REVIEW: Climbing the Tower of Success!

[garrison-san]

BW069 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Ash and friends are on their way to Icirrus City when they run into their old friend Stephan outside the Celestial Tower. Stephan explains that he has come to compete in the Wishing Bell Festival, in which a trainer partners with one of their pokemon and has to overcome various obstacles in order to reach the top of the tower. The winner gets to ring the Wishing Bell, which is said to make their wishes come true. Hearing this, Ash, Iris and Cilan decide to compete in the festival too. Which of them will be victorious?

 

[MetroLSD]

lmao Ash, Cilan and Iris cheated out of victory and Stephan and Cilan's cosplaying my episode rating 3/5 My only complaints was Ash not letting Pikachu evolve and the name change from Donamite to Clubsplosion :/

 

[Bel Fanatic]

Stefan's Nurse Joy Cospaly XD Loved Cilan as Elesa

 

[X-Strike]

Pikachu as Bouffalant, and Cilan as Elesa had me laughing so hard. I'm getting tired of the gag of no one pronouncing Stephan's name correctly, though. It kind of felt forced upon us in this episode. Other than that, I enjoyed this episode.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Very enjoyable episode xD

Was kind of cheap using "Psychic" powers over and over lol but it was funny. The kid kind of reminded me of Max in a sense.

Having Ash lose by his candle being blown out was a fun twist considering he technically "won" because Stephan had a real Litwick, but it was a nice change of pace instead of having him win nearly every "filler" competition he enters.

Another part was the barrel race using their Pokemon's moves to row faster; Pansage's arm motions from Dig, Pikachu using its tail and the kid using Psychic was pretty genius yet cheap (but I'd probably do the same to be honest). I was afraid of Iris getting a cheap place at 5th when she called for Dragon Rage, I thought it would blast the other competitors. Also, it was cool seeing Stephan work so closely with his Pokemon in an almost "Ash-like" fashion being the first to jump into the water followed by Sawk to push into 5th place with their barrel. At first, I thought he would have called for a Bulk Up attack to be able for Sawk to swim faster.

Watching this episode showed me of how much Stephan reminds me of Morrison from the Hoenn League.

Iris being hit by Confuse Ray was hilarious. Cilan as Elesa takes the cake, along with Stephan as Joy haha that was disturbing kind of like the Dough-boy + the Pink Panther all rolled into one and Sawk trying so hard to be Audino xD

It was interesting to see Pidove's Air Slash blasting through Light Screen even though Gust couldn't despite both being Sp. Attack moves. But besides that this episode is one that I wouldn't mind watching again.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

It was a decent episode that made for good entertainment.
What bothered me though was the fact that the rules weren't always fair and square but more or less subject to Skyla's grandfather's caprice. So, I think the whole competition should have been more serious.
But apart from that, the rest of the episode sure was fun, especially the cosplay part.

 

[Spindae2]

A question from me: I didn't watch the ep but did Stephan got the Litwick at the end of the ep!

 

[Karisse]

To be honest, I didn't like this episode much at all. Cilan cosplaying my favorite Gym Leader was pretty strange, for one. Other problems I had were Pikachu not evolving, and that kid with the Elgyem cheating all the time.

...and what happened to Celestial Tower? This "Mistralton Tower" isn't anything like it, except for the design.

Pretty "meh" episode, honestly. Hopefully next week will be better.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

A Super Rod, a Black Belt, a Max Repel... it's nice to finally see that these items exist in the anime.

This competition wasn't exactly fair (I thought Cilan did well as Elesa XD), but... I suppose this just wasn't meant to be a "serious" episode.

I do have to wonder, and I realize I'm just overanalyzing a bit here, but what would have happened if all three of the Litwick candle flames went out? Would they just have to redo the whole round or would there just be no winner? Lol.

 

[MetroLSD]

Did Stephan got the Litwick at the end of the ep!

Uh.... no

 

[Paulisthebest]

A Super Rod, a Black Belt, a Max Repel... it's nice to finally see that these items exist in the anime.

This competition wasn't exactly fair (I though Cilan did well as Elesa XD), but... I suppose this just wasn't meant to be a "serious" episode.

I do have to wonder, and I realize I'm just overanalyzing a bit here, but what would have happened if all three of the Litwick candle flames went out? Would they just have to redo the whole round or would there just be no winner? Lol.

I loved seeing all of those items as well, probably if battling wasn't so ridiculous in the anime items would be used in battles or at least Pokemon could hold items to boost their moves. My face was lighting up when they called out all of those items. xD

The Thunderstone part was funny as well, wow Ash would it really be "that" bad if Pikachu evolved? Well you know not for Ash but for the franchise, oh well...

You know I thought the same thing considering all 3 were surprised at how high the tower was and how those Pokemon just kept on attacking. My guess is if all 3 were put out then they would either have to start over or the one whose candle lasted the longest would have won.

 

[Serperiority]

I kinda enjoyed today's episode. Though I kinda wish that the competition was more fair. I would've loved to see *insert psychic kid's name here* get disqualified for using his psychic moves earlier on. I was disappointed that it was called Mistralton Tower, instead of the Celestial Tower in the games (thought it was Dragonspiral at firs, I need to play the games more). I enjoyed the cosplaying and the quiz segment, especially to Stephan's stupidity.

 

[Kenji-girl]

Anyone notice that Iris actually pronounced Stephan's name right during the lake race. I actually loled at that point. Too bad Stephan wasn't around to hear it. I also laughed when Miles calls Stephan "Sherman". Anyone who's annoyed with the mistaken names better get used to it because you're going to get a lot of it in the next few episodes.

Anyway, it's still one of my favorite episodes as Stephan gets a majority of the attention~ My only complaints is that the dubbers didn't catch that Ricky is actually based on a Psychic in the games, named Bryce. Also that Jason Griffith's impression of Elesa was lack luster compared to how Cilan did it in the original. But yeah, great ep.

 

[Hellwarden]

Solid funny episode. Managed to hit that sweet spot between comedy and action. Ricky was a pretty funny character of the day, even if the writers do, for some reason, make everyone with glasses a borderline sociopath.
Maybe it was just me, but it wasn't till this ep that I actually really liked Stephan as a character. He's a solid comedic rival.

But the question remains...


...will this be the first series where Ash doesn't crossdress at all?

 

[CherryXCilan]

I didn't understand the point of this episode to be honest...just another filler to me. I watched it in Japanese and loved the scene in which Dent dresses as Elesa! XD Though, it wasn't as funny in English because English always messes stuff like this up and voice-act it in emotionless mono-tone. >.< The Japanese voice actor was really into it and made it funny. I still thought Afro-Pikachu impersonating Bouffalant was adorable, though. x3 "Pi-kachuuu~"

 

[Kaljinyu]

Hmmmm... I thought they were actually gonna go somewhere storywise with Ricky cheating with his Elgyem's psychic powers. Not much happened with that, it was just there. But that's barely a complaint, just an off prediction. The episode was decent stuff. Action? Well, there was no real battling in this episode, so I don't think action was the point. But comedy-wise this is one of my picks. And I like the funnier episodes, they'd like slices of Pokémon life, except better than most slice of life stories.

The scavenger hunt had a nice throwback to how Fishing Connoisseur is one of the many hats that Cilan wears, I noticed that. But the Thunderstone scene was definitely for fans like me, who are afraid of Pikachu evolving and really believe there's a threat of that now. This gen has been full of changes, particularly on the games end of things. The anime could follow suit. This might be where the series takes a canonical turn for the new. But some things, like Pikachu not becoming Raichu or living in a Pokéball, these things can never change. So much already has. That was a close one.

For some reason, despite having seen Ash dress like a girl plenty a time, seeing Cilan "crossplay" as Elesa was disturbing. But in all the RIGHT ways. Also, if Skyla's grandfather likes Elesa so much, what wasn't she an option in the Nurse Joy vs. Officer Jenny preference quiz? Ash and Pikachu, seasoned vets at this "dressing up like other people and Pokémon" thing, were A+ material. I always like how Pikachu really gets into character. He was seriously all "RAWR I'm a Bouffalant!" But Cilan shoulda got through, he took some serious and rewarding risks in his performance as Elesa. He even cuts a similar figure! Maybe that's why I find it so disturbing. But at this point it was time to thin the herd, and fancy pants "doesn't believe in The Force" Cilan was a fair pick to go. He didn't even believe in the powers of the bell.

Another note was when Iris got hit with Confuse Ray in the forest and thought she was crossing the finish line? And then all those wild Pokémon walked up to her? If you're trippin' in the woods, it's nice to know nature cares about you. Ricky's cheating was a little light in this part, I think, especially considering that battling the wild Pokémon probably would've been welcome. But he was back in form in the final stage.

Final stage, the stair race. I don't know how safe it was using Litwick for this, didn't a bunch of rogue Litwick slowly drag a bunch of kids and two adults and all their Pokémon to Hell or something in a mansion a while back? Also, can you blow out the flame of a Litwick safely? Or does that hurt them? But, they didn't know they were actual living Litwick, I don't think. Which begs the question, why would Litwick volunteer to be a part of this thing? To steal souls again?

In the end, the bell's ring went to the best man for the prize. But Stefan's wish didn't come true. But it doesn't need to, it was about the journey, not the goal, this was a grade A episode, probably worth a rewatch solely for the impersonation competition. But is anyone else getting a "dress up" vibe from Cilan? Unlike most, I haven't seen the 20 episodes that Japan has seen ahead of us, so I'm wondering, is dressing up in extravagant costumes gonna be a Cilan thing?

 

[Torterra Trainer]

Hands down the funniest part was the first question where people actually got what types of Pokemon you start out with WRONG!!! You live in the world of Pokemon, therefore, you are a failure at life and the universe for thinking you can start out with a Rock-type Pokemon. There's always gonna be those idiots that don't really get it.

 

[DracoMan]

Hands down the funniest part was the first question where people actually got what types of Pokemon you start out with WRONG!!! You live in the world of Pokemon, therefore, you are a failure at life and the universe for thinking you can start out with a Rock-type Pokemon. There's always gonna be those idiots that don't really get it.

At least TPTB didn't have Ash get that one wrong. (And I wouldn't put that past them.) If they had, I would've thrown my remote through my TV.

 

[ChimyChomp]

i laughed when pikachu was dressed up as bouffalant! he looked like he had an afro on! i also thought cilan as elesa was funny too! XD

 

[Sweenix]

Pokemon B&W: Rival Destinies 1.8/15

Toonzone

HUGE SHARE! this is the highest audience share pokemon has had since mid 2006

Comparisons for the 8:30am timeslot

Cartoon Network - average 1.4/8
Pokemon B&W: Rival Destinies 1.8/15

Disney Channel - average 2.8/17
Jake and the Never Land Pirates 1.7/17

Nick - average 3.6/22
Fairly OddParents Movie: Timmy's Secret Wish (1x60) 1.9/16

Pokemon was the only show on cartoon networks schedule to actually compete and actually out draw the much higher viewing station

http://www.toonzone.net/forums/showthread.php?293787-CN-Ratings-Thread-Part-13/page15