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

[Hitomi]

My goodness, has Cabernet come far since her first spat with Dento. <3 Her use of strategy - attacking Doryuzuu underground with Water Pulse, using the shell to block Drill Run, taking damage to use Revenge - was a dramatic improvement. She had a ton more confidence in herself and Futachimaru, she was calm... loved it. And I don't recall if she had adopted Dento's finger-snapping thing when calling attacks in the Don Tournament or if it's a recent thing, but it made the shipper in me giggle regardless.

Speaking of Dento, I thought it was awesome how he was far more interested in how Cabernet was battling than Iris; it just shows how much he cares about her growth as a Sommelier and as a trainer. He was visibly impressed with her improvement, as was I. <3 I really think Cabernet deserved the win; her strategies were way more impressive and interesting than the same old "dodge and spam powerful attacks" schtick Iris and Doryuzuu used. She wanted the win more, that was obvious; she deserved it more after how her character has been treated thus far. I hope that she and Dento continue to have great moments in the rest of the tournament.

I don't know if it's just me, but Maosami's hair flicking and two-finger hand wave thing reminded me forcibly of how Shuu used to do like, exactly the same thing. xD And Maosami, sorry, but Daigeki's Bulk Up is waaaaay sexier than Nageki's Bulk Up.

Bel's bizarre obsession with Daigeki and Kenyan. Oh my gosh. Oh Bel you're a creeper. xD Have to say though, even though this has turned into her running gag, it is actually funny (in a creepy way) as opposed to her super obnoxious obsession with Zorua in the last tourney (that almost ruined her as a character for me).

The title should either have been "Steadily Progressing Donamite! Futachimaru vs Doryuzuu!" or "Steadily Progressing Donamite! Kirikizan Curbstomps Crimgan in like Twenty Seconds!" though. This series a habit of making the titular battles quite unimportant. xD

 

[Hellion]

My goodness, has Cabernet come far since her first spat with Dento. <3 Her use of strategy - attacking Doryuzuu underground with Water Pulse, using the shell to block Drill Run, taking damage to use Revenge - was a dramatic improvement. She had a ton more confidence in herself and Futachimaru, she was calm... loved it.

She was just awesome and damn Futachimaru looked strong. I'm Team Bel v Cabernet in the League finals. XD

And I don't recall if she had adopted Dento's finger-snapping thing when calling attacks in the Don Tournament or if it's a recent thing, but it made the shipper in me giggle regardless.

I think it was the same animation they used, though her glass of bubbly needs to make a return should her and Dent get into another sommelier battle. Come on, now it's not like it's Dent's friends battling in the finals, it's just Kenyan. Who cares if you have a sommelier showdown in between? XD

Speaking of Dento, I thought it was awesome how he was far more interested in how Cabernet was battling than Iris; it just shows how much he cares about her growth as a Sommelier and as a trainer. He was visibly impressed with her improvement, as was I. <3 I hope that she and Dento continue to have great moments in the rest of the tournament.

I looooooved that Dent was just so into Cabernet's battle and kept talking about her. Damn you writers for making me interested in a het ship! XD

I really think Cabernet deserved the win; her strategies were way more impressive and interesting than the same old "dodge and spam powerful attacks" schtick Iris and Doryuzuu used. She wanted the win more, that was obvious; she deserved it more after how her character has been treated thus far.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[matt0044]

where's Paul? he should see her, THAT's "tsukaenai yatsu" XD

I'm assuming you mean "pathetic."

 

[Aestivate]

Cabernet was truly the highlight of the episode to me, the loss against Iris felt so cheap.

I love Cabernet and Langley's friendship and how crazily sexually obsessed they are with their rivals.

Cabernet and Dent are just making me so conflicted all the time xD Do I like sommeliershipping or cafemocha moreeee?

 

[Sweet Veil]

-Iris yeah you rock & rule XD, she grabbed my favorite spot on the list of characters this episode. I thought that wink and thumbs up she gave before the battle was pretty cute Doryuuzu looked really cute and strong too. Doryuuzu blocking the Ice Beam using it's Steel Type resistance was pretty cool. AND DAT MIDAIR KIAI BULLET, reminded me of Rasengan. It gave me chills, it was too awesome. Seriously, Doryuuzu taking that Water Pulse in stride and staying stationary in the air with Iris using Kiai Bullet as a close range attack, kinda like how Zuruggu did against Yanakkie, to counter Shell Blade was a stroke of pure awesomery not only that but since Iris had Doryuuzu use the elevation to her advantage the force sent Futachimaru rocketing to the earth like a rag toy, Futachimaru was pretty beat up. Doryuuzu's reaction from losing his game of hide and go seek by Water Pulse and being sent into the air like that hilarious. Drill Lining the shit outta those hotachi was a smart move by Iris, no way Futachimaru was going to block that attack it actually reminded me of how Mijumaru only used his hotachi for special attacks. Dang did that Dig uppercut and final Drill Liner look fierce. I liked the final scene where Iris and Doryuuzu go buck wild over their win. XD Job well done, Aoi Yuki Oh, and Iris's snarky replies to Cabernet and Langley's talking was fun. I know how you feel Airisu-Chan, rivals certainly can be annoying XD I kinda wish Iris had used that moment with Futachimaru being separated from it's hotachi to her advantage kinda like how Yanappu did against Mijumaru. I'm kinda surprised Iris and Cabernet didn't throw dirt at each other especially after the Tasting.

-Cabernet and Futachimaru were great I liked seeing Revenge in the anime, better then seeing Rock Smash and Brick Break again. How funny is it that Cabernet's Futachimaru knows REVENGE, I guess Futachimaru is her Revintage now Revenge looked cool with it creating that thin layer of angry pissed off negative aura to hit Doryuuzu. I liked the scene where Cabernet commanded Shell Blade with her ONE finger looking bigger then her whole body nearly. XD The Water Pulse gusher was smart. Shell Blade looked nice as usual especially with the way Futachimaru ran it reminded me of samurai and Nobunaga's Ambition. I kind of wanted to see Water Oath over Water Pulse though. Ice Beam's new animation works a lot better then before, especially in the Kiai Bullet collision scene. I can't help but wonder what the heck Cabernet was thinking though with that dual hotachi protection against Drill Liner. Seemed really weird, I mean really? Who in their right mind uses hotachi to protect against physical attacks? I thought Satoshi's Mijumaru was the first to use this strategy since Dento mentioned it before, when did Futachimaru learn how to do this? It just seemed kinda whack to use hotachi to protect against a physical attack, and I know I'm harping on this quite a bit. Against Drill Liner especially since it's a DRILL, it's drilling into the hotachi, vibrating, applying force, as well as added pressure due to Doryuuzu pushing as well, and Futachimaru has to keep it's hands steady and unnerved to protect itself, it's pretty much a guaranteed failure. I facepalmed once more when she tried it a second time only for it to fail once more. I wish she had tried the hotachi to defend against Kiai Bullet, wtf why would she use Ice Beam on a Fighting move? Futachimaru and Cabernet fought a valiant battle, defiantly my favorite of all her battles in BW thus far. Futachimaru is my favorite of the Isshu starters so I'm glad to see it have a battle right compared to that train wreck called Ishizumai VS. Futachimaru with those Pokemon names in the title only for the whole thing to be one-sided. I wish the line didn't have such balls stats or I would use it competitively. I really really liked that scene where the samurai is sitting down feeling bad over it's loss and Cabernet goes over to comfort it really cute. Though I'm happy Iris won, I'm more elated Cabernet lost. I actually considered more fairly Cabernet possibly winning and thinking it might not be too bad, but that comment about her telling Iris to replace Doryuuzu pretty much dropped my support for the idea. Iris losing to Cabernet would have been a complete mockery of Iris and Doryuuzu's relationship making them and their development in the Drill Buster episode completely inconsistent, and it would have made Cabernet right. So Cabernet technically would have had her first correct Tasting in the show but for the wrong reasons.

-Langley she was great. DEVELOPMENT GALORE ;D I really liked how she was silently rooting for Iris and was concerned about Doryuuzu when he was struggling against Futachimaru. Not only that but, her scene with Cabernet and being all "BACK OFF SHE'S MINE!" made her look like a bad bitch, and Cabernet's scared face with Langley's sadistic smile was hilarious. I liked how she wanted Iris's attention when battling Grace and Crimgan. Talk about short, BTW. At least it was a good enough short battle with Metal Sound and seeing Dragon Tail a Gen 5 move in it, and seeing Langley do what she does. Bust Phineas and Ferb Dragons. I'm mainly happy her development from the last tourney stuck with her.

-Bel irritated me, way to break the flow of a awesome battle with her fawning over Zuruggu and for around two or less uninterrupted minutes as well. I did like her scenes with Kenyan though, and Enbour also looked adorable when looking at her running full speed to get to the arena. I thought Enbour was cute too. So, that makes up for it though I guess XD

-Kenyan and Masaomi, yeeeeeeeeeeeah I'm totally looking forward to the final bout between these two.

-Satoshi and Shuuti. Satoshi training Zuruggu? What's this? Training in my Best Wishes anime, glad for that Shuuti pointing it out and sort of constructive criticizing Satoshi in the same way he did for Mijumaru's Aqua Jet was great. Shuuti's reactions as well were hilarious.

 

[Hellion]

Iris losing to Cabernet would have been a complete mockery of Iris and Doryuuzu's relationship making them and their development in the Drill Buster episode completely inconsistent, and it would have made Cabernet right. So Cabernet technically would have had her first correct Tasting in the show but for the wrong reasons.

Given what was said in the previous episode, it actually would have made a lot of sense. When Dent asks her if she has improved her sommelier rank, Cabernet says she's still a C-class because she was so busy battling and training her pokémon that she couldn't take the classes. It wouldn't have made Cabernet right, she still would have been wrong and it would have been the perfect moment for Dent to point that out, especially to point out that after he defeated her, she didn't release Mijumaru, instead she worked with it, trained him and got him stronger, and that would be the reason why she would have beaten Iris. Because she didn't give up and replace on Futachimaru. Plus Dent, could have pointed out that she didn't progress as a sommelière or even grasped what it was about because what she really does and what she really wants is battling. The development potential was staggering and it would have just been incredibly meaningful to get that win with Futachimaru. It could have been a game changing moment for Cabernet, and really could have taken her relationship with Cilan in a different way. But, I see your point, it's really important to throw Cabernet and her potential development under the bus, nullify her training and improvement, nullify the meaningfulness of winning with the Pokémon she didn't replace, take away a prime opportunity to really propel her story so long as Iris, who out of all the main character/rivals has the best winning percentage and won the last tournament, really needed another undeserved, unnecessary and cheap win that serves no purpose and just highlights how static she is as a character, cause we just didn't get enough of that the last time around.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the battle, well on Cabernet's side at least cause she's the one who kept it interesting with her personality, strategies, new moves and combos, definitely her most interesting battle to date but she was the better battler in this ep, she wanted it more and was just cheated out of what could have been a fully deserved and game changing win for absolutely no reason other than to make Iris look good. Still, I'm fully satisfied with what we saw from Cabernet, the progress she's made and I'm fully confident that we'll see some more development on the Cabernet/Dent front by the end of the tournament, so at least there's that to look forward to.

 

[Hurricane Kishore]

Since when ''Focus Blast'' become ''Rasengan'' !!!

 

[Likeitornot.]

This was certainly an enjoyable episode, for me.

- I guess I'll start with Cabernet vs Iris. Gosh, I was surprised- still I did brace myself to watch how Cabernet battles and if she improved. And I certainly believe that she did. She had quite an amount of control of the battle throughout it, her tactics were quite slick and polished, and her Dewott was amazing. There were times I thought, if I didn't know that Iris would win, that Excadrill could've fainted (especially with Revenge; if it wouldn't have done it alone, what about all the moves beforehand with it?), but alas, no this did not occur. Dewott stuck through the battle a lot longer than I expected him too, he had a great endurance (when he faceplants, I forgot he still needed to use Revenge and I thought it was over) to it. Even the moments when he didn't have his shell, he still managed quite well and it added to Revenge's power in that. The only time I think that Cabernet really wasn't in control of her situation was just at the very end- when she panics at her Dewott lying flat on the ground with his shell (he manages to get up, just too late to escape Dig), and then Excadrill wins using Dig and Drill Run. However, yes, I think she could've won, I really did. I don't really know how to feel about that- satisfied because I was resigned that she'd lose, or annoyed because I believe she was dominant in style and skill in the battle. To be fair to Iris, I liked her little use of Dig and then Drill Run when Dewott's arms were flung out, unable to protect. However, really, that was only at the end that I really noticed her skills, and Cabernet could've won beforehand.
- I quite enjoyed Dento being complimentary (I think) of Cabernet. That was nice of him. Good on you, Dento.
- Langley letting Cabernet know who is Iris' Rival was very cute and sinister.
- For Masaomi and Kenyan, yes I certainly think those two are interesting, and they remain so. Throh beating the pulp out of that Mienshao was brutal for me (I'm a bit of a wimp, admittedly) and it was made more so, with Masaomi's cool air and nonchalance at calling out the attacks. I'm going to say this, though- I prefer Sawk's Bulk Up to Throh's bulk up- due to his body shape. Yes, Sawk looks disturbingly macho, but Throh reminded me of a blackberry (as in the berry, not the phone) trying to explode.
When Kenyan balls his hand into a fist after seeing Masaomi battle- was a powerful secne for me. Maybe it was the shadowing and the lining of sunlight on his hand that did it, but I knew he was pumped.
And, gosh, Throh with that beanbag, whoa...
- I also adored Bel. She was just spontaneously cute and hilarious with her obsessions with Sawk's muscles and her climbing on top of Kenyan and proceeding to have a bit of a check-up on him too. I also liked her coming into her battle late with her Embroar already there, her tripping over the little ledge and him glancing at her, concerned. I'm fond of this combination of ditzy girl and tough Pokemon.
- Langley vs Grace- It did convey a poweress of Langley's skills of a Dragon Buster but it wouldn't help to elongate this poweress for us all to see, especially as it is the title battle.

Yes, I thought it was a great second installment and I'm looking forward to the next episode.

 

[G50]

- There were many hilarious parts of this episode that I couldn't stop laughing at: Bianca going crazy again over Sawk and jumping on top of Stephan, Bianca going love-crazy over Scraggy and then Scraggy headbutting her in the head, plus Bianca running into the Stadium after being late and tripping over herself. Everybody's reactions to that were priceless.
- Although really short, I liked seeing Simipour defeat Simisear with a Brick Break attack.
- It was great seeing Ash really working with Scraggy to improve his Focus Blast aim although they weren't able to finish the practicing just yet.
- Masaomi was spying on Stephen. Throh looked incredibly strong taking down Mienshao so easily.
- The battle between Emboar and Conkeldurr was exciting to see. Emboar was taking a lot of hits and was still able to stand. Emboar becomes trapped with Rock Tomb around him.
- I liked how close the battle between Dewott and Excadrill was really shown to be. Dewott using different stragic moves, using Water Pulse to get Excadrill out of the ground and using Revenge after taking so many hits. Excadrill was just too strong in the end and prevailed.

 

[Piplup]

I'm assuming you mean "pathetic."

Yeah, that's Paul's "pathetic" in Japanese

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

There is something really wrong with this picture:

Spoiler

Where is Bel's stockings/tights?

 

[Ishida]

Four words describe my feelings after watching this episode: Don Battle done right. That is all. Ok, I'm lying; that isn't all.

I really loved this episode, and it's could almost get a perfect score from me were it not for one or two things, but I'll get to that in a bit. First off, the wacky trio of female rivals just made this episode amazing in my opinion. Bel was just hilarious from start to finish, her excitement for the tournament and the battles were contagious and I laughed at her creeping on Zuruggu, Dageki and Kenyan and how she was in the battle against Shooti just made me laugh and I can't help but like Bel and feel compelled by her when you see how much it all interests her and how much she really wants this, while still being totally aborable. Langley and Cabernet had their moments too. I really loved how badass Langley looked and her little spat with Cabernet was lulzy. Speaking of Cabs, loved the faces she pulls and I loved how Dent was during her battle. You could tell he was kinda rooting for her. XD Again, the episode really emphasized why loved Cabernet, 1 cups of crazy and 1 of super nice and sensitive person. She looked dangerous. Loved the progress she made, the combinations and strategies she pulled.

The only thing that I think rivals Bel in terms of adorableness in this episode is Zuruggu. OMG there was not a scene in there where he wasn't cute as hell. Loved that Satoshi was training it and that they're working on things. Though, and this is what I think is the one of the biggest things this tournament does better than the Don Battle, how much Zuruggu is featured and great is just part of a bigger trend to put the focus back on the Pokémon and really putting them in the spotlight, highlighting what makes each species unique and interesting. Kirikizan's acrobatic prowess was just awesome, as were Futachimaru's samurai moves. Both looked really good in this episode. Futachimaru's Revenge looked fucking epic. Enbuoh just looked really badass and yet really personal and adorable. Kojondo looked really really interesting and Dageki whom I despise in game was actually kinda cool. The Pokémon just looked good in this episode.

Speaking of Dageki, I wasn't actually that interested in Masaomi last week, but this week, I just loved the whole lovable bitch vibe he was giving off. Kenyan on the other hand left me kinda cold... again... feel free to make him interesting writers, cause even though he has no chance in hell of winning, I'm on Team Masaomi right now.

The one thing that actually bothered me about this episode is the battle between Cabernet and Iris. I loved the battle, but the outcome came off really cheap and felt like Cabernet was thrown under the bus to give Iris yet another undeserved victory. Cabernet and Futachimaru looked really good throughout the battle and not only did they matched Doryuuzu's power, but Cabernet outstrategized Iris not once but twice, with the Water Pulse geyser and letting Futachimaru take some hits to power up Revenge. So here you have a character that really wants it, that really cares, needs it more, that has improved drastically since her last appearance, that is litterally matching up the power of her opponent and outsmarting her, landing super effective hits, and yet... she loses? How? Oh yeah, by having Iris do the same tired old boring thing she always does which just using her utterly uninnovative "power through everything cause we're so invicible" approach. Still, I have no doubt Cabernet will be entertaining in the next two episodes and hopefully we'll see something to justify her being sideline, because that result was just utterly underwhelming. Also, Ice beam illicits no response from the cryophobic character? Really?

It's still a really good episode and really just again: Don Battle done right.

If I recall correctly Iris didn't have a problem with ice type moves but ice type Pokemon themselves. Misty didn't have a fear of bug type pokemon moves so..

Also Burgundy's a C rank for a reason she keeps losing in other words she sucks

 

[Hellion]

Burgundy's a C rank for a reason she keeps losing in other words she sucks

1- That's not what's stated in the last episode, it was stated that she didn't gain a new rank because she was battling and training instead of studying.
2- Victory is irrelevent, if we look at the battles she's fought, she's still shown to be a strong and smart trainer. As I said before, she matched Doryuuzu's power and outsmarted Iris several times in this battle. She lost this battle solely because the writers wanted to yet again make Iris look good and needed someone to throw under the proverbial bus.

 

[Ishida]

Burgundy's a C rank for a reason she keeps losing in other words she sucks

1- That's not what's stated in the last episode, it was stated that she didn't gain a new rank because she was battling and training instead of studying.
2- Victory is irrelevent, if we look at the battles she's fought, she's still shown to be a strong and smart trainer. As I said before, she matched Doryuuzu's power and outsmarted Iris several times in this battle. She lost this battle solely because the writers wanted to yet again make Iris look good and needed someone to throw under the proverbial bus.

That's true but she still could have gotten a new rank by the Club Battle Tournament she might just be making up excuses for not reaching a new rank you never really know. And if they wanted to make Iris look good they could have had her defeat one of those random COTD's right now in my opinion Burgundy just doesn't look like the greatest trainer.

 

[rubinek]

A single disheartened tear strolled down on my face when Druddigon fell down in less than 3 hits...

The eppy wasn't as good as the last one, but it was still very enjoyable. ah druddigon, why did you have to lose in such a horrible way?!

 

[Chiplet]

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.
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.

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. However, what was up with that Focus Blast an' Shell Blade collision? Countering Shell Blade with a Focus Blast like it was a physical move? Meh. I admit that it looked quite awesome, but I just didn't like the way Iris countered.

Oh, and Bianca... Please pack your bags and leave, now. (Nah, I love her, although her presence in this episode wasn't very appreciated, if you ask me.)
I don't get how people can be so completely obsessed with her in this episode, I didn't think she was very funny, just annoying. Why'd she have to butt in when Ash and Kenyan were going to train together? And only to fan-gasm over muscles? I thought it was creepy, especially how she kept on poking Sawk. Couldn't she just have been somewhere else so that we could've seen some practice between Kenyan and Ash?
Ugh, sorry Bianca... I usually love her, but in this episode I only thought she was creepy. Except for that moment with Scraggy, that was hilarious. Scraggy was like ''not now, not now, don't bother me...'' while Biance just kept on poking him, and the result of that was a well deserved Headbutt. Ahaha! Poor Bianca... But she deserved it because of her being so annoying in the scene with Kenyan and Ash. I'll still love her though!

The rest of the battles were great. I'd love to see more from the battle with Druddigon Vs Bisharp, since it was rather awesome, but the writers didn't hear mah prayer. As for Masaomi's battle, WOAH! Now he's extremly awesome, I just loved the way he was like Bitch please, why even bother? Dontcha know I am? during his battle. I'd be so happy if they actually made him win instead of Kenyan, even though there's like no chance at all. *Sigh*
Oh, and the battle between Trip and Bianca was great, too. Although I'll be waiting to share my opinion on that battle until it's really over.

Overall, good/great episode! There were some annoying facts that I just couldn't ignore, but I would not let those things drag the glory of this episode down.

 

[Adil]

So sorry but I couldn't resist.

Spoiler

"How do you expect me to grow, if you won't let me blow?"

 

[Karamazov]

So sorry but I couldn't resist.

Spoiler

"How do you expect me to grow, if you won't let me blow?"

I like how Kenyan looks like he's about to cry.

 

[Hitomi]

So sorry but I couldn't resist.

Spoiler

"How do you expect me to grow, if you won't let me blow?"

WHY GOD WHY

 

[Karamazov]

WHY GOD WHY

We didn't like her last arc's gag. Now she's trying to give us another kind of gag in order get more fans.

It makes her more of a tragic character, IMO.