#liko

I think what surprised me about this episode is how fast Navi is integrated into the story. While she doesn’t interact with Liko and Dot as much in this episode, she still has good interactions with Ult and Roy, especially with the former. Given how slow it took for Ult to integrate into the story, I feel like the writers understand the criticism of the slow pacing, hence why Navi is introduced and integrated fast.

Navi, as a character, is great! She has the youthful vigor that Liko and Roy had in the earlier Horizons days. I like her interactions with Ult as they act like antagonistic siblings, which is obvious since Ult is skittish towards new people and Emma technically adopted her while he was away; in a way, he’s like jealous sibling fighting for affection. The Dream Ball that is associated with her character is actually empty! It does make me wonder if Ditto will be caught in it. Regarding Ditto, its desire to help others is shown as it tried to apologize for spilling Navi’s favorite coffee milk and it also picked up her Dream Ball.

In order to promote Z-A, Ivor makes his debut. He’s a tall and bulky young man who walks around in martial arts clothes and also has monstrous strength as he destroyed his Rotom Phone and boulders. His signature Pokemon is Falinks that can evolve in Mega Falinks; the fact that he carries around a Falinks pouch is adorable. Anyways, Ivor recognizes Roy’s Lucario as the Yellow Blast, which is nice that it’s being respected. The battle does feel like it’s mostly there to show off Mega Falinks, which I honestly find cool as it’s basically a combined form. The way that it’s weakness is the poor struggling middle one and Roy aiming for it really hones in on his strategic sense of battling. While the rules are a little wacky, I do like that the fight isn’t dragged out too long and that the loss is reasonable. Also, Ivor’s sister Gwynn also makes a mention as she’s the one who found the missing Carbink that the group was looking for and that Ivor was trying to find its Trainer.

My only gripe with the episode is the lack of Liko and Dot screen time as they take a backseat as they’re visiting Lumiose for the first time and that Ult and Roy are of more importance here in terms of interaction and plot progression. I just hope Navi gets to interact with the girls later on. The only thing Liko and Dot do is accompany Emma on the search for the Carbink, which prompts the appearance of Emma’s running animation.

Navi is voiced by Yu Serizawa who is the current voice actress of Gardenia in Pokemon Masters as her first voice actress has retired. Outside of Pokemon media, she’s known for voicing Mona Kawai from Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms, Kotoko Ijichi from Gals Can’t Be Kind To Otaku and Nicole Demara from Zenless Zone Zero. Honestly, her voice does make Navi sound a little older than her appearance, but I like it. Ivor is voiced by Kazuki Ura who makes his Pokemon anime debut. Some of the anime he’s in are Isagi from Blue Lock, Shiki Ichinose from Tougen Anki and Haruo Kuroya from Daemons of the Shadow Realm. I think this is the deepest voice I’ve heard from Ura so far, yet his voice is still recognizable.

What amazed me the most is the fact that Navi’s pockets most likely contain a hyperspace dimension due to the sheer amount of stuff she carries in them like a notebook, telescope and a Unown F shaped magnifying glass. I wonder what else she’s holding in those pockets of hers. Let me know your thoughts on this episode!