Review SM053: Hurry! The Great Lusamine Rescue Operation!!

[SonansuMan]

For an episode that seemed pretty awesome in the previews, I was sort of let down.

I expected an all out battle of Lusamine's entire team versus the whole classes' + Gladion's Pokemon, but the parties were instead split in different segments throughout the episode. Not a bad idea, but thought that would've been the case.

Seeing Kiawe getting some battling down was probably one of my favorite parts of the episode, as well as Mallow, Lana, and Sophocles all combining their strength together to be almost as powerful as Lusamine's trio. The Lighting Rod usage was clever.

I found the whole Clefable bonding scene pretty predictable, considering this scenario happened about three times in the XY series (Pikachu in XY021, Inkay in XY054, Zygarde in XY134) but alone it didn't do too bad. Needed more depth to make the scene more powerful though.

Hoping more will happen in the following episode.

OVERALL SCORE: 6.9/10

 

[Gard81]

Once again, Sun/Moon presents yet another lackluster battle scene. I did unexpectedly enjoy the Lillie/Clefable interaction, although I have to shamefully admit that I laughed more than I should have when Lillie said "Pipi Doll". Seriously, the Japanese name for Clefairy always give me the giggles.

 

[Suicide by cop]

It kinda sounded like Silvuddy was saying "Fuck! Shit!" when it got frozen.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Cos Lana, Mallow and Sophocles are weaklings that have no battle experience at all. If they had to train more like Kiawe and Gladion did, they would be able to deal with these three mons. They need more battle experience!

And this would've been a good place to at least show them trying to battle instead of getting incapacitated in a matter of seconds

 

[Nicolas721]

I liked the episode. I'm a sucker for these "each friend gets an enemy" plots, and the fact that they used Lusamine's team instead of some random Nihilegos made it very intense. Kiawe's scene was particularly awesome, he was redemeed of all the overacting and dumb faces he made last week.

The Clefable scene was intense, but of course, it would have been better if she had shown up many times before. I don't know why they didn't make her Lusamine's walking Pokemon, or at least make her appear in SM045 in place of Herdier. She doesn't seem hard to animate. Anyway. it's nice how it was connected to Lillie's fear of touching Pokemon.

 

[ii kanji]

I enjoyed it but I get why everyone found it lacklustre - there just hasn't been enough build-up.

The splitting off reminded me of Movie 3, and I loved it tbh. I really got concerned about how the Suiren team would manage a Pokemon apiece so I was please that Nyabby and Mokuroh came to help/hinder.

This whole arc has had surprisingly little gravity given the big issues it's dealing with. Compare with Serena's relatively tame haircut and the variation in impact between the two... I am a SM fan but come now.

 

[Johtohfiller]

Just got around to watching this. I liked the episode overall but the SM art style seems so unfitting for more dramatic eps like this. I loved the Metroid-like backgrounds, but the character art almost felt out of place - I wish they'd added some shading or something.

 

[JFrombaugh]

I was honestly surprised that Lusamine had an Absol, as I don't feel like it fits with her personality at all. I felt like Espeon would've been a much better choice for a Pokémon of hers that had a prior relationship with Gladion's Umbreon (sun & moon dichotomy, Light is not good vs Dark is not evil, etc.)

 

[NeoMiniTails]

I thought the episode was just okay. I took last night and today to catch up with episodes 50-53 subbed since I hadn't been able to watch it the way I usually do. I love the fact that everyone is involved in these episodes.

One thing that I thought was cool that was kinda confirmed for me on this and the last episode is that Bewear just simply wants Team Rocket to work hard and do good. Like a mother, it's ready to punish them when they're doing bad.

I wish that they'd made this episode an hour special, adding the next episode into the mix. It doesn't feel like it should stand alone (which it doesn't because this is a series) but having the two together would make it feel like less an awkward ending to me.

The Lillie and Clefable moment reminded me of Usagi vs Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon when she had her locket, trying to force him to remember her so that would stop fighting. However, it didn't work as well for me on this Pokemon episode. It worked with Eureka and Squishy. It's worked with the 100 times Ash has done the same with Pikachu (even in Black and White.) This moment would've been stronger if it was between Lusamine and Lillie or Gladion. With only one flashback shown of Clefable with Lillie prior to this episode, I had no emotional connection to that scene.

The fight scenes were cool. I love Kiawe in every scene we see him.

I'd grade this episode : 7.2/10

 

[Gard81]

Just got around to watching this. I liked the episode overall but the SM art style seems so unfitting for more dramatic eps like this. I loved the Metroid-like backgrounds, but the character art almost felt out of place - I wish they'd added some shading or something.

I so agree with this. The art style is practically only good for the comedic parts, but not much else. It stands in grating contrast with a more action-y episode like this one.