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Fight! Terastal Vs Mega Evolution! - Pokémon Horizons Episode 101 Review - Battle Of The Gimmicks

I’ve always praised Pokémon Horizons for the battle animations, but this latest episode was appalling in terms of quality and execution. Like, come on, Horizons, I know you can do better than this!

The series has been doing great with battles in previous episodes, so why it's like this now is beyond me. I may be the biggest Horizons glazer, as I have been writing reviews for 101 episodes at this point, but I just can’t defend this. The battle was so choppy and dull, as it was just Pawmot and Lucario spamming Mach Punch and Close Combat. Nemona’s second Pokémon is revealed to be Ribombee, and all it does is spam Pollen Puff. Like, the bee was right there! If you wanted to give Roy a win, why not choose to attack Ribombee? Like, it’s a smarter strategy to knock out the healer so that Roy could get a respectful victory, and Nemona a respectful loss. And there’s Crocalor who was just there providing Lucario backup. The only thing I liked about this battle was seeing the gimmicks be used. Other than that, this is probably my least favorite fight of the anime by far.

To be honest, I was more interested in the other parts of the episode that didn’t revolve around the battle. It was nice seeing Murdock allowing Roy to pilot the airship, showing that the adults are letting the kids take charge. It was also nice seeing Naranja Academy again! I like that Exceed’s propaganda towards the Rising Volt Tacklers isn’t affecting the school, as they know they saved the school. It makes sense that they’d have a lot of trust in the Rising Volt Tacklers over Exceed and the Explorers. Just seeing the kids have a meeting with Clavell and Geeta, and even presenting videos to them makes them feel so grown up now.

It was also nice seeing Jacq again! I feel like he’s an underrated character. Now that he’s going to help the kids with finding a connection between Pokémon and Laquium, I have to wonder what sort of discoveries they will make. By the way, if you were wondering why Roy’s Kilowattrel didn’t really show up in this episode, it’s because they wanted to give importance to Jacq who shares the same voice actor as the bird.

It was also nice to see Penny again! I feel like she has become more unhinged after the time skip, with her desire for carnage and the fact that she wants to battle, surprising Nemona of all people. Still, I’m surprised she’s using Flareon alongside her ace Sylveon. Not that Flareon is a bad choice, but it’s clearly not the most popular Eeveelution. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see it get some love.

My favorite part of the episode though was seeing Uruto running away from Nemona, Dendra, and their Pokémon. It reminded me of that “Why are you running” meme. Now that the kids are planning to check out the Laquium signs in the Paldea region thanks to Penny marking them, it makes me wonder what’s next in store for them. Also, the fact that Zirc and Onia appeared at the end of the episode means only one thing: Amethio is going to show up either next episode, or in the very near future. I can feel it… What are your thoughts on this episode?

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