I'm a Pokémon and You're Me!? - Pokémon Horizons Episode 69 Review - Freaky Friday, but Pokémon

This week's episode of Pokémon Horizons was a nice, fun episode that introduces Kitakami to the Rising Volt Tacklers and to the anime viewers. They changed things a bit for the anime when compared to the story from The Teal Mask DLC. In the game, the festival was about Masks and the Loyal Three, but in the anime, they changed it to a festival to celebrate their harvest, mainly apples. I think this is a nice little change.

The main focus of the episode is the Synchro Machine that Roy finds in an empty stall in an alleyway, and it causes him and his Crocalor to switch bodies! It’s interesting to hear Daiki Yamashita use a gravely voice as he usually has a bit of an androgynous voice as you can tell with the current Rotom Pokédex, and with Goh from the previous series. While he did promise the sketchy man to not tell anyone about the soul swap, it can’t be helped if he has to tell Liko and Dot about it, because all Roy (or rather, his body) can say at that moment is "Crocalor". I find it interesting how Roy was struggling to run in Crocalor’s body, but Crocalor found it easy to run in Roy’s body. I also like how he just ran to Liko and Dot because he knows he can trust them.

The festival part itself was entertaining. I like that the Rising Volt Tacklers were all doing their own thing, and that the kids take part in what the adults were doing throughout the episode while trying not to make the others discover the body swapping. It’s sweet that the kids, while searching for the man and the stall, would still help their friends in need. It was also nice seeing Murdock acting like a father figure, and spoiling the kids by buying whatever they wanted. They also helped out Mollie who was treating kids with blisters; I liked that people were lined to get treated after seeing Mollie treat Shizune, the community center Caretaker’s daughter. It shows the importance of having a medic around, and that was an important factor towards the end where the Caretaker gives permission to let the group go to the Crystal Pool. Lastly, the kids also helped out Orla, who was trying to fix a yakisoba stall’s broken stove to no avail. I guess Orla can’t fix everything—is this the first time she failed at fixing something? It was nice to see Roy using a move while inside Crocalor’s body; the fact that he struggled with the Flamethrower at first shows the major difference between Pokémon and humans in that Pokémon know how to control their powers, but humans don’t have that luxury. I think the part where a boy hugged Crocalor, and then told his mother that if he wanted to have a Crocalor as a partner if he ever becomes a Trainer, was super sweet. Roy felt all fuzzy inside and so he should be! Small moments can leave a lasting impression!

While the main focus was entertaining, I think there were two hilarious moments that stood out to me. The first is the fact that Liko and Dot wanted to use the Synchro Machine on themselves. Usually, characters would avoid a situation after seeing the mess it caused, but seeing the things Roy and Crocalor went through didn’t stop them from wanting to try it out too! It was so hilarious that they were super enthusiastic on wanting to swap with their Pokémon. The second funny moments are all the Friede and Carmine interactions. Carmine is introduced in this episode, and is as snooty as she was in the game with her animosity towards outsiders. It was hilarious how Friede was legit beating a teenager in random challenges; it feels like all he ever does is battle teens. Carmine was hilarious whenever she lost a game. I do like that she kept her signature frustrated pose, with her hands clenched into fists and gritting her teeth. What I find interesting is that she never introduced herself. All she did was challenge Friede to games, and never said her name to him. All she said was that Briar was her homeroom teacher. She also never explained why she was in the village if she goes to school abroad. Hopefully, everything will be explained once Briar is introduced. I sort of get why Carmine is the only one introduced in the anime. Look at her hair. She has red undertones. The anime follows the Scarlet timeline, meaning Kieran, her brother who has purple undertones, won’t be prominent. Hopefully, he’s just at school, and Carmine is only at Kitakami by herself because she’s Briar’s assistant? An interesting fact about Carmine’s voice actress, Misato Fukuen, is that she actually has been in the anime during the BW era. She was the voice actress of Ash’s Oshawott and Georgia! She’s also in Pokémon Masters as Penny! I think this is a nice comeback to the series for her, as she really nails Carmine, especially when she’s seething in anger. I think the voice fits her 100%.

Other than the minor changes from the game to the anime, I do like other call backs from the game. We have the Synchro Machine, which was actually introduced in The Indigo Disk. There’s also Shizune, who is an NPC trainer you can fight, but she’s optional so if you didn’t challenge her, you wouldn’t know that she’s actually in the game and that she’s the caretaker’s daughter canonically. There’s also the Peachy’s store lady making an appearance too. Man, Horizons is giving love to these obscure NPCs!

Overall, I found this episode fun! It’s not 100% identical to the game as Ogerpon is not of relevance here, but it's nice to see how the anime did their own interpretation of the early The Teal Mask DLC stuff without changing too much. What are your thoughts on this episode?