Review SM005: Ashimari, Give it Your bALLoon!

[Jaypom]

I thought this was such a good episode. Rowlet was so cute sleeping the entire time and I loved Lillie's suit! I wish Popplio had used actual moves during the fighting though. I wanna see some trainer battles soon too. Also, that Bewear is jesus the lord himself

 

[ehh123]

I mentioned the RotomDex before but really, the anime has been saying "we do not follow the same rules as the games" since all the way back to "The School of Hard Knocks" episode. That's the ninth episode to put that in perspective.

 

[NeoMiniTails]

The anime hasn't followed any of the game rules since episode one when they refused to call Shigeru "Green." Lol... and he didn't want to "smell ya later." Man, Red must've really stank because he was always in a rush out after saying that.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

The anime hasn't followed any of the game rules since episode one when they refused to call Shigeru "Green." Lol... and he didn't want to "smell ya later." Man, Red must've really stank because he was always in a rush out after saying that.

Pretty sure that Blue only said that because he has a bit of an attitude problem. This was an episode that is watchable only once in my opinion. I am more of a capture/evolution/egg hatching/gym battles/league battles episode kind of person.

 

[NeoMiniTails]

Pretty sure that Blue only said that because he has a bit of an attitude problem. This was an episode that is watchable only once in my opinion. I am more of a capture/evolution/egg hatching/gym battles/league battles episode kind of person.

I was being sarcastic.

 

[Johtohfiller]

I like the scene where the Meowth balloon drops down from high altitude. I've often wondered why no one ever notices the balloon until it's right on top of them. Well, now we have our answer.

 

[SammyW27]

All this is, and Team Skull too!

Look out, Team Flare, someone's out to break the record for most appearances by a (non-Rocket) Villain Team!

...and they ain't gonna make a bunch of half-a-minute cameos just to let us know they're up to something to do it.

 

[Alola]

This episode was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Lana is shaping up to be one of my new favorite anime characters. I like the backstory we got for her and Popplio (Really Team Skull? You have nothing better to do? Especially to the rare and awesome Popplio?).

And that Bewear bit at the end was ridiculous. I now think it would be a disservice for TR to catch it. I'm content with it just being TR's ally Pokemon. We also don't have to worry about it getting from island to island in pursuit of TR-it can simply run across the ocean.

Also on an interesting note, several of Ash's heroics from XY(Z) that would have been successful and glorified, are being thoughtfully deconstructed here. In one example, we have it at a hilarious effect-Ash tries to bashfully help Lillie with her Milotic, only to be realistically headbutted by said Milotic as it was thrashing around. Secondly, we have it to a horrifying effect-Ash has Pikachu free all the ride Pokemon from TR's grasp...only to have them be nearly impaled by the sharp rocks right below TR's balloon.

Again, I like what Sun & Moon are putting out.

 

[NeoMiniTails]

I love that it's showing Ash as an imperfect hero with good intentions this season. As much as I love seasons like DP and XY(Z), I love seeing Satoshi as just a kid... this deconstruct of heroism allows freedom in the writing that both seasons couldn't. Not everything is going to go his way, and it shouldn't.

Being imperfect doesn't mean that I want a useless character... it simply means that it adds more to the moments that really need a hero to act like one. We don't need Superman to fly through a window to keep Lois from slipping... would it be sweet to see Clark get up and look to attempt to help her? The intention is the same... and it works. Seeing Ash as an imperfect hero will make his efforts to help/save/protect his friends mean so much more.

 

[pokepal_123]

Wow, it looks like Ash has learned from Alan, literally doing the same pose as him when battling TR.

 

[FANG-TAN]

The anime hasn't followed any of the game rules since episode one when they refused to call Shigeru "Green." Lol... and he didn't want to "smell ya later." Man, Red must've really stank because he was always in a rush out after saying that.

Technically he does say that in the English dub (I think, I remember Gary Oak saying "Smell ya later, Ashy-boy" at least once). You are correct if you're referring to the Japanese version, though. Shigeru never says "bai-bii!".

The anime wasn't actually wrong at that point in time with the names, espeically since magazines and official sources called Red and Green "Satoshi" and "Shigeru" as well until Gen II. [/takingjokestooseriously]

 

[Syrinaris]

Well, I thought the beginning of this was kinda cute with whatever that thing was that Pikachu and Rockruff were doing. I don't know if they were trying to see who could knock each other off balance first, or what. Aaaaaand, I see Prof Kukui is making another Pokémon move pun. I guess this is the season of in-episode puns.

Popplio is going to be my Pokie baby when I finally get my SuMo game, so I really enjoyed this episode with the focus on it. That Rowlet, though. I laughed when it rolled out of Ash's backpack and across the floor & knocked itself out on the railing. It sure is a ditzy little thing.

I do like how they outright acknowledge through TR the change in Ash's trainer status. He's become a 'school brat' and he's 'now a school boy'. Hey guys, Giovanni told you to travel to Alola to catch new Pokies. Sticking to the school grounds and hounding Ash to catch Pikachu is not fulfilling his orders. I wonder if they're going to go undercover to see what new Pokies are coming to the school, or if they'll actually head out to travel & leave Ash behind. That would certainly be a new and unusual thing if they did that.

You know, when Pikachu got all sandy from sliding on the beach with Popplio, I thought that would be a perfect opportunity for the writers to have Ash represent the Refresh feature from the games by having him brush the sand out of Pika's coat. But then, I don't know where he'd have a brush stored what with Rowlet hogging all the room in Ash's backpack. I feel kinda bad for Rowlet actually, because when Ash finally gets around to leaving for his trial competitions, he going to have to finally pack that backpack with stuff he needs for travelling. Rowlet, you're going to lose your happy napping place, I believe.

Lana & Popplio's story is similar to ones we've heard before, but it was no less effective. They're such a cute pair. I am left wondering, though, as to how Popplio came to be on the beach by itself. Did it get separated from its family, or had it made the decision to strike out on its own in search of a trainer and unfortunately happened upon Team Skull? I hope we'll get a little more back history down the road at some point.

The ensuing scenes with Lana and Ash were nice. The huge balloon Popplio made that burst was hilarious. When they got to Lana's house, though, I must take issue with the fact that Lapras was left with the ride chair attached to it. I hope that thing gets taken off of it so it doesn't have to support that the whole night through while it's trying to sleep. I have taken an immediate dislike to Lana's young twin sisters. Only time will tell if my feelings toward them will change. And I don't blame Pika one bit for busting up the place. Shame on you Ash for not intervening. You should have told them hands off.

The group fishing scenes were nice. Everyone got to have a bit of spotlight on them. My favorite scene was actually Pikachu fishing with it's tail. Pikachu's reaction when Ash threw the Magikarp back in the water was funny. It was like, hey, Pika was trying to help you and you just basically ruined it for him. And I learned that Milotic can use the very rare, and little known, Pelvic Smash move. It only works on humans, of course.

Rowlet is just so oblivious to everything that is going on around it. It's so funny. He's being hauled up in the net with all the other Pokes and he's just snoozing away. That Bewear somehow being able to see TR falling from the shoreline and running across the water was ridiculously unbelievable. On the other hand, maybe Bewear's life up until now has been a shell of an existence and it now finally has a true purpose - to rescue TR from Ash & Co. whenever they're in danger of blasting off.

And on a closing note --

Also on an interesting note, several of Ash's heroics from XY(Z) that would have been successful and glorified, are being thoughtfully deconstructed here. In one example, we have it at a hilarious effect-Ash tries to bashfully help Lillie with her Milotic, only to be realistically headbutted by said Milotic as it was thrashing around. Secondly, we have it to a horrifying effect-Ash has Pikachu free all the ride Pokemon from TR's grasp...only to have them be nearly impaled by the sharp rocks right below TR's balloon.

I can see this is what seems to be happening. I will also reference that there were several times in XY where Ash's companions had started to battle back against TR, or whoever, and even though they could have succeeded on their own, the spotlight was still turned back onto Ash to finish things off. Here Lana & Popplio got the bulk of the attention with battling back against TR with only a little help from Ash.

 

[ehh123]

Let's not forget that this was written by the guy who was head writer during DP and XY. Then again, he was also head writer during BW, so make of that what you will.


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