Review BW103: The Isshu League Higaki Conference Gets Underway! Satoshi VS Shooty!!

[Adil]

The Isshu League Higaki Conference Gets Underway! Satoshi vs Shooty!!



Screenplay: Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Storyboard: Ken'ichi Nishida
Assistant director: Ken'ichi Nishida
Animation director: Izumi Shimura

 

[Musashi]

Bel knocking Satoshi into the fountain=predictable.

Everyone getting Kenyan's name right=THANK GOD THAT STUPID GAG IS OVER.


Standard setup episode. Unfortunately with tournaments like this there's not much to say until the end.

 

[WindBlast]

Love love love love this time of the year!!!! love love love love the pokemon league!!!! Goooo Satoshi!!!!!!!

 

[Adil]

Out of all the characters, why did Jenny have to be the one who gets to do the 'ceremonial torch' thingy?

 

[Moe]

Yay at how they resolved Stephan's name gag here, less yay at Kotetsu - if Ash loses to him, it would be like if Richie lost after waiting for Ash. Ash is too nice for his own good.

I liked the montage of the Gyms - though I'd have preferred Ash to have gone outside and actually had the Pokemon shown with him rather than just Pikachu as always. Is this the first league where Oak hasn't been there to cheer Ash on in person?

Stephan's battle is a good summation of why 1 vs 1 sucks for anything important - type advantage pure and simple won the day, and by how Ash and Trip's battle started, there was no requirement to pick Pokemon in advance, so the person going second gets the advantage - you'd be annoyed if you worked on getting 8 badges only to leave the league because someone got to pick a Pokemon weak to you with no redress. The random Crustle against Virgil was great.

From the little bit of Trip's battle it seemed like Ash forgot everything from the battle with Pignite.

 

[Adil]

Events:
* The gang signs up, including Bianca, Stephan, and Virgil.
* See a tent outside, and of course, it's Kotetsu... Who forgot to sign up.
* Ash drags him to Joy and asks to sign him up for the league.
* Ash receives a Pokemon from Juniper via the transfer machine, Dinner, Sauna room/Shower, Night time, Gym leaders' flashbacks.
* League time, Trip and all standing there... Freddy doing his commentator stuff.
* Stephan goes first with his Zebstrika and as we already knew, he wins. Then Emboar VS Watchog, Crustle VS Vaporeon (knows Hydro Pump/Aurora Beam), Shibirudon VS Nutrey.
* Ash and Trip begin their battle.

 

[DracoMan]

Wait...Ash starts the league by going up against his main rival? I have a bad feeling about this...

Who wants to guess the odds that Ash's first Unova League battle will also be his last?

 

[Kenji-girl]

A few things I noticed. The guy battling Stephan was a look-a-like of Brandon's assistant, Samuel. I mean really anime? I know you recycle characters all the time but did it REALLY have to be one that appeared in multiple episodes in two different series that was the assistant of a Frontier Brain? Or do you just really like that design? Second, they took Lenora's apron off in Ash's flashback. Guess so they don't have to worry about it in the dub.

But yeah, I like this episode. I'm happy for Stephan. Everyone getting his name right now. I like how he didn't grasp it right away and was going to correct them out of reflex but then he realizes and is all "yay". I was hoping to see his Liepard but I guess I'll have to wait on that.

Too bad Kotetsu didn't get left out of the league, not that they would actually let him get left out because of his idiocy. I would like it so much more if he wasn't there. Oh well... can't have everything.

 

[WatcherMark]

Seems like the writers are sick of coming up with excuses why Okido can't make it to watch the league personally... he didn't even so much as call Satoshi this time around.

And although I was certain Satoshi wouldn't be using any of his pre-BW Pokemon other than Pikachu, did he actually state this during the episode?

 

[Adil]

*Creeped*

Spoiler

 

[Chatsy]

omfg

I love Kotetsu just for making Ash spazz out.

 

[FabuVinny]

Normally, the first league episode would end on the opening ceremony. (After getting the ceremonial flame back from Team Rocket.) But Best Wishes just jumps straight into the start of Ash's battle with his main rival. The anime pacing has always been all over the place but I have to wonder why the anime is rushing to finish this region.

 

[Ampharos King]

So Bianca's first opponent was using a Watchog. Damn it, writers, you could have brought back Jimmy Ray for this one! Why did you settle for a generic no-name character?

 

[L-05308]

Where is Santa/Mr. Goodshow?!?!?!

 

[Cybersai]

Yeah, I get the feeling all these rivals will be written out of the show once this league ends. Feels like they're wrapping up all their storylines and gags.

 

[Shinneth]

Ahahaha... so, just how much of this episode had the actual Ash/Trip battle in it? I'll feel even better next week if there's a big B-plot that relegates the remainder of their battle to half an episode at best~ ♥

 

[Cybersai]

At the very least there were no cameos of Ash's older friends like Prof. Oak or Delia or Tracey. Misty hasn't watched one of Ash's leagues since the Hoenn one. LOL.

I guess Dawn isn't watching either if she's too busy in the Wallace Cup.

 

[Karamazov]

Wait...Ash starts the league by going up against his main rival? I have a bad feeling about this...

Who wants to guess the odds that Ash's first Unova League battle will also be his last?

A little part of me doubts it.

I bet 5 bucks he beats Shooty. Another 10 says he battles Kenyan and Kotetsu.

 

[WatcherMark]

Considering how well Satoshi has been seen to battle in BW, I personally don't think he has the expertise to even get past Shooty...

And yeah, it seems that none of Satoshi's friends or family give a damn about his league matches at this point (at this point, I'll be surprised if we ever see Kasumi, Haruka, Masato or Hikari again).

 

[Ambipom666]

So Bianca's first opponent was using a Watchog. Damn it, writers, you could have brought back Jimmy Ray for this one! Why did you settle for a generic no-name character?

Maybe the writers are planning a reappearance somewhere? Being idealistic here, but it just seems hard to believe the writers would re-use some typical NPCs and have them show up in cameos but leave out such a memorable one.