Will be throwing my thoughts into the ring about the 2 first episodes of the new Ash-less era anime, but of course I’m “shocked” over the obviously expected Ash/Liko comparisons already being made and of course the usual group of Anti-Ashers coming out and being emboldened to give cryptic remarks on not only him but the older anime era. Will address that later, but first, giving thoughts on these episodes.
Overall for the most part, I share the same sentiment as everyone else that this was a nice solid beginning for the new anime. At first I was worried about how things would go after Ash and Pikachu left, but from the way this looks, if they can keep this momentum going all through the new animes run, then it’ll be a nice successor series. This gives me old vibes of how I felt when Legend of Korra first came up after TLA. Liko is a nice interesting protagonist, an obvious but great opposite to Ash and his very outgoing, upbeat confident personality. In her case she’s introverted, very analytical about how she views things, constantly thinks to herself about things she wants to say but doesn’t quite know how to, and has a big self awared outlook on everything happening around her. They definitely did a great job on setting her apart from Ash & making her relatable. So now, let’s give my pros and cons.
Pros:
-The animation was amazing for both episodes, definitely blows JN out of the water
-Even though the setting, like JN, is in Kanto instead of Paldea, theyve so far made it much more interesting to see, especially with the mix up of Pokémon from various regions
-Likos roommate Anne is already a great character, spunky and nicely outgoing
-The Academy gives me nice Yugioh GX vibes (ironically so with Horizons & GX both being the immediate successors to their respective OGs) with the school having dorms, the academy being heavily pokemon related with their coursework for up and coming trainers, the academy offering more than 3 standard starter Pokémon from a given Professor but all regions starters, etc.
-Spriggatio acting very reminiscent of an actual cat and her disobedience is similar but also different from how Ash & Pikachu first met, as it’s not full on disobedient and it’s mainly so because of Likos own lack of self confidence as others here have mentioned.
-Liko being a lot more self aware of who the bad guys are sure makes her a lot more attentive than Ash was about Team Rocket
-Ametio & the other 2 going after Liko already makes them a lot more serious than Team Rocket, a nice change of pace; making Ametio a kind of villainous rival wasn’t what I was expecting, but looks interesting
-Cereludge looks awesome as heck
-Friede is already one of my favorite Pokémon characters now; of course he has to have a Charizard, but that’s expected cuz of Charizard promotion, and they’re doing it in an interesting way.
-Rotom tablets. Looks like Rotom tech is moving up in the world
-Nice introduction of Terapagos with Likos pendant, even if it’s quite convenient
-Captain Pikachu. Just Captain Pikachu. I’m loving its badass personality and it’s moveset being so distinctly different from Ash’s Pikachu. Wasn’t expecting thunder punch to come out, but I’m all for it, looks awesome; nice to see Volt Tackle made a return too
-Spriggatio already got captured and we’re going to a 3 parter? Already more successful than TR haha
Neutral:
-Quaxly & the streamer “Nidothing”. Neutral about them, because while they are a fun duo and I suspect someone in the Volt Tacklers is Nidothing in disguise because of Quaxly being on the ship roaming around, they sound like a duo that will get old and annoying decently quick; reminds me of Buddyfight Ace when Yuga and Ranma did a YouTube channel
Cons:
-I don’t see pretty much anyone else saying this, so this’ll be unpopular, but am I the only one who thought the events of these 2 episodes were kinda rushed? At least episode 1? There were things I felt that could’ve been stretched out more into a 4 parter instead to make it better. This goes into my smaller issues with things like the lack of focus on the Academy, and Likos experiences since moving there being an afterthought rather than an episode for that alone to focus on before getting into the pendant plot line. Not even halfway into the episode, and everyone already leaves for break?
Since we’re comparing the pilot episode of both animes, say what you will about Ash and Pikachus pilots, but at least for them, the pilot primarily focused on Ash meeting Pikachu, learning the ropes of being a trainer and beginning their bond. Likos on the other hand has things like her training with Spriggatio, her first battle with it, and experience at the Academy be big afterthoughts. Telling rather than showing. Since Likos never been to Kanto, or even outside Paldea, her getting to know peers outside Anne and getting used to Academy life could’ve been an episode in and of itself before we introduce the Volt Tacklers and the bad guys coming after the pendent. Not to mention seeing Liko learn more of the basics of being a Pokémon trainer, seeing her train with Spriggatio outside of a small snipet and an actual first battle that isn’t just launching one attack and forfeiting.
-Speaking of which, realism went out the door when Liko and Spriggatio launched off that big powered leafage as someone here mentioned
Overall, I’d say 9/9.5 out of 10. Few issues, but overall great start to the anime. Will always miss Ash & Pikachu, but I am excited for Liko and Spriggatios era to begin
Definitely gonna avoid the forums more of people are gonna be this obnoxious as hell thoughout this shows runtime. Hopefully it’s just first episode excitement and it’ll wear off after the initial hype dies down because sheeeeesh
Think I already beat you to the punch on that one dude :v
No but seriously, I agree. Besides me waiting to watch the episodes delaying my review, I’ve already intentionally downgraded my participation in the forums because I knew this annoying banter was coming before Horizons got dropped the first episodes.
Considering how much people wanted Ash gone, I do find it annoying that people still bring him up to make stupid insults. I kind of expected some comparisons to be made, but if you really disliked Ash as a character then I would expect people to just move on. Liko is here, she's wonderful in her own refreshing way, move on. It's the start of a new chapter in the Pokemon series.
Exactly. I’ve said several times before in past threads that I don’t see the point of people who hate watch just to drag down the enjoyment other people have, and it’s one of the most annoying consistent things about this forum. It’s one thing to just hate Ash, it’s another to continuously throw out insults about him time and time again.
If I wanted to I could throw jabs about Likos more than obvious opposite characterization, something not wholefully unique to Pokémon, but I want to take a chance on Liko as I’m liking much about her already, so I don’t.