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Challenge of the Samurai (004)

gentwoer

Well-Known Member
We only saw a few Bug-types debut here, however. And the only one that seemed unnecessary to me was Kailos, because it hardly did anything.

I think it ended up being Pinsir's only significant appearance in the Kanto saga, so there's that.

I'm honestly surprised Pokemon Yellow didn't have a Bug Catcher NPC with a Pinsir and Metapod in the Viridian forest as a nod to samurai. Just like the game gave nods to Joey, Giselle, and AJ.
 
So I guess the Squirtle from the flashback was Gary's. Samurai had a monotone voice and I wonder what would've happened if his Pinsir had managed to succeed in crushing Ash's Metapod.
 

gentwoer

Well-Known Member
With these episodes we get our first character of the day in Samurai. And look at best the character of the day in Pokemon are okay at worse they're really annoying like Samurai. I detested everything about this character from his stupid set up, to his failure to take responsibility for his own meddling to his dialect. He's not even the worse Kanto era character of the day!

I liked that gag with the Metapod vs Metapod and Misty and Pikachu sun bathing since it was taking forever but otherwise this episode was kind of meh.
 

KyogreThunder

Call of Fate
A meh episode. The Samurai was really annoying and obnoxious. First he distracts Ash when he's trying to catch Weedle, and then blames him for the Beedrill attack. His Pinsir seemed overpowered, too. Ash's Metapod only knowing Harden made no sense, since he did use Tackle as a Caterpie. I liked it when Metapod evolved to save Ash, but the evolution scene itself was really odd. Shame Samurai decided to call off the battle after Metapod evolved.
5/10
 
The fact that Caterpie's polar opposite was featured here was fun at first since Weedle was cute, but as soon as Metapod was kidnapped by Beedrill I got creeped out like when those Kakuna began evolving. Team Rocket were funny for the first time with their cocoon disguises and Samurai was the first trainer of the day and incidentally one of the few that I liked in Kanto.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
FullmetalJackie said:
and Samurai was the first trainer of the day and incidentally one of the few that I liked in Kanto.

In my opinion, the guy wasn't very interesting, although he did set the precedent for bland, one-dimensional one-off characters that would become the standard in most episodes from now on. So kudos to him.
 
In my opinion, the guy wasn't very interesting, although he did set the precedent for bland, one-dimensional one-off characters that would become the standard in most episodes from now on. So kudos to him.

He wasn't the most interesting character we've ever had but I did like his samurai outfit. I just didn't see how it fit with the forest landscape .
 
I loved Metapod's evolution scene and how Butterfree saved the day but in truth, I feel that the episode really should've highlighted Ash's immaturity because I did feel that many of his amateur mistakes in this episode could've been avoided easily if his ego wasn't so big. Ash does a lot of dumb crap in the future episodes duh, but I feel like this episode could've taught him a more valuable lesson. I really liked the fact that Ash finally left the Viridian Forest at the end though. 6/10
 

Scorbunnie

Well-Known Member
This episode will always be one of my favourites because it's where Ash's Metapod evolved into Butterfree and saved everyone from the rampaging Beedrill hoard that would've killed everyone.
 

Ubermuk

Sticky & Sweet
This episode will always be one of my favourites because it's where Ash's Metapod evolved into Butterfree and saved everyone from the rampaging Beedrill hoard that would've killed everyone.

I don't think anyone was in mortal danger lol. At most the Beedrills would have stung Ash and the others but they had other Pokemon so they could have fought instead of just standing around...
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I don't think the Spear swarm would've injured Satoshi, Kasumi, and Samurai that badly, but I still understand why they were running away since a swarm of that mass was still dangerous. I also doubt that any of their other Pokemon would've been able to stand up to it, other than maybe Pikachu if he was pushed too far.
 

Zamin

Well-Known Member
I really liked the episode. I don't find the samurai annoying. It was cool seeing Pinsir and his Pinsir was pretty awesome. I really enjoyed this episode.
 

Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of Jigglypuff Army
I thought it was weird that the show explicitly showed Metapod being killed in Ash’s thoughts yet allusions of death that graphic never showed up again in the anime. And how exactly did Samurai know that four new trainers were heading his way from Pallet Town when he had no phone or device to tell him? Gary could have told him but as far as we know, the other two trainers are unaware of Ash getting a Pokémon despite being so late to get a traditional Kanto starter and we never found out who the other two were. Damien is definitely not one of them as he and Ash don’t recognize each other and Pallet Town isn’t that big so all of the kids from there know each other.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Captain Jigglypuff said:
I thought it was weird that the show explicitly showed Metapod being killed in Ash’s thoughts yet allusions of death that graphic never showed up again in the anime. And how exactly did Samurai know that four new trainers were heading his way from Pallet Town when he had no phone or device to tell him? Gary could have told him but as far as we know, the other two trainers are unaware of Ash getting a Pokémon despite being so late to get a traditional Kanto starter and we never found out who the other two were. Damien is definitely not one of them as he and Ash don’t recognize each other and Pallet Town isn’t that big so all of the kids from there know each other.

I think that we were meant to believe that one of those trainers [probably Shigeru] told Samurai to expect more trainers coming from Masara Town, although that would mean that Shigeru was confident that Satoshi would make it this far, which sounds unlike him given how he always underestimated Satoshi.
 
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