Review JN006: Catch a Lot of Pokémon! The Path to Mew!!

[Daren]

I am starting to wonder about the possibility of Pidgeot returning, though I'm not going to get my hopes up.

I like that Pikachu took out the Beedrill swarm instead of them being an implacable threat as has happened in the past. Whatever issues with not acknowledging past series' there may be, they remember that Ash is a powerful trainer even if he acts silly.

 

[Cinnabar]

I just saw this episode.

The overall concept was fine, but seeing Go literally run through the forest catching something left and right was a little crazy, that's the first time I have ever seen any character in the anime catch as many pokemon as he did all in one time frame.

I have been lately thinking more about the fact that Pidgeot was still left in the wild, and the possibility of it returning sometime soon, but I somewhat doubt it. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, there'd surely be a good place for the reintroduction to happen, but after all this time it makes me think that it's a longshot.

 

[Dogasu]

I wish they had taken thes time to show Gou's seventh Pokémon being automatically teleported to Dr. Sakuragi's lab like they did back when Satoshi caught his Crab 20 years ago.

 

[extremeespeon]

Unpopular opinion, but I didn't hate this episode. It was actually a nice change of pace to see a main character catching so many Pokémon at once, isn't that what we as players do in the Pokémon games, after all? One thing though, I wonder what the entire point of Koharu's character is if she's just gonna get 1 minute of screentime every episode that she appears in. I hope that future episodes will focus more on her, maybe she should get a Professor Burnet-type of role in the future.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

isn't that what we as players do in the Pokémon games, after all?

Well... idk about others but when it actually came to playing the main games I didn’t do it in the main story...

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Well... idk about others but when it actually came to playing the main games I didn’t do it in the main story...

I personally try to always catch every new Pokémon in an area before moving on. At least ones that are easy enough to find and then come back for the remaining ones later.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Why does "duality" have to mean that Ash needs to stand out in every episode?

You do realize there's a difference between standing out in every episode and being sidelined to the point of nearly blending in with the background for most of the episode. He doesn't have to steal attention away for Go and his development, but that doesn't mean that he should be passive to the point of nonexistence and be used for jokes instead of having him take a more active role in the episodes.

For that matter, what did he do during Contests/Showcases that was so great?

Well, Contests and Showcases weren't his forte. Battling and catching Pokémon on the other hand... And he did act as a training partner for Dawn during their Contests and he did participate in a few Contests.

How are they not doing this already? Ash has already shown interest in battling and interacting with Pokemon. That has been one of the most consistent things this series, Ash's overall interest in Pokemon, even if some of the Pokemon are one's he has seen.

Have you even seen episodes 4 and 5? How Ash's only interest in episode 4 was food rather than the new Pokémon and places in Galar that he's probably never seen? How he didn't even react when Go rejected Scorbunny in episode 5, despite the latter clearly wanting to be with him? How, outside of second and third episode, he's been mostly passive, how he barely interacts with Go in a meaningful way, how he's been sidelined to the point that he hasn't caught anything to this point (which, compared to all of the previous series in which he'd at least have a new team member by episode 6, is really staggering), nor has he taken any active steps (like training and honing his skills with his Pokémon) towards his goal to become a Pokémon Master?

This isn't the first time this has happened before. They did this in DP in the episode in which Dawn caught Pachirisu. Ash pretty much played a similar role in this episode as he did in that one.

Which happened in what, the 20th episode of the series or something like that? How about we go over the first six episodes of DP (since a lot of you keep bringing it up) and see how they compare to the new series? First episode is all about Dawn and her introduction, with Ash appearing and having his Pikachu stolen by the TRio happening at the end. Which is understandable, since she's the new gal in town, so obviously she needs some focus in order to get the audience invested in her. Episodes 2 and 3 are all about Ash and Dawn, with Dawn trying to find Ash and give him his Pikachu back (whom she rescued from Team Rocket), while Ash is searching for Dawn to get his Pikachu back (while also making a new rival along the way). The fourth episode starts off with Ash bickering with Dawn after she failed to catch a Buneary. Later on, they get into another argument concerning Nando, a trainer that they recently met in the episode, and whether he should be more interested in Contests or Gyms. After Nando and the local Bug-types clams them down, both him and Dawn reminisce about meting a Legendary/Mythical Pokémon at the start of their respective journeys. Ash later has a battle with Nando and it, along with his battle with Dawn that happened earlier in the episode, inspire the latter to pursue both Contests and the Pokémon League. Episode 5 is all about Ash's second catch in the Sinnoh Region. Episode 6 is all about Ash's rivalry with Paul, which started all the way back in episodes 2 and 3. Episode 7 would be the first episode where Ash has a more minor role, but he still plays a more active part compared to the recent episodes, by helping the gang stop Team Rocket form doing their usual shtick.

And lets not forget several of Dawn's contests, in which Ash really didn't do that much.

Previous answer applies here. Contests just weren't his thing, but he still helped Dawn train and prepare for them and he did participate in a few of them for fun. Catching Pokémon and battling them, on the other hand, are definitely his thing.

Ash and Dawn's goals were tied together.

Yeaaah, no, they weren't. Ash was interested in Gym battles, the Pokémon League and becoming a Pokémon Master. Dawn was interested in Contests, the Grand Festival and becoming a Top Coordinator so as to follow in her mother's footsteps. Outside of the two of them involving Pokémon battles (and, even then, we're talking about different types of battling) and them having to catch Pokémon to fulfil their dreams, they didn't have that much in common regarding goals.

I don't think they are doing that with Ash and Go.

Despite the fact that Go's goal of catching Pokémon (which also should involve battling them in order to catch them) has more in common with Ash's goal than Contests do, thus, by your logic, having it make more sense for him to be more active and play a part in Go's development than he did in Dawn's?

But I think each of their of development (for the most part) will be independent of one another.

And how is that a good thing, that the two protagonists of the series, who are friends that travel and have adventures together, will barely impact each other's development? What happened to Ash and his companions influencing each other's growth and development and sometimes even mutually inspiring each other? If they're barely gonna interact with each other in meaningful ways during their respective focus episodes, then what's the point of them being together in the first place?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I personally try to always catch every new Pokémon in an area before moving on. At least ones that are easy enough to find and then come back for the remaining ones later.

Well, I was pointing out not everyone does that. I caught the Pokemon which I wanted in my main team and maybe some others which I encountered by chance and would like as a reserve or two or is decently rare. The rest were left for later since I found the weaken and capture too tedious and wanted to do the story first.

Also, ironically the anime is what inspired me to do that, since I didn’t feel like capturing Pokemon and just putting them into a box. Rotation was tedious in the DS games and again, the anime inspired me to catch a team of native Pokemon and keep them till the end.

So it’s pretty jarring to see the anime backtrack if Go won’t regularly socialise with his Pokemon or rotate them. Seemingly only Scyther will be on his team.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Also, ironically the anime is what inspired me to do that, since I didn’t feel like capturing Pokemon and just putting them into a box. Rotation was tedious in the DS games and again, the anime inspired me to catch a team of native Pokemon and keep them till the end.

I agree with you on that one. I know that some players like to have more than six battle-ready Pokémon at all times, but I prefer just gathering a team of six and sticking with it.

 

[Gard81]

I can tolerate Go catchphrasing his name when he throws his Poke Ball, but it's really cringy when the Roto-Dex keeps acting like in Let's Go and shouts phrases when it hits, especially in that voice. My main gripe in this episode is that Ash didn't catch anything. I mean, obviously the vast majority of these catches are not going to see any meaningful roles going forward, so why not let Ash do the same? Especially since people have been wanting him to up his capture ratio for a MUCH longer time than Go.
At the very least, Ash should have captured a Weedle, since he has wrongfully denied one so many years ago.

 

[Pulsaro23]

So, since I plan on doing this before Christmas arrives (as it wouldn't hurt to take a break from the forums for the holidays), it's review evaluation time! And what a disappointing episode this was.

The entire episode is can basically be summed up as Go successfully catching all the Kanto Bug Pokémon while barely breaking a sweat, with Scyther being the only one that actually gives him some trouble. He doesn't battle or even try to weaken them for the most part and manages to successfully catch them by just throwing a Poké Ball. Sigh. Remember how in the past the characters actually struggled to catch their Pokémon? Remember how they had to battle and weaken them in order to get a chance at successfully catching them? Remember how the only time that wouldn't be the case was when a Pokémon wanted to be caught to be with a trainer, meaning that there was no need to weaken it, as it wouldn't struggle or fight against the Poké Ball capturing it? Remember how Ash was even belittled in BW for forgetting such a basic concept?! Remember all that?! Well, forget about it, 'cause advertising one of them mobile games that are absolutely loved and considered the best in the industry and a model to be followed, by alluding to its hallow catching mechanic is more important than keeping true to the main games or even being consistent with the past series!

Speaking of the past, remember how, in previous series, Ash actually used to interact with his companions more and how he would try to teach them the ropes if they were beginners, like Go is? Well, forget about that as well, 'cause Go is the star of this show and he's catching connoisseur who's more experienced in the art of capturing Pokémon than the guy's who not only travelled eight regions, but is also the KRIFFING CHAMPION OF ALOLA!, meaning that Ash doesn't need to even advise him on how to catch Pokémon for the first half of the episode and his advices then get to be ignored for the other half. Seriously, they had Ash be surprised at Go deciding to throw a Poké Ball first instead of battling the Pidgey and, instead of having him tell Go that he should battle them first or maybe even have him bicker with Go when the latter ignores his advice (really, they only got into a fight once in episode 3 and, since then, Ash's been so passive regarding Go and his actions that he might as well not be there and nothing would change), they just had him be there and just look at Go doing stuff, occasionally complimenting him. And of course they had to bring back "he's terrible at explaining stuff" part about his character when Go was having trouble battling Scyther. Sigh. Was that ever a key trait of Ash's prior to Sun & Moon? 'Cause, outside of that one time in XY when he did a poor job explaining Pokémon evolution to Bonnie, I don't remember any other time when he did that. Even if he did, he certainly didn't do it on a regular basis, like he did in SM and in this series, that's for sure. This series is really starting feel more and more like a poor man's version of Sun & Moon.

And why was Go having such an easy time with all of these captures? Okay, I can understand Caterpie, Metapod and other weak ones being easy to catch, since they're not that strong and they're not fully evolved and all that. But getting a Butterfree, a Beedrill and a Venomoth all in one try and without weakening them first? I'm sorry, but even by Pokémon GO/Let's Go standards, that would be impossible, unless you're using items or you're incredibly lucky! But, nope, Go just manages to catch 10 Pokémon while barely having a hard time, and the one time when a Pokémon breaks out of the first ball he throws, he doesn't have that hard of a time weakening it enough with just a Quick Attack and a Double Kick (a move that shouldn't even be that efective on a Bug-type).

The only interesting thing regarding this episode was the fact that they kept Nurse Joy's design mostly unchanged (except for the cross on her hat being replace with a Poké Ball, which, considering the whole Red Cross thing, is understandable and not that big of a deal), which, in retrospect, makes Jenny's redesign all the more perplexing. The one battle against Scyther also looked alright, I guess, but just like every other battle in this series, it ends as soon as it starts to get interesting. Other than that, it's a pretty boring episode where Go gets to catch more Pokémon then any other trainer that we've seen till now', all because catching them makes him feel euphoric and because he thinks that catching them all will somehow lead him to Mew. There's barely any conflict in the episode, Go barley struggles with his caches, Ash barely does anything in this episode... just a bland episode that doesn't even have the interactions between Ash and Go that made episode 3 more enjoyable or even Team Rocket to provide some conflict to the episode. Easily the worst episode of this series yet (thought that could easily change very soon) that managed, together with the previous three episodes, to just bring out the cynicism in me. Now, how much you wanna bet that the next episode will continue to focus more on Go than on Ash, despite it being a battle-focused episode that's named after the Battle Frontier and all?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I hope Go tries to catch a Rotom-Phone rotom at least once in the series.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

The entire episode is can basically be summed up as Go successfully catching all the Kanto Bug Pokémon while barely breaking a sweat, with Scyther being the only one that actually gives him some trouble.

Venonat:
1. Actually freed itself from the pokéball
2. Forced Gou into into a battle
3. Matched Scorbunny in power
4. Managed to poison Scorbunny
5. Forced them to Pokémon Center

 

[Cinnabar]

I can tolerate Go catchphrasing his name when he throws his Poke Ball, but it's really cringy when the Roto-Dex keeps acting like in Let's Go and shouts phrases when it hits, especially in that voice.

I agree with this, it also reminded me of Pokemon GO where it also tells you if you make a good throw on a spawn. I do wonder if this will still happen in the English dub though.

 

[nickdt]

Venonat:
1. Actually freed itself from the pokéball
2. Forced Gou into into a battle
3. Matched Scorbunny in power
4. Managed to poison Scorbunny
5. Forced them to Pokémon Center

tbh, should have been Venomoth instead of its pre-evo. Would have made more sense.

 

[Pulsaro23]

1. Actually freed itself from the pokéball

Have we really sank this low, to the point that escaping from a regular Poké Ball at "full health" is now considered noteworthy?

2. Forced Gou into into a battle

Actually, it didn't. Go's response to it escaping (and Ash telling him to battle it) was that throwing a Poké Ball is faster and prepared another Poké Ball to toss at it. Scorbunny was the one who wanted to weaken it through battle, so it was actually the fire buns who forced Go into a battle.

3. Matched Scorbunny in power

Except that thing never got to attack Scorbunny, so how can you tell that it's as strong as the fire buns? All it managed to do is poison it with a move that's guarantee to poison its target and that quite a good amount of Kanto Bug-types and Poison-types know (which also make your fourth point less spectacular as well).

The only thing that I'll give you is that it poisoning Scorbunny did indeed lead to Go and Ash temporarily abandoning the whole catch quest and made them hurry to a Pokémon Center, but even that is just a bump in the road at best, since he still managed to catch it prior to Scorbunny collapsing form the effects of the poison and the whole thing got resolved in a few seconds, thus barely hindered his catch quest.

 

[Panky..]

Review.

- Pros:

• The reason I watched this episode (other than making a review) is because of that Pidgeot scene... I really hope the little foreshadowing with Pidgeot and the coincidental Ash scenes means that Ash's "surprise" Pokemon turns out to be the Pidgeot we know. This is even more so probable given how Gou asked Rotom Phone about Pokemon native to the area and it only showed the first two in the evolutionary line and not the third form. If it's another bait (like most of the stuff so far) then I sadly say that SS009 might be the last hope for this series.

- Cons:

• The Pokemon GO mechanics being in the anime doesn't rub well with me (the Rotom Phone's comments are even more annoying and unnecessary especially given how Gou's Rotom Phone sounds like nails on chalkboard). They just seem to contradict already established AniPoke rules and kind of feel deux-ex machina-ish. Gou being able to capture several powerful Pokemon instantly without battling (or even using berries like in the actual GO game itself) doesn't bode well for future capture episodes, and that Pinsir capture is one of the absolute worst possible captures in the entire anime. Here's hoping Ash at least gets his Pokemon like he used to, either through bonding or proper battling, because if he does get a capture like how Gou did then I really wouldn't know what to expect from this series in a positive light.
• I know that Ash did tell Gou to not throw the Pokeballs instantly and instead to exhaust the wild mon (Gou being a dick here is a different matter stated above) but I'd still have preferred if Ash actually tutored Gou in trainer basics like how he did with May and Dawn, or at least call out on his flaws and mistakes. Hilarious how Gou didn't even connect his first throw though don't see why Ash and Pikachu should have been affected negatively by Gou's failed attempts other than for cheap "gags".
• Like mentioned above, Ash being relegated to stupid attempts at "gags" is really getting tiring... and I thought the overusage of meme-faces in SM was bad. So far, he's only been prominent in SS002 and some parts of SS003 while being treated as as side character for the rest of the episodes so far. This episode goes one step further and treats Ash as nothing more than cosmic microwave background radiation. None of the past series, not even BW, ever treated Ash the way this series is doing so far... and this pretty much goes against the concept of "double protagonists" especially when it's been done far better in DP. Not to mention the lack of exciting events (the Lugia raid and flight was too short) and Ash captures, something we already saw by the 5th episode in past series.

- Extra:

• So the reason Gou decided to start going on a mass capture spree is because he discovered the Rotom Phone's Indexing feature... seems like Gou is turning out to be quite the nutjob, more so than I imagined.
• Gou is using dark powers to make his capture rate 100%, he's going to be a future Anipoke version of a Sith Lord or Palpatine. Why doesn't Scorbunny know any fire attacks though? Will it fall into lava and have to wear a dark colored armor with life support?
• Some of the Dex entries in this episode were flat out dark and R-rated, I'm surprised they got past the K rating of this show.

Verdict: Not giving any depth in general to Gou's captures and treating Ash like background noise... even SS003 did more in establishing Ash and Gou's friendship, not to mention Team Rocket's appearance so I give this a 1.5/10.

Why is it that two of Shoji Yonemura's episode in this series have turned out to be so lackluster? It's really surprising given the overall good writing record he has in the past.

 

[Daren]

• The reason I watched this episode (other than making a review) is because of that Pidgeot scene... I really hope the little foreshadowing with Pidgeot and the coincidental Ash scenes means that Ash's "surprise" Pokemon turns out to be the Pidgeot we know. This is even more so probable given how Gou asked Rotom Phone about Pokemon native to the area and it only showed the first two in the evolutionary line and not the third form. If it's another bait (like most of the stuff so far) then I sadly say that SS009 might be the last hope for this series.

I really want to believe, honestly.
To be fair I don't think would be bait in the same way as the Ivysaur garden was, so much as them just throwing a Pidgeot in by accident after forgetting he wasn't on the list of Pokémon that live there.

Gou being able to capture several powerful Pokemon instantly without battling (or even using berries like in the actual GO game itself) doesn't bode well for future capture episodes, and that Pinsir capture is one of the absolute worst possible captures in the entire anime.

For some reason this reminds me of the Master Ball failing the first (only?) time it was used in the anime. Like a mirror image of this.

• Like mentioned above, Ash being relegated to stupid attempts at "gags" is really getting tiring... and I thought the overusage of meme-faces in SM was bad. So far, he's only been prominent in SS002 and some parts of SS003 while being treated as as side character for the rest of the episodes so far. This episode goes one step further and treats Ash as nothing more than cosmic microwave background radiation. None of the past series, not even BW, ever treated Ash the way this series is doing so far... and this pretty much goes against the concept of "double protagonists" especially when it's been done far better in DP. Not to mention the lack of exciting events (the Lugia raid and flight was too short) and Ash captures, something we already saw by the 5th episode in past series.

I'm hoping episode 9 will really get Ash's story for this series going...but the comments about avoiding longs arcs has me concerned.
Although I wouldn't immediately give up even if 9 doesn't deliver. I was convinced SuMo would end up being a waste of three years but it turned out to be the one that finally advanced Ash's story line.

Gou is using dark powers to make his capture rate 100%, he's going to be a future Anipoke version of a Sith Lord or Palpatine.

So Pinsir trying to eat him at the end is the bug-type trying to save everyone from the formation of the first Planetary Empire? So Pinsir is Mace Windu?

Why doesn't Scorbunny know any fire attacks though? Will it fall into lava and have to wear a dark colored armor with life support when it falls into lava?

It's commonly theorized Vader never used lightning because it would screw with the electronics in his suit (after the prequels revealed it was a generic Sith power and not something only Papa Palps could do).
So after Scorbunny gets high grounded by Pikachu he won't be able to use fire to avoid overheating it?
Seems to fit.

Spoiler

"It's over, Scorbunny! I have the fifty-two level advantage!"

I'm sorry I'll try to stop picking on Gou.

 

[Almonds]

Wasn't the Pidgeot thing more of a scene showing an aesthetically pleasing forest that also has a beautiful bird? At least that's how I took it.

I'm surprised to see so much negativity for this episode. The GO adaptation wasn't perfect but it was similar to a Safari Zone thing - just without the special balls and stuff.

 

[P_S_B]

Go and Koharu's dynamic from episode 1 was good. The way they're treating Ash and Koharu right now screams to me that they should have just bitten the bullet and turned Ash into a recurring character at best if not retired him entirely and made Go and Koharu the main characters.