#sm121

[caps4days]

witches 5 ⭑ tellu 🌺

[smilingperformer]

I think Mao may have forgotten Nyarth’s an actual Pokémon for real... lol

[rohanite]

This is definitely one of those episodes that the majority of the fanbase probably dismisses as a lame filler where nothing happens and the one plot relevant thing is undeserved because Mao isn’t strong enough etc but I really loved it, first of all the idea that she got a Z-crystal from Kapu Kokeko for making it a burger is just hilarious but I think the cafe/bar setting made for one of the most interesting displays of the relationship between humans and Pokemon yet, and seeing Mao come up with specific servings for all the different Pokemon displayed her knowledge and understanding of them and her wanting Aina Cafeteria to become a place where Pokemon can dine like this is a cool addition to her dream and nice world building, as that doesn’t seem to be a common thing. Also I REALLY loved Meowth/Nyarth in this episode, the way he came around to respect Mao in the end without there being any sort of typical Team Rocket twist was great, his final line as Mao declared she’ll make Aina Cafeteria like Yareyuutan’s bar was especially cool.

[soveryanon]

[smilingperformer]

Nyarth: ‘Master, another one meow!‘ Mao: ‘Here you go!‘

Nyarth: *after doubting the taste of Mao’s Pile Juice over Master’s * ‘It- it’s delicious!‘ Mao: ‘Glad to hear!‘

When yesterday’s enemies become today’s friends~

[smilingperformer]

I’m surprised no one’s shared the latest episode title reveals yet... well, here I go! As always, source is Serebii.Net forums, and these apparently came from a leaflet related to Pokémon Center's Anime Makes You Happy -campaign! Intriquing, no wonder we got this info real early! Now, onto the episodes:

May 12th: SM121 - Mao's Valiant Effort! The Forest Pokémon Café!!

Mao helps out at Yareyuutan's restaurant!

Glad to see Yareyuutan again, and see Mao doing stuff related to her goal as well! Seen people speculating this could be where Mao gets her Z-ring and crystal, but it’s atm a guess just based on who are involved in the episode.

May 19th: SM122 - You're Being Watched! The Rocket Gang's Alola Forms!!

Protect Kiteruguma from Matori!

After oh-so-many months, Matori is back and... wants Kiteruguma? This has me very intriqued!

May 26th: SM123 - Master the Z-Move! Kaki's Fierce Boot Camp!!

Z-move Training at Kaki's!

Judging from the picture, this is going to be mainly focused on Mamane, but could involve Lilie training as well! Kaki, what a good kiddo!

And then, last but not least:

June 2nd: SM124 - Perfect Sharpness! Kamiturugi has Arrived!!

The Ultra Guardians dispatch!

The final UB appears! I wonder how they’ll handle this little, sharp UB.

All info are from Serebii.Net Forums, link to the Anime Spoilers thread section in source tag!

[smilingperformer]

An article from latest Pokefan presenting the Alola Pokémon League! As always, source is Serebii.Net forums, translations by Dephender. Source link in the source tag, with a link to the direct post with translations! I’ve put them under the cut since there’s tons of stuff to read!

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An Alola League is going to be held!! A FULL CHECK OF POKÉMON AND PARTNER'S CAPABILITIES! The Alola Pokémon League is a grand scale battle tournament that will determine the ultimate Pokémon & Partner! We've looked into the friends and Pokémon that have sets their aim on entering the league, as well as their capabilities! The Z-Ring is the key to victory! The Z-Ring is a tool that lets you use the super-powerful one-shot moves called "Z-Moves". Only trainers whose capabilities have been approved of have these. CHECK No. 1: SATOSHI Satoshi has fully cleared the Alola region's Island Pilgrimage, and has mastered numerous Z-Moves as well. He's also aiming to win the tournament, and his capabilities are top class! PIKACHU: Satoshi's best partner, who has made its way through lots of battles alongside him! MOKUROH: It sleeps all the time, but it really is a gutsy Pokémon that truly delivers when it counts! LUGARUGAN (DUSK FORM): Trainer hard with Satoshi in order to become a strong Pokémon! NYAHEAT: Competes in terms of strength with Lugarugan, whom it sees as its rival. MELTAN: It's tiny, and its true capabilities are unknown. Its Flash Cannon is super powerful! Z-MOVES SATOSHI CAN USE: ULTRA DASH ATTACK: Mokuroh, Pikachu, etc WORLD'S END FALL: Lugarugan (Dusk Form) SPARKING GIGAVOLT: Pikachu BLOOM SHINE EXTRA: Mokuroh RADIAL EDGE STORM: Lugarugan (Dusk Form) TRANCENDENT SCREW BARRAGE: Pikachu CHECK No. 2: KAKI A skilled Trainer who has been able to use Z-Moves since before he met Satoshi. Is there a chance he and Satoshi will have their rival showdown in the Pokémon League finals?! BAKUGAMES: Fights with super powerful Fire moves! Cares a lot about its friends and companions. GARAGARA (ALOLAN FORM): An extremely sore loser that has a one-sided rivalry with Bakugames. LIZARDON: Not only can it fly with Kaki on its back, it's also a reliable battle partner of his. Z-MOVES KAKI CAN USE: DYNAMIC FULL FLAME: Bakugames, Garagara and Lizardon FINAL DIVE CRASH: Lizardon CHECK No. 3: MĀMANE His partners are two Electric type Pokémon. Will he be able to use his calculation skills to win his way through the Pokémon League, which is filled with tough opponents for him?! TOGEDEMARU: We expect it to give us a surprising (!?) show at the league with its spiky body and its Electric type moves! KUWAGANNON: The evolved form of the Dendimushi he got from Satoshi! HE CAN USE Z-MOVES AS WELL? HE'LL OBTAIN A BUG-Z?! Believe it or not, the first prize in the Kuwagannon Race is a Bug-Z! Make sure to keep an eye out for what Z-Move he'll become able to use!

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CHECK No. 4: SUIREN This proactive Pokémon battler and her Osyamari are a perfect team! Will she make big waves from the Alolan sea and win her way through the tournament? NAGISA/SANDY (SUIREN'S EIEVUI): Nagisa/Sandy is extremely curious and mischievous. Will it be an active battler as well? OSYAMARI: Osyamari and Suiren have gradually grown stronger together. Will it evolve again?! SOMETHING HAPPENS TO OSYAMARI IN THE EPISODE THAT AIRS MAY 5TH?! (airdate and time may vary depending on region) Z-MOVES SUIREN CAN USE: SUPER AQUA TORNADO: Osyamari has been able to use this Z-Move ever since it was an Ashimari! CHECK No. 5: MAO She's definitely skilled, considering she raised her Amakaji all the way to an Amajo, but will she pass as a rival during the tournament as well?! Keep an eye out for the powers the mythical Pokémon Shaymin hides! AMAJO: Specializes in kicking moves, like "Trop Kick" and "Stomp". SHAYMIN: We don't know how powerful a battler it is yet, but there's no doubt everyone's really excited to see what it's capable of! MAO GAINS NEW POWERS IN THE EPISODE THAT AIRS MAY 12TH?! (airdate and time may vary depending on region) CHECK No. 6: LILIE Lilie became unable to touch Pokémon after getting involved with an Ultra Beast, but has grown a lot since then! Will she be able to get her first victory?! SNOWBALL (LILIE'S ALOLAN ROKON): Lilie's precious partner, which she's taken care of since it was an egg! SHE OBTAINED A Z-RING & BEFRIENDED A MAGEARNA?! Having obtained the Z-Ring and Magearna her father left behind, she heads for the Pokémon League! THERE ARE OTHERS AS WELL! PAY ATTENTION TO THESE TRAINERS: We're going to present 4 Trainers Satoshi and the others have met so far that you should pay extra attention to: GLADIO: His partners are Silvady, Blacky and Lugarugan. Lilie's brother, and a highly skilled Trainer that's even able to use Z-Moves! *Silvady can change types by having its Memory changed! What kind of battle will it give us? ILIMA: A senior student at the Pokémon School. Extremely popular, even has his own fan club! *Eievui uses a Z-Move that borrows and releases the powers of its evolved forms! This chased off the entire Skull Gang! GUZMA: The Skull Gang's boss! It appears he holds a grudge against Professor Kukui, and he plans to stop the Pokémon League from being held. *He once battled Satoshi's Pikachu. The battle ended in a draw, but he got to show us how skilled he was. HAU: The grandson of Island King Hala. He became Satoshi's friend after battling him. *(text is too cut off to read) PROFESSOR KUKUI HOSTS THE POKÉMON LEAGUE! There are no Pokémon Gyms in the Alola region, so Professor Kukui has prepared a place for Trainers to fight. Thanks to the cooperation of the Aether Foundation, a gigantic stadium is currently being constructed!

[smilingperformer]

I really feel the need to talk about the interactions between Nyarth/Meowth and Mao/Mallow but maybe I should wait for subtitles. But I’m mostly certain I understood these two scenes between the two flawlessly or at least almost.

First, the scene where Mao comes to pick up some mushrooms in exchange for Poni Daikon, and finds out Nyarth is in the bar. Immediately, Mao’s thinking he’s up to no good, but Nyarth is just asks Mao to quiet down, calmly explaining he’s off-duty today, enjoying the Master’s Pile Juice and something. Rest is a bit unclear for me, but it’s clear Nyarth respects Yareyutan/Oranguru and wishes no harm to come to him and his bar.

Mao however is still very suspicious of him, and believes his friends are just gonna come out of somewhere and do their usual evil stuff. After which Yareyutan just interrupts her and points to the mushrooms, after which Melemele Green Nagetukesaru/Passimian arrive and Mao’s instinct of helping out fires up. What a good kid! But not the point of the post. Rest under the cut because this became a freaaaaking long post.

Nyarth seemed to try and tell Mao to get home before the place got too crowded, but seems to be genuinely surprised when he sees Mao starting to help Yareyutan out. It kinda continues throughout the episode, he’s always expecting something bad to happen and seems sort of on the negative side, but each time Mao manages to serve the different Pokémon, he seems genuinely impressed with her. For example, when Junsa-san’s Dekagoose/Gumshoos arrives to be served, Yareyutan gets the idea to give Mao the hang of serving it. Nyarth translates the message to Mao, and then seems to add sort of a discouraging message of ‘you probably won’t be able to do it thou‘. After a while, Mao accepts the challenge, and Nyarth’s face is literarily this:

He’s so suprised at Mao. He did not expect her to take on the challenge. Gets even better later when Mao figures out what to serve for Dekagoose, and Nyarth is just like:

This is where the translation sort of falls off from my mind but I know exactly what he means. Nyarth is sarcastically asking what Mao figured out for Dekagoose’s serving, and it’s just so pfft. Then Mao’s choice of Moomoo Milk was spot on and Nyarth reaction so priceless, he can’t believe it.

He seems to not really get it?? He truly doesn’t understand how Mao got it right. Then later, when Onidrill/Fearow arrive, Nyarth immediately thinks they’re gonna rob Master’s berry field, but once he’s fetched him, he’s come to another impressive sight of Mao:

Instead of anything bad happening, Mao immediately seems to have figured out they were the next guests to be served, and is treating them as such right away. Mao, is such a good, caring kid.

Nyarth seems to be literarily saying ‘What the?‘ Again, can’t believe his own eyes.

Then after Mao’s managed to serve the Onidrill with a combo of two berries (I’m sorry, I can’t tell what they are, my memory still lacks the skill of recognizing all the berries), Nyarth is even more impressed, and this time asks Mao how she knew to mix the two berries.

Mao seems to explain that she had learned from Lilie the other day that Pokémon who like the other berry she cooked for the Onidrill tend to like the other berry she used as well. Even Yareyutan is impressed with Mao at this point, with how skillfully she managed to cook something for the Onidrill on the fly.

And it just continues. This episode surely focused on how both Mao and Nyarth start treating each other in different way.

Then the scene that just sold me on Mao. The scene right before Kapu-Kokeko arrives. Nyarth asks for another Pile Juice from the Master. But guess who serves him instead?

Like, look at him blink in surprise! All Mao’s saying here is ‘here you go!‘, truly serving him the way customers should be. There’s no ill gesture involved, no pouting, just kind serving. Nyarth seems to be expecting some ill pleasure from her Pile Juice even, but after he drinks it:

He’s saying it’s delicious! To which Mao’s just happily saying ‘glad to hear‘. Like, Mao’s so happily serving Nyarth, and Nyarth’s so happy with the serving he got from the green brat girl. I swear, I think he changed his impression on her at this point completely. I mean, the next moment Mao’s taking on the challenge to cook for Kapu-Kokeko, Nyarth is constantly drooling at the amazing smell that comes from the food, and then even starts explaining to us viewers what Mao cooked for us. Like, he started co-oping with her, full-on!

Basically Mao made some sort of burger for Pokémon, and now Nyarth wants to eat one too!

Then, after Kapu-Kokeko rewards Mao with a Grassium-Z crystal, Nyarth explains why it did so. I believe he’s explaining that Kapu-Kokeko enjoyed his meal so much, that he felt Mao deserved the z-crystal as a reward.

Like, honestly. This is the kind of content I had wished for from Nyarth in Sun & Moon still. He’s co-oping with Mao, the brat girl who they always had to meddle with in previous episodes. I freaking adore his role in the episode, and I love how much Mao grew in the episode as well. So looking forward to seeing the subtitles!