Review JN086: Mega Evolution VS Kyodaimax

[Nicolas721]

Well, that played out as expected, like a regular 3vs3 single-episode battle, which meant that the final minutes of the previous episode didn't had much of an impact.

-VS Hawlucha was my favorite part of the episode. I also mourn Sirfetch'd's loss, but the choreographies and animation were great and we saw cool strategies using Iron Tail and Sky Attack. The call-back to Visquez's battle was also nice.

-VS Grapploct was meh, it was almost a rehash of JN039: Ash gets overconfident and lets Grapploct capture Pikachu, then tries to Thunderbolt it but fails so Pikachu loses, and finally it's avenged by Lucario who wins/draws quickly with some aura shenanigans.

-VS Machamp...where to start. I like how imposing it looked as Dynamax and how it respected the 3-move rule from the games, but I don't like how Lucario just tanked everything easily, it didn't seem at all like it was a big challenge for him. The battle continuing after Machamp's Dynamax ended gave me hope that it would be more even from that point on, but nope, more Lucario glorification.

I think it's better than the Iris battle at least as it had better pacing, but it wasn't really a good battle and I really hope we don't see this level of Lucario shilling from this point on.

 

[Alola]

The writers likely didn’t want either Mega evolution or Gigatamaxing to look better than one or the other (since Mega’s aren’t even in the current games) and then that followed with Lucario running up Machamp’s arms and beaming it in the face.

The moment Lucario blocked the super-effective G-Max Chi Strike like it was nothing effectively erased any partiality the writers may or may not have been trying to convey regarding the two mechanics, for me at least; Lucario's Mega Evolution looked like the dominant "gimmick" during that portion of the fight. Max Steelspike and Max Strike didn't even alter any stats (though they allowed G-Max Chi Strike its secondary effect, which admittedly did look cool visually ).

 

[thomaswiencek]

Well, I have thought that Ash's Lucario and its Mega Lucario state have been replacements with his formerly owned Greninja and its Ash-Greninja Bond Phenomenon for his both his Pokémon and temporarily transformed states, respectively? That's all.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Ash and Lucario were moving in sync ala Battle Bond, so at least they gave us that nod

 

[Gligarman]

Some stray thoughts about this week's episode.

• DEFINITELY appreciated the Battle Bond reference! Still hoping for a Lucario/Greninja double battle one of these days.
• Was hoping to hear the Mega Evolution theme but they played it a lot last week so it's all good.
• Maybe one day we'll be able to do Dynamax Vs Mega Evolution in the actual game.
• Kudos to whoever animated that PIkachu tumble roll!

 

[Kairyu]

So much focus on the matchups and who wins and loses here instead of just enjoying the brawling, sheesh.

Overall I thought the battle was really good and enjoyable. One thing that was much improved since the last PWC match was the music; here we got a lot of fast-paced music that actually fit the intensity of the fights instead of how it was when Ash fought Volkner, where the music producer went overboard with slow-paced tunes that took the edge off the fighting.
I also think Iwane did a better job animating this fight than Volkner's; felt like there were more of a smoothness to the movements this time.

Sirfetch'd dynamic fighting style with a sword and shield is just so incredibly enjoyable to look at, and finally the thing got some justice in the animation department compared to that dreadfully animated fight against Rinto. The shield throw a'la Cpt America style was icing on the cake. Really looking forward to watching in battle in the future.

Other highlights were Pikachu brutally frying Hawlucha, Lucario sending Grapploct to another dimension with that finishing Force Palm, and of course the final fight. I really liked the fact that the battle continued even after the gigantamax ended and that Machamp retained some of the power.

That said, not that big of a fan of Steel beam, or Ash's Lucario's move-set in general. It really did not need another ranged move, Aura Sphere is enough already. What it really needs is a solid close-combat ability that has some weight to it, for example Metal Claw would've been so much better for it to learn as a Steel move (Maylene's Lucario used that move to great enjoyment). So yeah, meh. I really hope it learns something along the lines of Close Combat/Bone Rush/Power-up Punch in the future and gets rid of Reversal and/or Double Team, as I assume Aura Sphere and Steel Beam are here to stay. It will be much more fun to watch in battle if it has that type of a move in its arsenal.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

So much focus on the matchups and who wins and loses here instead of just enjoying the brawling, sheesh.

Overall I thought the battle was really good and enjoyable. One thing that was much improved since the last PWC match was the music; here we got a lot of fast-paced music that actually fit the intensity of the fights instead of how it was when Ash fought Volkner, where the music producer went overboard with slow-paced tunes that took the edge off the fighting.
I also think Iwane did a better job animating this fight than Volkner's; felt like there were more of a smoothness to the movements this time.

Sirfetch'd dynamic fighting style with a sword and shield is just so incredibly enjoyable to look at, and finally the thing got some justice in the animation department compared to that dreadfully animated fight against Rinto. The shield throw a'la Cpt America style was icing on the cake. Really looking forward to watching in battle in the future.

Other highlights were Pikachu brutally frying Hawlucha, Lucario sending Grapploct to another dimension with that finishing Force Palm, and of course the final fight. I really liked the fact that the battle continued even after the gigantamax ended and that Machamp retained some of the power.

That said, not that big of a fan of Steel beam, or Ash's Lucario's move-set in general. It really did not need another ranged move, Aura Sphere is enough already. What it really needs is a solid close-combat ability that has some weight to it, for example Metal Claw would've been so much better for it to learn as a Steel move (Maylene's Lucario used that move to great enjoyment). So yeah, meh. I really hope it learns something along the lines of Close Combat/Bone Rush/Power-up Punch in the future and gets rid of Reversal and/or Double Team, as I assume Aura Sphere and Steel Beam are here to stay. It will be much more fun to watch in battle if it has that type of a move in its arsenal.

Agreed with everything else besides Steel Beam. I personally think it's a good addition to Lucario's moveset, and it's more flashier than Metal Claw. Reversal is a pretty important part of Lucario's moveset, being a death-or-glory attack when Lucario's health is low, and Double Team is good utility. With Force Palm, Lucario had two close-range Fighting moves, but now it has one of those, a ranged Fighting move, and a ranged Steel move.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Apart from Pikachu's ultrasonic waves trick, which I didn't quite get, this episode was just super intense and I totally liked the battle, especially when Lucario was involved. And finally, the battle that was definitely worthy of a Hyper Class battle was crowned by an exciting and intense showdown. Great job!

What I liked most was the very scene last where Ash was standing in front of those powerful trainers with our Queen Cynthia having that great expression on her face

 

[G50]

While Pikachu and Sirfetch'd did have skin in this rivalry too, it bothers me that Ash once again didn't bother using his perfectly decent Flying type against a proficient Fighting specialist. That's three times now that Dragonite has inexplicably been passed over vs Bea despite soloing Korrina in their battle.

As I thought, Sirfetch'd got boned. If I wrote this series it would have been the only Fighting type on Ash's team. Sirfetch'd could have had some real potential if it weren't the teammate of something like Lucario. At least Gengar wasn't the fall guy for the one millionth time though...

Gengar if anything was the pokemon that Ash should have used at some point vs Bea in any battle. Considering it's disappearing abilities, Grapploct would've struggled mightily trying to do much vs it especially since octolok would've been useless. Likely the writers didn't want to make it that easy lol

 

[Gabo2oo]

I don't like Sirfetch'd getting the short end of the stick, but by golly they handled Ash's first Mega Evolution really well. The way he syncs with Lucario's own motions and how Lucario prepares an attack before Ash even gives the order, that sort of connection was all established throughout XY and I'm glad they haven't forgotten about it.

The animation is almost as good as it can get in this series too, seems like they're finally getting the hang of dynamic movement with 2D backgrounds. The shot when Lucario lands Aura Sphere on Grapploct particularly stood out to me.

 

[G50]

Well I mean....because there really isn't much explanation? Some Pokémon just have it because they have it and that's about it, they didn't explain Pikachu's for the same reason probably

Seeing how events are going....

Gengar will Kyodaimax out of the blue, not bothering to give any explanation.

And still job/be the fall-guy, because the writers seemingly hate it.

Satoshi's team being mishandled is what I hate the most about Journeys, Lucario is a close second.

I have a theory that in the anime world, Pokemon that have kyodynamax forms in the main games only have that form in the anme. So far only that form has been shown for each species. Might change down the line, but for now that seems to be the case.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

I've now realized that (Mega)Lucario's achievement was almost superhuman (or super-Pokemon I should say):
First, it defeated its "arch-enemy" Grapploct, which alone must have been pretty exhausting. Then, it withstood Gigantamax Machamp's signature move and finally defeated it by learning Steel Beam, one of the strongest Steel type moves. That certainly is impressive to say the least.

Also, I'd like to mention I've never been a big fan of Dynamax/Gigantamax and this episode showed why: Not only do Pokemon start to behave and move kind of clumsily, they also seem to lose all their flexibility and instead of fighting tactically all they seem to be capable of is throwing generic attacks at each other.
By contrast, Mega Evolution not only is more interesting and looks much more epic, the episode also showed why it's probably superior to Dynamax/Gigantamax.

 

[Sai]

I have a theory the writers think Mega evolving heals your previous damage.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Also, I'd like to mention I've never been a big fan of Dynamax/Gigantamax and this episode showed why: Not only do Pokemon start to behave and move kind of clumsily, they also seem to lose all their flexibility and instead of fighting tactically all they seem to be capable of is throwing generic attacks at each other.
By contrast, Mega Evolution not only is more interesting and looks much more epic, the episode also showed why it's probably superior to Dynamax/Gigantamax.

Could be that Dynamaxing is a fairly new thing in the anime, and the animators haven't quite gotten used to animating such big Pokémon.

I have a theory the writers think Mega evolving heals your previous damage.

I doubt that's the case.

 

[Articfoxgamez]

I find it kind of weird that when Lucario mega evolves the stone just kind of... floats down from somewhere up above. But i suppose its understandable to not want to animate Lucario with a mega stone constantly.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

I doubt that's the case.

"Evolution Heals Pokemon" has been a thing for well over a decade at this point

One league is rather infamous because of it, remember?

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

"Evolution Heals Pokemon" has been a thing for well over a decade at this point

One league is rather infamous because of it, remember?

And in the Alola League, Torracat fainted after evolving.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

"Evolution acts as a full restore whenever deemed convenient by the plot."
-Law of Anime Evolutions

 

[VetProf]

And in the Alola League, Torracat fainted after evolving.

That's more of an exception than the norm. Pretty sure lots of people were disappointed that Incineroar immediately fainted before it got to do anything, though I personally loved the subversion of the "Pokemon evolves to win" trope by having Torracat win to earn its evolution.

Speaking of the trope, while I generally dislike it when Pokemon seemingly get healed upon evolving mid-battle, I feel like it's kinda fine in the case of Mega Evolution since:

1. It would give a better reason for why the timing of Mega Evolution is important in the anime and why trainers don't just immediately use it at the start of the battle.
2. It would make Mega Lucario's tankiness much, much more believable. Actually, it would make most Megas feel much more believably tanky in long battles.
3. Unlike regular evolutions, Mega Evolution is something you'll expect every time the user enters a battle, so it doesn't really feel like a deus ex machina when a Pokemon "heals" itself via Mega Evolution compared to regular evolution.