VS Raihan! A Fight with Masters Eight on the Line!! (1198)

[AuraChannelerChris]

Maybe if Ash said something compelling or interesting, a cool piece of dialogue or something, but he just said the things he always says, and Raihan was like 'wow, this kid, he actually wants to beat Leon'. Like ???

Would have been better if Ash had yelled, "THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE OTHER THAN LEON TO BEAT!" or "YOU HAVE ISSUES!"

Reminds me of everyone wanting to be Hokage, particularly Sasuke in Naruto lol

And Kiba.

 

[Aryash Bajaj]

The better way (also tying into the alola episode) would be for Ash to understand that chasing your dreams will inevitably means breaking others. Him going to place where he won his first league (and maybe talking to Gladion who himself wanted to win the league for his family) would make him understand this reality better.

But Raihan just brushed off this loss becasue MC Ash beat him. There is no lesson for Ash to learn.

 

[DayQuil95]

The better way (also tying into the alola episode) would be for Ash to understand that chasing your dreams will inevitably means breaking others. Him going to place where he won his first league (and maybe talking to Gladion who himself wanted to win the league for his family) would make him understand this reality better.

But Raihan just brushed off this loss becasue MC Ash beat him. There is no lesson for Ash to learn.

This. JN has, unfortunately, had the driest "emotional" moments of all series, for the most part, just compare Ash's reaction when he lost the Kanto League to when he lost to Bea for example.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Honestly? Why does Ash want to beat Leon, aside of having a rematch?

 

[Gingertail24]

Honestly? Why does Ash want to beat Leon, aside of having a rematch?

Because it's one step closer to a Pokemon master. That leads to, what is a Pokemon master. And only ash knows

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Because it's one step closer to a Pokemon master. That leads to, what is a Pokemon master. And only ash knows

Honestly it is quite admirable how they can keep a term vague for 25 years. And when people ask Ash what it is, he gives vague answers as with Chloe or dodge the question like with young Kukui.

 

[Gingertail24]

Honestly it is quite admirable how they can keep a term vague for 25 years. And when people ask Ash what it is, he gives vague answers as with Chloe or dodge the question like with young Kukui.

Lol I always found those situations funny. Like the characters never just say "ok, but what is a Pokemon master?" Ash does or gives a vague answer and they respond "ok but, that doesn't answer my question" or something like that

It's probably something like "meeting new people and pokemon and continue to get stronger"

 

[Sham]

Something I didn’t particularly like is the fact that Dragonite was relatively undefeated and was shown that he has great endurance but lasted shorter than Gengar who was a jobber. Raihan defeated him very quickly. It’s great that Gengar got some spotlight though.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Something I didn’t particularly like is the fact that Dragonite was relatively undefeated and was shown that he has great endurance but lasted shorter than Gengar who was a jobber. Raihan defeated he very quickly. It’s great that Gengar got some spotlight though.

It is honestly more baffling Ash didnt use Max Hailstorm against Flygon.

 

[DayQuil95]

Raihan's Flygon was boosted by the pain of every person who wanted Ash to get a Flygon, and that one dude who wants him to get a Shiny Trapinch.

 

[Landton]

Even Drew got Flygon in AG over Ash, lol

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Because it's one step closer to a Pokemon master. That leads to, what is a Pokemon master. And only ash knows

A Pokemon Master is like answering what the Enlightenment means

 

[British Soul]

Actually an essay time:
Watching this episode shows how much I paid attention to the preview at the end of last week's episode, the first instance being when the opening titles ended I was like "Is this a Go-less episode?" then I see Go and I was like "Whoops." especially since he was in the preview. The other instance was that I didn't notice Lucario wasn't Mega Lucario in the preview, so when Ash Gigantamaxed his Gengar vs Goodra, that surprised me but at the same time, it makes sense since we already had Mega Evolution vs Gigantamax in the battle with Bea. Having said that, G-Max Gengar sucking away the Sandstorm is peak Ash. Not gonna lie, when Dragonite used Draco Meteor, my mind always thinks "Draco Meteor would eliminate any pokemon, 'cept Darkrai of course."
The fight aside, considering I figured Ash would win the match, I want to talk about the Masters 8, now that we know all the participants. First off, I'm surprised that Flint was knocked out off-screen, but he's only an E4 member, we can't be having those in the Masters 8, Champions only. Seeing Iris up there made me go "What the frick?!" and I'm thinking how the frick did Iris get up there faster than Ash, especially since Iris lost to Ash back in JN065. Out of the three people who are revealed to be in the PWC in this episode (Alan, Diantha and Steven), I would say it makes sense why those three are there, Diantha and Steven being champions of Kalos and Hoenn respectively, and Alan being the winner of the Kalos league and in the case of Alan, we know from flashbacks in the last episode that Ash-Greninja was replaced with regular Greninja, so it made me think that maybe we'll see an Ash/Alan rematch as the foreshadowing seemed to be established and I'd like to see that tbph. As for Diantha, I think she's the weakest of the champions if we're going by in-game characterisation and I'd like to see Ash battle her as well considering the battle they did have in XY (XY028) was inconclusive thanks to Team Rocket, and as for Steven, I'm interested in seeing what other pokemon he'll use in the series (my bets being either Skarmory or Excadrill).
Flint being knocked out off-screen kinda disappointed me as I'd also have liked to see a battle between him and Ash. I remembered the two fought in DP165, resulting in Flint's victory so it seemed like a missed opportunity not to have the two of them battle as he lost off-screen.
Whilst I'm on this tangent, I want to mention a comment Raihan made. In the last episode he said "Never thought he [Ash]'d rise up this quickly." It now makes less sense in this episode considering Iris seemingly climbed up the ranks QUICKER.
Also, lol at the disrespect of Alder in JN.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Serviceable episode. But honestly, for all the setup they made, considering it is quite a landmark for Ash (our boy is now among the champions), it felt... Really underwhelming? Might be my grudge against Lucario getting in the way, but everything felt so... Underwhelming. Not much switching out, barely not much strategy besides Sandstorm (the Rain Dance combo didn't amount to much) and then all the Lucario worship... It was really lackluster.

I do hope Ash's M8 fights will be memorable... But I'm bracing myself for the most likely: a badly animated Ash vs Alain match that's barely a full battle and where Ash beats X-zard with... Mega Lucario... They give us what we wanted on XY but at the same time, denying us everything. I'm saying this right here right now: it won't be fullfilling if Ash doesn't beat Alain with Ash-Greninja. Any other outcome is a plain insult. If you are commiting to make up for those days, do it fully or don't at all.

 

[janejane6178]

Lol the ending was dbz vibe omg

 

[janejane6178]

Wonderful ep!!!!!!!!!

 

[Almighty Zard]

I guess I was expecting too much out of Raihan's Goodra, I thought it would be tankier than ash's but that was not the case, although considering i felt this way after seeing Drasna's noivern, I guess she's just better with dragons in the end than Raihan was.

 

[Soniman]

Pretty good battle

This. JN has, unfortunately, had the driest "emotional" moments of all series, for the most part, just compare Ash's reaction when he lost the Kanto League to when he lost to Bea for example.

Ash literally did not care he lost the Kalos League which was the most important match of his life at that point. It’s been like 25 years since Kanto and 90 percent of his losses he learns to take in stride, he’s not gonna throw a tantrum every single time.

Anyway, fine battle. Better than Drasna’s, just wish the pacing was better, getting kinda sick of double knockouts and one shots. And it being one episode is not an excuse past 3 on 3s were paced just fine in prior sagas. I enjoyed the cut to Greninja who I believe was feeling the intensity of that Aura Sphere through the aura/bond link and I thought that was really cool

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Good battle even if poor dragonite was kicked hard and lucario victory seems to come from friendship power.

But the end is really disappointing.

So, after her dragonite on silver platter, her unova champion title, Anime Iris got another plot power free pass for the M8 out of nowhere (i speak about anime iris, the supposed wanabee dragon master who for years was unable to even properly teach a single dragon move to the only dragon of her team or get obedience from her stronger pokemon).

And ash continuity being trashed again.
At least with this episode, all those SM lovers can now shut up about claiming ash achievement in alola being worthy.
It is kinda official, just like most of the fanbase thought from beginning, for the anime pokeverse, manalo conference and alola champion title are definitely not legit in their eyes, but just another wannabe subpar joke of tournament.
There is nothing that can redeem manalo conference now, all excuses to rescue alola prestige are now depleted and have a counter to use.
-Ash champion status is new, it doesn't have time to spread? WRONG => Iris title is also new, but everyone on the planet know.
-Ash is only a league winner, doesn't worthy to mention in a worldwide event? WRONG => It was similar for Alain but his achievement is known.
-Alola is a new league, the world is not aware yet? WRONG => even 90% of alola native seems to not give a f*ck or have completely forgotten about their own tournament (at least orange league was mentionned during tucker battle).

And don't bring that twit from pokemon anime account mentionning ash champion title, last time i checked, no character living in the pokeworld ever heard of something called twitter, so anything coming from here has no more canon value than a reply on serebii forum.

Yep, exactly like I predicted, here the haters are to use selective continuity to suit their narrative

 

[British Soul]

Seeing Iris in the Masters 8 gives me major Mai Valentine vibes. In Duelist Kingdom, Mai lost to Joey and both of them end up in the Duelist Kingdom play-offs, and this in this instance Iris had lost to Ash in the PWC previously and both are in the Masters 8.