December 16th: SM101 - Fire it Off! The Twin Sparking Gigavolt of Friendship!!

[dman_dustin]

Well I'll just post my full impression of this episode here.

This was a good episode too, and a decent conclusion to the 2 parter, though it definitely didn't hit the highs of last week's episode. Personally, I found the first half a little dull, and I still don't like the fact that there's mention of Zeraora's ability at all.

Guzzlord's screams were pretty threatening last week, but I don't know if I got used to it, but in today's episode I found it pretty hillarious since it sounded like a man giving off the worst screaming impersonation of all time. Anyway, so the plan is to push that fatass into the Ultra Wormhole, and Ash and Dia got their butts handed to them before a moment of DEM from Tapu Koko, which helps to reactivate their Z Rings. As expected Ash and Dia manage to pull off a dual Gigavolt Havoc and push Guzzlord into another world. Also, Tapu Koko you're clearly strong enough to trap Guzzlord in that Electroweb, so why didn't you just help Dia much before in getting rid of Guzzlord? Just makes you seem like a lazy Guardian.

Overall I give this episode a 6.5/10. It was a decent episode and conclusion for this 2 parter, and I thought both the Pikachu vs Zeraora battles were decent. However, I didn't like the DEM of Tapu Koko charging their Z Rings, and the whole premise of Tapu Koko transporting Ash via some inter dimensional traveling rather than simply a worm hole being responsible. Highlight of the episode to me was of course hearing Ash Greninja's theme. That turns almost any scenario epic.

Well to be fair their Z-rings shouldn't have stopped working to begin with, so there had to be a reason WHY their Z-rings didn't work or why Tapu decided to give them a chance at using a Z-move.

Wouldn't call it DEM, when it should have been accessible to begin with, but decided against it for some unknown reason.

I would be more concerned if they created an Anime only Z-move to stop Guzzlord, not something that's already a mechanic in the anime. That's not what DEM means, for all we know Tapu Koko could've been seeing if they were worthy of the Z-ring, and Tapu Koko just had enough energy to only allow two people to use their Z-moves.

That's hardly DEM and more like the usual plot in these scenarios.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Good use of the Ash-Greninja theme here (XYZ sounds nothing like that)

It's also amusing how well the first JP OP "Volt" fits the use of a Z-move

 

[pokedigijedi]

This two parter are the first episodes I've checked out since the Necrozma arc, and I got to say I appreciate how dark it was now if only we could've gotten the past arcs to be this dark.

Not sure why Tapu Koko wasn't able to take care of Guzzlord but I am sure there was a reason for it, even if it was most likely an incredibly stupid plot convenient that made no sense

 

[ash&charizardfan]

This was another fine episode but not as good as the last one, one thing is confusing if tapu koko was able to help both of them then why didn't it defeat guzlord alone or was it his way of testing ash and see how much strong he has become. I would say this 2 parter is the the best arc of SM series.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

This was another fine episode but not as good as the last one, one thing is confusing if tapu koko was able to help both of them then why didn't it defeat guzlord alone or was it his way of testing ash and see how much strong he has become. I would say this 2 parter is the the best arc of SM series.

Koko had already left because humans had destroyed Alola's nature by the time Guzzlord arrived

 

[nuzamaki90]

Definitely not nearly as good as last week’s episode but this was a hard hitter nonetheless. The battle between Zeraora and Pikachu was a lot more entertaining than last week’s I must say, probably due to Iwane’s top notch animation skills. Things did get pretty dark with these two episodes and with how lighthearted SM has been, I didn’t expect for them to throw in a scene of Guzzlord almost outright smashing Dia to death. IKU Z was incredibly great to hear and OLM definitely stole a smile from me when that happened.

Only real complaint was again, how anti climactic these story arcs seem to get. It happened with Aether, Necrozma, hell even the Kanto arc suffered from such a rushed ending. Tapu Koko just coming out of nowhere and using Electroweb on Guzzlord just confused me because why didn’t it do that in the beginning? Did it not think Guzzlord was a big enough threat when it first came eating up Melemele Island? And it was never really explained why the Z-Moves weren’t working just like in the Necrozma arc, so for Tapu Koko to “charge” them once again just feels random and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Otherwise, out of all 4 story arcs so far in SM, this is definitely my favorite. Hope to see Dia and Zeraora again.

 

[mehmeh1]

btw, the opening still has the same dia and zeraora scene from last episode, replacing eevee's

 

[lolipiece]

I guess this'll have to do until the thread is made.

Hoo boy, that was a doozy.

Ash continues to be a good boy by getting through Zeraora's edginess by befriending and even hugging it.

Loved hearing XYZ return.

My favorite part of the Twin Gigavolt Havoc has to be Guzzlord's cry. Since it's just saying the "a" part of its Japanese name over and over, it just sounds like a guy screaming in pain. I guess it's appropriate.

 

[AznKei]

Tbh, I didn't like it as much as last week episode, as I thought the arc was rushed with Tapu Koko suddenly appearing and lightning up Dia & Ash Z-rings which for some reasons didn't work earlier, and the wormhole just happened to be close where Guzzlord was.

But the previews about Misty & Brock that would happen in the original universe with Ash on it, foreshadows what I would expect in this episode. Dia did learn how to be optimistic in bleak situations thanks to Ash as it was shown when Ash & Pikachu went back to their universe, in which I couldn't figure out the logic of traveling through dimensions from a combined bolt tower that Pikachu & Zeraora made.

Anyways, ok episode. Sure, it has some intense battles with Pikachu, Zeraora & Guzzlord, but I already saw these in the last episode. So I thought it would be cool if there's more Pokemons that are getting involved in this 2 episodes arc.

 

[1rkhachatryan]

So not really sure what the justification for all this was but I think this is what happened. The two Tapu Koko could somehow communicate between dimensions or whatever, the Guzzlord Tapu asked Ash's Tapu for help and because Tapu trusts Ash, he sent Ash to the other world to help Dia and Tapu. The other Tapu at first was hesitant if he can trust Ash which is why he stayed hidden until he saw that Ash was really helping and then sent him back when he did his part.

 

[GarchompChain]

Give them time. They probably had other priorities before opening the episode review thread and locking this one.

They must be really busy then. Is Serebii the only one able/allowed to open a episode thread?

 

[mehmeh1]

They must be really busy then. Is Serebii the only one able/allowed to open a episode thread?

yes (or at least only him and other admins, not sure about that), though the episode thread is already up, not sure why this wasn't locked

 

[Shadao]

Huh, I thought this place will be locked up by now...

 

[1rkhachatryan]

Why is this thread still a thing lol??

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Good to hear the XYZ theme again but... I feel like the Z-move scene lacked a bit of epicness so the use of that particular kinda bothetered. Because the scene looked it'd worthy it but end up being slightly lackluster (I know why they didn't show the final pose but they could at least show them starting the Z-move" ritual)

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Good to hear the XYZ theme again but... I feel like the Z-move scene lacked a bit of epicness so the use of that particular kinda bothetered. Because the scene looked it'd worthy it but end up being slightly lackluster (I know why they didn't show the final pose but they could at least show them starting the Z-move" ritual)

There's a real thread now, so you can post in there. Not sure why this one hasn't been locked yet.