Bliksem said:
I must say, though, that Ash seems to have no qualms blatantly ripping off strategies from Hikari, yet won't even follow what Shinji has to say.
That's the point. Ash is content with the way Hikari battles, but disapproves of Shinji's fighting-style. Having his Hikozaru intentionally get weak so that its Blaze ability was activated was one of the things Ash was so peeved about that he fully concentrated on battling differently than Shinji, rather than studying Hyouta's strategies and thinking of any possibilities to overcome them. That's what Hyouta pointed out in this episode, and made Ash realize how much Shinji had distracted him from his main goal.
He isn't as focussed on being different than Shinji any more, but as long as Shinji keeps up with this comparably 'immoral' battling-style, Ash won't accept a single advice from him I bet.
CyberCubed said:
The animation in this episode was horrible. It was done by the second worst animation director currently on the show, (the worst is the guy who did the Subomi and Poketch episodes).
Um, this is the very same director who did the Subomi/Pokétch episodes.
I'd say Kazue Kinoshita is improving though - there were several scenes where Hikari looked really nice for instance; she just needs to work on Ash and Brock's faces a bit more, and avoid having the characters just stand there in those stiff positions too often.
Aw, I like Hikari more and more with each episode. She actually kept the funny quirk of calling Professor Oak "that Senryuu person" and forgetting his real name. Also quite cool how she saved Ash, and how she just said, "Daijoubu!" when Aerodactyl aimed Giga Impact straight at her - as if it was nothing XD
At last...why did Armaldo and Kabutops nod at Aerodactyl at first, as if they'd agreed to team up with it, only to attack it right afterwards? That part confused me.