Review SM027: Come Forth! The Red, Red Gaze of Lugarugan!!

[Nicolas721]

The episode was good and had a nice amount of surprises...

-A look at Alola's urban parts.
-Ash training!
-Ash's Pokemon having interactions within them and being cute in general.
-Rockruff having focus.
-Lillie rushing into Gladion.
-Lillie and Hobbs discussing Gladion's past.
-Ash and Gladion having admiration of each other. This is probably the thing that will make a difference between the Ash/Gladion dynamic and the Ash/Alain dynamic, Alain never looked for Ash, nor one inspired the other on what to do (post-league notwithstanding).

...until TR attacked. The writer of this episode must have watched a lot of AG/DP recently. Not only it was intrusive and old-fashioned, but also it didn't fullfiled its purpose. Rockruff was supposed to be shown as brave, but all he did was bite a net. Also, a good part of TR's charm in this generation comes from their Pokemon. They destroyed my hype, but at least they made me see how Gladion was actually quite plain.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

@jonathan keller they don't know for the benefit of the audience, just so that Rotom can pop up and give the info to the audience and the characters.

 

[Gabo2oo]

Screw all this Gladion stuff was James driving from the wrong side of the truck? WTF??

 

[Likeitornot.]

Screw all this Gladion stuff was James driving from the wrong side of the truck? WTF??

In Japan, the driver's seat is on the left-hand side of the car. It's the same for where I live, so I never tend to pick up on these things until someone who lives in a country where it's on the right points it out. It was the same in Diamond and Pearl, where Reggie is driving the truck. You could say it's not very true to form (Alola being based off of Hawaii), but since it's for the Japanese audience first and foremost, they will have it on that side so kids aren't thrown off either.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

In Japan, the driver's seat is on the left-hand side of the car. It's the same for where I live, so I never tend to pick up on these things until someone who lives in a country where it's on the right points it out. It was the same in Diamond and Pearl, where Reggie is driving the truck. You could say it's not very true to form (Alola being based off of Hawaii), but since it's for the Japanese audience first and foremost, they will have it on that side so kids aren't thrown off either.

Interestingly, this seems changed with time.

Spoiler: OS

Spoiler: AG

Spoiler: DP

Spoiler: BW

Spoiler: XY

 

[Gabo2oo]

In Japan, the driver's seat is on the left-hand side of the car. It's the same for where I live, so I never tend to pick up on these things until someone who lives in a country where it's on the right points it out. It was the same in Diamond and Pearl, where Reggie is driving the truck. You could say it's not very true to form (Alola being based off of Hawaii), but since it's for the Japanese audience first and foremost, they will have it on that side so kids aren't thrown off either.

No, Japan has LHT so the driver's seat is on the right-side of the car, and that's how it's been shown most of the time in the anime. In fact, it has been consistently shown in the right-side during BW and XY, even though Unova and Kalos are based on RHT regions where the driver's seat is on the left-side. That's why I found it so odd that they would show it on the left-side now, despite not doing it for the previous two series.

Spoiler

Have some driving Rockets from OS, XY and SM for comparison (aren't they the cutest?):

Interestingly, this seems changed with time.

As you can see there, Scott's car is the only exception. Gary's driver is actually on the right seat because he enters through the left door a little while after that scene:

Spoiler

(...No, he's not the one driving here, sadly. The driver is right beside him.)

 

[Likeitornot.]

Oh, my bad - I actually did mean the right-hand seat was the driver's seat in my original post, since that's the design of most cars in former UK colonies and Japan and yes my perspective was off too. However, you can purchase ones with a left-hand driver's seat if you wish, perhaps Cynthia's could be explained by the fact that it would be her preference, being a Sinnoh native. The others (like the one in XY) I'm not too sure about however, just something that was overlooked. Scott's car design could have been to put emphasis on how bizarre his driving style actually, but that's just mere speculation on my part. I think a lot are cultural inconsistencies though, Professor Juniper's car in BW001 is a right-hand driving style too, IIRC. There are cultural inconsistencies with the newer regions though, so I suppose sometimes they will use things more in relation to the Japanese culture, but sometimes they will attempt to be more western with their concepts, such as here.

I don't really have a problem with them doing it now per se - I think the anime has been for a while, combining aspects or motifs of Japanese culture for its primary audience to appreciate even in foreign regions such as Alola but it has also demonstrated ways in which the culture is supposed to be foreign to its primary audience too (such as the children in Cheren's school wearing uniform when most American elementary schools don't have a uniform but in the same breath, the fictional script that debuted in BW that is based off of the roman alphabet as well as having more cuisine with a foreign origin being used in BW, and no onigiri in sight iirc). It acts for a nice mix where the audience can have familiar cultural aspects to be comfortable with but also to reinforce that it's still based off another culture.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I'm kinda glad the battle didn't happen actually because Ash was at a major disadvantage not having a non resisted Z-move. I mean I would have prefered if he used Pikachu though but I thought the Gladion Lillie stuff was okay.

Maybe it's because my expectations were low.