Top 10 Victorious Episodes

On March 27, 2010, after Nickelodeon aired their annual Kids' Choice Awards, the network premiered a show called Victorious. Created by Dan Schneider, the man behind previous successes for the network like Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly, Victorious centered around Tori Vega (Victoria Justice), an aspiring singer. Tori and her talented, yet odd friends attend a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts, where they have wacky adventures.

I was eight years old when Victorious premiered and I was just starting to watch the regular, big-kid Nickelodeon after spending a little too long watching Nick Jr. I watched iCarly, SpongeBob, and Big Time Rush all the time, and after seeing a lot of commercials for Victorious, I was excited to watch it. I was right in the target demographic for the show, and I instantly became obsessed. More than any other, this show was mine. It was the one I gravitated towards most. I never missed a new episode and I watched reruns whenever they were on. Despite Victorious being a raging success, it got cancelled after the fourth season, which devastated ten-year-old me more than I can say. However, it was for the best, as the cast went to go onto bigger things, especially a certain perky redhead who would go on to have multiple number one singles and a Grammy. 

Despite the fact that I've matured a lot since Victorious first ran its course, I still have a soft spot for it for two reasons. First of all, the ensemble cast of characters is excellent. Tori, the main character, is actually a complete Mary-Sue, one who has no flaws and occasionally does bad things but gets away with them. Everyone around her, however, ranges from pretty okay to fantastic. There's a reason why the most famous person post-Victorious played one of the side characters. I also really like how the show doesn't feel like it tries to hard to appeal to kids, instead being a show even the adults can get some entertainment out of. One of the episodes is a straight The Breakfast Club parody and there are even a few dirty jokes here and there. 

To celebrate the ten-year anniversary of a show that influenced me a lot as a kid, I'm gonna count down my top 10 favorite Victorious episodes. Victorious is currently on Netflix, which I'm quite thankful for, so I can watch it whenever I'm feeling down and just want to feel like a kid again. These are the episodes I turn to!

Note: The episode numbers are from the unofficial Victorious wiki. I'm just bringing this up because the ones from Netflix are not the same!

#10. "Andre's Horrible Girl" (Season 3, Episode 4)
I never really realized it until recently, but Andre is probably the single most likable character on the show. He's not a complete oddball and he doesn't willingly get involved in petty dramas. He just wants to play music for people. The episodes in which he's the main focus are usually pretty good, and this is one of my personal favorites. In "Andre's Horrible Girl," Andre starts dating this girl named Hope, and it's clear that she is awful and everyone hates her. However, he's only with her because her father is a major record producer and he wants to become a famous musician. When he tells Tori, she's appalled, but I can't help but think that maybe his actions were kind of justified? After all, Andre is extremely talented musically, being able to sing, songwrite, and play instruments, and he works his tail off on his music. He deserves the break! Eventually, he breaks up with her, but he still performs a song called "Countdown" with Tori at her birthday party, impressing her dad. I also love the subplot where Cat has to watch her mom's boss's dog with Jade, and everything seems to go wrong, but it all works out in the end. When Cat breaks down crying, I really feel bad for her.
#9. "Sleepover at Sikowitz's" (Season 1, Episode 20)
Mr. Sikowitz's acting class seems to be the only one the characters ever go to, but his...eccentric personality makes him endearing. To help Tori and friends get better at method acting, Mr. Sikowitz hosts a sleepover at his house where they have to roleplay as wacky characters determined by each other. Tori's a red lipstick-wearing cop obsessed with Raisin Bran, Robbie is a motivational speaker with jelly legs, Jade's a sweet Southern girl, Beck's a British guy who loves invading people's space, and Cat's an annoying 1980s comedian. But Andre, a marathon runner who is nine months pregnant, is my personal favorite. When one of them breaks character, they have to leave Sikowitz's house. I like this episode because of how random the characters are, and I like how these random personalities interact with each other. I also really love when the characters who get eliminated crash at Tori's house, interrupting Tori's parents, who are watching a sad movie. However, they keep laughing at the movie. 

#8. "Wi-Fi in the Sky" (Season 1, Episode 9)
In this episode, Tori, Andre, Cat, and Beck have to write a script for a play, but Tori's stuck on a plane so they have to do it over video chat. The premise of this episode allows for a lot of hilarity, and it allows for each character's quirks to shine. Cat's busy messing around with the webcam effects, Robbie's interrupting the chat to deal to complain about drama with his puppet, Jade's jealous because she thinks Beck is cheating on her, and Trina, Tori's fame-hungry sister, is being obnoxious on the plane. One of the best bits is when Trina goes to first class and steals the actual Perez Hilton's camera, hoping that he will write about her and make her famous. I've also always laughed at Robbie making a fake screen name of Lil_Stephanie21 to try to get them to talk to him again. I also love Andre's sheer disgust at everything Trina does and the awkward, nerdy Sinjin breaking into Jade's house.
#7. "Tori & Jade's Play Date" (Season 3, Episode 6)
One of the most noteworthy aspects of Victorious is the rivalry between Tori and Jade. Literally, within the first 30 seconds she is on screen, it's established that Jade loathes Tori, at first because she thinks Tori is trying to steal her boyfriend Beck, but as the story progresses, I'd argue that she's jealous of how Tori is always portrayed as the good one. Jade is the most legitimately compelling character on the show due to her rocky relationship with Tori, and it's that rocky relationship that makes "Tori & Jade's Play Date" one of the best episodes of the series. In this episode, Tori and Jade get cast as each other's spouses in a play. Naturally, because they hate each other, they have to go on a "date" in order to play a believable married couple. This episode shows them learning to get along with each other, and I really like when they give each other backhanded compliments like "Your singing...isn't awful." They also sing a song together, called "Take a Hint," where they shut down some sleazeballs trying to hit on them, and it's legitimately great. I also like the running gag of Beck and Andre being cast as identical twins in the play, despite them being two different races, and how they poke fun at this bizarre casting choice. The subplot in which Cat and Robbie go around delivering bad news through song is also cute. 

#6. "Pilot" (Season 1, Episode 1) 
Because this is where it all started, I have more nostalgia for this episode than any other. Honestly, I have pretty much this entire episode memorized. Other than blind nostalgia, I do feel like this episode does a great job of setting up the tone of the show. Within the first 30 seconds that each character is on screen, you get an idea of who each character is. Trina is a self-absorbed brat, Cat is flighty and naive, Robbie is shy, nerdy, and speaks through his outspoken puppet, Rex, and Jade is rude and vicious towards Tori, even pouring coffee in Tori's hair. It even establishes running gags in the series, like Andre's psychotic, terrified grandmother. After she takes over for Trina in the big showcase and blows everyone away with her singing talent, Tori gets invited to Hollywood Arts and must adapt to the oddities of the school. It's amusing to see the normal, plain Tori as a fish-out-of-water, and even though she becomes more irritating as the show goes on, she actually starts out pretty sympathetic. The best scene is when Tori and Jade duke it out in "Alphabet Improv", where they improvise clapbacks at each other where each line starts with the next letter of the alphabet.
#5. "The Breakfast Bunch" (Season 3, Episode 1)
The Breakfast Club is one of my favorite movies, but I didn't see it until a year or so ago. I said I really liked this Victorious homage to it, but I didn't really get or appreciate the references until I saw The Breakfast Club. Obviously, it's not an exact remake, because the original movie is R-rated and this is a kids' show, but it still has some pretty good references. In The Breakfast Club, the characters sneak weed into detention and smoke it, but in "The Breakfast Bunch", they sneak tacos into detention. In The Breakfast Club, the characters interrogate each other about being virgins, but it's vegans in "The Breakfast Bunch". They dance just like in the movie, Beck wears a coat like Bender in the movie, and some of the individual dialogue references specific lines in it. Another thing that's interesting is that all of the characters take turns playing different roles of the characters. I don't actually understand how they got away with making this episode because most kids aren't going to get the references, but it's still enjoyable.
#4. "The Diddly-Bops" (Season 1, Episode 16)
This episode has always been one of my favorites. Tori and her friends do Sikowitz a favor by performing at the birthday party of one of his friends' kids. Dressed in food costumes, they form a kiddie group called The Diddly-Bops and hate it, but a video of the performance goes viral. However, this has its pitfalls after Andre quite possibly loses his chance at signing with a record label due to the virality of the video. The "Favorite Foods" song is actually really catchy, to be honest. Better than "Baby Shark," that's for damn sure. I also like "Song to You," the reworked version Andre and Tori perform to impress the record producer. But the best song in this episode is "Broken Glass," a horribly violent little ditty that Robbie writes when they are trying to write the kiddie song. Honestly, Robbie can be irritating at some points and is one of the lesser characters on the show for me, but "Broken Glass" is his funniest moment. Another highlight of the episode is Jade, who is naturally pretty cynical. I love when she's cutting up Tori's mom's flowers for no apparent reason while they're trying to write the kiddie song. 

#3. "Tori Goes Platinum" (Season 3, Episode 10-11)
Until my dying days, I will be singing that this should have been the Victorious series finale. Despite being very successful for Nickelodeon, Victorious was cancelled abruptly for reasons that aren't really clear. Because it was cancelled abruptly, Victorious didn't have a proper finale, but this SHOULD HAVE BEEN IT OH MY GOD. Tori wins a contest to sing the opening number at a music awards show, but she must change who she is and become an over-the-top diva personality. However, Tori can't tell anyone that she's faking to impress them. It should have been the finale because it shows Tori coming close to achieving her dream of being a pop star. It also shows Tori and Jade being genuinely nice to each other. It even sets up the running gag of Cat being obsessed with bibble, a fictional British popcorn snack. They'd branch on this in the (mediocre) spin-off, Sam & Cat (side note: I could rant for hours on how it was a bizarre mistake to not have Ariana Grande, who was just starting to become a successful singer at the time the show began, not sing the Sam & Cat theme). I love the theme of the higher-ups wanting to change artists, but in the end, Tori's authenticity shines through and wins. This episode would have been the absolute perfect note for the show to go out on, and I will always mourn what could have been.

Also, another side note: I love when they're showing the audition videos and with Tori's video, everyone acts like "Yeah, this is true talent!" even though we just saw Cat, Jade, and Andre give superior auditions. You know, I'd complain about how Ariana didn't get to open this fake awards show, but I know that after the show ended, my girl would go on to perform at real award shows. And she'd go on to win numerous awards and get acclaim specifically for her vocal talents. So who really won?
#2. "Survival of the Hottest" (Season 1, Episode 8)
The premise of this episode is that LA is in the middle of a heat wave, so Tori and her friends (and Trina, who invited herself along) go to the beach. Unfortunately, they get trapped in Beck's RV, except for Cat, who got out right away for a quick bathroom break that turned into a flirtatious hangout session with some guys. As a fiction writer, I definitely think this premise of trapping your characters in a very warm RV with no way to get out would be a fun drill for character development. How would they react in this situation? Food for thought. As for how the characters react, there are so many great moments. Jade freaks out because she's sweating for the first time (or so she claims), Robbie attempts to drink dirty fish tank water, and Andre attempts to calm everyone down by leading a sing-along of the show's theme, "Make it Shine." I also love everyone huddling around Tori's pathetically tiny fan trying to get cooler, as well as when they take turns dipping tongues in a water bottle cap. However, the absolute best line is when Trina's anguished cry of, "For so many years, I prayed every night to be hotter. This isn't what I meant!"
#1. "Freak the Freak Out" (Season 1, Episode 13-14)
All those times I have swooned over an Ariana Grande song or high note, you can trace them all back to this very episode. Cat was one of my favorite characters early on due to how funny I thought she was, but I didn't fall in love with Ariana's talents until seeing her sing "Give it Up" in this episode. I mean, Victoria Justice is a fine enough singer, but ask most people and they'll tell you that Jade and Cat were infinitely better singers. Everybody knows that Ariana is an amazing singer, but Liz Gillies, who plays Jade, is on par with her and I think that if she wasn't focused on acting on Dynasty, she could definitely be a singer after Victorious. In this episode, Tori's friends go to a karaoke club. Jade and Cat sing "Give it Up," they kill it, everybody loves them, but they don't win the karaoke contest because these stuck-up, untalented girls use nepotism to win. Tori, however, doesn't go because she has to take care of a miserable, loopy, post-wisdom-teeth-removal Trina. However, Tori sneaks out to help Jade and Cat get back at the mean girls, singing a song called "Freak the Freak Out." It's not as good as "Give it Up" but it's still pretty good. This episode is my favorite mostly because Jade and Cat are the best singers on the show and I like when they sing, but for a whole bunch of other reasons. I like how hilariously drugged-up Trina is, and I like how miserable everyone who tries to take care of her is. I also like the satisfaction when Tori helps Jade and Cat her revenge. Although Jade and Cat obviously have the better song, Tori's performance is more iconic for me with how she takes off this ugly disguise while singing. I think this episode has the best plot, the best music, and the most satisfying payoff, so it's easily my #1.

Honorable mentions:
-"The Birthweek Song" (Season 1, Episode 4): In this episode, Trina, the ever-spoiled brat, demands that her birthday celebrations extend to a whole week, so Tori stresses to find a good present for her. She writes a song with Andre and performs it for Trina, and although Trina loves the song, she doesn't count it as a present. I really like the dynamic between Tori and Trina in this episode, and the song in the episode, "You're the Reason," is one of my personal favorites from the show. I also really like the subplot where Robbie goes to fix his grandma's computer, but he brings Cat along with him, and his grandma does not approve. Cat screaming "My hair color has nothing to do with my psychological problems!" has always made me laugh.
-"Jade Dumps Beck" (Season 1, Episode 5): The main plot of this episode is- you guessed it- Jade breaks up with Beck but then she decides she wants him back. However, I don't really care about that. I'm mentioning it because of the subplot with Trina's one-woman show. Although I found her quite annoying as a kid, Trina is one of the more enjoyable characters on the show for me today. The actress who plays her, Daniella Monet, really goes all-out, making her as obnoxious as possible. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't instantly picture Trina singing off-key whenever I think of Chicago.
-"Prom Wrecker" (Season 2, Episode 5): This episode is one of the main examples of Tori being unlikable. Jade has this art project that she's really passionate about and has been planning for a while, but it quickly gets cancelled because Tori wants to have a school prom that same night. I actually think Jade's actions and attempts to sabotage the prom are completely warranted- I'd be pretty pissed if I was in her situation. I still really like this episode because of the song "Best Friend's Brother," another favorite from the show, and I like all the wacky hijinks Jade pulls.
-"A Christmas Tori" (Season 2, Episode 13): Because Jade makes a boob joke in this episode. It's one of those things that went over my head as a kid, but now that I'm older, it's just like, "How did they get away with this?"

-"Tori Fixes Beck & Jade" (Season 4, Episode 6): I don't actually remember what happens in this episode, I just remember that Jade gets to sing a solo number, called "You Don't Know Me." It's Tori's show, so of course she gets the bulk of the musical numbers, but it's always nice when other cast members get to show their talents. Liz Gillies is easily one of the best singers in the cast, and she nails this song.

And just for kicks, my top 10 favorite songs from Victorious at this given moment. I'm not gonna explain why, because this post has gone long enough.
#10. "Make it in America"
#9. "Song to You"
#8. "365 Days"
#7. "Finally Falling"
#6. "You're the Reason"
#5. "You Don't Know Me"
#4. "Best Friend's Brother"
#3. "Take a Hint"
#2. "All I Want Is Everything"
#1. "Give it Up"
Honorable mentions to "Broken Glass" and "Chicago," because they're not serious songs, but they make me laugh. And with that, we've come to the end of this post. I'll post again next week, and I'm pretty sure it will be the Kpop Crash Course part 2. I know I've promised it time and time again, but unless I change my mind or get really lazy, it's coming. See you then.

Stellar

MOVIE TALK: What I Watched During My First Week of Being Quarantined

I've been socially isolated/quarantined/not going to school/however you want to say it since Monday due to the coronavirus being A Very Big Deal. At first I thought, "Well, I shouldn't be writing about frivolous pop culture stuff when there are more serious things going on in the world!" and I thought I would stop writing on here. I then had a change of heart and realized that I don't have much to do while I'm isolated, since I don't have school and all of my extracurricular events are cancelled or postponed. If I'm going to be isolated, I might as well do something productive. Even if that "something productive" is writing about a bunch of movies on a blog nobody reads.

My initial plan of action was to watch a different movie every weekday, but due to my TV not working and general laziness, that didn't happen. I only watched two movies, and that's okay. I'm gonna reflect on both of them, but not one of the overly long breakdowns I have done in the past. At the end of each segment, I'll rank each movie out of ten and recommend them if I feel they deserve such. 

Movie #1: Frozen II

I liked the first Frozen, but I thought it was incredibly overrated. It was good, but not the best movie ever created like so many people at that time would tell you, and I'll always prefer Tangled to it. However, I decided to get the second movie on Monday and watched it that night. I'm not sure how it compares to the original Frozen in terms of quality, but I think there is a lot to enjoy about this one! 

First of all, I really loved the animation. It's up there with Into the Spider-Verse and Moana as one of the most visually appealing animated movies I've ever seen. I already thought the original had gorgeous animation, but this movie takes it up a notch with the stunning pink flames and the autumn leaves. I also really liked the character design, which is basically a more dignified way for me to say that I thought Elsa looked gorgeous with her hair down. 

I thought the music was fantastic. I'm not sure if any of the songs will end up being the cultural juggernauts that "Let It Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" were, but I didn't really think any of the songs in this movie were outright filler. The closest thing we had to filler was probably Olaf's song, "When I Am Older," but I'd still say it was better than, like, "Fixer Upper" from the first movie. My favorite songs were "Into the Unknown," "Show Yourself," and "Lost in the Woods." "Into the Unknown" and "Show Yourself" are these huge belting showcases for Idina Menzel, and I prefer both of them to "Let It Go." And "Lost in the Woods," Kristoff's big number, is this almost 80s rock-style song that put a gigantic smile on my face the entire time.

The story really helped with the worldbuilding for this series, but it was confusing in some parts. I'm not entirely sure what the whole deal was with the rivalry between the Northuldra and the Arendellians. I think they were two ancient peoples, one of which raised the girls' mother and one of which raised their father. I might just be really stupid, but I didn't get why this aspect of the story needed to be fleshed out. I did like the whole deal with the Water, Earth, Fire, and Air spirits. Especially the fire spirits, who were represented by an adorable salamander friend.

I'm tempted to say that between Olaf and Sven, this movie doesn't really need any more animal sidekicks, but this salamander was quite honestly my favorite part of the movie. Its name is Bruni and it is precious and must be protected at all costs. Dare I say this little dude comes close to Pascal, the lovable chameleon in Tangled, when it comes to adorable lizards in Disney movies? I want five little salamander friends.

Overall, I enjoyed Frozen II and would give it an 8/10. I did feel like the plot was a little garbled in some areas, but it gave me a lot of what I wanted- new tunes to sing at the top of my lungs, gorgeous animation, and a new adorable critter to squee over. I hope that if they make a Frozen III, they expand more on how Elsa got her ice powers, because I sort of expected them to do that in this movie, but they didn't. But mostly I hope that if they make a Frozen III, we get a short film of Bruni being an adorable little rapscallion.

Movie #2: 13 Going on 30

I decided to watch this one because in the music video for "thank u, next," Ariana Grande paid homage to four classic chick flicks: Mean Girls, Legally Blonde, Bring It On, and this one. I hadn't seen any of the movies until recently so I've sort of made it a goal to watch them all. I already saw Mean Girls in my sociology class (loved it, it was everything I wanted it to be), and I have the DVD for 13 Going on 30 but never got around to watching it. I watched it on Tuesday and I really loved it!

This movie is about Jenna Rink, a 13-year-old girl during the 1980s who wishes that she could flash forward to being 30 years old. She wakes up and finds that she is 30, living in New York by herself, being a fashion magazine editor, and essentially living the life her 13-year-old self would have dreamed of. The first thing I have to praise with this movie is Jennifer Garner's performance as Jenna. She does such a great job of capturing a teenager being thrown into the real world, and much of the movie's best gags come from her trying to adapt to her new world. I especially liked when her hockey-player boyfriend tried to strip for her and she was horrified.

I really liked the movie's theme of how you shouldn't wish away your glory days. At the beginning of the movie, Jenna is close with her best friend, Matty, but when she turns 30, she learns that their friendship didn't last after high school. She learned that she became one of the popular girls she always yearned to be, but it came at the cost of losing Matty. I really liked the chemistry between Jennifer Garner and Mark Ruffalo as Matty, and I thought they both did a really good job in their roles. Speaking of Mark Ruffalo, it kind of blew my mind that this movie had two Avengers actors in it: not only was there Ruffalo (aka the Hulk), but Brie Larson (aka Captain Marvel) was one of the popular girls at the beginning of the movie! It's a small world after all.

Finally, I really liked the social commentary this movie provided. In one of the scenes, the fashion magazine Jenna works for is struggling, so she and her friend Lucy compete to see which of their ideas will lead to the magazine's rebranding. Lucy's idea is "Fashion Suicide," which is "heroin-chic taken to the next level", overall just kind of gross, and it's presented as such. Jenna's idea, on the other hand, is to team up with Matty and show some everyday people. She even says that she doesn't want to see supermodels she doesn't know on the magazine, she wants to see real-life people. I think this theme is very relevant in a society where we're so concerned with artificial beauty.

All in all, I give 13 Going on 30 a 9/10. Definitely recommended if you like chick flicks, and I'll definitely return to it again!

I kind of like this format where I watch a few movies and give a shorter discussion about them, instead of one longer discussion. I might return to this. And if this whole quarantine stuff keeps up, I will definitely be doing this again! Next week, I'm going to countdown my top 10 favorite Victorious episodes. It's been ten years since that show premiered so I thought I'd celebrate. After all, Victorious is the show that gave Ariana Grande to the world, and I, of course, am very thankful for that. See you next week.

Stellar

I Don't Know What to Title This

Breaking news: did you know that the coronavirus is a worldwide pandemic that may or may not kill us all?

It seems like for the past week, it seems like we as a collective society have thought about the coronavirus and only the coronavirus. So much has gotten cancelled or postponed already, from sporting events like the NCAA tournament to Coachella to a whole bunch of schools all around the world. We've already seen figures like Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, NBA player Rudy Gobert, and Justin Trudeau's wife, Sophie, announce their diagnosis with the virus, and who knows who's next?

So, I've mentioned in some posts that I have an anxiety disorder, and a big part of what constitutes my anxiety is worrying about the health of myself and my loved ones. I spend a lot of time irrationally worrying about the people I love dying. Considering that I do this normally, you can imagine how I'm handling this coronavirus business. I don't think it's supposed to be that deadly, only majorly affecting the elderly. However, with the constant stream of news in my face makes me worry, because of course it does. 

The point of this post is just to get something out for this week, and basically say that I don't have any motivation to write anything actually requiring work. I was planning to do a MOVIE TALK on Space Jam because that's on Netflix now and I feel like I should see it at some point. But with all this coronavirus news being absolutely inescapable, I'm not in the right headspace to write anything better. I'm not sure if I should keep making new posts if the coronavirus continues to be as prevalent as it is. It would just feel wrong for me to be writing all about pop music when people are out there dying. Is this another hiatus? Is this the end of Stellar in Neverland permanently? (I sincerely hope not, because I wouldn't want to leave the blog like this.) Is this all just a crazy overreaction? I don't know, I just want to take things one day at a time. 

Bye for now, and remember, keep yourself safe. Keep a good distance from people, get yourself to a doctor if you think you have the symptoms, and wash your goddamn hands. 

Stellar

Why I Love the Pokemon Sun & Moon Anime

So...I'm now 18 years old.

I definitely feel like I’ve changed over the years. I’m not the same person I was even two weeks ago. I grow and change every day. But with that said, I still don’t quite feel like an adult yet. I feel like I still have so much maturing to do before I can officially call myself an adult. I only vaguely know what I want to do with my life, I could live off of macaroni and cheese (boxed, homemade, I don’t discriminate) for a good period of time, and I still sleep with a nightlight. I think it says a lot about my lack of maturity that for my post to celebrate turning eighteen, I chose to write about a cartoon.

I can already hear a chorus of die-hard anime fans: “ANIME IS NOT A CARTOON!” And to be fair, I don’t feel like wading into that discourse. I know jack about anime in general. I wouldn’t be opposed to getting more into it, but for the time being, I just don’t know much about it. But what I do know a ton about is Pokémon.

Pretty much everybody has heard of Pokémon and its ever-popular mascot, Pikachu. For a time, my  Pokémon knowledge was limited to that vague understanding of what it was, but at the tail end of 2018, I decided to get into Pokémon Go, basically became obsessed, and took in pretty much every Pokémon-related thing I could. I watched lists and fact videos on YouTube and looked up facts about all the creatures on the ever-helpful Bulbapedia (basically Wikipedia but about Pokémon). I just fell in love with the variety of monster characters in the series and how there seemed to be at least one Pokémon to appeal to everyone. I really just scoured the Internet for anything and everything to do with this series. And part of that was realizing that Netflix has select seasons of the anime available to watch.

Pokémon is the biggest media franchise in the world, with video games, a trading card game, a very long-running TV series, films (both anime and live-action, with Detective Pikachu and its proposed sequel), manga, and so much more. The core idea of the franchise is that Pokémon are fictional creatures, almost all with fantastical powers, which are classified by "type" depending on their powers (for example, those with fire powers are fire-types.) Pokémon are caught by humans and can battle or just be their friends. The Pokémon evolve, or grow into more powerful forms, and as they evolve, their relationships with their partners will blossom too. When my brothers were younger, they liked Pokémon because of the “cool fight stuff,” but that’s not why I love it so much. I love how ultimately, it’s about friendship. I love the creativity that goes into developing the Pokémon world. Even as somebody who isn’t into action/violence kinds of things, I love the mechanics of Pokémon battles, where it’s as much about strategy as it is strength. With over 1,000 episodes to its name, I’ve barely made a dent in the Pokémon anime, but from what I’ve seen, all of these things I love so much are amplified in the show.

The anime is an adaptation of the games, and although there are spinoffs, the main series focuses on a ten-year-old boy named Ash Ketchum and his quest to be a master Pokémon trainer. With each pair of games (because the games always get released in pairs) comes a new anime series, and when I was first getting into Pokémon, the current anime series was Sun & Moon. Because this was the current series (and because I had become obsessed with Rowlet, one of the Pokémon from the Sun & Moon games), I decided it was a good place to start. So I started watching Pokémon Sun & Moon, and I fell in love. In this post, I’m going to gush over the Sun & Moon anime. I’m not going to claim my opinions are facts and that it’s the best show ever created, but I just want to talk about how much I love this show from the bottom of my heart. And while it may be silly of me to talk about what’s essentially a kids show on my eighteenth birthday, I think of it as me indulging and raving about a show that means a lot to me because it’s a special day. I could talk for hours about every detail of every episode that makes me happy, but I’m going to try to limit it to five main points. Of course, as I always do when talking about things I’m passionate about, I’ll get wordy, but bear with me and my self-indulgence!

1. The cast of characters is diverse and just about all of them are enjoyable. 

The six kids and their Pokémon

Like the other Pokémon anime series, Sun & Moon follows Ash Ketchum, a young boy who never seems to age, on his adventures to become a Pokémon Master. Unlike past Pokémon series where Ash and two or three friends travel around whatever region they’re debuting that generation, Ash has a consistent home base, called the Pokémon School. He also has a larger group of friends, with five friends who go to the Pokémon School with him. These friends are Lana, who specializes in water-type Pokémon and is calm with a sarcastic side, Mallow, who specializes in grass-type Pokemon and wants to be a chef, Sophocles, who specializes in electric-type Pokémon and is very interested in technology, Kiawe, a fire-type specialist who is extremely passionate about literally everything, and Lillie, who is actually afraid of Pokémon for a good chunk of the series (more on her later). Kiawe is probably my favorite of them because of how ridiculously over-the-top he gets, but I love them all. They’re all interested in different things and have different goals in life, but they come together because of their love of Pokémon, and I just love how supportive they all are of each other. They also have some really fun Pokémon partners, including Lana’s adorable, hardworking, seal-like Popplio, Sophocles’s hyperactive electric hedgehog, Togedemaru, Kiawe’s Turtonator (a giant fire turtle with a surprisingly gentle demeanor) and Marowak (a flame-twirling character who loves to cause trouble), and Lillie’s sweet Alolan Vulpix, an Arctic fox-like Pokémon she calls Snowy.

In addition to the six main characters all being pretty enjoyable, we also have some great side characters. Professor Kukui is the professor at the Pokémon School, and Ash also lives with him. It’s common knowledge among Pokémon anime fans that Ash’s father is nowhere to be seen, so Professor Kukui does a great job of filling that void, being the father Ash never had. Kukui also has a side gig as a wrestler called the Masked Royal, and it’s always entertaining because it’s very obvious that he’s the one behind the mask, but nobody ever seems to realize it. Later in the series, Kukui gets a wife named Professor Burnet, who is like a second mom to Ash and is really kind and charismatic. I like how she is a die-hard fan of the Masked Royal, yet she can't put two and two together and realize why her husband is never there whenever they go to see the Masked Royal. Another fun character is Lusamine, who is Lillie’s mom and the head of the Aether Foundation, an organization Ash and his friends do some work for throughout the series. I love how Lusamine can be incredibly serious, but can’t help but dote on her children, much to her unimpressed daughter’s chagrin. Lillie also has a brother named Gladion, who is very serious and a good rival for Ash. Their rivalry is done quite well, where both characters are compelled to train harder as a result of it. Finally, the iconic failures of villains, Team Rocket, also appear in this series. Jessie, James, and Meowth are hilariously incompetent as ever in this series, and they have some fun Pokémon along for the ride. Specifically, Jessie catches a Mimikyu, a horrifying spirit who wears a shoddy Pikachu disguise due to it craving the attention Pikachu gets. This Mimikyu also vehemently hates Pikachu, so it’s a great choice for Team Rocket, who have tried and failed to steal Ash’s Pikachu for decades.

2. From his wolf-like Lycanroc to his fire cat, Litten, Ash’s Pokémon also have some great personalities, but my personal favorite is easily his Rowlet, the adorable owl-like Pokémon who is probably my single favorite thing about existing. I limited myself to 300 words on why Rowlet is my favorite, because lord knows I could write a ten-page essay on this bird and how special it is to me.

A nice, cuddly bird friend to sit on your shoulder. I have a plushie Rowlet and I love him every day. 

At the beginning of each Pokémon game, you have the option to pick one of three starter Pokémon , which will serve as your first friend on your journey. To promote these characters, the anime always gives Ash at least one starter Pokémon per series, and the first one Ash got in Sun & Moon was the grass-type Rowlet. Rowlet was already easily my favorite of the three starters before watching the show due to its adorable, round appearance and leafy bow tie. However, watching the show made me fall in love with the little owl even more. Ash’s Rowlet is not one of his most powerful Pokémon from a battling perspective, but the critter has so much character. It’s a running gag that Rowlet likes to fall asleep in Ash’s backpack at the most inopportune times, which makes me laugh every time. In the Ultra Legends season, Ash picks up a metallic blob Pokémon with a nut head, known as Meltan. Rowlet’s relationship with Meltan is almost like a cute father-son deal, as Rowlet protects Meltan and helps it find its head. I also love how Rowlet is mostly lazy, but shows a strong work ethic to train and do its best. One of Ash’s friends, Hau, has the Pokémon Dartrix, which later evolves into Decidueye. These two Pokémon are the evolutions of Rowlet, so Rowlet works hard to defeat its evolutionary family. Also, in the Alola League, Rowlet faces Hau’s Decidueye in a leaf cloak similar to the one Decidueye wears, which is adorable. With its naive and relaxed nature yet great bouts of power, Ash’s Rowlet is precious. Rowlet is my personal favorite Pokemon of all time, and its role in the anime just adds to that.

3. The world of Alola is just wonderful.

The four islands of Alola

When I was younger I thought the setting was an important thing in determining the quality of a work of fiction. I specifically tried arguing that I liked Divergent better than The Hunger Games because I found its setting more interesting...yeah. I don’t have time to break down every way why that argument is terrible and wrong, but the point is that just because your teacher tells you setting is one of the five elements of literature doesn’t mean it’s necessarily important in determining whether a work of fiction is good or not. But in this case, I’d argue that the setting is a big part (though far from the only reason) why I enjoy this show so much. The Pokémon Sun and Moon games and anime are set in the tropical Alola region. This region is based off of Hawaii, so naturally, it’s as gorgeous as its real-world counterpart. The beaches and ocean are beautiful, and the towns remind me of when I went to Orange Beach, Alabama last year; so laid-back. Alola also has a very diverse ecosystem with forests, a volcano, canyons, and even snowy mountains, which you wouldn’t expect from such a tropical place. But more than just being beautiful, the world of Alola is wonderfully developed. Episodes of the anime show its traditions and customs and the daily lives of its citizens. More than that, they really stress the connection between people and Pokémon. The people of Alola really value life and nature and the beauty of those things. If I were to go to any fictional location, I would absolutely, without a doubt in my mind, choose to go to Alola.

4. The art style, although different from past series, does a great job of lending itself to the comedic tone of the show.

One of the big criticisms people have for the Sun & Moon anime is that they changed the art style. I get why, seeing as the previous Pokémon anime series, X&Y, had a darker, more serious feel, and Sun & Moon...does not. That’s the other big criticism: it’s too comedic. It might be because this was the first Pokémon series I really watched in depth (so I am inherently biased), but I don’t see why this is a problem. And yeah, the art style is different, but I don’t see why that’s a problem, either. Yes, it’s more silly-looking and playful, but it still looks nice (for the most part) and it fits the comedic tone of the show. Besides, the animation in the battle scenes looks so fluid. I also get a laugh out of the garish, sometimes horrifyingly detailed faces they give the characters. I just think it’s amusing. It’s like the artists purposely challenge themselves to see how grotesque they can make the facial expressions.

In one of the episodes, the Pokémon School plays baseball, and you get so many ridiculous faces it's not even funny. That episode is one of the most absurd Pokémon-related things I've ever seen, and I love it.  

There are a ton of these super-garish faces throughout the show and they're kind of terrifying but make me laugh.

I’m pretty sure the games get developed way before the show, so the game developers decided first that the Sun & Moon games would be set in a tropical island region. And because of the tropical vacation location, the people in charge of the anime decided to give it a light-hearted tone. It would be downright ridiculous if Ash went to this tropical island and was all serious the entire time. It makes perfect sense that it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I like that it doesn’t. The show has a bunch of running gags that I find amusing, such as Team Rocket getting carried off at the most inopportune times by a Bewear who defies physics, Principal Oak making absolutely terrible Pokémon puns that don’t make any sense whatsoever, and Rowlet constantly falling asleep. It’s a show you can watch when you need some cheering up...except when it’s not, which brings us to reason #5 of why I love this show.

5. Despite its largely comedic tone, the series still manages to have genuinely serious, heart-tugging moments. This is where we get spoiler-y.

Exhibit A: Episode 21, titled One Journey Ends, Another Begins…. In this episode, the stray cat Litten deals with the loss of its mentor, an elderly dog Pokémon called Stoutland. This episode deals with grief so well. Not only is the actual death really sad (it’s a dog dying, of course it’s sad), but the aftermath and how Litten grieves is even more heartbreaking. Despite Litten being, you know, a cat, the show does a fantastic and relatable job of showing how it grieves, as Litten is seen refusing to eat due to how primal its sadness is. Plus I really like how...normal Stoutland’s death is. It doesn’t die in a dramatic, heroic way, it just gets old and can’t take life anymore. In most forms of media, characters die in horrible, dramatic, over-the-top ways, but there is nothing dramatic here. Despite the fact that this show is ultimately about creatures with supernatural powers, I think this episode deals with losing a loved one and grieving in such a real, powerful way.

In this scene, Litten sees its friend at the doctor's, desperately trying to stay alive. Its cries are so pathetic and it's heartbreaking. 

Exhibit B: Episode 79, titled Showering the World with Love! In this episode, Professor Kukui’s class goes to see showers of Minior, a meteor-like Pokémon. The Minior fall to earth and the characters make friends with them. However, they learn that it only lasts for a day, because then the Minior have to return to outer space- disintegrating on their way up. It shows that even though it can be sad to say goodbye, it’s important to recognize the good times and memories we have with people. Also this episode deserves a damn medal for animation alone. The colorful Minior shower scenes are so beautiful.

In this episode, one of Ash's Pokémon, Poipole, befriends a Minior and goes through the five stages of grief in a very short amount of time upon saying goodbye. It's more poignant than it has any right to be. 

Exhibit C: Episode 108, titled Memories in the Mist! The premise of this episode basically guaranteed there were gonna be waterworks, but still. Basically, each of the four islands of Alola has a guardian spirit, and the guardian of Poni Island, Tapu Fini, has the ability to conjure a mist that allows the living to be reunited with their loved ones who have passed. While Ash and his friends are on Poni Island, they come across the mist and from there, you get nothing but me crying. Ash’s Litten, who has now evolved, is reunited with its mentor, Stoutland, and it shows its undeniably proud friend how it has become even stronger in an incredibly heartwarming yet sad moment. But the saddest moment is Mallow’s story and role in this episode.

Throughout the series, Mallow’s dad is shown every so often, but her mom is absent and never really brought up, so you’d wonder where she is and what happened to her. Well, in this episode, Mallow breaks down in tears when explaining to Lana that her mom died due to an illness when she was young. She confesses that her mom always apologized to her for her illness, and Mallow was sick of it so her final words to her mother were “I hate you!” This happened only five and a half minutes into the episode but I was already crying, and things did not get better. Due to the note Mallow and her mom parted on, Mallow did not want to see her mom in the mist, but Lana told her that it would be worth it. Then she actually sees her mom in the mist and it was just absolutely beautiful and more mature than you’d ever expect from the typically lighthearted world of Pokémon. She breaks down and tells her mom that she’s sorry for what she said, but her mom is forgiving and tells her how proud she is of her. I don’t normally cry that much when watching things, listening to music, reading books, etc. but I absolutely cried when watching Memories in the Mist. It’s just a fantastic episode in all aspects.

Even without the context that this is a girl reuniting with her deceased mother, this is a gorgeous frame solely from an aesthetic standpoint. 

Exhibit D: The fact that a main character’s arc is literally about PTSD. They don’t say “PTSD” outright because this is a show for kids and it will go over their heads but Lillie can’t touch Pokémon because of a traumatic event. That’s pretty much PTSD, from what I know. Parents can watch Sun & Moon with their kids and use it to explain the concept of PTSD, as well as death and grief, saying goodbye, working hard, and a whole bunch of other important things to teach kids. Lillie’s arc also shows that getting over your fears in life is difficult, but so rewarding. Lillie is easily the most developed of Ash’s friends and they did her arc so well. She’s one of my absolute favorites on the show.

And when Lillie overcomes her fear, it's one of the most joyful things I've ever seen. She is so happy to be free and it's beautiful.

I’m not gonna say Pokémon Sun & Moon is a perfect show. One thing I notice is that they seem to spend more time eating and talking about how every food in Alola is “so good!” and “delish!” than anything else. I guess it makes sense because Mallow’s entire character is based off of her desires to be a chef, but it seems like once every episode they have a food scene and Ash remarks that everything is “yum, so good!” And this is probably a petty complaint, but I wouldn’t have done it so often, instead using the screen time to show more battles or showing the kids’ Pokémon without their trainers. And on that note, one other thing I really like about this show is that it shows how the Pokémon act when they’re not with their trainers. I adore this one scene where Meltan loses his nut head and his new friend Rowlet tries to help him find it- and makes some truly incredible faces.

This is actually the face of an earlier Pokémon, called Xatu. Do you ever have such a breakdown that you turn into another person- literally? That's what's happening here.

The attitude. It's impeccable.

This one is my personal favorite, and what we in the current slang business like to call a "big mood." If I ever make a Twitter, this will probably be my profile picture. 

I think it says a lot about this show that even when I’m trying to criticize it, I end up talking about aspects of it that I love so much. And again, I won’t say this is a perfect show, nor will I say it’s a must-watch for everyone. This is a kids show, after all. All I want to do is make the case that it deserves more than people give it. If you have any interest in Pokémon at all and want to get into it, or are trying to get back into the series, I personally feel like Sun & Moon is a great place to start. If you’re interested at all in what I’ve been talking about, you should check it out on Netflix or DisneyXD. You just might like what you see.

This was a fun post for me to write, because posts where I get really passionate about things are always the most fun to write. Next week will probably be another Kpop Crash Course, maybe another MOVIE TALK otherwise. See you next week, and happy birthday to me.

Stellar