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Dragon Battle! Ash VS Iris!! (1154)

If Ash's newbie pokemon are strong enough to beat a regional champion, then his infernape is probably going to be stronger than Sinnoh Cynthia's Garchomp at this point lol.
Just reading this makes my head hurt :(
 

k6666

Pikachu Fan
That alola champion for us, he gonna destroyed other champion from the structured league, i wish Alain or Paul part of PWC, i want ash revenge Alain and full battle Paul with his strongest team
 

Dephender

Gizakawayusu
Staff member
Moderator
@Dephender Can you please translate what Drayden said about Claire and Goodra ?

"After concluding her journey with Satoshi-kun, Iris continued to study, fighting Dragon Trainers in various places and meeting Dragon Pokémon. Believing in her Pokémon, she then ascended all the way to the position of Champion."

As I said, it's all just glossed over and treated as throwaway trivia.
 

AJ97

Well-Known Member
Just reading this makes my head hurt :(
They've always been respectful of the Champions/ Elite four member's strength. Iris could've stayed as the Gym Leader and they could've brought in Alder later on as the regional Champion.
Don't worry at the rate we're going Infernape will probably be nerfed too lol
I don't think so. Since the DP remakes are coming soon, Infernape is definitely going to be a beast.
 
Don't worry at the rate we're going Infernape will probably be nerfed too lol
There's a possibility of that for sure. Don't think people have really acclimated to the major implications Ash winning here has for Journeys and even worse what it does to previous seasons.
"After concluding her journey with Satoshi-kun, Iris continued to study, fighting Dragon Trainers in various places and meeting Dragon Pokémon. Believing in her Pokémon, she then ascended all the way to the position of Champion."

As I said, it's all just glossed over and treated as throwaway trivia.
Oh god...
 

SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
"After concluding her journey with Satoshi-kun, Iris continued to study, fighting Dragon Trainers in various places and meeting Dragon Pokémon. Believing in her Pokémon, she then ascended all the way to the position of Champion."

As I said, it's all just glossed over and treated as throwaway trivia.
So Goodra is hers then
 

nuzamaki90

Well-Known Member
This was a really good episode. I was smiling the whole time with every moment. And thank God we finally get an Ash episode where Go’s catch a thon is given the bare minimum of focus. The one that was front and center was Iris, which I enjoyed.

Really gotta say I loved Iris in this episode, everything about her was just great. It’s crazy honestly because I REALLY used to dislike her and now I want her to come back again in a future episode haha

And the battle, muy muy magnifique. Iris’ Dragonite proves once again it is not capable of defeating other Dragon-types LOL. Dracovish just running in and putting in work was hilarious and awesome. I’m so happy to see how much Axew has grown because man did Haxorus look absolutely wild! I actually thought Iris was going to win it until Ash did what he always does best. It’s funny too because Axew used to always win battles by just randomly learning new moves that it never uses again, and then boom that’s exactly how it lost. Kudos to Iris though, you can clearly see how developed she is, much respect to our new Unova region Champion.

onwards to Hyper Class!
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
You can’t be disappointed if you already mentally prepared yourself. Despite Ash pulling an Ash pull I am glad we got to see Iris after so long it was nice seeing Ash and Pikachu surprised by Axew’s growth. I hope we get more appearances from her based on their conversation after the battle.
 
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Ryuuma

Well-Known Member
I Think the guy behind Volkner might be Brock.

I guess the girl is Sabrina, could be nessa too, but nessa's hair is a little bit different. Besides, I believe all galar Gym will have an iportant role in hyper rank, and maybe bea appeared because she is sort of a rival.

And the guy in the middle, what about Cilan? That could be his hair, right? And the pokemon shadow might be pansage? Well, just a random guess, this last one is so hard...
 

AuraKshatriya

Well-Known Member
Was Iris an actual regional champion or was she some sort of "Unova Dragon Champion"?
I mean, in that shot she's referred to as a Champion, they show Claire instead of Alder or any of the Unova elite four.
Shaga says she's the Unova region's strongest trainer outright, and she calls herself the Champion without a "Dragon" prefix so it seems she's just the Champion.
@Dephender Can you please translate what Drayden said about Claire and Goodra ?

I said Scale shot because Haxorus is a pretty good fit for Scale Shot (with scales on his body and all) and it's Dragon type. Just a guess. Don't know for sure.
He doesn't say anything about Claire or Goodra, he just talks about Iris growing closer to her Dragon-type Pokemon and how that gradually led her to this point after she traveled with Ash.
Dragon Master is a title given out by the Dragon Village, it's not some vague "strongest dragon type specialist ever" thing. It doesn't imply having
to be some sort of impossibly powerful Trainer either; Shaga is one, and he's definitely not stronger than Wataru.
Perhaps, but given that she's already the Champion and still doesn't consider herself one it still suggests that a trainer like Lance (who is definitely also a Dragon Master, though by Blackthorn's standards more specifically at minimum) possesses some distinct quality she lacks.

Typically trainers are depicted as more competent based on their attitude and such, like how Drake was portrayed in Hoenn. So I imagine if and when she became a Dragon Master, and if it were shown in the anime it would likely be depicted alongside some relative scaling to other Masters like Lance even if not strictly via battle. The anime usually uses other trainers, titles or strong Pokemon as tentpoles to signify certain milestones.
 

Almighty Zard

He has returned.
i suppose something else to consider about Ice Fang doing so much damage (besides practically eating Dragonite which the mental imagery isn't going to leave for a long time, thank you anime) I'm going to assume Dracovish's does have Strong Jaw, which would've made it's ice fang more powerful than one from something like Mamoswine.
 
They've always been respectful of the Champions/ Elite four member's strength. Iris could've stayed as the Gym Leader and they could've brought in Alder later on as the regional Champion.
They generally have always been yeah, but that has definitely changed with this season and not in a positive way. I actually think this episode was pretty disrespectful to Iris.
 

J. D. Guy

Well-Known Member
Now this! This is how you do it! I don't know a lick of Japanese and I was hear for and hooked through every last moment of it!

This is probably going to become one of my absolute favorite episodes in the entire Pokemon Anime Franchise! It was just that perfect, as far as I am concerned!

Everything was done well. This was a shining example of how an episode like this can be only a single episode and still be magnificent! We even gave a little time for Goh to get a couple of Unova Mons (there are still so many he still needs to catch!) and it was brilliantly used to setup the callback of Ash trying to capture Iris when the two first met! Well done! Even Iris's carefree spirit was emphasized here, because she was lounging in the forested trees and had almost forgot her meeting with Ash, had Goh's intervention not reminded her. One of the big reasons I loved this episode was because so much thought, care, and love was used in every second, including with Goh and especially with re-showcasing who Iris is as a character/person.

We got to see Drayden again, which was indeed a pleasant surprise. Drayden was sexy and boss as he always is, and I appreciate his calm and non-judgmental aura. We always need more people like this of any age!

I loved the fakeout with the Axew! That was a clever little misdirection put there for longtime viewers watching this for the first time, because it would have been so easy to think that Axew hadn't evolved. (Granted, the lead-up marketing heavily implied it did, but not everyone follows that, and many who did were still convinced that Axew hadn't or even couldn't possibly have evolved.)

Iris's proper introduction was just as brilliant as her initial tease at the start! I loved how simultaneously cool and cute she they portrayed her as being. It was peak Iris, totally genuine to who she's always been! (Seriously, her bouncing around at the beginning was straight adorbs!) The interactions were all that I wanted and completely on-point, and I was alive for ever microsecond of it!

As I mentioned, the "Such a little kid!" and Ash clapping back and Iris and Ash clapping at each other in the most self-referentially childish way they could was more than I could have ever dreamed! Once again, the creative team outdoes themselves with showcasing the complex extents of who Iris is and who Iris and Ash are as companions and close friends. (Drayden breaking the little kindergarten kids up was also perfectly executed and supremely funny.)

When Ash sent out Hugs!Dragonite and Hugs glomped Iris only for Iris to glomp Hugs back?

I came alive again! Seriously, where my gif at, people!?

But I also loved how Iris showcased her growth and experience and maturity by showcasing her powers of connecting to the hearts of Dragon Pokemon. Even though the two only just met, the audience could just feel as if they've known each other forever. Also, I loved how Hugs reacted to Iris's Grumpy!Dragonite with abject hesitation. That was hilarious! :D

And the battle was brilliant! I'd be here all day, but I'll try to keep this as concise as I can. (Once-over edit prior to hitting post: Nope. I failed there.) If Iris was going to lose, this was the way they should have done it. She lost in a completely fair battle that showcased that she truly was worthy of being Unova's Champion. It was two-on-two, but felt as dynamic and story-heavy as any full-battle this series has given us in the past. More so, even, then some of the fandom's frequent fave takes, I'd argue, because they really took the time to showcase who Iris is and what she has grown to become to the utmost, while simultaneously fleshing Hugs!Dragonite out in way that Hugs hasn't been since after joining Ash's team. The battle also wasn't afraid to blend seriousness and heartfelt moments in with laughs! There's the aforementioned Grumpy VS Hugs intro, but there was also Dracovish. Grumpy getting unnerved by Dracovish (right before getting rekt in a pretty funny manner) and Iris gushing at the anomalous Pokemon were perfect points of levity. It makes for a good example of how and why levity works, I'd say.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the glorious return of Iris's Axew, now a fully-grown Haxorus! Just like the little guy had once dreamed! I don't understand Japanese, so I do wonder if this dream was ever noted. Regardless, it was brilliant seeing Iris and Haxorus just go hard! And in truth, it was completely cathartic. Practical limitations combined with the sheer marketability of cute little Axew meant that it evolving while still part of the main cast was just not feasible to happen. And of course, in the fandom's ever-ongoing sense of rage and long-standing grudges, poor little Axew had to take flak for that. So it feels like righteous justice to see Iris and the fully-evolved Haxorus battling high-end, as it was meant to be!

And just like the rest of this episode, Iris and Haxorus did not disappoint! Dracovish got knocked right out, leading straight into a main event I didn't know was needed: Haxorus VS Hugs. And man! My goodness! What can I say? What else, that the battle itself didn't already say? Not only did Haxorus prove itself and solidify its growth, but we got Iris encouraging Ash's Dragonite in such a way to allow Hugs to self-actualize Hugs' own growth. This culminated in the hard-fought back-and-forth that we got that climaxed with some good on-brand Ash-style ingenuity. The Draco Meteor finish by Hugs was the pinnacle cheery on top.

Ash won this one. I know Iris lost and I know I was rooting for Iris here. But she lost with hard-fought grace and Ash won with hard-fought dignity. And most keenly as an Iris fan and as someone who's favorite Pokemon Anime series has been Black and White, I can rest easy knowing and seeing with my own two eyes that Iris lost while never once wavering in how awesome she truly is. A hard-fought battle on both sides, with both coming out looking strong.

And the mutual handshake at the very end? The cherry to top all cherries. I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

I would not have dared to dream of a better love letter to Iris and Black and White! <3
 
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