Review- Cerulean Blues (Pokémon Chronicles)

Here we are again- the other early episode of Pokémon Chronicles I sort of liked; but still is immensely flawed as I am about to get into. It's a similar situation to last time; but a different way of manifesting. So, let's open up "Cerulean Blues" and get to it.

The episode sees Misty returning home to take control of Cerulean Gym after finally being recognized for the position by Daisy, Violet and Lily. However, complications soon arise in her role; as the gym is facing an investigation by the Pokémon Inspection Agency, which is then seized upon by the "Invincible Pokémon Brothers:" Kim, Kai and Kail. As I previously maintained, they're about as ineffectual as the Mooninites.

As Misty re-enters the gym while her sisters are away; Nurse Joy and other attendants have to deal with a rampaging Gyarados. Before she steps into help, said attendants start geeking out at her. Calm down- I may like her character a lot too; but Michael Jordan didn't get this much attention in Space Jam. Dial it back a little.

Gyarados continues rampaging (not even going to entertain Joy's "endless agitation loop" psychobabble), soaking everything in the gym. I must also reiterate that I can't get very invested in what happened with Gyarardos when Misty was an infant; it didn't make sense when I was younger, it still doesn't now. I will say that it is nice to see her Starmie and Horsea again.

Bottom line: Misty's endgame is to make the most of the position she's been given. Not only for her sisters, but for her city. Of course, Kim, Kai and Kail set about undermining this effort. She completely wrecked you guys in a multi battle precursor- you really want to see what she's capable of on her own? Because I do, it would likely make a more interesting story too.

Seriously- whenever the story is focused solely on Misty rising to the task she's been charged with; that's how it works best. The PIA subplot is bad enough (especially as the organization was never mentioned before and hasn't been seen since), but the Invincible Pokémon Brothers were personally not who I would have chosen as opponents. Even just making up a character of the day would be preferable.

Misty attempts to calm Gyarados by doing a bit of her underwater ballet, which is actually a nice moment that calls back to "The Misty Mermaid." Not sure why she doesn't have her rebreather this time; though.

Oh, it's so a manufactured bit of drama can occur and Kim, Kai and Kail can seize on it. This is another episode that has a good idea for a plot; but they don't focus on that idea and try to drown it in excess fluff. I also intentionally used the "drown" analogy, because it's going to get wetter from here.

That said, one scene that does kind of work is a bit in her mind's eye with Ash and Brock; which encourages her to keep going. It's not just because it blows up the whole "alternative to the main series" justification for this spinoff (especially since later ones have pulled that off better), but it also shows the impact she had on them, and vice versa. I am very open to seeing her again before Journeys is over; especially in her Let's Go design.

Misty comes to as Joy serves her tea and tends to her upstairs. Good thing she has some medical experience, as most TV series really gloss over the risk of brain damage being out like that can cause.

Joy then proposes separating Gyarados from the others for the time being; so attention can be focused on calming it down. Misty agrees, and the elements where they're training together are the ones that do work about this episode.

Regrettably, that is not to last, as Gyarados is caged and Kim makes his move on the gym. Personally, this scheme is making me miss the hose and vacuum from before. Instead, Kai and Kail enter the gym with a gaggle of spectators. Much like I postulated in my last Chronicles review, this would have worked better if it wasn't just shoved into the last 9 minutes of runtime. When even Misty is calling "bravo sierra" on their plan; it's not a good sign.

Kim sends out Hitmonchan, which the fight MC mistakenly refers to as a "punching type" (going to assume he means fighting type) and plunges into the pool. Didn't really think this through, did you guys?

Sure enough, Joy sees right through Kim's feint; and disqualifies Hitmonchan. This leads to another problem with this episode, and I have a bit prepared for it. Misty sends out her Corsola next, and Kim follows up with Tentacruel. However, Kai and Kail attempt to send two more into the pool, which Joy calls him out on. When Kim tries to slip into a loophole, Misty calls on him to face her alone. Kim refuses, and when Misty dives into the pool to call Corsola back; this finally convinces Gyarados to defend its honor and the gym. Bursting through the cage, Gyarados takes Misty on its crest and sends all three Tentacruel crashing through the gym ceiling with a single Hyper Beam attack. The so-called "Invincible Pokémon Brothers", for all their bloviating; are then ejected through the same ceiling with Hydro Pump.

As one last smear on what is actually one of the more tolerable episodes of Chronicles; Joy reveals herself to be an inspector for the PIA. I once again question why that's necessary; as most incarnations of the series before and since suggest that the gym leaders are their own level of authority, no additional body needed. Hence, Joy could have easily have played the same role in helping Misty train Gyarados and maintaining the gym without any connection to the PIA and it would have been vastly better. Moreover, the gym leaders would have direct control without any external force involved.

So, we close on Joy heading off to Hoenn and Misty continuing her training at Cerulean Gym, silently thanking Ash and Brock for believing in her. Once again, not a great outing; but not the worst thing I've reviewed either.

"Cerulean Blues" was marginally better than the previous episode of this anime I reviewed; but it's still not even close to something I would recommend in a post-Origins, post-Evolutions; post-Detective Pikachu landscape for spinoffs. Again, I feel the episode would be much better if it focused on Misty's training at the gym; with the PIA shenanigans and Kim, Kai and Kail not even being included. The animation, while nowhere close to the series' best either; is also a bit better this time around (odd Windows Movie Maker transitions aside). I think there was at least more effort put into this spinoff near the beginning; and if the series had improved from here rather than getting worse, I might be taking a different approach than I am now. Still, I have covered roughly a third of the series so far now; and I intend to stagger the remaining episodes throughout the remainder of the year.

Post-review follow-up: most annoying characters of the episode go to the Invincible Pokémon Brothers. They may have been passable in "Gotta Catch Ya Later," but here their schtick is nigh insufferable. Dishonorable mention goes to the entire concept of the PIA; which is only the second most-worthless and ineffectual group of figureheads I've seen in my life (first is still FEMA).

The next Chronicles review will be on "We're No Angels," in which Team Rocket is mistaken for a superhero group when they wouldn't even pass for overpriced video game skins. That will be all for now.