• 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

This Tough Old Geezer's the Island Kahuna?! (1017)

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I do question why Ash used Lycanroc, I could have bought it if Lycanroc was insistent in battling, but otherwise every other Pokemon had a palpable number of effective attacks, and Ash should have known that given it was a freaking Krookodile.
 

Akkipeddi

All set to be a nice guy
I do question why Ash used Lycanroc, I could have bought it if Lycanroc was insistent in battling, but otherwise every other Pokemon had a palpable number of effective attacks, and Ash should have known that given it was a freaking Krookodile.

Well other than Rowlet, his whole team is ridiculously weak to Ground types. So it was probably a choice of choosing the strongest out of everyone who's weak to ground anyway, and that is Lycanroc. I know Rowlet can use supereffective Grass moves, but it's not really reliable with its whole sleeping habit.
 

Lucario At Service

Calm Trainer
I'm interested by the conversations going between Nanu, Giovanni and the TRio, wonder what they're setting up.
It seems that Giovanni wanted to know about "Kagayaki-sama" (which according to anime ancient Alola lore is Ultra Necrozma), but Nanu denied knowing anything about it.

On the other hand, the TR Trio learned about the lore, when Acerola was telling about it to Ash. They tried to convey it to Giovanni, but that secretary (not sure what's her name is), told them that Giovanni already knew about it and cut the connection.

This part makes me feel that we may see TR having some role in the upcoming Necrozma arc, guess they would replace Ultra Recon Squad. And this TR involvement with Necrozma would most likely be the anime equivalent of Team Rainbow Rocket episode from the USUM games.

Bewear still hasn't caught onto their dupe. XD
Most likely it would catch on when the Trio are just close to defeating Ash & Pikachu in SM076, and take them away before they could capture Pikachu.
 

Mr.Munchlax

Great Ball Rank Trainer
So is Ash going to Ula Ula Island by himself because he’s going to start traveling around Alola like he used to in order to prepare for The Pokémon League, or are they treating it as some kind independent study for the Pokémon School for the same reason?
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
It seems that Giovanni wanted to know about "Kagayaki-sama" (which according to anime ancient Alola lore is Ultra Necrozma), but Nanu denied knowing anything about it.

On the other hand, the TR Trio learned about the lore, when Acerola was telling about it to Ash. They tried to convey it to Giovanni, but that secretary (not sure what's her name is), told them that Giovanni already knew about it and cut the connection.

This part makes me feel that we may see TR having some role in the upcoming Necrozma arc, guess they would replace Ultra Recon Squad. And this TR involvement with Necrozma would most likely be the anime equivalent of Team Rainbow Rocket episode from the USUM games.

I believe she was referred to as Matori once in the Japanese edit, though I think the dub version has no name so far.

Interesting that she brushed off Trio's info. Either Giovanni's studies have gotten that far or she's holding out info from her boss. Either way I like the idea that TR (especially Giovanni) might get a big arc again.

OK-goodish episode. This one and last one redeemed that horrible 1 hour special.Honestly if they continue making episodes like this one and last one( so good, not great, amazing or perfect, just good);SM would be better than Johto and maybe Kanto.

It's ironic that after so many complaints that Ash and TR are stale, the fans seem more invested in episodes revolved around just them than the new companion's episodes.
 

Kage-Pikachu

Well-Known Member
I thought it was a good episode even though I barely understood a word (arigatou and gomen, lol). I was surprised Ash actually battled Nanu this episode but I guess it happened since Ash needed to follow the tradition of losing to at least one gym leader (in this case Island Kahuna) once before winning the rematch. I thought the battle between Lycanrock and Krrokodile was pretty cool and Lycanrock's berserk mode reminds me of Sceptile's initial inability to use attacks, it's a hurdle that Ash will need to overcome with his Pokemon in order to reach their full battling potential. I really hope Poipole becomes useful within the coming episodes. I want to see a battle and I hope he doesn't become a released Pokemon. Releasing Pokemon was never a big part of the games (largely due to the PC) and definitely had no story focus (I mean you can even capture important Pokemon like the Tapu (who the hell is going to appoint new Isand Kahina's now????!!!!)) so I wonder why the anime keeps doing it...

Gonna rewatch this once subs are up but I enjoyed this episode.
 

Satomine Night

The Power of Z!
The kinda-sorta introduction to "the Radiant One" Ultra Necrozma—between Giovanni wanting to discuss it with Nanu, to Acerola sharing some of its lore with Ash—was unexpected, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise, and it more or less confirms the Ultra Necrozma arc in the future. I was particularly interested in Poipole's reaction to the picture of Ultra Necrozma, Lunala, and Solgaleo. It seemed to recognize Ultra Necrozma.

I think @Rohanator perfectly described Nanu's attitude during the battle: Savage. Rather than taking Ash seriously, he toyed with him. He knew Ash couldn't defeat him, and when he won, he just told Ash to go back to Melemele Island. No advice on how to get stronger, no offer to battle him again when he was ready. Savage indeed. He didn't even address Ash by his name; he just called him "sonny."

I loved the detail of Ash's reaction when he lost. With just his facial expressions, you could really sense his frustration and hurt—not only with the loss, but also with not being able to control his Pokémon. He looked like he was about to cry at one point! The detailed animation is one thing I love about the SM series, and that scene drove that home.

This episode was pretty decent, though unfortunately, like majority of SM, the battle kind of sucked. As expected, Lycanroc's stupid rage proves to be its undoing, though I was impressed at how unfazed Krookodile was. I'm atleast happy that they're going to train to overcome it next week.
I think frustration at how the battle was going contributed more to Lycanroc's rage than getting dirty did. Throughout the entire battle, Ash kept telling Lycanroc to calm down as its rage kept building up. Getting dirty was just the final straw that caused Lycanroc to snap.

Nanu definitely seems different from his 'not giving a s***' games self, as he seems to show a lot more emotion in the anime, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Both Nanu and Acerola have been pretty good characters so far, and I really wish Acerola was the one travelling with Ash instead of his current bunch of horrendous classmates.
I think it more that the medium of animation allows a greater range of character emotion than the somewhat limited character animations in the games. Nanu's entire demeanor and attitude still read "I don't give a ****." Take his reaction when Officer Jenny caught him about to ditch his post. Or how he ignored the phone ringing at first and only answered it reluctantly. To be honest, I actually like how the animators are using the medium of animation to their advantage when it comes to portraying Nanu.

Speaking of character portrayals, I love how the anime is portraying Acerola! She is just as fun as she was in the games. It's really a shame she probably won't appear much after the Ula'Ula arc, because I would love to see more of her.
 

Rock Captain 99

Following the dreams!!
The kinda-sorta introduction to "the Radiant One" Ultra Necrozma—between Giovanni wanting to discuss it with Nanu, to Acerola sharing some of its lore with Ash—was unexpected, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise, and it more or less confirms the Ultra Necrozma arc in the future. I was particularly interested in Poipole's reaction to the picture of Ultra Necrozma, Lunala, and Solgaleo. It seemed to recognize Ultra Necrozma.

I think @Rohanator perfectly described Nanu's attitude during the battle: Savage. Rather than taking Ash seriously, he toyed with him. He knew Ash couldn't defeat him, and when he won, he just told Ash to go back to Melemele Island. No advice on how to get stronger, no offer to battle him again when he was ready. Savage indeed. He didn't even address Ash by his name; he just called him "sonny."

I loved the detail of Ash's reaction when he lost. With just his facial expressions, you could really sense his frustration and hurt—not only with the loss, but also with not being able to control his Pokémon. He looked like he was about to cry at one point! The detailed animation is one thing I love about the SM series, and that scene drove that home.


I think frustration at how the battle was going contributed more to Lycanroc's rage than getting dirty did. Throughout the entire battle, Ash kept telling Lycanroc to calm down as its rage kept building up. Getting dirty was just the final straw that caused Lycanroc to snap.


I think it more that the medium of animation allows a greater range of character emotion than the somewhat limited character animations in the games. Nanu's entire demeanor and attitude still read "I don't give a ****." Take his reaction when Officer Jenny caught him about to ditch his post. Or how he ignored the phone ringing at first and only answered it reluctantly. To be honest, I actually like how the animators are using the medium of animation to their advantage when it comes to portraying Nanu.

Speaking of character portrayals, I love how the anime is portraying Acerola! She is just as fun as she was in the games. It's really a shame she probably won't appear much after the Ula'Ula arc, because I would love to see more of her.
Acerola is one of the elite four in games. I could see her getting some kind of role post Ula'ula too along with olivia!
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
They gave Alan a full team of 6 out of ass, so if they want to put Kiawe in the league, they will do it.

Actually, Kiawe can simply borrow Pokemon from his family's farm, if he doesn't mind going against his whole "fire of Alola" shtick.

Or, yeah, out of ass.

Or he conveniently is disqualified during rounds that have only 3-on-3 or less.
 

Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
Holy ****.... did my original theory from October/November about Rainbow Rocket being tied to Necrozma in the anime actually might come true? I theorized they'd probably due that since we already got the Aether arc done, and Rainbow Rocket's plot from the games seemed too much for this series. Where they're treating characters like Mallow worse than DP Brock and Cilan.

I do hope the Squad don't get ignored from the plot, I wanna see Dulse and Zossie! And I do wish we could see a glimpse of Team Skull while we're on the island they're based.... I hope we don't go another 10-20 episodes without seeing them. Team Skull doesn't deserve this! They can cause trouble for Ash in some episodes, it doesn't always have to be the TRio doing stuff. Team Skull does random **** like trying to steal a bus sign! :/

This Ula'Ula arc is definitely the best of the arcs SM has done so far... Nanu and Acerola are absolutely perfect, I'm glad they didn't ruin them. It'd be so nice if Acerola could become a recurring character....

And Kiawe becoming a confirmed League Rival is very nice! Please don't make him canon fodder..... I'd love to see an actual battle between the two! Kiawe's really the only character that would work since he doesn't live on Melemele like the others, he could have other Pokemon at the farm... though I'd rather they not go that route. I'd love to see him catch one or two more Pokemon on screen. He doesn't use Charizard in battle, so only Turtonator and Marowak would be battling.

Another perfect 10/10
 

Rohanator

Well-Known Member
I do question why Ash used Lycanroc, I could have bought it if Lycanroc was insistent in battling, but otherwise every other Pokemon had a palpable number of effective attacks, and Ash should have known that given it was a freaking Krookodile.
He chose Lycanroc before Nanu even agreed to battle them, Lycanroc stepped in itself and seeing it was part of the reason that convinced Nanu to even give them a chance.
 

CMButch

Kanto is love. Kanto is life.
It's ironic that after so many complaints that Ash and TR are stale, the fans seem more invested in episodes revolved around just them than the new companion's episodes.

Yeah, shocking how people who already got focus in 20 years, got better episodes( this and last one) than people who are new/relevant to the game/region and got bad episodes( 1 hour special). Honestly this is my rank on classmates episodes:
Lillie( this girl got 13 focus episodes and almost all of them are good/great especially Lusamine episodes, maybe like 3 bad, but still 10 are good)> Lana/Kiawe(these two got 6 episodes focus each and it's a mixed bag( 3 bad, 3 good episodes)>Sophocles/Mallow(5/6 episodes focus;I didn't find a single good episode focusing on them, maybe if I were to nitpick only 1 was good/ok(from both sides))>Rotom(3 episodes and all of them are awful and bad). Which is sad because I wanted Mallow to be better than Lana.) I like Mallow better but Lana got better episodes than Mallow(L-3 : M-1).
 

AznKei

Dawn & Chloe by ddangbi
It's ironic that after so many complaints that Ash and TR are stale, the fans seem more invested in episodes revolved around just them than the new companion's episodes.
I don't care about Ash & Pikachu, but I'm more forgiving about his regional Pokemons as long their spotlights are balanced. As for Team Rocket, I like them better when they're not involved into their usual stealing Pokemons from the twerps and I don't complain about their presences compared to Ash.

For the episode, it's regrettable that Ash's companions aren't going with him to meet Acelora & Nanu. I guess the writers wanted to make them irrelevant, except for Kiawe since he might participate at the league, to hint more suprises. I wondered how long until Bewear figure out about the TR decoys. As for Nanu vs Ash, I like that Nanu went, especially Ash has a still a long way to completely bond with Lycanroc as it can't control its rage. Decent episode with some foreshadowings.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't mind more moderate character focus like this. Maybe even experiment with an episode where Ash isn't there in person.
 

Jangobadass

Surprise!
ULTRA Necrozma?! :eek:

Well ****, son! :confused:

Oh please tell me the Boss will get to step up again like he did in Operation Tempest. Rainbow Rocket is clearly too hard for these people, but just having him in action would work just as well. Maybe even better (especially in that fine new suit of his <3 )

And hey, Kukui really IS making an Alolan League. I was wondering if they'd actually go there.
(Though now I'm a little concerned how much longer this saga will last...<_< )

As bonus, Ash finally lost an Island Challenge. Oh sure he'll win next time, but it's always nice to see him not win on his first try.

Also, dat bite. (TPCI better not mess with it)
 
Last edited:

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
Its even possible we have a different concept league than the others, with the first round being a double battle and then Ash fights Kiawe in the first round (Then they don't have to give Kiawe a third mon) and then second round start with 3v3 battles.
hmm, didn't AG kinda do this with the hoenn league? I remember there being screening rounds with shorter battles (Kanto and johto also had screening rounds IIRC, or at least johto, not sure if kanto's count)
 

MidnightMelody

Hopeful for Gen 8
So nice to have him travelling and just him too. These last two episodes have made me hate SUMO a lot less. It will be sad when he returns to the school....Hopefully he does Poni right away and it is just him. Actually hoping it stays like this and the companions only appear from now on for UB eps.
 

Sceptile Leaf Blade

Nighttime Guardian
I'm not really sure on this episode. It felt constrained and lacked flow, it's one of those episodes where I really notice the constraint on the episode time being about 20 minutes. There were scenes and exposition simply missing and it hurt the flow. At the start of the episode Kukui tells the class about his plans to make a Pokémon League in Alola, and the class responds with Kiawe also looking really excited to participate. But Kukui doesn't say anything about entry requirements or how this league is going to work. They don't have to explain this yet, but at least a line of "I don't know yet exactly how we're going to do it" would be helpful. The next scene Ash is suddenly on a boat towards Ula'Ula Island, and there's no exposition or transition in between. Suddenly he's going there for his third Grand Trial, but we don't know if he gets time off from school to do it, why the others from his class don't go with him, or what the connection is with the Pokémon League set up earlier. If the Island Challenge is required for the League, why isn't Kiawe coming along too? This is information that can be explained in a few lines of dialogue, but it's just missing.

Later on in the episode Acerola suddenly starts telling about the legend of Ultra Necrozma, but there's no lead in towards that exposition. There's no inherent in-universe reason for her to suddenly bring that up. These are the kinds of things that just need like a minute or so of lead in, but they didn't add that in presumably because it didn't fit in the runtime of the episode. It makes me wonder why they chose to put the Ultra Necrozma exposition and Kukui telling the class about the League in this episode which was already cramped. They could have moved that to a different episode and left a bit more breathing room in this one so that you could explain why Ash is going to Ula'Ula Island now, how he does that with his school obligations, and why the rest of the class (especially Kiawe) didn't come along too.

Acerola isn't too bad, but I'm not invested in her at all. She doesn't seem to have much of her own, acting primarily as a foil to Nanu which is amusing but she falls a bit flat when Nanu isn't around because there just isn't much to her aside from her connection to Nanu.

Overall, I wouldn't say it's a bad episode, but I am missing the more natural flow that other episodes had. The Charjabug race episode didn't really have anything for the girls, but they added enough dialogue to them to show that the girls just weren't interested in the Charjabug race and went off to do things on their own. The Totem Wishiwashi episode also had a reason for the rest of the class to be absent, they went to see Kiawe's farm. The sleepover episode had dialogue for Burnet to explain why she stayed and joined with the sleepover, there was lead up to Lillie thinking about her own family as the others were talking about the food at everyone's house, there was an in-universe reason for Kukui and Burnet to spend some alone time walking to the store (Munchlax had eaten all the food so they needed to buy more). It's that natural flow that was just absent in this episode, it was a collection of scenes, but there was no flow to fully connect the scenes.
 

i2i

Big Bad Wolf
why the others from his class don't go with him

Hasn't it already been established that his classmates have lives outside of Ash. None of them went see his first Grand Trail and the only reason they were presented for the second one was because it happened during the class trip on Akala Island.

Later on in the episode Acerola suddenly starts telling about the legend of Ultra Necrozma

Since that happen at the Library where she works and it made sense to me she'll show Ash some of books their while they wait for Nanu to come looking for toy.
 
Top