Some character notes and episode notes for HZ082, writing them down for future reference.
Continuing from the previous episode, Rayquaza is ready to battle Liko and co. Even though they just faced Gouging Fire, they are excited to battle Rayquaza. Using the field around them, their strategies, and all their Pokemon, they manage to corner and deal significant damage to Rayquaza. Roy eventually manages to get Rayquaza to return to his Pokeball.
After the battle, Rayquaza gives back the last of Pagogo's power and Pagogo shows a memory of Lucius, Rystal and Gibeon as they reached Rakua together. The Six Heroes all return to their Pokeballs out of their own volition, with the exception of Rayquaza who won't go back to his when Roy tries to call him back. Friede explains to Roy that Rayquaza belongs to Lucius, which means he doesn't acknowledge Roy as his trainer just yet. This makes Roy want to work hard to become Rayquaza's real partner someday.
Liko and co bid goodbye to Briar, while Sango and Onyx go back to the Explorers base to report to Gibeon. Rayquaza starts leading the RVT to Rakua. Flying alongside Rayquaza, Liko, Roy and Dot contact their respective families to tell them about the adventures they've had.
Very much liked the choregraphy of the battle and the way everyone got their time to shine while seamlessly leading into the climax centered on Liko and Roy. Even though Liko, Roy and Dot had just finished the battle against Gouging Fire, they were all eager to battle Rayquaza and didn't back down from the challenge.
Dot was the first one to be defeated but she was the first one to land hits on Rayquaza and her role as a strategist who keeps coming up with ideas always shines through. Her words of support to Liko and Roy were appreciated, too.
Friede acting as a decoy and trying to draw Rayquaza's attention reminded me of the time he did the same with Amethio in HZ025.. Also noting that Roy had to save Cap this time too. He already saved Cap in the battle against Gouging Fire. Friede is depicted as someone who needs to be saved by the kids a bit more these days.. Also a good way to showcase the trio's progress since the writing uses Friede as a metric to convey that. (First year of Horizons (ie chapters 1 and 2): Friede was ahead of the trio. Second year (chapters 3 and 4): the trio went to train on their own and are slowly becoming equals to Friede in terms of battles. So, I guess they should surpass their mentor going forward??)
I'm glad Roy got his time to shine given that Rayquaza is his goal. Ending the battle with Nitro Charge was a nice callback to the battle in HZ045 as well (Achigator learned Nitro Charge as Hogator in HZ045, and they used it to finish the battle this time). Friede and Roy battling side by side was also really good (and Roy had his own Flying type this time). Achigator and Lizardon's relationship paralleling Roy and Friede's dynamics is one of my favorite things about them (both duos having this brotherly feeling to it, Achigator and Roy looking up to Lizardon and Friede respectively, etc). I am also relieved that Rayquaza doesn't acknowledge Roy as a partner just yet, since it'd have definitely felt too sudden if he did. Roy feels like he made a step forward in his goal since Rayquaza went back to his Pokeball. They pointed out that Lucius is still Rayquaza's trainer, so hopefully Roy will have bonding moments outside battles to connect a bit more with Rayquaza so their relationship feels a bit more personal. They mostly met in the context of battles so far, so I think it'd be nice if they could have moments outside of that. Also curious how Lucius still being alive is going to impact Roy's goal of becoming Rayquaza's partner?
I liked Liko's moments a lot, too. She definitely felt much more into the battle and didn't think or worry too much. She had no hesitation when Pagogo wanted to battle and immediately adapted to the situation and checked Pagogo's moves. She was even the one who snapped Dot back into the moment so Dot could focus on the battle at one point. I also really liked that Liko wanted to keep battling Rayquaza. It further keeps showing how passionate she's become about battling. Something that stood out to me is when Pagogo responded to Liko's feelings when she didn't want to give up and keep battling.. Pagogo is not beating the magical girl mascot allegations (very powerful and small creature who gets stronger thanks to their friends, etc). I hope we see Pagogo battling more in the future, and I'd like to know how Pagogo's powers work (the stuff with transferring the Terastal power to Achigator was interesting). Also, the whole scene reminded me of Lucius and Rystal in HZ075. Back then, Rystal saw that Lucius wasn't giving up to stop the Rakurium, so she wanted to do her best too and Pagogo responded to her feelings. In this ep, Liko thought about Roy wasn't giving up and that she didn't want to give up either and keep battling, which made Pagogo respond to her feelings. (It's these kinds of scenes that make me pause and think that Roy&Liko is cute.. I really like how much they respect each other and motivate each other to do their best, and I think it's interesting that they have parallels to Lucius and Rystal??)
The secondary Pokemon getting their time to shine was also something I've been waiting for. Especially Tebrim, who has a battle style I particularly like (Liko using psychic powers to block Rayquaza's way with rocks, etc). Liko's sneaky style showcased through her Pokemon is really cool, and I want to see more of it. Shout out to that one moment of Welcamo covering Nakanuchan with his wing when they were both defeated too (I thought it was cute that he protected her in this way?). Pagogo climbing on Rayquaza's head at the end after so long made me emotional too..
I think this episode was the first time Onyx actually said Gibeon's name. I don't remember him saying it before. Surprised in a good way that Sango and Onyx actually stuck to their mission and did as they were told, which was observing the RVT and not interfering. They can fulfill their missions just fine. I wonder how the others will react to their report? Or if this mini arc is going to impact them somehow in the future? (Either way, I felt spoiled seeing them in every single episode in January.)
The flashback with Lucius, Rystal and Gibeon was really cute, but heartbreaking in its own way given that we know what happens after that.. They pointed out that they all looked happy together and that there was a lot of trust between them, which includes Gibeon. I am curious how Liko will react to Gibeon when she eventually meets him? The flashbacks portray him as a dear friend to both Lucius and Rystal and it's never said that he betrayed them or something along those lines. The whole thing is a tragedy for everyone involved. How will they feel about him once they meet him, knowing he is Amethio's grandfather, Lucius and Rystal's friend, and someone who is currently a threat? (Also, I wrote about it already but Gibeon saying "together" felt significant to me. And I think it's cute in general, because he wanted to be together with his friends and it was definitely something important for all of them..)
The ending with the kids sending messages to their parents felt like a nice testament to their growth too.. Bits that stood out to me were Liko saying that she will have a lot of things to tell her parents when she comes back. She is someone who had to learn to put her feelings into words and had a hard time conveying her thoughts and being understood (which the second opening emphasized too), so it's nice that she grew to the point where she looks forward to talking a lot to her parents. Dot sending a message to her mother also felt meaningful because HZ041 showed that they both had a hard time communicating with each other. Blanca's personality clashed with Dot's and she commented on how Dot never tells her anything. Dot opening up about her feelings to her mother and telling her that she has a lot of fun shows that she is making the effort to work on that connection with her mother and not keep to herself anymore.
Overall, just a very enjoyable ep. Lots of callbacks to the previous battle with Rayquaza (which was handled by the same writer as this ep), loved the use of Halo and how the episode ended on the lyrics which are the title of this episode.. The PR account and the scriptwriter for this ep (Kureha Matsuzawa) also posted about "Halo" specifically in regards to this ep. It's neat that this opening is significant in such a way for the series.
Also: this episode ending on the trio's connections to their families and lineages directly connects to the next episode being centered on Amethio and his family. Both sides of the story always connected, etc.
