Pikachu in Pictures Chapter 19: My Freaky Froggy Friend

With week nineteen we exit the Kalos region and its fun animation, generally higher bar of storytelling, and highly marketable ninja frogs. Hooray!

Episodes reviewed:

1844: “Cloudy Fate, Bright Future!” (October 15, 2015). Professor Sycamore is in Anistar City to study its extraterrestrial “Sundial,” only to be attacked by disciples of the future-telling Gym Leader Olympia. When Ash comes on the scene, she reveals that he and Frogadier will be central to an imminent crisis and uncovers the latter’s past as a hardscrabble Froakie.
1922: “Battling at Full Volume!” (April 14, 2016). A harsh night of training with Frogadier’s final form, Greninja, leaves Ash with a bad fever. A hard rockin’ Trainer who seeks out the world’s toughest Pikachu comes calling for a battle, and Serena disguises herself as Ash to accept his challenge and keep the real Ash at rest.
1928: “Seeing the Forest for the Trees!” (May 26, 2016). A string of high profile losses sends Ash and Greninja retreating independently into Snowbelle City’s Winding Woods. During a perilous snowstorm the two reflect on their losses, reconnect, save a family of Spewpa, and perfect a mysterious transformation in which the two mind meld.
1943: “Forming a More Perfect Union!” (September 15, 2016). A serpentine world ending behemoth under the villain Lysandre threatens the Sundial and is only barely halted by a collection of Kalos’ toughest heroes: Ash, Pikachu, Greninja, Clemont, League winner Alain and his Mega Charizard, Champions Diantha and Steven, the Gym Leaders, and even more. The machine is finally destroyed by Squishy, a wormlike sprite under Bonnie’s care who is secretly one core of the Eldritch land protector Zygarde.
1947: “Till We Compete Again!” (October 27, 2016). After handling a tearful outburst by Dedenne, everyone says their goodbyes as Ash and Serena get on flights to other adventures. Ash and Clemont battle one more time, Team Rocket takes credit for the defeat of Team Flare, a released Goodra, Greninja, and Squishy enjoy separate lives in the wild, and Serena works up the courage to kiss Ash goodbye.

This week didn’t hit me quite as well as the previous two, and there’s a reason for that. I’ve spent my time in Kalos praising the breadth and depth of its serialization. It’s a show that’s so much more adept at weaving in its stories together. And that’s good! But, it also meant that I had to watch parts of several multi-episode stories, all of which were near the end of the show. See, there’s a part in “Forming a More Perfect Union” when the Blaziken-themed superhero (from the first episode) is revealed as Clemont and Bonnie’s dad (from the Gym battle last week), but it falls flat since I’ve had so little time with him or their relationship. I only got to see many of the show’s most important characters in just that episode. In the case of Squishy, the one hundredth of Zygarde who was in most of the week, I got barely anything. This did mean that the big end to the main and final plot arc was a bit of a whiff.

Image: The Pokémon Company. It’s fairly incredible just how much was packed into “Forming a More Perfect Union.” Take note of the very plot-relevant “Ash-Greninja” form.

These problems are due, at least in part, to the conditions I chose to get this project to work at all. While shows (especially less “serious” shows like this one) should generally try to play well for an average first time viewer and let every part of a multi-part arc speak for itself, I can’t ask that of “Union.” It isn’t great on its own, but because it can’t be. It’s the final installment in a five-parter and the culmination of over a hundred and thirty episodes that concludes the stories of like twenty recurring characters. I could’ve dealt with that by having one more episode in the Team Flare arc, but then I’d miss one of what are all valuable episodes. This problem has come up a bit now and again; it’s just worse now because of how big and thrilling things have gotten. Going by everything else I’ve seen, I’m certain it’s fun and engaging when packaged with more of the story. This probably isn’t like the constant failed dramas of Kingdom Hearts. And fortunately, there were some throughlines onto which I could hold.

The main one is, fittingly, Ash’s Kalos star Greninja, who had by this point become a mammoth commercial bonanza. Some fans have been frustrated by that, by his alternate form made just for the anime, by him taking some of the attention from the other party members, and by how much The Pokémon Company was pushing the starter (early reviews for the X & Y games barred journalists from talking about it or Delphox or Chestnaught, but it had already joined Super Smash Bros. by then). Personally, I find myself spoiled by it all; Greninja’s my all time favorite, so this was a well I could drink from quite deep. But I also enjoyed the ninja frog here. He fills a role Charizard, Sceptile, and Infernape had each held: ornery, tough, struggles to fit in, and gels with Ash’s sheer drive in a way few Pokémon do. And while he doesn’t have quite the depth Infernape reached, he’s no less stylish than any of them. Of course, he also has the benefit of the stronger art direction. Those leaps and Water Shurikens look great.

Image: The Pokémon Company. I like how the core of Ash and Greninja’s bond is how both of them seem to have implicitly known from the start that they were compatible.

Greninja’s story—a troubled loner who finds in Ash a simpatico partner—follows those of many other characters. The same is true of many of this week’s beats: an all-encompassing threat that requires a Champion, a Pokémon lost in the woods, Ash feeling the tsuris of a difficult loss, and a Trainer who decides to chart a path with just his original partner. The difference, beyond the better visuals, seems to be something of perspective. The battle against Lysandre and his giant stone Zygarde pulls in all eight Gym Leaders, the star of the Mega Evolution Special miniseries that aired alongside X & Y, two Champions, Professor Sycamore, the Team Flare mole / Elite Foursman Malva, Zygarde’s Complete Form, and Blaziken Mask (Serena is left out, though). Way more than the still large number for the Team Galactic plot, hence this being a five-parter and not a three. In general I do feel like Pokémon should try to not go so hard on arcs this big, but it does at least seem big enough and crazy enough to justify it. “Forming a More Perfect Union” certainly front loads that Ash knows all of these people, even implying a possible Viola / Grant romance that going by a cursory search may have just been a passing invention of mine.

That element of interaction, of character dynamics, has been really lovely to see, even if—yes, once again—my perspective was so restricted that the meaning behind the events was largely lost. This is something the anime has been working on since… honestly, since Johto decided that the Gym Leaders should appear for more than just one episode. Hoenn added to this with the idea that you could have multiple recurring plotlines. Sinnoh did the most, certainly, with some plots dragging other plots and their characters along for the ride, but even Unova iterated on the same thing. Thus far, Kalos is the apotheosis of that. Some of Ash’s loser rivals this time around didn’t come along for the big exciting action climax, but a lot of other recurring characters did. Hell, it even happened to a location, not a character, with the Sundial. That aspect of the change in perspective is important, too. More characters, and more relationships between them. For all of the focus on the monsters, Pokémon has a lot of fun human characters. It’s smart leaning on them.

Image: The Pokémon Company. For all that Kanto is lauded for its great characters, they never really had these kinds of relationships. Honestly, the show now almost feels like night and day from Season 1. Well, almost.

It’s not just size, though. I do think the writing and plotting are just generally stronger. And the finale is proof of that. Instead of having a perfunctory and probably fine Team Rocket attack, the show gives Jessie, James, and Meowth an oddly charming victory by tricking the Boss with doctored footage they shot of the Team Flare attack. The main drama falls on Dedenne, which gives the largely static (pun not intended) creature more to do. The Serena kiss is fairly well done. All of the Pokémon hugging each other was great. But most of all, it’s the tone of the thing, this soft ending where everyone knows what they want to do and is a bit sad knowing it’s not going to be with each other. The huge montage of episodes I’ve missed, moments, and characters on their own adventures works for the same reason why Steven and Diantha are good Champions in their own games: there’s a life outside the next battle. The Kalos of the X & Y anime seems to be a rare Pokémon setting capable of that. So even if this week’s highlights weren’t as high, it was an ending that worked one hundred percent.

Movie reviewed: Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel (July 16, 2016)

The cloistered Azoth Kingdom finds itself at a crossroads when kind prince Raleigh and sadistic scientist Alva attempt to capture Magearna, a 500-year-old artificial Pokémon capable of powering their citadel. Its protector, the surly steam monster Volcanion, fights them off, though its power is literally hobbled once it finds itself shackled to Ash. The two challenge each other’s views as they hide in Volcanion’s preserve of abused Pokémon, with Alva’s squad of tortured Mega Evolutions in hot pursuit.

Honestly? This was pretty alright, and possible evidence at how far the Kalos years bolstered the show. I mean, we’ve had a string of mixed and bad entries since the twelfth movie. That’s a lot of time when you aren’t watching these one a week, and a lot of compacted mediocrity when you are. Fortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel more than handles itself to be the best movie of the post-Sinnoh era of the show so far.

Image: IMDb. Volcanion is a fairly incredible Pokémon design: a steam engine shisa with arms that conjoin as a pipe.

The main boon here is Volcanion itself, voiced by longtime 4Kids veteran Mike Pollock as a gruffer, more cynical kind of Mythical Pokémon than we’re used to. It’s angry, suspicious, caring, but above all tired. It has a weight and fatigue to it when it argues with Ash, boasts about its home in the Nebel Plateau, and fights off a Pokémon poacher. A running theme we’ve seen here is the way the anime softly pokes at the inherent moral fallacy of the Pokémon franchise: the relationships between humans and Monsters are supposed to be mutualist but primarily involve one being labor for the other. And Volcanion being a protector of Pokémon who’ve been harmed in one way or another by people—and chaining it to a boy who wants to love and understand all Pokémon—iterates on stuff we’ve covered in a way that’s new. It’s thanks to this Defiant Ones-esque premise that Mechanical Marvel finds a novel way to have people and Pokémon interact.

The general setting is also fun. The giant mechanical Azoth Kingdom is charming, even if I’m sure it disappointed fans who had been speculating about the relevance of the alchemical term “azoth” for months (the word had shown up in various games under different uses). But mixing this gigantic advanced city and a lost preserve for harmed and recovering Pokémon is smarter. Azoth hits all the notes for what the show finds “ideal” about human / Pokémon relationships, but there’s a wrongness to it, one that’s explicitly existed for centuries. The Nebel Plateau is, on the other hand, a more “real” and true world of recovery and hiding. Humans haven’t corrupted it yet, but stopping their encroachment is a job. The prince and princess who wind up on opposite sides, while not sketched that well, at least do their job well selling this question of what gets bulldozed to make paradise.

Mechanical Marvel’s biggest flaw is one we’ve been dealing with for some time, namely that the antagonist is bland and fairly thin. Alva could’ve been a lot stronger; maybe he could have taken the role his nondescript henchmen have, or maybe we could see more of him. The film is already about abuse survivors being threatened by another abuser, but I do think it could’ve done more with Alva’s treatment of his Pokémon, which is hinted at but not discussed in depth (he controls them, which allows him to Mega Evolve them without an emotional bond). His army of Mega Evolutions are fun, but it doesn’t buffer the movie as much as the Legendaries in the last one. On the other hand, this is better in general, so let’s call it a wash.

Image: Bulbapedia. A common occurence in the X & Y era and the movie was to have dynamic sky battles, with Ash’s Flying-types carrying the other Pokémon.

I suppose Magearna could’ve also stood to be more than a plot device, or that its temporary loss of identity could’ve been brought up earlier. Maybe it’s a bit disappointing we don’t get to spend more time in the giant clockwork city. In general, it doesn’t use its strengths quite as well as the best ones in this series. But, this is one of the better ones, by a surprising margin for Number 19. Like the Hoopa movie, it’s the first fun one of these since Arceus and the Jewel of Life (in retrospect, the Victini movie wasn’t that great, just appreciably ambitious). This is a movie that puts Meowth right in the center of things, since we need someone who can speak for other Pokémon. It’s a movie that lets Clemont do his catchphrase and build an armor suit for Ash. It’s good at letting the characters we know do stuff, and coming up with at least one strong newcomer they can bounce off of. Even if, sure, it’s weird that Squishy can form the Complete Zygarde even though it also did so in the narratively later “Forming a Complete Union” for supposedly the first time. Whatever. That’s fine.

Beyond the general goodness for the world that a movie is fun, it’s especially important for Mechanical Marvel. See, it’s the last entry in this series; starting from Movie 20 onward, all of the movies will be set outside the continuity of the Pokémon anime. In retrospect, it probably could’ve been smart to have our Ash headline the movies now and put in new protagonists for the show, but that was many years off of course (to say nothing of how there hasn’t been one of these in several years). But at least “Ash Prime” got a good ending for this last go-around.

Conclusion: Historically, I’ve had a general understanding of how the anime is often ranked among fans. Kanto is the classic (but also often very bad and incoherent), Johto is boring (but can be fun), Hoenn was missed opportunities, Sinnoh was the dramatic height, Unova was bad, and Kalos was pretty. It was an action show that blew stuff up fine like it was LA Heat. There were debates on how much time Greninja deserved to take, whether it was good for Serena to define herself so much by Ash, if Alain should have won the League when Ash had finally gotten good, if Bonnie was annoying, if Clemont was Ash’s one not bad option for a male/male ship, and a billion other things. This is what it is to watch television; it’s what it is to watch Pokémon. And I’m sure that I’d find much more crap had I taken the time, since this was the first region I’ve covered where I didn’t include a notoriously hated episode. No space for one, honestly.

Image: Bulbapedia. Possibly the single best character of the day I’ve ever seen for this stupid show.

But having come out of the weakest week that covered Pokémon the Series: X & Y, I’m confident declaring Generation VI the best the Pokémon anime has ever seemed to me as of yet. “Battling at Full Volume” decided to reveal that Ash is world famous by having him chased by a wonderfully stupid guitarist who only trains and fights Pikachu. The struggle Ash and Greninja had in “Seeing the Forest for the Trees” was compelling and revealing, as was our hero’s time caring for monsters in the woods. Overall there was a lot of comedy and a lot of drama packed into these fifteen episodes, and most of it worked. The writing and storytelling are just stronger. None of the main Pokémon seemed superfluous in any way—okay, fine, maybe some of Clemont’s. And yes. It has a lot of action, just like anything with Pokémon in it. But it’s really, really good action. The fights, the strategies that conducted them, and the destruction they wreaked were great. It’s also not like those virtues are incompatible; half of Ash’s team were Flying-types probably so they could carry the others for wild aerial dogfights, but that still led those partners to interacting with each other.

When Kalos ended, as was the case with Sinnoh (the region with which it compares most easily), there was a question about where the show could go from there. Few people wanted to “backslide” the way they found Black & White a backslide, especially since X & Y was by the end a fairly ideal take on a kid-friendly shōnen. If you lived in a world where a Pokémon anime didn’t already exist, this is probably the best way one might look. But, a change would’ve been valuable. And one was made, controversially. Fortunately, the next phase of the anime apparently proved more adept at selling those ideas than Black & White was. We’ll see.

Errant thoughts:

“Till We Compete Again” marks the final episode of Kayzie Rogers as Wobbuffet (alongside many, many other characters, including the second Max voice and TPCI’s original replacement for Veronica Taylor) before her retirement from the anime. Wobbuffet’s been a fairly huge player for a sentient punching bag based on a Japanese comedian, and Rogers’ various “WOBBA, WOBBA’s!” are probably as ingrained in my mind as the voice of any other Pokémon.
One thing Kalos does a lot, which I generally like, is have a lot of mirrored or repeated beats. Froakie casually let himself get caught by Ash, so Greninja shows his recommitment by rolling his Poké Ball back so he can be more formally “caught.” Ash and Clemont’s battles all start the same way but end very differently. This rewards you for watching, and it adds character growth, but it’s also just smart structure for such an obscene number of episodes.
The movie features two big Shiny Mega Evolutions: Gengar on the baddies’ side and Gardevoir on the goodies’. This is something the movies have been doing for a while, using Shinies as a big marketing gimmick. I think I’ve even got that black Rayquaza from Hoopa and the Clash of Ages in Pokémon Home.
We haven’t been paying attention to this, but alongside being the last movie set in what I am ruefully calling the “prime Pokéverse,” Mechanical Marvel is the first movie after the Pikachu shorts ended entirely. They did go away for a few years, but after the one for the Hoopa movie proved too exacting, the show gave up on them permanently.
Technically, “Till We Compete Again” isn’t the finale of the X & Y era. The actual last episode is a thematically connected prequel / flashback story told by Professor Sycamore; it was the only time one of these special episode finales was dubbed, after TPCI ignored ones about Ash’s partners going off on their own. But the one I did is still the ending.
- It also, nicely, ends on a “Who’s that Pokémon?” of Pikachu.
On that note, during “Cloudy Fate, Bright Future,” there’s a part where James takes over as an impromptu talk show host to explain the Anistar City Sundial. It’s a play on a recurring segment that was cut by the dub, in which Professor Oak uses the Holocaster from Pokémon X & Y to explain aspects of the world. There are a lot of stuff like that, ephemeral scenes or moments that never leave Japan.
“Battling at Full Volume” had not one, but two boss fantasies!
Show named a psychic girl “Carrie.” It wasn’t even a dub reference; her name’s the same in Japanese, and her actress there starred in the Japanese dub of the 2013 movie.
- SIDE NOTE: there are way too many Carrie movies. But probably just the right number of The Rage: Carrie 2 movies.
The punk rocker Jimmy is basically any musician from Regular Show, like The Urge or Hair to the Throne, and that really helped me out with “Battling at Full Volume!”
It wasn’t in the actual episodes (he uses a Mega Abomasnow instead), but one of the previews showed the Gym Leader Wulfric using an Avalugg to crush Greninja utterly. In the games, Avalugg is very cool looking but absolutely terrible statistically; it’s slow, has good physical but awful Special Defense, and has the series’ worst defensive Type. But in the anime, it can soar as a terrifying living iceberg that looms over its enemies. I’m happy the anime can be a good space for mechanically awful Pokémon like Avalugg.
Bonnie has a Slurpuff snowsuit that’s rather adorable. That’s fairly common; characters will have Pokémon-themed clothes or tents or sleeping bags. It’s always charming.
At the end of “Seeing the Forest for the Trees,” the family of Spewpa Ash and Greninja save all evolve into Vivillon. It’s very pretty… except that the Vivillon all have their default pink look instead of the more appropriate Polar color, so I have to deduct some points.
During the movie, there’s this part where Ash and the gang meet a Gulpin who dissolves his and Volcanion’s restraints, and the latter explains the cute gasbag’s history of abandonment and how it gets triggered by hugs. Later on, Ash (I think) gives Prince Raleigh the advice to go off on his own journey with a Pokémon, and I assumed it would be that Gulpin. It’s not, it’s just his pet Slurpuff, and I think that’s the right call.
When looking up screenshots for the movie, my first Google search revealed the existence of a page for Magearna, the robot Pokémon that communicates in crunchy whirring noises, on something called the “Love Interest Wiki.” Remember, outside of one very nice microphone I get no compensation for all the things I must do for you, the readers.
Take this for whatever this is, but I do wonder if anyone reading these finds interest in any of the other things I’m watching or playing. Then again, this chapter is making me want to watch some of LA Heat, a Nineties cop show by PM Entertainment that largely existed to blow up cars and warehouses, so maybe it’s okay to not follow my otherwise impeccable standards. Still have the best taste of Source Gaming, I’d bet.
With another region under our belt, it’s time for Wolfman’s list of favorite Kalos Pokémon: Greninja (which, again, doubles as my favorite Pokémon in general), Delphox, Hawlucha, Trevenant, Inkay, Aegislash, Dragalge, Klefki, Vivillon, Heliolisk, Pangoro, Gourgeist, Noivern, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Volcanion, Hoopa. Gen VI only had space for a scant few new ones, and much of that space was taken by Mega Evolutions, but I think the small list holds its own well. I appreciate that every Pokémon feels special and distinct, even if I miss the ones that are there just to beef up the setlist. Even Carbink, the definition of a forgettable Pokémon, is tied to Diancie.
- On that note, a list of favorite Mega Evolutions: Rayquaza (probably my favorite in general), Pidgeot, Mawile, Blaziken, Gengar, Ampharos, Pinsir, Absol, Sableye, Gallade, Kangaskhan, Mewtwo Y, Scizor, Sceptile, Lucario, Garchomp, Altaria, Metagross. In general the Megas are kinda overproduced, which is admittedly the right call given their whole deal, but I think these ones toe that line and still have a strong style. Plus, a few like Mawile and Pidgeot totally reimagine how an otherwise mundane Pokémon can function, which is great.
- Regarding Greninja, it’s quite simple. My favorite Type is Dark, I prefer speedy characters in most games, my favorite animal is the red-eyed tree frog (which is similar to some of the frogs Greninja is based on), and it’s my favorite character in Smash Bros. It is perfect for me to a degree I’m not used to experiencing with characters like this.
And now, I’m going to spend next week relaxing, taking Chapter 19 slow, and, oh, right. Let’s do this like Jimmy the punk rock Pikachu fetishist: long guitar lick and… “Zeldaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

Next movie: Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!

Next episodes:

2003: “Loading the Dex!”
2014: “Getting to Know You!”
2021: “One Journey Ends, Another Begins…”
2028: “Pulling Out the Pokémon Base Pepper!”
2037: Rising from the Ruins!

Other movies watched:

Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
Day of the Animals
Key Largo
Midsommar (not the… most fun I’ve had seeing William Jackson Harper covered in blood this week)

Other television episodes watched: