Review BW073: The Decisive Donamite Battle! Nageki VS Dageki!!

[Dogasu]

The Decisive Donamite Battle! Nageki VS Dageki!!



Animation - Team Kato
Screenplay - Shōji Yonemura
Storyboard - Takenori Kawada
Assistant director - Yūji Asada
Animation director - Masaaki Iwane



The Donamite continues with a match between Bel's strong Emboar and Kenyan's speedy Dageki. Can Emboar withstand Dageki's Karate Chop after it's been powered up by its Build Up attack? Later, Satoshi's Zurug goes up against Masaomi's Nageki. Satoshi's betting everything on Zurug's still-imperfect Focus Ball attack! Who will proceed to the finals and win the tournament!?

 

[Yoshi-san]

Spoiler

KENYAN WON!!!

I'm so happy right now!

Loved all the Kenyan focus!

 

[rubinek]

Not bad, although I liked Scraggy vs Throh battle better than the finals. D:

Sawk and Kenyan scenes were incredibly heartwarming, though!

 

[Adil]

Yoshi, don't you iCarly me!

A decent finale, especially the ending with the handshake and a billion Kenyan/Dageki hugs... SWEETEST THING EVER!

Spoiler

 

[WatcherMark]

While I am happy about Kenyan winning and I did enjoy the Nageki vs Dageki battle, I couldn't help but feel the writers had gone into this episode thinking "Oh yeah, that's right. Satoshi and Bel are totally weak! and proceeded to have them both totally thrashed in the semi-finals. This is especially true of Satoshi's battle, where he didn't manage to land a single hit against Nageki... while I knew he was going into the battle to lose, I had hoped that Zuruggu would manage to perfect Focus Blast. But no, it seems that will have to wait for another day.

 

[GreatLiver]

Nobody's gonna be surprised by the ending. Some nice battles that actually had substance to them, so I won't complain about that.

 

[Kairyu]

I strongly dislike the fact that they used the exact same battle background music as they've used in the previous three Donamite episodes; so hearing team for the zillionth time in a row was really tiresome and made the battles quite boring to listen to. Should it be so hard to vary the soundtrack, one may ask? Sigh.

 

[Yoshi-san]

Yoshi, don't you iCarly me!

A decent finale, especially the ending with the handshake and a billion Kenyan/Dageki hugs... SWEETEST THING EVER!

Spoiler

Keyhole skipped at this part! OMG this episode's even batter!

Also Kenyan telling Don George how to pronounce his name....but he still gets it wrong was a little funny

and now the narrator gets it wrong....Kenyan can't catch a break!

at least he won?

 

[Hellion]

I really liked the episode. Dent and Cabernet had some good moments, Don George and Bel were funny, Langley was cool and Zuruggu was cute yet kinda badass. The two battles involving Nageki were goodm and Kenyan/Dageki had some good moments, but overall, I wasn't really pulling for them, nor did I feel anything upon their victory. The finals made Nageki and Dageki stand out as Pokémon, really showed off their contrasting styles and uniqueness, but it felt like we'd seen it all before. Still, again, this tournament at least gave Kenyan some entertaining scenes he was cruelly missing up until now. Though, the name gag still isn't funny.

Solid episode and I think it's even more apparent now, but except for the matter of a certain sommelière losing a match she should have won, I think we can say Don Battle done right.

 

[Kenji-girl]

This episode. Just this episode. It completely makes up for the disappointment that was the Club Battle. Thank you anime, thank you <3333 I love how Dageki knew Nageki was finished before Nageki even knew. That's just epic. And yeah, I did love all the Kenyan/Dageki scenes and I love how Masaomi recognized Kenyan as a rival and congratulated him. At least he's not a sore loser like Trip is *killed* I really hope he returns in the future somehow. This is definitely one of my favorite BW episodes.

 

[Ashs Battle Coach]

Lol glad to hear Stephan won. We just had daylight savings haha and i forgot so missed the ep. Cant wait to see it. But yea this Tourney has been so much better than the last one

 

[Masurao]

This is especially true of Satoshi's battle, where he didn't manage to land a single hit against Nageki... while I knew he was going into the battle to lose, I had hoped that Zuruggu would manage to perfect Focus Blast. But no, it seems that will have to wait for another day.

He was using Scraggy...his weakest Pokemon. It makes sense that he get thrashed. I don't see the problem here.

 

[Iteru]

Haven't seen the episode yet, but it sounded like it did all of the characters and Pokémon justice (incl. Zurrug; I agree that him not going down relatively easy would be unrealistic). Was sorta hoping Masaomi would win but if it establishes Kenyan as more of a threat/rival then it's a good result regardless.

 

[Ampharos King]

It was a decent episode. The results of the tournament were not surpising, especially considering that Stephan's win had been built up from the Bell Tower episode.

While I am happy about Kenyan winning and I did enjoy the Nageki vs Dageki battle, I couldn't help but feel the writers had gone into this episode thinking "Oh yeah, that's right. Satoshi and Bel are totally weak! and proceeded to have them both totally thrashed in the semi-finals.

The quarterfinal battles in the last episode were much worse.

At least Ash and Bianca's battles lasted more than 30 seconds each before their opponents completely overwhelmed their pokemon.

Except for the matter of a certain sommelière losing a match she should have won, I think we can say Don Battle done right.

Then she would have lost to Masaomi in a ridiculously rushed quarterfinal match.

 

[ehh123]

and now the narrator gets it wrong....Kenyan can't catch a break!

I hope they keep that in the dub.

 

[Masurao]

Have to admit, Sawk walking away after than final close combat was pretty badass.

Enjoyable episode. I've always kinda like Kenyan..so it's good to see him as a credible threat now. Langley was pretty funny, as was the Cabernet/Dento interaction. Poor Scraggy..he tried, but I'm glad he didn't master Focus Blast quickly...he probably has the best development on Ash's current team right now.

 

[Jukain]

I said it last time, but it deserves to be said again. This is how rivals should be done, both for the Throh guy and Stephan. For the first time in a long time, I actually look forward to the inevitable battle that Ash will have against Stephan. However, I feel like they didn't need for him to win the tower competition to tell us that he is decent. This arc alone would've sufficed. Also, really disappointing losses for both Bianca and Ash, though I look at this situation and see that Ash is going to need his game back if he wants to get anywhere in the league. I am still happy that Bianca managed to rise from inadequacy to actually standing a chance now. She still has a ways to go be strong, but at least I have a small bit of respect for her. Burgundy needs to go take a chill pill and discover why it is she continues to fail. I want to see her actually be able to shine with Cilan and even things out more. I have a feeling we'll be seeing Georgia again soon, and hopefully by then, we will see what she's truly capable of.

 

[WatcherMark]

This is especially true of Satoshi's battle, where he didn't manage to land a single hit against Nageki... while I knew he was going into the battle to lose, I had hoped that Zuruggu would manage to perfect Focus Blast. But no, it seems that will have to wait for another day.

He was using Scraggy...his weakest Pokemon. It makes sense that he get thrashed. I don't see the problem here.

Zuruggu may be Satoshi's youngest Pokemon but I certainly wouldn't say it was weak... man, it defeated a Vulgina single-handedly remember. I knew he wouldn't win, and he didn't even deserve to win but I would have liked him to land a couple of decent hits.

 

[Masurao]

Zuruggu may be Satoshi's youngest Pokemon but I certainly wouldn't say it was weak... man, it defeated a Vulgina single-handedly remember. I knew he wouldn't win, and he didn't even deserve to win but I would have liked him to land a couple of decent hits.

That was a wild Pokemon, not a trained one.

Also, think about it though, Iris' Excadrill couldn't land a single hit...at all. Scraggy actually doing damage to Thorh would have felt extremely unrealistic.

I don't see Ash losing here as a big deal. Scraggy did well enough for his current level. Anymore would have felt jarring.

 

[Grave-E]

Sawk sitting at the table like a human but eating out of dog food bowl just looks weird...



Anywho, I only managed to catch the finale and the brief 'lunching with rivals' scene shortly beforehand, but I liked what I saw.

I've actually really grown to like Kenyan over the last 5 episodes. OK, the name gag is still mostly miss than hit, but thanks to all the focus he recieved, it didn't feel like the defining aspect of his character, and thanks to that, I've come to appreciate him as a character a whole lot more. I love his competitive spirit and some of the ott poses and expressions the animators have toyed around with. Results in some fun moments.
His friendship with Sawk has also been a prominent highlight throughout the tournament, and honestly, those two are probably one of the best examples of human/pokemon pals the show has had for a long time now. They make a great team, and the bro moments they have put Ash and Pikachu to shame

It was a great final battle in any case, though I expected as much given that it was full-on hand-to-hand combat. I'm glad the reliance on stock footage was dialed back this time around, as it was something that seriously hindered the last Don finale we were 'treated' to. And yes, Sawk knowing the battle was finished and walking away with his back turned to Throh was seriously badass.

Additionally, I thought it was cool that Masaomi was gracious about his defeat and left on friendly terms with Kenyan. I'm not usually fond of arrogant trainers that aren't played for laughs in this show, so moments like that go a long way towards improving my opinion of them.

Overall, awesome ending to a much improved swing at a mini-tournament.

(...I hope Bel didn't lose too badly ;_