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SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion
- Thread starter Jellicent
- Start date
I don't think a movie has actually been deconfirmed for 2021, simply nothing has been announced in regards to a new movie so far over this year. COVID has likely slowed just about everything down and the Koko movie itself was delayed both in Japan and is airing surprisingly late this year, so right now they may have a movie in the making rn but it's delayed due to the current situation.
I'm sure they have one in the cards though, it's just that since COVID threw a wrench in everything things are going more slowly these days than in the past.
Well they've not talked about it the past 8 months and there's only 4 months left to talk about, market and release it
So I'm...just gonna say that no it's probably not happening this year. I don't think Koko even had a teaser for the next one when it finally released last year? If they happen to show anything of the next movie this year, it will still be for release next year.
Again I think it makes sense. Covid probably messed the the production pipeline on a few fronts. Obviously any working conditions for the movie probably took a hit; one thing for the weekly anime on a TV budget but likely another thing for the Movie. Could have also affected finding animation directors and other staff too? And iirc they like to do location scouting to wherever the movie's locales are based on which is....made more difficult, due to a pandemic.
1998 was the first pokemon movie and there was one every year since then, specifically July of every year. Koko was meant to release July 2020 but obviously got delayed to December 2020
It used to be pretty common that popular anime would get yearly movies, but I think by this point (2021 aside) it's fallen out of favor either a combination of changing times (One Piece used to do this, then they became more spread out), series ending (Naruto comes to mind)
or what have you. Pokemon's pretty much the only one to continue doing it, likely since it's so easy to continue brand recognition while introducing "new" Pokemon every year (we know from placeholder codenames that mythic pokemon were codenamed after their projected release year for a while)
It'll be interesting if they actually take this opportunity to reconsider how they do these things moving forward or if they'll just get back in the saddle 2022-on
He is OK as a character. It is his placement in the anime world that has caused consternation.
The Snorlax in the room with Goh is that his primary goal is the direct opposite of what the anime has promoted for 20 years. The anime has always placed value on establishing bonds with your Pokemon. Don't catch tons. Catch a few and value that kinship. Goh comes in, catches tons, and neglects most of them. It is bound to leave a sour taste for fans who have watched for years. But the anime/company wants that precious GO hawking so darn the traditions and worldbuilding. Now it is all good to callously catch and ignore Pokemon!
The whole idea of catching a Pokemon (which in the anime are depicted with human-like thinking) and taking it away from its natural habitat already can be viewed as something horrific. Which is why Pokemon generally doesn't dwell on the concept and shouldn't as a family franchise. (Fanfiction on the other hand loves to go dark). That is why ever since Johto onwards most of the captures are portrayed as willing travelers. At least there is a relationship to compensate for the removal. With Goh, it has become be randomly captured, recorded, and dumped at a lab with little to no relationship. It really goes against what the anime has preached for years. But it is OK now since a hero does it.
The thing is the anime has always treated the main casts Pokemon as actual characters rather than bits of data like the games, so with Go's captures it feels like outside the Galar starters they're just not relevant.
A similar problem happened in Season 1 and into Johto. Misty and Brock had tons of extra pokemon they did practically nothing with like Horsea, Starmie, Goldeen, Zubat, Vulpix, Pineco, etc....but at least back then there was the excuse the anime had just started and the writers had no idea how long the show would go on for. Giving Misty and Brock full teams turned out to be rather pointless when you realize they rarely battled outside a small handful of episodes so we've never see their pokemon do much of anything anyway. It's why the writers limited Brock's team to only 3 pokemon in Hoenn and DP because they realized him having 5+ pokemon in one region was pointless.
But yeah, that was 20 years ago. Things changed over the course of the show so Go's extra captures are more or less not relevant. Sort of reminds me back when the show first started people used to complain Ash didn't capture every wild pokemon he saw...now we know why, lol
A similar problem happened in Season 1 and into Johto. Misty and Brock had tons of extra pokemon they did practically nothing with like Horsea, Starmie, Goldeen, Zubat, Vulpix, Pineco, etc....but at least back then there was the excuse the anime had just started and the writers had no idea how long the show would go on for. Giving Misty and Brock full teams turned out to be rather pointless when you realize they rarely battled outside a small handful of episodes so we've never see their pokemon do much of anything anyway. It's why the writers limited Brock's team to only 3 pokemon in Hoenn and DP because they realized him having 5+ pokemon in one region was pointless.
But yeah, that was 20 years ago. Things changed over the course of the show so Go's extra captures are more or less not relevant. Sort of reminds me back when the show first started people used to complain Ash didn't capture every wild pokemon he saw...now we know why, lol
Here's the first episode.
It's pretty neat, showing Leon dealing with his failure at the top, while also showing a neat summary of the climax. I especialy liked the animation on Eternatus as it flies around and is captured.
Kind of interesting, but they specifically used a brown skinned version of the player character! Usually they just stick with the default white skinned one.
It is interesting to see how Leon is "canonically" meant to be coping with the aftermath.
The episode shows a... pretty frustrated and sad Leon who suddently all but lost his self-confidence that's been his main quirk for the entire arc.
Even with Charizard patting him and (silently) telling him "go, you can do this", he still knows the battle coming is likely going to be another huge blow to his self-esteem.
I am curious of what direction this series will take, will they go over the ""aftermath"" of Sword and Shield's facts? Kinda like the previous miniseries went over what happened before the events of Sword and Shield.
The episode shows a... pretty frustrated and sad Leon who suddently all but lost his self-confidence that's been his main quirk for the entire arc.
Even with Charizard patting him and (silently) telling him "go, you can do this", he still knows the battle coming is likely going to be another huge blow to his self-esteem.
I am curious of what direction this series will take, will they go over the ""aftermath"" of Sword and Shield's facts? Kinda like the previous miniseries went over what happened before the events of Sword and Shield.
It makes sense, I suppose, there's definitely some points where Leon's probably hiding his feelings to put on a good show (his lose animation comes to mind). A fun thing to do with him, certainly different. The Charizard parts in the locker room were really sweet
This series isnt about galar, by the way, each one is focusing on a different region's climax. Next week is USUM with the necrozma confrontation at the altar of the moone.
Just watched the Evolutions short and that was pretty nice.
The animation was really good, even if seeing Pokemon characters in more "realistic" proportions felt a bit off for some reason. I like how it went more in depth with Leon's character and how he dealt with the aftermath of Eternatus
I also like seeing him interact with his Charizard too. What a bro. We need more Champion-Ace moments onscreen if you ask me. I wanna see Steven feed his Metagross a berry or something, I like that stuff, it's cute and adds a level of "humanity" to the terrifying roadblock we usually know them as when we play the games.
One thing about this short and the anime is that it's really made me appreciate Inteleon more and more. This Pokemon is actually kinda cool and badass. Its like Delphox in a way. Seeing Rillaboom play his drum like an actual Gorilla also made me like it a bit more, though I'm not sure how it battles with it still.
Also:
The animation was really good, even if seeing Pokemon characters in more "realistic" proportions felt a bit off for some reason. I like how it went more in depth with Leon's character and how he dealt with the aftermath of Eternatus
I also like seeing him interact with his Charizard too. What a bro. We need more Champion-Ace moments onscreen if you ask me. I wanna see Steven feed his Metagross a berry or something, I like that stuff, it's cute and adds a level of "humanity" to the terrifying roadblock we usually know them as when we play the games.
One thing about this short and the anime is that it's really made me appreciate Inteleon more and more. This Pokemon is actually kinda cool and badass. Its like Delphox in a way. Seeing Rillaboom play his drum like an actual Gorilla also made me like it a bit more, though I'm not sure how it battles with it still.
Also:
Also watched the new Evolutions short. It's just as good as I expected, but there's a surprise this time. It seems like they released a lot of international dubs with many more languages, for example, previous specials didn't include a latin american spanish dub despite there being one for the main anime, so if you didn't know English you'd have to wait for subs or fandubs. Many fans from Latin America are too glad for this inclusion, including me.
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That was a damn good episode and I think we're in for a great time with this series.
I also agree about Leon having more depth to this character in this episode, but I think it also ties very nicely into why Leon feels initially frustrated, but immediately almost relieved when we defeat him and he loses his Champion title in the game. The title of being Galar's greatest Trainer and the "unbeatable Champion" does weigh very heavily on him, and while he does put on a good show for the crowds it's still a lot of pressure to live up to his title as the undefeated Champion and keep doing so.
It's shown in a gesture as small as him smacking his cheeks before battle (which we can see a little of here) because he's releasing his own nervousness before entering the field of battle. It adds another layer of humanity to him.
And yet, when he loses the battle in game, he's initially a bit frustrated that he lost and his winning streak officially broke, but immediately after he accepts it and looks almost relieved. He may not be the unbeatable Champion anymore, but in a sense, that's freeing. He no longer has to carry that burden of being the unbeatable Champion and living up to everyone's expectations of him. He can in a sense, move forward now, which is why after that we see him inherit all of Rose's former properties and uses that to work towards achieving a lifelong dream he had of wanting Galar's Trainers to work together to become stronger, hence turning Rose Tower into the Battle Tower and getting the Sordward and Shielbert weirdos to fund the Galarian Star Tournament which he intends to host as the League's new Chairman.
I think the little things we saw of Leon in this short really add a layer of humanity to him and that's honestly pretty darn cool.
Still though, Inteleon does look a hella lot cooler in action than it does in its idle pose in-game. Watching that thing snipe and also glide smoothly is just so darn slick and stylish and it really does look hella cool when gliding too.
Goh's Inteleon in the main Journeys anime was already awesome and made me love it, now this just makes me love it even more. I definitely agree that it's a lot cooler in the animations than in-game.
As for Rillaboom, I would imagine it carries the drum on its back and then just grabs it on a whim when it needs to use Drum Beating.
I also agree about Leon having more depth to this character in this episode, but I think it also ties very nicely into why Leon feels initially frustrated, but immediately almost relieved when we defeat him and he loses his Champion title in the game. The title of being Galar's greatest Trainer and the "unbeatable Champion" does weigh very heavily on him, and while he does put on a good show for the crowds it's still a lot of pressure to live up to his title as the undefeated Champion and keep doing so.
It's shown in a gesture as small as him smacking his cheeks before battle (which we can see a little of here) because he's releasing his own nervousness before entering the field of battle. It adds another layer of humanity to him.
And yet, when he loses the battle in game, he's initially a bit frustrated that he lost and his winning streak officially broke, but immediately after he accepts it and looks almost relieved. He may not be the unbeatable Champion anymore, but in a sense, that's freeing. He no longer has to carry that burden of being the unbeatable Champion and living up to everyone's expectations of him. He can in a sense, move forward now, which is why after that we see him inherit all of Rose's former properties and uses that to work towards achieving a lifelong dream he had of wanting Galar's Trainers to work together to become stronger, hence turning Rose Tower into the Battle Tower and getting the Sordward and Shielbert weirdos to fund the Galarian Star Tournament which he intends to host as the League's new Chairman.
I think the little things we saw of Leon in this short really add a layer of humanity to him and that's honestly pretty darn cool.
Still though, Inteleon does look a hella lot cooler in action than it does in its idle pose in-game. Watching that thing snipe and also glide smoothly is just so darn slick and stylish and it really does look hella cool when gliding too.
Goh's Inteleon in the main Journeys anime was already awesome and made me love it, now this just makes me love it even more. I definitely agree that it's a lot cooler in the animations than in-game.
As for Rillaboom, I would imagine it carries the drum on its back and then just grabs it on a whim when it needs to use Drum Beating.
Question: What do you guys think of Tobias, and his legendaries?
For me my issue with him comes from his character. He kinda just appears, beats Ash, and refuses to elaborate/leaves. There's no real build up to him and nothing interesting about him or his character. But personally I don't really care about the fact he has a mythical and a legendary. I think the whole idea of him showing up, beating Ash, and leaving would have the same, disappointing impact if he used a Gyarados or a Garchomp or any other powerful, non legendary Pokemon. And besides, Darkrai and Latios seem like the type of Legendary that makes enough sense to be caught, compared to one like Dialga or something
For me my issue with him comes from his character. He kinda just appears, beats Ash, and refuses to elaborate/leaves. There's no real build up to him and nothing interesting about him or his character. But personally I don't really care about the fact he has a mythical and a legendary. I think the whole idea of him showing up, beating Ash, and leaving would have the same, disappointing impact if he used a Gyarados or a Garchomp or any other powerful, non legendary Pokemon. And besides, Darkrai and Latios seem like the type of Legendary that makes enough sense to be caught, compared to one like Dialga or something
8 year old? 17 year old me used Eternatus against Leon when I played Shield for the first time. Although after watching that Evolutions short I kinda feel bad about it now...
He was a plot device.
All the Dreams Enders were in the technical sense but all of them outside Tobias had proper introductions and interactions.
If you are going to give a character Legendaries, fans are going to want an explanation.
Tobias is probably one of the most unique characters in fiction by virtue of the fact I have ever seen a franchise conjure up such a blatant deus ex machina in order to screw over its main protagonist. I've never been a huge pokeani follower, so while I was vaguely aware of Tobias I figured "Oh I'm sure he was set up in Rise of Darkrai since he uses that mon". Nope, nothing.
Coked up fanfiction-tier idea: Tobias returns with it being revealed that his Darkrai and Latios were robots developed by his stupid rich parents, with this being shown via a flashback where Cynthia's Garchomp slices apart Darkrai to reveal circuits and wires coming out. This incident completely disgraced him and caused his entire badge case to be revoked. After learning about this Ash offers to mentor Tobias and help him beat the Sinnoh league tournament legitimately across a huge 2-dozen episode arc
Coked up fanfiction-tier idea: Tobias returns with it being revealed that his Darkrai and Latios were robots developed by his stupid rich parents, with this being shown via a flashback where Cynthia's Garchomp slices apart Darkrai to reveal circuits and wires coming out. This incident completely disgraced him and caused his entire badge case to be revoked. After learning about this Ash offers to mentor Tobias and help him beat the Sinnoh league tournament legitimately across a huge 2-dozen episode arc
It is fascinating, really. DP had 191 episodes to use and they still had to resort to the worst deus ex machina in programming history.
0:45: Uh oh, Victor and Gloria have turned into Pikachu!
0:56: Gotta shoehorn in the Starters somewhere. Also, shouldn't they have made that Toxtricity at the Mart be a Low Key Form since we saw a Amped Form in the stadium crowd? Like they made sure the Indeedee in the stadium crowd was a different gender from the Indeedee with Jack/Cafe Master.
1:10: Thanks announcer, you just gave Leon a 'Nam Flashback, or I guess in this case a 'Natus Flashback.
1:17: I guess that implies what happened to Leon's other Pokemon, Eternatus knocked them all out.
2:36: That's a VERY shiny Poke Ball! It is covered in oil or something?
2:59: Oh jeez, that looked WAY more violent than it did in the games. Yeah, I can see now why Leon and Charizard were out of comission after that.
3:17: Oh no, Charizard got possessed by Eternatus' spirit and is now going to eat Leo... oh, it's just putting on his cape. Good ol' dependable Charizard.
3:36: So in this canon tan-skinned Victor in the player character (and his starter is Sobble/Inteleon), interesting choice.
3:41: Victor, before going after Eternatus you're supposed to knock out Hop's Dubwool so he can send out a Pokemon that can actually help in battle.
3:58: Eh, Eternatus going Eternamax I felt was done better in the game.
4:22: At first I was worried they cut out the epic music... though it's very downplayed here when this moment is supposed to be bombastic; It's the big hero moment.
5:34: And the Hero Wolf Duo's Signature Moves don't look as flashy as they do in-game.
6:01: BUT the Eternatus capture looks much cooler. Eh, let's just say both have their strong points and none if better than the other.
6:06: I don't remember the Dynamaxed Poke Ball smoking like that.
6:16: Thanks Inteleon but I think the floor is stable enough the player could have walked the 20 feet.
6:48: POKE BALL GUY! And I guess they had to include Rillaboom somewhere (guessing that's the drummer of the Maximizers?).
6:51: Bede and Marnie just not having any of this, wonder what they're thinking...
- (Bede: That should have been ME down there. You better win this (player), when I become Champion I want it to be because I defeated YOU!)
- (Marnie: Uh oh, did I remember to turn the air purifier on in Spikemuth after Piers battle? Ugh, Spikemuth is going to smell like Skuntank gas when we get back.)
- (Polteagiest: Why yes, I am a ghost made of tea in a teapot drinking soda from a soda cup. Try to wrap your mind around that!)
7:09: That's not Leon's catchphrase. That sounds like he's about to morph into a Power Ranger. Leon's catchphrase is about "having a Champion time" cause he's inviting everyone to have fun with him. Saying "it's Champion time" kind of makes him sound egotistical which isn't like Leon.
OVERALL OPINION: A nice retelling of the Eternatus Battle alongside showing Leon's mindset before the Champion Battle with the player. You can tell from Leon's eyes and clutching Charizard's Poke Ball this was a pretty traumatizing event. Can't actually go into what Leon is thinking, but the way he watched Hop and the player take on Eternatus I think his stark personality has more to do than with him losing, or what "losing" at that moment meant. Thinking the entire Galar region if not the world resting on his shoulder, his entire team defeated, unable to Gigantamax his Charizard. After losing he probably felt like he let everyone down and doomed everyone... then to see bot Hop and the player defeat Eternatus. While probably a relief that everyone is now safe, to Leon he probably felt like he still failed everyone. Meanwhile, the announcer keeps on heaping praise on Leon as if he was standing with the player and Hop when in actuality he was lying motionless on the ground.
It wasn't perfect though. As I said above, the music was low key (was there no Low Key Toxtricity because it was producing the music?), Eternatus going Eternamax wasn't as much of a spectacle (and was missing the weird music), and most things with the Hero Wolf Duo also felt subdued. BUT it was sandwiched between awesome moments like Eternatus releasing from Leon's Poke Ball and being captured by the player's Dynamax Poke Ball. And I like the framing device of of it being flashbacks as Leon is preparing for the Champion Battle he likely knows will be the end of his time as Champion. Overall it's a good start to Evolutions showing us the scenes we want to see animated but also a bit extra for fans who want a bit more substance than what they saw in the game already.
GRADE: B+
Awesome! While the story isn't that complex to follow in this one, good that a wide variety of fans will at least know what's being said in the background by the announcer. While it's not that major, as I noted above, the announcer heaping praise on Leon while Leon feels like he utterly failed is a subtle contrast you'll miss if you didn't know that's what the announcer is saying.
I'm at two thoughts I'll split between his two known Pokemon:
Darkrai: When we thought he just had Darkrai I felt he provided an interesting challenge. A trainer who uses a Legendary! Okay, sure, he's not the first, Frontier Brains Noland and Brandon come to mind, but unlike against them this was the Pokemon League where Ash only has one shot. And Ash's battle with Tobias' Darkrai was pretty thrilling as you see Ash actually put some though into his team about how to deal with the Nightmare Pokemon, it accumulating with Sceptile waking up before being affected by the nightmare and knocking it out with a Leaf Blade (joining Charizard and Pikachu as Ash's only Pokemon to ever defeat a Legendary)!
But, what's next? What was Tobias next Pokemon? Was it going to be a batch of weak/filler mons cause Darkrai was all he honestly had? Was it going to be a team of Pokemon of Types and Abilities which would be effective against Darkrai thus hinting how he caught it? Surely they wouldn't do the cheap option and give him another Legend...
Latios: Oh, they did the cheap option, *sigh* alright. Now, this obviously doesn't undo Sceptile's victory of the fact Ash is the ONLY trainer in the Sinnoh League to have defeated Darkrai (infact he beat TWO of Tobias Legendary when all other trainers couldn't get past one). Still, this does change how I view Tobias. He went from an interesting challenge to now just a wall the writers made to make sure Ash loses; a trainer with a team of Legendaries. The remainder Latios battle I guess was fine, Ash's Swellow sure was ready to throw down, though ends disappointingly with Pikachu doing a double knockout. Like, if you were going to do the Legendary thing, at least have Pikachu beat Latios and have Tobias send out a third. Like, my idea for his third Pokemon would have been a Regigigas. Tobias would tell Ash he has 5 minutes before Slow Start wears off and Regigigas starts moving. Ash, thinking back to the previous Regigigas he encountered, knows he doesn't have much time so has Pikachu do everything it could to try and take Regigigas down. However, even though it looks like Pikachu's final attack did heavy damage, it's still not enough and Slow Start wears off. But before Tobias could tell Regigigas to do it's first move against a very tired Pikachu, Ash forfeits knowing he can't beat Regigigas and doesn't want Pikachu to get hurt for no reason. Still, everyone cheers for Ash and Tobias congratulates him, respecting him not only for a good match but for caring about his Pokemon to know when to end a battle, also saying he hopes to battle Ash again someday.
Tobias: Not that Tobias was a jerk how it actually ended, still congratulating Ash for a battle well fought and looking forward to battle him again someday. But that also brings out another problem with Tobias: he's bland and doesn't have that much of a personality. He doesn't act enigmatic or aloof despite his appearance, he's not boastful or mystical even though he has a team of Legendaries, he's just a guy. If he does ever appear again hopefully it would be part of a more plot-based episode showing more of his personality and what he's about.
FUN FACT: Depending on whether you brought Eternatus to the Champion Battle will have a small dialogue change from Leon:
Well my idea is a bit... different.
Ash & Goh hears about a Legendary sighting and decide to investigate (Goh able to convince Suicune to come along too). Ash & Goh of course encounter a bunch of trainers wanting to catch the Legendary, hearing how greedy they are they decide to do their own searching away from everyone else. When they think they're on the trail of the Legendary that's when they bump into Tobias. Tobias shows them a few tracking tricks and they do see a glimpse of the Legendary before it vanishes. That night Ash, Goh, and Tobias set up camp where Goh learns about Ash's battle with Tobias and they show their Legendary Pokemon. Tobias notice that Goh and Suicune don't get along and offers to help them work together better, Tobias revealing he's a "Legend Whisperer"; one of a very few who specializes in tracking Legendaries and trying to form bonds between them and humans for the betterment of all. Next day they go back to tracking the Legendary, Tobias instructing Goh how to use Suicune's abilities to help them search & telling him to trust Suicune to go on its own. Finally encountering the Legendary, Tobias battles it and tries bonding with it, but they're suddenly attacked and both the wild Legendary and the one Tobias used to battle it are captured and dragged into an airship, the owner of said airship then revealing themselves ending part one: HUNTER J!
Start of Part 2, Ash is surprised to see Hunter J again and alive. Hunter J says it'll take more than a Legendary attack to do her in and plans on getting her revenge, but business first. Ash, Tobias, and Goh send out their Pokemon and Hunter J sends out her Salamence which she then Mega Evolves and commands it to cause a windstorm. As everyone is distracted, Tobias other Legendary, Tobias, and Ash are captured while Goh is flung away by the storm. As the airship flies away, Goh wonders how he'll catch up when Suicune reappears and offers Goh to ride on its back. On the airship, Tobias and Ash are tied up, Pikachu also tied to Ash. Hunter J walks up to them and commands Tobias to help her get control of the wild Legendary and his Legendaries. Tobias refuses, but Hunter J presses a button which forces Pikachu to discharge with also shocks Ash. Tobias agrees to help as long as Hunter J stops hurting Ash. She takes Tobias to a room where his and Ash's Pokemon are being held (we seeing Tobias other Legendaries/Mythicals), and she tells Tobias to first command his Pokemon into special Poke Balls she made that allows her full control over the Pokemon's actions. Before Tobias could reluctantly abide, the airship is hit with sudden turbulence. Hunter J's grunts pull up an outside camera feed and sees Goh & Suicune are the cause. Hunter J tells her grunts to take Tobias back to the cell as she grabs Ash to confront Goh, not realizing that during the turbulence Pikachu broke free and hid, it watching the grunts take Tobias down a corridor. Hunter J goes to the top of her ship with Ash and warns Goh to surrender himself & Suicune or will shock Ash. But as she presses the button and nothing happens she realizes Pikachu has broke free and Goh & Suicune attack. J sends out her Pokemon and its a tough battle, at one point J getting the advantage. That's of course when Pikachu, Tobias & his Pokemon, and Ash's other Pokemon show up; Tobias saying Pikachu zapped the grunts and he was able to free all their Pokemon. Outnumbered, Hunter J resorts to using her ship's defense systems to even the field which works at first, but then the wild Legendary shows up and releases all its power onto the airship causing it to crash. As Ash, Goh, and Tobias are recovering a part of the airship detaches and flies off, we see inside Hunter J piloting with her grunts sitting in the back tending to their injuries. Meanwhile the wild Legendary is still enraged, even with Tobias trying to calm it, until Goh & Suicune work together and are able to calm it. Tobias is now able to bond with it and convinces it to come with him, promising to show it the good side of humanity. The episode ends with Tobias flying off on Latios as Ash & Goh head back to the lab riding on Suicune's back (or rather Goh riding on its back while Ash is barely able to hold on).
Start of Part 2, Ash is surprised to see Hunter J again and alive. Hunter J says it'll take more than a Legendary attack to do her in and plans on getting her revenge, but business first. Ash, Tobias, and Goh send out their Pokemon and Hunter J sends out her Salamence which she then Mega Evolves and commands it to cause a windstorm. As everyone is distracted, Tobias other Legendary, Tobias, and Ash are captured while Goh is flung away by the storm. As the airship flies away, Goh wonders how he'll catch up when Suicune reappears and offers Goh to ride on its back. On the airship, Tobias and Ash are tied up, Pikachu also tied to Ash. Hunter J walks up to them and commands Tobias to help her get control of the wild Legendary and his Legendaries. Tobias refuses, but Hunter J presses a button which forces Pikachu to discharge with also shocks Ash. Tobias agrees to help as long as Hunter J stops hurting Ash. She takes Tobias to a room where his and Ash's Pokemon are being held (we seeing Tobias other Legendaries/Mythicals), and she tells Tobias to first command his Pokemon into special Poke Balls she made that allows her full control over the Pokemon's actions. Before Tobias could reluctantly abide, the airship is hit with sudden turbulence. Hunter J's grunts pull up an outside camera feed and sees Goh & Suicune are the cause. Hunter J tells her grunts to take Tobias back to the cell as she grabs Ash to confront Goh, not realizing that during the turbulence Pikachu broke free and hid, it watching the grunts take Tobias down a corridor. Hunter J goes to the top of her ship with Ash and warns Goh to surrender himself & Suicune or will shock Ash. But as she presses the button and nothing happens she realizes Pikachu has broke free and Goh & Suicune attack. J sends out her Pokemon and its a tough battle, at one point J getting the advantage. That's of course when Pikachu, Tobias & his Pokemon, and Ash's other Pokemon show up; Tobias saying Pikachu zapped the grunts and he was able to free all their Pokemon. Outnumbered, Hunter J resorts to using her ship's defense systems to even the field which works at first, but then the wild Legendary shows up and releases all its power onto the airship causing it to crash. As Ash, Goh, and Tobias are recovering a part of the airship detaches and flies off, we see inside Hunter J piloting with her grunts sitting in the back tending to their injuries. Meanwhile the wild Legendary is still enraged, even with Tobias trying to calm it, until Goh & Suicune work together and are able to calm it. Tobias is now able to bond with it and convinces it to come with him, promising to show it the good side of humanity. The episode ends with Tobias flying off on Latios as Ash & Goh head back to the lab riding on Suicune's back (or rather Goh riding on its back while Ash is barely able to hold on).
AND they skip over the Gne IV Battle Frontier even though they had an episode teasing it!
I liked the first episode of Evolutions. The way it showcased the in-game events was great, and I love how it went a bit more in-depth with Leon and his feelings regarding the Eternatus confrontation. At this point, I think Evolutions is going to be another example of how to do an anniversary celebration correctly. It will have an equal focus on all regions, just like Generations did 5 years ago, so that's great. Looking forward to the rest of the episodes! Especially the next one, it will be the first non-anime animation for Alola. Yay!
What the users have already said, he's just a personified DEM created just for Ash to lose against. Why? Because the writers thought his journey is over if Ash wins the league? Not like that stopped him 3 leagues later :/
However, I wanna bring up someone who's worse imo...
The moment Solidad enters the anime, near everyone already knows her and hold her in high esteem despite the audience just recently getting to know her, to the point it's almost Mary Sue-ish. She's an old friend of Brock, which means he must've have had some idea of contests way long before those being formally introduced in Hoenn, and never mentioned it before...She's an old friend of Harley, who isn't really the most friendly person out here but she somehow is. She defeated Drew a long time ago so badly that it left some emotional scars on him (actually I like this since he shows a more insecure side never seen before, strengthening his character). And the worst thing, she easily curbstomps May, despite her being quite experienced at this point and not being her first Grand Festival. Sheesh, at least Ash gave Tobias a bit of a fight and went out like a boss, May got completely flattened in an instant and never posed any threat to Solidad.