Review BW050: Raimon Gym! Magnificent Electric Shock Battle!!

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

I hated this episode. Ash was being way to incompetent. His plan was to sweep the gym leader using a type advantage that is fucking character derailment Ash hasn't been that cocky since indigo especially since the fight with drake and the whole type advantages are everything thing. Not to mention expecting to sweep a gym leader who swept Bel is insulting to Bel. And the double attract part the writers didn't even take into account that Emolga could have been male there was no reason for Ash to be forgetful Ash should been asking the gym leader the same question. And Ash forgot that Emolga was flying? It used a flying move! I hated the moral at the end too "Battles are fought with Pokemon I can't do anything by myself" while that is technically true what Ash was doing at the start was a very good idea Ash shouldn't be reliant on any few Pokemon he should love his Pokemon but he should be a competent trainer with or without them. Not using Pikachu for one little gym battle is not a big deal and would be good for him. Pikachu suddenly being a brat about being used is bull shit just makes the rat look spoiled. We're supposed to think that Satoshi's flaw was that he was overthinking it when in reality he was just being a fucking dumbass.

But type advantage always works, just like in-game, or am I missing something.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

But type advantage always works, just like in-game, or am I missing something.

are you being sarcastic I don't know what you saying? Throughout the series Ash insisted that type advantages don't set a victory in stone especially in best wishes.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

are you being sarcastic I don't know what you saying? Throughout the series Ash insisted that type advantages don't set a victory in stone especially in best wishes.

You were saying as if type advantage doesn't let you win a battle, when it's the exact opposite, so I wanted to make a statement.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

You were saying as if type advantage doesn't let you win a battle, when it's the exact opposite, so I wanted to make a statement.

this was Ash's/the anime's belief not mine.

 

[Rocketshipper]

Saw this episode today, and I have pretty mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, I think this is probably the best gym episode in BW so far. The battle itself was well animated and exciting, and it didn;t feel like there was a lot of stock footage being reused, and Elesa was a really fun and appealing character. Definitly had some great comedic moments too. Loved Palpitoad getting a win, and Snivy getting some screen time even if she didn't win.

But the supposed lesson of the episode? ugh. I am in agreement that it was pretty awful and out of character. and the problem wasn't really the writing in the episode or what they had Ash do...it was the extremely stupid conclusion they try to bring us to that doesn;t even make sense. So Ash needs to not "over think" and "over stratigize" so much and just trust his pokemon in battle?? I can name three reasons why this lessons is totaly BS. 1. Ash has never had a problem of stratigizing before this episode. Remember him bringing Muk to his league battle? or how about coming up with the counter shield? And he;s great at stratigizing during battle too. Even this episode demonstrates that, with his "have pikachu attack the field" move, which allowed him to beat Elesa. This just smacks of the "Compressed Vice" trope, and its annoying (Compressed Vice - Television Tropes & Idioms). 2. Maybe I'm reading too much in to it, but I kind of feel like this episode's aesop smacks of anti-intellectualism. In the end, having a good stratigy and thinking things through isn't as important as just believing. Reminds me of that Magirangers episode where Hikaru-sensei criticized the red ranger Kai for never thinking and always rushing into every battle without a stratigy. And in the end Hikaru learns a lesson about thinking too much, and Kai is proven right *rolls eyes*. but most importantly of all 3. Ash's mistake in this episode *didn;t even have anything to do with overthinking*!!!!! His mistake wasn't stratigizing too much, his mistake was being an overconfident ass...again. His "stratigy" consisted entirely of "sweep her team with electric immune Palpitoad" and when it failed he freaked out because he hadn;t even planned beyond that. And then he goes and forgets Snivy's gender AND that its weak to flying moves. His problem wasn;t his stratigy, his problem was that he's an idiot!! If this episode had been a "Ash needs to learn to not be overconfident" type episode, then it would have been fine. Instead the writers go and have him blaim his problems on not being good at stratizing, which is just dumb.