One last PokéToon: "I've Become a Gengar!?" Yes, this one has captions ready like the previous couple PokéToons.
0:25: So, as an American, this looks to be what we would consider an elementary school which is Grades 1 through 5 (if big enough they'll also have Kindergarten classes). From what I remember in elementary school, when School was over our last period teacher would guide us outside to either where our parents were waiting or we would walk home on our own. There was no hanging out in the halls/classrooms or the school just announcing classes were over and letting kids pack-up and leave on their own (that doesn't start until Junior High (School)). So is this like how its done in Japan?
0:32: Seven Mysteries with one involving stairs? OH NO IT'S THE BEGINNING OF KINGDOM HEARTS 2 AGAIN! 2 hours before the title screen...
0:32: Actually, wait, school mysteries? That was a side quest in USUM. Let me check... yeah,
there was seven of them, and one was about "Stairs to nowhere" involving a Gastly trapping you on the 2nd floor. Is this the Trainer School in Alola? But they have a batch of Pokemon showing up that aren't native to Alola (notably Dreepy later on, but the Ninjask we saw earlier also aren't in the Alola Dex).
0:40: World of Darkness? OH NO THIS IS KINGDOM HEART... *brick'd*
0:55: Well, sure nice for the World of Darkness to let you come back to life as long as you don't stay there too long.
1:00: Father black hair, mother dark brown hair, older sibling maroon hair, Shoko TEAL hair. Now I'm not saying someone is adopted...
1:07: Girl your eyes are scary, I think the ghosts will be the ones running away (which would make sense as crosses are supposed to ward off spirits).
1:41: Well Gengar has selected its next victim.
1:55: Just want to say I'm enjoying the background elements, the little details like the pictures and drawings is a nice touch making it feel like a elementary classroom.
2:14: So, did like no teacher or school staff go around to make sure all the students went home? Also, shouldn't this be the time the janitors are cleaning or possibly some afterschool classes/programs are being held? Heck, where are these kid's parents?
2:43: Gengar's favorite book is Alice in Wonderland. Guess whose its favorite character is?
8D
3:26: HEY! The mystery said that no light touched the top of the stairs, but clearly there is a slimmer of light over the right corner of the step. Mystery is a total dud!
3:33: It's bad enough Gengar licked a little girl but did they have to make it look and sound slimy?
3:40: Quick Shoko, yell out "Hayner, Pence, Olette"! That sometimes fixes glitches in Fake Twilight Town. (Okay, okay, I'm done with the Kingdom Hearts jokes...)
3:47: Dead... which I guess was the point.
4:28: Now, I think they could have worked in a joke/pun here if Shoko had instead turned into a Haunter. Because in Japan, Haunter's name is literally "Ghost". Hence, the mystery about someone turning into a "ghost" isn't about them turning into a spirit but rather into a Haunter... though that joke would only work in Japanese. Also I would not be surprised if they're going to sell Shoko Gengar merch.
4:32: Good point Gengar. Why do people in the Pokemon world not assume it's Ghost-type Pokemon messing around whenever there's a haunting? Granted, spirits of deceased humans & non-Ghost-type Pokemon do exist, but I would think Ghost-types are far more common than those kind of spirits, likely around locations that are haunted.
4:38: Are they not concerned Shoko vanished into thin air?
5:08: Gengar, All Shoko did was run up to them. If you've never seen a human looked that surprised before than you either haven't been trying or been trying too hard...
6:36: Really kid, you're running what you assume to be for your life yet you're still spinning that disc on your finger?
6:48: BTW, LOVE this rendition of the Lavender Town theme, chaotic and energetic, lol!
8:38: Really kid? THAT'S the first think you realize? Not that this entire time you were running from ghosts you should have realized it was Ghost-type Pokemon?
8:46: Is it weird that Dusknoir actually talks with the mouth on its stomach?
11:30: Can't ask them for help?... They're past the gate, they're fine. Heck, the Dusknoir alone could probably pull you all up.
11:51: Really? That's the big moment? Shoko asking for help? I never got the indication that was a problem for Shoko. Being Shoko didn't quite being a Ghost-type, I thought the big moment was her also using her tongue to latch onto a lamppost or something and use the leverage to pull Gengar back up and then both pull the other kids up.
13:17: And then Shoko learns she was dead all along.
13:45: Wait, so she was just standing at the top of the stairs this whole time? Did none of the other kids think it was odd that Shoko was just standing there silently for several seconds/minutes?
OVERALL OPINION: So, the last Poketoon planned (so far), how was it? It was a fun little adventure with Ghost-types (though considering the topic maybe they could have waited till Halloween to release this, I mean we just got the first Evolution episode so don't think anyone would have an issue waiting). It reminded me a bit of the Lavender Town episode of the main Pokemon anime where Ash & Pikachu were temporarily turned to ghosts by a Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar and had a bit of ghostly adventures. Fun to see Ghost-types messing around scaring people, and a school is a good setting for that with the main (human) characters being kids (if not a tad bit cliche, especially with the "school mysteries" which I think is more of a Japanese thing).
However, it was far from perfect. I couldn't quite get a feel for Shoko's character and didn't even know she had a "shyness issue" to be resolved until the end (at least I think that's what they were trying to get across). Yes, she was sitting by herself when all the other kids were talking and the main boy did note it wasn't like to her volunteer to come along when Gengar tricked her too, but never did I get the feeling that maybe she wanted to join them but her shyness was preventing her from doing so (though I guess since she stayed after class for no reason maybe was meant to be a clue to that?). My point is the resolution for her "arc" came out of left field. Heck, as I said above, I thought her arc wasn't that she was shy but was "reserved" and her big moment was actually using her Gengar abilities to help save the day. They clearly showed she had trouble doing simple ghost things but not wanting to be left alone/out of what's going on. Also was it Gengar's intention to help Shoko overcome her shyness? Yeah, I feel the message got muddled for not making some things clear enough that Shoko was shy but didn't want to be left out.
GRADE: B+
(Not going to punish it too harshly for the unclear message, but it ain't an A because of it)
However, I wanna bring up someone who's worse (than Tobias) imo...
The moment Solidad enters the anime (...)
Now, I remember Solidad and that she beat May in the Kanto Grand Festival... but other than that I couldn't recall anything else about her. I had to check what Pokemon she used and I think I figured out why, looks like her gimmick was, since she was from Kanto (Pewter City specifically hence knowing Brock) she only used Gen I Pokemon and they were pretty generic Gen I (at least when grouped together as so): Slowbro, Lapras, Pidgeot, and Butterfree.
Which is odd, cause despite her having these closer connections with main characters I remember the Hoenn Grand Festival Winner, Robert, more and he was even more clearly a character just made to win and given less screen time (could be because he had a Milotic and, since they didn't used Wallace during the Hoenn arc, I felt Robert was sort of meant to be a Wallace replacement and found that odd; like, why not just use Wallace who is a Top Coordinator?).
At least Dawn got a better one with Nando (though Dawn also had Zoey who was a bit of a gatekeeping b****).
