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Review JN018: Satoshi Participates! The Pokémon World Championships!!

What do you know, this was great!

All three battles were greatly animated, choreographed and thought out, and I like how each went down. Pikachu vs Raichu had a... surprising outcome, but that’s okay. That way nobody will be too disappointed, and they were even enough. And, heavens above, we actually got a Raichu that wasn’t a prick! Cocky, but he didn’t antagonize Pikachu beyond some light teasing and I love that.

Gengar vs Raichu went as well as you’d expect, and gave a solid grasp on the ghost’s potential. That being said, I’m a little miffed a gym leader would try to use Slam on a ghost...

Gengar vs Electrode was pretty tense and inventive. Overwhelming the opponent like that is a pretty vicious tactic and Gengar getting a taste of its medicine from a fellow sucker puncher was neat to show its weak points. Also, battling Electrode.

Pikachu vs Electrode was Whitney’s Miltank all over again, but this time with a solo strategy to pull off. According to Bulbapedia, that was Aftermath by the end, which is surprising (and less annoying than if Electroweb endured Explosion).

Callbacks and continuity are finally being addressed, even in little bits like Pikachu rooting himself to avoid electricity and Raichu’s attack blowing out the windows (speaking of which, this show loves trouncing Hypno’s nowadays, damn).

Go’s Spearow part was annoying and I don’t quite like that Raboot’s crisis is apparently just teenage angst. But the interest in Ash’s battling may lead us somewhere with this, we shall see.

All in all, very good episode with great battles and a great way to follow the story
 
I like that Actually flashbacked to and talked about Ash vs Lt Surge, although It is even more reason why it seems odd Lt Surge couldn’t just be here...

So did this episode imply Brock, Koga and Giovanni are still gym leaders, orwas the silhouette scene just referencing the battles that ash had all them years ago - because he didn’t battle Giovanni and we know they’re actually way more than eight gyms in the region.

I like that Raichu was actually taken out by Gengar instead of Pikachu- and it was cool actually seeing an Electrode battle.

Good episode.
 
Was expecting Lt. Surge to just get a passing mention and nothing else. Instead, not only did he appear in a few flashback frames, but Pisces and the other Vermillion Gym staff actually recognized Ash because of his previous battle versus Lt. Surge! Not gonna lie, that kinda gave me the chills. After all, when was the last time a COTD recognized Ash because of his past achievements? Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. Although Lt. Surge himself was absent during the events of this episode, all of the references to him definitely made up for it. I hope we get more continuity-filled episodes like this in the future.

That battle was absolutely amazing. Really loved how dynamic the battle was, with every Pokemon using their moves in creative/unconventional ways. There wasn't any bad animation to distract from the action, either. The battle nearly ending in a draw because of Electrode's Selfdestruct/Explosion/Aftermath made me chuckle a bit. Once again, Pikachu showed that dropping Electro Ball for Electroweb was a great choice; both it and Iron Tail are basically Swiss Army knives. I'll need subs to properly understand everything that happened in the battle (especially the parts involving Electrode), but overall, I think this is the best battle in the entire series so far.

Seems like Raboot isn't completely disobedient, it's mostly just going through that stereotypical edgy/rebellious phase. There's also quite a bit of foreshadowing towards Raboot's interest in battling. I wonder what the writers plan to do with it in the future?
 
To all those who were defending the writers not referencing or perverting continuity, let me ask you this: this episode was chock full of untampered continuity with multiple flashbacks and references to the point that Ash is somewhat of a legend in the Vermillion Gym, did its inclusion harm the episode in any way? Were children confused or alienated?

If anything then it only added to the quality of the episode and made it more watchable/enjoyable, the amount of continuity that was included made up for most issues I had before the episode's release and I'm pretty sure the subs will make me mellow out on the Surge issue if what @Egakor said is true.
 
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Ash wants to battle Lt. Surge again.
Lt. Surge is training to get stronger. Pisces said she will tell Lt. Surge about Ash and Lt. Surge might be itching to have a rematch with Ash.

Oh good, with any luck we may see Surge reappear and challenge Ash in the PWC

This episode certainly gave us a nice little taste of the PWC, hopefully future episodes will feature more intense battles
 
A Lt. Surge vs Ash rematch means Pikachu vs Raichu is most likely gonna happen again, which seems kinda redundant considering that this episode already happened.
Or Surge could have learned from his previous defeat. As famous as Ash is there, he's probably the one that inspired Surge to leave the Gym to focus on training, so I could see him posing a serious challenge if they ever meet again.
 
A Lt. Surge vs Ash rematch means Pikachu vs Raichu is most likely gonna happen again, which seems kinda redundant considering that this episode already happened.
Well, Iris’ gym battle against Drayden didn’t focus on Excadrill vs Haxorus as we all expected, so they could take a similar route here.
 
This was a good episode. Really loved the Continuity. Shows that Episodes in Kanto can be good if they are written well. Also shows that previews are a good indicator of what an Episode will be like since the Preview for this one topped all of the other PM Episodes. Next Episode seems a bit boring ngl.
 
I didnt understand Ash points was 10,000 i think then he went down to 3,000
so he needs to reach 999? im confused
Also will Ash challenge kanto gyms leaders again?
Gou raboot personality definitely different to scorbunny
 
I didnt understand Ash points was 10,000 i think then he went down to 3,000
so he needs to reach 999? im confused
Those are rankings. The smaller the number, the higher the ranking.
Also will Ash challenge kanto gyms leaders again?
He said he wanted to battle Lt. Surge again, so that might happen.
 
Admittedly Gengar versus Eletrode was good and I thought Pikachu versus Raichu wasn't that bad, but the rest of the episode was effing awful. The Vermilion gym looks like crap now, they've apparently made Giovanni a gym leader again and Raboot got over its spat with Go way too easily (not that it's a bad thing per se, it's just what the hell was the point of that 'foreshadowing' with him walking away darkly in the last episode?!).

And what was the deal with showing Surge in a montage if the animators completely whitewashed him like they were now doing a Hollywood movie and changed his facial structure to boot? I suppose I should be relieved that they kept his original clothing (no I'm not because that still ain't enough) and that he doesn't look exactly like his Let's Go self but damn, how is this good continuity when the changes contradict the original Electric Shock Showdown episode?
 
I suppose I should be grateful they acknowledged that Surge and the other Kanto GLs exist...

If they have more episodes like this, please let them be the actual GLs so Ash can WIN his badges from them this time...
(Except Misty & Brock. I am SO over them after their guest stints in SM)
 
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Admittedly Gengar versus Eletrode was good and I thought Pikachu versus Raichu wasn't that bad, but the rest of the episode was effing awful. The Vermilion gym looks like crap now, they've apparently made Giovanni a gym leader again and Raboot got over its spat with Go way too easily (not that it's a bad thing per se, it's just what the hell was the point of that 'foreshadowing' with him walking away darkly in the last episode?!).

And what was the deal with showing Surge in a montage if the animators completely whitewashed him like they were now doing a Hollywood movie and changed his facial structure to boot? I suppose I should be relieved that they kept his original clothing (no I'm not because that still ain't enough) and that he doesn't look exactly like his Let's Go self but damn, how is this good continuity when the changes contradict the original Electric Shock Showdown episode?
Or you know it's because of the change in art style he looks different and so does Ash's face in the flashback.

I'm pretty sure the sillohutes were just to show of the original Kanto gym leaders but in their latest design of course which people recognise.
 
Raboot got over its spat with Go way too easily (not that it's a bad thing per se, it's just what the hell was the point of that 'foreshadowing' with him walking away darkly in the last episode?!).
It's not over yet. They hardly interacted in today's episode. Raboot isn't necessarily disobedient, just more distant to Go now. See how it ran away ahead of him when chasing Spearow.
 
Admittedly Gengar versus Eletrode was good and I thought Pikachu versus Raichu wasn't that bad, but the rest of the episode was effing awful. The Vermilion gym looks like crap now, they've apparently made Giovanni a gym leader again and Raboot got over its spat with Go way too easily (not that it's a bad thing per se, it's just what the hell was the point of that 'foreshadowing' with him walking away darkly in the last episode?!).

And what was the deal with showing Surge in a montage if the animators completely whitewashed him like they were now doing a Hollywood movie and changed his facial structure to boot? I suppose I should be relieved that they kept his original clothing (no I'm not because that still ain't enough) and that he doesn't look exactly like his Let's Go self but damn, how is this good continuity when the changes contradict the original Electric Shock Showdown episode?

It doesn't contradict anything. Surge has just canonically always looked like that now. It's a retcon.
 
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