Review XY117: The Forest's Curse and the White Bokurei!

[Neo Blaze]

XY117 - Bulbapedia, the community driven Pokémon encyclopedia

 

[ii kanji]

I found this a little bit... boring. Bokurei just wasn't interesting. They never really exploited either its status as dead-lost-child-possessing-a-tree-stump or the shtick of it not knowing the outside world. Plus, the animation was as ugly as XY animation gets.

The best bits were courtesy of Satoshi (it's a joy to see him being gloriously silly, my fave gag being when Serena/Citron were scared and Satoshi was hungry!!) and the TRio (Nyasu as Bokurei was JOKES and the final scene of the episode cracked me up), but still not enough to redeem a pretty flimsy plot. Is it me or was there more gratuitous Engrish than usual?

 

[ian.settlemyer.5]

I was afraid of this. Nobody caught that Phantump.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I was afraid of this. Nobody caught that Phantump.

I expected this. It's a Shiny...

 

[Neo Blaze]

Ash didn't get the Shiny Phantump. Boooo, what a shame. I'm not extremely surprised because I'm well aware it wasn't in any promotional material nor was it in any of M19's trailers, but I just think it's a missed opportunity. I just really imagined Phantump as a Pokémon suiting Ash (also nicely completing a Grass-Fire-Water pattern in his team), and Shiny Phantump just looks really awesome. But it wasn't meant to be

 

[A Wild Luxray]

This....Was actually pretty boring. I knew it wouldn't happen, but I still can't help but feel disappointed that Ash didn't finally fill his roster with one last Pokenon.

 

[Poke Trey]

Well, this sucked and so much for a shiny catch but I guess it wasn't meant to be

 

[UxieLover1994]

This episode was wasted potential, and just another "Ash protects a Pokémon from Team Rocket and returns it home" episode that was used hundreds of times by now. Nothing but a repeated filler plot that is guarantied to happen again in the very near future.

 

[SonansuMan]

I actually thought the episode was fairly decent, but the TR title card was a little misleading. TR is featured in it, yet they aren't as majorly featured as they were in episodes like XY063 or XY051. At least it isn't sad this time.

I'd hate to be those campers right about now.

Outside of the schemes, the Sirnight family costumes, and the rather interesting beginning, there really just wasn't much in this episode.

 

[Gengarzilla]

Since I knew all along that there'd be no capture, I suppose I can watch this episode without feeling disappointed. I'll go see it in full now.

 

[R!ck]

I don't hate or dislike any of the XY&Z episodes so far, every one had its charm but this and the Chesnaught/robon ep. are my least liked ones.

 

[Gard81]

All I have to say is that Wobbufett would have made a prettier Kirlia than Meowth. 1 point for TR for at least making their costumes more convincing than usual. And this episode should put to rest any remaining theories of Ash getting a new Pokemon before the movie.

 

[Litten]

How shocking, no one caught the Phantump. It's almost as if its hypothetical capture wasn't foreshadowed in the first place. I'm stunned.

 

[SonansuMan]

I wasn't much surprised that Satoshi didn't catch the Bokurei. I suppose Kojiro nor Satoshi are having a Grass-type this series.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Disappointing considering that this was a perfect opportunity. Don't know why they continue giving us episodes with shiny pokemon if no one is catching them.

 

[Misty-Moo]

I thought this was fine for a standard "our heroes help out a Potd" episode. I liked Jessie arguing over the macaron with Phantump, seeing Team Rocket's disguises and the part where Phantump introduced all the new friends it had met to the others.

 

[Alola]

The older I get, the more strange these types of episodes feel. I can understand helping a Cotd. But when Ash & Co help a Potd and bond with it...and proceed to leave it, it leaves an incomplete feeling. And it isn't as if this is the status-quo for Ash & Co, as several of their party Pokemon had similar initial interactions and later did successfully join the party.

I guess the demographic that the show is aimed at wouldn't mind, but all I see are wasted opportunities for party Pokemon. Especially since Ash has always had a grass-type before and a shiny Pokemon once. Same applies to James-bonus points because then him and Jessie would both own Kalos's Grass/Ghost evolution lines.

 

[Nala]

This episode was definitely a cookie cutter filler. You know, the kind where, if you were to re-watch the series, you could accidentally skip it and never notice. I was more so amused by the silliness of it all, if nothing else. Filler-wise, not bad, but not very good either.

 

[SuperSharge]

PRAISE TO THE GODS NAME LORD GOODRA CAN RETURN!!

 

[SuperSharge]

This was a meh episode though imo but still it was a little good....