Review DP186: Rival Decisive Battle! Satoshi VS Shinji!!

[Kasumi]

Man, was this an awesome episode or what?

Highlights:

Pochama's outfit. WTF XD
Hikari "stalking" Shinji.
Shinji using Satoshi's counter shield technique.
Goukuzaru pwning Shinji's Bossgodora and Team Rocket cheering for it.
JUN. Nuff said. <3

A bit sad that Kouhei didn't appear... hopefully he'll stay true to his creepiness and appear out of nowhere in the next episode.

 

[Musashi]

Goukuzaru pwning Shinji's Bossgodora and Team Rocket cheering for it.

Speaking of the Rockets, I'm actually getting tired of them. I knew they'd just want to cheer on Goukazaru, but Kojiro hogging all the spotlight is starting to get old. Is Tomioka making up for the fact Musashi got so much focus during the Contest arc?

A bit sad that Kouhei didn't appear... hopefully he'll stay true to his creepiness and appear out of nowhere in the next episode.

His VA isn't listed, so I doubt it. :-(

 

[Sushi]

Heee <3
Among the most important points for me were Tomioka throwing continuity bricks at us like there was no tomorrow, James randomly doing two haiku, Dawn being her awesome tsukkomi-self plus her great facial expressions, Paul completely ignoring what Dawn says and asking how Ash is doing instead, and of course teh boyz themselves.

I was a little unhappy with the rivalry at one point since it was showing cases of relapse - Ash going from calm and unprovokable back to blowing up at everything Paul says and Paul happily bouncing back and forth between non-emoting and over-emoting... but now everything seems back on track.

They still have unresolved issues, but they clearly respect each other now and the last traces of actual dislike finally seem to be gone. It's really fun to watch them now, with either of them knowing exactly what the other is capable of and trying to see who can surprise the other more often.

The only thing that miffed me a little was that they're pulling the "losing two Pokémon was part of his plan all along" BS again. Why do they feel the need to do this so soon after doing it with Conway? Why are they doing it in the first place? When the other person takes the lead, Ash is of course getting pummeled, but when he takes the lead for once, it's exactly what the opponent wants?

It's not just unbelievable (Gastrodon's Water Pulse was clearly meant to kill) but is also a ridiculous attempt to create false suspense, which this battle doesn't need. Oh well, I guess Reggie and Brock need some farfetched conspiracy theories so they have something to talk about and interrupt the battle every five minutes.

 

[Piplup]

Well I knew Piplup would explain the dialogue. You never dissapoint penguin bro.

Thanks ^_^ it's nice when I get the chance to reveal what was said in episodes before anyone else do it XD and it's actually surprising, since usually we have people like Dogasu who watch the eps and explain stuff as it airs

 

[Chaosblazer]

wait so Paul let Gastrodon and Aggron faint? that doesn't seem like his style at all.

 

[Sushi]

wait so Paul let Gastrodon and Aggron faint?

That's basically what Reggie said.

that doesn't seem like his style at all.

Well, he didn't have a problem with it in the past in case their defeats served a purpose (like cycling through random Pokémon in the Cynthia battle until Giga Impact was used), but it sure seems weird now.

For one thing, Gastrodon's and Aggron's losses didn't seem all that deliberate seeing how Paul did fight seriously with them. The defeats didn't seem to benefit Paul in any way, except maybe to lull Ash into a fall sense of security. And that doesn't really make sense either, since Ash is still on his guard as shown at the end of the episode. It'd also be reckless to put two Pokémon to waste just to play some little psychological trick on the opponent.


Speaking of Reggie, that's one low-quality TV he has there.

 

[Aestivate]

So Buoysel's curb face stomp of Toritodon was so redeeming. THAT WAS FUCKING COOL.

Ikarishippers, I felt that scene and I played a fanfic scenario over in my head. Uhh. Uhhuh :3

The battle is everything I want it to be so far. Well played, Satoshi, well played.
And that mizu no hadou thing from Toritodon was FRIGHTENING. Imagine if that had made contact with Mukkuhawk while he was being squishraped by that thing? Drapion freaks me out. How can it be so ugly when Skorupi is so freaking cute?!

 

[Iteru]

On the whole letting two faint thing, for just two Pokémon they did reveal four of Satoshi's Poké. Maybe they were just used to scout his team or something and any KO's they would get were just extra.

 

[V Faction]

Team Scouting isn't uncommon. Even though Paul's down, he still has the upperhand. And as we see in the next episode, Drapion doesn't feel threatened at all.

 

[Abaddon]

I guess people forget quickly.

In the episode - Chim-Charred! - Paul is seen trying to capture a Drapion. Obviously he didn't catch it because of Gligar's interruption, but who's to say he didn't end up catching it after his battle with Ash?

Spoiler

 

[WatcherMark]

I liked the fact that you could hear Satoshi sending out Goukazaru during the eyecatch... although it is making me wonder how they'll handle that in the dub.

 

[Rafia]

I liked the fact that you could hear Satoshi sending out Goukazaru during the eyecatch... although it is making me wonder how they'll handle that in the dub.

Ash will justsay it when infernape is sent out sent out.

i was wondering why they used Dawn's eyecatch first.I saw the episode again and found out why.

 

[Hellwarden]

i was wondering why they used Dawn's eyecatch first.I saw the episode again and found out why.

......Well, why?

 

[Roses Ablaze]

Guys, the semi-finals are when things are narrowed down to the top 4, which means that if this is the top 8 round, the next round will be the semi-finals. The finals are when things are narrowed down to the top 2. Takuto has advanced to the semi-finals, where he will likely face Ash or Paul. The semi-finals aren't going to be skipped.

 

[Rafia]

......Well, why?

You can hear ash calling out infernape during the 2nd eyecatch and in the next scene we see infernape come out.

If you can't understand my lame English read the post above mine.

I can't believe i am discussing the eyecatches.

Guys, the semi-finals are when things are narrowed down to the top 4, which means that if this is the top 8 round, the next round will be the semi-finals. The finals are when things are narrowed down to the top 2. Takuto has advanced to the semi-finals, where he will likely face Ash or Paul. The semi-finals aren't going to be skipped.

The title for the 189th episode is sinnoh league SEMI-FINAL!darkrai appears!!, so we know already.

 

[Chaosblazer]

you know, looking over the episode again, does anyone else get the feeling piplup's new outfit might be premeptive advertisment for the pokemon musicals?

 

[hhhhdmt]

Loved this ep. Its great to see Buizel get a win (finally lol)

But one scene that i loved was Cynthia remembering how Infernape was just a little chimchar not too long ago. They are clearly focusing on infernape's past.

Animation was well done. Loved infernape taking out aggron. Hopefully the next episode will be even better.

 

[Ampharos King]

Did Staraptor do anything to Gastrodon before being withdrawn? If not the so far Buizel's the only one who can hold his head high.

Well, if you count Staraptor shaking Gastrodon off by using Close Combat on the ground to avoid Water Pulse, that is. Otherwise, Gastrodon didn't do much if any damage on Gastrodon.

Imo, Paul decided to use Gastrodon as a precaution to Ash using a flying-type. The counter shield did not work as well on Buizel because it could have attacked from any angle.

Buizel should get his head held high. First he uses Ice Aqua Jet and then finishes Gastrodon off with Ice Punch. One of my favorites on the team got a respectable win.

 

[Cybersai]

Was a great episode so far. So far everything makes sense:

- Pikachu gets a little screentime, but gets recalled

- Infernape gets one win, prior to its inevitable win over Electrivire

- Buizel finally gets a win to redeem its losing streak

- Even Staraptor gets some time to shine, despite it being likely it won't get a win this match.


And yeah, Gliscor was way too big at the start of the episode. Holy crap.

 

[Blazaking]

Holy shit, Gliscor is huge. Makes it look more awesome though.

The battle is going good so far. I really can't wait to see what the final showdown of the match will be.

Spoiler

^ This has got to be my most favourite scene in the episode. Or the whole series. I'm sure the Ikari shippers loved that moment when those two were walking together.