Review JN007: The Hoenn Region, Site of Fierce Fights! The Battle Frontier Challenge!!

[Daren]

this episode proves that scorbunny is the weakest pokemon. even weaker than ash’s pidgeotto and palpitoad combine

Well, both species are more powerful than Scorbunny in the games, too.
Scorbunny base stat total: 310
Pidgeotto base stat total: 349
Palpitoad base stat total: 384
So this checks out perfectly.

 

[CometCartoons]

The whole point of this episode is to help Go be a better trainer. Like most gamers, he’s only focused on catching a lot of Pokémon. So it makes sense that despite how powerful scyther is it would go down easily. He needs a to focus on keeping a trained of highly trained Pokémon so he catch a lot of Pokémon later.

Well, both species are more powerful than Scorbunny in the games, too.
Scorbunny base stat total: 310
Pidgeotto base stat total: 349
Palpitoad base stat total: 384
So this checks out perfectly.

Ahahaha that a good one!

 

[Kurolegacy]

what's wrong with lana? is it because she whooped mallow?

A battle that I have seen no one give a good explanation for why the outcome made no sense despite how upset some people got (I lurked ok). Lana trains with her Pokemon every single day to get better at its main gimmick that it uses in battle. Mallow cooks and watches her Pokemon play waitress.

Shocking outcome right?

exactly it was as obvious as lillie vs gladion

You know, you should probably let the other person give their explanation before going off on a tangent based on a strawman. For all you know, his dislike could have nothing to do with that.

 

[BigDocFan]

Have to laugh watching the subbed version

Ash said the Wurmple looked to be evolving which got Go excited only for Ash to say ''Just kidding''

I wonder where in Alola Ash came up with that idea

 

[nickdt]

Have to laugh watching the subbed version

Ash said the Wurmple looked to be evolving which got Go excited only for Ash to say ''Just kidding''

I wonder where in Alola Ash came up with that idea

Maybe Ash got the idea in the previous episode: He wants the whole line, lets tease him.

 

[Jaypom]

Let's also remember that Ash challenged the KANTO battle frontier and not the Hoenn battle frontier. The facilities and method of completing the actual challenge of the frontiers are probably vastly different.

 

[BigDocFan]

Maybe Ash got the idea in the previous episode: He wants the whole line, lets tease him.

Well I was thinking more along the lines of getting it from Lana

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Glad to see them showing us why Ash became the Alolan Champion. It was nice seeing Mimey battle and he was actually pretty good. The Electro-Web trampoline trick came back also which was great. Gou might have taken center stage so far for the series, but its great to see Ash is still the better trainer.

I'm really sick of the Ash constantly getting attacked by Pokemon gag though. Its gotten so old.

Looks like Gou really needs to train more. Poor Scorbunny never stood a chance. I do think its a failed opportunity though that nobody from the Battle Frontier appeared. Not even Scott.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

The subtitles helped me to understand the episode a lot better. Ash signed Go into the tournament without asking, Go was like "screw battling, catching is all I need" after losing, but he warmed up to battles again when he saw Ash battling.

Also, they directly acknowledged Pokémon eating other Pokémon again. After catching Taillow, Go tries to use it to lead him to its natural prey, Wurmple.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Originally I didn't care too much for this ep but after watching it again, it isn't too bad. Certainly a lot better than last week's episode that's for sure.

I was expecting something bad to happen involving Mr Mime that would have costed Ash the whole match but weirdly he put up a good enough fight and Pikachu showed off once again that he's the Champion's Pikachu, not the weakened jobber he was turned into at the start of the decade.

The character of the day has a neat looking design too... shame he'll never be seen again after this ep though.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Was there any explanation given on why Ash had Mimey, especially above his reserves?

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Who'd have thought that the series would be a lot more enjoyable if it focused on Ash? Someone should really let the writers know.

Cynicism aside, this is probably my favorite episode so far. Ash is finally asserting himself. Quite a lot actually, from essentially telling Gou "Pack your bags bitch, we're heading to Hoenn" to signing him up for the competition without his consent. While I'm forced to hate Mimey on principle now, I admit that the battle was pretty solid. The Psychic type has always been portrayed as really OP in the anime, which is why I suspect Ash has never used one, so it's cool to finally see Ash use the completely broken and unbeatable "Psychic" attack on an opponent. Good battle aside, those close-up shots of Mimey confirm (as if we didn't already know) that his entire personality and role in the show has been retconned to appeal to Detective Pikachu fans. The Pikachu battle was good as to be expected with a nice reference to a strat from SM. For a tournament confined to a 20 minute episode it was surprisingly good, but they really need to make it at least a two-parter next time. Also it is really weird for Ash to be so strong this early in the series, but I like it.

I found Gou more tolerable as his role has been drastically reduced, and it was really nice for him to finally get his comeuppance after so much undeserved success in the previous episodes. Personally I believe that his perceived screen-hogging was only a result of the writers wanting to dedicate multiple episodes to his introduction, and going forward they will strike a much better balance between the two characters. 60% Ash and 40% Gou seems fair.

The cold open was a lot of fun, with the morbid thought of Metapod spilling it's guts on the floor and Gou's genuine relief when he learned it was okay. Dr. Sakuragi is beginning to come off as pretty lame and incompetent on the other hand, and I hope Koharu get's to do something soon. The "Jojo" guy was a really cool rival character and I hope he comes back. I wouldn't mind the idol girl appearing at future tournaments either.

I'm starting to get a bad feeling that no cities (outside Kanto) will be directly referenced in this series. Every episode will just take place in non-descript vaguely familiar towns with made up names. That also explains the odd decision to rename Wyndon to "Shoot City". Hopefully not because we can clearly see cities like Ecruteak and Lumiose on the posters, but that would certainly be a good explanation for Ash not running into anyone he's met before.

 

[pokepal_123]

I'm starting to get a bad feeling that no cities (outside Kanto) will be directly referenced in this series. Every episode will just take place in non-descript vaguely familiar towns with made up names. That also explains the odd decision to rename Wyndon to "Shoot City". Hopefully not because we can clearly see cities like Ecruteak and Lumiose on the posters, but that would certainly be a good explanation for Ash not running into anyone he's met before.

Shoot city is the Japanese name for Wyndon FYI.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Shoot city is the Japanese name for Wyndon FYI.

No way. I guess we didn't have that information when the episode was revealed and I never went back and checked. That clears up a lot of my confusion.

 

[Daren]

Also it is really weird for Ash to be so strong this early in the series, but I like it.

There are a few reasons I think they went this way:
*Traditionally Ash pretty much "starts over" so they can do the badge quest buildup, which doesn't apply here with no badge quest. He's also battling very strong Pokémon like Tyranitar and even Lugia right away instead of, say, an Elekid or a Vigoroth.
*To strongly contrast him with Gou; Gou captures a ton of Pokémon, while Ash is an expert battler. If Ash isn't that strong it hurts the "niche protection" between the two. That's also possibly why Ash still hasn't caught anything new.

 

[MegaGreninga]

What did you expect from Go's Scyther and Scorbunny, the dude is catching pokemon without battling them and had never had a single battle in his entire life. Knowing about pokemon moves and catching them is way different than battling, it was even shown in the episode Classroom Training where the guy Jeremiah used to know a lot about pokemon but when he had to battle the rocket trio, he failed miserably. So Go just knowing about pokemon or just catching them won't make him a good battler, he was a noob with zero battling experience and I am pretty sure thats what was gonna happen with someone who just claims to know a lot of pokemon and catches dozens of them but has zero experience. Take the battle of Lillie vs Gladion,Lillie despite using Z-Move, lost very quickly coz she had lack of expierence in battling.
I am sure Mimey did not forfeit, it was Mightyena's intimidate ability which made it act like that and it seems perfectly in line with Mr.Mime's character.
Mimey vs Hariyama was a good match considering it was a bit creepy and weird and thats basically what Mimey is . It was not disappointing also because it showed Ash's skill as a trainer because he used a pokemon with zero experience so well.
Brief Montage of battles was though disappointing , what actually sucks is Go catching pokemon like pokemon are some joke collectibles, thats what really is disappointing and Scorbunny's constant gagging with Ash are real disappointments. The episode overall was better than expected as it handled both ash and go like they should have , handling ash as the experienced trainer he is and Go as the noob he is when it comes to pokemon battling

Go inexperienced trainer he knows how to catch but not battle that’s all

I’m disappointed why is he catching Pokémon not battling

 

[Almonds]

Go inexperienced trainer he knows how to catch but not battle that’s all

I’m disappointed why is he catching Pokémon not battling

Because he's based on Pokemon GO which focuses on capturing.

 

[LeonMagnus]

Go inexperienced trainer he knows how to catch but not battle that’s all

I’m disappointed why is he catching Pokémon not battling

He’s primarily focused on research. I think he represents the average player who also wants a living dex, Ash is moreso the anime version of a competitive player. Red from Origin was kind of like a mixture between the two of them which I liked.

 

[Konja7]

I found Gou more tolerable as his role has been drastically reduced, and it was really nice for him to finally get his comeuppance after so much undeserved success in the previous episodes. Personally I believe that his perceived screen-hogging was only a result of the writers wanting to dedicate multiple episodes to his introduction, and going forward they will strike a much better balance between the two characters. 60% Ash and 40% Gou seems fair.

There was three episodes that focus on Go, because they really need to establish some aspects of the character. They develop the relationship between Go and Scorbunny in Episode 4 and 5, while they need to set Go's goal of catching Pokemon in Episode 6.

I think it will be 50% Ash and 50% Go. I mean, they are promoted as co-protagonists almost since their first announcement. They really seem to want to go in a direction of equal prominence.


PS: I heard Dawn was a considered a co-protagonist too, but her prominence wasn't so different from May at the end.

 

[Dogasu]

The world building in this show continues to be laughably bad. Would any of us have been able to gather that this episode takes place in the Houen Region if we hadn't explicitly been told so? The wild Pokémon all being Houen creatures barely counts since we've been seeing groups of wild Pokémon living outside their native regions since Gen 2.

The tournament could have taken place in any random town in any random region and literally nothing would have been different.