Preview JN105: Eievui and Nymphia! Encounters and Reunions!!

[ShinyOotachi]

Where’s ma gal Candy Musalina at? Maybe that’s what they’re hiding from the preview…

I desperately want for Jesse to be a part of the Contest too!

How funny would it be if they did something similar to Grookey's debut episode and have the Sylveon be a Team Rocket Gatcha Pokemon under the temporary ownership of Jesse in disguise for the Contest? As much as I want Serena to appear, I'd honestly die laughing

 

[Sai]

There's a lot happening for just 1 episode, so maybe Koharu fails the performance stage

 

[Handy Man]

Interesting that Wallace shows a gym badge in the preview. Maybe he regressed back into being a gym leader after losing his champion title to Steven? This also makes me wonder what happened to Juan.

 

[Rath]

Interesting that Wallace shows a gym badge in the preview. Maybe he regressed back into being a gym leader after losing his champion title to Steven? This also makes me wonder what happened to Juan.

Juan is Wallace's mentor and the Sootopolis Gym Leader before him. When Wallace became Champion, Juan became Gym Leader again. Now that Wallace is back in the Gym, Juan most likely retired again.

 

[Sai]

Interesting that Wallace shows a gym badge in the preview. Maybe he regressed back into being a gym leader after losing his champion title to Steven? This also makes me wonder what happened to Juan.

Yeah the summary confirmed he was a Gym leader. Juan was Wallace's mentor in the games so he likely just retired. We knew since XY that Steven was champion of Hoenn

 

[L-05308]

Ahh the Wallace - Steven weirdness, just to remind us it’s not just a Jouneys thing to suddenly make people champions with little explanation for the only guy. Steven was the Champion in XY leaving Wallace a question mark… is it really fair that somone once the champion of the region is now a gym Leader?

No way will any reference be made to Wallace being champion when last Ash met him - it’ll just be skirted over…

 

[Nicolas721]

YES!!!!! MY BEAUTIFUL SWAMPERT FINALLY IN A BIG ROLE!

Almost makes me forget about Juan being potentially retconned out or ignored, Marian, Sukizo and Contesta being potentially retconned out or ignored, the battle round being potentially retconned out or ignored, Chloe's development being crammed into one episode and the Serena bait. Almost...

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

There's also gonna be a battle between Ash's Dragonite and Wallace's Swampert as shown in the preview

Spoiler

SWAMPERT!!!!!!!!!!
Serena better interact with Ash or I’ll be pissed

 

[Sai]

Ahh the Wallace - Steven weirdness, just to remind us it’s not just a Jouneys thing to suddenly make people champions with little explanation for the only guy. Steven was the Champion in XY leaving Wallace a question mark… is it really fair that somone once the champion of the region is now a gym Leader?

No way will any reference be made to Wallace being champion when last Ash met him - it’ll just be skirted over…

What is the mystery here? We knew Steven was Hoenn champion in XY. Wallace is still a top coordinator and from Sootopolis Gym, why are you asking this now instead of when XY made Steven champion again? There's really nothing to go into detail with.

 

[Handy Man]

Timeline status of Hoenn Champion/Sootopolis Gym Leader:

AG022: Steve Stone introduced, his status is unknown and won’t be known until XY.

AG110: Juan appears for the first time, and is revealed to be the current 8th gym leader at this point in time.

DP075: Wallace finally makes his anime debut, and he is currently revealed to be the chamoion of Hoenn. We could infer that Juan is still the 8th gym leader at this point in time, and Steven either lost his champion title to Wallace at some point, or Steven has yet to be a champion at all.

Mega Evolution Special II: Steven is now reintroduced as the Hoenn region’s current champion. This implies that he beat Wallace in a champion title match off-screen at some point between mid-DP and early-XY. We can also assume that Wallace regressed back to gym leader status around this time, with Juan’s status being unknown. Also notably, Ash did not imply that he remembered Steven or not when they met again in XY135.

JN105: This episode will reaffirm Wallace’s current status as the 8th gym leader. The question on if Steven or Juan will get brought up in this episode is unknown, but also unlikely.

 

[Sai]

I also get the impression Wallace enjoys Contests more than battling, so he may have personally stepped down besides his Gym duties

 

[Turbo]

I'm looking forward to both sides of the plot in this episode

It seems Chloe is literally taking the player spot from ORAS where they meet Lisia which is cool

I'm mixed on the contest being more like the games

As if they call it something different like emphasizing the “spectacular” part I'm fine with it but if it replaced the AG-DP contests I'm more mixed as I feel then they could of just made this “Hoenn Performances”
And would also make me question what Dawn is doing, is she doing the old or new ones (or BDSP ones)?

As for Wallace vs Ash seems to be just a mock battle or a test of strength or along those lines
Like when Chloe’s practicing or getting introduced to Lisia or something Ash is doing this
So I don't think the episode will feel crammed

And yeah Wallace being a gym leader is fine with me as I prefer Steven as Champion and he has some connection to the gym already

And at least games wise characters like Blue being champion to 8th gym leader has happened just like the inverse of Wallace and Iris going from 8th to champion has happened

Not going to touch go too deep into Sylveon as I still think it's Lisia’s
And even if it's not, cool could be anyone lol
I feel too many people tried to attach Serena’s name to it that at this point you either ruined a fun surprise or put too many expectations on the Sylveon connection and will hate it

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

It would be disappointing if Serena appeared here and if this was her last appearance ever. In the preview Ash looked sad so I wonder if it’s because he didn’t get to see Serena which is the writers excuse of “we don’t want to deal with Amourshipping”

 

[Sai]

If Serena appears which I still am 50/50 on it may not be her only appearance. Characters have returned multiple times this gen already with seemingly every one of his companions getting more than one return.

 

[Welkamo]

Wallace and Lisia are going to appear!!!!! I'm so happy!!!!!!! Seeing them made me gasp with joy

Merchandise from 2015 showing Lisia with a Sylveon

Also this artwork is really pretty

Ahh the Wallace - Steven weirdness, just to remind us it’s not just a Jouneys thing to suddenly make people champions with little explanation for the only guy. Steven was the Champion in XY leaving Wallace a question mark… is it really fair that somone once the champion of the region is now a gym Leader?

No way will any reference be made to Wallace being champion when last Ash met him - it’ll just be skirted over…

I mean there could always be the explanation of "Steven was going on a journey to find himself/rocks/etc." There could also be the explanation of "oh I want to do Contests but being a Gym Leader lent better to that lifestyle than being Champion".

 

[FelipePR]

Mega Evolution Special II: Steven is now reintroduced as the Hoenn region’s current champion. This implies that he beat Wallace in a champion title match off-screen at some point between mid-DP and early-XY. We can also assume that Wallace regressed back to gym leader status around this time, with Juan’s status being unknown. Also notably, Ash did not imply that he remembered Steven or not when they met again in XY135.

- Well said, we assume that Wallace has regressed back to gym leader status simply because this is his situation in ORAS. But as far as I know, and I could easily be wrong, there is no evidence in the anime that Wallace has returned to the gym leader position, or that he is not an Elite Four or a full time coordinator.

- It should be noted, on the other hand, that, in the games, there is no indication that Steven is currently considered the Champion of the region. First, ORAS is just a Ruby/Sapphire Remake. Other than ORAS, the only games in which Steven is referenced as a champion are HGSS and BW2. The first one, supposedly, takes place before the events of the third generation, while in the other both current champions and former champions are part of the Champions Tournament.

- In Sinnoh, we are told that Steven is traveling the regions in search of rare stones. While in BW, Steven is cited as a powerful wandering Pokémon Trainer who collects rare rocks.

- In short, only in the anime did Steven become the champion again, and all this discussion about Wallace's status is only up to the anime to answer.

- But personally, I imagine he's gone back to being the leader of the eighth gym. Because, as one of the few descendants of the ancient people of Sootopolis, I believe he considers is his duty to guard the place.

 

[Rath]

If Serena DOES appear, probably be little more than a cameo and she won't see or interact with Ash at all, the episode is crowded enough as it is

 

[FelipePR]

If Serena appears which I still am 50/50 on it may not be her only appearance. Characters have returned multiple times this gen already with seemingly every one of his companions getting more than one return.

Of course not, at this point, Serena is probably the second most popular human character in the anime, just behind Ash.

Not wanting to be partial, but already being, it seems to me a bizarre attitude of the producers to make her reappearance just a cameo.
In addition to being disrespectful to a huge number of fans, such an attitude makes no marketing sense.

In fact, Serena deserves a double reappearance. The first one focused on her character's accomplishments and evolution, and the second one more focused on her interaction with the protagonist. Without it, I will not be satisfied.

Not even if they do it, actually... Lol

 

[Sai]

If Serena DOES appear, probably be little more than a cameo and she won't see or interact with Ash at all, the episode is crowded enough as it is

Characters have returned more than one either way, so there's always next time.

 

[L-05308]

Wallace and Lisia are going to appear!!!!! I'm so happy!!!!!!! Seeing them made me gasp with joy

Also this artwork is really pretty

I mean there could always be the explanation of "Steven was going on a journey to find himself/rocks/etc." There could also be the explanation of "oh I want to do Contests but being a Gym Leader lent better to that lifestyle than being Champion".

I’m not saying it isn’t easily explained with fairly standard and sober headcannons - I’m just saying that you’ll need them because it won’t be touched on at all.

What is the mystery here? We knew Steven was Hoenn champion in XY. Wallace is still a top coordinator and from Sootopolis Gym, why are you asking this now instead of when XY made Steven champion again? There's really nothing to go into detail with.

I did ask in XY, as we all did, but found it was a decision made to bring the character’s role in line with that in their most recent game (ORAS) - just as has been done here. And what was done with Iris.

I’m just saying someone who is known to be a champion level Pokémon trainer now being a gym leader is going to make for an incredibly hard gym battle.

An argument could be made that Volkner is battling at the level of champions or that gym leaders will adjust their battle style so as to be an appropriate challenge for challengers - but what I’m saying is, the anime won’t do any of that arguing - it’ll just have Wallace show off that redesigned badge and that’s it.

In no way does it contradict previously established canon, though it does leaves gap which the audience has to - however easily - fill themselves.