#JN068 spoilers

[gaycey-sketchit]

This is literally how I sneeze.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) There's a few channels dedicated to streaming episodes when they come out, then they become archived for a bit. That's probably what you saw. (The fact that Ash had to explain to Goh that Gary is just like that was glorious. Japanese Twitter is going into overdrive with the "love triangle" and "boyfriend" jokes xD) Though it was ambiguous, a potential "rivalry" did get teased in a way. I still hope it's more with the Project Mew leaders though and Gary is more like guidance.

(Part Deux) Yeah, Tracey was sent to look for Infernape. He's still alive! Paul was kinda a surprise too, of course they had to have him far away. xD The episode's reception was pretty much: Everyone loved Gary, mixed on Moltres battle and disappointed on Infernape being a non-entity. (Quite the contrary, I love learning how other languages work. I know that pronouns change based on the situation. Some can be formal or informal; and if not used correctly, it could be considered rude)

(Part 3) From the subs: Gary no longer works in Sinnoh, he's back to traveling around like Ash due to his new goal. Him and Ash do catch up and talk about their adventures since the last meeting; no specifics though. He has watched the Sinnoh League, so he knows the deal with Ash's Infernape and why it's missing so he helps out with that. Apparently during visits to the Lab, he's kept observations on Ash's Pokemon. Moltres was a trail mission to get into Project Mew.

(Part 4) Since Mew has the DNA of all Pokemon, it lines up with his goal in wanting to learn about all kinds of Pokemon and such, so he wants to research it. Gary calls Oak "grandpa", but immediately switches to calling him "Professor". (I wonder if the dub will keep this) Oak explains that Gary's provoking was his way of testing and motivating Goh to join the project, since Goh was hesitant before; to which Ash jokingly says *"why can't Gary be straightforward and honest".

(Part 5) (*Yuko had mentioned this in an interview: How Ash is a honest and straightforward person while Gary's the opposite. He'll purposely take an opposing side and know the right words to rile you up. It's part of what makes him fun. "Saaatoshi-kun" was an al-lib on her part that resonated so well that actually got written into later scripts, including his return. She actually didn't know about Gary's return in January and was awaiting for her agency to call for reprising him)

Yeah, there is something deeply funny about how we were all speculating about the different ways Goh could react to Gary and what happened ended up being "what is this guy's problem?" And Ash having to be like "he's always been like that" was so good. Love all the love triangle/boyfriend jokes the fandom has been making, that really is what it felt like. This episode felt kind of like a fanfic and I say that as a positive.

Yeah, there were definitely the vibes of a rivalry, though hopefully Goh will end up truly rivals with the new characters.

I think it really speaks for how sad it is to be a Tracey fan sometimes that just acknowledging his existence was enough. Like, hearing his name and seeing his face made me so happy. (But now I really want him to reappear properly because the Journeys style is so kind to his sweet face.)

Really wasn't expecting the glimpse of Paul. The amount of continuity nods this episode gave us was stellar.

Yeah, Gary was Peak Gary and all the character moments were fantastic (which is the main aspect I care about, so personally I'm very much satisfied with the episode), the battle was fine but probably could've been better, and it definitely would've been nice to see Infernape have more of a role in the episode than just sort of being a plot device.

It's fascinating stuff, isn't it? Japanese is the only language I know any of (though probably not the only one) that has all these different personal pronouns that can convey different things about the speaker and I love it, it's so cool. And in anime it adds material for character analysis so that's fun.

Love that for him, he really does seem like the restless type so I can see how he'd be happiest roaming again once his work in Sinnoh was done. I love that he and Ash do some catching up and he's confirmed to have at least watched the Sinnoh League (I wonder if he's seen other leagues Ash has competed in since).

The idea that he keeps observations on Ash's Pokemon specifically makes me so soft. There's something very sweet about that.

Him being involved in Project Mew and his return kicking off the arc about it is so good, and that reasoning for his interest in it makes perfect sense.

I wonder why he does that--I guess as a show of respect for a fellow researcher, which is kind of cute. I do wonder if that'll carry over into the dub.

Yeah, even with the kind of jank subtitles (if better subs are out now I should probably seek them out) I could tell Gary was definitely provoking Goh on purpose to motivate him. Lighting a fire in people is one of the things Gary does best, after all. Ash's fond exasperation really makes it so much better.

That's a neat contrast between them--I'll forever be obsessed with how Ash and Gary are two sides of the same coin, so similar in some ways yet so different in others. And yeah, a lot of the fun of Gary's character comes from that.

Oh, I love that. And I love that since she made that a thing, the dub adapted it into the iconic "Ashy-Boy".

Wild that she didn't know about Gary's return initially. I am so glad she gets to reprise the role, she did so good this episode.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) I felt for the longest time since Journeys started that if Gary was brought back, he'd stir things up. Especially if he reoccurred, and now we're seeing the calm before the storm. Well, storm before the hurricane. xD (Ash, Gary and Goh acting like misfit brothers is a wonderful dynamic, the first two tag-teaming so Cinderace didn't get hurt was cool. Hope Gary keeps his dynamics between the two balanced. Besides being support, Ash doesn't really have an excuse to be

(Part Deux) in Project Mew, thus could get sidelined. If Gary at least has more casual scenes with him or helps him with PWC while he's around, probably won't be jarring. It'd be a massive waste for this new turn in their friendship to only be one episode) It's the sad life of loving "obscure" characters, especially if they were once prominent. From what I heard, it's due to his VA apparently being high-profile, which means expensive. (Iris' VA shot up after BW, but she at least

(Part 3) still does stuff with Pokemon. Tracey's hasn't done anything near this franchise since him. (If you came for just Infernape, yeah not the best showcasing. Maybe something better for it turns up later. (It is, some languages actually become "easier" to decipher once you understand certain linguistics) I never saw him as the type to stay stuck in lab; field work is his alley. It's interesting how they had him bounce around from fossils, to a nature preserve,

(Part 4) to fighting Team Galactic, now Project Mew. His goal is as big as Ash's in a way. (Him and Ash didn't discuss the PWC, wonder if that will turn up later) Considering what he's aiming for it makes sense, he actually goes on a tangent on how he was able to find Infernape, but also accurately track where Moltres was going to be. (Likely out of respect because of sharing the title, the dub never carried it over when it first did it or onward. We'll see what happens in September) (Part 5) There are better subs out now, grab them while they're hot. (Wonder how Carter is gonna feel having to tap into OS Gary again) It's possible his episodes weren't scripted yet. If the photo of her and Rika is anything to go by, recording started a month after the OP. In the interview, she's very happy to be back with Gary and take on a new direction. Apparently the scene where Ash and Gary walk and catch up was also an al-lib on her and Rika's part. Umbreon is her favorite Gary Pokemon)

Yeah, Gary's return has already created quite a stir and I'm eager to see how things go from here. JN069 is looking like just a cute filler episode (which is fine, I don't mind cute filler episodes by any means especially after a big event like this episode was) but I wonder when we're going to hear from him next.

Their whole group dynamic is looking like it'll be really good. I loved that moment--that brief eye contact between Ash and Gary before they both acted to protect Cinderace was so good, how in sync they were really showed their closeness. Really excited to see their future interactions.

Yeah, Ash probably won't be too directly involved in Project Mew, but if there's a good balance between it and the PWC stuff it should be fine. Hoping the writers will make use of the opportunity to show how Ash and Gary's relationship has progressed.

I miss Tracey so much. That makes sense though, I really wasn't aware of it--being almost exclusively a dub watcher with Pokemon I don't know a whole lot about the Japanese cast (aside from knowing James shares his Japanese VA with Roy Mustang), so I guess I was thinking more from the dub perspective (where hilariously, Tracey had the same English VA as Giovanni in both dubs--Ted Lewis and Craig Blair really said I can be your angel or your devil). I guess it can't really be helped in that case :/

Yeah, hopefully. I know some people were disappointed by that.

Linguistics really are interesting. As someone whose native language is English I find it fascinating how other languages actually like... make sense once you figure out their phonetics and grammar rules and stuff.

Yeah, Gary definitely seems like the restless type. I imagine he deliberately goes for options that allow him to roam at least a little bit, presumably because even though he decided gyms and leagues weren't the right path for him he still enjoyed the traveling aspect of his time as a trainer. I feel like he might be able to stick around a lab for like a week tops before he started getting restless, so fieldwork is definitely what's right for him.

It is interesting how in his time as a researcher he's done all these different things--I like the idea that his ambition coupled with curiosity leads him to just want to learn a bunch of different things in different fields, of course leading to this big goal of straight-up wanting to research every single Pokemon including Mew itself. (I wonder if he's ever going to get to figure out what the armored murderbeast that completely wrecked him in the Viridian Gym was, like, does he know about Mewtwo? Has anybody told him anything? I think about this so much.)

That does make sense from a practical standpoint, yeah, but I also just find the thought of him keeping tabs on Ash's Pokemon Specifically very cute. It's definitely a good thing he was if that's what led them to Infernape and Moltres.

That makes sense, yeah. If the dub's never carried it over before (and I know in the dub, Gary has only ever called his grandfather Professor Oak while referring to him like "my grandfather, Professor Oak" and never while addressing him) it probably will continue to not do that, but I guess only time will tell.

I'll have to go looking for them then! Though I'm also very eager for the dub to do its thing. I do wonder how Carter will do--Gary was always easily his best role in the past but it's been a long while, I hope he's still got it.

That makes sense! I'm glad Yuko is enjoying being back in the role, she's so good at voicing him.

Oh, that's cute. I love that.

She has good taste, Umbreon is definitely one of the best Gary 'mon (and also my personal favorite).