Review BW042: Decisive Don Battle! Satoshi VS Iris!!

[Jukain]

Lol, Lance alike is a pushover after all. What in the world happened to Axew? I don't know of any attack or move that fits this description, and none of it's abilities would do that, unless they tweaked it for the anime. Regardless, I'm scared of him now, it reminds me of rage mode Infernape. Excadrill vs. Pikachu. You know it's going to be epic, and they certainly live up to it. It looks they're fairly evenly matched, but somehow, Excadrill wins out in the end. This may be the first time in a very long time that a main cast member won against Ash in an actual battle, much less against Pikachu himself. While this only continues my belief that Pikachu has gone as far as he can as a Pikachu, it also puts new light on Iris. Although I don't know how to feel now that she has proven her worth once and for all. Ash is definitely going to have to get stronger.

EDIT: Wait...you gotta be flipping kidding me. Don't tell me it's Outrage. *looks* Oh dear gosh, it is. Forget Pika-pussy, this thing is now officially the most overpowered thing in the anime. (other than Charizard)

 

[pokemon_master2]

Did Meowth actually say that all what happens next week is a trick / plan or something?

 

[Ishida]

I'm glad Iris won the battle the match was pretty good, I do wonder if she's going to use the feathers or if they're just going to rot in her bag like the Soothe Bell. I wonder what Hellion's going to make of this

 

[Eitarou]

See? I knew that Outrage would have a drawback.

Now...whatever this is...is going to impede him...probably.

 

[Aestivate]

Yay for character derailment!

An angrier review will probably come when I actually watch the episode..

 

[Masurao]

Overall this tournament was very meh on the battles overall. Some of the character interactions were okay though.

I really don't like the fact that this tournament was so Iris centric though, I mean Kibago learned a new move...and she beat Ash. Wat. It just seemed like everything went her way.

 

[Ishida]

I actually don't see why people are so surprised to see Ash lose, honestly I thought the battle went downhill as soon as Pikachu used Thunderbolt against Excadrill. And besides the writers could always be building up to the 8th gym battle if Iris ends up being the gym leader.

 

[Ampharos King]

I really don't like the fact that this tournament was so Iris centric though, I mean Kibago learned a new move...and she beat Ash. Wat. It just seemed like everything went her way.

And Emolga deciding to obey Iris when there was no buildup of such whatsoever based on the results of past episodes.

It was understandable though because the writers decided to have Pikachu battle against a Ground-type that also resists Normal and Steel-type attacks. Now Pikachu needs to know an attack that can counter Ground-types, but will that ever happen? I don't know.

 

[Idon'tcare]

Team Rocket? We don't need no Team Rocket!

Spoiler

Seriously, loved this.

So Iris won. Good for her. Ah my reaction is pretty average towards this so I don't have much to say.

If Kibago looks that fierce when using Outrage, imagine how he would look like using it as a Ononokus.

 

[Eitarou]

And Emolga deciding to obey Iris when there was no buildup of such whatsoever based on the results of past episodes.

It was understandable though because the writers decided to have Pikachu battle against a Ground-type that also resists Normal and Steel-type attacks. Now Pikachu needs to know an attack that can counter Ground-types, but will that ever happen? I don't know.

Well, Ash, time to go teach Pikachu Grass Knot!

Since that's the only move that Ground-Types are weak to that Pikachu can learn...

 

[Jukain]

Pikachu can learn 3 different Fighting moves(Brick Break, Rock Smash, and Reversal), and Dig. Those are the only things that he can learn and still hurt Excadrill.

 

[Eitarou]

Pikachu can learn 3 different Fighting moves(Brick Break, Rock Smash, and Reversal), and Dig. Those are the only things that he can learn and still hurt Excadrill.

Excadrill's primary type is Ground and is the one Ash has to deal with. (And this applies to other Ground Pokemon as well...)

Steel isn't even Super Effective.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

YES! I knew Excadrill would win! I'm glad Iris won the tournament. Ash deserves to lose after ordering Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on a Pokemon he knows is immune to electric attacks.

And seriously what happened with Cilan and Burgundy!? They're doing this motto and they seem to be acting much more friendly towards eachother.

 

[Shinneth]

I don't think people are surprised by Ash losing so much as they're dumbstruck that they'd just orchestrate this entire tournament to work in Iris' favor from beginning to end. That's just... really not at all like this anime to do that. If the protagonists win anything major, they endure major struggles, learn something important down the road that usually aids them to win even if they don't know it will at that time... it's Storytelling 101 that if you want a compelling arc where your protagonist wins, you make it compelling by making it difficult for the protagonist every single step of the way. That's the way it's been done for years for every single protagonist.

A lot of the shock here isn't just from Iris beating Ash; it's that she did so with all the odds stacked in her favor. Consequently, the formula's been betrayed and they end the tournament with a heinously one-sided battle that had a foregone conclusion if you go by logic alone. The Ash-being-the-underdog factor was literally the only thing implementing suspense in this match-up. Throughout the tourney Iris was granted convenient plot twists that worked to her and her Pokemon's favor, many of which were shoehorned in at the last second.

So yeah, the win itself was legitimate, but it was still an undeserved victory and a horribly-executed arc, which is why not everyone's going to be ecstatic over how this turned out.

But it's all said and done now, and thank god this is over with. This whole arc's just made me feel dirty inside.

 

[Masurao]

It was understandable though because the writers decided to have Pikachu battle against a Ground-type that also resists Normal and Steel-type attacks. Now Pikachu needs to know an attack that can counter Ground-types, but will that ever happen? I don't know.

It would have been nice to see Ash not restricted so much though. Even though Excadrill, and Pikachu seemed matched for a little while. Ash only had access to TWO of his moves, while Iris had all FOUR of hers, while having the type advantage plus two super effective moves. The circumstances just seemed a bit too tilted in her favor, it was only a matter of time before Pikachu lost due to damage.

 

[Aestivate]

I don't think people are surprised by Ash losing so much as they're dumbstruck that they'd just orchestrate this entire tournament to work in Iris' favor from beginning to end. That's just... really not at all like this anime to do that. If the protagonists win anything major, they endure major struggles, learn something important down the road that usually aids them to win even if they don't know it will at that time... it's Storytelling 101 that if you want a compelling arc where your protagonist wins, you make it compelling by making it difficult for the protagonist every single step of the way. That's the way it's been done for years for every single protagonist.

A lot of the shock here isn't just from Iris beating Ash; it's that she did so with all the odds stacked in her favor. Consequently, the formula's been betrayed and they end the tournament with a heinously one-sided battle that had a foregone conclusion if you go by logic alone. The Ash-being-the-underdog factor was literally the only thing implementing suspense in this match-up. Throughout the tourney Iris was granted convenient plot twists that worked to her and her Pokemon's favor, many of which were shoehorned in at the last second.

So yeah, the win itself was legitimate, but it was still an undeserved victory and a horribly-executed arc, which is why not everyone's going to be ecstatic over how this turned out.

But it's all said and done now, and thank god this is over with. This whole arc's just made me feel dirty inside.

I'm quoting everything, because for once, I agree with everything.

Maybe it's just BAAAWWWW on my part, but honestly, I do not why the anime would take the whole freaking summer to glorify a character that has barely tipped the iceberg in terms of struggle and conveniently has plot devices thrown her way that makes her merely a product of plot magic.

Now, before the tournament I can say safely that I was a fan of Iris. I enjoyed her interactions with the cast, I enjoyed her quirks, I wasn't all that interested in the plotlines surrounding her, but she was at least mildly entertaining. Now, after the tournament my enjoyment of Iris has been reduced to merely cold indifference, annoyance, and even dislike. I'll even admit to being bitter that the tournament arc has made me borderline hate a character, which the anime has never done for me before.

There was just no set-up, build-up, no struggle. I imagine a frisbee of convenient plot devices being thrown her way. I think the victory against Pikachu was well-deserved (more on that later), but even for Iris to reach that point in the tournament let alone win it is very unsettling to me.


Now with SATOSHI...

I give up.

He's no longer the compelling little kid that I fell in love with all those years ago saving that Pikachu, he's no longer the funny, enertaining, kinda bratty beginning trainer he was in OS, nor the kind, calm mentor he was in AG, nor the seasoned veteran he was in DP.

He's just.. bleh. I just want to go "REALLY?!"

His arc is no longer compelling, his stupidity bordering complete idiot ball, and he deserved to lose. It makes me want to tear my hair out in frustration.

As for the tournament as a whole...

Meh as well. The characters that weren't the main cast got some nice focus - I warmed up significantly to Langley and I really enjoyed Cabernet and Kenyan and Luke. My love for Bel was significantly decreased whenever she interacted with Zorua.

Whatever.

Summer wasted.

 

[Paperhorse]

A lot of the shock here isn't just from Iris beating Ash; it's that she did so with all the odds stacked in her favor.

I agree so much with this statement. Iris just got lucky and everything went her way. Nobody likes a real person who gets lucky all the time and things always seem to go their way, so why would we like a character that has the same thing happen to her?

Plus, this won't help her development at all. Now, she will go back to calling Satoshi "such a child" and things will still be the same with their interactions, because now she has a win against him.

I didn't like the Satoshi vs Iris matchup to begin with, but I feel the writers missed their chance to change a bit of the dynamics in Satoshi and Iris's relationship.

 

[Aestivate]

the writers missed their chance to change a bit of the dynamics in Satoshi and Iris's relationship.

This so much.

Now what is going to happen to all of that respect that Iris had gained for Satoshi and his methods now that a) they're proven to not work, and b) Satoshi's idiot ball in using Pikachu...?

 

[Masurao]

I posted this on June 27th, before the tournament even started.

There's only a few things that could ruin this tournament arc for me, so I'm hoping they don't happen. Ash's Pokemon going nowhere in terms of development (check), Iris winning the entire tournament...which would cause my indifference to her change to disgust(check), and Trip/Ash getting no development whatsoever (check) are the main ones. Ash battling Langley would just be pointless ( check).

Looks like everything came true, and that's just sad that the story-line would even go that predictable route. This tournament didn't really contribute anything to the story at all, because no really grew or developed at all. It was just the Iris show.

 

[Lafayette Excadrill]

You know I'm all with freedom of speech and constructive criticism, but if the anime bothers you guys that much, why do you guys still watch? Complaining won't fix anything.

But anyways, I'm not mad Iris won, no one really deserved to win, so why not have Iris win. The tournament was kinda lackluster in terms of battling. It didn't get good until two episodes in.