Come Forth, Lycanroc with the Crimson Look!! (970)

[Daniel31]

How will he become a Pokémon Master then?
The League is a step towards that.

Exactly, it's a "step" towards it, but it ISN'T the only one.


Anyway, I thought this intro episode to Gladion went rather well. I especially love the backstory shown with Eevee, seeing him involved in a couple battles (although very short battles, but battles nonetheless), using a Z-Move, interacting a little with Lillie, etc..that stuff was good. Another personal note, seeing Gladion walking around with his Umbreon, did give me those Gary flashbacks hehe. I also liked seeing Ash continue to train his Pokemon and Pikachu's reaction to Rowlet immediately falling asleep (right after its battle with Rockruff), was funny.

Only thing I didn't like, which most people have pointed out already, was Team Rocket interrupting the battle. It definitely would've been more acceptable if it was the Team Skull grunts that did it, given that Gladion took them with one move lol, but whatever... I can't complain too much, because Team Rocket has been a lot less annoying to me this series.

 

[Frozocrone]

It is 3000 years too early to be talking about leagues.

As for Gladion, he was a lot nicer than I expected him to be.

He's a pretty ace dude (the fact he still has his Umbreon that he looked after as an Eevee and smiled at Ash).

Anyway I had some time to sleep on it and I'm still not happy that TR interrupted it, but now it makes me more excited for when they actually do battle.

 

[Genaller]

Let's hope that Tomioka at least does the (highly likely) Ash vs Gladion league battle.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Let's hope that Tomioka at least does the (highly likely) Ash vs Gladion league battle.

I would like to see that, but this may not happen.

 

[Dragalge]

I could not tell but did Bewear launch itself from those trees? If so...how? .__. I know it can run high speeds on water and jump on buildings Batman style but still.

Eh, personally found this to be a good enough episode. I liked Gladion in this and Midnight Lycanroc looks amazing iwith Continental Crush imo (as I do adore that Z-move a lot). Yeah Team Rocket was not needed but with how they are this series, I'm find with it for this episode.

 

[DS0308]

It is 3000 years too early to be talking about leagues.

You could say we're... LEAGUES... away from that discussion.

haHAA

I'll stop...

----

Episode itself wasn't inherently bad because of the interrupted battle but I honestly thought they'd wait for a while before TR showed up. I'm talking maybe after Rockruff fainted and Pikachu stepped up or something like that. I was expecting at least half a battle as opposed to a quarter.

Honestly seems like they care more about training than battling. And the filler (maybe I should call them normal episodes considering they're about 80% of them so far) episodes that have some various fun parts to them but are ultimately not appealing to me.

As for Gladion it doesn't appear as though he's a Team Skull member, unless the grunts didn't realise it at first. But I doubt it (would require subs but I suspect they were just complaining about getting waxed). In general I'm not really sure how I feel about his introduction here, it felt a little lacking. Maybe it was just the episode feeling rather quick to me. As others have mentioned it is kind of strange that his brief backstory from the butler was looking at him and Eevee/Umbreon but we don't know what's up with the soul destroyer Lycanroc (I know his JP name is James but what's his dub name? Haven't bothered to watch it). Probably in another episode, but how long away is that? That's what bothers me a bit.

On another note, if Rockruff doesn't become Ash's regional ace then I don't know what to think anymore.

 

[CabochonJaw]

Would have liked the battle to have been completed, even if it meant that Ash lost. Also, is that sailor's Blastoise related to Tierno's? That species has been getting the short end of the stick lately.

 

[diakyu]

Let's hope that Tomioka at least does the (highly likely) Ash vs Gladion league battle.

They're others beside him that can do fights well. Lets not all act the since XY was good, every writer besides Tomioka is crap at their job. Heck, Omode who did most of the shipping episodes and some cutesy fillers in XY did arguably the best League episode in that saga (Ash vs Sawyer part 2). Yeah yeah yeah, there was barely any competition in that league but that episode is all hype from Pikachu being a savage and Greninja going mono e mano with Sceptile.

 

[dman_dustin]

I could not tell but did Bewear launch itself from those trees? If so...how? .__. I know it can run high speeds on water and jump on buildings Batman style but still.

Eh, personally found this to be a good enough episode. I liked Gladion in this and Midnight Lycanroc looks amazing iwith Continental Crush imo (as I do adore that Z-move a lot). Yeah Team Rocket was not needed but with how they are this series, I'm find with it for this episode.

I really don't get the writers sometimes.

Like i would agree they had no business being in this episode, because well we've had plenty of other episodes where they didn't show up, its like WHY shove them here especially given their recent episode they got. And to make matters worse they seem to be prevalent in the next episode, I could let the next one slide since Team Rocket appear to just playing a game with everyone else, but this episode as well. It's oddly strange.

And assuming I am right about what Team Rocket were saying, I find it annoying that maybe the only reason they butted in was because of Umbreon which happens to be a Dark type you know because of the Dark type Z-crystal, but honestly if that's the only reason Gladion has one or why Team Rocket got the Dark type Z-crystal was for the SOLE purpose of shoving them in this episode as a crutch to interrupt the battle then I will be extremely annoyed.

If however they were just being Team Rocket, then I'm less annoyed about them, but more annoyed about the writers needlessly using them, I mean seriously is there some sort of quota of how many episodes must have Team Rocket in them or only a small amount of episodes where Team Rocket are NOT allowed to be an episode.

But whatever.

 

[Everything12]

Personally I think Team Rocket was here so Gladion could use his Z-Move on them, the way the battle with Rockruff was going using a Z-Move seemed unneeded so instead they had Team Rocket come along to be crushed by Gladion's Z-Move which then had him telling Ash to go to Akala to also get the Rockium-Z.

 

[Rohanator]

Action for action's sake is ultimately meaningless. It's empty. If there's less but ultimately more meaningful conflicts in the show, that's a good thing.

Consider, for example, if Ash had battled Gladion to the end and lost. What meaning would there have been in that defeat? There were no stakes in that fight for either character. There was no set-up that suggested a conflict could come out of the fight. Ash would have brushed the loss off as he always did, because he had no reason to do anything otherwise.

Bruh this is Pokemon, action for the sake of action is a core part of the franchise and its appeal, Ash entire GOAL is about having battles for the sake of battles cause they're what he enjoy's doing, it's like sport. The stakes come from whether he's able to progress in the goal or not, and being brutally beaten in battle is a staple obstacle he should face more often. He doesn't have to get mad at Gladion but just acknowledge that there's yet another trainer better than him who he's going to need to surpass eventually.

I know it ultimately won't really matter cos lol can't let Ash beat actual leagues or anything but at least keep up the illusion that there are stakes

 

[Janovy]

Please don't tell me you want another 'Ash gets upset over a loss' arc in SM, I thought XY established perfectly that Ash focused too much on winning against Alain, and that winning battles is not the reason he became a Trainer in the first place.

 

[Akkipeddi]

Please don't tell me you want another 'Ash gets upset over a loss' arc in SM, I thought XY established perfectly that Ash focused too much on winning against Alain, and that winning battles is not the reason he became a Trainer in the first place.

Who's saying that they want another depression arc? People just want to see Ash getting beaten by a stronger rival so that he has a drive to train and beat him. And although he may have focused to much on winning, the fact remains that the thrill of having battles with his pokemon is and will always be the major reason he became a Trainer. He's always trying to learn and surpass powerful trainers, and a loss to Gladion would have ideally done that.

 

[Janovy]

Who's saying that they want another depression arc? People just want to see Ash getting beaten by a stronger rival so that he has a drive to train and beat him. And although he may have focused to much on winning, the fact remains that the thrill of having battles with his pokemon is and will always be the major reason he became a Trainer. He's always trying to learn and surpass powerful trainers, and a loss to Gladion would have ideally done that.

Ash didn't need to lose this battle. It was clear who the dominant trainer was, Ash might as well have lost the battle, we didn't need to see Rockruff faint to know Lycanroc would have crushed it.

 

[Akkipeddi]

Ash didn't need to lose this battle. It was clear who the dominant trainer was, Ash might as well have lost the battle, we didn't need to see Rockruff faint to know Lycanroc would have crushed it.

Your logic sounds like Skyla's air battles. So next time a strong trainer faces Ash, they might as well decide that since they have stronger pokemon they would just declare themselves the winner and deny Ash a battle. I'm not denying that Rockruff would have lost if the battle happened fully, but at least it would have shown how close or far Rockruff and Ash are to Gladion's level and given them extra motivation to challenge Gladion again.

 

[VoltTacklingPika]

Why does he need extra motivation, though? The fact the fight never concluded and that he can see Gladion is a strong trainer is enough on its own.

Kicking off a rivalry with "I lost to this guy so have to get better to beat him" is really dull and predictable without something else going on under the surface. The loss has to mean something. I don't think Ash losing to Gladion here would have meant anything. He would just lose to a strong trainer. So what?

Which is why I keep saying this result isn't a bad thing, because they build-up that extra meaning before their next encounter.

 

[Janovy]

Your logic sounds like Skyla's air battles. So next time a strong trainer faces Ash, they might as well decide that since they have stronger pokemon they would just declare themselves the winner and deny Ash a battle.

Nice try, but we actually got to see Rockruff fight Lycanroc, and Lycanroc absolutely dominated.

So your Skyle comparison is flawed lol.

 

[Akkipeddi]

Why does he need extra motivation, though? The fact the fight never concluded and that he can see Gladion is a strong trainer is enough on its own.

Kicking off a rivalry with "I lost to this guy so have to get better to beat him" is really dull and predictable without something else going on under the surface. The loss has to mean something. I don't think Ash losing to Gladion here would have meant anything. He would just lose to a strong trainer. So what?

Which is why I keep saying this result isn't a bad thing, because they build-up that extra meaning before their next encounter.

I disagree about a loss not meaning anything. Maybe it may have not affected Ash, but I did think and hoped that Rockruff losing to its evolution would probably develop an arc for it to want to grow stronger and evolve. But apparently I'm wrong to expect such things. And most of all, I was just really annoyed that TR interrupted an ongoing battle. I would have even been ok if they actually did try to steal Lycanroc and Pikachu even before the battle started, and then the school started, resulting in no battle at all.

 

[lemoncatpower]

I disagree about a loss not meaning anything. Maybe it may have not affected Ash, but I did think and hoped that Rockruff losing to its evolution would probably develop an arc for it to want to grow stronger and evolve. But apparently I'm wrong to expect such things. And most of all, I was just really annoyed that TR interrupted an ongoing battle. I would have even been ok if they actually did try to steal Lycanroc and Pikachu even before the battle started, and then the school started, resulting in no battle at all.

Rockruff seemed pretty pumped up by Lycanroc, with it play fighting with Litten and Rowlet, before they even battled or knew it was really gonna battle. With them already showing how excited Rockruff was after watching Lycanroc, he didn't need a huge loss for that to happen. Also Lycanroc and Pikachu being capture mid battle allowed Rockruff to help save them, whereas if it had been at the end of the battle, Rockruff obviously couldn't have helped save them. The respect dynamic between Rockruff and Lycanroc would not have been achieved then. I like seeing thedynamics between the pokemon themselves as rivals, not just the trainers, and this helped.

 

[PokemonKnight]

You know what's even more hilarious?

The fact that people never did this for XY/XY&Z. Previous series constantly had similar shots, but the fact people are choosing to emphasize this now and laugh at SM is yet another stark reminder that people decided to hate on this series before it even began airing.

Super hilarious. Super hypocritical. Just another day in our lovely fandom.

Stay class guys.


We also get a-holes to say 'I told you so', it appears. Wonderful.

How old are you again?

Good grief, did XY and XYZ steal your wallet, burn down your house and take your lollipop?