day 1666 team galactic's plans are stopped, cyrus+hunter J are probably most likely dead {dp150-52}
So, shit happens. People actually died... in Pokémon. I mean that's great and all, but uh speaking for myself personally it was really weird. Comparative example time, it wasn't like say Bleach when I was like finally somebody died because as a fighting shonen it was gonna happen eventually even if they retconned it later like in Dragon Ball, it's just the plot armor was thick for that anime so the event took its time. It also certainly wasn't like A Song of Ice and Fire, where I dread somebody keeling over every other page.
Shit, with Team “gravity is more of a suggestion” Rocket and Ash “Bloodless” Ketchum running around character longevity and inertia was mostly accepted fact. The closet to shuffling off the mortal coil was of course, the writers just walking a character off the set or forgetting their existence, so I was kind of in shock for a while, usually they save the dark stuff for the movies after all. Getting ahead of myself, not that any of this has ever been in a coherent order. Main point, this is an epic 3-part sendoff to the villains for this series, heck of a lot better than the crap deal teams aqua/magma got.
So first off, TR teams up with Looker and the twerps because they hate TG that much. Again, its really nice to see them all work together rare occurrence though it is. I mean we even see Gary in his final cameo in the show (so far) try to hold off Saturn and Hunter J both from capturing one of the lake guardians. On top of that, Cynthia comes charging in with her garchomp.
Well Evil! Goku goes through with his plans, torturing the lake gaurdians into submission so they'll draw out Palkia and Dialga so he can get what he wants. As a final act, the three Mew doppelgangers fuck over J, by Future Sighting her airship so it sinks into the lake while she's making an escape, and then it explodes... I don't think shes getting outta that one. As for (E!G) Cyrus himself, stepping into a portal opened up to the void can't be good for your health.
There is however one major gaffe that this climax has, a misstep or a missing link; namely, where in the world or any other dimension for that matter is Giratina? Sure, you decide to contort time and space, but not antimatter to create your new universe where you can destroy emotions and free will... why? I mean the red chain that he uses in combination with the brainwashed lake trio that wraps around the two thirds of the present creation trio looks like Arceus' ring thingie but Giratina doesn't even get that much of a mention or cameo and Platinum had been out for over a year already, and he had shown up in the movies... just seemed like a glaring omission to me.
Switching gears, you'd expect by now that Pokémon would succeed this heightened plot development with some filler so as to curtail any momentum, in this case it's not so cut and dry as I'd hesitate to call this, 153, filler. Remember James' crazy fiance all the way back in ep48, because she shows up again. I'm not making this up, this is more of a dangling plot thread reveal than that mess with the thunder stone a couple eps back. Long story short TR episode, good stuff, now back to the plot.
day 1676 ash leaves his gliscor to train with Mc Caan {just like charizard} {dp154} day 1684 ash catches a gible {dp157}
So yeah, more early show parallels, Gliscor gets shown up in a battle staying up all night to train afterwards and TR feels like not being dicks and helping him out and then after proving himself voluntarily stays behind, if you had to get rid of ambipom why not do something like this instead of primeape 2.0?
155 is basically a foreshadow/set-up ep, we check in with Zoey to watch her win her 5th ribbon (Candice of course is there to provide moral support) A news interview likewise reveals that Paul has gotten his eight badge already and Dawn works on perfecting her super special new Contest maneuvers.
156+157 serve to finally fill out Ash's last slot on his Sinnoh team roster when he gets a gible of his very own. Not only is he a cool pint sized dragon, but he instigates a running gag wherein all of his long range attacks will without fail hit Piplup, and that's a joke I can get behind.
Still, this is Pokémon upcoming filler is just a fact. 158-160 happily keep up that status quo. 158 is so boring, dealing with two feuding 'mons a magnezone and a metagross and not much else just one kind of long drawn out battle that goes nowhere.
159 is technically not filler as it illustrate how Buizel learns ice punch by going through this Rocky montage, but it also is home to one of the most obnoxious character of the day people in the entire anime this side of Samurai, try to save yourself some pain or preemptively steel your nerves. 160 is just a regular poor episode during which the anime felt an obligation to showcase the Pokémon triathlon from the remakes.
day 1690 dawn gets 5th ribbon {dp161+162}
Ursula returns, and Cyndaquil (Dawn) finally gets to be in a contest, and Dawn's plot arc (and the D+P series as a whole) start to see a resolution in the distance at last. Add in some supah kewl effects that can't be achieved in-game and some Ash/Dawn shippy moments, and you got yourself a nice two parter
So I've glossed over something about Dawn's character. Seeing as how she's a girly girl and pretty and kind of dresses like a ho a running gag associated with her is that given the chance her outfit will become unkempt usually her hair: girl has terrible bed head like all the time. While this its own thing, whenever Kenny shows up in the plot he always makes reference to an incident concerning Dawn that earned her the nickname “Dee-Dee” which she is adamant must never come to light. As it happens, this dark secret turns out to be that certain types of Poké electricity, cause her hair to get all shiny... that's it? I would have assumed instant shimmering glitter hair was a good thing... whatever.
day 1697 monferno evolves into infernape {dp163}
The monkey king is risen! Too bad Ash never gets a power pole. I think I just referenced like 5 shows in 2 sentences, good ratio that. Well in Paul's penultimate appearance, the writers seemingly have dropped the ball as it concerns his character. Not to say they were doing a stellar job before or anything with the way that Paul gets no negative karma from his actions and that Cynthia's and Barry's otherwise good names are tarnished when they try to defend or explain away said actions... argh tangent.
What I mean is that Paul seems empty here, sure before he was a cunt with no other motivation than to crush all who stood in his way so as to make up for his brother's perceived lack of strength but thanks to his loss+win in the snowpoint arc, his bark seems like rehashed rhetoric and his bite is simply not there. It's like he had an introspective moment, noticed he was a horrible person and vowed to stop that, but then didn't try to become better either.
164 is a piplup ep. He gets all emo and joins TR, then gets better and learns hydro pump... I wish I was joking. As AG went on I grew to like torchic as he grew up and matured as a character and evolved as a Pokémon. In DP Piplup only gets worse as the show goes on as he refuses to do likewise.
Next time... "Sunnyshore came and went with no new badge to show for it, (sigh) well Dawn I guess we can finish up with your contesting and swing back around here later." Eps 165-178
Comments
