#hz044

[ianime0]

Pokemon (Shinsaku Anime) | Ep44 | Black Rayquaza

[amelikos]

Sango called Amethio "bocchan" (young master) during the episode! I already had a feeling and he gave me big bocchan vibes ever since the beginning of the series but this kinda emphasizes even more the fact that he is special among the Explorers, and that the others are aware of his position and status. I go back and forth on whether he might be related to Gibeon after all, I feel like this gives a bit more weight to it but we'll see..

It seemed like Spinel specifically excluded Amethio from the plan and he didn't take him into account when crafting it. Sango said that it seems like Spinel hates Amethio, so that was fun. Gives more insights on how the Explorers feel about each other. It's funny how Spinel didn't bother telling him about the plan, only for Amethio to show up amongst the chaos next episode.

[smilingperformer]

NONONONONONONONONO

BRAVE ASAGI IS ON CRASH COURSE DUE TO REKKUUZA CRASHING ON IT NOOOOOOO THERE ARE PEOPLE KN BOSRD HELP I AM SCARED FOR NEXT WEEK-

Also preview for next arc spoiled Floragato/Nyarote for next week lol

EDIT: AMETHIO IS BACK AND PREVIEW LITERARILY SHOWS NYAHOJA EVOLVING AAAAAAHHHHHHHH

[vulturevanity]

I gotta start making "dread-inducing cliffhanger into cheery mlp credits" edits because it keeps happening. They keep ending horrifying show episodes straight into fun credits songs and it's just as much of a whiplash as it was when it happened in mlp

[kafus]

there is a LOT i could say about HZ044 but since i'm biased i'm going to talk about something to do with dot again for right now

now obviously dot kicked ass this episode and that's awesome but i'm emotional because she finally got to take on spinel (or well, something he made anyway) head-on and succeed.

in HZ015, when liko gets her memories wiped, her desire to find and save liko is what gets her out of her room for the first major time in the show, which is great! but while the gurumin & iono collab livestream is what causes the domino effect that leads to liko gaining her memories back, ultimately liko recovers her memories on her own. and then in HZ016, dot gets cornered by spinel and her only option to save herself is to shoot off an SOS signal with quaxly's water gun and hope that liko and roy see it. once they're there, they fight together, but dot is definitely not strong enough to take that on by herself yet. she walks away from the events of those episodes feeling awful about falling for the targeted misinformation and putting liko in even more danger, and this follows her for a long time, too:

not only is she incredibly angry with herself at the time, but 12 episodes later in HZ027 she once again self-deprecates and expresses anger towards herself for messing up - interestingly she mentions that she put liko in danger before despite the events of HZ027 not really being all that serious, and it's pretty obvious that HZ015/016 are Haunting Her and a source of insecurity (they're surrounded by the rest of the RVT and she was just supposedly meeting up with someone for information about rayquaza)

of course at the end of HZ027 she has that gay peptalk with liko where liko reassures her she's doing a good job,

and that seems to help quite a bit with her confidence moving forward! but even so she never really got to "settle the score" in any way. you can tell from how dot talks about spinel being mentioned that she still holds a lot of resentment towards him for endangering liko - she talks about him with a sense of bitterness that isn't present for the rest of the crew

HZ015, after finding out that spinel probably erased liko's memories with his beheeyem:

and HZ044, after getting the opportunity to maybe assist with stopping spinel's plans:

the insults and the sentiment of never forgiving - even now after all her growth she fucking hates this guy and what he did to liko, and now she's determined to make up for it. and unlike before when she was getting aimlessly mad at herself and needed liko to pick her up and reassure her, now she was actually able to make a plan and follow through and it works out - she succeeded at doing what she set out to do and wasn't led astray.

murdock is in tears and worried but he recognizes his niece's confidence and chooses to trust her (something i'm still really emotional about after all of dot's growth in recent episodes)

and again, she fucking does it! she destroys the machine that spinel made to call and weaken rayquaza by her own hand with software she wrote herself

and at the end of it all she gets a moment to see liko's face and hear her voice approving her after she succeeds, and uh. well

yeah suffice to say she's happy about it but flustered about showing it. this is not how you look at a girl you don't have a crush on lmfao

anyway shit hits the fan shortly after but that's not her fault and she did successfully stop rayquaza from being captured by the explorers and potentially causing more mayhem or damage to the RVT and liko. and she gets that recognition from liko herself at the end. iconic of her it's crazy how far she has come

[rising-volteccers]

You know what I'm just going to share some of the WIPs I have so maybe I'll be motivated to actually finish them in the near future. Just shoving it all underneath the read more.

A what if scene post HZ045

A slightly different take on HZ044.

Fic based on a prompt (I will finish this eventually)

Take on Frozen status effect

Pre HZ where Murdock gets his flying license.

[hupla222]

Silly Little Summaries HZ041-HZ045

I almost forgot to post this today. I've finally reached five more episodes to talk about. And aren't I so lucky that the big multi-parters haven't been broken up yet. Anyway, on to the "reviews":

HZ041: Anti’s mom Flora talks a lot + Backstory

Alternate Title: Mr. Doctor Professor is a weirdo

HZ042: Grandpa is superman…wtf

Alternate Title: I don’t know what’s going on, but I think I like it

HZ043: Kiara wants cookies and Kovu is along for the ride

Alternate Title: The ships! These two menaces are too cute

HZ044: The Bad Guy Club for Villains make Spaghetti

Alternate Title: Envy traps Mr. Doctor Professor alone with him, oh my

HZ045: Tofu gets his ass beat by Spaghetti Noodle, again, but this time with Pirates

Alternate Title: Mr. Big Bad himself makes an appearance and I got some theories (learn more here)

Alternate Title: Leafage learned to walk on two legs

[michaellambert]

Let's Talk About Pokemon HZ044

Let's Talk About Pokemon HZ044

[ianime0]

Pokemon (Shinsaku Anime) | Ep44 | We did it, Quaxly! Tinkatink!

[amelikos]

Sango snapping and destroying stuff has become a pattern at the end of chapters so far.

[ianime0]

Pokemon (Shinsaku Anime) | Ep44 | Where's the connection port? There!

[amelikos]

Another callback to an earlier episode because Friede used the same wording he did back in HZ014 here, calling Spinel "awfully shy" (with the "-san" and everything, he is polite about it!).

On the other hand, Spinel knows Friede's name and addresses him by it and also knows his status as a Professor. Maybe he knows that Friede doesn't really like being called that (at this point, it wouldn't surrpise me because Spinel knows so much about everyone).

No one on the RVT side knows Spinel's name, he was willing to reveal his face to Friede (and now, Friede knows Blacky's entire moveset too, he already knew more or less the way he battled from their first encounter), but not his name. He still remains secretive, and Friede doesn't ask either. I think the only Explorers known by name among the crew so far are Amethio, who introduced himself after being asked in HZ002, and Sango, who spontaneously told her name in HZ043 (Liko referred to Sango by name in this ep too).

[amelikos]

Spinel's Blacky knows Reflect as a move which is kinda interesting because it's not a move that Blacky learns naturally (in the game, it's learnt by TM) and while the two verses are different, it still stands out to me because it probably means Spinel went out of his way to teach Blacky a move reducing damage. In fact, even during the battle against Friede and Cap, so much of Blacky's style seemed to be about being faster to avoid attacks and the few times Cap tried to use a move that could have landed on Blacky (like Thunder Punch or Volt Tackle), Spinel immediately used Reflect... Feels like Spinel specifically trained Blacky to battle in a way that would avoid her getting hurt. I don't think Cap really landed a move against Blacky during the battle, because Spinel was so methodical in trying to avoid a direct hit (it also mirrors how Spinel acts behind the scenes and tries not to put himself out there too much).

Also Blacky knows Foul Play and the move apparently uses the target's attack to calculate damage instead of the user's own attack. Very Spinel-like move honestly, that's what he did in the episode by his own admission (using the other Explorers to attack Rayquaza while he orchestrates things in the background).

Anyway, this makes me even more curious about Spinel and Blacky. Spinel seems to keep everyone in the Explorers at arm's length and didn't seem to agree with Friede when the latter referred to the Explorers as Spinel's friends (context: Friede told Spinel that he didn't strike him as the type to rely on his friends' strength, to which Spinel was like "I am just using them"). He was arguably the closest to Agate, but there is still a distance there. Same with Blacky who doesn't seem to want to mingle with the other Pokemon in the Explorers (she pointedly ignored Onyx's Kyojiohn back in HZ027). It feels like they only have a strong attachment to each other. Spinel only ever shows affection to Blacky and only seems loyal to his partner Pokemon and no one else. I wonder what he's in the Explorers for in the first place.

[amelikos]

Ojou-sama and bocchan.

[amelikos]

Also, when Friede decided to use Cap during the battle against Spinel, Spinel asked Friede if he was underestimating him. To which Friede brought up that someone said the same thing before. Friede was referencing Amethio's reaction in HZ002 because Amethio also wondered if he was being underestimated when Friede sent Cap instead of Lizardon. Despite (supposedly) hating Amethio, Spinel reacted the same way as him, huh.

And as forgetful as Friede can be sometimes, he really remembers everything Amethio says. That's not the first time this happens, it also happened when Amethio told him to not look away during their battle in HZ005, and Friede used the same line back at him in the Galar Mine in HZ022 when he said he wouldn't look away and made sure to focus on their battle. And now, he also remembers a throwaway line from long ago.

[amelikos]

Some character notes and episode notes for HZ044, writing them down for future reference.

Friede went to check the strange tower on the isolated island, and he eventually saw Spinel and his Pokemon there. He goes back to the ship and calls for a meeting. Different from how he reacted in HZ014 when he followed Spinel's Rarecoil and fell in his trap (and didn't mention it to the crew afterwards). This time, he is sharing all the information he has instead of rushing directly into things.

Back on the ship, Friede shows the footage he got and Liko recognizes Spinel as the one who stole her pendant and mentions that Sango (she used her name) said they were going to summon Rayquaza, so Friede assumes they actually have a way to do it (maybe by using a machine or something). Dot offers to make a shutdown program that works on any machine and mentions that she cannot forgive "that guy" (referring to Spinel). Liked that they still included their kind of rivalry, given that Spinel's introduction arc overlapped with Dot coming out of her room and getting Kuwassu as a partner. Dot got tricked multiple times by Spinel, and she wants to be involved this time too, because it's personal for her.

Friede suggests using a boat to get to the island because going by ship or on Lizardon would immediately give him away. Liko and Roy want to tag along as well. Friede is about to refuse because it's dangerous but doesn't finish his sentence once he sees how determined they both look and eventually accepts. I really like that they keep emphasizing that things are dangerous, makes things feel grounded.

Liko and Roy eventually go to the island and go through a forest to get to the tower, along with Friede and Landau. There are wild Pokemon who don't seem used to humans and they try not to stand out by not making any noise. Eventually they get to the tower and Friede warns Liko and Roy to be careful. The door was open, which makes Friede suspect something is wrong but he still goes inside and ends up being locked there. Friede tells Liko and Roy that they should go ahead without him. Liko and Roy are both worried but Landau tells them to believe in Friede and continue onwards. Liko takes a deep breath to regain her composure and they all decide to look for where Rayquaza might appear. Love the small moments with Liko being worried and her just taking a moment to breathe to calm herself down, it feels real.

Spinel and Friede get to interact face to face for the first time. Friede recognized his voice and referred to him by the words he used back in HZ014, and Spinel calls him by his name and professor status. Spinel revealed that the place was built just to imprison Friede. I just like the implications that he did all of that just to trap Friede and isolate him from the others and that he was going to wait for him there, which implies that he acknowledges him as a threat and wants to delay him. Love how cunning Spinel is in general, his strategies involve some kind of deception and distraction, isolating his opponents and luring them away, which he did with both Friede and Liko in HZ014.

Somewhere else, Sango is skeptical and asks Agate if their plan will really attract Rayquaza. She also wonders where Amethio is and calls him "bocchan" (very important lore, thank you Sango for the casual reveal). Agate says that they'll execute the plan without him and that it was Spinel's idea. Sango says it's a shame he's missing out and adds that Spinel hates Amethio. Onyx tells her to stop blabbering and to get back in position, which annoys Sango but she does it anyway. Onyx shakes her head at her www He really has to put up with a lot with her (but he still cares).

As an aside, Sango's words about Spinel hating Amethio were interesting... I wonder how much of that is true. Spinel usually keeps a lot of information to himself, so the fact that his supposed dislike for Amethio was so apparent that even Sango saw it? Maybe he doesn't care about hiding it, maybe he can't hide it because Amethio irritates him that much? Maybe he feels like that because Amethio is too honest and straightforward in his approach, which is very different from how Spinel acts? I think that for someone like Spinel, being anything else than "indifferent" towards someone is a feat, so Amethio is "special" on some level... (Spinel finds very few people "fascinating" so far, we know Liko being the key to something had him intrigued, and he's also interested in Friede) He did keep up with Amethio's training and observed it back in HZ034, and last time they both interacted, Amethio did agree with Spinel in HZ027... So I wonder what's up with Spinel potentially hating Amethio, and why he may feel that way in the first place.

Back in the tower, Spinel talks about the device he made. Basically a resonance generator which recreates the energy Terapagos emits when calling to Rayquaza. Friede wonders if the Explorers can beat Rayquaza, to which Spinel says that three skilled Explorers are on the job, so they might be able to do something. Friede says that Spinel didn't strike him as the type to rely on others, but Spinel says he is just using them. Very good banter and back and forth here, I love how we get a view of how Friede considers Spinel and how methodical and calculating Spinel is too.

Friede and Spinel are about to battle, when Friede realizes he can't use Lizardon in that confined space (which is also why Spinel lured him there). He decides to send Cap to battle, and Spinel wonders if he is being underestimated (just like Amethio back in HZ002, and Friede remembered Amethio said the same thing). Blacky going full out in battle was great to see, and Spinel's battle style was interesting! Blacky knowing Reflect (a move reducing damage) says a lot about Spinel's relationship with his Pokemon too. We got a small exchange between Friede and Cap during the battle, when Cap shows him the small crack made on the and lets him know they should use this to escape.

Back to Liko and Roy, they are looking for the Explorers and Terapagos reacts to something. They can all feel Rayquaza is about to appear and it does eventually happen. (The BGM used between 12:10 and 12:20 was great and I hope it ends up in the OST if there is ever one)

Nanjamo was shown briefly livestreaming, so I wonder if she'll catch footage of Rayquaza.. Liko, Roy and Landau head to where Rayquaza is, while the Explorers start attacking him. Rayquaza was shown reacting to the sound similar to Terapagos and it felt like he stopped an attack after hearing it, I feel like this showed Rayquaza's soft side in a way? Rayquaza appeared after hearing "Terapagos" calling out to him and stopped whatever he was about to do upon hearing that sound again, so he is definitely not indifferent to Terapagos's cries.

Meanwhile, Dot announces that she finished the shutdown program but needs to get close to the device to activate it. She seems hesitant at first, and Murdock suggests doing it instead of her because he is worried about her being in danger. However, Dot says she will do it because Liko and Roy are fighting too and she is inspired to do the same to be on the same level as them. While Murdock is still worried, he is both proud and supportive of her wishes and says he'll lead her there. (Dot really grew to appreciate her friends and is pushed to act, be braver, and go out of her comfort zone thanks to them. Her development these past episodes has been great to witness.)

Back to Friede vs Spinel, they keep battling and Friede eventually manages to use Spinel's moves against him and break the wall to run away. Their VAs were really good in that scene btw (loved the way Spinel said いかさま whenever he ordered that move, and the way Friede said "sorry, I broke the place~" was a bit too much... weirdly teasy-sounding too in a way, which I loved.. Makoto Furukawa and Yashiro Taku are just great fits for their characters and their acting elevates literally any scene they are in). Either way, Friede leaves and Spinel considers him interesting now and wants to play with him some more~ So he potentially got himself a new obsession and wants to know more about Friede. I hope their dynamics will be expanded upon in the future because they are intriguing (and quite similar in some ways? Given that they both enjoy researching in some ways).

Two other things I loved was the non-conclusive aspect of the battle and Blacky's reaction. I love that HZ keeps showing non-conclusive battles because they tell a kind of story too, and that Friede doesn't finish battles if he doesn't need to. The context of each battle he takes part in is always very different (which is why it's interesting when he does engage Amethio in battle and gets into them a lot, but that's another story), and the story doesn't force battles to keep going for the sake of it. It's not cowardly to prioritize other things and HZ shows that the protag and hero side can run away. Running away or using distractions aren't only things antagonists or enemies do, and there is no moral judgement made about it, which I honestly appreciate.

Blacky's reaction was also interesting because as Friede and Cap left, I think she was growling? Which potentially shows that she may have wanted to finish the battle and knew she had the upper hand (darkness being her element too, being trapped in there was convenient) and was confident about her skills. Yet, back in HZ016, Blacky immediately wanted to back off once Oliva came out so she knew about the potential danger then. I think it shows Blacky doesn't overestimate her abilities (backing away from a confrontation that might be too dangerous, and knowing when things are in her and Spinel's favor).

Back to Rayquaza, Liko and Roy do what they can to stop the Explorers. Roy thought of using Stomping Tantrum to make Agate lose her balance (quick thinking on his part!), and called Kaiden to repel Agate's Ultra Ball. (I hope we see Kaiden more in chapter 3 because his appearance here was short and quick)

Dot eventually jumps into the scene in her Gurumin costume and manages to disable the device by connecting her Rotom Phone to it, thanks to Kuwassu and Kanuchan's help. That's the first victory Dot had against Spinel in a way, since she could interfere with his plan somehow (I do hope there is more to their rivalry in the future, still). Kanuchan eventually starts crying since the whole situation was scary for her, so Dot comforts her and calls her back to her Pokeball. Liko and Roy praise Dot for her feat, so Dot hides her face with her again before accepting their compliments. (It was cute. She clearly was happy about their words but she was still a bit embarassed.)

Eventually, Rayquaza breaks free from the ice and salt crystals. Agate starts getting visibly worried (I liked seeing another side of her since she is usually so composed and seems like the most levelheaded of the Explorers compared to the others.. she also got worried for Sango later on). Rayquaza launches Draco Meteor which hits a bunch of stuff in the area. Sango snaps and charges towards Rayquaza to use Self-Destruct (I love her battle style and how unhinged she is). The move manages to hurt Rayquaza and sends him crashing into the Brave Asagi. While Orio, Murdock, Mollie and the other Pokemon are still on the ship. Liko and the others are horrified. (Friede's expression, particularly, was good at the end.)

Anyway, great episode! I missed Kureha Matsuzawa's writing (last ep he wrote was HZ032 with Lapras joining Liko and the others, and Lucius flashback).