Down to the Fiery Finish (934)

[Bguy7]

I don't understand why people say that the League was rushed - what's the point of showcasing a battle we know Ash'll win anyways against some COTD if you only have 6-7 eps to showcase the whole thing?
We got 2 of the best battles in the Anime history which took 4 eps, 1 good QF between Shota and Tierno, as well as the opening episode with a beautifully animated Greninja battle that had the message that not everyone who acquired 8 badges is really good compared to the other paticipants(Trevor), yet that it's an incredibly difficult task. Lastly, we had the build-up episode for the final and the TF climax.

Imo the best regional League so far...

Just look at the Sinnoh League. In the same amount of episodes, it managed to show many more battles to a satisfying conclusion. You actually got a thrill out of watching Ash and all of his rivals rise through the ranks of the league, as opposed to seeing a 10 second clip of a battle and then nothing more. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Ash/Sawyer, and Ash/Alain battles, but everything else in the league was an absolute disappointment.

 

[DS0308]

It's just weird to me watching this Final again and getting the feeling that Ash is in relative control of the battle for basically all of the last episode and about 5 minutes of this. Then Bisharp gets the Iron Head after they cut to the swamp Pokemon all going "yay Goodra :]]]]]" after he's basically vapourised Bisharp... I mean, ugh...

Not to mention all that talk going on about him being in a favourable position and that. Along with all the other buildup like XYZ028 and Furfrou guy, etc. it just feels like a complete waste. It's like they wrote all these other episodes for a storyline of Ash winning then at the last minute went "lol no let Alain win because reasons".

The announcer in the dub is actually hilarious/amazing, "Goodra's making it raaaaaaaain!" Love it.

I'm of the opinion that it's going to be hard for the dub to **** up the Team Flare arc, there's been a few other moments in the series where I've said the same thing and it's been relatively true so here's hoping. It'd probably take xylophones in the very last episode or during the big moments for me to get mad.

Oh god I just brought it to life didn't I...

 

[Vipsoccermaster]

Well, the finals were good, even if it is disappointing that Ash lost, but Ash losing is expected in just about every regional league. But being in the Top 2 is better than previous regional leagues. And as for the battle as a whole, neither Ash nor Alain cared if they won or not (even they say they both want to win), they wanted to give a worthy battle to its opponent.

And now begins the Team Flare arc. Hopefully the dub airs the last two episodes of the TF arc together, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[EeveelutionTrainer]

I really think that the writers wanted Ash to win the league, but at the last second were forced to make him lose by some higher-ups. There are a multitude of reasons, but some involve spoilers from episodes that have only aired in Japan so far, so it would be best not to list them.

 

[Water_Dragon trainer]

This was a pretty good episode. I very much enjoyed the finale of the battle between Ash and Alain. Now I look forward to seeing the next bit with Zygarde.

 

[Orton155]

*Sigh* so close.

You know what, I don't think the result mattered in the end because what we got was a great battle. I guess it came down to Charizard being stronger and more experienced.

To the episode at hand, Pikachu had to go down eventually. However, two wins and some additional damage on Charizard isn't too bad for the little guy. Goodra was disappointing but it played it's part and the rain dance helped Greninja at the beginning of it's battle. Greninja's battle certainly didn't go flat and I don't think we will forget that amazing conclusion and that will be the lasting memory of this league.

Overall, I'm satisfied. It would have been fantastic for Ash to win but he didn't and that's fine. It's funny that Pikachu and Bisharp pulled Ash and Alain respectively back into the battle when they were behind considering the 'aces' of each team.

Anyway, we can't rest on our laurels. Lumiose is under attack, onto the next one!

 

[roguedr4g0nite]

Worst thing that can happen, and it will, is the dub music being bad and not the right emotions being spoken.

Huh. Now I noticed there was no dub opening theme in this current battle, while it did in the semi-finals.

The lyrics go, "I stand tall cause I know I'm a winner"
So it wouldn't have made sense because he doesn't win.
Anyways I don't know what everyone was so worked up about. Ash losing makes sense. He just mastered Battle Bond whereas Alain has been Mega Evolving forever. Also his Charizard has fought 10 Mega Evolutions and 3 Legends. In the screen time Greninja gets we never see him perform such feats. At the end of the day Greninja was just another Mega Evolution for Alain to defeat.
Side note when Greninja performed the Water Shuriken to the ground I felt the voice acting during that part was terrific.
10/10

 

[Caststorm]

You call that Charizard tanking 9 hits, one of which was super effective and another that wiped out a quad resistant Mega Sceptile REALISTIC?

 

[roguedr4g0nite]

You call that Charizard tanking 9 hits, one of which was super effective and another that wiped out a quad resistant Mega Sceptile REALISTIC?

Why did you follow me to serebii forums XD

 

[345ash-greninja]

Most heartbreaking battle of the entire anime. What was the point of hyping up the giant orange shuriken in the preview of the episode if it wasn't going to finish off Mega Charizard-X? What was the point of that? To just troll viewers? The dub title of this episode was alright, but how trolling was the Japanese title- 'Kalos League Victory! Ash's Ultimate Match!!' Truly the viewers were really trolled by that title and the hyping of the giant orange shuriken through previews. What a heartbreak it was. Not to mention Ash deserved to win this more because he never defeated Alain before. And he started this battle so well! But alas!

 

[Caststorm]

God, I didn't even realize it was you. 0_0

 

[roguedr4g0nite]

Most heartbreaking battle of the entire anime. What was the point of hyping up the giant orange shuriken in the preview of the episode if it wasn't going to finish off Mega Charizard-X? What was the point of that? To just troll viewers? The dub title of this episode was alright, but how trolling was the Japanese title- 'Kalos League Victory! Ash's Ultimate Match!!' Truly the viewers were really trolled by that title and the hyping of the giant orange shuriken through previews. What a heartbreak it was. Not to mention Ash deserved to win this more because he never defeated Alain before. And he started this battle so well! But alas!

I remember the comments on YouTube chanting he would win. The English titles try to create puns instead of spelling out the episode.

Also I knew Z2 hated humans...but I didn't think it hated them THAT much. I thought it learned they were kind when it was Team Rocket who let it sunbathe.

 

[345ash-greninja]

I remember the comments on YouTube chanting he would win. The English titles try to create puns instead of spelling out the episode.

Also I knew Z2 hated humans...but I didn't think it hated them THAT much. I thought it learned they were kind when it was Team Rocket who let it sunbathe.

Well, I was pointing out that the japanese title of the episode was really trolling. I don't think I will ever recover from the disappointment of this battle in my entire life!

 

[Bguy7]

You call that Charizard tanking 9 hits, one of which was super effective and another that wiped out a quad resistant Mega Sceptile REALISTIC?

I for one do. Maybe by game logic it doesn't make sense, but this isn't the game, the anime has its own rules, and unlike the games, there can be massive dependencies in power between Pokemon depending on how well they were trained. The solution is simply that Alain's Mega Charizard X is far superior to Sawyer's Mega Sceptile. And, by the way, they made it very obvious that that was the case, so I fail to see the problem. And honestly, I think it's more realistic that way.

Most heartbreaking battle of the entire anime. What was the point of hyping up the giant orange shuriken in the preview of the episode if it wasn't going to finish off Mega Charizard-X? What was the point of that? To just troll viewers?

The giant Water Shuriken in of itself represents a victory for Ash. Maybe not a major one, but it shows how much more he and Greninja have mastered the Bond Phenomenon. It was pretty obvious that the massive attack was Greninja accessing the height of its powers. Not to mention, the fact that they managed to pull that attack off, but still lost also emphasizes how much more powerful Alain and Charizard are. So I would argue it was still pretty important to the episode.

 

[Cloud5001]

Well I'm not going to jump on the very big bandwagon of overreacting in this thread, this battle was great I place it as the 2nd best battle in Pokemon. Despite the result Ash did everything he possibly could in this battle to win, Pikachu fought his heart out to give him the advantage, and the other members of the team put up really good fights in the end. Would I have liked to see Goodra and Noviern get wins sure, but it makes sense that in a heated battle like this your going to slip up at certain points. Both Ash and Alain had those moments that allowed the other to take advantage and pull ahead for a bit.

Look the thing is I've accepted long ago that Ash may never actually win a league, even with all the hype I knew the chances were very low. That was never the deciding factor for why I choose to keep watching pokemon after Black and white. I grew up with Pokemon and it was really the first anime I ever watched even if I did'nt know it at the time. Xy brought back my love for this series. Ash and Pikachu were battling strong like they should've been in unova and I truly did feel I was watching the Ash that ended the Sinnoh leauge. Though I did like the build up whether he won or lost the leauge at the end would'nt hurt my enjoyment of this series.

My main concern is that Ash and Pikachu are always likeable as well as showing that their experienced in pokemon battling, as well as having good traveling compainions and rivals. As long as I have that then I can watch Pokemon easily. It's in my top ten anime list and that is something that will never change. For all of it's flaws there's alot more good in it and that's the stuff that I enjoy the most.

 

[Bguy7]

Look the thing is I've accepted long ago that Ash may never actually win a league, even with all the hype I knew the chances were very low. That was never the deciding factor for why I choose to keep watching pokemon after Black and white. I grew up with Pokemon and it was really the first anime I ever watched even if I did'nt know it at the time. Xy brought back my love for this series. Ash and Pikachu were battling strong like they should've been in unova and I truly did feel I was watching the Ash that ended the Sinnoh leauge. Though I did like the build up whether he won or lost the leauge at the end would'nt hurt my enjoyment of this series.

My main concern is that Ash and Pikachu are always likeable as well as showing that their experienced in pokemon battling, as well as having good traveling compainions and rivals. As long as I have that then I can watch Pokemon easily. It's in my top ten anime list and that is something that will never change. For all of it's flaws there's alot more good in it and that's the stuff that I enjoy the most.

That's a really cool perspective to have. I'm right there with you.

 

[Soaring Pikachu]

The armchair quarterback in me says that Ash lost because he made a couple of strategic errors but it wasn't a bad battle so all is well that ends well. Alain has already been established as a strong trainer and I think the match could have gone either way. It seems that Greninja learned Destructo disc a little bit too late.

 

[snorlax512]

The giant Water Shuriken in of itself represents a victory for Ash. Maybe not a major one, but it shows how much more he and Greninja have mastered the Bond Phenomenon. It was pretty obvious that the massive attack was Greninja accessing the height of its powers. Not to mention, the fact that they managed to pull that attack off, but still lost also emphasizes how much more powerful Alain and Charizard are. So I would argue it was still pretty important to the episode.

Eh, I'm pretty sure that Shuriken was just bait so people would get hyped up and get trolled

 

[345ash-greninja]

Eh, I'm pretty sure that Shuriken was just bait so people would get hyped up and get trolled

Exactly. If the giant orange shuriken was a fully powered up move of Ash-Greninja which managed to cut through a Blast Burn attack, it should've finished off Mega Charizard-X. There was no point in trolling the viewers by showing off a powerful move like that.

 

[roguedr4g0nite]

The armchair quarterback in me says that Ash lost because he made a couple of strategic errors but it wasn't a bad battle so all is well that ends well. Alain has already been established as a strong trainer and I think the match could have gone either way. It seems that Greninja learned Destructo disc a little bit too late.

I noticed the error right away. I was like "Cut?!!! During the Rain?!!! Why not Water Shuriken?!!" Especially since Charizard hadn't Mega Evolved. It would have been perfect.

Hmmm now I wonder. Crybaby Ash must have trolled his viewers by showing Greninja on the ground dazed then winning the league XD

Seriously though I believe crybaby Ash is such a horrible trainer in the other universe but wins leagues