Japanese Title: Arrival in Paldea!
Original Airdate: June 9, 2023
UK Airdate: January 15, 2024 (special airing)
US Airdate: March 7, 2024
Liko and Roy go to Artazon to meet with its Gym Leader, Brassius, as he has information of the Black Rayquaza. Upon arrival, Liko and Roy meet Champion rank Trainer Nemona, as she arrived to help Brassius get out of a depressed mood. After cheering up Brassius, Roy is challenged by the Gym Leader, which he accepts. Although he showed improvement, Roy lost to Brassius, after he Terastallized his Pokémon.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Nemona's Pawmo is part Fighting Type.
- Blood Knight: Nemona seems a little too eager to challenge trainers to a battle.
- Breaking Old Trends: This episode marks the earliest at which a region's champion (in this case, Nemona), puts in an appearance. By contrast, the prior champions (Lance, Steven Stone, Cynthia, Alder, Diantha, and Leon) don't show up until much later.
- Butt-Monkey: Nemona's Pawmo spends the episode getting squirted with Doliv's oil.
- Character Catchphrase: Brassius describes moments of great passion as "Avant Garde".
- Continuity Nod: Liko mentions she's the daughter of Alex, whom Brassius recognizes from his Pokémon picture books. Apparently he's a big fan.
- Contrived Coincidence: Liko and Roy happen to arrive in town searching for Brassius at the same time as Nemona, though for different reasons (the kids to ask about Rayquaza, Nemona as to why he shut down the gym). By an even bigger coincidence, both of their quests happen to overlap, as Brassius partly shut down the gym because he saw Rayquaza.
- Cranial Eruption: Fuecoco gets one when he rams his head into a fake Sudowoodo, which turns out to be a giant rock.
- Cutting Off the Branches: Since the last episode confirmed that Naranja Academy is the primary school of Paldea in the anime, Nemona follows suit as one of its students (unlike in the games, where she attends whichever school is exclusive to the titles).
- Curbstomp Battle: Nemona is introduced battling a single trainer, and wipes the floor with them.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: Brassius wipes the floor with Roy in their first battle, but the only reason it's not a Curbstomp Battle is because Fuecoco's learning of Stomping Tantrum gives him a brief window where he does land super-effective hits against Sudowoodo.
- Dishing Out Dirt:
- Brassius owns a Sudowoodo, a Rock Type, to throw off trainers that were planning to use Fire Types to sweep his Gym.
- Thanks to his training with Brassius, Roy's Fuecoco is able to learn the Ground Type move Stomping Tantrum.
- Do Well, But Not Perfect: While the purpose of Brassius challenge to Roy was to see if the boy had the skills to take on Rayquaza, the true purpose was to see if he could learn and grow from the experience, which he demonstrates despite losing.
- Dynamic Entry: Brassius' style of entering the battlefield is to jump from a high point and land. Then again, he is an artist with a flare for the dramatic.
- Eccentric Artist: Brassius is a rather passionate guy, and an unquestionably talented artist, but said passion makes him come across as rather odd.
- Epic Fail: During his battle with Sudowoodo, Fuecoco keeps banging his head against false Sudowoodo when the Rock Type keeps using Substitution. To make matters worse, the substitute used is a rock.
- "Eureka!" Moment: While hunting for Sunflora, Sprigatito stops to sunbathe, much to Liko's chagrin. Recognizing that Grass Types love sunlight, she gets the idea to ask Sprigatito where she wants to go. Moments later, the two come back with an army of Sunflora.
- Expy: Nemona's battle-hungry demeanor, being a Nice Girl who's the most powerful trainer around, going out of her way to help out others, and having an Electric Type in her company as a partner, is similar to the recently released lead of the series, Ash Ketchum. It doesn't hurt that the fandom has explicitly compared the two as similar beforehand.
- Famed In-Story: Nemona is the legendary Champion-Ranked Trainer of Paldea, and is immediately recognized by Liko.
- Fanboy: It turns out that Brassius is one of Liko's father, Alex. High praise indeed from a Gym Leader.
- Foreshadowing: Liko and Roy see a Smoliv, and see Brassius owns a Doliv. He later mentions that he saw an Arboliva (the final evolution in the line) in the forest where he saw Rayqauza, and mentions the two had a reaction to one another. One slight glimpse of it is seen at the end, and it looks big.
- Funny Background Event: After Brassius storms off, refusing to discuss the shiny Rayquaza with Liko, Roy, and Nemona, the three are talking while Pawmo is trying to dry itself off on the couch.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: After hearing rumors about the shiny Rayquaza, Brassius made an impressive sculpture of the Pokémon. However, when he happened upon it while walking in the woods, the sheer sight of it made him utterly terrified, and broke his artistic drive. He's been spending days trying to get it back, to no avail.
- Green Thumb: Brassius is a Grass Type Gym Leader, and owns a Doliv. His Sudowoodo can also Terastalize into a Grass Type.
- Hope Spot: Having learned Stomping Tantrum, Roy has an effective counter against Sudowoodo. However, Brassius Terastallizes said Sudowoodo into a Grass Type—a type that Fuecoco has a serious advantage against. But one Trailblazer later, and Fuecoco is knocked out cold.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: Roy mistakes Sudowoodo for a Grass Type, on account of it looking like a tree. Everyone else knows it's a Rock Type, and it promptly smacks Fuecoco using Rock Blast.
- Ms. Exposition: Nemona explains much of the plot threads to Liko and Roy, including Brassius' status as a gym leader and the Terastal Phenomenon.
- Mythology Gag:
- Nemona is mentioned to be a Champion-Ranked Trainer, and has a Pawmo as a partner. She's also a Blood Knight eager to challenge anyone to a battle, and actively encourages Liko and Roy to challenge the Gym circuit, much like she does in the games.
- Liko, Roy, and Nemona go out of their way to gather as much Sunflora as possible. In the games, it's required to find 10 of them to challenge Brassius.
- Roy mistakes a common word for a Pokémon, and gets his typing wrong when he assumes Sudowoodo is a Grass Type. Ash did the same thing during his tenure.
- Brassius has a Sudowoodo, which can Terastallize into a Grass Type.
- Out of Focus: The rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers don't appear until the end of the episode.
- Poor, Predictable Rock: Subverted In-Universe. Roy believes that since Sudowoodo looks like a tree, it must be a Grass Type, which is weak to Fire. It isn't until he gets a harsh reminder that Roy learns Sudowoodo is actually a Rock Type.
- Reclusive Artist: Invoked by Brassius, who goes into hiding and closes his gym down so he can try and top his Rayquaza sculpture, but fails until Roy reignites his passion.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Since Champions are effectively Pokémon royalty, Nemona demonstrates this by traveling to Artazon to figure out why Brasses has gone into hiding and closed his gym.
- Shock and Awe: Nemona's partner is the Electric Type Pawmo.
- Took a Level in Badass: Roy's Fuecoco learns Stomping Tantrum.
- Use Your Head: Fuecoco tries head butting Sudowoodo, but he just keeps smashing into rocks thanks to the constant use of Substitution.
- Writer's Block: Or in his case, Artist's Block. After creating a magnificent sculpture of the shiny Rayquaza, Brassius happened upon the real deal during a walk in the woods. But in seeing such a creature's might for himself, he became disillusioned with his work, and found he could not create a true work of art that could come close to what he had seen. Luckily, Roy's encouragement snapped him out of it.
