Review XY015: Harimaron VS Mafoxy! A Diet Battle!?

[Winterdaze]

XY015 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Animation Team Kato

A gluttonous 'Spiny Nut Pokemon' Harimaron eats too much and ends up with a fat belly. As such, it ends up battling Satoshi's Pokemon for to get some exercise after eating. But its belly is heavy, and its movements slow, so it ends up losing to Keromatsu and others. Worried that its health might be in danger, Citron, a Trainer, invents an Exercise Gear for Harimaron.

 

[Flynn]

Looks like they're using some of the BW music again. I heard some Arceus movie music and the battle subway theme.

 

[Dogasu]

It was a pretty cute episode. Misleading title, though.

Harimaron has the Overgrow Ability. That's neat to know, I guess.

I loved seeing Serena and Eureka bond throughout the episode. Eureka's Chigaurus pajamas were also extremely cute.

This episode could have really benefited from a Rocket-Dan appearance.

Serena not liking the idea of camping out ("my mom had said I might have to do that but I never thought it'd actually come to this!") but then coming around to it at the end of the episode was a nice touch.

I liked how they avoided having anyone actually win the battle for which this episode was named. Having Harimaron defeat Mafoxy would have been lame but having Mafoxy win would have sucked as well; having the old man's back go out and forcing them to postpone the battle was a great way to end it.

 

[Sweet Veil]

Great episode, a huge step up from the last few in quality and interest. No Team Rocket being shoehorned in needlessly or being used as plot devices/catalyst(I wonder if it'll be a running theme for them to not appear in Clemont's episodes?) focus for the Blonde Brigade, a battle and a great Pokemon being great. Those Lemon Siblings continue to be the best thing about XY for me, they're fantastic. The fox mage looks much better in the anime than the game too. First episode in weeks I've found myself super excited to see.

EDIT: Oh and how could I forget Serena being cute. XD Learning how to camp out and enjoying it with the gang made me smile.

 

[Moe]

I was a bit worried about this episode, because I didn't like how Oshawott was handled with a similar side to his personality, but thankfully none of that eventuated. The battle also ended well - was worried the use of Overgrow might have seen a crazy come from behind win, so happy it just got cut off.

So what was there was quite a bit of development for Clemont - which I didn't expect out of this episode. I might be reading too much into it - but Clemont seems to me to be a bit too willing to part with his Pokemon - he left behind all his other ones at the Gym (indeed seemed prepared to abandon them with a robot and go on a journey with Ash and forget about it) and was happy to let Chespin stay with the old lady just for some food. Obviously he wanted Chespin to be happy, so it's a good thing here - but as an overall thing for Clemont I'd like to see something explained about his past with Pokemon and why he seems so down on his ability.

Considering last week I was hoping Dedenne would get its first battle, I'm happy to see it get one here, even if it wasn't particularly serious. Bonnie's tent is possibly the best thing in this episode - so much better than a plain old pitched tent. (why don't the games have tents?)

My favourite bit of the episode was a really small thing, but I really like seeing it in episodes:

Spoiler

What is with Pokemon and macarons though? It was a nice little side thing in Movie 14 - Victini eating them was majorly cute, but now there's an in game food item for Pokemon and they've been totally ignored. The anime used Pokeblock and Poffins when they were a thing in the game - but apart from some brief glimpses in the ending - Pokepuffs are nowhere to be seen. What are the odds we see a Lumiose Galette before a proper appearance of a Puff?

 

[Master Cyrus]

Chespin derserved a win here,

 

[Alola]

Okay, long post here~
Overall, I liked this episode. A lot was going on here, whether it was the battles, character interaction and development or sheer awesome-ness of the music. So first I’ll start with the pros:

DELPHOX! Oh my goodness, the anime really does it justice here. The way it attacked with it’s wand, and those amazing badass facial expressions it made (especially the one it made when it’s trainer told it to stop it’s flamethrower) are sheer epicness. I really liked it.

The character interactions. These were downright wonderful. The beginning camp scene with the whole gang was well done. The fact that they all sleep in tents is new and fresh, and Bonnie’s gear (be it her pajamas or tent) is so adorable and fitting. Also more Serena and Bonnie sister-bonding time. I liked how they did their bug impressions. Also, the scenes where they all are looking for Chespin feel much much much better than the average pokemon-is-lost-so-let’s-go-look-for-it routine the heroes usually end up doing. I congratulate the writers; they are making this anime start to feel much more realistic. We also got our first party-pokemon-eating-scene so that was really nice.

Also the old man’s expression at the thought of burning Clemont alive was hilarious. “HUH?! WHAT?! STOP, STAHPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!”

Character development for Clemont! I know people may be annoyed with his attitude towards Chespin and how he was so quick to abandon it per se…but his logic can be justified. Your Pokemon runs away from you, while you yourself realize that the treatment you gave it earlier (the forced battles) may have been a tad too far. So when he saw Chespin with the woman, while also eating macroons, naturally he felt that Chespin had favored her over him. Not to mention, Clemont is technically a kid around the ages 10-12, and at that age the mind isn’t always reasonable/can be quick to judgement. So I really respect where the writers went with that. His personality is the best and most complex out of the previous male companions so far, imo.

Also Serena’s initial disdain for camping was amusing and added to her character. Further appreciated by the fact that being with Bonnie made her like it a lot more.

The music! THANK YOU WRITERS! There is never a dull moment with the bgm, and I honestly appreciate that. They always use the right theme at the right time. Beautiful. They even used some BW music and music from the Arceus movie. Maybe this means things will be like DP and pre-DP where bgm music was used from all sagas rather than one (cough Best Wishes cough)? I hope so. Too bad the dub will most likely strip everything down shamelessly for no reason other than they can.

Seeing Overgrow work was neat. Overgrow Vine Whip ftw! (Why didn’t Snivy ever get that?)

And now the cons….

As cool as Delphox was, it’s move set sucked. I mean really? Flamethrower and Will-O-Wisp only? Really? Come on! Give us come more moves! Psychic, Psyshock, Hidden Power or something! Twirl that staff! But no…Also Chespin should have lost the battle regardless, even if there is a next time. We don’t need a main character win every time development happens just to fit the mood. And I think that a “draw” kind of appeases that notion

Chespin should have been scolded for eating macroons without permission again. I mean what, does this mean he can gobble the gang’s entire dinner and be let off the hook without a word? It was cute at first, but I hope it doesn't become its only defining characteristic.

Also with the amount of rolling Chespin did, it really should have learned Rollout. What a perfect situation. And Clemont’s arm stopping a Flamethrower? What can’t it do.

Other than that, nice episode. XY continues to impress and I love it. :shy:

 

[Adamant]

It was a pretty cute episode. Misleading title, though.

...in what way?

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Ok so Um, the Last 4 Episodes have been REALLY Disappointing to me but FINALLY we have an Episode I Enjoyed AGAIN. This was a VERY Entertaining Filler I thought.

Chespoin and Clemont were by far the Best Parts of the Episode and seeing a Fat Chespin WAS HILARIOUS IMO.

Serena and Bonnie were Cute together I thought.

Old People were also Good, Delphox in the Anime looks Good and I am Surprised by saying this because it is My Least Favorite of the Kalos Final Starters but it looks Good Here.

Overall I will give it a 7.

 

[Ghurlag]

Not a terrible episode. It seemed a bit odd that the group hadn't already stopped out overnight, but I guess it's plausible they haven't.

Chespin's behavioural issues flaring up again after a period of relative normality was pretty interesting. Clemont did seem rather quick to let Chespin go after seeing it with the old lady, but maybe he just doesn't get so personally attached to his Pokemon.

The star of the show was Delphox, with its excellent facial expressions and telling posture. I think the conclusion of that battle was pitched right: Chespin winning would have been ridiculous, but pulling a positive lesson from Chespin getting levelled even after Clemont stepped in would've been nigh-impossible. The only other ending I could see working would be the battle ending immediately on Clemont stepping forward.

Other tidbits of development like Dedenne seeing battle, Froakie getting its first win in a while, and Serena and Eureka bonding were all good to see.

 

[Sakuraa]

Oh boy, another Clemont focused episode! And of course, I loved it!

So Clemont cooked for everyone? Geez it's like every male companion cooks. I thought that Bunnelby picking up after the group was adorable. And Fennekin and Froakie "hanging out" in the background was nice as well. Anyway, I found Chespin so selfishly stuffing its face to be rather odd, especially after it generously shared the other macaroons back in episode 10. The battles were ok for just trying to get Chespin back in shape. Froakie was cool, but what I really liked was Bonnie volunteering to battle and Dedenne actually winning. Too bad Fennekin didn't get to fight though. Clemont never ceases to amaze me with his inventions. But how on earth did he expect Chespin to use those. I'd think he'd make a smaller version, but whatever.

I like the fact that Clemont was having the dilemma of considering leaving Chespin with the old lady and the others having to talk him out of it. It shows that he still has confidence issues and still needs the support of his friends to develop. And it also shows how he wants Chespin to be happy.

I loved how Clemont ran in to save Chespin with his Aipom Arm. The thing blocked a Flamethrower. That's awesome. The battle against Delphox was good for what we got. Glad Chespin put up a good fight. I'm really loving the relationship between Clemont and Chespin.

Now for the other little things that I loved. Bonnie's Tyrantrum pajamas. Just the most adorable thing ever. Seeing her and Serena bonding is always great. Also no Team Rocket, which is always a good thing. So yeah, the episode was really nice. 9/10.

 

[Grabbergirl]

Clemont cooks for everyone. I knew it, it's obvious too, and the waiter's cloth, lol just like Cilan. Clemont might have worked as a waiter for a little while (he needs money so I guess it was just a paying job). So this tells me I'm right because he wouldn't have had the waiter's cloth. Makes more since because he's gotta eat, especially Bonnie, children need lots of food because their growing. This satisfied me until they do show what I wanted to see, shirtless Clemont that is. It made me day. I hope they slept, they made it seem like Clemont was up all night, but I could be wrong, then why wasn't he tired or grumpy (he's a teenager and needs eight hours of sleep), yes I'm a teenager and I love to get my sleep. Clemont seems to sleep his nights because we've seen him in bed twice either asleep or ready to fall asleep. But we have those nights where we're not tired and we sleep well the next night. Bonnie's pajamas are cute but, aren't they a little too young for her? And how the heck does she use the bathroom? She's possibly diapered in bed, oh never mind. Aww I wanted to see Clemont's pajamas.

 

[Aestivate]

Citron had some amazing, amazing facial expressions in this episode. :3

Once again, XY had some really sparkling characterization! I like how Serena was able to warm up to camping (her's and Eureka's impressions were adorable) even though it was a Citron-focused episode. The elderly couple was also quite cute and Citron is just a sweet little sweetie. I think this episode really highlighted his necessity to be going on this journey - he's quite the overthinker and his friends help him both think more logically and with his confidence. And his scenes with Harimaron were just too cute.

 

[G50]

This episode was pretty good. I really like how Delphox was shown off well in its anime debut. I do wish it would've used Mystical Fire once in the battle, since it would have been great to see what it would look like in the anime. I'm glad the battle ended on a technical loss for Delphox instead of either side winning, neither getting a regular win would have been a good thing in my opinion.

It was great to see Dedenne and Froakie get minor wins against Chespin, even though they were short battles. Though it would have been nice to see Fennekin get a shot at battling too.

 

[Sweet Veil]

XtradionarY episode, hands down after a string of episodes I’ve found it incredibly hard to care about outside of a few passive scenes a strong new episode is just what the doctor ordered. Naturally, that strong episode was Clemont-focused and fantastic at that. Clemont was great, but he’s not the only one, the Blonde Brigade were all absolutely entertaining and great in their own rights this episode. Even Serena, her personality was on-point for all of the episode and she wasn’t bland to me like I’ve been finding her for a while now. When the writers have her around Bonnie(Or Clemont, but Bonnie especially.) and don’t have her constantly connected to Ash Serena truly does thrive to me as a character in entertainment value a lot.

So much to say about her in this episode, she was cute, dynamic in her actions for a good amount of the first part, had great interactions and all. Her game of “Who’s That Bug Pokemon!” with Bonnie, her fawning over Clemont’s food. I do wish she had showed more interest in Delphox since it’s Fennekin’s evolved form, even if it was praise for it being amazing or disgust at its design not being as stylish as her cute little Fennekin’s. I like how they didn’t forget her dislike of roughing it, in the Dedenne capture episode she was pretty unnerved by the idea of having to camp it out and was overjoyed when Nurse Joy came to her rescue and raced Fennekin to the Pokemon Center. Seeing her interact with the Lemon Siblings a good amount and her moments with them made me smile, it does distract and keep me way more tolerate of her lack of significant focus not connected to Ash and a raison d’etre of her own.

If she can be this entertaining consistently, I can easily be way more patient. Oh and having her learn to camp out, while it’s not super significant, I’ll take it as some nice character development for her. I’m just happy she’s getting some fun growth. Bonnie, those Tyrantrum PJs are gonna be the death of me. We need to see more of that awesome sleepwear. Also her battling, even if it was small, was quality. I was just happy to see her battling, no matter how short it was just seeing her doing it was entertaining. Pretending to be a Caterpie also earns her bonus points in my eyes.

Clemont, man, man, man, easily my favorite thing about XY thus far. Without a doubt this episode reaffirms him as my favorite male traveling companion as well. I just can’t believe the effort the writers are investing into his character, he was engrossing from start to finish this episode. He just has a certain joi ne sais quoi about him, nothing can stop him and the show-stealing Blonde Brigade. Aside from having great personality this episode(Liked that waiter/butler pose), him and his Chespin snowballed in character development. That scene where he jumped in front of a Flamethrower while using his Aipom arm to keep the little chestnut from getting eaten by the flames went hard as hell. That reminded me of how he said he wanted to gain more courage, he struggled with doing it at first, but he made a split decision for Chespin’s sake to save it and reclaim it as his Pokemon. Even though he was seriously hurt to see Chespin so happy with that old woman and thought it would be better off with her and without him.

The thing I loved about Chespin too is that its reaction was mutual, it returned the favor by bravely rejoining the fight under Clemont’s control, even while overweight and with its fear gone.(Which reminds me that Chespin is based on a knight/warrior/fighter, certainly does fit well with a trainer looking to gain more courage, no?) The way it battled was much more sharper and better, showing Clemont’s newfound motivation sort of resonated with Chespin’s own feeling. Though I wish the weight loss had been gradual throughout the episode, having it subtly melt flab throughout the battle worked well for me. Pretty unique little struggle for it this episode, I don’t think a Pokemon having an excess amount of fat has ever been used as an episode idea. Gotta give the writers props for the innovation in this episode. And that Tackle against Delphox was very sharp and quick, credit that to the nice animation of this episode.

Overgrow was a nice little surprise too and I like how the battle was left with no conclusion. Chespin got to show itself as being competent, got itself some nice training/conditioning, Delphox wasn’t taken out which I admit would have been a reach. Oh and the COTDs of this episode, the old, married couple managed to be pretty entertaining and Delphox looked very badass in the anime and I liked how it looked way more in the anime compared to the apathy/mundane attitude I had toward it during its initial reveal. I absolutely hope Serena’s Fennekin becomes one in the future now.

So, yeah, an amazing episode, coupled with the greatness of the Blonde Brigade exceeded my expectations after the string of un-fufilling episodes leading up to this one. Someone already brought it up, but the writers need to do something with the greatness of Serena’s baking skills and Clemont’s cooking skills. Let’s have the XY cooks hang out together.

I'm also very, very glad for no Team Rocket this episode.

 

[Jaye]

Since the rematch between Ash and Viola, the episodes have dipped in quality somewhat and we got a couple non-eventful, rather bland and uninteresting stories, so I'm pleased that the quality has shot back up with this fine episode.

Although the episode was meant to be about Chespin and its dietary problems, the real star of the show was Clement. XY has given an admirable amount of focus on his character in these early episodes and each episode that does turns out to be some of the best episodes we've had so far. We've got a real feel for his quirks, his nature, and his insecurities and they were all there to see in this episode, from his desire to help Chespin lose weight with a crazy invention to his doubts about whether he is the right trainer for it. Then, we see another side of him; that although he thinks he needs more courage, he finds it when he needs it.

What's making XY a good series so far is not just it's attention to characters, but also it's attention to small details that, in the grand scheme of things, may not be that important, but still enhance the quality of the show. There were lots of nice touches during that camping scene: the tents were styled after Pokemon (Shelder and Wailmer, I think) instead of being generic tents, the Pokemon helping clear up the food bowls, the brief scene with Serena and Bonnie playing a game together and the battles between Chespin and Froakie and Dedenne.

I thought the attempted bookend, though, wasn't executed that well. The episode started with Serena not wanting to camp out, then ended with her wanting to camp out. Okay, but why? Between those events, she enjoyed Clement's cooking and had fun with Bonnie, but these were never used as an explanation for her change of heart, nor was there any particular scene where she was thinking "you know what, this isn't too bad". It's a small thing, but, as I've explained above, it's the small things that come together to make an overall better package.

That minor gripe aside, I liked the look of Delphox. I happened to use Delphox when I first played the XY games and am quite fond of it, so I'm happy it got a decent showing.

The writers this season have seemingly acknowledged that if they want to place a focus on a character and/or a Pokemon, then there are certain elements that need to pushed into the background. It's noticeable how in these episodes, there are no Ash heroics or Team Rocket mischief. Two major components of the show, yet no where to be seen. There wasn't a single point in this episode where you could have fit Team Rocket in and not have it seem forced, and although there were moments where Ash could have stolen the spotlight, he didn't. He was in the background the entire episode. This is a good balance, so fingers crossed they continue in this way. And fingers crossed that Serena gets an episode where she's the focus, too.

 

[1rkhachatryan]

This episode was better then the last few which have just been there for the sake of being there. I liked the fact that Froakie got a win and was pleasantly surprised that Bonnie battled and got a win too.

The battle between Chespin and Delphox was pretty well done too, although him learning Rollout would of been smart considering all the rolling he was doing.

 

[Dogasu]

It was a pretty cute episode. Misleading title, though.

...in what way?

It wasn't really a battle intended to make Harimaron lose weight the way the title implies. The battle between the two pokemon only took place because two old people were having a squabble.

...Though I suppose "Harimaron vs. Mafoxy! A Petty Argument Battle!", while more accurate, wouldn't have been nearly as catchy.

 

[1rkhachatryan]

It was a pretty cute episode. Misleading title, though.

...in what way?

It wasn't really a battle intended to make Harimaron lose weight the way the title implies. The battle between the two pokemon only took place because two old people were having a squabble.

...Though I suppose "Harimaron vs. Mafoxy! A Petty Argument Battle!", while more accurate, wouldn't have been nearly as catchy.

It still served the purpose though lol. Chespin did lose weight due to the battle.

 

[Almonds]

This episode was good imo. We got to see more of Citron this episode, and how much he takes his relationship between him and his pokemon very seriously. I could see how he was feeling disappointed in himself when he thought Harimaron ran away because of him.

Also, that music when he saw Harimaron eating happily with the old lady - was it Snowbelle City's theme (Ice-gym city)? I never thought that a city's theme would fit so well in such a scene - it really emphasized how Citron felt sad. Not only the writing in XY is good, but they also got some really good taste in choosing the right music.