SWEET YET STRONGEST
You'd think the undefeated Dande and his rival Kibana have nothing to do with sweets, but now they've been summoned by Poplar to do some exciting and thrilling cake baking with Satoshi, Go and the others. You'll get to treat yourself to a super sweet battle?!
THE CURTAIN RAISES FOR A SWEETS BATTLE WHERE YOU'LL GET TO SEE SOME UNEXPECTED REAL SELVES?!
Satoshi and Go have returned to the Sakuragi Laboratories as usual, where a phone call awaits them. And the person that appears on the monitor is Poplar, who they met back in the Luminous Maze Forest in the Galar region. Poplar is the Gym Leader of the Arabesque Gym, and she immediately cuts to the chase: "I'm inviting you guys to a special tournament."
When Satoshi hears that Dande, the reigning winner of the Pokémon World Championships and a person he really looks up to, is going to be in the tournament as well, he decides to enter without a second thought. He enters the venue alongside Go, who's excited about getting new Pokémon in the Galar region, and Koharu, who once had a mysterious experience with a Galar region Ponyta, but the special tournament that awaits them there turns out to be a Mawhip cream cake decoration tournament?!
The rather bizarre tale "Mawhip's Super Sweet Battle?!", where Satoshi and the others struggle against the unfamiliar opponent "cream", will finally see the return of Knuckle City's Gym Leader Kibana. He's previously shown us his vivid fighting style in the Pokémon World Championships as a good rival of the reigning winner Dande, but he seems like a fish out of water when he has to face whipped cream...... Don't miss this chance to see the real Dande and Kibana, which you've never been able to before!
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Interview with scriptwriter Akemi Omode:
PAY ATTENTION TO HOW DANDE AND KIBANA ACT IN EVERYDAY SITUATIONS!!
Q: The upcoming episode "Mawhip's Super Sweet Battle?!" is a story with a comedic touch where Satoshi and the others that have been gathered by Poplar compete in cake decoration.
Omode: Yes. After it was determined that this was going to be a Mawhip episode, it was then decided to have Dande and Kibana, who hadn't appeared in a while, be in it. And when those are the two core components you start off with, you have no other choice but to write a comedy (laughs). And since Mawhip is a Pokémon that secretes cream, I thought it'd be fun to to have Kibana, Dande and the others compete in cake decoration. Maybe a bit stupidly straight forward, but...
Q: No no, not at all (laughs). Which parts of the script did you struggle with as you were writing it?
Omode: Kibana's lines. He's pretty much only appeared in battle-related situations thus far, so I personally thought he was supposed to be more rough-and-tumble, but he's actually "normally a gentle and polite young man" (laughs). I had the same issue with Dande; He also appears in battle-related situations a lot, so there haven't been a lot of opportunities to see how he acts in everyday life. But I figured I might as well write an episode where you'd get to have fun seeing the real Dande and Kibana for once. They probably don't cook very often.
Q: What do you think the appeal of these two characters is?
Omode: The basic idea is that the two of them have fought many times, and that Kibana has never once defeated Dande. When I wrote the episode, I hoped I'd be able to get across that complex rivalry-esque relationship the two have. Even though Kibana never wins, he doesn't start sulking, but enthusiastically goes "I'll definitely win soon!" instead; I think that refreshing character trait is probably the reason he's become so popular.
Q: I thought of Dande as being imposing and having the majesty of a champion, but he also shows a surprising side of himself in this episode?
Omode: Yes, this time I was finally able to include his poor sense of direction (laughs). This is a trait from the "Pocket Monsters Sword/Shield" video games themselves, but we'd never been able to include it in the show yet. There's some slight traces of it in the opening, but in this episode he gets himself COMPELTELY lost, ends up getting fawned over by the Pokémon he gets to know along the way, and arrives much later than the agreed upon time (laughs). I wasn't exactly basing this bit on personal experience, but I still think I was able to write it fairly realistically.
Q: Seeing Satoshi, Go and the others' uphill struggle to make cakes is pretty fun too.
Omode: The staff has a solid grasp on how to write Satoshi now, so his characterization is fairly consistent between episodes. Go on the other hand is basically his straight man (laughs). Satoshi will do something reckless and Go will either yell at him or get flabbergasted. However, when Go gets in trouble, Satoshi will be there to help him out. We'll see that relationship in this episode as well, and I think the two make for a well balanced duo.
Q: When you said Satoshi's characterization was consistent, what were you specifically referring to?
Omode: That'd be his love for Pokémon, wouldn't it? It's a really extraordinary love. He will always put Pokémon above all else and he will always believe in Pokémon. As long as this remains the core of his characterization it should always stay consistent.
Q: You've been with this series ever since the "Pocket Monsters Best Wishes" anime, what were your initial thoughts when you first learned what this new series was going to be like?
Omode: The major premise of this series was the touring of all the regions, and when I first heard that the second protagonist Go's dream was to tour all the regions and get every Pokémon, I just thought "Come on, don't be crazy!" (laughs). In addition, when I'm writing a script I always have to look over all the documentation so I'm actually ABLE to have the characters go to any region, going "Does THIS Pokémon appear in THIS region?" and the like (laughs). It's absolutely a difficult concept to work with.
Q: Has Pokémon's image changed over the time you've been involved with the series?
Omode: Well... Pokémon is already very established, so there are aspects of it I don't think should be changed too much. Of course there are many surface elements that have changed from how they used to be, but the basics are still the same. And those are the aspects I don't think should change either.
Q: What are these basics?
Omode: I'd say Satoshi's relationship with Pokémon. There's this warm "bond" of sorts that forms the basics of Satoshi's connection to Pokémon, including ones he's not carrying with him. And that's what the whole Pokémon concept is all about, isn't it, that almost all humans have a relationship with Pokémon? Pokémon are like family members or kin they live alongside, and there's something very affectionate to that connection. Those are the basics I think we should never forget.
Q: Those basics are why Pokémon keeps being so beloved throughout the entire world.
Omode: And then there's constantly new settings, and new Pokémon being added, so you never lose interest. I think the fact that you'll always feel like there's MORE to it is a very good aspect of Pokémon. This current series in particular has this compilation-like aspect to it, like a compilation of all the worldbuilding that's expanded in this manner. The fact that we're creating an entire world is something I think a lot of people might enjoy.
Q: Which Pokémon is your personal favorite?
Omode: I think Eievui. I've written quite a few episodes where it's appeared, and back during the "Pocket Monsters XY" anime I wrote the script for the episode where Serena's Eievui first appeared, meaning I got to create its character. Just something like that gave me a strong emotional attachment to the Pokémon.
Q: What do you specifically like about it?
Omode: Well, first off, it's cute (laughs). It's personality is lovely too, and I like how you don't know what it will evolve into. I think that's the appeal; Eievui is a bit mysterious and you don't know what Pokémon it will evolve into through its relationship with its Trainer.
Q: Finally, tell us which parts of the upcoming episode you want us to see the most.
Omode: I talked about this earlier too, but the biggest selling point of the episode is that Dande and Kibana will be in it. I hope you'll enjoy seeing how they act outside of battles. As far as other things go, there'll also be an absolutely crazy amount of Mawhip in the episode. In the games Mawhip has lots of combinations of cream color and flavor, and I tried to see how many variants I could include in the episode (laughs). There might not be all that many appearing on-screen, but please keep an eye on them as well.
