[24] Ghost VS Psychic!
Feb. 9th, 2024 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marchionessofmustacheWhoo, the third part of the Natsume saga! The title is a little cute because Ghost is the name of the Pokemon but ALSO the name of the type. Now, I don't know if they changed this later; at least it's "go-suto" type now (like, they use the English word 'Ghost' for the type) in the show. They've been calling them a Japanese word for ghost in the show thus far (yuurei). So maybe they were originally called yuurei type and they changed it to go-suto type later? IDK, I'll have to play one of the old games in Japanese and see. (The only reason I know what they call them now is because of the opening to the XY series says go-suto in it lol) They never actually refer to them as yuurei-TYPE, though, so maybe they just have been using that word to avoid confusion with the Pokemon named Ghost.
Also, the Japanese word for Psychic type is "Esper." Some people like to translate it as 'Esper' but I've seen 'esper' used commonly enough to mean "psychic" (as in, a person with extrasensory powers) that I think it's fair to just translate it as 'Psychic' type. Though I do call them "Espers" in the SaGa GameBoy trilogy... hmmm...
The episode opens up with Takeshi being afraid to continue his adventures with Satoshi because he's scared of Ghost. But Kasumi insists Ghost is cute, and Ghost cuddles and plays with her. It then playfully licks her, but that causes her to become paralyzed, to which Satoshi scolds it and it cries... it's a very... whimsical Pokemon.
Then the title card hits and they're in the city and Takeshi is with them. Guess he got over it.
Kinda -- when Satoshi goes to challenge the gym, Kasumi, Takeshi, and Pikachu insist on staying outside because they don't want to become playthings again. Hitokage, Zenigame, and Fushigidane all seem ready to go, though! And then somehow the others overcome their fear without explanation again and go with him.
In the gym, Satoshi calls on Ghost, but Ghost seems to have disappeared. His other Pokemon are too frightened to battle, so he forfeits the match and makes a run for it, hoping to escape before Natsume can make him into a plaything again. Kasumi and Takeshi are surprised, but start to run after him, but are too late. Natsume turns them into stuffed dolls!
The strange man from before arrives and teleports Satoshi and his Pokemon outside, but Takeshi and Kasumi are left to become Natsume's playthings.
Also, whenever they teleport, they always are teleported into the air then comically fall on their butts. Which happened like a million times two episodes ago. This time they all landed in a pile on top of the old man. Why don't they just teleport to the ground? The man teleported to the ground, so why wouldn't he teleport everyone to the ground with him? Though, is it possible to "miss" and teleport with your foot like stuck inside the ground??? Maybe that's why they teleport so high up, to avoid that... (but still the guy teleported right onto the ground so maybe not...)
Well I guess the real answer is we need a little comic relief, so they gotta fall on their butts.
Talking to the old man, Satoshi learns that when Natsume was a little girl she developed terrifying psychic powers. Not only could she bend spoons, but she eventually grew to have such enormous power she destroyed her entire house! She scared away all her friends and family, and was left alone.
As she grew older, her spirit seemed to divide into two people -- the little girl who just wanted to play and have fun that she never got to be, and the cold, distant Natsume that stands behind her and battles ruthlessly with her Psychic Pokemon.
Satoshi starts to guess the identity of the man, who thinks to himself like, "Ah, of course he would realize that I'm actually Natsume's father..." and then Satoshi's like "You're her neighbor right?!" To which the guy is shocked how dense this kid could be.
The Rockets are planning a new way to catch Pikachu with a special net, and standing in a... uh... thingy. You know those like suspended cart things that people wash windows from or whatever? They're in one of those. Anyway, Ghost shows up and spooks them, causing them to almost fall, hanging off the edge of the... thingy. Then Ghost works hard to make Musashi laugh, so she does, and the group plummets to the ground, busting a hole in the cement. Satoshi pretty much dies from a chandelier falling on him, but the Rockets fall like 10 stories to the street and are perfectly fine, just a little amusingly beat up. Sure.
Satoshi comes by and realizes Ghost stopped the Rockets for him. Then they decide to just... go back to the gym lmao. Well, I guess because the older man said the only way to turn Satoshi's friends back into humans is to defeat Natsume.
Inside the gym, we see Takeshi and Kasumi who are somehow able to talk despite being dolls (their mouths don't move -- voices just come out lol) and then they realize they're with another doll, who turns out to be Natsume's mother. Crazy gal turned her own mom into a doll!
Satoshi challenges Natsume again before she has a chance to do any kind of weird playing with the doll friends. She warns him that there's no way he can win, and he calls on Ghost who... again does not show up and seems to be completely missing.
This time Pikachu stands up and decides to fight. He actually manages to get a hit on Yungerer, who immediately recovers the damage with its recovery ability.
Then Ghost shows up and starts pranking Natsume. Natsume's dad teleports in and assures everyone that since Ghost is not battling, it's not against the rules lmao.
Ghost does some silly faces and Natsume just stares on. My favorite is when he licks his own eyeballs off his face, then sticks his tongue out and juggles them around on his tongue.
Eventually he goes as far as to manifest a bomb, which explodes and leaves everyone burned up. Then the corners of Natsume's mouth turn up... and she begins to laugh!
Because Natsume and Yungerer are telepathically linked, Yungerer can't help but crack up too. Natsume's dad declares Satoshi the winner because Yungerer is no longer capable of battle. Because, you know, he's suddenly the official...?
From all the laughter, the CLG spirit fades away, and everyone reverts from being dolls into being proper humans again. Nastume's family waves goodbye, and Ghost decides to stay with them as Natsume's new friend. And Satoshi now has his fourth badge! Another one he... didn't really earn in battle. At least he beat Matisse properly...? LOL
Overall, I liked the episode. I was expecting it to be painfully drawn out since the entire conclusion was just "Natsume laughs," but they actually did a good job with the pacing and keeping things interesting. Learning more about Natsume was nice, and there was just the right amount of Rocket comedy relief in the middle.
Now the gang is eager to get on to Tamamushi City to get another badge. I wonder how many times they will get lost and get wrapped up in a one-off character's story before we're able to get there...?
ETA: I noticed while watching random OPs I liked for fun that Ghost does NOT appear in "Spurt!" (an opening that showcases ALL of Satoshi's Pokemon caught to date). Despite the "GET" in the title of the previous episode, Satoshi is never shown to catch Ghost, so I guess it doesn't count that he just befriended it for one episode?
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Also, the Japanese word for Psychic type is "Esper." Some people like to translate it as 'Esper' but I've seen 'esper' used commonly enough to mean "psychic" (as in, a person with extrasensory powers) that I think it's fair to just translate it as 'Psychic' type. Though I do call them "Espers" in the SaGa GameBoy trilogy... hmmm...
The episode opens up with Takeshi being afraid to continue his adventures with Satoshi because he's scared of Ghost. But Kasumi insists Ghost is cute, and Ghost cuddles and plays with her. It then playfully licks her, but that causes her to become paralyzed, to which Satoshi scolds it and it cries... it's a very... whimsical Pokemon.
Then the title card hits and they're in the city and Takeshi is with them. Guess he got over it.
Kinda -- when Satoshi goes to challenge the gym, Kasumi, Takeshi, and Pikachu insist on staying outside because they don't want to become playthings again. Hitokage, Zenigame, and Fushigidane all seem ready to go, though! And then somehow the others overcome their fear without explanation again and go with him.
In the gym, Satoshi calls on Ghost, but Ghost seems to have disappeared. His other Pokemon are too frightened to battle, so he forfeits the match and makes a run for it, hoping to escape before Natsume can make him into a plaything again. Kasumi and Takeshi are surprised, but start to run after him, but are too late. Natsume turns them into stuffed dolls!
The strange man from before arrives and teleports Satoshi and his Pokemon outside, but Takeshi and Kasumi are left to become Natsume's playthings.
Also, whenever they teleport, they always are teleported into the air then comically fall on their butts. Which happened like a million times two episodes ago. This time they all landed in a pile on top of the old man. Why don't they just teleport to the ground? The man teleported to the ground, so why wouldn't he teleport everyone to the ground with him? Though, is it possible to "miss" and teleport with your foot like stuck inside the ground??? Maybe that's why they teleport so high up, to avoid that... (but still the guy teleported right onto the ground so maybe not...)
Well I guess the real answer is we need a little comic relief, so they gotta fall on their butts.
Talking to the old man, Satoshi learns that when Natsume was a little girl she developed terrifying psychic powers. Not only could she bend spoons, but she eventually grew to have such enormous power she destroyed her entire house! She scared away all her friends and family, and was left alone.
As she grew older, her spirit seemed to divide into two people -- the little girl who just wanted to play and have fun that she never got to be, and the cold, distant Natsume that stands behind her and battles ruthlessly with her Psychic Pokemon.
Satoshi starts to guess the identity of the man, who thinks to himself like, "Ah, of course he would realize that I'm actually Natsume's father..." and then Satoshi's like "You're her neighbor right?!" To which the guy is shocked how dense this kid could be.
The Rockets are planning a new way to catch Pikachu with a special net, and standing in a... uh... thingy. You know those like suspended cart things that people wash windows from or whatever? They're in one of those. Anyway, Ghost shows up and spooks them, causing them to almost fall, hanging off the edge of the... thingy. Then Ghost works hard to make Musashi laugh, so she does, and the group plummets to the ground, busting a hole in the cement. Satoshi pretty much dies from a chandelier falling on him, but the Rockets fall like 10 stories to the street and are perfectly fine, just a little amusingly beat up. Sure.
Satoshi comes by and realizes Ghost stopped the Rockets for him. Then they decide to just... go back to the gym lmao. Well, I guess because the older man said the only way to turn Satoshi's friends back into humans is to defeat Natsume.
Inside the gym, we see Takeshi and Kasumi who are somehow able to talk despite being dolls (their mouths don't move -- voices just come out lol) and then they realize they're with another doll, who turns out to be Natsume's mother. Crazy gal turned her own mom into a doll!
Satoshi challenges Natsume again before she has a chance to do any kind of weird playing with the doll friends. She warns him that there's no way he can win, and he calls on Ghost who... again does not show up and seems to be completely missing.
This time Pikachu stands up and decides to fight. He actually manages to get a hit on Yungerer, who immediately recovers the damage with its recovery ability.
Then Ghost shows up and starts pranking Natsume. Natsume's dad teleports in and assures everyone that since Ghost is not battling, it's not against the rules lmao.
Ghost does some silly faces and Natsume just stares on. My favorite is when he licks his own eyeballs off his face, then sticks his tongue out and juggles them around on his tongue.
Eventually he goes as far as to manifest a bomb, which explodes and leaves everyone burned up. Then the corners of Natsume's mouth turn up... and she begins to laugh!
Because Natsume and Yungerer are telepathically linked, Yungerer can't help but crack up too. Natsume's dad declares Satoshi the winner because Yungerer is no longer capable of battle. Because, you know, he's suddenly the official...?
From all the laughter, the CLG spirit fades away, and everyone reverts from being dolls into being proper humans again. Nastume's family waves goodbye, and Ghost decides to stay with them as Natsume's new friend. And Satoshi now has his fourth badge! Another one he... didn't really earn in battle. At least he beat Matisse properly...? LOL
Overall, I liked the episode. I was expecting it to be painfully drawn out since the entire conclusion was just "Natsume laughs," but they actually did a good job with the pacing and keeping things interesting. Learning more about Natsume was nice, and there was just the right amount of Rocket comedy relief in the middle.
Now the gang is eager to get on to Tamamushi City to get another badge. I wonder how many times they will get lost and get wrapped up in a one-off character's story before we're able to get there...?
ETA: I noticed while watching random OPs I liked for fun that Ghost does NOT appear in "Spurt!" (an opening that showcases ALL of Satoshi's Pokemon caught to date). Despite the "GET" in the title of the previous episode, Satoshi is never shown to catch Ghost, so I guess it doesn't count that he just befriended it for one episode?
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no subject
Date: 2024-02-14 03:45 pm (UTC)The screencap of something nuzzling into the blushing Kasumi’s chest is. A choice the show made. The audience be like “I WISH I WUZ HIMMM!!11”
Kasumi, Takeshi, and Pikachu insist on staying outside because they don't want to become playthings again.
But like fair? They literally could have died.
Natsume has a weird number of similarities in backstory to Sadako Yamamura from Ringu. They could’ve been friends.
The Rockets have really good insurance plans. And they met their deductible in like episode 3.
If I was Nastume’s mom I’d probably smother her in her sleep after being made a doll. Not cool.
no subject
Date: 2024-02-15 02:26 am (UTC)Yeah, totally fair XD It's funny even Pikachu doesn't want to support Satoshi though lmfao.
Everything is magically solved and the family loves each other after Ghost makes Natsume laugh one time :) No drama!