Dawn's Early Night! (517)

[Inarjollyhound]

As someone who decided to start Pokémon from the beginning while also keeping up with new X and Y episodes, when I finally got to the introduction to contests in Hoenn, I was very underwhelmed. I had been spoiled by the lovely Kalos contest arc, the whole thing felt like nothing beyond a niche pet show.

Things have gotten a lot better since then, Master Quest added more strategy, and made an effort to create moves that not only looked good to the judges, but to the audience as well.

And ever since the Final contest match with May, Ash had been more involved with the contests, happily rooting for dawn, instead of training to the side and vaguely noting the events on a monitor screen outside.

Contests are full stadiums now instead of those small cramped tennis courts.

And here’s where things start to get tense.

Dawn’s early loss reminds me so much of Serena’s tragic failure, (I tried to spoiler-highlight that but I’m not sure i managed to give a highlight or just change the color to black, I’m on mobile so I’m doing the best I can >_<) and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m feeling physically sick and tired, but I did shed a few tears at her outburst.

Looks like along with the combats, I’ll also be comparing the contests in Diamond and Pearl to X and Y as well.

 

[Leonhart]

In hindsight, Hikari's loss was necessary so that she'd have an epiphany later on about how to do good Appeals. She wouldn't have developed as much without this loss.

 

[Daizy]

Surprising how Dawn didn't pass the performance round which never happened with May. Before Dawn's first Contest I really thought maybe she wouldn't get to the battles round though.

 

[Leonhart]

Surprising how Dawn didn't pass the performance round which never happened with May.

It's even stranger that Hikari did so badly compared to Haruka given Hikari's early knowledge of Contests, which I would've thought would give her an edge.

 

[FullmetalJackie]

It was kind of hilarious to see Ash's reaction to the Hearthome gym being closed. I had been wondering how they would handle how you don't get the Hearthome Gym badge until later on in D/P. I liked seeing Nando again and Zoey again too. I was surprised that Dawn didn't even make it to the second round of this Contest though.

 

[Zamin]

I was gutted for Dawn, I was really rooting for her so it was sad to see her go out of the contest so early. I hope Jesalina gets a win one day. Well done to Nando, he seems like a cool guy and I reckon he will do well in both contests and gyms. It was nice seeing Zoe again too. She is cool. I like the recurring characters. I miss the guy from Hoenn that wore green. He was funny.

 

[Leonhart]

I'm curious as to why Melissa wasn't introduced here as a Contest judge given that we know that she had a history with Contests in the games, so she could've judged this one as a way of introducing her character early on.

 

[mysticalglacia]

This episode sets a lot of stuff up relatively well. Fantina being gone, the start of Dawn’s depression arc, the tag battle, etc. Dawn’s performance was visually pretty but compared to Zoey and Nando, who really showcased the beauty of their Pokémon and not just the moves, I see why she didn’t move on.

Have no idea how Jessie advanced to the battle round when she made her whole performance about herself. That problem is even mentioned by Zoey this ep like what. That inconsistency kinda bothered me a bit