• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

Smashing with Sketch! The Fierce Poké-Ping Pong Match!! (1009)

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Can someone tell me why does Ilima have 2 eps when he dosen't matter in the long run?

My guess is he'll be back for the league.
 

Satoshi & Touko

Peanuts aren't just a nut.
The complaints of butt monkey Ash are becoming more and more hilarious. I get progressively more glad that I refuse to be a victim of still being so invested in Ash and his journey and expecting him to be like his or better than his XY&Z self.
 

satopi

Life doesn’t end, …it changes.
You know we have other charaters that can be the butt monkey for a ep why does it always have to be Ash?
Ash has always and I mean, always been the butt monkey. You see Kiawe be one too in this episode by his over emotional state. It's really the girls who aren't really allowed in be the butt monkeys unless they're as ditzy as Bianca.
 

SH65

Victory Over All!
Ash has always and I mean, always been the butt monkey. You see Kiawe be one too in this episode by his over emotional state. It's really the girls who aren't really allowed in be the butt monkeys unless they're as ditzy as Bianca.

I really don't get why the girls can't be the butt monkeys, it was fine with Misty, May and Dawn why not now?

Because he's an idiot and idiots have a unnatural power of gravitational force for injuries?

Cliche?

Because Volcanion cursed him with slapstick?

I say its a cliche at this point.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
Ash has always and I mean, always been the butt monkey. You see Kiawe be one too in this episode by his over emotional state. It's really the girls who aren't really allowed in be the butt monkeys unless they're as ditzy as Bianca.

Lillie and Sophocles are about the only ones allowed to look epically bad at sports the same way Ash does.

Granted I don't really resent Ash being the butt monkey, he gets vindication in plenty other things. It's better than characters like Mallow who don't really get highs or lows. Ash can be an impressive winner AND a sympathetic loser. Mallow can be neither.

I really don't get why the girls can't be the butt monkeys, it was fine with Misty, May and Dawn why not now?

Iris slipped in and out as well, she had her 'avoiding slapstick' gag, but it wasn't consistent, and as a trainer, she was allowed to look dysfunctionally poor.

Maybe it's down to ego, all the earlier girls were more haughty and outspoken, so ripe for getting taken down a peg. Hell it pretty much HAD to happen for the sake of development and just keeping them sympathetic, no one likes an egotist who never gets their comeuppance. Since Serena, they're much more demure or inoffensive, so maybe the writers cave into it being too mean spirited. It does get ridiculous at times though, like they won't let the girls be on the receiving end of anything unless they can call it off or excuse it in some spurious way. They don't even take hits in nearly all of their battles, let alone officially lose one. I think the writers are aware of it too, and it ends up detrimentally capping the girls' abilities, likely so they don't look like too much of an invincible hero.

Lillie is something of an exception, even if she doesn't have it nearly as bad as the guys do, she is allowed to fail miserably or struggle at things or just in some remote way look comically fallible, and thus be in a position to redeem herself or get better. The Poni Island episode with Gladion is a good example.
 
Last edited:

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
great animation, and kiawe vs lana was funny, but boring aside from that
 

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
Can someone tell me why does Ilima have 2 eps when he dosen't matter in the long run?

to market yudai chiba
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Because apparently the SM staff thinks making Ash the butt monkey in every episode is funny as heck, even though it's not.

I understand the frustration regarding Satoshi's behavior here, but I think he was just made to act extra silly in this episode to serve as a foil against Ilima, who needed to seem perfect given his seiyuu's celebrity status.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
Whether or not it's funny is just subjective. It often gives me a chuckle. And besides, it's part of who Ash is as a character that he often gets in those situations. He's a character that goes into new endeavours with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement, he's impatient and he doesn't really think things through. He's the kind of person that just dives in blindly, messes up, and learns from his mistakes to grow. Why is it such a problem that Ash is most often encountering these situations? Why should there be some kind of hidden tally that keeps track of how often each character is the butt monkey which should line up equal in the end? I mean, compare him to a character like Lana, who is very different. Lana is more the silent observing character. She observes and thinks things through and then, through her own innate talents and skills perseveres. Due to the nature of her character she just naturally doesn't enter those same situations that Ash does. Lillie is similar to Lana in a way, but with different fears. Lillie is mostly made fun of with her fear of touching pokémon and her poor abilities in sports and other physical activities, but she won't enter in the same butt monkey situations Ash does because she is simply not as reckless. Kiawe is made fun of plenty of times, usually for his tendency to take everything very seriously and to get carried away competitively (like at the sleep over when he had Turtonator destroy the living room). Sophocles is also made fun of occasionally, he's fallible in his anxiety and poor physical abilities, and Togedemaru doesn't seem as attached to him as the pokémon of the other characters are to their trainers (although that's also Togedemaru's personality).

Let me put it this way. If all characters were to be the butt monkey equally and made fun of in similar situations, what sets the characters apart?
 

YairQueen

Member
I Feel bad for the person who played Ilima... he is in the two most boring episodes of the sun and moon series altogether. I think pokemon was trying to have him never land another job again secretly.
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I Feel bad for the person who played Ilima... he is in the two most boring episodes of the sun and moon series altogether. I think pokemon was trying to have him never land another job again secretly.

Well the voice of Ilima is Yudai Chiba and because of his role as an actor he's obviously still going to keep his job. But for this episode though I definitely find it the less interesting one out of the other one. The ping pong player who defeated Ilima one time is a COTD so I wouldn't find him too interesting as a character. Even Jessie didn't last too long in the tournament, being defeated by Ilima in the first round, and as usual, Bewear rescued her and I would have liked to see her play more matches or I would have liked to see James participate in the tournament.
 

YairQueen

Member
Well the voice of Ilima is Yudai Chiba and because of his role as an actor he's obviously still going to keep his job. But for this episode though I definitely find it the less interesting one out of the other one. The ping pong player who defeated Ilima one time is a COTD so I wouldn't find him too interesting as a character. Even Jessie didn't last too long in the tournament, being defeated by Ilima in the first round, and as usual, Bewear rescued her and I would have liked to see her play more matches or I would have liked to see James participate in the tournament.

Yeah that was just hyperbole to point out how bad the episode was and no celebrity actor could have saved that. I do agree though, he couldn't actually lose his job over this.
I hope this is the last of the boring filler this series!
 

Mega Altaria

☆~Shiny hunter▢~
Yeah that was just hyperbole to point out how bad the episode was and no celebrity actor could have saved that. I do agree though, he couldn't actually lose his job over this.
I hope this is the last of the boring filler this series!

Right. Ilima being shown as flawless didn't make this episode anything exciting. But I think the cause behind it is due to Ilima's voice actor having a guest role and because of that, Ilima would have a limited appearance in the anime in this episode and the last episode. And because of his limited appearance, there's no room for Ilima to be developed in any way and also possibly because of his voice actor's job as an actor, the writers would have no choice but to portray Ilima's character as flawless.
 
Top