Pokémon: Horizons was already doing a lot to break the unspoken rules of the original Pokémon anime. Rising Hope continues that trend by doing the unthinkable and actually integrating a time skip as the catalyst for a new arc. Unlike other anime that might just use a time skip for the sake of changing your character's design or skipping training, Rising Hope basically uses the time skip to establish that everything is different from how the last season ended. You would not be able to generate this new status quo or the beginning of this new arc without this time skip because it so heavily informs where everybody is now.

The Rising Volt Tacklers were disbanded, and their reputation is in the garbage. Our main trio of Liko, Roy, and Dot basically needs to take on their responsibilities. They're investigating these weird occurrences without Friede, the airship, or the other adults to help walk them through difficult situations. That isn't to say that the Rising Volt Tacklers were an instant problem-solving force before, except for maybe Friede, but it is interesting seeing Liko, Roy, and Dot take on a more active role in trying to solve these mysterious Pokémon problems. In fact, this time skip offered a believable role reversal where almost every member of the Rising Volt Tacklers had to basically take on different jobs and scatter about without Friede being there to keep them together. I loved seeing the adults be vulnerable as well, with a special note being given to Mara Junot as Orla, since Friede's disappearance hit her the hardest. So now it's up to the kids to take on the emotional supportive role.

I loved seeing natural evolutions of these characters without them coming off as completely different people. Dot is still working hard as a person behind the scenes, but she feels less reclusive than she did before. In fact, she's using all of her technological knowledge and even her influencer status as a means of gathering as much information as possible. Roy has definitely seen the biggest glow up after this time skip and arguably takes over a little bit as the main character over Liko. It is a bit concerning that he almost seems to act as more of an analog to Ash than he might have before, especially since Captain Pikachu has joined his team, and the last series also very heavily featured Ash alongside a Lucario. But Roy is still his own character. If anything, he has mellowed out a lot more and definitely seems to be taking on more of Friede's role in the group, minus the occasional absent-minded irresponsibility.

In fact, a good way that the show establishes this character growth is with the introduction of a new character in the form of Ult. Ult gets introduced alongside Roy's re-introduction, and it's not established exactly how they met, as it happened in the middle of that one-year time skip. In a lot of ways, Ult is like the gremlin version of what Roy used to be, which creates a sibling dynamic as Roy needs to be the one to tell Ult to keep it together. He comes off as a little annoying at first and a bit too typically shounen, but he does mellow out with the rest of the cast by the end of this batch of episodes. If anything, there are a lot of hints about some of his own fears and insecurities that I'm looking forward to seeing addressed in later episodes. Laura Stahl does a fantastic job playing him, capturing that loud abrasiveness without losing any depth. I love how well the voice cast made everyone sound slightly older without it being jarring.

It does seem like Liko gets the short end of the stick in terms of change and development. It starts really strongly with her clearly being depressed about everybody separating. Liko definitely gives off an empathic personality, so it makes sense that it would hit her hardest. But after the first two episodes, she goes back to how she was during the original season. It's not bad, as I do like Liko's character, but it is a shame that almost everybody goes through a significant change except for her. Even the Explorers go through a significant change, considering they went from being the villains of the first season that operated in the shadows to public figures who have won the affection of the general public. It's such a good way of establishing how different the season is compared to the previous ones because now our heroes need to operate in the shadows to take down the clearly evil organization that is slowly hurting everyone's Pokémon.

Unfortunately, while everything has stepped up narratively, the presentation did not. It doesn't look bad, but it definitely doesn't feel like the show has stepped up dramatically from where the last season ended, which, if you recall, I was already getting concerned about. There are some glimmers of good animation cuts, especially in showcasing the newly reintroduced gimmick of Mega Evolution, but I was hoping for a bit more from the battles and effect animations. The same can be said about the music because even though there are some new light motifs, things sound largely the same.

Overall, this is a great step in the right direction. I know this all might not sound impressive compared to other shows of its nature, but time skips and new status quos are a HUGE deal for Pokémon. I like where everyone is, and I love the setup for what's to come. Let's keep that momentum going strong into part two!