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Burn with Passion, Litten! Down with Incineroar!! (1006)

Lord Starfish

Fond of owls

xEryChan

Demon Child
This episode was great, I really enjoyed it. Was not expecting to see Primarina and Decidueye but I’m glad they made their debut.

I really liked how the Battle Royale was handled in the anime. Of course Kukui has a Z-Ring in the anime and no one knows about it. Does that mean that we won’t be seeing Torracat evolve into Incineroar? I hope not because I’d love to see it evolve all the way.

Litten’s evolution was nicely done. I really loved the animation for it.

I also like that Ash lost to the Masked Royal at the end. It would have been the cliche ‘Pokemon evolves into its next stage and defeats its fully evolved form’ which we saw when Fletchling evolved into Fletchinder in XY.

All in all, this was a great episode. I loved the battles between Incineroar and Litten. I give this episode a 9/10. It was a great episode.
 

U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
I get it, but remember similar cases like Pikachu vs Lt. Surge's/Sho's Raichu, Buizel vs Mr. Mime, Ash's Pokemon got revenge in the rematch for their development to feel fruitful. But what feeling does a loss in the rematch, even after evolving give? The development doesn't feel fruitful, and gives us a feeling that it still lags way behind. That's my question.

It's almost as if to imply that Ash needs to practice more with his newly evolved Torrcat. Imagine that.
 

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
also, I guess this could be a somewhat accurate tier list:

S tier:
Ash, Kukui, Lusamine, Gladion, Brock
A tier:
Kiawe, Olivia, Hala, Misty (?), Faba
B tier:
Lana, TRio (when not interrupted or BSed)
C tier:
Sophocles, Mallow, Lillie, maybe that pokenchi guy with the mudbray
 

Joltik-Kid

Careful? Where's the fun in that?
I still have faith in Rowlet, this episode to me was more damning for Torracat. Its rivalry does not garentee an evolution, Kakui owning a Z ring makes Ash having Incineroar's Z-move redundant and we'll almost assuredly see more of Masked Royal and his Incineroar
 
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WaterShuriken

"I..I..Iron Tail, Pikachu."
This episode made it clear that Professor Kukui might be Champion-tier. It would make sense considering his role in SM. I truly expected Torracat to learn Double Kick upon evolving... did Torracat really need Flame Charge? That's three fire-types in a row that Ash has it.
 

Daniel31

HopingGaryReturns
I really enjoyed this episode a lot more than last weeks'. :)

Seeing the final evolution forms for the starter Pokemon was nice, but I was honestly hoping for better ways to debut Primarina and Decidueye, Anyway, Kukui and his Incineroar definitely looked pretty strong. Watching Litten/Torracat battle Incineroar and not winning, had me thinking back to Pikachu vs Tapu Koko (they have a ways to go). However, I didn't mind seeing Ash and Litten/Torracat not winning, simply because I think it would've been unrealistic for them win. Maybe one day when they train more and such, they might be able to take on and put up a better battle vs the Masked Royal and his Incineroar, but for now...I don't think so. :p

I thought Sophocles was a bit humorous in his mask and during the battle royal, and I also liked how Litten seemed to know the Masked Royal was Kukui. As for the whole "butt shaking" training thing making another appearance...I get it and understand it, but it's starting to get a little old I think.

I do hope they revisit the battle royal again at some point, because I think it would be cool to see some of the other classmates involved as well and have a battle royal of their own.

I still have faith in Rowlet, this episode to me was more damning for Torrecat. Its rivalry does not garentee an evolution, Kaku owning a Z ring makes Ash having Incineroar's Z-move redundant and we'll almost assuredly see more of Masked Royal and his Incineroar
I agree with this. I'm less inclined to believe that Ash's Torracat will evolve.
 

Joltik-Kid

Careful? Where's the fun in that?
This episode made it clear that Professor Kukui might be Champion-tier. It would make sense considering his role in SM. I truly expected Torracat to learn Double Kick upon evolving... did Torracat really need Flame Charge? That's three fire-types in a row that Ash has it.
It's the new Aerial Ace amonst moves... Speed is Ash's game, but man this is getting ridiculous

I agree with this. I'm less inclined to believe that Ash's Torracat will evolve.
I'm not saying it with any certainty, but I don't understand why people think it has a better chance from this going forward. I guess since it's only one step away, but it didn't seem to me like it wanted to evolve to beat it, rather just to actually beat it in the future. To me it's like Ash's Gible and Cynthia's Garchomp... yeah Ash got landshark late, but we knew for a fact her's was her Ace and if Kakui is indeed the champ of the region in the anime, Ash isn't sharing an Ace.
 

uber gon

Accept Change
I think Ash could get an Incineroar. SOMEONE should showcase the Dark Z-Move, after all.
 

TheScentedApple

Well-Known Member
That was one of the best Sun and Moon episodes so far, I wonder why the battle episodes are usually the best idk????

I think Ash could get an Incineroar. SOMEONE should showcase the Dark Z-Move, after all.

Team Rocket has the Dark Z-Crystal tho?? And yeah I dont really see many more evolutions in the main cast aside from Charjabug and Popplio anymore, especially since the Incineroar Z move was shown in this episode and Decidueye debuted but I wouldnt put it against them to evolve Rowlet. Torracat however, will not :((
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I was impressed by Kukui-hakase here, as well as by Satoshi's Nyabby. Even before he evolved, he showed amazing tenacity and resilience against Gaogaen, and I was quite fine with the way that the rematch ended.
 

Zyar

Unknown Member
I honestly don't care much about Litten (except for his sad story, but I guess I won't get anymore references to that), but I found myself feeling excited while watching his training (the Alola song helped a lot). It was a good call he still lost to Incineroar though.

And man, did Litten turn ugly when he evolved...
 

Satomine Night

The Power of Z!
This episode made me realize that off-screen training is the place where training should be left.
I actually like training being shown on screen. Sure, all that booty shaking and floor crawling may look silly, but it's effective. It also gives a little insight into the technique(s) the Pokémon itself has to use to perform certain moves. For instance, it seems performing Flame Charge involves working the back muscles and/or arching the back. I don't think we've really seen that in previous series.

I also like that Ash actually trains with his Pokémon, rather than making his Pokémon do all the work alone. It emphasizes his believe in the importance of teamwork. Even better, Pikachu and Lycanroc joined in on the training, even though the training technique wasn't for them and really didn't do them any good. (I still really like how Lycanroc was the one who came up with the idea for special training, or at least was the one who reminded Ash of his special training techniques.)
 
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DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I have to agree I prefer the format of the Pokemon training to master moves and boosts or learning from 'Sempais' than them abruptly getting them as a deus ex machina against the dilemma or bad guy face-off. The former feels like way more of a cathartic pay-off and helps emphasise the trainer and their Pokemon as hard workers. This is one of the few 'heat of the moment' evolutions that I thought worked perfectly and that's because Litten had spent the whole time during and even before the episode trying to get stronger onscreen. Even Masked Royal issued the battle to help Litten get stronger (that smirk when he sees Torracat).

I admit I'd like to see Ash try a different training method though, the booty shaking is funny but it's getting old (and surely can't be the solution to mastering every attack).
 

lemoncatpower

Cynical Optimist
I have to agree I prefer the format of the Pokemon training to master moves and boosts or learning from 'Sempais' than them abruptly getting them as a deus ex machina against the dilemma or bad guy face-off. The former feels like way more of a cathartic pay-off and helps emphasise the trainer and their Pokemon as hard workers. This is one of the few 'heat of the moment' evolutions that I thought worked perfectly and that's because Litten had spent the whole time during and even before the episode trying to get stronger onscreen. Even Masked Royal issued the battle to help Litten get stronger (that smirk when he sees Torracat).

I admit I'd like to see Ash try a different training method though, the booty shaking is funny but it's getting old (and surely can't be the solution to mastering every attack).

yeah I should of specifically said only in Alola that I prefer training off-screen, well the booty training in particular. I enjoyed when Ash was tanking Rockruff's rock throws or when Stoutland was training Litten. I also prefer to see on screen the kind of training like when Ash was training Fletchling against Noivern's gust in XY, because of the use of other pokemon to train his current pokemon, although I don't like to compare seasons.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I do like Ash is inflicting a lot of eccentricity into his training methods this series (SM is definitely trying to abolish Ash's vanilla protagonist infamy) but yeah, the booty shaking has served it's purpose. It works as a distinctive session for Lycanroc, but I think Ash should try other strategies to appeal to the rest of the team.
 

British Soul

Top Hat Regulator
Team Rocket catching a break for once and getting a job as announcers was fun (and a neat call back to their previous reporter jobs).
Same, I liked that they called back to their previous reporting jobs, and it's a rarity to see a SM episode with TR to not have Bewear. (the last time being the Aether arc. At least unlike that arc they were doing something honest so Bewear didn't need to show up)

By the way, i feel that Kukui broke the 4 move limitation and used 5 moves in one episode today.
If i am right, Incineroar used 'Cross Chop', 'Throat Chop', 'Flamethrower', 'Darkest Lariat', and 'Bulk Up'.
I don't remember it using Flamethrower.
Though the first thing I thought of with regards to the move limit is Drake's Dragonite using 10 moves in one episode (granted that was the OS and this is SM, but still).
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I honestly don't care much about Litten (except for his sad story, but I guess I won't get anymore references to that), but I found myself feeling excited while watching his training (the Alola song helped a lot). It was a good call he still lost to Incineroar though.

And man, did Litten turn ugly when he evolved...

Nyaheat's design isn't exactly my favorite either, yet I'll admit that it looks much more cuddly animated in this episode than its official artwork looks from my viewpoint.
 
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