Hmm, I read parts of this, but now I know the full thing. So if Lusamine is not under the influence of toxins, does she still hate her kids? Honestly, this sounds more reasonable than her SM self, since in USUM, she's being forced to the limit due to the threat of Necrozma.
From what i have read, her relationship with her children didn't seem to have changed all that much from SM,
she still says horrible things to both Lillie and Gladion
Well, even though I'm not surprised, that's still disappointing, and in a way, worse than SM in regards to this. Atleast in SM, they could say she was affected by Nihilego, but if she's just naturally ruthless and evil in USUM, there's really no logical reason to hate her kids. So yeah, in this regard, there's still no change in USUM, so that means the anime is definitely taking a very different approach compared to both SM and USUM.
This arc is shaping up to be quite different from both SM and USUM though, which is not surprising, considering how the evil teams' arcs have been so different from the source material lately.
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Does anyone notice how Lusamine "casually" allows Faba to escape and seak out?
Well none of them were paying attention tbf, Lusamine was fawning over Lillie, Gladion letting him escape is most surprising as he's the one who wanted to take him down mostly, even Ash should have been paying more attention and Rotom as well as that is his thing usually to be the 'detective'.
I don't blame them because they're 10 year olds. However you'd think a 40 year old woman running a high class business would at least report to the police that there's a mad scientist in her facility; harassing her daughter. That or just fire him
I don't think being 10 would be an issue here tbh, Ash has so much experience with bad guys that he hardly ever allows this and again Gladion is so driven on protecting Lillie that he made it known to Ash yet he lets Faba tiptoe away? Lusamine is already shown as ditsy when it comes to paying attention to things around her as well. I do think the next episode will continue from right there though so it may not be too bad.
I choose to not acknowledge Ash's past experiences in regions since his development are all over the place each saga. However I understand your point. I just find it strange she didn't fire him on the spot like she should have. Yes Gladion and Ash should of said something but at the end of day Faba is Lusamine's problem since she hired and made him chief. To allow him to (possibly) keep working there after her harassaed and kindapped her daughter makes me suspicious. Remember in the SM games they tried very hard to make Lusamine look like a good guy (before going to Ula Ula) and it wasn't revealed until half way through the games she's loco. Maybe the anime is trying to emulate that
Seriously, what is with this anime and trying to make sure the protagonists are so pure and righteous that even their parents can't be evil? It is getting really annoying. Even if the parent turns evil because of enhancement of darker desires, it is still presenting darker passions within the parent.