September 27th: PM2019 039 - Satoshi VS Saito! Overcome Octolock!!

[Blue Saturday]

"Oh no, Goh is stealing screentime from Ash....despite being the main protagonist in this series.....aaaaaaaah"

Big yawn. Seriously come up with more original (better) arguments.

I guess I’m confused why poor writing choices surrounding Satoshi have to be perceived as because of Gou as if removing Gou would suddenly alleviate the issues of Satoshi’s lack of development, bonding and trainer with his non-Riolu ‘mons? We had a supersized cast in Sun&Moon and he still managed to get proper screen time and bonding with his Pokémon?

 

[Kazuniya]

I guess I’m confused why poor writing choices surrounding Satoshi have to be perceived as because of Gou as if removing Gou would suddenly elevate Satoshi’s lack of development, bonding and trainer with his non-Riolu ‘mons? We had a supersized cast in Sun&Moon and he still managed to get proper screen time and bonding with his Pokémon?

You're confused because the arguments that are being spouted make no sense.

This anime has had poor writing for decades, I don't get how people suddenly decided that Goh is the cause for the poor writing surrounding Ash in this series. It's very sad.

Also, the idea that Ash is "being thrown under a bus" is pure lunacy, he's been this franchise's golden boy forever, and this series went out of his way to give him ridiculous fanservice pandering Pokemon like Gengar, Dragonite and Lucario just because.

 

[Ace-Barn]

Exactly why I'm surprised. Why showcase Riolu and Farfetch'd sparring with one another in the opening when it wasn't going to happen?

You are both clearly missing that Riolu and G-Farfetch'd have been sparring on-screen since the opening changed. I would say that they are both due for an evolution after all of that training.

 

[Zoruagible]

For sure! So far the duck has been losing every battle its participated in. Ash offered it to join him so that it could grow stronger, and yet it feels like Ash has been doing the complete opposite with it. Maybe I shouldn't get too ahead of myself. MAYBE the writers just want to get the Riolu evolving into Lucario thing out of the way before putting more attention to G Farfetch'd, but as it is I am very wary and have my doubts...


Exactly why I'm surprised. Why showcase Riolu and Farfetch'd sparring with one another in the opening when it wasn't going to happen? I know for many anime they include scenes that don't happen, but every single time I've been disappointed. This was supposed to be a "revenge" match, and like you said with his Sinnoh team, I fully expected Ash to use G Farfetch'd and Riolu since BOTH of them faced losses in their previous battle against Bea.

Sure, Pikachu is his main partner, but I am not too fond of G Farfetch'd getting shafted for the electric mouse... For now I'll just hope they have bigger plans for the duck otherwise its capture was just for nothing IMO.

Well unlike most openings, this actually made sense. Swapping Farfetch'd out for Pikachu is just incredibly underwhelming and just proves those "Ash should have just used Dragonite/Gengar/Pikachu, he wouldn't have lost!" people right.

It removes the whole aspect of Ash improving and working to best his opponents

 

[game3524]

Bud, you’re salty for no reason and you’re really trying to force Gou as being the reason surrounding Satoshi’s writing choices. If you want more screen time for the duck why not blame Riolu? Gengar and Kairyu weren’t getting focus after being caught either. They appear for battles and just disappear, I don’t see anything super out of place.

Exactly. Even in the Ash centric episodes, Riolu and Pikachu are generally the ones who get the most focus. With Dragonite, I kind of understand. They have kind of built him up to be a super reserve. It is like if Charizard, Infernape etc. were at the Sakuragi Lab and Ash only used them in the important matches. Gengar's treatment is just flat out bad and it is perplexing given how popular the specie is. Maybe after the SS arc, Riolu/Lucario will take a seat on the bench and Gengar, Farfetch'd, Dragonite can get more focus.

 

[Kazuniya]

Even in Goh-centric episode, like today's episode for example, or whenever they fight Team Rocket, Ash almost always defaults to Pikachu. He could *easily* have Riolu or Farfetch'd with him and let them battle, but nope. So yeah, this is no fault of Goh's. The writers simply suck at properly balancing the screentime of Ash's team.

Blaming Goh for this is just a poor attempt at criticism, almost as bad as calling Goh a psychopath. It's that bad.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Even in Goh-centric episode, like today's episode for example, or whenever they fight Team Rocket, Ash almost always defaults to Pikachu. He could *easily* have Riolu or Farfetch'd with him and let them battle, but nope. So yeah, this is no fault of Goh's. The writers simply suck at properly balancing the screentime of Ash's team.

Blaming Goh for this is just a poor attempt at criticism, almost as bad as calling Goh a psychopath. It's that bad.

Yup, I said this would happen once it was revealed that Ash would catch Riolu, its the same thing that happened in DP and XY with Infernape and Greninja where they hogged the screentime along with Pikachu while the rest of the team got the short end of the stick lmao

 

[Almighty Zard]

That's the main thing though, Farfetch'd is supposed to be evolving soon... yet he doesn't have a single win under his belt. Why is Pikachu fighting now if they felt the need to have him sit out last time? It feels cheap, especially as Farfetch'd is denied a chance to redeem himself

It'd feel equally cheap to me if G-Farfetch'd picked up a win against a different pokemon instead of the one who defeated it.

It doesn't feel very Ash-like at all either, this is the guy that chose to use his Sinnoh team to beat Paul instead of simply using Sceptile and Snorlax on top of Infernape and Pikachu

while Ash's league battle with Paul was interesting, I still see faults in it to this day, one of them is why was Ash forced to use his six sinnoh pokemon, while Paul was allowed to swap out pratically his entire team except Electivire?

I can understand Weavile and Ursuring getting swapped since Ash had beaten the two of them previously (the latter twice by that point.), but Torterra, Magmortar and Honchkrow should've been used to some capacity, because they were never truly "beaten" in battle, (and no I do not count the pokeringer competition as combat because the goal is to get a ring to a post, yes you can knock out the opponent but it's not necessary to win) I've always felt that until Ash beats those three pokemon, like Alain and his Charizard, Ash hasn't truly beaten Paul because he didn't take down his best fighters.

with Bea not using Hawlucha, the pokemon who was responsible for beating G-Farfetch'd in the first place, i'm perfectly fine with it not being used because I would personally feel the same level of cheapness, throwing it a win against something completely different instead of what clobbered it near effortlessly the first time feels wrong to me cause it's not true growth if you don't overcome something that impedes you, and it feels like desperation.

At the very least Ash is getting to try and overcome the technique that gave him heck before, something that couldn't be said for Wulfric, but as for G-Farfetch'd perhaps if Ash and Bea fight again someday, Ash will use it and it will get it's chance to smash her hawlucha's head in with it's leak.

 

[MegaSalamence05]

I'm starting to believe that Riolu evolves to Lucario in this episode as there is no summaries available for the Zapdos raid battle episode yet. Just with some actions Riolu used in the trailer points me in that direction. I could be wrong but its interesting.

 

[game3524]

Yup, I said this would happen once it was revealed that Ash would catch Riolu, its the same thing that happened in DP and XY with Infernape and Greninja where they hogged the screentime along with Pikachu while the rest of the team got the short end of the stick lmao

It is worse than Infernape and Greninja at the moment. Those two overshadowed their teammates near the end of the series. But early on there was more equal treatment among Ash's other Pokemon. Here, Riolu has been the focus since it joined Ash. Like I said earlier, hopefully this changes after the SS arc.

 

[Rohanator]

Satoshi doesn't have some absolute code of never switching up Mons after losses, it's only really if the Mon feels particularly strongly about it. When he got destroyed by Brawly he only let Treecko get revenge and swapped Taillow for Corphish cause the Treecko fight was the one with actual narrative weight (that was really similar to this now that I think about it lol).

 

[Leonhart]

No its not, this isn't a real life documentary where Go paid "Animal Planet" more money to focus on him over Ash and I have to pay $1499.99 to get the good stuff that was cut.

This is a fictional series designed by heads who are playing favorites with Go. There's absolutely no reason to give Go this much focus and give Ash only important PWC matches.

Look at how they treated Ash catching Farfetch'd in comparison to Go getting Sobble, especially with the line of thinking "OH MY GOD GO DIDN'T CATCH ANYTHING, WAAAAAA, WAAAAA, RED ALERT."

You know throwing Ash under the bus acting like Go was wronged despite catching more Pokemon to Ash on top of episodes where he didn't catch anything. All to play clear favorites, then Go ends up with Flygon, Alolan Pokemon and focus and then Aerodactyl.

Meanwhile Ash gets nothing but pure failure and a pep talk.

I'm having a hard time understanding where this misplaced anger is coming from in terms of this episode. Satoshi's the focal point here [along with Saito and Shijima in smaller roles], whereas Gou won't be doing anything major by comparison. Satoshi had his little depression arc and is making a comeback here, which is what I thought most viewers wanted, anyway. So I fail to see why Gou is once again the target of so much vitriol.

 

[Jibanyan]

My only hope is that Ash loses again, then it can be a 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4 against Bea using dynamax (she doesnt have the dynamax band in the preview), that way he could use Farfetch'd.

 

[Zoruagible]

It is worse than Infernape and Greninja at the moment. Those two overshadowed their teammates near the end of the series. But early on there was more equal treatment among Ash's other Pokemon. Here, Riolu has been the focus since it joined Ash. Like I said earlier, hopefully this changes after the SS arc.

Nah, nothing will top Greninja.

Riolu only has Bea and Tony, that's one more than Dragonite got. Right now it feels like they're catching Riolu up since they felt the need to have Dragonite and Gengar join up at the start. This is the primary reason I'm so against legendaries getting caught this early when there's still things like Grookey joining the cast and having to play catch up.

Farfetch'd just got a short stick, blame Pikachu for it as Riolu hasn't done anything wrong

 

[Kawaii Emolga]

I'm kinda disappointed that Ash isn't using G. Farfetch'd, but eh, this whole thing with Bea was obviously about Riolu, so I hope it can be finished soon, then Riolu evolves and becomes the stoic and -boring- cool Lucario, and so they can focus on the duck. (I hope)

 

[lolipiece]

My only hope is that Ash loses again, then it can be a 3 vs 3 or 4 vs 4 against Bea using dynamax (she doesnt have the dynamax band in the preview), that way he could use Farfetch'd.

Why not have him win?

Then they'd be tied and can settle the score once and for all with the Dynamax battle.

 

[Kawaii Emolga]

I hope lucario won’t be boring. It’s my favorite pokemon and it would suck to see it’s personality go down the drain. Maybe after it evolves it wants to train against dragonite to be better than it?

The anime aways make Lucario be serious, I wish we could have a more playful lucario with Ash, but even as a Riolu it is already being serious, the only thing I like in Ash's Riolu it's his cuteness.

 

[Jibanyan]

Why not have him win?

Then they'd be tied and can settle the score once and for all with the Dynamax battle.

because if he wins then why he should battle her again?

 

[Almighty Zard]

Farfetch'd just got a short stick, blame Pikachu for it as Riolu hasn't done anything wrong

how about blaming Bea for not using Hawlucha as well while we're at it?

Why not have him win?

Then they'd be tied and can settle the score once and for all with the Dynamax battle.

bitterness brings out the dark side it would seem.

i'll be shocked if they don't have a third battle, but to be honest i'm really hoping to be proven wrong as there are other characters who could use focus.

because if he wins then why he should battle her again?

Bea's personality, she strikes me as the type who if Ash was to beat her, would request a third decisive battle to see who is truly stronger between them, and I doubt he'd turn her down.

I did just think of one thing, I wonder how the rotom-drone is going to announce the battle since it's trainers from different tiers going against each other.

 

[Deitylight]

The anime aways make Lucario be serious, I wish we could have a more playful lucario with Ash, but even as a Riolu it is already being serious, the only thing I like in Ash's Riolu it's his cuteness.

Cameron's and Korrina's Lucario weren't stick in the muds. They showed quite a varieties lot of emotions and are just as silly as their trainers and I'm sure Ash's will be no different in that regard.