The first half of the episode absolutely failed.
It's nice that they remembered Max is more than just background decoration in the
last friggin' minute, but I was really disappointed to see what kind of a goodbye May got; or rather, how she made her goodbye. I can see why she, with her being very ambitious and all, looked determined rather than sad when she revealed that she wanted to travel alone.
On the other hand though, she also mentioned that she had been pondering about it for a long time - why didn't we get to see any of those moments where she was supposedly torn between going to Johto and sticking with whatever Ash and Co. wanted to do next? We got sequences of her fighting her emotions about losing to Saori shoved down our throats, and while I'm not sure if another phase of emo-ism would have been the way to go, the lack of those made it seem like May could really care less whether she left her best friends for good or not. It made me very sad, to put it mildly.
Anyhow, the end of the Contest was pretty sweet. I'd better not ramble about how the split medal should be mentioned or shown in some way again someday, because then I'd get an "YOU ARE ANNOYING" sign stamped on my forehead very quickly.
*sighs*
As I said earlier though, Max's goodbye was handled very well. It's doubtful that Max's very first trainer battle with Ash will be shown on-screen, but that doesn't really matter in my opinion. Just the way the promise was made really makes it obvious that it
will be kept, but if the viewers will get to see it is up in the air. I'll be content either way - I know they will battle and that's that.
Ash and Brock's "goodbye" was amusing.
Ash: It's time.
Brock: Yeah.
Ash: Up to this point...
Brock: Yeah.
Ash: ...I haven't eaten anything.
The news that Gary would be showing up had been kind of overshadowed by the fact that three people (now it seems to be only two though) would leave in my mind, but once he appeared in the episode, I was totally hyper. I much prefer his FR/LG look to whatever he was wearing before (those boots were horrifying), and his face, whether it was because of Masaaki Iwane's magical work or not, looked much more attractive.
I didn't care much about the battle, but Ash losing was one of the most predictable things about this episode, so wahey. I guess it had to come that way, or Gary wouldn't have provoked Ash (I swear he did that intentionally
) to come to Shin'ou as well. Elekible is one of the scariest things I've ever seen by the way. Only beaten by spiders I guess.
I was so happy to see Delia and Tracey again - Delia especially. She didn't get much screentime the last time Ash returned home, only commenting on various stuff and whatnot, but this time her feelings about Ash leaving so soon after having just arrived at home really came through. Muchas gracias to Iwane for drawing her so nicely too - she looked really beautiful. For those wondering why Ash didn't get the clothes at the end of the episode (I'm not sure if it was already said, but anyway): Delia did say that she wouldn't be able to finish them until the next day.
I've been starting to warm up to Aipom ever since she pwned Professor Oak at his laboratory, and this time, she looked really cute [/muststopusingtheword'really']. Predictable or not, I like the fact that we'll be seeing her in D/P as well.
I'm awaiting the next series with mixed emotions, but the 'looking forward' part is still prevailing by far. And although I'll terribly miss May, I'll just be waiting for the next time she shows up - whether it's in a hoso-ish special, one or more episode(s) from the main series, or just a mere cameo.
Thanks AG! =)
