Review JN118: Satoshi Goes into Battle! VS Daigo!!

[isrrael120]

well the battle started and ended as I thought nothing special but it was good! the first round was no big deal!
although it is good to see more cameos and interactions!
then there are breaks i can accept you anyway The M8 was not very exciting!

 

[Adelon]

So with that, it’s official that Alain’s time here was a total waste of a return. He came back, got curbstomped, watched the remainder of round 1 and then just leaves without actually adding anything with his presence. What a waste.

I mean, not to be rude but what more do you people want Iris and Alain to do? Their chapters have closed and it's time to focus on the trainers that Ash has yet to fight. If they were staying they'd probably just be taking screentime they no longer really need.

 

[Sai]

This was really good and probably my favorite of all the first rounds. Dracovish going down quick makes sense against a champion but I like that it got 1 hit on Metagross. Gengar against both Aggron and Cradily was good, even if it lost the second I love how it put up a fight. Cradily healing itself was nice too.

Metagross gets taken out by 3 strikes of Z move and one Iron Tail, and it's fitting Pikachu takes out its first champion. Also for those seemingly complaining about the lack of dodging in the previous two battles, there was plenty here, so I don't understand why people brought that up especially since the Diantha match was based on strategy.

Ash's first Champion victory was well deserved.

 

[Soniman]

But he took hit after hit before Satoshi FINALLY brought out his Z-Ring (I'd have Gigantamaxed personally but whatevs).

G-Max Pikachu plays against all of normal Pikachu’s strengths (small, quick, maneuverable etc) which is probably why it was never used again

 

[Sai]

Uonoragon was done dirty here, being taken down in a single hit. Like, I appreciate the writers wanted Daigo to seem like he was going to be a difficult opponent for Satoshi to beat but man, let the poor fish dragon take a couple of more hits before being KOed. I supposed I could say it was evened out because Bossgodora was taken out almost as ridiculously easy, being defeated by nothing more than burn damage and a move it resist.

Dracovish losing to a Champion easily should happen, the way it resisted so many attacks in the Drasna battle especially was why that battle was poorly done. Here he got 1 hit on Metagross. I enjoyed Dracovish going down fast while Gengar did fairly well.

Surprised you didn't like this one, it had all the conventional Ash tactics like telling Pikachu to run on Cradily's rocks, trap its tentacles in a net and finish it off. That's straight out of an old AG and DP style battle. Gengar also did fairly well and as mentioned I'm glad the giant beam clash didn't end in a double KO like I was fearing.

Even the Z move didn't KO Metagross as it only got hit by 3 lights, which was nice to see Ash finish it off. I'd arguably say this was Ash's best battle in awhile.

 

[LeonMagnus]

I felt the Z-Move should have been a more satisfying result just so it didn’t look like Metagross was a glass canon. I would have liked it more if it only dodged one but it dodged into another one, got “caught” and proceeded to be hit by the additional ones and reflected Ash learning to use them like Cradily’s vines. Them being completely controllable looked a bit janky and cheesy.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

G-Max Pikachu plays against all of normal Pikachu’s strengths (small, quick, maneuverable etc) which is probably why it was never used again

If Ash uses one gimmick per battle, it's likely he'll use Dynamax against Leon, where I think it's more likely he'll use Pikachu as his finisher instead of Gengar.

 

[Jez]

Something is bothering me… Jessie doesn’t have a crush on Steven Stone anymore?!!! Did the writers forget that detail?

 

[puddleths]

I probably shouldn't bother with this, but man that was boring. They really don't do anything particularly creative with Pokémon besides Pikachu.

Question for people who were against reserves because the JN team needs this time to shine: Did this episode deliver at all on that front?

Maybe Ash vs Cynthia will be better? At least we only have to wait... a month.

 

[Blob]

Pikachu getting two wins was lame. At least Gengar got a win, but it should have been two TBH, given its bad win/lose ratio.

 

[Soniman]

I probably shouldn't bother with this, but man that was boring. They really don't do anything particularly creative with Pokémon besides Pikachu.

Question for people who were against reserves because the JN team needs this time to shine: Did this episode deliver at all on that front?

Maybe Ash vs Cynthia will be better? At least we only have to wait... a month.

Clip show > Chloe > break > Leon vs Diantha > then Ash vs Cynthia

More then a month actually what a pain lol

 

[Sai]

I probably shouldn't bother with this, but man that was boring. They really don't do anything particularly creative with Pokémon besides Pikachu.

Question for people who were against reserves because the JN team needs this time to shine: Did this episode deliver at all on that front?

Maybe Ash vs Cynthia will be better? At least we only have to wait... a month.

Dracovish was unneeded here for sure, but Gengar did exactly what it should of. Also the fact that Gengar lasted as long against Cradily as it did, and didn't double KO when the huge beam struggle was happening, and had Ash and Steven's pokemon dodging attacks was nice.

 

[Handy Man]

I feel bad for anyone who has to face the wrath of Pikashunium-Z. There’s no way to practice against it, since Ash is the only trainer in the world who can use it. Not to mention that Z-Moves seem to be rare outside of Alola in general. Even though this was the first time it didn’t OHKO on impact, all it took was one extra, not-very-effective, Iron Tail to wrap things up. 10 Million Thunderbolt has to be one of the strongest moves in the entire anime universe, especially considering that Volkner’s Electivire could not take in the electricity at all.

It really feels like, if it weren’t for that Z-Move, Ash would’ve lost. Despite Pikachu having a lot of matchup experience against Metagross, this was its first time fighting a Mega Metagross. This same Mega Metagross also almost took down Alain’s Charizard back in Mega Evolution Special II. It really felt like Steven was not ready to deal with such a one-of-a-kind attack, as he tried to dodge and challenge it and it backfired on him. This shows that even Steven, the champion of Hoenn, has much to learn about Z-Moves in general. The fact that Ash was able to surprise Steven with a specialized attack, and win on top of that, writes home that Ash has earned a lot of experience in general over these last 25 years of the show.

I was actually tearing up a little bit at the end. Our boy Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town is finally strong enough to take down Champions in general. Now that he’s beaten both Iris and Steven, and is on his way towards facing off against Cynthia, the days of Ash ever going on another gym quest are officially over. Even if the Scarlet and Violet series still uses Ash as the main character, Journeys really feels like the end of Ash’s character as we know him. Just the fact that we’ve been getting cameos from every prior series is insane. I also got goosebumps when Aim to Be a Pokémon Master played. I feel like Journeys has turned into something emotional for long time fans, and I’m very excited to see how it all ends. This has been a story 25 years in the making, and I’m grateful that I got to be a part of the experience from the beginning.

 

[VetProf]

I'll need subs to confirm, but it seems like Gou acknowledged Fishious Rend's increased damage when the user moves first. This implies that Metagross took a decent chunk of damage from Dracovish's boosted Fishious Rend, making its fall to Pikachu later much more believable. Steven was also visually concerned by that attack and immediately switched out his Metagross, so I think this is a fair assumption.

With that said, I do think the animators could've done a better job showing how much damage Dracovish did with its attacks, both against Metagross and Aggron. A lot of people seem to think that Mega Metagross was frail due to falling after a couple of Pikachu's attacks, so I don't think Dracovish's Fishious Rend earlier on left a lasting impression on them. Aggron also seemed kinda frail since, without the damage from Dracovish's Dragon Rush, the only damage it would've taken would be from Gengar's Dazzling Gleam and some burn damage. I understand that Dracovish fell down so quickly to create tension by showing how strong Steven is, but it would've felt much less disappointing if the animators put more emphasis on the few attacks that it successfully landed.

 

[SamurottMan]

Lance vs Diantha remains the best battle. The fact that it wasn't even in the original plan shows how half assed the approach is in the writers' room.

Didn't expect a break mid tournament, but I guess they don't want to have battle after battle. I wonder if the League continues after Chloe's episodes or they have more break episodes with Ash training.

Sad to see Iris go (her and Wooloo were adorable), but we'll probably see a cameo of her during Ash's next match(es)

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

The repurposed original OP as the soundtrack during the last doubt was one hell of a touch, I have to say.

Otherwise… eh? This wasn’t quite as hype as I hoped.

 

[L-05308]

Pikachu getting two wins was lame. At least Gengar got a win, but it should have been two TBH, given its bad win/lose ratio.

Hate to ‘um actually’ but Gengar’s win ratio in the World Coronation series is higher than Sirfetch’d and Dracovish’s - higher than Dragonite’s if you include the battle with Paul

Of course that has all come as a result of the last 30 episodes

 

[Kurolegacy]

I mean, not to be rude but what more do you people want Iris and Alain to do? Their chapters have closed and it's time to focus on the trainers that Ash has yet to fight. If they were staying they'd probably just be taking screentime they no longer really need.

Iris is a former main character and both had been part of the Master’s 8. I fail to see the issue with them sticking around for a tournament that only has 2 more rounds to it to watch and cheer Ash on especially when they earned their way there. Hell, every League since BW has had Ash’s rivals stick around to watch so why not for something that’s not only supposed to be so much of a bigger thing but is all about celebrating the franchise?

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Iris is a former main character and both had been part of the Master’s 8. I fail to see the issue with them sticking around for a tournament that only has 2 more rounds to it to watch and cheer Ash on especially when they earned their way there. Hell, every League since BW has had Ash’s rivals stick around to watch so why not for something that’s not only supposed to be so much of a bigger thing but is all about celebrating the franchise?

I think Iris is definitely coming back for Ash's semifinal and (because we all know there's going to be one, he's definitely beating Cynthia,) final battle.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I didn't think the battle was that great honestly. I mean it didn't really start to improve until Pikachu came out. Dracovish went down way too quickly and I don't like that it seems Aggron was taken down by taking so much damage from burns rather than direct attacks from Gengar. For Ash facing a Champion this strong, it could have been so much better. I seriously question what happened to the quality of battles in this series. The cameos were nice, but you mean to tell me characters like Katie, Morrison, and Tyson got cameos before May? Here we go though. Its Ash vs. Champion Cynthia.