Preview JN018: Satoshi Participates! The Pokémon World Championships!!

[Egakor]

The trophies and all that are fine, but I'm focusing more on Ash himself. He's showing this unfaltering ignorance of his past that is really frustrating. Not bringing up his own Bulbasaur in episode 3, not admitting that he's stepped foot in the the other regions, and especially not recalling Piplup and Croagunk in episode 8 is pretty inexcusable. I just want something to come out of his mouth that implies he doesn't have amnesia for everything following OS001.

He did have that comment about Mankey in episode 15.

 

[BigDocFan]

New images and summary can be found here

『ポケモンワールドチャンピオンシップス』への挑戦を決めたサトシ。初戦の相手は――TVアニメ『ポケットモンスター』3月22日放送のあらすじ＆場面カットを紹介 | 超！アニメディア

TVアニメ『ポケットモンスター』3月22日放送のあらすじ&場面カットが到着したので、紹介する。 　 ＜3月22日放送「サトシ参戦！ポケモンワールドチャンピオンシップス！！」あらすじ＞ ダンデとのバトルを目指して …

cho-animedia.jp

 

[Daren]

Wonder what's up with Pikachu's handstand thunderbolt? Like it's confident smirk there.

Still no sign of Raboot. I was wondering if maybe it's watching the battle but staying separate from Gou.

 

[BigDocFan]

Maybe it ran away, fed up with Go's treatment last week

It certainly didn't look pleased

 

[SinnohanVulpix]

Maybe it ran away, fed up with Go's treatment last week

It certainly didn't look pleased

We did see in the preview that Go looked like he was looking for someone in the gym. Then again, Raboot's voice actor isn't listed in the credits. My prediction is that Raboot will make some appearances throughout the episode, but just won't have a speaking role since it's ignoring Go.

Speaking of Raboot, how is Go going to respond to this? We've seen that Go's biggest fear seems to be losing his friends, and Scorbunny was his best friend before last week's episode. I imagine this will have quite an impact on him emotionally.

 

[Venomaid]

The trophies and all that are fine, but I'm focusing more on Ash himself. He's showing this unfaltering ignorance of his past that is really frustrating. Not bringing up his own Bulbasaur in episode 3, not admitting that he's stepped foot in the the other regions, and especially not recalling Piplup and Croagunk in episode 8 is pretty inexcusable. I just want something to come out of his mouth that implies he doesn't have amnesia for everything following OS001.

I don't understand how him not mentioning Bulbasaur, Piplup, Croagunk or every other Pokemon that he's previously owned or seen means that there's a continuity issue. Ash has seen practically every Pokemon from Gens 1-7 by this point and it's ridiculous to expect him to mention all the times he's previously seen those Pokemon. As long as he doesn't do or say something that explicitly contradicts the past, I don't think people should complain about continuity.

 

[Daren]

Speaking of Raboot, how is Go going to respond to this? We've seen that Go's biggest fear seems to be losing his friends, and Scorbunny was his best friend before last week's episode. I imagine this will have quite an impact on him emotionally.

Yeah, this might actually be harder on him than Charizard's issues were for Ash. I don't think we'll see too much of it in this episode (I doubt they'd want to cram that plot into Ash's first World Champion qualifier match) though.

 

[Daenerys]

Speaking of Raboot, how is Go going to respond to this? We've seen that Go's biggest fear seems to be losing his friends, and Scorbunny was his best friend before last week's episode. I imagine this will have quite an impact on him emotionally.

Unlike Ash who spent like 60 episodes ****ing around not doing a damn thing about his disobedient Charizard, I feel that Go will probably try to get on Raboot's good side a lot quicker. I'd love to see some progress on that in this episode.

 

[SinnohanVulpix]

Yeah, this might actually be harder on him than Charizard's issues were for Ash. I don't think we'll see too much of it in this episode (I doubt they'd want to cram that plot into Ash's first World Champion qualifier match) though.

Yeah, I wouldn't want the Raboot story to overshadow Ash's battle either. My prediction is that this episode, Go will ask either Ash or Sakuragi why Raboot is suddenly ignoring him, to which he will say that it likely has to do with a Pokemon's personality changing upon evolution, making him think that it isn't his fault. That way, it won't be constantly on Go's mind while Ash has his battle (or during the next two episodes that don't focus on him). We'll still see some brief scenes now and then of Go trying to bond with Raboot, but not making much progress since he doesn't know what's actually going on.

Once we have an episode entirely dedicated to Go, that's when I think he'll realize that the reason Raboot is ignoring him is because of how he treated it. Given what we've seen from episode 3, I predict that this will lead to Go having a flashback to when a friend of his rejected him after an argument just like Raboot did. (the one who lead to Go calling Ash "one of those guys" during their argument). Whether or not this is his first loss of a major friendship, I can see him taking this really hard, possibly to do the point of having a breakdown or believing he's a bad person (yes, I know this is kinda intense for Pokemon, but come on. Sun and Moon has 3 episodes about loss.) Whatever this arc will look like, I'm sure that it will at least have more of an emotional impact than the average "disobedient" plotline like Ash's Charmeleon or Dawn's Piloswine.

 

[Silktree]

I'll be satisfied with this episode as long as Lt. Surge is referenced and Pikachu takes care of Raichu rather easily. That would justify not using Lt. Surge himself, since making his Raichu secondary would have been a weird choice.

I also want Electrode to put up one hell of a fight, but the preview makes that rather obvious.

 

[dawn dusk]

I'll be satisfied with this episode as long as Lt. Surge is referenced and Pikachu takes care of Raichu rather easily. That would justify not using Lt. Surge himself, since making his Raichu secondary would have been a weird choice.

I also want Electrode to pull one hell of a fight, but the preview makes that rather obvious.

yes. I am with you. They can't kill him as he is the hulk of pokemon series.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Pikachu takes care of Raichu rather easily.

No, thanks.

 

[Egakor]

Since they even bother saying that Pisces is an acting Gym Leader in this new tweet of the official Twitter, Lt. Surge will probably be mentioned in this episode at least.

View: https://twitter.com/anipoke_PR/status/1241273339210944512

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

You guys keep forgetting that Tomioka is writing this episode. A reference/flashback to Surge is practically a guarantee.

 

[BigDocFan]

I like how the image suggests one of the man with Pisces is chewing gum, not something we see everyday so a nice touch

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

You guys keep forgetting that Tomioka is writing this episode. A reference/flashback to Surge is practically a guarantee.

I prefer not to place blind faith based on speculation. If we expect references and then don’t get one, I’m going to get a hoard of people responding But! But! You were not promised anything! You’re simply entitled and looking to nitpick!

I’d rather not take the risk, being cautiously realistic,

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I prefer not to place blind faith based on speculation. If we expect references and then don’t get one, I’m going to get a hoard of people responding But! But! You were not promised anything! You’re simply entitled and looking to nitpick!

I’d rather not take the risk, being cautiously realistic,

Whatever floats your boat. I personally have faith in Tomioka's track record.

 

[Daren]

I expect Surge to be referenced (kids know who he is thanks to Let's Go and Masters), but his previous battles with Ash to be glossed over.
Edit: Wasn't Tomioka head writer during XY? It was famously scarce on continuity references and was the first time we didn't see Ash's reserves at the ranch in the end.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Edit: Wasn't Tomioka head writer during XY? It was famously scarce on continuity references and was the first time we didn't see Ash's reserves at the ranch in the end.

XY was very self-contained. But in the original series, for example, his episodes frequently contained references to the past.

 

[Egakor]

Btw, from what I saw on Twitter, Japanese audiences are also confused about Pisces being acting Gym Leader of Vermilion Gym since they also expected to see Surge here.