Sigh, Fabu still at it with his dirty tricks.
The battles. Satoshi vs Fabu was just disgustingly bad. What a huge disappointment. His Hypno went down in one attack and a half (since Headbutt's damage was halved), and Meltan got that victory rather too easily. Having its pendulum eaten in half by Meltan was fine (with or without Satoshi's command), but everything before and after that brief instance was terrible. There was literally nothing stopping them from measly having a simple combination follow up of headbutt and flash cannon afterso. There have been times recently through XY, BW, and even S&M when this has happened, so it would have made Meltan's victory feel more earned. With it out the way early, though, hopefully this means we'll see cooler battles with his other interesting Pokemon. (Non-battle related) I also like the attention to detail of the announcer confirming Satoshi in introducing a new species of Pokemon. This perspective from the MC this time around is great, as before it's been done by other people, in and outside leagues. SG (Satoshi-Gekkouga) is different because that's a form change... vs. actually owning a unidentified species of Pokemon. Now, it just needs to evolve, especially if they aren't going to bother maxing out Satoshi's team or giving him Incineroar (which I never found to be realistic and never believed in).
Guzma vs Llima. Prediction on Guzma winning and the battle being good (entertaining enough) was spot on. Power up Punch gets stronger each use, NOW? This is what I was waiting for back in XY with the Lucario and Pikachu matches. Next thing you know, Dragon Tail will actually cause switch outs <_<. Mega Evolution itself isn't a surprise. Expected it and Z moves much earlier in the series to be present at the league, only to be supported further after seeing some MEs mid-way through the series. Only thing that can't be certain is actual legendary and-maybe mythical Pokemon. As for the battle, Scizor illogically looked way too competent and durable. No sweat marks, no sloppy movements, no reduction in speed, etc. That's nonsense, even if it is well trained. It took a PowerupPunch, then another PuP but this time from a Mega Kangkastan and its child and that's stacked with the power buff from the first used PuP, then finally a lowkick from them BOTH and again with all the stacks to go with it. Even in the end, it looked perfectly fine. Well, they more than adequately got the point across that Guzma is a threat. I'm a bit concerned for Satoshi. (Also keeping an eye on Kaki.)
Mao vs Suiren. Prediction on the winner was spot on. Suiren having control was expected and made sense, also. Ashirene having the advantage mostly made sense, but Icy Wind was was unexpected. That's possibly why Amajo couldn't actually excel/close the gap at close range, but the execution in Icy Wind preventing that is bad. Would have been justified if it was used to freeze the ground instead so that Amajo couldn't excel at grounded close combat. How dare Amajo disrespect and neglect the return! Pokemon must do what their trainers tell them to! This is different from when Ash was about to recall Buizel during the battle with Paul, because Buizel wasn't neglecting the return command, unlike Amajo. Alright, much more seriously, the one thing I'd have changed and liked to see was one mere thing: right after the second stomp, where Ashirene dodged by rolling around her, that was a perfect moment for the insync duo to launch specifically a turning or backwards trop kick right onto Ashirene... then the "Amajo's at her limit. She won't be able to withstand another attack" scene and everything following it should have played out. I find it insane how that exact thing didn't happen, considering it's been done by Ash countless times and some other trainers. (Serena and Dawn stole tactics from Satoshi like this in the heat of battles, so there's no excuses.) Mao landed not a single attack throughout the whole battle, and that instance I described would have been a perfect, logical instance in where she landed an attack. That said, the prior z move segment with Mao and Amajo was beautiful. (Can't say much about the characters, because I've been too absent throughout the series to remember everybody's characteristics super well, so Mao giving up midway? I don't know if that was logical for her character or not.)
Hau vs school principle (guy). Not much to say here. All i'm doing here is noting Hau's Raichu's unique speed. Also, another rival's Raichu with Focus Blast, eh? Tierno's also had Focus Blast.