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

[Chosen of Mana]

The only major complaint I have is that Swift Swim once again was activated by a random rainstorm (a problem that isn't just a Best Wishes! thing, mind you). Would it kill anyone to learn Rain Dance or something?

Otherwise, the retaining of Bianca's real anime character and Scraggy automatically make this episode better than the Don Battle's debut.

Spoiler

Too bad Iris will, heaven forbid, win something next episode.

 

[jman21]

Why not something like Crunch? I know games =/= anime but I can't shake the 'SCRAGGY HAS BAD SPECIAL ATTACK' out of my head.

It was the same thing with Paul's Ursaring. In the games Ursaring has horrible special attack, yet paul's knew Focus blast.

 

[Lucifer Angel]

Once just once, It'd be nice to see Ash knock Bel into the water sometime rather than the other way around.

 

[magicallypuzzled]

It sucks that Scraggy's development has fallen short when the writer of this episode decided to just allow the pokemon to "perfect" his first two attacks - Headbutt and Leer - off-screen. Scraggy may have learned a new attack in this episode, and he currently does not have control over it, but this does not excuse the lazy writing that surrounded Scraggy's win in this episode. I remember less than a year ago when Scraggy couldn't even harm Pikachu when he Headbutted the latter numerous times. And now Scraggy is suddenly able to knock Bianca out with just ONE Headbutt, as seen in the next episode's preview? Ridiculous. I swear, this entire series is surrounded with lazy and inconsistent character development.

.

wasn't leer/headbutt perfected in the scrafty episode? that what i thought when i watched it atleast.

 

[Karamazov]

But....why Aura Sphere for Scraggy? :c My boyfriend and I were talking about that and it just doesn't seem right to give Aura Sphere to a Scraggy or a Scrafty. Why not something like Crunch? I know games =/= anime but I can't shake the 'SCRAGGY HAS BAD SPECIAL ATTACK' out of my head.

Like Excadrill, I think it has to do with it being a ranged attack. Now Scraggy doesn't necessarily have to run into danger head-first; it can strike from a distance, and attack with High Jump Kick or Headbutt while the opponent is reeling.

 

[Adil]

This episode confirmed one thing.... That the final battle is going to be EPIC! (Dageki VS Nageki)

 

[Garren]

I love how this whole arc is literally setting up a battle between the two coolest Fighting Pokemon ever.

I figured we'd probably have a Nageki x Dageki episode eventually, like the various Hitmonchan vs. Hitmonlee episode, but I didn't think it'd get this much focus.

 

[Idon'tcare]

Dent, Dent, why are you so cute?

Spoiler

Oh Cabernet stop hiding your real feelings.

I just really love the interactions between these two.

 

[Adil]

Hahaha... SOO MEANT TO BE!

 

[TPrower]

I also forgot to mention, I just love how stoic Sawk is. Even when his Trainer and peers are acting excited and goofy, he just stands with his arm crossed, the pinnacle of nonchalance. XD

 

[투 애니원]

Axew's face when Scraggy learnt Focus Blast was so cute!

I hope Excadrill would teach Scraggy how to control the move, it would be nice seeing Excadrill interacting with other Pokemon for once.

 

[Hellwarden]

They really should have titled this ep ''The episode where Pansage uppercuts a child...pokemon."

Anyway, Sawk vs Seismitoad was just epic. It's always nice to see one of Ash's rivals get a win, against someone other than Ash.

In fact, the entire episode was pretty brutal. Nothing topped Scraggy nearly kicking Semisage's eye out.....not that I felt sorry for it....especially after it starting kicking Scraggy when he was down.

 

[Sweet Veil]

This episode was excellent, I felt really ecstatic over it.

I'll go ahead and get my main negative feelings of this episode out of the way.


Any who moving on to the fantastic parts of this episode.

-Zuruggu the precocious lizard was awesome this episode. I relished his personality he showed and I liked his battle overall. Satoshi getting greedy with the second Hi Jump Kick was interesting, and I really applaud seeing Headbutt finally being of some use and him finishing Akkie's Yanakkie off with it as well as Leer. That certainly was a good strategy with using Kiai Bullet to block Giga Impact. Using Leer on Akkie. XD The pants skin blocking gave me Mijumaru vibes. I felt bad for him when he missed and Yanakkie starting kicking him, way to kick a man when he's down. Glad Scragmuffin won

P.S. I still think Zuruggu perfecting a move and learning a new powerful move with no training what so ever is bullshit I'm glad he finally got a win but, beating an evolved Pokemon no less despite being shitty in the area of dodging, speed, and battling where he can't even beat Iris's Kibago. And having an awful track record where he's only battled a wild Monmen and Kibago all his life and mustering up the strength to beat Yanakkie was just lazy writing. Iris's Pokemon with get a lot of flack for pulling that bullcrap, but I just went with it. Auto-Handicap writing standard and fandom plot armor, not surprised.

-Satoshi, never ceases to amaze me with his battles. His reaction to Shuuti, was hilarious. And once again his strive to continue and bring victory managed for him and Pokemon to pull through. Not that I expected anything less.

-Langley, I liked her back and forth with Iris. Their constant heckling toward each other is always a treat for me. Langley's sarcasm with the "Dragon Master, Iris" stuff too hehe bitches rule. I rate highly what Langley said when Doryuuzu came out to play, "Why not a Dragon Type". That reflects that Langley wants to see Iris improve as a trainer and use Dragon Types and catch more, I liked it since it adds more layers to Langley's character. Differentiates her from other "hate" rivals so to speak like Cabernet, Harley, and Urara who unconditionally hated their rivals for petty reasons. I'm still liking the Iris and Langley next preview narration XD I also liked Langley teasing Cabernet. I liked Kibago being so happy for his bro.

-Kenyan and Dageki were exceptional as well. Dageki showing off more of his personality and forging a rivalry between Masaomi and Nageki was great. I really commend the battle between Kenyan and Edmond. Low Sweep was such a cool move and seeing Dageki getting his shit wrecked with even mother nature against him was neat, and the back story on Dageki's training under the elements, really gives you a "Karate Kid", "Rocky" sort of vibe. I thought highly of the animation with Dageki sliding around to dodge and such, that Low Sweep to the knee looked painful. The Brick Break and Karate Chop close range battle was fierce, it looked like a bitch to animate though. Dageki ending things with a Build Up + In Fight combo was prodigious, I'm glad to see Kenyan didn't rely on In Fight so much since that's what screwed him against Emonga. But, I was really glad to see Kenyan taught his Dageki a 5th Gen move since we need more of that in the anime, and said move being Kenyan and Dageki's salvation when faced with a Swift Swimming powerhouse like that.


-Akkie manages to be entertaining enough for me. Nice design as well. He looked like something out of, "The Outsiders" with the greasy hair, comb theme, and personality reminded me of a regular ol' Greaser. I liked how he used the comb to order his Yanakkie and how he would occasionally comb his hair. I expected for Yanakkie to have a much more masculine voice. I savor seeing Seed Bomb, 5th Gen for the win. Yanakkie stomping Zuruggu's skin to hold him back was brutal but intense. I really appreciate Akkie, wish he would appear again and would be more then death fodder for the tournament. Yanakkie is the best of the Monkey trio in my opinion. Wish they didn't have such craptastic stats game wise and competitively.

-Flora and Edmond were decent enough too. Yeah, too bad Masaomi isn't gonna be one of Satoshi's main rivals it looks like it. I really thought he looked ideal, but he seems to be just a one-off tourney rival against Kenyan.

-Bel, lol. Bel swooning over Dageki's muscle was a pretty adorable allusion to the ditzy high school blond stereotype. Seriously one minute it's Zorua then the next the fighting Pokemon. And her asking Masaomi to have Nageki flex it's muscles. She's got some weird fetishes. Here comes the dirty fanart Seeing her clashing with Shuuti was nice.

EDIT Oh, yeah forgot to mention ^^;;

-I liked Dento's battle against Flora, and how he used Solar Beam in collision with Psycho Shock to make cover for Yanappu to finish Gothimiru with Dig. I felt kinda bad for it Yanappu looked absolutely brutal in the uppercut. I however thought the new Solar Beam animation was a tad pointless, I thought it would be a new move. Cabernet's scenes with Dento once against shrugging off her behavior was good, I kinda wish Cabernet affected Dento in some way though. And I liked how Cabernet acted before her battle against Iris.

 

[Adil]

Lol, I didn't even notice. Thanks to @Kenji-girl for finding it out
Error:

Spoiler

 

[Tsareena]

Pretty good episode!
I have to say I really like how it's not just a rivalry between Kenyan and whatshisface, but between their Pokemon too. Ooooh...intense. I'm eager for the episode between Sawk and Throh. I used to dislike those Pokemon, but I'm starting to warm up to them pretty fast.

Scraggy. Cutest thing ever. I laughed hard when he did his leer on the trainer. I was surprised how feminine Simisage sounded, ok, in my headcanon now Simisage characters are butch girls.

It's kind of saddening that these trainers will likely just be one-show characters. Seismotoad's trainer was pretty cool, in a weird sort of way.
Am I the only one getting a Naruto kind of vibe with the designs of trainers this season? Yeah? I don't know.
Or maybe I'm just derpin.

 

[rubinek]

Lol, I didn't even notice. Thanks to @Kenji-girl for finding it out
Error:

Spoiler

In this picture, Axew's horn is also coloured blue instead of green

Anyway, this episode was just awesome. Great character interactions and the battle between Scraggy and Simisage was just pure gold. I was expecting Focus Blast - a new, flashy toy - to finish this battle in a usual, predictable way, but the writers sure have surprised me. I guess Focus Blast's nickname "Focus Miss" applies to the anime as well, haha. I can only hope Druddigon eppy will be as good, if not better than this one

 

[Ampharos King]

1. Leer scared Axew once.

That instance doesn't count. 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. It didn't mean that Scraggy's Leer worked in both instances. Scraggy's Leer attack didn't scare Simisage at the start of the battle in this episode. Scraggy just suddenly mastered Leer after it learned Focus Blast. Scraggy suddenly getting the determination to win and mastering its older attacks in the process = cheap and lazy writing.

2. Scraggy smashed a rock to pieces with Headbutt in the same episode it learnt Hi Jump Kick.

Wasn't that just Scraggy free falling on his face first, which in turn smashed the boulder in that episode to pieces? We really haven't seen Scraggy too often ever since he learned Hi Jump Kick, so it is hard to gauge how this pokemon progressed with mastering its Headbutt attack. Scraggy's opponent in most of his battles in the series was Axew, a pokemon that was as young and inexperienced in battle as he was.

Either way, we really haven't seen Scraggy "master" its Headbutt on-screen so we can assume that it was perfected off-screen. Even if Scraggy had completely mastered Headbutt back in BW043, the circumstance still would have been another example of cheap and lazy writing.

So yeah, it wasn't cheap or Lazy writing, Scraggy has grown over time and it is very noticeable.

"Grown over time" does not mean that Scraggy suddenly learns new attacks, and subsequently masters its older attacks, when Ash tells the pokemon to never give up during a battle. It was almost as terrible as the fiasco that surrounded Gible perfecting his Draco Meteor attack in DP. There was hardly any progress of either pokemon perfecting these attacks on-screen, and these pokemon suddenly had the ability to perfect those attacks when they were used in important battles.

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. At least Scraggy has a new attack to master, which I hope won't be a rushed process either.

 

[Cinderfella]

I first have to correct myself in saying before that this tournament looked disappointing. Even though we know who is in the finals, this episode turned out to be beyond amazing. I loved the interactions as usual, but even the battles were excellent! Excuse the dull ass rival's presence and this episode would have been perfecto!

Things I loved:

Bel <3 Can you say cute and amazing. I love how excited she was to see Sawk, as well as her excitement to battle period. You could already tell how much she's grown just by her posture and prescence I just felt a new Bel. She didn't have to pop up her Pokeball and showcase her new evolution like someone we all know....

Dent/Cabarnet: Amazing! These two are soulmates haha, they truly have that love/hate married couple thing going on, and I love it.

Kenyan being slightly more interesting, because I don't know what it was, but I was actually impressed with his battling style for the first time here.

Ash's battle: Scraggy kicked some serious ass, I lol'd in the beginning when Leer was wayyyy off, but it pulled off a believable win.

Iris: Her facial expressions were pretty funny this episode, not even going to lie. Here whole, "why am I here with these noobs thing" may be cheap, but at least she gives great face =)

Throh vs Sawk: Loved the rivalry, and the green haired dude can stay in my book.

The Best Part of All, Hands Down: Queen Langley! Loved her this episode, because she questioned Iris' motives and goal, she was just laid back and really couldn't give a fuck with Kenyan's battle(I enjoyed her uniqueness), and I really like her opponents design. To see those two go at it looks exciting, I am so happy the next episode focuses primarily on her battle. Also, her teasing Burgundy was hilarious, it shows consistency, and how she at least acknowledged her presence. I wish I knew what she said though lol. PLEASE WRITERS PUT HER IN THE LEAGUE

Langley, I liked her back and forth with Iris. Their constant heckling toward each other is always a treat for me. Langley's sarcasm with the "Dragon Master, Iris" stuff too hehe bitches rule. I rate highly what Langley said when Doryuuzu came out to play, "Why not a Dragon Type". That reflects that Langley wants to see Iris improve as a trainer and use Dragon Types and catch more, I liked it since it adds more layers to Langley's character. Differentiates her from other "hate" rivals so to speak like Cabernet, Harley, and Urara who unconditionally hated their rivals for petty reasons. I'm still liking the Iris and Langley next preview narration XD I also liked Langley teasing Cabernet.

Yes, Yes, Hell Yes! Bottom Line, Langley in order to be the best, needs to beat the best, and this episode shows that she really cares about her competition. That's why I didn't find her and Iris interacting pointless this time around, because there is something to touch upon here. If Iris truly wants to be a Dragon Master, she needs to start training some damn Dragon Pokemon! Glad Langley bought this up.

This episode made me realize that, there are more layers to these characters than we think. Even though we know the final match ups and what not, it's still not the end for the rivals it seems. In fact, it's almost as if we may not only see them in the League, but even after. Especially with the new games coming out a filler saga can open up a whole new world of possibilities for the rivals and future tournaments....but I'll stop myself before I get way off topic.

But if I did rate this episode, hands down 9/10. Would have been perfect if Trip wasn't in it.

 

[Adil]

I find it amusing how the announcer referred to Cabernet as the "Tasting Princess" (apologies if I got it wrong but it sounded like it)

PS: Please bring some more Sommeliers in the the anime.

 

[Karamazov]

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.