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Review JN002: Satoshi and Go, Let's Go by Lugia!

Pikachu also seemed to tank that hit from Lugia quite well given how the shockwave was shown to blast outwards through a few city blocks.
From what I can tell I don't think Pikachu actually took that much damage; he got knocked away by the blast, but seems fine. No damage marks, doesn't seem to be having trouble moving or anything.

Yep, I mentioned in my review how it might be the baby Lugia from the Whirl Islands given its more playful nature.

Subs also confirm that only Ash heard Lugia 'speak'.
When this episode was announced I assumed Lugia was going to be connected to Gou, but it seems like it has more interest in Ash (I mean let's be honest, Ash has saved the world a few times and done lots of stuff. He's more likely to get a Legendary's attention than Gou).
 
M20 was a completely different continuity. And that was telepathy, which has been established as something certain Pokémon, especially Psychic-type Legendary Pokémon, can do.
I was joking, sorry if that wasn't clear. Although they do make a point that Ash was the only one who heard it, so it makes me wonder if they are going to portray Ash as being able to understand Pokemon on a deeper level in this series. Not necessarily being able to talk to them, but be able to read their feelings to some degree. That or this is the baby Lugia from Jhoto, but Ash didn't say he remembered it when he was explaining himself to Sakuragi. Maybe he forgot about the encounter but Lugia remembered.
 
Took me some time, but, finally, I'm gonna do a review (relatively) on time. And it's for a somewhat great episode to boot, so hooray.

So, the episode starts off pretty nicely, with some call-backs to both the previous episode and to the first episode of the anime (a Dodrio crowing in the morning, a pan of Ash's Room (during which we see all of the badges, trophies and Battle Frontier symbols he's earned, except for the Kanto and Johto badges for some reason), Ash not waking up to his clock's alarm and throwing it like a Poké Ball in his sleep), with Pikachu being unable to wake Ash up, even after shocking him. Good thing Delia comes in and manages to wake him up (guess all that was needed for Ash to not doze off too much was some motherly touch). Ash then rushes off to Professor Oak's Lab, where he learns the good professor has invited Ash to the inauguration of a new Laboratory in Vermilion City, which makes Ash very excited. His excitement is however cut short when he finds out that his mother (who came to bring Ash his lunch and happened to overhear their conversation) has decided to tag along and go to Vermilion City with them so she could go on a shopping spree (just like any other mother, be they real or fictional).

Ash eventually gets dropped off at the new lab, as Oka goes to find a place to park and his mom goes shopping in the city. Before entering, however, he's greeted by the lab's honorary guard dog, Yamper. And, since Ash's never seen one this before, of course he gets excited about meting a new Pokémon and ends up getting shocked by the little guy after snuggling it. We're then re-introduced to Koharu (as a 10 year old now), who just came back from school, only to find a scorched and unconscious Ash lying on the ground and has the natural reaction of feeling uncomfortable, partially shocked and partially scarred and quickly tiptoeing around him and leaving. Oak then finds Ash and they both go inside the newly-opened Sakuragi Institute, where Professor Sakuragi holds a speech that's part ""Welcome to the world of Pokémon!", part "this are my passions and goals as a Professor". We then switch to Koharu, who's upstairs, wondering where Go is, before receiving an extravagant text from him. We then switch one again to the other side of the city, where, on the terrace of a strangely similar-looking building, Go is expecting something to happen. Around the same time, Sakuragi's computer alerts him to some unusual phenomenon, leading him to theorize that a rare Pokémon will appear in the Vermilion Harbor, which causes Ash and everyone else to rush off to see who that Pokémon is. Meanwhile, Go is counting down to the , and is shocked to see nothing happening, only for him to turn to the right and see a vortex of black clouds forming above the port.

And this is where the animation starts to set it up, by showing what has to be one of the best, most terrific and outstandingly animated bunches of clouds swirling together around a black ball of storm clouds, from which Lugia appears, which is then followed by an equally cool and very dynamic (though unfortunately short) "Raid Battle" between Lugia and a bunch of trainers that were waiting there, at the docks, for it to appear, all of which get utterly obliterated by it (figuratively, obviously). Ash then comes on the scene and challenges Lugia to a fight (with the latter apparently accepting?), but after a super effective Thunderbolt, both him and Pikachu get blown away by it and go chasing after as it leaves, just as Go is doing the same. Then both Ash and Go jump and try to grab onto it and end up shocking the other, as they weren't aware that someone else was doing that. Let's see, what else of note happens. Ash helps Go climb onto Lugia and they both ride on it.... blah blah blah... Lugia talks to Ash via telepathy?!... blah blah blah... cool underwater scene... blah blah blah... they get dropped off in the middle of nowhere, they make their way back to the lab and show Oak and Sakuragi Go's recording of the trip (since he recorded the entire thing on his phone), they become research fellow for the new professor, Ash moves into a dorm that the lab has for some reason (which he has to share with Go) so he wouldn't have to move back and forth between Pallet Town and Vermilion, Delia leaves Mimey with them so it would take care of Ash for her, Go is presented with the Kanto starters but declines to choose one and instead states that he's gonna pick Mew as his tarter Pokémon. The End. On a side note, I'm actually kind of oaky with Go and his personality (mostly thanks to Ash). Don't get me, on his own, he can be pretty snobbish, quite pompous and kind of annoying (as we saw in the previous episode). But I feel like Ash does a good job of balancing it out and making him less obnoxious and more likable (plus, their interactions are certainly entertaining to watch).

Unfortunately, as great as the episode was, it still had few problems (albeit, they were pretty minor and, hopefully, some of them will get fixed). For starters, some of the moves' animations (like Dark Pulse (which, hooray, it's old animation is finally back; no more of that rainbow crescent second-hand Shadow Ball piece of [REDACTED]) and Aeroblast (I think?)) looked kind of stiff. Speaking of move animations, I really hoped that I wouldn't have to bring this back, especially not this early, but, after seeing Bisharp's move's animation and how it looks, I immediately knew I couldn't just let it go by. So, welcome back to the What Even Is That Move Animation? segment, where I criticize move animations (especially changes to moves that looked perfectly fine before) that don't make sense. This episode, we have Bisharp's Night Slash (assuming the subtitles were correct and that was supposed to be Crossroad Kill). Instead of animating it like it was before (with the user's arm/claws/needle/whatever glowing purple and leaving behind a purple trail as it slashes the opponent), this version of Night Slash has the user's entire arm glow grayish-white, making it look like it's supposed to be either Bullet Punch or Metal Claw. It's stupid and doesn't make sense, it makes the animators look lazy (seriously, how hard would've been to swap the white for a shade of purple) and it's doesn't make it look closer to the in-game animation (which is the only viable excuse that I can fin for a move's animation changing). Also, it was kind of disappointing that we didn't get a flashback to some of Ash's previous Pokémon when Oak asked him if he still planned on being a Pokémon Master while he was in his car (like they did in the manga "adaptation"). And that's about all of the bad I could think of off the top of my head (since I'm in somewhat of a hurry right now and I'm trying to finish this review as soon as I can). Again, they're pretty minor and don't really ruin the episode for me, but they're still there.

All in all, despite a few, minor hiccups here and there, this has got to be one of the best episodes of the Pokémon anime that I've watched in a good while. There's somethings that I feel like they could've been done better or stuff that could've been longer, but, overall, it gud. It really really gud.

Also, here are some interesting tidbits I noticed while watching the episode:
  • They've apparently changed the appearance of Pokémon eggs, with them looking like the ones from Pokémon GO rather than having a unique design based on the species. Really hope that it was just for the presentation and that that's not gonna be how eggs look like from now one, 'cause going from unique designs to bland and generic ones would be a serious downgrade;
  • They've finally update Machoke's design to match the in-game models. Previously, all Machoke were depicted as having the same skin tone as Machop (a somewhat grayish turquoise), but now their skin is the way it's supposed to be (a more bluish gray);
  • Speaking of Machoke, interesting how it was carrying a box with a Pokéxel Piakchu's face on it. Pokémon Quest 2 confirmed?!?! Probably not;
  • Also, here's another reference to the games: a sleeping Snorlax is blocking Ash's path in Vermilion City, just like in a certain other set of games (except this one ain't anywhere near the Diglett's Cave).
 
except for the Kanto and Johto badges for some reason
And the Orange Islands Badges. Probably because Ash pinned those to his vest instead of putting them in a Badge case.
with Pikachu being unable to wake Ash up, even after shocking him.
Ash has gotten shocked so many times by now that Thunderbolt isn't even a 100% certain method of waking him up anymore.
 
We're then re-introduced to Koharu (as a 10 year old now), who just came back from school, only to find a scorched and unconscious Ash lying on the ground and has the natural reaction of feeling uncomfortable, partially shocked and partially scarred and quickly tiptoeing around him and leaving.
Awkwardly walks around Satoshi. I chuckled.
 
Based on the subs, Lugia 100% recognized Ash.
It just said "here we go" right before diving. It had a greater bond with Ash than with Go, but that would be a very bland way of saying hi to a past friend.

Panky.. said:
and that machine in Sakuragi's lab is just a really advanced supercomputer and not a teleporter like some people theorized.
We don't know the full capabilities of that machine. Just collecting data on Pokemon appearances and then sending the research fellows by plane? Eh, that doesn't sound right considering how often it's going to happen. How are they supposed to make it to raids on time outside of the Vermilion area?
 
I really like the title screen this time around. So far I really like Koharu, people are going to hate this, but she really reminds me of Iris (i.e. being annoyed/exasperated when Ash/Go act super childish). I'm not sold at all on Go, or how he interacts with Ash (so far the way they argue isn't really entertaining like Ash/Morrison or Ash/Barry imo), but I'll withhold judgment until I see a lot more. At least his personality is a lot less like Ash than the impression I got from promotional material. The episode was pretty good though. I felt Ash had a lot of opportunities to say stuff that reflected on the past in some way (such as confirming he was able to travel around and meet a lot of Pokemon, that he was just in a school, etc), so I really doubt we are getting the level of continuity some were hoping for. To add a little nitpick thing, showing Ash having trouble waking up when his journey started and when he was 6 was fine, but he has been on countless journeys since and had very few issues getting himself up in the morning, so having it at the beginning of this episode didn't make the most sense to me and its a tired joke anyway.
 
I'm getting the feeling that I'll really like the new adventure!

First of all, no childish characters anymore! Go and Koharu seem to be pretty mature and energetic and if Ash ends up travellig with them together, it'll remind me of the good old days when Ash only had two travel companions (for example Brock and Misty or Brock and Dawn). In most cases where there was only a trio, his companions turned out to be much more competent!

Second, what a beautiful animation! Really a joy to watch. I hope they'll keep that up!

And third, what a nice start of a new journey! Being able to connect to a legendary Pokemon and even being able to ride it and experience the abundance of the Pokemon world sure must be great! Ash and Go are really lucky.

So, Ash is also going to be a research fellow now? A very interesting concept fur sure which might explain why he's going to travel to different regions in the future. I'm curious to see how the Galar region will fit into all this and when they'll introduce it.

To sum up, this epsiode was really a joy to watch and made me look forward to next week.
 
How does him attacking Lugia mean that he's bonded with it? Both him and Gou spent an equal amount of time riding it and there was no intimate bonding involved with the latter. Only Ash had a connection (instantly at that too) which would only have been possible if it was one from the past.
If you watched the episode, you'd have seen it at 12:55
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Lugia would've flicked them off its back if it didn't trust them and while Ash knew it was a Lugia, he didn't act like it was one he'd seen before, otherwise I doubt he'd have attacked it
 
Finally got around to watching this episode. I really enjoyed it! Definitely a better starting point for the series than the previous episode.

The art and animation of this series is just beautiful. It was practically flying off the screen for me. I hope they're able to keep that quality up throughout the run, because visually, it's totally delightful. It really takes everything I enjoyed about SM and amps it up to another level.

I said it in the preview thread, but I really appreciate the shot with all of the callbacks to previous series. It's nice to establish the continuity from the start and good to be reminded of Ash's previous travels, no matter how briefly. Although I do hope that's not the only mention of them in this series (though someone pointing out Ash used "Alola League Champion" as a reason he deserved the top bunk is another perfect example and utterly hysterical.)

Right now, honestly, I love Gou. I think he's just the right amount of obnoxious. I'm tired of purely good characters, although I don't need one who's a total malevolent hardass either. Gou seems to strikes a nice balance. And so does Koharu, for that matter! I was a bit wary of her at first (right or wrong, she was giving me Lillie vibes) but their personalities are clearly quite different. Her leaving a totally charred Ash behind was super funny. And her relationship with Gou seems really interesting! I like that they have that pre-established relationship, and it's a bit more complex than just being friends. Koharu is obviously pretty exasperated with Gou's behavior, but she does expect it. It'll be interesting to see how that evolves over the course of the series as well.

This is purely personal opinion, but that raid battle...ugh. I lost interest about five seconds in. It can be difficult for me to sit through battles in the first place, but watching a bunch of randos battle Lugia is...just so boring. I got a little bit more into it once it was Ash battling, since it resembled a more traditional battle then, but still not a highlight of the episode for me by any means. I hope they don't overdo it with those.

Right now, the research fellows angle isn't interesting me. I do love Ash and Gou as characters, and I'm excited to watch their interactions with one another, but I do have concerns that this storyline could end up becoming very stale, very quickly. I got a little bored of the expedition on Lugia after a while, so I'm a little worried about that becoming a common theme in other episodes. Hopefully there is something more than just travelling to get info for the new professor. I'm not ready to give up on Ash challenging gyms (especially since the Galar ones are so cool) and think that could really spice things up...but I'm not totally confident that's going to happen. I'm curious to see how it all plays out, but when I finished the episode, that was definitely nagging at me a bit.
 
I'm definitely interested in this series, this episode solidified that. Gou seems like a really great character and based on just an episode of character interaction, I can tell that e and Ash are going to make a great set of protagonists. There is already so much chemistry there that will introduce some great antics between them.
 
This is purely personal opinion, but that raid battle...ugh. I lost interest about five seconds in. It can be difficult for me to sit through battles in the first place, but watching a bunch of randos battle Lugia is...just so boring. I got a little bit more into it once it was Ash battling, since it resembled a more traditional battle then, but still not a highlight of the episode for me by any means. I hope they don't overdo it with those.

I liked the raid battle but I hope it's not just a one-off thing and we'll find out more about how they work in-universe.

On that note, this guy reminds me of those Mega Evolution trainers who had cool designs but only appeared in one scene.
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