First off, I'm going to give the writers credit for 1) acknowledging that Hau is Hala's grandson; and 2) giving us a good reason as to why Hau hasn't appeared before now—he was away from Alola with his father (which also references the fact that Hau's father had left in Alola in the games, too). So now Hau's absence makes sense. Secondly, Hau is pretty much as I imagined he would be. He is incredibly similar to Ash—cheerful, excitable, and full of energy—but he is different enough that he and Ash don't seem like clones of each other.
It was a
little disappointing that Hau beat Ash the first time mainly because Ash got clumsy and dropped his Grassium Z and then got distracted looking for that rather than paying attention to the battle. (Really, Hau, I wouldn't get so excited over a win like that.
) At least Ash and Rowlet redeemed themselves in the second battle, which was actually a little exciting. And Hau and Ash's promise to battle again has me feeling pretty certain that Hau is going to be another rival for Ash.
Once again, Ash the Wacky Trainer strikes. I have to admit, though, while some of his training tactics this series have been a bit...unorthodox—butt-shaking to help Rockruff learn Rock Throw, spitting berries to help Rowlet learn Bullet Seed—it's nice to see him get more hands-on with training his Pokémon. And I want to know how he developed the ability to spit out berries like they were bullets. Seriously, Ash, what other talents have you been hiding?
On a sadder note... so much for my
incredibly slim hope that Rowlet might evolve.
At least the reason is plausible—Rowlet swallowed an Everstone, so it
can't evolve unless it decides to spit the thing out. Which probably isn't happening, since it seems to like the way it tastes. It's still a little disappointing, though.