day 854 may's first contest, loses to drew {ag35}
33 and 34 are the set-up for May's plot arc, as well as a way for her new rival Drew to make his way into the plot. I don't care for Drew either, but not in the same way I dislike Max. I think Max is annoying sure, but at least I care about him, Drew is one big non-entity to me, I have no opinion on the green haired inferior clone of Gary, just one long meh. Though I like how Ash immediately rises to May's defense when Drew starts belittling her. 36 has a team magma appearance but can be skipped as it's not strictly necessary to the arcing plot, and 37-39 are all bad filler wherein a Nurse Joy gets kidnapped, a Plusle/Minum do a thing, and Jigglypuff makes her final appearance in an episode that is vastly inferior to her curtain call in Johto.
({m6} happens either before 1st contest/after 2nd gym or after 1st contest/before 3rd gym) {m6}
There's a very good reason I only have a vague time slot for the sixth movie and no plot summary... NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENS IN THIS MOVIE!! Not a single blasted bloody thing. There's no plot to speak of, they find Jirachi, Max befriends it and they take it back home, and this random guy suddenly turns evil and summons fake-magic-super-evil groudon who is also godzilla in the last 10 minutes... and this entire escapade lasts a whole fucking week.
All the other movies take place in a couple of days, heck not even a full day for some, and they still accomplish more. I know the Pokémon movies aren't the height of cinema or anything, but this is just really bad and boring and I expected better. The only good thing to come out of this mess is Ash's speech to Max at the end, and apparently that was changed for the dub anyway. and What Pray Tell, was the damn point of May's star amulet thing? Did she wish to be the best coordinator ever, to conjure up enough courage to admit her (possible) feelings for Ash, to move to Bermuda, not like it matters since she didn't finish the amulet at the end of the movie.
Timeline? Well they have to get off dewford and it has to be before may gets skitty but since the movie takes up so much time... well there you go. Canon hints? Well something has to account for Max's slowly maturing character, nothing like tragedy to grow you up in a hurry. Fuck this movie till it bleeds. (2013) Not obvious enough, this is my least favorite of the movies the only one I actively hate and one of two that I feel I wasted time on watching entirely.
day 873 ash gets third badge {ag40}
See, this should happen more often, Ash just sweeping the other guy's team when the gym leader doesn't take Ash seriously, so what if Pikachu had a cold, that only means to me anyway that Pikachu really is that strong and him being sick only slackened his immense control over his utterly broken powers temporarily dispelling the illusion of him just being a common rat.
Also this is the 2nd badge Ash got from beating Dan Green. I wonder why Chuck moved to a different region and changed his name and Pokémon type? 41 has treecko learning bullet seed, but is skip-able as per the plot, and 42+43 is more bad filler again, although 42 has “Ashley” show up, because apparently Ash has to crossdress at least once every region or so.
day 881 togepi finally evolves into togetic {ag44+45}
Hooray Misty's back! Wow, Misty's only what, 15ish now according to my timeline and she's already suffering from empty nest syndrome? Quick Ash get that bitch pregn—- I mean find another egg. In all seriousness though, Togetic saying goodbye to her mom was a great scene, just not as good as Arbok+Weezing leaving IMO. Also Max learns much from the redhead and is henceforth charged with reining in Brock's 'personality'.
(2013) so, why was the Evil Chancellor such a threat, he had a shedninja with solar beam, a dirtly look from torchic would have done him in right quick.
day 886 may catches a skitty {ag47}
Side note, 46 is actually a pretty funny filler with this off kilter family of 4. You know, I wished they had done more with the whole Meowth has a crush on May's skitty thing, instead of dropping it soon after this episode. it could have been a cool dynamic. 48+49 are both bad filler, though I can't decide which is worse 48 because the guy from ag5 gets a sencond episode or 49 because it's a bad filler about Max?
day 891 may's second contest, wins and gets her first ribbon {ag50+51}
If contests were half as cool in the games as they are depicted here, I might actually bother doing them. May has come a long way in only 50 episodes. (Character development! In my Pokémon anime? It's as unlikely as you think it is.)
52 is bad filler with the same Plusle/Minum duo as before, but 53 is a fun little episode where Skitty learns the move assist in contrast the borefest that was 41 with Treecko, but is also not plot-centric. 54 is another confrontation with teams aqua+magma that up the tension successfully for a bit. 55 is the lead in to the upcoming gym fight with "Her Hotness" Flannery. (See what I did there?)
Next time... "Well I've got four badges to my name now, let's go battle your dad!" "Max, why is everyone in Petalburg trying to beat the crap out of me with their Pokémon?" "I told them you had forced my sister into an abusive non committed relationship." "What?" "Exactly" "Hey Ash I got a bulbasaur too now we match!" Eps 56-79
