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amelikos · 1 month

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Some character notes and episode notes for HZ048, writing them down for future reference.

The ep starts with Roy doing some training with Hogator and gets too fired up during it. Afterwards, the trio heads to Bowl Town and a festival seems to be taking place. They meet Hassaku (Liko calls him sensei too!) who explains that it's an art festival that takes place every year and that he is there as an art instructor. Colza's sculpture of the Black Rayquaza and the Kimawari is at the entrance of the festival and is the centerpiece of it (nice that they brought it up again after HZ010). Roy asks Hassaku if Colza is at the gym because he wants to challenge him so he leads the trio there.

Hassaku and Colza have nicknames for each other, which Liko notices and she asks them if they are friends. Colza explains that Hassaku is his mentor and that he helped him when he was going through an art block and that his current art style took shape thanks to him. They go back a long way.

Liko's dad shows up too, and she is surprised to see him there. He knows Colza (which was brought up before in HZ009 and HZ010), and also Hassaku. Makes sense that the three of them seem close given that they are all artists. Liko tells her dad she passed her basics test. She also introduces Dot to him since it's the first time they meet. Dot seems nervous, and Alex tells her that he heard about her from Liko. Dot is going out of her comfort zone a lot since the beginning of this chapter, she is meeting new people and feels a bit anxious about it.

Roy tells Colza that he is there to challenge him, and Colza is also curious to see how much Roy has grown. However, he has no time since he is busy finishing an art piece for the festival so Roy has to wait. Hogator seemed curious about it. Roy tells him he can't wait because he wants to get stronger to battle Rayquaza again, but Nemo shows up and suggests they battle. She also tells Roy that since students can't use Terastal against each other during the course, she'll go by these rules and won't use it against him. Roy tells her she can use it though, and she points out he seems confident. Interesting exchange there.

Either way, they battle. Nemo seemed happy about Roy's Hogator learning new moves. She just seems to be about recognizing potential where she sees it and encouraging it, because she brings up the word "fruitful" a lot. She wants to participate in Roy's growth as a trainer (which she did in this episode). It started raining partway through their battle and Roy didn't notice it, which is one of the reasons why he lost because he was so engrossed in the battle that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings. Roy immediately wants a rematch against Nemo and says he lost because of the rain, but Colza tells him it's no use and that he cannot win as he is now.

Hassaku suggests that they should all try making art pieces for now. The rule is that they should make a piece together with their Pokemon. Liko and Dot are on board, but Roy still wants to battle Nemo. Liko says it'd be good for him to switch things up, and she makes him notice that Hogator seems interested in Colza's art. So Roy is willing to try for Hogator. Nemo leads the trio to the gym, which serves as a public workspace during the festival, so they can make their pieces.

Liko decided on painting something which fits her since she likes drawing and she is creative. She wondered if she could paint something nice like her dad (which is cute, because she admires him as an artist). She got help from her Pokemon who all painted with her. Nyarote was really into it too and used her paws and bud. Liko ended up doing a painting of Oliva and called her piece "Oliva in full bloom". Two things I like about it. The proximity Liko feels towards Oliva (the first of the Six Heroes she met after Rayquaza, the first one she decided to help, Oliva showing up to protect her from Spinel, and to help her calm down Galar Fire, Oliva being a Grass type like Nyarote fitting Liko's themes of life etc, there is a lot going on here and I like that Liko just feels close to Oliva and decided to paint this Pokemon specifically). Also liked the use of "full bloom" in the name of the piece, like in Liko's Terastal phrase (which I think fits Liko's character since she really is blooming alongside Nyarote and revealing her potential, being more courageous and going forward, etc).

Dot took on a more mechanical project. Kanuchan liked the material so she decided to give it a try and really got into it. She asked Roy to let her borrow Kaiden. It was nice to see a one on one interaction between Roy and Dot (they have moments, but usually we see more Liko and Dot or the trio in general, so it's always cool to see Dot interacting with more characters one on one). I also always like when a character lets another borrow their Pokemon, because it shows trust between them (and we need to see Kaiden more, so it's good she thought about him). Either way, Dot made a ferris wheel and had her Pokemon and Kaiden help show it off with their moves.

Roy took on a clay project. He is into crafting things (after all, he made a secret base back in his island, and he created things several times during the show like when he wanted to help Kaiden, he also fixed the ship flag etc). Hogator was looking at art of Lizardon, so they decided to made Lizardon with clay. It's always adorable when they emphasize how much Hogator looks up to Lizardon and wants to be like one someday (which, btw, is a good way to use older gen in contrast to the current gen, and how the mentor character, Friede, has these older gen Pokemon and inspires the kids etc, there is a lot to be said but I just like how Horizons uses these concepts efficiently). Either way, at first Roy couldn't use the clay well so Colza gave him a hint that anything in reach or in sight could be the clue he needs to create his art. Roy eventually figures out that he needs to use Pokemon moves as materials, and that hints can be found in all places (and the same goes for battling). He managed to complete his piece and its title is "I wanna get stronger", which is inspired by both his and Hogator's feelings. Colza was impressed, and deems that Roy is ready to take on the basics test.

On to the battle (Hogator vs Usokkie). It was good. I think new BGM were used during it? I hope we'll get to hear more new tracks during this chapter. Roy is growing more strategic as he managed to guess who the real Usokkie was (after the latter used Subtitute) after seeing it sweat from Hogator's Flamethrower (it wasn't Roy's initial intention, but something he managed to see after his consecutive use of the move, so maybe in the future, he'll try to think more before battles or come up with similar strategies using his environment or things he notices etc). Roy used Terastal too, in response to Colza using it (different from Liko, who used it first against Kaede). His Terastal phrase was great. For a character like Roy, I would have expected something going on about "fire" or "passion", but the fact he talked about the crystal of his dreams caught me off guard in a good way (he is much more of a poet than I thought). There is this longing feeling to it, in relation to his dream, which I find interesting. He also used "shine", just like Liko (which makes sense since Terastal is described as the phenomenon making Pokemon sparkle and shine like jewels, so maybe Dot will use that verb too for her own Terastal phrase).

Either way, Colza knew most of Roy's moveset but the one thing he didn't account for was Hogator knowing Nitrocharge, which is eventually the move that defeated Usokkie. Roy won the battle (he faced Colza and lost before, so I figured he'd win this time, but it's still satisfying to see the buildup paying off!). I like the way Roy's growth as a trainer is depicted tbh (it's slowburn, he is taking small steps every time but it feels organic to me). Colza congratulated him and told him he passed the basics test. Also liked that Roy was specifically set up to face Colza, who is an artist, because as an artist, he takes time to analyze things etc, and that's something Roy needed to learn since he is more impulsive and tends to act first and think later (he tends to be hasty and impatient but needs to take time to think.. Roy is quite perceptive already, he just needs to make a conscious effort not to rush).

The ep ends with Dot feeling nervous knowing she'll take on her test next, and the trio deciding to visit the food stalls at the festival. (The preview was also cute, because Liko and Roy hype up Dot for her test and she is a bit embarassed about it)

Anyway, this ep was written by Michihiro Tsuchiya. The most recent ep he wrote was the Nyahoja backstory ep. He also wrote Hogator and Kaiden's argument back in HZ017, among other things (so it makes sense Kaiden appeared here).

Additional note, but Colza's way of speaking is kind of funny. I didn't pay attention that much to the way he spoke back in HZ010, so it kind of surprised me seeing him refer to others casually as "kisama" and talking in a grand way.. On the other hand, Hassaku seemed overly polite in his speech pattern.

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