In this article, I'll be giving you all a brief recap on the first thirteen episodes of the series. These will all be one paragraph recap-review hybrids of sorts so that you can understand the gist of what’s going on without losing track. If you want to read longer reviews of these episodes, you can click on the episode titles to go through to the full reviews on my blog, Arum Journal. Moving forward, you'll be able to keep up to date with my reviews of all episodes as they air here on Bulbagarden.
Without further ado, here are the recaps:
The first of the two protagonists, Liko is introduced. Liko moved to Kanto from Paldea to attend Indigo Academy, where her parents had once attended. She’s shy, reserved, and keeps to herself. Despite this, she gets along well with her roommate, Ann. On the first day of class, the class are given their first partner Pokémon. What’s unique about this is that Indigo Academy randomizes partner choices for the students, and doesn't just stick to the traditional regional Pokémon. Liko gets Sprigatito, while Ann get an Oshawott. The rest of the episode focuses on Liko trying to understand Sprigatito and bond with it. Throughout the episode, we see a group of adults looking for her. Towards the end of the episode, a mysterious man named Amethio comes looking for her at school at the request of her grandmother. Knowing how suspicious Amethio is, Liko takes the pendant and runs off; unfortunately, this happens when the school is off for vacation, so she cannot ask an adult or someone else for help. Amethio finds her and is about to attack her with his Ceruledge when another mysterious man with a Charizard swoops in Liko’s rescue. Knowing that both are suspicious, Liko sneaks off when the two men fight and when an attack bounces towards Liko, the pendant protects her by forming a barrier.
Episode 2 - The Pendant of Beginning, Part 2 (はじまりのペンダント 後編)
The episode starts where the first one left off. The source of the barrier is from a mysterious turtle Pokémon that resembles Terapagos. Liko is then saved by Friede, the man with the Charizard and is taken to his airship, the Brave Asagi where his crew The Rising Volt Tacklers reside. They consist of Orla the mechanic, Mollie the medic, Murdock the chef and Ludlow the old guy. There are also a number of Pokémon inhabiting the airship as well, such as Fuecoco, Pawmo, Noctowl and more. Unfortunately for Liko, Amethio and his crew, the Explorers, trespass into the Brave Asagi to capture Liko. Amethio tells her that Friede and his crew might not be trustworthy. It seems that he needs both her and the pendant, which was why Liko was forced to go with him in order to protect the Pokémon. Fortunately, Friede comes to the rescue again; this time, he uses his Pikachu, Captain Pikachu. Liko gets tired of trying to be protected and commands Sprigatito to use Leafage and it distracts Amethio. A storm comes in and the battle is postponed. The pressure of the storm causes Sprigatito to lose its footing and gets kidnapped by the Explorers, ending the episode there.
Liko dreams about her grandmother, killing fan theories of her possibly being related to Ash. When Liko wakes up, she realizes what had happened last night, and gets depressed when her Sprigatito is not there to greet her. She learns that The Rising Volt Tacklers were hired by her mom to be her bodyguards because of the pendant. They decide to help her out by searching for Sprigatito. Liko and Mollie first head to a Pokémon Center and then Murdock finds a lead via his Rockruff. Sprigatito is having a good time being a hostage as Conia, Amethio’s female henchman, falls for its charms. The Conia segments give the episode some lightheartedness. When she goes out. Rockruff finds her, which allows Liko and the others to find where Sprigatito is. We see some tenacity from Liko as she sneaks around and finds the room her cat is locked up in. Friede finds Amethio and the two have a Pokémon battle with no results again because Friede was only distracting Amethio. Friede rushes off with Liko and Sprigatito and they all return to the airship where Liko decides to join the Rising Volt Tacklers and find out the mysteries of the pendant and why everyone wants it. They set their destination for Paldea where the pendant originated from.
Episode 4 - A Washed-Ashore Treasure (ながれついた宝もの)
Fuecoco falls out of the airship one day. The deuteragonist, Roy is introduced. Roy lives on an island where there are no Pokémon Trainers; it’s also the island where the airship takes a rest as the sails are punctured and need to be fixed. He eventually meets Fuecoco who was resting in his treehouse. Liko, who was doing chores on the airship realizes that Fuecoco was missing. Finding its footprints, she deduced that it fell out of the ship and she leaves the airship to search for it with Sprigatito. Roy and Fuecoco bond; Fuecoco is a bit shy over its singing, but Roy compliments it, which allows Fuecoco to form a connection with him. Liko and Sprigatito get attacked by the wild forest Pokémon during their search. This is how Liko and Roy meet as he saves her from their rampage by helping her climb up a tree. Roy’s main schtick, the Ancient Pokémon is revealed and when he takes it out, it resonates with the pendant, much to their surprise. They eventually get trapped by the Pokémon; Liko realized that the Pokémon are angry because Fuecoco ate their berries. Friede noticed that Liko was missing, so he asked the island’s mayor if he had seen her, but the mayor said no; the mayor also referred to him as a professor, which is a title Friede is not fond of. He eventually finds Liko and helps both kids. Then they say good-bye to Roy who is a bit saddened by Fuecoco leaving. The Explorers have found the Rising Volt Tacklers' location via a tracker that Zir, Amethio’s male henchman, had placed on the ship in the previous episode. Also, Roy and Liko take online classes, showing how advanced technology has become in the Pokémon world.
Continuing off from the last episode, Roy decides to sneak into the airship at night to look for Fuecoco but gets zapped by Captain Pikachu; he is then forgiven of trespassing (don’t worry, they know it’s wrong, but Roy’s a kid so they let it slide). He is unable to find Fuecoco, but he does find Liko. The two have a heart-to-heart about Pokémon. Liko gives good advice to Roy, reciting her grandmother’s words to him and helping Roy realize what it is he wants to do with Fuecoco. Because the airship still has problems, Roy suggests getting the forest Pokémon’s help. In the morning, Liko, Roy and Friede go to Roy’s house, to which Friede learns that Roy is the mayor’s grandson. The island is a place where wild Pokémon have a mutual relationship with humans without the need of balls. Meanwhile, Fuecoco wakes up from its obscure location in the airship and notices some Oran Berries. Mollie told him that Roy stopped by to see him last night. This moved Fuecoco so much; he wanted to see Roy too, so it left the ship to search for him. Fuecoco gets tossed around during its search but thanks to that, it spots the Explorers flying through the sky above the island, causing it to panic and become desperate to find Roy. Eventually, the Rising Volt Tacklers face off against the Explorers again. Liko gets her first win against Conia, however disappointingly their battle is mostly off-screen. Roy also distracts Zir’s Rhydon by using Ember; not too sure if this counts as a win. The episode ends with Amethio’s Corviknight aiming for Liko.
Episode 6 - The Ancient Monster Ball (いにしえのモンスターボール)
The pendant protects Liko. However, the pendant’s light is so strong that it resonates with Roy’s Ancient Pokeball, causing it to open and reveal its contents: a Shiny Rayquaza! (This totally was a slap in the face to the GS Ball plot.) Rayquaza flies off, and the Explorers retreat after Ceruledge knocks out Sprigatito and Fuecoco. Roy decides to look for the Rayquaza and asks Fuecoco to be his partner. Fuecoco accepts by giving him an empty Pokémon that its idol, Friede’s Charizard, gives to him. Roy also joins the Rising Volt Tacklers and says good-bye to the island. The airship gets fixed and the group heads off to Paldea.
It turns out that Nidothing is also a member of the Rising Volt Tacklers; her true identity is Dot who is a shy and reclusive shut-in who never leaves her room; she’s also Murdock’s niece and Quaxly’s actual Trainer. She’s a tech wiz who developed the app that the RVTs use to communicate with each other. Liko and Roy think about their loss against Amethio and realized how terrible at battling they are. Cap decides to channel his inner Li Shang and decides to make Trainers out of them after Dot refuses to help them out. They learned to not spam Leafage and Ember and learn actual battle strategies. Sprigatito learned Quick Attack as a result of the boot camp. Oh and because of the boot camp, Dot gave Roy some info about Rayquaza; he learned that it’s in Paldea.
Episode 8 - The Secret of the Unopened Door (あかずの扉のひみつ)
This is a Dot-centric episode and how she refuses to leave her comfort zone. Liko wants to be friends with Dot, but the hurdle is very high. She lives in the same house as her favorite content creator, but she doesn’t even know it! I think Liko screaming about her comment being read by Nidothing, causing Dot to panic was the most hilarious thing in this episode. Roy and Friede look around for clues about Rayquaza in a random town and gets conned to buying a cloth said to make anything it wipes shine. The reason why they were in a town was because they needed to stock up on ingredients because it mysteriously disappeared. It turns out that Murdock is trying out new donut recipes and Friede is his taste-tester. By the end of the episode, Dot, moved by Liko’s attempt to befriend her, decides to leave her room at night to eat the donuts and make Murdock the happiest uncle in the world.
Episode 9 - Arrival in Paldea! (パルデア到着！)
The Rising Volt Tacklers arrive in Paldea! Liko stops by her house where she meets her father, Alex, killing the theory of her being related to Ash once again. Alex is a painter, but had no clue of the trials and tribulations Liko went through before returning back home. Now that he knows, he told Friede he wishes Liko would remain at home but he knows that’s not what she wants; Liko had eavesdropped by accident, but only got to the “remain at home” part, which got her upset and returned to the Brave Asagi. Eventually, the misunderstandings clear up. Also, Sprigatito was a bit rebellious throughout the episode due to its jealousy towards Alex’s Fidough. They become friends at the end and Alex paints a picture of them. He also tells Liko and Roy a rumor about the Black Rayquaza, seen by Brassius of Artazon, which they head for next.
The best episode so far! Liko and Roy are the main focuses. Nemona and Brassius are introduced and they are respected! Nemona is still a Champion-ranked trainer and Liko has heard of her! Brassius is still the same kooky artist that he was in the game. Nemona wanted to find Brassius due to his Gym being closed. Brassius wanted to seclude himself due to artist’s block, but managed to give his side of the story once Liko tells him she’s Alex’s daughter. Brassius did see a Black Rayquaza in real life and it was so majestic that it caused him to stop creating the Rayquaza sculpture. Roy complimented his work, which invigorated him. The Gym Leader then challenged Roy to a battle; no, Roy is not going for a Gym battle goal—in fact, the reason why they stopped doing Gym Battles is because the Japanese audience got tired of them, or so I heard. Anyways, the battle was amazing from the way Brassius used Sudowoodo, the Gym Leader theme remix and the anime debut of Terastalizing! Fuecoco learns Stomping Tantrum. Brassius then tells Liko and Roy that the last time he saw the Rayquaza was in the nearby forest, so that’s their destination.
Episode 11 - Arboliva's Forest (オリーヴァの森)
Mollie accompanies Liko and Roy to the forest to see if they can find traces of Rayquaza. They split up to search. Liko learns of Mollie’s past and why she joined the Rising Volt Tacklers. Her family came from a line of doctors and they had expected her to do the same. While she worked as a nurse in a Pokémon Center, she was tired of waiting for Trainers to bring their injured Pokémon to her; this had also made her worry about the injured wild Pokémon. She quitted her job and joined the group so that she can have opportunities to heal injured wild Pokémon like the Paldean Wooper. The Wooper was injured because of a forest fire that had destroyed a portion of the forest. Roy climbed up a tree, which turned out to be a giant Arboliva and it had an Ancient Pokeball on its chest. The Arboliva was angry and tried attacking the group. Fortunately, it calmed down once Wooper vouched for their innocence. It then took Roy and Liko and showed them the severe damage the wildfires had caused, which saddens it.
The Rising Volt Tacklers work hard to restore the forest to its normal state. Berry farming makes its debut? Anyways, Ludlow helps out and his partner is revealed to be Quagmire! Wow! The forest is restored. Arboliva is happy and it returns to its Pokeball, which Roy keeps. Friede then meets up with his old friend Lucca who happens to be Liko’s mother and a schoolteacher! She drops some foreshadowing and lore about the pendant and her mother, Liko’s grandmother. Regarding lore, the story about the ancient adventurer that Roy loved hearing about was an actual story that Alex wrote a picture book about! Apparently, the Ancient Adventurer, Lucius had six Pokémon companions and they traveled the world to find paradise. Roy believes the story to be true as proof of the Ancient Pokeballs. In order to learn more about Lucius and the pendant, the group sets their sight on the Galar Region, where Liko’s grandmother currently resides.
Episode 13 - A Sudden Picnic (ピクニックは突然に)
The Brave Asagi needs maintenance, so the group goes for a picnic in the area near Levincia City. There’s a recap in the beginning and then the picnic mechanic makes it debut. I find it unbelievable that most of these people can make a proper sandwich! Roy dropping the top bread is the most realistic thing I’ve seen in this anime. Anyways, Roy attempts to make another sandwich for Fuecoco but it gets snatched by a Wattrel that cannot fly. Liko wants Dot to enjoy the picnic too, but wants to respect her choices of not wanting to come out of her room. She and Murdock make an indoor picnic for Dot and Ludlow, so they can have fun too! Dot is moved by her warm heart. Spinel of the Explorers forces a shut down on the Brave Asagi’s server, causing incoming chaos in the airship.
This is the end of the recaps! How are you enjoying the anime so far? Personally, I'm enjoying the world-building and story elements so far! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
