Tonight, the first two episodes of 笔辞办é尘辞苍 Sun Moon were broadcasted on Japanese television. As expected, they were pretty goofy! But they were also intense.
Note: This article might contain spoilers.
Past 笔辞办é尘辞苍 anime have also had silly scenes, but last season’s 笔辞办é尘辞苍 XY&Z had a more mature-looking Ash who actually seemed like a winner. (That is, until he lost, proving that he is an eternal loser.)
In Sun Moon, Ash and his mother are visiting the Alola region after winning a vacation there.
While wandering around alone with Pikachu, as Ash does, he comes across a 笔辞办é尘辞苍 school that is filled with students and, you guessed it, 笔辞办é尘辞苍. The other students show him around the school, and if you are wondering what people learn at 笔辞办é尘辞苍 school, this should clue you in.
Heh. They learn about 笔辞办é尘辞苍!
However, things really ramp up during dinner at a fancy restaurant, when the Pocket Monster Tapu Koko appears in a rather dramatic fashion and gives Ash his own Z-Ring. Later, Tapu Koko returns, showing Ash how to use it.
The Z-Move is rather intense! This one is Gigavolt Havoc.
My two youngest kids were already standing in front the television trying to pull off their own Z-Moves, so expect Nintendo to sell a bunch of these.
After he gets the Z-Ring, like, Ash’s mom just leaves and Ash stays behind in Alola, enrolling as a student at the 笔辞办é尘辞苍 school. (I guess Ash’s mom had some stuff to do back at home?)
The Z-Move stuff seems super powerful, and it reminded me of Dragon Ball. However, the way the sequence was done reminded many Japanese Twitter users of Inazuma Eleven’s dramatic soccer plays.
All the images on the left are from Inazuma Eleven. The image on the right is a Z-Move from Sun Moon. That soccer anime, of course, is from Level-5, the folks behind Yokai Watch.
Here are more comparisons, and again, the orange and yellow one is from Sun Moon, while the others are from Inazuma Eleven.
And in this one, the one with Pikachu is from Sun Moon. Obviously!
Now, test time. Try to pick out the 笔辞办é尘辞苍 anime from Inazuma Eleven!
The two episodes were good, but there are A LOT of goofy sight gags. The show gets hammy real quick.
The hell?
Okay.
Maybe this is Ash’s Alola form? He does look different.
As the show progresses, it will probably settle into a good rhythm of balancing the jokey slapstick stuff and the more serious and heartfelt bits we’ve seen in previous 笔辞办é尘辞苍 anime.
The intro, though, is already very catchy.
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