Review AG146: Esper VS Ghost! Midnight Duel!?

[Fig]

*yawns* No real surprise.

 

[FireEmblemPride]

Great, just great. =/

 

[Unregistered]

The big question on my mind is....why did they leave Saffron? isn't the Battle Arena in Saffron City?? If they really need to do these filler why not put them AFTER the battle Arean episode?

The Battle Arena was apparently "The other side of Saffron City" not IN saffron city

 

[Jo-Jo]

-__- Drat. *pokes Zak*

 

[FabuVinny]

The big question on my mind is....why did they leave Saffron? isn't the Battle Arena in Saffron City?? If they really need to do these filler why not put them AFTER the battle Arean episode?

Just as the Battle Factory was near Cerulean City, the Arena is only near Saffron City.

As for this episode, it seems strange not to include Sabrina. I mean, in the game the Gym is right next door to the location of the previous episode.

Why are the ghosts afraid of Meowth, though? Normal attacks can't affect them!

It looks like Wobbuffet gets a good part, anyway.

 

[fruitsmoothierevenge]

I thought the exact same thing about Meowth's claws, Fabuvinny. ^^;;

Yeah, battle facilities must be in the suburbs or something. They're in the commercial district instead of the business district. Hah.

I wish they would bring back some of the characters like Sabrina. That would be cool to see. Does anyone know if the next battle place is on the other side of Saffron? Maybe if they pass through town they'll see her.

Aw, does Wobbuffet get enamoured by that Gardevoir? Cute! ^_^

 

[Cybersai]

^ You mean Kirlia. Gardevoir isn't in the preview.

And woo, Wobbufett X Kirlia shipping! That looks hot!

 

[Caseydia]

Anyone else think Ash might actually beat Sabrina this time?

I've always wanted to see Ash beat the Kanto Gym leaders that he never really beat (Erika being another one where I want to see Ash "beat her")

And the ghost in the title should definitely mean Haunter. Does this mean that Ash will control Haunter in battle for the episode? God I hope so!

Why we he battle Sabrina now, for nothing? I can see if he was going to repeat the pokemon league, but that is such old news.

 

[FabuVinny]

He didn't exactly win the badge conventionally, though. He was losing and Haunter made Sabrina laugh.

What is that green orb in the preview?

 

[Cybersai]

Ash battled Wattson again after he already beat him. Battling Sabrina and Erika again would have been good ideas, but alas, the writers don't feel the same.

 

[Pie]

Am I the only one who doesn't think going back to old gyms would be interesting, regardless of how he won the badges? I mean, what would be the point? It'd have as much impact on the Battle Frontier plot as these fillers, you know. And we already know the characters, and we know Ash would win because he's awesome and the writers wouldn't have him rechallenge someone just to have him lose again after all this time, Ash would get nothing for it, and the only thing that would be gained out of the whole thing is that some fans would get nostalgia. Woo-friggin-hoo. Quite frankly, I like a good portion of these fillers, and I would prefer them to seeing Ash rechallenge someone he's already dealt with to a battle that we already know he's going to win.

On another note, I can't wait to see if there's some Wobby on Kirlia action as the preview suggests.

 

[Misty]

the only thing that would be gained out of the whole thing is that some fans would get nostalgia

For some reason, nostalgia is very, very big for a lot of Pokemon fans...

 

[Cybersai]

I like battles. I like battles more than random fillers. I like Gym battles. Not to metion it would be great character development as we haven't really seen Sabrina's new personality. And of course, he never beat Sabrina or Erika in a formal Gym battle, so that would be fun to see.

And we already know the characters, and we know Ash would win because he's awesome and the writers wouldn't have him rechallenge someone just to have him lose again after all this time,

Ash lost to Wattson when he went to challenge him again. There's no guarentee that Ash would beat Sabrina in a fair match.

I don't want Ash going to Gyms he already beat (like Lt. Surge or Koga etc.), but ones where he never finished the match with would make excellent episodes.

 

[Zak]

I'd put Sabrina under the ones that he didn't fairly beat.

~Zak

 

[Pie]

I think there's almost a 99.9% chance they'd have him win, because otherwise people would start complaining again that "He still hasn't won his badges fair and square!"

And battles are nice, but when we already pretty much know the players, their battle style, and what Pokémon they tend to use...I don't know, it just seems like too much of a rehash for my tastes.

And I've notice Pokémon fans are really big on nostalgia. I wonder why that is?

 

[FireEmblemPride]

It's because the show has really taken a nosedive in the last few years. With the Kanto season specifically, everytime gyms were within one episode of each other, Ash never properly beat the gym leaders. Ash is, quite literally, right where he was so many years ago and he's within distance of meeting old friends (Sabrina, Erika, Primeape, Haunter). It would also be a good way to solve old plots like how Sabrina turned out, etc.

 

[Cybersai]

People are nostalgic because that's the region they watched when they were younger, thus they look back at it fondly.

It has nothing to do with the quality of the show, as AG has been just as good as Kanto has, unless you have the old Kanto bias thing going on.

 

[FireEmblemPride]

I speak from a ratings point of view.

 

[Misty]

The thing with nostalgia is that we all remember a time when Pokemon was great for itself - everyone loved it because it was truly enjoyable. Sure, there have always been haters, but back then nobody really listened to them.

Nowadays Pokemon is becoming a soulless cash cow which Nintendo panders pretty much exclusively to the little kids - we, the mature Pokemon fans, are completely forgotten.

 

[fruitsmoothierevenge]

I'm gonna have to agree and disagree with you.

I think nostalgia is happening because yes, what we started off with was Kanto, and if Ash is back there, we want to see the old characters. We want to think that they've grow and changed, and all that's left is seeing what's become of them. Everyone's brought up the Sabrina thing; I know I'd love to see if she's getting along with her parents, still raising psychic types, et cetera.

On the soulless cash cow thing...
I may get flogged for this, but I think that 4Kids is still looking out for mature fans. Sure, the games are being marketed mainly for kids, but the show is attempting to be entertaining. They've expanded their vocabulary, shoved in some innuendo (which some people find amusing but others disagree with), and still manage to punch out good two-liners on occasion. I think that 4Kids realizes that there are some fans that have been with them since the beginning, and are at least making a go at keeping them.