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Review S16 EP12: New Places... Familiar Faces!

Iteru

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BW109 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Official Pokémon Site said:
The Unova League has come to an end, and now there are new bridges to cross...literally! On the way to Nuvema Town, Ash meets a girl named Natasha who’s terrified of crossing a sturdy concrete bridge. Ash helps her overcome her fear, and then he, Iris, and Cilan hang around to give Natasha her first Pokémon battling lesson! But keeping a close eye on the affairs is none other than Team Rocket. What could they be up to now?

Keep this in mind when posting please.
 
Well it wasn't entirely unexpected, but still disappointing that the promos for today's episode still mentioned the journey to the Unova League,
I wonder if they will still be around when they leave Unova for the continuation of Adventures in near Unova
.

I think Ash was uniquely qualified to help the COTD once she mentioned that "I can't get my brain to stop" - though I suppose that's better than Team Rocket's half a brain in trying to come up with their capture Pikachu plots.

Nice to see the Normal move used against a Ghost type, it's rather rare that it comes up - especially considering how often we see Shadow Ball but never the type relation with Normal Pokemon/moves. Then again, I also think we haven't seen nearly enough of Dark type moves being used correctly either. Hopefully next region Ash finally gets a Ghost type so they do more with it, they do a lot with the Electric/Ground ineffectiveness (loved Stunfisk here, more!) but the other ones seem totally ignored. Though I'm sure Team Rocket will never figure out to just get a ground type, surprised they didn't just get a Swanna.

I really wish Ash would have visited his older Pokemon here - indeed how did Team Rocket visit a Pokemon Lab and only go for one Pokemon? I'd have expected the giant vacuum mecha today.

TR's comment about being happy enough with a Tepig just makes me keep thinking that if they just spent their time and money on catching Pokemon and breeding them they'd be far better off - just kidnap Brock for a special episode and then move on.

ZOMG N!
 
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I was really excited to see Muk again. Like honestly, I've been waiting too see Muk for 3 months!

TR's intro, outfits, and mecha-tank also made me smile, and now all they need is Wobbuffet. I was also glad to see Unfezant have a small bit of redemption after the Unova League. Although this episode really didn't accomplish much, I had fun watching it.
 
This episode with the whole new beginning story was appropriate for succeeding the end of a league I guess. Through it was pretty annoying.

First of all, that girl Nanette got on my last nerve. Her repeatedly saying “What’ll I do” and consistent whining got annoying fast. Not to mention her ridiculous fear of everything. How the hell does she expect to be a good Pokémon trainer and travel across the region when she can’t even cross a bridge. Even picking out her Pokemon was a challenge and I find it weird that she didn’t think of all of those possible issues about picking a starter before she went to get one. I also was dissapointed that the English dubbed Tepig and Oshawott had the same voices as Ash’s, while in Japanese they all had different voices. But I kind of expected it anyway.

Next came the tag battle. It was okay for just a training battle, but…I dunno, I guess seeing 3 electric-types was pretty boring. Though I guess Emolga and Stunfisk are Iris and Cilan’s lesser used Pokemon. Plus I liked how Stunfisk laughed each time it was hit with electricity like “Ha ha use can’t hurt me.” Though Emolga wasn’t that impressive. Tepig’s moves being reused stock footage from Ash’s Tepig was really boring. Kinda makes me wish they’d given it different moves.

Team Rocket coming back using their original motto was amazing. The only problem I had was that they’re going back into their old habit of trying to steal Pikachu. Their new Pokemon were awesome and really powerful. Though it was weird that Iris and Cilan kind of vanished during the entire fight. Also loved seeing Unfezant taking those 2 attacks and then knocking out Frillish and Amoongus.

The end of the episode with Cedric and N wasn’t really that interesting, but that’s probably just because I already watched the episode in Japanese. Episode in total gets 7/10.
 
Glad I'm not the only one who thought Nanette was annoying. Gah.. >.<

Other than that, I thought this episode was okay. It was cool to see N at the end though.
 
On the official website description, the girl's name was Natasha but it was actually Nanette in this episode. The same thing happened in Putting the Air Back in Aerodactyl with Dora's name actually being listed as Dara on the official website description.
 
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I was really excited to see Muk again. Like honestly, I've been waiting too see Muk for 3 months!

TR's intro, outfits, and mecha-tank also made me smile, and now all they need is Wobbuffet.

Same here. I'm glad to see Muk too. I really miss Wobbuffet though. I guess they didn't want to give Jessie an uber Pokémon though.
 
I guess my question before I watch the episode is this, who's voicing Oak? Did Stuart Zagnit get Oak back or is it still Jimmy Zoppi, and is Zagnit still Cedric?

EDIT: Saw a clip, still Zoppi as Oak, why? That's so unfair to Stuart Zagnit if he is Cedric in this episode. I hope when X & Y's series come they scrap all the old characters and introduce all new ones then there won't be anymore old voice vs new voice debates.
 
Last edited:
I have never actually compared a Japanese version with TPCi's dub like this before, but there were a lot of things happening on this one.

Firstly, I wonder what was the matter for replacing intro sequence and use at least some "Be An Arrow! 2013" footage. I mean, Stephan, Bianca and Trip will no longer appear and there were a lot of great scenes in the Japanese opening that the dub editors could have used to work. I imagined the Oshawott vs. Mienshao/Team Rocket beating Team Plasma scenes going well along the drumming and the "We've come so far, we fought so hard..." lines. Well, obviously I wasn't having my expectatives so high.

Secondly, I wasn't surprised at all with Professor Oak still being voiced by Jimmy Zoppi even if Stuart played a role in this very same episode. It's not the first time a VA returns to the series but with different roles. TPCi seems trying to be consistent with their own actors.

Next, I liked how they're still keeping different rhymes in Jessie and James' first motto lines, it's comparable to the Japanese "[Insert asked question] to kikaretara". This is minor but I'm glad James didn't say "Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight" since it seemed like a cheap way to fill in mouthgaps.

I'm terribly dissapointed at how Team Rocket Forever was eliminated with some random generic music. I was not hoping them to keep it since the only English versions have the old VAs, and playing the Double Trouble chorus like in DP092 would have been weird since they don't use 4Kids music anymore, but it's still very annoying. And why was Meowth not featured in the "Who's That Pokémon" segment? Because the original was an unconventional "Dare Da?", of course! Not keeping WTP jokes is kind of a tradition in the dub.

I prefer the Rival Destinies instrumental than the movie version, for some reason. It made it less repetitive since the previous episode also had it. Cartoon Network's commercial cuts are a little weird sometimes and the one on this episode is a good example. Still not as weird as the random fade-outs/fade-ins in the Latin American CN, though.

Finally, N's debut scene was filled with unnecesary music, like always. I always hated the narrator's "Stay tuned" but it annoyed me more than usual because it was said at the same time N faced the screen. You add 3 seconds to the "To Be Continued" screen, yet you don't use them properly? Tiny details, I know.

So, I kind of hated this episode, dub-wise; the episode itself wasn't very good but the dub ruining most notable stuff made it worse.
 
I have never actually compared a Japanese version with TPCi's dub like this before, but there were a lot of things happening on this one.

Firstly, I wonder what was the matter for replacing intro sequence and use at least some "Be An Arrow! 2013" footage. I mean, Stephan, Bianca and Trip will no longer appear and there were a lot of great scenes in the Japanese opening that the dub editors could have used to work. I imagined the Oshawott vs. Mienshao/Team Rocket beating Team Plasma scenes going well along the drumming and the "We've come so far, we fought so hard..." lines. Well, obviously I wasn't having my expectatives so high.

Secondly, I wasn't surprised at all with Professor Oak still being voiced by Jimmy Zoppi even if Stuart played a role in this very same episode. It's not the first time a VA returns to the series but with different roles. TPCi seems trying to be consistent with their own actors.

Next, I liked how they're still keeping different rhymes in Jessie and James' first motto lines, it's comparable to the Japanese "[Insert asked question] to kikaretara". This is minor but I'm glad James didn't say "Surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight" since it seemed like a cheap way to fill in mouthgaps.

I'm terribly dissapointed at how Team Rocket Forever was eliminated with some random generic music. I was not hoping them to keep it since the only English versions have the old VAs, and playing the Double Trouble chorus like in DP092 would have been weird since they don't use 4Kids music anymore, but it's still very annoying. And why was Meowth not featured in the "Who's That Pokémon" segment? Because the original was an unconventional "Dare Da?", of course! Not keeping WTP jokes is kind of a tradition in the dub.

I prefer the Rival Destinies instrumental than the movie version, for some reason. It made it less repetitive since the previous episode also had it. Cartoon Network's commercial cuts are a little weird sometimes and the one on this episode is a good example. Still not as weird as the random fade-outs/fade-ins in the Latin American CN, though.

Finally, N's debut scene was filled with unnecesary music, like always. I always hated the narrator's "Stay tuned" but it annoyed me more than usual because it was said at the same time N faced the screen. You add 3 seconds to the "To Be Continued" screen, yet you don't use them properly? Tiny details, I know.

So, I kind of hated this episode, dub-wise; the episode itself wasn't very good but the dub ruining most notable stuff made it worse.
Regardless it's so unfair to Stuart that he wasn't asked to play the role he had originated back in 1998 again. It's nice hearing him again as Cedric, but I'd rather Cathcart play Cedric and Stuart play Oak as he is Oak. Cathcart is a poor imitation of him in my opinion. i guess the chance of Stuart playing Oak again is as slim as Veronica Taylor playing Ash again.
 
Yay for Muk!:) Loved this episode! Nanette was ADORABLE!!! I know its a stretch, but it would be so cool to see her again at some point..I really liked her personality, she was cute! It was cool seeing her overcome her fears like that. Sometimes they tend to exaggerate COTDs' development, but this felt like it was done right. On a related note: it was so refreshing to see Ash back in the tutor role. Probably played a factor in me enjoying the heck out of Nanette:)

It was kind of odd hearing Professor Oak's old voice right after hearing his TCPI voice after so long, mind you im not complaining. Im happy Stuart is voicing Cedric, this will be enjoyable:)

The only thing I didn't like was James' Amoongus taking out Pikachu with one Body Slam, really?? I guess you could make the argument that Stun Spore made it easier, coupled with the fact Pikachu was in the middle of a battle..still didn't feel right.

All in all awesome episode, probably my favorite since the Team Rocket 2 parter; im really liking Episode N so far, can't wait for N's intro next week!
 
Moe said:
TR's comment about being happy enough with a Tepig just makes me keep thinking that if they just spent their time and money on catching Pokemon and breeding them they'd be far better off - just kidnap Brock for a special episode and then move on.

Different Breeder. Takeshi is a Pokemon Breeder (ポケモンブリーダー) and specializes in taking care of pokemon. The people at the daycares who help your pokemon produce babies are called Sodateya-san (育てやさん).

Unfortunately, the English dub and the English versions of the video games uses the term "Breeder" for both of these occupations, making it seem like Brock raises eggs. He doesn't.

Lord_Mewtwo said:
Saw a clip, still Zoppi as Oak, why?

Because Jimmy Zoppi is Professor Oak's voice actor now?

It would be unfair to Zoppi if they just started giving away his roles to Eric Stuart regardless of who did what in the past.
 
Moe said:
TR's comment about being happy enough with a Tepig just makes me keep thinking that if they just spent their time and money on catching Pokemon and breeding them they'd be far better off - just kidnap Brock for a special episode and then move on.

Different Breeder. Takeshi is a Pokemon Breeder (ポケモンブリーダー) and specializes in taking care of pokemon. The people at the daycares who help your pokemon produce babies are called Sodateya-san (育てやさん).

Unfortunately, the English dub and the English versions of the video games uses the term "Breeder" for both of these occupations, making it seem like Brock raises eggs. He doesn't.

Lord_Mewtwo said:
Saw a clip, still Zoppi as Oak, why?

Because Jimmy Zoppi is Professor Oak's voice actor now?

It would be unfair to Zoppi if they just started giving away his roles to Eric Stuart regardless of who did what in the past.
I don't mean Eric Stuart. I mean Stuart Zagnit aka Stan Hart Oak's original VA who is now Cedric Juniper's VA.
 
Seriously where is wobbuffet. Stupid team rocket the motto and blast off just dont work without him. Frillish and Amongus just don't cut it for me.
 
I happened to, for a change, be up early enough yesterday to see Pokémon on Cartoon Network since I had a very early train to catch and was getting ready, and I frankly stopped following after the Nimbasa Subway arc, though I caught a few, perhaps 6 episodes inbetween at random points.

I was surprised by the classic Team Rocket motto, apparently this was the first episode in which it returned, so i guess I lucked out in seeing this particular episode.

Also very surprised by the sudden appearance of N at the end. I heard he eventually did appear a while back in Japan, but I wasn't familiar with WHEN those episodes were scheduled to air internationally, so quite a surprise for me.

Even if Rocket Vs. Plasma had gone as planned, I really never expected the anime to have N appear as a character (especially since he arguably could have appeared as early as the fourth episode of Black/White right after Ash found Tepig in Accumula Town), so I can't wait to see how this progresses.

Also, its almost funny how the dialog practically explicitly BEGS the audience to ignore Pokémon the Movie White/Black by repeatedly insisting that Ash & co had never seen Reshiram before.
 
I hope when X & Y's series come they scrap all the old characters and introduce all new ones then there won't be anymore old voice vs new voice debates.

You would have a point, if we ignore all the other worldwide dubs that luckily have more continuity with their actors...
 
Stick on topic.

This was a pretty good episode, since Nanette wasn't annoying in the dub. TR's Sinnoh music Original Motto sounded allright (didn't expect it that good), yet it was not like the true original. Still liked it, though.

The episode had quite a promising end, with N, Reshiram and Cheren hinted.
It is really a great episode to boot Episode N.

Still, I am bugged that not only didn't they change the opening footage (I wasn't actually expecting that, just comparing), they also didn't even mention the trademark "Episode N" in English. They are not calling it something, it's just Best Wishes.
 
Stick on topic.

This was a pretty good episode, since Nanette wasn't annoying in the dub. TR's Sinnoh music Original Motto sounded allright (didn't expect it that good), yet it was not like the true original. Still liked it, though.

The episode had quite a promising end, with N, Reshiram and Cheren hinted.
It is really a great episode to boot Episode N.

Still, I am bugged that not only didn't they change the opening footage (I wasn't actually expecting that, just comparing), they also didn't even mention the trademark "Episode N" in English. They are not calling it something, it's just Best Wishes.

They were never gonna change The opening footage.
 
this episode gave me a huge sinnoh vibe, tpci even went the extra mile and replaced nearly every piece with generic dub music to fulfill the illusion

i really liked the episode though, loved seeing the old team rocket :3
 
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