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amelikos · 2 months

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Some character notes and episode notes for HZ042, writing them down for future reference.

Liko and Roy spend some time at the beach with Landau. Meanwhile, Friede and Murdock go shopping together for a barbecue (thus depriving us of seeing shirtless Friede, greatest tragedy of the show etc). Murdock was being thoughtful there too, praising Mollie and Orio for their hard work (and how they deserve a treat once in a while), advising Liko and Roy not to wander too far off on their own (which I like, how they keep stressing the fact that the kids have to be watched over), and encouraging Roy to play a lot so he can work up an appetite.

Liko invited Dot to come with her to the sea, but Dot declined (and explained her reasoning too). It's nice how they keep showing that Dot is okay with some things, but not with others. In ep 27, she participated in the curry with everyone, but in ep 34, she didn't want to attend the party and participated in her own way (making the video for Diana). Later on, she was okay with going out shopping (ep 39) and even told her mom that she started enjoying the outside world but it doesn't mean she is suddenly okay with going to the beach. Yet, she attended the barbecue at the end because she is learning to enjoy food more and more. She has her boundaries, and everyone is accepting of them. It's all good.

Liko and Roy and their Pokemon play around a lot too. Nyahoja is always doing her thing, like running around and interacting with other Pokemon, she even played with Landau too. I feel like it's possibly the first time we saw Nyahoja being close to anyone else than Liko as she usually doesn't accept just anyone in her space. She is opening up. Hogator is also enjoying time on a float (and the sunglasses from ep 37 came back).

Liko and Roy meet Irukaman after he saves someone. Some group of snap kids want to take pictures of Namiiruka's transformation sequence as no one has ever seen it before. Liko thinks about how she doesn't mind not seeing it and guesses that if no one has ever seen the transformation sequence, it's probably because Irukaman doesn't want anyone to see it and she wouldn't feel right trying to see it in this case. She understands Irukaman's feelings (who can sense Liko's thoughts too) and the way it wants privacy. Liko was really good this ep (her empathy was highlighted, and I felt she had fun tsukkomi moments, I like when characters like her have these kinds of moments).

Ensues a whole sequence explaining the way Irukaman works after the latter saves Hogator from drowning as he was washed away on his float. It clarifies things about the Pokemon, and shows how Irukaman goes on about saving people during the day (some random CoTD he saved was voiced by Ootani Ikue, I think, the voice was similar to Shouta's). The snap kids once again lament the fact they can't catch the transformation sequence, and decide to make (fake) trouble so Irukaman could show up to save them.

Back in the ship, Dot is reading some messages from her fans and wonders what could possibly be fun about the sea. Someone asks her if she knows about the hero of the seas, and Dot thinks about Irukaman (though the person who asked wasn't referring to the Pokemon, but someone else). Dot seemed to think that Irukaman's Mighty Forme is cool, and I kind of appreciate seeing these sides of her a bit more. During chapter 1, when it came to Nanjamo, she was acting more as an equal to her as they were both streamers (even though she wanted to catch up to her in terms of popularity), but I feel like HZ041 and this episode shows that Dot also has people or Pokemon she admires, just like Liko and Roy (she was embarassed about Nanjamo reading her message, and she openly says Irukaman is cool). Roy also admires heroes, and Liko is a Gurumin fan, etc.

Back to the snap kids, the one who pretended to be in danger actually ended up being in danger and asked for help. Irukaman didn't want to transform as the snap kids were ready to take pictures of it, but Liko took action (encouraged by Nyahoja) and used Magical Leaf to distract them so it allowed Irukaman to transform without anyone looking. Though, Liko's actions earned his trust and Irukaman decided to transform in front of her (making Liko the only person who has seen the transformation sequence).

Irukaman struggles against the Gakegani, and the one coming to his rescue is none other than Landau... who also has a secret form, Mighty G (feels like it's a nod to All Might, especially since Landau's hero form has a time limit too). Landau casually revealed that he has another Pokemon (which makes me wonder if he has any other Pokemon, he initially didn't mention anything about Nuoh until HZ011 back in chapter 1) and saves the day with a deadly hug to calm the Gakegani down. Honestly, the whole scene was funny and gave me both Precure and Sun and Moon vibes (Precure because cheering on Irukaman to give him strength is just like the whole "Precure, do your best" cheers that help the characters, and Sun and Moon because the specific style change for Landau and the crack tones reminded me of the humor in that series.. specifically the baseball episode. Anything reminding me of SM is good.)

After everything is solved, Liko and Roy talk to the snap kids. Roy kind of "scolds" them for lying about being in danger and they promise not to try to see Irukaman's transformation sequence anymore. Liko tells Nyahoja that they should keep the fact that they saw the transformation sequence a secret. Liko and Roy go back to Landau whose back is hurting (the only thing stopping this grandpa is back problems, honestly ww). They tell him about Irukaman and Mighty G and wonder if they'll see Mighty G again. Roy is certain they will, which makes Landau think his secret was out (I wonder if Roy has suspicions though, since he already guessed Dot was Gurumin before). Liko and Roy don't suspect anything though. Nyahoja might have guessed since she kept staring at Landau.

At the end, Roy is showing Friede the pictures the snap kids shared with him. As they look through them, Landau notices a strange building in one of the pictures and the swim trunks guy explains that a bunch of suspicious people recently put that in, which makes Friede suspect it's connected to the Explorers.

This episode was the second one written by Kimiko Ueno, btw (first ep she wrote was HZ037).

#hz042 #character notes #episode notes

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