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Review SM118: Aim for the Top Floor! The Explosive Dragon Gym!!

RE Ryuki who the hell knows, but the other gym trainers were not from Kanto and were very excited to meet Satoshi and hear his assessment of how authentic the gym was. I guess they're in-show Genwunners? :wynaut:

Oh dear they have broken through the barriers of fiction themselves.

SOmeone get the net.
 
I rewatched the episode with subtitles. I found the obstacles not a hard challenge. The gym battle was really dumb. It reminded me of the battle Ash vs Watson, only worse. Are Ruyki's pokemon really so weak? This episode contained much gags and not enough battles, despite being a gym. I give this episode a 3/10.
 
To me it sounded like he said "That's...!" as in, that he recognized it. Like he should.

It annoys me when we get Ash looking to remember a Pokemon, only for Rotom to butt in, preventing Ash from confirming he knows the Pokemon
 
This episode was very fun and enjoyable. I loved the fact that the ninjas were so impressed with Ash being from Kanto and how they portrayed Ryuki. Seeing Meltan get angry because his buddy Rowlet was in pain was very cute and further showed the relationship the two share. I was very excited to see Rowlet learn Brave Bird. I’m personally happy the anime decided not to evolve Rowlet but rather just make it learn powerful attacks (similar to Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Buizel etc.) I also loved how Rowlet had to stretch before battling and how Ash holds Meltan in his hand. I’m also very happy that Meltan seems to be a rather competent battler, and isn’t just there for cuteness and promotion. Also, Meltan eating the “gym badge” was very funny and a great way to end the episode. This episode wasn’t perfect. I personally think the classmates being left behind was rather unnecessary. I personally think they would’ve been better off just not planning on challenging the gym leader in the first place instead of being eliminated (I personally felt bad for Lana). The battles also weren’t that great. Marowak went down way to quickly imo, even though it was hit by a super-effective attack. Ash’s battle was fun, but it felt like the actually action of the battle was second priority. However, all that being said, I understand why the writers decided to make these decisions and respect them. While these “complaints” we’re rather annoying at times, it really didn’t affect my overall opinion of this episode. I still found it to be enjoyable. I’m going to miss Malie City. This two-episode “arc” was very entertaining for me. Though, I am looking forward to upcoming episodes. Overall, I give this episode a 7.5/10.
 
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I personally don't have a gripe with that. It's not like BW where Ash himself used the Pokédex to check on Pokémon he already knew. It's easily more tolerable when it's Rotom who's giving the entries instead.

Honestly I don't mind that with mons that were non-Unova native as I can fully buy he does it for the benefit of Iris and Cilan, for example. The double Hydregion and Zebstrika/Sawk look ups on the other hand...
 
Honestly I don't mind that with mons that were non-Unova native as I can fully buy he does it for the benefit of Iris and Cilan, for example. The double Hydregion and Zebstrika/Sawk look ups on the other hand...
Yeah. That's what I meant. Didn't he check Sawk, like, three times? And Palpitoad twice in two consecutive episodes?
 
Oh oh oh! I was so irritated I actually forgot to comment yesterday: Suiren being unable to continue because Satoshi broke the obstacle course pissed me off. I know they (felt like they) had to make it so only Satoshi could battle, but REALLY?! Is this what the league is going to be like? Because that was seriously not cool.
 
Imagine how cool this episode would have been if the challenges would be themed after real Kanto gyms. A Kanto game was released 5 months ago so they have no excuse. Well, at least they were Japanese-themed.

The Marowak part was insulting, yet it was the only part of the episode that made me laugh.

The battle was so-so. On the plus side, we saw Meltan's battle style and Rowlet doing something badass, but it felt too rushed. It should have been a double battle from the beginning, and last 2 minutes more taken from any scene. If I had written this episode, I'd have left Lillie, Mallow and Sophocles in a restaurant, make Kiawe lost the first challenge and Lana the third challenge, so there would be more time for the battle.
 
Man, this episode... this episode was so... it was just so... so... ARGH!

Let me start from the start: the Gym Trainers and their challenges. Now I didn't mind the idea of including challenges the group has to overcome in order to reach the Gym Leader, since it's a cool reference to the Gym puzzles from the games and something the we haven't seen in the anime since... Lenora's Gym from Unova, during Best Wishes, if I remember correctly? Anyways, the point is I didn't have a problem with the concept of putting puzzles/challenges in the gym. No, what I did have a problem with was the fact that it felt like the challenges dragged on for too long, taking time away from the Gym battle. The first two "challenges" were particularly unnecessary, since they were boring and it felt like they were used for the sake of adding even more mandatory SM """"""comedy"""""" into this episode (which was completely unnecessary, considering the rest of this train-wreck of an episode). The 4 minutes wasted on these stupid gag-filled scenes could have been better utilized to improve the Ryuki vs Ash/Ryuki vs Kiawe battles. As for the other two, I hated the fact that they brought back the tired "Lana outshines everyone at stuff, while Lillie fails at said stuff in a kawaii way" trope that we've seen over and over and over throughout this series. And the fact that Ash, in a moment of stupidity, decided to have his Meltan eat the chain that was holding the giant wrecking ball during the fourth challenge, without even thinking about the possible consequences... Not to mention Chikiukiki's response to Ash basically wrecking the entire third floor of the Gym. "It happens! Believe it!". I'm sorry, but no, I don't believe that someone destroying an entire floor of a gym is normal.

And then, there's the gym battle, which... hoo boy, was that a doozie. Here are my thought on that:
  • That fact that, instead of explaining why a rocker is the leader of a ninja-themed gym, they played it for laughs was really disheartening for me. They could've done something, anything to explain it, but instead, they just turn it into a joke. Also, why doesn't Ryuki have a guitar. He's supposed to be a rocker, after all. It would've been better to have him play an actual guitar instead of making him do air guitars while music plays out of nowhere;
  • Why did Kiawe have to use Marowak during the fight? He's already been getting far more screen time than the rest of his Pokémon (since he is Kiawe's walking Pokémon, apparently). Couldn't he have used Turtonator (since this is supposed to be a Dragon gym) or Charizard (since he still barely uses it in battles)? The only reason why I think the writers used Marowak was for that gag, which, as much as I enjoyed, was completely redundant, since we've already seen a lot of Marowak's personality;
  • Also, why did Kiawe have to loose? Actually, scratch that. Why did Kiawe have to be obliterated during his battle? Couldn't they have it go for a little longer? Did he really need to get OHKO-ed? At this point, I feel like the writer are trying to turn Kiawe into a jobber or something like that.
  • Ash's battle with Ryuki was very monoton. Neither side didn't even attempt to try an interesting strategy. Most of their Pokémon just stood there waiting to be attacked. Didn't help that the battle kept getting interrupted by the wonderful """""comedic""""" tone of this series, with Meltan trying to eat Ryuki's shoe and the classmates even butting in to say how they don't think that Ryuki is Gym Leading properly (as if the people with the most inexperience in Pokémon battling, who live in a region that doesn't even have it's own Pokémon League yet, know how to run a Gym);
  • I do like the symbolism surrounding Rowlet's Brave Bird, with it learning that move in order to get past the Zweilous that, so he could save Meltan. It was a nice touch. Too bad it was quickly countered by the fact that Rowlet one-shot both of Ryuki's Pokémon with it;
  • On the positive side, I did enjoy Ryuki's personality. I think this is the first time I actually appreciated Sun & Moon's stupid hyperbolic expressions, since he is rocker (which are know for their over the top singing and screaming). Also glad to see that they actually based his personality on his counterpart from the games, to the point that he even calls his Pokémon his babies and bandmates (to bad they couldn't do that for some of the other characters in this series (cough cough Lusamine cough cough Necrozma cough cough)). And even his Pokémon had some rocker-esque personalities, with them bobbing their heads and fighting to the music's rhythm;
  • Probably the biggest sin this episode commits is that the gym battle (and the gym, in general) is treated like a joke. Besides the things that I mentioned (the first two "challenges", Ryuki feeling out of place in a ninja-themed gym and it being played for laughs, the inexperienced classmates interjecting with their "is the Gym Leader even allowed to do that" moments, the battle getting interrupted by Meltan eating the spikes on Ryuki's shoe) there's the fact that Ash's prize for defeating Ryuki is a badge. Not an actual prize. Not a Z-crystal. Not even an unofficial Gym Badge. Just a regular badge with Ryuki's face on it. The fact that Meltan even eats the badge at the end of the episode further shows that the Kantonian Gym if just one big joke (unlike the games version, which is supposed to be a replica of the real deal and even gave you an unofficial Gym Badge for beating it);
Anyways, if I had to describe this episode in one word, I'd it was DISAPPOINTING! This was supposed to be a gym episode! It even says so in the title! But, instead of feeling like one, it just feels like a boring, glorified filler. Everything that I hoped wouldn't happen happened and then some. It spent to much time focusing on the classmates playing ninja and enjoying food and was then followed by a lackluster battle as infuriating as the Nimbasa Gym battle.

Really sad that the only thing that I loved about this episode remains the gif I made of one of my favorite Unova Pokémon, Druddigon, bobbing its head.
118056


Man, I'm never gonna get tired of this!
 
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Too bad it was quickly countered by the fact that Rowlet one-shot both of Ryuki's Pokémon with it;
One shot? Ahem, it's not a one shot as they had already taken damage from Brave Bird before getting knocked out, and Meltan helped Rowlet. They took their opponents down together.
 
One shot? Ahem, it's not a one shot as they had already taken damage from Brave Bird before getting knocked out, and Meltan helped Rowlet. They took their opponents down together.

Funny little thing about that: the first Brave Bird doesn't make contact with them. It actually hits the floor in front of them and resulting explosion blasts them away from Meltan, so they didn't take any real damage from Brave Bird.

And Meltan helping doesn't change the fact that it's still a one-shot.
 
Funny little thing about that: the first Brave Bird doesn't make contact with them. It actually hits the floor in front of them and resulting explosion blasts them away from Meltan, so they didn't take any real damage from Brave Bird.
How can you be sure they didn't take any damage from that blow?
 
Lackluster as this was, there is one tiny thing that is bothering me... a lot.

And that is Meltan, with its seven inches and no legs, being able to leap all the way across an arena and up to the six feet needed to hit Druddigon’s face.

I know many of Ash’s pokemon are way more agile than they should be (Torkoal, Sliggoo, Corphish, etc), but seriously??
 
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