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amelikos · 3 months ago

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Some character notes and episode notes for HZ061, writing them down for future reference.

The episode starts with the trio heading to Fridge Town. Roy and Hogator are singing and Roy reaffirms his bond with Hogator, stating that he feels like they were destined to be partners. The trio also talks a bit about Roy and Hogator's song, and how it feels like they're growing stronger when they sing. After reaching the town, they come across two people who tell them a bit about the history of the town and the events happening (such as concerts). Roy asks them where the gym is, so the trio heads to the gym only to find out that Rhyme isn't there. As the trio heads to the stage plaza to look for her, they come across Ghost Pokemon (Bochi) who sap their life essence. They go to a restaurant to eat to replenish their strength (Liko is worried about Roy being too tired to take on his test but he assures her he'll be fine after eating). Terapagos gets distracted by Fuwante and gets taken away by two of them, so the trio has to run after them to save him. Nemo happened to be there so she manages to catch Liko's bag before it's too late.

Afterwards, they head to the stage plaza again with Nemo who explains that Rhyme will be performing and that her concerts include battles sometimes so Nemo came for this. As they reach the stage, Roy calls out for the MC and introduces himself, explaining that he is there for his implementation test. The MC suggests they both have a battle so Roy accepts. Rhyme was watching their battle, and Nemo also paid attention to how Roy was battling (and she didn't know Roy sings during battles). The battle ends in Roy's victory. Afterwards, Rhyme shows up and sings for the crowd. Roy was surprised to find out who Rhyme truly was since he met her in HZ052 (and he brings it up to Liko and Dot). Once Rhyme finishes her song, she asks the crowd who feels ready to bring heat to the stage and Roy volunteers.

Second part of the ep is about the battle between Roy and Rhyme. Before they begin, Roy and Rhyme talk a bit and mention past events. Roy says he ended up meeting Konoyozaru (in HZ053). Rhyme says she'll be okay battling him if they have a rap battle first. Roy accepts and they "battle" using words (really felt like Hypnosis Mic tbh ww). Roy was able to come up with lyrics and Rhyme took on his challenge. As they get ready to battle, Rhyme asks Roy what Terastal means to him. Roy says that it's something he needs to get closer to his dream, the black Rayquaza. Rhyme says she'll test his guts.

The battle starts with Hakadog VS Taikaiden. Rhyme seems satisfied that Kaiden evolved into Taikaiden. This confrontation was a bit short and Taikaiden was quickly defeated but gave Roy a hint as to how to handle Hakadog. He does eventually manage to defeat Hakadog with Hogator and feels unbeatable with Hogator. Rhyme feels that Roy really seems confident and asks him another question. She wants to know what singing means to him, why him and Hogator sing and what brings them to sing during battle. Roy says that it helps them get stronger, and help them win. Rhyme sends out Strinder after hearing his answer. Roy was overwhelmed by Rhyme during this battle, as Strinder reduces damage taken from sound moves and could block most of Roy's attacks. Roy and Hogator's song didn't help them either. In a fit of desperation, Roy uses Terastal but it doesn't help him either since Rhyme quickly defeats him after that. Rhyme tells Roy that he can't make use of Hogator's fiery vibes and that he is a failure of a partner. Roy didn't pass his test either. Rhyme tells Roy to come back once he's washed his soul. At the end, Roy joins Liko, Dot and Nemo. He apologizes to Hogator for not making him live up to his potential and ponders on the words Rhyme said to him, that he is a failure of a partner.

Overall, good episode. Good continuity, nice interactions between the characters and set up next ep well. This was the kind of conflict I wanted to see for Roy. This ep made me think back about the Corni and Lucario arc in XY. Corni took her bond with Lucario for granted and thought they were always in sync so she didn't deem it necessary to communicate properly with him, when she should have. I'm bringing this up because Corni has the same VA as Roy and I think there are a few similarities. I think Roy is taking his bond with Hogator for granted on some level (they don't really have the same glaring communication issues that Liko and Nyarote have sometimes for example). He thinks that they are in sync but maybe they need to make sure they are on the same wavelength.

I think Roy's answer to "why do you and Hogator sing" was a bit lacking. He only talked about his own dream and getting stronger/winning when answering Rhyme's questions. He didn't talk about Hogator's dream or about Hogator's pure love for singing. In a way, it feels like singing became a means to an end to getting stronger instead of helping him bond more deeply with Hogator. Singing is what brought them together in HZ004 and they sing together because they love it. I think Rhyme was expecting an answer more along these lines. In the first place, Roy set on a journey intent on fulfilling both his and Hogator's dreams back in HZ006. Roy's dream is to chase after Rayquaza and catch him, while Hogator's dream is to become strong and cool like Lizardon. Roy's grandfather made sure that Roy valued Hogator's dream before giving him his blessing to go on a journey in HZ006 and he pointed out that it was a good thing that Roy talked about his partner's dream and not only his own dream.

Either way, it was nice having Rhyme ask those kinds of questions. Made me think a bit about Chili asking Liko questions back in HZ056. Having characters think about these things is important. I didn't expect Rhyme to be so harsh and strict but I like that she is taking the tough love approach to teach Roy. It works well with a character like him too, since he doesn't easily give up and we know he'll train before facing her again.

I also liked that they showed that there is a reason the rule "using Terastal at the right timing" exists. Roy used Terastal hastily and didn't think too much before doing it. So this rule feels meaningful knowing that they do pay attention to the timing of Terastal use and will point out whether the character properly thought the situation through or not. And that it cost Roy's implementation test to not pay attention to this. He didn't use his Terastal phrase this episode either, so it showed that he was hasty and his heart wasn't fully into it.

Also, I enjoyed the rap battle between Rhyme and Roy. The lyrics were really good and flowed well. I think Fuma no KTR worked on the rap in this episode. He is a Japanese rapper and musician and he also worked on the Rising Volt Tacklers Rap endings.

Overall, I liked it. Previous episode reaffirmed Roy and Hogator's bond and that singing is important to them. This episode showed that sometimes, singing isn't enough and deconstructed it a bit. So I guess next ep will truly answer the question "why do you and Hogator sing", which I'm looking forward to. Part of me is expecting Hogator to evolve next episode because it really feels like they set up an appropriate situation and timing here. Though now I'm starting to doubt it a bit because the preview didn't really tease it, and they hinted at it for Nyahoja and Kuwassu's evolution scenes (the whole glowing light, etc). Though maybe they just want to hide it longer. If Hogator doesn't evolve now, I guess they have another situation in mind which would feel appropriate for it. When Nyahoja evolved, it was during the climax of chapter 2 and Friede, Amethio, Rayquaza were around (among others). So assuming Hogator's evolution doesn't happen next episode, maybe it'd be to save it for such a setting. I guess we'll see.

#hz061 #character notes #episode notes

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amelikos · 3 months ago

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Interview and monthly summaries.

Recent interview with Minori Suzuki (Liko's VA), translation here. (I haven't seen the link for the interview in Japanese so idk where this was published.)

Lots of interesting talk about how much Liko means to Minori Suzuki and how she feels like she is growing alongside her as a voice actress. Minori Suzuki mentions that she is very close to Roy's VA (Yuka Terasaki), and that they've been friends for many years (Liko's VA debuted as a voice actress in the Macross anime, and Roy's VA voiced a character in that show too). Seems like they grew really close with time (kind of gives me a deeper appreciation for Liko and Roy's friendship knowing that their VAs also get along outside of work).

Liko's VA mentions that the current staff has both older and younger people so they learn a lot from each other. She specifically mentions Ohtani Ikue and Megumi Hayashibara (who have been voicing in Pokemon from the beginning). Ohtani Ikue mostly voices Pokemon, like Pikachu, and had a few human characters roles, her major one being Sango (very important). Megumi Hayashibara voiced Musashi and plenty of other Pokemon. She voices Nyarote in Horizons.

Liko's VA talks about how intense the dubbing session for HZ056 was, as she put her everything into it. She mentions that we got to see new sides of Liko in that episode (such as her refusal to give in, etc). Nice insight from her VA on that specific episode.

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Monthly summaries and staff lists for the current month. Contains spoilers for the month of August 2024.

Anyway, just putting this out there before the episodes in question are broadcasted. I am mostly paying attention to who writes what.

HZ061 and HZ062 will both be written by the same person, Michihiro Tsuchiya (see here and here). No summary for HZ062 for now (which is totally when Hogator will evolve, and that's probably why the summary is "hidden" for now). Michihiro Tsuchiya wrote the episode in which Mibrim evolved (HZ053), and he is seemingly the one who will do the same for Hogator. He also wrote Roy's basics test with Colza (HZ048), and he is the one taking care of his implementation test too. Dot also had the same writer for her basics and implementation tests episodes.

I am hoping HZ062 will have the same kind of writing as HZ040 tbh (Nyahoja's backstory episode, which is so far my favorite ep written by Michihiro Tsuchiya), aka capitalizing on everything that happened in the show up until now to make Hogator's evolution feel special. (HZ040 was really good to me because of how it utilized every aspect of Liko and Nyahoja's bond, drew parallels between the characters and their tendancies to hold back, made callbacks to scenes in the first episodes and shed a new light on them and changed our interpretations of them etc.) Anyway, I'll wait and see. This is the first time Michihiro Tsuchiya writes two episodes in a row, I think.

As for HZ063, link is here. Naohiro Fukushima writing Liko's implementation test felt a bit unexpected to me since he usually writes Dot-centric episodes. Also, Liko's basic test wasn't written by him (HZ047 was written by Kureha Matsuzawa).

I'm a bit curious about the summary mentioning that Liko will be told about Grusha's past. Part of me is thinking about how Grusha is specialized in Ice types so that means Liko is facing someone who has the same type as Sango's main partner (and how it might help her get closer to Sango somehow, just like how Roy facing Dragon types when he battled Hassaku made him think about Rayquaza). And how she'll get to learn about Grusha's past and Grusha seems cold on the outside, but has a passionate side within. Which could be similar to Amethio? Anyway, this is just me relating this to the Explorers characters I feel Liko is closest to. I think these kinds of meetings could eventually help her, if the narrative intent is to get her closer to some of the characters in the Explorers and maybe learning about their pasts too. Who knows!

Anyway, I also really like that Liko's tests involve her facing Pokemon her main partner is weak to (Bug and Ice), because it means they are specifically pushing her and challenging her that way. The fact that Grusha is the strongest Gym Leader too. Though I'm mostly curious about the emotional aspect of this confrontation. It's interesting that Liko is facing someone described as cold and harsh (that mention of her and Nyarote melting his icy heart with their fiery bond too).

#hz interview #hz titles and summaries

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