Review BW070: The Donamite Gets Underway! Zuruggu VS Yanakkie!!

[Adil]

This is most likely just a fun coincidence, but there is a trainer with a Simisage (and Simipour and Simisear) on Route 7, just outside Mistralton. Just a little piece of useless trivia.

Same for BW069. A bunch of wild Litwick and Elgyem appear in the Celestial Tower. They do this almost everytime.

 

[Likeitornot.]

I have to confess, I had quite a bit of fun when watching this.

- Shooti's Conkeldurr just creeps me out every so slightly with that smile of his when he shoves himself in front of Ash. Gosh, what would have done if Shooti didn't call him back... probably nothing, but I wouldn't like to know...
- Cabernet was a delight. Her pride, her outraged expression, trying to put a strain on her fury towards Dento; too adorable and comical. If anything, these tournaments really make me a Sommeliershipper, because Cabermet/Dento's interactions were on par.
- Langley was very amusing too, and I partically loved it when she teased Cabernet. Pity Iris isn't using her Axew for her; oh well, at least her first opponent has a Dragon. That'll be fun to watch.
- I love their use of the plasma screen to replay parts of Kenyan/Edmound's battle. That was a pleasant touch.
- Akkie was great, with his command of Simisage, with the comb. I couldn't help but smile when his hair messed up and flopped downwards in defeat.
- Oh, I felt sorry for Scraggy when his knee was injured and he remained stationary, with that Simisage kicking him. That was kind of painful to watch, but a nice use of Simisage's brutish nature.
- The swift budge of Throh past Sawk was great- really conveyed a pent-up tough testerone-filled animosity. Ooh, that battle needs to be a treat, now.
- I thought Kenyan looked adorable in his raincoat. Reminded me of Paddington Bear, I just don't know why.
- Kenyan versus Edmound was pleasant and all; that Sesmitoad is one strong toad. Edmound's smile when he sees the rain and knows that Sesmitoad's Swift swim will be activiated is kind of disturbing.
- In Ash's and Akkie's battle, I quite liked when the amazement etches on Shooti's face when Scraggy uses Focus Blast. It's just nice to see something like that.


All in all, it was a pleasant episode, and, I'm looking forward to Iris and Cabernet's battle, despite the fact that I know the result.

 

[MizuTaipu]

This episode was alright. I honestly preferred the Don Battle's opening episode since everything seemed more exciting in that one.
A few points about this ep:
-Edmond is, like, epitome of emo kids everywhere.
-Satoshi vs Akkey was O.K., but Zuruggu learning Focus Blast was a bit deux ex machina-y for my tastes.
-Megumi Hayashibara~~! I'm sorry, but Flora's voice was adorable.^^
-More Dent/Cabernet adorableness is always a plus.
-The Nageki/Dageki rivalry seemed kinda forced to me.
-Let's hope Bel's obsession over Nageki and Dageki is toned down compared to last tournament...

 

[H.M]

I have to say, this episode was pretty good! (And not because one of my favorite Unova Pokemon was in it, lol) I also chucked a few times at some points.

-Belle was just her awesome bubbly self.<3 The new fascination with bulgey muscles is a weird turn from her obsessing over cute and fluffy things like Zorua. Just don't run that obsession into the ground like last time, Belle!
-I'm starting to like Stephan more and more.
-I sorta wish Akkie wasn't a one-off character, but beggars can't be choosers! Also, no mention about him and his sibs being famous, I guess that was just magazine fluff. His hair flopping over when he lost: Not the biggest tub of hair gel could keep it up after that loss.
-Simisage's voice was surprising, since I expected something a bit more deep and gravelly. But then again, I thought Simisear in the Japanese version laughed like a parrot. As someone else on a certain other Pokemon forum said, I sorta hope Simipour gets a counter-intuitive masculine voice. It would be ~hilarious~.
-Axew fanboying over Scraggy= adorkable <3

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

I liked how Bianca rammed Ash and Iris this time. And who knew Bianca fangirled over Pokemon with big muscles?

I can see that the final match-up of which we are all familiar has been foreshadowed to make it clear that that must be at least partly the whole purpose of this tournament. And I'm glad to know that now.

This tournament has serious potential to be epic. So I really hope the writers didn't screwed this one up too. *keeps fingers crossed*

 

[Bandit Keith]

My 2 Cents:
Good pennies!
Scraggy learning something
Sawk is now Stephan's siggy(Sorry Zebstrika)!
Seed Bomb NOT IN A MOVIE! Shadow Claw on a NON-GLAMEOW!
MONKEY SIBLINGS!
Scraggy winning
Scraggy
Scraggy
Scraggy
Scraggy
Sawk Vs. Throh! It's About Time!


Bad Pennies:
Edmond's Design=L with Glasses
Akkie's commanding system=Clark w/a Switchcomb
Scraggy's moveset is identical to the Meowth's Scrafty Tactics! Scrafty Now...
TRIP DID NOT TRADE HIS GURDURR FOR ASH'S BOLDORE AND BACK!
SCRAGGY CAN'T USE HIS BALLS?! SHOCKER!
Cilan dull...zzzzzzzz
Iris fighting Burgundy=!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! HAVE THE GANG FIGHT THEIR OWN RIVALS IN THE NEXT DONFIGHT, OR I'M SUING DON GEORGE.
Flora was not needed.
Freddy O'dull as s**t
Bianca needs to assume her in-game role of staying with Professor Juniper in Nuvema Town, so she'll never be in a major arc/Act like a Dumb Blonde.
The Vitamin prize was missing PP UP, PP Max, and Rare Candy.

Overall:Better than the Club Battle, but still 1.1122334/10, for reasons stated above.

 

[Hellion]

In both the case of headbutt and leer, Zuruggu has always been fully able to use and perform the attacks, he needed to strengthen himself through training, which he did. As he battled more, his attacks became more effective.

Axew can get scared by almost anything that he sees. The wild Cottonee from BW029 was also timid and scared of everything that he saw.

Neither case is actually true. Kibago was shown before that battle to be quite outgoing and ready to meet Pokémon, he even was getting angry at Pikachu and quarreling with it in BW008. Kibago equally wasn't scared by Yanappu. The only instances where we saw Kibago be scared by a Pokémon prior to that battle was Pendra. That Zuruggu gets the same effect using leer speaks to the success of the move. Same with Monmen, it wasn't actually scared to battle the other Monmen, nor was it scared of Zuruggu until Zuruggu used leer.

Scraggy's Leer attack didn't scare Simisage at the start of the battle in this episode.

Hmm... Zuruggu used leer against Akkie, Yanakkie's trainer, not Yanakkie himself.

how this pokemon progressed with mastering its Headbutt attack.

It wasn't poweful against Pikachu because Zuruggu was newly hatched, but the headbutt attack still hurt Mamepato, Mijumaru and Kibago in BW017. In the case of both move, he didn't have any problems using them, they were just weak because he was newly born, and he needed to strengthen himself through training, which... shock, and the results can be seen in the Monment episode, and later even more so in the Zuruzukin episode, where he's able to take part in a real battle.

Scraggy grew up from an inept battler who cannot use his attacks against powerful opponents to a powerful pokemon capable of defeating fully evolved pokemon in the blink of an eye.

53 episodes, which included numerous training sessions, battles where it was shown to be able to tie with a baby Pokémon to go on to defeat first underevolved wild Pokémon (Monmen) then fully evolved wild Pokémon (Vulgina)... that's not "in the blink of an eye" by any stretch of the imagination, there's a clear learning curve here which is exactly what one would expect from a well written storyline.

Scraggy suddenly learns new attacks

Attack, singular. He only learned one attack here mid-battle, which again depending on the attack, on how its done and how it's written, isn't necessarily cheap. It can be pulled off well, has been so many times in the show and this is, in my opinion, one of those times

1. In this battle, Zuruggu was shown to be able to hold his own against Yanakkie, not only protecting himself from an attack with his skin but actually hurting his opponent and countering its most powerful attack. He uses Focus Blast to counter an attack he's already countered with his existing attacks.
2. He's seen Zuruzukin use the attack before, it's not like it totally came out of nowhere.
3. Etymologically, it makes sense. The Japanese name of the attack contains the word kiai which refers to the experession of one's internal strength and fighting spirit which is Zuruggu's main character trait: he wants to fight, he never gives up and that inner strength, expressed outwardly, is a kiai, which is what is shown here.
4. It's earned as Zuruggu has grown in power and battle prowess since its debut and him learning a new move was the organic next step.
5. It's not a perfect move, there's still work to do with it and going by the summaries, it's something that might cost him down the line against Nageki.

I don't see cheapness here at all. I just see a really well written battle involving a well written Pokémon.

 

[Ampharos King]

Neither case is actually true. Kibago was shown before that battle to be quite outgoing and ready to meet Pokémon, he even was getting angry at Pikachu and quarreling with it in BW008. Kibago equally wasn't scared by Yanappu. The only instances where we saw Kibago be scared by a Pokémon prior to that battle was Pendra. That Zuruggu gets the same effect using leer speaks to the success of the move. Same with Monmen, it wasn't actually scared to battle the other Monmen, nor was it scared of Zuruggu until Zuruggu used leer.

Yet Axew can be scared by nearly anything that may seem intimidating, even if he may be outgoing with the main characters' pokemon. The wild Scolipede, the wild Bouffalant, the wild Simisear, the wild Garbodor, and the Kami trio pokemon are just a few of the examples when Axew has been intimidated by other pokemon.

Although it may be true that the wild Cottonee wasn't really "scared" of the other pokemon, it was still inexperienced in battle. We also had no indication that Leer was working in both cases, because both pokemon were hardly used in enough battles and could get frightened easily. We know what an effective Leer looks like in this series after it was used in this episode, and Scraggy didn't seem to be doing any of those things when it used Leer prior to learning Focus Blast.

Hmm... Zuruggu used leer against Akkie, Yanakkie's trainer, not Yanakkie himself.

Fine, you got me there, but the animation of Scraggy's Leer here suggested that the move was not used to its full potential. Compare this to the animation of that move when it was used on Akkie's Simisage after Scraggy learns Focus Blast.

It wasn't powerful against Pikachu because Zuruggu was newly hatched, but the headbutt attack still hurt Mamepato, Mijumaru and Kibago in BW017. In the case of both move, he didn't have any problems using them, they were just weak because he was newly born, and he needed to strengthen himself through training, which... shock, and the results can be seen in the Monment episode, and later even more so in the Zuruzukin episode, where he's able to take part in a real battle.

We really had no indication that those attacks were effective against Pidove or Oshawott. Pidove was merely trying to be friendly against Scraggy, and only ran away in fear, not necessarily because it was hurt. Oshawott was only forced back by Scraggy's Headbutt due to the force of the collision when Oshawott was balancing on one leg. Oshawott didn't appear to be hurt in that scene, either. Axew really is the only main character's pokemon that has been hurt by Scraggy's Headbutt prior to this episode. Axew was almost as inexperienced in battle as Scraggy was (as you have mentioned about Pansage lowering its attacking strength by 20% so it can fight against Axew), so that could be excused.

53 episodes, which included numerous training sessions, battles where it was shown to be able to tie with a baby Pokémon to go on to defeat first underevolved wild Pokémon (Monmen) then fully evolved wild Pokémon (Vulgina)... that's not "in the blink of an eye" by any stretch of the imagination, there's a clear learning curve here which is exactly what one would expect from a well written storyline.

Most of Scraggy's "numerous training sessions" were against ONE pokemon, who was almost as inexperienced in battle as he was. In some of these battles, Scraggy was only able to knock out Axew because the latter's Dragon Rage exploded as a result of Scraggy making contact with the move. Scraggy tied with Axew in three battles because of this Dragon Rage explosion, but he had actually lost in BW029 because Axew mastered its Dragon Rage as a beam attack.

Scraggy only made as much progress with his Headbutt attack as he did when he fought against opponents like Axew and Cottonee, and all of these battles were not even resolved due to any improvements in Scraggy's Headbutt attack. Scraggy really started to act as a competent battler when he fought against that wild Mandibuzz in BW043, where he has been able to learn a new attack very quickly just because a wild pokemon showed him how to use it.

There was absolutely no indication in this match that either Headbutt or Leer were fully mastered. Leer wasn't even used, and Scraggy only managed to destroy that boulder with his head because he was already free falling at a downward accelerating rate.

There wasn't really any indication in BW055 that Scraggy mastered those attacks, either. Scraggy simply used its then-only effective attacking move, Hi-Jump Kick, in its battle against Axew at the start of that episode.

Also, it hasn't been 53 episodes of constant improvement. Scraggy was really only used in a practice or official battle for EIGHT of these episodes. Scraggy made as much progress with both his Headbutt and his Leer attacks in BW055 as he had in BW020 or even BW027. In all of these cases, Scraggy was pitted against a non-evolved pokemon that had very little battle experience to begin with, so Scraggy's weak Headbutt and Leer attacks can be effective against them.

Neither of these attacks worked on fully evolved pokemon or even on human characters until this episode, coincidentally, after Scraggy learns a new attack in battle.

1. In this battle, Zuruggu was shown to be able to hold his own against Yanakkie, not only protecting himself from an attack with his skin but actually hurting his opponent and countering its most powerful attack. He uses Focus Blast to counter an attack he's already countered with his existing attacks.

This battle doesn't justify any constant improvement through training considering that Scraggy's only on-screen training partners were pokemon with very little battle experience. In the two battles that he won against fully evolved pokemon, Scraggy didn't really use his Headbutt or Leer attacks effectively at the start of the match. Scraggy merely focused on guarding himself with his skin (which he had done since his debut episode), and by using the only attacking move that has been guaranteed to damage fully evolved pokemon then (Hi Jump Kick).

Headbutt and Leer were simply mastered at that moment so that Scraggy can be a powerful battler by using those attacks, and not needing to rely on a risky attack like Hi-Jump Kick.

2. He's seen Zuruzukin use the attack before, it's not like it totally came out of nowhere.

True, and there have been moments in all of the series where a main character's pokemon has learned a new attack out of encouragement from its trainer, and not necessarily as an indication of progress or training.

3. Etymologically, it makes sense. The Japanese name of the attack contains the word kiai which refers to the experession of one's internal strength and fighting spirit which is Zuruggu's main character trait: he wants to fight, he never gives up and that inner strength, expressed outwardly, is a kiai, which is what is shown here.

I understand that much. Scraggy learning Focus Blast was obviously related to Ash telling to focus on winning.

4. It's earned as Zuruggu has grown in power and battle prowess since its debut and him learning a new move was the organic next step.

But I am not really complaining that Scraggy learned a new attack in the battle, but rather that Scraggy completely mastered two of its older attacks at the same time without any real justification that this should have been done. It was a lazy move by the writers.

5. It's not a perfect move, there's still work to do with it and going by the summaries, it's something that might cost him down the line against Nageki.

Which is a good sign, as it will indicate that Scraggy needs to work on its new move. It feels like a cop out that the writers had decided to approach Scraggy mastering its Headbutt and Leer attacks in such a lazy manner, so I hope they won't take the same approach in Scraggy mastering Focus Blast.

I don't see cheapness here at all. I just see a really well written battle involving a well written Pokémon.

I am not doubting that this battle was well written, but I still felt it was ridiculous that Scraggy mastered two of its attacks even though he had a limited amount of battle experience. Perhaps my harsh criticism of this has been stemmed from watching the DP series, which focused on pokemon that learned new attacks either because they trained very hard or because these pokemon had enough battle experience to justify these attacks being learned in the first place.

Scraggy really didn't have either of those conditions fulfilled when it learned Hi Jump Kick (it trained very briefly with that wild Scrafty) and Focus Blast (by merely Ash encouraging the pokemon to never give up during an important battle). That's why I am more harsh on Scraggy than some of the group's pokemon in this series that were consistently used in battle.

 

[Ishida]

Shoot I kind of want that Edmond guy to reappear... he looked boring but he seemed kind of interesting to me.

 

[Hellion]

The wild Scolipede, the wild Bouffalant, the wild Simisear, the wild Garbodor, and the Kami trio pokemon are just a few of the examples when Axew has been intimidated by other pokemon.

All fully evolved, very strong pokémon. That Zuruggu gets the same result through leer says that the move was already mastered since Kibago isn't scared of Zuruggu except when it uses leer. The same goes for Monmen.

We know what an effective Leer looks like in this series after it was used in this episode

We knew before this episode how leer look because Zuruzukin used it and it looked exactly like Zuruggu has used it since its debut. The leer used in this episode against Yanakkie was the exception rather than the norm in terms of animation.

There was absolutely no indication in this match that either Headbutt or Leer were fully mastered. Leer wasn't even used, and Scraggy only managed to destroy that boulder with his head because he was already free falling at a downward accelerating rate.

Again, in his debut epiode, Headbutt hurts three Pokémon, all that was ever needed to do was strengthen it through training which was done. Compare and contrast Kibago and Zuruggu's match in BW020 with later sparring matches between the two and they've become stronger and faster. Headbutt knocked out Monmen at the beginning of its episode (and it was shown to be able to take a lot of the other Monmen's attack) and in the Zuruzukin episode, upon being called out, Zuruggu tries to use it on Meowth but ends up making a crater on the ground.

Both those attacks were mastered in Zuruggu's debut episode, and got stronger as Zuruggu himself got stronger. He never had any real issue using them.

 

[G50]

The battles in this episode were very good. Zuruggu was so cute when he used Leer on Akkie instead of Yanakki. Bianca as usual fell in love with another Pokemon, this time she went nuts over Dageki and his big muscles. I couldn't stop laughing at everybody's reaction to Zuruggu's failed Focus Blast the 2nd time. If I heard correctly, it sounded like Cilan asked Burgandy whether she moved up yet, and she had an embarrased look on her face while admitting that she is still a C-class Sommelier.

 

[H.M]

Hadn't she mentioned and showed proof that she moved up to B-rank when they last saw her at the battle club tournament? Unless Cilan asked her at the Donamite how she's doing as a B-rank and then Cabernet admits that she had lied back then.

 

[Karamazov]

Hadn't she mentioned and showed proof that she moved up to B-rank when they last saw her at the battle club tournament? Unless Cilan asked her at the Donamite how she's doing as a B-rank and then Cabernet admits that she had lied back then.

IIRC, she stated that she was still a C-Class. And she didn't show any proof that she advanced to the next class, though, it was clear that she had gotten stronger.

 

[Aestivate]

Cabernet did announce she was still a C-class.

But of course, Dent's upbeat and dodgy cheerfulness at seeing how she was motivated confused the fuck out of her
it's okay cabernet, tsundere girls usually come to terms with their emotions at some point

 

[Piplup]

Bianca makes everything so much better XD
I kind of liked the rain guy and the Simisage trainer... too bad they're probably just one shot random characters that will never appear again
Scraggy learning a new move was so, so, sooo random... seriously... I think it should've lost, but whatever, I don't really care so much as others here probably do... give me more Bianca, I don't care about everything else <3
Oh and lol at the prize being a set of the vitamins from the games, another useless set of items to sit forever in someone's (Stephan's?) bag...

 

[G50]

With the prize being a year's supply of vitamins, how is the winner going to carry and keep all of these?
Bianca really loves big strong muscles.
The Rain Man Joke about him speeding up the battle, and him summoning the rain was funny.