Review BW107: Satoshi VS Kotetsu! Secret Weapon Sazandora!!

[Sweet Veil]

Kotetsu is scatter-brained I'm pretty okay-ish with one, those are his methods. Snapping his headband to think up a good idea, it's just like Satoshi turning his hat. It's his quirk and thing he does. I think Kotetsu is a skilled trainer in his own right, he battled Shizui and dealt with Bel very well. Why the writers did this I don't know.

Snapping the headband only to send out Natorrei to be slayed? :/

I really really think this would have turned out better if the battle wasn't so damn rushed at times, the writers should have done half now and half next episode. They're trying to end the league too dang fast to imo, get to Episode N.

 

[dman_dustin]

Let me rephrase that then:
I think he appears to be a good trainer because he has strong pokemon. How he catches/trains is pokemon is still largely unknown, but he had to have done something to get them to that level.

Perhaps, but some trainers are just handed strong Pokémon, no training required.

Think Iris's Dragonite only obedient instead of disobedient.

I'm not saying he doesn't train his Pokémon but I really think he doesn't because his Pokémon beat Pokémon left and right. It's like Kotetsu's Pokémon would be ideal for Paul, since they don't require real training.

Sure Kotetsu is unknown, but I can't see how someone so scatterbrained, would even be able to be a decent trainer (since I have yet to see any trainer intelligence from him). I mean without Kotetsu's brute strength Pokémon, I just can't seem him going far.

 

[Silktree]

Maybe Kotetsu received some of his Pokémon from a friend or a family member. Think of Brock lending his Pokémon to Forrest.

 

[Winterdaze]

I don't think it's fair to make those kinds of calls about a trainer we know so little about. For all we know he could have worked long and hard to get his Sazandora, or it could have fallen out of the sky onto his lap. You can conjecture all you like on whether he "earned" them or whatever, but there's no evidence either way.

 

[Idon'tcare]

I guess I may be the one who partly doesn't care about this and partly loves this. Regarding Kotetsu. I think this is amazing, Kotetsu's such a huge scatterbrain and he still manages to win battles. Well I say somehow, yet we know Kotetsu does it by snapping his headband and giving himself a brainwave. But it seems Kotetsu's brainwaves were messed up by constantly hurting himself on the forehead and Kotetsu clearly wasn't thinking straight in this battle.

I realize if Kotetsu did have six Pokémon and wins against Satoshi then Kotetsu wouldn't have needed six anyway.

I don't think it's fair to make those kinds of calls about a trainer we know so little about. For all we know he could have worked long and hard to get his Sazandora, or it could have fallen out of the sky onto his lap. You can conjecture all you like on whether he "earned" them or whatever, but there's no evidence either way.

Agreed. If we know little about a character it is best not to jump to assumptions and just go with the flow until we know more about them. With Best Wishes continuing after the League, Kotetsu has a chance to have his character fleshed out.

 

[CommanderPigg]

Also, I kind of laughed at the fact that the "rival friends" were cheering for Ash and not Kotetsu. I thought they all bonded together. Oh well .

Okay, good, I wasn't the only one then xDDD I mean, I think that they all (especially Cilan and Iris) have a bias towards Ash since they've known him longer. cilan especially especially

 

[Masurao]

Okay, good, I wasn't the only one then xDDD I mean, I think that they all (especially Cilan and Iris) have a bias towards Ash since they've known him longer. cilan especially especially

And Ash stood up to Bianca's dad, so you know she's all over dem nuts she'd support him.

 

[TeddiUrsa]

I don't get it...a Gen full of awesome and inspiring Pokémon and the writers are too lazy to give Kotetsu a 6th Pokémon altogether?

 

[Adil]

Probably one of the crappiest league episodes... in the history of the anime, in my opinion. Horrible type combinations, super rushed battles. It felt like a complete fiasco to me.
In a few scenes, the animation was slightly off as well.

 

[Jukain]

Back and forth curbstomping. I am not impressed.

 

[SatoshiKun]

Didn't someone predict that Kotetsu would forget to bring six pokemon? I gotta say, that's a cheap way to save time.

Also, how much damage did unfezant take?

 

[Cybersai]

If this episode doesn't prove that Ash's Unova team is crap, I don't know what does. Now that the league is over, most of Ash's Unova Pokemon didn't get a single win.

Pikachu carried Ash through this league, and only Pignite and the Krok did decently otherwise. Scaggy just got a simple throwaway battle. I just can't believe how bad this team is. They weren't prepared at all, even Oshawott and Snivy just got steamrolled over.

I mean WTF? I keep on thinking this is like the writers idea of a sick joke, giving Ash a pathetic team so he can lose early in a league to a guy who is only using 5 Pokemon.

What happened to the Ash of AG and DP? Bring him back. Even the Ash of Johto was smarter than this.

 

[Boson]

well atleast writers know that Nattorei doesn't really like fire.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Could Ash have picked a worse team for this battle? Okay, sure, Pikachu (mega duh) and Pignite were good ideas. Boldore is fair, but not the greatest. Snivy, Oshawott and Unfezant were the pits. Leavanny, Palpitoad, and Krookodile would've been much better choices. All three of them are much better battlers. Heck, Scraggy could do better than Oshawott or Unfezant. The writers spent too much time on marketing instead of giving Ash a decent party to use. Again, Leavanny, Palpitoad, Krookodile, Pignite, and Pikachu are proving to be his powerhouses of Unova, but it's still not great. His Sinnoh team, and even his Hoenn team were far better than this.

On top of that Kotetsu takes dense to a new level. Ferrothorn vs. Pignite? Anyone could see that result a mile away. Swanna vs. Pikachu? Ditto what was said about Pignite. If snapping his headband makes him smarter (supposedly), then even he should've realized they were terrible match-ups. But me thinks he snapped his headband too much, cause his brain seems to be nonfunctional. And on top of that, his Hydreigon is his "secret weapon"? Some secret weapon. Word of wisdom, Kotetsu, if you call something your "secret weapon", save it for the end, not the start. Then it makes it more impressive. Riolu/Lucario has proven to be a far better secret weapon than Hydreigon.

On a side note, I think Kotetsu may actually have a sixth Pokemon. According to the next episode, there is a Druddigon listed, but has no trainer (yet), so I'm guessing that it belongs to him. But I could be wrong on that.

Anyway, one of the worst league episodes to date. And I'm disappointed in both Ash and Kotetsu. I hope Ash wins, because this is becoming an embarrassment.

 

[jman21]

From what I've heard, Kotetsu sounds like the village idiot. How did we get from Ash losing to the strongest trainer in Sinnoh, to losing to this nimrod?

 

[Ampharos King]

If this episode doesn't prove that Ash's Unova team is crap, I don't know what does. Now that the league is over, most of Ash's Unova Pokemon didn't get a single win.

Actually, half of Ash's pokemon didn't get a single on-screen win. Leavanny, Boldore, Oshawott, Unfezant, and Snivy. The others won at least one battle.

You'd be right if you did not count Palpitoad's tie over Zebstrika, but he still knocked it out.

What happened to the Ash of AG and DP? Bring him back. Even the Ash of Johto was smarter than this.

The writers had Ash win battles in past leagues using just one or two pokemon, too.

Ash vs. Macey- Two victories with a pokemon he caught from Kanto, one victory with a pokemon he caught in Johto (can be compared to Ash vs. Conway)
Ash vs. Jackson- One victory with a pokemon he caught from the same region, One victory with a pokemon he caught from Kanto. A tie. (can be compared with Ash vs. Maylene, or even Ash vs. Stephan)
Ash vs. Paul- Half of the battles were won by a single pokemon. Three other pokemon won one battle each. Two fall guys. (can almost be compared to Ash vs. Gary, except one pokemon won two battles each back then, and there were three fall guys.)
Ash vs. Katie- Two pokemon win a battle each. Two other pokemon won a single battle each. Two fall guys. (can almost be compared to this battle; Ash has two of his pokemon win twice here.)
Ash vs. Morrison- Three battles won by a single pokemon (albeit Ash's opponent didn't give his all until the end). One battle each won by three pokemon. Two fall guys. Ash probably would have lost this one if Morrison gave it his all at the start.
Ash vs. Tyson- Two battles won by a single pokemon. One battle each won by three pokemon. Two fall guys.
Ash vs. Drake (Orange Islands)- Two battles won by a single pokemon. One battle each won by four pokemon. One fall guy.

It's not a matter of Ash being a smarter or stupider trainer than he had been in the past. It's simply a matter of the pokemon that Ash has decided to use here when he faces his opponent's pokemon. How would Ash know that Kotetsu would send out a Hydreigon off the bat? At least Ash was being very smart with his battle choices when he had his Boldore (who knew Rock Smash) and Pignite (who knew Brick Break) to battle it. Hydreigon is a pseudo-legendary.

Ash fought two pseudo-legendaries in the past, and it nearly required half of his team to win those battles too. Ash had to give up Swellow, who was exhausted battling two other pokemon, and Grovyle just to have Pikachu stop Tyson's Metagross. Three of Ash's pokemon--Charizard, Squirtle, and Tauros--who were exhausted from battle lost to Drake's Dragonite so Pikachu could get a win.

I don't think Ash is the stupid trainer here. The writers didn't give him too many evolved pokemon off the bat this time, but it does not mean that his teams weren't treated as shoddy in the past. Half of Ash's victories in the past were won by one or two pokemon; many were fall guys, like some of Ash's pokemon are here.

I could complain, however, that Kotetsu only had five pokemon on him in the league. How did he even manage to get in to the league with just 5 pokemon? It's also stupid that Kotetsu sent out pokemon with type disadvantages against Ash's pokemon, which made his wins less deserving. Nevertheless, Hydreigon was a very powerful pokemon, and like those in the past, it required two or three pokemon to take it down.

Realistically, I could say that Ash was doing fine here.

Could Ash have picked a worse team for this battle? Okay, sure, Pikachu (mega duh) and Pignite were good ideas. Boldore is fair, but not the greatest. Snivy, Oshawott and Unfezant were the pits. Leavanny, Palpitoad, and Krookodile would've been much better choices. All three of them are much better battlers.

It is a diverse team. Ash has an Electric-type, a Fire/Fighting type, a Normal/Flying-type, a Water-type, a Grass-type, and a Rock-type.

Ash thought it through when he saw the types of pokemon Kotetsu had in the past. He knew Kotetsu would use a Grass/Steel type (which would be weak against Pignite), a Water-type (weak against Pikachu and Snivy), and a Fighting-type (that's where Unfezant would come in). Ash had no knowledge of the Dark/Dragon-type Hydreigon, so he had to improvise here and decided to send out pokemon that he knew that would stand a chance against it.

Krookodile would have been weak against the three pokemon that Ash knew Kotetsu would have. Leavanny might have resisted Riolu and Samurott's moves, but Riolu's Copycat (which may allow it to copy X-Scissor, which Leavanny is weak against) and Ferrothorn might have been too risky. Palpitoad was weak against any Grass-type moves Ferrothorn would have used. Then again, Boldore would have been weak against all three pokemon too, so that is probably the only "fail" move on Ash's part when he was preparing against Kotetsu's team.

Maybe it was stupid of Ash to send out Oshawott second in this battle, but it is very likely that he prepared the battling order of his team beforehand and had to send it out at that time.

 

[Silktree]

I would hardly give Scraggy points for defeating a Darumaka in a throaway battle that lasted five seconds.

 

[A Wild Luxray]

I knew I'd be disappointed with this battle but I didn't think I'd be THIS disappointed, almost disgusted. First of all Oshawott loses again >:U, secondly how can the writers only give Pikachu and Pignite the victories in this battle, and lastly...I know the writers have been trying to push down our throats how much of an idiot Kotetsu is, but ONLY 5 POKEMON!? How is he even allowed to compete if he only has 5 Pokemon!? This is just ridiculous and I'm pretty sure he had to have heard it was 6 on 6 not 6 on 5....It feels like he's getting rewarded for his stupidity because of how the crappy writers are shoving these tough Pokemon onto him and he's just getting lucky. The battle was nothing exciting and why would Ash leave out Pignite out for Samurott and why would Kotetsu leave Ferrothron out for Pignite and Swanna for Pikachu? Plus really quick battles with no strategy involved what so ever. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed with the anime and I will be disgusted if Ash actually loses to this kid.

 

[The One and Only RA]

Sending a Grass/Steel-type against a Fire/Fighting-type

Sending a Water/Flying-type against an Electric-type.

Not having a full team for a full battle.

How...how does Kotetsu win battles at all? How does he function?

Even more importantly, Pikachu beats Samurott with the only move that Samurott resists (Iron Tail). How do the writers function?

 

[DynoStretch]

Wow. Wow. Wowowowowowowowowowow. Wow.

Of all ways to end Ash's Unova league journey, this is easily the worst since Kanto.

Four of Ash's Pokemon are fall-guys. Why is it that Pikachu and Pignite have to be the only ones who do anything? Oshawott and Snivy haven't had a decent victory in a long time. I thought the writers were supposed to be advertising the starters, not showing them to be weaklings. They may as well just evolved them. Poor Unfezant and Boldore turned out to be fall-guys, just as I predicted.

Kotetsu... jees louise, how does this kid even remember to get dressed in the morning? When I first saw this kid, I found him to be amusing and quirky, but the writers have stretched this to a ridiculous point. It doesn't help he was being rather arrogant in this battle, making me want to see Ash crush him. (Aren't overconfident, smug, non-major-rival characters supposed to lose in Pokemon world?) The worst part is Kotetsu's stupidity is somehow managing to make Ash look even weaker. He's about to lose a 6-5 match, with two of the Pokemon being knocked out because Kotetsu forgot about type disadvantages. It's like the writers are trying to outdo themselves in making Ash a weakling.

Anyone remember my comment about how badly crafted the 6-3 gym battle against Roxie was? How I said her giving him the badge was bad because he was clearly not prepared. Now we have this. Nice job sending Ash into a tournament he wasn't ready for Roxie, you'd probably make a perfect squad commander for a Predator movie.