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

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?
I’d rate this situation worse purely because Ash-Greninja happened at the end of the series. We’ve been seeing Riolu overexposure ever since episode 30 or something. And they plan on doing that for more than 70 episodes *shudder*.

I never understood why was everyone so intent on Ash getting a Lucario...
 
I actually don't see how the episode sets up anything for Rose, especially as his organization ends looking rather pitiful. He turns himself to the authorities in the games, but you don't actually see that. That said, they could have him meet Peony if they wanted, except his absence from the flashback implies otherwise.

I feel bad for Eternatus. The poor thing should return to wherever it came from rather than being sealed, which is just asking for more trouble in another millenium or so.
 
Rose’s fate wasn’t given literally even a single frame as far as I saw... You don’t do that to your antagonist unless you want them to return or something. And Gou needs to market Gigantamax Cinderace.
 
This seriously felt rushed. The battles against Chairman Rose and Oleana were okay, and it was great to see Raboot and Riolu evolve. The problem is there wasn't nearly enough time for the battle with Eternatus. I expected so much more from the Eternatus battle, but there just wasn't enough time for them to make the most of it.
 
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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.
I don't get it either he has fucking Gengar and Dragonite ffs and he uses a Riolu against a freaking giant elephant. Even in the Kalos the other pokemons had their moments.
 
I don't get it either he has fucking Gengar and Dragonite ffs and he uses a Riolu against a freaking giant elephant. Even in the Kalos the other pokemons had their moments.
Dragonite is understandable, it got knocked out by Eternatus to hype up the threat. While I’m happy Gengar and Fetch’d didn’t just show up to get jobbed, an explanation would be nice.
 
Dragonite is understandable, it got knocked out by Eternatus to hype up the threat. While I’m happy Gengar and Fetch’d didn’t just show up to get jobbed, an explanation would be nice.

I also remember the Kalos mons got knocked around earlier by Lysandre's mons before the giant rock showed up.
 
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?
Not really surprised that the rest of Ash's team didn't help out against the giant rock seeing as they got owned by Lysandre's Pokemon. Also, about that, why didn't Alain use the rest of his team? He has five other Pokemon. If I were him, I would have turned the fight from a seven VS two to a twelve vs two.
 
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Did anyone else think it was ridiculous how Raboot survived at least three Hydro Pumps, only for one Pyro Ball to knock out Milotic in one hit? I'm not terribly surprised that it happened, since the anime loves to utilize plot armor and the story had to move on, but I thought that was pretty silly regardless.
 
Did anyone else think it was ridiculous how Raboot survived at least three Hydro Pumps, only for one Pyro Ball to knock out Milotic in one hit? I'm not terribly surprised that it happened, since the anime loves to utilize plot armor and the story had to move on, but I thought that was pretty silly regardless.
Those were Water Pulses, not Hydro Pumps. And Raboot had also used a lot of Embers earlier.
 
Sucks that Eternatus must spend the rest of its life in a Poke Ball. At least Go was the one to catch it
 
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