Kalos (800-???) …2242 is 17th birthday
day N/A Checking in with the Unovian annoyances and documenting a new shade of Red
It is for the best that all remaining vestiges of the previous region be tied and down away with before we look at Ash in Kalos proper. So while he's chilling on the airplane let's run through the two most recent Chronicle episodes which serve as an epilogue a piece to Mr. Ketchum's (thankfully) former traveling companions. Cilan's last word for the foreseeable future, ss27, is in all honesty not that bad.
He's where he said he'd be, bumming around Johto (where all nominally important characters go to at least once for some reason) when he goes fishing-crazy and tries to hook a Gyarados. Incidentally this stops a poacher unbeknownst to Cilan, and in the process his pansage gets hurt. Cue a run to the nearest PokéCenter and cause a gratuitous ep-long cameo by one Dr. Brock. Stuff happens and the poacher is stopped for good. As nice as it was to see Brock, it really irks me that neither happened to drop Ash's name... the one thing they actually have in common!
Still, with half of my problem with BW isolated from the other and then actually found to be entertaining, as can be verified in-saga whenever Cilan was by himself messing with Burgundy, a thought springs to mind. Perhaps Iris and Cilan are like baking soda and vinegar, they only cause explosions when brought together, being static and inert compounds otherwise. So maybe... the next one will be watchable?
The results after watching ss28 are a conclusive "eh...maybe?". the special plays out like someone seperated all the stupidity inherent in bw100 and bw136 (the Drayden fight and Claire cameo) and combined whatever remained. She trots into Blackthorn City, in the midst of a Gible digging rampage.
Naturally the townsfolk want to capture the nuisance, and Iris volunteers herself to do so after she allows it to escape, because she thought it was going to be hurt unjustly. She does of course, and after dropping it off at Claire's dragon sanctuary, she and the gym leader have a battle: undeserved Dragonite vs. shiny Druddigon. Iris loses (again obvious) but it seems like she learned something from it as opposed to Drayden's pointless schooling. On the way out of town with her new Gible (that she at least put some effort into getting and who is unsurprisingly already stronger than baby dragon Axew) she spots a Rayquaza in the sky and gives chase... hopefully in the opposite direction of where Kalos is in relation to Johto.
So that's 2 episodes (this and bw56) that a) focus on Iris and b) are without her much better in every way rival Georgia to distract the audience from whose episode it is that c) are actually any good. Which sucks, because ss28 proves that the earlier dieno episode wasn't a fluke and Iris could have been at least passable as a temporary main character. By herself, Iris means well but knows she doesn't know crap all, which is a hell of a lot better than the airs she had on constantly around her "friends". Too little too late save her character by far though.
- How to 100% a save file in Pokémon Red/Blue in 35:46 actual time of the narrative time be damned
Attention! It is now time for Something Completely Different, often clamored for by older fans, a truer to the source material adaption that actually does follow Trainer Red's journey to the end... of completing that damn Pokédex Pr. Oak gives you. Short version: Is it good/great? Yes. Is it satisfactory? Well it could have been longer by some degree, mini-series instead of movie length, but it hit all the major points.
Now for some specifics. Also no need to recap the plot to any degree, it's quite literally a dramatic retelling of 1st Gen's plot with some 6th gen paraphenalia thrown in at the last minute to look awesome.
The animation is just gorgeous, seems that OLM outsourced their flagship to Production IG and Xebec for a minute or two, they even go so far as to recreate Oak's intro speech in the game, not just the dialogue but even the way it plays out. That sentiment could be said of this whole special though, everything is one giant homage to the original games from the music (though that's used in the regular anime as well) to even a good chunk of everything said like I mentioned with Oak's speech. Nostalgia fest aside, the battles are paced extremely well and are fluid, as if there's actually some kinetic force behind everything for once, so like in the movies and the League battles, but with a higher gloss of paint.
Rather than gush all day, the only two things I dislike about Origins are the following: it's length as already stated which at 4 episodes of 20 or so minutes is kind of rushed, 6 or 7 would have fleshed everything out better like say an actual montage of gym fights rather than still images and the elite 4 could have actually shown up instead of jumping straight to the Champion fight.
Secondly I have a problem with Red's voice, specifically in the Japanese version... he's Naruto. Now whether that's some perfect irony or a bad joke I'm not sure, but with no disrespect meant to Ms. Junko Takeuchi (who really does some great work in this), the last thing I want to hear out of Red's mouth is one of the very short list of people that make Ash Ketchum look like some sort of genius, and I don't mean the Obfuscating Stupidity kind I like to think Ash is either. Otherwise it's a great quick watch recommended to all Pokéfans.
There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it nudge to the ghost hand creepy pasta while Red's in Lavender, and if I may ask, can Ash please get the Y-mega stone for Charizard since Red got X? It's only fair after all. Still this has been enough of a digression already, time to return to the story proper and see if Ash's latest adventure will be as much of a trainwreck as his last outing.
day 2056 Ash lands in Lumiose City, meets Sycamore, Clemont, and Bonnie and catches froakie {xy1+2}
So I'm pretty sure they must have bribed some of the artists that did Origin because XY sure is pretty. Now it's not even close to the level of polish that special had, but I appreciate that it's in the same visual vein rather than returning to bw's somewhat garish palette (which was needed to distance itself from ag+dp, but after awhile it lost its appeal.
Also I didn't mention this when talking about the end of the saga, but wow Ash you must either really really really not want to get cabin fever or you were dreading how to tell anybody about the worst vacation ever (remember that's why he went, not for the League) because you didn't even stay home a day. I'm surprised Mrs. Ketchum even had time to make you some new clothes.
I wish there was a way to signify a jaw dropping through text because WOW! The writers have redeemed themselves in full, this two parter actual comes close to how narratively tight the two part opening to Kanto was, compared to how meh the other sagas (ag1-4, dp1-3, and bw 1-5) were in introducing everything. Comparing just the 1st half to bw1 tho, no damn contest at all. So happy.
So anyway, like in bw1, Ash runs out of the plane into a new region ready for a fresh start. This time, there isn't an angry plot dragon to ruin his day. Is it just me or does Ash undergo a personality shift partway through the ep? He's all pumped and hotblooded at first, but as soon as Alexa leaves off to parts unknown he seems to tone it down some, like how low key he is when introducing himself to Clemont and Bonnie(for Ash anyway). Backtracking a bit, we did see the XY videogame opening play out as a fletchling pecked Serena awake, more on her later.
Back with Ash, he gets evicted from the Lumiose City gym for not having any badges. Ok 1st that's not technically true as should be obvious, Ash even acknowledges wanting another shot at the League to Alexa before she goes, and frames his journey plans to Clemont as wanting a "new" challenge, tacitly acknowledging he has experience.
Tangent: So for unexplained reasons so far Clem and Bon have left the gym unattended and he seems relunctant to tell Ash he's the gym leader... Wonder how long that secret's going to last, 1 episode? On the outside less than ten.
Brief char. notes: Obviously Clem and Bon genderswap the May/Max dynamic collectively and individually Clem is a wacky inventor type that doesn't seem cut out for all this adventuring and Bon is on the right side of cute/annoying Tagalong Kid from the getgo as opposed to long time it took me to care about Max.
That battle was masterful even if that bunnelby was a fresh capture, and since Clemont's on the downlow he might be lying, there was actual chereography and no stock footage or long unnecessary takes back to the trainers and Ash had an actual strategy. That eyecatch at the beginning was cool, probably going to be a gym leader only thing tho.
And Then Team Rocket Show Up. Ash gets serious instantly and Clemont seems to grasp the situation pretty damn quick (obligatory "a talking meowth" nonwithstanding.) Wobbufett does something useful via mirror coat, but this random froakie bamfs in and pulls a heroic sacrifice.
Part 2 kicks off with another brief snippet of Serena. Can't say anything about her character one way or the other but on a story level for the intro, she seems to be the anti-Dawn what with the lack of focus as the region starts and not wanting to follow in her mother's footsteps.
Back with Ash, he and Bonnie have run Froakie to Sycamore's lab, Clemont's a couple streets back. He's going to have to work on his cardio if he's going to journey with Ash. Some backstory on Ash's soon to be froakie is given, apparently it's a proud warrior of justice that didn't think any of the newbies were good enough to train him.
Man, if Ash is that shocked by Mega Evolutions, how's he gonna react to the fairies? Anyway Froakie gets healed and immeadiately dashes off to unmask TR who had disguised themselves in the lab, but can't stop them before they get some kind of mind collar on Sycamore's garchomp which promptly malfunctions and makes it go berserk.
Initial report seems to be that TR has indeed finally struck a balance between their Sinnoh/Unova selves. Yay. The rest of the episode can be summed up as an angry dragon attacks Paris and everyone stands around and lets a random teenager that looks like he knows what to do handle the situation.
I mean Sycamore's just like "What you got this? OK Just be careful." and seriously Clem "I just so happen to have a key to the back lock to Prism Tower... Not the gym leader I swear."
So when they catch up to Garchomp Ash rips off the ring himself while Pikachu carefully applies an iron tail because he doesn't want Pikachu to accidentally hurt the out of control monster (of course), then part of the tower crumbles and Pikachu falls off. Ash then promptly flips off the law of gravity and jumps after him. Good think that mega-blaziken and his masked trainer swooped in at the last minute. Still adding it to the death count.
Meanwhile Serena is watching all of this on a live broadcast (Doubt if anyone's going to remember Ash saved a major city within the day he landed in Kalos) and recognizes Ash immeaditely and sets off after him already supplanting Dawn's cheerleader routine, that one time May stripped down to a bikini and Misty's "Welcome Home" scene as being the zenith of wow this chick really wants Ash. OK so, if it's been X years since their last meeting say when they were 7ish?... kinda pinging the stalker radar there, honey. Your (presumed so far) crush-loyalty is admirable, and hey I don't dislike you yet, so we'll see where your character goes from here.
Finally, I really like how froakie's like "Hey. You're crazy, I like that. Hold this ball while I jump in." Kalos has given me hope again.
Next time... Honestly, I don't have anything funny to put here yet eps 3-?
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