Please Note! This review does contain major backstory spoilers for this episode if you haven’t played the Pokemon Sun and Moon Games so please read at your own risk!
Over the past two years, I have been watching the Pokemon Sun and Moon Anime. Both in the english and japanese dub I have really enjoyed the series so far and its been brilliant! Although I do feel as if the Sun/Moon series could have taken a different direction and it has had its odd moments (the Aether arc which I will write my thoughts about on a future blog post!) It still makes up for the silly ,goofy and serious moments of the series. And, the awesome animation!
With that out of the way! Its time to review Episode 116 – ‘Lillie and the secret mechanical princess!’ I will be splitting this review into three sections: Summary of the episode,my thoughts/opinions and what I look forward to seeing next!
Section 1 – Episode Summary!
This section is where I summarise the important parts of the episode so you lot can understand the plot for this episode and why this episode in particular is so important!
Beginning of the Episode
The plot for this episode is about Lillie and Gladion trying to discover more about their father ‘Mohn’ ( a key character in the Sun and Moon games) who went missing in a wormhole incident. Even Lusamine reminisces about him while look at their wedding day photo and wonders where he is during a flashback to the wormhole incident. Eventually, Lusamine decides to take Gladion and Lillie to their home on Melemele Island to show them a secret hideaway Mohn used to study.
Lillie discovers a Z ring in one of the cupboards and we find out it belonged to Mohn (he earned it in a battle against Hala). Gladion recommends to visit the island kahuna so she can learn more about Z-moves to make a better Pokemon Trainer. In addition, Lillie discovers a deactivated Magearna ( a fairy/steel type Pokemon) in a cupboard and wonders why it was in Mohn’s hideaway. Lusamine and James (the family butler) both explain Mohn brought it from an antique shop during his travels and wanted to give to Lillie as a gift before he disappeared.
Middle
Following Gladion’s advice. Lillie and the rest of the class accompany her on her visit to Hala. During their conversation, Hala describes how passionate Mohn was during their battle and it is also shown how Gladion inherited his edgy battle pose from his father! Also, Lillie (encouraged by her friends) asks Hala to teach her mo about Z moves so she can eventually perform an Icium Z move with Snowy (her partner Pokemon). This becomes a goal for her so she can become stronger. Hala gives her permission to use Mohn’s Z ring and wants to see if she is capable of performing the Z – move.
However, due to her inexperience with Z moves she doesn’t accomplish performing it with snowy. Although Lillie is upset about this, her friends, Kuki and Hala encourage her not to give up and keep on training until she can perform it.
End
After, Lillie reflects on her experience and stumbles upon a diary Mohn kept.She sees a drawing of Magearna holding a baby Lillie and shows how much Mohn was dedicated to brining it to life as a gift to Lillie. Lillie is touched by her fathers dedication while looking at his diary and she tells her family of her desire to grow stronger.
Finally, there is a touching moment of Lillie reading Mohn’s diary entry (another flashback sequence) which shows the origin of his travels and how much he cared about brining it to life for Lillie. The episode ends reflecting how much Mohn loved Lillie before his disappearance and how Lillie’s experiences impacted her in this episode which develop her more as a character.
My Thoughts
The Story for this episode
The story for this episode was amazing as we got to learn more about the history of Lillie’s family, how Lillie’s experiences shaped her character and how Mohn’s disappearance impacted the people around him. Furthermore, it was very interesting to learn more about Mohn’s backstory. For example, a lot of the characters talked about their experience with him which shows how he was held in high regard among his peers before his disappearance.
Animation
The highlight of this episode for me was Lillie’s Z move performance! It was very fluid and it was cool to see her make the pose with snowy! Lillie’s facial reaction after the z energy breaks due to her inexperience was well detailed too!
My Favourite Part of Episode 116!
My favourite part of this episode were Lillie’s experiences helping to develop her as a character.
Important moments such as Lillie showing dedication towards achieving her goals by reading her fathers diary so she can learn how to fix Magrena. And,her learning experience of not being able to use a Z – move making her more determined to learn more about Pokemon battling. These moments show how much she has developed as a character and she has come a long way from someone who couldn’t touch Pokemon. I look forward to seeing how her character develops as the series progresses.
Overall, I really enjoyed this episode! and I look forward to seeing more character/backstory episodes like this in the future!
Next Episode (117) Shaymin, Meltan and Sandy The Lost Explorers – My Reaction ‘Okay What!?!?
The airdate for the next episode is 14.04.2019
The next episode will be a filler of Ash and his classmates traveling to Malie City where they will explore and learn about Malie Garden. However, Shaymin,Sandy (Eevee) and Meltan get lost and have to find a way to reunite with their trainers!
My immediate reaction when seeing the episode preview can be summed up like this -‘Huh?!! What the !!?!’.
After such a great episode dedicated to developing Lillie’s character we are now going back to typical Pokemon filler episode! While I don’t mind filler episodes, they could of created an episode like this during the ultra guardians arc!
The Pokemon anime shows a lot of potential to develop their characters! For example, I feel as if Sophocles has not had enough development in the series so far and doing an episode exploring more about his backstory on why he loves electric type Pokemon or his aspiration to grow stronger will help his character develop even more! That’s a lot more better than then a reaptive filler episode!
However, I do look forward to seeing next weeks episode because who knows! It might be a unique filler episode that has never been done before !
Please look forward too next weeks review! And more to come of my thoughts/reviews of the Pokemon anime!
Thanks!
Sammy
Sammy Productions 