Review S12 EP31: Gateway to Ruin!

[J J M]

Charon's debut and Looker's return. What more does one want?

 

[Sketch]

I want it to be in the right aspect ratio.

 

[Jukain]

Having never played Platinum, I don't know what kind of character Charon is supposed to have, but from looks alone, he is just as slimy and creepy as I thought he would be. Looker kicks butt. There really isn't much to this ep, but seeing Charon just about makes it interesting enough.

 

[V Faction]

Quiet music is quiet.

Also... Looker PAUWNCH.

 

[Musashi]

It sure was nice to have all the music intact. Hope that means they wont touch it whenever we get to the finale.

I found this episode kind of boring. I know we met Charon and the twerps found who Looker was, but it didn't feel like too much happened. It was awesome to see Looker beat up that grunt though. That kind of thing needs to happen more often.

Shellos got annoying really fast. I didn't feel sorry for it at all, just annoyed that it kept getting everyone into trouble.

Team Rocket seemed more annoying than usual. It was great they managed to get the Spear Key for a bit, but it felt like they were trying to set the record for how many times you can insult each other at the beginning if the episode.

Or maybe waking up early every week to a cropped episode is starting to get to me.

 

[Ampharos King]

I'm glad that most, if not all, the original BGM was kept for the dub version.
This episode was a "serious" one (Team Galactic), so we should expect that most of the music would be kept during their finale. I wish that all of the episodes followed this one in example.
Still disappointed that the aspect ratio is still cropped.

 

[Chronos]

Wasn't the show in widescreen for a few episodes? That's weird they're cropping it now. I didn't watch it regardless, it comes on too early for me now. I mean, 9 in the morning was pushing it already.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Charon you moron how did you just manage to get away with telling Saturn that you don't give a damn about the new world and you're only in it for yourself? No wonder he acts like he wants to smack you--you're pretty much everything bad about the current world.

Although I notice you talk about ruling this world...how many times does Cyrus have to say "new world" before it sinks in with SOMEONE that he's not speaking in a metaphor? He says it like a billion times in the game anyway and no one seemed to pick up on that he meant an actual new universe (except Saturn, who later denies it).

LOL at Charon sounding like Eggman. But then given that in Japanese he was The Brain, I guess it stands to reason that he'd have to sound like some other scientific mastermind.


Aaaaaaand Toxicroak punched out Mt Coronet.

So the tunnels only lead to PINK Shellos getting lost? Are blue Shellos better at finding their way around or something?

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Only a handful of reviews so far? Is it because of that terrible new time at which Pokemon airs now? :-|

Anyways, once again a great episode which I really enjoyed from the beginning to the end!

The only thing that somehow bothered me was the fact that Shellos was so extremely small. Do all the small Pokemon necessarily have to be crybabies?
But everything else was just breath-taking:
Set in mountainous terrain and mysterious caves and featuring both Looker and another part of the exciting and excellent Team Galactic plot, this episode could only be a win right from the start and left nothing to be desired.

You may now think that's all, but no! We also witnessed something unprecedented in Pokemon which we wouldn't even have dreamed of: physical violence!!!
That completely took my by surprise, but not that I didn't like it, on the contrary! This was a further proof of how far the Pokemon Anime has advanced by now!

All in all, a breath-taking, outstanding and action-packed episode which really knocked my socks off!
It raised my anticipation of the long-awaited Team Galactic finale which I now want to see as DUB as soon as possible!

8 out of 10 points

 

[Thingamajig]

Shellos caused a lot of trouble, but the group finding TG digging through the mountain makes it clear that their getting close to the goal. Good debut for Charon, too, though from the beginning it appeared that Shellos would have more to do with the plot that it actually did.

Also interesting to see Hoenn narrator back. This is his first role since Veilstone if I'm not mistaken.

Oh, and I wasn't expecting Looker to punch someone like he did. That definitely took me by surprise a little.

 

[Dogasu]

We also witnessed something unprecedented in Pokemon which we wouldn't even have dreamed of: physical violence!!!
That completely took my by surprise, but not that I didn't like it, on the contrary! This was a further proof of how far the Pokemon Anime has advanced by now!

It's not really unprecedented since the characters used to hit each other all the time during the Kanto days. They didn't start cutting down on the violence until after the show became an international hit.

 

[Grave-E]

And even so, you've got pokemon smacking each other around every episode anyway.

 

[Yash]

They seem to have kept all of the japanese music (save for the episode title card cue, and the opening theme of course) which is pretty cool.

I love that they touched on the blue/pink Shellos thing. It's not really important, but it's one of those tiny details that makes the pokemon universe all the more interesting.

Looker is surprisingly badass, gotta say.

AGH Charon just said "I could care less" That's my biggest pet peeve about grammar ever.

 

[Lugnut]

Yay for team Galactic episode! I'm glad they come across as much smarter and more organized than they do in the games. Also, Looker is so much more awsome than I pictured him. I really can't wait for more Galactic episodes, but at the same time I don't want them to wrap up quite yet.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

AGH Charon just said "I could care less" That's my biggest pet peeve about grammar ever.

English is not my mother tongue ( I'm studying it to become an English teacher), but I noticed that mistake and it struck me as odd, too.
Shouldn't it be " I couldn't care less..." ?
Is this a grammatical construction which can be easily confused by native speakers or what else accounts for this mistake?
I'm just curious, you know.

 

[Luna Tiger]

Somewhere down the lingual evolution of verbal grammar, "I could care less" and "I couldn't care less" became synonymous. No, they did. You say either one and everyone gets what you mean: you don't care for crap. Grammatically, it's heinous, but verbally? Context remains.


As for the episode itself, the only thing that ruined it is the LACK OF MOAR CROAGUNK/TOXICROAK DEATHMATCHES. IT WAS RIGHT THERE. Where the HELL was Croagunk?!

The /only/ reason to have Saturn and Brock in the same room (aside from the guhhawtteaandcrumpets! factor) is to have poison frogs KNOCKING THE *&%T*&%@!I*T%&^%R&*^%R&*^%&^R&YTR&*@^!T&!@^T&!@TG&YG&*#@G(*@G*@G( &*@ G@&*G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUT OF EACH OTHER.


Otherwise, definitely an episode I'm glad I didn't skip. 8D That was some crazy good stuff. Except TR being stupid. When dealing with TG, you don't stand and gloat, you ruuuuuuuuuuuuun. Duh.

 

[Geodude]

The grammatically correct phrase is "I couldn't care less", since it's supposed to mean "I don't care at all". Saying "I could care less" clearly implies that you care somewhat right now, which is the opposite of what people mean when they say that.

 

[V Faction]

How about this: I could care more about this discussion, but then it might seem as if I give a Hoot-Hoot.

Now then, earlier I was thinking about this episode. Quite honestly, it felt a little boring to me. It's the way things unfolded to which I believe I owe my displeasure. But as I thought about it more, this episode was a necessary dot in the line connecting all the Galactic plots. Back in Hoenn, the Aqua/Magma storylines fell completely apart. Aside from the less than stellar ending, it failed to thread the growth and progression of the two teams as a way of keeping us updated. Actually, that's not completely true, because they were doing a good job at the beginning. Sadly, it then tapired off and we went without any notice till the 2-part conclusion.

I feel like Sinnoh got it right, what with the 3 spirits trio, Cyrus, Looker, and actual Team Galactic story arcs. So again, I may grumble a bit about how things played out here, but it was all for the big picture.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

AGH Charon just said "I could care less" That's my biggest pet peeve about grammar ever.

He has an in-team precident.

I know why you're here, I can sense it in you. It's about UXIE, MESPRIT, and AZELF, correct? You want to save them... I no longer have any need for them. I am finished with them. If your heart aches to save them, go right again, I could care less. It will save me the trouble of disposing of them.

I facepalmed. Although it might have been intentional since that's the part where he goes on to claim to be emotionless yet also reveals that he's a dirty rotten liar when it comes to his own emotions given that he makes that claim while pretty much screaming at you. But I doubt that was their intent.

 

[Lugnut]

The /only/ reason to have Saturn and Brock in the same room (aside from the guhhawtteaandcrumpets! factor) is to have poison frogs KNOCKING THE *&%T*&%@!I*T%&^%R&*^%R&*^%&^R&YTR&*@^!T&!@^T&!@TG&YG&*#@G(*@G*@G( &*@ G@&*G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OUT OF EACH OTHER.

Haha, I like the way you put that. I actually thought about that myself when Toxicroak came out, the poison frog battle was pretty sweet last time, even if Crogunk got owned.