D/P 20: Pokémon Hunter-J! Screenshots and Ramble
Time: 02:49am
Date 24th February, 2007

Pokémon Hunter-J Screenshots @ Type Wild!! [Download Link]

Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh, crap is going down is the Pokémon world or at least in this episode. I was really really amazed by the episode, it was quite epic feeling and it really tugged on your emotions a bit, well, it does if you're me XD Seriously, this episode was so full of emotion and action and EXPLOSIONS! OHHH YES!
Basically there's this group of Pokémon hunters (*Seemingly lead by a woman named only as "J"*) that appear to take Pokémon from their trainers by freezing them as gold/bronze/stone statues of some kind, then put in glass containers and moved away, the containers themselves appear to have a lever that can un-freeze or re-freeze a Pokémon as much or as little as you want. Of course these hunters not only take the character of the days Gardevoir, but Pikachu and Meowth as well. From what I could gather from Officer Jenny's little story, the hunters appear to sell on the Pokémon, there was this part where they appeared to be selling on a Teddiursa. They moved the lever down on it's container and the little scared teddy was instantly scratching at it's glass prison wanting to get out, then they re-freeze it up in it's desperate looking pose and even in it's frozen state, tears appear in the Pokémon's eyes, that was so sad, it's even sadder to think about when you realize this Pokémon might of been taken from a trainer it loves.

Seriously, how could ANYBODY do this to a Pokémon, especially as one as cute as Teddiursa! Gah, that scene really got me for some reason.

Anyway, of course, Ash is seriously pissed over this whole thing and manages to sneak on board the hunter's ship (*Along with Jessie and James*) which I may also note seems to have a freakin' Klingon cloaking device installed! It's always nice to see an Ash/Team Rocket team-up and Team rocket are always fun, even in what could of been their last moments alive together, Jessie still has time to throttle Meowth :D But yeah, like I said, lots of explosions, once they were found out it appears the section they're in is ejected from the hunter's ship so they start falling to their IMPENDING DOOM, that is, until the character of the day's Gardevoir manages to transport everyone inside safely outside before the compartment they were in falls to the ground and blows up.

The way the episode ended makes me believe that J is gonna turn up again, hopefully as a re-occurring villain. My god that would be awesome, she's certainly the kind of villain Pokémon needs, I mean, Team Rocket are gag characters at best, Team Magma/Aqua's story was...pretty short and not really focused on as good as it could of been (*Plus their whole "More land/ocean" thing was kinda silly XD*) Pokémon needs a real villain like J, a real cold-hearted villain that seems to care nothing for what she's doing.

It seems D/P is giving us quite a few things we really wanted to see, after all look at Shinji, they gave Ash a REAL rival with him, Shinji is the kind of cold exterior jerk of a trainer the series needed, someone who only seems to care about having strong Pokémon rather than working with them, if he considers them weak he lets them go or gives them away. Ash really hates that, so of course he doesn't want to lose to someone who treats Pokémon like that, plus Shinji is showing up much more in this series than Gary ever did in Indigo and Johto, we even got to see Shinji's first gym battle, a whole episode for it!

But back to the topic in hand, if Pokémon Hunter-J is gonna be a re-occurring villain (*Like I really hope she will be*), where does that leave Team Galaxy who haven't even shown any signs of turning up yet? (*And their main plot Pokémon, Palkia and Dialga, are being used for the 10th movie*)

Also I will end this really LONG ramble with how much I really like J's character design, her outfit is kinda Colosseum/XD-ish, especially the gadget on her arm which resembles the snag machine from both games, if her design is a nod to those games, then I applaud the character designers, cos I don't believe there has been much, if any, nod in the anime towards those games.

Mood: Lethargic
Listening too: "Chiisaki Mono" - Pokémon 6th Movie OST