#did i mention I love anime Guzma
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bunniesbearsandadventures Ā· 7 months ago
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Is that?
Is that my bug boss man?
Whom I love so dearly?
Is it anime Guzma?
Yes. Yes it is!
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dandyshucks Ā· 2 months ago
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realizing i wanted to ask - how did u first fall in love w/ guzma (irl) ? :o (@dmclr)
ougghh (/happy) Clara you always ask such good questions omg šŸ«¶
umm... okay so. i should give a general "abuse CW" label i guess fjfkdl but I'll keep it vague and to a minimum of mention! also putting it below the cut because I RAMBLED SO MUCH, SORRY IN ADVANCE
tumblr kind of went crazy for the guy when the anime finally introduced him in 2019 (it took SO long to get to him, over 100 episodes in the su/mo arc šŸ˜­) and at first i didnt think much of him rly, but then somehow eventually (a few months later) i found out through osmosis that he's got trauma going on and my ears kind of perked up a bit LOL
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(underwater just to set it apart from the rest of the post so it doesnt blend in and get confusing fndkdl) screenshot of the post i rbed where i first mentioned liking him fdsjkl
around the same time, i was having some realizations about my own experiences with childhood and family etc, and there was some other stuff going on in my life (also. the plague started so uh. that too.) that was just kind of culminating in like. A Lot of stress and fear and stuff. so seeing this character who has experienced somewhat similar things was ... comforting in a way? shared experience or something, idk. plus I've always been a sucker for misfit archetype characters, especially if they make a little family out of other misfits :')
another big part of the intrigue (because my crushes always start with a sort of šŸ‘€ phase fdsjkl, I have to think somebody is interesting in some way and want to find out More about them, and then feelings develop from there) for me was just the fact that he was Angry. like... the way I've personally learned to deal w abuse has been to always be meek and fawn. so seeing someone who went in the opposite direction, to become angry and strong and defiant instead, was SO fascinating to me and I was very curious to learn more about him.
so I looked into him more, loved what i found, related to him a bit, accidentally by some random occurrence stumbled upon some bf audios of him somehow??, wished he were real so we could hang out, thought about how I'd act around him and started to feel a little flustered about it ... it's all downhill from there once u reach that point smh šŸ˜”šŸ˜” (/silly)
for a long time i didn't really fully step into s.elfship territory w him - i dabbled a little but he wasnt The Focusā„¢ in my brain yet. also we (as a system) have had a host change since then, so there was a previous juno that was not Me (even though we kept the same main name between us two parts), and they didn't like the guy as much as Current Me does djfkdl - theres also some ... relatively significant personality differences between the two versions of Juno, so I think Juno2.0 (me) meshes with him a lot better now than Juno1.0 did in 2020/2021
and then last year, i found and joined the s.elfship community and um. I absolutely did not mean for him to become The Main Guy and never would've guessed he would be, but... well,, we dont always plan things i suppose, feelings just happen šŸ˜­
anyways. it maybe seems kind of messed up but his ~tragic backstory~ is what drew me in initially bc it helped me feel less alone and scared when i was Going Through some pretty major shit lol. and then after that, i just kind of took the character base that pkmn had in place and ran with it to build on it and sort of make my own version of him that I could be friends with and eventually fell in love with ^^;;
TL;DR it was a mix of timing, similar history of abuse, intrigue bc of our opposite reactions to the abuse, and um... the way he is like,, strong and builds a safe place for other young ppl who feel unsafe or not accepted in general society fdsjkl
i get embarrassed talking abt it bc ppl seem to really hate it when abuse victims are weak in any way and need help, but ... i do really like that he is strong in some ways and would be able to give me a sort of safe place to let my guard down and receive help and care (as shown by the way he provides a safe place for the grunts, all the misfits and outcasts of Alola) ^^;;;; honestly kind of a Big part of it for me (and for pretty much all my s.elfship dynamics) is that he is able to protect me and care for me, because I have not like. experienced that ever. at least not properly. when your parents are the ones being abusive, you not only do not experience protection and care but you're also being actively hurt in some way by the people who are supposed to keep you safe. so to be freely given care and safety is kind of crazyyyy to me LOL, that is something i like a lot about him :')
OKAY RAMBLE OVER. i really tried to keep this as short as i could but,, brevity is not a strength of mine (esp when it comes to him) LOL. THANK YOU for the question !!! its fun to look back at how it all happened tbh :]
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crystalelemental Ā· 1 year ago
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"megazardx2: Iā€™m so glad you enjoyed it, especially since you didnā€™t like the Gen 7 games much at all. Canā€™t wait to hear your thoughts!"
Then this is as good a time as any! Pokemon Sun and Moon anime thoughts, as much as I can stuff in there.
As mentioned in my last recap, the only history I have with the anime is vague recollections from the original seasons, and XY which we watched just before this. And of them, Sun and Moon pretty quickly got itself into top spot. I really like the friend group, and I think Ash works best as just some kid with the others. It feels much more natural to him than the big hero thing of XY, which was overplayed and frankly silly.
This hasn't really gone anywhere. The friend group remains the strongest aspect, I love them. Mallow's probably the favorite of the bunch, but there's not a single one I disliked. Lillie and Sophocles precious, Kiawe and Lana are hilarious, Mallow just vibes the hardest with how I am as a person so like...I get it girl. Even Team Rocket was far more tolerable this season, back to being mostly ineffectual villains with more mild goals and significantly fewer war crimes committed. Bewear helps a lot. I think the decision to swap out their old blasting off routine to Bewear's myriad entries was divine.
Nanu and Acerola had a great little arc. They were a ton of fun while present. I didn't really click with Olivia but she's fine. Same with Hala, who felt like he could've done more. I did wind up liking Hapu, which is very unexpected. Faba's alright, Wicke doesn't really do much, and I have many thoughts, none of them particularly nice, about Lusamine. That leaves the last two clusters.
Kukui and Burnet are a delight. They're adorable, they're hilarious, big fan all around. I am very glad they ditched Kukui's secret just before the final match, I don't know if I would've been able to stomach it through that. The Masked Royal thing was always a bit goofy, and this is naturally no exception. But their whole dynamic is cute.
Guzma. Ooooh Guzma. You got hit with the same bat as Lusamine. From a character in the main games with a lot of going on that you could infer, to...literally just some pissbaby loser who's mad he can't win. Dude, this is like the least compelling villain story. I do like the attempt to use Golisopod as a sort of showcasing of that same mentality, but it's a nice artistic touch on a generally bad approach. I do not like Team Skull at all in this. Or, for that matter, Ilima. Who I legitimately forgot about until this moment. Ilima just doesn't do much of anything. Oh, he's just soft-spoken and nice and talented and all the ladies love him. Sure. But he's no Ryuki. Who wins the award for funniest one-shot character in the series.
The Ultra Beast episodes were solid. I generally like the idea behind it. It's goofy, but it fits functionally. I don't strictly mind why they function in the way they do, but I'd be lying if I said the explanation being "It's the kid in Lusamine coming out" didn't rub me the wrong way given everything else about her character. Mostly I think what the anime nails are character moments. Sophocles getting over his fears and starting to appreciate battles, Mallow getting established as a talented chef in her own right with a strength in reading people's wants, Lana being...genuinely just talented at everything? Like, girl doesn't get enough time to shine because they often pass it off to Kiawe or Ash, but she's legitimately good at like everything they wind up doing.
The tournament was...interesting. I wasn't sure how much I'd like it, given how quickly they belted through top 16 and top 8. But admittedly? It works. It truncates a lot into the critical moments. Watching XY, the battles could be interesting, but often it's sort of a...going through the motions? Like okay, yes, Ash vs Sawyer was generally a good time, but there were plenty of matchups that amount to very little in the grand scheme. Ash vs. Alain, I would be willing to argue, is largely forgettable. Nothing all that interesting happens until the final Greninja vs. Charizard matchup, but I don't really respect Charizard, and I hate Ash Greninja, so it's not like I cared. But it's telling that the entire match and all the episodes in it could've been boiled down to about those 5 minutes with little lost in terms of impact or importance.
I think that's what Sun and Moon nailed best in this arc. The battles are just the parts that matter. Ash's Rowlet has one real rival, and that's Hau's Decidueye. Just do those two, and it's a nice, condensed fight. That ends kinda lame because man it really kinda feels like Hau should've won that, or they should've waited to call it a while so it didn't feel like taking something from him. Mallow has low confidence in her battling and tries to shy away from a battle she expects to lose, and Lana calls on her to make an effort. We only need the one Pokemon for that. Sophocles is learning to put his all into battles and wants to stand his ground against Kiawe, and again, we can do that in one. We need a showing of Guzma being a vicious trainer in how he battles, and boy do you get the point in the 1v1 with Lana. They do really well at linking up just the emotional connection part of the battle. Even in 2v2 matches this holds, as they quickly get to Kiawe's ace in Turtonator, and eliminate Scizor in two seconds for a story beat. It's well done! Even Kukui and Ash, which is a much longer fight, leads off the the big emotional showdown of Torracat vs. Incineroar, but both are recalled before a victor is decided leaving you waiting for the return and how that'll play out. Even after that, they manage to pivot into Tapu Koko vs. Pikachu, which was another battle that needed to finish (though I am slightly sad we don't know Kukui's actual sixth Pokemon).
The Pokemon just feel like they have real connections, not just within their team but with their rivalries. Which is...more than I can say for XY. Every major rivalry in Pokemon was Greninja vs. someone else's ace. None of that team mattered otherwise. They had cute dynamics, I really liked Hawlucha and Noivern. But what role did Talonflame play once it evolved? It ceased to matter. Why bring Goodra back? Ash just needed a sixth Pokemon, no other reason. Comparatively, when Naganadel comes back, it doesn't have a strict rival, but it's the first time it's battling and it came back through dimensions to see them again, and you get how much that means. This season did really well with connection and emotional impact for pretty much everyone involved, and it did it in a cute slice of life-y way rather than trying to big up drama to make someone matter. Which I generally vibe with a lot more.
I'm trying to think of other things to talk about but am kinda running dry. I'm sleepy, we did a lot of chores. The point is, Sun and Moon was really good. Big fan. Unfortunately, my wife and I discussed where to go next. And we have reached consensus. My wife never watched anything before this. And Journeys is more of a recap thing from all accounts, visiting characters and places from everywhere. So we will, unfortunately, be going all the way back to the beginning. I have acquired veto power over episodes if I remember them sucking shit. The original Kanto stuff is only two seasons, so hopefully this will go quickly, but from here it's sequential. I think the intent is to actually go through everything. Brace for impact. And salt. Because save for exactly five episodes I look back upon fondly, I don't know how I'm going to tolerate original Ash, or Brock and Misty.
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a-tale-of-legends Ā· 1 year ago
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Legendverse family hcs ( for now)
Insert Silver family tree here....okay but really, yeah, Ariana is Silver's mom and Mars is his older sister. There's a pretty big step gap between the two: Mars being 18-20 and Silver being 10-12 by the HGSS/Platinum arc. Mars actually hates her father, and joined Team Galactic thinking they would actually create a new better world. I think she ran away when she was younger, actually, only stumbling upon Cyrus sometime in her later teens. When she turned 18, she swore loyalty to him , and joined Team Galactic! Okay back to the hc
I like the idea of Ariana, Byron and Maxie being cousins so I'll add it to the family free for now.
I mentioned this before, but Winona and Anabel are siblings! Bugsy is their little cousin.
Alder and Flint ( and by proxies benga and buck) are very distant cousins, neither know that they are related to each other.
Tucker and Fantina are definitely related, but I'm not entirely sure how. I do like the idea of Jupiter being part of the family tree, either as Fantina's younger sister or niece.
Since the GO Leaders are in this au, I figured I could try and add the GO team rocket ( possibly as part as RR, or the ones in charge of the much smaller, much less powerful team rocket that's working underground). So Arlo is related to Lucy ( battle frontier). Again, not exactly sure how, but they are! And like in the anime, Lucy and Barbara are sisters.
Grimsley has two other siblings, one older and one younger ( heh, middle child). One ditched him and went to Galar and eventually got with Pier's and Marnie's mom. I'm still not sure of how I feel about Larry being Giacomo's dad, but I do have some room where the other sibling married Larry and had Giacomo.....they would be divorced by the beginning of the game, and Giacomo lives with his mom. Again not sure if I'll go with this fully, but that's the idea for now.
I still don't know what's funnier. Volo having a slutty era which resulted in him getting several descendants. Or Volo messing with one person and that one person leads to a very long and confusing line. Regardless, Volo didn't pay for child support and Zero snacks him in the head for it. As for his descendants, there's obviously Cynthia, and I think Lusamine is another one of them. Colress is a maybe right now.
Speaking of Colress him being related to clemont and Bonnie is a fun idea. Either as their or their weird uncle, it seems like a fun idea. Not sure if I'll make it canon though.
Bertha and Agatha are either sisters or cousins I have not decided. Either way, I think it'll be cute for Bertha to meet little Blue and Green. ( I...really like the idea of Agatha actually being Blue's grandma. Though it's clear the two- Agatha and Oak I mean- are long since divorced. Just some food for thought).
Not exactly a family hc, but I do see Phoebe being half Alolan. She was pretty much born and raised in Hoenn though. I don't exactly see her being related to anyone in Alola ( that we know of I mean). Her Alolan parent did teach her about Alolan culture and she visits from time to time.
I freaking love the "Kabu is Flannery's uncle " hc man. It's so sweet.
And finally, Guzma and Professor Willow are distant cousins!
An Honorable mention goes to Will and Lucian! I tried to think of ways where they could be related to each other, or to Bugsy or whoever, but I ended up falling flat. Still, shout out to them tho, if I ever get something for them, I'll let y'all know!
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frostbite-the-bat Ā· 11 months ago
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OK this time I wad a less pleasant dream
Warning for mentions of gore and animal harm
- in my dream I heard from mole that someone made a funny pacesetter.exe game using Mario 64 for some reason so I downloaded it but when we tried running it, it didn't work
I continued on my life then, and did my art and other things... Until my computer began acting weird and slow and so I restarted it. The internet has been acting weird in the dream beforehand too but that's unrelated - I went on my switch to play games but then I saw my screen light up and I see my wallpaper has changed
I walk over and it's text saying that my computer is being watched and hacked by devs of the game and that I'm dumb for downloading it - and for me to appease them I have to put Toontown fanart into one of the folders in the game files
I go through the files and there's many gore images, mostly of dead animals. I get to the folders without images and I make a text file and start typing, and here's what I remember typing:
"Hello, I am Guzma / Cathal, but I'm mostly known as Frostbite-The-Bat in the community. (Can't remember) I apologize for whatever I've done that has angered you. Please inform me of any other ways I can appease you -"
And I get cut off and windows start moving around and my cursor starts being hard to control. Another text file opens up and text starts appearing that I don't remember but it was very memey and jokey and clearly tried intimidating me. They used fonts and ominous messages - but I saw these were trolls who do this for fun and so I joined in, hoping that'll get me on their side.
"Oh, and you'll type THAT using the halloween font, right?"
"yeah right"
And then we both began fucking around with the fonts for a while, seeing that a lot of them even morphed into images that'd overlay the whole text. Some were more weird, like a foot frozen in ice and some little animal on an Ai generated green colored torso in a dentists office
Once I had more control again, I continue typing in my own text post:
"I am only typing this formally now, believe me I don't speak like this often. I don't have anything to offer aside from art due to my living conditions. Please, from one TTCC fan to another, what can I do to stop you from hacking my computer?"
Some time then passes and I hear a voice, which sounded Exactly like snapcube Eggman showing me things in a presentation with various drawings - supposedly the images of animals they had were from the group who made this game
"so yknow those machines that exist to make those flavored burgers. you put a soda in the bottom and it squeezes it and it then goes up. WELL SO WE THOUGHT what if we put a chicken in there? and so we did. and when we did it SQUISHED IT and all the organs went up, and the skin and the bones remained on the bottom where it crushes those cans! then yknow how it poops out the soda can remains? it did so with the chick, too, it looked really gross. we read something online that chicks can survive with one drop of water and so we injected it with water in the forehead. then, it slowly got up! with no blood or anything, it was loving again! this was it can grow it all back and we can repeat the process without buying any new animals!"
And the machine looked like this on the presentation:
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It then began showing the baby chick in detail, and I was getting really uneasy and so I woke up.
I have in fact overslept my alarm even if it literally fucking blares VINE BOOM SOUND EFFECT. also about my prev post I would be delighted to get The Fabled Ibuprofen We Love On Tumblr for my ouchies however I AM not getting up oh gooedudddgb hbhhhghhgjjjhjhjhjhmhnnjhh
Considering this dream was about Pacesetter I nerd to fill you in on the inside joke that, anytime I'm going through The Monthly Horrors, I call it "I'VE TURNED INTO PACESETTER" so that's that
I'm very glad it was real because getting hacked live like that is genuinely so fucking scary
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epicspheal Ā· 3 years ago
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This episode made me really root for Barry yā€™all As always the animation was gorgeous but I really liked how video went back and forth between the battle between Barry and Palmer and all of the events leading up to it. It was the same storytelling the Lillie and Leonā€™s did to show how far they came. I think this really worked for Barry as it just allowed the viewers to see how far he came from the boy who thought rushing into an area with wild Pokemon was a good idea One thing I noted was how he brought up his dad at Lake Verity. I check back on his quotes in DP and he doesnā€™t mention his dad at all, and in Platinum not until Oreburgh. This was a little dialogue but it added a lot of weight to Barryā€™s motivation and struggles. This is the type subtle yet explicit storytelling that Pokemon needs more, especially for itā€™s rivals.
And getting to see Lucas! *screams* Ahhhh my baby boy! Listen I love Dawn, especially in the anime sheā€™s one of my favorite characters in the entire franchise. But it was nice to see Lucas get some shine as he honestly doesnā€™t get much love from the franchise and fandom. Also seeing the Starly actually physically attacking the boys. Itā€™s a little moment (and for me is a subtle nod to Pokemon Legends: Arceus), but I do like it when the franchise shows that any Pokemon could be a threat. I mean yes Lusamine, Guzma and Leon all got their shits wrecked by Necrozma and Eternatus, respectively but those are legendary Pokemon and something not just any trainer is going to see in their lifetimes. But common Pokemon like Starly are more likely to be seen by your average trainer and showing that even they still pose a threat is good.Ā  Getting to see Roark was great (Roark is one of my favorite characters heā€™s so adorable). The Jupiter vs Barry fight was heartbreaking. Poor Barry was trying his best, so it was satisfying to not only see him get his revenge but to see Jupiter acknowledge his growth and strength The shots of Barry vs Palmer though were the real highlight for me. Seeing Barry finally get to go up against his dad, and his dad not holding back at all, showing that he respected his son and his growth as a trainer. Honestly I would love to see something similar Hau vs Hala and Hop vs Leon. That would be so satisfying.Ā 
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kakusu-shipping Ā· 2 years ago
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Whelp I did as you asked and wrote a list! It's just romantic F/O overlaps but it's still quite a few
Koro-Sensei (I want him to wrap me in up in his tentacles and go flying with him)
Teruteru (Lesser so than some others but his perverted butt is very cute)
Ryoma (Casual but I actually cried when they discovered his body so...)
Gonta (I could talk about my love for him all day, I'm not even joking)
Milo (My main Pokemon F/O he's so cute and sorta scottish I love him)
Gordie (He thinks he's so cool! It's adorable, more recent as I only just played sword)
Brock (When I first watched the anime I didn't even know what F/Os were but I just instantly fell in love)
James (Dramatic man, I love me some dramatic men)
Guzma (Ah big bad goofball, goofballs are like some of my favourite things in the world)
Papyrus (Did I mention how much I love goofballs... although it's awkward cause I also self ship with his dad)
Spamton (I literally write fanfiction on my Tumblr for himā€¦)
Dick Gumshoe (Ah, I wanna become Gumshoe's hardworking wife who cooks dinner for him every day, so badly!)
Zenyatta (His voice... also I just really like robots)
Alfur (He's so small, and adorable, and british, dear lord help me, I'm in love!)
Teddy (He's so cute, and wholesome, and large, and kind... I may be a morosexual but I don't care!)
Goodness that list is eclectic!
Moronsexual Moronsexual bestie you have such a TYPE
I love this so much that's such a good overlap because so many of these have been on my list for YEARS now like. This was my CLASSIC F/O list before it got MASSIVE.
Also bestie if you have more plot based S/Is please also come busting into my asks or DMs and tell me about them for any of these F/Os, I wanna see how much overlap we have, and if I can incorporate you SIs into my SI canon.
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stargazer-balladeer Ā· 4 years ago
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Their Reaction to their S/o Having Fear of Bugs [PokƩmon]
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Characters Included: Bugsy, Aaron, Burgh, Viola & Guzma
Note: I posted this in Quotev, but I decided to post it here as well :) I think the Bug Type Users are underrated so this is me showing love towards them :3 This could also be me being ā€œself-indulgentā€ as usual o3o. Hope you enjoy this :3 (Hope they arenā€™t too OOC though ;-;)Ā 
Readerā€™s Gender: Neutral
Warning: Mild spoilers in Aaronā€™s for his Anime appearance
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BUGSY
Of course this boy will be saddened at the fact that you have fear of the type he expertise at (he's calledĀ "The Walking Bug PokĆ©mon Encyclopedia"Ā for a reason). But he's actually understanding, I mean, have you seen him?! He's so innocent looking!Ā 
Anyway, he's a patient and understanding man. If you two hang out, he'll try his best not to let out his Pokemon around you, or near you at most. But sometimes, his Pokemon does the exact opposite of what he wants. Scyther is, unfortunately for you, an affectionate type. So she'll be trying to hug you, and you'll be frozen still as Bugsy sweatdropped at the background.
If ever you two live together, you might need to get used to his Pokemon team. Especially since Bugsy likes keeping stray Bug-Pokemon if he ever sees one just wandering around and wounded. One time, he brought in a Pinsir, and you're just so frightened by it that you'll not go near the (poor) Pinsir.
Bugsy, for sure, would try to make your fear go away, but he wouldn't push it. He makes your comfort his number 1 priority. But he wouldn't admit out loud that he's actually hurt that he has a s/o that has fear of bugs, but he understands. He knew that Bug Pokemon isn't exactly a Pokemon that you would normally not fond of.Ā 
BUT! If you actually ask for Bugsy's help for helping you get over your fear, he would be ECSTATIC. He would grab a Butterfree, whom he befriended in the forest, and start from there. It would be, of course, be hard but he's patient with you and doesn't rush you. He's an ideal boyfriend to have really (I'm so jealous ToT SANAOL).
"Okay, [Y/N].. just place your hand here." Bugsy instructed while pointing at Butterfree's head, which made the Pokemon chirp happily while still fluttering. [Y/N] gulped while staring at the flying Bug-Type, they were far away from Bugsy and Butterfree. Bugsy offered them a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, [Y/N]! If you're not ready yet, then--" "NO" Both Bugsy and Butterfree jumped at [Y/N]'s voice.
[Y/N] took a deep shaky breath while clenching their fists in determination. "I-I want to.. I-I'm ready.." To prove their point, they started walking towards the two gawking figures. Bugsy quickly recovers as he smiled brightly at his s/o's determination. He lightly pats the back of Butterfree, nodding his head at the Pokemon, who nodded back at him. [Y/N] walked towards them with confidence, which gradually fades the nearer they got. They stop infront of the fluttering Pokemon as they stare at the two beady eyes of it. It was creepy that it made shivers go down [Y/N]'s spine.
[Y/N] snapped out of their trance when a warm hand cupped their clenched hands, which was turning white from how hard their clenching. [Y/N] look at Bugsy with wide eyes, as they stare at him bringing their hands to his mouth and kissing it. He opens his eyes and smiled at them. "Relax yourself. I know you can do it.. just give it a try, alright?" Bugsy said in a soft tone, to which his s/o nodded their heads. His smile broadened as he intertwines his right hand with their left while guiding the other to the expecting Butterfree.
[Y/N] could see that their hand is gradually going near the butterfly-Pokemon, so they squeeze their eyes tight as they expect to feel the head of Butterfree. Bugsy felt his s/o tense so he use his thumb to run circles on her hand. "Look at me, [Y/N]." When his s/o did that, he smiled at them. While [Y/N] was distracted, he quickly but gently puts her hand on top of Butterfree's head. They squealed when Bugsy did that, but soon began relaxing at the feeling of Butterfree's head. "Whoa! It's so soft!" [Y/N] cried as they began petting the head.Ā 
Butterfree happily chirps at the feeling, enjoying it's head being rubbed. Bugsy watched as his s/o pets the Bug-Pokemon with a happy and proud grin on his face. "You did it, darling! You did it!" Bugsy enthusiastically hugs [Y/N] while them still petting the Butterfree. "It's so soft.. and rather cute." Bugsy happily chuckles at her statement while hugging her tighter. "I think you can touch Scyther now, [Y/N]." [Y/N] absentmindedly nodded their head, still distracted by how soft Butterfree's head is.
They were enjoying the moment, when a familiar-looking green Bug-Pokemon came in view. She was running towards the hugging couple. This caught all of them off-guard as Bugsy lets go of [Y/N], and [Y/N] being engulfed by the enthusiastic Scyther. Bugsy and Butterfree blinks in confusion as they look over at [Y/N] frozen state and Scyther cuddling the poor [gender]. Bugsy and Butterfree sweatdrops at the sight before both sighing.
"Too soon."
AARON
Aaron went through a stage where he hated Bug-pokemon (mainly his Wurmple, now a Beautifly) and though they were useless and weak. But he soon regretted it and was reunited by his precious Pokemon. He, out of all the guys and girl, can relate to you the most and understand your fear, probably better than Bugsy.
Even though he looks like an impatient guy, he's actually patient. I mean, he has a team of Bug Pokemon, and you need patient when using them in battle. So he's a patient guy, especially to you as his s/o.
Have you seen his team? Yeah. It's not an ideal team to have if your s/o have fear of bugs. Luckily, they don't fit inside the house, if you two live together. But going outside, he would probably not let his Pokemon out if your around like Burgh. But unlike his, his Pokemon understands the situation and just sTAY IN THE BALL.Ā 
You're probably not really scared at his Beautifly, I mean, yeah it's a bug. But it's too beautiful to not like it. But you still froze when Beautifly comes near you. Aaron is just relieved that atleast you're not afraid of one of his Pokemon.Ā 
Like I said earlier in the first bullet, he went and gone that stage. So he understands. But if you don't want or like his Pokemon type, then bye-bye. He probably doesn't be with you if you did that so... yeah. I can see him as a guy that wants his s/o to be willing to grow out of their shell, rather than being inside. But if he sees that's not gonna happen, then I'm sorry. He'll dump you straightaway.
BUT if you do want to get over your fear, he will be happy of course. And will, of course, start with Beautifly. He will be patient with you, like Burgh, and guide you through the process of getting rid of the fear completely. Or just letting you be comfortable with his Pokemon Team, atleast.
"It's not gonna use a move on me, right?" "Yes, [Y/N]. He wouldn't do that." Beautifly cried his name in agreement with Aaron, as they stared at [Y/N], who was currently hiding behind a tree. Aaron sighed while rubbing the side of his temples. [Y/N] has been asking the same questions over and over and over again, it's getting tiring how Aaron and Beautifly have to reassure them eVERY TIME. [Y/N] stared at them with narrowed eyes and deep frown. "You sure?"
Aaron took a deep breath to calm down as he exhaled. "Do want or not to get over your fear?" [Y/N] pouted at him as they sulk in their self-pity. "I'm trying! But it's just so scary!!" Aaron sighed once more before making his way towards his s/o. [Y/N] knew what he's doing and glared at him. "Don't you dare--" "Too late" Aaron grab their wrist and started pulling them towards the ever-so-patient Beautifly. "NO!" [Y/N] cried as they grab a branch from the tree.Ā 
And now, they were having tug-at-war as they screamed at one another. Beautifly looks at both of them before sighing. It's gonna be a loooong day...
BURGH
Burgh will be saddened at the fact that you have that kind of fear, but he understands. But all his life, he's grown up surrounded by Bug-Pokemon, and he loves them with all his being. He kinda understands but he usually evades the topic of your fear.Ā 
I headcannon that his fear is that when he finds his s/o, they wouldn't accept his passion for making clothes, drawing or painting and his Pokemon Type.Ā 
Burgh doesn't let you any near his house, since its polluted with different kinds of Bug Pokemon. He also keeps his Pokemon team in their balls.Ā 
I actually can see that you don't realize that Leavanny was a bug Pokemon so you were cool with it, but you realize it was a Bug Pokemon if someone else mentions it. (Cue Burgh glaring at them).
"Wait.. Leavanny is a bug Pokemon?!"
"Yeah.. well, part."
"..."
"Sweetie?"
*faints*
Lmao, I just imagine that scenario happening. But I think you'll still be cool with Leavanny, because it just doesn't look like a Bug Pokemon since it reminds you of your Lilligant. (I ship them, lol)
I don't think Burgh will live with you until your fear is either gone or your comfortable with Bug Pokemon. Because if he did that, he would see his Bug friends go :'(. And Burgh doesn't want that to happen.Ā 
If you tell Burgh you want to get over your fear, he would be overjoyed! Before you could finish your sentence, he would pick you up and spin your around while laughing merrily. He was very happy that you would get over your fear because of him, and yourself of course.
He's also patient of you. (I think all the ppl who trains Bug Pokemon are patient--). And would do everything for you to get over your fear.
"Sweetie.. she's not gonna bite. I promise." [Y/N] can only whimper in response as they pressed their face even more in Burgh's neck, or rather, scarf. Burgh chuckled as he rubs the back of his s/o while whispering reassuring thingsĀ in their ear. Sewaddle, a Pokemon that is living with Burgh at the moment,Ā was waiting patiently as she looks at the couple with interest. "I-It looks like it." They cried as Burgh continued to rub circles behind [Y/N]'s back. He shushed them softly. "There there.. don't think about that."
"C'mon sweetie! You can do it! Just pet her head.. that's all you gonna do." Burgh said as he forced himself to pry [Y/N] from his embrace. He smiled at them as he wipe the stray tears that fell of their eyes. "I believe in you, sweetie." On cue, Sewaddle hop into Burgh's shoulder and cried happily at [Y/N], as if cheering them on. [Y/N] stared at her before gulping nervously and raising her hand.
Burgh's eyes brightened but stayed silent as he and Sewaddle anticipate [Y/N]'s movement. When [Y/N] reach to the height of the Pokemon, they froze. Sewaddle decided to jump into their hand, which made them shriek in surprise. Burgh's eyes widened as he (tries) to comfort his poor shrieking s/o, while the innocent Pokemon only stare in confusion.
VIOLA
Viola is super understanding and patient, like so much that it might make you cry. She knows it's common to haveĀ something you're afraid of and being a gym leader in Santalune City proves that. Many Trainers shriek at the sight of her using Bug Pokemon. She can only sigh and carry on the gym battle.
She always takes a picture of you, whether you knowing or not. She would just whip out her camera and snap a picture of you. When she finds out you have a fear for the Type she expertise at, it was actually an accident. When you two were on a date one day, and her Surskit decided to pop out of its Pokeball and cuddle you. She blinks when she sees you frozen at the presence of her Bug Pokemon.Ā 
Even if you have this fear, she wouldn't love you any less. She might be a little disappointed but just shrug it off later on.
If you two live together, don't worry. Her Pokemon is well-trained and usually just stays outdoors or in her room, or in the kitchen. Afterall she just only has 2 Pokemon in her disposal.Ā 
Out of all these people, her team is ideal in you getting over your fear. It was a simple yet okay team. So you might quickly get used to them. THEY ARE SO ADORABLE. WHO WOULD HATE THEM?!
What is that? You want to get over your team? "Fantastic!" (Pokemon Masters voice)
She is so excited that she just makes her Pokemon come near you.Ā 
But if that doesn't work, then she doesn't mind work. She would work hard for the both of you so you need to give it your all as well!Ā 
"C'mon mon amour! Surskit is nice! She'll not bite.. actually, she doesn't have a mouth to begin with." Viola muttered the last part as she watch [Y/N] cower in fright in the presence of the tiny Bug Pokemon. She's actually amused at the scene but she had to hold it in so that it wouldn't further aggravate the [gender]. "Just pat her head. Pat pat" Viola made a patting hand motion with her hand while smiling reassuringly (amusedly).Ā 
[Y/N] looks at her before shifting their gaze at the Bug Pokemon in front of her, who happily cried its name when their gaze was on her. They took a deep breath as they slowly puts their hand on top of Surskit's head. Viola nodded happily, feeling a familiar giddily-feeling in her chest. "That's it, love. Just a bit more."
Finally, [Y/N] pats Surskit's head, who hummed when feeling their hand. Their eyes shone at how soft Surskit was, except the pointy-thing on top of her head. They excitedly turn their head to look at their proudĀ motherĀ girlfriend. Their smiles match each other, and both thinking the same thing.Ā 
"SUCCESS!"
GUZMA
We all know our ol' man Guzma. The leader of Team Skull. Old friend of Kukui. Helped Lusamine in creating a portal to a different dimensions. Yadda yadda.
He's actually not a very patient guy, much to my dismay. But when it comes to you, he is VERY patient with you. He actually (shock) understand your fear of bugs. I mean, have you seen his team? Yeah. Not ideal for someone who's scared of Bug Pokemon.
But even withĀ his rough exterior, he wants your comfort and makes it his top priority. So, despite his appearance, he doesn't force you to have your fear completely remove.Ā 
He actually doesn't mind if you have that fear really. He usually just keeps his Pokemon inside their Pokeballs or outside (their huge). All he's asking for you is that you don't mind them, he'll do the rest.
This exactly happens if you two live together. He'll let you do your own thing and he'll do his. I mean, yeah, it sucks that you don't like his Pokemon. But can't force it, can you?
But if you approach him and just straight up say you want to get over your fear. He'll froze a bit, his mind not comprehending before just hugging you so you don't see his internal turmoil.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT WHY? I MEAN THAT'S GOOD BUT HAVE YOU SEEN MY TEA-- oh wait.." *cue him remembering he has a Masquerain* "Oh yeah.. I forgot about him."
So yes. Guzma will be understanding of your situation and patient at the same time. We all love our boi Guzma <3
"C'mon,Ā pua. You can do it." Guzma encouraged [Y/N] as he tries to push them towards the awaiting Masquerain. [Y/N] paled at the sight of the fluttering Bug Pokemon as they gulp. "D-Do I have to?" Guzma sighed for the umpteenth time. Luckily, he's as stubborn as a rock. "Yes. Wasn't it ya who suggested it?" "Yeah.. but--" "Alright! Then move closer!"Ā 
[Y/N] sighed as they nervously hold their hand out. This action though made Masquerain fly towards her hand and snuggle to it. [Y/N] froze, stiffening like a statue. Guzma saw this and sighed. "I guess it's not so easy as I thought."
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Info:
puaĀ means flower in Hawaii language (I search it in Pinterest and this pop out. Please correct me if I'm wrong)
mon amourĀ means My Love in French language
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viroro-kun Ā· 4 years ago
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My Review of the PokƩmon Sun & Moon Anime (2019)
[The following post is a repost of a thread originally published on Reddit in November 17th, 2019, titledĀ ā€œMy final review of the PokĆ©mon Sun & Moon Animeā€, which Iā€™m sharing here again for archival purposes. I may eventually do a new one and this post is meant to only reflect my thoughts at the time. It will also not be updated with later information to keep it consistent with the original] About two weeks ago, the Sun & Moon series of the PokĆ©mon Anime concluded after a run of three years, ending up as what's probably one of the most controversial entries of the show, with fans either loving it as a fresh take on the series or disliking it for several issues that cropped up over time. Now, after reviewing the series for the length of the aforementioned three years and at the eve of the beginning of the newer series, I'd like to pass my personal, final judgement of the Alolan series. Now, first of all, I think a preamble is necessary: all of what I will explain is my opinion and nothing else, and this isn't meant to be senseless bashing of the Sun & Moon series, either. I treasure striving to be objective and analytical above all else, and while I of course can't claim mine will be an absolutely perfect and objectively correct review, I will do my best to share my thoughts on the matter, while explaining why I feel this specific way.Secondly, I'd like to address an argument I've occasionally seen brought up, that due to Sun & Moon's seeming focus on comedy and slice of life it's not possible to compare it to previous seasons. And while that may apply for some specific choices it made, I don't believe that's the case: it was still set in a new region of the PokĆ©mon world, still had Ash undertake the local region-wide challenge, still had a structure involving unimportant self-contained episodes (which we could call 'filler' in an useful but technically inaccurate definition) surrounding the plot-based ones, and still ended up with a League at a climax for it all. Therefore, at least on a structural and plot standpoint, there are enough commonalities to make a comparison possible, and that's where I plan to dig in particular to explain my stance.
Before I move to the meat of it, however, I want to spend some words of praise for some things I feel this series did right or at least deserves some compliments for, overall. First of all, I think that Sun & Moon does great in mantaining a chill, comfy atmosphere which to a degree makes it stand out from previous seasons, and I understand why this was appealing for some previous fans of the series. Most of the cast is pretty likable on the whole with particular props to Ash's Alolan PokƩmon team managing to mantain lots of expressivity in all situations, and the series has a decent willingness to explore some concepts previous seasons only lightly touched on. The show also foregoes a lot typical Team Rocket shenanigans for different kinds of plots, making it great for people who find their usage stale and played out by now, and the simplified art style allowed for some pretty good sequences both in battle and out. At its best, the series can produce some of the best moments of this Anime as a whole, and it was at least the first series to let go of some limitations that were just weighting the show down at this point. While I think several of these pros also have indirect cons attached to them (especially in terms of tone and character usage), these are all things I feel need to be pointed out in positive for the series.With that said, I'd like to begin my proper dissection of the PokƩmon Sun & Moon Anime.
PokƩmon Sun & Moon - A PokƩmon Anime in an Identity Crisis
1. Plot Pacing and Development: The Problem of the Stationary Setting and the "Happy Bubble"
Everyone who has heard of the Sun & Moon Anime is probably aware of its biggest break from tradition: rather than being an adventure series, this entry in the long-running PokƩmon series decided to take place in a single location with occasional detours by having Ash enroll in the PokƩmon School, shifting the general tone of the series towards a more slice of life approach. This had a significant effect on how the story developed, but in my opinion, if there's a fundamental issue of the Sun & Moon series, it's probably this one. Because rather than committing to the change, the writers appeared to want to have their cake and eat it too.
Specifically, adventure series and slice of life have radically opposed mission statements: for the first, progression and rising action are an important, consistent story engine moving the plot forward; the second is instead far more laidback, focused more on enjoying the moment and offering low stakes and drama more often than not, especially Sun & Moon's chosen brand of it that's closer to a sit-com than a proper slice of life. Pretty much, adventure series have a degree of development in them, while slice of life is defined by the lack of said development.
Now, I'm not saying PokƩmon characters were always amazing examples of character development, or that every series prior was well-written. But the structure itself was sound, as you had Ash embarked in a defined goal of winning the League as part of his vague dream to become a PokƩmon Master, having filler adventures on the way, but always undertaking rising action from the first to last Gym and occasional rivals, until the climax of the journey at the League (and in Kalos' case, the Team Flare arc). We see Ash, and occasionally his friends, actively train, fight or improve on the path to their goals, while the narration itself always reminds us of what the current major objective is. Even when the episode doesn't actually contribute to the larger story, the viewer always has a reassurance that the next objective will be reached eventually.
The structure of Sun & Moon, by comparison, is inherently more passive more often than not, as you have Ash and the others waiting for the plot to happen to them. Instead of having Ash actively seek a new challenge, you see him sitting down and wait for something specific to make him go and progress, and so does everyone else, with only rare exceptions. The characters are effectively static until the plot decides to move them, and while this could superficially resemble the previous structure (as both have a progression that could be defined as arbitrary), the Sun & Moon series barely, if ever, reassured the viewer to still remember the goals it set up, or even what the next one to come is.
Now, inherently, the characters being passive recipients of plot isn't a bad thing, it's just how slice of life stories tend to work. The problem of Sun & Moon, however, was that beyond the vague and SoL-friendly concept of Ash at the PokƩmon School they still had Ash pursue the Island Trials (and in fact, he's impressed by the concept of mastering Z-Moves before he even enrolls in the school), which gave the show a problem: it wanted to be a chill story focusing more on small time hijinks than big adventures, while still taking on a structure that demanded to follow the rules of an adventure series, creating an inherent contradiction.
What I mean is that, since the Island Trials were still part of Ash's stay in Alola, the show was still supposed to abide to the rising action leading to a climax, giving the show a direction that it had to fulfill by its end rather than have an open premise with occasional plotlines (example: GeGeGe no Kitaro, where the open premise is 'Kitaro deals with evil Yokai' with every other longer plotline spinning from there). It's something that pretty much prevents the viewer from fully enjoying the more quiet romps, because in the mind of a viewer expecting progression, these are just a diversion over the more important goal Ash has in the region. Now, in fairness to Sun & Moon, the show seemed aware of the tension and made sure to tie each Trial Ash did into either school trips or wanting to get specific Crystals, but beyond making it seem like Ash didn't care much for something he claimed he wasn't interested in (especially with wanderlust being a previously estabilished character trait of his), this ran into another big issue of Sun & Moon: rather than a sense of rising action, pretty much every Island Trial Ash did was narratively unrelated to each other, especially once it was revealed that Ash didn't need to complete any of them to access the Alola League, in contrast with how every badge was important and necessary in previous regions.
This specific issue wasn't however unique to Ash, but rather a persistent problem in pretty much every element and story arc of the series: be it Ash's quest, Guzma's struggles, Rowlet's rivalry with Hau's Dartrix/Decidueye, Lycanroc's rage issues, Lillie's goal to be able to touch every PokƩmon again, the Necrozma and Aether arcs to even the Alola League and anything in between, almost all of them had only the bare minimum of buildup and either ended as soon as they got teased or happened to be sidelined for a large amount of episodes before they got their due focus, if not both at once. While some of these arcs ranged from alright to pretty great (Litten's pre-capture arc dealing with Stoutland's passing, or the Guzma-related segments of the Alola League), there are quire a few (chiefly Necrozma) that were ruined by a combination of lacking setup work and the feeling that, simply put, nothing mattered that much. Sure, the arcs could be mentioned here and there, and some can set up things for the future (like how Aether leads to the Ultra Guardians), but on the whole, the arcs are effectively done-in-one in terms of lasting impact. Unlike how in previous shows you could've had stuff like Ash's and Dawn's intertwined journeys, here you have Stoutland lose relevance in terms of influence to Litten as soon as he dies, where save for Stoutland brief cameo as a spirit on Poni Island his storyline got shifted in the unrelated rivalry with Kukui's Incineroar.
This last example, in particular, brings up another of the big issues of Sun & Moon, one that can be divided in three parts: plot pacing, plot segregation, and the "happy bubble".
In regards to plot pacing, one of the most notorious problems brought up for this series is the fact that, to put it simply, each plotpoint will only progress when the show decided they have to, which led to things like Lillie going almost an entire real time year between getting her Z-Crystal and then her Z-Ring, or Ash doing absolutely nothing about his Lycanroc's raging issues for getting dirty for close to thirty episodes before they happened again in the Ula'Ula arc, during which neither character gave any hints of even thinking about these lingering elements in any way even if it was clear setup to be followed on. This, coupled with the aforementioned lack of a constant reminder of the next destination, just made for a frustrating waiting game in terms of the next major point of progression.
A related issue is the plot segregation, or specifically, how each major arc is effectively removed from the others, from Kiawe and Sophocles' occasional focus episodes to more important stuff like Lillie's PokĆ©mon phobia, her and Gladion's later interest in finding their father, Lana's desire to create a balloon to explore the ocean with, Ash's Island Trials, and so on. It made these characters feel like they exist in their own separate paths, never to intersect, something the evolution episode in the Poni Island arc somewhat exemplifies since Sophocles' and Lana's efforts happen on completely distinct plotlines and locations. As I explained above this also happens with major arcs, like how the Necrozma arc's only contribution to the wider narrative was sending Poipole home (and given its later offscreen evolution and power up, one could make a case the arc had a negative impact on the series). The segregation also had the effect of having the plot act like something flat out doesnā€™t exist unless it has been directly showcased, leading to such goofiness as Kukui's best friend Molayne not being invited at his wedding in spite of being Sophocles' cousin, or how absolutely no one was in Poni Island during the Manalo Festival buildup. A good example of the difference, I feel, is this: in previous series, we could've had Serena relate to Ash with her Master Class loss at a significant point of his character arc during the Winding Woods episode; in this one, Mallow only revealed her mother issues after Lillie's entire arc revolving around her mother was resolved, with the two never comparing notes. The closest we get is Ash relating to Lana for his problems with Lycanroc using Continental Crush in Ida's first episode and Lillie trying to help out Ash during his fallout with Rotom, both of which refer to things that happened to them either mostly offscreen or entirely there.
The plot segregation was, in particular, noticeable with the decision to associate three of Ash's Alolan PokƩmon (Torracat, Dusk Lycanroc and Rowlet) to specific characters as rivals, with the PokƩmon driving the rivalry rather than Ash himself (who had otherwise rather civil, mostly friendly interactions with Kukui, Gladion and Hau). On paper, this should've guaranteed that every PokƩmon had their moment to shine, but effectively, it meant that each of them were restricted to mostly their specific rival in terms of focus post-Aether. Lycanroc got Olivia's Grand Trial, the Ula'Ula arc to itself and then the rivalry with Gladion's Midnight Lycanroc, but no other significant usages; Rowlet got roles in the first two Grand Trials, but then spent almost one hundred episodes before its second focus episode, and beyond his friendship with Meltan it only got Hau's battle and a part against Kukui to itself; Torracat was the one absolutely done dirty here, as beyond the Stoutland appearence in Poni Island and the Totem Lurantis battle pre-Aether, all his following focus moments rely on the rivalry with Kukui's Incineroar, with only occasional minor scuffles to its name and a bit of the Guzma battle to its name. That would already be bad enough, but the fact that until the League there's no battle that requires Ash to involve more than two PokƩmon (with most of them requiring him only one), Ash's team never actually gets to act as a team until the very final battle of the series, furthering the lacking sense of cohesiveness. Year two of the series was particularly bad in this sense, as most major battles were fought with either Pikachu or Lycanroc while Torracat and Rowlet barely did much.
And lastly, one persistent result of both the plot pacing and the plot segregation was a phenomenon I like to refer to as the "happy bubble," or the tendency of the Sun & Moon series to confine major conflicts and bad moments for the characters only to their specific focus episodes. In previous shows, you could have moments of self-doubt or worry linger even outside dedicated episodes (Dawn's depression for her losing streak, Ash's rivalry with Paul affecting him, and his increasing worries in the latter part of XY being clear examples), but due to Sun & Moon's commitment to fun times before everything else, it means the characters aren't allowed to have any conflict or moments of darkness to later conquer unless they're the focus, and even then resolving them quickly. See how bubbly Lillie is even when she's scared of PokƩmon unless the episode is specifically about her, how she never even thought about her father until Gladion reminded her, how Ash's confidence and his relationship with Lycanroc are only focused on in Ula'Ula and then never again, and most noticeably the fact Mallow's dead mother was treated as something that tore her for years but it was only ever directly dealt with in one episode, to the point she's the only family member on Bulbapedia listed under characters of the day. The problem of this bubble is that it pretty much makes it hard to invest in the emotional struggles of these characters because they end up feeling like throwaway moments which are then functionally forgotten, with no sense of constant growth. Characters get their moments, the audience gets invested, and then it's forgotten, with only few and far-in-between moments of exception, and that's another thing making each conflict feel segregated from each other.
If I could sum up everything in one sentence, I'd say this: Sun & Moon is composed by a myriad of pieces, some excellent, some average, some awful and everything in between, that all exist mostly in a vacuum. I'll return to this topic in a bit, as there's another important aspect to touch first.
2. Characters and Their Development: Too Many, Too Little, Too Late
Another aspect of Sun & Moon that's often brought up is the decision to have a main cast of six counting Ash, with the game Trial Captains Mallow, Lana, Kiawe and Sophocles alongside plot-important character Lillie turned into Ash's classmates. These characters have been as much a point of praise as they were of criticism, with some fans absolutely loving this group while others couldn't absolutely stand them. I feel the best way to tackle this is to first list how I feel each character was handled in terms of planning and development, before going into their relationships and the rest of the cast, starting with the humans and then going through Ash's PokƩmon before closing on Ash himself. I will say to start with, however, that none of these characters is inherently unlikable the way they started as, and most of their later issues came solely from their handling down the line or flaws in how they were approached.
2.1) The companions
Among the companions, Sophocles was probably the one that made the poorer first impressions, as beyond sharing the same type specialty, his game background as an inventor and his Anime presentation as a programmer that sometimes built things gave him a number of unfair comparisons with Clemont, not helped at all by an introduction episode that ranks among the worst ones of this group. That said, I feel by the end he actually ended up being one of the best characters of the group in spite of heavily scattered focus, for one major reason: he's one of the few characters of this group to have a consistent character growth that plays in his dream and that's easily noticeable as the story unfolds. Early on, he starts as the timid, insecure kid that gets easily scared of the dark and needs people and PokƩmon's support over everything, but between his first few episodes and the later clarification of his interest in space, it's clear that his development was actually aimed towards him growing into a more independent and confident person and trainer. He goes from being unable to tell his friends that he's not actually leaving Alola after a misunderstanding and only getting his second PokƩmon as a gift from Ash to slowly take an interest in rising Charjabug, first with a race and then by evolving it, then deciding to gain a Z-Crystal and a Z-Ring, learning to use it, and ultimately take part in the League in spite of knowing to not be on the same level of his friends, yet still putting his all, with a nice interlude where he takes things into his own hands during the Celesteela mission, and with the race he does to gain his Z-Crystal leading him to confront and surpass his fear of the dark. While still pretty scattered and sidelined, I feel he's a character that's been developed well-enough and that in his post-series aim is actively working towards his dream in a new but productive way by visiting Mossdeep City's Space Center, and definitely my favorite of the Alolan kids as he clearly developed into a better person by the end through a straightforward, traceable progression.
Lana is probably up there with Sophocles in terms of being one of the best characters of this group, and I'd go as far as saying she's probably the best non-Coordinator/Performer PokƩgirl out there. While Sophocles ranks high due to getting good personal development, Lana ranks high because, while on paper her dream of creating a big balloon to explore the ocean with is simple and a tad silly, it is something she puts clear effort into and that she never loses track of through the whole series, even with a fairly noticeable void of attention in the mid-series stretch. Between being the first of the non-Kiawe classmates to get a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal, learning how to use Hydro Vortex, then evolving Popplio to Brionne and then Primarina (while dealing with a Kyogre along the way) while also getting Oceanic Operetta, she's consistently focused on her improvement, and always the best female battler of the bunch. The only thing that really penalizes her is that while her dream is technically achieved, she ultimately gets Oceanic Operetta with offscreen training and they never make a point to highlight that as a big moment, and while her skill development is solid, she remains exactly the same character throughout the series from the first and last episode. An entertaining character for sure, but one that just gets stronger and not much else. Still, she's easily one of the best female leads this series ever had, and a good example of how to make a non-Coordinator-esque female character work well after the pitfalls Misty and Iris fell into.
Kiawe is not far from them, with a pretty solid run slightly marred by a few issues. Specifically, he's probably the best battler of this group that isn't Ash, but he's distinctly characterized as having two "modes" as a character: either the serious, spiritual follower of Alolan traditions, or the one that started popping out more often later in the series where he's an overreacting ham to rival Cilan. I personally feel Kiawe's better moments tends to come from the first mode, not only because he stands out better in a funny sense by being the straight-laced guy in a cast of wacky people, but also because he's the best character to explore the more spiritual angle of Alola, the element that truly makes the region stand out compared to previous ones featured in the series. Unfortunately, beyond the fact the slice of life romps tended to favor his wacky angle more than the serious one, Kiawe is penalized by not quite having a true arc to develop through: he wants to become a stronger trainer and claims so, but all his episodes ultimately end up involving unrelated matters: he catches his Marowak, learns to use a Z-Move with him later on, and ends up getting his Charizard back into working shape after he undertakes Fini's trial to save Ash, but while each of these are overall good showings and he's probably got the best League run of the cast in terms of prowess and skill, they tend to remain isolated instances. It also doesn't help that while his hot-blooded rivalry with Ash can be fairly entertaining and it's teased from episode 2, it ultimately culminates into an underwhelming showdown in the penultimate episode that barely feels like an afterthought. I'd hardly call him a bad character and he still does pretty well even with his issues, but one that could've been handled better on the whole.
A far different story is Lillie, a character that, I feel, suffered from several different issues all at once. To address the elephant in the living room first, let it be said that while they share traits, Anime Lillie and Game Lillie end up being fairly different characters by the end, and while I think Game Lillie is probably one of the best creations of GameFreak, my opinion on her Anime self couldn't be more different, and it's not due to straight comparisons between each other. Now, Lillie doesn't actually start badly: the fact that she has a phobia of touching PokƩmon from an unknown source at first actually gave her a nice direction as a character in a way similar yet different from Lana, but it didn't take long for Lillie's major issue to show itself: things happen to her rather than her working towards stuff proactively, and the majority of the time her struggles are resolved by feeling sad or believing really hard with extremely few exceptions. This started already before the Aether arc, where while her episodes were good, they all relied on the exact same formula of Lillie unable to touch PokƩmon, being unable to do so and feeling sad about it until she can in a spur-of-the-moment situation, which started to make her episodes feel stale.
The Aether arc seemed to finally change things as it heavily revolved around Lillie, but to anticipate some things I'll delve into more detail later, the changed circumstances ended up weakening both the conflict and her character, making her come across as too unlikable. But beyond that issue, the problem of the Aether arc is that it ensured that Lillie was completely healed of her phobia due to the actions of others rather than herself, which killed off all her character potential and left her with nothing to do for the rest of the series (while the conflict with her mother was completely brushed under the rug after this arc introduced and hastily attempted to resolve it). Sure, she 'grew stronger', and got a Z-Ring and Z-Crystal, but the majority of important things of the Mohn arc were actually dealt with by Gladion, while her own help ended up amounting to still, once more, feeling really hard rather than active work. But the biggest problem of her character is that all of her major achievements derived from either someone else (Silvally healing her phobia by saving her, Gladion actually defeating Totem Kommo-o, her Z-Ring being borrowed from her father, Gladion finding Mohn's Zoroark) or facilitated by outside assistance (her one victory in the League's Battle Royale coming from effectively killstealing a Salamence Kiawe weakened, her battle with Tyranitar having the assistance of a Totem Sandshrew) which made it hard to think she earned her development or truly grow stronger when she ultimately always ended up relying on someone else, especially given her tendency to never act unless prodded (see how she seemed perfectly fine not touching PokƩmon for years until Mallow and Ash actively tried to get her to do it, nor try to learn why she has the phobia in the first place, nor thinking about where her father may be). This, alongside the tendency of the series to play up game moments like the Lillie and Solgaleo moment or her change in dress and hairstyle to show her resolve while sapping all the meaning they had in the source material and the habit of the characters to praise Lillie for anything she does no matter how minor or trivial, ultimately made her a character that was borderline insufferable to follow, especially for the classmate pushed as the most important beyond Ash.
The worst of all main characters, however, is without a doubt Mallow. While I have several issues with Lillie's handling as a character, at least her faults come with how the show decided to approach her, while I feel by contrast Mallow was only allowed breadcrumbs of just about anything, something already shown by how she had to wait until episode 18 for her first true focus episode. Back in the earliest episodes I thought her interest in making Aina the most popular restaurant in Alola could've given her a drive as a character similar to the one Lana and at the time Lillie had, only for the story to be content with leaving her where she is. Between the fact her Bounsweet evolved twice in ways that were respectively too sudden and rather unrelated to her and the habit of her focus episodes past her first to focus away from her more than on her (having to share screentime with her brother 'Ulu and Oranguru, specifically), it felt like she was added to the cast because they had to, and while the last year of Sun & Moon tried to put a patch on the problem by giving her emotional moments with her mother and her League match with Lana, said patches had the effect of not feeling very genuine since her mother, as I mentioned above, only really figured in one episode, while Mallow suddenly being afraid of Tsareena getting hurt when she fought in Ultra Space and in other instances just fine just feels like an awkward attempt at giving her an emotional moment that doesn't gel with her characterization too well. If we add onto it that she only mastered her Z-Move during the League itself, her Z-Crystal was gained just by making a burger, and the Shaymin she cared for after meeting her mother effectively did nothing afterwards until its deal was resolved at the last possible second during the final credits of the series because 'Ulu found some Gracidea with no input from Mallow proper, Mallow ended up feeling like the most mishandled characters of this crew, whose character and development felt more like isolated moments than anything cohesive.
The PokƩmon of the cast outside of the major ones don't really warrant much talk, the best of the bunch being Kiawe's Marowak for his vibrant personality and good feats, while everyone else ranges from pretty much not too focused on (Turtonator, Charizard, Tsareena, Togedemaru), useful for development but otherwise kinda dull more often than not (Primarina, Vikavolt, Snowy), cute but pointless in spite of heavy buildup (Sandy), and pretty much useless (Shaymin, Magearna outside of being a McGuffin), mostly getting occasional cute moments than anything substantial or productive for their trainers.
2.2) Ash's PokƩmon
Beyond the classmates, there's the matter of Ash's PokƩmon as well, and I'd like to spend a few words on the Rotomdex. On the whole, he was never the most important character, but I'd say the best way to describe him is that he's a likable character that happened to star in some rather poor episodes: while his overreactions could get annoying sometimes, for the most part he was likable enough, and his existence ensured that Ash would lose his oft-criticized trait to scan PokƩmon he already saw that made him come across as dumb, and some of his moments and hobbies made him pretty endearing. His only real problem is that his focus episodes usually tended to focus on rather stupid plots aimed only to comedy, and while three of them are at least arguable, his last true focus episode happened to be one of the worst episodes of the series due to how out-of-character Ash acted under the possibility of Rotom leaving. None of the issues of these episodes were Rotom's fault, but as a minor character, it was somewhat unfortunate for him to receive such a short end of the stick focus-wise.
Going back to Ash's actual PokƩmon, beyond the eternal Pikachu, I'd say the one most worth of consideration overall is Torracat (or Incineroar, but he never fought under the form), both in terms of praise and criticism. I say so because, before his capture, Litten seemed to be given unusually large focus, including being the first of Ash's Alolan PokƩmon to debut and appearing for several episodes even between his major pre-capture arc, which being among the most tragic and involved capture circumstances seemed to point towards Torracat being the 'ace PokƩmon' of the region, only for things to change once Lycanroc entered the picture. To put it simply, Torracat has some rather solid episodes and a personality that very much matches Ash's own, but he often feels like he's only given breadcrumbs of focus. Between only taking part in one minor trial and no Grand Trials, not getting his own associated Z-Crystal until right before the League and having it used only twice counting the test run of it, and his rivalry battle being the only one in the Alola League to happen in the middle of a match rather than at the end of it (which lead to a rather goofy division of him getting declared winner and then fainting after evolving just so it couldn't technically be considered a tie even if it functionally was to preserve his triumph), it feels like the poor PokƩmon is never given enough of his due, and while I enjoy his drive to surpass Kukui's Incineroar and especially the way the plotline was figuratively used throughout the Ash VS Kukui battle, it just seems like Torracat is always last in priority in terms of Ash's PokƩmon, which makes even his good moments feel like afterthought even with nice bits like his relationship with Lycanroc, especially with how, as touching and well-executed as it was, Stoutland's effect on Torracat is forgotten as soon as it happens, between Fire Fang being mastered exactly one episode later and Stoutland himself only being brought back twice, once as a thought by Ash and only in the second with Stoutland meeting Torracat again in Poni Island, mostly for the purpose of teaching him another move. So, in my opinion, Torracat is a case of a conceptually solid-enough character, that's however penalized both by how little the narrative gave him focus, and the fact that his arc with Stoutland and his later rivalry with Incineroar are pretty much unrelated (for why I consider this a flaw, consider that fellow Fire starter Infernape was able to have a memorably tragic backstory that did dovetail into his major rivalry perfectly, so just asking for a degree of connection isn't outside the realm of what this show can do).
And then there's Lycanroc, the PokƩmon that the series wants us to consider the regional ace, which had several issues associated with him. To put this simply, I feel like he was a much better character as a Rockruff than he was after his evolution, mostly for being the perfect mix of adorable, focused, and having actually pronounced rage issues that occasionally popped up but were treated completely seriously, alongside having a pretty good showing in the Olivia battle as a rare final bout to completely not involve Z-Moves in a period where their usage was starting to become excessive. However, after the evolution (which is treated as a rare, one-of-a-kind event due to Rockruff evolving during a rare green flash yet is never actually remarked on beyond very occasional comments that he looks odd that are never treated as much), his handling changes for the worst, specifically for two of his rather ace-worthy moments: its rage form arc, and the way his rivalry with Gladion's Dusk Lycanroc was handled. The first is overall the biggest issue, because it's also symbolic of Sun & Moon's tonal issues since his major challenge to overcome as a PokƩmon is the fact that, whenever his fur gets dirty, he goes on murderous rampages, always after acting goofily shocked in a way intended to be humorous, creating a whiplash effect that doesn't make clear how the viewer should find the scene given it first asks us to laugh at Lycanroc and then to be scared of him. This is also only introduced once in the middle of the Aether arc and then never revisited until the Ula'Ula arc, where it's ultimately solved by Ash bringing back memories of how Rockruff used to act about getting dirty that happened completely offscreen, only for the writers to then milk the drama some more two episodes later by now handling the rage mode completely seriously in terms of reactions and using actual rage as the trigger instead of just specifically the fur, in an episode that ultimately relied on Ash not trusting his PokƩmon (when he was already somewhat out-of-character by being scared by Lycanroc's rampage after he was willing to hug his blazing Chimchar to calm him down back in Sinnoh). It's all handled in an extremely brief arc and then never again, feeling like an arc that takes elements from both the Infernape and Ash-Greninja arcs while missing the slow buildup and non-regressive development that made those two arcs work (and I'll elaborate more on it in a bit). Beyond this, his rivalry with Gladion's Lycanroc suffers of being extremely sidelined in spite of being the 'major' rivalry of the series: while the two PokƩmon did fight three times, the first time was interrupted by Team Rocket (something they stopped doing for major rival battles for quite a while beforehand), the second relying on some very weird resilience by Midnight Lycanroc by not only tanking completely Dusk Lycanroc's Splintered Stormshards to seemingly no damage but also snapping out of confusion to deliver a finishing Z-Move of his own, and the third relying on a battle that was overall not too bad, but felt more like a mid-series squabble than Ash's victory at the Alola League (which is then completely outclassed in spectacle by Ash VS Kukui). Dusk Lycanroc's rivalry isn't actually too bad, but considering how Gladion's Lycanroc is the only major opponent Ash's ace got to fight post-evolution outside the Ula'Ula arc, Kukui's PokƩmon (none of which he defeated) and occasional training bout, it did restrict a lot of his feats and ended up with him feeling more like an okay PokƩmon than the powerhouse the writing wanted him to seem like. Coupled with a lackluster personal arc, this makes him closer to the Krookodile tier of 'possible aces' than one of the major ones like Charizard or Infernape.
And then we get to Rowlet, the last of the major Alolan four counting Pikachu, and probably the most problematic of the bunch. Much like Torracat and Lycanroc, Rowlet isn't inherently a bad PokƩmon, with the first episodes neatly estabilishing two things: yes, he is dopey and loves to sleep a bit too much, but he's also a serious and competent fighter in battle that never fails to impress, making sure that neither side ultimately hurt or diminished the other. His problem is ultimately revolving around two things: he's spent a long time out of focus, and his later focus didn't exactly paint him in a good light. The first is probably the major issue at hand: while both Rowlet and Torracat were heavily sidelined midway into the series, Torracat did at least get a few token episodes to himself, while Rowlet's first real focus episode after his capture one only really comes almost one hundred episodes later. While in the early series this was mitigated by having Rowlet take part in two minor trials and two Grand Trials, this focus is all but forgotten by the second year of the series, with Rowlet reduced to solely a gag PokƩmon whose greatest achievement ended up being learning Razor Leaf by sitting on a magical tree. This had the adverse effect of making his gag tries, which previously only showed either in minor matches or not during serious parts of battle, to slowly become more and more prominent. The other issue is that Rowlet had without a doubt the weakest rivalry set up and buildup of the three major PokƩmon Ash obtained in Alola, as Hau and his Dartrix only appear in one episode before the League and two of the three battles Ash had with Hau involved major, non-strategy related writing contrivancies to reach the desired outcome (Ash slipping his Grassium-Z and getting distracted to fetch it for Rowlet to lose for the first one; Rowlet's Decidueye hoodie tanking a Z-Move, the overturned loss, and the sudden learning of a Feather Dance that doesn't act like the one Rowlet was trying to master for Rowlet to win in the final one). The way Rowlet acted in the Ash VS Hau battle is kinda emblematic of this, as the oft-debated overturned loss moment involved him falling asleep in the middle a match he was supposedly fired up for just for the sake of a joke and nothing else; regardless of how one wants to justify it, it doesn't change that such a thing never happened before in the series, and it ultimately involved Rowlet betraying the trust Ash put in him just for a scene the writers deemed funny, in what was supposed to be his finest hour (while Rowlet fell asleep in the Hala Grand Trial, it was only after his part of the match ended). Considering also that two of the moves Rowlet learned required the help of his adoptive flock without as much input from Ash and he ultimately ate an Everstone just for a variation of Seed Bomb that turned out to be more a liability than asset throughout the series, not even a cute relationship with Meltan and the fact that he won his last important matches of the series makes up for some of the worst excesses of tonal imbalance and inability to let jokes go in a context that absolutely have no space for his brand of incompetence-based humor.
With the major Alola captures gone, there's just the other two latecomer to discuss, and I'd like to start with Poipole/Naganadel, specifically because he's probably one of the worst handled PokƩmon Ash ever owned. While the second year of Sun & Moon had several issues, none are as glaring as Poipole being the major PokƩmon of the period, only to not actually do much of actually important. Starting with the fact that Ash only bonds with Poipole by proxy to begin with since Poipole interacts with and loves Pikachu before Ash even actually enters the picture, Poipole's biggest contributions to the series afterwards are acting silly for the majority of episodes and never actually getting involved in serious fights beyond one small bout with the Team Skull trio (which is estabilished as even more pathetic than the Team Rocket trio), making the fact that Ash captured him feel like a waste, especially when his focus episodes dealing more with his emotional side end up being just two, and ultimately not doing much of helpful during the Necrozma arc except leaving at the end in what at the time felt like a rather permanent farewell (as he was stuck in another dimension rather than somewhere Ash can readily access). Now, if Poipole's story ended there, he would've been odd but not too bad all things considered, but the problem comes from the fact that Poipole eventually returned right at the end of the series for no adequately explained in-universe reason during an unrelated Guzzlord attack, not only evolved but also presented as a competent and useful battler in spite of the fact none of it happened either onscreen or by Ash's efforts (unlike how Gliscor and Goodra, PokƩmon in similar situations, did prove their worth onscreen before being put aside for a time), making this turn come across as an undeserved boost for Ash just so he could have six PokƩmon, alongside removing the beauty of the permanent farewell Ash had with Poipole because the sheer coincidence of Naganadel's arrival and then his departure means that they may as well see each other again in the future. Among Ash's PokƩmon in Alola, Naganadel is probably the crowning example of the series wanting its cake and eat it too in terms of wanting to be cute and fun and then rushing to make battles matter without the required buildup.
Meltan shares a lot of issues with Poipole, but overall to a lesser degree, mostly because his biggest problem is just coming way too late in the series and, much like Poipole, he only really bonds with Ash by proxy due to starting to like Rowlet first. Much like Lycanroc, his existence is supposedly important as a new discovery but this trait of his is barely called to attention, and coming too late in the series he only gets a few battles to his name with his contributions mostly amounting to gags rather than skill and serious fighting, alongside having the dubious honor of being the only PokƩmon of Ash's Alola team to never use Z-Moves in spite of Ash fetching a Steelium-Z as a result of his final Grand Trial for no other reason than the out-of-universe one that Melmetal has never been in a game where you could use Z-Moves. Adding to the fact that Meltan only evolved right before the League finals for reasons outside Ash's guidance or influence conveniently before the last match for the victory, only to give indirect help at best and then winning a battle against a PokƩmon with no feats, it's hard to consider Meltan's power boost earned and even harder to tell if he even had a significant power boost to begin with considering how little feats we have for both him in particular and Alola battles in general. All in all, a PokƩmon that's been more shortserved by how late he came than actually any inherent issues.
2.3) Ash, Pikachu, and the Team Rocket trio
And with all those characters breached, we have to move on to the Sun & Moon take on Ash himself, which is, to put it simply, rather complicated to discuss. Another one of Sun & Moon's biggest talking points was the decision to amp up Ash's typical childishness to higher degrees than usual, with even his voice actress Rica Matsumoto confirming in an interview for the next series that she was explicitly instructed to play Ash as younger than usual for the Alolan series. Now, yet again, Ash having a goofier and more relaxed personality is neither unprecedented (as he was always silly to a degree, even in XY) nor inherently bad, and the problems mostly came from how the series decided to handle him later. One good thing at the start was that the take this series seemed to go for was Ash being a battle shonen-esque hero stuck in the wrong genre, with his typical behavior clashing with the more relaxed nature of the setting, which actually worked well in ensuring he didn't feel reset while fitting the new mission statement of the series. The problems really came up with how, ultimately, Ash became the series' biggest target of butt monkey-related humor (with the rest of the cast either being treated far more seriously or only occasionally being given the same treatment) and his initial competence in battling lead the way to an overabundance of 'silly regular kid'-related humor with even battles treated as mostly laughing matters, something later battles and important matches overturned to a degree that started to make Ash's handling feel arbitrary.
And arbitrary is the best way to describe Ash in this series: he can either be as good a trainer and master planner as he always was (Ash VS Olivia, Ash VS Misty, Ash VS Kukui), a heroic young man willing to go to good lengths for people he cares for (Tapu Koko rematch, most of the Guzzlord arc) while being scared and intimidated by his own PokƩmon (Ula'Ula arc), a regular kid screwing up on daily tasks and willing to cheat his homework (Sophocles' early focus eps, the open school episode), a whiny little kid (the Stoutland treasure hunt episode, the Rotom farewell episode), a surprisingly thoughtful and serious boy (Stoutland's death episode, Minior episode) and everything in between, with the changes being so jarring that it feels less like this show is attempting a nuanced take on Ash and more like the show is simply not caring to stick to any portrayal depending on what the episode requires, especially when as I said above the entire premise of the show hinges on Ash not falling for his typical wanderlust (which is the inability to sit still for long and explore the world, so 'school and daily life adventures' doesn't cut it) without ever adequately explaining how, and seeming strangely uninterested in looking for new chances to grow stronger unless they happen to come his way. Arbitrary is also a great way to describe his impact on both his friends and the region, where in spite of appearing in every single episode, it often feels like Ash is irrelevant to his own show: he has nothing to do with either of Lillie's family deals, nor Sophocles' growing independency beyond occasional sidelines support and kickstarting it indirectly with the Charjabug gift, he barely did anything to support Lana's achievements beyond being there when they happened, his rivalry with Kiawe was nice but ultimately wasn't given his due, and Mallow and him barely got to have significant interactions throughout the story. Most of his rivalries in the region were carried more by his PokƩmon than himself as he only shared amicable relationships with all of his supposed rivals with no real competitivity at their core (aside from Kiawe, which as mentioned was done dirty), and even when he got to be a hero it was either as part of an effort by everyone (Necrozma arc, both Guzzlord instances, technically most Ultra Guardians episodes), relying on questionably justified plot devices (Aether arc, and once again the Necrozma arc), or ultimately moving the focus away from him and his influence when you'd think the story would do the opposite (Guzma's parts in the Alola League). Adding onto that that the amount of times his PokƩmon gained moves in the heat of the moment without training (a series staple that previous series tried to downplay with more onscreen training) and how his PokƩmon ended up learning moves more for the actions of someone other than him than because he helped them, and Ash's handling in this region really adds up to strangely inconsequential, which is particularly bad considering how the League tried to go the other way, making his eventual achievement at the end feel hollow in the face of lacking buildup in the region and the several boosts and narrative aids he got to get there.
There's also the elephant in the living room that is Ash's development. Early in Sun & Moon I've seen people claim this series was more about Ash developing as a human being than as a trainer, which would be true... if not for the fact stuff like Ash doing chores was also alluded to and shown in previous series like AG and DP, and that during the Alola League (which should be the culmination of the series) none of it is actually remotely involved except for Ash talking of his love for the region during the final attack, while it never actually showed in previous matches (even against Guzma, which should be where this should come up given Ash's declaration at the start of it, the narrative wants us to stay in Guzma's head instead). The 'love for the region' thing also seems weird to bring up to me considering he actually spent less time exploring the region and more being holed up in one city with very occasional detours, with most of the plots ensuing around him being the sort of thing you'd see in "filler" episodes (like taking part in some competitions, taking part in a play, etc). It feels more like the series wants us to pretend the typical filler hijinks now are part of character growth rather than being just small adventures for fun. If we consider that learning to love the region, then Ash didn't really do much of different from previous series beyond sitting still this time around. And ultimately, the fact that Ash is back to adventuring now in a similar way to previous series means that if Ash ends up winning a League again in the future (which is not unlikely now that the ceiling was broken through), none of the reasons given to make his stay in Alola significant would really age well. The only arc that I feel actively tried to develop Ash as a trainer was Ula'Ula, and that still relied on some very significant moments of out-of-character behavior from Ash.
2.4) Relationships, and Everyone Else
I think at this point one recurring issue has cropped up: specifically, there are so many supposedly important characters that none of them truly got their due in terms of focus, either having to be satisfied with a number of focus episodes that barely amount to an arc or with their involvement into things reduced to just their specific deals and barely little else, especially with how this was the first series to not have all of Ash's friends necessarily involved in every episode. I feel this had a pretty adverse effect on the series' dynamics, as the already diluted interactions between the cast due to the large group ended up being even less focused on given that not all the characters were always there. As a result, we barely know stuff like Mallow's or Sophocles' relationship, or Lillie's and Kiawe's, and so on, with their own relationships to each other mostly falling into basic friendship (the ones with Ash in particular mostly falling into respect, friendliness and occasional snark at his expense), with only a few like Kiawe's competitiveness with Ash or Lana and Mallow being revealed halfway in as childhood friends having particular focus, otherwise being content with splitting the cast into 'the boys' group' and 'the girls' group' whenever they needed focused attention, and the rare occasions where the characters had some interactions. For the most part, perhaps emblematically of this series, characters mostly shared moments rather than actual relationships.
All that's left to discuss in this area is the rest of the cast, and let it be said... for a series supposedly about exploring the people of Alola, the majority of the non-main cast ranges from forgettable to rather dull, especially once we move to the lesser recurring characters. Lusamine's reduction to an overworked mother who only gets involved in matters explicitly tied to her children and occasionally the Ultra Guardians missions was a rather noticeable waste of an interesting game character, and while Kukui does have a nice presence and good usage throughout the series, the same can't quite be said of his wife Burnet, who beyond some good presence in the Aether arc and minor bits of exposition when dealing with Ultra Beasts (and in particular Necrozma) is effectively sidelined in housewife position for most of the series as Ash's 'second mother' (a position that, unlike Kukui who actively acts the part, mostly seems to come from cooking for him and being married post-Aether) with most of her funny moments coming from being a Royal Mask fangirl. Wicke has very little going for her, while Faba is probably one of Sun & Moon's worst misfires in that, after making his villainy far worse than his game self, the story acts like he should be forgiven while never actually learning his lesson, in spite of the show telling us he caused trauma to Lillie for years and how most of his contributions to anything end up boiling to minor help at best, and attempting to cheat his way to what he wants (the League) at worst. It's a horrible lessons for kids to have, and I'm not sure what the writers had in mind with this aside from keeping him around because the games' more snively and heinous Faba (even accounting for his more evil USUM iteration) also did.
Then we have the Kahuna, which are for the most part okay bit characters (even if Olivia's take was pretty weird, coming from her game self), with Nanu as the obvious standout even between the issues of the Ula'Ula arc as a jerk trainer with a point that doesn't really get 'taught his place', close enough to his game characterization, and Hapu having a decent track to development in the Poni arc (even if much like Olivia, it sacrificed her game characterization along the way). The other Trial Captains not part of the main cast run the gamut between nice to see but not particularly deep (Acerola, to a degree Ilima) and pretty much borderline pointless (Mina). Ash's rivals are a similar deal, with Hau being nice but having not too much to himself with how late he enters the series, while Gladion is an alright character whose rivalry with Ash mostly suffers of being a tad vanilla: they're on friendly terms, are strong, and like to battle each other, but beyond that Ash doesn't have much of a reason to be a rival (something even Alain had by being interested in facing Ash even if he was as separate otherwise), like the student-teacher relationship Sawyer had, or the foil status Paul shared with him, or simply being an old friend he wanted to surpass the way Gary was. Their lack of connection alongside the fact that Gladion would barely think about him unless the plot required him to only contributed to them feeling a tad distant from each other, and why their final bout at the League felt for many viewers just 'okay' rather than the earned culmination of their relationship.
And then there are the lower tier recurring characters, ostensibly Sun & Moon's selling point as, unlike previous series, only rarely did the series happen to introduce 'characters of the day' that never came back afterwards. The biggest problem is that, ultimately, all of these lower tier characters are still as flat as the characters of the day of yesteryear: in spite of appearing several times, all we know of Anela the old lady is that she used to be a dancer and likes Litten/Torracat a lot, Ulu is pretty much an even more flanderized Brock that seldom pops up, Anna the reporter mostly stuck to that role, most of the parents and relative of the classmates that weren't Lillie's remained minor characters with little of note to themselves, and so on. The only noticeable recurring guys among the bunch are probably the Skull trio (which mostly acted as a second rate Team Rocket while was even less recurring than they were in this region) and Viren as a recurring antagonist, mostly for being the kind of villain you usually saw punished at the end of the series in previous series (like Dolan the PokƩmon merchant) except made recurring in spite of being arrested in his previous appearence, with no real explanation beyond 'kids' show logic'. Even supposedly important characters like Ida and Horatio mostly remain rather regular mentors and rivals with not much else to them, and are unlikely to stick to anyone but the most diehard fans. There are of course some good characters among this bunch, especially the borderline characters of the day like two-episode-wonders Dia and the Kanto weaboos in the Malie City arc, but overall, if Alola truly wanted to make this a lived in and more developed region than previous series, its inhabitants didn't give this aim any real favors, in my opinion.
3. A Dissection of the Series: What Went Wrong, How, and Why
With the biggest parts of important elements of the series analyzed, I'd like to use this final part of the review for some extra analysis of how the series went down and why, in my opinion, it ended up changing for the worse as it went along, since there's one important thing to point out: Sun & Moon, conceptually and fundamentally, wasn't a bad series. But what it does have is, beyond some big flaws, several small ones that continously added up.
Now, let's start to dissect everything, dividing everything by their year of airing.
3.1) Year One: Beginnings, Akala Island, Aether Foundation
When I say that, I have to start with saying that my opinion of Sun & Moon wasn't initially this negative, and in fact, the first twenty-to-forty episodes were actually pretty nice: while the setup is slightly different than usual and humor is definitely prevalent (in particular the oft-mentioned 'funny faces', which would go on to become one of the defining elements of this iteration, far more than any prior series), there's a steady influx of plot-important episodes, development and setup for the future to help making the series a breezy watch, with each slice of life romp feeling either productive or simply fun diversions. Among the good things estabilished here that stand out as good even at the end of the series there's definitely the spiritual angle of Alola, an angle that whenever explored truly does make the region feel different than previous ones and like Ash is effectively experiencing something he never did before, and with stuff like the first trial and Grand Trial alongside Litten's capture arc and Gladion's introduction help keeping ther pace going even in the absence of a more overarching goal in the League. Now, this stretch is hardly perfect, considering that it already shows several cracks that later expanded: Ash only decides to move to the Island Challenge when he happens to remember about it in episode 9; a lot of battles end way too quick and barely get focus except for Trial and Grand Trial (which still have a somewhat lethargic pace); Gladion's decent rival setup is ruined by an unnecessary Team Rocket attack; some Idiot Plots and empty episodes that are just dull to watch happen; certain setups and developments are rushed to the finish way too fast; and, most importantly, the removal of Trial Captains from the lore and Team Skull as a consistent presence beyond occasional moments ended up removing tentpole parts of Alola's nature in the games that the show barely fills adequately, and it opens the door to call anything the show wants a trial, no matter how unrelated to battling it is, giving a feeling that the Island Challenge is hapzardly put together. But, during these early episodes, the problems are negligible or made up for, and even nowadays, I'd heartily reccomend everything up to Stoutland's death as legitimately good.
The first crack, overall, comes from the Akala arc. At the time of its airing, it looked to be a breath of fresh air as it finally moved away from Melemele Island after a rather noticeable dip in plot important events for more filler-y hijinks, and due to prior experience with the series, it was easy to assume the cast would've remained there for a while. However, that didn't end up happening, the arc ending mere episodes after it began, after rushing through equivalents of the three in-game trials (with Ash only effectively taking part in the Grass Trial from the games while Kiawe and Lana ended up gaining his Marowak and her Z-Ring and Waterium-Z instead) until it culminated in Olivia's Grand Trial, with one extra episode dealing with evolution-related issues for Lycanroc culminating into Dusk Lycanroc. This arc already started on a bad note by only allowing Ash one of the in-game trials for a Z-Crystal, which while to a degree understandable on the reasoning of wanting him to only have Z-Crystals he'd effectively use and the seeming decision at the time to not have overlapping Z-Crystals among the main cast, ended up solidifying the 'whatever counts' feeling of the Anime Island Challenge, and a first proper episode that seemed to relish into making Ash into an even larger butt monkey than usual, including him crying like a baby upon losing in a way that would've been immature for his OS self. Kiawe's episode was the standout of this batch, as it focused on him confronting an opponent he couldn't beat and with Ash giving him support into improving, estabilishing a good challenge to overcome in a way that had become rare for the series and was good to see again. Lana's own Trial wasn't bad either, but suffered of having more challenge put into it during the fishing part than the battling part, and Ash's Grass Trial being a battle that suffered of both misplaced comedy (an example of tone imbalance I'll address more later) and an opponent that barely even moved in Totem Lurantis. Olivia's Grand Trial was also probably one of the best battles to come out of Sun & Moon, putting a focus on strategy even in an extremely slow battle and with a more-than-decent finish, with the only blemish being that Rockruff's signs of evolving only really come one episode before they develop further into him evolving, and the already-mentioned problem of Dusk Lycanroc being supposedly a new discovery that nobody paid much attention to, after which we moved back to Melemele to resume the rhythm of seeming slice of life (with at least three episodes of good importance and one nominally important).
After another brief stretch, we moved briefly to Kanto for an arc that was ultimately just nostalgic fluff for old fans bringing back Misty and Brock, which was nice even if transparently OS-pandering (to the point Misty's Azurill and even Tracey were not even as much as mentioned during the episodes), with the only really important contributions to the series beyond two cool fights in the second episode was the first mention of the Alola PokƩmon League (with Kukui being reminded he'll need badges, something he seemed to not pay much attention to later) and Misty and Brock getting a promise of a visit to Alola that didn't really do much for the series beyond further fluff. After this, however, we finally moved to one of the first truly major arcs of the series: the Aether Foundation arc, or, in my opinion, where the series really started to fall apart.
At first, the arrival of the Aether arc seemed to be rather promising, seemingly keeping the slice of life nature of the series but starting to delve into the elements of the games for what people presumed to be a slow burn to a payoff loosely covering the game events. Except... that's not really what happened. Instead, this entire arc turned into about a dozen of episodes harshly abridging the entire villain arc of the games and cutting everything they couldn't fit, while seemingly following the conflicting mission statements of making the arc as loosely close to the games as possible while trying to be as different from them as possible, and this was clear from the very beginning, with the introduction of Lusamine as an overbearing mother with none of the deviousness of her game counterpart. This, however, isn't necessarily a problem as the Anime has often rewritten game characters before, but what the problem is is the fact they changed the conflict of Lillie dealing with the emotional abuse Lusamine inflicted upon her into Lillie simply being annoyed at being treated as a child and, most importantly, being annoyed at how her mother evolved her own Clefairy, something Clefairy itself didn't have a problem with, that makes her come across as a spoiled brat and losing most sympathy (especially when no one but maybe Burnet reprimand her for her callous behavior), especially when Lusamine is treated as legitimately loving her and just being too busy rather than having any malice. The problem is also that, throughout the arc, the only one blaming Lusamine for never wondering how did Lillie develop her phobia of PokƩmon is Gladion, while true to form Lillie doesn't seem to hold her mother accountable for it, and in fact, only wants to uncover the truth after Nebby teleports her near Type: Null by sheer coincidence, reverting her development from her focus episodes. Nebby is another big issue, as its ownership moved from Lillie to Ash for no reason other than giving him a reason to be involved in what would've otherwise been 'the Aether family show', yet the episode wants to still play into the game by implying Lillie and Nebby have a special relationship when they share their moment.
What I feel was the biggest issue of this specific arc, however, was shuffling the actively villainous role of the plot towards Faba, where he actually manages to be menacing for a brief while before the show decides to fully portray him as a silly villain hard to take seriously (including a magical girl routine to activate an Ultra Wormhole-creating machine) even as he's responsible for Lillie's trauma in his attempt to make Lusamine happy and finding an Ultra Beast for her and tried to wipe out Lillie's memories when she seemed to be able to reveal what happened. In the midst of a sea of confusing plot holes by adaptation (why was Type: Null fitted with the mask when as Silvally he did exactly what he was asked to do and Lusamine seems unaware it even exists? Where did the RKS System ROMs come from? Why the heck did a random Solgaleo and Lunala entrust their child to Ash to begin with?), the biggest problem of this arc comes from how, in Faba's aborted attempt to wipe out Lillie's memories, Silvally's attempt to save her reminds her of what really happened when she developed her phobia (a mere two episodes after it was revealed what caused it), giving her back the ability to touch all PokƩmon again, making her previous attempts to do so feel retroactively pointless and only there to milk viewer sympathy for when she lost the ability to again, alongside ensuring to keep her development path directionless after this episode barely one third of the way into the series.
The biggest problem after this, however, comes from Faba's subsequent plan that ends up with Lusamine defending her children from a Nihilego and ending up dragged into Ultra Space due to her act of selflessness, with Lillie, Gladion, and subsequently everyone else moving on to Poni Island to rescue her. Along the way, Lillie changes into what the games called her 'Z-Powered Form', which in the games symbolized her moving away from her mother's shadow, while here it means... pretty much nothing, voiding it of its significance and making it come across as either a game-pandering move or something just done because the source material did it. Another significant issue of this stretch is Ash's upgrade of his Z-Ring into a Z-Power Ring, under the absolutely important reasoning of his Solgalium-Z not fitting in his regular Z-Ring. Meaning that Ash needed a magical, seemingly important ritual to obtain something whose usefulness boils down to borderline cosmetic reasons, especially as we later see Z-Power Rings doled out regularly like they're nothing important (including one to Team Rocket and Gladion's regular Z-Ring turning into a Z-Power Ring with no one remarking about it), which is probably one of the most blatant cases of marketing dictating plot flow in the history of this series.
We then moved on to the final battle, which was admittedly decent enough beyond some strange issues of power creep (like Sophocles one-shotting Lusamine's Milotic) and some occasional bits of tonal imbalance (Teether Dance hula in the middle of a serious mission by Sophocles, Mallow and Lana), but was marred by two issues of significance: one was the decision of having Lillie's big moment with her mother possessed by Nihilego involve her giving a speech of how she hates her and how she allowed herself to be possessed by an Ultra Beast for how self-absorbed she is, which while definitely meant to come across as "the mother I respect would never fall for it" has the problem of Lillie and Lusamine never getting a softer reconciliation before this moment (with said softer reconciliation seemingly happening offscreen after everything was over, which we never heard of until almost episode one hundred), which just further makes Lillie unlikable. The other problem is the grand debut of 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, a move that was only used three times that was either poorly explained or never actually received an explanation depending on how you interpret the part where it's employed in the very last major battle of the series, completely out of nowhere except for perhaps Ash's Electrium-Z shining briefly a lot of episodes ago, which was never fully explained, as is the fact Ash's Pikashunium-Z reverted after use.
And thus, after a wedding between the four-times-dated Kukui and Burnet and with Nebby deciding to leave for no adequately explained reason, with Lusamine estabilishing a task force for Ultra Beasts which involves the classmates and Lillie in the closest thing this series gave them to an onscreen reconciliation, after an arc where Lillie supposedly grew... things returned to be for the most part exactly like they were in previous episodes, almost like this arc never happened, including Lillie reverting to her regular clothes. Pretty much, this supposedly character-focused arc ended up coming across as ultimately not so important, especially when Lillie's personality remained roughly the same with the only real problems she developed from being the ones this arc itself introduced, except for now being able to touch every PokƩmon.
Things seemed to just return to normal, even if this was just a prelude towards the structure of the series completely collapsing on itself.
3.2) Year Two: Ultra Guardians, Ula'Ula Island, Necrozma
Year two is the one to which I, personally, trace most of the problems of the Sun & Moon series, as the major focus of the series throughout this period ended up being the 'Ultra Guardians', a Sentai-esque team formed by the main cast under Aether Foundation supervision tasked with dealing with Ultra Beasts, and the biggest problem of this arc is that it really wasn't an arc so much as it was a loose connection of monster of the weeks plots that occasionally was brought up outside of them, but was otherwise completely separate from everything not just in terms of structure, but also in tone, as a parody Sentai with barely threatening monsters clashed heavily both with wanting to be a chill slice of life Anime and with wanting to be a battle-based PokƩmon Anime. It's an arc that never fully gelled with everything else (the only I'd save being Celesteela, a good Sophocles episode and a rare character-driven Ultra Guardians romp) and ultimately ended on a pitiful note with a rather dull episode with no real oomph to it, but ended up taking the 'main arc' position and leaving the rest of the series pretty much directionless, with several major arcs stalled and, beyond Lillie obtaining her Icium-Z and an Ice Stone that then disappeared completely, Torracat and Steenee evolving, and the Ula'Ula arc for Lycanroc, and Poipole leading to Necrozma, pretty much little of major happened. Teams remained frozen, and development seemed to hit a dead end, beyond officially introducing the Masked Royal.
Between the Ilima episodes (which felt like a waste considering his main purpose at the League ended up being effectively jobbing to Guzma) and the beginning of the Ula'Ula arc proper, the viewers and the students were properly acquainted with the idea of Alola soon getting a PokƩmon League, with both Ash and Kiawe expressing interest in it. This didn't send any weird looks yet, as Kiawe was estabilished as the other major battler and to have taken the trials, but this was in hindsight an important omen of things to come. In the meantime, however, Ash departed for Ula'Ula in what turned out to be a solo arc, and one that started up promising only to run into big issues along the way.
I already mentioned part of it when talking of Lycanroc, but the problem of the Ula'Ula arc is that it works on the assumption that Ash would be scared of Lycanroc's rage issues to the point of not acting, with Tapu Bulu's training giving them a moment to surpass those issues that, even with Rowlet suddenly learning Razor Leaf by sitting on a magical tree, could've even worked if it wasn't for the fact that to calm down Lycanroc and reaffirm his trust in him Ash ended up involving a flashback to Rockruff that we never saw before, making the whole affair come across as insincere. After an interlude where Ash undertook a 'Trial' that was technically the in-game Ghost one but was effectively a phony one involving Team Rocket (just furthering the 'whatever goes' sense of the Anime Island Challenge) that resulted in no Z-Crystal, the debut Electroweb, and a strange appearence of 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt again in spite of the whole thing being a relatively down to earth affair even with Team Rocket about to win with Mimikyu's Z-Move, this arc reached its conclusion with Ash VS Nanu, a battle that's been in equal part praised and mocked, and which I had a friend describe in the most accurate way as a well-written and interesting battle... for anyone but Ash Ketchum.
Seeing a battle taking on a more psychological bent with Nanu toying with Ash and trying to force him to give in to Lycanroc's rage mode is an admitedly interesting choice and Nanu is absolutely the best part of this battle for it, but the problem is that this requires the assumption that Ash would unconsciously not trust his PokƩmon after they put the rage mode under control with trust to begin with, alongside the battle being rather visually boring and with a 1 VS 3 set up that makes it more seem like Nanu is weak than Ash being strong (especially with Tapu Bulu tossing in a Sitrus Berry mid-match). This is supposed to be Ash's big development moment as a trainer in Alola, but it requires Ash to have a regressive mindset that doesn't fit how far he's come (something Sun & Moon does in quite a few things big and small, like completely forgetting Jennies and Joys are families of clones after the Kanto episodes) and, much like the Aether arc before it, begins and ends in the few episodes it takes to happen, I already covered Poipole's issue in his character dissection, so I'd like to move on to the most important part of this year: the Necrozma arc, which among the major arcs of the Sun & Moon series it's probably the most irrelevant. Coming in after only minimal foreshadowing (including a fairly interesting hint of a connection between Nanu and Giovanni that the show never really dealt with adequately), this arc was effectively as standalone as it gets, involving events that were only briefly mentioned after it (Rotom depositing the data of Necrozma in the Stufful episode, Naganadel's return, the stadium where the League was held being called Manalo Stadium), and that tried to make a big dangerous deal without actually having much happening: beyond the biggest damage of the episode being adults feeling comedically down as a result of absorbed energy, the introduction of an Elite squad of Team Rocket led by Giovanni's secretary Matori (here revamped as a Team Rocket trio hater in spite of originally being the one reccomending them to Giovanni in DP's last episode) that ultimately did nothing significant except maybe causing injuries to Nebby that wasn't clear if they happened or not with how stiff the animation was, the baffling and unexplained return of Nebby alongside an out-of-nowhere Lunala, and a general sense of big deal where nothing much of dangerous for the cast happened (and that bafflingly replaced the Ultra Recon Squad and Ultra Megalopolis with a talking Naganadel and a generic quarry that achieved effectively the same purpose), this arc ended up feeling like a snoozefest that only resulted in Poipole staying behind in his now healed world in an overall beautifully permanent-feeling farewell, except that, in the light of future events, this choice felt like one that effectively harmed the show in the long run. Also, with Matsui being the headwriter, one might think resolving the arc with everyone sharing their energy borders on self-plagiarism considering she was also the headwriter of Dragon Ball GT, which had a similar climax (itself inherited from Dragon Ball Z).
Thankfully, even if this year was really not the greatest, the following one brought as much improvements as it did other problems to deal with.
3.3) Year Three: Poni Island, Hints of Mohn, Alola PokƩmon League
The third year of Sun & Moon did not start on a good note, as after the Necrozma arc the show ended up on a shortage of things to look forward to, with several arcs still stalled and only the still no show Guzma and the League left to check out. During this period, perhaps to lead into Let's Go marketing, we started getting some shorts at the end of each episode dealing with an Eevee getting to Alola, which everyone assumed would eventually go to Ash, only to unexpectedly go to Lana in a move that made some fans sour. Sandy didn't end up doing much else but being cute and possibly allowing Lana's arc to resume by giving her another cute PokƩmon to hold in Popplio's stead, but that was it for a while alongside Hau's debut as a character, in an episode infamous for being at the same time an okay rival introduction where Ash lost a fight by fetching his Z-Crystal and getting distracted to take it back, and where Rowlet ate an Everstone for a move that turned out to be more trouble than it was worth.
Beyond Misty and Brock visiting an Alola (which involved an episode where Brock's womanizing gag was blown even further than ever before) and an actually pretty decent arc starring Ash tossed into a post-apocalyptic alternate Alola to deal with Guzzlord in a rare instance of an Ultra Beast being presented as an actual force of destruction, the show finally started to move again with the Poni arc, or as some people called it 'the ultimate development arc', as the focus of this arc seemed to be the opposite of Ula'Ula being an Ash solo act by putting the focus back on the neglected companions, giving them either a new character direction, Z-Crystals evolutions, new PokƩmon or in Ash's case his final Grand Trial, all tied together by Hapu opening up to the crew after starting standoffish and distant. Overall, Poni isn't on paper a bad arc, and there are quite a few episodes that are actually pretty good (Kiawe's trial among them for sure), but cramming all this development on the same island one after the other only had the effect of feeling jarring (unlike how Akala was not only still early enough, but only gave significant new things to Ash, Kiawe and Lana), most noticeably by cramming two completely separate evolution plots in the same episode in a move that slightly hurt both of them (Sophocles' feeling a tad impersonal, while Lana's lost the actual training part of it), Shaymin was effectively even more irrelevant than Sandy in the series, the Mohn arc estabilished here had some problems I'll get into soon, and the Hapu Grand Trial ending up as one of the worst 'Gym battles'-like matches Ash ever fought by utilizing the same strategy to victory as the extremely derided Brock battle by dousing Mudsdale and using an Electric attack on it, only adding the patch that 'it was just like Soak' even if no Pikachu can access that move. Ultimately, a well-intentioned arc that felt a bit too little, too late, and came at the expense of Ash's own focus before his final Grand Trial (to the point unlike the previous islands he didn't even do any unofficial trials before this one).
Following this, the next major episode (excluding a two-parter introducing Ash's Meltan that arguably ran one episode too long) was one that was both long awaited and caused some issues and improvements for the series going forward: Guzma's debut episode, alongside the formal announcement to the world of the Alola PokƩmon League... and more specifically, the fact that it would be open to everyone with no requirements whatsoever, on the justification that it's not important who wins. Now, I've seen way too many debates on the topic, so I'll put it simply: regardless of if you think an open League is a good idea or not, it does mean that the various trials and Grand Trials Ash took on lost a lot of their meaning since they became self-sustained achievements that don't mean much outside their bubble if Ash didn't need to do any of them to enter the League, and this structure did cause several problems that lowered the general quality of the Alola League for a decent part of its length. When Guzma is being painted as the bad guy for considering the League just a schoolyard fight between weaklings, the viewers shouldn't be inclined to agree with him.
Another big issue of this decision is that, otherwise, it caused the structure of the series to come under scrutiny: before, and usually, since Ash is the only character taking part in the League, it's only his growth in skill that is under scrutiny, and everyone else is free to be as strong or as weak as necessary, but opening the door to everyone to join in also meant that everyone in the series came under scrutiny, and to put it simply characters like Mallow just weren't made to be involved in it even under the guise of a League for fun, something that showed in the actual execution of the Alola League and that I'll get to in a bit.
The episode after this one started the further estabilishment of the Mohn arc, and let me just say... this arc is, on the whole, probably the most disappointing of the various arcs of Sun & Moon, and that's saying something after everything I explained so far. Specifically, the biggest purpose of this arc was for the Aether family to find out about the whereabouts of the seemingly dead patriarch of the family, and supposedly show Lillie as being 'strong' after the events of the Aether arc, but in actual concept, it was just a convenient way for her to get a Z-Ring after conveniently ignoring the possibility for almost one real life year, getting it 'on loan' for almost getting a Z-Move to work in spite of everyone else requiring to pass a real trial to get theirs, and with her contributions effectively ending up still needing Gladion's help and amounting, once more, mostly to feeling sad to catch audience sympathy, while Gladion gets a Zoroark to be only used in one round of the League. But the worst part of all is that this arc, to put it simply, doesn't end. After Magearna finally wakes up and we get the not explained reveal that it knows where Mohn is, the Aether family embarks on a journey to find him... only for the series to end at that point. After spending six months teasing this storyline, just leaving it hanging like this is poor storytelling, and even with the justification that Pokļæ½ļæ½mon 2019's world-hopping premise would mean the new show can end it for Sun & Moon, the series shouldn't have to rely on another one to resolve its own plots, especially one on which supposedly significant moments of the late series hinged on.
The rest of the series, however, does gain something from the open League premise, and that something is a consistent direction by having everyone get boosts in preparation for the League, which at the very least leads to some alright moments for Sophocles that play nicely in his arc and the technical resolution of Lana's arc, among a sea of strangely persistent legendary appearences that only got more and more contrived as the series went on considering they were entirely separate from each other, even the ones that led to ultimately good episodes (like the one where a Celebi led to Ash and Torracat meeting a young Professor Kukui), since it felt like a move to ensure attention that was wholly unnecessary to the story being told. But over time, everything came to a close with the start of the Alola PokƩmon League, probably the most talked about arc of Sun & Moon, for good or ill.
The Alola League is unique in several aspects, both in terms of the Sun & Moon series and the Anime as a whole: for the former, it's a battle-focused arc in a region that didn't want battling to be the focus as the climax of it; for the latter, it's the longest League arc in the series' history. clocking at roughly sixteen episodes. Being a tournament arc, you'd think such a good length would benefit it, but the way the series decided to execute things left a lot to be desired, most specifically because Sun & Moon has a very mixed track record in terms of battles and for the decision to show every battle of the tournament even if just partially. There is a lot that could be said about this arc, but I'll try to aim for the big ones first: for starters, beginning the League by reducing the contestants to just sixteen using a Battle Royale was a rather poor choice, as not only that's a format that allows characters to reach high positions by just surviving rather than being strong (as seen by how James got to the Top 16 even if he explicitly didn't face anyone), but confining it to just one episode meant that pretty much every battle of it was reduced to just a series of one-hit KOs from every major characters, with all of them ultimately surviving. After that, another problem was how a lot of the early rounds of the arc ended up averaging between okay to poor battles, with the dubious honor of having Ash's first battle being completely for laughs against Faba, the only character beyond Jessie and James to get one in this League in spite of being the eventual winner. I already mentioned the specifics of Mallow's attempt to quit her match coming out of nowhere from a character standpoint and the issues of Ash VS Hau, so I'll just say that Lillie's battle against Gladion was okay but done dirty for what was supposed to be a huge moment for her in terms of development, and that Sophocles', Lana's (sans Mallow's) and Kiawe's battles ended up being okay to great on the whole. However, the fact that the first two rounds of the League only used one PokƩmon each didn't help the sense of escalation at all, nor the sense of Guzma being correct in describing this League as 'a schoolyard fight between weaklings'.
From the Semifinals onward, the League improves in quality due to only good battlers remaining, though it does run into problems of a different sort: Guzma, which was built up as the major threat of the League with Ash vowing to stop him due to what Alola did to him, is not only dealt with in the penultimate round rather than in the finals, but in a battle that makes that statement ring a tad hollow since the perspective we follow during the fight isn't Ash's, but rather Guzma's, shedding some light into his confidence issues and his Golisopod's habit to use Emergency Exit whenever scared (which beyond being only halfway foreshadowed, also ends up with the bad side-effect of giving Ash a free win through Torracat, turning Ash VS Guzma into a 2 VS 1 in Ash's favor), but effectively making Ash interchangeable as a result. It's a good fight with some nice moments, but it just makes his build up as possibly ruining the League for everyone ring hollow when his presence didn't seem to ruin the League for anyone in any way, and the threat wasn't even considered worthy of the finals. Kiawe VS Gladion, by contrast, is mostly a good fight with not much else to it. However, one thing that starts to be noticeable in this part of the League is the sheer reluctance of the show to start any matches before the halfway mark or close to it, padding the airtime as much as possible with not always necessary scenes and stretching the battles along two episodes even when not necessary.
The finals having three PokƩmon each meant that Ash VS Gladion ended up having a bit more meat to it in terms of battling, but Ash once again ended up getting another boost in the form of Meltan's evolution into a supposedly powerful mythical PokƩmon, which would already be bad since he shouldn't be getting these kinds of boosts at the very final stage of this story (and yes, just to be clear, Kingler's deal was poor writing back in OS as well) but also comes after a gag battle rigged in his favor, a battle that required several contrivancies on his side to be won with Rowlet, and another battle with a facilitated victory in Guzma, making it feel like Ash ended up getting into each of these matches with the writing rigged on his side. The Gladion battle has some fairly good moments both from a character and battling perspective, but between the unearned evolution right before it and just the way they built up to things, Ash's victory here ended up not really feeling as impressive as you'd think this first League Conference victory should be, all things considered. A battle that just ends up as 'okay' rather than the amazing it should've been.
However, after a somewhat dull interlude involving a Guzzlord attack that's probably comprised of more stock footage than action just so Naganadel can come in to make number, we moved on to Ash VS Kukui, probably one of the best battles of this series. That said, while it is pretty good and better written than the majority of them, especially in terms of how Torracat is handling for its first three episodes, it is knocked down by being an exhibition match, meaning that beyond 'fun' and offering a good fight, Ash doesn't need to win this battle (unlike how every other major battle at this stage usually comes with adequate stakes), and most importantly how Tapu Koko forced his way in in place of Kukui's last PokƩmon (after Kukui allowed Naganadel in on the pretense of being part of the family, ignoring that three-to-four of Kukui's PokƩmon in this match were never seen before and his supposed Pelipper was completely excluded just because the local deity wanted some fighting), which given how Koko wasn't part of this particular equation comes across as scrunching two battles to save time. It also doesn't help that then Tapu Koko interrupts the match again just to allow Kukui and Ash to use Z-Moves again, with Ash ending up using 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt for the final time while praising the region, which while making for a cool finisher it ultimately makes Ash's supposed aim to master Z-Moves to defeat Tapu Koko resolved in a poor way when he only won using the Z-Crystal he never actually trained to use and that only conveniently showed up whenever it needed. Accounting for yet another boost in the form of Naganadel's return, this battle is ultimately marred once again like most of the League by the writing apparently wanting him to win at all costs and look good while doing so, strategy and skill be damned along the way.
After this followed two episodes of closure, that had some good moments (especially in regards to the Team Rocket trio) but ultimately involved a lot of contrived instances (like an Ultra Wormhole for Naganadel to return home coming just above Kukui's house) or poorly executed moments, most importantly the completely offscreen adventure of Ash and Nebby in Ultra Space, the way Mimikyu decided to let go of his killer instinct towards Pikachu, and most importantly the fact that Ash decided to leave his Alolan team behind for reasons the viewer wasn't made privy to, and which ended up having negative implications for either the Alolan team or the previous PokƩmon depending on how you read it.
And that's ultimately how Sun & Moon ended up feeling for me, with several small issues that kept adding up, until the show just couldn't handle them anymore.
3.4) The Problem of Themes and Other Technical Issues
Before to move on the closing statement, I'd like to quickly address something I've often seen brought up in Sun & Moon's defense, generally its themes justifying a lot of what it does alongside exploring the region of Alola by having Ash live there. Usually, the biggest themes I see brought up about this is that Sun & Moon is about family and meeting a world and learning from it... but while the first might have some merit, the second is very much what the show has always been about, arguably moreso than Sun & Moon has been since Ash actively travelled to meet said world rather than wait until the world came knocking at his door, and there were a lot of family-oriented moments in previous series, be they siblings or relatives. I'm sure there are other, different themes that one could bring up here, perhaps some that are indeed unique to the Sun & Moon series, but there's something important to say about themes: no matter how good the message you want to spread or explore is, if the narrative has issues, you can't excuse them on the pretense of themes, especially if it starts to be applied to every single imperfection one finds in a story. Themes are embellishments that make stories better, not substitutes for good writing.
And in terms of narrative issues, Sun & Moon has, in my opinion, quite a few of them, not just the ones I explained in the first paragraph but also some important ones involving both the way episodes are written, and how battles were handled, including the way the generational gimmicks were used. In regards the way the episodes are written, there's the fact that several of them end up involving a strange structure where the plot doesn't actually begin until the halfway mark, and while this may perhaps help with a slow pace and relaxed atmosphere, it does have the side effect of making quite a few of them feel dull to watch, especially older fans used to the rhythms of the series before this iteration.
Bigger, and most pressing, are the problems of battle writing this season ran into, which go deeper than just the absolute downgrade in battle presentation, but go straight into how the battles were written. One noticeable thing that feeds into how slow the battles ended up being is the fact that commentary became just as commonplace as it used to be in the earliest series, constantly breaking the action on a regular basis rather than letting the scenes flow more often than not. Beyond that, the biggest problem is that, more often than not, the battles aren't decided by skill or strategy (though there are occasional skill-based bouts), but rather who feels a bigger drive to win or happens to fire their Z-Move last, which coupled with the removal of most of the minor battles that could go either way to mostly focus on the big ones that have to absolutely be resolved a certain way, leading to such gems as the already mentioned battle with Hau where an otherwise good Ash ended up slipping his Z-Crystal just so he could be distracted and lose due to it, or one where Gladion managed to completely tank a Z-Move only to reply by his own, out of nowhere new Dragon-type Z-Move. It made battles dull to follow more often than not, especially with battles often falling more on shows of strength or exchanges of moves with no real rhyme and reason rather than giving the impression that the trainers had any real plan behind their orders (Ash constantly falling back on relying on an incompletely learned move in Ash VS Hau being a particularly blatant case of it showing).
And relatedly, another major issue of the series overall is the way it choose to handle Z-Moves. Compared to Mega Evolution being a fairly consistent 'have the stones + have the bond = Mega Evolution' in the previous show, Z-Moves depend on several factors, from getting the pose right to having a correct amount of focus and bond with the PokƩmon to if the PokƩmon used them before, and as a result, the entire idea of mastering Z-Moves feels wholly inconsistent: sometimes you can have characters with perfect relationships with their PokƩmon completely failing at using their Z-Moves, sometimes characters like Mallow that first chided others for not getting the Grassium-Z pose right and then ended up unable to master Bloom Doom well until the League match, sometimes you can have characters that get Z-Moves right with PokƩmon they never even saw before, and everything in between. It feels extremely arbitrary, and makes 'mastering Z-Moves' feel less down to the characters' agency and more down to whether the writers feel like having them master them or not.
But, if I may say, the real biggest problem of the series is that, simply put, it often raises questions it never manages to answer satisfactorily, just creating a situations were things are left so vague everyone has to either remain confused at what happened or supplant it with their own headcanons. Counting just some of the important questions: Why did Ash choose to go to school instead of a typical journey? Why was Tapu Koko so interested in Ash? Why did Ash receive Nebby from that Solgaleo and Lunala? Why did Nebby leave at the end of his arc? Why do Giovanni and Nanu know each other so personally? Where did that Lunala come from? What's the deal with Dusk Lycanroc and Meltan? Why does the Pikashunium-Z manifest? Why did Naganadel return? Why does Magearna know Mohn's location?
I have no clue. And frankly, I'm not sure if Sun & Moon knows, either.
4. Conclusions
And with this, I reached the end of this long dissection. It probably got pretty ranty, and it may sound excessive considering this is all the result of overanalyzing what's ultimately a kids' show, but I think I covered most of everything I wanted to. So, in the end, with so much said, what are my final impressions of Sun & Moon? Well, I'd say the amount of fun you'll have with it will depend exactly from what you want of it.
In spite of all my critiques, I'm fairly aware of how people just looking for a good time to cheer themselves up with occasionally emotional moments will find definitely stuff to like. Less critical-minded viewers will also definitely find something for everyone in there, and perhaps enjoy what the series has to offer. My personal opinion is that, ultimately, at its best Sun & Moon can be one of the best entries of the PokƩmon Anime, while at its worst, it can be even worse than entries like the Best Wishes series. And as someone who likes consistency in terms of what a series has to offer, I found Sun & Moon a quite irritating watch to do, and probably my second least favorite entry of the series even with its good moments.
Overall regardless of which opinion you will have ended this read in, I hope you found my thoughts interesting to read about, and whatever opinion you hold of the Sun & Moon series, I respect it, and, in case you enjoyed it more than I did, I'm glad you did.
As for me, I officially consider the Gen VII Anime a closed book. With the new series starting soon enough, I'm optimistic that things will only look up from there. Not just for me, but for every other watcher as well.
So, regardless of what the future may hold for this show, I'm looking forward to continue my journey reviewing it with all of you, hoping in better stories to be told.
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lostonehero Ā· 4 years ago
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Under the full moon
Tw mentions of sexual assault and abuse, hospitals, animal attack
Nanu was a life saver, he managed to pull some strings and get Cyrus to Alohla without any suspicion or even his sisters finding out. Guzma was practically walking on air when he arrived back in Alohla, Cyrus in tow looking uncomfortable in the heat even though it was cooler as the night sky lit up the sky as the full moon hung up above.
Guzma watched Cyrus stare up at the starry sky, he could see the smaller trying to suppress a smile of wonder as he looked.
Cyrus was still distracted as a growl was heard from the bush and a large lyconrock jumped the two biting Cyrus's arm with a loud sickening crunch.
The next few hours were a blur to both Cyrus and Guzma, but what was clear was the end where Guzma's large frame was contorted awkwardly in a small hospital chair as he fell into an uneasy sleep watching over Cyrus. Cyrus woke up to the sounds of hospital equipment he knew all too well from being a sickly child growing up. He wanted to bolt out of bed, but he looked over and saw Guzma and he couldn't bare to abandon him.
He groans covering his face with his one good hand the other was bandaged to hell and back to the point where he couldn't move it. Feelings were not something he was equipped to deal with and Guzma brought up so many, and he wanted to spill his guts be open with him, but he wasn't as strong as he was. He could never be as great as Guzma needed him to be. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat and wiped his eyes. He just wanted Guzma close thats it.
......
Plumeria was one of the three now that knew of Guzma's secret, the man was half siren. She didn't know the specifics but she did know that his mother that raised him wasn't the one who had him. That wasn't important what was important was how frustrated she was getting with Guzma what she could only call nesting, his new sinnoh friend was coming back from the hospital. Guzma insisted that they were just friends but she wasn't an idiot and could feel the tension between the two hell she could probably cut it with a knife, even there pokemon notice it.
She sighed watching Guzma again rearrange his bed again, and yet he refuses to admit that they would even share a room. "GUZMA." She shouts annoyed as all hell.
Guzma stiffens and shoots up. "Plumes you know better then to sneak up on me sides I haven't done anything wrong."
"That's not the point everyone in this house can hear you moving your furniture for the nth time today Guzma."
"So nobody but you has complained."
Plumeria gave an auditable sigh. "Guzma you know none of the grunts would ever bother you when you're in one of your moods."
"I'm not upset Plumes "
"They don't know that."
Guzma looks away somewhat embarrassed. "Shit yo didn't mean to "
~~~later that day at the hospital~~
Cyrus moves his now freed arm from the cast, he had never healed this fast before. His arm didn't hurt he just had a pink mark left on his arm from the bite. It was kind of odd, maybe it was a side effect from the distortion world, but in reality he didn't know. He cuts off his own thoughts spotting Guzma and he swore his heart skipped a beat when there eyes locked, he decided to push thoes feelings down. He would deal with that later even if his heart was still beating out of his chest when Guzma approached close enough he could smell the scent of moss, honey, and even the sea off of him.
Wait
Cyrus didn't have a good sense of smell to beginning with, he used his sense of time to cook to perfection. As a child due to his sicknesses his sense of smell was partially damaged. Alarm bells rung loud in his head but were went silent when Guzma pulled him into a hug and all the panic dissipated from his head like the clouds after a storm.
"Cy look at you all patched up you had me all worried." Guzma was loud as always but it was comforting.
"You seem perfectly content without me." Cyrus bristles at the praise as his entire being screams at him to lean into it. He was scared of seeming soft.
"Ah I'm glad a hospital visit hasn't changed you I set up my room nice for you till you can find a place in po town, I mean if you want to stay there you don't have to if you don't wanna."
That was the last thing Cyrus could ever want to be away from Guzma. "Your room will suffice for now." He answers a bit too quickly for his own liking. He probably sounded needed but that thought had no room to grow when he heard Guzma chirp and grin.
"Your boy made it so comfy for you spaceman you're going to love it."
Cyrus covers his face quickly he couldn't stop the smile that spread across his lips. Something was different and he couldn't understand why his emotions were so easy to keep under wraps maybe the pokemon bite had side effects.
.......
Guzma loves the fact Cyrus decided to stay in his room, and he loved the nest he made too, fuck he never knew embracing the siren half of himself would actually feel good. Maybe it was because he had the right partner. He quickly shook his head Cyrus wasn't into him like that, and he knew not to force anything onto the smaller man. Cyrus's half sister had done that, well more so used him as some sort of plaything and he let her.
He couldn't let anyone use him like that again, he couldn't let anyone have control over him again like his siren half begged. He wanted Cyrus to control the bedroom he wanted Cyrus to make the decisions when it came to his body like she forced herself into that role. Guzma groans turning over to look at Cyrus sleeping. He wasn't weezing so the wet air was helping his lungs hopefully.
Guzma stared at his sleeping form his heart twisted and raw wanting to love again, but his mind was already hurt too many times, but what screamed louded then both was his siren instincts that refused to be silenced anymore and insisted that he let Cyrus claim him. He was getting a headache, and angry at his conflicted feelings, and he knew when he got upset he broke things and he really didn't want to wake up Cyrus.
He sat up pulling at his hair his feelings only growing more complicated as he let them fester. He wanted to punch something but he heard a soft whimper come from his sleeping companion and all his thoughts seem to bend into one cohesive thought. He needed to comfort Cyrus.
He wrapped himself around the smaller man who seems to melt in his touch and all the worry and pain drains into bliss as he falls back into a deep sleep.
A small sense of pride seems to grow in Guzma chest as he drifted off listening to Cyrus sleep softly next to him.
.....
..
Cyrus's temper was like a fire cracker even his pokemon noticed and ran to Guzma when he showed slight frustration. His houndoom however kept his attention for some reason Cyrus was now content chasing after his dog pokemon and she was happy to comply. She obviously knew something changed within him, but atlas he could not understand her.
"The humid air seems to really help you Cyrus." Guzma hums in the small pond behind Po town his gosilepod was splashing around with him. Cyrus wouldn't call it a pond it was more of a micro lake it was deep enough that Guzma could dive down to explore the many caves it hid below.
Cyrus pauses letting that comment sink in. Guzma was right he hasn't had any lung issues since arriving to Alohla. He was even running around like he had the energy of a child. "I concede that I have been feeling much better here then I have sinnoh, but it is much too hot here."
Guzma rolls his eyes and splashes Cyrus with his tail. "Cooled off enough?"
Cyrus against his normal facade and how he liked to act he scoffs and croches near the water and splashes Guzma back and even laughs.
His own pokemon froze hearing that noise and seeing Cyrus smile was an enigma in itself.
Guzma challenged this and splashed again causing an all out water fight, and Cyrus couldn't remeber any other time where he felt this happy. He felt safe as Guzma carried him back into the Shady House. He knew this wasn't normal behavior for him but Guzma was carrying him and his smile was so nice. He clung to Guzma like he was the best treasure he had ever found.
.....
Cyrus could not get comfortable for the life of him, his own skin felt too tight, and wrong. He felt miserable and just needed something. He flips over again in the mock nest Guzma made he had pushed the larger man out an hour ago.
"Cyrus?"
Cyrus groans and glares at Guzma from the position he was in on the bed.
"Good your awake I need to talk to you."
Cyrus stretches and sits up. "Its not as my body will let me get comfortable go ahead." He says with more bite then he wanted to.
Guzma seems to hesitate and Cyrus doesn't want to be alone right now, why did he sound annoyed, but Guzma didn't leave he took a breath and sat in his throne. "Do you mind if I get personal Cyrus? I'm loosing my courage here, stupid Guzma."
"You're ok, please speak your mind." For some reason Guzma being there made him feel better and all he wanted was for him to be comfortable to, only to return the favor. That thought was tact on but he wouldn't acknowledge that fact.
Guzma's face turns red as he stumbles over his words forgetting English for a second. "Cyrus I want you to take control, I mean I just my siren half has been screaming at me for you and I fuck I fucking like you a lot and I want to be vulnerable around you. Not like how your sister forced that out of my with you I feel safe enough to let you see the real stuff." Guzma sighs putting his face in his hands. "I like you spaceman and I want you to yaknow do the nasty with me I want you to control the scene, I want you to take care of me."
Cyrus could feel his own face heat up his mind wasn't entirely there anymore but he somehow knew exactly what Guzma was asking and he wanted the same thing. His voice didn't sound like his own. "I love you too- I -gah" his own words cut off as a scream escapes from his lips as burning hot pain fills his his veins. His whole body felt as it was on fire and that was the last thing Cyrus can remember before it went black.
.....
Plumeria lead the charge hearing the scream come from Guzma's room a few brave grunts followed behind her as they opened the door they expected the worse, but that isnt what they got.
Guzma was laughing trying to pull a lyconrock that was five times bigger then normal off of him it was also completely blue like Cyrus's hair. The closest thing to an attack the dog was doing was locking Guzma senseless as there tail wagged hard and fast.
The grunts seem to braven up even more as one shouted puppy then the rest piled into the room petting the dog who seems to melt at the attetion and Guzma could finally get up but he didn't stop smiling.
"Cyrus is the puppy Grunts." Guzma got through his laughter as the dog Cyrus began another lick attack.
The grunts gasps as cheers of werewolf ran through along with spaceman is puppy space man, along with team skull mascot.
Guzma was having too much fun to notice or listen to what his grunts were saying.
.....
Cyrus woke up startled he was just in the worst pain in his life where was he now. His panic ebbed away into comfort as he realized he was curled around Guzma his scent was everywhere, and that purple tattoo was a dead giveaway. He absolutely no memory of what occurred last night nor did he know where his clothes went. Wait why was he wearing a collar did they have sex? Was he drugged? Guzma confessed his feelings did he use him?
Cyrus's own stomach growling made him stop his downward spiral of thoughts. He was starving, was that normal after sex? He needed to research. Guzma shift making Cyrus give a startled oof noise in response.
"Oh you're back to normal, the grunts were right." Guzma yawns and stretches. "Man you kept us up till like 4 in the morning."
This brought up more questions, so he didn't have sex, the grunts were involved, and he wasn't normal. His face must of betrayed him because Guzma was looking at him with concern.
"You don't remember last night."
"I remember saying I love you." He says embarrassed and his voice a bit horsed.
This seems to ease some worry from Guzma's face but not all of it. "Well apparently Z one of the grunts likes looking into myths and he can say for certain werewolf, and now the grunts know about me because you kind of dragged me into the pool to go swimming."
"What?"
"It was actually kind of cute, I got upset and you did the whole ears and tail down and puppy dog eyes and actually you were fuckkng adorable and I couldn't stay mad at you but now the grunts are clamoring to make a full moon schedule that needs your approval of course." Guzma laughs. "For the first hour you wouldn't stop licking me you also kept trying to steal my socks."
Cyrus's face was red as he put his head in his hands. "I'm so sorry "
"Why it was a blast, and you make a great puppy Cy even if I'm a bug guy." Guzma chuckles. "Now we know it wasn't a normal pokemon bite."
Cyrus looks away. "You aren't mad? I outed you and I didn't even know until you told me."
"I mean no Cy you were being cute and now I have blackmail we took so many pictures. Want to see "
"Abostutley not." He gets up. "I'm going to get dressed then eat you can talk when you want to be civil "
Guzma laughs and gets up hugging Cyrus from behind. "I love you too Cyrus even if you can't express it well. I'll be emotional for the both of us."
This dried up every ounce of shame and anger Cyrus had at the new he could feel wet streaks down his cheeks before he realized he was crying. He immeditaly turned and buried his face into Guzma's chest. He refused to let go.
Guzma didn't realize what he said meant so much, but he didn't want to upset Cyrus anymore so he let the smaller man cry until he was done.
They got dressed in silence but left the room holding hands with a unspoken love between them only growing.
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pkmnjesus Ā· 5 years ago
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āŖ P Jā€™s PokĆ©Ani Rewind 2019
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Hello, yes Iā€™m still alive for those wondering or care at all :] Just been taking an indefinite leave from all my social media accounts (though you can still see me on Discord: PokĆ©monJesus#2495) since mid-November going through some personal self-discovery journey...nobody misses me anyways. Iā€™ll address that maybe in a future post, but letā€™s not make this about me...because RIGHT NOW it is time for my 4th annual year-end (and favorite) Tumblr tradition! 2019 was a stressful year for me personally (as you can tell Iā€™ve been on and offĀ  here), and I appreciate all of the friends Iā€™ve made within this fandom whoā€™ve stuck with me through it. It was also the year of the successful launch of my new PokĆ©Ani exclusive side-blogĀ @pokeaniepisodesā€‹ where I would do my weekly episode blogging/screen-caps/GIFs for the #pokeani tag. Within the span of 10 months, I would gain over 1,000 followers! Thank you to those who have followed me there as well. Obviously due to my current circumstances, that has been put on halt as well after Sun & Moon ended. Apologies, but Iā€™ll be back in 2020 hopefully. As for PokĆ©Ani, it was bittersweet as we bid Alola farewell with the Sun & Moon series ending heading into the next generation series. If youā€™re curious to hear what I have to say about the new series, well hereā€™s your post! The PokĆ©mon anime has officially wrapped up for this year with Ash & Go in the Hoenn region earlier today, in where he WON another tournament showing Go how itā€™s done! But now, it is time to highlight some of the best episodes (this post will be following the original Japanese release dates, but will still be using the English/game dub names for a universal understanding by all) I personally found noteworthy from each month. Without further ado, letā€™s take a look back at what the PokĆ©mon anime had to offer in 2019. 1, 2, 3.Ā LETā€™S GO!
JANUARY - Hello Hapu
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The Poni Island adventures begin! And also, the road to Ashā€™s final grand trial to complete. This mini-arc started a very fun series of character-centric episodes among the main cast and their PokĆ©mon while they were in the island without Professor Kukuiā€™s guidance. From Sophoclesā€™s Charjabug evolving to a Vikavolt, and Lanaā€™s Popplio evolving to Brionne (plus getting Primarium Z!). But the highlight out of all of this was the character arc of the soon-to-be Poni Island Kahuna, Hapu! She was a stubborn trainer who didnā€™t want to interact with anyone or battle Ash. She eventually opened up to him and his friends slowly after getting back her stolen radishes from Team Skull (the first appearance of Plumeria as well). She was a key figure on the classā€™ expedition throughoutĀ  Poni for their respective research projects, while Tapu Fini and her late grandfather keep an eye on her progress. Eventually when she did became Kahuna,Ā Ash finally had his rightful battle with her for a grand trial. She didnā€™t gain only a new set of confidence, but a new set of friends too.
FEBRUARY - Mama Mallow makes us cry
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As the group continues doing their personal research projects in Poni Island, and after Kiawe clears his own trial with Tapu Fini, we get a feels trip to Mallowā€™s past. Thanks to Tapu Finiā€™s mysterious mist that allows people to see the departed, Mallow relives her childhood days with her mother. We not only get a teary backstory of what Mallow said to her ill mother before passing away, but also Lillie & Gladionā€™s attempt to see theirĀ ā€œdeceasedā€ father, Mohn. Mallow seeking proper closure, finally reunites with her mother in the mist as they spend as much time catching up with one another ever since their improper argument at the hospital. We then discovered that Bounsweet was actually caught by her mom before gifting it to Mallow as her first PokĆ©mon...who is now a fully evolved Tsareena. There were a lot of good moments like seeing the Stoutland that (as if this wasnā€™t enough of a feels trip) help raised Ashā€™s Torracat when it was still a Litten, and that Mohn is nowhere to be found in the mist meaning that heā€™s still alive! Stoutlandā€™s final gift to Torracat was upgrading its Ember move to eventually learning to use Fire Blast. But the most important thing about this episode, is that it teaches us to be grateful to our parents (or those who raised us) even when it looks like they donā€™t seem to care, we misunderstand and overlook how much they truly care for us. Never take things for granted and live in the moment. In the end, Mallowā€™s mom gave her one final gift before going back to the afterlife, a Shaymin to care for. Thanks mom :ā€™)
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MARCH - Ya boi is never too late!
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All we can just say when he was first announced was...finally...or about time! Team Skull boss Guzmaā€™s long awaited appearance in the PokĆ©mon anime happened when he and the rest of his gang visited the PokĆ©mon School to confront Professor Kukui. After hearing about the official announcement that the first Alola League was going to happen, Guzma is determined to eliminate everything for what it stands for. Meanwhile, everyone in Alola wanted to get in on the action for an opportunity to become a champion, that includes Ash who stood up to Guzma for Kukui. After wiping the floor with Team Rocket, Guzma battles Ash taking interest with his utilization of the Z-Power Ring. Despite newly perfecting Corkscrew Crash, it had almost no damage on Guzmaā€™s Golisopod. As the battle rages on, Golisopodā€™s Emergency Exit activates when Pikachu starts to get an upper hand. A stubborn Guzma not wanting to admit what really happened leaves and berates Ash as he sends a clear message on his vow to destroy the Alola League. Guzma and Kukui went face-to-face before Team Skull left, and itā€™s clear that his intentions were more personal. Thereā€™s always a reason behind of it all, and Guzma was seeking for vengeance.
APRIL - Mohn is missing
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After discovering that their father may still be alive (as mentioned in my February highlight), Lillie and her family are searching for answers with the help of the Aether Foundation. Lusamine then confesses to her kids about an Ultra Wormhole incident that caused Mohn to disappear. As they continue to get more info, they stumble upon Mohnā€™s room and discovered two very important treasures. A Z-Ring which he used to wear, and a Magearna that doesnā€™t seem to be responsive. Lillie decides to wear and use her Z-Ring until her father is found, while also finding away to bring the Magearna he left back to life. With the blessing of Kahuna Hala and her friendsā€™ support, she deicides to finally put her Icium-Z to good use by practicing theĀ Subzero Slammer Z-move with Snowy now that she finally has a Z-Ring at hand. She fails at her first attempt, it wonā€™t keep her down from practicing until she gets it right. The episode ends on a very touching note with Lillie reading an entry from her fatherā€™s old journal revealing that Mohn did in fact bought an inactive Magearna in hopes to restore it to give it to his one and only daughter as a gift <3
MAY - Lanaā€™s lure of fate
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In one of my personal favorite episodes (totally not because sheā€™s my favorite and the best girl), I got shut up for even doubting that her Brionne would evolve this soon (donā€™t you just hate it when anime previews spoil?). Lana finally decides to make her dream a reality (referenced in previous episodes) to hook a Kyogre at sea! With the help of Ash, they were able to track down a Kyogre that suddenly appeared while the class were fishing. When they discovered that the Kyogre had been poisoned by PokĆ©mon hunters, Lana decides to cure it with an antidote hooked to a special Misty lure she had been given while Ash deals with the troublemakers. Even after curing the poison, the hunters attempting to catch Kyogre made it rage even more. Lana tries to save it by trying to hook him out of the Hunterā€™s capturing device. She was successful in freeing it but ended up dragging her to the ocean rapidly as a storm develops from an angered Kyogre. And it was at that moment when Brionne wanted to save herĀ  trainer from getting dragged all over, evolving to Primarina was the only way to end this perfect storm. Primarinaā€™s singing calmed down Kyogre, as Lana lifts up her rod graciously with Kyogre in the sky. Dream achieved, and a moment has been made with new sea friend. Now when Lana tells this story, itā€™s actually the truth and there will be no one laughing now! Later on another episode, Lana & Primarina would learn how to use and master the Oceanic Operatta Z-move, and itā€™s all thanks to the hook of this Kyogre. Iā€™m sure Misty is proud as well :)
JUNE - Kid Kukui and Little Litten
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Thereā€™s a Celebi in this episode...you know what that means. Back to the past! While Ash was training with his PokĆ©mon for the Alola League, a Celebi stumbles upon them and transport Ash & Torracat to the same place where they were at, but only many years ago. They meet this little kid that had Litten with him and it was clearly obvious that his was younger Kukui and his (The Masked Royalā€™s) Incineroar who hasnā€™t evolved yet. However, Ash still had no idea he was in the past and treated little Kukui like any other kid heā€™d meet traveling. The two bond throughout the episode with their similar attitude when it comes to battling, and Ash gladly guided the little kid on executing Z-moves with their PokĆ©mon. The two even worked together assisting a Totem Trevenant in sheltering all the nearby PokĆ©mon as a rainstorm approaches. Thanks to the good heart of Ash helping out everyone, he receives his own Firium Z from the same Trevenant that gave Kukui his Firium Z. He eventually gets back to his timeline where it seemed to have an effect on the present day Kukui. If it wasnā€™t for that meeting, maybe the professor wouldā€™ve had his vision of forming an Alola PokĆ©mon League if it wasnā€™t for that mysterious older boy he met with his Torracat. A PokĆ©mon time paradox? Maybe...but what I loved about this story is that it repeats itself for the next episode but from the perspectives of Ashā€™s PokĆ©mon that were left behind in hopes of finding their trainer. Really reminds me of that time PokĆ©mon got separated from their trainers during S.S. Anne arc in the original series, only difference is that the perspectives of the trainers and PokĆ©mon were happening at the same time. But you gotta love a pure whacky PokĆ©mon adventure! Pretty much like a Pikachu short you see before movies.
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JULY - Let the League begin!
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The moment everyone has been waiting for...the Alola League has officially begun! With everyone prepared to unleash their Z-Power, itā€™s time for the qualifying round to start. Unlike previous Leagues, this starts off with a free-for-all Battle Royal with a total of 151 competitors but only 16 will advance to the next round. Most of the trainers in this League are recognizable characters if you have watched Sun & Moon in its entirety up to this point. From Mina to Kahili to Acerola to the entire Team Skull gang to Hiroki and even Pikala, every Alola character is here! While all the Island Kahunas serves as the officials for the event. It was fun way to kick-off a 4-month long League arc and they couldnā€™t have it done any other way. The top 16 has been decided and it gave us good match-ups to follow in the next couple of episodes such as, Mallow vs. Lana, a childhood friend clash which also tests Mallowā€™s courage in battling. Our favorite Team Rocket duo in disguise facing off against one another (canā€™t remember when was the last time we saw that). A sibling battle and a trial on how far Lillie has gone as a PokĆ©mon trainer facing off against her strong big brother, Gladion. And of course, the friendly birby rematch between Ash and Hau. The line-up of matches is stacked! I could not remember how hyped I was for this long-awaited League arc. Some battles mightā€™ve been short and quick, but every participant mattered! How can you not love the Sun & Moon series?
AUGUST - The Alola Final Four
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And then, there were four. In the semi-finals bracket, we first have Gladion facing off against Kiawe who defeated Acerola and bested a friend in Sophocles. Heā€™s pretty much the dark horse in this, but heā€™s been working hard all series with his battling to get to this point. As Lillie and Mimo (Hoshi) cheer on their big brothers, it was Gladion who got the upper hand and the two exchange in a very meaningful handshake of sportsmanship. Meanwhile on the other side of the semi-finals, Guzma, who blasted through Ilima and Lana, getting his rematch with Ash seeking for retribution after his soft defeat the last time they faced off. It was a clash of personalities as the Team Skull boss vows to get to Kukui by destroying someone who resembles him in Ash and get a big W for his fellow Team Skull outcasts. This battle was more than just advancing through the semi-finals but also the integrity of what the League will become if Guzma is successful in his ploy. Guzma was very aggressive during this match to the point of even scolding his Golisopod. But when you mad, you donā€™t focus well and that became Guzmaā€™s downfall eventually resulting in his defeat against Ash who battled with his heart. Guzma had to learn the hard way, maybe softened his mindset a bit, but even after losing Plumeria and the rest of the grunts still want to be by his side improving their own skills in battle to be like their fearless leader. You never see a heartwarming ending for aĀ ā€œvillainousā€ team in PokĆ©mon before, but I think Team Skull had their own happy ending.
SEPTEMBER - TheĀ ā€œCurseā€ is finally broken
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Ash vs. Gladion. Here we go, the League finals to determine the inaugural champion of Alola. I mean I already made solo-postĀ last September about how BIG this episode/moment was for our capped hero. Their rivalry has been amazing from the get-go. From their first meeting at the beach by Kukuiā€™s place with a feisty Rockruff that wanted to battle, to the Manalo Stadium battling for a prestigious championship title with Ashā€™s Lycanroc fully controlled over its rage with dirt. It wasnā€™t a full battle, but 3-on-3 showdown served us one heck of battle! It may not be considered the best by many, but it was still an amazing and fun bout between two trainers who promised each other to meet in the finals of the big stage. The laugh they shared, the flashbacks that was shown to us (with the awesome Type: Wild! music playing in the background), and the storytelling of who wants it more makes you get to the edge of your seat, cheering for Ash to finally win a major PokĆ©mon League. Ashā€™s newly evolved Melmetal showcased itā€™s new strength but still wasnā€™t able to beat Gladionā€™sĀ  Silvally. Then, when Zoroark and Pikachu knocked each other out, it was the 1v1 Lycanroc battle that really put this friendly and competitive rivalry full circle.
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Ash has NEVER defeated Gladion...until this moment. Heā€™s been training for this, and it finally paid off. The two Lycanrocā€™s took no prisoners and went back and forth with one another. In the final blow of that match, Gladionā€™s Lycanroc used Counter against Ashā€™s Lycanroc that was charging towards it, but then our big brained hero fights back with their own Counter attack. Never have I heard of Countering a Counter in the PokĆ©mon universe, but using it in this one moment nobody expects, it was the HYPEST way to swerve fans from almost losing the match but ultimately gave an epic counterattack that would knock out Gladionā€™s Lycanroc. And for the first time since the Orange League, Ash is a Champion. Only this time it is a way bigger deal! Mostly because this is a game-based series which has more meaning when it comes to the PokĆ©mon League.
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Old fans, new fans, and casual viewers a like were buzzing within 24 hours after this episode released in Japan that caught mainstream media attention. People who have never seen a PokĆ©mon anime episode in their life (or a subbed episode for that matter) past the original series, wanted to see how this episode went down to see a childhood hero achieve a major trophy. This is how big of a pop-culture icon Ash & Pikachu was among many generations of fans since the showā€™s launch internationally. This was truly THE PokĆ©Ani moment of 2019. Again, big congratulations to our Alola Champion, Ash Ketchum/Satoshi! Too bad Guzzlord had to ruin the closing ceremony afterparty...Ā 
OCTOBER - A fiery full final battle
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So after becoming Alola Champion, sending three Guzzlords back to where they came from, reuniting with Poipole who evolved into a Naganadel, and The Masked Royalā€™s identity publicly revealed as Professor Kukui ALL IN THE SAME NIGHT! We finally get our exhibition match between Ash and The Masked Royal, who would like to go under his real identity. This is the final battle, and the promised reward the first Alola Champion gets. This is honestly also reward to the fans giving us one final hoorah for the Alola region with a full 6-on-6 PokĆ©mon battle! I believe this is the only full battle we got to see in Alola and it was definitely worth the anticipation and surprise. Kukui had a lot of secret PokĆ©mon up his sleeve that the viewers donā€™t know about (unless you get spoiled by freakinā€™ Oha Suta), and it is also the first and only official battle that Naganadel will be part of under Ashā€™s team. So the excitement levels of this fun 5-PART episode battle were off the roof! Kukui had amazing PokĆ©mon that he kept a secret, but what I do want to focus in this spotlight is the showdown between Incineroar and Torracat. Just like with the Lycanroc duel, these two have similar stories with Torracat never being able to beat The Masked Royal/Kukuiā€™s Incineroar. Ever since it was still a Litten, the desire to battle strong opponents still burns inside. As the two fiery cats clash in this epic battle, both sides have the same intensity when receiving and taking attacks.
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As the battle worn out, both Kukui and Ash activated their Z-Rings together to useĀ Inferno Overdrive against each other. After a gigantic explosion from the Z-move collision it was Torracat who was the last PokĆ©mon standing finally beating its personal battle rival. After a victory screech, I was surprised as everyone seeing it fully evolve into Incineroar. Unfortunately, that evolution took a toll on the newly evolved PokĆ©mon and is unable to continue further. Rest well big kitty, you beat who you wanted to beat and deserve a good rest.
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As if that wasnā€™t epic enough, in the final phase of this full battle, Tapu Koko steps in and serves as Kukuiā€™s last PokĆ©mon and even granting both parties to be able to use Z-moves once again. Fast forward, Ash and Pikachu finally defeated their first opponent when they first set foot in the Alola region with the Z-Ring Tapo Koko gave them in the first place. It clearly now knows that Ash was a worthy holder of using Z-Power and a Champion that everyone can lookĀ  up to. What a battle. What a series. Thank you Alola. Thank you Sun & Moon.
NOVEMBER - Pikachu Origins
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Enter the next chapter. The new era of the PokĆ©mon anime finally launched this in a very different way. The first episode basically serves as the prequel to the PokĆ©mon anime series before Ash had set out on his quest to become a PokĆ©mon Master. Long story short, we can Pikachuā€™s background story on how he came to be the loving mascot recognized everywhere on paper. I mean who wouldā€™ve thunk it? I just love the fact that weā€™re getting an origin story of how Ashā€™s Pikachu when it was still a wild Pichu. Although it wasnā€™t explained how Professor Oak ended up catching the little guy, Pikachu always had a good heart (you know despite rejecting Ash at first lol). The most adorable thing about this episode was the family bond Pichu temporarily shared with this little Kangaskhan family. The little guy was an outcast not really sure where to go or what to do except survive and find food. When that Kangaskhan picked him up as if it was one of its babies, and gained a new caring sibling in the process. It was a wholesome story of calling someone family even though there is no blood relation. Pichu was literally not their kind, but they still loved him as it was them!
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Meanwhile, we get a little preview of our new characters from seeing their childhood and setting up the premise for them to cross paths with Ash in the future. The newest protagonist, Go, was a little know-it-all about PokĆ©mon, and he sure bragged a lot of his knowledge on it during one of Professor Oakā€™s camp (in which Ash failed to wake up for). Along with his worrisome friend, Koharu, they spotted a Mew while going off course in Oakā€™s tour around their campsite. It would also be the saving grace of the lost baby Kangaskhan who accidentally fell off a cliff after attempting to play with the Mew. After seeing Mewā€™s psychic abilities, it was clear for Go that he needed to catch Mew one day. This is the initial goal that Go wanted to set out for when heā€™s old enough.
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After the incident with his Kangaskhan sibling, Pichu had to re-think if he wants to continue being a part of a pack that he doesnā€™t even properly belong it in the first place. When the herd of Kangaskhan took shelter in cave during heavy rain, Pichu had to make a tough decision and leave his foster family behind while they were asleep because he knew that the mother Kangaskhan would not let go of someone who it sees as a child of her own. Pichu knew that was the only way, but despite his sad decision he was grateful for the happiness they provided for a lone wolf PokĆ©mon that wandered in the wild looking belong somewhere. It was that same happiness that gave Pichu the strength to evolve to the Pikachu we all know today, and found a forever home with a certain tardy boy a couple of years later that they both formed an inseparable friendship.
DECEMBER - The Great Gigantamax in Galar
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Of course, you canā€™t have a new series without showing off a new region?! As ourĀ ā€œresearch fellowsā€ Ash & Go continue their exploration in the Galar region learning more about the DynamaxĀ phenomenon that causes PokĆ©mon to grow bigger in size, they are about to be in for one gigantic dilemma. They had some trouble when they met a bunch of trickster PokĆ©mon in those Nickit and a dirty Scorbunny trying to steal their food, but that wasnā€™t the last they saw of that Scorbunny. When they took the train to explore the Wild Area, Scorbunny secretly tagged along in hopes to be partners with Go after feeling a connection with the trainer during their first encounter. After MANY attempts of trying get Goā€™s attention, he finally notices Scorbunny after it kicks a rock to knock down fruit on top of a Snorlax they were observing (that hits Ashā€™s head first oof). Scorbunny attempts to get caught by Go, but he declined due to his vow for Mew to be his first catch. After the sad rejection, red lights then start to surround the Snorlax that ended up Dynamaxing it to Gigantamax Snorlax! This caused a big road blockage that affects a train line in that area. Ash, Pikachu, Go and Scorbunny decide to team up and move the Snorlax before the next train comes by to avoid a disaster from happening. Ash and Pikachu were ableĀ  to cut down a big fruit from the Gigantamax Snorlaxā€™s body and pass it on to Go and Scorbunny to make sure he jumps (just like earlier from Scorbunnyā€™s accidental fruit pick) for that fruit in time for the train to pass by without anyone getting hurt. It was a tough task getting all the way up to the belly of beast, but thanks the Double Kick boost Scorbunny gave that big fruit, Snorlax not only moved in time for the next train to stop by, but return back to normal (big) size.
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Unfortunately, Scorbunny was also swallowed in that big gulp, but it was a good thing that Snorlax didnā€™t munch it all the way. After the teamwork Go felt with Scorbunny during all that, he decides to modify his dream a bit and wants Scorbunny to now be his first PokĆ©mon catch. Both are happy to be with one another, and we all know this was going to be the start of wonderful friendship. With this addition to the group, the main cast for the new anime series is now fully-set. Let the true adventures around the PokĆ©mon world begin!
Some honorable mentionsā€¦
2019 for PokĆ©AniĀ marked an end of an era, but a start of a new one too! No doubt one of the most impactful years the show has had in the world since the XY&Z arc. Besides the historic Alola League, we also saw the continuation of Brock & Mistyā€™s trip to Alola (not to mention Brock & Oliviaā€™s adorkable interactions together), the classā€™ crash-course golf lessons with none other than Kahili! Ash catching a rare Meltan that appeared out of nowhere, The Sparkling Trio of Mallow, Lana & Lillie uniting as Alola DrinKyun (ā€™Refreshing Trio: Alola Idolsā€™ in the English dub), Ash challenging Ryukiā€™s Kantonian Gym, the high-speed Vikavolt race, Mallowā€™s vision in opening her PokĆ©mon cafĆ©, Matoriā€™s unexpected visit to the Team Rocket base in Alola, and letā€™s not for get about the Ultra Guardians finishing up their final missions in capturing the remaining UBs: Pheromosa and Kartana. And honestly, after seeing all of Sun & Moon, can everyone just agree that Kukui is the BEST PokĆ©mon professor?!
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Of course, how can I not mention the final episode of Sun & Moon? In what was probably one of the most emotional farewell episodes in the animeā€™s history. If you donā€™t have bias from the original goodbye with Brock & Misty in Johto, this would probably be the best one. It was executed perfectly with Ashā€™s class figuring out what to do in the future with Ash himself not sure what to do moving forward. Naganadel had to return back to its homeworld, the Rockets had to say leave their Alola PokĆ©mon with Bewear as she sends them off one final time, Nebby returns to see Ash one final time, and Lillie decides to search for her father away from Alola after brining Magearna to life. With everyone deciding what to do, Ash heads back home to explore the world (which transitions to the new series) leaving all his Alola PokĆ©mon behind in Kukuiā€™s lab, while Rotom Dex decides to work for the Aether Foundation. The boat scene with Lillie was a good touch on how her character evolved thanks to Ashā€™s help, and the departing airport scene with Kukui, Burnet, and Ash group hugging was touching. Even Ash teared up as he gets in the air leaving Alola as his friends and PokĆ©mon he left behind wave goodbye. If that wasnā€™t a good send off for the Sun & Moon series, Mallowā€™s Shaymin finally achieved its Sky Forme (which have her motherā€™s eyes...could be a touching symbolism that she was always watching her ;_;) from a Gracidea flower before taking off, AND ON TOP OF THAT, the final shot of the series no less, we find out that Professor Burnet is pregnant. Never in the history of this anime has ever done that to a major character in the supporting cast. The Sun & Moon series continues to break ground as one of the best PokĆ©mon series.
Other than that, we got the new series (which I still wish we had a proper sub-title for -_-) giving us a taste of what to expect in the new Generation VIII era. Our newly appointed research fellows, Ash & Go are at Professor Sakuragiā€™s Institute helping with his research along with Mimey and Koharu helping out with the household chores. Lugia brought these two together, and are now living under the same roof. And, can we talk about Mimey?! Iā€™m so glad a classic character from this anime is being used as a permanent supporting character for this series. Not to mention that he battled alongside Ash in the Hoenn tournament and won! Itā€™s also refreshing to see updated animation within Kanto where theyā€™re home base is at, and I absolutely cannot wait for them to go back to other regions with this fresh new art style. With Goā€™s goal to catch every PokĆ©mon there is for him to index, heā€™s bound to meet Mew again one day! Heā€™s literally every PokĆ©mon gamesā€™ protagonist and Iā€™m glad we have a main character like him who actually focuses on catching them all. As for Ash, heā€™s still our Ash carving his own unique path on his continuing journey to become a PokĆ©mon Master because itā€™s more than being the strongest trainer and more than just catching PokĆ©mon. Iā€™m going to take his word for it! I donā€™t know if you noticed, but Go kinda looks up to him a bit due to his experiences in battle. Just look how shy he was just wanting to be his friend. You just gotta love it when they make Ash this mentor-type friend especially now coming off a huge victory in the Alola League becoming a champion.
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Overall, the Sun & Moon anime gave us a variety of different set of stories every week leading up to the anticipated Alola League. Everyone had a story to tell building up to the Alola League, and just look at the list of episodes weā€™ve had this year that went back and forth with characters that get a main focus other than Ash (or even Lillie). Most of these episodes Iā€™m talking about are either development for a PokĆ©mon in their team evolving, or a perfecting a Z-move with their respective Z-Crystals. This shows much the writers care about each main character gets enough screen-time before theyā€™re ready to take on the League with Ash. If you are still thinking on whether or not to continue/finish watching the series if you havenā€™t yet, I would still recommend toĀ please watch until the end!Ā Itā€™s a really fun ride to sit through it all in my humble opinion, unless you want to just bolt straight into the League episodes only caring about Ashā€™s story. You do you. As for the new series, it will definitely pick up the pace sooner or later with the initial episodes are setting up to lead into something bigger. If you arenā€™t hooked in yet, definitely be patient because Iā€™m expecting a lot of good opportunities for them to pull off in this cross-region based format. Sure it isnā€™t based 100% on the latest games in the franchise Sword & Shield, but thatā€™s what separates the anime and the games. The anime is doing its own thing with an original story, but Iā€™m pretty sure they will mix-in some of the interesting storylines and feature important characters from Sword & Shield every time they revisit Galar because itā€™s the new region on the block. They should feature/market a lot of episodes from all the new content Galar has. So I would definitely still keep my eyes on the Pocket Monsters series šŸ‘€
And there you have it! This post as long as it already is, so Iā€™ll stop here. If youā€™ve read everything I had to say (maybe a few typos here and there lol), then thank you for your time! Feel free share your own favorite PokĆ©Ani moment 2019 with a reblog or a reply if you choose to do so. Thanks so much for an amazing year, and itā€™s time for us to GOĀ toĀ 2020. More moments await for us, and maybe even some surprises we might see since Ash is returning to previous regions he already visited in the past. See everyone in 2020 for the first full year of the new ā€˜Pocket Monstersā€™ series. Letā€™s go (with Go heh) and have some fun! Yes, I think used the wordĀ ā€˜goā€™ here too many freakinā€™ times lol
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Happy New Year to all my followers, and the rest of the PokƩmon fandom!
If you havenā€™t seen these yet, and you are new to my blog, check out all the previous year-end PokĆ©Ani Rewinds I did in the past: 2016 | 2017 | 2018
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artgurusauce Ā· 5 years ago
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Oh hey whatā€™s this an AU without Haudion in it? What sorceryĀ is this, Saucy?
Yes yes, another AU spreadsheet. Twist this time: The prompt ainā€™t for shipping. Iā€™ve been playing with this specific idea in my head for a while now and after rewatching an old playthrough of God of War 4, I got a tad inspired.
Without further ado, let us begin.
Context: As you can probably already tell, the prompt here wasĀ ā€œWhat if Gladion was much younger when he joined Team Skull?ā€ The question of how young Iā€™m afraid I canā€™t put into precise numbers buuut, about the age he was in the anime when Lillie was attacked by that Nihilego. Iā€™m assuming he was around 7 at that time but thatā€™s just an estimate. Anyways, he runs away from home after stealing a Pokeball containing a Type:Null from his mother. Unfortunately, he grabbed a rather aggressive Type:Null that is poorly trained. It doesnā€™t kill him, but it often lashed out at Gladion and attacks him, scratching and headbutting him. One day, in the pouring rain, Guzma finds this crying boy sniveling and covered in all manner of bruises and cuts. Taking pity upon him, he decides to take him in.
1.) New Clothes
Since Gladionā€™s old clothes while expensive and cozy were absolutely ruined, they had to be replaced. Not only were they soaked, but they were terribly scratched up and beyond repair thanks to Null. Luckily, one of the grunts happens to be an expert in sewing clothes and makes up just the cutest little getup for him. However, she makes the sleeves just a tad too long. Guzma also gives Gladion an old pair of sneakers he used to wear when he was about his age.
2.) Roughhousing
Gladion, even as an older more mature boy is quite the emotional one. Often times heā€™ll lash out quite easily and itā€™s not hard to get under his skin. Imagine if you were to upset an even younger Gladion with far less experience, poise and whoā€™s freshly emotionally damaged by his motherā€™s neglectful behavior, not to mention his frustration with trying to train Type:Null. So itā€™s not hard to imagine that Gladion still wouldnā€™t get along with the grunts. In fact, they pick on him even more since heā€™s so tiny and pathetic and gets far more attention from Guzma seeing as heā€™s the youngest one and needs more care. Usually it would lead to a grunt stepping out of line, saying something like,Ā ā€œWhy donā€™t you go back home cryinā€™ to your daddy?ā€ orĀ ā€œIā€™ll bet your ugly little pet would make a better jacket than a Pokemon.ā€ This would obviously lead little Glad to attempt to beat up the older kids, biting and scratching and kicking them. And of course, Guzma would have to break it up and drag Gladion off to give him a stern talking-to, man to boy. Just what on Earth was Guzma going to do about all this pent up aggression he had?
3.) The Little Moments
Of course eventually after a while it should come as no surprise: The little brat is startinā€™ to grow on big olā€™ bad Guzma. Even for the spoiled rotten, picky, ungrateful rugmuncher he can be sometimes, heā€™s not quite that bad of a kid. After all, Guzma actually somewhat admires his spunk. Itā€™s not hard for him to see himself in this kid. He knew how scary it was being away from home at such a young age, and especially with such a goliath under his belt with no experience what-so-ever. This illustration is one of a few wholesome little instances you could probably imagine. Poor little Glad got tired from training and fell asleep while listening to one of Guzmaā€™s post-battle lectures. Itā€™s almost kind of cute.
4.) Motherly Advice
Oh but of course, Guzma isnā€™t the boyā€™s only parental figure. Plumeria, more docile and passive aggressive in nature is sure to give little Glad any advice he needs. While it is important he learns to toughen up, heā€™s not a brick wall. Sheā€™s there to talk to him whenever he needs it. While at first heā€™s not privy to talking to her as putting up with Guzma is enough of a challenge in and of itself, eventually, he warms up to her offers to listen when the gruntsā€™ verbal jabs begin to wear down his self-confidence. She also is prone to helping Gladion understand Guzmaā€™s rules and why heā€™s so hard on the poor little fella. They werenā€™t so different, even if it didnā€™t seem that way.Ā ā€œMight be tough for you to believe it, but everybody here has had it rough, even me.ā€ Gladion definitely takes all her advice to heart, frankly just appreciating that someone would just talk to him like...a mother would.
5.) Tough Love
And now we get right back to Gladionā€™s biggest conundrum: Type:Null. I headcanon pretty much in any AU that there are 3 Type:Nulls in existence: A docile one, an aggressive one, and a pack leader. Gladion this time around ends up taking the aggressive one, not knowing the difference between the Beast Killers. While under Guzmaā€™s wing, Type:Null and Gladion both endure intense and rough training that while unconventional is actually quite necessary. Guzma knows how to handle a bulky mass of rage after all. So first thingā€™s first, he uses his Golisopod to battle Type:Null in order to help it get out all that pent up aggression and channel it in a productive manner. The more it associated itā€™s power and ability with Pokemon battle rather than throwing temper tantrums, the better. Golisopod is more than happy to help, which creates a tense rivalry between the two. Often times they will even spar without either of their Trainerā€™s request. In a similar fashion that Guzma is a mentor to Gladion, Golisopod becomes somewhat of a mentor to Type:Null. Then of course, thereā€™s the trust-building lessons to help Gladion and Type:Null establish a Trainer-Pokemon relationship rather than a Master-Prisoner mentality. It doesnā€™t quite understand that Gladion is itā€™s ally, it only knows that it is free from the tazing devices and cold, claustrophobic cages that prevented it from ripping anyone that crossed it to shreds. It had to understand that the boy was itā€™s friend, not itā€™s foe. Leading that, Gladion himself would learn how to battle using his Pokemon. A process that requires surprisingly a lot more paper than hands-on studying. After all, he has to memorize all the moves and rules if heā€™s to become a proper Trainer for that powerhouse.
6.) Am I Supposed To Apologize?
After a long, long, looonnnggg time of building trust and coming to see Guzma like a second father, Gladion finally spills the beans about his motherā€™s cruelty and his fatherā€™s tragic death. Surprisingly, rather than Plumeria, it is Guzma he confides in. He breaks down, confessing every little horrific detail. How his father died in a horrible research accident. How his mother shut them out emotionally after the funeral. How she forced him and his sister to dress perfectly proper in almost all white. How she ridiculed and belittled and shamed them just to make them complicit. How she locked him and Lillie in their rooms for hours on end for simply wearing the wrong shoes. How she took away their Pokemon, saying they werenā€™t worthy enough children to be Trainers. How she began to pretend as if Gladion didnā€™t even exist anymore and gave all the attention to his sister just to spite him. All they were to her were ugly, useless children. She didnā€™t love them anymore, and they didnā€™t understand. He didnā€™t understand. He didnā€™t know what to do. All he wanted to do was run away. But he also wanted to piss her off, give her something to really be upset about. At least then she would give him attention. At least then she would acknowledge him, wouldnā€™t she? She had to! But she hadnā€™t even bothered to look for him, she didnā€™t care about him. She never would. Why did she act like this? Did he do something wrong? Was he supposed to apologize? Why did she hate him so much? Guzma is obviously taken aback by all this and takes pity on the poor boy again, letting him cry out all of his frustrations and woes. Nothing is more painful for Guzma than hearing the things some of these kids he takes in have gone through, but coming from the mouth of someone so young, it also boils his blood. Lusamine will surely regret what she has wrought upon this boy...
7.) Po Town Raid
So I came up with an interesting plot idea, perhaps a sort of climax to this story. Team Skull is still very much a group of criminals. They steal, vandalize, and sometimes even shake down young Trial-Goers who were unfortunate enough to run into one of Guzmaā€™s lackeys. Up to now, nobody really knew where they were hiding out. However, the police somehow found a lead, and raid the entirety of Po Town to arrest and detain everyone. Guzma knows thereā€™s not enough time to save everyone, and decides to make a split second decision as the police come dangerously close to knocking down the door to the mansion. He calls out his Golisopod, ordering Gladion to hide under him and not to come out no matter what he hears. Of course, Gladion is terrified and objects to this, but Guzma manages to convince him that he can handle himself. Begrudgingly, Gladion hides in Golisopodā€™s grip as it curls up into a ball, shuffling itself under some floor boards beneath a rug on the floor. With bated breath and tears trickling down his face, Gladion is forced to listen quietly as his father figure is arrested and escorted out of the building, insisting thereā€™s no one else left to detain. Golisopod is just as saddened as the boy, hesitant to sit back while itā€™s Trainer is being hauled off, but obedient enough to keep the boy safe as ordered. After a few hours of complete silence, Gladion and Golisopod finally emerge from their hiding spot, wrought with grief and panic to find Po Town was completely empty and devoid of any other humans or even Pokemon. Everyone was gone.
Sooo another plot twist, I may consider actually writing a fic for this one but obviously not right now. Or I could just keep posting about it here, lol. Honestly I really like this one so Iā€™m definitely gonna continue it regardless. But lemme know what yā€™all think.Ā 
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a-chrome-disguise Ā· 5 years ago
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šŸ„Š- Favorite battle?
Ooooh, this is a toughie. Out of all the games Iā€™ve played, the team leader battles are probably my favourite.
Archie and Giovanni I havenā€™t played their original games or remakes (I started FireRed ages ago and got distracted), so my only encounters with their battles were in RR, and there were other bosses I was more excited for, so I wasnā€™t particularly wowed.
Cyrus and Ghetsis I was HYPED for. Ignore me if Iā€™ve already mentioned this before (I probably have), but I got into the Pokemon series pretty late. I loved the Kanto anime as a child, collected a load of the cards, but for some reason... never played the games. I tried getting back into the games when XY came out and wasnā€™t massively entertained, and then SuMo (and Guzma) was what really did it. And then that gradually spread until I became a fan of damn near all the villains, so USUM adding Episode RR was fantastic. My first in game look at the villains I was starting to obsess over!
And he absolutely stomped me lmao.
I mean I returned the favour the second time round but damn man.
Iā€™m currently in my first playthrough of Platinum, just a little beyond Cyrusā€™ first battle and fuck yeah. That was amazing. Cyrusā€™ USUM theme? Great, temporarily preferred it over the original for a while. But the original? Superb. And hearing it in game, while actually battling him instead of on YouTube? Amazing. I canā€™t wait to kick his ass again.
I was itching to meet Guzma for the entire time I played SuMo, but I didnā€™t have that sense of YESSSSSSSS HERE WE GO in anticipation like I did with Cyrus and Ghetsis, but I suppose that could be because with the other two, I already knew their battles were coming.
And as much as I love Rose as a character, I canā€™t really put him up there as one of my favourite battles. The theme is wonderful, I fucking love it. But the battle itself is an absolute joke. At some time I might attempt SWSH without a fire type just to give him some teeth, but eehhh...
Also shout out to RR Lysandre for being awesome. I liked Lysandre from XY, but wasnā€™t like super into him or anything when I played USUM, so his absolutely kickinā€™ rad theme really took me by surprise. Probably my favourite RR battle for the music alone.
...Boy, that was a lot of words to say ā€œCyrus and Ghetsisā€, wasnā€™t it?
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poliwhirl42 Ā· 5 years ago
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Arigatou, Alola!
Iā€™ve mentioned before that I came into Pokemon pretty late- I didnā€™t watch the show until I was 14, and over the past 10 years Iā€™ve been slowly ā€œcatching upā€ by playing the games and watching the anime on my own time, all out of order.
Moon changed things- it was the first pokemon game Iā€™ve played in the same time frame of its release, and I enjoyed reacting to it and sharing my experiences alongside my friends and the fandom. Similarly, the Sun and Moon anime was the first generation of Pokeani Iā€™ve seen about 90% of as it aired, so itā€™s definitely a generation I took to and connected to right from the start! But this is just one of many reasons why it really is so special to me.
I remember being so apprehensive about the jarring art style change when I first started watching, but ultimately I decided to stick it out, and Iā€™m so glad I did. I now understand and accept why this art style fit so well with this type of series. Though some of the facial expressions were a little extreme, I thoroughly enjoyed the humor to the point of laughing out loud at almost every episode. Iā€™m someone who likes a good mix of action AND slice of life, and SuMo was the perfect mix.
Obviously, not everything was perfect about SuMo:
Lillie and Gladionā€™s development were fantastic, but I thought the other companions couldā€™ve been fleshed out a little better.
Ash and Gladionā€™s rivalry was pretty average compared to previous rivalries, but I understand that this series didnā€™t revolve around Ashā€™s rivals.
Hau was introduced way too late and his presence was pretty pointless, but it was still good to see him animated (since a lot of times we never even GET to see the male rival animated at all).
Really wouldā€™ve loved more Guzma and Skull episodes, and Guzma was also introduced way too late.
Rowlet unfortunately got cursed with being Ashā€™s ā€œcomic reliefā€ pokemon, and it really wouldā€™ve been nice to see him fully evolved, but eh I can take it or leave it.
This is not exclusive to SuMo, but the lack of continuity with non-Kanto characters is pretty upsetting.
But here are several things I absolutely loved about it:
I LOVED Ash in this series! The fluid art style did him a huge justice in making him so much more expressive than he has in previous generations, IMO. My heart swelled at seeing him so emotional over pivotal moments- saying goodbye to Poipole, rejoicing over the news of Kukui and Burnetā€™s wedding announcement, etc. He accepted defeat with grace and kindness, but was often prone to impatience, anger, and bad habits at times, too. XYā€™s portrayal of Ash was by far my least favorite, so this was so refreshing to see!
Lycanroc and Torracatā€™s character arcs were both awesome.
Such a roller-coaster twist of emotions! The writers really tricked people into thinking this series would be all goofs and gags but Iā€™m pretty sure I bawled like a baby every few episodes. Between Stoutland, Mallowā€™s mother, Lillie and the Mohn arc, the Minior episode, and more...the writers did a great job in playing up the more emotional moments, which was a nice contrast to all the humor and slice of life.
Aside from OS, this portrayal of the TRio was by far my favorite! I was so glad the writers broke the stale ā€œletā€™s-steal-the-CotDā€™s-pokemonā€ formula from the previous seasons and offered smaller dosages with twice the amount of humor. Bewear, Mimikyu and Mareanie were also so great.
Miyazakiā€™s final hurrah was satisfying to the ear as he arranged many of the main battle SuMo themes; I think we couldā€™ve done without so much BW and XY but I was glad to recognize lots of SuMo music throughout.
Iā€™ll probably wind up adding more to this post, but overall, I loved the consistent theme of family in this series, and the familial bonds all characters shared between the students themselves, their pokemon, the recurring adults, and all the people of Alola. I mustā€™ve sobbed like 3 times watching todayā€™s episode, and Iā€™m very sad to see it end. Iā€™ll miss you so much, Sun and Moon, and thank you for an enjoyable experience.
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universal-kitty Ā· 5 years ago
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Ā  Ā Ohhh, I lost a follower. Good note to start this off at. So! Anyways!!
Ā  Ā Iā€™ve vented a LOT about this in private...and I feel like maybe the reason why this keeps bothering me is because I never air it out where itā€™s been needed. I have never said my piece because, while I have a stance, Iā€™ve been more afraid (in the past) of blacklash and how people would think of me. Which is dumb, I realize now, because people I donā€™t even KNOW have a way of thinking of me that isnā€™t good. So whatā€™s the point in trying to care about stuff like that?
Ā  Ā This is a long-winded way of saying that- although belated- I want to give my thoughts on the Age Discourse. (With potential ties to the Villain Discourse, but thatā€™s only gonna make sense later into the post.)
Ā  Ā Obviously, feel free not to read! I know that this community is done of the Discourse and I would like to be, too.....but Iā€™ve also vented about this multiple times in my own server and I feel like if I need to vent about it again, maybe itā€™s time I do it in the place thatā€™s been causing the stress in the first place.
Ā  Ā With all that said, letā€™s get into it.
Ā  Ā By Law of Canon, I have young F/Os. Most of which stopped at 17, due to series ending or no promised continuation ever coming to light. (Since some series, like DanganRonpa, had their main focus be high schoolers, but then Dangan Ronpa: Hope (the anime) came out, and everyoneā€™s now canonly in their twenties to wrap up the series and move on to other things, same formula. Also: Naruto and Death Note.) This makes sense on the media side of it, since sometimes, you really donā€™t want to drag your shoes through all the nitty-gritty details. Who wants to hear about the whacky MC high schooler finding a day to day job? Afterstories? Psssshh.
Ā  Ā ....But then, thereā€™s me. This little autistic kid who puts all their stakes into these fictional worlds and people. Who REALLY gets into it! This character likes me, these characters are my BFFs, and the rest.... Well, Iā€™m just gonna take this world and make my own little story in it! Cause itā€™s fun!!! And in the eyes of fandom- at that time- I was totally weird, but made it okay. I got the right friends to support my self-inserting. Hell, itā€™s probably kinda cute for a kid to be so excited about this stuff.
Ā  Ā Now Iā€™m in my twenties. I made it far enough to find the community...and learned that most people agree that if your F/O is age locked, you should leave them behind. And I suppose that makes sense...if you can do that. If you can let go of those feelings and move along, happy at past memories.
Ā  Ā ......I canā€™t, though. Kuramaā€™s always been my best example for this, cause heā€™s been the BEST showing of how my worlds have evolved past canon. His canon stopped him at 17. (Yoko is far older, but. Still, his physical body is young.)
Ā  Ā Iā€™ve had Kurama as an F/O for....about 12-13 years, maybe? Which might seem pretty young, but Iā€™ve had.......childhood issues, to put it one way. A friend got me into the show in.....around middle school or so. I liked Kurama ever since.
Ā  Ā In all these years Iā€™ve had him, heā€™s strayed from canonā€™s end point. In my world, we age-match, if not him being a year or two older. Two kids and a house all our own; basically a large cottage with PLENTY of flowers and a lovely garden. Thereā€™s also a special greenhouse for his demon plants to take residence in.
Ā  Ā I am not aĀ ā€œpedo in love with a 17 year oldā€......itā€™s a fictional character whoā€™s my age. Cause I said so and canon wouldnā€™t let him EXIST past the ending of the manga.
Ā  Ā And thatā€™s what frustrates me so much. One, that my F/Os who canonly have a younger age, were never shown older. Why is it okay to have Naruto Uzumaki as an F/O- who GOT to age up in the show- but I canā€™t keep Alphonse, because FMA ended when Ed was 18, and not Alphonse? When his canon story ended....why is it suddenly not allowed for ME to finish his story? To keep writing it?
Ā  Ā Secondly, because THIS AGE ISSUE HAS NEVER BEEN AN ISSUE IN FANDOM BEFORE!!!! Of all the fanfics Iā€™ve read over the years, writing characters as older for story purposes has ALWAYS been a thing!! This character is older so he can be the CEO of a company in my AU fic. This character is older so I can show their friendships and relationships, and show how they changed after this important, canon events. I wrote her as older so I can show........whatever.
Ā  Ā I could write a fic where me and Guzma are Pokemon, and nobody would have a problem with it. But no..... If I age up a character, Iā€™m a pedo.
Ā  Ā And I get what itā€™s supposed to be...donā€™t look at a kid, think theyā€™re hot, and then fall back onĀ ā€œage upā€ as a thing. I get that idea, cause if an adult aged up Deku to ship with.......Iā€™d be side-eyeing that. I fully admit to that one. My point isĀ ā€œhow does this account for people who just want to grow up with their F/Os?ā€
Ā  Ā Maybe itā€™s more nuanced than that and I donā€™t get it; it wouldnā€™t be the first time. (I mentioned autism offhand before cause I NEED people to understand that Iā€™m seeking to understand this. I donā€™t get the connection. I really, really donā€™t. Maybe thereā€™s something Iā€™m missing! I wouldnā€™t know!) But as it stands, I just feel frustrated and all too often alienated. Because I know why I do what I do. Itā€™s because of how I was growing up. I went through awful situations and went through emotional abuse at a super young age. I let people walk all over me and thought it was okay, because maybe theyā€™d stay if I was enough. Nice enough, quiet enough....whatever.
Ā  Ā I didnā€™t- and donā€™t- want to let these characters go not only for the life Iā€™ve built for us and all of them......but because people have continuously left my life. Iā€™ve always felt so, so alone and left behind... Fictional characters are the ONE constant that canā€™t be taken from me. And I need that.
Ā  Ā ....Anyways, I did want to tie this back around to the Villain Discourse, so as a sort of weird closure..... I see this as the VD. My example? Purple Guy. For some reason, I like him. Couldnā€™t properly explain it right now (not without going on another rant and this post is long enough as is), but I like him.
Ā  Ā HOWEVER this does NOT mean I condone his actions in any way. I do NOT support child murder. I have siblings- little kids, themselves- and I know, if he was a real person, that they could be at risk. And I would LOATHE someone like that. Theyā€™d make me fucking sick.
Ā  Ā But itā€™s a fictional character. Heā€™s not going to hurt any real-world people. My sisters are safe...and I can goof around with a fictional, literally purple man as I want. Because I know where reality and fiction differs. I KNOW that thereā€™s a difference between condoning actions and just simply thinking a character is neat. And thatā€™s that.
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smilingperformer Ā· 6 years ago
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Small thoughts on SM115 RAW, Guzmaā€™s debut episode
So looking at twitter, the following can be confirmed as the dialogue bits from SM115:
Alola league is open for everyone, and basically Alola Squad is gonna attend or think about attending, Satoshi and Kaki reaaaally trying to motivate everyone to attend so they can all have fun at being rivals. Suiren is fired up! (Iā€™m so rooting for her now, screw Gladio and Hau lol). Mamane seems to be considering the attending because he does have a powerful bug PokĆ©mon in Vikavolt/Kuwagannon now? Mao and Lilie still on a fence about it.
The Leagueā€™s gonna be in an artificial Island built by Aether Foundation I think, and they mentioned Lanakila Mountain as...... something, not sure what or why exactly.
Guzma truly wants to destroy the league, and it really did seem like he said exactly the words ā€˜thereā€™s no need for league when we all know whoā€™s already the strongestā€˜. I need subtitles for that bit thou. Actually I just got the confirm on the dialogue being exactly this. Exactly like in the games. Iā€™m so glad to have understood it.
Satoshi battles Guzma, Pikachu gets badly poisoned, Golisopod/Gosukumusha activates Emergency Exit at Pikachuā€™s final hit before collapsing, and since Emergency Exit activates at 50% health, it pretty much says that Satoshi was no where close to winning the battle? Z-move failed as a finisher move, as in it was performed perfectly, but Gosukumuska endured it very darn well. Guzma is being an arse, then Kukui calls him out on ā€˜running away againā€˜. Which seems to drill into Guzmaā€™s head too well, as the last scene we see is Guzma remembering the words and hitting a.... stairs fence with his fist, quite the power in it as well? And like.... there was nothing happy about the whole battle or end of the ep. It was truly serious. Satoshi was angry. I think Guzma was calling Satoshi out on something but I couldnā€™t make it out well.
Best part of the ep? Rocket Gang vs Skull Gang rap battle, that was the absolute highlight, I love our buffoons so much lol. Also Taiiku Okazakiā€™s rap was so perfect. Ah. I want to see the full lyrics XD
...anywho. Guzmaā€™s already being hinted with a backstory with Kukui, Iā€™m expecting Guzma to reappear in April again, and I want Kukui to explain to Satoshi about what the deal is. Or Guzma himself. But Guzma is definitely set on destroying the league right now. My guess is that at some point before the league, heā€™s gonna get redeemed and attend the league, and have final battle with Satoshi there and end up losing. Then end up going back to Hala? That wasnā€™t hinted at yet but, the way episode really focused on Hala explaining about the League and Guzma watching that bit of the news very instensly makes me believe there is connection between Guzma and Hala in Pokeani as well. Oh boi oh boi.
I might have more to say after subtitles arrive but right now? Really darn good debut episode for Guzma. Not disappointed one bit. Animation was spot on, music was spot on, the atmosphere was spectacular, and Iā€™m itching to know more! Pokeani keeps on delivering! ā™„
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