So they really rocking this second opening all throughout the rest of the series? That's pathetic. (I'm assuming there won't be a follow-up arc after this series, especially since we had one back to back with BW and XY, which was a first for the series, just before S&M.) A new ending, though? W.o.w.
So, I think I liked this battle royale concept after seeing it in action. Reminded me of the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super also, even though that was a team based battle royale. Anyway, teamwork between friends (even in a everyone for themselves styled battle royale) was natural, and some of the interactions between certain people was cool. Although, only the obvious people teamed up with each other, with no unique ones or surprises. The pink/yellow haired girl lost very abruptly, though. She had Llima on the ropes but then lost to just one attack from it (in its injured state). Even if she had taken damage up to that point, which is not known, to be defeated like that just didn't look right. Both Ash and Pikachu not realizing that Mimikyu belongs to Jessie and that she was in disguise is BS. They've worked out disguises before, and this particular one should have been no different. They've battled that Mimkyu so many times. Yet, Ash and co. can remember other people's Pokemon instantly on sight when they're far less familiar with it. Yeah, I can't give no leeway here; there was enough interaction between the two for it to be obvious. Even James (in disguise) and his Hidiode was there next to her in visual site.
Animation still hasn't shown any noteworthy improvements, but I'll wait till the 1v1 battles before any rants.
Hau has a Raichu (reminds me of Tierno's).... Whelp, here we go again, even though Pikachu had a form of rivalry with that one woman's during some contest earlier in the season. I laughed my ass off when I saw Jessie and James get paired up against each other. In contrast, I was sad when Gladio and Lillie got paired up :\. Llima vs Guzma (and Mallow vs Suiren because of their close friendship and all) ought to be real interesting. (It should go Gladio, Suiren, and Guzma, if the story is anything to go by.) Yep, officially no return of Dia, as expected.
Hold up, I almost missed this... There's a Pikachu named Boruto, and it has the same hair-style as the Baruto from Naruto. What in the hell is going on there?? It's obviously a reference, but I want to know why this happened...