This opinion could easily change if/when I go back and rewatch other series but right now I feel like this might actually be my favourite scene in all of Pokemon. And the fact that I can feel like that after nearly 20 years of getting into the show and seeing like a thousand episodes is something really special.
The way Rotom’s unique relationship with Satoshi (being neither a human friend nor a Pokemon who’s technically obliged to follow him) is used to create a new conflict for Satoshi is interesting, one could call his reaction to Rotom wanting to leave being out of character, after all he’s always gracefully let his Pokemon leave him before, however you could argue that those cases always had an element of “being the bigger man”, all of those Pokemon were OWNED by Satoshi, if he didn’t want them to leave they literally could not have left, so stopping them would’ve been cruel. With humans he simply understands that everyone has their own path to follow and won’t always be available for him. But Rotom is a little different. It seemed like just one of his Pokemon but isn’t really. Satoshi expected Rotom to just follow him but suddenly Rotom decides to just leave? And gleefully at that, usually Satoshi is the first to come to the conclusion that his Pokemon should leave him and is the one to make them realize that, this time his Pokemon just seemingly disregards their relationship entirely, so it’s understandable he’d at least be hurt.
Anyway, this leads to this absolutely beautiful dialogue by Lilie, yeah, Rotom WAS free to do whatever it wanted all this time, and it chose to stay with Satoshi, because it loved him. I... I’m just so touched by this line alone, you don’t understand. But this could’ve been the whole scene, any character could’ve said this to Satoshi and it would’ve been enough to cheer him up, but they went deeper, and brought back the Lilie and Lusamine relationship which was already one of the best arcs in Pokemon, and it ties seamlessly into this and makes it so much more meaningful.
It’s easy to doubt the feelings of others but it’s important to talk things over, pretty simple but relatable message, with impeccable presentation. The expressions are drawn really well and there’s subtle character acting from both the humans and their Pokemon that add life to the scene without distracting from the dialogue. The voice acting is great as usual, sad Rica Matsumoto is always a treat and Kei Shindo really nails Lilie’s ranging emotions. But let me tell you, I am absolutely blown away by this music, this is one of the most beautiful tracks I’ve ever heard, the melody is memorable and it perfectly builds up and down as the scene progresses, my favourite part is that silent piano as Satoshi admits that Rotom was free, that’s followed by a violin into the stronger part as Lilie tells Satoshi Rotom loved him, and the ending where it REALLY builds up as Lilie gets really excited as she talks about how she came to understand her mother. I love everything about the way this was executed, definitely the most well made dialogue scene in Pokemon I can think of.
And it’s just... so sincere.
Just two kids having a heart to heart, one helping the other to come to a better understanding about himself while getting to share her own experience, and both just being overjoyed about it. With the sort of subtle lineart only blush that both of them have in the end (and Lilie had while talking about her mother) perhaps indicating a bit of tension over having opened up and shared an encounter like this with another person, a neat attention to detail that takes the child perspective into consideration.
Pokemon is good.
