Blue Saturday
Unfurl your Blessed Wings!
It was a pretty average episode, but it got the job done in some aspects.
-Shooti, I'm glad he finally got his battle with Adeku that he has been wanting for sometime now. Shooti seems to have developed as a character and that's a good thing, though the development felt kinda quick. I mean he already is friendly with Satoshi? That seemed weird, all because of Adeku's words with him no less. It just seemed too quickly done, imo, and should have been more gradual. Subtle-gradual character development is one of the best kinds of character development in my opinion. Some development is better than no development though, so that's something to be glad for. I liked his emotion during the battle as well as how he hung his head in embarrassment when Adeku mispronounced his name. The battle itself wasn't amazing, but Buffron really was a beast what with sponging all of Jalorda's attacks like that and retaliating with a one-hitter quitter Afro Break.
-Adeku Keychains, that is all. I really liked that participation prize. That's a piece of Pokemerch I would buy for sure if it existed in real life, those little trinkets were epic.
-The departures of Langley, Cabernet, and Shooti were quick as always, but it was nice to see Langley is still pushing Iris to become a Dragon Master and get Kairyu under control. Cabernet's sassy goodbye was pretty cute and Shooti's goodbye to Satoshi seemed a bit sudden with how he acted, but sufficed.
-Hikari and Satoshi's battle was great, a nice friendly contest of agility and quickness, since Pikachu and Magmarashi are similar in that regard. I guess Eruption was erased from Magmarashi's memory banks in favor of Flamethrower, I don't mind, it differentiates her's from Satoshi's. That Flame Wheel was animated nicely and I liked how Satoshi used Thunderbolt to clear away Smokescreen. Iron Tail not slicing through Flamethrower and overpowering Pikachu was nice, made more sense than it did back during DP's first gym and Tsutarja's Leaf Blade against Baokkie. The battle was getting good up until the Shirona commentary, it sucks it had to end in a tie because I would have liked a definite winner and I liked how Satoshi didn't rely on Elecball much at all. I don't mind and don't care that Pikachu didn't squash Magmarashi with ease. I look at it from another view, sure Pikachu has more experience as a Pokemon, but those two have similar battling styles and moves and Magmarashi is no slouch either and is evolved and a second-stager like Pikachu too. Plus it doesn't work that way with athletes, you can be stronger than someone in the beginning, but it's surprisingly not that hard to catch up, especially when said person doesn't train or battle as much as they did before.(As Pikachu did in DP) Strength and speed is never going to stick permanently to an athlete, you have to work-out regularly to maintain what you've gained thus far. Pikachu's moveset also is downgraded a bit without Volt Tackle. I liked the music that played during the battle.
-Hikari's goodbye was done good enough. Her farewell and along with Mijumaru's and Pochama's goodbyes were cute and I liked how they played the Route 201(?) music during her departure and Meleotta's singing enhanced the goodbye scene's emotion.
-Kotetsu, this kid is the new rival we've been speculating about since those days in May? Kotetsu, for the most part, is pretty okay with me. He hasn't done much and we've only seen his comedic side. Depending on how he's handled and his interactions and parts in the show are I think I might like him more than Jun. Jun was comedic, sure, but was made out to be a complete joke overall and never really went anywhere and I was still waiting for a sort of plot-line with his being a Shinji fanboy and action usually beats comedy in my book. I mean Jun only was ever able to beat Satoshi's newly caught, tired Fukamaru with his Emparte. Kotetsu might be comedic, but he seems like a character that might actually mean something. I also liked his Riolu, it was adorable. Next episode it looks like he gives it a good battle against Shizui, I hope his Riolu battles, but doesn't evolve.
-Shooti, I'm glad he finally got his battle with Adeku that he has been wanting for sometime now. Shooti seems to have developed as a character and that's a good thing, though the development felt kinda quick. I mean he already is friendly with Satoshi? That seemed weird, all because of Adeku's words with him no less. It just seemed too quickly done, imo, and should have been more gradual. Subtle-gradual character development is one of the best kinds of character development in my opinion. Some development is better than no development though, so that's something to be glad for. I liked his emotion during the battle as well as how he hung his head in embarrassment when Adeku mispronounced his name. The battle itself wasn't amazing, but Buffron really was a beast what with sponging all of Jalorda's attacks like that and retaliating with a one-hitter quitter Afro Break.
-Adeku Keychains, that is all. I really liked that participation prize. That's a piece of Pokemerch I would buy for sure if it existed in real life, those little trinkets were epic.
-The departures of Langley, Cabernet, and Shooti were quick as always, but it was nice to see Langley is still pushing Iris to become a Dragon Master and get Kairyu under control. Cabernet's sassy goodbye was pretty cute and Shooti's goodbye to Satoshi seemed a bit sudden with how he acted, but sufficed.
-Hikari and Satoshi's battle was great, a nice friendly contest of agility and quickness, since Pikachu and Magmarashi are similar in that regard. I guess Eruption was erased from Magmarashi's memory banks in favor of Flamethrower, I don't mind, it differentiates her's from Satoshi's. That Flame Wheel was animated nicely and I liked how Satoshi used Thunderbolt to clear away Smokescreen. Iron Tail not slicing through Flamethrower and overpowering Pikachu was nice, made more sense than it did back during DP's first gym and Tsutarja's Leaf Blade against Baokkie. The battle was getting good up until the Shirona commentary, it sucks it had to end in a tie because I would have liked a definite winner and I liked how Satoshi didn't rely on Elecball much at all. I don't mind and don't care that Pikachu didn't squash Magmarashi with ease. I look at it from another view, sure Pikachu has more experience as a Pokemon, but those two have similar battling styles and moves and Magmarashi is no slouch either and is evolved and a second-stager like Pikachu too. Plus it doesn't work that way with athletes, you can be stronger than someone in the beginning, but it's surprisingly not that hard to catch up, especially when said person doesn't train or battle as much as they did before.(As Pikachu did in DP) Strength and speed is never going to stick permanently to an athlete, you have to work-out regularly to maintain what you've gained thus far. Pikachu's moveset also is downgraded a bit without Volt Tackle. I liked the music that played during the battle.
-Hikari's goodbye was done good enough. Her farewell and along with Mijumaru's and Pochama's goodbyes were cute and I liked how they played the Route 201(?) music during her departure and Meleotta's singing enhanced the goodbye scene's emotion.
-Kotetsu, this kid is the new rival we've been speculating about since those days in May? Kotetsu, for the most part, is pretty okay with me. He hasn't done much and we've only seen his comedic side. Depending on how he's handled and his interactions and parts in the show are I think I might like him more than Jun. Jun was comedic, sure, but was made out to be a complete joke overall and never really went anywhere and I was still waiting for a sort of plot-line with his being a Shinji fanboy and action usually beats comedy in my book. I mean Jun only was ever able to beat Satoshi's newly caught, tired Fukamaru with his Emparte. Kotetsu might be comedic, but he seems like a character that might actually mean something. I also liked his Riolu, it was adorable. Next episode it looks like he gives it a good battle against Shizui, I hope his Riolu battles, but doesn't evolve.