Mega Evolution: Bond (114)

[Serebii]

Mega Evolution: Bond​

Roy and Ult are about to rematch the Yellow Lucario, but when there they find the duo of Count Oyster and Shoyu the Ninja waiting for them. Roy & Ult challenge them and work together to connect. After the battle, Lucario appears. Will Roy be able to learn Mega Evolution?

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[Blue Saturday]

- there we go Uruto pulls off Mega Shinka!
- Rukario's Luster Cannon animation sick, a whole twister of power
- And he appears to be taking advantage of the adjustment to battle style Mega Evolution Uruto needs?
- Ah using Aura/Wave Guidance to snap itself out of confusion from Confuse Ray, clever asf
- Seems mega evolving has downfalls for Uruto's battling style?
- Achigator is ready to go at once more!
- WAIT SINGING? HAVEN'T SEEN THAT IN A WHILE!
- Wait hold up using the singing to be in-sync with Achigator and keep guidance with Yellow Blast's fighting style?
- Pretty f-ing based, it almost looks like bond phonemenmom forreal??
- Yellow Blast is impressed and getting serious, Roy and Achigator have their own aura!
- Wait Roy mega evolving Lucario due to being in-sync with them as a trio while battling, it, Roy and Achigator?
- That kind of sick!
- And we have our beam struggle! Mega Lucario is probably defeated by Achigator even after Roy powered up his own opponent??? That's kind of a weird yet memorable battle, making your own opponent strong and still managing to overcome them
- And it was a setup by Mayonaise it seems, as expected the food trio and him are buddies.
- Yellow Bast is so cute and impressed by Roy???? Never seen it behave so vulnerable and starry-eyed. It really is kind of just like Roy when it comes down it??
- Roy and Lucario both feel each other's aura? And lucario is pretty much begging to go with Roy, guess the miracle of mega evolution and the battle against Achigator left an impression on it? Good advertisement for Z, no doubt!
- And we get a formal capture!!! ****ing niiiiceeee
- Fuel to the Roy-Uruto rivalry with seeing him properly earn Lucario's connection versus his closed Off-Limits Dark Ball
- Stream was kind of trash but great episode and animation and we got way more than I expected (randomly woke up and caught this episode)
- Matiere's cat also uses its psychic powers to communicate something between Cap and Roy???
- Wait, Roy's makeover happens in Kalos? And the growth spurt happens as they travel and battle together???
- They actually bothered to update the ending, so much effort for one episode?
- I believe the ending has his whole team now? Achigator, Taikaiden, Yellow Lucario and Cap???

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Lol at Lucario acting like a puppy-dog begging to join his team before Roy catches it. Of course that personality evaporates as soon as it joined him.

I guess this will be referred to as the day that Roy gave up singing and decided to be a man cause being a man is what it's all about.

Definitely the best animated episode with some great moments but unfortunately this mini-arc failed to impress me much. They can try and suddenly turn that frown upside down but as far as I'm concerned this yellow Lucario was just as bland and boring as when we first saw it and up until now it's clear that Ult was getting more character development than Roy was because boy was the dude pretty boring here. Sucks cause Roy had been so much fun up until this timeskip phase and now he's turned into the exact opposite.

Shame to see Horizons is still fumbling the ball. The next arc and this upcoming Blueberry Academy visit is gonna have to work double time to get that ol' fun-filled spirit the earlier arcs had back.

 

[Bronzy]

LUCARIO BEGGING TO JOIN ROY LIKE AN LITERAL PUPPY?! ACTUAL PERSONALITY?!?!

Seriously if they had Lucario in Mega Voltage pretend to be edgy and cool but actually a huge fanboy doggie at heart then I would actually like him a lot

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

This was a really enjoyable episode. The animation was top notch, we saw how Roy caught Lucario and changed his outfit, and Lucario looked so funny and adorable when it admired Crocalor. I hope we'll get to see that same admiration later on as well.

 

[Kazuniya]

LUCARIO BEGGING TO JOIN ROY LIKE AN LITERAL PUPPY?! ACTUAL PERSONALITY?!?!

Are the writers aware that throughout Mega Voltage Lucario displayed no semblance of personality? That it had no dynamic with Roy or Crocalor? Are they going to pretend like Lucario "secretly" had a personality all along? What sloppy writing.

 

[lolipiece]

Lucario does have a personality, it’s just that people on the internet refuse to accept any kind that aren’t cartoonishly over the top.

 

[AzureMagix]

Lucario does have a personality, it’s just that people on the internet refuse to accept any kind that aren’t cartoonishly over the top.

And yet they didnt show it in arc 5 anyways

 

[Blue Saturday]

Lucario’s always been portrayed as calm, focused, and reserved as a species, so seeing Yellow Blast connect with Roy’s spirit and suddenly burst with excitement felt perfect (and a very epic "protagonist" moment him). It’s like that moment when someone who’s usually composed finally finds the right person to bring out their passion? (Enough to even accidentally trigger Mega Shinka on the first try, lmao, boy's aura must taste good?)

Watching Lucario get fired up and practically begging to join him was such a satisfying moment. It sets up a really nice dynamic for their journey going forward, Roy, Achigator, and Lucario all feeding off each other’s growth. I really loved how they handled Lucario’s development here.

 

[Bronzy]

Are the writers aware that throughout Mega Voltage Lucario displayed no semblance of personality? That it had no dynamic with Roy or Crocalor? Are they going to pretend like Lucario "secretly" had a personality all along? What sloppy writing.

I wonder if even the writers aren't too proud of Mega Voltage after it's less-than-stellar animation and story compared to the other arcs... would explain why the next arc is called ''Rising Again'' lol

 

[Bronzy]

Watching Lucario get fired up and practically begging to join him was such a satisfying moment. It sets up a really nice dynamic for their journey going forward

I wouldn't get your hopes up considering we didn't see that dynamic in the 22 episodes that chronically take place after this episode

 

[Veedramon]

- I believe the ending has his whole team now? His Gator, Taikaiden, Yellow Lucario and Cap???

I'm hoping that this is a sign

 

[Blue Saturday]

I'm hoping that this is a sign

Yeah, I think it’s pretty clear at this point since Roy and Liko’s team changes have been mirroring each other for a while. It really seems like he’ll be Cap’s trainer until the end of the series, maybe even permanently after everything they’ve been through.

Achigator → Masquernya
Taikaiden → Tebrim
Pikachu → Terapagos
Lucario → Carbou

 

[Dephender]

One of the longest animation director lists we've had in a while.

Screenplay 松澤くれは (Kureha Matsuzawa)
Storyboard 中田誠 (Makoto Nakata)
Storyboard 忍田雄介 (Yusuke Oshida)
Episode Director 中田誠 (Makoto Nakata)
Animation Director 安田周平 (Shūhei Yasuda)
Animation Director 篠原隆 (Takashi Shinohara)
Animation Director 志村泉 (Izumi Shimura)
Animation Director 柳原好貴 (Kōki Yanagihara)
Animation Director 大西雅也 (Masaya Ōnishi)
Animation Director 山田俊也 (Toshiya Yamada)
Animation Director 大野泰江 (Yasue Ōno)
Animation Director 中矢利子 (Toshiko Nakaya)
Animation Director 忍田雄介 (Yusuke Oshida)
Animation Director Jitsupa Saepang
Animation Director Preeyanan Maliwan

 

[Blue Saturday]

They definitely blew the budget for the next two months, kek. Had to make that Mega Shinka showcase perfect for ZA, otherwise Game Freak and Nintendo would’ve had their heads on a platter.

 

[Sham]

Using Roy’s time skip change to compare with trainer customization in ZA was a nice touch. Glad Emma kept his hate as a souvenir of their time together. 11/10 arc

 

[1rkhachatryan]

Just as I figured, the most interesting parts of this arc had nothing to do with Roy lol. We got Emma and Ult's backstory and that's about it. Lucario is as interesting as watching paint dry as usual.

 

[345ash-greninja]

I really did enjoy this episode, especially the bonding moments between Ult/Sableye, Roy/Crocalor and later on Roy/Lucario. Been a long time since Horizons gave us an episode this good.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

How is it that Roy goes from completely being a statistic to suddenly owning a foe who he literally powers up and beats in such a short time? This gave me an awful flashback when he was completely trounced by Ryme, only for him to come back and make a fool out of her (with a strategy that he pretty much stopped using altogether because it just wouldn't fit him with the Lucario he has now and that it required an audience).

I winced the moment I saw it making those puppy eyes. Like...why? It was this no-nonsense warrior who wasn't shown to be that needy for a trainer. I almost wanted it to go to Ult just for that.

So, Ult actually got some growth (that was perhaps unneeded to see because he debuted with other flaws anyway), and Roy doesn't really have to do much to get to the Pineapplecario, who bonds with him at the drop of a hat through getting beaten.

God, I'm so glad Liko is back next week. She and Dot actually go through hurdles (just let's ignore all the pity passes they got while Roy was allowed to win 75% of his battles at Paldea).

Lucario does have a personality, it’s just that people on the internet refuse to accept any kind that aren’t cartoonishly over the top.

...So just the same personality as every other Lucario (except maybe the one from Unova who was annoying)?

I'd wager that Ash's had a personality, but it was buried deep down among all the episodes where it only existed to battle which caused it to look like yet another battle bot. Remember that budding thing he had with Cinderace? Yeah...that disappeared for the next 90 episodes. This new puppy-eyed Lucario stopped existing as well because we all know it hasn't done that at all.

 

[DomiDsLP]

One of the longest animation director lists we've had in a while.

When one thinks of the credited names only, yes... with the studio only animation director credits we had on mass in Mega Voltage though... that is likely incorrect in the core of it without anyone being able to see so.



Full Staff List for the Episode as always over on KeyFrame Staff List.

Screenplay 松澤くれは (Kureha Matsuzawa) Storyboard 中田誠 (Makoto Nakata) Storyboard 忍田雄介 (Yusuke Oshida) Episode Director 中田誠 (Makoto Nakata) Animation Director 安田周平 (Shūhei Yasuda) Animation Director 篠原隆 (Takashi Shinohara) Animation Director 志村泉 (Izumi Shimura) Animation Director 柳原好貴 (Kōki Yanagihara) Animation Director 大西雅也 (Masaya Ōnishi) Animation Director 山田俊也 (Toshiya Yamada) Animation Director 大野泰江 (Yasue Ōno) Animation Director 中矢利子 (Toshiko Nakaya) Animation Director 忍田雄介 (Yusuke Oshida) (OLM Thailand) Animation Director Jitsupa Saepang Animation Director Preeyanan Maliwan Action Supervision 忍田雄介 (Yusuke Oshida)

So here we have the new TV anipoke episode with the most invididual Key Animators during its entire history with 41 (already counted minus the three studio affiliations on top of a few) and the majority of them are skilled animators which were seemingly to a high percentage invited to work on this episode by series main (action) animator Yusuke Oshida as he described here and as such the episode has tons of sakuga moments and is deserving to be called sakugafest!

It was really really really good. With even Lucario really shining brightly as the best it has been!