The Reluctant Pikachu and the Exasperated Mr. Mime (1119)

[Spider-Phoenix]

So Mr. Mime used its psychic powers to grab a snack for Pikachu, but not to save the rat's life after it got caught in the river.

I've had the same issue as well. That was weird.

Also, we Go defenders should have a name for ourselves. Like GO-Getters, PsyGOpaths.

I vote for GohGang

By the way, I'm a Goh fan and defender as well. *high five*

Pikachu, don't ever do this again. You're such an entitled little bastard.

Riolu was far worse monopolizing Ash's attention and not letting others have their shot at training.

I hate the episode had both Ash and Pikachu learn a lesson while Riolu passes like a saint who did nothing wrong. This Lucario fanboyism is annoying and it needs to stop.

I just like the idea of Ash singing a lullaby to Pikachu. It's so wholesome and one of the few times we hear Ash sing in-universe, if ever.

Same. The final scene put a smile in my face and made me almost forgive the episode... Until I remember what we had to get to that point.

Also, I think that's the first time Ash ever sang in-universe.

Interesting as I've always thought they'd pull a gag about Ash being a bad singer as a contrast to Rika being so good.

 

[Ace-Barn]

It’s not indicative of bad writing but it is a symptom of a bigger problem. Go is a protagonist whom they gave the goal of catching all the Pokémon, but they never really gave him anything to actually do with them. Speaking from past experience with the anime, it really sucks when a Pokémon you enjoy doesn’t really get to be displayed in any interesting ways and as a result of how they write Go’s goal that happens a lot. Back when they gave the girls their own goals that happened parallel to Ash’s they had given the characters the ability to express their Pokémon in interesting ways other than just being used generically in a filler situation or to battle TRio. But now with their writing of Go, despite him being billed as co-protagonist, his usage of his Pokémon is on par with the third wheel member of the group and his Pokémon spend a lot of time doing a lot of nothing. Mind you, I don’t hate Go as a character but I find his usage to be incredibly boring for being a co-protagonist.

I am all for Goh catching everything under the sun. There are only so many pokemon you can feature and fully explore in a given season. With all of Goh's pokemon in the park, they have the opportunity to show up in the brief skits during episodes, in full on lab episodes, or leave the lab with Goh for focus episodes.

I think that Goh's manner of catching gives the greatest chance to explore the largest amount of pokemon, even if they lose out to the few that would have focus in a typical series.

 

[dentula]

I just watched the raw version; I'll come back later with more thoughts after watching the sub.

I enjoyed the episode. I can see why it's a little divisive, though.

Justified or no, Pikachu experiencing jealousy is to be expected due to his close-knit relationship with Satoshi and Riolu constantly demanding attention. I was interesting seeing that addressed and how it played out. Dunno why, but seeing Pikachu reduced to a pouty little b**** made me chuckle more than I care to admit.

It does make sense that Satoshi is putting more effort into Riolu. It is still young; it has a lot of catching up to do. That said Kairyu and Gengar are overdo for some training. Kairyu is a natural powerhouse but could use more refining in strategy as opposed to just taking hits and hitting back harder. Gengar definitely needs more training :/

 

[Flypikachu]

Justified or no, Pikachu experiencing jealousy is to be expected due to his close-knit relationship with Satoshi and Riolu constantly demanding attention. I was interesting seeing that addressed and how it played out. Dunno why, but seeing Pikachu reduced to a pouty little b**** made me chuckle more than I care to admit.

The way I see it is that through Pikachu's perspective, its jealousy feels justified (to some viewers, it doesn't feel that way.) After trying to get Satoshi's attention countless of times, Satoshi was so absorbed with training Riolu that Pikachu was ignored.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I feel like the writers were trying to go for a "sibling rivalry" kind of scenario in a way. Where Pikachu (being the "older sibling") gets jealous of Riolu (the "younger sibling") getting all of the attention that Pikachu was used to getting. People can say that Pikachu wasn't justified, and that's fine, but sibling rivalries aren't always justified anyway.

People can say that Pikachu is "OOC" but I feel like that isn't the case. There were cases in the past where Pikachu got slightly jealous despite being Satoshi's main partner Pokemon. I feel like things were a little different in this episode because Riolu is one of the first baby Pokemon that he has been putting a ton of attention to. I don't think any of his previous baby Pokemon have gotten the same amount of attention as Riolu has.

I agree with loving Pikachu being a brat. Made for some nice screencaps.

 

[Red and Blue]

The smirk Pikachu gave after it shocked Ash at the end though. Hilarious

 

[Blue Saturday]

The Eleboo trainer looked similar to Bisces’ mook from the first PWC battle episode and consequently has an Electric-type Kanto Pokemon.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

So Mr. Mime used its psychic powers to grab a snack for Pikachu, but not to save the rat's life after it got caught in the river.

~ Priorities ~​

 

[mehmeh1]

The Eleboo trainer looked similar to Bisces’ mook from the first PWC battle episode and consequently has an Electric-type Kanto Pokemon.

he's the same guy

 

[1rkhachatryan]

So was it Koharu who told Ash about Pikachu's jealousy?? Could have sworn I heard Ash say Koharu when Ash and Pikachu were talking in front of his house.

 

[Kazuniya]

So was it Koharu who told Ash about Pikachu's jealousy?? Could have sworn I heard Ash say Koharu when Ash and Pikachu were talking in front of his house.

She did. It's in reference to last episode's plot with Yamper.

 

[Watershuriken97]

Riolu was far worse monopolizing Ash's attention and not letting others have their shot at training.

I hate the episode had both Ash and Pikachu learn a lesson while Riolu passes like a saint who did nothing wrong. This Lucario fanboyism is annoying and it needs to stop.

Now while I agree there is a lot of unnecessary hate for goh, biased on riolu and such in the comments, and my god it's annoying me every week haha... You can't blame a baby pokemon for wanting to hog attention, irl the older child gets jealous so often when the parents give the baby all their attention, Also riolu just got inspired by korrina and mega lucario, and we know how much it wanted to fight even before that, so I agree generally, just not with this specific point

 

[Zoruagible]

Yep, Pikachu was an entitled brat as expected. This episode would have been much more improved if Delia showing up made Mimey homesick and Mimey ran away while Pikachu follows concerned for his friend~

Ash facing another of Surge's apprentices just screams that he is going to fight Surge later on! Here's hoping Surge has a Mega Ampharos or Toxtricity. It was about time somebody other than the rat faced off against a random PWC opponent! I hope Dragonite and Gengar get to do that soon.... but "REEEEE Riolu" when Pikachu's more at fault than Riolu is
The battle and Delia were the only good parts of the episode, I honestly wish Ash went to Pallet alone so it could just be Ash/Delia as we rarely get to see them interact. I hope we get another Pallet Town episode in the near future with Professor Oak, Tracey, and Ash's reserves appearing along with Delia... though for now I'd just settle for an episode where Ash gets to sit down and we see his current team actually interact with each other.

5.5/10 - Too much Goh

 

[1rkhachatryan]

She did. It's in reference to last episode's plot with Yamper.

Ah, that's what I thought, I really like that, it makes her feel more part of the group, she's growing .

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I feel like the writers were trying to go for a "sibling rivalry" kind of scenario in a way. Where Pikachu (being the "older sibling") gets jealous of Riolu (the "younger sibling") getting all of the attention that Pikachu was used to getting. People can say that Pikachu wasn't justified, and that's fine, but sibling rivalries aren't always justified anyway.

I'd say that plot was handled better with Yamper last week. It feels way more justified specially considered what we knew about Yamper's relationship with Chloe.

Odd thing is that Ash's had other baby he gave plenty of attention like Phanpy, Larvitar, Scraggie and Noibat, yet Pikachu is specifically having an issue with freaking Riolu?

 

[Kazuniya]

Ah, that's what I thought, I really like that, it makes her feel more part of the group, she's growing .

It's also kinda funny because it makes it clear that the writers know they are reusing the jealousy plot from the last week's episode and they don't care.

 

[TheCrazyMaster]

As jarring as Pikachu's behavior was (even if he did occasionally get jelly in the past), I would say that this episode was overall quite pleasant and funny. I thought it was quite pleasant to see Delia return and that ash sang the same song as her. My one complaint with this episode are the circumstances that lead to Pikachu and Mimey heading on this trip, otherwise I'm up for episodes with this structure and humor.
I mean, how could you NOT stop the car at the sight of that glorious Pikabutt??

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Also riolu just got inspired by korrina and mega lucario

Inspired how. To lose?

 

[wertyuiop[]

Phanpy, Larvitar, Scraggie and Noibat, yet Pikachu is specifically having an issue with freaking Riolu?

Did any of those interactions involve Pikachu specifically asking to train and Ash turning him down? Pikachu had no issue with Riolu, Pikachu was even cheering for it. He was mad at Ash and wanted attention. That's why he went after Delia, the person giving him affection, after she left.

 

[Kazuniya]

Ash was a real jerk in this episode lmao.

Pikachu: wants to battle, wants to battle
Ash: nah, we gotta keep training Riolu
Pikachu: annoyed, but understands. later falls asleep while waiting
Ash: lol Pikachu you can't be lazy like this when I send you out to battle

I would also be annoyed

 

[Leonhart]

Riolu was far worse monopolizing Ash's attention and not letting others have their shot at training.

I hate the episode had both Ash and Pikachu learn a lesson while Riolu passes like a saint who did nothing wrong. This Lucario fanboyism is annoying and it needs to stop.

The writers are almost too blatant with their favoritism towards the Riolu line. When we got the first details about this episode, I actually thought that this was their way of showing that they're self-aware and perhaps that it would even be their apology for how they've placed Riolu and Lucario on a pedestal in almost all of their appearances, but the end of the episode made me realize that it was more of a "u mad?" type situation where they flaunted their bias and didn't care how some viewers might take it.