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Review SM133: Bird Battle! Brave Bird VS God Bird!!

This...was...tragic. Seriously, I think this is one of the worst battles I've ever seen. There's so much wrong I don't even know where to begin.

The unbelievably of it. Rowlet took several hits from Decidueye yet didn't get KO'd. Decidueye takes one Brave Bird from Rowlet and then is nearly down for the count. Then a second one fully knocks him out? Rowlet doesn't even seem anywhere near that strong to take so many attacks and not be on the verge of fainting. But yet 2 attacks against it's first form is enough to take Decidueye down? Sorry, but that just does not seem realistic to me. I know we can have Pokemon who are weak in one battle, then become KOing machines out of nowhere in another battle, but this just did not seem believable to me.

The fake out loss. Totally and completely unnecessary. No. That was ridiculous. First of all, it came across as so obvious. The way when Ash 'lost', everyone's faces just remained static as if they were just waiting for Rowlet to get up. Like Ash hadn't lost just yet. It was so dumb. Second, Rowlet was deemed unable to battle and Hau declared the victor. Just wtf is Hala doing sticking his nose in a battle he is not even the referee for? Why would you do that to your grandson? If they had done this like with Infernape vs. Electivire in Sinnoh, where they thought Infernape was down, but he got up before the ruling, that would be one thing. But they let Hau be declared the winner and celebrate with his Pokemon, before Hala said, "STOP RIGHT THERE, IT AIN'T OVER YET". How the hell would Hala even know Rowlet was asleep anyway? Why would he just assume that? Why would anyone? Sorry, but that was utterly ridiculous and unnecessary.

Rowlet is officially the WORST Pokemon Ash has ever owned. Not only is the thing dreadfully incompetent, he shows NO remorse for it. He falls asleep in battles and it's just played off as a gag. He's never apologetic for nearly costing Ash battles and it's disgusting. The least they could do, was finally have Rowlet show remorse for his actions, but nope, it's just gotta be 'funny'. Which only makes it even more annoying that Rowlet ended up winning. If his sleeping would have cost Ash this league match (which it should have), the bird could have learned from that. Instead he screws up and learns nothing, and no one cares. I literally hope after this series that this thing is never seen again.

Sophocles and Kiawe's battle beginning was the only highlight of this episode. I like that Kiawe isn't just steamrolling through Sophy and that the kid is actually putting up a fight.

2/10 for this. Horrid battle for a league.
Agreed here completely. In any of the previous sagas, Rowlett falling asleep like that would be treated as a problem, would have cost Ash an important battle and led to Ash training it to overcome that. But in this saga, it’s just played for laughs and the plot armor of the gods is imposed on it to grant it victories it doesn’t deserve. What kind of moral is that supposed to be, be lazy and unmotivated even in the face of important trials and life will still reward you? No, that’s completely malarkey. At this point, Rowlett is basically the spoiled brat that’s never had to face their flaws and shortcomings and improve to overcome them to become a better person. And in a series like S&M that had the ability to be more character driven due to the SoL angle, there’s no excuse for this.
 
I would look at it like this.

Let's assume that Hala didn't interrupt at all.

How do you think Hau would feel if his grandfather came up to him and said: "You know you didn't actually defeat Ash's Rowlet, it just fell asleep and Nanu didn't realize what was going on, and wrongfully declared you as the winner." And then basically walked away.

How do you think Hau would've felt knowing that he beat Ash only by technicality of a bad referee? How would you feel if YOU only won because of judge or referee's incompetence?

Edit: Even Hau said he was there to beat Rowlet, not win by technicality.
 
Thankfully Hau isn't a sore loser, he wasn't angry about it, just imagine if it was Guzma
I'm worried they'll pull off something as dumb as this episode during Ash and Guzma's battle. If Guzma loses, I want it to happen fairly without unfair tricks, even if they keep treating his legit strategies as "bad" in-universe... And a fair loss will make his breakdown feel more impactful if they decide to include that part of him in the anime.
 
I would look at it like this.

Let's assume that Hala didn't interrupt at all.

How do you think Hau would feel if his grandfather came up to him and said: "You know you didn't actually defeat Ash's Rowlet, it just fell asleep and Nanu didn't realize what was going on, and wrongfully declared you as the winner." And then basically walked away.

How do you think Hau would've felt knowing that he beat Ash only by technicality of a bad referee? How would you feel if YOU only won because of judge or referee's incompetence?

Edit: Even Hau said he was there to beat Rowlet, not win by technicality.

And I mean, since Rowlet basically lives in Ash's backpack it wouldn't have been recalled into its Pokéball and as consequence someone would have had to pick it up and realize it was asleep anyway. I do think it would have felt better if Hau noticed Rowlet not being fainted but asleep on his own, but ultimately there's no point to holding on to what if scenarios. Hindsight is 20/20 they say.
 
1. Gladio vs Lilie just ended with Gladio throwing Shiron into his sister's arms, and Hapu declared it unable to battle without even checking it out! Why didn't Hala do anything back then? Shiron wasn't even looking tired! This whole league is rigged from start.
  1. I think we can finally say that Mokuroh is Satoshi's worst pokémon ever, worser than even Mijumaru! It just traumatized a boy for life! Now I hope Satoshi just release it with Meltan, so they can have Corviknight babies, or something like that.
  2. I think you all missed a very big thing about the future. This fake lose just confirms that Satoshi is going to win! HE'S GONNA BE THE CHAMPION! They wouldn't put him in same experience, especially after showing him very sad about it.
  3. Still no characters watching the league. Still disappointing.
 
So many people here dislike rowlet... don’t worry little buddy, you’re still my favorite Pokémon of Ash’s:bulbaLove:

Also, the writers were screwed here no matter what happened. Rowlet falls asleep and Hau wins, only for Hala to interrupt and decide that Rowlet isn’t fainted? People call BS. Rowlet defeats Decidueye without any tricks and strategies? People would call BS. Ash loses to Hau and only makes it to the Top 8, regressing from his placement in the last league? People would call BS. Quite frankly, the writers were going to upset fans regardless so they just went a comedic route, which I can appreciate. At least it’s true to Rowlet’s character. As for Hala, he was doing his job. Doesn’t matter if it’s his grandson or some John Doe found on the streets 3 minutes prior to the match, he has to judge everyone the same.
 
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Ash loses to Hau and only makes it to the Top 8, regressing from his placement in the last league? People would call BS.
I wouldn't have called BS. Rowlet was very clearly losing the match until that point. I was afraid we were going to get more 'Ash's Pokémon takes enough damage to equal an army of nukes at point blank range before lightly tapping its opponent with a couple of pebbles and winning' thing they like so much, so when Ash lost I was genuinely impressed that they were going that route.

It's not Hau losing necessarily that makes the episode terrible, it's the way he lost, that he was baited and switched in such a cruel and prolonged way that would only be deserving of just the biggest of jerks, a category which Hau falls far outside. If Hala had intervened as or even a second or two after Nanu had called it the episode would still have been bad but not irredeemably so, but the fact that Hau was given the chance to savour his win only to have it snatched from him by his own Grandfather is one of the most disgusting mean-spirited things I've ever seen from this show.
 
I'm worried they'll pull off something as dumb as this episode during Ash and Guzma's battle. If Guzma loses, I want it to happen fairly without unfair tricks, even if they keep treating his legit strategies as "bad" in-universe... And a fair loss will make his breakdown feel more impactful if they decide to include that part of him in the anime.
I actually kinda wanna see Guzma throw a tantrum and order Team Skull to go all out. Deal with Team Skull for an episode, then finish the league.
 
I wouldn't have called BS. Rowlet was very clearly losing the match until that point. I was afraid we were going to get more 'Ash's Pokémon takes enough damage to equal an army of nukes at point blank range before lightly tapping its opponent with a couple of pebbles and winning' thing they like so much, so when Ash lost I was genuinely impressed that they were going that route.

It's not Hau losing necessarily that makes the episode terrible, it's the way he lost, that he was baited and switched in such a cruel and prolonged way that would only be deserving of just the biggest of jerks, a category which Hau falls far outside. If Hala had intervened as or even a second or two after Nanu had called it the episode would still have been bad but not irredeemably so, but the fact that Hau was given the chance to savour his win only to have it snatched from him by his own Grandfather is one of the most disgusting mean-spirited things I've ever seen from this show.

But how is that not Nanu's fault?

Everyone seems to be blaming Ash or even Hala, but why aren't people blaming Nanu for concluding the match before it was done.

Again I do agree it was unnecessary to prolong it, but even so, I don't know why the blame isn't on Nanu primarily.

Did Jun'ichi Fujisaku watch Steve Harvey's mistake or that other person's mistake (I forget who it was), and just had a thought of inspiration. Was Jun'ichi trying to be realistic, that it would've been improper for a referee to interrupt another referee, and Hala could've only objected after a few seconds of the call being made? I don't know the proper etiquette here, fictional or in context with the Japanese when the head referee disagrees with the call made by another referee.
 
I think we can all agree that the bad battle here is down to a not so good writer

P.S.

I'm being kind
He's a good enough writer when he's not writing battles, it's that they keep putting him on battles that's the issue. All I can say is that I hope Sword and Shield's head writer or whoever assigns episodes takes better care of episode reception and assigns plots based on which writer's strengths fit them best.
 
That fake loss'd have taken me if, you know, we didn't know Satoshi's battling Guzma in a few episodes... The way it dragged for so long was intentional to say the most, but how are they expected to trick people after having revealed the summaries for the next batch of episodes?

Anyway a pretty AG-era battle episode to me. Remember how in AG Satoshi's Pokemon'd take several hits to then knock the opponent out with a single move only? (Satoshi vs. Nagi, Oosubame vs Oosubame and Satoshi vs. Jindai, Pikachu vs Regice for eg)
 
If anything I like that they're not disqualifying a Pokémon because it falls asleep. It's technically a status condition. And you can still argue that the time at the Kanto League was different because Charizard actively refused to battle.

That said, just the beginning of Kaki and Mamane's battle had much better pacing than the entire Ash vs. Hala one, that's kinda weird. And the cliffhanger is okay IMO because it's showing how Mamane has the upper hand for now, even if we all know the Z-Move isn't going to get the job done.
 
  1. I think you all missed a very big thing about the future. This fake lose just confirms that Satoshi is going to win! HE'S GONNA BE THE CHAMPION!

Not in my eyes.

Also, just realised how weird it is that Satoshi's mom travelled to Alola to watch him in some random school play but isn't even bothering to watch him on TV competing in a league.
 
Ash will never be the Alola champion in my eyes, Hau was robbed. Ash doesn't deserve to win the League after this 'win'

Also, just realised how weird it is that Satoshi's mom travelled to Alola to watch him in some random school play but isn't even bothering to watch him on TV competing in a league.

Just another example of the terribly bad writing of this saga
 
Not in my eyes.

Also, just realised how weird it is that Satoshi's mom travelled to Alola to watch him in some random school play but isn't even bothering to watch him on TV competing in a league.
I’ve been wondering this since the league started but, is the Alola League even being broadcast outside of Alola? Heck, did Kukui even get permission from Mr. Goodshow to create this league in the first place?
 
You know, the more I look at this League, the more I think that Guzma may have a point and his goal of destroying the League, while definitely malicious and even villainous, may be the right thing, all things considered. This battle shows that the League has a long way to go before standing with the other legitimate Leagues. It's to the point where I wouldn't mind seeing Guzma win the League and utterly destroy it. Heck, maybe the Sun and Moon special(s) could be Kukui trying to set up another League, doing it the right way, but running into opposition because of the events of the current Alola League.
 
I have seen the battle a couple of times, and there’s no way that’s feather dance. It’s definitely substitute. Even Rotom said at the end of the battle that Rowlet’s feather dance wasn’t like Toucannon’s at all. Why would they include that part if both are supposedly the same attack.

I guess I’m the only one who like the fake out. I have watched all the Pokemon leagues since Kanto, and it’s always kind of predictable:
Ash beats Trainer #1, Trainer #2, Trainer #3 and Rival #1
Ash looses against Rival #2

I love how it took me by surprise, I didn’t know what to believe
 
It pains me that we've gone from this...

122368


...to this.

122369
 
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