SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion

[Norne]

Normally the introduction of a baby in Kodomo programing can reach enfant terrible territory for the older Audiences, however Nebby has been quite easy to stomach, pokemon had quite a good track record with avoididng terrible subplots with its babies, outside of togepi making a character boring or Axew getting lost too often and never evolving despite it being a character drive point pokemon has never let us down with them.

So far i actually enjoyed Nebby shenanigans, heck Lillie implied face got a good chuckle out of me and Nebby being so unaware of it surroundings it was actually celebrating with team rocket sold his out ofthe bag shenanigans already, Iwelcome our Nebby overlord.

 

[Rexryder]

Does anything think the reason Lusamine isn't insane or shows no signs of her unhinged nature is because this might reflect her role in USUM? There are already theories that she won't be the main villain or even villainous at all this time, what with the Ultra Recon Squad looking like the main baddies.

Of course, there's still a chance that she's hiding it, or that this is before she goes insane. Two things that are noticeable are her reasons for exploring the Ultra Beasts and her exposure to them. First: she has no exposure. As implied in the anime she didn't make contact with them yet, especially Nihilego. This mostly supports the idea that anime!Lusamine is the person we're looking at before she became affected by Nihilego's toxins. There's still a chance that could happen and we begin to witness her downwards spiral into insanity like in the games. Second: Why she's interested in the UBs. In the games, it was because Mohn was sucked into an Ultra wormhole. This lead to her obsession of studying the wormholes and creating Type: Null to fight the UBs(we can theorize that she initially thought they were responsible for Mohn getting dragged into Ultra Space). However, in the anime her interest in the UBs merely stems from the stories her father told her, and we can see that she's not obsessed with them, but merely curious.

Honestly, Lusamine might be the most interesting thing about the anime atm, because we have no idea what direction the writers will take with her. Coupled with the fact that USUM is just around the corner and the writers would want to adapt the upcoming game's story, like they did with Best Wishes coinciding with BW2's plot once N and Plasma rolled around, and it's even more up in the air on what will happen.

 

[LightningLord2]

I think Lusamine might be good at keeping a Poker face, which is why we haven't seen any signs of her true colors in the anime yet (in fact, the only real sign you get about that during the first encounter with her in-game is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment.) Feels like the most likely explanation.

 

[PsychicAcademic]

I don't know if I'm getting wrong, but the more I see it the more I actually sympathise Lusamine. Here she now seems to just be a mother trying to be affectionate (and overdoing that while intruding Lillie's privacy), all while she's also a busy businesswoman.

Anyway....

Hide

Yep, apparently the villainous role is transferred to this smug snake Sauboh. I had hoped he got more than just one facehug by the Ditto. Also apparently he is probably involved in how Lillie got scared of Pokemon here (or at least doesn't like that she starts to be able to touch Pokemon again), and of course, Type: Null. And how he at first hired the talking Meowth (not the whole gang) to Aether Paradise makes it just more suspicious.

Meanwhile, Lusamine seems blameless as of now (note: "seems"). We don't know whether in the anime Null Project is approved by her or is an underground project by that guy. And after catching that Ditto, Lillie seemed to have consideration to her after Ash's words and their friends (although that can also be surprise if Lusamine does turn out to be evil).

Also....

YOU DON"T MESS WITH LILIE

Then again, it was confirmed in the U-SM webpage that Cosmoem evolves after stress by Lusamine, so she will be evil, it won't be surprising, although after that she might change heart. Unless Anipoke decides to deviate from that....

 

[Rexryder]

So Faba doesn't really seem to know who the TRio are. Before subs were released, some thought that he knew and initially hired them to help him steal Cosmog. Of course that could still happen, but so far he's unaware that they're part of a criminal organization. Seems he only hired them because he noticed the talking Meowth. The TRio don't seem to mind though,are they're planning on stealing all the Pokemon in Aether Paradise. Imagine though if they regularly report back to Giovanni on their "undercover" work, revealing to him all the tech and resources the AF possess.
One of my biggest wishes for the Pokemon anime is to have Giovanni take an active role in it again. They did that with BW's Meloetta arc, and I'm hoping they'll do it again soon. If the TRio is sending Giovanni info on the Aether Foundation, I hope that convinces him to travel to Alola and set up another field operation there. Imagine a mini arc where Team Rocket raids Aether Paradise, or Giovanni vs Lusamine in a Pokemon battle.

 

[Champion Leon]

So Faba doesn't really seem to know who the TRio are. Before subs were released, some thought that he knew and initially hired them to help him steal Cosmog. Of course that could still happen, but so far he's unaware that they're part of a criminal organization. Seems he only hired them because he noticed the talking Meowth. The TRio don't seem to mind though,are they're planning on stealing all the Pokemon in Aether Paradise. Imagine though if they regularly report back to Giovanni on their "undercover" work, revealing to him all the tech and resources the AF possess.
One of my biggest wishes for the Pokemon anime is to have Giovanni take an active role in it again. They did that with BW's Meloetta arc, and I'm hoping they'll do it again soon. If the TRio is sending Giovanni info on the Aether Foundation, I hope that convinces him to travel to Alola and set up another field operation there. Imagine a mini arc where Team Rocket raids Aether Paradise, or Giovanni vs Lusamine in a Pokemon battle.

One thing I noticed, the teddy bear seems to be missing. What happened to him?

 

[Pikachu315111]

So... I think we found out why Lillie doesn't like Pokemon touching her...

Give Me A Hug

Nihilego everytime...

 

[PsychicAcademic]

Argh... I had to wait and missed it, but anyway....

Hide

So Ash's 'roc is a Neat Freak that'll go berserk when his hairdo is messed.

Gladio asked Ash a lot of question he couldn't answer, including how Mother entrusted or approved of an Ultra Beast (Nebby) to his care. This... now I really question Lusamine's stance in anime from this question. Gladio doesn't seem to have anything wrong with Lusamine either. Either she's blameless or she's just that good in hiding her evil. Even if he asked because she would've collected those UBs, he would probably have said that, or he's hiding her evil side too. Then again, while Silvadi / Type: Null saved them, how it is then his Pokemon isn't clear either. I can't think of that Mr. annoying Branch Executive or something easily letting him go even though Gladio is his boss' son. Also, at the flashback, is the one below attacked Lilie him too?

And yep, it looks like we're progressing quickly to the main story. Too quickly, though, I personally think. Looks like in next episode, she is going into her powered form. Maybe it is just because there were no much conflict unlike in the game where she changed dress after the Aether Paradise raid that had Nebby "unresponsive", that I feel it is a bit too quickly. Then again it is rumoured that in U-SM Lilie will go powered form earlier so....

I liked some music remixes from the anime. That "Vs. UB" remix music was used when they battled.

Also, I'll just imagine Pikachu being victim to that UB's brainwash. At least it looked funny, unlike when it's Lilie....[\HIDE]

 

[Pikachu315111]

Hide

Also, I'll just imagine Pikachu being victim to that UB's brainwash. At least it looked funny, unlike when it's Lilie....

Hide

You mean like in this image:

Pikachu is like seeing sound and tasting colors.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Episode 993: Faba Strikes Back! Nebby Gets Abducted!!

Arceus dammit, Faba. And you not only stole Nebby, you stole Mewtwo's movie title too!

 

[Norne]

Episode 993: Faba Strikes Back! Nebby Gets Abducted!!

Arceus dammit, Faba. And you not only stole Nebby, you stole Mewtwo's movie title too!

Faba is quite one of my favorite villans in this franchise, so unapologetic about cronical backstabbing syndrome and rising in the ranks he makes Tabitha look like a kitten.

 

[Frozocrone]

Todays episode was an enjoyable romp with severe consequences.

Lav it.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Oh wow, I thought Faba was going to try taking Nebby in secret. But apparently he's going to hypnotize Gladion, hold Lillie hostage, and toss Ash and their Pokemon around. Um, isn't Lusamine still on good terms with Lillie? I don't think she'd like Faba holding her daughter hostage. Or are they just switching the Aether Foundation heel turn on full gear?

Give Faba a good thrashing, Silvally!

 

[PsychicAcademic]

This is way too quick. Unless it is indeed revealed that Lusamine's evil enough to just leave her children to that branch guy, I wouldn't really think of that branch guy to turn to villainy so quickly. Or they make him competent enough to be the recurring antagonist throughout SM Anime either, but I'd rather see him getting trashed by Silvadi and Lusamine wouldn't have it his way either. Evil Lusamine isn't very likely either considering there's no even slight foreshadowing to her psycho side, unless it just starts developing since Lilie's quarrel with her or will start to develop after Lilie's well... nice job breaking it, Nebby.

All I can see also is that this may just fuel Gladio's hatred to UBs further. Great.

Now it seems to me that Faba is the designated hate sink here.

 

[Demoness]

You know, it's very much possible for Lusamine to be abusive without being stereotypically evil, right? Like, oh i don't know, being an overly smothering mother who doesn't respect Lillie's own personal space and ignores her discomfort

Like, seriously you all, it sounds like you all don't understand how many ways abuse can manifest and be kinda subtle

 

[Pikachu315111]

You know, it's very much possible for Lusamine to be abusive without being stereotypically evil, right? Like, oh i don't know, being an overly smothering mother who doesn't respect Lillie's own personal space and ignores her discomfort

Like, seriously you all, it sounds like you all don't understand how many ways abuse can manifest and be kinda subtle

I know, I mentioned that. But still, if Lusamine's abuse is her being overly obsessive/possessive (not quite sure how to describe it, pretty much intense interest and caring) of Lillie than Faba taking her hostage wouldn't be looked light upon unless she gave Faba permission to as long as Lillie isn't hurt. I'd imagine Lusamine's goals would be making Lillie into a mini-Lusamine and take over the Aether Foundation, so having the branch chief kidnap her and knock her friends around may do more harm than good on that forefront (unless Lusamine just plans on brainwashing Lillie at which point she doesn't care what mental stress she goes through).

This is way too quick. Unless it is indeed revealed that Lusamine's evil enough to just leave her children to that branch guy, I wouldn't really think of that branch guy to turn to villainy so quickly. Or they make him competent enough to be the recurring antagonist throughout SM Anime either, but I'd rather see him getting trashed by Silvadi and Lusamine wouldn't have it his way either. Evil Lusamine isn't very likely either considering there's no even slight foreshadowing to her psycho side, unless it just starts developing since Lilie's quarrel with her or will start to develop after Lilie's well... nice job breaking it, Nebby.

Now it seems to me that Faba is the designated hate sink here.

Yeah, with Faba hiring the Rocket Trio I thought he was going to be a chessmaster for a little while, have them do his dirty work.

Faba always been the hate sink, he's a weasel who GF went out of their way to make sure you hate. He's a suck up, is manipulative, has others do his work while taking the credit, and in the post game belittles both Gladion and the player say he'd make for a better president/champion than some kid.

 

[PsychicAcademic]

Yeah, with Faba hiring the Rocket Trio I thought he was going to be a chessmaster for a little while, have them do his dirty work.

Faba always been the hate sink, he's a weasel who GF went out of their way to make sure you hate. He's a suck up, is manipulative, has others do his work while taking the credit, and in the post game belittles both Gladion and the player say he'd make for a better president/champion than some kid.

Eh, as soon as Hau pointed out his idiocy in SM, to me he is relegated from hate sink to What an Idiot relief, so....
Still got the point though, although anime makes sure we don't forget him now like I did in the game.

Anyway, since that bear didn't come, I wonder how's the Rocket gang doing now. The last time we see was in Faba's room and we haven't heard of them since with the bear not rescuing them this time. Yet they delivered the sneak peek, so they might appear there this time.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Various Japanese TV guides have revealed the next episodes title for upcoming episodes of the Pokémon Sun & Moon anime. These episode are set to air on November 23rd, November 30th and December 7th respectively. The first features Lillie and GladionThe second features Ash going to Poni Island to meet Solgaleo, only to discover the Guardian Dieties of the Alola Region there. The final episode features Ash & Co. going through the Ultra Wormhole to hunt for Lusamine

Episode 994: EffortfuLillie! A Determined Runaway Act!
Episode 995: The Altar of the Sunne! Solgaleo Descends!!
Episode 996: Hurry Up! Operation: Rescue Lusamine!!

Wha?

 

[PsychicAcademic]

Well, I'll have to be honest that at first, the artstyle post-XY looks not so serious, but then I softened up. Unlike in XY, SM seems to have more variations in their medium and artstyle. I actually enjoyed Rocket's Ukiyo-e style reaction when they found out the star Dugtrio got away. There are also some other different styles they do in one-shots and other things. While XY's artstyle is generally impressive, SM's is quite easy on the eye, and those amusing injuries certainly help too.

Wha?

I have a feeling that they're now rushing it because it's nearly 1000th Episode overall. Well, the 1000th Episode got to be a special one, but I hope this doesn't actually screw the plot in the anime itself. Still... is this basically that Lusamine is blameless this time? Also, if we move to the plot quickly, this may be doomed by too much filler soon enough, unless Rainbow Rocket or Ultra Recon Squad or whatever it would be can fill the void....

 

[Pikachu315111]

I've softened up on SM's art style too once it got into its groove of being a more gag-focused season. On top of that when things do get serious like in a battle (like using a Z-Move) the art style does lead to creative decision and more emphasized reactions that can add comedy or intensity to it. And while it doesn't look as sharp/detailed as XY, there is slightly more movement fluidity. This makes me curious what a SM movie would look like. With XY the details was overall the same if not having better shadowing and lighting though there was more fluidity to the movements. With SM's advantage being in movement fluidity, only place to go to make it look better is making the character's more detailed. Would the SM designs look good in higher detail?

I have a feeling that they're now rushing it because it's nearly 1000th Episode overall. Well, the 1000th Episode got to be a special one, but I hope this doesn't actually screw the plot in the anime itself. Still... is this basically that Lusamine is blameless this time? Also, if we move to the plot quickly, this may be doomed by too much filler soon enough, unless Rainbow Rocket or Ultra Recon Squad or whatever it would be can fill the void....

What do you mean by blameless? I think this going to end up with it being revealed Lusamine is sorta behind this. She didn't order Faba to hypnotize Gladion, kidnap Lillie, and toss around Ash, but as long as they get Cosmog that's just a slight hiccup. Now I don't think her reason for wanting to go & possibly stay in Ultra Space would be the same. She'll probably still be obsessed with the Nihilego, but maybe more because she just finds them to be fascinating creatures (possibly due to being infected by their toxin) and wishes to study all she can about them. Lillie and Gladion can take care of themselves, no need to worry about them.

But yeah, with the 1000'th episode and USUM coming out (with what looks to be a story that diverges from the original in major ways), maybe they wanted just to get the Aether Foundation plot wrapped up so they could focus on adding in story elements from USUM and do something special for the 1000'th episode. As long as they have the Mother Beast, I'd be happy.

So, what do you think they'd do for the 1000'th episode? Like they already had a Misty & Brock revisit, would it be too early for them and all of Ash's other companions to visit Alola? Maybe have Ash's father make an appearance?

 

[precita]

So the dub of Movie 20 hit theaters in U.S. and most people don't seem to care that Misty/Brock aren't in the movie anymore, like I kinda expected. Would it have been nice to see them? I suppose, but it really wasn't needed.

It's also kinda funny how quickly the Misty/Brock cameo eps in SM flew by. I enjoyed the eps, but it really puts into perspective all those people (mostly fanboys or trolls) who wasted the last two decades of their lives obsessing over Misty leaving the anime and trolling pokemon forums for the last decade over it really were completely insane. Misty hadn't had a cameo since 2005 so it was a 12 year gap for her, but even then it just came and went. I enjoyed the eps, but it's nothing to obsess over, just fun nostalgia.

I occassionally visit regular pokemon forums and there's still people to this day posting delusional rants about Misty like they think we're still in the year 2002 or something, even though she's now been gone for 75% of the animes run and was essentially just a short-lived character in the show. The more delusional ones keep going on about how the anime will get canceled unless she returns or that all the other girls are too weak/girly after her, even though Misty barely battled herself and was generally poor at it for most of her run. It's hard to believe there was once a time people took the rants of delusional Misty fans seriously, they were especially bad back when AG and DP were airing when there weren't that many new girls in the anime yet, but now that it's been 15 years since the end of Johto, and we're now like 7+ female companions later, it really makes you realize how full of nonsense they were.

As someone who has watched practically the entire anime since day 1 with only small breaks here and there, I never would have imagined this sheer stupidity over certain characters would still be going on for 15 years. If I could go back in time to my teenage self from 2003, and told myself about the next 15 years, I would have laughed and shook my head.

 

[Pikachu315111]

So the dub of Movie 20 hit theaters in U.S. and most people don't seem to care that Misty/Brock aren't in the movie anymore, like I kinda expected. Would it have been nice to see them? I suppose, but it really wasn't needed.

It's also kinda funny how quickly the Misty/Brock cameo eps in SM flew by. I enjoyed the eps, but it really puts into perspective all those people (mostly fanboys or trolls) who wasted the last two decades of their lives obsessing over Misty leaving the anime and trolling pokemon forums for the last decade over it really were completely insane. Misty hadn't had a cameo since 2005 so it was a 12 year gap for her, but even then it just came and went. I enjoyed the eps, but it's nothing to obsess over, just fun nostalgia.

I occassionally visit regular pokemon forums and there's still people to this day posting delusional rants about Misty like they think we're still in the year 2002 or something, even though she's now been gone for 75% of the animes run and was essentially just a short-lived character in the show. The more delusional ones keep going on about how the anime will get canceled unless she returns or that all the other girls are too weak/girly after her, even though Misty barely battled herself and was generally poor at it for most of her run. It's hard to believe there was once a time people took the rants of delusional Misty fans seriously, they were especially bad back when AG and DP were airing when there weren't that many new girls in the anime yet, but now that it's been 15 years since the end of Johto, and we're now like 7+ female companions later, it really makes you realize how full of nonsense they were.

As someone who has watched practically the entire anime since day 1 with only small breaks here and there, I never would have imagined this sheer stupidity over certain characters would still be going on for 15 years. If I could go back in time to my teenage self from 2003, and told myself about the next 15 years, I would have laughed and shook my head.

I think once people knew the movie was it's own self contained story and not retconning anything they calmed down and let it be its own thing.

But yeah, it's been 5 generations since Misty left the cast and 3 since any major cameos until those episodes. I like Misty, but I preferred her being let go to actually grow as her own character instead of constantly tagging along with Ash. Misty is now a Gym Leader and the recent episode showed she can now use Mega Evolution! Same can be said for Brock, he's a Pokemon doctor now but he can still throw you around as he too learned Mega Evolution.

Would I like more cameos from previous characters? Sure, of course. I think it's still unfair Iris was never given her cameo episodes like Ash's other girl companions before, they could have done something interesting with her being training to be a Dragon Master and having to deal with the fact Fairy-types are now a thing (we also had a Dragon-type Elite Four member who would seem like a character Iris would go to seek wisdom from). "Oh, but Iris wasn't popular!". I know, and so? If the show only did what was popular it would become boring and just following trends, losing focus it's about taking characters (people and Pokemon), locations, story, and mechanics from the game and adding a new/interesting perspective which only the anime can do as it's not limited by game coding.

 

[Karxrida]

Haven't seen the film yet, but the plot synopsis Team Four Star gave in a recent video just seems to reaffirm to me that the replacement characters were largely unnecessary. Sorrel in particular is effectively just palette swap Brock from what I can tell.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Haven't seen the film yet, but the plot synopsis Team Four Star gave in a recent video just seems to reaffirm to me that the replacement characters were largely unnecessary. Sorrel in particular is effectively just palette swap Brock from what I can tell.

Though they did like Verity saying she had a lot of personality making her different than Ash's other girl companions.

But they did also mention that them shoving Marshadow into the plot felt unnecessary and they enjoyed the retelling part of the movie more than the new stuff.

Also dub music isn't good. Very forgettable whereas the original Japanese had a ton of remixes of classic themes.

If anyone want to watch the review

 

[Gabe]

Saw the film last Sunday, & it was one of the best in years. Maybe since the Darkrai movie. Piplup & Lucario are among the most popular Pokémon of all time so their placement in the movie didn’t seem weird to me at all. If Brock & Misty were part of it, the film would lose its focus. It’s about the friendship between Ash & Pikachu not anyone else. It does acknowledge them as well as his other companions though.

My only gripe is I wish there was more Ho-Oh & Marshadow’s intentions were made a little clearer.