Battle-Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym! (711)

[Lorde]

I'm still waiting for Juputoru's comments lol.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who waits for her reviews.

How come everyone loves her reviews, yet mine are totally ignored? *Forever alone*

Anyway, call me stubborn, but I still don't approve of Pikachu's behavior. It's not like Pikachu to lose his temper. So I wasn't impressed with his little temper tantrum, even if Ash was being kind of stupid. I also don't like that Pikachu was used here since it means that some other [worthier] Pokemon missed out on some screentime. You'd think that the writers would balance things out by giving the other reserve Pokemon a chance to battle, but I guess old habits die hard.

 

[Moltanic]

How come everyone loves her reviews, yet mine are totally ignored? *Forever alone*

You posted one? I didn't see your summary this time?

 

[Eternal Darkness]

Hm. I liked this episode. Palpitoad's win was awesome, taking 4 hits like that. The one thing that surprised me though, was how Ash didn't seem to notice Palpitoad was tired, where usually, (From recent memory), he would recall a Pokemon if he saw it was that tired.

I felt that Snivy's loss was approriate, as Ash's only strategy was for her to use Attract on Emolga and knock it out from there. But, I have to admit, seeing Elesa's and the ref's reaction when he went to go get Snivy was funny. Actually, him just thinking about which Pokemon to use in total, was quite funny. That seems like an Ash thing to do, especially since his strategy didn't seem to be working out.

Pikachu, I feel like, deserved its wins, especially since he lost to both a Panpour and a Snivy in the first five episodes of BW. I don't see why people are complaining about him winning like this, especially the way he won against Tynamo. That was typical Ash, pulling a strategy out of nowhere like that, wasn't it?

Overall I liked this Gym battle. Wasn't as good as say, some Sinnoh ones, but I think it's my favorite so far in BW.

Also, I don't see the complaints about why Pikachu got two wins. I think he deserved them, and after the way he was in Sinnoh, being in four gyms, and doing nothing in two of them, I think he deserved to be a little screen hoggy. I know he's going to be in at least one more gym, but I hope he stays away from both the Ground Gym and the Ice Gym. Plus, seeing Pikachu with some character is better than what we usually have. I don't see what the big problem is. Are people that scared of change?

 

[Mr.Munchlax]

Hm. I liked this episode. Palpitoad's win was awesome, taking 4 hits like that. The one thing that surprised me though, was how Ash didn't seem to notice Palpitoad was tired, where usually, (From recent memory), he would recall a Pokemon if he saw it was that tired.

I felt that Snivy's loss was approriate, as Ash's only strategy was for her to use Attract on Emolga and knock it out from there. But, I have to admit, seeing Elesa's and the ref's reaction when he went to go get Snivy was funny. Actually, him just thinking about which Pokemon to use in total, was quite funny. That seems like an Ash thing to do, especially since his strategy didn't seem to be working out.

Pikachu, I feel like, deserved its wins, especially since he lost to both a Panpour and a Snivy in the first five episodes of BW. I don't see why people are complaining about him winning like this, especially the way he won against Tynamo. That was typical Ash, pulling a strategy out of nowhere like that, wasn't it?

Overall I liked this Gym battle. Wasn't as good as say, some Sinnoh ones, but I think it's my favorite so far in BW.

Also, I don't see the complaints about why Pikachu got two wins. I think he deserved them, and after the way he was in Sinnoh, being in four gyms, and doing nothing in two of them, I think he deserved to be a little screen hoggy. I know he's going to be in at least one more gym, but I hope he stays away from both the Ground Gym and the Ice Gym. Plus, seeing Pikachu with some character is better than what we usually have. I don't see what the big problem is. Are people that scared of change?

I agree with you but I also think that part of the reason is because of how Ash still has 4 pokemon that either haven't had as much development as the others or weren't used in a gym battle yet, or both:
* Tranquill
* Scraggy
* Swadloon
* Roggenrola
Not to mention the fact Snivy didn't win a single match in her 1st gym battle

 

[Juputoru]

-Today, Ash and Pikachu are staring at a notebook. ...aww, Ash's pen has a pokeball at the end of it. :3
-Meanwhile, Iris and Dento are...whoa! Dento's not wearing his tuxedo vest thing! He...looks kind of weird without it. Anyway, Iris and Dento are saying stuff and I have no idea what.
-Wait, is Ash...planning a strategy ahead of time? Did he get replaced with a robotic twin when we weren't looking?!
-Ash decides to bring someone back into his rotation for the gym...I presume it's Palpitoad, what with the "actually thinking about how he'll battle ahead of time" thing and all.
-Everyone rides the rollercoaster into the gym again. Ash and Iris are acting like a normal person would on a rollercoaster...but Dento is just calmly smiling. There's such a thing as TOO calm, man!
-Ash leaves Pikachu with the other two, and Pikachu is just kind of sad about it. Gee, I don't remember it acting like that any other time Ash didn't use it in a gym. Why the sudden drama queen act?
-I still have to question where all the dudes are in Elesa's screaming horde of fans.
-Hey, the Elesa cosplayer is there again!
-The battle's about to start, and it looks like Pikachu got over itself already. Good.
-Elesa leads with Zebstrika. Considering how thoroughly it kicked Bianca's *** last time, combined with the fact that it's out first...I'm guessing we won't be seeing a whole lot of it now, if you catch my drift.
-Ash sends out Palpitoad. Ash? Using type advantages? He really HAS been replaced with a robot double!
-And suddenly a map of Japan appeared on Pikachu's head...oh wait, it's just a weather warning.
-Elesa has Zebstrika use...Flame Charge? I know that electric moves will do jack here, but doesn't it have Double Kick? Why not use that?!
-That weather warning can go away any minute now. It's in the waaaaay.
-Paliptoad uses Hydro Pump, but oh wait! Those Flame Charges made Zebstrika faster!
-And NOW Zebstrika uses Double Kick!
-...wait, WAS that double kick? Because Palpitoad seems confused now. Or is it just reeling from being kicked in the face?
-Ahahahaha Zebstrika's confusion after being hit with Supersonic is GLORIOUS.
-Aaaaand the zebra just got launched into a wall.
-And Dento kills the mood by noting how much damage it took.
-Next up for Elesa is...Emolga! It sounds very slightly different from Iris' Emolga.
-Oh hey, Attract! Who would have guessed that the animators would want to reuse that animation?
-And Palpitoad's down!
-Iris looks downright shocked by all this. What, did she think her Emolga was the only one that could spam Attract?
-Ash thinks about who to use next, and...runs out of the gym? What the hell?!
-Apparently "what the hell" is what's going through Elesa's head too.
-Ash returns, and Elesa wonders if he healed Palpitoad, but of course that's not what he did. (Although...is that explicitly against the rules? I mean, if Ash leaving the gym in between rounds is kosher...)
-Ash sends out...Snivy! Elesa has Emolga use Attract, and Ash has Snivy do the same.
-...neither one is affected! Elesa wonders if Ash's Snivy is female...which it is...which gets a rather amazing reaction shot from Iris and Dento.
-Ash is still confident since Grass types resist electricity...but Elesa reminds him that Emolga is part flying. This is looking like a worse choice every minute!
-Snivy's getting pretty beat up by Acrobatics, and Pikachu...is going nuts and releasing electricity everywhere! Did it wake up on the wrong side of the bed today or what?
-Snivy's down!
-Ahaha, Pikachu knocked itself over by flipping out so much.
-Ash has another thinking session...which is displeasing the referee. Not that I blame her, since she already had to wait god-knows-how-long when he went out to get Snivy. But Pikachu cuts Ash's thinking short with a zap. And then it goes and yells at him!
-It looks like the issue here is that Ash was thinking too much, when we all know that he gets his wildest successes when he's flying by the seat of his pants. That's great. It's like it was specifically calculated to piss off all the people who go "omg why isn't Ash more focused on type advantages/planning strategies?!"
-Pikachu's turn is now! It uses Electro Ball, and...so does Emolga! ...you know, I'm surprised it took this long for us to see actual electric attacks in the electric gym.
-One Quick Attack, and Emolga's down!
-Elesa compliments Ash, and sparkles fill the air(but she's talking about sparkling or something, so it's okay!)...and the camera pans down to her legs before panning back up...oh, fanservice. Anyway, apparently she said something weird since everyone(including Ash) is kind of taken aback by it.
-What the hell is with Dento's facial expression after he answers Iris'...actually, I'm not sure what she's asking, but I think it involves whatever Elesa's fans are saying?
-...okay, I must be mishearing something, because I SWEAR Elesa called her last Pokemon her "electric cream." Anyway, it's Tynamo! Which floats in midair because shut up. (and because its ability is Levitate, I guess)
-Everyone seems kind of confused by it. I'm not sure why, since this show has established over and over that a Pokemon's size/appearance really have nothing to do with how strong it is.
-Holy hell, the thing's like a goddamn bullet!
-...Elesa's going to have some pretty large wall repair bills once this match is done.
-Ash decides to have Pikachu go all-out with...Thunderbolt. Oh Ash.
-Wait, it's attacking the floor and walls? Including areas dangerously close to the balcony...what is this supposed to accomplish other than forcing Elesa to completely renovate her gym after the match is over?
-Oh, apparently there was only one non-dusty area left, which Tynamo naturally went through, which let Pikachu dodge it & then smack it with Iron Tail. Thus sending into the wall & KOing it. Funny how there's only ever the one hole in the wall behind her despite having three Pokemon smashed into it...
-Elesa tells Ash where the next gym is, and he runs off...but then Elesa remembers that the drawbridge is still up. Looks like they're stuck here for a while!
-...the Subway Masters are announcing the next episode preview? What sorcery is this?!


A pretty damned good episode, if only for Ash's main trouble being himself instead of Elesa. Most of the comedic moments were pure gold; the facial expressions were especially amazing. And really...Ash ran to swap in a new Pokemon in the middle of a gym battle. That's just...wow. Though I'm surprised that he actually rotated out one of the starters, even if it was only used for comedic effect when he swapped it back in.

My only major complaint is that Pikachu felt out of character. The whole drama queen act about not being used/Ash doing poorly in the battle felt forced. I guess it makes sense that Pikachu'd be the one to yell at Ash for screwing himself over by using a strategy that's just not him, but other than that...yeah, no. I do appreciate the attempt at giving Pikachu a personality again, but this was just jarring.

I suppose the battles themselves weren't that good, but they were mostly used as vehicles to point out that Ash does better as an improviser than a planner. And the episode as a whole entertained me, so eh. Though I'm kind of amused/bewildered that Elesa used a grand total of one electric attack here. I get that Ash only used Pokes that resisted electricity, but really now?

How come everyone loves her reviews, yet mine are totally ignored? *Forever alone*

I read your reviews! ...is it cheating if people only pay attention to yours because I said that I read them?

- Palpitoad is male. I mean why give it such a feminine voice? I mean it was very feminine in this battle, even more so than it has been in the past few episodes. So yeah, not really cool. But I expected prior to this episode that Palpitoad was male, way to cheapen it here. And I'll get to why this is even worse down the line.

Feminine voice? Its voice sounds pretty neutral to me(bearing in mind that its voice does a few funny things since it's supposed to sound vaguely frog-ish). And how did it act "feminine"? It seems to me that you're just hunting for things to complain about. Would it kill you to stop *****ing and moaning about almost everything that happens in every episode? There's a point where I have to wonder why you even watch the show since you seem to disapprove of everything that happens in it.
And before you go "it's just constructive criticism!" or something similar: I know what constructive criticism of the show is. I appreciate disagreements and differences of opinion in the community, since those are what spur discussion. I do not, however, like it when there are people who seem to do nothing but complain, since they drag an air of negativity into almost every thread they post in.

 

[Arcamenel]

I guess I'm in the minority. I didn't completely hate this episode.

 

[Aquadon]

My only major complaint is that Pikachu felt out of character. The whole drama queen act about not being used/Ash doing poorly in the battle felt forced. I guess it makes sense that Pikachu'd be the one to yell at Ash for screwing himself over by using a strategy that's just not him, but other than that...yeah, no. I do appreciate the attempt at giving Pikachu a personality again, but this was just jarring.

Just sayin, but I think this is the first time Ash didn't even initially consider Pikachu for an Electric Gym, so he might have been pretty upset about that. It still holds the record of being used in every Electric Gym though after that intervention.

I like smart Ash though. I mean, he can at least try to know type advantages, as opposed to being a dumbass.

 

[JennaJayfeather]

I find it funny that (almost ironically) Ash does better when he doesn't think. XDDDD

 

[The Great Butler]

We waited six months for this?

What a waste of a great character in Elesa. This episode seemed to only exist to show Ash acting like an idiot and Pikachu throwing a temper tantrum.

 

[CyberCubed]

We waited six months for this?

What a waste of a great character in Elesa. This episode seemed to only exist to show Ash acting like an idiot and Pikachu throwing a temper tantrum.

You mean other than the fact that Ash thought this one through, but realized type advantage wasn't everything?

And Pikachu was hardly throwing a tantrum. It was ready to sit this Gym match out, the only reason it got angry was because it knew it could help Ash win.

 

[Pepsi_Plunge]

Big azz summary and notes.

Liked your commentary as usual, I think the whole Pikachu after watchin episode comes from Satoshi not even mentioning him when thinking of what to use, he never even put in question using him, I guess that can be a possible explanation but yeah before the episode I said it already that he never did this so it was weird, maybe what I said is the explanation we can take for it, obviously I'm going to wait for the subbed episodes to take a stance on it.

I guess I'm in the minority. I didn't completely hate this episode.

I think a lot of people liked it, I though it was a great episode, the whiners will always be here, it has been like this for every region, half of DP was to whine about Buizel/Piplup and the other half was to whine about Infernape.

Plus when people whine and like cliche/bland/with no ****ing substance characters and can't interpret an episode for **** apparently, why bother with it XD, I'm at the point of looking at a post reading the first few lines and say to myself "this is ridiculous, next post" I still read them though, like Jup said constructive criticism is nice but watching episodes, already with the mindset that you are going to hate every single one of them for your own spoiled, stupid reasons, obviously you enjoy anything.

Roggenrola

If Roggenrola wasn't there you wouldn't have liked the episode.

 

[jolteonjak]

In all of Elesa's years of experience do you really think this is first time someone has tried using a member of the Tympole line against her? It would have been bad writing if Elesa didn't have a strategy against this.

Attract was her strategy against the Tympole line? I guess since none of her Pokemon can learn Grass attacks, that's all she could do. At this point I would have believed a super strong Hidden Power (read HP Grass) is a better strategy.

Wait what? Not to be a dick but I really don't understand the argument you're trying to make. Are you saying the writers are bad because they only know Japanese or what?

No. His argument was that you don't have to understand Japanese to know that the episode sucked. I'm still on the fence, but I can see where the complaints stem from.

But there were plenty of catalysts for Ash's gear shift. Being berated by Trip, Being intimidated after watching Bianca's gym battle, losing to Bianca's Dad, Cilan and Iris putting pressure on him the night before. After all that you'd have to be an idiot not to step back and ask yourself what you're doing wrong in those situations. Unfortunately Ash over thought it. But he managed to pull a win in the end.

Paul belittled Ash every chance he got, yet we didn't see Ash flinch once about his training methods. I have to agree that the Ash seen today was OOC. If they wanted him to question things, why do they have to do this during a gym match? A simple training episode would have been much better, and we could have gotten something out of it like a new attack or an evolution.

But being OOC was IC. It's natural for someone like to Ash to question his usual methods given the aforementioned pre-cursors.

Again, with Paul breathing down his neck that his methods were better all throughout Sinnoh, Ash never questioned his methods. Why should he start now? You should have expected it in Sinnoh where Paul was an experienced trainer; not in Unova where Trip is a novice.

Why can't we all just agree to disagree.

Like I said above, I don't know how I feel about the episode as a whole yet. I can point out pros and cons I guess.

Pros
-Finally a gym battle!
-The whole Palpitoad vs Zebstrika battle. It was a great battle; I think it was the best gym battle of Best Wishes thus far...that's not saying much for Best Wishes.

Cons
-Snivy lost. If Ash was so brilliant at the beginning using Palpitoad, why didn't he recall Snivy when he realized Emolga was a female? Recall her and send in Pikachu to beat her.
-For that matter, why didn't he just recall Palpitoad once it got Attracted?
-Both of Pikachu's wins were a little cheap; vs Emolga more so than Tynamo. I have to wonder, though, did Leaf Storm hit?
-More spamming of attacks. Enough with the damn Flame Charge already! You're an electric type gym leader. Wild Charge or, hell, Thunderbolt would have been appreciated.
-All of what I typed is for naught anyway because Ash should have been disqualified for leaving the gym in the middle of a battle to get Snivy. What the hell was that about? If you wanted to pass it off as believable, send Pikachu in to battle right there, and send Iris or Cilan with a Pokeball to switch for Snivy.
-Who was Ash's third choice originally?


Here's how I'd improve the battle:

-Night before preparations were fine. Mull it over a bit, but have your team ready before the gym battle starts (should I speculate? Ok. Palpitoad, Snivy, and Roggenrola).

-Palpitoad vs Zebstrika was fine except the spamming of Flame Charge. Granted Palpitoad is immune to Electric attacks, maybe Elesa could have been a fighter like Ash and use her surroundings or something.

-Snivy vs Emolga should have been a lot shorter. When Ash saw that Attract didn't work, he should have immediately withdrew her and send Pikachu in since he finished Emolga off so quickly. Worried about Attract? The attack has been dodged before. Pikachu could surely have done that this time.

-Snivy vs Tynamo should have happened. Tynamo could have known more than just Tackle, and the battle would have been better. At some point, Snivy could redirct a Tackle from Tynamo with Vine Whip to make it crash into the wall (beause she's badass)...heck finish Tynamo off that way.

There. All three get a win. Pikachu's win isn't so cheap, and Snivy's first gym win is a pretty good one. Too happy? Ok, one of the battles is a draw.

So it seems the Cons outweigh the Pros. I must say the gym battles this series have been of a poor quality. DP's were great because most of them involved some sort of problem solving (though some of the problem solving happened on the spot). I don't call this the worst battle ever (sorry Wattson, that's still your dishonor), but I think it's not one of BW's best. For me, Ash leaving in the middle of the battle ruined it, as well as Pikachu OHKO'ing (potentially) 2 of Elesa's Pokemon.

 

[The Great Butler]

And Pikachu was hardly throwing a tantrum. It was ready to sit this Gym match out, the only reason it got angry was because it knew it could help Ash win.

Pikachu was the only one who could win, you're implying? What happened to Oshawott training to use the shell as a shield? Couldn't Roggenrola's hearing have been used to detect where Tynamo was?

And they make Elesa out to be one of the most incompetent Gym Leaders I think we've ever seen. Seriously, her Emolga can't take one Quick Attack and then she can't keep Tynamo fully controlled?

 

[Almighty Zard]

OO;;; *reads Juputoru's reveiw and goes to rewatch episode.*

Juputoru is right, Elesa's only electrical move used in this match was electra ball...

Uh ok...how can you be called an electrical gym leader if you don't use those types of moves in battle?! Man she really needs to train tynamo and find better ways of handling ground types, at least Volkner was capable of doing that

 

[shac]

Now that I have seen a better print, I think I was a bit unfair when I said it was not a good episode. It was an okay episode. Not the best, but definitely not one to deserve so much hate.

 

[POKEMONISDUMB!!!!!!!!!!!!]

I didn't care for this gym battle much. Especially the order Ash used his Pokémon in.

And, as I expected, Tynamo was weak and didn't have much potential at all. But her other Pokémon did. Someone should have evolved. It would have made this Gym Battle more exciting. This gym battle only bored me.

I hope when Ash battles Clay someone will evolve. His team is getting boring.

The episode gets a: 6/10.

The gym battle gets a: 4/10.

I do hope to see Elesa again, though.

 

[j_gamez]

Elesa's only electrical move used in this match was electra ball...

Zebra vs Toad. electric attack dosent work
Squirrel vs Toad. dosent work either
Squirrel vs Snake. Flying moves work well enough.
Squirrel vs Rat. used once for countering.
Fish vs rat. only has tackle so far, we dont know if it has charge beam.

Tynamo was weak and didn't have much potential at all.

have you seen tynamo tackle? its a bam.
and what should we even expect from a tynamo?
offensive and speed is great.
as for defensive, it need some training.

 

[XXD17]

Hey, is it just me or has everyone already realized that the gym leaders don't showcase their respective TM's anymore? I mean back in Hoenn and Sinnoh, the TM's each gym leader gives out in the game was showcased by the gym leader in the anime...The only ones I can think of that counter this are Wake and Fantina...but Roark, Gardenia, Byron, Winona, Flannery, etc. all showcased their respective TM's...after this episode, I realized that Elesa never even used volt switch, Burgh never used struggle bug, Lenora never used retaliate, and Cilan never used work-up...weird...

 

[Demonsead]

Hey, is it just me or has everyone already realized that the gym leaders don't showcase their respective TM's anymore? I mean back in Hoenn and Sinnoh, the TM's each gym leader gives out in the game was showcased by the gym leader in the anime...The only ones I can think of that counter this are Wake and Fantina...but Roark, Gardenia, Byron, Winona, Flannery, etc. all showcased their respective TM's...after this episode, I realized that Elesa never even used volt switch, Burgh never used struggle bug, Lenora never used retaliate, and Cilan never used work-up...weird...

Yeah that's been bothering me for a while. It's not like any of those those attack were to weak to use at that time either.

Work-up buff Attack and Special Attack, so all of the Monkeys attacks would have dealt more damage.

Retaliate makes more sense to use than Giga Impact, and stronger than that move under the right circumstances anyway.

Struggle Bugs not that impressive, but it fits Burg to use.

Volt Switch....I'm sure I don't need to explain this one, we all know how much trouble it gave us.

 

[Almighty Zard]

Volt Switch we've seen plenty of with Iris's Emolga, which is probably why Elesa's didn't have it.

the other three moves...retaliate and struggle bug i'd like to see, but Work up will probably be no different from bulk up in animation terms.