Playing the Performance Encore (630)

[Leonhart]

Hikari's race to attain her fifth Shinou Contest ribbon was heart-pounding from my perspective, because Urara's Prasle and Minun put up a great effort. They nearly won the Contest match, although I was glad when Hinoarashi's and Mammoo's teamwork finally came through successfully.

 

[Vulpicks]

Wow, Jessie was good, like, really good! I was genuinely surprised! Dawn and Ursala too, the appeals and battles in the contests have been escalating more and more, which is really exciting to watch, and gives a real sense of growth to the characters.

I felt so bad for Dawn when she got her hair messed up... Also Encore is OP lol. The way Dawn countered it was stupid, but I'll let it slide because what else could you possibly do to counter that in a contest battle once it hits you?

 

[Leonhart]

I now wonder if Urara was merely given a Prasle and Minun in this Contest as a way of unnerving Hikari, or if it was also done to make Hinoarashi and Mammoo's victory easier given their inexperience.

 

[Daizy]

Jessie kinda got cheated because Ursula's win over her was too cheap. Dawn vs Ursula was great. I liked that Ursula made Dawn's hair sparkle to try and embarrass her and make her lose.

 

[MockingJ]

Ursula seemed even more mean than normal, but her Encore plan with Plusle and Minun was the smartest Contest strategies that I've ever seen.

Ursula's Encore strategy was very original for the show, so I'll give her that. She tried to stop Dawn's own Contest combo moves from working here, though her psychological warfare was still her greatest advantage.

 

[mysticalglacia]

This was an excellent final Contest for Dawn! Probably one of if not the best regular Contest battle in DP, very fitting for her 5th ribbon win. The last victory should always be the one with the most hurdles, and my god did Dawn have to pole vault over them this time.

Ursula is such a ***** but she’s not funny like Harley; I saw the appeal in her debut episode but her attitude here just made her very unlikeable….I like to dislike her, I will give her that. Being a one-note character isn’t the worst thing in the world if you’re a secondary rival but eh. Her triggering Dawn in the middle of the performance gave me secondhand embarrassment….what was the reason? To get Dawn over the Pikari thing yes, but yikes. Her being an absolute sore loser didn’t help things. I guess me being irritated by her the whole time means the writers did their thing correctly lol

The actual battle was fantastic though. Animation was beautiful and conveyed so much impact and snappiness, the usage of both pairs felt so exhaustive by the end of it. Like the Plusle/Minun combo did everything under the sun, and the way Cyndaquil rode Mamoswine with the ice armor and Swift was super creative. Encore making its debut this ep really showed how much of a tricky move that is, but Dawn being steadfast and confident in her decision to break the effect of it was another great showcase of her development. The moment with the perfected Flame Ice and Kimi No Soba De kicking in was perfect. When Dawn started fighting back I almost cheered out of satisfaction; like that was so gratifying to watch. After everything she had to go through in that fight; that amazing turnaround felt so earned and relieving. Like yes Dawn, beat her ass!

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

This was an excellent final Contest for Dawn! Probably one of if not the best regular Contest battle in DP, very fitting for her 5th ribbon win. The last victory should always be the one with the most hurdles, and my god did Dawn have to pole vault over them this time.

Ursula is such a ***** but she’s not funny like Harley; I saw the appeal in her debut episode but her attitude here just made her very unlikeable….I like to dislike her, I will give her that. Being a one-note character isn’t the worst thing in the world if you’re a secondary rival but eh. Her triggering Dawn in the middle of the performance gave me secondhand embarrassment….what was the reason? To get Dawn over the Pikari thing yes, but yikes. Her being an absolute sore loser didn’t help things. I guess me being irritated by her the whole time means the writers did their thing correctly lol

The actual battle was fantastic though. Animation was beautiful and conveyed so much impact and snappiness, the usage of both pairs felt so exhaustive by the end of it. Like the Plusle/Minun combo did everything under the sun, and the way Cyndaquil rode Mamoswine with the ice armor and Swift was super creative. Encore making its debut this ep really showed how much of a tricky move that is, but Dawn being steadfast and confident in her decision to break the effect of it was another great showcase of her development. The moment with the perfected Flame Ice and Kimi No Soba De kicking in was perfect. When Dawn started fighting back I almost cheered out of satisfaction; like that was so gratifying to watch. After everything she had to go through in that fight; that amazing turnaround felt so earned and relieving. Like yes Dawn, beat her ass!

Dawn's victories have always been the most impactful because she's always had a realistic struggle ALONG with losses
It isnt just she struggles and then wins, she loses, she loses some more, faces humilation, but comes right back up with realistic and inspired strats and uses them smartly to grasp victory
Its why Dawn deserves to be the best contest girl, her growth, effort and skill shown throughout trumps anyone else, heck it even trumps Ash in many other series

 

[mysticalglacia]

Dawn's victories have always been the most impactful because she's always had a realistic struggle ALONG with losses
It isnt just she struggles and then wins, she loses, she loses some more, faces humilation, but comes right back up with realistic and inspired strats and uses them smartly to grasp victory
Its why Dawn deserves to be the best contest girl, her growth, effort and skill shown throughout trumps anyone else, heck it even trumps Ash in many other series

Exactly, we really get to see her growing into a better Coordinator and trainer. Oftentimes with other Pokégirls, they take an L and win again right after but Dawn loses again and again while still seeming skilled and these losses seeming important and necessary for her growth; they don’t belittle her and downplay her at all. It makes her progression feel so realistic and earned because we get to see the extent of her highs and lows, and how they all culminate eventually to make her easily the best Pokégirl in terms of like….everything. Love her

 

[Sham]

Loved this episode. Stupid how Mamoswine suddenly could start feeling damage from Spark but ok.

Glad, they didn't drop explaining to us what "DD" means and looking back at it, the dub did a pretty good job translating that joke into English and making it sound natural. Cyndaquil is one of my favorite starters so I've always been happy that Dawn added it onto her team and it was nice seeing him preform in his first Contest.

Man Dawn has grown so much. I remember in the early episodes where she refused to leave the tent if her hair was out of place and now her Pokemon here gave her the strength and confidence to keep preforming even if she was embarrassed. Mamowsine being the one to win her last Ribbon for her was a nice pay off since he did cost her some and gave her the most hard time as well. Cyndaquil also getting in a Ribbon before the GF was excellent as well. Glad those two were the final mons.

Dawn doesn't get enough praise for her strategies either because using Encore over and over like that to get the effects to stop was pretty good and I loved the last scene where Jessie and Ursula are arguing who will win the Grand Festival

awesome episode