Review BW071: Steadily Progressing Donamite! Crimgan VS Kirikizan!!

[Trainer Gabriel]

It would appear that Bianca's fawning over muscles and the like is the running gag for this tournament. Now that's a lot more entertaining than chasing a Zorua everywhere.

I know I'm just going to repeat what many have already said, but I am really enjoying this tournament overall. If the writers are intentionally trying to make up for he last one, they're succeeding quite well so far.

Moving on past the first battle that has already been discussed enough, I do kind of wish that the battle between the knight in shining armor and the dragon lasted a little longer. I just feel it would have been more interesting if Georgia had sweated a bit to show how determined she is to defeat any and all Dragon-types that she comes across. Not to mention the title...

Still a decent episode to make for a good tournament so far.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Ever since the before watching the Sky tower episode I asked my self why am I still watching the show but I still watched and I didn't seemed to rage at any episode yet. Maybe it is why brain natural response against not watching pokemon or maybe these last few episodes were just really good. Even with Sylvester and Dino this tournament seems a lot better. I will say that the Iris v Cabenet battle did piss me because I really wanted Iris to lose and the battle dragged on WAAAY to long but it was good battle and I think if I didn't hate Iris and her Giselle attitude I think I would have enjoyed. The Vegeta thing of only I can beat you with both Langley and Cab is getting pretty old. The episode was good even if I didn't like the characters.

 

[Idon'tcare]

Kibago imitating Iris here is so cute-

Spoiler

He does it all the time, but this just stood out.

I just love Dent acknowledging that Cabernet has gotten stronger, Cabernet has gotten a lot better at battling since we last saw her. I'm really looking forward to a re-match between those two seeing as Cabernet may now able be to put up a fight against Dent. Their rivalry is heading towards being no longer one-sided or it already is.

 

[Hitomi]

Well, I've got mixed feelings toward this episode.

The battles were great, I really didn't mind those at all, except for the Iris/Cabernet battle. Excadrill and Iris were both epic, and so was Dewott, but Cabernet... Ugh... I don't know why, but I just couldn't bring myself to like her in this episode, even though I'm usually a big fan of her. I wasn't at all impressed with what she did, I mean, Water Pulse in the hole? Woah. How clever... No, it almost felt a bit obvious to do, and still some of my friends went ga-ga over it. I'd say that as soon a fan sees just a little hint of a favorite character doing some kind of ''strategy'' they get all hyper over it, when it's really nothing at all. That's at least my opinion.

Cabernet is a novice trainer. She's been on her journey for a relatively short time. So for her, not showing the slightest hint of thinking things through in her first battle(s?) against Dento to suddenly using combos and defensive strategies instead of full-on physical attacks was quite a remarkable change for her. Was the "Water Pulse in the hole" original? Not really, it's more or less been done before.

But it worked.

If it was such an obvious strategy, Iris should have been ready for it. But she was taken aback, and so was Doryuzuu, as evidenced in its amusing facial expressions when the Water Pulse forced it out of the ground.

As for Revenge... No... just no. Letting Dewott take damage just to make that move more powerful? Once again, woah. Well, I've never really liked those kind of moves which you'd require your opponent to attack first, as that'd indictate to your pokémon being slow, but obviously it's an other thing in the anime, but I still can't bring myself to like a move like that. I'd also not want to risk using that move in case of an unexpected crit., but once again, I guess that's not very relevant in the anime.

Games =/= anime. Revenge was quite clever, especially against Doryuzuu. Obviously Cabernet knew she was entering a tourney with a bunch of powerful physical Pokémon and she planned accordingly (working on defending with the shell and Revenge), even at the risk of neglecting her Sommelier studies. And again, it took Iris entirely by surprise. That's why Cabernet impressed me in this episode. She stayed calm and thought ahead, proving to me that she's working hard, probably harder than anyone else in this show right now (except maybe Kenyan, whose training montages we've been exposed to a few times now). I think if she battled like this against Dento, she'd give him a run for his money. She's improved leaps and bounds over her first appearance, and Dento knows it too.

As for Iris and her Excadrill, they were quite good. I loved the awesome animation we got to see with all its awesome moves, and how Iris kept on going all out with Excarill's offensive moves, not wanting to let Dewott rest for a second. I simply loved how Excadrill kept on spamming with Metal Claw against Dewott, and how it well blocked Ice Beam, and attacking those ''shells'' (I'm sorry, I don't remember the name) with Drill Run was quite a smart move of Iris, as they are the source to Dewott's Shell Blade. That combination of Dig and Drill Run was quite awesome too, I liked it.

This is exactly why I didn't like Iris/Doryuzuu in this episode. I'm tired of seeing Iris using nothing but powerful, head-on attacks. Doryuzuu is known for its high attack power and weaker defenses, so you'd think Iris would try working on some ways to cover those weak points. Instead, she focuses entirely on brute strength with remarkably little strategy. It was nothing different than the last five times we've seen Doryuzuu battle, which made it quite boring. The only thing she tried differently was Drill Run/Dig combo she (I would imagine) picked up from Satoshi's gym battle with Yacon.

 

[Ishida]

What did Masaomi say to Stephan when he won it sounded like he just repeated his name and walked away.

 

[Chosen of Mana]

Honestly, I'm just happy Cabs lasted more than a minute.

 

[Sheep]

I'm actually very satisfied with Burgundy's battle. She's definitely getting better and better, which makes me happy even though she didn't win this time around. :)

The rest of the episode was pretty good, though very few scenes stick out sadly (mostly Bianca that makes it really memorable). Masaomi is honestly creepy though, here's hoping he grows on me eventually lol.