The Greatest Z in Alola! Tapu Koko VS Pikachu! (1087)

[Soniman]

I just remembered something that I forgot to put in my thoughts:
Ash being a big brain and using a Dragon move on a Fairy-type, it's not like there was an episode of XY where that was established... *scratches head* Then again, he did use that tactic to blind Tapu Koko, so I'll give him a pass on that.

Actually there was but I forgive you for forgetting it. It was about a Wigglytuff standing up to a Salemence

 

[British Soul]

Actually there was but I forgive you for forgetting it. It was about a Wigglytuff standing up to a Salamence

I must confess, I did remember that instance, I simply didn't mention it to create the illusion that I forgot. Think of it like if I was saying "Gee I wonder if X will happen." when I know it will happen.

 

[Emboar_Rulez]

The longest battle in the anime finally came to a end and this battle was just great I liked how Torracat evolved after beating Incineroar though its a shame we didn't get to see Melmetals other moves or see who Kukuis final Pokemon is.

 

[mehmeh1]

I hope Sarah gives an amazing performance on this one

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

You know I really love this battle. And I really love this episode so much. So it was really painful for me to see how the dub BUTCHERED it completely. Fire Goldfarb at this point, im sure he's a nice guy but he isn't good at music composition. No Type Wild obviously. All the music replaced. And unlike in earlier dub anime where they would insert their own hype theme, they just added standard music. They just didn't want to hype up the moment at all here :/
Sarah was amazing tho, the voice acting was top notch.
Really great episode so sad to see it marred in the dub. Pretty sure I ain't gonna bother with the dub at all in PM2019 unless they axe Goldfarb.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

Pretty sure I ain't gonna bother with the dub at all in PM2019 unless they axe Goldfarb.

As someone who wouldn't have bothered with PM2019's JP version if OLM had kept everyone's beloved hack around to make its noise, I can somewhat understand where this is coming from.
You'd best not see next saga dubbed, then, because Mr. Goldfarb confirmed months ago in an interview that he's on for another saga.

Regarding the dub music here, this is one that proves Mr. Goldfarb is a better composer than Akhil Gopal is a sound editor. Mr. Gopal is good at his job most of the time, but then there are times he's as incompetent as Masafumi Mima. This episode was somewhere in between for him: he did neither a bad job nor a good job here. It was really standard and didn't feel climactic. And though I'll gladly take that over whatever the holy **** the JP version was doing (that many love for some baffling reason), I'm also wishing it had been handled better.

Well, at least there's still the denouement of the saga coming up, giving Mr. Gopal a chance to bounce back from this.

One more thing: I don't hate Type Wild; I hate how it fell victim to that stupid anime "let's overuse whatever song sounds even one iota exciting because charts, money, or whatever instead of anything artistically logical" cliche like a lot of good songs did.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

I hate how it fell victim to that stupid anime "let's overuse whatever song sounds even one iota exciting because charts, money, or whatever instead of anything artistically logical" cliche like a lot of good songs did.

...it was used, what, twice in Alola?

Truly, it must've been ruined forever, going by your impeccable logic

 

[RafaSceptile]

...it was used, what, twice in Alola?

Truly, it must've been ruined forever, going by your impeccable logic

Four times: SM139, SM140, SM144 and SM146
And the last time pre SM series was...Ash vs Paul? more than 9 years ago?

 

[Tabasco Boshi]

I don't really know what we did to deserve this garbage, honestly. But if the dub didn't grow up when it had the chance (2006), it's a lost cause. The problem here is that they've shown they can do better, but they simply choose not to. How am I supposed to take this battle seriously if it's treated like your regular clash with Team Rocket, for example? I thought XYZ was an all-time low for the International version and how wrong I was. And the worst is probably yet to come in the next series.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

Four times: SM139, SM140, SM144 and SM146

Just one use in an episode itself would've been fine. But four times???

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Aww, Koko became besties with Kukui in the span of their first 7 minutes together. (...Really.)

Hala: Ah, the Tapunium Z! A sacred Z-Crystal used to protect Alola, used to protect Alolans from dangerous threats. Only during times of crisis do the Tapus bequeath such power to us lowly humans in order to fight back threats that may put Alola in per-
Kukui: POUND THAT PIKACHU!
Hala: ...Oh, how could I forget. Our Tapus are very selfish.

Where the hell was all that crazy speed Naganadel could have used in its previous battle? Extreme Speed my ***. He can't be outrun by anything but a Legendary.

This was a nice battle. The animation for the final attack was sweet. The battle itself is a bit marred by how much downtime suddenly occurs during the middle, though, which only makes the battle shorter than Torracat VS. Incineroar's fight. It didn't feel to me that Tapu Koko was that badly injured or even put on the ropes to get manhandled by Pikachu (albeit the cynical side of me likes to think Tapu Koko was Pikachu's ***** in the end). It felt a biiiiiiiiiit too cheesy that Ash and Pikachu stopped time during their Z-Move to reflect on their Alolan adven.......................................school trips. Couldn't they reflect after the battle?

Unfortunately, the dub's dumb music choices destroys any sort of seriousness in this battle. It all felt like I was at a circus instead of this epic final battle of the ages.

Poor Koko. Perhaps the weakest Legendary yet, or the target of Pikachu's unlocked lv. 100 against its lvl. 50.

Regardless, this was a nice episode. Can't wait to see Ash and Kukui getting bugged by paparazzi in the next episode, for these revelations and successes aren't something you can't brush off realistically!

 

[Ryu Taylor]

And the worst is probably yet to come in the next series.

When did you suddenly start caring about PM2019? Didn't it lose you for barely having TR and not having S. Miyazaki?

 

[RafaSceptile]

Just one use in an episode itself would've been fine. But four times???

I don't see the problem with the most iconic EDof the series being used 4 times in the last episodes. Well at least XY&Z and its remix didn't do the same, oh wait!

 

[Ryu Taylor]

I don't see the problem with the most iconic EDof the series being used 4 times in the last episodes. Well at least XY&Z and its remix didn't do the same, oh wait!

The problem is that it's uncreative. And repetitive (a problem most BGM tracks can dodge due to its purpose being to be reused). And annoying. It lessens its impact, just like what happened with Future Connection; Poipole's goodbye scene in SM090 would've been great with that song if there weren't so many prior reuses of it. And now the same thing happened to Type Wild.
Like I said, I hate it when any JP cartoon does that.

And thanks for the reminder of how much Mima insisted on shoving XY&Z everygoddamnwhere he could. **** that "song." At least Type Wild can be called music.

 

[RafaSceptile]

And XY&Z remix was used twice in SM series

 

[Ryu Taylor]

And XY&Z remix was used twice in SM series

I remember, even though I don't want to.

Seriously, why do people like that thing??
(Rhetorical question, people)

And why do they think Japanese animation can do no wrong, especially in their original Japanese forms???
(That one's not rhetorical)

 

[Almighty Zard]

Unfortunately, the dub's dumb music choices destroys any sort of seriousness in this battle. It all felt like I was at a circus instead of this epic final battle of the ages.

To be honest, after seeing what DBS did to the Ultimate Battle song in the dub if I had to choose between a potentially butchered ost or a replacement, I think i'd go with the latter.

Poor Koko. Perhaps the weakest Legendary yet, or the target of Pikachu's unlocked lv. 100 against its lvl. 50.

I still firmly believe that the Tapu's in general are responsible for Pikachu not only getting that move in the first place, but also how powerful it is.

After all they did evolve Ash's Z-ring into the power variant, no other trainer in the show with the power variant had that happen they either had it from the get go, or swapped out, and I feel that by doing that, it's responsible for Pikachu and Ash getting their exclusive Z-move, and considering how bad it always nuked things when used I feel like some of their power was instilled as well.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

To be honest, after seeing what DBS did to the Ultimate Battle song in the dub if I had to choose between a potentially butchered ost or a replacement, I think i'd go with the latter.

I'm not sure if this is a good point for DBS or the Pokemon anime.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

Unfortunately, the dub's dumb music choices destroys any sort of seriousness in this battle. It all felt like I was at a circus instead of this epic final battle of the ages.

Better that than Hell, which is where the JP version made me feel like I died and went to (and where S. Miyazaki's stans want to send me to themselves).

But if it makes you feel any better, the dub's take on it didn't make me feel like I went to Heaven.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Better that than Hell, which is where the JP version made me feel like I died and went to (and where S. Miyazaki's stans want to send me to themselves).

But if it makes you feel any better, the dub's take on it didn't make me feel like I went to Heaven.

The japanese soundtrack for this episode was top tier