The Altar of the Sunne! Solgaleo Descends!! (995)

[Ryu Taylor]

...Did I not call it? Did I not freaking call it? I mean, who cares if Solgaleo's entrance was practically a shot-for-shot recreation of that scene from the game, clearly there is no point whatsoever in keeping the Japanese music which was also the exact same tune that played during the game's scene. Nope, let's just throw it out the window and put something completely unrelated in just like with every other new piece of music that has ever been made for the Sun & Moon anime.

Considering how badly Shinji Miyazaki desecrates the game music, I was mortified beyond words to hear he got to one of my favorite SM game tracks ever back when this one aired in Japan. So, yes, I do care. Unless it was a straight lift from the games (aka the version that actually sounds GOOD), I say kick that worthless garbage out.

Oh, and the track I'm not happy about them keeping was that XY arrangement of the Pokemon movie title theme. Because I really wanted a reminder of the JP version of the saga that gave me my entire vendetta against the JP version. Really, why couldn't it have been the original arrangement of that theme??? I'd have supported keeping that.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I wish the dub would at least balance out by using half of the original bgm and half of their own music. The dub is using way too many dub bgm for my liking; however I think this is more of a management issue and I don't think it's really the fault of the dub's composer.

Anyways the episode kind of dragged on a bit, but I liked the scene of Solgaleo's evolution and Lillie bonding with it.

 

[Victorian Rush]

Finally got to see this episode in the dub. I went in with an open mind so I wouldn’t be disappointed when I heard the music in this episode.

Boy was I surprised...

It’s no secret that I have never been a fan of the fact that the dub changes the music in every episode and only leaves a couple of the original Japanese music pieces in. I’ve always hated that they do that but it is what it is. I have come to accept that.

I have to say, the music the dub used in this episode was not half bad, definitely was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Of course I would have preferred it if they kept the original music from the Japanese version since it is ten times better to me but overall, the musical selection that went to this episode was not that bad. It really surprosed me, needless to say.

I still prefer the original version to the dub but the dub was not that bad.

 

[Lord Starfish]

Considering how badly Shinji Miyazaki desecrates the game music, I was mortified beyond words to hear he got to one of my favorite SM game tracks ever back when this one aired in Japan. So, yes, I do care. Unless it was a straight lift from the games (aka the version that actually sounds GOOD), I say kick that worthless garbage out.

It sounded practically identical to its game counterpart. I mean, the first five seconds or so sounded kinda flat, but after that it might as well have been the game soundtrack they were playing. Much like how, for all the parts that didn't have chanting in the game, the arrangement of the end credits theme was also about as faithful as you could reasonably expect to the original game track (I mean it was clearly a new cover... but it seemed to be using the same instruments that the game was emulating, and hitting all the same notes). And I have noticed certain tracks playing with some elements missing in one episode and then having said elements be there in another, so for all I know maybe there is a version that does have the chanting that we simply haven't heard yet in the show.

And you mentioning them keeping the XY movie theme actually backs up what I'm getting at here: They're not keeping any new tracks composed for Sun & Moon, but if a track from an earlier series that they have kept before shows up? It stays. And as I was ranting about with the previous episode, this sort of halfway approach is literally satisfying nobody. I mean, you've made it abundantly clear that you can't stand Miyazaki's current output and don't want any of it kept, so... obviously them keeping one track from XY will only ever be a detriment to you. Meanwhile I'm sitting here as someone who thinks Miyazaki's music is at worst slightly underwhelming and mostly perfectly adequate, and who doesn't approve of music replacement period, unless there's some sort of rights issue that outright mandates it. So obviously to me them keeping one track here and there is not good enough to counterbalance them removing everything else.

 

[LilligantLewis]

this sort of halfway approach is literally satisfying nobody.

It's satisfying me, because I don't watch the original at all, and only watch the dub, so I have no way of knowing what was replaced. I'm more in the target audience than you are, even though technically neither one of us is since we are too old: but my point is: the target audience for the dub is people who only watch the dub. They don't expect people to watch both the original and the dub, and frankly why do you? You clearly like the original way better?

 

[Tabasco Boshi]

It's satisfying me, because I don't watch the original at all, and only watch the dub, so I have no way of knowing what was replaced. I'm more in the target audience than you are, even though technically neither one of us is since we are too old: but my point is: the target audience for the dub is people who only watch the dub. They don't expect people to watch both the original and the dub, and frankly why do you? You clearly like the original way better?

Maybe there're people who like watching the show in their language but can't stand these pointless changes, so we have no choice but to watch both versions. I can tell you this: if the original bgm was kept, I wouldn't even watch the Japanese version. Heck, I wouldn't even if they only kept 50% of the original music. I'd stick to the European Spanish version I grew with and I love to this day (that's why it hurts me seeing it being severly damaged by TPCi in the US). I could even tolerate the dumb censorship and the lame openings, yes.

 

[LilligantLewis]

@Tabasco Boshi wow, this is a major revelation to me

 

[Vipsoccermaster]

A fair episode. Nothing too exciting aside from Professor Kukui owning Braviary to save Professor Burnet. The Alolan Guardians can be really weird. Their rituals were fine to watch for once, but I think it dragged a bit. Nonetheless, it's cool to see Nebby evolve into Solgaleo and Ash having an upgraded Z-Ring.

Oh, and James had it coming. He was so wrong about Nebby and Solgaleo. And Bewear is really serious about Team Rocket not screwing things up.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

So the deities somehow can run Blu-ray holograms. Neat (but so random).

...So Lunala gets the short end of the stick because a lion is more heroic than a bat of the night. Stereotypes!

I guess the plot called for "no adults allowed in the wormholes" by forcing Burnet to randomly get in danger and force Kukui to miss the the Solgaleo train. I said randomly because there's absolutely NO way the company she works for can't spare one or a hundred hi-tech helicopters. That or Solgaleo was made too tiny... Seriously, what were you thinking wandering alone with a freaking Munchlax in a valley that has cheap puzzles that kill you for trying to solve them, lady?!

Hands off the kitty, Lillie. You have no right to caress the one creature you didn't keep in your bag.

Congrats, Ash. You got a custom-deity-made accessory all for the sake of fitting a crystal you'll probably never use again.

Yes, Lillie. You look so well in your new look that no one criticizes with your sudden "Z-Powered Form" phrase. Shame if you didn't stick with it for the rest of the region episodes.

Please don't ever do exposition episodes like this. Even then, it was lame. Even way more expendable than your standard filler episode. All of this could have been easily compressed into 5 minutes, but again, I feel the whole purpose was to make Kukui into the load.

 

[Vipsoccermaster]

...So Lunala gets the short end of the stick because a lion is more heroic than a bat of the night. Stereotypes!

Congrats, Ash. You got a custom-deity-made accessory all for the sake of fitting a crystal you'll probably never use again.

You would likely have said the same thing for Solgaleo if Lunala was featured heavily than Solgaleo instead.

Yes, a shame that he has a Z-Crystal that he only used once and never again. It makes little to no sense to have objects that are only used once lifetime. Use objects multiple times. If the Z-Crystal shattered afterwards, it would have made sense, but since it didn't, it's just there to be left alone, rotting in Ash's collection.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

You don't know that, for all we know Solgaleo can come back later in the series, for example in the Necrozma climax.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

You would likely have said the same thing for Solgaleo if Lunala was featured heavily than Solgaleo instead.

Not really. I'd be surprised if Lunala had been picked instead since it is technically second to Solgaleo. This series almost always has some more favoritism to the first Legendary (shown first in order) of a set of two since Ho-oh and Lugia appeared.

Legendary Birds? Ho-oh is like a major reason Ash is out in the open.

Legendary Weather Godzillas? Groudon takes Pikachu as a control.

The Space Time Void trio got equal screen time.

Legendary Black & White Dragons? Well, personally, Pikachu got zapped by Zekrom. Reshiram was all N.

Legendary Nature Beasts? Ignoring Squishy who was more into Bonnie than Ash, Ash saw Xerneas but never Yveltal.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Not really. I'd be surprised if Lunala had been picked instead since it is technically second to Solgaleo. This series almost always has some more favoritism to the first Legendary (shown first in order) of a set of two since Ho-oh and Lugia appeared.

Legendary Birds? Ho-oh is like a major reason Ash is out in the open.

Legendary Weather Godzillas? Groudon takes Pikachu as a control.

The Space Time Void trio got equal screen time.

Legendary Black & White Dragons? Well, personally, Pikachu got zapped by Zekrom. Reshiram was all N.

Legendary Nature Beasts? Ignoring Squishy who was more into Bonnie than Ash's, Ash saw Xerneas but never Yveltal.

The difference with any of these though is that Cosmoem can only evolve into one of them lol.

 

[Zoruagible]

Finally got around to watching the dub of this, my friend had gotten me hooked on Naruto but now that I finished it and refuse to watch his bratty son..... I'm out of stuff to watch!

The TRio are the saving grace for the dub..... and this episode.
That scene with Lillie and Solgaleo was forced.... there was no reason at all to include it, sorry Anime! Lillie fans but Lillie wasn't the one watching Nebby 24/7 in the anime, that was Ash. This isn't the superior Lillie from the games....
The scene with Ash however was great, really should have been just that and not something forced just because the games did it.

And I still don't like how Kukui has ****ing Pokemon, how would Ash not know about them if he lives there? The poor things probably see less daylight than Clemont's Luxray!
Tapu Bulu's voice is the best of the Tapu, I wish the rest sounded like his....

3.5/10

 

[teddybeardan]

I wish the dub would at least balance out by using half of the original bgm and half of their own music. The dub is using way too many dub bgm for my liking

That never happened in the dub outside of Seasons 1-3 and 14 as far as the Anime goes, so...
(We used to keep 93-100% of the Japanese Music from Movies 4-16 though, that's also gone from Movie 17-now but I digress)

(And yeah, DP Anime didn't keep half either, was from 33-48% ish depending on the season, before someone asks)

I'd be happy if we even went back to keeping 20% of it at this point, personally, but that's been out the window since XY's dub began and now we more or less keep like 8% (1 or 2 pieces) of Japanese music per episode so...pretty sure TPCi are trying to phase out the Japanese music entirely from the English Version slowly, given how Season 21's dub replaces more Japanese music than ever before.

 

[Leonhart]

And I still don't like how Kukui has ****ing Pokemon, how would Ash not know about them if he lives there? The poor things probably see less daylight than Clemont's Luxray!

Given how dense Satoshi can be at times, especially in SM, I don't think it's unreasonable for him to not have known about Kukui-hakase's Wargle since Kukui probably doesn't use it often. I mean, he probably doesn't know much about Kukui-hakase overall since they hardly talk about each others' interests even though they live together.