Glad I rewatched this with subs. Way better than I thought.
Mary's goal of entering the PWC to increase Spiketown's clout and revive it was a unique motivation for her entering the PWC. I actuallly like what they did there, having Nezu's indifference to Daimax cause his city to die since no one comes there anymore to keep the economy alive and Mary wants to be Champion to save it. Nezu on the other hand is kind of selfish and also self-loathing a little about the fact he doesn't like Daimax battles but also its his job as the gym leader to save and revitalize his town. Not his little sisters. I'm actually shocked they managed to get so much characterization and narrative plot setup with half the episode. Definitely makes me far more fine with it being a 1. on 1. battle. The scenes of her not going along with Yell's plot and waiting for Satoshi due to not wanting to win in this way made her feel pretty likable.
I actually would have loved a PWC against Nezu just to get away from Daimax for a bit and he's easily the most interesting gym leader in PM thus far imo for his dislike of Daimax but not sacrificing his individuality to conform to what all of the region loves, it fit well with his whole "alternative punk rocker" aesthetic. No he legit reminded me of punk rockers I've befriended or seen at musical events a lot. Goes to show he likes battling and being a gym leader but won't capitalize on Daimax's popularity if he doesn't like it just cause. It's a nice contrast to Dande, who even in the previews for the next episodes Sonia says he wears a facade due to being a Champion. I hope we get more of him again. Spike Siblings are both solid character.
Battle wasn't rushed imo. Just very systematic. Beginning sparring before Mary felt things out to make her move in Kyodaimaxing. This actually was my favorite and first enjoyable Daimax fight. This is how the spectacle of it should work. Not activating at one time, actually showing some back and forth and it not being a brute force thing. Also the animation looked just fine and art, I'm glad to have seen a Galar Pokemon in action too and Olonge looked good. Magical Shine just appearing was expected and I wanted it and liked how Satoshi used it defensively like Kairyu's Hurricane. Sludge Bomb (sick of the terrible brown CGI) is just meh....but I know they probably wanted to reveal it here to also clue viewers in before Satoshi used its Daimax counterpart.
Psychic is very situational, the writers nerf it on what ever pretense. It just snatched Raichu from a far distance and insta-KO'd it like some stuff out of OS then with Corni its used on a rock but not the opponent, with Denzi it gains a "range" usage expressed by a circular purple animation. It getting erased is fine imo. I did like seeing Kyodaimax Gengar in action and his signature move (I'm bias since it's my fav) and the usage of swallowing to defend against Darkiest Lariat. The writers are also super inconsistent about whether Daimax Pokemon are impervious to normal-sized moves. So weird watching Gengar's Sludge Bomb do nothing but Soul Crusher kicked Gengar good. I think both mons substained enough damage to not make the battle feel cheap at least.
This was a good episiodic challenge for what it was worth, a debut for two SwSh characters, advertising Gengar, showing off Olonge, and explaining the lore and story of Spiketown and Yell. The usage of the band obviously was meant to harken back to the games. Episodes like this remind me I'm way more happy with this show when I take it for what it was, it was very advertising/checklist but that's what the anime is, a commercial for the games and showcasing the Pokemon. I thought they did just fine by Mary here and I don't feel like she was mistreated given she achieved such a high rank and ultimately left having succeeded in revitalizing Spiketown. Glad her smile was for Yell and not Satoshi, that would have felt forced.
