usagi10000
Member
I had forgotten how this episode went, but it's probably the low point of Ash's entire life. Especially compared to later series.
Ash was defeated in Johto, all his friends split up, Gary moved on, and he no longer had direction. He goes off to Hoenn alone by ferry, and Pikachu is not only sick, his LIFE IS IN DANGER.
It's also a strange way to start the Hoenn saga in general, given this was intended to be a fresh start for the franchise and aimed at new kids. It starts off with Ash and a sick Pikachu tied to a previous saga, they would never do something like that. Besides that, it's also weird in retrospect how low-key May's introduction is in the series. This was the first new female companion ever, and aside from introducing herself, she's not given much focus at all for the majority of the episode. Without the knowledge that she would be a main character, she could have just come across as a random filler character for the episode. Maybe the writers were just reluctant to see how she would be received after Misty?