Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today I feel like my hands are somewhat tied, as the absolute Pokemon saturation of my twitter feed is making it impossible for me to think about anything but cheerful, collectible companions and the adventures we might share. After about four days of Death Stranding memes, the release of Pokemon Sword and Shield has dropped us squarely into Pokemon Season, and I’m celebrating in the only way I know how – by continuing my journey through the last Pokemon adventure, Sun and Moon!

In spite of being perhaps a tad late in my investigation of this series, I couldn’t be happier to be watching Sun and Moon specifically. Not only did I actually play through this one, which I hadn’t previously done since the Gold/Silver era, this production also marked a key change in the Pokemon anime’s production sensibilities. So far, this show’s rounded, somewhat simplified designs have facilitated a wild array of expressive character animation, helping to bring characters I’m already very fond of to life. I’d always assumed the Pokemon anime was more of a strictly functional advertisement than a labor of love like Precure or Doremi, and I’m happy to be proven so wrong by this exuberant production. Let’s see what’s in store for our young trainers!

Episode 3

Opening up with a lovely shot of the island as a whole, leading into the introduction of Pokemon’s most enduring and indispensable crew: Team Rocket

I’d only watched dubbed Pokemon as a kid prior to this, so it is friggin’ wild to hear Shinichiro Miki playing James. Miki on a straight comic relief character is going to be an interesting experience

Their quest is extremely vague: go to Alola and get lots of rare Pokemon, which will help Giovanni’s plan in undisclosed ways. I get the feeling he just sends them places to get rid of them for a while; after two decades of failure, I can’t imagine he’s expecting much

Ash’s brief intro before the OP pretty much covers the whole premise. Team Rocket’s vague goals seem designed in a similar way – this show is ferociously continuity-averse, as it wants to be watchable even if you’re just switching on any random episode, or even in the middle of an episode. Complex goals that take time to explain aren’t compatible with that directive

I wonder if Pokemon at this point is designed to be watched by multiple generations, as parents who grew up with Ash join their children

So I guess this episode is introducing the “Rotom Zukan,” which was essentially a part of your interface in the game. I’m frankly a little surprised they’re including it in the show at all, since it was more of a tutorial tool than an actual character

Rockruff is adorable. Between this and the new game’s corgi, I appreciate that each generation of Pokemon understands you need a cute dog

Interesting. So the “Zukan” is the device Ash holds, and the “Rotom” is the Pokemon that inhabits it. I like this trailing effect that follows the Rotom as it bounces around the room; it ostensibly represents the electric trail behind the Pokemon, but its outlined design really pops, and seems to exist outside of the world’s frame. Watching a lot of Ojamajo Doremi has taught me that when it comes to children’s anime, artists are often much more willing to include visually expressive design elements that don’t necessarily cohere into a convincing illusion of reality. Kids just don’t care as much about realism, which suits artists just fine

This is a very odd creature. It’s a Pokemon, but it also runs programs designed by humans from within its machine shell, and it can also speak

Wait, is “Zukan” just the Japanese term for what the English games refer to as the Pokedex? This guy seems to be fulfilling basically the same function

It seems like it. Japanese Ash can’t even really pronounce “Pokedex,” which is understandable, considering that English -ex ending has to be awkwardly contorted into “eckusu” in Japanese

And then Pikachu electrocutes everyone, as you do

We cut from there to some brief, unexpected scenes of Pokemon just interacting in the wild – a Bewear noticing a Mimikyu, and a Litten yawning at one of those koalas. These scenes don’t follow in any way from the previous material, but they seem to serve a variety of purposes: setting up Pokemon as dramatic variables that we’ll then return to, establishing the atmosphere of a lazy afternoon, and perhaps most importantly, simply conveying the idle experience of life on Alola. Because this show is also essentially an advertisement for the Sun and Moon games, it seems uniquely dedicated to conveying the appeal of living in this world, and consistently treats the audience as an active participant in the narrative (something further bolstered by the persistent “guess that Pokemon” games and whatnot)

This is a pretty slow episode on the whole. We’re still introducing this Rotom to other characters, which isn’t very exciting

The principal’s pokemon-related puns aren’t actually funny, but they’re the right kind of joke for precisely this audience. Humor is built on shared understandings – more complex jokes hang on humorous incongruity or recontextualization, but the most basic forms of humor often rely on the simple satisfaction of “hey, I recognize that.” For a show like this, we can assume the audience is largely too young to parse complex humor, and too limited in their experience to get most extra-textual references. So what can we rely on? First, visual gags, which are based on universal assumptions like “how human faces work” – but also, that this audience has a vested interest in Pokemon specifically. Thus, if you’re going to try and integrate reference humor, your best bet is to make jokes that reward the audience for knowing a lot of Pokemon

Incidentally, spoof movies tend to get panned for precisely this reason – they generally rely on the most basic, simplistic styles of “I recognize that” comedy, which is fine for children, but a little thin for adults

The Rotom explains the “Destiny Bond” move, which sounds an awful lot like a suicide pact

Jessie kinda handwaves the fact that Team Rocket are once again reduced to just using Wobuffet and Meowth to capture new Pokemon. Of course, the actual reason is that watching Arbok beat up Pokemon isn’t a particularly good advertisement for Sun and Moon; like with Ash being reduced to just Pikachu, it’s important to pair back to just the fundamentals in order to let the new game’s Pokemon shine

Nice animation for Jessie’s ghost impression, and then a fantastic, rough-edged reaction shot for all four of them being startled by a Mimikyu

All sorts of great reaction shots here, really stretching these faces to their limits

Mimikyu is such a great, sad idea for a Pokemon. He’s not Ditto, who just copies all Pokemon blindly; he actually sees that people love Pikachu, and wants to be loved as well

Jessie actually thinks Mimikyu is cute. Bless her

And then she literally just chucks Meowth by the head at the new Pokemon. Well, they’re still Team Rocket

Dear lord. Mimikyu’s psychic attack actually sends Meowth into some nightmare dimension, where he’s trapped walking down a desolate hallway. I guess I never really considered how “psychic attack” means that, in contrast with a lightning bolt or fire punch or whatever, psychic Pokemon’s attacks actually give their enemies psychological trauma

Meowth is now chasing after what are apparently its idea of “sexy Pokemon.” This sure is a scene

Aw, I love them sharing a hug after saving him. Team Rocket really are the best

Apparently, whatever’s under Mimikyu’s cloth is so traumatizing, Meowth suffered a psychotic break in response. For the kids!

Very playful smears here, as the team briefly shift into smudges of their hair color as they run away

God, so many great Team Rocket expressions. This show is obviously a commercial workhorse that would probably exist either way, but this specific Team Rocket’s endurance speak to what wonderful, indispensable characters they are

Ah, Mimikyu’s Ghost/Fairy type, apparently

“Iron Tail didn’t have any effect!?” MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP USING NORMAL-TYPE MOVES ON A GHOST-TYPE POKEMON. Goddamn amateurs

Pikachu getting its shit wrecked out here

Ahaha, Team Rocket’s formal introduction is so good. They may be terrible at their job, but they still love what they do

James just continuously picking new poses with his rose

Poor, poor Meowth. He knows just how strong Pikachu is, and he still has to trudge out there and get himself electrocuted every single time

Mimikyu jumps in to support Meowth! Go underdogs!

And then Bewear just… picks up Team Rocket and takes them away. This episode has gotten pretty amazing

And Done

Ahaha, that battle was so great. This episode started slow with all of the Rotom meet-and-greets, but the second Team Rocket arrived, things got profoundly entertaining. Team Rocket are very charming and genuinely hilarious; while Ash just wins because He’s The Hero, I always related to Team Rocket’s perpetual failure, and the cycles of fatigue, despair, and then ultimate perseverance that got them fighting again. It also feels like this production team are big fans as well, what with the plentiful expression work here – and on top of that, both Shinichiro Miki and Megumi Hayashibara are voice acting legends, and add an absurd amount of energy and personality to their scenes. It’s nice to be reunited with old friends!

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