Review S25 EP15: Reuniting for the First Time!

[RetroPokeFan]

This week's grand episode has aired on Teletoon in Canada. Make sure to keep future event spoilers hidden.

Voice Characterization -

Sarah Natochenny
Zeno Robinson
James Carter Cathcart
Cherami Leigh
Rodger Parsons
Tara Jayne Sands
Ray Chase
Casey Mongillo

Additional Voices -

Emily Cramer
Lizzie Freeman
Laurie Hymes
Barrett Leddy
Max Mittelman
Suzy Myers
Lisa Ortiz
Haven Paschall
Sean Reyes (Sean Kenin)
Bill Rogers
Erica Schroeder
Billy Bob Thompson

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

HAVEN!!!! So nice to hear Serena again but she sounds a lot younger then she did in XY. And it looks like Sylveon kept its Japanese voice, which is really lame.

MUSIC ON POINT!!!! They used the Amourshipping Theme!
Also this sounds way more shippy in the dub

 

[TheMindOfThomas]

Just watched it. Haven Paschall was great as Serena, once again. Lisia's voice was also really good.

They nailed it with the music choices (although upon rewatch I think "friends forever" fits the tone of the reunion slightly better. I kind of wish they remixed the Ash/Serena theme a little more heavily with like a piano or something). Kudos to Ed Goldfarb.

I really disliked some of the dialogue choices for Ash during the reunion scene. Calling Serena a "good friend" makes it feel like he's friendzoning her, which the sub intentionally avoided by never using the word "tomodachi" (friend), opting for "nakama" (traveling companion) instead. I know they're not technically in a relationship yet, but it kind of messes with the romantic implications of the moments that follow. I did like the voice direction for the two though. You could feel the nervousness and tension of two people that kissed the last time they spoke.

 

[Sai]

The Japanese music that played on the docks during the sunset scene was much sweeter and had more of a sad and nostalgic feel to it. It really felt like Serena was watching Ash leave and waiting for him.

As an aside, glad to see the dub kept, "Contest spectaculars" and not just Contests, that along with the Idol stuff from Lisia made it obvious these aren't the same Contests from Hoenn or DP, but a sub-division of them. So for those who complained there was no battle round, these aren't the traditional Contests anyway so it's good to see they're not the same.

 

[Kelvin Lee]

And it looks like Sylveon kept its Japanese voice, which is really lame.

Actually, Sylveon's voice was dubbed.

 

[PaperSplash]

I really disliked some of the dialogue choices for Ash during the reunion scene. Calling Serena a "good friend" makes it feel like he's friendzoning her, which the sub intentionally avoided by never using the word "tomodachi" (friend), opting for "nakama" (traveling companion) instead. I know they're not technically in a relationship yet, but it kind of messes with the romantic implications of the moments that follow. I did like the voice direction for the two though. You could feel the nervousness and tension of two people that kissed the last time they spoke.

"Nakama" can be translated as friend in some contexts, but yeah, it was a pretty awkward choice in this case. I also noticed that they changed Serena's stated goal from "best performer" to "Top Coordinator", effectively making her the same as May and Dawn now. Which, yeah, I suppose makes more sense in a vacuum seeing as she mentioned Contests in the same sentence and "Coordinator" is the term for people who participate in those, not "performer". And the "best performer" would technically be Kalos Queen which obviously can't be achieved simply by doing Contests in Hoenn. I still think it removes some of the intended nuance from Serena's goal though, where the idea was that people can still work to achieve a certain goal with the experience they gain from a similar profession, like how Brock now intends to become a full-fledged Pokémon Doctor with the experience he gained as a Breeder.

 

[Handy Man]

My life has not been the same ever since this episode first aired in Japan. I somehow underwent a paradigm shift in my way of thinking, and it's definitely been for the better. I feel like a different person now, watching the dub version of the episode, then when I first watched the original version.

Before the Japanese version of this episode aired, I was in a pretty stagnate place in my life. I had graduated from college back in 2019, and ever since then, almost all of my free time went to competing in Smash Ultimate tournaments. After doing it for a while, I felt like I was set in my ways, not really trying anything else and being frustrated at my inconsistent results. It felt like, after a while, I was just competing in tournaments because it felt like it was all I had at the time, and I felt like it was going nowhere. I kept thinking about what I could've been doing instead, but I was too stuck in my comfort zone to do anything about it. This would go on until this episode aired in April 8th, 2022.

When this episode first aired, I cried a river, like a dam that just burst open. I hadn't thought about the XY series much ever since it first ended, and I remembered how I watched every single episode back when it first aired. During my time competing in Smash Ultimate tournaments, I was around people with no goals, no ambition, no sense of loyalty. They were nice people, but I wouldn't say that they were people who would help push my life into a new direction, let alone look out for me and each other. Seeing how selfless Serena was in this episode, with her helping a random stranger in the same way Aria did for her, plus with how she took Ash's advice and made it her own to improve herself, made me remember how amazing of a character Serena was. It made me realize that there are kind-hearted people out there who do look out for other's best interest.

One week after JN105 aired, I actually went to a Smash major called Genesis 8. I was still sad and thinking about the episode, so I felt like I wasn’t exactly in the headspace to compete. But I still gave it my best shot. Even so, I started to notice I was acting much more calm and rational the whole weekend. I realized that my life won’t change if I keep going to these tournaments and don’t try out new things. On top of that, I felt like the majority of the players I faced that weekend were a bit immature or younger than me, with people walking away after a tournament set instead of giving me a fistbump, or being 10 years younger than me. There were also a couple of girls that I interacted with that weekend, and I was able to make eye contact and have conversations with them without feeling nervous. The whole weekend opened my eyes that I’m ready for more meaningful experiences, and I need to embrace change instead of run away from it, just like Serena did.

JN105 lead to me eventually rewatching the entire XY anime all over again throughout May 2022. It was a therapeutic experience. I cried when Serena cried on the pier in XY060, because I recognized it was because she gave up everything to try something new, and it felt like nothing was ever working out, no matter what she did. In XY064, when Aria asks Serena "Do you want things to stay as they are?", it spoke to me on a spiritual level. Things don't have to stay the way they are if they can be better. In XY080, Serena woke up at the crack of dawn because she was now confident and excited to go for her first win, after embracing change instead of being scared of it. When she wins, she lets out tears of joy, because she never won anything before, and she earned that win. Lastly, in XY138, when Serena denies Palermo's offer because she doesn't want to depend on her, it hit me really hard. I had an experience with a mentor with real life, and I ended up depending on them a lot, which destroyed my sense of free-will, and I ended up leaving them. Everything about Serena's character just feels relatable to me, and I'm really happy a character like her exists. She grew up in a hard life, and had to work even harder to become the best version of herself she could be. It's very inspiring.

Ever since the Japanese version of JN105 aired, I have been working hard in the real world too. I quit competitive Smash entirely, even taking a hiatus from my YouTube channel. I always wanted to be a video game developer, so I bought lessons on Udemy and started making small games in the Unity game engine. I started learning how to cook more foods, like rice and vegetables, and started going to the gym twice a week too. In general, I am now more open to trying out new things if it can make my life better, and I have become a significantly happier person for it. And I will continue to keep making changes. I have so much to live for, and seeing a goal oriented character like Serena really opened my eyes on how, like she learned from Ash, to "never give up until the end". Chloe mentions at the end of JN105 that she discovered a new side of herself. Like Chloe, I too have discovered a new side of myself. And I couldn't be any more grateful for it.

As for my opinions on the dub version of this episode, I was impressed at how faithful of a translation it was, even keeping things like "Ms. Serena" and "Mr. What's-His-Name". The music in the Japanese version was more emotional overall in my opinion, but the dub music was still good. I cry every time I watch this episode, and the dub watch was no exception. The scene where Serena talks to Chloe on the bench, as well as the boat scene, are both such beautiful scenes to me that I couldn't help but cry at them. I also liked how XY dub songs returned in this episode, like the "Serena's Emotion" theme when she appears for the first time in the episode. Overall, this was a great dub of the episode. My only complaints are how Ash says Serena is a "Good Friend", which isn't inaccurate but undersells their dynamic, and how Serena says she's a coordinator instead of a performer, like in the Japanese version. I still enjoyed it though, and the fact that it made me cry again shows that the dub did a good job.

But yeah. This episode is definitely one of my favorites of the entire Pokémon anime. In the original review thread for this episode, I mentioned that this is a top five episode in the entire anime for me, and I still stand by that. I've been thinking about it every day, ever since Serena got leaked for the episode days before it aired. I didn't expect this episode to define my entire year, but here we are. This is up there with iconic episodes for me, like "Island of the Giant Pokémon", "Charizard Chills", "Battling a Thaw in Relations!", and "Seeing the Forest for the Trees!". I will never forget this episode for the rest of my life, and it inspired me to create a Pokémon XY anime display for my shelf after I finished the XY rewatch. The fact that a single episode of Pokémon could inspire me to change my life for the better, as well as rewatch an entire past series of the anime, is simply incredible. And To Our Own Way!

 

[Ash Ketchum!]

I really disliked some of the dialogue choices for Ash during the reunion scene. Calling Serena a "good friend" makes it feel like he's friendzoning her, which the sub intentionally avoided by never using the word "tomodachi" (friend), opting for "nakama" (traveling companion) instead.

sigma male Ash

 

[Lucifer Angel]

Having just watched this one for the first time the other day. I can say that the interaction between both Ash and Serena at the end of the eppy had me disappointed. I thought that it was far too short and would have been nice if they could have spent the whole episode together.