Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been a couple solid months since we last visited the shores of Alola, and I’m currently still working off an awful cold, so I’d say we’ve more than earned a return to Sun & Moon. Though at this point, I doubt we’ll be seeing too many sun-dappled beaches or cloudless skies, given the crew just rode Solgaleo through a goddamn wormhole. The land of the Ultrabeasts awaits, and I’m expecting some impressive feats of pokebattle animation as our team seeks to rescue Lusamine. Just fighting one Ultrabeast seemed too much for our shamelessly stat-modded Pikachu – even with a legendary pokemon at their side, can our heroes truly battle them on their own turf? With the stakes higher than ever before, let’s return to the fantastical world of Sun & Moon!

Episode 53

Goddamnit Rotom, this is no time for a Pokeproblem, the battle’s already begun!

“Who is the first to die as our team faces the Ultrabeasts!?” I kid, it’s actually “who is the first to battle,” which is almost as hype of a question

Unsurprisingly, this episode requires a larger prologue than ever before in order to get any uninitiated viewers up to speed. Kinda funny how the core purposes of this production inherently grate against each other – the Sun & Moon anime is designed to be an animated reenactment/companion piece to the game, but any time the anime actually follows the game’s story, it’s naturally undercutting its other main purpose as a self-contained saturday morning cartoon. As such, moments of such extreme continuity as this are pretty rare, and “telling the story of Sun & Moon” is largely reframed as exploring the vibe of Sun & Moon, through a wide variety of continuity-free vignettes

I like this trick they use for Solgaleo’s linework. Rather than the full black linework of other characters, his fur is outlined with a brighter yellow, which is further augmented through tiny shaded dots that create a sensation of him actively sparkling. A subtle yet effective way to convey his otherworldly and sun-like nature

They emerge from the wormhole into the Final Destination Universe, where all stages are flat crystalline floors with no platforms, Fox Only

Their platform is surrounded by jellyfish Ultrabeasts. I can’t blame folks for thinking Lillie would transform into one of these things when the designs were first revealed, as the similarities between their colors/bonnet and Lillie’s colors/hat are pretty undeniable. Just goes to show the importance of silhouettes and distinctive character design – even if you don’t intend a connection, similar designs will naturally draw the audience towards assuming one exists, creating a sense of dissonance when they learn that’s not the case

“Operation: Rescue Lusamine!!”

Interestingly, while Team Rocket are ready to blast off again, Bewear now insists they actually stay at the ruins. Please let them play a heroic role in the battle to come, Sun & Moon!

Kaki immediately suggests they split up, because he is a goddamn fool who’s never watched a single horror movie

Mallow fears that separating might get people lost, while Sophocles laments their lack of any investigatory equipment. Really seeing what these folks are made of at a time like this – I’ve made hay over Sophocles’ general uselessness in the past, but it’s clear now that he’d be a better companion than Kaki when the shit hits the fan

The team initiates a roll call, simultaneously summoning all of their pokemon. It’s true, they actually do have a pretty formidable lineup at this point

They run into the Ultrabeast that’s captured Lusamine, and discover it’s given her an awesome new dye job

Lillie proves she’s perhaps moved too far in the “no longer scared of pokemon” direction, and immediately charges the Ultrabeast

Between all the new backgrounds and having every dang pokemon out, this already seems like a resource-taxing episode. This is also making me realize how useful the concept of pokeballs is for the pokemon anime, as they drastically cut down on the general number of active characters in any shot

Interesting riff on Lusamine’s game personality here. Rather than portraying her as an outright monster willing to sacrifice her children to meet the Ultrabeasts, they’re presenting her as being overcome by her childish desire, and not fully conscious of what she’s doing. That’s an instinct that Sun & Moon’s audience can more directly relate to than “sometimes our parents want to murder us for personal gain”

Of course Lusamine battles with one of the horny poison lizard pokemon. What I would give to be a fly on the wall at the meeting where they decided pokemon designs needed to get hornier

And of course, Kaki gets a big dramatic “leave this one to me!” moment. While his tactical choices may be dubious, his inherently heroic spirit is never in question

I appreciate that these stone platforms work just like in they do in videogames, where handy step-platforms appear to guide you between all the big ones

Fortunately, Lusamine’s next three pokemon are a far more conventional set, providing a perfect opportunity for Mallow, Lana, and Sophocles to get their own “leave this to me” moment

Rotom also says he’ll stay to help, which is a meaningless gesture in terms of his actual combat abilities, but does a fine job of cleaning up the roster so it’s just Ash and the siblings for the final confrontation

Ah, I see – his plan is to help them with tactical information about their opponents. Unfortunately, Rotom’s information is limited to their pokedex biographies, which don’t really offer any strategically useful data

Aw jeez, poor showing by our secondary trio. The three of them are almost instantly dispatched by a mass hypnosis ability, forcing Ash to chuck Litten and Rowlett over his shoulder for support

Excellent gag of Rowlett showing up and immediately being defeated by the same attack. Did you really expect Rowlett of all characters to escape a drowsiness spell?

Feels like this episode’s counterbalancing its extreme need for fresh background and character art by leaning a bit more on bank footage for its fight scenes. That’s another sort of interesting tension when it comes to these episodic narratives – use bank footage too much and long-time watchers get restless, but the reason you bank footage in the first place is because it’s generally both applicable to a bunch of situations, and also high-quality in the abstract. To someone who’s only watching this particular episode, these banked attack animations are absolutely going to be the episode highlight. I feel like this tension goes some way towards explaining the balance that shows like Pretty Cure strike: every episode will have some bank footage, but it will generally be contained to the transformation sequences, while the actual fights are always new

Now here’s an impressive new cut, as we pan across the whole team charging towards Lusamine. Love the momentum created by the camera slightly outrunning our team, as well as that stylish match cut when we shift from Solgaleo’s eye to Lusamine’s for her counterattack

The show does its absolute best to make the reveal of this Clefable seem intimidating, but alas, it is still a goddamn Clefable

What the heck, even Lillie is ceding to Ash, and offering her own “let me handle this” moment? I appreciate them attempting to hype up her bond with this Clefable, but Ash’s protagonist privilege is clearly too strong

“I’m not very good at battling. So this is how I will fight.” I do appreciate the show celebrating Lillie’s non-violent skill at connecting with others. For a show that’s mostly about the power of friendship, the inherently violent nature of pokemon battles can sometimes provoke some thematic discord

And Done

The Ultra-gauntlet continues! This episode was non-stop battles from start to finish, and seemed to genuinely strain Sun & Moon’s altogether generous production. There were excellent action cuts throughout, but I was perhaps most gratified to see Lillie getting a heroic moment to celebrate her most admirable qualities: her kindness, her willingness to forgive, and her determination to overcome her fears. In a story whose general axis of conflict centers on pokemon battles, I appreciated this celebration of our peaceful heroine, whose familial conflict touches on far sharper concepts than “can my pocket monster win the big match.” A wonderful expression of personal strength for Lillie, and an excellent preamble to Ash’s coming battle!

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