Enter Rowlet! I Got A Pokémon in Alola!! (947)

[OshyHikari]

I listened to a clip from this episode to see how Rowlet's voice sounded. It was generic coo-ing performed by the currently-unknown English VA, but considering the pitch of the voice I'm assuming Rowlet's dub VA is female. If that's the case, this means the Alola starters will be the first unevolved trio of starters to all have female voices in the English dub, since Lisa Ortiz and Eileen Stevens voice Litten and Popplio respectively.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

I've got a question:

When Rotom talks, is it the Pokemon talking or the Pokedex itself? If it's Rotom talking, that implies Rotom are fully sapient. If it's the Pokedex, then it's basically a fully-realized artificial intelligence that happens to be powered by a Pokemon.

 

[lemoncatpower]

I've got a question:

When Rotom talks, is it the Pokemon talking or the Pokedex itself? If it's Rotom talking, that implies Rotom are fully sapient. If it's the Pokedex, then it's basically a fully-realized artificial intelligence that happens to be powered by a Pokemon.

I think it's a bit of a mix. I am sure Rotom has his knowledge of when he was without the dex form, but with all the knowledge given to him by the pokedex in the dex form, he can make better sense of everything and can learn with a proper IQ relatable or higher to humans. (Id say higher than average).

 

[OshyHikari]

So considering Rowlet's dub voice sounds female, who do you think its mystery VA was? I'm guessing someone like Erica Shroeder, since she does tend to perform most of the "cutesy" Pokemon voices.

 

[Pikachu52]

Okay it's another regression series.

The episode opens with Ash not only failing to catch a Grubbin of all Pokémon, but with said Grubbin leaving major damage on Pikachu. After the XY series that put Pikachu in his rightful place as Ash's strongest Pokémon and seeing him as the hero of four gyms and the final and semi-final of the league and only sustain I think five losses, that's a huge let down.
Later in the episode Pikachu would nearly loose to Mimikyu, a Team Rocket Pokémon, and was only saved by the intervention of Rowlett.

That's a real shame.

Regression aside however, it's still a pretty good episode. Ash's first catch Ketchum Style is Rowlett choosing to go with Ash as opposed to Ash actually catching him. But that's how it should be given the whole point of the anime is about friendship and Pokémon aren't prizes or possessions. Greninja was caught pretty much the same way.

The Team Rocket Bewear gag works well. Of this series so far the new Team Rocket is the best part.
It's slightly odd to have them stealing for almost good reasons - The Pikipeck did steal Bewear's food. Then again they did say they were out for Pikachu too.

 

[U.N. Owen]

Okay it's another regression series.

The episode opens with Ash not only failing to catch a Grubbin of all Pokémon, but with said Grubbin leaving major damage on Pikachu. After the XY series that put Pikachu in his rightful place as Ash's strongest Pokémon and seeing him as the hero of four gyms and the final and semi-final of the league and only sustain I think five losses, that's a huge let down.
Later in the episode Pikachu would nearly loose to Mimikyu, a Team Rocket Pokémon, and was only saved by the intervention of Rowlett.

The idea that wild pokemon are somehow weaker than captured ones is just bizarre. If that was the case, then Dialga and Palkia are weaklings.

 

[Vipsoccermaster]

The dubbed episode for the Rowlet capture aired today in the United States. The episode itself was pretty good. Pikachu losing to Grubbin is just cruel, but that's the writers' choice. Resetting Pikachu back to level 5, in terms of endurance and strength, but retains the same moves. What "collection" is James referring to regarding the Luxury Ball? His Bottle Cap collection? Good to see the debut of the Pikipek family and the capture of Rowlet to go with Ash.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

The dubbed episode for the Rowlet capture aired today in the United States. The episode itself was pretty good. Pikachu losing to Grubbin is just cruel, but that's the writers' choice. Resetting Pikachu back to level 5, in terms of endurance and strength, but retains the same moves. What "collection" is James referring to regarding the Luxury Ball? His Bottle Cap collection? Good to see the debut of the Pikipek family and the capture of Rowlet to go with Ash.

Remember that Pikachu had been beaten down by Mimikyu the episode before and was not healed between episodes. Not to mention that it was fighting a Pokémon with a tendency to use Dig and Grubbin was fighting to escape, not to beat Pikachu.

 

[Bguy7]

There were a couple of interesting things in this episode. I was very surprised to see a main character use a special type of Pokéball for the first time since the Lure Ball. It was kind of random, but interesting. Also interesting was the fact that Rotomdex seems to be breaking the fourth wall. I suppose it's a way to tell new viewers how a Pokémon is caught without making Ash look like he's completely forgotten. Also, Rowlet was extremely cute. Perhaps the most interesting thing of all, if you're as interested in details as I am, we got to see what many berries look when peeled/cut into pieces, including what seemed to be the Pinap Berry, Nanab Berry, and Watmel Berry. Normally we just see berries eaten whole, so we don't get see things like the fact that a Pinap Berry is segmented like a pineapple or that you can peel a Nanab Berry like a banana.

Though, that's two episodes heavily featuring Team Rocket without them blasting off. How odd.

 

[Vipsoccermaster]

Remember that Pikachu had been beaten down by Mimikyu the episode before and was not healed between episodes. Not to mention that it was fighting a Pokémon with a tendency to use Dig and Grubbin was fighting to escape, not to beat Pikachu.

Having now watched the episode before this one, yes, that made sense. Pikachu was worn out a bit during the time between episodes, as they were still in the forest.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Had to watch this episode online since my DirecTV failed to record it and confused it for episode 3.

It took like 700 episodes, but this anime is finally acknowledging the other Poke Balls...even though they didn't explain at all why the Luxury Ball is special (or why James suddenly has one) and why Mimikyu accepted that one over the other Poke Balls it slapped away.

Rowlet is a blast and hilarious. Rotomdex continues trying to shoehorn itself into conversations and be annoying.

To think TR had a legitimate reason to get the food back...but then their honest reasons went down the wall when they went after the Pokemon.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Rowlett seems like a chikorita but probably showed more character in this episode than Chikorita ever did.

What do you mean? Chikorita's obsession with Ash's lap was such a big plot point in Johto that when she evolved, there was an episode about how she couldn't sit in Ash's lap anymore because she was too big. I would say Chikorita was Ash's best developed Johto Pokémon.

Hey! Maybe there can be a similar episode about how Dartrix can't fit in the backpack!

Did not expect the entire Pikapek line though.

Agreed, and I think that based on that, Ash will not catch any of them. Not saying that
"Because they have debuted, it is impossible for Ash to catch them." NOT saying that

What I'm saying is
"If Ash were going to catch a Pikapek, the writers would not have debuted all 3 in this episode" which I actually do believe to be true, patterns or not, especially since Rowlet can fly.

game =/= anime

Well then why is his original trainer Ash and his encounter date October 17, 2013? (which I wish they could have changed to October 19 for the English language games)

I kinda noticed static background "returned" for 5-6 seconds when Grubbin hit Pikachu in the cheek...
I think static background was just there..I just hope it doesn't spread in episodes entirely. I wouldn't mind seeing 10-15 seconds of static background per episode, while rest of it is actually live background.

Yeah especially after XY and XY&Z had (I think) 0 instances of static background

It does look like Mallow is going to be the one closest to Ash, which doesn't surprise me given her debut and how similar the two of them seem. However, I do want each classmate to get his or her own focus episode with Ash. It looks like we'll get that with Lana next week, but I also want that for Lillie, Kiawe, Mallow, and Sophocles.

Based on upcoming titles, it seems Monday will be Lana focus, Tuesday Sophocles, and Thursday Lillie. Friday and Saturday are obviously about Ash's first trial and Kahuna battle, but then next Saturday has Kiawe's name in the title. However, we have more titles after that, going all the way to the end of June, and still no sign of what could be a Mallow focus episode (unless Mallow is somehow the focus of this Litten episode but based on the description it doesn't seem like it) so i REALLY hope that this doesn't count as Mallow's episode just because she spent the whole episode alone with Ash. For example, I want an episode about Mallow's family's restaurant!

That said, I did really appreciate that she was the only one with Ash in this episode because I felt like I actually got to know who she is. For the first three episodes, there were so many characters at the same time that I couldn't really get a grasp on each one's personality and characteristics.

I like Mallow a lot and I hope she travels with Ash when he leaves Melemele Island. In fact, I would like Ash to travel with just the three girls because I couldn't care less about Sophocles tbh (although Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld is great as always!) and Kiawe i don't think will travel with Ash because he is also taking on the island challenge so he is like a rival. I wonder what will happen after both Ash and Kiawe have completed all four islands?

The only part that I didn't care for in Rowlet was when he was interrupting other characters like Mallow, still I see why cuz they kind of have to have Rotom scan every pokemon it sees for the viewers sake.

Do you mean Rotom not Rowlet?

No, I don't expect it to evolve since Ghost is one of the several types Ash has never caught

Really? I actually think that makes it more likely to evolve because Ash has to get a Ghost Pokémon at some point....

I wish he had caught Mimikyu instead of Jessie because then he could have not only gotten a Ghost but also a Fairy

Did they get a new actor or is that just another wonderful direction change?

Yes a new actor Kayzie Rogers retired

why Mimikyu accepted that one over the other Poke Balls it slapped away.

I just rewatched "A Frenzied Factory Fiasco!" since it reaired on Disney XD this morning.

In it, when Meowth almost gets caught in a Luxury Ball, he comes out happy. Maybe Luxury Balls are comfortable on the inside for the Pokémon, so they're tricked into enjoying it before realizing they've been caught

 

[OshyHikari]

So it appears Rowlet is voiced by Roger Callagy in the dub, the same English VA as Rotom Dex... not sure how I feel about this.

 

[Leonhart]

Mimikkyu being captured by Musashi using Kojirou's Gorgeous Ball was fantastic, and I chuckled when the Rocket-dan drank Kiteruguma's honey. Agojimushi versus Pikachu was amusing too, mostly due to Lilie's reaction. Also, I didn't quite like Kerarappa or Dodekabashi much before this episode, but now I think both are spiffy.

 

[Yukki]

I really liked this episode.

COMMENTS:
- Rowlet is so cute OMG
- Mimikyu is amazing. I like how they used a luxury ball to catch Mimikyu
. WTF did Pikachu lose to a Grubbin lol?

Mimikyu hates Pikachu so much, wow.

 

[Leonhart]

Frankly, I found Mokuroh to be similar to Citron's Harimaron, except not as active. Its personality was amusing here, yet it gave off the impression of being SM's new gag Pokemon.

 

[KyogreThunder]

An alright episode. Grubbin beating Pikachu was cheap, but I liked it when Toucannon encouraged Rowlet to join Ash. It was funny to see Rowlet doze off while being scolded by Trumbeak and Jessie and James freaking out at the thought of becoming part of Bewear's menu.
7/10