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Shield With A Twist! (570)

Cobalt_Latios

Well-Known Member
One of the greatest battles I've seen in the anime. I'm glad to see how much Ash is improving in Sinnoh. I remeber his first Gym Battles when he won nobody knows how (not even him).
Yeah, I've noticed that the writers are putting some effort into Ash's battle strategies this time around. Which is great; the Pokemon battles are the driving force of the games, and it's great to see that they be implemented just as well in the show.

Counter-shield was great. That is what Ash needs to do to become a great trainer. Have some non-basic strategy to work.
However, what's even better is that he was able to adapt his strategy to fit the battle style at hand. Once Fantina realized what Ash was up to, she decided to counter his own shield to see how he would handle it. Once he figured out how to bypass that shield, he could win.

It's just me or Chimchar is by far one of the strongest Pokémon Ash have ever had?? Maybe barring Pikachu, I've never seen a Pokémon used so many times by him (and winning almost always).
Well, let's not forget who used to own Chimchar first. Though he wasn't always treating Chimchar properly, Paul really did boost Chimchar's attack power considerably. Put that pre-canned power with Ash, and add what Ash is already capable of, and you'll see that he can do well with a fire type.

Is it just me or did you want to kill Fantina over the annoying "french" accent?
Being French myself, I didn't really mind it all that much. At least she was using French words when necessary (I really dislike how they did Paris back "Arriving in Style").

I really really enjoyed this gym battle. The Sinnoh Gyms are much more fun and tense than their Hoenn counterparts. Heck, Kanto and Johto have nothing to say after watching this. I know Kanto was written when the writers were just starting the story, but they could have taken a few minutes to learn from this.
The first gen was incredibly basic. It was nearly a literal "rock, paper, scissors". Nothing more, nothing less.

After 3 generations, the battles have become much more complex, adding quite a bit of variation to things. So, it's only natural that the writers improve the battling with each generation adding the new elements to the battle as they go (of course, improving on things as they go along). The games are what determine the show, remember that. It doesn't mean that the show=games, but rather that the show takes from the game and uses what it can.

Props:
* Ash finally establishes his style of battling - using attacks as shields to protect his Pokemon from nasty stuff
Ash has always had this; it's just that it changes depending on the gym he's up against and the scenario at hand.

* Pikachu not winning the final round, but doing some nifty damage.
This is interesting to note: the writers are toning down the use and strength of Pikachu despite being Ash's starter. Which actually makes a lot of sense.


* Gengar. Seriously, if you've seen one freaking Gengar, you've seen them all. I would have liked Fantina to use Dusknoir instead.
What Pokemon does Fantina have on her team in D/P? Mismagius, Drifblim, Gengar. The writers simply took what Fantina had in her game team and used it in the show. Simple as that. And so far, gym counterparts have had nearly identical teams to the game, so that's something else to take note of.


Well, I'd have to say that this was by far one of my favorite gym battles. Sure, I enjoyed Wake's because Ash's entire team survived, Maylene had a Lucario :))), Aipom KO'd Gardenia's Roserade nicely, and Turtwig had an awesome battle against Rampardos, but Fantina's had a dosage of strategy that I haven't seen in quite some time.

The strategy used in this episode was unique, but unfortunately, it was designed specifically for Drifblim; which was, inevitably, the point of using it. However, I was glad to see that they still used some kind of strategy mod near the end with Chimchar, which is showing us that Ash can adapt quickly to given challenge if given an opening.

*reads page* What the? Oh sure, we all know that Ash had a nice battle, but really, must we forget that Jessie singlehandly wins a ribbon in Hearthome? Am I the only one who remembers this. Sure, it wasn't given much screentime, but now we know that Jessie is actually starting to learn what will please the crowd/judges and can maybe actually perform decently next time.

Oh, and Barry is apparently beginning to learn a bit more about the various training methods and that you shouldn't take all advice from one source; it's best to diversify things. His reaction to Ash accomplishing the challenges was entertaining, to say the least. I like that they mentioned Iron Island, and that it's pronounced Ka-na-lay-v, not Ka-na-la-v (I'm talking about Canalave).

*C_L*
 

Palamon

Silence is Purple
This episode...... Well I must say it was pretty good..
Jessie won a ribbon with Yanmega (We saw at some part of the episode.)
And Ash got his badge after his rematch which was good I guess...
I think Fantina said Drifloon instead of Drifblim.
But over all it was a great gym battle.....
Fantina is pretty strong.
Drifblim I found to be annoying.
At least Ash got a Badge and Jessie got herself a Ribbon.
That was a good idea for a plot for this anime episode.
 

Slowking[George]

#SPP-WiFi HOP
This episode...... Well I must say it was pretty good..
Jessie won a ribbon with Yanmega (We saw at some part of the episode.)
And Ash got his badge after his rematch which was good I guess...
I think Fantina said Drifloon instead of Drifblim.
But over all it was a great gym battle.....
Fantina is pretty strong.
Drifblim I found to be annoying.
At least Ash got a Badge and Jessie got herself a Ribbon.
That was a good idea for a plot for this anime episode.

I'd have liked it if the episode only had focused on Ash's Gym Battle. However, the battle between Fantina and Ash was epic. Pikachu should have won against Drifblim, but at least it put up a great fight. Congratulations to Jessie for her new ribbon.
 
I thought Ash sounded more strategical in this episode. I really saw the epicness in the Gym battle with Fantina. And yay for Jessie getting her new ribbon! (at least TR were not stalking Ash again.x3)
 

Rebeccag

Well-Known Member
That was a good episode, I liked them focusing on both the gym and the contest as well
Liked jessie winning her 2nd ribbon as well
Chimchar did good in this episode, its getting much stronger now. I felt a bit sorry for Pikachu though
And yay Barrys tagging along again ^_^. This should be intresting.....
 

Linkdarkside

Well-Known Member
I've managed to see the episode since the motel my family checked in for Disneyland has Cartoon Network on the channel list. I smiled when Fantina send out Gengar because it was my favorite ghost pokemon from the 1st gen. What bothered me was when Chimchar defeated Driftblim, it didn't took some damage from the aftermatch ability. My brother was furious about Driftblim getting hit by a ground type move because it was levitating, which makes it immune to ground type moves.
that because the anime is a little more realistic than the games, in the anime attack like earthquake would not afect a flying or levitate pokemon but one like mud slap could.
 

yeminied

Well-Known Member
This episode was great, however I was a bit upset that Pikachu was defeated to easily. S/he is made out to be such a strong battler but in the Sinnoh it's just like an average fighter, Pikachu needs to win more battles.

Fantina's face when her Pokemon got defeated was just hilarious, best moment in Pokemon history, I LOLed so much. Chimchar was such a great battler in the gym battle, Chimchar for the win.

Jessie's contest was pretty good as well, nothing to exciting gin my opinion.
 

Torpoleon

Well-Known Member
Gengar and Mismagu=ius were easy targets in the battle. Wanted to see a little in the battle round at the majolica contest.
Mismagius seemed like a bit of a challenge for Chimchar, but that was because of how contest-y it was being. Gengar did seem a bit too easy for Buizel, so that is why it got in some strong hits against Drifblim. Pikachu losing to Drifblim seems fair enough because it already has enough screentime as it is. Chimchar beating Driblim AND Mismagius was just great. It really shows how strong Chimchar is. If only Paul saw this battle...... I think the only reasonwe did nor see much of the Majolica Contest was because it was with a gym battle as well.
 

Shadow XD001

Well-Known Member
This battle was like a gym battle combined with contest, in a way. The Counter Sheild and the Counter Counter Sheild was pretty cool. I'm suprised Ash doesn't really use it anymore. It would suprise his opponents.
 

Torpoleon

Well-Known Member
This battle was like a gym battle combined with contest, in a way. The Counter Sheild and the Counter Counter Sheild was pretty cool. I'm suprised Ash doesn't really use it anymore. It would suprise his opponents.
Ash usually never uses strategys like those. He hasn' used the spin since Hearthome/ The Counter Shield would be pretty good to use in other battles.
 

Ash-kid

Ash-kid
Usually, dissapointed gym battle. Only Drifblim is beating Ash's pokemon? In last 3 gyms he reached to the strongest pokemon with 3 pokemon!
 
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This was the best gym battle I've seen in a long time. The thing where Jessie got her second ribbon seemed so random that I actually believe she will make it to the Sinnoh GF fair and square. Also, the fact that Fantina was the one who came up with the term "counter-shield," along with the fact that her Drifblim was able to use a very potent counter-shield, makes me think that she has seen it used before and/or used it herself in the past.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
One of the best Gym Battles of all time I think.

Ash developed a good strategy to counter Fantina's Hypnosis strategy.

It was really good. And Jessie competing in a contest in the same episode was cool too. 8/10
 

wobbanut

Team Awesome
Hah, the counter shield, the Pokemon world equivalent of break dancing. LOL At least it turned out to be an effective shield against Fantina's attacks, even if it ended up coming back to bite Ash when Fantina had drifblim do the same with will-o-wisp. At least Ash would also use it against Paul later the following season. I also liked Fantina's reactions each time one of her pokemon were knocked out. LOL

I'm also glad that the writers had the good sense to have Jessie compete in a pokemon contest while the battle was going on. At least it got her her second ribbon. They should do that again while there's still time before the Grand Festival in season 12.
 
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