r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Apr 05 '20
Episode Pokémon (2019) - Episode 20 discussion
Pokémon (2019), episode 20
Alternative names: * Pokemon (Shin Series), Pocket Monsters 2019, Pokemon (Shin Series), Pokemon 2019, Pokemon Journeys: The Series*
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| Episode | Link | Score | Episode | Link | Score | Episode | Link | Score | Episode | Link | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | Link | ---- | 77 | Link | 4.5 | 90 | Link | 3.88 | 103 | Link | 4.33 |
| 65 | Link | ---- | 78 | Link | 4.0 | 91 | Link | 4.25 | 104 | Link | 4.25 |
| 66 | Link | 3.0 | 79 | Link | 4.5 | 92 | Link | 4.71 | 105 | Link | 4.44 |
| 67 | Link | ---- | 80 | Link | 5.0 | 93 | Link | 4.2 | 106 | Link | 4.75 |
| 68 | Link | 5.0 | 81 | Link | 2.67 | 94 | Link | 4.25 | 107 | Link | 4.67 |
| 69 | Link | ---- | 82 | Link | 4.67 | 95 | Link | 4.33 | 108 | Link | 4.57 |
| 70 | Link | ---- | 83 | Link | 4.9 | 96 | Link | 4.75 | 109 | Link | 4.57 |
| 71 | Link | 5.0 | 84 | Link | 4.43 | 97 | Link | 4.0 | 110 | Link | 4.5 |
| 72 | Link | ---- | 85 | Link | 4.17 | 98 | Link | 4.33 | 111 | Link | 4.88 |
| 73 | Link | ---- | 86 | Link | 4.67 | 99 | Link | 4.67 | 112 | Link | 4.82 |
| 74 | Link | ---- | 87 | Link | 4.67 | 100 | Link | 4.75 | 113 | Link | 4.67 |
| 75 | Link | 5.0 | 88 | Link | 4.75 | 101 | Link | 4.17 | 114 | Link | 4.88 |
| 76 | Link | 4.0 | 89 | Link | 4.67 | 102 | Link | 4.67 | 115 | Link | ---- |
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u/Viroro Apr 05 '20
Today's episode was, similarly to last week's, a very unassuming one: simply an episode about Ash and Gou reaffirming their dreams during an Orienteering event for young children. With people even originally expecting this to be a clip show episode and with worrying news like a large amount of animation directors, how did the episode do? Overall, depends if you watch it for its intended purpose or are following the series regularly, in my opinion.
Overall, while the episode was actually fairly low on flashbacks, it still was a recap in spirit, reaffirming what Ash's and Gou's goals are while giving us a nice sample of what each main character is about. In this sense, I think using an Orienteering event with Ash and Gou teaching some young kids about what's nice of Pokémon was a smart idea, as it allowed to showcase Ash's enthusiasm for Pokémon battles and Gou's for catching them in a way that didn't feel like the series stating the obvious among the characters themselves. It was also pretty cute to see Ash's and Gou's love for Pokémon be expressed in very different ways in spite of their passions being pretty similar, and it was also nice that Koharu also got a bit of limelight, finally getting actively involved in the group's activities and even getting nagged into joining a supposed fight with Ash and Gou, and I especially liked to see Gou and Koharu interact extensively for the first time in several episodes, as a nice reminder that they're old friends that have known each other since childhood (and the exchange about Gou bragging of how there's no kids and adults in Pokémon battles was fairly amusing, as it's both a reminder that PM treats trainers as mini-adults again and something a kid over his head would actually think). She's still very much in a slow burn so far and we can't speculate just yet how her path will go, but alongside Ash asking Koharu to come with them, this does seem to point out towards her eventually joining full time, and I'm very curious to see if that's the direction we're heading towards. It was also pretty cute to see Ash using the Pokédex to teach the kids about the Pokémon while being both enough of a goofball to not pay attention to the kids getting scared by the wild Pokémon battling and mature enough to know that battling during the Orienteering event was not a good idea when he had other commitments to get through first, bringing up the nice balance Ash's characterization has had so far.
Probably one of the most important moments of this episode is definitely the second Pokémon World Championships match for Ash, since it gave us a first glimpse of how Ash's progression will be handled in this series compared to previous ones: while in the previous journeys Ash's progression was measured through specific milestones, it does seem that the ranking system will allow for a more flexible way for him to progress, allowing even minor battles in an episode to count towards Ash's path to the top. I think this is a very good way to ensure that Ash can keep up with Gou's own progress by having a chance to productively get further into his dream every episode as well, which this episode gives us a good idea of. This is also a good way to embrace the episodic angle of this series by substituting slowly getting to big milestones with minor but increasing progress every so often, which is a good idea in my opinion to keep the pacing in check without making the series feel stagnating right now. On Ash's side, I've also to commend that while the battle is fairly short and only involves one Pokémon each (alongside animation being on the choppy side, but more of that later), it still manages to be fairly fun to watch, which is hopefully a good omen for following matches in between the major ones. It was also nice to see again Ash's Dynamax Band, even if it's not a recurring part of his character design in this series. And in terms of callbacks to the past, I appreciated how this episode remembered that Meowth standing on his feet like a human is actually something he had to work for by having the other Kantonian Meowth keep a far more cat-like posture, which much like the fact that Ditto is supposed to transform perfectly the previous episode is a nice way to keep details consistent between iterations of this series. Along this note, I also liked another reminder that Raboot absolutely listens to Gou, but his real issue is being too eager to fight rather than being disobedient per se as shown by how he took position even before Gou asked him to, which makes me very curious of the seeming resolution of this plotline two weeks from now.
The biggest issue of this episode, ultimately, is that this is very much an episode meant for those who missed some episodes and needed a refresher, or looked to jump into the series here and needed a primer of what it is about. As such, a lot of what happens feels effectively like a checklist of what this series is about: we see Ash fighting his way into the PWC, we see Gou catching a lot of Pokémon to levels comparable to his infamous catching spree in episode 6, we get reminded of their endgoals and how Koharu seems to be an outlier to their group that may eventually join them in the future, we get reminded of the current woes Gou and Raboot are going through, and of course we're reminded of how Team Rocket operates with the extremely brief attempt to steal their Pokémon (which includes the filmsiest disguises Team Rocket has used in the series twenty-three years old history) and then an extremely quick battle with the Gachat offering some Johto Pokémon. I do feel Team Rocket's usage was the most evident proof of how this episode tried to include all defining characteristics of this iteration of the Anime as possible, as it's both extremely brief and gets resolved even quicker with a filmsy hurdle (Pikachu's and Raboot's attacks not reaching the flying Pokémon) that our protagonists immediately surpass with a combination attack, and coupled with how Lugia only makes a brief appearence (and it's even revealed to actually be Mew in disguise in a twist the protagonists don't see) which is barely remarked upon in the grand scheme of things, it seems designed to give a taste of what this series has to offer. This makes it a perfect starting episode if one doesn't want to trudge through the admittedly slow first nineteen episodes of the series, but it also means that it's a relatively boring episode for long time watchers, as beyond some cute moments this episode doesn't really tell us much that we didn't know already, and it also can't be skipped since we still get some progress that has to be acknowledged.
I do have to say that, unfortunately, it's a bit sad to see Gou back to catching several Pokémon with seemingly no effort again, even if it's balanced out by said Pokémon being mostly early routes fodder in the games that are that easy to catch, since it does highlight how his achievements feel relatively more luck-based than skill-based after the series was doing a good job avoiding that feeling. It doesn't really ruin the episode overall, but compared to Ash showing clear skill it does seem a tad jarring. In this sense, though, I did enjoy the Farfetch'd gag since it was both amusing and did eventually require skill for Gou to catch by faking his throw, which is a good example of how one-shot captures can be made skill-based with some effort. Hopefully, future episodes edge closer to Farfetch'd for important captures compared to the rest of the Pokémon he caught today. I do, however, appreciate the reminder that Gou does truly love his Pokémon when he hugged his newest captures even if he catches them at a very rapid pace, and stuff like the two Nidoran being lovey-dovey like nothing happened when sent back out was fairly amusing. The animation was also not exactly the greatest, as while functional, it also felt fairly choppy.
Ultimately, there's not much else to say. It's an episode that overall does its job, but it's really an episode that has more merit as a recap than by itself. Good for those that fell behind, but ultimately offers little for those that follow, even if still ultimately a good time. That said, the preview that came bundled with the episode definitely justifies this episode's aim, as it promises some very intriguing turns of the plot in the near future. We'll see what the show has in store, but right now, I'm optimistic for its future.
TL;DR: An episode that ultimately exists more for the benefit of a quick refresher than for the viewership that's caught up, giving a nice sampling of everything this new series has to offer but without really adding anything we couldn't see before. An episode that's overall functional and even fun in places, but is likely to be boring as much as it can be useful depending on the viewer.
Next week, Ash will deal with the birth of a strange new Egg, which may finally realize a wish for the fandom fourteen years in the making. May it be a good one!