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

How does that even matter? The outcome would've been identical either way... even in this scenario Ash did half of the literal heavy lifting...
Still counts for Go. Even if he didn't keep Eternatus that still opens the door for him to catch more Legendaries
 
I think the Galarian Yamask 1) proves that the Stow-on-Side Stadium is a Ghost-type Gym in the anime (i.e. not Bea's Gym), and 2) probably belonged to Allister.
Bea was referred to as a Gym Leader in one of her appearances though. But it's very much possible that Allister is a stand-in Gym Leader (similar to Visquez) while she's traveling the world and competing in the PWC.
 
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Behold the image of purity
 
Leon was hurt badly.
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The fights were too rushed. There should have been another episode. But I liked seeing Zacian and Zamazenta use their attacks.

No scene of Leon recovering annoyed me.
 
This was pretty cool but it honestly should have been a two-parter. The evolution of Lucario and Cinderace was nice but I feel it should have been way more impactful and emotional than it ended up being because the episode simply didn't have time to actually let the moment sink in. Also, Oleana's Milotic is officially the weakest Milotic in existence for being OHKO'd by a resisted attack. Seriously, I don't think a Pokemon has been done this dirty in a battle since Red's Jolteon in Origins. I did at least enjoy the fight between Ash and Rose, though: Rose was quite strategic, which was a pleasant surprise, and how Ash countered him by using his Pokemons' speed was also quite cool. (Sidenote: I'm gonna miss Riolu, if for no other reason that I personally like Riolu's design more than Lucario's. Ah, well.)

The real MVP of the episode was the tower where the final fight took place, though. That thing took a ridiculous amount of punishment without crumbling, including supporting Eternamax Eternatus's entire weight. Galar's got some seriously sturdy buildings, though I guess that makes sense when you're a region where your fauna can become gigantic at any moment's notice.

And Raihan's Duraludon finally used a Dragon-type move, yay! I would not have expected Breaking Swipe of all things, but still, I didn't like how in his debut he never used any moves of his actual specialty type, so I'm glad that was fixed here.

Overall, good episode but hella rushed.
 
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Sucks that Eternatus must spend the rest of its life in a Poke Ball. At least Go was the one to catch it

I would rather be sealed inside a safe box than be Goh's Pokemon.

Still counts for Go. Even if he didn't keep Eternatus that still opens the door for him to catch more Legendaries

Eternatus was a threat that cannot be allowed to be free since he is really evil so he had to be caught. I doubt he catches any other legendary cause it can cause massive destruction and they have other duties.

Leon was hurt badly.

Team Rocket took a dynamax cannon to the face.

Behold the image of purity

I puked a rainbow.
 
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I just want to speak about Rose and Oleana’s battles.

Lucario throwing Copperajah, and also Ferrothorn, was awesome as hell. I would honestly say that’s one of the most impressive things I’ve seen from any of the Pokemon in this series. This made me really excited for Ash’s battles coming up. Not only that, seeing Rose impressed and surprised by Ash shows just how strong he really is - the dude made the guy who constantly watches tournaments every year, actually shocked. Ash is one hell of a trainer, and this reflects that.

Cinderace’s moment to shine was pretty bad if I’m being honest. What the hell was Oleana doing? Why was Goh spamming the same move over and over? Why did Oleana wait for Goh to think and change tactics?
Come to think of it, I said before that Goh is still an inexperienced trainer, and I still believe this. Whilst knocking out Milotic and G-Max Garbodor is good for a beginner, he really lacks any form of diversity with his battling. It’s just spam kick rocks towards the opponent. I like how they addressed this, and hopefully we’ll see Goh come up with new tactics later down the line.

Finally, last thing I noticed - I’m assuming Bea actually isn’t the gym-leader at Stow-on-Side, and just holds the title of a Gym Leader (doesn’t act like one, as she constantly travels, like Ash not being a Battle Frontier Brain). I think this as that Galarian Yamask was probably a reference to Allister, and it appeared to be hovering over the gym at Stow-on-Side.
 
Sucks that Eternatus must spend the rest of its life in a Poke Ball. At least Go was the one to catch it
From what I’ve learnt about the anime, just because you have captured a Pokemon, does not mean it will obey you. Excadrill, Charizard, Iris’ Dragonite, Mamoswine, etc.
Actually, now that I think about it, Chairman Rose’s plan entirely hinged on Eternatus obeying him when it was captured, despite there being countless amount of times Pokemon haven’t obeyed trainers...Rose is stupid in this arc.
 
Obviously, this arc could've used another episode (though I won't say build up, as 42-43, which were the best episodes of the arc, did that well enough, and 44 added to that, though was the worst episode) I think with showing more Gou/Sonia, and Raihan, a couple Gym Leaders fighting Gigantimax Pokemon, but this episode did balance much of what it did decently, in particular Eternatus, and Ash's battle with Rose. It did better than the games did (which I expected, minimum), and Rose escaped, which means we could see him again. 7/10 arc
 
I just want to speak about Rose and Oleana’s battles.

Lucario throwing Copperajah, and also Ferrothorn, was awesome as hell. I would honestly say that’s one of the most impressive things I’ve seen from any of the Pokemon in this series. This made me really excited for Ash’s battles coming up. Not only that, seeing Rose impressed and surprised by Ash shows just how strong he really is - the dude made the guy who constantly watches tournaments every year, actually shocked. Ash is one hell of a trainer, and this reflects that.

Cinderace’s moment to shine was pretty bad if I’m being honest. What the hell was Oleana doing? Why was Goh spamming the same move over and over? Why did Oleana wait for Goh to think and change tactics?
Come to think of it, I said before that Goh is still an inexperienced trainer, and I still believe this. Whilst knocking out Milotic and G-Max Garbodor is good for a beginner, he really lacks any form of diversity with his battling. It’s just spam kick rocks towards the opponent. I like how they addressed this, and hopefully we’ll see Goh come up with new tactics later down the line.

Finally, last thing I noticed - I’m assuming Bea actually isn’t the gym-leader at Stow-on-Side, and just holds the title of a Gym Leader (doesn’t act like one, as she constantly travels, like Ash not being a Battle Frontier Brain). I think this as that Galarian Yamask was probably a reference to Allister, and it appeared to be hovering over the gym at Stow-on-Side.
Just to let you know, Goh actually did tell Raboot to use Quick Attack when Ember wasn't working, but Raboot didn't listen cause it was so determined to make it's Ember attack more powerful. trying to prove it can win with it's specialty. It's kinda like when Scorbunny first evolved. So Raboot evolved from mastering it's specialty.
 
I can’t be the only one who’s glad this arc wouldn’t be a long one. I get one more episode but any more episodes than that is just extending the game arc. I’m happy that we got DD over with because we now have an anime exclusive arc upcoming. Chairman Rose will definitely come back and i’m so ready for it. Now the next galar arcs will be a lot more exciting for me because they won’t be as predictable as this one. Mewtwo episode sounds absolutely great and I can’t wait for next week. Goh is ofc given plot armour as usual and I think Ash’s evolution was handled pretty well with the amount of stuff crammed into the episode. God damn ash’s lucario is strong as hell and cinderace has a lit personality now. I also like how Leon will actually respect ash when he comes back to galar instead of being the kid trying to beat him like every other contender. He’ll see ash as a rival and it’ll make the final battle much much more impactful. Only thing really bad in this episode is raboot evolution and raihan.
 
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