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Review BW101: Soryu Gym! Iris VS Shaga!!

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Soryu Gym! Iris VS Shaga!!


Screenplay : Shinzō Fujita
Storyboard : Tetsuo Yajima
Assistant director: Takaomi Kanezaki
Animation director: Tomohiro Koyama
 
No one's posting because everyone's Keyhole is fucked up I see.

Episode was good, Doryuuzu VS. Ononokusu was too short, ending in a tie was fitting. Kairyu VS. Crimgan was good and Kairyu losing was ideal and awesome.
 
So Iris will be a gym leader at the end of Best Wishes. A nice, if predictable end for her.
 
Shaga talking to Elder about Iris... Considering her for Soryu Gym's future leader. Interesting.

The episode was pretty good overall. The whole "Wild Iris = Not many friends" was nice. As for the Gym battle, it was decent, better than I expected.
 
So Iris will be a gym leader at the end of Best Wishes. A nice, if predictable end for her.
I wouldn't be sure that she'll accept the offer. This episode showed how miserable Iris used to feel in Opelucid City... Why would she feel better about staying there even if she were the gym leader?
 
Iris as Gym leader is unexpected but perfect - about the best thing to happen to her character, albeit with no build up or anything at all - even the battle didn't really prove her being anywhere near ready. Seems odd though that we started the series with Cilan leaving a Gym and will end it with Iris becoming one. What's her excuse for continuing on travelling with Ash though?

Up until the last few moments my thoughts were going to be, 'great episode, ruined by the battle at the end' - but I'm okay with it all now. I really enjoyed the start of the episode and it's nice to see that side of Iris finally - if we'd had more of this and earlier I think my opinion of her character wouldn't be anywhere near as negative as it is now. Especially her remorse over working Fraxure too hard, though as I've complained about more than enough recently, it's all well and good to be nice and apologetic afterwards but it never changes how they respond in the first place. It would certainly have been a better way of contextualising her relationship with Excadrill rather than the random disobedience.

The battle was annoying, I'd complain about it being rushed, but I was happy for it to be over quickly. A double KO against a Haxorus is way over the power that Excadrill should have and a bad ending for that build up. I was overjoyed to see Dragonite go down, but I'd have rathered it go the other way.

Still all of the episode is overshadowed by the end. I think it's the right path to write her off - hopefully we get a Cress episode with him helping Iris with getting used to being a Gym leader, as well as some development for Cilan as he thinks about his own position. I've expected for a while that Iris will leave and Cilan will go through to the next generation, I think this episode confirms it.
 
I've expected for a while that Iris will leave and Cilan will go through to the next generation, I think this episode confirms it.
I don't see how it does. There is nothing about this episode that foreshadows anything about Cilan.
 
The battle was annoying, I'd complain about it being rushed, but I was happy for it to be over quickly. A double KO against a Haxorus is way over the power that Excadrill should have and a bad ending for that build up. I was overjoyed to see Dragonite go down, but I'd have rathered it go the other way.
I don't see what was so wrong about the double KO, so many people predicted Doryuuzu getting a tie and Kairyu losing. He learned Focus Blast with the intent of attacking from a distance which was utilized this episode against Ononokusu's Rock Smash and the writers hyped the match as being a "Revenge" battle. It makes sense Doryuuzu would tie to show Iris and Doryuuzu's growth and renewed bond. Shaga isn't an Elite Four member or Shirona and her invincible Shark monstrosity, his Pokemon are very much beatable.

Still all of the episode is overshadowed by the end. I think it's the right path to write her off - hopefully we get a Cress episode with him helping Iris with getting used to being a Gym leader, as well as some development for Cilan as he thinks about his own position. I've expected for a while that Iris will leave and Cilan will go through to the next generation, I think this episode confirms it.
It confirms nothing. True Iris most likely will leave, I really don't think it's set in stone that Dento is secured for a spot in the next region since it said not a thing about Dento. Seems more like wishful thinking.
 
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Iris being wanted as a Gym leader was expected, but I was surprised when Dragonite was actually the second match and not the first. Iris seemingly not having many friends could now explain why she was following Ash around as well.

At any rate, Excadrill got to prove itself and then Dragonite lost. Iris lost overall, but Excadrill tying with Haxorous was pretty predicatable.
 
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All in all a pretty good episode. The further exploration of Iris's past was definitely welcome, and it was really interesting to see Iris not fitting in as a child.

As for the battle itself, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a little more. Personally, I think restricting it to less than half an episode was just not particularly satisfying. The tie between Doryuzu and Ononokusu, although it made sense, was just waaaay too rushed. It honestly just was a blink-and-you-miss-it battle. Kairyu and Crimgan was much better done, with both able to show off their strength well without making it feel skewed to either too unfairly.

The ending, although not exactly unexpected, was a good conclusion. It's a good reminder that although Iris HAS proven herself as a trainer through her growth in the series, she's still got a bit to go before her goals are truly reached.
 
I don't see what was so wrong about the double KO, so many people predicted Doryuuzu getting a tie and Kairyu losing. He learned Focus Blast with the intent of attacking from a distance which was utilized this episode against Ononokusu's Rock Smash and the writers hyped the match as being a "Revenge" battle. It makes sense Doryuuzu would tie to show Iris and Doryuuzu's growth and renewed bond. Shaga isn't an Elite Four member or Shirona and her invincible Shark monstrosity, his Pokemon are very much beatable.
I suppose it's mostly to do with the general view of Dragons being really strong and tough to beat - especially the fully evolved ones. Seemed to fall too quickly - but perhaps that's just the short battle givign that impression.

It confirms nothing. True Iris most likely will leave, I really don't think it's set in stone that Dento is secured for a spot in the next region since it said not a thing about Dento. Seems more like wishful thinking.
Probably, but getting an episode this far out (presumably) from the end of the region to lay out Iris' future seems strange if they were both going to leave at the same time.
 
I suppose it's mostly to do with the general view of Dragons being really strong and tough to beat - especially the fully evolved ones. Seemed to fall too quickly - but perhaps that's just the short battle givign that impression.
I think that's mainly it, this episode was packed with a lot of crap so I expected the Doryuuzu and Ononokusu battle to be the main focus of the episode. I guess Kairyu got more focus due to it being a Dragon and Iris striving to be a Dragon Master, oh well at least Doryuuzu accomplished more than Kairyu did with a tie. Shaga really really started to go all out against Kairyu with Crimgan, the mood seemed to change.




Speaking of Iris possibly becoming a Gym Leader, this reminds me of Ibuki from Jouto. She appeared with her Miniryu in her debut if I remember correctly, but she had two rather strong Pokemon despite her signature Pokemon not being evolved. This sorta likens it to Iris in a way, she has two strong Pokemon and an unevolved signature Pokemon.
 
Probably, but getting an episode this far out (presumably) from the end of the region to lay out Iris' future seems strange if they were both going to leave at the same time.
Dawn's departure had been foreshadowed before the Sinnoh League, whereas Brock's reason for leaving was tacked on at the end of the DP series. Likewise, Iris has more development to go through than Cilan does. Obviously, she is not quite ready to become a gym leader just yet, and for all we know the post-league saga will give her another goal.
 
As expected, this turned out to be a very short gym battle, but I am still surprised and upset that Excadrill got a f'ing tie against Drayden's Haxorus. With the exception of him learning Focus Blast and being more in synch with Iris, Excadrill did not really improve over the course of this series. Very little has been suggested that Iris's Excadrill is particularly more powerful than any of the other pokemon on the main cast, and Excadrill has lost numerous times as well; most notably against Montgomery's Throh. Excadrill tied against Georgia's Beartic after it lost once, although Beartic's strength was more around Excadrill's level. Excadrill also barely won his battle against Burgundy's Dewott back at the Clubsplosion.

Meanwhile, Haxorus had been established as Drayden's most powerful and signature pokemon in the anime, had enough durability to resist Excadrill's Drill Run attack during their first battle (which is ironically the attack that Excadrill used to win here), and completely annihilated Excadrill with just one attack. Haxorus was the type of opponent that one could not have defeated with just power alone, and realistically it would have taken more than one of Iris's pokemon to win against it. It was a shame that Haxorus had been taken down so easily here by a pokemon that barely improved in this series. I felt that Haxorus should have overpowered Excadrill at the end, but once again Iris seems to get the glory treatment here.

Although I was glad that Dragonite lost to Druddigon, I'm a little upset that this wasn't the first battle of the match, considering the flashback in BW036, as well as the flashback in this episode, focused more on Iris's relationship with Excadrill than on anything else. Meanwhile, Iris just "got" Dragonite, and she never had as much interaction with this pokemon. I felt that Druddigon's victory over Dragonite should have resolved first, and then Iris would eventually surprise Drayden by having her Excadrill tie with Haxorus. The writers have established that Drayden wants Iris to be his successor as the Opelucid City Gym Leader, but Iris didn't really match up to his expectations since she lost one battle after just getting a tie against Drayden's strongest pokemon.

If only the writers decided to put the flashbacks in their own separate episode, have Iris interact with that Fraxure a little bit more, and then spend another episode with an actual gym battle (preferably a 3-on-3) in which the battles don't resolve in one or two minutes. Once again, the writers fall short of my expectations during this episode too. Overall, this was a below-average episode.
 
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I'm amazed that no one's talking about how they decided to just do their own interpretation of Opelucid instead of referencing either of the game versions. I guess for the anime, that just makes sense, though. Anyway, predictable outcomes are predictable. I have no idea what other climax they can give Iris, though, since this one serves that purpose nicely. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps her rivalry with Georgia is not over yet... I'm unsure if we will see Iris become the Gym Leader. If it were up to me, I would've ended Iris here so she can train more diligently under Drayden himself. She has shown the potential, all that's being done is that she needs to develop her battle skills more. That kinda worries me. She's closer to her goal than most of the other companions ever got already, and this still isn't over. (she's not as close as Dawn got, though) We'll see how this plays out.
 
So long awaited confrontation between student and mentor has finally happened.
It was interesting to get insight in more of Iris backstory finding out how she doesn't have many friends and how she couldn't fit in being treated like outcast, which added nice trait of realism into character making her feel more sympathetic and easier to relate to. This would also explain rather antisocial behavior at start of Unova following Ash around for no reason, along with lack of confidence she seemed to express toward humans at start.

I always appreciate when we get more info about character past and what leaded toward them becoming persons they are today, so that's definitely a plus in my book.

Battle between Drayden and Iris was mediocre. Clash between Excadrill and Haxorous was way too rushed leaving sore taste in mouth,. Although ill admit this, it was nice to see how change of strategy and addition of new attacks like focus blast resolved main problem mole pokemon had during their first battle not having any effective defense against devastating rock smash. Tie also you could say settled score between this two pokemon once and for all being obvious from start how its only matter of time when rematch will ensue. That being said judging from what Haxorous showed first time around and Drayden prestigious role such easy knockout was highly unbelievable.

Battle between Dragonite and Druddigon was better, but still too short for my taste lacking enough details and strategy to make it stand out.

Either way this episode showed how Iris still has lot to learn about dragons and their characteristics on road of becoming dragon master, serving as Drayden test to determine how much she learned and improved after leaving village. Loss also served as lecture and motivation for Iris to grow stronger revealing huge potential lying in her to become full-fledged dragon master one day. Which passed anything but unnoticed, hence explaining Drayden wish that she becomes Opelucid gym leader eventually.

Whether she will accept offer or not remains to be seen, though judging by how uncomfortable she is about that place due to bad experiences from past doesn't add to staying.

Another thing which brings cloud of doubt about Iris future is promotion in BW2 games becoming champion and encounters with Cynthia, making me suspect how she might eventually follow path game counterpart went through ending as apprentice working to become champion. After all there is another highly skilled dragon trainer which holds champion status(Lance).

And we still don't know how Drayden became dragon master and what trials and tests you need to pass to become recognized as such.

But yes unless she stays for one more region which is doubtful, at this point most likely thing to happen with Iris is ending as Drayden apprentice or new Opelucid gym leader succeeding him.
 
I wasn't really waiting for this episode but I'll comment anyway.

Why does it look like Dragonite can only beat Ice Types at this point? Oh well, I don't care. Drayden winning was great. The battle was boring, however.:yawn: I agree with pokemon fan 132, Haxorus losing so quickly made no sense.

I enjoyed the first half of the episode more than I enjoyed the battle. But the good thing is, finally a Unova gym leader that isn't a complete pushover. Too bad Ash didn't battle him. Oh well, maybe next time.
 
I'm amazed that no one's talking about how they decided to just do their own interpretation of Opelucid instead of referencing either of the game versions. I guess for the anime, that just makes sense, though.
It was obvious that they wouldn't choose one version over the other. It is hardly uncommon for game locations to look generic in the anime.

I have no idea what other climax they can give Iris, though, since this one serves that purpose nicely.
A Dragon Master tournament involving Drayden, Clair and Lance.
 
Aside from the rushed battle, the episode was pretty nice.

Iris becoming a Gym Leader was expected, so I hope Cilan can give her advice about being a gym leader.
 
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