Review BW010: Rival Battle! The Strong Opponent Pururill!

[Dogasu]

BW 010 "Rival Battle! Strong Opponent Pururiru!"
Satoshi and his friends contine their journey to the Shippou Gym. When they drop by a nearby town, they discover that it has a Battle Club! Satoshi wastes no time searching for an opponent, and before long he discovers that Shooty is there as well! Satoshi quickly registers and asks Don George, over the Live Caster, to give him the chance to have a five-on-five match with Shooty! The battle starts with Satoshi choosing Mijumaru while Shooty chooses the "pigeon pokemon," Hatohboh. Mijumaru uses its shell to perform a number of creative attacks, but Shooty's Hatohboh has a few tricks up its sleeve as well! Who will be the winner of this match?

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/showthread.php?p=2431532&highlight=Don+George#post2431532

I called it first

And shame on you Satoshi...

 

[Yoshi-san]

So Satoshi lost, mainly for not knowing about Pururiru's ability at the end. The Janovy vs Tsutarja was funny because it looked so kinky!

 

[Masurao]

How many Pokemon did Shooti end up having to use before Puru beat Ash? 2-3?

 

[Piplup]

LOL there are lots of Don Geroge, like Joy and Jenny...
Shuuti is too good for a beginner and Pikachu is ridiculously weak for all it went through
I won't complain and go crazy over it, but it is ridiculous - they should've just made it so Ash barely uses Pikachu early on and only start to use it a lot later in Isshu

 

[Grave-E]

Janovy with hearts in it's eyes while getting whipped was so hillariously awkward, and it was the best moment in the episode because of it.

Pururil was also a pretty cool pokemon to watch in battle. Seems to be a bit of a cocky sort, and not because it's the male variant either! As far as Shooty's 'mon team goes, it's the most interesting by far. Hell, it even made Water Pulse it's own, what with engulfing Mamepato and taking it out washing machine style. I look forward to seeing how Ash plans to take it out in the future.

Glad Hatobo sounded suitably pigeon like. It too got a good fight in, but it wasn't really doing anything we haven't seen a hundred bird type pokemon accomplish before.

As for Shooty? This episode didn't really do anything to improve my opinion of him. I just want Ash to beat him because his losses against the guy are annoying, not because the character gives off the kind of 'Yeah, Ash HAS to flatten this guy in a battle! Prove him wrong!' vibe Paul did. Maybe I am jumping the gun a bit, but hey. First impressions count.

 

[CommanderPigg]

Pros:
+ The battle animation was great; The new protect is pretty snazzy...but the water pulse(?) that Pururiru uses is down right nightmare fuel. He drowns his opponents before slamming them into the wall *shudders*
+ The music that plays in the beginning of Ash and Shooti's battle is my favorite; then the dramatic sounding one with the Spanish guitars were cool.
+ Pikachu tossing Hatoobo.
+ TR's new bish agent.
+ Tsutarja vs. Janoby. Ash uses MERO MERO...and it WORKS. Fuck it, I'm shipping this so bad. The fact that Tsutarja VINE WHIPS Janoby while he's still in lovu-lovu really "enhances" the scene.
+ Iris getting enraged at Ash for being a n00b XD


Cons:
- Protect spams are so unfair XD
- Cursed body...did I miss anything, what exactly were the ill effects? I didn't see them clearly (or maybe it's too early for me and I need to rewatch that scene)
- 1HKOs
- Ugh:

As for Shooty? This episode didn't really do anything to improve my opinion of him. I just want Ash to beat him because his losses against the guy are annoying, not because the character gives off the kind of 'Yeah, Ash HAS to flatten this guy in a battle! Prove him wrong!' vibe Paul did. Maybe I am jumping the gun a bit, but hey. First impressions count.

Yeah, that...I found Paul's first battle to be a bit more interesting (even if it's just by the fact that he STALKED ASH all the way to the pokemon center to battle him...it makes it a bit less one sided). I suppose Shooti got a bit more dialogue in this episode, and I can't judge fully until I see a translated version...but this rivalry seems so forced. All the tension is pretty shallow; Ash has that same "I HAVE TO BEAT HIM >" attitude he has with Paul, but it seems so unjustified. He isn't really offended by any of Shooti's lame hick town retorts...maybe his rivalry with Paul prepared him for this? I dunno...

But Shooti seemed really pissed when Iris called him a child (lol); I don't know if that has any convoluted meaning behind it or anything, I'm just trying to take what I can get ;_;

I WANT to like Shooti, I really do. So I will give him as many chances as he needs. But so far, he falls short. Sorry

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Shooty's pokemon is ridiculously strong. Sorry but it's true...

 

[dman_dustin]

Yeah just copying and pasting, so ignore any stupid comments made by me.

For matches like this I'll describe the battle (hopefully from now on).

Mijumaru VS Hatohboh (going with how it's pronounced)- Very cheap to give Hatohboh Super Luck, seriously very cheap. But then again Paul's Honchkrow literally OHKO a Dragonite with super luck.

Pokabu vs Hatohboh- Dang Pokabu needs some new moves, nitro charge, or heat stamp, ember just "sucks" again apparently super luck in the anime is the equivalent to OHKOing a Pokemon, although I guess that makes sense, considering it would be hard to gauge critical hits in terms of anime.

Pikachu vs Hatohboh- Finally Hatohboh goes down, loved the volt tackle and Shooti couldn't get Hatohboh to recover. Nice. Alright Pikachu see you later until the Electric gym.

Pikachu vs Janovy- I call cheap, if only because apparently Janovy "side stepped" and delivered a powerful hit. Then again Grass Mixer looks painful.

Tsutarja vs Janovy- Well those who said it's capture was pointless can now shove a foot down their throat. Ash ordered Mero-Mero like a pro, and Tsutarja kicked Janovy's butt. Though I do hope it doesn't mean Tsutarja won't evolve.

Mamepato vs Pururiru- Cheap, absolutely cheap. I hate protect, because it makes me think a Pokemon trainer can't use another strategy to win. This is the same reason why I was perfectly fine with Pikachu slaughtering Regice, because seriously rest, Regice wouldn't have survived a direct to direct head on battle with Pikachu. HOWEVER that's not why I'm really calling this particular battle cheap. What was cheap is unlike it's evolved form, Mamepato had to lose to one water pulse, so thus the failed air cutter failed because of protect. I would've accepted two hits, but one, that's just insulting.

Tsutarja vs Pururiru- Leaf Storm? Well damn I would've lost that bet, although leaf storm was my second guess. I was just so sure it was Grass Oath, but I guess they had to reanimate Leaf Storm to look far more epic than Torterra's Leaf Storm. Though I can already see the complaining. As Tsutarja has leaf storm and leaf blade. Oh well hey Ash used attract again, only Pururiru was somehow able to do what none of the other Pokemon did and that's dodge it, really cheap there writers, Ash told Mamepato used quick attack and it failed, why did Pururiru manage to dodge it. And I don't think ghost type was mentioned so I doubt their going to pull a status move immunity, I think Dento said it had something to with Pururiru being fast or high leveled. But I doubt the writers would give ghost types immunity to status moves, since you know type immunity to status moves don't exist in the games UNLESS it was changed in 5th gen (which is cheap, since there are lots of normal type status moves). Anyway as I was saying about the battle, rather cheap that Pururiru dodged attract or whatever it did to avoid it but hey Evil Eye was awesome, I mean holy crap that's a finishing move right there. Over all this battle was "fair" though I have to point out Puruiru (darn it I need its English name, and NAO) surviving those grass attacks was quite unfair.

Overall it was better than I thought, though truthfully I do hate how Mamepato, Pokabu and Mijumaru lost so easily to basically OHKO's.

Team Rocket, well good luck with your mission that doesn't involve Ash and co....... Not that I don't mind their change but their storyline seems rather jarring. It's like we're watching two shows at once, only one show gets more focus than the other. It is pretty jarring since it really doesn't involve Ash and Co at all. Ash could be in Pallet Town playing with his Pokemon and Team Rocket could be the last gym's city terrorizing it. Just weird. I just hope wherever this storyline is leading just doesn't end in disappointment. With all this focus it better have an awesome explosion end to it.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Mijumaru VS Hatohboh (going with how it's pronounced)- Very cheap to give Hatohboh Super Luck, seriously very cheap. But then again Paul's Honchkrow literally OHKO a Dragonite with super luck.

Shinji was an experienced trainer, Shooty is not. Honchkrow was experienced as well, Hatooboo in show...like...less than 10 episodes?

 

[dman_dustin]

Shinji was an experienced trainer, Shooty is not. Honchkrow was experienced as well, Hatooboo in show...like...less than 10 episodes?

Yeah but given the realistic nature of the anime, super luck must be the equivalent to One hit knock outs, given there is no normal way to gauge critical hits.

 

[Yoshi-san]

After this episode I REALLY hope that Ash's Pokemon would learn new moves (ESPECIALLY Pokabu). I know it's just 10 episodes in but seriously, Ash has 5 Pokemon and only 3 of them has a diverse movepool.

 

[dman_dustin]

After this episode I REALLY hope that Ash's Pokemon would learn new moves (ESPECIALLY Pokabu). I know it's just 10 episodes in but seriously, Ash has 5 Pokemon and only 3 of them has a diverse movepool.

Um, which 3? 2 Pokemon have 4 moves (Pikachu and Tsutarja). Mamepato and Mijumaru have 3 moves. And Pokabu only has one, I mean two.

Granted Mijumaru does know tackle (aside from water gun and shell blade), but tackle is stronger than quick attack in this generation so I can't see it being Mamepato since Quick attack is pretty boring (when almost all of Ash's Pokemon learn it, on top of Pikachu knowing it as well).

 

[Yoshi-san]

Um, which 3? 2 Pokemon have 4 moves (Pikachu and Tsutarja). Mamepato and Mijumaru have 3 moves. And Pokabu only has one, I mean two.

Granted Mijumaru does know tackle (aside from water gun and shell blade), but tackle is stronger than quick attack in this generation so I can't see it being Mamepato since Quick attack is pretty boring (when almost all of Ash's Pokemon learn it, on top of Pikachu knowing it as well).

I may be exaggerating but meant Pika, Tsutar and Mame. Miju does have 3 attacks but I feel it fall short somewhat. Pokabu is just bad. In this episode it was just "Ember!" and "Ember again!". That's not really good.

 

[Musashi]

I'm also not a fan of Shooti. I think you guys summed up the battle pretty well. I hope whatever the writers have planned for him is more than this, because I do not care at all about this rivalry. The only thing I was interested in until now was Tsutarka using attract on Shooti's Janovy. And now that that's out the way there's really nothing holding my interest.

The Rocket stuff was really epic this week. I loved that 360 degree shot in that first scene of there's, then the awesome stuff when the new guy (I think the credits said Flint) showed up. Blowing up the truck and flying away on jet packs? Sweet. Can't wait to see where this plot is going. I have a feeling we'll be seeing the new guy in a lot of episodes.

But I agree 100% with what dman was saying about them. The Rocket scenes just feel more jarring by the week because of how separate the plot lines are becoming. I'm assuming eventually the Rockets and Satoshi will merge back together?

 

[Rhyperior]

LOL at 'there is a Don George that runs a Battle Club in every city in the Isshu region. '

Angry at Ash losing yet again.

 

[pokemon_master2]

Someone knows what exactly Shooti said when Ash showed him the badge? Did he say how many badges he got?

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Are Shooty and Dent knows each other?

Are they in Shippou City or some anime-only town?

 

[Daren]

Outcome is no surprise, but annoying. Shooti is like Paul with zero justification for his power, it seems. It's pretty much impossible for me not to find him severely annoying.

 

[Dogasu]

So, a couple of random things:

- Shooty already has the badge from Shippou City.

- Shooty wanted to have a full six on six battle, but Satoshi said he couldn't because he only had five.

- Dent recognizes Shooty from when he went to the Sanyou City Gym, and vice versa. Apparently, Shooty fought against Pod, but I can't remember whether or not Dent said Shooty's Tsutarja was a Janovy by that point.

- At the end of the battle, Shooty says that Pikachu and Tsutarja are "so-so" but that the rest of his pokemon are pathetic.

The Rocket scenes just feel more jarring by the week because of how separate the plot lines are becoming. I'm assuming eventually the Rockets and Satoshi will merge back together?

You would think so. They haven't crossed paths with Satoshi since BW 006, and from what we know about the Ishizumai episode so far, it doesn't look like they'll be interacting with him in that episode either. If that ends up being the case, then that means we will have gone over a month without the two even crossing paths.

I assume they'll have a confrontation with him at the Resort Desert, whenever that is. Maybe mid-December / early January?