Finals III: Strongest (1220)

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

...

It's clearly rocket science for you

That post wasn't directed at you lol, but at some of the self proclaimed Ash haters. You've been arguing in a simple discussion that you think the battle isn't even, some others have gone across the forums constantly saying Ash still weak, Ash being given handouts, blah blah constantly to make fun of him in all threads, which is amusing to see, was directed at them.

At this point if people don't wanna make peace with the idea of the finale being the world's strongest trainers going full out against each other, and Ash's full strength tying into having all three gimmicks as a result of his journeys vs Leon who's full power curtails Dynamax and training his 6 mons to top tier condition such as Libero Cinderace or dual wielding Inteleon, always battling in Galar to improve himself as we know of, then that's on them. I've made my point, people have made their side clear, it's such a fruitless discussion coz it's going in circles and changing no one's mind so I'm just stopping and gonna enjoy today's episode

 

[doofinc]

The OST during Charizard vs. Pikachu here is great, and a demonstration of the good tracks in the Journeys OST. Going from the ominous "Creeping" during the introduction into the energetic "World Domination" for the fight carries this scene TBH. It definitely makes this scene one of the more re-watchable battle segments.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

This episode is absolutely DWARFED by ep4 and for good reason but goddamn was this episode on its own so freaking good, on par with the best animated battle episodes of JN before part 4 came out
The 10MV z move clash with Gigantamax Charizard really was everything, and something i once thought would be a wild dream. 10MV vs Max Wildfire is much better than Giant Aura sphere vs Max Wildfire

The Power of Alola is unmatched, took down the strongest Z move (Tapu Koko's ultimate one), the strongest mega (Mega Metagross considering Steven was shown more of a Chad than Diantha in XY) and the strongest Gigantamax. ABSOLUTE goat

 

[Starswirl Pikachu]

While Sir Fetched did end up getting fainted, I think having it ride around on its shield was a pretty cool moment. G-Max Charizard vs the Z move Thunderbolt, its debatable if Ash should have hurried up and used it sooner but even so it almost looks like Pikachu was going to be the winner in that exchange of special attacks. However the match appears to be interrupted by some crisis. (hypothetically if Charizard did go down, I think it would have still been an uphill fight for Pikachu to take on Cinderace)

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Yep Ash vs Leon is the best 6v6 in the anime, the fact I can say this now without having rewatched the final part (The most famous one and constantly used one for why people love it) makes me so happy lol, despite JN's horrendous execution at times and some underwhelming moments/static animation prior, they absolutely delivered on the Ultimate and final Ash's battle.

Also this is sadly an episode ruined in the dub by Goldfarb, the music between the clash of 10MV and Gmax Wildfire is so underwhelming compared to the crazy Japanese OST.

Anyway, why it's my favourite 6v6. Many 6v6s in the anime have felt like glorified 3v3s at times, most evident in the Kalos league matches but also Kukui, Gary, Drake, Katie etc. all kind of suffer from it a bit too. Ash vs Paul and Ash vs Cynthia managed to avoid that but still not every mon of every trainer felt as impactful as it does HERE! Each one of Leon's and Ash's mons feel impactful and work perfectly as team, every one of them shines and Ash's team gets to show it's full potential here, each and every member. Plus, Leon and Ash truly feel like equals, constant back and forth, I love Leon's cocky demeanor, Ash keeps countering and not being setback at all and there are so many strats at play, much more than I remembered and certainly much more than I remembered in this episode. Plus, stuff like Bulbasaur reacting to Vine Whip, Torkoal crying, Tracey fistbumping Noivern, Dawn's commentatory....it just hits the feels. Yes the reserves argument sucks, but as much as I wanted reserves for the tournament I never wanted them against Leon so it doesn't sting me here.

And ofc everything that happens next episode........
Im nostalgic for 6v6s HZ please include one atleast some point in the series

Apparently someone pointed out how you can see thunderbolt crackling during Max wyrmwind and how Pikachu was dug into the ground when it finally cut to him, with the theory that Pikachu was meant to withstand that using that grounding itself in the ground typeish strat it used against Visquez and Bea but that segment was cut, maybe due to the number of drawings alloted already being used up or something
The cut to Pikachu after Max Wyrmwind did feel suspicious, as if we missed something

I still believe this conspiracy theory btw and like to headcanon it happened, helps to tie it more and weird Visquez never got a cameo

You know, if this was a callback to the move-swallowing technique from DP, I would've accepted it despite my dislike of that tactic. But neither Ash nor Dawn referenced it, so plot convenience it is.

Yeah that's my only problem with this battle. I really wish they had Ash purposely swallow Dreepy to awaken the dragon energy inside him. It makes perfect sense for Dracovish's phisiology and what's happened before in the anime and this happening coz of an Ash strat, even if it wasn't the intended consequence, makes it not as egregious to me as some antis like to claim, but yeah tying that would have made it so much better. A mon gaining experience during a battle and developing new abilities doesn't bother me, but tying it to that DP strat would have been better