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Review JN009: The Promise We Made that Day! The Houou Legend of the Johto Region!!

Why did I even bother to watch this episode and disappoint myself again?

:bulbaLove:- Pros:
  • I had a smile when I saw the animation, it was so fluid and beautiful. Shame that it lasted for no longer than 10-15 seconds and the animator's talent was wasted in such a lame episode (especially when you factor in the recycled music), I'd really have preferred such animations in SS007. Nice touch there with the EP001 flashback, I thought they were really going to do something with it (official artwork and promotion anyone?) but then again, the writers do love to get high on exotic stuff.
:bulbaFacepalm: - Cons:
  • Let's get the biggest and most glaring issue out of the way, the bait advertising, the promotion, the artwork etc etc. Everything was pointing to this episode being about Ash and Ash himself and some sort of contact with Ho-oh, maybe Ash getting the Rainbow Wing that he'd carry around as a motivator (a more creative person could come up with a better plot). No one realistically expected a final resolution between the two, but people were hoping for something meaningful. I guess it was not going to be so, this episode seems like a very rude and intentional bait that's pretty much the writers saying "fuck you" and laughing like evil maniacs. The entire thing with Ho-oh amounted to absolutely fuck all and apparently CotDs are now far more important and have more relevant connections to Ho-oh (despite pretty much saying that Ho-oh is a lie, saying it doesn't exist, downplaying Ash's meeting with it, tossing the wing in anger etc.) than the main protagonist himself (whom it has appeared to quite often in the past, motivating Ash to push forward, implying the connection to "people and Pokemon's hearts being one")... Ash didn't even get to glimpse Ho-oh, not even out of the corner of his eyes. What could have been a pivotal episode for this series was turned into nothing more than a pointless filler that didn't lead anywhere.
  • Ok, I didn't really consider this to be an issue in the past and just sidelined it but now I get everyone's complaints about the music and composition. We're nine episodes in yet we're not seeing any variety of music, instead getting recycled tracks like the Lugia Appears and Lugia Ride ones... it really downplays their value because they sounded amazing back in SS002, now they're just meh. Don't even get me started on that hillybilly soundtrack. Like, we have eight generations worth of Pokemon games filled with a lot of amazing music and yet we're getting these 4-5 soundtracks recycled every time? One would expect them to use Gen 1 music in Kanto, Gen 3 in Kanto, Gen 4 in Sinnoh etc. The only reason this might be is because the composer lacks creativity or is very lazy and can't be arsed enough about the anime.
:confused: - Extra:
  • Gou is pretty much on the path to become Lawrence III Mk-2.0. "I want to catch Ho-oh"... just like how he's catching everything in sight with no second thoughts nor without any effort or difficulty. This kid started out interesting but now he's just a bore, I wonder what the writers are even trying to do other than the horrible Go-ification. What is even the point of Gou catching Mew, what does he plan to do with it?
  • I don't see the point of the entire Misdreavus and Stantler illusions, other than to add some random fake tension when the episode didn't need any, while using up precious screentime that could have been dedicated to Ash and Ho-oh. This is especially more jarring with the ease Gou catches them with. How did Stantler even climb those stairs though, without the group knowing? Also, was anyone else expecting Stantler to kick the Pokeballs away, because that would have been worth watching?
Verdict: The apex of bait-and-switch and intentional false advertising (for now at least). How anyone can defend the writing decisions much less like the episodes, especially this one, is beyond me so it's a 0/10.
 
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Let's not be too strict with this episode.

Yes, it's true that Pokemon 2019 has some major flaws, for example:
  • Ash just wandering around without having any goal
  • Ash and Go just jumping around between regions as if they had some sort of time machine.
  • And what bugs me most is the fact that Go can catch Pokemon with ease and without even having to battle them and then leaves them alone at some lab as if they were mere trophies. The last point really contradicts everything we've learned so far in the anime.
BUT apart from these recurring issues, I must say the episode itself was really nice. And to be honest, I didn't expect Ash to meet Ho-oh this time, because it was clearly the COTD's priviledge today.
I really liked his development from an old, broken and disillusioned person to a motivated man full of energy and joy after seeing Ho-oh. That was really heart-warming and nice to see.
Also, I liked the animation of the episode and the design of Ecruteak city which reminded me of an old Japanese town.

All in all, a nice episode to watch apart from the points I mentioned at the beginning. But this is something the writers have to tackle in general.
 
If you completely isolate this episode from its context, it's not that bad: semi-interesting CotDs, lovely artwork/animation, filler plot which is enjoyable enough and not bad for a new writer.

But then you remember that it's episode 9 of a new series that, let's be honest, we're not enjoying all that much, and this is the episode we've all been waiting for to inject some life back into Satoshi. Ho-Oh is his thing. They couldn't have made an exception and allowed a senior writer to be in charge and do more than pay lip service to episode 1?!

I don't even want to get started on Go's wasted potential as a character, the jarring lack of anything resembling a goal for Satoshi or the fucking horrible music.

I'll watch next week because the TRio are appearing so I am contractually obliged, but I can't imagine I'm going to be able to sit through 20 minutes like this every week for the next 3 years.
 
If you completely isolate this episode from its context, it's not that bad: semi-interesting CotDs, lovely artwork/animation, filler plot which is enjoyable enough and not bad for a new writer.

But then you remember that it's episode 9 of a new series that, let's be honest, we're not enjoying all that much, and this is the episode we've all been waiting for to inject some life back into Satoshi. Ho-Oh is his thing. They couldn't have made an exception and allowed a senior writer to be in charge and do more than pay lip service to episode 1?!

I don't even want to get started on Go's wasted potential as a character, the jarring lack of anything resembling a goal for Satoshi or the fucking horrible music.

I'll watch next week because the TRio are appearing so I am contractually obliged, but I can't imagine I'm going to be able to sit through 20 minutes like this every week for the next 3 years.
We cannot abandon our boys during this dark times, I refuse, we will get trough this, the sun will shine again
 
I noticed that the fandom was overhyping this episode since it was announced, so I let down my expectations. But not to the point that this could be a literal Johto filler with two weird illusions replacing Team Rocket. It's not terrible but I wouldn't be glad of revisiting it.

Good:
+Plots involving adults that need to believe in something again and kids doing crazy things to cheer up their loved ones are always heartwarming.
+Ash kinda drove the plot and his mention of EP001 was critical for the episode's progress.
+The backgrounds and animation was fine, it was cool to have an episode set while raining.

Bad:
-The illusions. What could have been an interesting obstacle consisted of just 2 backgrounds that were defeated by Hoothoot, and...
-Go's captures. They are even easier than in the Go app and don't provide an obstacle at all, actually they feel like Deus Ex Machinas. The writers clearly don't want us to see it as something bad and don't bother making it a challenge as now we're past Route 1 mons. It goes against Go's supposed "brainy" characterization.
-The two above combined make the episode feel devoid of drama and more like a childish adventure.
-Ho-Oh was interchangeable for any other legendary for the most part, it being a representation of new life wasn't even brought up.
-There was a lot of missed potential with Ash coming close to meet Ho-Oh again.
 
Honestly, I didn't even feel like watching this episode (considering how bad most people said it was), let alone review it. But, after skipping the previous episode, I decided to give it a shot in the hopes that maybe, maybe it wasn't complete and total garbage. But no, it was just as bad as everyone said it was.

This is the first episode since the OG series that actually focuses on Ho-oh. An episode whose poster art depicted Ash meeting Ho-oh and him obtaining one of its Rainbow Wings. An episode that was titled "the promise we made that day", in a way making people think that it was alluding to Ash and his encounter to Ho-oh in the anime's first episode. All of those things gave people (including myself) hope that this would be an amazing episode, that this could lead to the series improving and towards Ash finally getting a goal. But, of course, in true Pokémon 2019 fashion, the episode didn't deliver on any of that.

First problem: Ash doesn't get to interact with or even see Ho-oh at all. Yeah, they had him mention his encounter with it at the start of his journey and even showed a short flashback to it, which was all fine and dandy. But that flashback doesn't go anywhere and feels wasted (plus, it was really annoying that it took till the second quarter of the episode for Ash to mention him seeing it before). Now, I wasn't expecting some kind of resolution the whole Ash - Ho-oh thing, but, at the very least, I was expecting him to meet it, to interact with it and to be motivated by it to be more active in the pursuit of his goal. But I guess expecting the main character of the show and of the entire anime to be the focus of an entire episode and do something worthwhile is too much this series (unless their name is Go).

Second problem (which is related to the first problem): Some COTD getting more focus, screen time, development and even a conclusion to their dreams, while Ash is left to rot in the void. Why is it that a grumpy old man, who even tried to rip the Rainbow Wing that he got in half and then threw it away in frustration and who doesn't even believe that Ho-oh even exists, is more deserving of meeting Ho-oh than the protagonist of this anime, who actually had multiple, much more meaningful encounters with it, some of which even motivated him to push on and not give up on his goal? Maybe, if this was episode 60+ of the series and Ash had already had an episode dedicated to him and Ho-oh in this series, then maybe, maybe this would've been a little more acceptable. But this isn't the 60+ episode of the series and Ash hasn't meet or seen Ho-oh since the AG series.

Third problem: The usual issues. Go keeps on perfectly capturing every Pokémon in sight (and even planned on catching Ho-oh, a one-of-a-kind (as far as we know, that is) Legendary Pokémon, for kriff's sake), which continues to show just how much catching a Pokémon has devolved form a huge and important achievement for a main (one that they actually had to work hard towards accomplishing) to an effortless and mundane trifle. Ash still hasn't caught anything, despite us being 9 episode in. Koharu and Team Rocket continue to be irrelevant and missing-in-action (though their inclusion here wouldn't have made this episode any better). Professor Sakuragi continues to be nothing more than quest giver who lacks any personality, who barely interacts with his research assistants and who supports their goals, no matter how outlandish they may be.

Animation was good, I guess. Sakuragi's aides being utterly shocked when they heard Go exclaim that he wants to catch Ho-oh was also wonderful and made far better characters than Professor cherry blossom here, who was just happy that he and Ash have such crazy goals. And they did finally acknowledge something from the past (even if it was so irrelevant to the point that you could cut it and the episode wouldn't change at all). But other than those three very short and minor bright sides, this episode was nothing more than a piece of garbage. A completely wasted opportunity, surrounded by noting more than clickbait, lies and false advertising (what even was "The Promise We Made that Day" that they mentioned in the title?!), just like the rest of this Arceusforsaken series.
 
Why do people even care about random YouTube reviews? What’s stopping literally any one of us doing that and it being treated as important as that? Why is their opinion more valuable than any other random user? No offence but I don’t really get the point of the YouTube reviews on a discussion thread and their discussion.

Guess it comes down to preference of different modes of media among people.
 
lets rewiew...
NOSTALGA BAIT. ITS HO-OH AND ASH IS BATTLING IT!!! oh wait... ıts a fearow and a cyndaquil THEY WASTED A HO-OH EPISODE. THIS EPISODE WAS ABOUT A OLD MAN WHO DOSENT BELİEVE IN HO-OH. WHAT. COMPLETE GARBAGE!!!!! I CAN RANT FOR 4 HOURS BUT IM GONNA CUT IT SHORT. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
And Also Goh Is Catching Stantler and Misdreavus At Full Health With A POKEBALL. BOTH OF THOSE POKEMON'S CATCH RATES ARE 45:mad:
BS BS BS BS 1/10
 
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