A League of His Own! (928)

[roguedr4g0nite]

Huh... well going to the league battle late like the Indigo League... OK Ash! Repeating past mistakes will sure help you. Anyways this was a decent episode. The Charizard X vs Charizard Y battle was very lackluster. When I heard Ash Greninja was going to be a replacement for his Mega and Trevor was taking on the role of Mega Charizard Y (since the beginning of the series I wanted Ash) I was hoping the writers would have given me a somewhat decent battle. But it was just too fast paced, and Charizard Y fell down to a Flamethrower. Pathetic. They should have ditched the Furfrou battle for more Charizard vs Charizard screentime. But I guess league battles between two powerful Pokémon beats no battles and the constant Thunderbolt spam on Team Rocket
6/10

 

[Omegaz]

Bonnie to Ash: "Sometimes you can be such a kid"

Well there's our Iris cameo everyone.

 

[Darkness Angel]

Mega Charizard Y seemed like a waste as it really didn't get to do much. And Ash's battle was too short with Ash Greninja overpowering his opponent.

 

[Soaring Pikachu]

Great, it is time to start the Kalos league! That was a really unlucky draw for Trevor, he was pretty much doomed from the start although the imagery of a Mega Charizard showdown was neat for how long it lasted. The trainer without 8 badges challenging Ash reminded me of the early seasons, where the badges seemed like a slightly bigger deal to everyone.

Now I know who the he in the title card is there to represent - Prephaps make it obvious and call the episode "a league of Greninja's own."

LOL, it was funny to watch Greninja steamroll its first opponent, I guess the match was so one sided that we did not need to see the rest.

Even though it went by quick, I liked this episode.

 

[the1stpkmnfan]

Bonnie to Ash: "Sometimes you can be such a kid"

Well there's our Iris cameo everyone.

My thoughts exactly. Got Iris vibes from that. But hey, I'll take one punch at that line over a hundred. lol


Overall, pretty mediocre opening episode for a League. Alain VS Trevor was underwhelming, since it was obvious who the winner would be. Seeing Mega Charizard Y was nice, though.

The Punk Rocker character was a nice change of pace though; I kind of felt bad for him at the end when we learned his story about the league. You don't really see that side much, and it could explain why we don't see that many (interesting) trainers in the league.

After the first battle, we see potentially good battles just rushed. And by episode 2 were already talking about the Semi Finals. Rushed much?

At least the latter battles are well animated.

 

[doofinc]

Looking back at this episode, it wasn't bad of an episode. Sure the first two battles went by really quickly but that was to demonstrate Alain and Ash's strength. The main issue for the league was the lack of middle episodes showcasing top 32, 16 and 8. The league as a whole was rushed, but this episode in particular was not rushed.

Also, watching Ash-Greninja curbstomp Altaria gets funnier every replay lol.

 

[Alloutℯ]

Wow, what a bizarre League opener. The pacing was just awful, what with how bad and rushed the battles were and the Furfrou trainer in particular. And I think Alain should have used a Pokemon other than Charizard again.

 

[Wednesdayz]

Looking back at this episode, it wasn't bad of an episode. Sure the first two battles went by really quickly but that was to demonstrate Alain and Ash's strength.

Moreso Alain's skills IMO, but still, it was highly unfair that the Kalos League was too busy hyping two characters to care about pacing issues.

 

[Willow's Tara]

The pacing of the first League episode did seem a bit fast, the battle was okay but mostly Alain showing off his Charizard (I really expected Ash to have his Charizard for some reason, you think he would have tried mega Evolution himself, but he already had Greninja)

That punk rocker- Oh Ash, we don't always get we want, you HAVE to win it for me...
So... your plan was to make Ash prove something, and then lose the League before his first match and guilt trip him? Sure, it's sad he didn't get all eight gym badges, but considering his only Pokemon appeared to be that poodle, then maybe he should have tried hard enough (I can't feel for him when he almost made Ash lose in the first place, because he wouldn't get off. Pikachu was so rightfully annoyed, he was probably thinking if we lose the League because of this Ash, I am joining Team Rocket!). Wasn't the Kanto League that Ash wasn't allowed to battle? He almost got in trouble for it when he was trying to battle a rival if I recall, so you think the same rules would have applied here.

 

[LilligantLewis]

I hope the writers can one day realize that people prefer longer leagues, and they save the budget by eliminating pointless fillers. However, until then, if 7 is the limit, then I rather that be used for the most important rounds.

The Johto and Sinnoh Leagues were 8 episodes.

Well at least we get two 6vs6 two parter battles. .

First time since the Johto League. And actually the only time besides the Johto League

2 generations ago, we also got a rushed one-episode full battle in the semis. If Ash v Alain ends up being Paul-length (covered across 3 episodes), then the league will end up being the same length as two generations ago.

No, An Old Family Blend counts as a league episode

 

[Mega Altaria]

Although I'd expected it to be more intense with the Mega Charizard battle but because Alain's Charizard is just overpowered it didn't feel as intense and just OHKO'd Trevor's Charizard with Flamethrower. I felt that this episode was really rushed because of the huge skips of Sawyer's first League battle and Aerodactyl and Florges's appearances, which both were quickly defeated by Mega Charizard X and okay, Ash-Greninja took Altaria out quickly with Water Shuriken.

 

[345ash-greninja]

Although I'd expected it to be more intense with the Mega Charizard battle but because Alain's Charizard is just overpowered it didn't feel as intense and just OHKO'd Trevor's Charizard with Flamethrower. I felt that this episode was really rushed because of the huge skips of Sawyer's first League battle and Aerodactyl and Florges's appearances, which both were quickly defeated by Mega Charizard X and okay, Ash-Greninja took Altaria out quickly with Water Shuriken.

Also don't forget the Furfrou guy, which was basically pointless and took away screen time from the Ash-Titus battle, and as a result Ash vs Titus was only limited to Greninja vs Altaria, and rest two battles weren't shown.

And another thing which really surprised me was that why no Mega Altaria? This was the writers' best chance to showcase Mega Altaria. They could've made made it like: Altaria Mega Evolves and gives some trouble to Greninja, and then Ash activates the Ash-Greninja transformation to defeat Mega Altaria.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

I liked the Furfrou guy.

He gave us a glimpse of the dark side of leagues.

 

[Vipsoccermaster]

Everett was only there to stall time for Ash. And to show that not all trainers are capable of earning eight badges to participate in the league.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Also don't forget the Furfrou guy, which was basically pointless and took away screen time from the Ash-Titus battle, and as a result Ash vs Titus was only limited to Greninja vs Altaria, and rest two battles weren't shown.

And another thing which really surprised me was that why no Mega Altaria? This was the writers' best chance to showcase Mega Altaria. They could've made made it like: Altaria Mega Evolves and gives some trouble to Greninja, and then Ash activates the Ash-Greninja transformation to defeat Mega Altaria.

At least there was a purpose for the Furfrou Trainer to appear to show that there are Trainers who aren't capable enough to get all 8 badges and that overconfidence won't get them there. If the Altaria Mega Evolved then it would be a lot more interesting because it hasn't yet appeared in the anime and it would better demonstrate Ash-Greninja's power to show that its power is equivalent to that of a Mega Evolution.

 

[Leonhart]

I didn't find this episode to be that special as far as Pokemon League opening ceremonies go. The stadium itself was amazing, yet I did kind of miss the more traditional design of previous stadiums. Trova ended up being fodder for Alain however, which was depressing.

 

[FullmetalJackie]

I thought that this episode was solid. It still surprises me that they jumped into the Kalos League this quickly, but there isn't much else to do. The XYZ writers really are going out of their way to make Ash-Greninja and Alain look good. Poor Trevor didn't even defeat one of Alain's Pokemon before he got the boot, though. I liked how Serena discouraged Ash from his impulses to battle outside of the League.

 

[Power Up]

This was one of my favorite and most underrated episodes of XY, especially as an opening to the league. I've always been a minority on this, but the Furfrou trainer was one of the best pieces of character writing ever in the anime and it really showed the other side of people trying to reach their goals and gain badges. Dozens, if not hundreds fail in their effort to get to the league. We really only see the people who reach the league and not those who failed to reach it and how they feel. So when the Furfrou trainer said " there are millions of trainers who don't have badges but are still strong, " he's talking about those people who have failed.

Ash's response to him as well is absolutely great and shows how far his character had come in XY when he said that " he didn't come here with half-backed memories " and that all of his badges had memories that he would use in his battle against the Furfrou trainer.

Reaching the league is an ultimate honor, not something that your everyday, average trainer is a part of. It has prestige and significance and the trainers who participate are some of the best of the best, all going through grueling gym battles. Getting gym badges and being able to reach the league is something that truly matters to these trainers and we could see how much it meant to the Furfrou trainer that he failed to reach that.

At the end there, when the Furfrou trainer said that " there were plenty of people like him who're feeling awful because they couldn't collect all their badges " and he told Ash to honor those feelings and dreams, it ties it all up amazingly well, leading to probably my favorite image of Ash ever.

Really just brilliantly done. It would have been so amazing if Ash had actually won...

As far as how the rest of the episode was, this is an excellent encapsulation of my feelings

I'm surprised people actually expected the X vs Y battle to be more than what was shown in this episode. You show a trainer that already has experience going up against other megas (some from even the E4 and a champion) along with legendaries vs a guy who doesn't even have a passion for it and has lost every battle he's been in. Just because he got a mega doesn't mean much when the gap in their power level was pretty much canyon sized to begin with. And it has been mentioned but given how big the flamethrower was, I'd say it is more than likely the one-shot was due to the combination of Drought and Charizard already being a powerful 'mon.

Greninja one shotting Altaria is to show that it is on the same power scale as Mega Charizard. I mean this pokemon was going toe to toe with The Champions Mega. Anything less than a one shot would be bad writing and it will make Ash's battle against Alain less believable. You can't have a rivals ace performing better than Ash's since it wouldn't justify Ash winning against them. Tbh, this episode reached my expectations. It's a set up episode, nothing more. Could they have scrapped ep 31 and have that be the setup, sure, was the furfrou battle necessary, no, but in all honesty, the episode seeming short is because the league is meant to be a series of one shots except against certain trainers. It makes the league seem boring because Ash has never been this good before. Someone aboved mentioned it but Ash has finally surpassed the fodder stage of trainers. He is a a part of the small percentage of trainers that actually has a chance of standing up to an E4. Just because everyone has badges doesn't mean they are all the same in skill and strength as was shown in Paul vs Barry, Tobias vs Ash, and Virgil vs Cameron.

Also I just don't see how the league seems rushed. It will still be 7 episodes if not 6. It just seems that way because Ash has never been past Top 4. In order to make the 2 month episode limit and make enough room for the Top 2 battle, they simply are montaging the first battles to highlight and make time for the more important ones. I mean why spend time and energy animating battles of trainers we all know he will win against and he has no connections to?

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

*cue the Alola League's requirements to participate*

 

[Power Up]

*cue the Alola League's requirements to participate*

Where? I don't see any