Review BW087: Survival on the Island of Iwark!

[WatcherMark]

After watching the episode raw, I'm now convinced Pochama didn't use Headbutt... did Hikari actually command it?

But having said that, I am thinking he learned Water Pulse... it was the exact same animation.

 

[Idon'tcare]

I really love those two being together. Satoshi and Dent have such a great chemistry with each other.

...Oh what? Hikari and Iris? Yeah, well, see, girl and girl relationships never really interest me. Alright?

Although I did enjoy them getting attacked by Pokémon they knew nothing about and the vine swinging.

Spoiler

Now why didn't Iris's hair look like this in the afro episode when she got shocked by Buffron's Wild Charge?

Hooray for a Takeshi mention, but what would make me even more happy is an actual appearance from him.

I love how enough thought Dento and Hikari would be the bestestestes of friends, lol still nope

Hey, hey now, get off their backs. And besides, Hikari and Iris deserve each other. I mean just look at this part:

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Dent checks to see if Satoshi is alright after he gets scared by some Koromori and they walk past and taunt him.

So rude, girls. Dent already has Satoshi he can be all buddy, buddy with. ...I'm joking around with Hikari and Iris.

 

[Masurao]

I hate to admit it, but I kinda laughed at Iris'/Dawn's ganging up on Ash...if only because they'd giggle and be really happy about it afterwards. It's nice to see the catchphrase get a reaction out of him for a change each time it was used on him this episode.

 

[Yoshi-san]

The Iris and Dawn interactions gave me diabetes XD SOOO CUTE

And what? No Sailor Moon Jokes in response of Meloetta's Relic Song? SHAME ON THIS THREAD! >:O

Anyway this was a fun episode

 

[Cybersai]

The Dawn/Iris interaction was definitely the best of the main girls interactions. May/Dawn interaction was too BFF although I liked it too.

The Misty/May interaction was by far the absolute worst. They never even spoke more than a few lines to one another and hardly have any scenes together. Thank goodness the writers learned from that terrible mistake to do it better the next two times.

 

[Grave-E]

He's mentioning less and less with each passing season; I think that he's become jaded to the departures and perhaps finds solace in forgetting about them rather than mulling them over all the time, to prevent any type of emotional illness from developing XP

...He's gonna end up living alone on top of some snowy mountain some day, isn't he?

 

[JB2448]

As much as I liked the Brock reference:

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and as cool as it was to see Dawn and Iris actually having fun back-and-forth:

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I feel like Piplup and Oshawott stole the show whenever they were on-screen together:

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[Ampharos King]

The love triangle between Oshawott-Piplup-Meloetta was the main theme throughout the entire episode, which is something that I wish the writers will just end already because it is too repetitious. I'm glad that these three pokemon won't have as much screentime in the next episode.

Dawn and Iris's interactions felt forced, imo, and all they have really done together throughout the episode was repeat each other's actions. I don't remember Dawn being so adventurous and spontaneous in DP. She felt more grounded back then; compare her behavior now to when she interacted with Lyra. Dawn would have been more focused on reuniting with her Piplup than "playing around," for lack of better terminology, with Iris if this episode took place in DP.

Sadly, Ash and Cilan took the backseat in this episode. Ash had a few brief moments of use where he commanded Oshawott and Dawn's Piplup to attack the wild Onix. Aside from his regular duties, Cilan didn't do that much in this episode, either.

On another note, these Onix are very powerful. I've never seen wild Onix that were able to survive two Water Guns and one Hydro Pump from an Oshawott, three Bubblebeam attacks from a Piplup, and one Close Combat from Meloetta-- a legendary pokemon, for crying out loud. The situation would have been different if Meloetta wasn't travelling with the main characters, because the writers had to emphasize that Meloetta's only purpose is to calm other pokemon through its song.

Overall, this episode was below-average. The events here hardly advanced the main plot, the interactions between Dawn and the current BW trio are still lacking with any true depth, and the conflicts with the Onix could have been settled quickly if Ash and co. actually sent out more of their pokemon. Why must Oshawott and Piplup do everything around here? Doesn't Cilan have a pokemon that can inflict super-effective moves against Onix? Doesn't Dawn have an array of powerful pokemon that she could have sent out to battle the Onix while she was separated from her Piplup? Even Iris and her pokemon could have served some use in this episode. Didn't Iris pit Axew and Excadrill in a sparring match against each other at the beginning of the episode? Once again, this series continues to focus on childish antics rather than true character growth and progression.

 

[Satoshi_Pikachu]

He's mentioning less and less with each passing season; I think that he's become jaded to the departures and perhaps finds solace in forgetting about them rather than mulling them over all the time, to prevent any type of emotional illness from developing XP

...He's gonna end up living alone on top of some snowy mountain some day, isn't he?

If by alone you mean with no one but Pikachu, then probably.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I actually really loved this episode! I love Oshawott and Piplup's rivalry! It's just so fun to watch the two go at each other. Pretty glad Oshawott learned Hydro Pump and his version of it was actually pretty cool!

 

[Ashfangirl22]

You know what the funny thing is? Oshawott and Pipulp have been arguing all this time over the same Pokemon but shes got eyes for one and only for AshXD I can't wait till they find out, there expressions will be priceless. I loved Dento/Ash's interactions the most, they needed more scenes =/

 

[Catspring]

Spoiler

....

Pochama has teeth?

what

 

[Adamant]

After watching the episode raw, I'm now convinced Pochama didn't use Headbutt... did Hikari actually command it?

Yes.

But having said that, I am thinking he learned Water Pulse... it was the exact same animation.

It was outright stated to be BubbleBeam.

 

[pharaohyami5000]

Hmm. Bubblebeam in a Water Pulse form. Oshawott knows Hydro Pump. What move does he no longer know? Find out next time in... 2 weeks or so.

This episode is the usual episode of a Scooby Doo montage where the group runs away from beasts at least twice the size of themselves, not acknowledging the fact that they have Pokemon able to defend them. I understand they can be pretty evasive, but come on! Shame Meloetta isn't able to stay in her forme change for more than 30 seconds from what I count in this episode.

I like the group interactions, Dawn and Iris belittling Ash (though he's more annoyed that Dawn agrees with Iris on the kid thing) and the Brock reference. Piplup/Oshawott took a little too much on the screen time though.

 

[Dr. Buni]

What an awesome episode, 10/10 to me.

I absolutely loved Hikari and Iris interactions, these two girls together are very funny. I can't remember the last time I lol'ed like this watching a Pokémon episode. Pochama and Mijumaru's rivalry amuses me too, since I like both Pokémon. This rivalry would be a nice excuse to make the otter evolve, but I doubt it will happen. The only bad part was Pirouette Form Meloetta appearing only for a couple seconds. :/

Also, Mijumaru's Hydro Hadouken = Awesomeness.

 

[Grave-E]

"It's Adventure Time!"

Oh geeze, they finally had him say it.

 

[Cybersai]

I liked this episode, although I would have liked it more if the main Pokemon wasn't Onix for the 10,000th time.

Even just seeing rampaging Rhydon or Nidoking would have been better.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Something erks me about this episode. And that something is the way the show portrayed battles with wild pokemon. I mean why so afraid of them Onix are pretty frakin weak and there first instinct is running the it felt like the group was holding a lot back considering it only 2 pokemon fought and there was FOUR trainers. What really bothers me is how much of a stark contrast it is to the games where you go in caves wreck wild pokes shit just for the exp.\

YES I understand it has been like this for a long time YES I get that the anime =/= the games. But when you make an adaptation you make choices in what elements are the same and what elements are tweaked so while I like the fact that in show Pokemon league is a tournament not a gauntlet, a that pokedex have info at any time, they are no held items and that there are more than 8 gyms because they make sense to me, I don't the way the heroes act toward wild pokemon because it doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't make sense that the group have avoidance of hostile wild pokemon rather the seeking them out because they battlers by sport and trainers are expected to battle pokemon all the time to catch them and they are everywhere and the way the group treats it as a threat rather then everyday occurrence only FURTHER questions the legitimacy of them being aloud to travel on their on-Okay you get the idea. The point is it pains me to see this again and it was pretty much the entire episode.

 

[Araragi-hakase]

The Takeshi mention and Hikari and Iris broing around were definite highlights of this episode for me. But overall I thought it was a really fun and enjoyable episode to watch. Especially the part where all the Pokemon were playing on the beach, that was really cute.

I really hope Hikari and Iris saying "kodomo ne~" together doesn't become a new thing. I thought it was pretty funny when they both said it as they were walking in to the cave, (and Satoshi's expression) but anymore than that and I think it's going to be overkill.

I didn't really mind Iwark being the main Pokemon again, even if it did kind of remind of that Kanto episode with Siba in it a bit. Was probably more for the younger audience that just started watching the show during BW that might not know what an Iwark is. The whole episode had a nostalgic taste~

 

[Cybersai]

I hope Onix never appears in another episode again. But knowing the writers we'll see it again within the next 15 episodes.