"The Cave of Mirrors!" Review Thread

It was hard for me to notice how different Bonnie's mirror counterpart was in the Japanese version due to the lack of accents, but thanks to the dub, I now know that she's actually more well-mannered than the childish and carefree Bonnie we know and love. I still don't understand why certain fans want Serena to act more like her mirror counterpart; I've already made a thread at the anime & manga section about how Tsunderes are nothing like their real life counterparts, who are some of the worst people you'll ever encounter. As for the episode itself, I still stand that it feels out of place for the series, because the powers of the mirrors lacks a Pokémon as its main source like similar episodes such as the Dusknoir episode in DP.

I also find the Mirror World to be severely out of place. This episode posed a couple huge mysteries: how does the Mirror World exist and how did Team Rocket enter and leave? Even though Pokémon has a lot of fictional reasoning to the events that take place in its world, the Mirror World seems almost unreasonable. That didn't strike any of the characters as something immensely fascinating? Was the Mirror World something that has been known by everyone since the anime began? Where did the tiny bit of lore that we heard come from?

Anyways, the alternate characters were vastly interesting. It took me a moment to notice Bonnie's personality, but she cleared it up with her reactions to Clemont's actions. Alternate Clemont was really cool. I think his alter personality was displayed the best, as we got to see him with a lot of stamina and some of his superstitious beliefs (which strangely worked in the Mirror World). Serena was my least favorite, though I understand why she had that attitude. Although, at the end of the episode, it seemed liked the Mirror World Serena knew that the regular Serena was interested in Ash. I can't remember what she said, however. I didn't really like crybaby Ash. With the way Serena treated him, I don't know why he would travel with her. My favorite Mirror World counterparts were the Heroes of Justice! We only saw them for a minute, but I thought that scene was hilarious.

But the main issue: if nobody was able to leave the Mirror World after sunset, how did Team Rocket escape? And how did they even get there in the first place?

Overall great episode with a fascinating and fresh plot. I know that Team Rocket kind of did a doppelganger thing with the twerps not too long ago, but this episode took it to a whole new dimension :P

Wobbu said:

I also find the Mirror World to be severely out of place. This episode posed a couple huge mysteries: how does the Mirror World exist and how did Team Rocket enter and leave? Even though Pokémon has a lot of fictional reasoning to the events that take place in its world, the Mirror World seems almost unreasonable. That didn't strike any of the characters as something immensely fascinating? Was the Mirror World something that has been known by everyone since the anime began? Where did the tiny bit of lore that we heard come from?

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Not to mention the lack of Carbink, who, in the games, can only be found in Reflection Cave. It was a missed opportunity to have them involved.

But the main issue: if nobody was able to leave the Mirror World after sunset, how did Team Rocket escape? And how did they even get there in the first place?

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Wasn't it mentioned near the end of the episode that anyone who is trapped in the Mirror World after sundown will be trapped for a while until morning comes?

When it came to this episode, one thing I can say about it was it kind of reminded me of the book Alice Through the Looking Glass. Other than that, I thought the episode was quite good.

Warning: This following review may contain excessive use of memes & gifs. Viewer discretion is advised.

- So, our lovely bunch is taking a stroll to Shalour City, when they come across the acclaimed Mirror Cave. Oooo shiny...!
- Ash at one time decides to head off into the cave headlong ahead of the group to find their way through, or out. I sure know how that's going to end...
- He eventually end up getting lost, but at one time, one of those natural reflective surfaces end up revealing a portal into another dimension, with another version of Ash looking straigh at him. What the bloody hell is going on here??
- Ash looks at the mirror surface again, & sure enough, the portal opens again, but this time, his Pikachu gets taken by the other Ash! Not having any of it, he dives right in to Pikachu's rescue, not knowing what lies in store for him...
- Once he manages to find a way out, he's greeted by his group, but this is not the same group of people that he was with. No, they might be the same people, but they've got different personalities. Serena, in particular, end up being more hot-headded in this alternate realm.
- Despite this, the bunch was happy to have him back. However, the alt-Serena wasn't happy that he doesn't have his Pikachu with him, & starts calling him a cry-baby.
- Wait what?? Ash isn't like that at all! If he were, all the other sensible trainers & especially Gym Leaders would be like...


...Then again, Whitney was like that when you beat her in G/S/C/HG/SS, but those are the games, here - we're talking about the animé for this one.
- Ash tries to convince her otherwise, but she isn't going to have any of it, & thus will only believe him if he wins a Pokémon fight with her. Guess what that means??
- Fennekin VS Froakie. FIGHT!!
- Fennekin starts off with a monstrous Flamethrower, however Froakie manages to intercept it with a Water Pulse.
- Froakie then throws her in for a loop with DT, & mixes that up with a spray of bubbles. That ends up being too much for Fennekin, & this it succumbs to this onslaught.
- So, now that Alt-Serena believes him, she then told him of this other Ash, who wound up losing his Pikachu, & thus started looking for it in the Mirror Cave.
- At that time, Clemont tells him about this legend in the Mirror Cave, in which one of the reflective surfaces happens to be a gateway to an alternate dimension, & if one has a strong wish, the gateway opens.
- Shortly afterward, the Alt-Ash shows up with Ash's Pikachu. Ah, sweet reunification...
- Meanwhile, back in the real world, the other bunch is worried for Ash's safety, rightfully so. Clemont then decides it's time to showcase his dimensional gate opener!
- As soon as he activates it, sparks fly, & then...
- Self-destruct in 3, 2, 1. KABOOOOOM!!!
- With that in smoldering bit, all they can do is hope & pray...
- Back in the alternate dimension, The alt-Clemont uses his magical mumbo-jumbo to try & locate the alt-Pikachu, but when they do...
- They get stopped by Team Rocket, who manages to have both the Pikachus in tow.
- & they're reciting their motto again... *mutes television*
- Once Ash tells the alt-bunch who these guys are, they mention that they usually happen to be a bunch of do-gooders. ...Wait, what?!
- So in this case, the TR that's here is in fact, the one from the real world.
- They all end up doing the usual quibbling, & alt-Clemont seizes the opportunity to yank the two Pikachus right from under TR's noses. Very clever.
- TR gets two Thunderbolts shoved into their faces, & all is well.
- Except for one thing: Nighttime is approaching, & the legend states that if someone in the real world doesn't get out of the alt-world by nighttime, they're stuck in the alt-world forever! That's definitely some bad ju-ju.
- Thus , they waste no time to get back into Mirror cave, find the reflective surface in question, & start hoping for the best.
- Sure enough, the gateway opens. However, the gateway between the two worlds are starting to separate in this dimensional rift!
- Ash makes a jump of faith towards his real group, narrowly grabbing onto the edges, & is pulled up by his friends.


Talk about a close shave...
- So yeah, everything's back to normal, except for one thing...
- TR's still in the alternate dimension, when lo & behold, they come face to fact with Pseudo-Team Rocket! You know, those do-gooders that alt-Clemont talked about? He wasn't lying...!
-Wait... if I wrapped my head around this correctly, anybody that came in here from the real world & is still in this alternate world by night, they're stuck in here forever... If TR is still here & it's nighttime, that means... NO MORE TR FOR THE REST OF THE ANIMé!!

re Carbink: pretty sure it has a significant role in the Diancie movie so whatevs.

Mirror World: super bizarre. when we were in speculation mode for this my reactions were basically "this would only really make sense if pokemon are controlling this or if it's an illusion or whatever" and i stand by that

Counterparts: Haven't seen the dub at all and would probably not pick up on the vocal style changes but the original was really interesting. Pinkie I'm surprised you didn't pick up on Bonnie right away? She was really reserved and formal from the get-go.

Rockets: who knows man maybe those particular worlds collide more often than the characters think

Episode: it was really hyped actually and not very interesting imo. part of that was probably because i was highly disengaged because none of it made sense to be happening in the world as established

I always thought that it was an alternate TR? I watched the dub versoin, and right after they grabbed Pikachu, Mirror!Ash asks them why they keep doing this, and Meowth's response is something along the lines of "Until you grow up!". Also it was either Mirror-world Serena or Bonnie who mentioned to Regular-world Ash that TR were the 'Heroes of Justice' the moment they appeared.

- ok, so Serena knew about this cave. Pretty girl, no reason to warn the others about the cave's nature, right?
- lookie, dungeon! Monsters, exp, loot!
- lookie,strange thing happened! How to survive horror movies rule #1: do NOT mess with strange phenomenas! RUN!
- Ash does not investigate the mirror-surface which acted strange. no, he runs deeper into the cave, because... reasons.
- turns out they tried to simply go out. Because they got lost. Well, that escalated quickly.
- mirror-Ash steals pikachu because he never had one. Or he's Team Rocket. Or reasons.
- time to make notice of Clement's pajamas. Very stupid clothes, and he's stuck with it. Even if it is an overal.
- "If you beat me in battle I believe you" - worst reason ever.
- mirror-Ash does not work. "Real" Ash might not be a "crybaby", but he's still a looser, a weakling, a nouse worm who's stuck with his lvl 838 pikachu.
- Serena does not work in either version because she don't have a reason to exist in the anime. She doesn't racing, she doesn't build romance, isn't useful in any way. I cry back Misty even to substitute her.
- with the later revealed "only until" part the compound, dynamic directing of the episode is excelent.
- wut, Clemont knows the equatations for the Mirror World?
- evidently in the Mirror-World was supposed to appear Team Righteous, not Team Rocket. The Authority must have phoned down to ruin the episode.

This would have been one of my favorite episodes of the anime, but there wasn't enough of Team Righteous, or "good Team Rocket." I think it would have been very funny had Team Rocket and their counterparts had a big argument and then the good Team Rocket agreed to help the bad Team Rocket get back home, preferably using some ultra-powerful rare Pokemon.

This might explain what happened in Pokemon Chronicles, where Jessie and James are confronted by townspeople who confuse them for superheroes--Team Righteous was visiting from another dimension and stopped by the town on their way back! LOL, which kind of makes sense because Jessie and James are like comic book characters, and comic book characters go on crazy adventures like that.

There were a lot of plot holes, but zany and ridiculous works with anime. After all, Ash lives in a world where being burned by a dragon's breath will only leave your clothes charred and where touching an animal with a special stone makes it change into another animal. His world obviously follows different rules than ours does.
There needed to be more Team Rocket.
Ash cried, and that was satisfying. If main Ash showed as much emotion and came off as human as his mirror counterpart, I might not find myself rooting for the bad guys most of the time.
There was an opportunity for a bad Team Rocket vs. good Team Rocket scene, or even full episode, and no one took advantage of it. Instead, they left us all on a cliff hanger wondering how bad Team Rocket got back home. Man, Nintendo could make a whole spin-off series about Team Rocket's misadventures--they tend to get lost in the most unusual of places.

I do have a few questions, though:

If this was the mirror universe, doesn't that mean Ash and his friends were supposed to be the bad guys if Team Rocket were good?
Why didn't they make mirror Team Rocket cameo in some other situations?