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Review XY005: The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Viviyon's Dance Battle!!

Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

Really sweet episode! So many cool angles, great animation (Shimura, I had lost my faith in you during BW, but you can really do great job!) and of course - a lot many good tracks from X/Y-games and movie 15. Can I even ask for more?

As for plot and events, this episode was full of awesomeness. I'm so eager to know more about Satoshi's and Serena's relationship (damn I'm gonna laugh so hard if Satoshi just says in the next episode "...who are you?"). Eureka just asking Viola to marry Citron...priceless. Speaking of Eureka and Citron, I love those two. I really mean that. I just can't get over how when Citron is "serious" his glasses glow - and that's just so damn creepy, making him totally awesome. And Dedenne on Eureka's head? That's. Just. So. Damn. Cute. My favorite siblings from this anime for sure. Sorry Haruka and Masato, I like you, too, but...

The gym battle, so much amazing animation and cool strategies. We've actually seen the ice thing being used before (Regice anyone?), but using that to max Ametama's speed is actually pretty smart.

The training in the end of episode...eh, why they're holding balloons? Sorry if I missed something, but I didn't really see any reason for that. Specially with Yayakoma: if those balloons was for making them float or something...whatever, I don't know. But it was really nice to see Onvern doing something, that guy is great.

The next episode: training, rematch and the first XY episode animated by Iwane! That's gonna be so awesome.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

They're still doing the ol' "meet the gym leader before knowing they're the gym leader" routine i see. At least this time it was subtle and quick.

Let's just be happy for Satoshi that he arrived at a Gym that was open with a leader who took his challenge straight away.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

The training in the end of episode...eh, why they're holding balloons? Sorry if I missed something, but I didn't really see any reason for that. Specially with Yayakoma: if those balloons was for making them float or something...whatever, I don't know.
Well for one there's the in game 'Air Balloon' item, but it's fairly logical - if you're made to be lighter by a balloon you have to work even harder to be blown away, so by being able to fight against that (even as a flying type) with a balloon making it harder to not fly away, then you should easily survive a normal gust without one.

I didn't mind Ash losing here, no one was knocked out in one shot and Pikachu was genuinely thrown off guard. It would be nice if they work on replacing Electro Ball - would be nice if Pikachu had a move that hit all around without doing something like counter-shield (which probably wouldn't work on ice) - Discharge perhaps? Just as a way of Pikachu countering this situation in the future of a Pokemon using speed against him for once.

I love like how Bonnie's 'keep it, keep it' line was the same with Dedenne as it was for Viola.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

Im hoping that for once Ash actually develops romanitc feelings for another i.e. Serena I know Misty is the big potentialnlove interest but to see that Ash mature to the point of returning romantic feelings would great character growth, I dont know I may be just ticking some people off with this post...
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

I honestly can't say that i am upset over pikachus loss, I mean if he won every battle the anime would be so boring its nive also to see ash crushed emotionally over his pokemon getting hurt, it makes him seem more human and humble, I hope to continue to see him confidant but still humbled by his wins and losses
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

^fireflight , Nope, I'm okay with that. He needs to be aware of what's happening.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

Thanks for backing up my point StaraptorZ
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

If only ash remembers Serena I will have hope for their relationship, but I think he will remember, even if it takes some time.
 
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Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

It's so like Satoshi to not recognize Serena hahahaha. I loved the episode, the gym battle was pretty good, I like how they're going back to slightly more complex strategies like in DP, the straight-foward battling style of BW sucked. And I'm also glad they didn't have TR interrupting the gym battle. As much as I love them, their scenes during gym battles weren't always amusing, and they only made the episode more of a chore to watch. And yay for Satoshi training his Pokémon! I hope the writers keep this up, this series is starting to look pretty good :)
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

First off, dat Solar Beam. That was just beautiful. Liked the battle.

Second, I'm slightly upset that Ash doesn't recognize Serena at all. Especially since she can recognize him right off the bat. Like it wouldn't be to bad if he even said something like, "hey, you look a little familiar, do I know you?" But they're supposed to be childhood friends? Ah whatever, we'll get the gritty details next episode.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

I miss Serena!!!! As soon as I have time I'll watch this episode again!!! As it was PERFECT!!!

Windblast, you totally made me wanna see it which I will as soon as I can find it. :)

Hearing that I make people want to watch pokemon even more makes me feel so happy. I'm so blessed that I help spreading pokemon-ness!! :p
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

A really good episode.

Serena scenes were really neat and I'm liking her relationship with Fennekin, and especially how excited she was about meeting Ash. Bonnie's gag is FINALLY introduced and boy does it deliver, it was really funny to me. I just hope it's not overused. ^^

As for Ash's battle with Viola - I really liked it for what it was. No stock footage, dynamic camera movement and Fletchling got to shine. I can understand Pikachu's loss and no, I don't think he was reset. I doubt Ash could have seen the ice field trick coming. He was caught off guard and so was Pikachu. It doesn't matter how strong Pikachu is, as you guys say, if he's caught unprepared. And all the power in the world can't help you if you can't hit your opponent directly. I'm sure Pikachu would have won if he was able to use his electric moves on Surskit directly.

But I'm happy that Viola was set up as a strategic gym leader, makes me hopeful about the later gyms, if this is the first gym challenge.

And I liked how Alexa sorta defended Ash when Viola said Ash and Pikachu didn't do so good. Alexa is right, Ash and Pikachu didn't really prepare themselves for this gym nor did they do much training. Next time, it's going to be their win, and quite frankly, I can't wait for the rematch!
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

No stock footage, dynamic camera movement and Fletchling got to shine.
There were several pieces of stock footage actually, Ash's command post for Pikachu and its Quick Attack for example, Thunderbolt, etc.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

There were several pieces of stock footage actually, Ash's command post for Pikachu and its Quick Attack for example, Thunderbolt, etc.
Oh. Well, let me rephrase it, no stock footage with the annoying blue background.

It's much easier to enjoy a battle without those, they make it easier to notice it's stock footage and it kinda ruins my enjoyment.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

It shows how cheap they can be, and at least it ain't the director from BW giving cheap azz stock
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

It shows how cheap they can be, and at least it ain't the director from BW giving cheap azz stock

Every anime and Pokemon series pretty much uses stock footage. I'm wasting my time reiterating that.
 
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Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

Every anime and Pokemon series pretty much uses stock footage. I'm wasting my time reiterating that.

Stay classy, Bulbagarden~
That's true, though I prefer when it's less noticeable.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

Cons about the episode? Well I can’t pretend there weren't any. As enjoyable as Viola and her strategic methods were the battle suffered from being too short. I expected they would at least spend half the episode on it, but they didn’t and it really went by too quickly.

I agree wholeheartedly. Battles this short... there's just no time to build up any kind of intensity and excitement, and as a result, I really cannot enjoy them fully. I hope the increased quality of the battle animation won't come at the cost of the battles' length...
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

I have to agree short battles can be alittle lackluster but this one was quite acceptable because it showed Ash's overconfidence, and the fact that he was out stratagized in so many ways but that makes him try harder for future battles and I look forward to that.
 
Re: REVIEW: XY005: "The Hakudan Gym Battle! The Magnificent Bibiyon's Dance Battle!!"

I found the battle to be quality over quantity. I don't think it needed to be long at all... it didn't feel summarized or rushed as most tended to be in BW. I would prefer the official win to be more dramatic and climaxed out, but to demand that on an episode more about Ash and Serena's meeting, Ash's mental development of needing to improve, this was perfect.
 
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