Ash Joins In! The Pokémon World Championships!! (1107)

[mysticalglacia]

This was an excellent episode.

Gengar being a certified badass, continuity galore, great animation, and the best battle of the series by far. Everything about this episode was very good, which is to be expected from the team behind it. I love love how they’re integrating continuity slowly as the series goes on. I admit I had my doubts, but between everything they showed today I actually have hope that they’ll do more of it in the future. I like Visquez; she’s fun. She actually managed to make Electrode look intimidating...which is an achievement. I loved the battle. Switching up the matchups so it wasn’t just Raichu vs. Pikachu again was refreshing (though they’re probably saving this for the inevitable Surge rematch), as were the strategies. Referencing his original strategy put a smile on my face; it feels like the writers had fun writing this episode. Gengar is amazing. Love its animation, its personality (that laugh!), and its moveset. Ice Punch and Psychic are particularly intriguing and were used well here. Can’t wait to see future battles with it; Gengar is a beast & is quickly climbing the ranks of my favorite Ash captures.

They’re definitely setting up a future battle between Surge and Ash. While I don’t particularly like Surge, it’ll be nostalgic to see him again. The quality of battles this series has been good, so I have decent expectations for whenever that’ll be.

 

[pancakemonster]

That battle was really cool. Some of the tactics were odd enough to leave me scratching my head, but it all happened so fast and looked so good, with such great music playing that I just kind of let it wash over me. The clear Surge references were nice too, I'm still wary about how much continuity there will be post-OS, but anything is better than nothing. My only hope is that the next world tournament battle can involve some non-Kanto Pokemon, ideally from both Ash and the opponent.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Go told Scorbunny it's fine the way it is, which showed that he didn't quite understand its feelings but isn't that harsh especially when he immediately acted when Satoshi pointed out that it didn't really feel like they were one, went back for Scorbunny, realized a way for it to do what it wants to do and then helped it do it, in that moment Scorbunny seemed to have no issues with Go, they overcame that issue, but it was then followed by another issue in Scorbunny's attitude changing via evolution, which this episode shows is just teenage self consciousness basically, first in the episode we see Raboot run after the Spearow BEFORE Go but not waiting for directions or anything which means it still wants to be with Go and catch Pokemon but tries to be cool and silent about it, then it wanted to cheer for Pikachu like usual but tried to act cool, which wore off as the battle progressed.

I assume they're just letting this sit for a while and then have Go say something like "I've been thinking about what's up with Raboot ever since then but I can't seem to get it to open up" which will cause Satoshi or Sakuragi etc to say something that'll help, or have it be triggered by some dangerous event where they have to communicate, and even if that involves Go apologizing for not fully understanding Raboot, right now the narrative isn't giving me the impression that there's any lingering negativity from ep 17, that was that, this is this.

I think it's the exact thing. Raboot is fine with being Go's Pokémon and even go catching things with him.

Also, I see his few glimpses of looking excited and wanting to cheer Pikachu as just him letting his old, childish self "slide" before he figures out he is supposed to look composed and cool

At best, I can see Raboot's gag being he wants to put on a serious front but it's just the Scorbunny we've all come to know and love.

It is nice to see how ash left such an impression that LT surge described him and his strategies to his lackeys in such a way that his lackeys still remember and know him just by his name. Makes me proud for my boy ash.

What I love most is that Ash seems to be really respected and well regarded there. Right down to the fact that the mere mention of "Ash from Palllet Town" causes Pisces/Vizques/Bisquez/Bitches to be surprised and even more eager to battle him.

Even Raichu seemed more fired up like he was excited about the prospect of succeeding where his senior (senpai is too weaboo) had failed

One thing I really like about the World Championships systems is that it kind of follows a similar system to Medabots, which is what I was hoping they'd go for: Trainers have to battle each other to earn the highest number of points for the world tournament, and they earn more points by battling trainers with higher ranks.

The Rotom Drone even takes on a similar role to Mr. Referee by randomly popping in and officiating matches, so I'm hoping it'll have more comedic roles as the series progresses. (also his voice is hilarious! It's the voice of a generation!)

I'm really glad I wasn't the only one who had remembered of Medabots while seeing the Rotom Drone.

I do hope they managed to make its random appearances as etertaining as Mr. Referee's.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Seeing Ash get an actual battle against Sabrina would make up for the horrible way he got the Marsh Badge. He literally did nothing and only “won” because Haunter made Sabrina laugh which caused Kadabra to laugh uncontrollably due to its psychic link to its trainer. I’m not necessarily saying it has to be Kadabra that Ash faces as Alakazam would be better now that Pikachu is much stronger than it was in the OS. Sabrina could even have a Sigilyph since it is rarely seen in the anime and serve as a nod to Sabrina being in BW2.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Seeing Ash get an actual battle against Sabrina would make up for the horrible way he got the Marsh Badge. He literally did nothing and only “won” because Haunter made Sabrina laugh which caused Kadabra to laugh uncontrollably due to its psychic link to its trainer. I’m not necessarily saying it has to be Kadabra that Ash faces as Alakazam would be better now that Pikachu is much stronger than it was in the OS. Sabrina could even have a Sigilyph since it is rarely seen in the anime and serve as a nod to Sabrina being in BW2.

Exactly and really she's the only gym Gym leader left I would have ash face again. He defeated Erika in that AU movie so I don't need to see him do it again in the main series. And similarly he beat misty, is clearly stronger than Brock and will one day have a facedown with Giovanni. So I would rather have him face sabrina

 

[Yuugis Black Magician]

Hand-drawn background animation isn’t really commonplace anymore tbh.

It's still used by skilled animators, especially on Otaku-aimed series that want higher-quality animation. Mob Psycho 100 is the best example that comes to mind. Iwane could do it too, if so desired.

 

[Decidueye23]

If we get gym leader stand ins, i hope they show janine for fuschia city. Would be a cool way to show them off. Also, i hope he battles some of the gym leaders with whom he didnt have a proper battle. I also wonder so do the elite 4 etc rank up in these as well? would be cool to see ash go out against certain elite 4 members he lost to.

 

[mehmeh1]

Hand-drawn background animation isn’t really commonplace anymore tbh.

True, though we've had them from time to time in SM and even in this series

 

[British Soul]

I like that Lt Surge appeared in a flashback and his gym staff acknowledged Ash's battle with him to this day.
Also that Psyduck joining in with the Farfetch'd at the beginning.

Visquez having a plug-like hairpiece in her hair is intersting character design.

Another thing I appreciated was the nod to Pokemon Snap during the Pikachu/Electrode fight, and I think the Electrode having its Hidden Ability was an interesting move.

 

[MysticLeviathan]

anyone know the voice actor for Rotom Drone? Sounds like he speaks English well lol

 

[ShadowForce720]

anyone know the voice actor for Rotom Drone? Sounds like he speaks English well lol

The name of the VA for the Rotom Drone is Maxwell Powers.

 

[Bortgreen]

anyone know the voice actor for Rotom Drone? Sounds like he speaks English well lol

Like ShadowForce said, he is Maxwell Powers and he was born in USA, though he resides in Japan
I liked his work in this episode quite a lot

 

[Trey pokes]

Like ShadowForce said, he is Maxwell Powers and he was born in USA, though he resides in Japan
I liked his work in this episode quite a lot

Speaking as someone who only watches the English version, I wonder if maybe the Dub could use someone like him? Given that he's both English and American.

 

[Bortgreen]

Speaking as someone who only watches the English version, I wonder if maybe the Dub could use someone like him? Given that he's both English and American.

Would be great but I don't think things are that easy
And like I said he lives in Japan

 

[ShadowForce720]

Would be great but I don't think things are that easy
And like I said he lives in Japan

Would he need to leave Japan though as I would think they could just have him record his lines there and add them over. You know sort of like how some actors don’t film a scene together even though both of their characters are in the scene.

 

[Soniman]

The confirmation of acknowledging Lt Surge and his history with Ash just confuses me more with the descion to replace him with a stand in. Guess they just didn't want to retread old ground? Either way it was a good battle and continuity was all I wanted which I got so I'll eat crow on this one

 

[dman_dustin]

The confirmation of acknowledging Lt Surge and his history with Ash just confuses me more with the descion to replace him with a stand in. Guess they just didn't want to retread old ground? Either way it was a good battle and continuity was all I wanted which I got so I'll eat crow on this one

The episode literally confirmed that Ash was going up against Pisces (or whatever the hell her name is)......not just a gym leader substitute.

Her being Lt. Surge's substitute was SOLELY to flesh out her character.

Lt. Surge would have an entirely different ranking and Ash could easily battle him later.

 

[Henry's Journey]

So ash who is a winner of lola league, reached finals of kalos league and semis of sinnoh league and also is one of the elite few who have conquered the battle frontier not to mention has been in quarters of hoenn, johto and unnova league is ranked so lowly. I thought he should be ranked atleast in top 200 if not in 100.

...So Ash should be given special treatment and influence just because he did well/great in past competitions? That's corruption and NO, everybody starts from scratch, someone else acknowledged Usain Bolt and well the example are most if not all of sports, I've seen post like this in twitter, facebook and other places and it's annoying imo, it's like people just don't understand or something.

 

[Henry's Journey]

..About the episode well that was amazing, the best episode of Pocket Monsters (2019) so far! I liked the battles in PM012 and PM013 but since the ultimate Ash vs Kukui showdown this is the best one and the outcome was unexpected, I thought Pikachu was beating Raichu and Gengar winning over Electored and turned out Gengar beat Raichu and Pikachu defeated Electrode, nice! the flashbacks, the references, the continuity, I love it! I just wonder if Ash is going to face some Kanto gym leaders again or just a reference to his past?

Anyway, definitely a 10/10.

 

[Soniman]

The episode literally confirmed that Ash was going up against Pisces (or whatever the hell her name is)......not just a gym leader substitute.

Her being Lt. Surge's substitute was SOLELY to flesh out her character.

Lt. Surge would have an entirely different ranking and Ash could easily battle him later.

They implied they'll fight later but I'm not holding my breath there