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Review BW091: Power Battle! Iris VS Hikari!!

Apparently, Maggyo knows Sludge Bomb. Hell! They didn't even bother to change the Mud Bomb animation a little bit.

This is what makes me think that its not Sludge Bomb, the names are simalur more so in Japanesse so it's easy to miss hear
 
I really loved every scene with Dragonite. Its weird flip-out near the beginning was hilarious, and its battle against Mamoswine was top-notch. Still, the bland CotD's bug me. I know they lose, so the only reason I would like them is because they look interesting. But blah. Marufuji (Trip's opponent) looked good in comparison to Trip. (Which isn't a compliment for either of them.)
 
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You know what's really sad... the last time we'll probably ever see Manmoo was in a shot with it knocked out with an over-powered Kairyu standing over it.
 
Yes, this episode played out in nearly the same way as the previous one. Ash, Cilan, and Dawn played second fiddle to Iris's disobedient Dragonite and Trip's obsession with wanting to surpass Alder. There was plenty of stock footage, "skipped" battles, and forced character interactions to go around.

Although the battles during the episode were very short, I still witnessed enough to say that there weren't any unique strategies or surprising twists that got me to jump out of my seat. Considering the state that Marufuji's Heatmor was in prior to getting knocked out, it's safe to say that Trip had his pokemon utilize the exact same combination of moves that were used during his previous battle with Burgundy. Boldore and Stunfisk's battles were lackluster as well, and the only notable part about either of these fights was that Stunfisk learned a new attack that visually resembles one of the pokemon's existing moves. Mud Bomb and Sludge Bomb have similar CGI animation. It's such a shame that Reuniclus and Cinccino had very underwhelming debuts in the anime, with neither of them being seen for more than a few seconds over these past two episodes.

As noted in the episode title, Iris and Dawn's battle is the main subject of the episode. For a match fought between the two most recent female anime protagonists with each using a powerful fully-evolved pokemon, this episode's writer failed to deliver a spectacular fight for the record books. This match was an almost complete repeat of Dragonite's previous match against Georgia's Beartic, with Dragonite intentionally refusing to obey its trainer's orders and deciding to overwhelm the opponent with brute force. Just like the previous match, Dragonite's opponent is an Ice-type pokemon with a massive type advantage. And once again, Dragonite has overwhelming stamina to endure two powerful Ice-type attacks and even getting frozen without even being shown to get exhausted in the slightest. Furthermore, this battle had the most notable instances of stock animation throughout the entire episode, with Mamoswine and Dragonite repeatedly colliding into each other using the same attacks.

I was rather disappointed with Dawn and Mamoswine's battling performance in this episode. Although I acknowledge Dawn's decision in using Mamoswine to counter Iris's powerful Dragonite, I didn't see to see much of the coordinator's distinguished battling style here as I would have liked. In her previous battles, Dawn had her pokemon combine its attacks or utilize an opponent's attacking patterns to her advantage. This match hardly reflects or signifies her contest battling experience in DP, with most of Dawn's strategy in this battle just attacking head-on with full force.

Even though Mamoswine learned Ice Fang between the end of DP and BW, I was astonished that the pokemon never used the Ice Shard armor combination that it used in so many of its previous contest battles. Once again, the writers feel that 'fleshing out' Iris's character by focusing on a pokemon she recently obtained is more important than granting Dawn a decent battle for the tournament that she traveled all the way from Hoenn to compete in.

Speaking of 'fleshing out' Iris's character, I didn't get the impression that Iris felt any fault or weakness in herself for being unable to control her Dragonite. Instead, it appeared that Iris viewed Dragonite as the accountable one, as she repeatedly scolded the pokemon for refusing to battle on her terms. Even when Cynthia and Dawn assist her with befriending Dragonite, Iris's objective with establishing a relationship with Dragonite hardly progressed or displayed much depth.

This entire struggle is simply based on Iris wanting Dragonite to obey her commands in battle without the trainer doing much, if anything, for her pokemon in return. Dragonite cared enough about Iris to dodge Mamoswine's Hidden Power attack on her command, but then the pokemon immediately resorted to the battling style that it felt most comfortable with using. After Dragonite won the battle for Iris, Iris still resorted to scolding the pokemon for not following her orders. So much for Cynthia's intervention and Dawn's empathy.

And last but certainly not least, Trip vs. Cilan (the first semifinal battle in the Junior Cup) was the final important element to this episode. Like the aforementioned fight above, I was very disappointed with the lack of strategy or surprise in this battle. Trip's strategy with using Serperior in this battle barely deviated from the pokemon's previous fights. The only difference here was that Cilan's Crustle was able to protect itself from Serperior's Leer, which enabled Crustle to survive the Solarbeam attack that immediately followed. We also got to see Serperior use Frenzy Plant, one of the most overused Grass-type attacks in the anime, for the first time.

I felt the writers never gave Cilan a fighting chance in this match. In previous battles in which Cilan had used Crustle, he commanded his pokemon to either launch its powerful Rock Wrecker or enhance its base attack and speed using Shell Smash. Since Serperior is a fast opponent with incredible offensive power, I am disappointed that the writers didn't have Cilan adapt to his opponent by using those attacks. Here Cilan has Crustle use its weaker attacks, with Serperior effortlessly dodging everything that Crustle dished out during the match. This was yet another disappointing battle between two relatively important characters, much more so considering their history of having fought one another before in a previous tournament.

With all of that said and done, my expectations for the remaining rounds of the Junior Cup are set very low. I can't wait for this tournament to end. Alas, there was so much potential with the Junior Cup, but unfortunately I felt that the writers failed to deliver anything amazing so far.
 
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It was so great to see my beloved Cynthia again! And wasn't she just graceful and superior and wonderful? In particular, I'm thinking of when she was there to help Iris clam Down Dragonite or when she was watching the battle. Awww :unworthy:

Also, did anybody happen to understand the dialog between Cynthia and Trip?
I know it will probably not come true but I'd love to hear something like that:

Cynthia: This icecream is delicious
Trip: Hello, you are Cynthia, aren't you? It's a great honor to meet the best of all champions in person.
Cynthia: Thank you, that's very nice of you. But your impressive Serperior deserves praise, too. You know, you do have a real chance of winning this tournament.
Trip: You think so? I want to beat Alder at all costs!
Cynthia: Don't worry about him. He used to be a formidable trainer, but now that he's forgotten how to battle, he's only a shadow of his former self.
 
Shooty mentioned making Shirona his next target after he "defeats Adeku" (while Shirona was walking away).

I really love Kairyu's expressions, but man, it's just way too overpowered. It once again one-shot its opponent.
 
after he "defeats Adeku"

He's gonna be awfully disappointed then.

Episode itself was alright. Nothing really special (An improvement over the opener at least), though it was nice to see Crustle brought down a peg. What I've noticed most is how backwards type matchups are here. I know the anime has never really followed them that well, but now we have Serperior defeating several Fire types and a Bug type, not to mention Dragonite.
 
tsk tsk tsk... Where to start? Let's go with the positive and work our way down (three guesses which character I was utterly bored by in this episode and in my opinion, totally ruined it and this whole arc...)

Burgundy and Cabernet were just hilarious and I love the way these two interacted with one another and reacted to one another. Easily the most entertaining part of this episode. I also liked the bit between Shooti and Adeku. Maggyo's reaction to his first win was priceless and I liked that Iwaparesu lost. It wasn't a great battle, far from it, so I don't mind that it was the fall guy in the battle. Better him than Maggyo or Yanappu. Dent had his usual funny stuff too, so that side of the episode was good.

Pacing wise, this is just really uninteresting to see rounds fly by with just split second footage from the battle. I would have liked to see how Maggyo earns his win because both his battle against Luke and Fuuro were really original and well written. Speaking of well-written original battles, this episode was cruelly lacking in that department. Visually more interesting than last week's but based on the same format. Kairyu takes in a shit ton of attacks, have it all have no effect cause his level of power makes Arceus look weak, while the opponent repeatedly and mindlessly calls out attacks because they're apparently not good enough to think of any strategy. No strategy, no combinations, no nothing on Hikari's side and that was extremely underwhelming when her style has always been about combining both style and aggression when it came down to Mammoo.

What's really sad is that they really treated Hikari as Iris' puppet in this episode. I'm not even sure she interacted with another character than Iris, and promptly congratulated Iris and told her she was really great. Even Kairyu is starting to obey (why it disobeyed in the first place is a mystery, but...) and the storyline is pretty much Iris is once again exempt of any blame, any struggle, any conflict, and is right all along.

Yawn.
 
Man, there really rushing through these battles huh. Another poor episode. I just can't see why Dragonite joined Iris in the 1st place. And boy that was a boring battle. Did Dawn forget that she is a coordinator?

Yawn. On to next week. I like that Ash is switching up his pokes each match, instead of using his most powerful all the time (Trip and Iris)
 
While I liked the Dawn/Iris battle, it left a sour taste in my mouth that Dawn lost. Even Iris seemed angry at Dragonite for not obeying her, understanding that she wasn't in control of her win. I believe Georgia/Burundgly commented on it too.

Mamoswine really should have won here, and then we could have seen Ash beat Dawn with Krok evolving against it. Dragonite already got a big win against an ice type like Beatric, it didn't need another one.

I also know its been discussed already, but I dislike the fact that all the early matches were skipped and/or one-hit KO fests. Pretty dull and pointless IMO.
 
There is one word with which i can describe this episode: Awfully rushed.

This episode is typical example of writers cramming too many things in short period of time. We basically had all quarterfinal battles and one from semi-finals being covered in 20 to 25 minutes.

But overall i can say it was still fairly entertaining. Battle between Iris and Dawn was easily highlight of whole episode following clash of two titans(Mamoswine and Dragonite) battling each other. Even though Dragonite was awfully overpowered throwing Mamoswine like toy, i was glad to see that Dawn proved to be much tougher opponent than Langley was with ice attacks from giant tusk pokemon managing to actually hurt Dragonite leaving some effect on yellow beast.
It was also cool i guess when Cynthia at start of episode managed to calm down Dragonite abit, and from champion i expected no less. You could see she radiates with certain aura which causes pokemon to respect her, knowing how to approach them.
And its relieving to see how Dragonite still doesn't completely obey, so there perhaps exist still time to avoid this issue being resolved in terribly rushed manner(though i lost faith in this). But to be honest he is starting to grow on me with his expressions and personality.

Langley and Burgundy interactions in here really added humor and entertainment value and their arguing and sorrow made my day.

Oh i almost forgot. It was about time Cilan Stunfisk won battle for a change, making me VERY pleased. Though unfortunately Trip and his deux ex machina Serperior(reminds me of anaconda) were too much for poor Crustle. Oh well.

Surprising Dawn had no real reaction to her loss. It really does feel like she's just a background character in this tournament rather than being the star of her cameo arc. Even most of this tournament focuses on all the other characters over her.

To be honest, in May cameo main star was more new girl at that time Dawn than anyone else too.

Besides why would loss in here leave any effect on Dawn?
She grew as character since early and mid DP days being a lot more secure and confident in her abilities, learning to handle loss. Not to mention this defeat didn't affected career setting her backwards, to warrant to be upset about it.
I don't know. I viewed this battle as clash between two friends with both girls enjoying in it , no matter what outcome would be.

I wouldn't say Dawn participating in there was pointless either because Dawn still had chance to enter tournament with strong competition gathering knowledge from first hand about strategy and way of battling trainers from Unova practice enriching her own abilities with both wins and defeats allowing that she learns what works and what doesn't.

Which can be noticed in battling adjusting her style and strategy which became more raw and straightforward, which was purpose behind journey in first place being aware how style she used in DP has to change, with Hoenn coordinators battling more like trainers, if May journey was anything to go by.
She adapted herself to different methodology of battling. At least that's the way i see it.
 
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There were only a few good things about this episode. The greatest had to be all the Langley/Cabernet interaction. The other was Maggyo finally winning a battle. Too bad it was only for like one second... The rest I didn't much care for.

The Mamoswine Vs. Dragonite battle was still fairly entertaining even with Dawn's loss. That Dragonite is an unstoppable beast. If I was 10 years old I'd probably think its the best thing ever, but as an adult it really is just poor writing to give a main character an overpowered pokemon that apparently can resist 4x ice attacks. OH WELL.

Surprising Dawn had no real reaction to her loss. It really does feel like she's just a background character in this tournament rather than being the star of her cameo arc. Even most of this tournament focuses on all the other characters over her.

I rather love that Dragonite, is so full of personality, while showing the same range of emotions and never a shred of happiness.
Although I have to say, more than Iris who not deserving it, quite the contrary is true. Well, ok Dragonite knows how to fight without the help of anyone, but it could also avoid snubbing her so much. Or is it something "I've let you catch me without effort, now earn my respect"?
It seems to have a rancor toward the world, that Pkmn. Could it had a painful past? According to me it also had another Trainer.
Maybe for Dawn was really a pleasant pastime that Tournament, certainly not on Trip's burning motivation.
Surely Dragonite trained itself very well to become the wall it's now. And I still wondering: male or female? Iris has 2 male Pkmn and 1 female,so Dragonite could be a...girl.

Let me say,there is just too much nostalgia-comparison for the anime.
 
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They should have given Dawn some accomplishment in this tournament before losing to Dragonite. Her only win being a 2 second battle with Piplup against a Stoutland was pathetic. If I were a major Dawn fan I'd be disappointed that she wasn't focused on much at all in this tournament, the entire focus was on Iris, Trip and the rest of the BW cast. Its almost as if Dawn herself was the random background character in this, when in reality she was the guest character.

Yes Mamoswine did a great deal of damage to Dragonite, but it wasn't really enough. It almost feels like the writers had a lack of enthusiasm regarding Dawn in the series as if she's only brought back just for traditions sake rather than if they really wanted to use her again.
 
Yes Mamoswine did a great deal of damage to Dragonite, but it wasn't really enough. It almost feels like the writers had a lack of enthusiasm regarding Dawn in the series as if she's only brought back just for traditions sake rather than if they really wanted to use her again.
Season 2 feels like that in general imo. Dawn comes back and doesn't really do much of importance, they bring in Meloetta who just flits about in the background, Caitlin is around for a single episode. It all just feels so pointless.
 
Season 2 feels like that in general imo. Dawn comes back and doesn't really do much of importance, they bring in Meloetta who just flits about in the background, Caitlin is around for a single episode. It all just feels so pointless.

And what they do force upon feels well..."forced." We HAD to see Dragonite strong in this tournament, so the writers have Iris beat her rival and Dawn...and against two ice types no less. We HAD to see Trip as a threat for the league, so he has to come back and get a revenge match on Cilan and beat Ash in the finals, all the while using his powerful starter to do so.

Its like the writers forgot how to do decent development, so they just glorify whoever is supposed to look good now with little reason. I think this is what's contributing to the negative reactions to Iris and Trip from the fandom, there's really no development for these characters.
 
Oh,for me it's like writers want a new way to do Pkmn animé. Old seasons were really good,as this. It's just people who were children in the Kanto/Jotho Sagas... become more exigent.
 
Oh hey, it's Cinccino, one of my favorite Gen 5 Pokemon. I'm sure it'll pack a-- well, then.

Sweet Reuniclus! I hope it goes down with a figh-- oh ok.

I guess some debuts are more equal than others! (Wait, I'm getting deja vu here...) Is it bad that I think they should've debuted in some filler episode?

Yeeesh, talk about a rushed episode. Like a few others, I'm having the feeling that Season 2 is just so...uninspired. It's like this episode could've been better, but it falls flat for some reason.
 
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