The Rainbow & The Pokémon Master (1236)

[BlueLight]

Ash taking new shoes after days of being presented them by his mom. It was greatly executed, since it showed whether Ash was going to continue his journey or not. Ash, eventually, switching his shoes and leaving for his next journey (offscreen) without his mom even knowing, I know, by now, that it had an extremely ironic purpose. It meant that while Ash continues with his journeys, he had actually hanged his boots of his adventures being featured onscreen. The shoes, despite new, didn't even feel to be related to a new region unlike every time he got a new outfit when going to a new region. What a perfect (and emotional ) way to end Ash's journey!

Did anyone else reach to this conclusion when/after the episode ended?

 

[Pteranodonte]

LMAO if only Zygarde wasn’t a lazy bum and fixed the remaining root problems the maybe Greninja gets to quit his boring dayjob and rejoin Ash again

Well, Greninja can be sensed by Ash and communicate with Lucario whenever he wants, so not being at Oak's lab isn't a big deal: they showed that if Ash will ever need him he can easly find the frog wherever he is. Pidgeot on the other end was alone in the Viridian Forest, without any way of contacting Ash, so getting him back made perfect sense.

 

[Kaye Cruiser]

Pidgeot on the other end was alone in the Viridian Forest, without any way of contacting Ash, so getting him back made perfect sense.

Pidgeot is a bird. He could've just flown over to Ash at any time before this and let the whole flock follow. The Viridian Forest is literally down the street from his house. lol

 

[Cetra]

1 day now ... see you, Ash.

 

[janejane6178]

Ash has been a helpful friend and hero to all people and Pokemon alike with everyone that he's inspired and changed the lives of and everyone he's saved as well. He's already a Poke Monaster, as the flower blooming to match part of Mezase's lyrics shows. he just doesn't realize it because he's far more humble than the cocky brat who left Pallet Town ages ago. And even after being a Master, he'll just keep going to new dreams and new adventures until the very end. His dreams and aspirations will never really die and he'll always keep getting better as he makes more friends and changes more lives while they also change his own despite him still being that hopeful trainer at heart. Every part of that, even the smallest moment, is all a part of him being a Pokemon Master. That's the whole point of his journey, of "Pokemon Master" and what MPM was hammering in. Maybe if people weren't trying so hard to make everything about what they want, they'd realize what things actually are and know the only ones who set them up for anything more were themselves.

Ash's journey isn't over, but our time with him and all of his friends and rivals is done for now. Time to close the book and start the next one until a new volume suddenly comes out one day.

Bye for now, Ash. Thanks for everything, it's been fun. See you again someday, Pokemon Master.

Here's a song I'm sure everyone here has heard at least once.

I am almost crying hearing this...
The good old OS - XY days..

 

[Queen Cynthia]

(Wow this must be one of the longest review threads I can remember)

That's it ... I guess I'll still need a few days to finally realize it, but that's really it.

Anyways, I think it was a more than worthy and solemn finale! What I liked most was that is was full of metaphors and very mature questions, like the coming-home-motif, the "What does it mean to be a Pokemon Master"-question, the rainbow and last but not least (and that's what I loved most) the worn-out and the new shoes alongside each other. Very well done!

Also, I'm kind of glad this didn't really feel like a final goodbye. It felt more like an open end, meaning that Ash will never be gone for good.
And here's where I'd like to agree with @Soniman 's post:

Reading this topic I guess people were mad at the lack of any concrete finality but frankly, I don’t WANT Ash’s story to end, I want him to always be going on adventures and experiencing new things so the open ended ending was perfect for me. When type Wild starts playing and Ash has already disappeared off to another journey, I get super emotional. To me that’s perfect

You're right! And it leaves open the possibility Ash might actually return to the new Anime, and with him many of the characters we've grown so fond of (Personally, I'm thinking of a certain Sinnoh Champion). With this open end, chances are it might actually happen!

At the beginning of MPM, I couldn't believe they would actually send off Ash, but now after the final episode, I've become more convinced than ever the writers still have a card up their sleeve. And even if they don't, I'm sure they'll realize in the end they have to bring back the "old" characters because nothing beats the original.

Thank you, Ash, for having accompanied us for 25 years. It was a wonderful and unforgetable time! Your days as the main protagonist might be over (temporarily?) but it's not over until it's over. I'm sure we'll meet you and the most popular characters of the original Anime again in the future!

 

[Ryker101]

**** man. It’s actually over. I don’t care how messy the anime’s been. Pokemon’s always been a big part of me. Something I’d always look forward to no matter how things are going. Even now when I’m stressed and depressed from clinical placements, it’s given me that last bit of joy before things get tough again. This episode hit all the right beats for me, and it’ll be weird knowing that we’re at the end of an era

Farewell Ash and Pikachu. Thank you pokemon. No regrets getting into it

 

[Observer]

**** man. It’s actually over. I don’t care how messy the anime’s been. Pokemon’s always been a big part of me. Something I’d always look forward to no matter how things are going. Even now when I’m stressed and depressed from clinical placements, it’s given me that last bit of joy before things get tough again. This episode hit all the right beats for me, and it’ll be weird knowing that we’re at the end of an era

Farewell Ash and Pikachu. Thank you pokemon. No regrets getting into it

Knew about it for months now, had plenty of time to prepare ourselves mentally for it, and when the day finally came we still got hit in the feels.

No regrets, no regrets at all.

 

[vondecayle]

So can I conclude that becoming a pokemon water master for Misty is to befriend all water pokemon? And for Iris to become a dragon master is to befriend every dragon type pokemon?

 

[Queen Cynthia]

**** man. It’s actually over. I don’t care how messy the anime’s been. Pokemon’s always been a big part of me. Something I’d always look forward to no matter how things are going. Even now when I’m stressed and depressed from clinical placements, it’s given me that last bit of joy before things get tough again. This episode hit all the right beats for me, and it’ll be weird knowing that we’re at the end of an era

Farewell Ash and Pikachu. Thank you pokemon. No regrets getting into it

Very well said! I guess that's something every Pokemon fan would wholeheartedly agree on!
For me, Pokemon has always been (and hopefully will always be) one of the highlights of the weekend that you look forward during all the week, be it school, university or job.

I know it's nitpicking but I've got suggestions for two scenes that I would have changed in this episode:
1) When Ash enters Oak's lab to see the starters, there could have been some flashback with Ash remembering meeting Pikachu at that very place for the first time. He then could have said something like "It all started right here..."
2) When the rainbow appeared and Ash was running towards it, I was really expecting Ho-oh to appear, too. That Pokemon symbolized his journey more than anything else, so it definitely should have been there. The title says "The rainbow and the Pokemon Master", so it would have made sense if they had focused more on that rainbow and Ho-oh, the Pokemon associated with it.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Most annoying part about this episode was Ash constantly leaving the front door open whenever he left. Like dude, there are kid-sized bees out there, shut the dang door behind you!

Ash: Don't worry, Mr. Mime will just beat them up with Psychic!

He’d be pulling a Jotaro/Miyuverse Shirou. He cameos and immediately steals the protag title from the actual protags LMAO

Not going to lie, I can unironically see that happening if the Liko/Roy show isn't well accepted.

 

[Kenny Pkmn Trainer]

This was pretty bad, also they should have saved the ho-oh for the last episode, but no they didnt.

 

[Pteranodonte]

This was pretty bad, also they should have saved the ho-oh for the last episode, but no they didnt.

We just saw it like 10 episodes ago and multiple other times during JN, who cares?

 

[Yce288]

Pokemon is a kodomo anime so i'm not surprised that the shipping stuff didnt have a proper ending.

 

[Gingertail24]

Pokemon is a kodmo anime so i'm not surprised that the shipping stuff didnt have a proper ending.

Anyone who actually thought the shipping would have an actual ending clearly is watching a whole different show

 

[Yce288]

Anyone who actually thought the shipping would have an actual ending clearly is watching a whole different show

I cant blame them completely because the anime staff deceived the amourshippers because of that off-screen kiss, which was unnecessary.

 

[GohMaster!]

I cant blame them completely because the anime staff deceived the amourshippers because of that off-screen kiss, which was unnecessary.

Not sure how that is deceiving. Not like Ash was obligated to reciprocate to her kiss.

 

[Yce288]

Not sure how that is deceiving. Not like Ash was obligated to reciprocate to her kiss.

Well, Ash never hugged or kissed or was hugged or kissed by Misty, May, Dawn or Iris and the whole childhood thing with Serena didnt help either, it felt like that Kalos was supposed to be the finale for Ash and the idea was changed at some point.

 

[Gingertail24]

I cant blame them completely because the anime staff deceived the amourshippers because of that off-screen kiss, which was unnecessary.

During XY sure, but during SM, JN, and MPM where amour or Ash feeling on Serena was never ever focused on, you Linda have no excuse anymore

 

[Yce288]

During XY sure, but during SM, JN, and MPM where amour or Ash feeling on Serena was never ever focused on, you Linda have no excuse anymore

There could have been hopes for X&Y remakes era, but now they will never exist.