Dub episode discussion thread

Nice to see Ash remember the late Stoutland that was Litten's friend. Also nice to see him not bring Litten out. That would've probably jogged some memories in him.

Now I know where those "Geodude caught Ash" jokes came from. Speaking of jokes, I'm so glad Olivia's back to having just one left foot, effectively doing away with the miserable excuse of a running gag from last week's episode.

Ugh... I was hoping the dub would correct that "Comet Shard" error (it's actually a Star Piece Sophocles found) I read about on Bulbagarden. Again, the downsides of literally translating.

I remember seeing it be theorized that the scene where the Ride Stoutland took off Ash's pants would be cut out. Don't really know why that would have to be cut out. Just a quick gag, nothing more.

Lana always was my least favorite of the group in terms of voice acting. She still is, but it's good that she sounded much less wooden than she normally does.

Nothing much to report soundtrack-wise. Just its normal good. I'm just glad the JP music was kept to the bare minimum of just the title card track.

So, other than Lana possibly gaining a Z-Ring, this episode was pretty boring. But really, what chance does Pokemon have against DuckTales (which truly premiered today, by the way), anyway?

"I get enough wishywashy with you," Meowth says to James, proving that TPCi isn't afraid to give some much-needed personality to this show. Thank God for that.

Three over-the-top-anime(one of few occasions I'll ever use that word)-reactions in a row, and they brought back the klutzy Olivia joke. Those are drawbacks...
Here's another "Master Fisherman" to add to the list. Not a bad or good thing; just an observation. Speaking of whom, man, I get on the JP version's case for overacting, but oh my... if that style of acting made it into the dub, it'd sound like that guy and then some. Oh, and Lana still underacts.

Pikachu, you dipshit. When did you forget how to swim??? Anything to get him out of the action, I guess. This was Popplio's moment, anyway, and it was a marvelous one. I'd say it's second only to Ash's battle against Hala in overall excitement. And Popplio got a new move out of it, and Lana got a Z-Crystal out of it. This is why I love it when this saga gets to the important stuff; it makes the best spectacles out of them.

So, the soundtrack.
I've seen people compllain about how "Alola!!" gets misused (a complaint I don't need to see JP episodes to agree with, having gotten to know the JP version's sub-par music scoring style; plus, that complaint warms my heart (why yes, I do have one)), so it pleases me to see its dub equivalent "Under the Alolan Sun" get used more sparingly and logically. But the highlight of the soundtrack is the entire set of themes used for the Totem battle, which included some brand new stuff that's showing Mr. Goldfarb is getting even better at composing battle themes, which used to be his one and only Achilles' Heel.

Unimportant note: that was such hilariously perfect timing for that DuckTales promo to come up right when Ash turned to dust. It looked like his "dust" created the structure Huey, Dewey, and Louie was climbing on, while somehow changing from white to gold.

This was a very good one. I hope this keeps up.

Not having "Tears After a Cloudy Weather" playing during Butterfree's goodbye sequence is a sin! That makes the scene even more nostalgic for us.

TPCI is okay, but they still have a while to go before they can reach Funimation's level of making the English dialogue better than the Japanese one.

"Currying Favor and Flavor!"

That was a refreshingly unorthodox way to start off an episode. And overall, this trial was better than the letdown from last week. It was more exhilarating, for one thing. The trial was better constructed, and the battle was better. Plus, for once, there was a justifiable reason not to focus on anyone but Ash and Mallow despite sending everyone on separate paths in this trial. That was genius.

Where was this knack for good choices of JP music to maintain last week??? It fared out so much better. None of this keeping tense music in situations that aren't even remotely that, or keeping any similar Mima-isms. It still paled in comparison to the dub-exclusive stuff, but at least absolutely nothing was unfitting this time. I've always thought that if JP music had to be kept, better it be stuff that fit to begin with. So props to Mr. Akhil Gopal for that.

A very good one, just what was needed after last week's comparative borefest. Next week is the Grand Trial, which will surely be great.

"Trials and Determinations!"

Sheesh, is Rockruff contracting rabies or what? All that's missing is the foamy mouth. I know it was said that he's getting ready to evolve, but in the real world, that's the behavior of a dog with rabies or worse (any vets in here feel free to correct me).

Best battle of SM thus far right here. Holy shit. Really makes a great case for how much better this saga looks and moves than the XY saga (which itself looked and moved great, but let's face it: it's been outclassed).

Okay, I hope this is the last we see of the klutzy Olivia running joke that was never funny.

Could've done without the G6 Gym Theme. But oh damn it all, that one track over that scene of Rockruff using Bite on Lycanroc would've been perfect for the finishing blow that won Ash the match. Where it actually was was too soon. I hate it when Mima does this. It's almost worse than a flat-out unfitting track being used. But I'm happy the rest of the music (whether it be of dub or sub origin) was well-placed. But the battle looked better than it sounded, anyway, so what does it truly matter?

The Akala Island arc sure kept its best for next-to-last. This was amazing.

(By the way, most meaningless observation ever, but was Masaya Onishi taking cues from MLPFiM or something?? Because there were quite a lot of shots of Rockruff's butt in this episode. Not complaining nor am I praising; just noticing a weird borderline-FFX cinematographic quirk. Forget about "Tears for Fears"; THIS episode, should it get a Pokemopolis guide, should be named "Butt Fascination.")

James Carter Cathcart and Michele Knotz must have been so thankful to finally get a TR focus episode after such a long siesta. I think it was nice, too. It's most ideal to keep TR out of places and episodes they don't belong, and only have them show up when they matter. This is one case I was wishing Ash and friends would have less screentime than they did. Their scenes seemed like the interruption this time.

It's weird hearing the XY version of the Fashion Theme in this saga (it has an accordion section in it, but its SM form has a steel drum where the accordion was), but I suppose it was used because Jessie was shopping for an outfit for Mimikyu to wear. That's a logic I can agree with. Plus, after last week's tease, it's good to have all dub music without any unwelcome interruption from the JP music.

Yeah, yeah, Meowth's death got slightly censored again, it's the end of the world, let's just all Jonestown Koolaid ourselves now over this BLIGHT TO MANKIND. Oh, did I mention this is sarcasm? But anyway, I'm more surprised the thing that would've been a justifiable censoring didn't get censored: the bouncy Pikachu house's memetastically vaginal entrance.

(Oh, and before anyone asks how I know the censorship happened even though I don't watch the JP episodes anymore, a friend of mine (the one who made those videos linked above) filled me in.)

This episode was very nice. I didn't think it would be better than last week's, but it was.

So, i just saw the movie today in theaters, and man... it was a strange thing. i'm still trying to digest it.

Like, I get what they were going for, but everything just felt kind of... rushed. Like I felt nothing when Butterfree left, mostly because he was such a non factor. He had like four scenes, evolved in three and left in two, and that was one of the best moments of the original series. The new guys were pretty Character of the day-ish, with kind of forced backstories to try to mine some emotion. I felt sadder for that Espurr in XY, then I did Butterfree here. Verity could have been Misty or Dawn for as much as she brought, being a Water Pokemon trainer with a Piplup who acts almost exactly like Dawn's, and Sorrel couldn't stop barfing exposition every time he was on screen.

Entei was the only interesting legendary, as the others just showed up out of obligation. Cross seemed almost inhumanely brutal, but when i heard that Charmeleon immediately obeys Ash, I'll admit, this at least gives him a good reason, too.

Also, Pikachu talking, maybe it was being at the theater, but this part lead to the most audible groan out of a room full of adults who paid to see a Pokemon movie, dressed in Pokemon attire. I don't know if that ruined that for me or not.

Anyway, some positives, it was pretty cool to see a Pokemon movie in a theater, I dn't know if it'll happen in any other countries, but I enjoyed it. I really hope they do it again, Fathom Events in the US here has been responsible for a lot of recent Limited Screening anime screenings here, and they even added two moe days (though without swag) for this one, so whatever M21 will be I hope it can get a release, to. Also, even though I haven't played the card game since I was in Elementary school (as a Kid I never had a gameboy, so this was as close as I got) I got a card and the QR Code. Since I believe they're all universal and multi use I can post a picture if anyone wants to add it to their USUM games.

Also, I'm kind of over hearing The Pokemon Theme constantly remixed now. I love the song, but I think I can tell you guys my dirty little secret... I'm honestly more partial to Pokemon World, even though i don't necessarily enjoy the Orange Island episodes that much.