#and friede's va talking about how friede respects amethio.. so good too. friede just knew the kind of person he was from the start

[amelikos]

The Horizons stage show in AnimeJapan 2024 (last year) was interesting and the bits with Friede and Amethio's VAs are still on my mind. They got to talk about their battles and their characters in general. (The event took place one day after the initial broadcast of HZ044 and before chapter 2 ended and thus reflects the events of the anime at the time.)

Either way, Horie Shun (Amethio's VA) talked about how Amethio changed through his battles with Friede. How Amethio battled out of a sense of duty at first, but gradually, feelings of frustration and his personal desire of wanting to win began to develop inside of him.

And Yashiro Taku (Friede's VA) talked about how through his encounters with Amethio, Friede grew to respect/acknowledge his will/conviction even though they had different objectives at the time.

Very interesting insights from their VAs, hopefully the same this year too.

[amelikos]

Some character notes and episode notes for HZ029, writing them down for future reference.

Roy getting scolded for making a hole in the wall really felt "kid-like" which was nice to see! Roy usually doesn't cause trouble so him playing inside the ship and breaking stuff really shows he is a kid.

Friede telling Roy "didn't you have something to ask" before Roy asks Karna about the Ancient Pokeball is a small moment I really like too. It feels like Friede is giving Roy permission to ask, which is the polite thing to do, instead of Roy just doing so himself. Really like how the series is aware of stuff like that and it shows through in these moments.

Karna making her own Pokeballs was cool to see too. I don't really remember seeing anime only Pokeballs before. I wonder what kind of Pokeball was the one she gave to Orio at the end? We got names for the ones Roy used, but not the one she gave as a parting gift. I wonder if Liko kept the one she was holding too.

Everyone on the ship blaming each other for asking too much from Orio was fun. Mollie is the one pointing out that Orio needs to relax every now and then, it shows how close they are.

I enjoyed Orio and Karna bonding over their passion for their respective crafts. Also liked that the possibility of Orio taking up Karna's offer wasn't played as a misunderstanding with everyone hearing about it or trying to dissuade Orio. Liko heard their conversation and worried about it and subtly tried to know about Orio's feelings about being on the ship by asking her if she was having fun every day. In the end though, the choice was all Orio's and she declined Karna's offer on her own accord.

Horizons depicting older characters struggling with their paths or questioning their lives has been really nice so far. We had Mollie talking about it to Liko in HZ011, then Friede revealing his past in HZ018, and now Orio. Orio was content but felt something was missing in her life and Friede's words made her realize that she wanted to test her abilities which is why she accepted trying to build the Brave Asagi in the first place. Liko got to bond with Orio like she did with Mollie, and sees shades of herself in the women around her. Liko got her sense of adventure from her grandmother. Mollie drew parallels between her experiences and Liko's by bringing up the fact that she didn't know what she wanted to be when she was younger. Orio admits that she wanted to do things she had never done before by going on a journey on the Brave Asagi, and points out that it must be the same thing for Liko. It's really good and I like that Liko gets to have these talks with them.

Friede found a way to calm down the Pokemon by taking into account their characteristics. I like when he shows why he is a Professor with his quick thinking and knowledge.

Friede and Orio's dynamics is great. Friede completely trusts Orio and knows how to ignite her spirit (the callback to "can you do it?" was cute), and in turn she holds the same amount of trust towards him and knew that he probably had something up his sleeve. She didn't even question him because she knows him that much. It's also cute that Orio seems to have her moments of "oh, didn't I tell you?" like Friede. Really shows how they go back a long way. Even Karna knew that Orio would decline her offer to work with her because she saw how Orio talked about Friede (and probably guessed that Orio would want to keep traveling with him, and the others).

I hope Orio and Karna will keep in touch. They get along so well, so it'd be nice if they sent each other messages every now and then.

Also, little moments of Nyahoja and Terapagos playing together are cute... they are getting closer little by little.

I don't know if this was ever confirmed before this, but Orio's Elekid was credited in this episode and it turns out his VA is Horie Shun (Amethio's VA).