I really like this episode. Anything heavy on interactions between the characters and their main Pokemon is always great, especially if it's such a kickass Pokemon like Jukain. This episode reminds us that Satoshi can take a lot of punishment and still keep going.... injured knee, a barrage of poison pins, now when was the last time we saw such (non-comic relief) brutality towards a human on this show? And Jukain not only gets his techniques back, he uses them quite nicely (another compliment to the double Leaf Blade, but also Quick Attack to descend quicker than Satoshi in order to catch him, and immediately using Bullet Seed to soften the landing, sweet). I enjoyed those peaceful moments where the other characters were talking with Ukon, as well.
As I've said in the preview thread, I have absolutely no beef with Eievui learning Shadow Ball as I did with Zenigame learning Ice Beam. For one, I like Eievui better, since it's actually cute, gives hope for a nice evolution (let's face it, those writers just like those non-fire Kantou starters in their basic forms too much for whatever reason), and not such a bad choice of Pokemon to give a main character (before anyone comments, let me add "compared to Zenigame. Somewhat recent XD ad>outdated Fire/Leaf ad"). Hell, if it suddenly beat Harley in its state, there wouldn't be near as much tension building as I've had with the turtle to break the camel's back (I'd still be p[FONT-"Verdana"]i[/FONT]ssed, of course). Shadow Ball actually makes sense, as it could be inherent given its origins, and over the past few episodes, Haruka has mentioned working on techniques with Eievui. For those who only saw the pictures, it's worth noting that Eievui doesn't suddenly learn Shadow Ball while training here. Actually, Haruka commands Shadow Ball, like it already knew it, even more of an indication that it's been getting some training off-screen. It also helps that it doesn't go from being coddled to instantly kicking a
ss within the same damn episode.
Yay! Cocoon appears.... not actually doing something like Tsukushi's Trancel, but it appears, and for more than 5 seconds ^^.... and holy crap, a Lucky that isn't owned by Joy, and actually using a technique. Sure didn't see any of that coming from an episode mostly involving Spear swarms. Speaking of the unexpected, I too gotta laugh at the return of Rocket Dan's cardboard box. XD
Geodude said:
I thought it was neat that after Sceptile saved Ash, the first thing it did was pick out a new twig. Kinda symbolic eh? It did the same thing back when it first evolved into Grovyle.
I think that would've worked so much better if he was without a twig between his heartbreak with Meganium and now.