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Review JN045: Sword & Shield IV - The Ultimate Sword and Shield

Easily the best episode that concluded the darkest day arc and how sad that Rose get away at the end. Wondering if he going to take the crown legendaries in the future to plan another evil scheme again. Also, both Riolu and Raboot evolve at the same time before next episode confront Mewtwo. It is a huge surprised.

Overall rating: A
 
This was rushed but good.

I'm glad that Rose escaped so we will have another scheme soon.

Eternatus is in a safe so we still cannot discard a future return.

Disapointed by the Rockets role in this episode but coming from this series this is not new.
 
Well... that was underwhelming and rushed.

To start with, TRio were handled poorly and it seems the only place they had in this arc was to show Meowth's G-Max form. Although Leon didn't get as much screentime as expected, I guess I'm fine with it instead of being bored by seeing the same "struggles against Eternatus" over and over, and hey, him being taken out by Eternatus while trying to protect the boys makes much more sense. Raihan's segment being brushed aside easily was also expected.

The initial battles of Ash and Goh started out decently but ended on post-evolution DEM one-shotting, but at least in Ash's case was handled relatively better because it had some substance and strategy and didn't make either Pikachu or Riolu look helpless, unlike the one against Milotic where Raboot couldn't even scratch it and took a severe beating from several super-effective STABs.

The end battle against Eternatus was terribly paced for a climax battle with a far too quick resolution, there was so much animation recycling (hence continuing the visual department woes). And it was silly how a normal Pokeball worked on Eternatus (yes, it was severely weakened by the Wolves, but still) where an Ultra ball failed. Screw this nonsense. At least the plot strands with Rose are relatively open for him returning as an antagonist, and he didn't get a cheap Faba-esque redemption.

EDIT: And before someone gloats, Eternatus' capture was done by both trainers and not just any one, and it was sealed away so it doesn't belong to either trainer anymore.
 
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Goh and Cinderace.png

And...is Goh the first main character to have caught a Legendary (and not Mythical, like Melmetal) Pokémon?
 
HA! I WAS RIGHT!! GOH CAUGHT ETERNATUS!!!

Ok, with the gloating out of the way, let's discuss the episode.

-Aside from the ending, most of this episode was unsatisfying for me. All of these events happened WAY too fast for me. I would have enjoyed this episode if it was split into 3 episodes instead of being combined into one. All of the stakes feel artificial when the plotlines move soo fast.

-The Rose battle was the best battle of this episode and the Oleana one was just terrible. I wonder if they'll continue exploring the Lucario aura connection in more depth after this episode.

-Also, Lucario is now officially OP. As a Riolu it tied with Grapploct (the supposed ace of Bea, who's probably Hyper-class level) and as a Lucario it easily sweeped Rose's Pokemon (remember Rose is almost champion level).

-It was nice to see an Ultra Ball being used, but it would have been better to see Eternatus break out of a Master Ball just to up the threat level.

-Eternatus being put on a bus is probably the best thing for it story-wise right now. I do wish this arc happened later so this wouldn't seem soo unsatisfying.

-What happened to Rose I wonder? I wonder if he'll reappear later in the series?
 
I thought this was good. Certainly not as good as the other parts and it indeed suffers from being rushed (TR for example but I'm not surprised considering this series could not care less about them) but I still enjoyed this regardless. Ash's parts are especially good and to think he now finally has a Lucario is super crazy.

We once thought he'd never get one and now look where we are.

EmslAAhXIAAshjk.jpg
This is blessed!
 
Oh by the way Leon got hurt!!! Somebody must have reached Nirvana with that.

By the way. Eternatus is kinda weak isn't he? I mean in the games it is one vs four, but in this he got destroyed really quick.

Now Top Men are working on him. TOP... MEN.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdjf4lMmiiI
 
Oh by the way Leon got hurt!!! Somebody must have reached Nirvana with that.

By the way. Eternatus is kinda weak isn't he? I mean in the games it is one vs four, but in this he got destroyed really quick.

Now Top Men are working on him. TOP... MEN.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdjf4lMmiiI

He got destroyed just because they needed to fit everything in this episode.
I loved this one but felt somewhat rushed in my opinion. Would rather have a 5th episode or a special 40 minutes one
 
Easily the best episode that concluded the darkest day arc and how sad that Rose get away at the end. Wondering if he going to take the crown legendaries in the future to plan another evil scheme again. Also, both Riolu and Raboot evolve at the same time before next episode confront Mewtwo. It is a huge surprised.

Overall rating: A

At least that means there'll be more in store for Rose than the actual games, which had him turning himself over to the authorities.


And...is Goh the first main character to have caught a Legendary (and not Mythical, like Melmetal) Pokémon?

Technically, yes. But he did have Ash's help throwing and I heard Goh won't actually own it (think Brock catching a Tauros for Ash).
 
EDIT: And before someone gloats, Eternatus' capture was done by both trainers and not just any one, and it was sealed away so it doesn't belong to either trainer anymore.
Actually, no. It was done with one of Goh's Poké Balls and the capture was registered by his Rotom Phone. Ash just helped to throw the Ball because it was so heavy. But it's true that he doesn't technically own it now.
 
I’m pretty sure the anime does an EXTREMELY well job of showing that no one specific person "caught" Eternatus in the formal sense. It was supposed to be a team effort and it had to be SOMEONE'S Pokeball. It just ended up being Gou's. Anyone who thinks it belonged to a singlular person missed the point of the segment. The implication of it being both Ash and Gou's accomplishment couldn’t be any clearer.

If "Gou can catch legendaries now he got Eternatus" is ever presented as a viable argument I'll lose faith in humanity.

And... my prediction of Raboot and Riolu evolving at the exact same time came true! *useless drumroll*
This is one of the few times where Ash's situation is more Deux ex machina-like than Gou's. It’s because he uses his resources of a single Pokémon with a talent for kicking better than Ash uses his own resources.My one simple question explains why this episode is "Meh" and not "Excellent" like all the others.

Where are all the other Pokémon?
This is a question I had at least once every 5 minutes while watching the episode. Gou, whose entire purpose in life right now is catching Pokémon, is in the biggest crisis of all time with a single Pokémon. They literally reminded us he had a Flygon and other Pokémon which he could have used.

Ash is the even more guilty party. WHERE THE F ARE GENGAR AND FARFETCH'D? Why didn’t he use another Pokémon when Pikachu got hit? Why is he even in a situation where a baby Pokémon has to shield him against 2 Pokémon when he has a fully evolved powerhouse just lying around?

And Leon... Why is he facing the most powerful Pokémon of all time with a SINGLE Pokémon?

And it’s safe to say that it gets more and more jarring each time. The pinnacle of ridiculous rule of cool marketing is when Pikachu, Lucario and Cinderace spam the same trio of moves twice or thrice. On the Pokémon that brought around the Black Night.

That’s not to say that the episode didn’t have its positives, but I’ll probably cover them later. Formal reviews aren’t my style and it’s going to become a wall of text xD.
 
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And it’s safe to say that it gets more and more jarring each time. The pinnacle of ridiculous rule of cool marketing is when Pikachu, Lucario and Cinderace spam the same trio of moves twice or thrice. On the Pokémon that brought around the Black Night.
It's a brutal reminder of the time when Pikachu, Greninja, and Charizard were suddenly the only Pokémon Ash and Alain owned when facing the... ugh, the Giant Rock. I guess we're really going back there again?

RIP to Dragonite, Gengar, and Galarfetch'd. You guys had a good run but it's all over now that you're in the same team as a bloody Lucario. Teammates of that species almost always get completely shafted because practically every writer loves this aura doge too much. Why can't all Lucario be like Kukui's thoroughly unimportant one?
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
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