TRAINER'S EYE #164 - "Latios Casts Luster Purge Across Pokémon Lore" ft. KuroBlitz - As The Pokeball Turns

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
KuroBlitz (00:00):
My name is KuroBlitz and this is my Pokemon story.

David Hernandez (00:42):
Welcome to As The Pokeball Turns where every
voice, every journey, and everymemory brings us closer to the
world of Pokemon.
I'm David Hernandez I'm joinedby KuroBlitz of Pokemon
Theaters, as well as a fan ofthe Pokemon Anime Here to share
his Pokemon story KuroBlitz.
Welcome to as the Pokemon Turns.
Thank you for coming on thepodcast.

KuroBlitz (01:00):
Hello.
Hello.
Thank you for having me.

Absolutely.
And you know, we had a chance totalk.
You have a lot of, say,emotional highlights.
I think people are gonna listento, but I kind of wanna start
with this.
Do you remember the moment whenPokemon went from just a game to
maybe something bigger for you?

KuroBlitz (01:15):
Well, kind of you need to mention that because I
didn't start the Pokemon withthe games.
I started with the anime, but Ifeel like the bigger impact, it
really came around the timewhere I was just searching about
the franchise online.
It lined up perfectly when I wasstarting, you know, school.
So it was just, you know.
Talking with a lot of people andlike, oh, we all like this.

(01:36):
So it was always like a bridgefor companionship and
connections and making friends.
And I feel like, you know,that's what Pokemon always
taught us, you know?

So you said, you know, you started with
school, so was it like throughthe trading cards?
Was it the anime, the Pokemongames like, how did you connect
with others at that earlystages?

KuroBlitz (01:52):
yeah.
So basically I started, watchingthe, Pokemon Anime at a very
early age.
it was a two parter episodebecause they released that on
Christmas Day in my country.
Uh,'cause I,'cause I'm, I'm fromPortugal.
They released the holiday hijinks and the Snow Way Out
episode kind of weird episodesto start off, you know, this
franchise?

I'm sure.
I'm sure,

KuroBlitz (02:13):
Yeah.
Because my, my first impressionwith the franchise as a whole is
just seeing Ash save Santa Clausfrom Team Rocket.

What was it like, I guess,'cause you're from
Portugal, what

KuroBlitz (02:25):
Yes.

to guess to watch that episode and have that
imprinted to start your

KuroBlitz (02:29):
I,

journey?

KuroBlitz (02:29):
I just thought it, I just thought it was like a
random Christmas special.
Just like any other, just likeany other cartoon Christmas
special.
Like, oh wait, no, this isactually a story.
Because then Snow way out camearound and it was like, you
know, Ash in the Pokemonprotecting themselves from the
cold and the blizzard.
And I'm like, okay, fair.
And my parents were seeing mevery interested and they bought

(02:53):
me VHSs.
They bought me trading cards andI'm like, oh, this is something
bigger.
I just thought it was aChristmas special.
Okay.
and then after the fact, uh, Ido remember this very vividly
because Father's Day in Portugalis always on March 19.
because it's St.
Joseph's Day.
So on March 19 of the year 2000,my father took me to theaters.

(03:16):
It was the first time I went totheaters.
And we went to see the, theMewtwo movie.
and after we left theaters, hehad a surprise for me, which
was, you know, my first copy ofPokemon Blue.
He regretted immediately threemonths later when yellow came
around and then, you know, asmonths passed by Pokemon movie,

(03:37):
2000 was released on Christmas.

and

KuroBlitz (03:39):
And uh, of course they had to buy me silver.
And then a year later, crystalcame around and I'm like, yeah,
we're gonna tell your uncle andyour grandma to deal with this.
We do.
We didn't know how tofutureproof this.

I mean, it sounds like, you know, you were
going through all the games andit's like, it started with just
Pokemon Blue.
It started with an animeepisode, and all of a sudden
you're buying every single gamethrough every generation,
basically.

KuroBlitz (04:01):
Yeah.
And you know, my older cousinhad a Nintendo 64, so with her
help, I was able to, you know,play stadium and snap.
And the best part of this all isthat even before starting
school, I was already learningEnglish.
Like that's how, that's how Ilearned English.
It was thanks to Pokemon, all ofthe extensive vocabulary, like
the word item.
It's not something used in mycountry.

really, what do y'all, what outta curiosity?
What do y'all use?

KuroBlitz (04:27):
Like we, we just said, like, you know, like,
which means sting?
It just very generalized, likethe word item is not really very
en rooted in, in our, in ourvocabulary, well, at least not
for that early age, but like,just words like, for example,
trade.
And then the more you start tolearn English, you just realize,
oh, these, these Pokemon namesare just puns.
And, and, and then you start toknow, go online and you start to

(04:51):
realize, wait, this is Japanese.
They have different names and.
It, it was just like a wholeexperience, like the transition
period from generation two tothree.
and I started school in 2002.
So in the summer of 2002, I got,I got internet in my house and I
was like, okay, let's see what,you know, if there's like
Pokemon on the internet.

(05:12):
Old and behold, they weretalking about the LaLatios and
Latias movie and the Ruby andSapphire games and I'm like, I
have no idea what this is.
It feels fake because it's notin stores, but I like it.

I felt the same way.
This is more later on for me,when Mega Evolution was
introduced, because then you hadall the rumors of what Pokemon
were gonna get into megaevolutions, which ones were
fake, which ones were real.
Um, I think people thought MegaLapras was gonna come out.
Of course, people thought MegaAmpharos was fake, which turned
out to be real.
It's that kind of speculativemoment that really, especially
in those early days, That kindof made Pokemon, I guess more, I

(05:48):
don't wanna say anticipated, butthere was more excitement about
the newer Pokemon that kind oflacks today, in my opinion,

KuroBlitz (05:53):
Nowadays it does lack because you know the culture
behind spoilers and the peoplegetting like games early and you
know, journalism as it is,Pokemon nowadays, unfortunately.
It's losing the charm ofdiscovery and adventure and the,
figuring out the unknown, whichwe had, like for example in
generation three, just, youknow, finding the Reggies,

(06:16):
right?
We need to learn, we need tolearn bryle.
And I'm like.
Okay, this doesn't work for ascreen, but fair, I guess I'm
gonna learn braille and then ofcourse, you know, learning
Japanese because, God forbid Ihave to wait for subtitles for
the show.

show.
Now I wanna touch on somethingthat you mentioned because you
said, you know, I think you saidyou went to a cousin's house to
play Pokemon Stadium too.

KuroBlitz (06:38):
Yeah,

from what I understand, that was kind of the
point to where I think that gameexpanded your view of the
franchise.
Is that correct to say?

KuroBlitz (06:46):
it was that, it was very much that because of the
way that Stadium two works.
because you have to basicallybattle the gym leaders, and they
were, and like in the games,they were all six v sixes and
they were not locked into justusing one type.
So it just put it into my headvery early that being a type
expert does not mean that youare a type exclusive.

(07:07):
I feel like Lance as a characterfill this role.
And even Karen being, you know,a dark type expert, but she has
like a Vileplume and Gengar.
And this was very much rooted inme when I see, for example,
dragon Tamers using Rhydons andMachamps because they are more
dinosaur and lizard looking.
and then, you know, the, thatpost game when you see like,

(07:28):
Chris battling silver and all ofthe gym leaders battling each
other, which funny enough waslater on used for the
adventures.
Manga.
it was just the experience ofseeing Pokemon, not on your
hand, but on screen.
it was just a fascinating thingto behold.
And the mini games when you are,you know, playing with family
and friends, like in gamenights, like the mini games of

(07:48):
Stadium, it was also veryinvigorating.
It was, it was magical.
Like Pokemon was just magical.

Now another spinoff game that I was kind of
excited to talk about you talkedabout how you pinball Ruby and
Sapphire kind of cemented thatlove for Pokemon

KuroBlitz (08:05):
Yes,

a unique spinoff game'cause you don't
hear much about the pinballgames.
It's very, say, I think you'reprobably the second guess of all
time out of all the episodesI've done who've mentioned it.
What was it about Poke playingPokemon Ruby and Sapphire
pinball that I guess wasdifferent from playing the main
series game that kind ofcemented the love for Pokemon?

KuroBlitz (08:21):
because it wasn't battles.
And as someone who started withthe anime, I knew for a fact
that Pokemon was more than justbattle.
It was always more the journey,not the destination, the
destination matters too, butjust being around the world and
seeing different avenues to, youknow, tackle Pokemon besides

(08:44):
just, you know, select moves.
See if the HP bar goes into thered or try to catch or try to
faint.
it is also because I gotpinball, Ruby and Sapphire out
of sheer accident.

Oh, due to tell, I'm like,

KuroBlitz (08:56):
yeah.

this.
Yeah.

KuroBlitz (08:57):
Okay.
So basically, people, RubySapphire was released in Europe
in like late 2003 after theactual Ruby Sapphire games.
So me and my cousin told hismom, so my aunt, we told them
for Christmas, we want Pokemon,Ruby, and Sapphire.
so the communication of sevenyear olds with, you know,
mothers who buy the games, butwe are not, but we are, but we

(09:19):
are not there to basically tellthem, what, what they should do.
Right?
we're like, oh, we want Pokemon,Ruby, and Sapphire Fair.
But then, you know, theycouldn't because they were at
work.
So they, couldn't but then theycould.
So basically what they did, itwas like, it was so weird.
So basically, my aunt bought mycousin Pokemon, Ruby and
Sapphire.
She bought both versions becauseshe had no idea that it was only

(09:42):
meant to be one of the two,because we said we want Ruby and
Sapphire.
So my aunt bought my cousin,both versions, and my mom, she
told the clerk, my son wantsPokemon, Ruby, and Sapphire, and
I got Ruby and Sapphire pinball.
Yes.
it was, it was like a funnyincident.

(10:03):
Uh, luckily for me, my birthdayis very close to Christmas, so
up, so during Christmas, my,cousin said, well, your birthday
is soon, so what do you want theGodzilla or the whale?
And I'm like, Hmm, this is amore difficult choice than the
starter.
Because this was like inDecember of 2003, I knew of

(10:24):
these games since, you know,August of 2002.
So I knew of these games sincetheir Ja, like I knew the
Pokemon names like in Japanese,like Bahama, like, it, it, yeah.
So I was like, Hmm, I've knownof these gang for more than 15
months and I have no idea whatwhat to pick.
I went with Ruby,

it reminds me of this is, I don't know if you,
uh, that you, they released theGame Boy Player for the Game
Cube.

KuroBlitz (10:51):
yes.

told my mom I wanted that and just because I
wanted to be able to play mygames on the TV.
she thought I was talking aboutthe Game Boy, you know, the Game
Boy player of the original GameBoy.

KuroBlitz (11:01):
Yeah,

so she tried to get that for me and I was like,
no, no, no, it's a Game Boy playfor the game cue.
So I had to go with her and thatshows, I guess, our mothers
loved us obviously,

KuroBlitz (11:10):
of course.

of the barrier that they face compared to maybe
us nowadays, to where we mayunderstand more of the lingo
that the upcoming, you know,younger generation trainers are
speaking compared to maybe ourparents back in the day, in my
opinion.

KuroBlitz (11:25):
Yeah.
but it's always an experiencewhen, you know, share all of
this passion and love with yourfamily.
That being, you know, justPokemon or whatever hobby or
anime or video game that you mayhave, like if you are happy and
your parents are invested inyour happiness, I feel like that
just makes the experience a lotricher.

I want to touch on something you talked about
earlier.
You mentioned that Pokemon, Iguess, is slowly losing or
missing that sense of discovery.
Can you point to like maybe atime that you felt that magic
most strongly and what haschanged since then?

KuroBlitz (11:56):
I feel like just the lack of recess rumors, because
Pokemon was always about thediscovery.
So every time we were like, youknow, fed new stuff and we had
no idea of what it was becauseeither mistranslation or no
access to the internet.
Like I'm, I'm from the time whenpeople believe that Shadow Lugia

(12:16):
was Lugia's evolution.

Oh, I didn't hear about that one.
That's

KuroBlitz (12:19):
Yeah.
Like, like maybe it was a localthing, but a lot of my friends
were like, oh, Shadow Lugia hasto be a Lugia evolution.
And um, this was during the timewe were playing pokey crate.

oh my gosh.

KuroBlitz (12:33):
Yeah.
So that, that's the throwback,right.

Yes, very.
I haven't heard that in year.
Oh my God.

KuroBlitz (12:39):
but it's a legendary Legendaries cannot evolve.
Well then, you know, and then Ithen time passed and we were in
lo and behold, right.

uh, well, actually that next generation,
when you think of, well, I guessit depends on how you define
Manaphy and Phionne.
'cause I mean,

KuroBlitz (12:54):
that, that that is true.

that breaks the stereotype of Pokemon can't
breathe.
But the evolution for sure wasbroken with Solgaleo and Lunala,
without a doubt.

KuroBlitz (13:02):
I feel like it's when the games just have a lot of
extra content that it's notneeded for the progression, but
just for the exploration.
And as I've written before, TheSevii Islands are a great
example of that.

In what way?

KuroBlitz (13:16):
because there are, you, you don't need to go there.
But just the fact that you goand you are exploring and you
are always finding new stuffwithin there that it's not
really necessary to progress.
It's just like, oh, there areUnown here.
Oh, you can get the Togepi fromthis person.
It's, it's random, but Okay.
And then ears pass by and yourealize, yeah, they just needed

(13:39):
to put some Johto Pokemon one inhere.

I mean, you bring up a good point.
'cause I think there was that,altering cave, I think

KuroBlitz (13:46):
Yes.

that cave that that was there.
And I remember spending so manyhours trying to figure out why
does this cave exist?
Keep in mind I didn't haveinternet either.
I didn't have people who playedPokemon.
That's gen three.
That's when Pokemon kind of wentvery exclusive.
So I

KuroBlitz (14:00):
Yes.

own imagination.
I always felt that there wasmore to it.
Now, of course, you know,hindsight, there wasn't much.
It was very, it was, I think itwas scrapped if I remember
correctly.

KuroBlitz (14:09):
Yeah.

in that time period, the rumors in your
imagination flourished.

KuroBlitz (14:13):
Mm-hmm.

you kind of know what you get out of a game,
you know?

KuroBlitz (14:17):
Yes.
And then during generation four,it's when I started to, you
know, well, I, I feel like wealways had this in the back of,
in the back of our minds that,you know, every anime, games,
cards, manga, everything is likea separate version of the same
story.
So this was always veryinteresting to me when it comes

(14:37):
to, you know, just dissectingit.
Because as you, as you growolder, there are some things
that given how much informationyou are bestowed upon the
Pokemon timeline, that justbecomes murkier as time goes on

Mm-hmm.

KuroBlitz (14:51):
just want to be loose for the sake of, you know,
marketing and, uh, whatever.
More.
Otherwise it doesn't make anysense that we have like
canonically four Regigigas inthe world.
And, and it was just weird to mebecause it's like I'm playing in
gen two, like I'm playing thegeneration two games that happen
after generation one and theJohto Beasts are in the tower

(15:15):
and they reawaken and they roamtheir merry way.
And then I'm playing fire redand then I'm playing Colosseum.
And those games take place atthe same time.
And in fire Red, depending onwhat starter you get, the Johto
Beasts are in Kanto before beingreawakened in Johto.
But they are also in Orre while,they're being shadow fight

(15:38):
before the time when they shouldbe reawakened at the tower.
And I'm like, something doesn'tadd up.

matter.
I mean, I think you see thismostly with Mewtwo.
Mewtwo

KuroBlitz (15:47):
Yes.

the best example, and this is both within
the anime and the video games.

KuroBlitz (15:51):
Yes.

You know, Mewtwo was created, or I'm
sorry, in the anime only.
Mewtwo was created by, Dr.
Fuji on an island and you know,he blows it up and, you know,
Pokemon first movie and then

KuroBlitz (16:01):
Yes.

Mewtwo strikes back.
But then that's what confused meabout that movie when they
brought Mewtwo back to show theMegas.
How does Mewtwo have a megaevolution if it didn't even
exist when the mega evolutionsfirst debuted?
How is there another Mewtwo whenthose Mewtwo is actually created
by humans?

KuroBlitz (16:16):
Yeah.

there's that inconsistency and I'm not even
gonna touch the games'causegames is another problem as it
is.
But you see that kind ofinconsist when, when it comes to
certain aspect of Pokemon thatkind of, I'll say it removes the
illusion at times,

KuroBlitz (16:29):
it does remove the illusion.
However, I would like to make acounterpoint where it, it does
remove the illusion because theyare not as a video game company,
they are more focused about thegameplay and not the actual
story and lore that, that goesfor the super fans.
Just like how when you buy aspinoff or a third version or
you keep up with the anime that,you know, let's be real, it's

(16:49):
just, you know, a 20 minute adevery single week.
Right?
No, but like, it does break theillusion.
However, it does allow for, youknow, if people are really
invested to try to fan fix interms of, you know, trying to
make some sense of it.
it's kind of, it's kind of, youknow, we're just making

(17:10):
pretenses and excuses, but it'sa good writing exercise.
Like why are there two Mewtwo,why are there more than a set of
legendary beasts?
upon replaying Colosseum,apparently in the shadow
laboratory they have DNA of allof the shadow Pokemon, including
the Beasts, and I'm like, arethose beast clones?
because Mewtwo was able to clonea lot of other Pokemon in movie

(17:33):
one.
And I'm like, huh.
Like for example, even with themovie, right?
You have Dr.
Fuji who would later on in somecannons become Mr.
Fuji in Lavender Town.
But in the anime, that neverhappened.
And even in the anime when hewas trying to revive his
daughter, Amber Fuji, hislaboratory was not a laboratory
that was bought by Giovanni, itwas another one.

(17:56):
So to me, the laboratory that hehad before Giovanni bought that
super secret exclusive one, itwas most likely the Cinnabar
Mansion.
We never went there in theanime, but we can make an
inference that it might havebeen.
And, even for example, the animewas the first cannon that, uh,
made.
Mewtwo and Team Rocket beingconnected until Ultra Sun and

(18:20):
Ultra Moon, that was neverreally stated in any video game
whatsoever.
And when you go, for example, toFaraway Island, you do see like
only those who will not disturb,mute and you know, pass here and
you have like the letters.
JI, you have the G and peopleare like, oh, it has to be Fuji,
right?

(18:40):
But apparently the same countryis in Japanese and I always
believe that it could be Fuji,but it could also be Ji, which
is Elite Four Drake because theyknow each other in the manga
cannon.
And I'm like, ah, so maybe it'snot Fuji, maybe it's Drake.
We kind have to go back intowhat is the actual Japanese text

(19:01):
of some games to see if you knowsome things do make sense or
not.
And just deciphering all of thisand translating.
To, to me it kept, it kept megoing.
That's what, you know, it keepsthe magic going.

I wanted to shift gears to the anime side
real quick.
'Cause that's also significantfor your experience with
Pokemon.
How did watching the Pokemon awatching Ash's Adventures
influenced you as a Pokemon fan?
Did it affect the way you,engaged with games or were you
more invested in Ash as acharacter?

KuroBlitz (19:26):
I have always been invested in all sorts of Pokemon
media, like the anime isimportant because it was always
there, it was always, you know,something consistent in terms of
presence, because we always hadash as a character.
Ash to me as a character, hebecame less interest, not really

(19:48):
less interesting, but just morestale because of how much he was
around.
And it's nothing against thecharacter, you know, it was just
you, a product of his time.
For me, Ash became more stale,like by the end of Diamond, like
by the end of Battle Frontier,the beginning of Diamond and
Pearl.
And it's not really anythingagainst Ash.
It was mainly because everyoneelse around them was more

(20:10):
interesting than him becausewith his Pokemon and his rivals
and his companions, we knew theywere a one and done deal.
So because we know they're goingto last less, our investment is
more.
a lot of people have a greatattachment to him, which is very
understandable.
He was around for 26 years, butpart of me was like, I feel like
it's best for him to, you know,go in some way, shape, or form

(20:34):
It's not really a oh, but he canonly go, he, he wins.
And I'm like, that's interviewstalking.
Right.
And, uh, I feel like becausewhen you are writing stories,
you just try to perceive the manbehind the curtain and that's
where the magic losesunfortunately.
But for the anime, it's like, Ifeel like when they say that Ash

(20:55):
will move on the moment he wins.
I think that's more so by thefact that they are not confident
enough to know how to write themor what they can do with him
after he wins.
Because with Ash you can onlywrite battles.
If anything, he is moreinteresting in the movies
because in the movies he's acharacter.

But you brought up a good point because when you
talked about how Ash is acharacter, I feel like his
character actually stagnated Iwould say after he beat Gary,
that they didn't really have adirection on Ash.
Because, for the first, youknow, season, you know, Pokemon
was fresh, you know, I'm talkingabout Indigo League.

KuroBlitz (21:31):
Yes.

Ash was learning about what it meant to
be a trainer.
You know, he tried to force hisPokemon to do stuff that they
didn't want to do.
The best example is, uh, Ash andthe relationship with Charizard.
If anybody remembers the momentthat I'll say Charmeleon turned
on Ash was when Ash was tryingto force Charmian to fake a
battle against Paris Act

KuroBlitz (21:48):
Yes.
Yes.

they were trying to get paras act devolve
and that went against its natureand that Ash shall would always
struggled with.
the idea of the relationshipbetween a trainer and a Pokemon,
that's always been, especiallyfor the Indigo League, just
specifically that

KuroBlitz (21:59):
Hmm.

And when it came to Johto, his primary, say
his primary growth was that hestarted listening to his Pokemon
more.
It became less about you do, asI say, and more of how can we
work together.
And that cultivated to himbeating, Gary at the very end,
before he lost to.
Harrison.
But then after that, they kindof just didn't know what to do
with Ash at that point.
And like you said, I thinkthat's when you started noticing

(22:21):
more of the Pokemon arcs comeout.
The more of

KuroBlitz (22:24):
Yes,

either with other characters or the other
Pokemon that would come and jointhem.
Ashby kind of came very odd.
You know, you weren't asinvested in my opinion.
In

KuroBlitz (22:33):
Ash has a character by himself.
It's not interesting.
He's interesting with the peopleand Pokemon around him.
There is a reason why Ashdoesn't travel alone, because
who would he talk to?

now.
That's actually something I wantto ask because you said you were
more interested in thecharacters around him.

KuroBlitz (22:50):
Yes,

one character that stood out to you that was
way more compelling to Ash andwhat made him more engaging in
your opinion?

KuroBlitz (22:57):
it was May in advanced generation because she
was also starting fresh andbecause you see her tackling a
Battle Avenue, which werePokemon contests.
but it was very much differentfrom what Ash was doing.
So just the fact that it wasdifferent and refreshing, it
just felt very interesting interms of what they were
approaching with her story.

(23:18):
as time moves on all of thefemale characters in some way,
shape, or form, they alwaystackle Pokemon in various
different ways.
The the, the guy companions areokay, they are cool, but let's,
let's not be coy about it.
They are just there because theydon't trust Ash just traveling
with a girl.
You, you, you need the, you needthe Brock silent and the cla to

(23:41):
balance it out.

yeah.
Yeah.
Otherwise, it become too much ofa love story and I don't think
Pokemon is

KuroBlitz (23:46):
Yeah.
The, the thing, the thing aboutfunny, it's funny that you
mentioned that because likePokemon tried writing a love
story with X and y andRetroactively rewriting Ash's
best to have Serena there, whichI think it, I think it was
interesting at the time.
The thing is, they only tried toharpoon on the idea that they
met once when they were kids.

(24:06):
And it was always from Serena'spoint of view.
So it's like, if you want to tryto write romance, it needs to be
a two-way street.
It cannot just be a romance bornout of One moment that one girl
remembered when she was sevenand that's like, you know, her
core character, she does a lotmore and she travels and learns
a lot more than, you know,becoming more than just him,

(24:30):
which is fair.
A lot of people unfortunatelydon't see it, but that's another
story.
The thing with, you know,writing romance in Pokemon, it's
more so because it's not thatthey didn't never want it.
I mean, you know, In the games,cuckoo is already married and in
the anime we see him going fromthe relationship to a marriage
to becoming a father.
So if anything, they know how towrite romance, but it's very

(24:53):
surface level and it's alsobecause it's not their priority.
And I kind of blame this on theearly age when it comes to the
Brock gags because romance wasalways perceived as a joke.
So the moment they tried towrite romance and love,
seriously, people cannot buy itbecause they will always go back
to the Brock gags, which isunfortunate for Brock, which is

(25:14):
unfortunate for Brock

well, and so that's kind of why, I've never
liked the ash and Mistycrossover.
The whole shipping

KuroBlitz (25:23):
Fair.

to me because like you said.
It was always to me, one sided.
You could point to multiplesituations to where Misty showed
affection or feelings for Ash,

KuroBlitz (25:35):
Yes.

but when you try to flip it and show me,
where did Ash show that sametype of feelings to Misty?
I could never find it.
I never saw it.
To me it was always more, ifthey ever wanted to ship
somebody, I always was more ofAsh and May.
I always saw more chemistrybetween them two than any other
protagonist.

KuroBlitz (25:53):
And,

anime's concerned.

KuroBlitz (25:54):
and, and even, and even for example, like even the
banter that he has with, youknow, Iris, like, at least he
has a dynamic with her.
As much as people don't like it,at least he has a dynamic with
her.
the same with, you know, withthe Alola girls.
He has chemistry with all ofthem.
And even with Dawn, they weretreated as equals because Dawn
was treated as, you know, thefirst two tourist.
So when it comes to writinglove, I think it's more so

(26:18):
because we see it in other showswhen it comes to getting closure
for a character.
Like he has to have a girl.
Right.
You know, you cannot end acharacter in a, you know, do the
quote unquote trope of havinghim end up with someone And I'm
like, yes, but I don't thinkthey trust themselves to, you
know, go into those waters, ifthat makes any sense.

No, it does.
It does.
It does.

KuroBlitz (26:42):
the thing with Misty is interesting because I never
understood the whole, oh,Pokeshipping was just a dub
thing from 4Kids.
And I'm like, no, the peoplethat worked in 4Kids were poke
shippers every time they had theopportunity, they would, you
know, tweak the dub to give morehints towards it.
But.
It wasn't the dub that madePokeshipping, exist.

(27:05):
It existed as the idea from theanime being Japanese, because
you can invent dub lines, butyou cannot, you know, rearrange
scenes from the anime becauseyou cannot edit visuals.
Right.
You know, like, Misty isblushing.
That's not the American onlything that's in the actual
Japanese episode filter.

(27:26):
And again, like all of thecharacters around him,'cause
they have more in, they havemore interesting
characterizations and dynamicsand trainer classes.
Because they are allowed to, youknow, do more and they go their
merry way and then they comeback and, you know, they are
basically a new version ofthemselves.
they're more proficient.
They explored a lot more.

(27:47):
And that was always somethingvery interesting to me.
It's like, the world doesn'tstop for, for anyone just
because the camera is notpanning out to them anymore.
They are doing their own stuffbehind the scenes.
We just don't have the privilegeof seeing it.
that's why I like the Chroniclesside special and even, you know,
the Legend of Thunder where weget to see Jimmy, Ethan Gold,
the generation two protagonist.

(28:09):
And this was always Pokemon'sbiggest detriment.
It was the fact that they nevercapitalized on the world and
characters they had.
They were always being very keeneye on just showing what Ash was
doing.
When that is never done in anyanime and that's never done in
any hobby anime.

(28:29):
Like if you go to see Digon andBay Blade, the eyes are not
always on Ty and Tyson or youknow, Jingga and Davis.
You see aspects of everyone.
Heck with Naruto, you get a lotof arcs that are just about que

Mm-hmm.

KuroBlitz (28:47):
and Pokemon never did that.
And I feel like that was alwaystheir biggest detriment.
Just, you know, we need to seewhat Ashe is doing.
And I'm like, can we pleaseavoid filler?
Like I would sacrifice 10 fillerepisodes of Jotto just to see
what Gary is doing.
Let me see Gary's side of thestory for a while.
because that way you get moreinvestment on the people that,

(29:08):
you know, Ash eventually beatscause it's like, oh, he defeats
this guy.
I never saw him.
Why should I care?

I wanna shift over to the games real quick and
we'll come back to the a I wannastart with, what is your
favorite Pokemon?
Let's start there.
Like what's the Pokemon thatspeaks to you the most?

KuroBlitz (30:42):
Ah, there's a lot of them, but it's Latios.
I love Latios.
I think it's because it was thefirst Pokemon that I saw when I
was online and it just combinesthe most cool aspects of
Pokemon, like Dragon andPsychic.
Like you're just combining Coolwith cool.
And the more you learn aboutLatios, the more interesting it
becomes because they live ingroups like they, there are

(31:05):
multiple of them, but they livein secret groups.
They are able to basicallydisguise themselves as other
humans.
And even Pokemon because oflight refraction, they have, you
know, the ability to, not reallyastral projection, but they do
like dream analysis, which is,you know, side sharing.
They can show to you what theyare looking at, even when you

(31:27):
are not around.
they have that mystique goingfor them, because they are a
legendary, but it's not reallylegendary in terms of there is
no story about them, but they'renot really that much powerful.
But they can do a lot of coolstuff.
And it's probably because theyare part psychic and part
dragons.
So you basically get thespiritual with the mystical

(31:47):
until Ultra Necrozma.
There was never that sort oftype combination.

the one thing I loved about it was'cause I
remember, encountering LaLatinos playing Pokemon Ruby,
and I was

KuroBlitz (31:57):
Ye

whoa, this is such a cool Pokemon.
I don't know what it is.
I use my master ball and Icaught it and I always loved I
think it's a still signaturemove.
I think it's luster purge.

KuroBlitz (32:05):
Luster Purge.

Weaker at the time than psychic, but I just
loved it.
It just seemed like such a coolmove to see and it felt
something special about justseeing Latios using it.

KuroBlitz (32:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that, that was one of thereasons why I picked Ruby as a
kid is because I knew the Rubyone had Latios and funny enough
it kinda lined up perfectlyafter the fact because from Ruby
and Sapphire, Ruby has some coolversion exclusives, Zangoose,
Shiftry

Yep.

KuroBlitz (32:31):
Mawile.
and then Emerald got theSapphire exclusives, which was
Sableye, Ludicolo, Serviper

It got both I thought.
'cause I think it couldn't getSurskit

KuroBlitz (32:42):
Medicham.
Yeah.

Yeah Medicham, it Couldn't get access to those.

KuroBlitz (32:46):
Yeah.
Well, this was, this was duringa time when to complete the
decks of nearly 400, you neededseven games and two consoles.
people like to trash talk thedeck, head of Sword and Shield,
and I'm like, you did not livein 2003, or you do not remember
how things were in 2003.

Right, right.
I think it's welcome'cause Ithink it becomes unreasonable to
have that many Pokemon over andover and over.
And plus you can do more if youkind of restrict

KuroBlitz (33:12):
I, I do recall, like, this was before I realized that
the Pokemon, like, again, goingback to the whole Pokemon Go
era, like this was beforePokemon Go.
It's like.
I feel like Pokemon has enoughspecies where can they just do
whatever games and they don'tneed to create new Pokemon
anymore.
And then I realized, this is,this is a stupid idea.

(33:34):
And then because Pokemon Go washappening and they were creating
regional forms, and I'm like,yeah, they're not going to stick
with what they have andrearrange them.
They're just going to createmore and more and more because
Plushies.

Well, no, that's what they're doing now.
You know, they're reconning oldPokemon into the new forms.
That's the variance.
You don't get as many newPokemon as, say, gen five or
even gen three.
You get maybe 50 to 170 Pokemonat this point.
They're relying on the nostalgiaof old Pokemon, bringing'em into
new forms while bringing acouple new ones.
Don't get me wrong, and that'swhat Pokemon is now.

(34:08):
It's not a bad thing.
I think it's actually a betterthing I would love it if they
actually limited the decks.
Because I played PokemonColosseum, I played where I had
to force myself to use Pokemonthat I wasn't able to use.
I remember the days of black andwhite.
I enjoyed being forced to

KuroBlitz (34:22):
Yeah,

I didn't normally

KuroBlitz (34:23):
same.

I wish they would lean more heavily into
that and restrict the Dex evenfurther.

KuroBlitz (34:28):
Like one, one of the best latest experience that a
lot of people do agree wasLegends Arceus and there are
only 242 Pokemon in that game,and even the Dex distribution in
Legends Arceus, it's not thesame as it is in Diamond Pearl
and Platinum.
Because in Legends Arceus youhave Paras and Parasect, and in
Diamond and Pearl you have, youknow, Hoothoot and Noctowl and

(34:50):
it, it got me thinking.
So what you're saying is thatHoothoot came to Sinnoh and
hunted Paras and Parasect toregional extinction, like the,
the birds heat this shroombecause of type effectiveness.
Okay.

Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I wanna touch on Pokemon Go,'cause you just mentioned it.
Tell me about those early daysof when you started playing it.
What was it like?
Where did you go?
Like what was the scene likePlaying Pokemon Go in 2016

KuroBlitz (35:13):
It was very interesting because like, I was
already working at the time andmany of my friends and
classmates, they were, incollege, so it, we were not
really drifting it, it wasbasically the start of us
drifting apart because, youknow, just, that's just how life
is sometimes.
But like Pokemon Go happenedand, people had no idea what
this was, but you know, it wasjust the first 151 they like,

(35:36):
oh, let, let, let's talk to,let's talk with our girlfriend.
Right.
You know, the, he, he, he, henever Pokemon.
Maybe he can help us.
And I'm like, guys, this is amobile game.
It just has the monsters.
Everything I know does not applyto this.
This is brand.
This

This

KuroBlitz (35:52):
is

even what you know.

KuroBlitz (35:54):
like, this only has the monsters, the
functionalities, how the gameworks.
That's also brand new.
like I have no, I like theknowledge that I have does not
apply to this at all.
If, if you want my help, I'm onTeam Mystic,

So would you and your friends like go out and

KuroBlitz (36:14):
we, yeah,

you know, raids weren't out at the time, so I
guess y'all were just outcatching

KuroBlitz (36:17):
yeah, yeah.
We, we were just, you know,going, we were just, you know,
going to every nook and crannyof the city, just, you know,
catching Pokemon.
And I was also, friends withpeople in the Portuguese
community.
Like, it was, there was like abig boom in forums and YouTube
from 20 12 to 2017.
we were just, you know, hangingout online, you know, doing
podcasts, you know, the po, thePokemon Go topic always came

(36:40):
around because of everythingthat we saw in the news, right?
people falling on puddles andwhatever.

Whatever Now, do you think because a Pokemon
Go, you mentioned how life wasin transition, you know, you
were all going differentdirections, you know, you were
starting your own careers.

KuroBlitz (36:56):
Yes,

Would, did Pokemon Go kind of help you feel
grounded again even as life kindof pulled you in that different
direction?

KuroBlitz (37:02):
in some way, yes.
Because it's also because likepeople are going to know move
forward, but it's like at thevery, at the very least, you can
still, you know, get some senseof, connection.
'cause it's like, oh yeah, wecan still, you know, chat and if
you, if you need help with thegame.
It's like, it's basically like alast hurrah, you know, like we
are all 19, let's, you know, endchildhood.

(37:24):
The, the way it started, whichis basically with Pokemon almost
10 years later, we just, youknow, went our own merry way.
And it's also because like inthe end of the day.
Life is more than thisfranchise.
There are a lot of otherfranchises, like movies, games,
comics that you can, you know,play, watch, read, like, if

(37:44):
anything, that's the one thing Ialways advise people like, go
play other games.
just don't use, you know, thebetter aspects of those games to
come back to Pokemon and Trashtalk.
It.
No, just, just go expand yourhorizons and when you come back
it's like, okay, maybe there'slike a thing or two that this
could, you know, use orimplement.

(38:05):
but I feel like a lot of peopleshould just, go play more games
and watch other shows or, just,read other manga.
Like for example, and I evenadmit like the, the nime is, at
least to me, it's moreinteresting that, you know, for
the, for the average fan, butwhen they reach droughts.
Of, you know, filler and you cantell they are padding for time

(38:25):
because the game is not meant tobe released this year.
It's meant to really be releasednext year.
And then, oh, Ash has seven gymbadges, but we are going to
release the remix of Johto, soyou gotta wait one year for the
league.
And I'm like,

Yeah.

KuroBlitz (38:40):
and I'm like, uh, so I need to wait one year for him
to get another batch.
Okay, I'm going to read theAdventures Manga.

right,

KuroBlitz (38:48):
And that's how I started to read the Adventures
Manga.
It was because the anime wasjust, you know, on this filler.
Hell

But that's anime anyway.
Like you think of one piece, onepiece goes through so many
fillers.
I think at that point I've readthe, manga and it was

KuroBlitz (38:58):
yeah.

than watching the anime.

KuroBlitz (39:00):
Yeah.
Like,

hour till actually.
But you, you get what a

KuroBlitz (39:02):
no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

over.

KuroBlitz (39:03):
no.
But, but no, the, the thingabout narrative, narrative
filler is that narrative filler,at least it's interesting
because narrative filler, theyactually write the character
dynamics I wanted to see inCanon.
The same goes.
The, the, the, the same goes forbleach, like bleach, filler.
It's interesting because thedynamics that they are there, I
wanted to see in the actualcannon, episodes and chapters.

(39:27):
the unfortunate part about thefiller of narrow toe and bleach
is that they are placed verypoorly.
like, they are good arcs, butthey are just poorly placed and
even my friends were veryinterested in Naruto, and I'm
like, do you guys know thatNaruto airs after Pokemon?
And they're like, no way.
Yeah.
So we went to the school libraryand we watched Diamond and Pearl

(39:47):
because they like, they, theyliked, you know, dance contests
and, you know, Paul's rivalryand whatever more.
So we were watching Pokemon andthey were watching Naruto and we
made our whole lunch hour.
It was that just being in thelibrary, eating lunch and
watching Pokemon and nato.

Now speaking of Ash, I kinda wanna go back to
him real quick'cause you know,we kinda left it off to where,
you know, you were engaged withthe anime, you were very, you
know, invested in his character.
We got a chance to see Ashfinally, I guess, close his arc.
He

KuroBlitz (40:13):
Yes.

champion and you know, had very emotional
scenes.
And I wanted to know, after allthe years of watching Ash grow,

KuroBlitz (40:20):
Yeah,

kind of feel to see him finally become champion
and then say goodbye in hisfinal episode?

KuroBlitz (40:26):
it was very much bittersweet because, I feel like
when it comes to him becoming aworld champion, I was always
under the pretense that it'svery clear that the show was
probably.
Not written to be his sendoffand it was most likely patched
in the middle of the Generationeight series.
But the DNA of sending him offwas there, he was traveling the

(40:47):
world.
He was, you know, having a teamcomprised of not only generation
eight Pokemon, he was remittingother people.
Right?
And it's like, I get what theywere going for.
They're trying to appeal to themore general audience, to the
point where they gamified alittle bit of anime locations,
which I was personally not afan, but it, it always felt

(41:07):
bittersweet in terms of I getwhat they were going for.
But at the same time, I feellike if you are battling in a
world tournament, you should usethe Pokemon that you gathered
all across the world just usingnew Pokemon that you just
caught.
I have no attachment to them.
If you want to catch newPokemon, that's fine, but you
know, your ash.
Catch'em.
Don't be predictable with justusing a brand new team, just.

(41:31):
Just mix and match, like throwyour opponent off guard a little
bit, please.
I knew that eventually he would,he would win.
And I knew it was kind oftelegraphed, unfortunately.
But it's more so because it'slike, I knew that he, when he
would win, he would, he wouldmove on, go away.
And I'm like, after all of theseyears, I know for a fact that

(41:55):
whatever ending they are goingto give him, it's never going to
fully satisfy me.
And it's not going to, it's notgoing to set satisfy everyone
because everyone watches theanime for different things and
for different people, and theyexpect different things from
Ash.
So writing a finale for a26-year-old character, you're

(42:17):
not going to appeal toeverybody.
And that's, and that's like thecrux of him staying as long as
he did.

And so that's what I wanna talk about.
'cause you actually had a veryhot take and your first video,
one of your first videos, wasWhy Ash Should Not Get Sole.

KuroBlitz (42:31):
yes.

to ask, so, what made you want to.
Like start with that.
Like what was it about Sobbleand that whole theme that made
you want to kind of createcontent for that?

KuroBlitz (42:39):
Oh, so basically I always had the idea of making,
not really a YouTube channel,just videos for YouTube.
I just never had the free time.
when the pandemic happened, mywork hours were cut short, and
the people that I was hangingaround on Discord, they were,
you know, basically trying tomake several groups join into

(43:00):
like a super collaborative one.
And they were like, oh, if you,if you make a YouTube channel,
we can get you in.
Because I was mainly a guest inother people's, you know, shows,
episodes, podcasts, whateverhave you.
And I'm like, oh, okay.
I just, I, I, I just need tomake a, a channel and a video
and, and I get a pass bet.
And I was like, okay.

(43:22):
And this was like fi this waslike five, five summers ago,
right?
So it's like, okay.
What video am I gonna do?
And this was, you know, this waslike in July, so it was like
after that six week hiatus thatthe anime had.
So it's like, hmm.
I want to talk about the otherstarters because it's kind of
weird.
We don't see them and we are 22episodes.
Then the last time we see astarter, it was probably Brock's

(43:45):
Mudkip in episode 25 orsomething.
But even then we see a Mudkip inthe first episode of Hoenn.
It was weird to me why thestarters were not showing up.
cause a lot of people weretalking about how if Ash leaves,
he should get one at leastbecause it's established, it's a
staple.
And I'm like, no.
If anything, I feel like the,the guy that could eventually

(44:07):
succeed him could get all threeand Ash doesn't get anything.
And a lot of people want, andthis was basically sparked from
a conversation because a lot ofpeople wanted Sobble because
Sobble is shy and coward andItalian.
It's, you know, sua in confidentthat's perfect for Ash.
And I'm like, that's verystandard and it's just copying

(44:29):
Greninja.
I don't want a second Greninja,like,

What starter would you have chosen for Ash?

KuroBlitz (44:35):
uh, none.

None.
Well, I mean, if you had, if youhad to pick one

KuroBlitz (44:39):
Oh, if I,

Yeah.

KuroBlitz (44:41):
if I had to pick one.
Um, funny enough, I feel likeScorbunny would've been more
fitting for him, and the goalwould've kept Intel because
Sobble from Intel, being a, ashy, Pokemon and becoming very
confident and being very fittingfor missions, That's more
fitting for Goh than Scorbunny.
I love Go Cinderace, butCinderace being basically a

(45:04):
blank slate of a Pokemon withthe liability.
It would be more fitting for,you know, Ash's final starter to
be one that accesses all thetypes.
And then, you know, Chloe couldhave gotten Grookey because, you
know, she had like a gardeningclub at her school.
So I feel like Grookey would've,you know, made a lot of sense
for her.
And a lot of people wanted ashto have RIllaboom.

(45:25):
and I think that's born out ofInfernape.
I understand that.
But you also have to realizethat before Infernape the other
two monkeys he had, they werereleased being a, being, being
prime apal.

Yeah.

KuroBlitz (45:38):
Like Infernape is the exception, guys not the rule.

you know, you have such detail and such
fondness for all the details,the minute storylines that come
with Pokemon and you know,there's a lot of lore when you
start digging into it.

KuroBlitz (45:49):
Yes.

we've maybe just scratched the surface to
it.
what's your favorite piece ofPokemon Lord to kind of analyze
and what hidden detail do youthink people overlook that
probably should pay you moreattention to?

KuroBlitz (46:00):
Oh, that's a really good question.
I honestly don't know, that'slike, I never really thought
about it until now.
I think it's more so like thecross references that they have,
you know, throughout all of thewhat spinoffs and even the TCG
they have to offer that canlater on be implemented for a
main cannon, like the deltaspecies of the Hoenn expansion.

(46:23):
They were basically what retrialbecame because it's the same
Pokemon, but they emanate adifferent type.
And I'm like, huh.
So what other aspects of, Idon't know, TCG, Pokemon,
whatever have you, could theyrework later in the future?
I think it's because people justconsume the main games and when
it comes to the spinoffs andeverything else, they don't

(46:44):
really pay much attention.
I think this all circles backto, you know, me playing pinball
and it's like, I.
I, I'm not gonna buy Colosseumjust to get the Jirachi, but at
least I need to get the Jirachiin some way, shape, or form.
And, you know, it was inpinball.

How does it tie back into pinball?
I'm curious, like how did youfind that pinball ties into what
you do now?

KuroBlitz (47:05):
I think it's, I feel more so because like, well, I
just like pinball as like a gamein general.
And combining it with Pokemon,it was just like a match made in
heaven.
And I'm like, I feel like thiscould continue.
Because we had one in gen two,we had one in gen three.
We were meant to have one in Genfour apparently.
I don't know how that would'veworked with the Nintendo Ds.
And when New Snap was revealed,I was so happy because I like

(47:27):
Pokemon Snap.
So the new Snap reveal was good,

Mm-hmm.

KuroBlitz (47:31):
then when it was revealed, it was by Bandy Namco.
I don't know how to feel aboutit because Bandy Namco made,
made Pokken and they only made 1DLC.
And I feel like they shouldPokken and New Snap, they should
have had continuous DLCs andupdates, like how Unite does,
like always adding new Pokemonand new tracks like in their

(47:52):
little world.
And unfortunately it was never,it was never for that.
I do recall like they wereasking me like, what's the one
game you would really like?
And I'm like, I want a newPokemon pinball.
And I feel like Generation eighthad the best opportunity to do
it it, it kind of writes itselfin terms of, for example, the
little batteries.
Like instead of having plus andminus, you could have more

(48:13):
Pecos.
Like the Zacian Swords could bethe flippers, the Zamazenta
Shields could be the bumperswhen you have like the ball
leaving the stadium, but youhave to go to another way.
You get like Zarude, swingingthe vines and you're grabbing
the ball back.
like when you go to.
Shoot the ball to like placewhere Pokemon would munch on it.
It could be like Dre Oish as ajaw, just the level design.

(48:35):
And even, you know, those minibosses with, you know, the
Gastly, the Kecleon, theDusclops.
They did so much in so muchdetail and they implemented all
of the Pokemon, like theirbiology, the way they worked
together, just like in, in, inan arcade game.
Which, which is weird to thinkabout.
They did so much with, withbasically so little, and I kind

(48:57):
of miss that magic.

Well KuroBlitz.
to thank you for coming on as apoke up ball turns, but I wanna
finish on this final question.
you know from, you started fromsnowy Christmases mornings to
debating Ash's Pokemon teamPokemon has grown alongside you
sparking imagination,storytelling, and friendships.
Looking back, how has thisjourney with Pokemon shaped who
you are now outside of thegames?

KuroBlitz (49:20):
Oh, it basically gave me a job

It gave me employment.

KuroBlitz (49:27):
pre, pretty, pretty much.
So, just for you to get an idea,when I went to high school, I
underwent, the STEM course justbecause, you know, I just liked
biology all because of Pokemon.
And I had like some historylessons and philosophy here and
there.
'cause like, when people go tothe humanities and language
track, they always get history.
And I'm like, I like history asa hobby, not really as a subject

(49:50):
in school.
I will take biology and I willuse all of my Pokemon knowledge
to.
pass biology.
And one subject that we alwayshad was philosophy.
And I'm like, oh, I've studiedPokemon.
I, I I, I know the Mewtwo quote.
I'm gonna pass, I'm gonna passphilosophy.
so with all of that, basically,for seven years.

(50:10):
after I finished high school, Igot a job as a park ranger, and
I'm like, yes, I'm, I'm aPokemon trainer now, now, now I
work as an archivist for thecity hall.
So times changed.
The pandemic was not, you know,all sunshine and rainbows.
I still do, I still miss thosedays, but, you know, hey,

(50:30):
whatever it's needed to put foodon the table.
but it's just like the, thepipeline of Pokemon FTO Park
Ranger.
It, it's, it's, it'sastronomically.

Well KuroBlitz before you go, if people want to
check out your content, if theywanna connect with you, where
can they go?
By all means, please plug away.

KuroBlitz (50:47):
Uh, sure thing.
They can check me on Twitter onKuroBlitz96, and they can check
me on Blue Sky and on YouTube byKuroBlitz.

Thank you for listening to As the Poke Ball
Turns, if this story resonatedwith you, share the podcast with
the fellow trainer, and don'tforget to follow us.
For more voices, more journeys,and more memories.
I'm David Hernandez, andremember, your next Pokemon
adventure begins here.

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TRAINER'S EYE #164 - "Latios Casts Luster Purge Across Pokémon Lore" ft. KuroBlitz

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}TRAINER'S EYE #164 - "Latios Casts Luster Purge Across Pokémon Lore" ft. KuroBlitz