Aug5
As Long As I'm With Quaxly, I Can Do It - Pokémon Horizons Episode 16 Review - The battle to retrieve the pendant unfolds
The animation was the best I’ve seen the Pokemon do. Ufotable actually helped with the in-between animation for this episode; no wonder the animation looks so crisp, especially when it comes to Pokemon movements! I think my favorite part is when Dot gets a closeup of her face as her hair flows in the wind and shows off her eyes, and then Quaxly is shown with a serious look and its hair flowing in the wind as well. I think that is just flawless animation right there.
The way things were executed were handled well. I’m amazed everything fit into the episode without it being too rushed or too underwhelming. Though, I was a bit surprised that Quaxly had been a wild Pokemon all this time; I wasn’t expecting Dot to capture it in the beginning, but I liked how the writers wanted to get it out of the way first before going into the good stuff.
I also really liked how well the Rising Volt Tacklers worked as a team. Friede used his Charizard to go to and from different locations and he even got a battle of his own. Murdock, Orla and Mollie were doing their best to gather information about where the kids could’ve gone. Ludlow was being Ludlow. The real meat of the friendship came from the kids. All three worked well together. Dot being a clever battler but not a strong one was actually something I was expecting. She’s inexperienced, but still used her intelligence to find a way to let Liko and Roy know where she is by making Quaxly use Water Gun. Liko was struggling to get on the boat, but Roy was helping her along the way and even protected her from Beheeyem. Liko then protected Dot by being brave and challenging Magneton and Beheeyem to a battle. The Rising Volt Tacklers and their Pokémon together comprise a huge cast, but the way the writers are able to incorporate them all in an episode is seriously amazing because I know for a fact that for some animes with a large cast, screen time is often a struggle.
Liko, Roy, and Dot didn’t actually defeat Spinel in battle, but the fact that they beat his Beheeyem and Magneton together was a good improvement from them. Spinel didn’t lose to novice kids, but had to retreat because he was caught off-guard by Arboliva and knew that the it would be no match for him. This is a total step up from Episode 5 where Liko beat Onia’s Golduck offscreen (they really should have kept her name as Conia for the English dub, it just rolls off the tongue so much better).
The way Dot decides to tell Liko her secret of being Nidothing as a way of thanking her for everything was surprising. I thought this running gag would go until the end of the anime, but I’m glad that’s not the case. I’m wanting to see how this will affect Liko and Dot’s relationship now. Will Liko be a fangirl? Will Liko be super protective of her? I can’t wait see where this reveal will head.
This review ended being rather long. I can’t help it. There was so much to talk about; amazing episodes deserve to have long reviews. This episode had extremely positive reactions amongst the community and I can finally see why. What are your thoughts on how this episode turned out? Are you excited for what’s to come for the Rising Volt Tacklers?
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