it's AU-verse but what was the point of trolling us about Satoshi's father? It added nothing whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Whoops, I thought we were talking about Ash's father, not Haruto. My bad.
 
So Ash's dad came up as a...what exactly? We return to the old Shudo take that he's a good for nothing?

Also Delia might have her Shudo backstory as a restaraunt owner here? Also for once Ash after ICY has an excuse to not use Charizard if it predates the events of meeting Charmander.
 
Emelie said:
I like the scene where Ash cries at the end though. Is he crying because Haruto died or because his father doesn't seem to care about him in this universe either?

Or is it something even darker like Ash's father is actually dead just like Haruto and Delia lied to Ash by pretending that he was busy? Wild theory, but the way this episode is themed around death and Ash crying (having realized the truth?) at the end made me wonder.
Click to expand...
Maybe Haruto is Ash’s father. The plot thickens…
 
With what limited Japanese I know, the episode seemed pretty moving. A lot of really cool, nostalgic references mixed in with the episode as well. The death storyline wasn’t dark or disturbing at all and felt very comfortable (?) if that makes sense? I enjoyed it a lot. 10/10.
 
Last edited:
Team Rocket were as pointless as ever in this episode but I did find it funny whilst Team Rocket were doing their motto, Ash grabbed the key and started to free Pikachu
 
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