Pokemon Ultimate Journeys fans discover Dragonite now ‘hits the dab’ in episodes

Pokemon Ultimate Journeys fans notice a funny detail about Ash’s Dragonite when it uses Dragon Claw, in that it looks like it’s dabbing.

For those fans watching Pokemon Journeys outside of Japan, we’re still waiting for the most recent season, Pokemon Ultimate Journeys, to release on Netflix.

However, those watching the Japan release are seeing Ash battle his way to the top of the World Coronation Series Tournament with his team of Pokemon.

However, some fans noticed a funny detail about Ash’s Dragonite during the tournament arc, in that it appears to hit the dab in some of its Dragon Claw animations.

Ash’s Dragonite ‘hits the dab’ and fans love it

Originally, one anime fan on the Pokemon Anime subreddit noticed a small detail, about Ash’s Dragonite and said, “Dragonite changed how she uses Dragon Claw ever since fighting with Paul.”

The original poster was referring to Paul’s reintroduction into the series in Pokemon Journeys episode 114, which has yet to air outside of Japan.

While user Standard_Pack7791 noticed Dragonite’s animation changed, other commenters were quick to point out that the Pokemon actually looked like it was dabbing while using Dragon Claw.

“Dragon Dab?” asked LCLeopards. Another anime fan gave Ash’s Dragonite a new nickname by calling it “DABonite.”

Dragonite changed how she uses Dragon Claw ever since fighting with Paul from pokemonanime

However, user Chidori__O gave a fairly in-depth breakdown of why they think this animation actually happened.

“Real reason is likely just reusing the same animation, that tends to happen in tournament arcs where they come up with one animation for it and reuse it.”

Any anime fan knows that Tournament arcs require tons of animation, especially when there are multiple major characters facing off against others in a huge bracket format.

Still, that didn’t stop Chidori__O from thinking up an in-universe reason for the dab as well. “If we come up with an in-universe reason why, it’s likely cause it just counters any oncoming hits as well.”

Whether it was just an unintentional animation quirk or a thought-out decision on the animation team’s part, it’s pretty hard to deny that Ash’s Dragonite has never looked more fresh.