Hello everyone, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. I’ll be perfectly frank: I am tired right now, and in need of something comforting to get me back in positive spirits. Last week I came down with some awful illness that had me basically horizontal for three days straight, followed by another day or two of begrudging, sniffly recovery. After a year of careful quarantine best practices, it felt like the world cursed me with a plague the moment I dared to step into sunlight. And of course, it’s not like my responsibilities took a time-out to let me get back in gear; thus most of that recovery time was also spent writing articles, and making up for the time I decadently afforded myself for being too sick to move. Today is the first day I’ve felt more-or-less healthy in a week, and in the spirit of maintaining that health, I’m treating myself (and you all, hopefully???) to an episode of Sun and Moon.

When we last left off, Sun and Moon appeared to have finally commenced its actual plot. Starcloud, Lusamine, and Alola’s legendary pokemon were key to the Sun and Moon game’s narrative from the start, but given we’ve spent forty glorious episodes just faffing about, I was beginning to wonder if Sun and Moon would even have a plot, at least beyond the island pilgrimage. I frankly wouldn’t have minded that, but I’m also happy to see Lusamine pop in to fawn over her daughter in the most embarrassing way possible, and also see our heroes trade blows with some genuinely threatening opponents. Sun and Moon’s ultra beasts represent Pokemon at its wildest and weirdest, so I’m guessing the next few episodes have some dramatic turns in store for us. Let’s get to it!

Episode 45

The heck is Rotom doing with the Pokeproblem of the day? That doesn’t give me any information at all!

No, that’s not true, is it? I’m guessing his presence indicates that rather than a character-focused one, this will be an exposition-heavy episode prepping us for the arc ahead. Rotom does love his exposition

“What move does Starcloud unleash this episode?” Holding out for Flamethrower, but I’m guessing it won’t be quite that exciting

We begin on a cold open of Lillie writing in her diary, jotting down everything they know about Starcloud. A necessary concession to our current narrative continuity

Oh my god, Starcloud walking by using his little star-tufts to propel himself is too much. How have they made a beast from beyond the stars such a darling creature

“Starcloud Panic! The Teleport Happened Suddenly!” Welp, guess we’re hunting a teleporting baby this episode. Not sure if that’s more or less convenient than an invisible baby, so I’m happy anime is here to resolve these vital questions

Oh man, great new shot of the Pokeschool… and there’s Team Rocket right outside, still working at that donut cart. Gotta make a living somehow

James decides that Starcloud must be a Koffing pre-evolution. “If you’re that certain, you must be right!” God I love these idiots

“Today you’ll be sculpting one of your partner pokemon out of clay.” This is one of the weirdest trade schools I’ve ever seen

In tears at Pikachu’s lil’ cross-armed stance as he leans on the desk. This show always knows how to nourish me

This goofy activity allows for some natural character flourishes: Ash is enthusiastic but not very precise, Lana and Kaki both attack the assignment with ambition and gusto, and Sophocles attempts to avoid working altogether. In a slice of life narrative, throwing your characters into a new situation can often provide all the “dramatic fuel” you need – the goal is to celebrate these characters and their relationships, so you just need to find new ways for them to be themselves

Aw shit, Starcloud can teleport other people with him. Well, this sure does open new realms of transportation opportunities in the pokemon world

Starcloud transports Mallow to the forest and Lana to the sea, so I guess Kaki’s headed for an active volcano

…I was kidding, but Starcloud apparently was not

Their ultimate creations are all precious and terrible

Dear lord, now Starcloud’s using his little cloud-tufts as a pillow. Will the blessed inspiration of these animators ever come to an end

Lillie speculates that Starcloud teleported them to wherever they were thinking of at the time, and the whole team just kinda breezes past the implication that this tiny puffball can read their goddamn minds

I guess that’s actually not too unusual for pokemon? There are plenty of psychic types, after all – and it doesn’t seem unreasonable to think pokemon could parse human thoughts, given the level of sentience they frequently display

Starcloud wakes up and greets the world with a piercing scream at the terror of existence, as we all do

Ironically, the team’s attempts to make funny faces at it look far more normal than their usual reaction faces. I guess they can’t really turn cubist on demand

Yep, we actually get the best expressions when everyone else is terrified by whatever unholy face Lillie makes. And of course, as a being from beyond the stars, Starcloud is immediately comforted by Lillie’s blasphemy

Starcloud now just freestyle teleporting Ash and Pikachu all across the islands. Please do not splice them into a mountain or something, you adorable, terrifying eldritch being

Meanwhile, Team Rocket is relaxing after work out at the beach, where Jessie is screaming her convictions into the sea

Some fun new background texture effects for Mimikyu’s aura, with his menace represented by what appear to be loose splashes of paint which have been digitally stretched and squashed, then had their hues inverted. This is a fairly conservative episode in terms of animation, but Sun and Moon always offers a couple new visual tricks

Ooh, I like the three dimensionality they’re adding to this battlefield through these panning cuts. Having the camera pan with Jessie as she starts walking really amplifies the drama of this confrontation, and these low-angle shots use the pokemon and crests of the beach to great effect, further heightening the drama while emphasizing the open field between them

Aw jeez, Pikachu’s tough little expression as he makes this Clint Eastwood strut in pace with his opponent. Though I suppose it could just as easily be Mifune – both westerns and samurai dramas love these scenes, as tension builds while the combatants pace and assess each other. There’s a reason the two genres pull from each other so much; in many ways they are the same genre in a different setting

The slow movement itself adds to the tension of the situation – the combatants come across like coiled springs, tightly wound and waiting to release

James actually cooked up a pretty good scheme! Not only did he trick Ash into moving Starcloud into a steal-able position, he also simultaneously made use of the setting sun to blind their opponents. Rare competence from our delightful idiots

Oh no! His very planning is his undoing, as his immediate call to watch for Bewear gets them all teleported back to the nest. They were so close!

And Done

Well, it turns out my fears of Actual Plot Development were entirely unwarranted, as this episode mostly just established that Starcloud knows teleport. This was a resoundingly low-key episode on the whole, if low-key things are capable of resounding, and presumably somewhat of a breather for the team after the recent set of overwhelmingly fluid episodes. But Sun and Moon at rest is still friggin’ Sun and Moon, and this served as just the kind of lazy afternoon I was looking for. Fun times with Lovecraftian ultra beasts!

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