Preview JN053: Catch the Legend!? Find the Guardian of Water - Suicune!!

[Kurolegacy]

Regardless, they want Ash and Goh to be seen as equals, which is why they’ve been focusing more on Goh for the past 20 episodes. As seen with this series, Ash does most of his training off-screen, so while unfortunate, I don’t think it’s that hard to imagine that Goh does train with his Pokémon as well, at least as of the last 20 episodes where he became more interested in battles. Goh has joined in on Ash’s training before, after all. We have also seen that Pokémon like Scyther train themselves, and Heracross and Darmanitan train with each other. It’s not like all of his Pokémon sit around doing nothing all day. Goh has had Ash’s guidance every step of the way, and Goh has watched almost all of his battles. We’ve seen that Ash’s determination, confidence, and love for battles has rubbed off on Goh, and that has allowed him to get stronger and come out with more unique strategies.

All of it ends up coming down to the episodic nature of the series and their goal to show off every Pokémon, which has to include the legendaries to some extent. Is Goh’s development entirely believable? No. But they’ve set up Goh to be as important as Ash this series and they need Goh to be able to handle powerful threats on his own without Ash’s help, as I assume we’re only going to be encountering more and more powerful Pokémon, which will continue to include Legendaries.

The problem is, you can’t believably magically make Go into Ash’s equal especially with the showing that they’ve presented to us. The anime exists within a medium of show don’t tell and while some things may occur offscreen, that is a massive leap to make it remotely believable that Go could be on equal footing with Ash especially when Go was never presented in any way that gives him any more than the average amount of experience with Pokémon. Remember how it was back in Unova with how ridiculous it was that Trip was a new trainer yet somehow was always above Ash, who was an experienced trainer who traveled 4 regions? Well this is on the same level as that. You can’t just overnight development to a new character and expect it not to look horribly contrived.

 

[XavierAnime]

Proof that Suicune is the Pokémon being caught:

Spoiler: Before

View attachment 139229

Spoiler: After

View attachment 139230

He did it?! Goh catches a Suicune?!

 

[SlyGecko]

The problem is, you can’t believably magically make Go into Ash’s equal especially with the showing that they’ve presented to us. The anime exists within a medium of show don’t tell and while some things may occur offscreen, that is a massive leap to make it remotely believable that Go could be on equal footing with Ash especially when Go was never presented in any way that gives him any more than the average amount of experience with Pokémon. Remember how it was back in Unova with how ridiculous it was that Trip was a new trainer yet somehow was always above Ash, who was an experienced trainer who traveled 4 regions? Well this is on the same level as that. You can’t just overnight development to a new character and expect it not to look horribly contrived.

That is why I have a strong dislike for Goh. He just suddenly when from "noob level of battling with extreme catching luck" to "Ash level of battling with near peferct catching luck" without the training.

 

[nickdt]

People don't forget: Alola opening implied Ash catching Grubbin and we all know how that turned out.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I genuinely hope this is a fakeout. I have a huge issue with Goh catching a legendary.

 

[nickdt]

I mean, Goh catching a legendary provides a problem, since if he has a legendary, whats the point in him catching regular mons still. There isn't any, which kinda makes his goal pointless as well.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I mean, Goh catching a legendary provides a problem, since if he has a legendary, whats the point in him catching regular mons still. There isn't any, which kinda makes his goal pointless as well.

Well considering his goal amounts to ‘catch every Pokémon to work up to Mew’ with them having given us some lip service of it being to understand them in an attempt to add some semblance of depth without actually showing it back in the Mewtwo episode, most of his captures are entirely pointless sans serving as an arbitrary measuring stick. The Pokémon he captures serve no purpose other than to become stock background footage.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Why would the poachers believe anything was caught if they didn’t see the Poké Ball hit Suicune and turn it into the red energy or the sparkle effect?

I don't know, why do you believe it when you didn't see all that? Maybe Gou is playing the poachers in the same way that this preview is playing the audience.

 

[Silktree]

It seems like a temporary capture as a means of rescuing Suicune. The real problem is that it's being treated as a regular Pokemon to begin with. This is the legendary that made quick work of TRio and Eusine back in Johto, and these new hunters don't even seem competent.

I guess you really don't know how good you have it until you end up with something worse. "For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll" looks like a masterpiece now.

 

[SlyGecko]

It seems like a temporary capture as a means of rescuing Suicune. The real problem is that it's being treated as a regular Pokemon to begin with. This is the legendary that made quick work of TRio and Eusine back in Johto, and these new hunters don't even seem competent.

I'd rather it be a fake out capture than a temporary capture. Give the toxic Goh fanboys less of a reason to brag because we all know, they'll brag about it.

 

[GrimmEvil]

Well considering his goal amounts to ‘catch every Pokémon to work up to Mew’ with them having given us some lip service of it being to understand them in an attempt to add some semblance of depth without actually showing it back in the Mewtwo episode, most of his captures are entirely pointless sans serving as an arbitrary measuring stick. The Pokémon he captures serve no purpose other than to become stock background footage.

I still can't rationalize how catching a pokemon equals understanding a pokemon when after that your interactions with them seem to be feeding them, using them in some weird competition or to catch other pokemon but considering they turned Ash into a "fight pokemon to understand them" line which I am pretty sure is not how Ash has thought for the last 20+ years. Who can honestly say what the writers are thinking.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

The problem is, you can’t believably magically make Go into Ash’s equal especially with the showing that they’ve presented to us. The anime exists within a medium of show don’t tell and while some things may occur offscreen, that is a massive leap to make it remotely believable that Go could be on equal footing with Ash especially when Go was never presented in any way that gives him any more than the average amount of experience with Pokémon. Remember how it was back in Unova with how ridiculous it was that Trip was a new trainer yet somehow was always above Ash, who was an experienced trainer who traveled 4 regions? Well this is on the same level as that. You can’t just overnight development to a new character and expect it not to look horribly contrived.

Cameron and Trip. Both were total noobs and somehow outclassed Ash on separate occasions. Goh should have been on Sawyer’s level; someone who doesn’t know the ropes, relies on his knowledge, but isn’t confident and overthinks. Thanks to Ash, he became more assertive in his battling style, and not being hesitant. We saw Sawyer on occasions, and whilst we never saw him train, we saw him learning everything around him every time he was on screen. Goh, unfortunately, hasn’t learnt that much visually. Sure, he sees Ash battle practically every day, but we’ve never seen Ash actually give him advice, or anyone lay it into him. Goh has never been shown to struggle, and that’s what makes it so unbelievable. Sawyer lost plenty, and got experience from Steve Stone of all people, an despite having one gym badge when he first battles Ash, he made so many errors. Somehow, Goh is perfect in everything, whether that’s Dynamaxing, catching, strategy, etc. I don’t mind Goh, but I can see why others don’t.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I still can't rationalize how catching a pokemon equals understanding a pokemon when after that your interactions with them seem to be feeding them, using them in some weird competition or to catch other pokemon but considering they turned Ash into a "fight pokemon to understand them" line which I am pretty sure is not how Ash has thought for the last 20+ years. Who can honestly say what the writers are thinking.

If I’d have to guess, their thought process is that they believe that a character who is diluted into a singular concept is a fully realized character without realizing that all that does is turn them into a shallow caricature. I’d say that the episodic format is at very least somewhat to blame for the oversimplification.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

After seeing the preview, I can only hope it'll be a fake capture (or the Pokedex not working correctly, which would actually be a nice explanation if you ask me).
You simply don't catch a legendary Pokemon that easily and if you do, yor name shouldn't be Go. It just doesn't feel right. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the fandom's hatred for Go would increase even more.
This Anime has always been about Ash being in the center of attention. Personally, I don't like the idea of Go being equal to him at all.

 

[Islander Princess]

I'm pretty sure that's a fake out. Remember the preview for the Pikachu episode that tried to convince us Ash's Pikachu had evolved? I'm assuming this is more of the same.

It's very evident in the preview that the reason Goh threw a poke ball at Suicune was to get it away from the poachers. If it really doesn't break out of the poke ball (which, to me is also possible; that shot of a successful capture could easily be from a different part of the episode with an entirely different Pokémon), it's probably because of its injuries. And honestly, I do not see Goh keeping a Pokémon that he only managed to catch because it was hurt and as part of a rescue, legendary or not. Despite how many people feel about Goh, he really isn't that callous.

That's what I'm standing by until the episode airs. This series has been very big on pulling fast ones, so it kind of feels par for the course.

 

[R1ke]

Eusine when he finds out Goh caught Suicune

Spoiler

 

[SlyGecko]

After seeing the preview, I can only hope it'll be a fake capture (or the Pokedex not working correctly, which would actually be a nice explanation if you ask me).
You simply don't catch a legendary Pokemon that easily and if you do, yor name shouldn't be Go. It just doesn't feel right. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the fandom's hatred for Go would increase even more.
This Anime has always been about Ash being in the center of attention. Personally, I don't like the idea of Go being equal to him at all.

It sometimes seem like the writers aren't trying to make Goh equal to Ash but better than him. Think about it, Ash spends a whole episode to bond with a Pokemon before he catches it. Goh just one shots every capture. When one of Ash's Pokemon evolves, it normally feels earned. Can't really say that for both Cinderace's evolution. Ash has experience, Goh has dumb luck.

 

[swiftgallade46]

It sometimes seem like the writers aren't trying to make Goh equal to Ash but better than him.

I don’t really agree with this because it just feels balanced to me by Ash’s far superior battling skills when compared to Go.
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I also think that if Go really does catch Suicune in that scene, it will probably be released soon after.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

He did it?! Goh catches a Suicune?!

It seems like it.

I'm pretty sure that's a fake out. Remember the preview for the Pikachu episode that tried to convince us Ash's Pikachu had evolved? I'm assuming this is more of the same.

It's very evident in the preview that the reason Goh threw a poke ball at Suicune was to get it away from the poachers. If it really doesn't break out of the poke ball (which, to me is also possible; that shot of a successful capture could easily be from a different part of the episode with an entirely different Pokémon), it's probably because of its injuries. And honestly, I do not see Goh keeping a Pokémon that he only managed to catch because it was hurt and as part of a rescue, legendary or not. Despite how many people feel about Goh, he really isn't that callous.

That's what I'm standing by until the episode airs. This series has been very big on pulling fast ones, so it kind of feels par for the course.

I can also see it happening that way. It would also continue the character development seen in this week's episode in that he considers a Pokémon's feelings too regarding where it wants to be.

 

[Black&White]

Sweet. Goh got his second Legendary. Hopefully he gets Raikou and Entei next