Kalos League Passion With a Certain Flare! (932)

[Janovy]

What I'm saying is, for a League featuring Ash getting into the finals for the first time, and Ash having incredible chances of winning his first League, the episode does little to emphasize that fact and instead is concerned with setting up stuff after the League. I don't know, it feels a little anticlimactic.

Not to say the episode was bad, not at all, but it was still...weird.

 

[Epicocity]

What I'm saying is, for a League featuring Ash getting into the finals for the first time, and Ash having incredible chances of winning his first League, the episode does little to emphasize that fact and instead is concerned with setting up stuff after the League. I don't know, it feels a little anticlimactic.

Not to say the episode was bad, not at all, but it was still...weird.

Ah...I get you. You hoped it would focus more on Ash and less on Alain, then? I can understand that. It wasn't enough for me to knock the episode on its own merits (needing subs, still, of course), but I could see that feeling.

 

[Soniman]

I agree, I would've loved some inner thoughts of Ash being amazed he got this far or having a longer talk with his team and thanking them for their hard work so far, I wouldn't need any continuity refrences or anything, just some acknowledgment of how far he's come, the episode doesn't for much to have Ash realize this is the FINALS and his last match, he's oddly lax about it.

But it doesn't ruin the episode or anything, just as a longtime Ash fan something more would've been nice

 

[Red and Blue]

What I'm saying is, for a League featuring Ash getting into the finals for the first time, and Ash having incredible chances of winning his first League, the episode does little to emphasize that fact and instead is concerned with setting up stuff after the League. I don't know, it feels a little anticlimactic.

Not to say the episode was bad, not at all, but it was still...weird.

I think you can chalk that up with lack of continuity with previous seasons. The fact that his chances of finally winning is downplayed despite being part of his lifelong dream

 

[Epicocity]

I agree, I would've loved some inner thoughts of Ash being amazed he got this far or having a longer talk with his team and thanking them for their hard work so far, I wouldn't need any continuity refrences or anything, just some acknowledgment of how far he's come, the episode doesn't for much to have Ash realize this is the FINALS and his last match, he's oddly lax about it.

But it doesn't ruin the episode or anything, just as a longtime Ash fan something more would've been nice

I wonder if something was actually said about that to his team. Obviously he had a slight pep talk before Lysandre acted like a creepy stalker. Do we know what was said?

 

[Xenon Blue]

Yea reaching the finals for the first time felt really "whatever". Maybe some flashbacks of his old league would have been nice, but who we kidding here.

I just want this league to finish on a high note. You don't need to exceed Ash vs Paul, just make the battle not forgettable and I'll give this league a pass. Still pissed at the beginning of the league though :/

 

[U.N. Owen]

What I'm saying is, for a League featuring Ash getting into the finals for the first time, and Ash having incredible chances of winning his first League, the episode does little to emphasize that fact and instead is concerned with setting up stuff after the League. I don't know, it feels a little anticlimactic.

Not to say the episode was bad, not at all, but it was still...weird.

Yeah, I'm with you. For a guy that has declared that his goal is to become a mater for several regions, hundreds of battles, and who knows how many one-shots, this feels a little hollow. I would even take a line like "My dream is so close, yet so far."

 

[Pokemon Fan]

This time around the League feels like something that the writers are really in a hurry to get over with so the Flare stuff can commence.

I think that feel should apply more to the previous league, as the whole thing felt like it wasn't any more important than the various small tournaments before it, and that the writers wanted to get past it so they could head into the Plasma stuff.

This time at least we get some epic battles and the Flare stuff actually has something to do with the league (even if it amounts to no more than using the battles to gather energy).

 

[Janovy]

I think that feel should apply more to the previous league, as the whole thing felt like it wasn't any more important than the various small tournaments before it, and that the writers wanted to get past it so they could head into the Plasma stuff.

Not even close. For starters, Ash wasn't getting into finals so you can't really compare the two leagues.

 

[diakyu]

It definitely is a change of pace for the writers to be treating the Flare plot as just as important as the league plot. And I guess it's working since I care more about Team Flare than I have any other crappy team plot in this show.

 

[Red and Blue]

If Ash actually wins, I'm starting to think his reaction won't be as excited or overjoyed as I thought it would be

 

[DotKU]

If Ash actually wins, I'm starting to think his reaction won't be as excited or overjoyed as I thought it would be

I mean I could see him being overjoyed for a few moments until Lumiose gets attacked lol

 

[lemoncatpower]

Yeah, I'm with you. For a guy that has declared that his goal is to become a mater for several regions, hundreds of battles, and who knows how many one-shots, this feels a little hollow. I would even take a line like "My dream is so close, yet so far."

I'm thinking it's a part of his new synch with greninja. If Ash acts too excited and pumped up, it will almost come off as too confident potentially and now he is wanting to be more reserved in his excitement so that he can think clearly. Idk thats not confirmed or anything, but that's what I'm suspecting. When he got too into relying on Ash-Greninja to win battles instead of actually being calm and thinking about how to use strategy on top of it, he didnt do so well, so maybe he's going way into the other side of it. So at the end he'd be pumped until as mentioned right above, team flare.

 

[Xuxuba]

@People complaining that Ash wasn't celebrating enough
So you guys wanted an 25 minutes filler showing Ash being amazed at himself for being on the finals instead of an relevant episode setting up both the next match and the TF plot and also developing important characters such as Alain, Shota and Manon, aside from also explaining what Ash-Greninja is and even showing a few moments of Ash celebrating with his pokemon? I guess there is a taste for everything...

Regarding the supposed need to show Ash's inner thoughts, i don't quite agree with it. I think it would be out of place, considering the show was never a story with first-person narrative. You can already tell he's happy for reaching the finals just by looking at the way he's acting.

Anyway, if Ash does win the League, then i guess it would be better to leave the big commeration to another time, after he actually defeats Alain and TF.

 

[lemoncatpower]

@People complaining that Ash wasn't celebrating enough
So you guys wanted an 25 minutes filler showing Ash being amazed at himself for being on the finals instead of an relevant episode setting up both the next match and the TF plot and also developing important characters such as Alain, Shota and Manon, aside from also explaining what Ash-Greninja is and even showing a few moments of Ash celebrating with his pokemon? I guess there is a taste for everything...

Regarding the supposed need to show Ash's inner thoughts, i don't quite agree with it. I think it would be out of place, considering the show was never a story with first-person narrative. You can already tell he's happy for reaching the finals just by looking at the way he's acting.

Anyway, if Ash does win the League, then i guess it would be better to leave the big commeration to another time, after he actually defeats Alain and TF.

Since I wasn't able to understand, can someone (possibly you if you know???) tell me what the basis of what Ash found out for Ash-Greninja?

 

[Soniman]

If Ash actually wins, I'm starting to think his reaction won't be as excited or overjoyed as I thought it would be

Considering the second after the battle Lumiose will be tentacled he probably won't have much time to be excited

 

[Navin]

@People complaining that Ash wasn't celebrating enough
So you guys wanted an 25 minutes filler showing Ash being amazed at himself for being on the finals instead of an relevant episode setting up both the next match and the TF plot and also developing important characters such as Alain, Shota and Manon, aside from also explaining what Ash-Greninja is and even showing a few moments of Ash celebrating with his pokemon? I guess there is a taste for everything...

Umm yeah? How about some cameos of former characters watching Ash on TV? How about Ash having a talk with Oak and his mom before his biggest match (maybe next to his final battle against FB Brandon)? Maybe a talk with Serena about his entire journey, with montages, and how it led him to this moment.

The utter lack of continuity doesn't make it as big of a deal as this should be.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

If Ash actually wins, I'm starting to think his reaction won't be as excited or overjoyed as I thought it would be

You severely underestimate the number one trait of a shonen hero.

 

[lemoncatpower]

Since I wasn't able to understand, can someone (possibly you if you know???) tell me what the basis of what Ash found out for Ash-Greninja?

I've missed a lot of the XY&Z episodes (currently watching pre-League ones that sound interesting), so this episode was quite helpful for me since it seems to re-clarify everyone's position in the story.

I feel bad for Pikachu every time they bring up Satoshi & Gekkouga's deep bond. After 6 regions the climax of the entire XY&Z story revolves around Satoshi's deep bond with his Pokémon and Pikachu isn't the focus. Oh well. (warning: only 1.5 years into my Japanese studies!) Platane has found an old document detailing a similar situation in the past called a "bond phenomenon." It happens when a trainer and their Pokémon are extremely close. It seems to be related to a Pokémon's latent potential and Gekkouga possibly felt this when he chose Satoshi as his trainer and Satoshi eventually drew it out. Platane also seems to think their meeting was inevitable. It seems to be the kind of story you'd expect here to be honest.

If I remember right Shota was sad at his run in the league having finished but was grateful for the experience he gained and it was his first time having that much fun in a fight. I really like this guy, I hope we get to see him again some day (like how we saw lots of previous characters in this series? )

Manon seems torn up on the inside and seems to have planted herself firmly in the middle of all of this, now having some sort of small relationship to pretty much every major character. Things are looking good for Hari-san though!

Alan seems like he might be feeling a little empty on the inside. Malva asks him what he's going to do after he saves Harimaron, and promptly responds with a defensive "it's got nothing to do with you." He's got his eyes focused solely on gathering mega evolution energy.

Nothing much going on with Team Rocket. They're simply asked to go back to work so they can scream commentary over the next two weeks, I guess.

Lysandre is doing his whole "I'm a good person and I want to do good things " thing with Satoshi. Satoshi told him about the Gekkouga thing he learned earlier and Lysandre said he wanted to talk about it more after the league is finished and then wished him luck in the finals. Naturally this is going to involve Gekkouga spewing out tons of a certain type of energy, so you know...

Overall great episode and I can't wait for the finals next week.

I just need to read.

So basically nothing really important or new was revealed about Ash-Greninja then something like destiny being involved?

 

[Epicocity]

I'd like to call attention to puppet master Lysandre, who has most of the protagonists dancing in the palm of his hand. Plus, the man gets his own special VIP box at the League. If that's not snazzy, I don't know what is. I'd put him above Cyrus on the cunning and manipulative ladder.