Intense Electric Shock Training! A Rematch with Tapu Koko!! (962)

[TheWanderingMist]

Oh, that reminds me, they kept focusing on the Electrium-Z. It'll probably somehow get upgraded to Pikashunium-Z, like Bond Phenomenon but for Z-Crystals instead of Pokemon.

 

[Frozocrone]

I think it's less a throwback to XY and more of a reference to Nebby, though that might have been inspired by XY in the first place.

I just don't like it. It's probably just me nitpicking but I've had enough of Ash doing this stupid thing and being bailed out by others. I can't recall him being chastised for jumping off although I could be wrong.

@satoharupika I agree about Lillie and Lana! It's so nice to see them interacting with each other.

 

[345ash-greninja]

Wow it starts in the middle of them battling! GO ABARERU KUN!!! Onto the review:

-I love how everyone has different reactions to Ash battling (Mao chan cheering, Lillie commenting, Kiawe observing intently especially when it came to the Z move)

-Congrats Rockruff! Rockruff is acting justlike a puppy, nice touch having its tongue out, that's exactly how dogs indicate them being tired or hot.

-I just love how they capture the Komala scene (the angles, how it somehow jumps up to ring the bell in different ways (one time it was doing a little spin))

-I wonder who does Mamane's mother. She sounds a bit like Ash's mother Delia. I didn't expect her to have lines.

-Ash's face when he's hiding from everyone but then everyone yells at him for the Togedemaru hat... ALL YOUR FAULT! Poor Ash lol.

-Togedemaru is tugging on Pikachu while everyone is talking, Pikachu has this "stop it Toge..." expression on his face but the Pokémon aren't doing anything, they're just staring?!

-I guess what everyone said is true. Tapu Koko doesn't care about any other Pokémon on Ash's team but Pikachu. Let the battle BEGIN!

-Togedemaru using her Zip Zap!

-Yay! Tapu Koko saved them and the 2 people reacting to get to him faster is Kiawe and Prof Kukui! I love how his friends care that much about him, screw those irrelevant trash trainers! ;~;

What a fantastic episode! We all knew Ash would lose but the ending was really such an eye opener! Sophocles did help in the sense of indirectly getting Tapu Koko's attention. I also like on how Lillie is talking to Lana a bit more than normal, it's not much but it's something. Also when Ash went to save Pikachu, Kiawe, the one is sort of upset at him for getting a Z Ring without any effort and does get mad at him over small things were one of the two people to run after him and Kukui, the one to look after him were right beside him. They were both visibly worried, nice add on of Kukui letting out a quick breath of relief that Ash and Pikachu are safe. The battle was pretty good. We saw Tapu Koko thrashing Pikachu around a bit and Pikachu showing off his strength with Ash through Sparking Giga Volt. I also liked seeing Ash messing around, not really understanding what Rotom and Sophocles are blabbering about and how it was his fault that everyone got shocked by the Togedemaru hat. That was hilarious!! No complaints from me, I truly enjoyed this heartwarming episode.

So your prediction of Rockruff vs Mudbray not being a curbstomp was wrong.

 

[DatsRight]

Yeah...I didn't like that part. Or anytime they jump off stuff to save Pokemon, because I know they'll just be saved which lessens the impact for me.

Omode sure is contriving cliff dilemmas into his episodes (same with the Lillie vs TR episode). You can tell he's an XY writer, dramatic cliff saves were in nearly every third episode or so. I think they need to think up a new source of drama. Still showing Koko's benevolent side doesn't hurt. He wants to spar, not cause harm.

This was an intriguing episode, after being kind of underwhelmed by last week's, I like seeing more substance put in here.

It seems like Sopociles really IS Clemont 2.0, he even brings back Ash and Pikachu's science-gasms. XD Oh well, at least he's putting it to good use this time and researching their strength. If he's going to be rip off he may as well be a fully utilised one. I also liked Ash and Pikachu's overcurious behaviour this time round, rather than just their usual catchphrase they had all the time with Clemont.

Liked that Ash and Pikachu actually earned Tapu Koko's attention this time round with their big electrium-Z pulse. The fight was more tense if still fairly one sided (Pikachu's Quick Attack looked hilariously underwhelming and slow), though Gigavolt offers a greater blow than before.

Togedamaru was endearing this episode rather than just insane comic relief. Her playing around with Pikachu in the lab was adorable, her absorbing Tapu Koko's electric pulses to protect everyone was also a neat touch.

Did anyone notice a LOT of dynamic angles in the animation this episode? A bit gratuitous in some shots, but rather funny to look at. Also more 'retro' tracks from BW and XY, this time game remixes (eg. the Kalos trainer theme).

So your prediction of Rockruff vs Mudbray not being a curbstomp was wrong.

It seemed fairly even handed until Rockruff used Breakneck Blitz, just we missed most of the battle at the start. Still it was nice to show Ash battling with another student outside the main five.

 

[lemoncatpower]

'Elec Field' is also the name of the effect it generates, so it was certainly from its Ability.



I think it's less a throwback to XY and more of a reference to Nebby, though that might have been inspired by XY in the first place.
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I don't understand Japanese but this looks like it'll be a fun episode to watch subbed later.

It's weird everyone is jumping to the beginning of XY when it's a scene right out of the SM games basically lol.

I definitely don't think they were trying to connect to the xy beginning, they just like Ash jumping off cliffs to save pokemon and it works with the SM games intro.

So your prediction of Rockruff vs Mudbray not being a curbstomp was wrong.

that in no way was a curb stomp unless anytime someone uses a z-move to win a battle that seemingly will result in a draw counts as curb stomping.

 

[345ash-greninja]

It seemed fairly even handed until Rockruff used Breakneck Blitz, just we missed most of the battle at the start. Still it was nice to show Ash battling with another student outside the main five.

How was it fairly even??? The battle barely lasted. And Rockruff didn't even seem remotely tired or damaged.

 

[satopi]

So your prediction of Rockruff vs Mudbray not being a curbstomp was wrong.

You came to my post just to write that?! They were in the middle of a battle and Rockruff was clearly tired after. It isn't a curbstomp, the battle wasn't favoring Rockruff over Mudbray. Rockruff knew a Z move, used it, and defeated Mudbray.

nice touch having its tongue out, that's exactly how dogs indicate them being tired or hot.

 

[DatsRight]

How was it fairly even??? The battle barely lasted. And Rockruff didn't even seem remotely tired or damaged.

We were in the middle of the battle though. It's hard to evaluate when we barely saw any of it besides Rockruff's final blow. They were both blasting into each other at equal force at the start of the episode.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

It seems like Sopociles really IS Clemont 2.0, he even brings back Ash and Pikachu's science-gasms. XD Oh well, at least he's putting it to good use this time and researching their strength. If he's going to be rip off he may as well be a fully utilised one. I also liked Ash and Pikachu's overcurious behaviour this time round, rather than just their usual catchphrase they had all the time with Clemont.

At least they managed to keep some aspects of him from XY which is nice after what happened between DP and BW.

Togedamaru was endearing this episode rather than just insane comic relief. Her playing around with Pikachu in the lab was adorable, her absorbing Tapu Koko's electric pulses to protect everyone was also a neat touch.

This was also a nice touch. It likely means there won't be any Pokemon solely dedicated to comic relief.

It seemed fairly even handed until Rockruff used Breakneck Blitz, just we missed most of the battle at the start. Still it was nice to show Ash battling with another student outside the main five.

And other students showed up during the battle, thus proving that there were more students at the school. It would've been nice if they'd showed off Mudbray's Stamina ability. I heard something about Rock and Ground types and Mudbray having an advantage because of that but I don't know if they mentioned Stamina.

 

[satopi]

I thought it's been established before XY that Ash would risk his life for Pikachu, and many other Pokémon whether he own them or not. Just because it happened in XY01, it doesn't make it a throwback. We already saw Ash risk his life for Pikachu before XY.

 

[DatsRight]

On a side note I like how Togedamaru seems connected to Sopocile's experiments and being sort of an assistant. This was something that let down Clemont a bit, none of his Pokemon bounced off his inventing element all that much.

This was also a nice touch. It likely means there won't be any Pokemon solely dedicated to comic relief.

We just need a more recent badass check for Rowlet and I'll be assured of this.

 

[345ash-greninja]

You came to my post just to write that?! They were in the middle of a battle and Rockruff was clearly tired after. It isn't a curbstomp, the battle wasn't favoring Rockruff over Mudbray. Rockruff knew a Z move, used it, and defeated Mudbray.

Even if Rockruff was tired slightly, it was probably just because of the strain of using the Z-move. It certainly didn't seem like Rockruff took damage from Mudbray.

We were in the middle of the battle though. It's hard to evaluate when we barely saw any of it besides Rockruff's final blow. They were both blasting into each other at equal force at the start of the episode.

Yeah, but showing off only the finishing move probably implies that it's a curbstomp. Like in Hawlucha vs Mega Absol(in the league). Hawlucha was shown delivering the finishing blow, but it was evident that Hawlucha won the battle with authority.

 

[DatsRight]

I thought you preferred it when Ash's team curb stomped everything anyway. I think there was at least a tiny bit of tension of what was there to make it seem like Rockruff was strong rather than Mudbray weak.

Probably so Rockruff didn't look too bad getting swatted away with Rowlet like punks by Tapu Koko. Only Pikachu is his worthy adversary.

 

[Pokemon Fan]

I haven't watched the episode yet... did we finally get a reason for Tapu Koko stalking Ash?

One would assume its the same reason Ho-oh appeared before him and so many other legendary pokemon have taken notice of or befriended him. Ash and Pikachu are special/extraordinary/destined for greatness.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I thought the theme they played in the battle came from the Sun and Moon games. I'm pretty sure that theme plays when you battle Sina at the Battle Tree.

Anyway, this episode was cool. I liked it, especially the battle with Tapu Koko.

 

[lemoncatpower]

I especially liked how Togedemaru jumped up and saved everyone from the electricity coming towards them, very nice touch. It's so cute and I always thought it'd get annoying, but Sophocles character and Togedemaru just go together so well that I can't help but like both of them more

 

[DatsRight]

I haven't watched the episode yet... did we finally get a reason for Tapu Koko stalking Ash?

Not fully, but this episode at least, Tapu Koko only takes action when Ash and Pikachu set off an enormous energy bolt while training. Sopociles' reaction suggests their power level is far from normal.

I still take to the idea that Gigavolt Havoc is going to be vital to some incoming plot Tapu Koko is aware of, and Ash and Pikachu are the ones with enough power and bonds to achieve whatever it requires.

 

[PsychoBoost]

The cliff seems like a reference to S&M, except then you were saving Lillie's Nebby!

Lillie didn't seem to be involved this time, surprisingly.. Strange decision to knock a Pikachu off a cliff then save it! Kind of weird since Tapu Koko is a 'benevolent' guardian and seems to know what they're doing..

 

[Epicocity]

You came to my post just to write that?! They were in the middle of a battle and Rockruff was clearly tired after. It isn't a curbstomp, the battle wasn't favoring Rockruff over Mudbray. Rockruff knew a Z move, used it, and defeated Mudbray.

It has been established that Pokemon get tired after using a Z-Move if they're stamina isn't super high. Just because Pikachu and Turtonator can do it, we've also seen Rowlet tucker out using it after not battling anything, you know. So, it was essentially a curbstomp.

Also, to your point below about Ash risking his life, I would agree that we've established this, but the way it was animated, with just some timing differences, was the exact same way as XY 1. That's why people are saying it's a callback, especially with the XY Trainer theme playing in the episode.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Strange decision to knock a Pikachu off a cliff then save it! Kind of weird since Tapu Koko is a 'benevolent' guardian and seems to know what they're doing..

Didn't Pikachu break the fence? I don't think Tapu Koko intended to send it off the cliff.

It has been established that Pokemon get tired after using a Z-Move if they're stamina isn't super high. Just because Pikachu and Turtonator can do it, we've also seen Rowlet tucker out using it after not battling anything, you know. So, it was essentially a curbstomp.

It would be a curbstomp if it wasn't implied that the battle was going on for at least a few minutes beforehand. Being even and then winning with a super move does not a curbstomp make.

Also, to your point below about Ash risking his life, I would agree that we've established this, but the way it was animated, with just some timing differences, was the exact same way as XY 1. That's why people are saying it's a callback, especially with the XY Trainer theme playing in the episode.

Oh, okay, I can't really tell when themes are playing in the background so i had no idea the XY Trainer theme was playing in the background. It was still a total Shout-Out to Nebby though. Perhaps Pikachu falling off cliffs will happen every saga now.