Japan RANKS every Gen 9 Pokemon trainer here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/sM-VoJCdrri7eps.html

There’s an actual proper storyline here. It’s a solid show

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="101">1:41</a> “How can he counter the opponent’s strategy without using the damn sprinkler” Killed me 😂😂😂

Liko is a breath of fresh air, we get to see her find her ambitions and what she wants to do. She acts like a 10 year old and we see her overcome her anxiety as she becomes friends with dot and roy, she isnt over the moon about battling, but she doesnt hate it either. Shes a good character with a lot of future potential, and i love seeing her build bonds with her pokemon.

I've been watching Horizons since day 01 and I never had any regrets watching it. They are more focused on the story with a hint of battles here and there. This show is well balanced imho and people are now seeing why.

I personally disagree when he says that the new villains are lacking. Something I disliked about team rocket is that they had no reason to follow ash for several years other than “That twerp has a pretty strong pikachu! Let’s grab it for the boss!” It always bothered me that they were so dumb. A little dumb comedy relief is great now and then, but I love that the new villains (aside from Coral) have more than five brain cells. I love the genius schemes of Spinelle, where he spends time preparing and observing the enemy. I love the headstrong actions of Amethio and the way he and Friede can never quite finish a fight. I love when the tactics the enemy uses isn’t the same pit trap 29 times in a row before finally realizing it doesn’t work. While I’m sad that team rocket has blasted off for the final time, I love the methods and motivations behind every villain. Wouldn’t trade them back if I were given the chance.

The past few months has brought back the consistent quality of the first 25 episodes.

Horizon really surprised me that they evolved the main characters main Pokémon which honestly made me like the change of protagonist a tiny bit more

if you think about it, the three kids initial failures are narratively similar to ash getting a badge by chea-*ehem* getting creative in the original season. aside from Roy, they are not really battlers and all of them are only just starting to get what they want out of their journey

"wait... Pokemon Horizons is good?" Always has been.

The horizon is soo good tbh because this is a "we don't know our finish line but we do have a journey" type of storyline a directionless adventure which is fun imo

Horizons was always entertaining from day 1 imo. Ppl just needed to take the nostalgia glasses off. It's been a wonderful breath of fresh air

The current arc really nailed it with getting gym leaders and E4 members more involved with the main cast. I really enjoyed Horizons from the start, because of how fresh it felt. Mixing that with the new Terastal Course arc made me enjoy the anime more than I ever had. I hope the characters actually learn and remember what they have learned going forward, Ash seemingly forgetting everything he learned is what bugged me a whole bunch.

We have to appreciate youtubers trying their best to hype the series

Ash is a world champ now. Liko has potential as a new protagonist. I like almost everything in the anime thus far. The only thing I dont like is the fact that the gym battles Liko and the rest went through are just "exams". They dont need to win the gym battles. They just need to "pass" their criteria.

it's always been incredible, just that too many people just can't accept the fact that Ash's journey is done and that this is a whole different character who's journey is completely different now and just contains a few easter eggs and homages to Ash's journey.

I have a feeling this time we will see a character actually grow, like maybe Liko will actually grow into an adult seeing that there are young and adult casts with both themes being dealt with. Battles are there but this time show focuses more on stories with Pokemon

I've noticed the massive shift too, and tbh, I liked the first arcs more than this new one. Having said that, this latest arc feels a lot more like the original pokemon anime, and I'm guessing this shift was completely intentional in response to negative reactions to the first section of Horizons. I also don't dislike this new section at all, the characterization and storytelling is still the best the pokemon series has ever been, but I am sort of hoping this structure is a temporary one. I absolutely loved the more anime-esque style within the pokemon world, and loved the idea that characters could come of age in so many different ways. Horizons really focused on showing that while not everyone is a professional battler, growing stronger, battling, and developing bonds with your pokemon is still important for so many other reasons, and I honestly loved that.

WARNING: !prepare for yapping! i feel like what makes a good pokemon anime is adventure and being in a new area/ city/ environment every few episodes, what i liked about all the pokemon animes is how ash was always going to different places, i started watching pokemon less in journeys cus i wasn't rly a fan of ash living somewhere even though he went to different places and adventures it just didn't feel the same.

Horizons has been amazing since the start. And as you said, about the secret sauce, it has made the series even more beautiful. I am loving this series so much and I would like to watch more of Liko, Roy and Dot, even after their chase for Laqua concludes. They feel so realistic and relatable.

I've been there since the beginning, and I really love Horizons because it's more story based, taking their time fleshing out its characters and their teams. Plus this is probably the closest thing we can get to what an adventuring trainer does inside the pokemon universe and it's a really nice breath of fresh air.

What I like about horizons. I actually watch it as a whole series for the plot. With the Ash series, I could just watch a random episode when my daughter was watching and it doesn’t matter what episode it was, it was always the same formula.

I fell in love with it once I heard the theme song. Its a beautiful way to show a story of discovering yourself, a nice balance of vulnerability and courage. But what makes it really special to me is how its about realizing your dreams with a chosen family. Its such an unusual blend of characters all living happily together. It makes me want to buy a big zeppelin with a bunch of my friends, live together, and go on adventures.

I enjoyed the first part of Horizons. It was refreshing to see a more story driven Pokemon anime than the traditional sports format. I'm still thoroughly enjoying it.

I'm sensing a new approach to the anime. New series/characters every few years (every gen?), just like they do with Pretty Cure for example.

You forgot to mention some battles in Horizon got FINALLY some sakuga animation we've been missing since the days of XYZ. Only very few battles in Sun&Moon and Journeys had that (even if I'd personally like even more effects like 3D-camera to the battles). It's maybe not the pinnacle of anime fight eye candy (which I'm not even expecting), but it's still definitely a major upgrade to Ash's last 2 series.

Pokemon horizons was already peak but they also managed to make it even better

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="317">5:17</a> this is the feeling I had, It felt more like a special series than a new series

In a landscape fill with ai garbage, it fills me with joy seeing the small chibi drawings of all the characters in this video

The beginning was slow and so was the development, but it’s gotten really good. I look forward to watching the new episodes every Saturday now

In Dot's battle, I thought it wasn't that bad & it made sense how the battle played out: most of Dot's team took damage from only Sandstorm, Rock Smash, Brick Break, & Rock Slide (1st half of those moves do deal too much damage) & with Bellibolt kind of a tank, it made sense it was able to tough through & use Quaxly-charged Zap Cannon to Copperajah, Who Was the main one of Poppy's pokemon that kept taking all the damage (albeit overall it was mainly Iono's win than Dot's). For Roy's battle, it really was one-sided as most of it ended up with him powering up Baxcalibur to Glaive Rush Double KO. - As for Sango's, it was declared that she Lost her battle as the rule was the 1st pokemon knocked out either side loses, and Glalie knocked itself out First with Self-Destruct to knock out everyone else. - Onyx I sorta get why he lost: Onyx is a Soldier-Warrior. He wasn't going to sacrifice/let Tulip (his tag partner/backup~subordinate) be defeated so he & Garganacl took the hit for her which made them lose. If Onyx hadn't, he'd feel like it'd be disgraceful to him. He really is a Soldier with a Warrior's Honor & Pride. He might be my fav Explorer > Despite the outcome of the battle, Liko did a pretty good job in her battle!!!!! This tag battle definitely was the best of the 3 with Rika's consecutive attacks from Katy's unleashed battling with Lokix both supportive & offensive (got super surprised Swarm activated) & Liko's Floragato learning Acrobatics {Love she learned the move after being inspired by Lokix's battle movements & maybe from its Bounce attack!!!!} And if it's any consolation for Liko, She was the only one to make her Elite 4 get Serious enough to go Tera; that's saying something in comparison with the others. At least after crying, I'm glad Liko felt better afterwards. AND at long last, Liko has Finally Found it; Beyond the Battle- Liko has Finally found Her Drive ~ the joy in Serious Battling!!!!!!!!!! Our Girl's On her Way!!!!! She's finally found the joy in battling for real & it will make her stronger!!!!!

While I think it’s important for a Pokemon anime to feature game characters, I also think that having a ton of them appear isn’t necessary at the start. Horizons taking the time to focus on its core cast of original characters was a better move since this isn’t like the old days where Ash had 2 or 3 game characters traveling with him so you grab that game audience by default. I’d say Rika is a pretty clear indicator of why focusing on Horizon’s core audience is important because while Rika was “making waves” it was almost entirely just for her being around and not for her relationship with Liko (at least on the western side of twitter). With how Horizons is going, its definitely a good move to have an arc for the game cast to start appearing more often to draw attention to Horizons and possibly get people to start watching the show, but Horizons was right to build a core fanbase of the shows leads because people who are only there for the games characters will likely drop it once they think the characters they’re there for aren’t going to show up anymore. And that’s assuming they even watch all the episodes and don’t just watch the ones with characters they like.

The another thing you forgot to mention is that Horizons focuses a lot more to it's characters than the "original" Pokémon animes did. Like Liko as a person had more character development in a single year than Ash had in the whole 26 years (maybe except the Indigo League and XYZ)

Some seasons of ash's adventures I thought were legitimately good for anime but the quality definitely went up and down through out the years. Its nice to see that now that Ash is retired as a character , that they're now genuinely trying to make a good anime series with a fresh outlook and new ideas.

Pokemon company:I'm too tired of battles (creates a adventure instead of battles)

I am 37 yo the “sprinkler” episode was aired almost 26 years ago and I am still mad.

Horizons feels like an actual anime where as Ashs era felt like a kids cartoon. 🥸

I’ve been enjoying so so much!! I love how there’s a proper mystery to solve and everything feels fresh and new. Love it

Dude, I just found your channel. I only watched a little bit of Horizons, but this got me super excited. I’m a huge sports fan and a huge Pokémon fan, and I never made the connection. Helluva insightful videos, thanks!

People are now realising it? Since ep1 the show was fantastic and much more enjoyable than the last 2 ash series. Horizons is an easy 10/10 series.

Still, I would love to see the Pocket Monster Special be made into OVAs.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="9">0:09</a> “But then, the Pokemon Company shocked everyone!” Correction: “But then, the Pokemon Company shocked no one!” yeah we.. kinda already knew ash was leaving after journeys and the spin-off.

Great video! As someone who only likes Pokemon casually and got to watch Horizons because "oh hey, it's a reboot; now I won't have to catch up to 1000+ episodes to begin watching," your explanation helped me understand the perspective of gamers and long-time viewers of the Ash era. I admit that I'm all for the storytelling, and while watching the battles in the Terastal arc have been really really fun, I can't wait until the anime resumes the search for the Six Heroes. But maybe I feel that way ~because~ I'm disconnected from the rest of the franchise.

Insert going beyond horizons joke here. But yeah, it's always been fun but now it's including more of Ash era charm in the current arc along with the already existing plot. Best of both

Its a solid show. Its fantastic! Thanks for a wonderful video Charles!! It was amazing

It's unfortunate the creators opted to increase the formulaic, instead of continuing a little pioneering. Horizons was and is a different sort of Pokemon series, and that's something to celebrate. I've been watching the show since 1998, and Horizons is the first time I've been really impressed since XY (and SOME aspects of Sun & Moon, specifically the characters). And before that, it was Diamond & Pearl that impressed me. Indigo was good, Advanced was good, and the rest kind of sucked. The best thing about Journeys was seeing a few plot-points conclude, but it just wasn't good otherwise.

The video essay is so good I thought this is a video essay channel. Didn’t I know someone who passionate about his interest. Quality and Passion how can I not subscribe. Subscribed!!!

I always love watching your videos charusharu. This video popped up in my suggeqyion and I watched it right away

wait so your telling me people didnt like it as much because it wasnt like previous pokemon? I personally prefer a different predictable schedule than the one from the ash era. Its no longer Arrive, get closer to fighting the gym leader, fight gym leader, leave. Its now a sjorter but more vague and open to side story list such as Go somewhere related to overarching plot, adventure time, find an answer and clue for new destination, leave

I‘m sad that Ash is gone but the new series doesn‘t look bad either.

I still love Pokemon Adventures/Special (the manga) over the Ash era anime (though I still have a lot of nostalgia for the anime), the story feels so much more impactful, but tbh how you've talked about the first year of horizons in this video has convinced me to go watch it lol. Here's to hoping I enjoy it ^^

Those are compelling points... I haven't watched the anime since after XYZ, but now I want to check out Horizons. :')

Liko must be a desendant of Lucius! 💙🌟

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="171">2:51</a> Bro, don't do that to my girl Dot 😂 she is my fav from the trio

I hate everybody bad thoughts😤😤well there is nothing wrong on Horizons is fine for us😁👍and yes we must give this season time to progress👍and yes our girl Liko is our Iron Heart💚💚💚👩🏻🐱🐈🍃😁👍

Whatever they do, NOTHING will be as good as Pokémon Adventures, which after basically 3 decades, has STILL NOT BEEN ADAPTED and that baffles me.

Hey, it’s better than most of journeys

I might be alone in this feeling but this return to the status quo kinda just feels slightly underwhelming. After 8 gens of the same(ish) qualification structure and sports anime style, the first 45 episodes of Horizons felt like a fantastic breath of fresh air and felt like a moment of redefining what the anime can be now that Ash is gone (like a soft reboot that's better handled than how Best Wishes did it). And now we've started Year 2 and it's just battles with Gym Leaders and Elite 4 members again. I'm not saying I don't want battles at all, I just hope there's a better balance between the older sports anime feel and newer character-driven and admittedly movie-esque storytelling in the future.

Thanks! I saw the first few episodes but stopped. Sounds like I need to watch the rest of them.

Yall been sleeping. I was hooked from first episode. I’m glad to see it hasn’t disappointed

On top of that Pokemon Horizons has really well written main plot with a lot of secrets, and they are using shiny variations of Legendary Pokemon.

Pokemon Horizons has PEAKED?

Thank you for no spoling alerted I was just about to watch it

That keijo reference hit me with some whiplash was not expecting that in a pokemon video

great video

Its insane to me how many people I still see hating on Liko just because she's not Ash. I've loved Horizons since the start and, imo, its even better than Ash's saga

I miss Ash, BUT i really enjoy the new anime. It's just light fun with some game mechanics sprinkled here and there and the characters are interesting to follow and see to grow. I hope Ash may come back as a mentor figure, hopefully grown up to be like the Kakashi or better yet, WolfeyVGC of the pokémon anime :D

Oooh, i've wanted to watch Horizons for a while, but now i'm curious to see Horizons I've been curious to see it for a while, but now i want tonsee it more Maybe they'll even show Nemona doing some of her battle spirit

Thas the thing. It Always Was

i love the anime so much. so many good characters

what a great thumbnail and title! i wonder where ive seen that one before

Lorelei. She went by "Prima" in the English dub since that's two syllables akin to her name in Japanese language versions. Also love that we need that element of logical progression. A lot of games use a similar system to the one used in Pokémon. Find item, use said item elsewhere. In this case, it's the badges or equivalent thereof.

I watched the show every week and although I liked episode by episode, I was considering dropping it because the development of the story was too slow for me until the first arc ended and the show started popping off consistently and now its pretty good. I still think it has some problems, I wish there was more variability in the battles, the characters pretty much always use the starters. Other than Roy's Kilowattrel, none of the Pokémon really have decent character arcs (Fuecoco used to have one when he was fanboying over Charizard and aiming to reach it's level but it feels like they forgot about it and made Fuecoco a one note comic relief). Fans fell in love with pokemon like OG Charizard, Greninja, Infernape and Sceptile because of their arcs and I think if Horizons improves on this then it will be amazing.

Even when they did pokemon chronicles to focus on little side stories wasnt bad. They did a mystery dungeon episode too. Im curious if they did some tribute to colosseum or xd in the anime then that would be peak.

I love taking the world and doing something very new with it, so I’d hate for the solution to be to follow more closely to the games and become a marketing tool again, but I can understand that keeping the same atmosphere and important elements of the universe help make them feel more connected and grounded with each other. I’ll have to take another look at Horizons and compte the two sections.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="172">2:52</a> Dot 💀

Horizons is very interesting in concept and doing it very very good

i’ve been saying this since we met the crew HORIZONS IS AMAZING!!!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="562">9:22</a> finally! Someone agrees with me that Liko should get an Armarouge :D

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="157">2:37</a> Black Rayquaza?! Gonna have to watch now

You did not disrespect dot like that again

It's always been incredible.

i can't stop hearing: "terastaru kenshuu"

charusharu when a pokemon character breathes air (POKEMON HISTORY IS CHANGED FOREVER WITH THIS CRAZY NEW SCENE!)

Pokemon horizons is so good, I prefer liko's character over ash. He stayed the same for 25 years and got stale at around after xyz

It's always been incredible???

Now I just want burger sauce thanks

You also forgot to mention that Freid is cool asf!

Horizons always been good!

At this point(and *my opinion*), Liko best pokégirl>>> Fight me, Serena fans :/

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="36">0:36</a> the fact that he didn't say "and i'm not talking about ash ketchup" was a missed dad joke.

Am I the only one who's gonna acknowledge how the title and thumbnail are a direct reference to Gigguk's Attack on Titan video?

Ha, what a clickbait title. Everybody already knows that Pokémon Horizons was always incredible.

Good video, but I don't think I'll watch Horizons. Ever since Sun and Moon started the anime has just left a sour taste in my mouth, so I'm just gonna stick with everything before season 20.

Woww, this review's pretty nice :) I agree with a lot of your points!

Damn you're so right with the Gensaku

at this point if someone is still crying after Ash they are just a disgrace to the community and should be boycotted for good. Conservative Ash fanboys are just hopeless cases & we shouldn't entertain them anymore otherwise the entire fandom would end up backward minded. Let's celebrate the high quality Horizons content & set some standards for ourselves✌

Literally so so goood

I feel Horizons is starting to find its groove. It wasn’t bad before but now it’s showing better story telling since the gang arrived in Paldea.

Amethio is the best horizons character (I'm just down bad lol)