Pikachu in Pictures Chapter 18: Hawlucha vs. The Vampire Squid

It’s kind of been a while since I was jazzed by both a movie and a show for this project, but hey! This one worked for me on both counts.

Episodes reviewed:

1736: “The Cave of Mirrors!” (July 31, 2014). In Reflection Cave the gang finds a naturally occurring mirror—and a mirror universe, whose Ash abducts our Pikachu. Ash chases him to an oddly shaded world where he’s meek, Pikachu and Serena mean, Clemont a magician, and Team Rocket a trio of heroic vigilantes.
1737: “Forging Forest Friendships!” (August 7, 2014). A friendly double battle falls apart when Ash’s aggressive Froakie and prideful Hawlucha fight each other, as does a training exercise meant to help them coordinate. But the two end up having to rescue Ash together after a Trevenant kidnaps him.
1806: “Facing the Grand Design!” (December 25, 2014). The supervillain Malamar returns, and with friends, as it captures the twerps before starting up a machine to warp the world’s climate. Meowth, Clemont, James, and Inkay (who’s violently angry with the Malamar for hurting its Trainer) are the only ones left, so they fight back by getting help from a community of local Inkay and Malamar.
1812: “A Showcase Debut!” (February 12, 2015). Serena enters her first Pokémon Showcase, a pageant for Trainer and ‘Mon to perform for a public audience. However, Fennekin trips and falls during the first round and costs Serena the match, and she spends the rest of the event coming to terms with her failure.
1819: “The Moment of Lumiose Truth!” (April 9, 2015). Ash and Clemont’s long in the waiting Gym Battle, a rematch from when they first met, kicks off with aplomb. Both sides conjure up wild strategies, and a photo finish between Clemont’s Luxray and Ash’s Goodra ends in a victory for the latter.

This week, the name of the game is “team dynamics.” I mean, the name of the chapter isn’t; that’s an El Santo reference, because I couldn’t miss an opportunity to honor Ash’s amazing Hawlucha. But mainly, the overriding theme of these episodes of X & Y and Kalos Quest, the seventeenth and eighteenth seasons, has been about exploring and expanding group interactions. There are rivals (Shauna, one of the many rivals of the Pokémon X & Y games), recurring enemies (the time traveling Malamar), parents, and minor supporting characters (Palermo, the former Showcase queen). The latest good guy / bad guy team-up doesn’t even involve Ash. The gym match had Clemont’s Chespin and both of Serena’s Pokémon out as spectators. It ends with Bonnie calling the gang “one big happy family.” There’s an entire episode dedicated to a mirror universe version of the cast. You’re expected to be invested in these characters, but to its credit the anime is working to justify that.

Image: The Pokémon Company. Also, having this episode revolve around a Trevenant, an amazing undead tree with spider legs, is delightful.

Alongside the improved animation budget and action, this generally seems to be the main recurring theme of the Kalos years. Instead of having larger teams whose stragglers are regularly forgotten, everyone has a core and relatively small set. Serena only has two so far (and would get an Eevee nearer to the end of the show). Clemont does have a few in rotation as a Gym Leader, but as a castmate it’s mostly Chespin, Bunnelby, and Bonnie’s Dedenne. And Ash’s crew is very much that, complete with light dynamics between each partner. Goodra, Frogadier, and Hawlucha have all been very strong party members for him so far. The episode where the latter two teamed up was quite fun, by the way. Frontloading the Pokémon is pretty much always a good idea, especially when one of them is a theatrical luchador bird whose main battling strategy is to constantly take hits to prove it can. Again, great.

Naturally, this only improves the serialization, even in the one filler episode we did. Besides being generally fun, “The Cave of Mirrors” essentially does light character work by exploring what it thinks our cast isn’t (i.e. Mirror-Ash is routinely called “crybaby,” Clemont is a master of magic and not science, Bonnie is… posh?). We get the incredibly bizarre return of the Malamar supervillain, complete with the extremely fun way it says its name. The fourth episode I did ends with the gang getting ready to march on to the fifth. And the fight between Ash and Clemont even mirrors their fight in the first episode, the one we watched last week, with both parties deigning to kick off with the same strategies before coming up with new ones. Much like Sinnoh, Kalos wants every episode to feel important. I can’t really gauge which one is more successful—partially since Sinnoh lasted so much longer, which probably works against it—but it does seem like both hit the sweet spot of the serialization feeling additive but not too onerous.

Image: The Pokémon Company. Luxray and Goodra on verge of collapse after their last attack. The show does that kind of move a lot, and it works great here.

That Gym battle’s also great, and by far the most energetic and fun one that I’ve seen thus far for this show. It’s constantly energetic, both parties constantly mix up their strategies, and no Pokémon on either side feels like they didn’t contribute. Clemont’s Heliolisk outspeeds its foes before blinding them with Flash, so (the still awesome) Hawlucha knees it in the half second it takes to unfurl its light-blasting frills. Bunnelby grabs Pikachu by the tail again, Pikachu plans an Electro Ball, Bunnelby counters that, and Pikachu erupts the ground with an Iron Tail. Luxray turns the entire ground into a lightning cloud with Electric Terrain, knowing it’ll do far more for its side than it will for Pikachu. My favorite part is that Ash planned for the possibility that his adorable, giant slime monster Goodra would get paralyzed and responded by setting up a Rain Dance that cured the status ailment and sputtered out the Electric Terrain. Everything just works, and it looks quite nice with big zooms.

But even though that one wins the award for fun and animation, I think the best of this week’s batch might’ve been “A Showcase Debut,” our first dedicated Serena episode. Partially because it sold me on Showcases a bit, but mostly because it’s just a perfectly nice, lower stakes drama. Serena finally gets to enter this exciting new field, something we all know goes well for a first-timer in this show, and then… she completely chokes right out the gate. And instead of being the final act, that’s only about the halfway point. The thrust of the story isn’t about a newcomer entering and then losing; it’s about her coming to terms with her loss. This show is and has always been a power fantasy, like pretty much every high concept story. But the episode is a mostly realistic and satisfying way to depict a kind of loss that isn’t “that bad” but still hurts. It’s something we’ve seen before a bit, but it works much better than, say, Ash’s battle with Ritchie because unlike that episode (which was about Ash being a moron who bungled his way into a loss), “Debut” recognizes that the loss itself is not the most important part of the experience. So it ends not with an upset but Serena giving herself a dramatic haircut and makeover.

Image: Bulbapedia. Serena’s crushing loss. It’s oddly rare for the show to use failure for drama, given how much it orbits around competition.

So basically, this was another strong week. I’d probably put the second Malamar episode as the weakest, just because it’s less fun and not the kind of energetic, emotional storytelling the other episodes did. It did have some, but I wasn’t invested as much in the last minute fake out of whether Inkay would leave James, arguably the best caregiver of Pokémon of the anime. Regardless, it’s nice to be invested in watching more, and to know that we’ll be changing tracks soon enough that the upcoming Season 19 won’t be giving me too much more of the same. So let’s go, Kalos, and let’s see some Greninja action.

Movie reviewed: Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages (July 18, 2015)

On the road to the desert metropolis Dahara City, Ash meets Hoopa, a mischievous djinn with the ability to collect things from all over the world. However, he discovers that Hoopa destroyed Dahara a hundred years ago; as punishment, it has been confined to a childlike state until it learns penitence. But the decades of distant rage over its treatment manifests as a violent shadow of its true form, and as its caretakers try to recreate the broken seal on its powers, both Hoopa fight by summoning cadres of Legendary Pokémon to their side.

If we’re looking at it critically, Hoopa and the Clash of Ages is pretty weak. The brother and sister team that cares for Hoopa are barely sketched at best, Hoopa itself is kind of obnoxious, and there’s literally no other supporting characters. I know I’ve complained about some of these movies having casts too big for them to handle, but this is the opposite problem. There are some themes about having to stand up to your fears and feelings, and having to accept your mistakes, but it’s pretty ephemeral. I think maybe spending more time seeing the Unbound Hoopa—the normal true form, not the evil shadow version—would’ve helped (especially since it’s much more fun). So on that metric, it’s even shallower than the last few.

Image: Pokébeach. The largely obscured shadow of Hoopa summons its supergroup.

But, this is also much better at providing lower pleasures than those were, best seen in the absurdly sized brouhaha. All in all, there’s nine Legendaries involved: Lugia and the Mega Evolved Rayquaza, Latias, and Latios on Ash’s side, and the possessed Kyogre, Groudon, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and Kyurem (having possessed, seemingly, both Reshiram and Zekrom) on the shadow Hoopa’s. Arceus also has a perfunctory cameo at the end where it puts everything right. Other than one claim in an assuredly non-canon novelization that implies otherwise about Lugia, there’s no indication that these are the Legendaries that we’ve seen in the previous movies. They’re just there. But as engines of city-sized devastation, they’re incomparable. The action’s very fun, and having Ash direct the three Dragon-types on his side is a fun nod to the fans who’ve wanted him to catch just one of these titans for years.

It also manages to one-up the much weaker Genesect movie in how much and how effectively it apes modern blockbusters. That one was a bad superhero movie, so this is a mediocre crossover. It’s effectively the Pokémon Cinematic Universe as an overstuffed kaiju movie, and I think that works. It probably could’ve worked better if there was a greater sense of continuity between these various characters; I also think you could do that without making it confusing for newcomers, and it would have added to this big team-up element. But it would have always been support to the main appeal, which is Ash, Pikachu, and Hoopa being chased by an interdimensional giant before they start summoning some teammates. This moves quite a bit faster than any “Pikachu the Movie” project has in a while despite having so much over the top, city-wrecking action, and it’s better for it.

In general, Hoopa is just very good at being a shallow fanservice factory. The Dubai-inspired setting is pretty, the nods to the franchise fun enough, and the movie has a lot of fun with Hoopa’s power of using its rings as portals through time and space. Even Team Rocket gets to actually be plot relevant for the first time in, I dunno, ten of these? It’s also a bit less overdone with the prerequisite vertical integration. Cosplay Pikachu (including future fighting game star Pikachu Libre) makes a cameo, Ash’s Dragon-type allies all Mega Evolve, and the story is somewhat similar to the Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire subplot where Hoopa’s rings let you meet rare Legendaries, but it’s actually kinda hard to find many Gen VI Pokémon in tow. Normally there’s, like, at least one as a low key mascot, but the closest you get is the Gen V Braviary.

Image: Bulbapedia. Hoopa’s (unnamed in the movie) Hyperspace Fury attack traps Ash in a wall of interdimensional portals through which Hoopa’s giant fists can shoot. It’s extremely cool.

This movie is kinda what I expected a lot of these Pokémon flicks to be like much earlier on, and it’s good that we’re only here at Movie 18. But it’s also good that I enjoyed this shallower, more mercenary installment as much as I did. This is not good cinema, even by this series’ standards, but it’s honestly the most fun I’ve had with one of these since the Arceus one. I know Movie 19 has something similar (just with Mega Evolutions instead of Legendaries), and I hope it’s better as a story, but it will have to work overtime to match the appeal of Kyurem shooting ice blasts so powerful it freezes entire buildings and even its own partner Groudon. You know, small stuff like that.

Conclusion: So, um… is Ash just competent now?

This is actually far more flippant than what I’m really trying to say, which is that Ash has genuinely grown a lot. Like, he’s still a shallow hero. That’s almost certainly never going to change. But his strategies have become far more complex over time. He seems more thoughtful. He gets the Pokémon of this Earth far more than he ever did, especially more than he did back in Season 1. In the episode with Froakie and Hawlucha, he uses a Fighting-type move on a target immune to Fighting, and deliberately, as a strategy, before kindly helping the tree monster who kidnapped him. It’s hard to tell because the writing isn’t amazing, but he’s absolutely a more rounded person and competent Trainer than he was when I started this project.

In fact, I’m gonna go beyond this. It’s been on my mind for a while thanks to something a friend suggested recently, and I don’t want to curse myself for saying it preemptively, but has Ash Ketchum been on one of the longest character arcs in children’s television history this entire time? Or is it just that Kalos has given him a bump? You can make an argument that he’s dependent on the episode and era; he was on a big upswing in the Sinnoh years, then fell down in the Unova ones, and he’s back on the mend here (except he’s not even that; he’s just better). But if we take Pokémon as a single, natural saga instead of groups of people working on this show for eighteen goddamned years by the time of these episodes, he is growing. A hundred percent, he’s growing.

Image: The Pokémon Company. That an episode about our hero exploring a mirror universe with a counterpart of himself wasn’t titled “The Ash of Two Worlds” is a deep, deep tragedy.

As an average media consumer of the Nineties, as someone who watched the first season of the show when it first aired, I’m more than familiar with Ash’s blunderings and incompetence. His idiotic strategies have lived in my head rent free, just as they have in the internet’s. The meme will never die, and it’s okay for it to not die. But this little schlemiel has gotten much smarter, which I guess is the big reason why people didn’t like how he failed to grab the brass ring at this region’s Pokémon League. I’m kind of astonished, honestly. I didn’t think the anime had it in it to do this, but it is doing this.

Errant thoughts:

Hm… Contests vs Showcases? I’m not gonna give a definitive answer (I don’t have one, nor have I seen enough to judge fairly), but they do compliment each other okay. One of the reasons I disliked Contests was how it felt that Coordinators could just do the same strategy every time, and rely on knockouts over putting on a performance in the battles. Showcases instead create prompts that the Pokémon have to respond to and involve the Performers on stage, which I think is more spontaneous and dramatic. I also like that it tallies votes from the audience and not three judges. But it seems unwelcoming to nontraditional styles—Jessie was booted out for dressing Pumpkaboo like an amazing mummy monster—which isn’t great for a girl’s only event.
I neglected to mention it two weeks ago, but the end of Unova marked the end of Season 16, a.k.a. the point when the TPCI dub had localized as many seasons as 4Kids. For all that they’re generally seen by the culture as benchwarmers, this is the main cast in the end when it comes to the dub.
I’ve noticed that the scene cuts have gotten a bit more severe during Kalos. I guess there were harsher time limits or something, but it feels just a bit jarring much of the time. Like, there’ll regularly be shots that are clearly meant to end in a fade or last a bit longer that instead get an abrupt cut. It’s very noticeable.
Pretty mediocre opening song for Season 18.The most notable thing is that the intro changed even though the song didn’t. This presumably connects to X & Y having four Japanese intros, while the American version only changes the songs every season.
No, but really, it’s nonsense that Jessie’s awesome Pumpkaboo costume didn’t win. That thing was rad as hell.

Image: Bulbapedia. See, this is fantastic! And it’s something that Contests accepted more, so that’s a point in their favor.

Even Wobbuffet got to counter a Mythical Pokémon’s attack in the movie. What wonders Kalos brings.
Seems noteworthy that Ash is much better commanding a big, heavy party member now.
Team Rocket eats croissants in one episode, presumably since we’re in ersatz France. I like croissants. I hope writing this article reminds me to get some soon.
Ash, you’ve already met several extraterrestrial Pokémon. One more possibly being from space is not surprising.
The actor of Pierre, the host of the Showcase, is actually French! That’s neat.

Next movie: Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel

Next episodes:

1844: “Cloudy Fate, Bright Future!”
1922: “Battling at Full Volume!”
1928: “Seeing the Forest for the Trees”
1943: “Forming a More Perfect Union!”
1947: “Till We Compete Again!”

Other movies watched:

Despicable Me
Patlabor: The Movie
Phase IV
Predator

Other television episodes watched:

Cheers 117, “Diane’s Perfect Date.” So after watching a bunch of these on Sunday in preparation for them leaving Peacock, turns out Hulu has both main entries in the Cheersiverse!… but only the first four Seasons of Cheers. I’d have adjusted my episode choices had I known, but at least the Diane years are still the best, the painful lack of Lilith aside.
Cheers 311, “Peterson Crusoe”
Cheers 320, “If Ever I Would Leave You”
Cheers 623, “Bar Wars”
Columbo 101, “Murder by the Book.” But you know what Hulu doesn’t have (without an extra add-on)? My favorite TV show ever!
Frasier 203, “The Matchmaker”
Frasier 301, “She’s the Boss”
Frasier 303, “Martin Does It His Way”
Frasier 308, “The Last Time I Saw Maris”
Frasier 505, “The 1000th Show”
Frasier 704, “Everyone’s a Critic”
Poker Face 107, “The Future of the Sport”
Poker Face 108, “The Orpheus Syndrome”
Poker Face 109, “Escape from S___ Mountain”
Poker Face 110, “The Hook”
Regular Show 504, “Every Meat Burritos”
Regular Show 510, “Tants”
Regular Show 607, “Eileen Flat Screen”
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 101, “The Sword Part 1”
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 102, “The Sword Part 2”
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 103, “Razz”
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 104, “Flowers for She-Ra”
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 105, “The Sea Gate”
Smallville 414, “Krypto”
Smallville 417, “Onyx”
Smallville 422, “Commencement.” This show may never be anything more than hateful, asinine garbage, but it least it brings its stupid A-game for the finales. My god, was that amazingly incomprehensible.