Review S07 EP45: Sky High Gym Battle!

[Dogasu]

Japanese Episode AG 85: "Hiwamaki Gym! The Battle in the Heavens!"
American Episode 357: "Sky High Gym Battle!"

Kids' WB!, 10:00am ET
No known encore airing this week
Ash battles Winona for his sixth Hoenn League Gym Badge! Can the young trainer pull through with a victory, or will Winona and her Swellow defeat Ash's pokemon?

Post your thoughts about the episodes here. Please mark any spoilers for episodes not that have yet to air in America in spoiler tags.

 

[Misty]

Just watched it. It was interesting, although it didn't seem very original - the lightning rod strategy is beyond old(I know it goes back to the Surge ep). Still, some good action and music, so I liked it.

 

[Unregistered]

Team Ota = Team Awesome!

These guys are simply the best.

 

[spokethewind]

May: Was that a shooting star?
Brock: Wha?

THAT was funny. Although honestly I don't see how nobody noticed them. They did say the motto and started running towards Pikachu. Ah well. I really liked the battle scene which is a first. It actually looked like Ash would lose. But he's the hero and he always wins. So we all knew that coming in, but it was suspenseful so I liked it.

 

[Zhen Lin]

Team Ota = Team Awesome!

These guys are simply the best.

But every single episode that has ever been done, to the best of my knowledge, has been done by Team Ota...

 

[MondoTR]

Team Ota?

 

[Fushi Gi Dane]

Yes, Team Ota. They are the best team working with the Pokemon writers, their animation being top-notch. They have done few Advanced Generation episodes, but those they have done are excellent. They include:

Going, Going, Yawn!
Exploud and Clear!
Whiscash and Ash
Sky High Gym Battle
and the upcoming Groudon vs. Kyogre! Part One

I believe they have also done Disaster of Disguise, but I'm not sure.

Team Ota is most obvious in their drawing of May, TR, and Grovyle.

Examples:

May

Team Ota

A lesser one.

TR

Team Ota

A lesser one.

Grovyle

Team Ota

A lesser one.

See the difference?

Oh yeah, Sullivan, in my sig, was done by Team Ota.

--Fushi-- :001:

 

[MondoTR]

Er, you only have one for May and TR so there's nothing to compare.

 

[V Faction]

That sure is one lousily drawn red X.

 

[TK n Happy Ness]

Anyone else catch Winona's mention of God at the beginning? That's the 2nd time so far for AC.

 

[Unregistered]

Anyone else catch Winona's mention of God at the beginning? That's the 2nd time so far for AC.

I don't think 4kids shys away from this stuff anymore, especially with "The Garden of Eatin" as an upcoming dub title.

 

[Kthleen]

Anyone else catch Winona's mention of God at the beginning? That's the 2nd time so far for AC.

If I'm not mistaken, it was Brock who supposed that Winona believes that "the sky is a powerful god who watches over her."
I LOVED IT! I don't quite know why, perhaps because it was so discouraged, but I just loved it. When May and Max went off wondering what she was doing, I was worried (and pissed) that the dub writers were trying to dance around the fact that she was obviously praying. Then Brock saves the day! hew:

We need more, dadgummit!

The [rest of the] episode was interesting enough. There was an odd song that played during the Swellow vs Swellow battle that I rather liked, but don't recall hearing before. I agree totally with spokethewind. And though the lightning rod strategy is old, it makes sense. Why wouldn't someone want to teach their Pokémon to protect themselves against their weakness? Felt bad for TR, though. Eh.... 8.5/10.

To me, Team Ota makes everyone else look good, but they always manage to make Ash look weird.

 

[Misty]

I noticed that too, Ash did look very strange.

 

[Myss Hydra]

Waaaaaaah, I lost the first 10 min. of this episode due to a little crisis( Stupid lost keys!) so I didn't get to see TR or Altaria, so crap. But the rest of the episode was great. It was a pretty exciting battle, and I adore swellow(Any bird pokemon actually).

And oh yeah, SUUUUUUUULLIVAN! =D

If that's team Ota, then what team(s) did the Wynaut island episode, and that giant pokemon monster episode thing?

 

[Luna Tiger]

Not buying that battle. Groyle, took hit after hit after hit. Altaria, KOed by ONE Leaf Blade and a slam to the ground. Pikachu, wasted energy and Koed after a Hydro Pump. Pellipper, was unharmed until taken ONE hit. Swellow, takes quite a few hits. Shiny Swellow, down with one ONE Wing Attack.

....Die.

The shooting star line and 'answer'...pure gold. XD Though I can't believe Meowth would fall for the 'item finder' thing when James' 'treasure finder' did jack in the Ecruteak episodes.

Winona's prayer was insightful. My thoughts about her personality...haven't changed though. >.>

4/10

 

[Sachie]

Weird? He was so hot in this ep.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/angela75nov/Hot.jpg

 

[PokemonStarlight]

I don't really pay attention to the companies that animate Pokemon, but the animation was noticeably better than usual. My only complaint is that Grovyle should have had a harder time with Altaria seeing as how Altaria wasn't hit as much. Other than that, the episode was pretty good.

And I did notice the 'God' reference. It's weird how other kid shows always dance around the word 'God' (ex: Using "Oh my gosh!" instead of "Oh my God!").

Episode rating: 9/10

 

[V Faction]

Hey, it's no big deal. God is G_d is "God". Only now it seems like 4Kids may go god-happy if we not careful.

Speaking of God... God, do I need an animation of Ash commanding Swellow to use Wing Attack. Awesome how his clothes waved.

 

[Fushi Gi Dane]

I'm sorry...I don't have any control over the server for the pics. I'll try again...they were all there when I posted this morning. I checked.

--Fushi-- :001:

 

[Zhen Lin]

Yes, Team Ota. They are the best team working with the Pokemon writers, their animation being top-notch. They have done few Advanced Generation episodes, but those they have done are excellent. They include:

Going, Going, Yawn!
Exploud and Clear!
Whiscash and Ash
Sky High Gym Battle
and the upcoming Groudon vs. Kyogre! Part One

I believe they have also done Disaster of Disguise, but I'm not sure.

I'm pretty sure every single episode that has ever been made for TV has been animated by Team Ota. (Hoso specials are an exception.) I think the team isn't as important as the art director - and Pokémon has had many - 40 or more of them, in fact.

But you are correct for picking up a consistency between those episodes. A list of art directors for the episodes you mentioned:
AG056 "Going, Going, Yawn!" 広岡歳仁 Toshihito Hirooka
AG061 "Disaster of Disguise" 広岡歳仁 Toshihito Hirooka
AG066 "Exploud and Clear!" 徳田夢之介 Yumenosuke Tokuda
AG075 "Whiscash and Ash" 徳田夢之介 Yumenosuke Tokuda
AG085 "Sky High Gym Battle!" 徳田夢之介 Yumenosuke Tokuda
AG097 "Groudon vs. Kyogre (part 1)" 徳田夢之介 Yumenosuke Tokuda
AG098 "Groudon vs. Kyogre (part 2)" 上石忠太 Kamiishi Chūta 杉本光司 Kōji Sugimoto 田中薫 Kaoru Tanaka

(IIRC, people complained about difference in quality of animation between AG098 and AG097.)