Review BW086: Pochama VS Yanappu! The Magnificent Battle!!

[Chiplet]

Yeah, there was definitely nothing with Dawn that felt/was new. That's too bad. I was at least hoping for a reference to Zoey, Ursula and Kenny (lol who cares about Kenny), to see how they were doing after the GF. I'm especially interested in Ursula, since I was hoping for her to have stalked Dawn all the way to Hoenn. I'll be so disappointed if she won't mention them at all. then she might as well just go back to Hoenn

I'm also confused to what she was doing there in the first place. How was she planning on ''brushing up'' her skills by going to a region where Pokémon Conests do not even exist?

 

[Piplup]

I'm also confused to what she was doing there in the first place. How was she planning on ''brushing up'' her skills by going to a region where Pokémon Conests do not even exist?

Meet and learn about new Pokémon, train her Pokémon against these new Poké, participate at the tournament which while isn't a Contest IS a battle tournament and Contests DO include battles, even if a "special" kind of battles...
So this visit will contribute to her... also, she apparently heard about Ash's Unova journey from Oak - maybe she also simply wanted to see her friend again and meet his new friends, it doesn't have to be all about the training
I do hope they'll talk about her Hoenn Contests/rivals eventually, it'd be sad if they won't... since they didn't do it now, I hope for at least something in her last ep before she leaves...

 

[Cybersai]

From this episode I gather Piplup is going to be the only focused on Pokemon on Dawn's return. I really believe her other pokemon won't be doing much at all. Shame for Mamoswine who really should get another major battle.

 

[Chiplet]

I don't buy it.

Say whatever you want, but it doesn't really seem to make much sense to me. I'd buy if it was for the fact that the new Pokémon she meets would actually be Pokémon that she'd encounter in Hoenn, but since Unova Pokémon only exists in Unova...
Going all this way to enter a Battle Tournament feels very OOC, if you ask me. It'd just make more sense to me with having Dawn spending that time with brushing up her skills in Hoenn instead of Unova. At least in Hoenn, she'd be able to compete against other Coordinators as well as learning from other Coordinators sharing the same goal, which she won't be able to do in Unova. And going all the way from Hoenn to Unova only to enter a tournament focusing on regular battles doesn't really seem like Dawn to me, especially not with the fact that it'd seem that she'll probably spend months in Unova, which will only mean that she'll miss out on lots of Contests as well as lots of opportunities in Hoenn to focus more on her Coordinator career, only to enter a Battle Competition.

As for her wanting to meet Ash, sure, I could see that, although it is rather obvious that them meeting each other in the first place was nothing but a coincidence. If they hadn't met up with Cynthia they probably wouldn't have met Dawn, and judging by the fact that she was in Nimbasa City previously and might've been for quite a while and not (for all we know) bothered in contacting Ash I found it to be quite implausible.

I don't know, I might be wrong, but that's at least what I think. Maybe it'll all become clearer later.

 

[Hellwarden]

From this episode I gather Piplup is going to be the only focused on Pokemon on Dawn's return. I really believe her other pokemon won't be doing much at all. Shame for Mamoswine who really should get another major battle.

I'm fairly certain one preview showed Pignite and Mamoswine battling, might have just been a practice match, but still.

Oh, poor Alomomola, will you ever get any real focus?:-|


Only Ash and the gang could stay so happy and upbeat while flying. Clearing the TSA doesn't exist in the Pokemon universe.


Oh, and Meloetta is just made of pure win.

 

[Aestivate]

It was mentioned that Hikari went to Raimon City to watch musicals (and Kamisture's fashion show) to get ideas for contests.

High points of the episode were definitely Pachi trolling Miju by knocking his hotachi out of the way and Hikari Hikari Hikari.

I was always just "meh" about Hikari but she was really, really adorable today that I couldn't resist going "d'awwww" during some of the scenes, like the scene where she crept up on Satoshi. I was kind of mad that the Dent/Hikari battle had no resolution even though Hikari was pretty much wiping the floor with Dent anyway.

But I must admit I think that my favorite part of the episode was the scene at the very end when Iris and Hikari are talking about how they'll battle next, because... well... Dent and Satoshi are at the balcony watching the sunset/listening to Meloetta's song together and JUST ALL OF THE SHIPPING FEELS WHY DOES MY OTP DO THINGS LIKE THIS TO MY HEART.

Also, Hikari knows about Dent and Iris through Okido-hakase and she knew that Dent was/is a Pokemon sommelier, and I'm assuming Satoshi told Iris and Dent about Hikari because Iris/Dent both knew that Hikari was/is a coordinator. News flash: Satoshi actually does talk about his old travels!~

Edit: Hey Hikari, no mention of how Satoshi's eyes have suddenly gotten really moe?

 

[Ashfangirl22]

Ash's eyes are the same for cying out loude, they've always been brown eyes why would she say some thing about it? I loved Ash/Dawn's interactions and I loved that they gave each other a high five, thank you for giving us Pearlshipping fan service please continue on folks ^

Ha I know right? People were all, hes a horrible friend cuz they thought in the new series that he never once talked about his past friends but lookie, they knew about Dawn this entire time and contests wow. I'm sure they know about Misty/Brock/Tracey/ rivals other people hes come enounter with. It was nice seeing Buneary/Pikachu, glad they didn't forget that after all these years hurray! Iris not knowing the Pokemon is a nice change, thats what I wanted for Iris or Dento to ask Ash to Poke Dex them which they did *Few*

I'm loving this.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

Spoiler

-Omg Hoenn Pokeymanz! Let's act interested so the new games can sell!.. nevermind they have been in Eastern Isshu since forever.
-Oh sh** it is a roosting Wingull ! I thought those were just in fairy tales!
-Meloetta is still stalking Satoshi. Wouldn't it be awesome if Latias, Bayleef, Ambipom and her got into a catfight? No. Meloetta is sh**.
-Yes! Get hyped for artificial increase for your time until League that only remotely resembles the stuff in games Ash!
-Here comes the secret council of vagueness making vague comments about an artificially generated marketing ploys' potential to increase people's interest enough to buy merchandise and games!
-The limo is totally a sommelier. It has da sparklez. It has a white clothing. It looks regal. It is totally a sommelier.
-TOP PERCANTAGE AMERICAN RATATA!
-I love how much of Cynthia's breast is shown yet they can't show any cleavage. Fascinating.
-Meloetta is sitting on top of Ash's junk. Eeew.
-Fun fact, in games, the villa is Caitlin's. So, the whole ordeal is an insult to the games.
-Oh damn. It's Dawn!
-And thus, the High Touch and the terrifying clapping sound that carries the laughter of many crazy shippers return.
-Well, it is offical, Oak is a better creeper than Conway, Cynthia, Dawn, Ursula, Harley, Burgundy and Paul combined.
-That's not something you should proud of, derp looking Iris with equally derp looking Axiyew.
-Yep, "Ichiban no partner, Pochama yo", that considers his pleasure principle above yours. The Piplup that refused to change for sake of remaining a child forever. The Piplup that intentionally hampered his inevitable change for being afraid of change, the very thing every growing human has to go and accept especially during their adolescence. The Piplup who got mad at the littlest lack of attention. The Piplup who always caused you more trouble than he caused you victories. Even Ursula is a much best partner than he is, and you despise each other.
-Dawn derping for contests. Now that's what I missed.
-Heh, Iris likes the idea of contests. And thus, but fans and haters are trolled. Thank you, based Tomioka.
-Oh god Iris, don't feed his ego. You can't just feed every arrogant thing's ego. There are other Dragon trainers that get affected just as easily as him you know. It might cause your doom.
-Dawn going all *-* for Musicals. NOOOO!
-Kamitsure! NOOO! Don't go to their tra-wait is that a BDSM outfit and kimono? !
-Well, that explains why Dawn is actually so hyped for it. Literally. New ship get.
Edit: Oh, so Dawn went to Elesa's fashion show in addition to musicals /moron] Still ship it though P :.
-Meloetta, stopping trolling Mamoswine. He is a much better character than you are.
-Emolga is the new Pachirisu.
-And thus, Mamoswine shows he has a better comedic potential than Piplup does. Why did we have that thing again?
-Okay, it is kind of funny how each of the girls are getting each others squirrels. It is as if Tomioka is showing us he has retconned Emolga's manipulative personality completely.
-Dawn, you are connected to the spirit of emotion who can do the same trick, but better.
-I actually take Oshawott's side in this one. What. What am I doing. OMG.
-Still taking Oshawott's side. Wow, that is a weird feeling.
-Wow Piplup's a dick. Oshawott says he is sorry and Piplup just acts like a jerk. You would think he would have learned from the whole DP162 catfight, but noo.
-BS rivalry between mascots get! Even though Oshawott has the moral high ground... actually their rivalry is fitting for BW if you actually think.
-Mamoru Miyano's engrish is beautiful. Reminds of Fantina :B.
-Pansage is doing the same pose. Lol.
-And thus, the whole Dawn will adore for tasting time thing has gone away too. So, they have made every parallel with Iris, except for the whole Georgia/Ursula thing... yet.
-Meloetta, you are such a slut.
-Cynthia looks really weird from that angle.
-More Iris going sparkly eyes. It's so beautiful.
-Dr. Zeger, no Giovanni... meh.
-Contived way of making two girls battle get! This also ruins the whole Dawn and Iris won't immediately become friends speculation.
-Abyssal Ruins? What! What!
-Rocket-dan no Live Caster! Now this is awesome.

Well, I have mixed feelings for this episode. On one hand, the battle, the character interactions, and the set up was well done. On the other hand, the said setup is for Meloetta, Piplup and Oshawott's marketability, which I frankly don't care for.
Best parts of this episode of course comes from Tomioka trolling everyone. Not only he basically showed into our faces to similiarities between Dawn and Iris to set up their battle and shut up all sides of arguments("Iris sux Dawn is better", "Dawn sux Iris is better", and "They are both awesome, because they're different than each other"); he also made Piplup the unlikable one, as opposed to what he was trying to make in the entire D/P, which I like. He also ruined our expectations by not showing TRs personality at all, and going at least slightly against the games, again, exact opposite of what he has done in D/P. Only expectation he didn't ruin was Cilan not getting much screentime, despite voicing the commercial break, as in his episodes he barely gets any screentime even if the episode focuses on him in some manner.
The animation wasn't the best thing ever either in this episode. It is very fun to point out odd quirks, just like in old D/P episodes, though. Battle was fantastic, but boy, so much stock animation.
Also the final reveal was pretty good. Overall pretty good set up episode, but not my most favourite thing in this planet ever.

 

[Ampharos King]

I felt that this episode was average. The only plot purpose that it served, imo, was to bring Dawn back into the picture during her guest appearance in this region. The majority of this episode was actually focused on Meloetta as it interacted with the main characters and their Pokemon. We also had a few brief moments in which Oshawott and Piplup were competing for the Meloetta's affections, and both pokemon were fighting one another.

With all of that said and done, Dawn's appearance in this episode seems to be of lesser importance as most of this episode shifted to her pokemon instead. Even during the scenes in which Dawn's entire team of pokemon made an appearance, most of the dialogue centered on Iris and Cilan interacting with pokemon that they have never seen before. There was also that small remark from Ash when he noticed that her Cyndaquil evolved. Mamoswine was constantly looking around for the Meloetta it had seen briefly while Ash and Cilan were talking. We even got a few scenes with the Pikachu-Buneary ship.

One of the main complaints I have of this episode was that Dawn's appearance seems to be unjustified. Dawn's contest objectives in the Hoenn region were seemingly thrown out of the window as she decided to accept Cynthia's request to compete in the Junior Cup. We didn't get any mention of how many ribbons she won in the Hoenn region, or how her rivals are doing. All we got from Dawn was a brief mention of how she was enthralled by Elesa's fashion modeling (which makes sense as Dawn competed in a Pokemon fashion styling competition in DP086) and Pokemon musicals, which involve some sort of performance. We didn't get any true indication that Dawn had progressed as a coordinator since she left Ash. This is ironic because Cilan appeared to display some level of interest in contest battles and Pokemon coordinators throughout the episode. He might have wanted to see the number of ribbons that Dawn had in her collection.

There was that brief battle in the second half of the episode in which Dawn and Cilan battled with their main pokemon, but I would hardly call it "magnificent" by any standards. We have seen both Piplup and Pansage battle individually before. It might be true that Piplup learned two new attacks and was able to utilize the Counter Shield strategy that Ash had implemented numerous times with some of his own pokemon in DP.

But in all honesty, what has changed with Piplup's battle style since he was last seen? Piplup's Drill Peck was employed the exact same way that Piplup regularly used the ordinary Peck in previous appearances. Piplup's Bubblebeam-Counter Shield strategy had been used as far back as DP007 when Piplup tried to learn how to spin to create a contest appeal, except it wasn't explicitly called a "Counter Shield" back then. The only notable change was that Piplup learned an Ice-type attack and seemingly replaced its Whirlpool move, and this revelation is mitigated due to May's Squirtle and Dawn's Buneary also knowing the attack and using it regularly during contests.

The title is definitely misleading, because Piplup and Pansage's battle was among the least interesting and prominent events that took place during the episode. So far Best Wishes Season 2 is having a shaky start.

 

[RJoshua]

[/img]

Spoiler

Why does that picture look familiar....Oh. Right.

I'm calling her Calill from now on.

Did Dawn see Team Rocket in this episode? How did she react to their now-serious nature if she did? Was it given notice?

 

[Cybersai]

Did Dawn see Team Rocket in this episode? How did she react to their now-serious nature if she did? Was it given notice?

Nah, the TRio didn't interact with Ash and co. at all in the episode.

Also I can't believe they brought cleavage back in that Elesa pic. I remember 4kids used to edit out the cleavage in the female characters.

 

[Thingamajig]

Dawn's reaction to tasting time made the episode for me. I'm glad there are high quality screen caps of that. I don't see why we needed an update on Hoenn and her rivals in this episode, at this rate she'll be around for at least the next 7 episodes, so there'll be plenty of time to give updates on how she's been going in Hoenn. The lack of progress with new Pokemon is a tad disappointing, though.

So TR look to be getting into their mysterious, multi-episode arc scheme. It just feels like they're building up to the return of Giovanni.

 

[Hellion]

I really liked this episode, I thought that much like last week, it was pretty much just exposition on who Hikari was, what's going on and what's going to happen, but it was really entertaining. Main reason for the entertainment were Hikari and Pochama.

First thing's first though, I really liked the beginning where the gang all felt excited in the plane and outside. It really sold the new and exciting feeling the production is trying to create around Season 2. I really liked the whole scene where Satoshi and Hikari meet up was cute. I really liked how everyone seemed to gel together well. Hikari came to Isshu to see musicals to get ideas for contests, makes sense, as is her entering the Junior World Cup to perfect her battling techniques. It doesn't feel OOC for her to do so since she always used to enter battle tournaments in DP and showed interest in other ways to connect with Pokémon beyond contests. Pochama and Mijumaru were just really hilarious, as was Pachirisu. The battle looked really well, loved the return of Counter Shield. I adored Hikari's puzzled and confusion at Dent's tasting time. It was just hilarious, as were Dent and Yanappu, but what I liked is that it never felt like she didn't like Dent, that she was annoyed by him, she kinda rolled with the weirdness.

Again, Meloetta and TR were the low point for me.

 

[Lafayette Excadrill]

Is it just me or does anyone else find it weird that none of the characters show signs of affection. Like a simple hug. I really expected Ash and Dawn to hug like normal friends would do when they haven't seen each other in a while. But all we got was a simple hey.

 

[Cybersai]

Is it just me or does anyone else find it weird that none of the characters show signs of affection. Like a simple hug. I really expected Ash and Dawn to hug like normal friends would do when they haven't seen each other in a while. But all we got was a simple hey.

Oh please no. You know good and well if Ash hugged any girl the shippers would go crazy. The writers know what they're doing.

Ash shows affection his own way with his friends, the last thing we need is more shipping wars.

 

[Lafayette Excadrill]

Oh please no. You know good and well if Ash hugged any girl the shippers would go crazy. The writers know what they're doing.

Ash shows affection his own way with his friends, the last thing we need is more shipping wars.

I don't know. The hi-5 they used to do would've been good too.

 

[ivantuga2]

Oh please no. You know good and well if Ash hugged any girl the shippers would go crazy. The writers know what they're doing.

Ash shows affection his own way with his friends, the last thing we need is more shipping wars.

I don't know. The hi-5 they used to do would've been good too.

But Satoshi/Ash and Hikari/Dawn DID exchange a high-five.

 

[Cybersai]

Why does it surprise anyone? Don't you guys remember how Ash reacted when he saw Misty or May again? It was pretty much the same thing just with the lack of a high five.

I am surprised Dawn didn't bring anything, at least May gave Ash and Brock gifts. I wonder what Brock did with his Teddiursa doll, we know Ash has his in his room in BW1.

 

[Chiplet]

I still think that having Dawn entering the World Cup feels OOC, if that was the main reason to why she came to Unova, that is.. I'm very well aware of her entering tournaments like that in DP too, but those tournaments weren't as big as this one. The Tag Team tournament was going to stop her from focusing contests either way, as she'd be forced to stay in Hearthome due to Ash and Brock entering, not to mention that Zoey/Ash was the one who made her enter in the first place. And that so-called tournament they had in Twinleaf Town lasted just for one day (and we didn't even get to see her battle), so of course she entered that one, as it worked as their ''day off''. The World Cup is a completely different thing though. I mean, she traveled to a whole new region, where she'll surely stay for a couple of months, only to enter a battle tournament? It's like battling takes priority here, which I think is really strange, considering for how long she'll actually be gone and how many contests she misses out back in Hoenn. But, if the Musicals/Elesa's shows were the main reason to why she came to Unova and the battle tournament was only an opportunity she saw to brush up her battling skills, then I guess it'd make sense.

Even so, I still like that she's entering though as I'm hoping for some battles between Dawn and Ash/Iris.

 

[97SaturnSL1]

well it wasnt too bad of a comeback ep. liked dawns reaction to tasting time and poor piplups face being streached by iris. though this episode probilbly will be the most shocking one i have ever saw due to that all infamouse scene with elesa. i was not expecting that and i will be suprised if the part gets Censored out in the english dub. that scene will be burned in my mind s probily one of the worse fails of pokemon in its entirty.

Heh "shocking". made a joke.lol