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medea10 · 2 years ago

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My Review of Pokemon Journeys

Um…is that really the title you guys are going with? Not Pokemon: Around the World? Pokemon Sword and Shield? Pokemon 8 Ways from Friday?

Get it? Because there are 8 regions and it airs on…oh forget it!

Whatever, Japan! Whatever!

America: Okay, how about Pokemon Journeys?

Eh…sounds like reusing titles from the Johto arc, but it’s better than Japan’s sad attempt.

At least The Pokemon Company was gracious enough to give us a simple title. Pokemon Journeys! HOW FUCKING HARD WAS THAT?! Pokemon 2019 makes it sound like this is a reboot. It is NOT a reboot, it’s a continuation! There are butt-loads of people from Ash’s past that make surprise appearances and he remembers most of them! Not a reboot!

WARNING: Medea gets a little ‘mouthy’ in certain moments of this review. If you don’t know why, you will eventually. Please note she does not think everyone here is an asshole. She loves each and every one of her readers. But it goes without saying here…Viewer discretion is advised.

RINSE AND REPEAT! Ash leaves the previous region to go back home to Pallet Town and start from zero AGAIN. What does that mean? It means we reset all the stats. Ash will be 10 years old again, Pikachu can be trumped by a level 5 pokemon, and the animation will change again making the viewer forever confused. Yet with all the resets, all of Ash’s previous accomplishments are heavily implied and shown.

WHAT THE WHAT?!: So, as you can tell, this series of Pokemon is going to be extremely different from all the past seasons. For one thing, Ash is not traveling by foot with a boy-toy and a piece of arm candy to the next town like we’ve seen in the past. Nor is he going to take on gym battles. At first it was uncertain of what Ash was going to do aside from traveling the world with Goh. But after an eye-opening experience in Galar, Ash is going to enter the Pokemon World Championship and face off against the world’s greatest trainers. This actually feels like the step in the right direction in becoming a pokemon master. In this journey, Ash is going to go up against a bunch of trainers so he can rise up in the class system these trainers are now under. This is in hopes for Ash to one day face-off against undefeated trainer and Galar champion, Leon.

As for the boy-toy of this arc Goh, his mission in life is to catch Mew. But in order to do that, he’s going to catch as many pokemon this world has to offer. In this way, almost like the mobile app game Pokemon GO! Even though these boys have different goals, they’re going to travel together and maybe learn a little bit from each other. Ash and Goh are under supervision with Professor Cerise (who is the G-rated version of Shou Tucker), along with his daughter Chloe, and his two assistants.

BEFORE TAKING OFF: The first episode took us waaaaaaay back! Professor Oak held summer camps, Ash was six years old, and a baby electric pokemon by the name of Pichu was born. This episode barely showed us Ash because…dude likes to sleep in. And because of that, he missed the pokemon camp. But half the episode consisted of Pichu being taken in by a mama Kangaskhan and the other half revolved around a young Goh at the camp seeing Mew. This of course was the start of Goh’s fascination with the rare phenomenon of Mew.

NEW CHARACTERS INTRODUCED: So, we shorten the cast list a bit from what we had in Sun and Moon. Ash travels the world with his new companion, but finds himself starting off at a professor’s lab in Vermillion. Which seriously begs the question of how long does it take to get from Kanto to all the other regions in the Pokemon world? Better question, how can anybody afford all of these planes, trains, and automobiles…oh right, no one cares! New characters time!

Goh is the young lad with one goal in mind and that is to capture the elusive pokemon, #151, Mew! Ever since he was young and ran into Mew, he’s made it his mission to find and capture Mew! So now, he travels with Ash to capture as many pokemon as he possibly can in the hopes that one day he can find and capture…okay you get the picture! One track mind with this kid! Halfway into the journey, he does meet Ash’s old rival Gary and joins an exploration group called Project Mew.

Chloe has known Goh since she was a child and would go to school with him. She’s easy to point out Goh’s faults, but offers advice from time to time. She’s also aided by her little corgles pokemon, Yamper. While Chloe loves Yamper, she’s not a pokemon trainer yet. In fact, during this series she’s unsure of what she wants to do as she has several options presented to her. Much like the Eevee she catches later on, they both have many possibilities. Will she be a pokemon professor like her father, an illustrator like her mother, a coordinator like Serena, Dawn, and Lisia? Who can say?

Professor Cerise is the new professor in the Kanto region and will eventually commit the greatest taboo by fusing his daughter and her dog together.

MEDEA, THAT’S STILL TOO SOON TO MAKE THAT JOKE!

Professor Cerise is the father of Chloe and the professor in Vermillion City. Him, along with his two assistants send Ash and Goh on their way to different missions to different regions of the world.

Leon is the #1 trainer in the not only Galar, but the world it seems. With the introduction of the Pokemon World Championship, Leon has been undefeated as we see him taking down heavy-hitters like Lance and Raihan. But he’s happy to encourage any and all challengers. As long as they battle a bajillion trainers before that and then make it to the top 8 trainers in the world.

Horace was friends with Goh a couple of years prior to the events of this series. But due to a misunderstanding, Goh thought Horace stood him up. But they made up years later and both boys end up becoming members of Project Mew.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: The sub finally got Kana Hanazawa! Now if y’all can just obtain Daisuke Ono, life would be complete in the Pokemon World!

*12 episodes of this series later*

OH THANK YOU ARCEUS! Yes, I know this picture from Lucky Star. I happen to like it! I gotta say, when I first saw Leon in the game, I thought Daisuke Ono would be awesome as that character. Who knew you were going to read my thoughts and go with sexy voice Daisuke Ono? Hey, can you guys get Junichi Suwabe to play anything next? I’m not picky, just someone that makes the butter melt on my toast. No? Okay, fine!

The dub…Okay, so you know how at the beginning of a new arc, the company would usually give us an early tease and then air the rest of the series a couple of months later? Not this time! Yeah, in almost all other arcs (except Best Wishes), America would get a world premier around the same time as Japan. I guess because Sun/Moon was still airing and in the middle of the Pokemon League saga, they didn’t want to interfere. I mean, that league was a pretty big deal! As it turns out, Pokemon made YET ANOTHER move to a different channel…or should I say platform! Seven months after its debut in Japan, Pokemon Journeys made its debut on Netflix.

Boy oh boy, tracking down Pokemon was a fucking journey! From the WB to Cartoon Network to Disney XD to Netflix! Hey U.S., Japan only needed TV Tokyo to air Pokemon the last 25 years and it was fucking successful for them. I don’t know what your hang-up is! Actually, I do because the WB fell apart and 4Kids lost the rights around the same time, Cartoon Network wanted to focus on rotting kid’s brains with Teen Titans GO, and not many people tune into Disney XD unless Ducktales or Gravity Falls repeats are on (plus it’s on the expensive channel package). I see the good and the bad here. It’s just that I really miss catching Pokemon on a weekly basis. Again, I’m not a binge-watcher and I’ve grown accustomed to watching things weekly. ESPECIALLY POKEMON!

I honestly think the switch to Netflix was the worst decision yet. Yes, Netflix has improved significantly when it comes to animes airing simultaneously. But not by much! Some animes have been given weekly updates, others there’s a several month wait. Pokemon gets released with a batch of episodes (12-15) every 3-6 months. Meanwhile, Teletoon in Canada is airing episodes once a week and FAR AHEAD from Netflix’s schedule. So really, not helping out with piracy that everyone seems so hung up on! And so much for the hope of FINALLY getting subbed Pokemon on a legitimate streaming platform. Nope! I’m sure there’s so much deeper things I can’t get into that’s involved, but from a viewer standpoint this was shit.

Moving away from Netflix drama, let’s talk about dub voice actors. Cherami Leigh is a main character. Let me repeat, Cherami Leigh of Sword Art Online, Fairy Tail, and Railgun fame has graced us with her prescence on Pokemon! Huh…and so has Ray Chase! I know technology has gotten better so that just about anyone can record in a studio from just about anywhere, but the Pokemon Company is really reaching hard for L.A. voice actors as of recent. The anime has mostly been NY-based, but things like Pokemon Origins, Generations, Twilight, Evolutions, Snap, GO, and Masters EX, they’ve enlisted a lot of L.A. voice actors like Robbie Draymond, Brianna Knickerbocker, Michelle Ruff, and Bryce Papenbrook.

Oh good fuck, Screamy McYellsALot!

One addition that really made me happy was to hear the return of Megan Hollingshed. She was everywhere in the Pokemon anime for the first 6 seasons with playing gym leaders, mothers, Nurse Joys, and so on.

And now for a somber note, Billy Kametz! I was happy to hear Billy Kametz as Ren, one of Professor Cerise’s assistants. I’ve really enjoyed his work and am very glad I got a chance to hear him in a dub one last time before tragically passing away from cancer. At the end of the episode, “It’s All in the Name” Netflix was kind enough to put up an “In Memory Of” for Billy Kametz. I’ve never seen this happen before for the Pokemon anime. At least in the English version! The only other English voice actor that passed away fast and suddenly was Maddie Blaustein. But because she wasn’t voicing for Pokemon anymore at that point (ahem, because she was replaced), there were no memoriums for her on the anime. Well, I will always cherish Meowth and Ren. R.I.P. Maddie and Billy!

And finally, there’s the subject of all these cameos from back in the day. Did everyone’s original voice actor come back to voice their original characters? Hell no! But some did. Let me put it to you this way, if it’s a character who was once a main character like Brock, Dawn, and the cast of Alola, more than likely their original voice actor would come back (not Eric Stuart though). If it’s gym leaders we haven’t seen in 3000 years, more than likely it’s changed. Flint, the Elite Four member of Sinnoh has a new voice actor. As does Drake from Hoenn! And Gym Leader Erika’s changed for a third time (yes, I count the 20th movie here). Honest opinion, Lauren Landa as Erika is the best Erika. I ain’t even sorry for that opinion! WITH ALL OF THAT SAID, here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Goh is played by Daiki Yamashita (known for Deku on My Hero Academia, Joro on Oresuki, Zeke on Attack on Titan, Umino on Sailor Moon Crystal, Sakamichi on Yowamushi Pedal, and Shion on UtaPri)

*Chloe is played by Hana Kanazawa (known for Nadeko on Monogatari, Anri on Durarara, Mayuri on Steins;Gate, Kanade on Angel Beats, Shiemi on Blue Exorcist, Kuroneko on Oreimo, and Onodera on Nisekoi)

*Prof. Cerise is played by Yuuichi Nakamura (known for Greed on FMA: Brotherhood, Tomoya on Clannad, Gray on Fairy Tail, Shigure on Fruits Basket 2019, Karamatsu on Mr. Osomatsu, and Kyousuke on Oreimo)

*Leon is played by Daisuke Ono (known for Sebastian on Black Butler, Shizuo on Durarara, Jotaro on Jojo’s Pt. 3, Erwin on Attack on Titan, Fafnir on Miss Kobayashi, William on Black Clover, and Koizumi on Haruhi Suzumiya)

*Horace is played by Ayahi Takagaki (known for Erika on Durarara, Kuro on Blue Exorcist, Lisbeth on SAO, Doll on Black Butler, Itori on Tokyo Ghoul, and Sylvie on Baccano)

ENGLISH CAST: *Goh is played by Zeno Robinson (known for Hawks on My Hero Academia, Shuuji on Tokyo Revengers, Garfiel on Re:Zero, Genya on Demon Slayer, Alan on Ben 10, and Blackluster on One Punch Man)

*Chloe is played by Cherami Leigh (known for Asuna on SAO, Lucy on Fairy Tail, Uiharu on Railgun, Minako/Venus on Sailor Moon redub, Patty on Soul Eater, Lizzie on Black Butler, and Sarada on Boruto)

*Prof. Cerise is played by Ray Chase (known for Roswaal on Re:Zero, Puripuri Prisoner on One Punch Man, Yuu on Charlotte, M on SAO: GGO, Yukiatsu on Anohana, and Saburouta on Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Arc)

*Leon is played by Alejandro Saab (known for Kuga on Food Wars, L’Arc on Shield Hero, Tatsuya on Irregular at Magic High, Tsukauchi on My Hero Academia, Takezou on Kono Oto Tomare, and Shizuru on Free!)

*Horace is played by Jenny Yokobori (known for Kaie on 86, Umino on Blue Period, and Kumiko on The Simpsons)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Ahem.

Right here. Best boy right here!

Besides the obvious…it’s hard to say anything this time. This season gave me so much happiness with the return of several of my favorite characters like Bonnie and Lana. And of course, just slapping on a two-second cameo for my boys Tracey and Cilan! Or even that one-second cameo of Harley (yes, I care about that too). But I suppose my answer would be Piers, Marnie, or Allister. And truth be told, I loved all three characters in the game as well as the anime. But I feel something lacking here. Maybe it’s the fact that I only see them once or twice and then they’re forgotten.

But seriously, Allister is a sweet wittle cinnamon roll.

DISLIKED CHARACTER: Ooh boy! With the return of many of my favorite characters, seeing the banes of my existence were sure to pop up. And the worst return to come from this show were every single rabbid Amourshipper to scream for a straight-month about Serena showing up unannounced. You people are the reason why the writers had to sneak her in. Otherwise, they’d just get endless emails and letters from the rabble about Serena returning to the show. Rabbid Amourshippers are worse than cancer and truly the worst part of Pokemon as a whole. Remember all of those idiot fans that put out petitions to have Misty return? Y’all are officially worse than that! You are on par with fucking MAGA.

Um…Medea, that really wasn’t a take on ‘disliked characters’. And I’m pretty sure you just pissed off a lot of people including some of your friends.

I know, I just felt really good getting that off my chest! Anyways, I do not hate Serena. If you read my XY review, I said that she wasn’t a bad character and was actually refreshing compared to some of the other crybaby powder kegs the show has given us. And I might add, her character has improved significantly during this series. So high praise from me! Now onto the butt-warts I’ve hated during the ages.

Thankfully, only Alain and Paul were the ones I hated to show up in this series. Now I have kinda officially laid off Alain despite his rap-sheet during XY. But then there’s Paul! Paul, as I live and breathe! The worst scum to appear since Damien. But Paul seems to have changed for the better. I can’t confirm it fully. But the fact that he would prepare Ash for his Masters 8 tournament by having him fight pokemon that belong to these champions really speaks volumes. I see that he somewhat respects Ash enough to spar with him and prepare him for the worst. Now does Paul still abandon pokemon that don’t reach his potential? I do not know. But for now, he is a few notches up and not so sucky.

And Paul’s return did reignite my demented love for Comashipping.

Oh yeah, this’ll be the one Pokemon review where I do not put a shipping category. I have absolutely no need for one this season. Nothing romantic. Kukui x Burnet set sailed last season. Serena didn’t blush like an idiot this season. No Pokeshipping either. Contestshipping is alive in my heart but dead everywhere else. And nothing to tickle Ash’s pickle.

DISAPPOINTED IN…: Out of the many, many, many, many, many, many cameos and reappearances we got, there were some characters I was happy to see, some I rolled my eyes at, and some that surprised me and made me have a new-found respect in! But then came one character whom I’ve loved from his first game appearance, yearned for his anime appearance for years, praised it when he finally appeared and then…Journeys just made me not like it.

And that dishonor goes to Wallace! I don’t know if he took a class in Ego 101 from Kanye West or what, but something felt off. Anime Wallace and (later) Game Wallace felt different in terms of his demeanor and seeing that change was kind of a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, I feel like a battle between Ash and Wallace should have been something more than just a B-story. Wallace deserves better than playing second-banana to fucking Serena and Chloe.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: I know I use this portion to put up some random ship I support or find a doppelganger of a character from years past. But for now, I would like to use this time to put up a picture of…

This. Fucking. Angel!

Look at this cute baby! LOOK AT THIS BABY! This is Kukui and Burnet’s baby. They made one cute baby! Pardon my Maes Hughes impersonation here, but this is one cute baby! The only other couples who could possibly make a cute mutant child are May and Drew or if my anime counterpart shags Tracey and we…

Stick to the topic, moron!

Right! I fucking hate kids, but I am just so happy Kukui and Burnet had this baby. Mostly because I was thrilled to see someone grow in this series. Ash is eternally 10 until the day we die and the fucking world blows up. But with this, can Ash please, for the love of Arceus, turn 11 years old? I’m just saying!

HALF AN EPISODE: I think I pissed off many people with this picture alone. This was an episode that many fans have dubbed the worst episode ever. I’ll stay out of that one. It was bad. Just not, dropping your child out of a helicopter and blaming it on your wife bad like a certain episode we don’t talk about ever.

Pokemon Journeys has decided to put two shorter stories in one whole episode. I gotta say, it’s weird. When they first did this, I thought there was a reason why two totally different stories are in the same episode. But when I see it happen again, maybe Pokemon realized that they should learn from that slump of the filler and condense it a bit. I think we could have gone through Johto in half the time if we cut most of those fillers and put two in the same episode. With that said, the majority of these half episodes are total shit. Everyone has their own opinion on which filler stunk the worst this season. For now, I’m going to praise one of them in the next category.

FUNNIEST EPISODE: Huh! I never thought I would have this section ever again. But this season is full of surprises. The Team Rocket podcast episode caught me by surprise, but my guilty pleasure of rap battles tickled my funny bone once again. Whenever an anime has this random moment, no matter how long it may be, I will more than likely laugh. Kaguya-sama, Clannad, and Zombieland Saga are prime examples.

But then we get several episodes where Ash and Goh end up on these islands inhabited with Slowpoke and a Slowking crown would attach itself to either Ash or Goh. Let the hilarity ensue. But the second Slowpoke Island episode had me in stitches with Ash and Goh in a literal rap war. Hearing Rica Matsumoto go, “YO YO YO” is a thing of beauty and I’m happy to witness it.

TOUCHING EPISODE: I am so glad Journeys gave a happy conclusion to Lillie’s family story. Throughout Sun & Moon, I would wonder so much about Lillie and her development, even watching it before my eyes. Lillie has definitely had the biggest amount of character growth of anyone from the Alola gang. And despite the drastic contrast between the anime and games, we didn’t see anything torn from Lillie and watched her thrive. With the changes of Gladion and Lusamine compared to their game counterparts, there was one character I was always nervous on how the anime was going to tackle it. Fortunately, the anime has been improving on serious issues.

But admit it, you were scared just as much as I was about what Lusamine and the kids would do if they ever found Mohn again. Mohn suffered massive amnesia after an incident with an Ultra Beast and the wormhole. And yes, their reunion was just as heart-breaking as I anticipated. And it only gets even sadder. When Mohn was unconscious, a shiny Nihilego carried him to a wormhole entry (in Crown Tundra, Galar) where they lived for several years. Nihilego took the form of what Mohn’s eyes thought his daughter would look like. So, hearing Mohn in present time say he doesn’t recognize Lusamine, Lillie, Gladion, or even Zoroark and say that he’s living with “his” daughter, it’s painful. But we finally get to the touching part where Mohn finally gathers is memories. I’m happy with this. Good for Lillie. Good for the family.

A FIRST IN 22 YEARS: I’ll get to Ash’s accomplishment in catching some pretty choice pokemon in a bit. Now I would like to bring up this ugly, old wound. COVID-19, it seems like only yesterday we were learning how to social distance and called the president a fucking retard for suggesting to inject household cleaners. But because of this deadly virus, many productions in Japan were put on hold. Still are! And yes, that included our beloved Pokemon anime. In fact, this was Pokemon’s first hiatus since their four-month hiatus in 1997 when Electric Soldier Porygon mucked things up. And this series survived several recessions, the Fukushima disaster, many other natural disasters, and 9/11.

Not only the series was put on the back-burner, but the bloody movie, Pokemon Coco was delayed for 5 months! Yeah, the first summer we all went without a Pokemon movie hitting the theaters in Japan. Believe it or not, Japan had no intention of putting their newly-released movies available on a streaming or on-demand service like us greedy-fuck Americans. Yet, Japanese Netflix is somehow on a good system of putting things out once a week while American Netflix lumps everything together. Profiteering is hard! Point is that this was quite a monumental moment. Totally called for because the Covid was no fucking joke! It’s still not a joke. It’s still around. Get vaxxed, ya dummy!

GOTTA CATCH EM’ ALL: This series definitely surprised us in many ways. First, I’ll begin with Goh. Because Goh wants to one day catch Mew, he’s gonna make it his mission to capture each and every pokemon as humanly possible. Goh goes the distance by catching anywhere between one pokemon to 13 pokemon in a single episode. And it wasn’t like that time Ash caught all those Tauros in one episode, he catches different ones throughout the episodes. Goh catches small pokemon, big pokemon, fossil pokemon, pokemon that Ash has caught before, pokemon that Ash will never get in his life (like Raichu), starter pokemon, and even legendary pokemon. And not just some one-and-done catch, he’s caught more than one legendary! I just wish Goh’s Suicune catch didn’t feel so…dumbassary.

And then Ash…well, I sort of got my wish of Ash getting a psychic pokemon. I just wish it wasn’t Mr. Mime! Although, this wasn’t a catch! Delia just loaned Mr. Mime so he would watch over Ash while he stays at Professor Cerise’s lab. But Ash wound up with some really, big and surprising catches. And it breaks all sorts of protocol!

First of all, you know how many of Ash’s first catches in a new arc are usually a bug type, the flying type of the region, or a starter? His first catch was a Dragonite! YEAH! DRAGONITE! Fully evolved form Dragonite!

Then, do you remember every now and then, Ash will catch a fire-type that was previously abused or had a rough time before being captured? Replace that with Gengar and you’ve got his next catch!

Ash caught a fossil pokemon! Yes, one of the messed-up ones from Galar, but still…

And then…after waiting 14 years for Ash to one day get a Lucario (or at the very least Riolu) it finally happened. Ever since the 8th movie, fans have wanted Ash to catch Lucario. Even in Sinnoh, that was never gonna happen. Apparently, Riley was never gonna give Ash a Riolu egg. Fast-forward 11 years after that and Ash is drawn to a Riolu egg and catches it. Riolu and later Lucario was one of Ash’s best in this arc.

BUT NOT JUST THAT!!! Ash finally, finally, finally, FINALLY gets to mega evolve! Do you have any idea how big this is? We had a whole arc filled with people who could mega evolve. All of Ash’s rivals and villains were able to do it. Even during Sun & Moon, Misty and Brock were able to mega evolve their pokemon. I understand Misty, but Brock is studying to be a doctor. He’s not a friggin’ gym leader anymore. Stop giving this guy more air to breathe! He’s been in too many episodes and arcs. Make him disappear and…Whoa, I’m being mean to Brock again. Where was I?

Don’t get me wrong, the syncro with Greninja was bad-ass. But Ash had at least four pokemon from his past that had the ability to mega evolve. Do you have any idea how fucking awesome it would have been if Ash mega evolved Charizard, Heracross, Glalie, or Sceptile?! Well, we’ll never know because it never happened. However, I think they wanted to keep Ash to his pokemon in Kalos and not even look at the past whatsoever in that arc. Kalos was really stingy with cameos. And that’s why I will always bad-mouth Kalos more than normal.

COMEBACK: When I learned that Ash was going to pop in and out of every region throughout this series, I refused to let myself get happy at this. Besides the fact that I’m a die-hard Tracey fan and sadly know he’ll never be shown again. But the fact that Ash has revisited a few places in the past and would never come upon the same person twice (including gym leaders unless under special circumstances). However, with the addition of Ash preparing to be in the Pokemon World Championship, there’s been an array of past folks either mentioned, cameo’d, or would straight-up battle Ash! And these cameos are far more than just the usual surprise pop-in from Misty and Brock. Please note, I will not count Delia and Professor Oak. They don’t count, they’re seen in EVERY SEASON. Here we go!

Kanto: *Gary “Mother Fucking” Oak returns after a short cameo in the 20th movie, a cameo in the sky at the end of Best Wishes, and his last speaking role being in during DP. Gary is involved in Project Mew, an expedition in search for the rarest pokemon in the world. Him and Ash’s relationship has improved significantly. Goh hates his guts at first, but tolerates him later on. *Lance (16 long years after his last anime appearance) reappears to battle Leon in Galar. Later in the series, Lance became the 4th strongest trainer in the Pokemon World Championship. *Lt. Surge is mentioned by his temporary replacement at the gym and remembered by Ash. *Misty was shown in shadow form when it was discussed about gym leaders and the world championship competition. But Misty was finally shown at her gym watching Ash compete against Leon. She is also shown in the final episode as Goh visits the Cerulean gym. *Brock got a mention in the first DP special to come from the anime and I would have hoped this would be the end for that glory hog. Oh, but no! He shows up with not just a doctor degree, not just a fully evolved Blissey, but a license to drive a fucking jet. I call bullshit! *Mewtwo. Yes, that Mewtwo. Yes, the Mewtwo from the first movie. There was a moment. It passed. Moving on! *Erika, the Celadon City gym leader returns after a very long time. Her last anime appearance was in 1997, but she did appear in Pokemon I Choose You. Here, she holds a flower arrangement class. *Cassidy and Butch return after…I think Diamond and Pearl was their last appearance. However, things have changed for them. They’ve gone straight! Cassidy is running an inn and Butch runs a bakery. Either this was a mirage that was hallucinated by Jessie and James, or this really is a thing. *Richie appeared (after nearly 15 years since his last appearance) to watch Lance in the Masters 8 conference. *Todd. I can neither confirm or deny that he was outside Wyndon Stadium, but looking at the back of that guy’s head after Eternatus arrived is making me say, yeah, that’s totally him.

Johto:

*Professor Elm is mentioned by Professor Cerise when the topic of pokemon eggs is brought up. *Chuck (after 19 long years since his last appearance) reappears when Ash has a rematch with Bea. And best of all, Chuck is still voiced by that booming voice mother trucker, Dan Green! *Clair gets a nod when Ash learns of Iris’s full transformation. Do note that Iris and Clair have been training together. There was an episode 10 years ago with the two of them that was never released in English. *Jimmy, Marina, and Jackson/Vincent (from the Raikou special and Johto League) made a small cameo while watching Lance compete in the Masters 8 conference.

Hoenn:

*May got one mention. ONE! And that’s only because she participated in the Wallace Cup. They’re really holding out hope Kaori will make a recovery so she can voice May again! At least she was seen watching Ash fight Leon.

*Max was seen once watching Ash fight Leon alongside her sister May. *Drew and Harley (my second-tier baes) made a cameo while watching Steven compete in the Masters 8. And honestly, seeing both Drew and Harley in the same episode as several Tracey cameos was one of the best things I have ever seen in Pokemon history. Easily a 10/10 episode! *Drake was actually the first person from Hoenn to be featured. Quite surprising since he is the only Elite Four Hoenn member featured in the anime and was only featured in one episode. Is it any wonder he barely remembered Ash’s name. *My sexy boy Wallace re-emerges in his fabulous updated outfit from the ORAS games and battles Ash in a plot b, not important as contests battle. *Steven Stone is mentioned by Ash and Wallace is angry Ash remembers Steven but not him. Steven is still a top-tier trainer and champion as he is ranked #3 in the world and he ends up battling Ash in the Masters 8 conference. *Professor Birch, Kelly (one of May’s other rivals), Janet (one of May’s other rivals), Katie (Hoenn league competitor), Tyson (Hoenn league winner), Morrison (Hoenn league competitor), Jimmy (from Judgement Day), Kain (from Going for a Spinda), and Vito Winstrate of the Winstrate battling family ALL APPEAR IN ONE SHOT to prove that Advanced Generation hasn’t been neglected.

Except, yeah, they were neglected! Hoenn got butt-fucked and you all know it. I don’t remember Hoenn getting this much attention in the anime when the ORAS games came out. Oh-ho-ho, but when Diamond and Pearl gets a remake, what do you suppose happened there? Look down below!

Sinnoh:

*sighs*

So, remember during the Kalos arc when we got the Ruby and Sapphire remakes and how much the anime gave us nostalgia to remember them by? Yeah, me neither. Kalos only gave us Steven Stone and fuck all. HERE, they decide to shove every bit of Sinnoh up every ass. They give us not one, not two, but three hour-long specials including one exclusive to Amazon. And they shoved every fucking bit of it to the fans. Because who doesn’t want to see Cynthia and Team Galactic and Dawn’s prissy bitch-ass? Um, hi! I don’t! Sit the fuck down! There are far more deserving characters that should get more air time despite game promotions. But we’re here anyways!

*Dawn returns several times throughout the course of this series. Actually, they mostly came out around the time the remakes to Diamond and Pearl released. But Dawn seems to be a bit of a mentor to Chloe as they are seen together numerous times throughout the series. *Johanna (Dawn’s mother) makes a cameo as she is interviewed on TV. *Paul gets a small cameo when his battle with Ash in the Sinnoh Pokemon League was mentioned. And then the little cock-sucker got another appearance by battling Ash at Oak’s lab. Okay, this anus-tart gets a point for doing this! *Volkner battles Ash when Ash made it into the Hyper Class. He’s later seen with Flint watching the Masters 8. *Cynthia returns! And best of all, her seiyuu came out of retirement to voice this champion. Just like Dawn, Cynthia is seen in several of these specials and other episodes. Best of all, she is the second strongest trainer in the world. I truly find that hard to believe since I really do believe she could beat Leon. *Professor Rowan returns during the Dialga/Palkia wormhole episode. *Saturn, Mars, Jupiter, and all of the Team Galactic grunts make their appearance after 10 long years to hopefully bring Cyrus back to the living world. *Cyrus…um…he is talked about in the special and we see him in flashbacks. But that’s it. He’s still a bag of bones floating around in a different dimension. *Flint of Sinnoh’s Elite Four cameoed as he fought (and lost to) Leon. Ash remembered him! He is later seen watching Cynthia compete in the Masters 8 conference. *Reggie (Paul’s older brother) has a cameo when he watches Cynthia and Ash compete in the Masters 8.

Unova: *After being butt-fucked by the anime, Iris finally returns. And she’s gone through a lot of changes. She’s champion of Unova. Her Axew is fully evolved. She can communicate with dragon-types telepathically. And near the end series, Iris became the 7th strongest pokemon trainer in the world. She even went toe-to-toe with Cynthia of all people and managed to have her bring out the big-guns. Did she win, fuck do you care? This was a big leap for someone like Iris. All of you haters can eat a buffet of dicks and choke on it. After Tracey-bashers, I hate the Iris-bashers. Iris doesn’t deserve the hate she got. *Cilan was first seen in a flashback flash when Ash remembers traveling with Iris. He later appeared alongside Brock and Alexa watching Ash fight Leon. Do note that Cilan has met Brock prior to this appearance. There’s an episode that was never released in English. *Drayden returns as well as the Iris vs. Ash match took place in his gym. *Bianca, Georgia, Trip, Stephan, and Alder all have quick cameos as they are watching Iris compete in the Masters 8.

Kalos: *Clemont and Bonnie make a return when Ash prepares for his big Hyper Class battle against an Elite Four member. And even better, when the narrator mentions these two, they neglect to mention Serena making me enjoy the salty tears of Amourshippers. But as I learned long ago, this bitch never dies and comes back stronger. And one week later… *Serena returns with a new look and helps Chloe in her contest debut. Give the bitch some credit as she didn’t blush once. She appears again alongside May and Max to watch Ash compete in the world championship. *Korrina challenges Ash as part of the Pokemon World Championship and helps Ash in search for the Lucarionite. *Gurkinn (Korrina’s grandfather) also returns with Korrina in several episodes. *Diantha makes a cameo appearance on a magazine and later in Pokemon World Championship as the 5th strongest. She does well in the championship…except for one battle. *Greninja has returned and about a thousand pokemon fans just pissed themselves in excitement. *Alain gets a cameo when Ash reminices about Greninja. Not only that, but has gone on a journey of self-discovery to become the 6th strongest trainer. And got a new mega stone! *Professor Sycamore and Mairin were shown watching Alain when he competed in the Masters 8. *Sawyer, Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna all cameo when Diantha competed in the Masters 8. *Alexa (gym leader Viola’s sister) appeared alongside Brock and Cilan to watch Ash in the Masters 8.

Alola: *Professor Kukui, Kiawe, Lana, Mallow, Sophocles, Rotomdex, Samson Oak, Professor Burnet, and all of Ash’s Alolan pokemon are featured in an episode when Ash visits Alola. *Sophocles gets his own episode where he gets the chance to work in a space program in Mossdeep City (in Hoenn). *Gladion and Lillie (while not there in the first Alola episode to see Ash), were seen in an update. Later in the series however, they appear in the Crown Tundra of Galar in search of their father. *Anna was a reoccurring character throughout Sun & Moon as she was the one who would commentate on certain pokemon events and races Ash and the gang might participate in. Anna returns during a random race Ash and Goh participate in. *Mohn is alive and well. Unlike the games, he does regain his memories and return to his family to Alola. *Abe, Ulu, Hala, Wicke, and Faba return during the celebration of the Aether family reunited. *Hau, Guzma, and Team Skull cameoed when Ash participated in the Battle Royal match against Kiawe, Gladion, and Kukui. *All the memorable pokemon make several apperances including Bewear, Mimikyu, Maerine, Ash’s Alolan team, and Tapu-Koko.

…

Orange Isl…

HE’S ALIVE! HE FUCKING EXISTS! YOU SEE THIS HATERS? THIS IS TRACEY SKETCHIT AND HE STILL EXISTS! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU IN THE ASS! TRACEY IS STILL OAK’S ASSISTANT! HE’S THERE! HE’S MENTIONED! EAT A WHOLE PLETHORA OF DICKS AND CHOKE ON IT!

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Not only that but he’s the only one of Ash’s past travel companions to watch him compete in the Masters 8, the semi-finals against Cynthia, and the finale. Where was your precious Brock and Misty? They were out taking a shit. Tracey watched. Tracey’s there. He stood there watching the whole thing. He cares! Look at him elbow-bump Snorlax. He’s awesome!

GALAR CHARACTERS: Because Pokemon decided to do things a little differently with this arc, only several characters known in the Sword/Shield games were featured in the anime. Let’s see who got in and who got shafted.

*Leon! No way were they going to leave out the hammy champion of Galar. He was featured several times throughout the series from being a Master Class Trainer in the Pokemon World Championships to the big fight against Eternus to just him getting lost in a forest.

*Sonia was there to talk about the Darkest Day and was later featured prominently throughout the big battle against Chairman Rose and Eternus. But she returns from time-to-time when Ash and Goh are in Galar, including to see Leon’s final match.

*Professor Magnolia was mentioned early in the season by Professor Ceriese. But she became a supporting character during the Darkest Day arc. Extra points here because she’s voiced by the same woman who voiced Izumi Curtis on FMA.

*Bea, the fighting-type gym leader made several appearances. As it turns out, she’s one of the toughest trainers in the Hyper Class for the championship. She even defeated Ash pretty bad during their first interaction.

*Raihan! He battles Leon, he appears during Darkest Day, he takes a selfie, he bakes pastries with fairy types, he takes another selfie, he’s voiced by Tatsuhisa…whoops, not anymore, he’s voiced by dude who did Kirito now, he takes another selfie, he loses to Leon, he punches a wall, and he takes another selfie! Raihan is one of the 8th strongest trainers in the world. He takes another selfie. He is demoted from 8th best. And yes, takes another selfie!

*Chairman Rose and Oleanna appear quite early and leave quite fast after the Darkest Day arc. Yeah, the whole thing came and went as did their appearances.

*Opal still loves pink! If you lack pink, she’s not afraid to say so. And I still say she’s a lost member of the Triplets of Belleville. But she briefly appears when Ash and Goh are separated from Chloe and again when she hosts a baking competition for the kids, Raihan, and Leon.

*Allister makes his debut with helping Ash when he’s possessed by a Spiritomb and helping his Gengar Dynamax.

*Piers, Marnie, and the hooligans of Team Yell make their debut as well. Marnie fought against Ash in hopes of advancing further than “Hyper Class Trainer”. Piers is there to be a supportive big brother. And as for Team Yell, they made Ash late to his own match against Marnie.

*Mayor of Freezington! I didn’t expect to see this dude here, but in the Lillie and Mohn episode, he appeared.

*Hop, Leon’s younger brother is seen in the audience of the PWC cheering for his big bro. I really wish they would have used him more than just cheering for Leon. But, we get what we get here.

CHARACTERS WHO EXIST IN OTHER POKEMON STUFF BUT NOT ANIME UNTIL NOW: Long title for this segment, but definitely called for. As this arc is very unorthodox, there were several characters who exist in other things like the games or manga, but never made it into Ash’s inner space until now. These are characters that should have made their debut years ago.

*Wikstrom if you recall was an Elite Four member in the Kalos region. He however never made an appearance in XY. Too much focus on Malva and Diantha I suppose. He makes his debut by offering some sword play for Ash, Farfetch’d, Goh, and Scyther.

*Drasna was also an Elite Four member in Kalos, but was never shown until Ash competed in the Hyper Class tournament. You’d think her being a person who can mega evolve would have already made her appearance, but alas no. Admit it, you forgot she even existed.

*Rita and Phil…wait, from Pokemon Snap? Yes! They made a short, five-second appearance in the movie Pokemon: Secrets of the Jungle.

*Lisia, coordinator introduced during Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire finally debuted in anime form. She gives Chloe her contest pass and is a rival to Serena.

*Rei from Pokemon Legends Arceus makes a cameo at the end of the 4-part Arceus special. He literally had more screentime than his descendant Lucas.

BIG TEAM BATTLE: So, this portion happened earlier than what we’re used to. By episode 40, Ash and Goh found themselves dealing with the Marco Rose company and their bringing about “The Darkest Day” to the Galar region. Goh and Ash get split up while the random dynamaxing happens to pokemon in the wild area. Goh ends up researching with Sonia, while Ash is helping these affected pokemon with Leon.

While short and unexpectedly fast approaching this arc was, we got some pretty momentous happenings. For starters, during the big battle, Ash’s Riolu and Goh’s Raboot both evolved at the same time (not in the same place however) into Lucario and Cinderace. And then, something unheard of for a main character in the anime! Goh and Ash caught Eternatus.

Let me repeat this. Goh and Ash caught Eternatus after battle. Just don’t expect to see them use this monster in battle. It’s sealed away in a pokeball, inside a glass case, inside a safe, covered with sutras, armed with lasers and Dick Cheney with a gun.

Now as for bad guy stuff afterwards, it feels a lot like Sun & Moon where Team Rocket try to disturb a legendary pokemon’s habitat and try to catch it. Probably because Team Rocket is the only bad guy team where their leader is still in tact and in this series we have Ash and company go to every region. It’s not like we’re going to see any of the other villains like in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. No, the anime won’t do us like that. Archie is doing 20 to life, Maxie is on probation but still has an ankle monitor, Cyrus is a bag of bones in another dimension, Ghetsis is doing life for attempted mass genocide and child endangerment, and no one has found Lysandre’s body or Hunter J for that matter. But that’s just my opinion on that matter!

Going back to Cyrus of Team Galactic, while we don’t see him currently, we do see the rest of Team Galactic as they attempt to find him. This is the Arceus Chronicles special (exclusive to Amazon Japan and U.S. Netflix). I honestly found the special a cheap ploy to whore out the Legends Arceus game and for Dawn to have more screen time.

MUSIC: One song, several versions! You would think I would get tired of that? A little bit, but not as bad as you’d think. Pokemon has been known to have one or more versions to an opening theme. Mezase Pokemon Master has been used countless times in countless ways with several revamps to it. It’s still a classic! Many others had remixes like Saikou Everyday and V(Volt). Yeah, V(Volt) is still annoying. 1, 2, 3 however didn’t feel annoying to me. Probably because there’s a T.M. Revolution version and a Rica Matsumoto version!

English opening. Generic. Moving on.

MOVIE: Normally, the Pokemon movies would hit theaters in Japan during the second or third week of July every year consecutively. For this arc, we got ONE movie. Just one! As usual, Pokemon’s 23rd feature film was on track for release in July 2020. Ah-ha, you see that year, right?! You know that shit got bumped. And bumped, it was! The release date got pushed to Christmas of 2020 and the U.S. release date wasn’t for another ten months later. Thanks a lot Netflix! At least when Sailor Moon Crystal came out in Japan, it only took four months for Netflix to get it!

Pokemon: Secrets of the Jungle. You ever see Disney’s Tarzan? It’s Disney’s Tarzan but with pokemon. You’re welcome.

Okay, okay, I’ll be kind. Actually, this was a very good story. It does follow Ash down that alternate timeline from the I Choose You story. It follows Ash as he meets a boy who lives with the Zarude. And you know Tarzan, it has a bad guy, dead parents, monkey-type pokemon, Team Rocket…Yeah, you know. Spoiler alert, the bad guy doesn’t die horribly like Clayton. I’m loving these alternate universe movies. My only gripe is that we never see any of Ash’s other pokemon.

TEAM ROCKET UPDATE: Hmm…They don’t go out for the world championship spot like Ash. Jessie doesn’t enter contests. They don’t break up. And they don’t catch the twerp’s Pikachu. Don’t tell me they spend another arc doing jack-ass-shit!

Podcast!

My God, that’s perfect for them. And honestly if Megumi Hayashibara and Shinichiro Miki ever start their own podcast together, I would pay any amount of money to hear that regularly. I’m going to be honest here. Aside from the podcast episode, Morpeko shenanigans, and the episode where they temporarily go their separate ways again, I barely remember or acknowledge Team Rocket’s existence for this season. Did Jessie actually catch a pokemon this season? I don’t know. It's like later season Black/White here. What are you doing Team Rocket?! Are you going to take what Cassidy and Butch say seriously about how there’s more to your life than just Team Rocket? Or are you just going to chase Pikachu until the inevitable end?

CHLOE’S CHOICE: Unlike many of the other girl protagonists in the past, Chloe isn’t featured in every episode. In fact, a lot of episodes Chloe doesn’t even appear. She’s at home or at school. She’s not technically a trainer, but she does have one pokemon and a Pokedex. When we do get Chloe-focused episodes, the earlier ones feature her contemplating her future. Because of her father being a pokemon professor, people automatically would say she should follow in her father’s footsteps. Not for Chloe! And she’s not going to become a graphic artist like her mother.

It wasn’t until Chloe traveled to Sinnoh on her own that she learned about Pokemon Contests. She got curious watching an interview with Johanna and then Dawn talked about her love of pokemon contests to her. But it wasn’t until Chloe went to Lilycove City in Hoenn where she met Lisia and Serena that she really enjoyed taking the stage with Eevee. Does Chloe become a coordinator like the travel-mates of Ash’s past? Chloe’s whole saga was given the permanent halt once Masters 8 started and it only got mysterious from there. Yeah, the series ends with Chloe going on a journey of her own. Where is unknown. What she will be doing is unknown. Is she and Eevee going to give contests another try? Will she catch a Galarian Ponyta? Will she become an Eeveelution trainer? Who fucking knows?!

ENDING FOR GOH: Goh has been an interesting character to say the least! And the fandom for this character runs both hot and cold. They either love him or hate his guts. The hate is because Goh wound up catching all three Galar starters and Ash didn’t catch any of them. At the beginning of the series, Goh had a one-track mind in catching Mew and that’s that. It even caused some friction when Scorbunny wanted to be his first pokemon early in the series. Thankfully, Goh and Scorbunny (later Cinderace) made a great team.

Throughout the series, Goh caught many pokemon during his time with Professor Cerise and Ash. He caught fossil pokemon, legendary pokemon, pokemon of different forms, shiny pokemon, starter pokemon, pokemon Ash will never own in his lifetime, throw-aways, and the occasional surprise pokemon like Suicune. None of them are Mew! In the middle of this arc, Goh gets introduced to the Project Mew group by Gary Oak. Throughout the series, we got a few episodes dedicated to special missions Goh got in order to go further in this group. Goh was even able to catch a rare Regi pokemon (alongside Gary) and stop Regiggias from being Dynamaxxed. That was kind of a cop-out because I thought Regiggias was going to be a bigger episodic thing. After that, Goh was able to join the big expedition with Project Mew. Will he get closer to his dream of catching Mew?

Goh got the message on a big lead with finding Mew. Only problem was that he had to leave right when Ash was about to fight the biggest battle of his life. Goh left Ash before his masters finale against Leon. This is actually a first! Every single one of Ash’s companions were there to witness his finale in whatever league. Even Tracey and Max! YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT ASSHOLES! TRACEY WITNESSED THE ORANGE, JOHTO, HOENN, AND MASTERS 8 LEAGUE. SUCK IT!

I promise, this’ll be the last time I call you ‘assholes’.

No…it probably won’t be. Sorry!

Goh did leave Ash. His final mission with Project Mew was his toughest yet where communication was cut off, pokeballs were unable to be used, and legendaries are out for your heads. Goh, Gary, Horace, and the rest of the expedition team finally came in contact with Mew. This is the closest anyone has come. And also, nice that they made a mention to Jessie’s biological mother as she did search for Mew too. But the fight against Mew was pretty intense as this is the one pokemon that has the capability of taking on any form and can learn any move it damn-well wants to. But, it also has the ability to give those it comes in contact with knowledge of the world. Did Goh catch Mew? Fuck no! But there’s a respect and this experience is something he’ll hold onto for the rest of his life. We’ll see what happens with Goh’s own journey.

ENDING FOR ASH: Ash has certainly done wonders throughout this arc by entering that Pokemon World Championship and catching some major powerhouse pokemon. Next to his Sinnoh and Kalos teams, this team he has this time around is amazing. And it has taken him to the Master Class status. This championship has had Ash face up against old gym leaders from his past, old friends who have grown exponentially, and new challengers. As we remember in Ash’s past, going up against an Elite Four member ended in utter failure. Let’s never forget his failures against Agatha, Prima, and Drake. He did get lucky against a champion once, but his synchronization with Greninja went haywire so we really don’t discuss that.

In Pokemon Journeys, Ash has faced a lot of tough challengers. And I thought that day would never come since we all know Ash’s peak perfection team was during Sinnoh. But his team now is pretty fucking stacked and now has the ability to mega evolve, synchronize, gigantamax, and z-move with several of his current team. Not only that but go up against some of the toughest trainers in the world. I mean let’s face it, Ash in the past has gotten his ass handed to him by some pretty boss trainers. Even here, Bea, Volkner, and Iris gave him a run for his money. Did anyone think he could hold his own and become the 8th strongest trainer in the world?

Ash’s biggest moment is here and now with going up against the heavy-hitters. Iris, the champion of Unova. Alain, the winner of the Kalos Pokemon League. Diantha, the champion of Kalos. Lance, the champion of Kanto and Johto. Steven Stone, the champion of Hoenn. Cynthia, the champion of Sinnoh. And Leon, the UNDEFEATED champion of Galar.

Is Ash going to fight ALL OF THESE TOP DAWGS?! Hell no! Just some of them. For starters, Steven and Cynthia. These two are champions of Hoenn and Sinnoh. They’ve shown how bad-ass they were in certain parts of the anime. And now Ash has to go up against both of them in the quarter finals and semi finals. In a three-on-three match, Ash was able to take out Steven and his mega evolved Metagross and move onto the semis. His match against Cynthia will be his toughest yet. Even gamers are annoyed with Cynthia in battle as well as her ancestor Volo. That guy was a real fucker! Ash faced off against Cynthia and won. It wasn’t easy. Roserade’s Poison Point, Milotic’s iron head, a Dynamaxed Togekiss, and Garchomp make Ash’s battle pure hell. Give this battle some credit as we didn’t see Cynthia be predictable with a Mega Garchomp. Togekiss dynamaxxing was a surprise. Prior to fighting Ash, Cynthia was planning on retiring. But after that battle, the retirement plans are on hold.

And now for the finale, Ash vs. Leon. Will Ash get lucky here? Hard to tell. Even Japan knows that the stats are highly in favor of a Leon victory. But as I learned from looking at polls and stats for politics, DO NOT LISTEN TO THE POLLS AND STATS, THEY ARE ALL SHITE! Also, Ash is unpredictable so anything can happen in battle. Leon decided to allow Ash use all of his battle enhancements. That means Gengar can be Dynamaxed, Lucario can Mega Evolve, and Pikachu can do a Z-Move. Ash was able to take out some of Leon’s pokemon early on. Leon is no pushover, his pokemon are tough. Tough enough for only 2 of them to take out all of Diantha’s pokemon. Dragapult and Mr. Rime gave Ash the toughest time. Soon enough, Ash found himself with only Pikachu left against a Cinderace with Limber ability and a Dynamaxed Charizard.

Enter Eternatus! Yeah, Satan’s tapeworm escaped from its captivity. I guess it wanted to give Dynamax energy for Ash and Leon’s pokemon to go Gigantamax again. Wish granted as Pikachu and Cinderace went Gigantamax. And even though Pikachu’s past experiences with Dynamax didn’t go well, it was successful against Cinderace as he was able to take it down. So, it’s down to one-on-one. This moment between Ash and Leon was one of the most finely animated battle I’ve seen since both Sinnoh’s and Kalos’s pokemon league. And Charizard was so powerful that Pikachu almost died.

Yeah, you heard right. It looked like Pikachu almost died on the floor. But Pikachu saw all of Ash’s pokemon from past to present. ALL OF THEM! EVEN PRIMEAPE! EVEN PIDGEOT! EVEN LAPRAS! AND LITTLE LARVITAR TOO! THEY COUNTED HIM TOO! And all of Ash’s friends were watching from wherever they were to catch this moment. Misty at the Cerulean gym, Tracey at the Oak lab, Brock and Cilan at a pokemon center, Clemont and Bonnie at the Lumiose gym, May, Max, and Serena at a contest, Iris in a tree, and the Alolan gang in the classroom were there together in unison for this. Goh didn’t watch, but he’s there in spirit. LAME! Victory! Pikachu defeated Charizard. Ash is world champion!

So…what now? Ash is literally world champion! Unless there are pokemon on other planets with pokemon trainers, I don’t think Ash can get anything higher than that. This is something that won’t be answered in this series I’m afraid. Stay tuned. For now, it’s time to focus on what this show is going to do with Ash, Chloe, Goh, and Team Rocket. Team Rocket will do whatever they do. They do their usual last episode thing by visiting the boss and lying to him to get praise.

Of course, in the finale we get a falling out between Ash and *insert name here*. It happens almost every arc to this story it’s almost formulaic. Misty has a moment at the end of Johto. Max was depressed at the end of Hoenn. Dedenne has a panic attack in the middle of an airport in the Kalos finale, and the less I remember about Piplup’s meltdown, the better for my sanity. This time it was Goh. Apparently, Goh doesn’t know Ash well enough to realize that bro goes on journeys by himself all the time. Usually, it’s his friends that leave him. Actually…EVERY FRIEND HAS LEFT ASH! Except for the Alolan gang. Stay cool Kiawe and Lana!

Thankfully, this moment passed as Goh and Ash come under attack by…well, yeah, Team Rocket did attack them in their usual manner. But I was talking about Lugia! This was indeed the very same Lugia from the second episode of Pokemon Journeys. They fought. They flew together. They even ran into Ho-oh. And you know whenever Ash runs into Ho-oh, it’s an omen for their journey continuing. For now, anyways.

We end this season with a party for Ash and Goh. Many decisions were made about their future. Goh and Ash are splitting up to go on their own, but will remain good friends. And Chloe is to go on her own journey.

EPILOGUE…SORTA: A week after the Pokemon Journeys finale, we get one special episode. However, this is Alternate Universe Ash. I Choose You, Secrets of the Jungle, Power of All movie universe. Ash meets a dead boy. Yeah, it’s like I said. He meets the spirit of a dead boy who loved pokemon. Meets his parents. A familiar scene with a Mankey and Ash’s hat. And talks about Ash’s DAD?!

Yeah, they really mention Ash’s dad more often than not in the alternate universe. We never see him and neither does Ash. But he leaves behind a new hat for his son. And we get this choked-up scene where Ash eats and cries. Shit, I was ready to write off this episode, but damn that almost kicked me in the feels.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I’m not going to lie, I have a love/hate relationship with this series. I feel like the Galar region was just crammed and stowed to the side and it really shouldn’t have been. Call me old fashioned, but I would have loved to see Ash collect gym badges again. We only saw, like half of those characters. I would have loved to see Ash take on the likes of Kabu, Melony, Gordie, Nessa, and Milo. It would have been awesome to see Ash go to the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra. Do you know how bad-ass it would have been if he got a Kubfu? We didn’t even get to see the Isle of Armor! Ah, what would have been.

What we got with Pokemon Journeys wasn’t all bad. Pokemon gave another chance to anime-only main characters again and I’m always a proponent of that. Unlike so many haters of Goh, I really couldn’t hate him. Yes, he did irritate me at the beginning for other reasons. But I grew to like him. This addition of a Project Mew side-story was inventive. But it also feels…I don’t know, crammy?! And as for Chloe…I have a strict, no-hate policy on everything Kana Hanazawa plays. And that goes double for Cherami Leigh. I’m not breaking that clause so deal with it. I just wish more was done for Chloe, especially at the end. But I feel like more was planned and possibly scrapped due to that baby hiatus back in 2020. I can’t be the only one who thinks that is a proponent to this. I’m sure it isn’t, I’m just putting it out there.

As for Ash being a helper at the Cerise lab, I guess it’s great to see him do other stuff besides collecting gym badges. I would have preferred he kept doing the status quo, but in order for him to be a Pokemon Master, I suppose he’s gonna have to step out of the box every once and a while. Seeing him take on old rivals, gym leaders, and such was awesome. There would have been so much I would have preferred to see. And I’m just going to say this and it’s probably not going to be popular with some. I really think Ash should have gotten at least ONE Galar starter pokemon. They all didn’t have to go to Goh!

With the World Champion arc, I was so happy to finally see people like Cynthia and Steven Stone battling for real. In this anime form, we never saw that. We would only see snipits of Cynthia battling someone and then they lose. Every battle Ash was in, I was not disappointed. Others however, don’t get me started. Iris and Alain were automatically dealt a shitty hand when they both had to go up against the #1 and #2 strongest trainers. In fact, Alain lost so bad that Trevor felt it all the way in Kalos and laughed. And then there was Diantha! First of all, I’m pissed we didn’t get to see that entire fight. But at the same time, if she lost 6-2, I think I would have felt nothing but sickness if I watched the entire thing. On the other hand, STOP GIVING US LOST POKEMON FILLERS DURING A TOURNAMENT ARC PLEASE!

Another thing that I felt was lacking was of rivals in a sense. Ash competing in the world championship has him going up against old and new gym leaders like Bea, Korrina, and Volkner. But what about the other trainers that don’t have a gym leader status to their names? We see Ash battle people like that early on and then we never see them again. We saw this guy Rinto for a couple of episodes and then we never see him again. And then there’s Hop! You would think we would see Ash and Hop spar from time-to-time. If Ash wanted to fight with Leon, he might as well get his feet wet with his baby brother. Instead, we are introduced to Hop during the tournament and all we see him do is be in the stands cheering for his onii-chan. What a waste!

But now that Ash has actually become the champion of the world…what’s next?

Here comes the bittersweet moment. In December 2022, it was announced that Ash and Pikachu’s journey was going to come to an end. With the ending of Pokemon Journeys, we were to get only 11 final episodes. Pokemon as a whole will continue and thank goodness for that. But Ash and Pikachu…man, that’s a lot to take. I’m going to separate this review from the final 11. I feel like that would be in my best interest. But with no more Ash and Pikachu, we run the risk of never seeing anyone he’s associated himself with again. That means Misty and Brock. That means Professor Oak. That means Iris. That means Cilan. That means freakin’ Team Rocket. That means Blushy McIdiot, Dawn, the Alolan gang. And for me, it runs the risk of never, forever-ever, never ever, ever, ever gonna see Tracey Sketchit again. I nearly vomited at that thought. He’ll stay alive in my fan-fictions. You best believe that! I’m just going to feel worse than when he left before Johto started. I will definitely say more in the following review for the final 11.

As for Pokemon Journeys, yeah I enjoyed it. Watch it. Stay away from several fillers. Don’t get your hopes up for Chloe. Keep an open mind about Goh. R.I.P. Billy Kametz. Long live Daisuke Ono! Every episode will be up on Netflix. Other seasons, check out Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney XD, and Pokemon TV.

DID MY HIGH HOPES COME TRUE?!: I won’t be doing a high hopes section here. With only 11 episodes left and several of them have aired as of posting this review it would really defeat the purpose. But let’s see if any of my silly wants came true.

*Yes, Tracey exists in this season. Everyone does apparently! Tracey has been given the bum’s rush at nearly every turn since…well, his last speaking role was September 2006. To give you an idea how long ago that was, I have moved 3 times since then, my eldest cat Harley wasn’t even born yet, my fan-fic “you-know-what” was in the early stages of writing, Naruto Shippuden wasn’t airing yet, Death Note and Code Geass haven’t aired yet either, Kanye West was still respectable, Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack was #1 on the charts, Jackass #2 was in theaters, I still thought George W. Bush was the worst president in history, and Robin from One Piece just uttered the words “I want to live” for the first time. THAT’S HOW LONG IT’S BEEN!

And to this day, he still hasn’t uttered a word. I had to survive all of Kalos and Alola without seeing his face at all. Or even being mentioned. Seriously, there were episodes back at the lab and you don’t even mention your assistant, Oak. The fuck is wrong with you?! That’s how stingy and fucked this has been. But this season, Professor Oak at least mentions him without having him be at the lab when we get an episode AT THE LAB. But when it came time for the big tournament, Tracey was watching. He watched the whole thing. We didn’t hear him, but he was there. I am so happy. I think it’s because getting Tomokazu Seki to do it-bits here and there might be expensive. I mean, he is a really big freakin’ deal in the seiyuu world. Yes, he’s even more expensive than Yuuki Kaji and Mamoru Miyano. Ted Lewis would happily do it and I would be happy to hear it. To sum up, I saw Tracey. Was it a lot? No. Did he speak? Hell no. Do I want more? Fuck yeah! Are you happy? Fuck to the infinity yeah!

*I was quite expletive when it comes to seeing May and Iris again. We saw May in voice-less cameos. That’s pretty much what I’ve come to expect due to her seiyuu Kaori’s illness. Kaori has fully retired from voice acting and singing due to a vocal condition. She had this problem when she voiced May one last time during Diamond and Pearl. Even though I only saw May once, at least the anime acknowledged her existence. She’s known as the Princess of Hoenn in the contest world. She’s still doing contests and even made friends with Serena.

As for Iris, boy did we get the upgrade of Iris and I couldn’t be prouder. Since leaving Ash and Cilan, Iris has trained and has become the champion of Unova, is able to telepathically communicate with dragon pokemon, has fully evolved Axew into Haxorus, earned the respect of Dragonite and Excadrill, and is currently the 7th strongest trainer in the world. We got Iris in several episodes in full and I am beyond happy. I wish she could have had more screentime than Dawn this season, but I shouldn’t complain since Iris went through all of this.

*Did I see Clefable…no, not really. We did get a touching episode with a Cleffa. I’ll accept that.

*Yamper!!! This got confusing. Chloe is Yamper’s owner. But she doesn’t carry him in a pokeball nor does she travel with him once she got her pokedex. After that, it just became the Eevee show. I guess Yamper is the family pokemon and I’ll leave it at that. I got to see the poke-corgi more often than not and I’m okay with that.

*Did Ash battle around in Galar? Sorta. The only people he met up with or battled with were Leon, Raihan, Bea, Opal, Allister, and Marnie. Qutie a puny list. I’ve already beat my thoughts about this into the ground so let’s move on.

*Much to my dismay, none of those fun game characters from Team Rocket ever showed up and I suppose they never will.

*No, we did not see Ash go to any Battle Frontier or Battle Tower this season.

*James did not get a Galarian Weezing. I don’t think we even saw one. Did we? Just a flash in the final episode. This season didn’t even show all of the Galar pokemon.

*Rica Matsumoto eventually sang the opening theme. It was a duet, but even her best songs are duets. High Touch, anyone?

*Ash…sadly got a psychic pokemon…it was on loan from his mother and it was Mr. Mime. I am not amused by this at all.

*And finally, PROFESSOR BURNET GAVE BIRTH! Thank you for not keeping her pregnant for three years. People finally aged here!

AND FINALLY…IN MEMORIUM (SILLY EDITION): Usually I do an in memorium if someone notable passes away during the production of an anime. Last season, I wrote one for Unshou Ishizuka. I mentioned Billy Kametz here, but for my full memorium be sure to read my Rising of the Shield Hero second season review. This is not going to be that. It’s going to be quite absurd.

This is a dedication to all of the characters I wished would have made an appearance in Pokemon Journeys. Here’s to all of the trainers, gym leaders, coordinators, elite four members, random bros, etc. that for one reason or another never made it to this special season of pokemon. And because they never got to appear, I’m putting up my own stock-photos here to make it even more sillier. Mwahaha! May the Poke-Gods be kinder to you in another realm than they would have here. I WILL REMEMBER YOU. WILL YOU REMEMBER THEM?