The new one Pokémon Anime Horizons is off to a great start and Riko’s journey to becoming a Pokémon Trainer is progressing very well. However, a pivotal moment for her inexplicably happened off-screen, leaving viewers unable to get a very good moment.
In episode 5 of Pokémon Horizons, The Explorers, led by Amethio, moved, trying to protect the new heroine of Pokémon Riko and her pendant for reasons that remain a secret. The circumstances of the attack meant that Riko was left alone, with only Sprigatito protecting her. Riko and Sprigatito face off against Conia, Amethio’s subordinate, who immediately challenges them both to her Golduck. While Sprigatito has a type advantage, Golduck is an evolved Pokémon with some powerful techniques. During their previous confrontation, Riko blinded her Pokémon and escaped with a Leafage attack from Sprigatito, but this time there won’t be any escapes.
Riko Wins Her First Pokémon Match… Off-Screen
The episode turns to another confrontation that happened on the beach near the airship, where Amethio and Zir were fighting members of the airship crew and actually won. Even the great new hero of Pokémon, Professor Friede and his Charizard are distracted and attacked. However, instead of re-cutting Riko’s battle, it ends up turning to Golduck being defeated after Riko arrives at the beach – proving she won without showing any fighting at all.
Before that, the episode did a great job showing how intense one’s first real Pokémon battle would be. Both Roy and Riko trembled with tension, and Sprigatito gently placed its paw on Riko’s hand to stop the shaking just before Conia appeared. Riko and Sprigatito are becoming a team, and it would be great to see that put to the test here in battle. Let Riko conquer her fears and battles on screen, and show exactly how she manages to outwit Conia and win in such a disadvantage. Letting the confrontation go off-screen not only affects Riko’s growth potential here, but also makes her victory all the more unbelievable. Riko is still lucky to have a protector so far, but this incident should have proved that she can’t always rely on the strength of others and sometimes has to be as strong as her own. Although Riko may have learned that lesson, audiences were disappointed that it didn’t show.
This missed moment is arguably Pokémon Horizons’ first real blunder, and it mostly stands out because these early episodes are generally of such high quality. Preview for the next episode of Pokémon However, Horizons seems to hint at some big events happening, so maybe Riko still has an even better moment of growth ahead.
