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Ash Heads Into Battle! VS Steven!! (1207)

Panky..

Discord: Panky..#9281
In terms of visual quality, this battle seems on par with last week's, maybe slightly better. Though, not that big an improvement that it would be impressive or noticeable by any margin.

In terms of writing quality, I have mixed feelings. Ash did pretty well and kept Steven on his toes often with some out of the box stuff, but they insisted on using that stupid helpless Ash trope so many times that it felt off-putting in contrast with his smarts. Then there's him suddenly losing all manner of intelligence during that final match-up, insisting on just straightforward attacking a speedy Metagross over and over for no reason even after it failed repeatedly, and this happens right after he used a clever strategy to trap Cradilly, like wtf? It just felt like cheap fake drama to soften up Pikachu given how fresh he was while Metagross had sustained prior damage, it felt completely unnecessary and padded out screentime. They could have just given us a comprehensive and dominant Pikachu win over yet another Metagross.

The small silver lining is that the nuke didn't finish off Metagross, and instead, just stunned+damaged it long enough for an actual super-effective finishing move to land. Also, that "Alain interaction" amounted to nothing.

I do agree with the sentiment that none of these battles so far (except QF2 maybe?) have felt like Champion Tier matches for the World's biggest tournament, for one reason or another. If I had to rank all the QF battles based on writing and visual presentation then (QF2 >> QF4 > QF3 >> QF1) for the former and (QF4 >= QF3 > QF1 >> QF2) for the latter.
 
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Vichoo

Well-Known Member
Dracovish should be sent to the ranch immediately and have the directors fix their mistake and start calling pokemon from the Ranch.
He was more embarrassing than Goodra or Noivern (He can still be redeemed).

I don't know how Ash will beat Cynthia, he would have to use Pikachu, Lucario and Gengar. Now to have the filling that comes.

How did May and Rat Boy not appear?, not even Brock...
 

Lord Godwin

The Lord of Darkness
Do you think we will she Ash's Alola Team at some point?
 
I do agree with the sentiment that none of these battles so far (except QF2 maybe?) have felt like Champion Tier matches
The skill and trick are just the same, only power output are greater, needing safety barrier to keep spectator safe even after such distance.
 

AJ97

Well-Known Member
Dracovish should be sent to the ranch immediately and have the directors fix their mistake and start calling pokemon from the Ranch.
He was more embarrassing than Goodra or Noivern (He can still be redeemed).

I don't know how Ash will beat Cynthia, he would have to use Pikachu, Lucario and Gengar. Now to have the filling that comes.

How did May and Rat Boy not appear?, not even Brock...
Ash is battling one of the strongest trainers in the world.
Dracovish tanked and probably even damaged Metagross to prompt Steven to switch out.

Considering Pikachu took out Metagross with the half Z-Move + Iron Tail, Dracovish's attack also played a role (If you look at it more objectively).
 

janejane6178

Kaleido Star FOREVER in my heart <3
The only thing I didnt like about this ep is how Pikachu won against Metagross.
Z-moves are such a cheap way to win.
Dont like this one bit

Other than that, the ep was wonderful and very emotional
 

DragonKahuna

Dragon Master
Outside of your avatar picture, why in the hell would Iris vs Cynthia be the best battle lol.

Outside of Haxorus versus Garchomp, all the remaining matches were low efforts one-shots with no strategy.
I just felt it had a bit more epicness to it on Haxorus vs Garchomp.

Diantha vs Lance is of course too good.
 

SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
The Good:
The Cameos, seriously they went above and beyond then they should have. Tyson, Morrison even freakng Katie? Drew, Harley, some more of May's original coordinator rivals except Solidad sadly, holy ****
For Ash I'm not too bothered May and Max didnt show up, they are definitely being saved for Ash vs Leon
Which is why I hope for Cynthia we get the remaining Ash's rivals/dream crushers aka Gary, Harrison, maybe Brandon, Tobias, Barry and Palmer, Cameron and Virgil

All the interactions, Iris watching with Goh was a nice touch, All the champions being shocked and reacting to Ash's strats, etc.

Ash being Alola's champion being mentioned yay!

Some of the drawings this episode, Steven and Ash were drawn especially well and Cradily was a BEAST, the second half was animated well. Also Indigo League's JPN first opening being used? Hell yeah!!!

I LOVED how Ash's Z move was shown this episode, especially showing that it can't just be easily dodged and isnt all powerful either. Well done

Ash not being an underdog. He was in equal footing throughout with his own strats, and his strat against Cradily just made me smile. I love seeing Pikachu battle and it's always well animated

The Bad:

No music in the early half, it felt really freaking dull
No proper Ash Alain interaction, this is a point not only coz it was teased by the dumb leakers but because its the nail in the coffin as Alain goes back. Seriously, I dont mind Steven going along with Lance but WHY do Iris and Alain have to go? ESPECIALLY when Iris and Goh had a nice dynamic and Alain and Ash needed serious interactions
Dracovish. I dont mind it jobbing but the way it was done was freaking bland man. I get they wanted to show Strong Jaw + Ice fang and a Paul call back and wanted to show Aggron's Rock Head in a damaging way, but it was eh execution. Same with Aggron going down to just a midway Dragon Rush clash, Will o Wisp and burns and Dazzling Gleam. Why are they afraid of showing more attacks?
Cradily vs Gengar was nice, Cradily was Pikachu was AMAZING, and Mega Metagross vs Pikachu was decent, after the Z move Ash should have used more attacks by using Z move to finally hit Metagross rather than just ONE Iron tail


Misc:

I love how Ash's first move in a MASTERS tournament is freaking Water Gun XD

As someone mentioned, the battles have become more gameified which sucks interest out. We dont want game battles, heck even take away the mechanics if you want to like in XYZ with the Frenzy Plant and Blast burn attacks, but dont take away the fluidity and craziness of the anime. I can't even entirely fault animation, its a deliberate choice not having dodges that much, continously attacking, being more fluid
 

janejane6178

Kaleido Star FOREVER in my heart <3
Metagross dominated Pikachu through the whole battle..... And then Pikachu finishes it in one Z-move? I loved the music they played and it was very emotional, but felt very cheap to me
 

Vichoo

Well-Known Member
ESPECIALMENTE cuando Iris y Goh tenían una buena dinámica y Alain y Ash necesitaban interacciones serias
I very much agree with this, it irritates me that they want to give JN's things so much prominence...

1- JN's pokemon leaving aside those from the ranch.
2- Now leave stuffy and boring Goh with Leon's brother, god. I'm still hoping that Brock will show up
 

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
Idk what you mean by ’champion level battles’ but this ain’t demon slayer lmao, it’s ****ing pokemon.
At the very least it should’ve been like Ash’s battles with Alain, Gladion, & Prof. Kukui (or even his PWC battles with Visquez & Volkner)
 
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