Pokemon Sun & Moon, Episode 4: Enter Rowlet! I Got an Alolan Pokemon! / First Catch in Alola, Ketchum-Style
The episode itself is honestly a pretty standard episode, and I could imagine it being an utterly forgettable capture episode if Rowlet isn't so gosh-darned adorable. And that's honestly the main draw of this episode and the series in general. The tone might be more concerned about slapstick comedy than anything, and the main storyline is mostly directionless (though arguably, the same could be said about almost any given Pokemon season), but at least so far, I am very much enjoying the sheer adorableness of the actual Pokemon. And the episode starts off with a flock of Pikipek and their little Rowlet buddy struggling to catch up as they sweep into town and... steal everyone's berries?
The old lady that we see in the market note that it's apparently like a regular ritual, and they let the Pikipek flock take what they need. We also get to see this from the recurring Litten, who I'm assuming will be captured by Ash or one of his companions (but most likely Ash) some time in the future. Poor dumb Rowlet carries a wind chime instead, mistaking it for a berry.
We get a generic capture tutorial courtesy of Rotom as Ash faces off against a Grubbin, and at least we're not getting a Unova season style "Ash forgets everything and becomes a dumbass". He knows what he's doing, but Rotom's just running his mouth. Grubbin, unfortunately, does not join the main cast, which is a shame because the Grubbin line is one of my favourites. Unfortunately, Grubbin manages to pull a fast one on Pikachu with a Spider-Man style usage of webbing, and escapes.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket finds themselves basically held hostage in Bewear's huge nest after the events of the previous episode, while Jessie just keeps throwing a Pokeball to try and catch Mimikyu. Mimikyu keeps refusing all of these peasant Pokeballs until... Jessie steals James's Luxury Ball that James is saving for his collection, and captures Mimikyu with it, much to James' distress. Bewear shows up, though, and drags Jessie back into the lair, with Meowth translating his words as 'lunch time', but, of course, the huge joke is that instead of eating Team Rocket, Bewear is treating them as his children and feeds them honey. This shot has to be an intentionally unfortunately-looking one, though, especially with that angle.
We get a Pokemon Center scene that... that's honestly just kind of a filler scene-waster, although the animation done for Blissey and Comfey's Pokedex entries are fun. But then we cut away to the huge Pikipek flock, where the Trumbeak captain scolds a very confused Rowlet for bringing in something that's not a berry, and screams at him. Rowlet gets some amazing expressions, which is helped by his utterly fun gimmick of an owl head able to turn in whichever direction it chooses. Sleeping Rowlet and surprised Rowlet are also very hilarious.
And honestly, you can just tell that the animators really love Rowlet, as the next scene just focuses mostly on Rowlet attempting to snack on Mallow's Bounsweet. It's a clever little way to slowly give the recurring side-cast's Pokemon some time to shine, with Bounsweet showing off that it's actually so used to being mistaken as food by bird Pokemon and is definitely able to fend off sleepy owl baby. Ash rescues the hungry Rowlet, feeds him, and pats the good-boy owl.
Rowlet brings a huge watermelon back to its head-honchos, earning praise from Trumbeak. Meanwhile, Rotom-dex fills up some screentime by giving us dex entries on Pikipek, Trumbeak and Toucannon, including another "Rotom does a stupid thing by trying to experience a Pokemon's dangerous abilities" gag, which... which is never as funny as the show thinks it is, honestly. Rowlet, meanwhile, ends up finding Ash's bag comfortable and keeps hiding there, because Rowlet is a good baby owl.
As all of this is going on, Trumbeak and the Pikipek squad swoop in and steal Bewear's massive berry stash, causing Team Rocket to get outraged. Sure, they want to get away from Bewear, but it fed them and gave them lodgings, god damn it, and Team Rocket will appreciate the shit out of this because they are honest villains. Team Rocket arrives at the Pikipek nest, and uses a net bazooka to capture the entire Pikipek flock and the berries, while Jessie sends out the adorably creepy Mimikyu against the good guys with the orders of "do whatever the fuck you want, just beat Pikachu!"
A combination of surprising Pikachu with his Disguise ability and just general savage beatdown courtesy of Play Rough actually gives Mimikyu a victory against Pikachu, until Rowlet interferes with a Leafage attack. And... and once more, Bewear interrupts the action by dragging Team Rocket (including Mimikyu) away, which... again, isn't quite as funny, and I really wish the action had a more definitive conclusion.
I do like the fact that Ash initially doesn't want to catch Rowlet since it has a family, but the nest's leader, Toucannon, allows Rowlet to go with Ash, and it's kinda adorable. Ash catches Rowlet, Rotom is utterly flabbergasted at how this sort of capture can be, since it's pretty unorthodox. And... I'm really not feeling Rotom right now, who is never as funny as he's probably intended to be. Thankfully, though, Mimikyu and Rowlet both permanently join the cast, and those two more than make up for Rotom's inadequacies.
Rotom Dex:
- Pokemon: Litten, Trumbeak, Pikipek, Rowlet, Psyduck, Growlithe, Grubbin, Pikachu, Rotom, Popplio, Togedemaru, Bounsweet, Bewear, Mimikyu, Meowth, Wobbuffet, Parasect, Sudowoodo, Blissey, Comfey, Machamp, Machoke, Sableye, Lillipup, Elekid, Toucannon
- Humans: Ash, Sophocles, Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, Lillie, James, Jessie, Nurse Joy
Assorted Notes:
- Lillie gets a couple of "OH FUCK A POKEMON" scenes, and the animation and reactions are glorious. If it isn't so exaggeratedly hilarious, I could see this becoming real annoying real fast.
- The English dub titles are... are getting hilariously as long as wordy as the Japanese ones, huh? Older ones tend to feature English puns or just shorten the thing to be catchier, but these are just pretty poorly-done, IMO.
- I did a brief research, but I am pretty sure that since Misty's Corsola and Brock's Pineco all the way in Johto, this episode is the first time in a long while that a main character uses a Poke Ball variant to capture a Pokemon.
- Alolan Pokemon Center nurses employ Blisseys and Comfeys. It's a nice little additional detail.
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