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Review S23 EP37: That New Old Gang of Mine!

Cast -

Sarah Natochenny - Ash Ketchum
Zeno Robinson - Goh
Ray Chase - Professor Cerise
Casey Mongillo - Raboot
Tara Sands - Yamper

Additional Voices -
Sam Black - Alolan Marowak
Roger Callagy (Rob Morrison) - Rotom Pokedex
James Weaver Clark - Melmetal
Emily Cramer - Mallow, Togedemaru
Abe Goldfarb - Professor Kukui
Melissa Hope (Melissa Schoenberg) - Professor Burnet
Laurie Hymes - Lillie
Billy Kametz - Ash's Rotom Phone
Eddy Lee - Gladion
Mike Liscio - Lycanroc
Lori Phillips
H.D. Quinn (Tyler Bunch) - Incineroar
Rosie Reyes (Rohana Kenin) - Lana
Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld - Sophocles/Tsareena
Erica Schroeder - Sobble/Goh's Rotom Phone
Marc Swint - Kiawe
Marc Thompson - Turtonator/Gengar
Cristina Valenzuela - Riolu

Both Rebecca Soler and Simona Berman are not credits so it is possible that they have been recast as Mallow and Sophocles's Vikavolt or go uncredited (which seems to be an annoying habit with this season). We'll find out once the Netflix batch comes out.
 
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I honestly can't remember what the Alola crew used to sound like so I can't comment on their voices now.

I will say that I was somewhat underwhelmed with this episode. It really needed to be at least a two-parter to flesh out the homecoming since everyone was practically relegated to a couple minutes of spotlight. Either that or they should have been interspersed throughout Ash & Gou's travels throughout the many Regions to show how they've grown.

That said, seeing little Lei means everything is forgiven. :bulbaLove:
 
Rushed to watch this episode this morning as soon as I woke up, and it did not disappoint!

Dub VAs did a great job with this one. I think everyone sounded great, especially the returning characters. Hearing the tropical music again instantly put a smile on my face. It really felt like I was watching a brand new episode of SM, and not Journeys. Considering how other regions have been treated this series, I really appreciated that.

The scenes of Ash reuniting with Kukui, Burnet, and his Pokémon were perfection. I only wish they were longer, or we had at least seen more of them! I'm still holding out hope that there'll be a return to Alola episode in the future (hopefully more, since this is a traveling series) and we'll get more focus on Ash's Alola fam. And the BABY! He was just sooo adorable, I need to see more of him. I would pay anything for an episode where Ash and Goh have to babysit him and chaos ensues.

I also thought this was the perfect episode to highlight that Goh is a socially awkward/anxious person. To me, this is one of Goh's most interesting characteristics, and it's one that's shown off very inconsistently. Sometimes he seems totally fine with people or making new friends, and at the beginning of the series, it was kind of established that wasn't really the case for him. So, for the first time in a long time, I actually felt relatable to Goh and wish they would work that aspect of his character into the series more often.

Bringing back early SM Kiawe was a great touch for this as well. I know some people didn't agree with it, because Kiawe got so much friendlier over the course of SM, but that's really how he acted towards Ash in the beginning of that series, and now, he really doesn't know all that much about Goh, so I think it's pretty natural for him to go back to that more guarded, tough attitude. He's a hard worker, he knows now Ash is a hard worker, and so what he does to Goh this episode is pretty much the same thing he originally did to Ash.

On the other hand, I still really don't like that they had Goh so adamantly say he doesn't want to help Ash with his goals. I didn't like it in Japanese, and I don't like it now. I get what they were going for: the old "your dreams don't work unless you do" addage, but the way they worded the line made Goh come across as really callous, which as much as some people might not agree with me, is OOC for him. He and Ash have become such good friends that you'd think he be a little more compassionate? And have gained an understanding that it's totally fine for friends to help one another out even if ultimately they have to make their dreams come true themselves? I don't know, it was just an odd choice.

Also, I still really wish we had gotten that Ash vs. Kiawe battle. I know the battle with Goh was needed to get Kiawe to soften up, but it just wasn't interesting. Even a short battle between Ash and Kiawe would've satisfied me. Again, hopefully something we'll see in a future episode.

Easily my favorite episode of Journeys so far. It made me super happy and I smiled almost the whole time, even laughed out loud a couple of times. Any episode that can accomplish that, regardless of plot weakness, is a winner for me.

EWW WHAT DID THEY DO TO LILLIES AND LANAS VOICES

They both sounded exactly the same...?

If anyone sounded a little different, it was Mallow. She sounded a little less high pitched/almost more mature than she used to during SM, but I still recognized the voice as Mallow's.
 
While I haven't been keeping up all that much with the series in general, I saw it pop up on my Netflix today with this episode in the first of the new batch. I love the Alola crew, so I just had to watch it.

Overall, it was a solid episode for me. Not amazing as I was hoping it to be when I first heard about it when it initially aired in Japan, but still good. There were some highlights though.

It was pretty cool how they showed off Alolan Exeggutor in this episode, because if my memory serves me right the first time they showed off Alolan forms in the SM anime it was with that Pokemon. Just a neat little tie-back (if that is correct).

I loved the few minutes Ash spent with his Alola family, and I really wish they spent more time with him. It's so good to see that even the show fully acknowledges that Kukui, Burnet, and now Lei, are Ash's second family. I also really liked that little moment where Kukui and Burnet took a moment to appreciate Ash and Goh's friendship.

The letter and short scene from Lillie's perspective were a great addition to the episode. Not only were the two some of my favs from SM, but I was hoping we would see more of that plotline with Lillie finding her father. Based on how that scene ended, I wonder if they are trying to lead that into a potential future episode where Ash and Goh meet up with Lillie or a short where Lillie and her family find Mohn.

Finally, I loved all the references the show made to the idea that Ash keeps in contact with his friends in Alola. Lana seems to know about Goh, and Ash appears to know about Lei beforehand. I don't know for sure, but it seems in the past they hardly ever referenced the idea that Ash actually keeps up with his former traveling companions, so this is a welcome addition to the episode for sure.

Overall, it was a great episode. I think it would have really benefitted from two episodes instead of one, but since Ash and Goh travel so much I'm sure we'll see them come back.
 
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