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The Traitorous Battle Royal! (1199)

TheLink

Eunie is as Eunie does.
Gotta love how even when he fails Goh still technically gets a win in progressing towards his goal. What a legend.

I agree with the sentiment that the two CotD’s should’ve been introduced *much* earlier - either in Project Mew or elsewhere- their designs are neat and would’ve given Goh a rival sooner.

Overall thoughts on the episode are a solid “meh” - agreed with Locormus on PM being something shadier. The concept of the episode was nice, but I wish that whoever came in last in these things, regardless of who it was, didn’t get any tokens. Yeah they’re getting less than the others but they’re still getting them so it’s hard to take the impact all that seriously. I’ll see how the Regi episode ties into this/ties things up in regards to Project Mew as a whole before saying this plot is a bust.
 

jjliang

Well-Known Member
Since Ultimate Journeys is almost coming out, what do you think Horace's Gardevoir's voice is probably going to sound like in the dub? Will Gardevoir sound more like Melodi's (DP020)/SM003 (Meowth's Mimikyu fantasy) or more like Concordia's/Diantha's/Kimia's (M19, shiny)/Kublock's? I would laugh if it sounded like the one from AG109. Do you think Horace's Gardevoir should sound more like how a Gardevoir should?
 
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Dephender

Gizakawayusu
Staff member
Moderator
The writers sure have a knack for making jerk rivals one off characters I see, Serena had Amelia and then this.
I wish they could make jerk rivals more frequent, sucks that they outright ignored Bede(But better than getting butchered like Marnie I guess :/ ). Jerk rivals make things more exciting, I'm not a fan of "Every rival is my friend!"

They're not one-offs, they'll be back in three weeks.
 

Evstike

Take me back to peak pokemon
Just wanted to mention how awesome the COTD/new rivals' designs are. I've always been a fan of shonen style designs which is why BW and XY's character designs are my favourite. Glad to see they're returning next mission, it would have been a real shame if they were just one-offs. Definitely my favourite minor character designs from JN along with Katsuki (that ninja dude from the Cloneharu ep), which all happen to be designed by Chiaki Kurakazu.
 

Gingertail24

Well-Known Member
It was a bit silly how much they stood out though

"LOOK AT ME WITH MY PINK HAIR AND GREEN EYELINER"
"LOOK AT MY LITTLE WITCH ACADEMIA COSPLAY"

Meanwhile everyone else is like "I got the stock male/female NPC outfit"
Well yeah. Not gonna put effort in irrelevant background characters. I'm more bothered that they debuted them this late. But I guess the way PM is structured, it was inevitable

Honestly, I kinda get that rivals have two default mode. Either friendly rival, or complete asshole
 

santiagus

I watched Pokemon anime for 20 freaking years
Now Project Mew has his own Team Rocket... even with their music...


Oh jesus they only need the talking Galarian cat.
 

Ryker101

Well-Known Member
That was wayy better than I expected. Finally Goh has to do missions himself. The mission was fun to watch imo, more engaging than just catching one pokemon at the end. Tokio was also great, they highlighted the differences between them well. Wasn't expecting Goh to lose there. Glad project mew hasn't been a cakewalk for him. Especially with Gary in the background. I like how Goh wanted to battle him in particular and picked up on the trap with Liepard. It makes sense given his distrusting nature. And how he was clenching his fist at end. it reminded me of him in ep 3. That more cautious and almost darker side of him

Good stuff all around, albeit it's a shame that project mew might end soon
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
Ash: Alright! Time to work togeth-!
Urshifu Girl: Wait, hold up. You're not going. We just remembered you're not even trying to be a member yourself.
Ash: Oh... *muttering* dammit they realized
Urshifu Girl: What was that?
Ash: Darmanitan got iced.
Urshifu Girl: Oh.
 

Zweilous

Go-ing for Gold
Doing another formatted post because my ADHD ass needs help.

The Good
  • Sea Mauville looks so freaking pretty.
  • I like how Goh was hoping to fight Gary. There's no way he'd win right now, but the fact that he wanted to try was pretty sweet.
  • Ash and Pikachu sneaking into Asahi's broadcast was hilarious. It was simple, but it got a good laugh out of me. I think it was Ash's huge smile.
  • I was right, forming teams is encouraged by Project Mew. Luckily though, this wasn't some secret test of character.
  • Even better, they made it a point that the smart ones knew to team up, and the ones who didn't get the memo got booted early. Team-ups weren't something the main characters came up with, but a strategy multiple people picked up on.
  • The Azumarill projector was neat, but then I remembered that Asahi owns an Azumarill, herself. I love little details like that.
  • The map/timer thing was a great idea. It encourages players to actually participate, instead of hiding the whole time. But it also gives enough leeway for people to go around without being tracked.
  • I loved how Project Mew set up extra Pokemon to make things even more difficult. Asahi even gave good reasons for the surprise.
  • So Tokio has photographic memory. That's a great character trait, and one we've rarely seen in this show.
  • Tokio in general was great in this episode. Not only is he geared towards teamwork and support, but he dislikes fighting others and wants to be friends with everyone. He knows what this mission is all about, and he's not going to roll over and lose. But he's openly questioning the system. He even tried to withdraw from the game so his friend could win. That's really nice.
  • Goh was pretty good here, too. He saw right through the evil Chasers' plan almost immediately. Meanwhile, Tokio ignored the warning signs in order to help, and the bad guys took advantage of that.
  • Goh and Tokio's Pokemon got to use their natural abilities to get ahead. This was a great idea. I feel like there was a missed opportunity for Pizza to go full spy and rely on stealth the whole way through, but we got use of camouflage, camouflage, and sniping from a distance.
  • I saw people complaining about Goh getting Tokens, but he showed a lot of great strategy here: he was able to work as a team, he was able to read situations and see the trouble, and he chose to give up an easy victory over Tokio for the sake of his friends' dream. It's a massive turnaround from what Asahi saw in the Articuno episode.
  • But I did like how Goh was upset about his loss, before he knew he was getting tokens. In his eyes, he ended up throwing away his shot at achieving his dreams, so someone else could. He didn't hold it against Tokio, and he didn't let his feelings show. But he was clearly hurt.
  • It really feels like we're down to the wire with that ending. I also didn't expect Project Mew to straight-up disqualify people at this point.

The Bad
  • A lot of trainers' mons lost way too easily. I get that some of them might not be good at battles, since they're probably here to catch Mew. But seeing multiple Pokemon go down in a single hit was frustrating. Especially since some of these were fully-evolved Pokemon, so they must have some experience.
  • The battle choreography was atrocious. Everyone was so stiff, and any creative strategy was ruined by the lack of coordination and style. Which is very bad for an episode focus entirely around battling.
  • I liked that Goh and Tokio had a strategy based on their strengths. But, you know, why not switch opponents during that battle with Shiftry and Banette? Shiftry is weak to Moonblast, and it's not like Banette had an advantage over Inteleon.
  • Banette straight-up went down to one small blast of Mud Shot. I had to rewatch and make sure it even got hit in the first place.
  • So I know U-Turn might not work here, given the format. But come on, Shiftry was the perfect opponent to hit with it. They could have allowed U-Turn to work for this scenario, it's not like they haven't taken liberties with move mechanics before. Or just say that Goh only brought Inteleon.

The Rest
  • I really liked the evil Chasers, wish they were in the show earlier. But they're showing up in a later episode, so that's sweet.
  • More trainers dressing like their Pokemon. I like and hate this. Like, because it's adorable and adds a little bit of personality to them. Hate, because some of these are real ugly.
  • At one point, when Intellion was jumping to avoid Rock Slide, it sounded like it was screaming "PIZZA."
  • Jumpluff are really that small, huh? The games are so bad at scaling, its model makes it look so much bigger.

It was a pretty mixed story. The characters, story and setting were all on fire, but the abhorrent battles really took it down. But I definitely liked the episode, and it's easily be one of my favorite Project Mew missions. But I wish we got this earlier, because there are so many good characters and ideas that won't get all the screentime they deserve.
 

Evstike

Take me back to peak pokemon
dang this was heat. This episode did a great job at providing insight into each of the characters, such as highlighting the differences between Goh and Tokio. Interesting to see how all aspects of Goh's character were touched upon such as his analytical and logical approach, tendency to get easily agitated, frustration over getting one-upped by others like Gary and his distrust of others, with the latter being a strength here by allowing him to see right through Layla's trap. His fixation on proving himself to Gary causing him to disregard the other challengers reminded me of how he was so caught up on making Mew his first Pokemon that he turned down Scorbunny's desire to be his partner. Very meta. Gary really lives rent free in this kid's head, doesn't he?

Goh's speech to Tokio was such a powerful scene, encouraging him not to give up on his dream even if means giving up his own chance at winning. Goh's reaction to his loss was reasonable, feeling happy for his friend but clearly still hurt and maybe even a bit of regret. The awkwardness of his dialogue with Tokio after as he tried to process what it meant for him was very realistic and and showed how much Goh has developed since the start but how he still has ways to go. I'd like to take a moment to appreciate the stunning backgrounds that really brought the Sea Mauville to life. Good stuff.

Now what the heck were they doing with Ash. The kid just officially became one of the strongest trainers in the world and he's a complete idiot. When Asahi held him back from participating in the mission he looked so confused, and when she released the hordes of Pokemon to make the trial more challenging he looked at her like she killed someone. He's like that one kid in class who's constantly raising his hand to ask the dumbest questions. Ash is literally a Masters 8 member and yet you'd think he'd never fought a battle in his life given the way this episode portrayed him.
 
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Speed22

Well-Known Member
Now what the heck were they doing with Ash. The kid just officially became one of the strongest trainers in the world and he's a complete idiot. When Asahi held him back from participating in the mission he looked so confused, and when she released the hordes of Pokemon to make the trial more challenging he looked at her like she killed someone. He's like that one kid in class who's constantly raising his hand to ask the dumbest questions. Ash is literally a Masters 8 member and yet you'd think he'd never fought a battle in his life given the way this episode portrayed him.
Well, Ash hadn't been denied entry into a Project Mew mission/challenge before this episode. As for the 2nd part, did anyone mention in the episode what Asahi was going to do?
 

Blue Saturday

Unfurl your Blessed Wings!
I think my favorite aspect of this episode was Go’s distrust of others came in play in a good way here with him being leery of those other kids meanwhile Tokio’s empathy lead him to a dangerous and bad situation. It’s kind of funny, it was the opposite before with Go’s lack of trust in proper teamwork causing issues with the Raid Battle and it was Tokio’s ability to trust Shigeru and so fast that was rewarded. That’s how you do more 3-dimensional character writing. No hard and fast rules but a case-by-case basis. It’s rare to see such a pure character landing themselves in a tough spot and seeing a protagonist’s more negative flaws being portrayed as an advantage. It gave a nice flip turn to Go’s issues with others and social behaviors.

Also Go had every reason to be a bit selfish or entitled given he too the lead in dealing with the kids but encouraged and validated Tokio. Tokio himself went from being the Celebi kid who was his childhood friend to being more than I thought he would. I do wish we got more character depth like this for Satoshi but I know they can’t due to his position as a character and marketing so I’m glad they’re flexing their muscles with that with Go. Koharu also felt a bit “alternative” too before later in the series. I do like how they rely on secondary characters to do more soulful character driven stories like these while using Satoshi as more of a vehicle to show off the Pokémon aspect of things.


I’m still also not unconvinced by this episode Project Mew could turn out to be not so what it’s cracked up to be, the leader in particular and nature of this challenge was interesting.
 
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