As Pokémon: Aim to Be A Master continues into its second episode, long-time fans were greeted not only by the return of a familiar face, but also by the comforting tunes of anime days gone by.
The second episode of Aim to Be A Master saw Misty return, becoming Ash's traveling partner again for the first time in 950 episodes. It's a nostalgic feeling to see her again, for sure, but to help drive that feeling home, the anime turned to some of its classic tracks to score the episode.
Misty's Original Pokémon Theme Returns
When Misty first shows up in the new Pokémon episode and the two begin to fish, the episode plays the familiar "surf" music from both the original Red and Blue gameboy games as well as the anime. The music should be instantly recognizable even to the most casual fans, and it primes viewers to continue paying attention to the soundtrack. When Ash and Misty are fishing, the music that plays is the "I Got A Pokémon!" song, which usually played when hijinks were afoot. When Misty finally hooks the Clauncher they've both been after, the "Evolution" music plays, and when Team Rocket is facing an attack from Clauncher and Ash's Corphish, the original "Pokémon Battle" music plays. Finally, when Ash spots Misty following him at the episode's end, the classic "To Be Continued" end theme sees the episode off.
Pokémon's Familiar Music Highlights Nostalgia
As a goodbye to Ash and all that the anime has been over the past 25 years, it only makes sense to bring out some of the classic music that helped to make the series what it is today. It's thematically appropriate too, since Misty is from Pokémon's Kanto region, so it's almost as if she brought the classic music with her--especially since it largely plays during her scenes. Since the music was used for hundreds of episodes in the anime's original series, anyone who's watched the anime in its earliest episodes is likely to perk up at the sound of at least one of these songs. Even more so than Misty's presence, the music brings with it a sense of nostalgia for those early days, and is likely to call to mind memories of watching the series as a kid for older fans. Ash even gets into the spirit of things a bit, behaving a bit more like his original highly competitive self as soon as he sees Misty again.
Between the original Pokémon anime's music and the reappearance of Misty, with Brock promised to come next episode, Aim to Be A Master is certainly delivering on the nostalgia front for Ash's last adventure.