Everyone's Fully Powered! The Road to the Semifinals!! (1077)

[Red and Blue]

Ah now this was the brutality I wanted out of Lana vs. Guzma. This is my favorite battle out of the league so far.


At least from this point the semifinals and final match should have some intense battles

 

[wellwellwells]

Ok, the writing keeps getting worst and worst. Z-Moves went from being megaton super powered moves to being hold off by Wild Charge and destroyed by Liquidation. This series can’t end soon enough.

 

[DatsRight]

Ok, the writing keeps getting worst and worst. Z-Moves went from being megaton super powered moves to being hold off by Wild Charge and destroyed by Liquidation. This series can’t end soon enough.

Many complained Z Moves were getting formulaic anyway. Them being the deciding moves for every match ruined the tension, in earlier episodes you could tell who would win just by who used their's last, which was blatantly NOT the case with Ash vs Hau where they both used their's way early into the match.

Z Moves had to get moderated eventually, just like Mega Evolutions and Gen 1 Psychics.

 

[lemoncatpower]

Many complained Z Moves were getting formulaic anyway. Them being the deciding moves for every match ruined the tension, in earlier episodes you could tell who would win just by who used their's last, which was blatantly NOT the case with Ash vs Hau where they both used their's way early into the match.

Z Moves had to get moderated eventually, just like Mega Evolutions and Gen 1 Psychics.

Would have preferred the consistency tbh, the whole battle I was thinking “kiawe just use your z move and finish this excruciating battle” and then it was incredibly disappointing anyways...

With the Lana battle, honestly it reminded me of a rape scene which just made me uncomfortable..

 

[DatsRight]

Would have preferred the consistency tbh, the whole battle I was thinking “kiawe just use your z move and finish this excruciating battle” and then it was incredibly disappointing anyways...

With the Lana battle, honestly it reminded me of a rape scene which just made me uncomfortable..

I'm wondering if that was the writers going "See? THIS is why we don't let the girls do proper battles. You want us to do stuff like THIS all the time........W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN "YES"????"

 

[WaterShuriken]

Ok, the writing keeps getting worst and worst. Z-Moves went from being megaton super powered moves to being hold off by Wild Charge and destroyed by Liquidation. This series can’t end soon enough.

Isn't that the same thing with Mega Evolution? When both concepts show up they are considered high level tactics but then as more and more people get them on their teams, their severity lessens because more people are on equal ground.
-

I enjoyed this episode. Sophocles' character development is a treat to see. The character that would cower in fear and let the other boys handle the battling is no longer the one who battled Kiawe today.

What is nice about it is that his character development comes from the love of his friends. Ash gifted him Chargabug as a goodbye present. Ash and Kiawe then helped him win in the Chargabug Race. Then both boys supported him when he attempted to evolve Chargabug.

It wasn't until then that Sophocles started to become independent. He won the Vikavolt race by himself and earned the Z-Crystal and Z-Ring.

What's funny is that this all came from his secondary Pokémon. Togedemaru has done nothing.

I was so interested in seeing Lana's counter to First Impression. Too bad that didn't happen. The match was brutal. That was Paul's Drapion style of ouch. I'm impressed Primarina lasted as long as she did. She did manage to pull a few surprise tactics. Not bad Lana.

 

[Almighty Zard]

so I guess Meltan's not changing yet, did Sophocles notice it during his fight?

any of the mods know what Olivia said to Guzma as he was walking away?

You know, one thing that kind of bugs me is the fact that, when you look at how Hau reacted last week after his loss, which was no where near the level of brutality Guzma did to Lana (unless you want to treat the "Decision" as such), I feel like she should've reacted the same way if not more emotional here since her partner effectively got destroyed, but she didn't.

I would think it would make more sense to cry over having your pokemon broken in front of you, than having a decision overturned.

 

[lemoncatpower]

so I guess Meltan's not changing yet, did Sophocles notice it during his fight?

any of the mods know what Olivia said to Guzma as he was walking away?

You know, one thing that kind of bugs me is the fact that, when you look at how Hau reacted last week after his loss, which was no where near the level of brutality Guzma did to Lana (unless you want to treat the "Decision" as such), I feel like she should've reacted the same way if not more emotional here since her partner effectively got destroyed, but she didn't.

I would think it would make more sense to cry over having your pokemon broken in front of you, than having a decision overturned.

Destroyed or raped? Those pincers were going everywhere and anywhere...

I also agree that Lana should have been more emotional, but it was nice to see her cuddling Primarina and being more emotionally invested in her well being compared to losing a battle. Even though she’s good at a lot of things it’s nice she cares more about Pokémon than winning, which was good contrast to Guzma.

 

[Sonnas]

In all fairness, both battles this episode were terrible.

At least they found something interesting to hold their attention. I was so bored and unimpressed by the visuals I was really close to just skipping the episode.

So you just wanted more comedy in the battles instead of the battling competently?

 

[DatsRight]

What's funny is that this all came from his secondary Pokémon. Togedemaru has done nothing.

I feel like this is consistent with the pattern of SM. The signatures tend to represent the comfort zone of the trainers, what they are already good at, while the secondaries tend to be the ones that bring out actual character development and them broadening their horizons (beside's Snowy who represented Lillie getting a Pokemon at all). Togedemaru was more Sophocles' security blanket, the Pokemon that represented him already in his element while Vikavolt was the one Sophocles became more adventurous with. Turtonator and Marowak's dynamics with Kiawe are similar, as is Pikachu compared to Ash's Alola captures. All three signatures learned a new move to represent their trainer becoming more versatile as well, but otherwise were already tamed and reliable for their purpose.

Sandy and Shaymin don't do the same level of development, though you can kinda see they sort of represent a similar dynamic, what with Sandy being less tame than Primarina and Shaymin being Mallow's 'baby' Pokemon coming in just as she had come to terms with her mother.

On the plus side for Togedemaru, she was the one who fought Charjabug to capture him in the first place.

 

[Doppelgänger]

Isn't that the same thing with Mega Evolution? When both concepts show up they are considered high level tactics but then as more and more people get them on their teams, their severity lessens because more people are on equal ground.

We only just saw the first non-Mega get a clean win against a Mega, and there were specific reasons as to why that happened.

Earlier in the series, Megas could only be contested with Z-Moves.
Remember how it was a big deal when Brock's Mega Steelix could tank Inferno Overdrive, and it was coughing up steam from enduring the immense heat?

Then...
Pikachu blocks Let's Snuggle Forever with Electroweb
Midnight Lycanroc just outright tanks Splitered Stormshards
Umbreon tanks Subzero Slammer like it took no damage
Decidueye flies upward to avoid Bloom Doom
Charizard burts out of Savage Spin-Out before it finishes
Golisopod slices up Oceanic Operetta like an onion

Some of these I can understand the visual logic. Needing a huge boulder to fill a black hole follows cartoon physics, and it was consistent.
Bloom Doom, All-Out Pummeling, Let's Snuggle Forever and Savage Spin-Out can be exploited because of how the move is executed.

But tanking and blocking the moves is just unacceptable right now.

 

[Sonnas]

Anyone notice how the battles were better here when Ash isn’t the one battling?

 

[mehmeh1]

I liked how Guzma started losing some of his composure when Lana was able to even slightly fight back, I can't wait to see him completely lose his mind against Ash. I also like the consistency of portraying Ash with a blue flame since around XY

 

[Leonhart]

Guzma versus Suiren really felt like the kind of battle that we should have more of in this League, but unfortunately none of the previous Alola League battles felt this exciting. I really didn't care for Kaki versus Maamane since it was about as predictable as I expected, so I'm just happy that it's finally finished.

 

[mehmeh1]

Guzma versus Suiren really felt like the kind of battle that we should have more of in this League, but unfortunately none of the previous Alola League battles felt this exciting. I really didn't care for Kaki versus Maamane since it was about as predictable as I expected, so I'm just happy that it's finally finished.

IMO it was the most brutal trainer battle in the anime that hasn't involved Paul

 

[Akkipeddi]

IMO it was the most brutal trainer battle in the anime that hasn't involved Paul

I haven't watched this episode yet, but would you say it was more brutal than the rabid Mega Lucario vs Pikachu in XY?

 

[andrewscott48209]

I haven't watched this episode yet, but would you say it was more brutal than the rabid Mega Lucario vs Pikachu in XY?

Yes, even more so than this, because unlike this one, Guzma's beatdown was intentional.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Anyone notice how the battles were better here when Ash isn’t the one battling?

Is it because he was forced to bring a gag Pokemon to end one battle through comedy and the other he chose to bring a gag Pokemon in a battle that had a mountain of issues, one of them making its gag a serious thing during a huge event.

I mean, Ash is only having 2 or 3 serious battles in this league.

 

[mehmeh1]

I haven't watched this episode yet, but would you say it was more brutal than the rabid Mega Lucario vs Pikachu in XY?

Yes, especially since this one was fully conscious, at one point Primarina was pretty much limping away, and also because the fight was dragged on for a while

 

[NPT]

With the Lana battle, honestly it reminded me of a rape scene which just made me uncomfortable..

That's one heck of an exaggeration.