I didn't like the battle. It started off badly, ended badly and only had a few decent aspects in between.
- First you have Tranquill, who has the ability Super Luck. This raises the chances of landing a critical hit. Apparently in the anime, it means it will land critical hits every time. Also according to the anime, a critical hit = instant K.O. I'm not buying this crap; Oshawott and Tepig's losses were cheap especially when you consider their performances in the Striaton Gym.
- Wow, a type advantage actually worked in this series. That's uncommon in Best Wishes. I appreciate that the writers didn't go the obvious route and have Pikachu lose to Tranquill just to prove that "type advantages don't always work kids lolol"
- And Pikachu loses to Servine. I dislike how Ash's competence fluctuates depending on the situation. The same thing happens to Trip as well.
- Snivy using Attract to beat Servine was great. No complaints here.
- Frillish takes out Pidove with one hit. Way to not show Ash using the bird unless it's being creamed. >_>
- Frillish vs. Snivy was a good battle, and I'm happy to see that Attract can be dodged. If that wasn't possible, it would be a way too overpowered move.
Ash's loss against Trip was dumb though. It's unnatural for Trip to have progressed so much in a short amount of time. It seems this series has a lot of characters making unusual amounts of progress in no time at all, and then losing their competence depending on the situation. It no longer feels like the characters and Pokemon are consistently improving, like they did in Diamond and Pearl.