#hz084

Episode 83: “The truth revealed? Amethio’s resolve!”

Episode 84: “The place where heaven meets earth”

FINALLY ANOTHER AMETHIO-CENTRIC EPISODE GODS IT’S BEEN FOREVER

We actually get to know where Amethio stands now, with the RVT or the Explorers

I’m curious to see if he’s gonna be an anti-hero or.. I guess an anti-villain? More in the sense will he not technically be on the Explorers’ side, but still against the RVT, or the opposite, not with the RVT but against the Explorers

I really hope for the latter, or even that he accepts Liko’s offer and joins their journey, but it’s doubtful

More likely he’s gonna try to earn back his grandpa’s trust and get back into the explorers like the sad, manipulated lil guy he is(my poor baby☹️)

Episode 84’s title gives me that impression too, unfortunately. “Where heaven meets earth” sounds like the Zygarde and Rayquaza fight we see in the intro, and most likely represents an Amethio vs. Liko fight

Gods I could go on about the yin and yang representation between Amethio and Liko, the Explorers and RVT, shiny Zygarde and shiny Rayquaza, but that deserves it’s own post, but trust it’s important

Do yall think that the fight will happen in area zero? Because if so that means most likely Amethio will go to area zero too

Will he encounter Sango and Onyx? What will be their reactions? Will Amethio and Liko be on good terms because of their little chat in the cave together? Will the others be shocked to hear ameliko being close enough to be on a first name basis?(because THAT happened)

will he even go down there or are we just gonna get a side episode with him, zirc, and onia? Honestly I wouldn’t mind that either, I just wanna see what my boy’s doing and how he’s holding up☹️

Anyways, episode 83 is on the 7th, and episode 84 the 14th, for anyone who didn’t know

Feel free to leave your predictions in the comments! :]

Starting with HZ083 (link here).

Amethio-centric episode! Noting that this is ep 83, which happens 50 eps after ep 33 (Amethio's solo battle with Rayquaza and Terapagos turning into Terastal form for the first time). Moreover, this is the second title which has Amethio's name in it (the first one being HZ065, which was "Liko and Amethio").

So.. the title talks about a certain "truth" and Amethio's determination.

What truth is the title referring to? Is it related to the Rakurium? This is what Amethio has been looking into lately and he even tried to face his father in HZ078 to get more information about it, but Crave didn't want to talk to him about it.

If we're going by the assumption that the truth is related to the Rakurium, then is Amethio going to try to face his father once more? I personally doubt it, since he probably knows he'll get the same answer again. Will he try to talk to Gibeon? Not sure about it, since Gibeon told him he doesn't want to see him anymore... And Gibeon seems to often be asleep too. We've seen him asleep at the end of HZ075 and there were already implications surrounding it in HZ034 (Hamber talking about Gibeon being awake, etc).

I feel like the title could possibly hint at a confrontation between Amethio and Spinel? The opening has a scene with the two of them specifically and they've been tailing each other for a while now. Spinel is keeping track of Amethio and knows he won't give up so easily. I'm not sure if Amethio is trying to follow Spinel in some capacity in this chapter but we know he's done so in the past. Will Amethio try to get answers out of Spinel? Will we get to know more about Spinel?

Also thinking about how we got truths surrounding Rakua and the original Explorers being revealed in ep 74/75, and now we might get more answers about the Rakurium or Gibeon/anything else..? Liko facing truths earlier in the chapter, and this time Amethio will face truths as well. Something about the AmeLiko of it all and how their journeys mirror each other's and are constantly intertwined makes me emo, tbh. Especially since I feel like this emphasizes that they could benefit from a team up. Liko is gathering pieces of truths here and there, but she doesn't have the full story yet. The story of Rakua was told from Rystal's perspective, but Rystal had no way of knowing certain things. She doesn't know what happened to Gibeon after Rakua, for example. Liko was about to ask Rystal about Gibeon before she disappeared, which established that "Gibeon" was one of the next mysteries to be solved (how is he still alive after all this time? etc).

Amethio is on his way to learn new things, which Liko and the others possibly do not know yet. They could share that information with each other. Liko knowing Gibeon's name thanks to Amethio telling her about his grandfather proved to be helpful, since she could tell the RVT who Gibeon was. But who knows what the future has in store for Liko and Amethio.

I am also curious about Amethio's "determination". He started off the chapter quite lost and crushed after Gibeon rejected him, and he was trying to find out if there was still something he could do. The title seems to indicate that Amethio's determination will be renewed. What path will he take? Maybe whatever truth he is going to learn will help him make up his mind about what he should do? Is he going to find out the truth about the Rakurium? And if he does, will he consider it as something dangerous for his grandfather? Will he find a balance there? I am really looking forward to it, and how Amethio will reconcile his feelings for his family with the truth. Especially thinking about how Gibeon wanted to hear his resolve in HZ054, and now it seems like Amethio might find his own resolve. (As a note, the words used were different. Gibeon and Amethio talked about 覚悟 in HZ054, and the title for ep 83 uses the word 決意. I was curious to know if it was the same word, but it's not.)

Also: will this be an episode completely focused on Amethio? This happens after the Rayquaza ep. Will we pull away from Liko and the RVT for an entire episode to focus strictly on Amethio? Or maybe it'll be a situation similar to HZ054 which had Liko and friends meeting with Ann before going back to Orange Academy, while Friede was investigating the Rakurium at Exceed? Both plots happened in parallel, so maybe this could be the case for this episode.

--

And the title for HZ084 (link here).

This is another one of those titles which sound really poetic to me. Up there with the titles for HZ075 and HZ082 (ep 75 is "The future we've been entrusted, the shine of this world" and ep 82 is "At the end of the shining rainbow" which is a reference to a line from the second opening).

This title seems to refer to Rayquaza and Zygarde (Heaven/Sky and Earth, "Ten to Chi", Rayquaza and Zygarde being respectively associated with these elements and described as the "Tenkuu Pokemon" and "Chitsujo Pokemon", etc..). And the horizon being the place where the earth and sky appear to meet, too. Poetic cinema, etc.

Also, every ep ending with "4" has been quite significant for a while. 24: Diana telling Liko and the others about how she found the pendant, Pagogo reacting to Amethio. 34: Liko and Diana paralleling Amethio and Hamber, Gibeon etc. 44: Rayquaza showing up. 54: Learning about the "eternal blessing", seeing Gibeon's face for the first time and learning about his connection to Amethio, meeting Amethio's father for the first time. 64: Liko and Amethio meeting in the mountain, both of them seeing the effects of the Rakurium for the first time and getting stuck in a cave together, etc. 74: Learning that Lucius founded the Explorers and that there were three of them, etc. So what will ep 84 bring?

Very curious about this episode. The opening showed a confrontation between Gibeon's Zygarde and the RVT. So maybe this is when said confrontation will start? Will we see Gibeon? Will I get to hear his hot voice? Please tell me I will.

Given that this ep is implied to be about Rayquaza and Zygarde, I feel like this means Rayquaza will join the group in HZ082? Rayquaza was clearly waiting for Liko and the others to gather the other Heroes before joining them. Will he join the group by returning to his Ancient Pokeball that Roy has, or will he tag along without going back to his Pokeball? I am curious about this, especially for what it'll mean to Roy? Terasaki Yuka (Roy's VA) said at the beginning of the chapter that there will be an episode that brings Roy closer to his goal of getting Rayquaza (link here). (Btw, she also talked about possibly getting answers about the eternal blessing, which is why I feel like we'll learn about it in Amethio's episode.)

Anyway, back to Roy and Rayquaza. While Liko got Rystal's blessing and officially caught Pagogo in this chapter, I think her situation is different (and both situations are meant to be different). Liko's goal is to grant Pagogo's wish of going to Rakua, she just happened to bond with Pagogo and they became true partners. The endgoal here wasn't "getting Terapagos", it just happened during Liko's journey of granting Pagogo's wish (which still isn't granted at the time I am writing these lines). Roy's goal is specifically "getting Rayquaza" and being acknowledged by him. So I feel like they could be getting a moment which could deepen their connection? Rayquaza still hasn't exactly "seen" Roy, imo. So I think that they won't become "partners" for now. I also think Lucius is still alive in Rakua. He didn't appear at the Crystal Pool when Liko and the others prayed, and I think Gibeon is meant to get his closure with Lucius before passing on. I think Rayquaza is still loyal to Lucius's memory too, so Rayquaza should also get his closure (similarly to Pagogo) before becoming Roy's partner. There is a lot of emphasis on respecting Pokemon's feelings, after all. Basically, since Roy's endgoal is getting Rayquaza, I don't think it'll happen in this chapter since the anime isn't over yet, but I think they are meant to connect a bit more to sow the seeds of their future partnership?

--

I think I covered what I wanted to write about for now. Also, since these two episodes are clearly meant to be closely related to the overarching plot, I wonder who will be writing them?

We already know the writers for this month's episodes, and Kureha Matsuzawa will be writing HZ082. Ep 84 having a poetic title also makes me think he should be the one writing it, but who knows. The Amethio episode should also written by one of the core writers. It's either Dai Sato, Kureha Matsuzawa or Naruki Nagakawa for these two episodes, I think. Either way, we should be in for very interesting writing three weeks in a row.

Starting with HZ083 (here). The preview is online too.

Still no info about the writer for this ep, but I'm hoping it's Kureha Matsuzawa or Dai Sato.

The summary is funny to me because Amethio is spotted and captured at his dad's workplace.. Amethio, what are you doing- The "certain person" might be referring to Hamber?

Also very emo over the summary mentioning that Amethio will learn about the connection between Gibeon and Lucius. I wonder if he'll learn it from Hamber? And I will never say it enough, but the AmeLiko of it all. Especially since Liko extended an offer to Amethio back in HZ065, thinking that the RVT and the Explorers should team up since they have the same goal.. And she considered that without even knowing about her connection to Lucius and the fact that Amethio's grandfather was friends with Lucius! Now, Amethio will learn the same thing, and make a resolve based on the information he will learn. Perhaps he will consider Liko's words again and come to the conclusion that he should take up on her offer to team up? We do know from the upcoming trailer that Amethio will battle with them, but I want to know his thought process and what will lead to that scene. Will his resolve be specifically about teaming up with the RVT, or about something else?

Anyway, Liko and Amethio.. Becoming aware of that connection they both share. Who knows what will happen going forward.

Also, looking at the preview for the upcoming ep. A few things to note.

It's the first time Zir and Conia's names have been said in the anime. They never said each other's names before that and Amethio never called them by name either. Also, it's so cute when Amethio says "don't miss it" about the next ep.

I wonder what Amethio will learn when going through Exceed files? I also think it's interesting that Amethio is trying to go undercover in Exceed, while Spinel appears to be in Gibeon's place(?). It was the opposite in HZ054: Amethio was with Gibeon, and Spinel stole the Rakurium at Exceed.

Speaking of Spinel: why is he so hot. Why does he appear to be kneeling. Is he showing his devotion to Gibeon. Why are you so into the old man. Is Spinel just like me for real, or is there something else going on here..

Things I'm also curious about: Gibeon appears to be awake and reflecting on something? What will he talk about? Hamber has a Zygarde cell. How did he get it? We see the Rakurium too. Is it in Rakua?

Amethio appears to be in his home too. Amethio gave me bocchan vibes from the beginning of the series, and he really is bocchan. He seems to live in a huge house.

Also: that huge portrait of a woman in Amethio's place. Given the eyes and white hair, she does appear to be Amethio's mother and thus Gibeon's daughter? Which is interesting. I was sure that Crave was Gibeon's son and that Gibeon's lineage was all male while Lucius's was all female (and that they'd contrast each other in this sense), but it doesn't seem to be the case. That's something I didn't expect, which means I'm reframing some of my thoughts, but I like that there is room for unpredictability in this sense. It's interesting to me because I feel like many stories with male ancestors focus on guys all the time, but having female descendents feels refreshing in that way. Horizons, my favorite shoujo anime, as always. I will wait for next week so there is confirmation that the woman is Amethio's mother.

If she is Amethio's mother.. It also reframes Crave's position a bit. Though, I do wonder how he became Exceed's director in that case? Also makes Friede's connections to Liko and Amethio's ancestry feel a bit more distinct in a way (Lucca is related to Lucius, while Crave isn't related to Gibeon?). It doesn't take away from the absolute hilarity of Friede knowing Amethio's dad and beefing with his former superior's son, which is important to me <3 It's untouched, and remains funny and meaningful as ever.

It'd give me more appreciation for Crave's character too, because the man probably just came from a normal background and wants to live a normal life, and probably just doesn't want any problems and to keep his loved ones safe, but he is still in a complicated position. I do wonder what happened to Amethio's mother and if she is still alive (Crave still wears a wedding ring), but either way, Crave still has all the reasons to not want Amethio to be involved with anything that has to do with the Rakurium. (Also, imagining how Crave and Amethio's mother met is pretty cute.. I wonder how they met.)

Potential fear.. I hope Amethio's mother isn't a vehicle for male character angst. Female characters being used to further angst for guys while having no interiority pisses me off, and I hope it's better than that. I think they did a good job with Rystal, showing her as a full character with agency, thoughts and opinions, so hopefully the same applies here. If she is Gibeon's daughter, there are a few questions which come to mind. How does Gibeon feel towards her? Is Gibeon the one who had a painting made of her? This seems like something that someone "old" would do (preserving a memory through a painting, rather than a picture). If so, it's kinda cute really, because it'd speak volumes about what he feels towards her.

Other than that.. Why did Amethio say he is nothing like his father then? Who was Gibeon referring to when he spoke of someone "straying from the path"? If the woman on the painting is his daughter, did he expect her to take up his will? Did she fail Gibeon by choosing a normal life with Crave over continuing her father's wishes? Or it something else completely? I do like that I was expecting Crave to be the person Gibeon was referring to when he talked about someone "straying from the path", but now I'm not so sure anymore.. I like that it's not clear who this sentence is referring to. Maybe Zygarde? Lucius? Gibeon's child? We'll probably know soon.

I also think it's quite interesting that Amethio will learn information that the audience is already aware of. In general, I like the way characters get to learn truths in the series.. It's not depicted in an overdramatic way? Lots of hints are left here and there and we can infer based on them, and some reveals are supposed to be dramatic and surprising for the characters, not for the audience. Liko learning that Lucius was related to her was surprising to her, but the audience put the pieces together long before that. It's also why I liked the way they introduced Crave as Amethio's father. There were implications and narrative relevancy set up in HZ054 and they just casually confirmed it in HZ078. And it wasn't supposed to be this huge surprising thing (because they weren't going to "trick" us into thinking otherwise, or introduce someone else). Like, why would it be? Amethio knows who his parents are. Same thing is probably going to happen next ep. Zir and Conia will probably ask about the portrait or point out that the person looks like Amethio and Amethio is going to casually confirm the identity of the person on the painting? Like, he knows who she is. The audience doesn't know yet for sure, though. Anyway, I just think this stuff is neat and well done in general.

I think that's it for HZ083 based on the summary and preview for now.

--

Onto the summary for HZ084 (here). Also the monthly calendar is relevant in this case.

The comment attached to the monthly calendar is what I find interesting. They mention that it'd be nice if Roy and Rayquaza could bond a bit more on the way to Rakua. Given that HZ085 is when they arrive to Rakua and that HZ083 is Amethio-centric, that leaves HZ084 as a potential episode to further Roy and Rayquaza's bond?

The summary is quite interesting. It seems like Rayquaza is considered as a bad omen. It also mentions a young boy named Yuha. I wonder if Roy will be the one to interact with Yuha? Maybe Roy will take Rayquaza's defense and clear up misunderstandings about him? Which could deepen their bond a bit more. I do wonder why the people at Yuha's town think that disaster will strike when Rayquaza appears. Is there truth to this story? Did Lucius hear of this story in the past too, and took Rayquaza's side? Will Roy do the same thing here?

--

Onto the trailer for the February episodes (here).

I said it before and I'll say it again but Gibeon's voice is hot.

Lucius being alive was something that was already heavily implied, and it is the case. It's kind of tragic because Rystal and Lucius will never meet again.. their tragic romance gets to me. I wonder if Lucius felt time going by while he was sealed away? Or did it feel like a single night of sleep? Both thoughts are pretty horrifying from his perspective because he came back in a completely different world: Gibeon grew older and changed while Lucius remained the same, Rystal is gone, Leyla is gone, and Lucius has to grasp the reality that he will never meet his daughter. At the very least, he gets to meet Liko.. Speaking of: he mentions Liko's name. How does he know her name? Was a part of him somehow in Pagogo and he got to know her name because of it?

Also: Liko and Lucius standing each other is really cute to me (that's the great-great-grandfather and his great-great-granddaughter!). Friede and Lucius in the same place is just great (the coolest guys). Roy will also get to meet Lucius, someone he admires! I wonder how he'll react.

Lucius and Gibeon.. Their story makes me sad. Lucius still tries to reach out to Gibeon and tells him to stop (how many times do I have to teach you this lesson, old man, etc), and Gibeon still won't budge. A bit scared of their future specifically. Can they still reason with Gibeon? Will they convince him to stop? Will he still be present after this arc? I feel like I have more thoughts on them, but I need to let them simmer a bit more.

Very pleased that they are still continuing the rivalries between Liko and Onyx and Roy and Sango. I was a bit afraid that they'd be pushed aside after Liko and Roy defeated them at the end of the Terastal Debut chapter, but there is still room to work with them. Their connections to Onyx and Sango has been a nice surprise for me tbh, I didn't think there were going to be more Explorers characters initially, but what they are doing with them feels refreshing?? A different way to explore their characters too, and makes the Explorers side feel richer. Sango will Terastal Onipurin (so they were keeping the Terastal for Onipurin and not Onigohri). I wonder how Liko and Roy will interact with Onyx and Sango? I wonder if Liko will address Onyx by name (he asked her to remember his name). Also curious if Sango will talk about playing with Roy.

It also seems like Dot will face Agate. I wonder if we'll find out about Agate's third Pokemon. Curious about their interactions in general. Agate is a mystery, and I'd like to see more of her sides.

Spinel... Not sure who he is going to face. He is probably the biggest enigma (along with Agate) to me. I really don't understand him at all, which is fun. I hope we get to know more about his thoughts and motivations.

Things I'm curious about: how the Rakurium will affect Cap, and how the Explorers managed to reach Rakua.

And of course: Amethio teaming up with Liko, Roy and Dot. Very cool to see! He is standing next to Liko specifically too, which feels rewarding. Lucius and Gibeon will face each other again after a century and will probably be on opposite sides (because they do not agree on what to do with the Rakurium), while Liko and Amethio will stand side by side when they started off on opposite sides.. The LuciGibe and AmeLiko of it all. It's too poetic. I wonder what Amethio will say, and how Liko will react. And how Roy and Dot might react to this too? How will they battle together? Will they be in sync? What will Amethio say to his grandfather while facing him?

I also appreciate that, by the looks of things, Amethio will accept Liko's offer of teaming up and will be an ally for the time being. He helped her last time and they both got to learn more about each other, and the next time they are going to see each other, it'll be a positive kind of meeting? Which is nice. It only gets better each time they meet. I was a bit worried that Amethio could have regretted helping her in HZ065, but he is not that kind of person. It's also cool that it seems like he is going to settle his own matters by himself (and with Zir and Conia's help too) before facing Liko again. Makes things feel balanced between them. I do wonder if Amethio will go back to acting solo after Rakua, or if he will consider teaming up with Liko and the RVT more frequently.

--

Starting with HZ084 (here).

Noting that Naohiro Fukushima is writing this ep.. We know the Six Heroes are going to appear, so that's the first time this writer will be handling an episode with them.

Continuing with HZ085 (here) and HZ086 (here).

No summaries released in the monthly magazine, so I take it as "we want to hide a little more what these episodes will be about".

But we do know that Kureha Matsuzawa (the script coordinator of Horizons) will be writing both episodes.. which is a great point of interest to me. He wrote the last two episodes (Rayquaza joining the group, and Amethio's focus episode). Surprised that almost four episodes in a row are written by him (ep 84 won't be though, so that's just one week skipped before going back to two eps in a row by him).

Since he wrote the original Explorers backstory and most of eps with Amethio and Gibeon, I'm looking forward to what's in store. Especially since we do know by the upcoming preview that Amethio will side with Liko and her friends, and that Lucius and Gibeon will meet again.

Also, ep 86 is airing one day after Pokemon Day. Makes me wonder what kind of reveal we'll have on that day that could be relevant to ep 86. Probably some kind of news related to Legends ZA (and by extension, Zygarde?), or something. When the Indigo Disk DLC was released on December 14 (2023), HZ033 aired one day after that and it was the episode in which Pagogo turned into the Terastal Forme for the first time in the series. So, some news coincide with anime episodes etc. (Personally, I dislike when game stuff is implemented in the anime in a way that harms the original narrative or feels like obvious "hey, buy our games, this is nothing but promotion, and also look at these characters from the games". Which means that most of the time, I don't want to see game characters or any game events etc. So far, Horizons has been good about this but still, my only demand is for it to keep being original and if game stuff has to be implemented, it has to be in a way that elevates the original narrative and feel natural. Please and thanks :v)

Either way, I'm curious who will be writing the remaining episodes of chapter 4. I think there will be three episodes airing in March. There was some kind of info about the second season (in the dub, named "the search for Rakua", I think??) having 44 episodes. (So if calculations are right, it means chapter 4 will end in HZ089 etc).

If Kureha Matsuzawa is already handling so many episodes in a row, I wonder if he'll be writing more for March or if the climax will be handled by someone else.. Naruki Nagakawa or Dai Sato? For information, so far the climax of each chapter has been handled by one of these three writers. Chapter 1: Dai Sato, chapter 2: Kureha Matsuzawa, chapter 3: Naruki Nagakawa. Anyway, the Rakua episodes look very promising! Also a bit stressful since we don't know what will happen after this w