Pokemon Horizons Episode 2 Review: The Mysterious Pendant
Compared to the first one, this one is a lot more suspenseful and action-packed. Seeing what happened in this episode makes me want to see more. I can’t wait.
Last episode, Liko and Sprigatito jumped off a ledge and was protected by her pendant via a barrier. The barrier was created by an unknown Pokemon that resides in her pendant. Oh boy, if you have seen the DLC trailers, this is presumably Terapagos, but a powered down version? A pre-evolution? The fact that its the mascot of the upcoming Indigo Disk DLC and that Liko’s school is named Indigo Academy is interesting. Not to mention, indigo is a type of blue color and Liko’s main color is blue. This is just like how Ash and Pikachu saw Ho-oh during the start of their adventure. Ho-oh wasn’t revealed at the time, so it was a mystery Pokemon. While Terapagos is announced, viewers such as myself have no idea what this baby turtle is. That’s the fun of it, honestly. It’s a mystery that makes people want to tune in.
Liko is saved by Friede and she is taken to his airship, The Brave Asagi where she meets his crew. Holy crap, the animation regarding this airship was FANTASTIC. The way the wings turned into a deck was amazing. The way the angles around the airship were zoomed in were majestic. The animation quality really amped up a notch for this series.
Friede’s crew, The Rising Volt Tacklers are formally introduced here. We have Murdock, Mollie, Orla, and an elderly man who hasn’t been named yet. What an interesting cast of characters. What this crew does exactly hasn’t been explained yet, but I can tell they will be an interesting bunch. Not only there are human crew members, there are also Pokemon crew members with their own roles within the airship. We have a Noctowl who is the watch guard, a Pamo, Snorunt and Shuckle who are most likely Mollie’s Pokemon as she is a doctor. Murdock has a Rockruff. A Slugma and a Carol are in the Engine Room with Orla, who are probably her Pokemon. There’s an Alolan Muk; I don’t know who it belongs to. Lastly, there’s a Fuecoco who is going to be Roy’s in the future, but it’s just the crew’s Pokemon for now. They’re all so adorable and brightens the crew. Fuecoco is especially adorable with the way he was imitating Charizard by trying to breath fire. The crew seem to have their own handshake as Friede and Murdock were doing something of the sort when they met up.
Friede is shown more in this episode and he has both a Charizard and a Pikachu named Captain Pikachu. His Pikachu is much different from Ash’s as it has Thunder Punch, Volt Tackle, and Double Team. Ash’s Pikachu focused on speed while Captain Pikachu focuses more on tricks and power. This Pikachu is also voiced by Ikue Ohtani, but she voiced him so differently from the previous main Pikachu. Friede is shown to be a good battler so far, so I’m curious to see what sort of battles he’ll have in the future.
Amethio’s group is said to be a part of the Explorers. From what I can see, they are the Team Rocket of this series, but a less goofier version? They have devices that can change their outfits which is sick and I want one. Unlike Team Rocket, they’re a lot more menacing. Amethio will stop at nothing to get his hands on the pendant to the point that he barges into the Brave Asagi and tells Liko that the Rising Volt Tacklers might not be trustable. I’m not sure why he wants the pendant so badly, but I can tell it’s the reason why Liko will not go to school anymore. Also I do like the fact that they have other Pokemon like Zir and Conia having Skarmory and Amethio having a Corviknight. I wonder what will happen when they meet a Tinkerton.
Also, I commend Amethio for doing something that Team Rocket couldn’t do for 26 years: Capturing the MC’s Pokemon. Yes, the episode ends with Sprigatito being captured by Amethio and flying off to evade the storm. I’ve read some criticism about this scene. People were wondering why Liko couldn’t just send it back into its ball. There was a storm. The force of the breeze could’ve immobilized Liko from getting its ball. Then again, will Sprigatito be a walking Pokemon or will it go into its ball properly?
I know I mentioned returning voice actors in the previous episode review and there are still more returning VA’s. This time, there are various voice actors who were in the Japanese dub of Pokemon Masters in this episode. Friede’s voice actor voices Gordie. Amethio’s voices Lucas. Fuecoco’s voices Hau (he also voices Goh and the Rotom Dex for this anime). Orla’s voices Misty. Zir’s voices Falkner. I do like how the staff likes to use people already associated with Pokemon media to come to this anime. It makes me wonder which voice actors will make a return either in a new role or a returning one.
The music was amazing in this episode, just like the previous episode. My favorite score from this one was the one played when Liko was being carried by Charizard. The song played in that scene was something that suited the night scenery so well. It was soothing. I hope it plays again in a future episode. I also really liked the score that was used when Sprigatito finally succeeded in using Leafage.
While this is classified as the second episode, it’s considered the second part of the first episode, which can be confusing. I just call it the second episode to avoid confusion. Remember that in DP, the first three episodes were aired in the first day of its launch—it was a two hour special at the time. This is a one hour special with two episodes as one episode is around 25-30 minutes. I hope this helps some people understand.
Overall, I can’t wait to see what Pokemon Horizons has in store. What is that Terapagos form? I want my answers which is why I’ll be sticking around!
