So this was all leading up to Ash getting his Pidgeot back? (well... that and Ash discovering his new path in life now that he conquered the competitive side of being a trainer)
Also nice touch that Team Rocket wasn't there when Pidgeotto evolved so they only NOW found out. Meowth having a "When did THAT happen?" moment. xD
Anyway, even though we didn't get as many reunions as I would have liked (No May, Dawn, or Serena but Cilan?! Still cool to see Lapras though) I'd still say I enjoyed this send off. And while I snark about it, but since Ash parting with Pidgeot was how he ended the Gen 1 related part of his journey it is a cool enough sort-of bookend.
Sayonara Bye Bye, Ketchem.
edit: yeah..... I thought the rainbow in the title would have been referring to Ho-oh as well....
People is mad because they were thinking this gonna be another type of anime.
It's just a 11 chapters epilogue of fanservice, i'm satisfied because this has a meaning.
Your journey doesn't end, you must keep walking to achieve your goals, and your goals are infinite, maybe impossible. The implicit message that sneakers have, in the entire 11 chapters, Ash doesn't change his sneakers, it's after all, when he wants to move again, when he found a path to follow, he changes them and he starts a new journey, the only thing is that we are not gonna see it... yet.
I'm sure in 5 or 10 years we will have a film or something about Ash and the journey he will follow, or not.
Just a farewell, a new beginning, a torch pass to the next generations of Pokémon fans.
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similarly to the end of the 1st season, they arrived at the 4 way road place, and Misty was the 1st to leave, saying how much she enjoyed the little travel together ... psyduck also had to say bye to pikachu
wouldn't be Brock if he didn't try his luck with the girls, in this case, asking Mkisty to tell her sisters about him lol his pokemon had to stab him again
a little after, Brock also left, with them promissing to travel together again someday
after another bit of traveling, ash finally saw Pallet towwn, and rushed back home
doesn't look like eitheri Mime or mom were expecting him at this time
dirty as they were, first thing has to be a bath, which they seemed to enjoy... until pikachu decided to throw water on Ash's face, who countered with his dozens of water moves lol seems like the play ended with an electric attack :D
dinner time... Pikachu got a ton of pokemon food that Brock left for him (isn't that too much for just one meal?)
Ash then started to excitedly talk about the travel, but mom told him to eat first
time to go to bed, Pikachu looking like a cat lol Ash thinking about Latios and Latias, let's hope nothing bad happens to them any time soon
it's morning, and the Dodrio makes sure to wake everyone up, just like in season 1
and just like in season 1, Ash didn't wake up in time to go to Oak's lab lols at least this time mom woke him up (and i don't think he will miss being given any new pokemon for being slightly later)
hahaha he also tried to go in pajamas like in ep1, but mom stopped him, and he made a pajama pun ... he also didn't feel like changing to the new shoes yet
arriving at the lab, he met Tracey, who was going out in an errand, Marril and Pikachu had a fun time together
seems like Oak is about to give the 3 starters to trainers, and that's why Ash wanted to go there early to see them
Charmander is missing, squirtle is all nervous, while bulbassaur is sleepy and has no time for this lol
Ash went outside to search for Charmander, with the help of all his pokemon, but they had no luck... until Pikachu somehow sniffed him, he was hiding inside a rock and probably couldn't come out alone
Ash went inside and Charmander between being scared and finding Ash fun, started to laugh
Charmander climbed out alone (lmao) and Ash had to do the same, but he got help from Gary
leaving Oak to check the pokemon's health (the 3 doing AAHH was cute), Gary prepared to leave, but first, he congratulated Ash on being the champion, but also asked him, how much closer does Ash think he is to being a pokemon master now ... probably not much, there's still much to learn ... Ash was thinking about it for a bit, but then started running back home
the dinner was ketchup spaguetti (or soomething like that) and ofc, Ash loved it (who doesn't?) ... lol mom was laughing about his dirty face
the sleeping time, as usual both of them with their mouths full of spit lols and for breakfast, some milk
Ash then helped taking care of the taurus, and after that he went to play with others in the ice
some watermelon (with seed gun, never gets old) ... ice cream to fight the cold, and then Kenji came back with a venomoth (i forgot he had a venonat until i went to check bulbapedia lols)
changing to team rocket, the trio is now working in the headquarters cafetaria, look at them working hard
they still are behaving like enemies, and Wobbuffet is very worried
next day, Ash went to the Veridian forest, where he first met Caterpie and Pidgey
lmao Meowth tailing them, and he hit his head... into the other 2... what a coincidence haha
and with that, they made up and are ready to attack Ash again... and get blasted off again ... yawn
with a surprise attack, they managed to catch Pikachu... and (hopefully for the last time ever...) they had to do their speech...
Ash wanted to fight, but he left his pokemon at home (WTF dude...)
as he tried to go save Pikachu, he got attacked by a shadowball... it's not easy haha
i just talked about Ash meeting Catterpie and Pidgey... and sicne we already saw Catterpie a few episodes ago, now it's time for Pidgeot, yay
for the last episode, makes sense the "who is this pokemon?" would feature Pikachu, nice
Pidgeon quickly used his wing to break pikachu's cage, and with that... yep it's done, bye forever team rocket, you won't be missed lmao
also lol at the flying part with the other 2 pokemon helpin wobbuffet
after showing us some more pidgeys and pidgeottos, Ash left, now with Pidgeot in the team, yay
next day, Ash went... no idea where... and found some polis swimming on their back, how relaxing
following their example, Ash went to sleep in the grass, while thinking about Gary's words again
except it started to rain, they woke up and went to hide under a tree, together with many other of those starteing pokemons from episode 1
back to talking about Gary's words, Ash is still a challenger, before being a pokemon master, he will have to go in many more adventures and meeting many new pokemon and be friend with all of them
the rain finally stopped, and per the episode title, a rainbow appeared
(i thought Ho-oh would appear, people were talking about that possibility)
when Ash becomes a pokemon master, Pikachu will still be there, right?
the next day, Ash went out early (with the new shoes), i wonder if it's another long travel, he would probably say something lol
team rocket there again but thankfully there's no more time for them
the ending with many shots from this little season
and that's the end, i still haven't watched the other episode that aired before this but yeah...