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Hurry Up! Operation: Rescue Lusamine!! (996)

Frozocrone

Miraculous!
I didn't have too much of an issue with Mallow, Lana and Sophocles being able to handle boosted Lusamine's mons because (A) Litten and Rowlet helped out and (B) Charjabug's ability. I also liked the little comedy moments that helps break up the tension.

Should have seen more flashbacks of Lillie and Clefairy before this episode. Like when we first saw her Pokedoll, some exposition explaining why she has it would have been cool and helped reinforce their relationship. Otherwise OK.

Kiawe using a Z-move was eh I guess, kinda figured it would happen. More interested in next episode because it clearly didn't work.

I find myself somewhat disappointed really. Maybe the stakes would have been raised higher had the other UBs appeared. SM seems to thrive more when it's not trying to be serious.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
I don't mind Lana, Sophocles, and Mallow doing decently against Lusamine's pokémon. There hasn't been much indication that Lusamine's pokémon have a lot of battle experience (quite the contrary I'd say since Lusamine has been portrayed as very busy with the Aether Foundation, she wouldn't have had much time battling with her pokémon), and Lusamine's pokémon didn't have their trainer guiding them on, while the children usedsome teamwork to battle, like having Togedemaru absorb Mismagius's Thunderbolt. I'm also not really being too strict on consistency in pokémon powers as that's never really been the focus of the pokémon anime anyway and it's not what it tries or aims to do. The anime focuses much more on delivering spectacle, tactics, and cool fights and has a large degree of "Bonding with your pokémon makes them stronger" compared to the games which are more focused on levels and experience to represent power.

Wow, Clefable is a lot bigger than i imagined. And it looks really snuggly too.

Clefable is 130cm (4 ft 3 inches) according to the pokédex. Seeing as Lillie is still a child it doesn't surprise me too much, Lillie is probably around 145cm (I think that's about 4 ft 9 inches in imperial) or so, not much taller than Clefable.
 
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Zipper4242

Bewear is the most powerful being in the universe.
So what was the deal with Rowlet? Didn't see the episode yet (too busy worrying about these awful SoCal fires) so I can't form opinions about how it went.

Thanks so much!
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
So what was the deal with Rowlet? Didn't see the episode yet (too busy worrying about these awful SoCal fires) so I can't form opinions about how it went.

Thanks so much!

It's just a small gag they did in the battle, lasted a few seconds. Lusamine's Lilligant used Sweet Scent and Rowlet liked that a lot so it landed on Lilligant with heart-eyes.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I'm mixed about the battles, I get it was compressed and it was nice to see the other companions not getting worfed, but I do admit it was hard to believe of all trainers only Gladion's team suffered remote damage. It's another standard 'the heroes are kicking ***' scenario.

Bewear wants the TRio to stay put. I'm guessing something eventful is happening for them next episode.

At last, Charjabug and Marowak are put into battle. Not for a very long time, but still nice to see them commanded and as usual Sophociles uses his Electric types' ability strategically.

Rowlet kills the mood (and even the music). Steenee even screams at him for daring to glomp another Sweet Scent user. XD

Clefable being brought out of it's state I agree would have been more meaningful if we'd seen it with Lillie more often, same situation as with Nebby again. This arc was DEFINITELY compressed for time. Still the flashbacks were pretty cute.
 

WaterShuriken

"I..I..Iron Tail, Pikachu."
Hmm. I dug this episode. Everyone did something and it made sense to have Gladion and Kiawe be by themselves against the aura'd Pokémon. It was 3 vs 1 and 2 vs 1. The other three were 4 vs 3 until Litten and Rowlet showed up. 6 vs 3 was more fair.

Hopefully Lana can use Hydro Vortex next episode..

Lillie has grown a lot and it only took her mom to get kidnapped. It went by a little quick, but I'm looking forward to her progress once this arc is over.
 

Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
OK, I know I'm definitely going to receive a lot of hate for this, but I was really less than impressed with the whole Lillie calming Clefable part. Yeah sure, the power of friendship has been a theme for 20 years now, so even though it's super predictable, I can understand why they use it. But in Lillie's case, other than learning once that Lillie loved her Clefairy and was upset that it evolved, we never knew anything beyond that. Yet, this scene makes it seem like Lillie and Clefable's bond was as close as Ash and Pikachu's, eventhough we've never seen them at all. A few flashbacks trying to depict their closeness doesn't cut it.

No, I agree that was pretty freaking dumb.
We've seen them reference Lillie and Clefable's past once.... and never did it again or showed it before that point. And she's supposed to be able to snap it out of a trance like Ash and Pikachu, and the TRio and Meowth, and all the other examples of characters who have shown to be closer to their Pokemon than what we've seen of Lillie and Clefable? I doubt we'll even see her and Clefable interact anymore than we already have after this.
It belongs to Lusamine, not Lillie too. If Clefable was Lillie's or at least living with her it'd be more believable.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Well they did it for James and Inkay as well. I mean they did have some cute interactions beforehand for a flashback montage but not a huge deal. The trick was they added more bonding moments afterwards so it looked more meaningful retroactively. One can hope Clefable's role doesn't end here.
 
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Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
Well they did it for James and Inkay as well. I mean they did have some cute interactions beforehand for a flashback montage but not a huge deal. The trick was they added more bonding moments afterwards so it looked more meaningful retroactively. One can hope Clefable's role doesn't end here.

James always has special bonds with his Pokemon, he's never had to actually battle what he caught. It can work with him without it being shown, and Inkay was actually around James for a long time at that point. It's more XY's fault for not giving James a focus episode so we could see them together outside of battling the Twerps.
Clefable on the other hand, never brought up until recently. She doesn't hang around Lillie, hard to even react to that at all. As a long time viewer, it's easy to care for Team Rocket and Ash snapping their Pokemon out of a trance as we know how close they get to them.... especially if it's Meowth and Pikachu, but a new character doing that to a Pokemon that doesn't even belong to her? Please
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
While this episode's pace flowed well at first, I couldn't help but notice some similarities between this fight in Ultra Space and the Flare-dan climax in the XY saga. And I'm still irked that in spite of Lilie and Gladio's presence in Ultra Space, it was Satoshi who seemed more poised to take down Uturoid and save Lusamine. I loved the scene with Pixy and Lilie, however.
 

p96822

Evolve me please
Again what is the point of having Team Rocket here. They really severe no propose and wasting a few mintune of the episodes
 

Rajas

Well-Known Member
So like Nihilego is using the little piece of Lusamine that wanted to meet an UB to keep it fused to her while it's draining her energy or something? Is that what's happening to her?
 

U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
So like Nihilego is using the little piece of Lusamine that wanted to meet an UB to keep it fused to her while it's draining her energy or something? Is that what's happening to her?

Pretty much. It's horrifying in that it's like a drug addition. You want it, but you can't ever leave it because you now need it. If the anime had played up this aspect of Nihilego, it would genuinely be terrifying. Unfortunately, this isn't Digimon Tamers.
 

Rajas

Well-Known Member
I guess it makes sense in a way for it to use her smallest remaining desire to keep her trapped :/, that just means Lillie would break her out of it with the love talk next week. Another thing that I don't really get is that Lillie's flashback with Clefable shows her happy that she is evolved yet she's mad at her mother for evolving it when they first met. Bit weird if you ask me tbh.
 

Satomine Night

The Power of Z!
I guess it makes sense in a way for it to use her smallest remaining desire to keep her trapped :/, that just means Lillie would break her out of it with the love talk next week. Another thing that I don't really get is that Lillie's flashback with Clefable shows her happy that she is evolved yet she's mad at her mother for evolving it when they first met. Bit weird if you ask me tbh.
There was nothing weird about it at all, if you ask me. The point of Lillie's flashback was to show all the fun she had with Clefable, both when it was a Clefairy and after it evolve. That flashback had nothing to do with Lillie's anger at Lusamine evolving Clefairy into Clefable. The fact that Clefairy had evolved didn't stop Lillie from spending time with Clefable or enjoying the time she spent with it.
 
I guess it makes sense in a way for it to use her smallest remaining desire to keep her trapped :/, that just means Lillie would break her out of it with the love talk next week. Another thing that I don't really get is that Lillie's flashback with Clefable shows her happy that she is evolved yet she's mad at her mother for evolving it when they first met. Bit weird if you ask me tbh.

The reason Lillie was mad at her mom for evolving Clefairy was because Lusamine never stopped to consider how her daughter felt about it. Lillie always played with Clefairy, so Lusamine must've known how close they were. Yes, Lillie's argument that Clefairy shouldn't have evolved because "it was cuter that way" wasn't the most logical, which Lillie herself didn't deny, but it was still understandable for her age at that time. It's not like Lillie wouldn't change her mind eventually, or that she wouldn't adapt to the change (clearly she did). But her mother acted like her own child's feelings didn't matter to her. That's the whole crux of their conflict in the anime.
 
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Leonhart

Imagineer
Again what is the point of having Team Rocket here. They really severe no propose and wasting a few mintune of the episodes

They didn't do much though, so I didn't view their appearance as detrimental since Satoshi's group still managed to do what they had to do in Ultra Space. But even without the Rocket-dan, I don't think much would've improved.
 

345ash-greninja

Auto-Memories Doll
Albeit an excellent episode overall, the one very bad aspect is pretty much mentioned in Satomine Night's words here:

I was surprised that Gladion struggled against Absol, but on the other hand, we saw very little of that battle. Hopefully, Gladion will get more focus in the next episode. I do have to wonder, though, why Gladion didn't send Silvally ahead with Ash and Lillie, since its job is to battle Ultra Beasts.

Seriously, how did the writers treat Gladion in this manner in the Aether climax, who is a powerful trainer, an important character in the Aether plot, when Silvally has been hyped up explicity in the anime to be a counter to the UB's and a Beast Slayer? The only thing he and his Pokemon did in this episode was struggling against Lusamine's Absol. I really hope that in the next episode, Gladion defeats Absol quickly enough, and goes with Silvally to help Pikachu fight the Mother Beast/the other Nihilego's. other it would be hands down underwhelming how they treated Gladion in the climax and make Silvally's role as a Beast killer seem kinda pointless.
 
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xEryChan

Demon Child
I finally gotten to this watch episode. I have no words for it, it was great and it kept me on the edge of my seat. It was so intense from beginning to end and I really loved it.

As everyone predicted, Lusamine is being possessed by Nihilego. I honestly felt bad for Lillie and Gladion at the beginning. I know they are going to be able to snap her out of it soon enough and I really cannot wait for that to happen.

All of Ash’s classmates are battling all of Lusamine’s Pokemon. I’m glad they had them doing this instead of just having them follow around Ash and do nothing.

The main part of the episode that really stood out to me is Lillie getting through to Lusamine’s Clefable. That scene was brilliantly done. It was clear to see that Lillie really cares for Clefable. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole entire scene, especially when Lillie was hugging Clefable while its attack, I think it was Dazzling Gleam, was around the two of them. I was in awe throughout that whole scene, I just loved it.

I, of course, only have one complaint about it and that is, of course, Team Rocket. What was the point of them being in it? After last weeks episode, it seems unnecessary to have them in it, especially since Bewear was pretty much telling them not intrude on what Ash and his classmates were doing. I just don’t get why they have to be in every episode.

All that being said, this episode was great. The only only about it I didn’t like was Team Rocket but the rest of them made up for that, in my eyes. I cannot wait to watch the next episode, especially because Ash is getting the Pikashium Z.

I give this an episode a 9/10. It was great. That’s all I have to say.
 

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
welp, there's the totem salazzle battle we wondered about
 
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