Lucario & Greninja! The Aura of Fate!! (1197)

[Blue Saturday]

I'm just laughing at this point. It was caught like 3 episodes ago? And it already evolved???

Lmao step aside Sobble, we now have a new contender for the most rushed evolution in this series

It's like they keep trying to outdo themselves with how low they can go

The evolution/capture was obviously done for the plot narrative of setting up Satoshi’s return? This is not the hot take y’all think it is.

 

[Shadao]

I know we're all kinda outraged and speculating because of Ash-Greninja's blatant omission, but I'm surprised nobody is talking about the fact that ASH IS BEING TALKED ABOUT ON INTERNATIONAL NEWS BECAUSE OF HIS FEATS.

Yes people, Ash is so powerful that he's an international celebrity whose matches are apparently newsworthy.

And the best part? Ash wasn't there because he was too busy training with his Pokémon.

He's too oblivious to realize just where he's at.

And that might bite in the future when he tries to have a regular, fun battle like say... the Royal Battle.

I think the veteran would probably be in a worse position than the newcomer if this was the case considering they straight up got rid of the specific Greninja form in a flashback. The cognitive dissonance would be unreal.

It's much more possible that Greninja comes back considering Alain's been leaked to come back, but I've been doubtful of reserves from the start and I'm still doubtful considering that everything up till now suggested that Ash would be using his JN team for the Master Class.

A veteran would realize that the line confirms that Ash-Greninja wasn't retconned out, and that will tell them that the omission of Ash-Greninja in flashbacks isn't a mistake.

 

[Almighty Zard]

And the best part? Ash wasn't there because he was too busy training with his Pokémon.

He's too oblivious to realize just where he's at.

And that might bite in the future when he tries to have a regular, fun battle like say... the Royal Battle.

It really makes me wonder what's going to happen when the fame factor catches up to him.

 

[Dephender]

Wait wait wait

Lol

Just rewatched the episode. Ash told Goh on the plane that Greninja can change into a form that looks like him. They are definitely hiding it for later lol.

@Dephender can you confirm ?

He says "When we get excited during battles, I become like Gekkouga and Gekkouga becomes like me. The sensation we get when that happens kinda resembles Lucario's wave guidance".

So yeah, he doesn't really SAY it, but he's clearly referencing it.

 

[Panky..]

The evolution/capture was obviously done for the plot narrative of setting up Satoshi’s return? This is not the hot take y’all think it is.

And it's a poor set-up that still ties into the fact that Goh keeps getting a lot of gifts handed on silver plates while ironically demoting Frogadier's role to being a plot device.

 

[Aryash Bajaj]

One thing to note is that Greninja became very strong by just cutting vines. Ash's Journey's ace got embarrassed by base greninja so I think Ash should send all of his pokemon to Kalos just to fight vines. Normal training clearly ain't cutting it now.

 

[Blue Saturday]

And it's a poor set-up that still ties into the fact that Goh keeps getting a lot of gifts handed on silver plates while ironically demoting Frogadier's role to being a plot device.

They’ve literally been using Go catches and evolutions as the catalyst for episode stories and plots since the very beginning. He obviously caught the Keromatsu in Miare City mirroring Satoshi’s own experiences in the past to foreshadow the frogs return today. It’s not a “gift” but a normal story element that anyone saw coming ten thousand miles away. This is the reach of the century.

 

[Blood Red]

I think Greninja here proves one small thing: Ash's old aces, whether you see it or not, are all monstrously powerful now. The reason they don't show up anymore is because Ash likes a challenge, and if he actually uses his old team now, he'd crush everything in sight without a challenge.

At his best, Ash is now so strong that he could probably beat Leon straight-up.

 

[Shadao]

It really makes me wonder what's going to happen when the fame factor catches up to him.

It'll be the opposite of how Kanto Ash would act. Kanto Ash's pride would swell his head and he thinks he's invincible. Someone ought to put him in his place.

But Journeys Ash? It would like being hit by a Leon epiphany train going at 100 MPH.

 

[nuzamaki90]

One thing to note is that Greninja became very strong by just cutting vines. Ash's Journey's ace got embarrassed by base greninja so I think Ash should send all of his pokemon to Kalos just to fight vines.

Gardening is good for the soul. Helps with mental health; improves concentration, mood, and focus. The Ramos episode was foreshadowing.

 

[Power Up]

A veteran would realize that the line confirms that Ash-Greninja wasn't retconned out, and that will tell them that the omission of Ash-Greninja in flashbacks isn't a mistake.

It's possible? The line is referencing it, but it's as I said, the flashback sets up a contradiction. If the flashback was purposefully done to hide the fact that the form is going to be shown for a match against Alain, my view of it changes from it less being about cognitive dissonance and more about just plain bad writing.

 

[Shadao]

It's possible? The line is referencing it, but it's as I said, the flashback sets up a contradiction. If the flashback was purposefully done to hide the fact that the form is going to be shown for a match against Alain, my view of it changes from cognitive dissonance and bad writing, to just bad writing.

"When we get excited during battles, I become like Gekkouga and Gekkouga becomes like me. The sensation we get when that happens kinda resembles Lucario's wave guidance".

There's a reason why I love wordplay. You can always tell a double meaning that is foreshadowing something that a regular viewer wouldn't get.

Kinda like a riddle from the Riddler.

It doesn't seem obvious until you read between the lines.

 

[Ignition]

Guess Ash saving the world countless times or constantly meeting Legendary Pokémon wasn’t newsworthy.

 

[Bortgreen]

Would that mean he needs to wear his XY clothes should he use the form again LMAO

Technically he is... The XY pajamas
------
Aside from the Ash Greninja omission that was really weird the episode wasn't much more than I expected. And well, the phenomenon itself wasn't cut out, just the transformation(that makes it less of an excuse)
If it wasn't for the flashback we could say Greninja now got even stronger on his own(like Serena)
Just keep an eye for that genki dama aura sphere, it's really looking like the series finisher
And it will be inspired by Greninja.. at least something even if subtle that helps making him justice after the "Kalos League Victory"

 

[ValorSuga]

Can we all admit that Ash’s Lucario is starting to become a clone of Ash’s Goodra? It’s been losing battles to pokemon that it’s strong against, like he just lost to a dark type pokemon! I bet Ash’s Lucario will lose to a Roggenrola!

 

[nuzamaki90]

Guess Ash saving the world countless times or constantly meeting Legendary Pokémon wasn’t newsworthy.

The Pokémon populace are probably desensitized

 

[Blood Red]

The Pokémon populace are probably desensitized

Note how nobody cares about how he saved the Kalos region from certain doom, but his match against Raihan gets him headlines.

Nobody cares about heroes.

 

[Dragonsoldier77]

Yeah i don’t like how they changed the flashback scene, that was dumb as hell. Sure they might be trying to keep it a secret, but they could’ve just used a frame from before the two transformed. Since yes they did exchange attacks before transforming. If it’s to hype up alain with his zard X, they could’ve just used a generic shot of the two instead of recreating a specific frame from the battle.

Aside from that and how goh once again got something he doesn’t deserve by doing nothing, I’m actually pretty okay with the ep. It wasn’t amazing, but it was pretty much what i expected since we found out it was a training episode. That they fit raihan’s deal in this episode also calms down my worry that the next ep would be rushed.

 

[Blood Red]

Something I didn't notice before it was pointed out, Greninja was in its Battle Bond form during the XYZ farewell scene too. We see that scene in the episode, and...Battle Bond is missing.

That's two scenes where they've removed the transformation. No matter whether it shows up later or not, this is some...strange 'continuity'.

 

[Ignition]

The Pokémon populace are probably desensitized

Ash helping the Champion & Legendaries of Galar save the region from its biggest influencer while Dynamax Pokémon rampage somehow being less impressive than him battling Raihan is so funny to me. It doesn’t bother me but it’s why I can’t take Ash being some famous celebrity just for the PWC seriously.