Preview JN039: Satoshi VS Saitou! Conquer the Octopus Hold!!

[VetProf]

As with most other peeps here, I do think this rematch is happening quite earlier than expected. Yes, Ash often has rematches with Gym Leaders only a few episodes after his initial defeat against them, but Bea feels more like a rival than a Gym Leader in this series. Unlike the Gym challenges in previous seasons where Ash has to beat a Gym Leader in a town/city before he can progress to the next gym, Ash doesn't have to follow any particular order in regards to the opponents that he faces in this World Championships tournament, so I didn't expect Bea to return so soon.

Anyway, I fully expect G. Farfetch'd and Riolu to be used again in this rematch, though I doubt they'll get enough development in the next few episodes to become reasonably strong enough for said rematch. I've already said this in the episode 34 review thread, but it's quite clear that Ash lost the first fight due to his Pokemon's inexperience, not his own, so G. Farfetch'd and Riolu absolutely need to get stronger for Ash to stand a fighting chance against Bea in the rematch.

G. Farfetch'd doesn't need to evolve IMO since there's several other obvious ways for it to get stronger (eg. better utilization of its leek, learning moves that aren't Dark-type moves). However, I think Riolu absolutely has to evolve in order to get any stronger than it already is. It already has a very good moveset, and it already has several tactics that it can use to take down Grapploct (thanks to Ash), but what it really needs right now is raw speed and strength, something that I feel could only be reasonably attainable by evolving. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any episodes that it could reasonably evolve in, and I'm not the biggest fan of the "Pokemon evolves halfway through a battle and wins" trope, so... yeah, I'm kinda worried.

Also, Riolu beating Grapploct would be an even bigger slap to the face for Korrina and her Mega Lucario than the two losses that she already has in this series.

 

[KrspaceT]

I've mentioned this before but Journeys has an odd pace to it. Things seem to move too slow and too fast....

I'm wondering if the delay might have messed something or two up in the post Korrina battle episodes at least...

 

[BigDocFan]

Much as I like seeing Hawlucha battle, I'm hoping Bea will use a different Pokemon this episode

Grapploct seems to be her ace so I can her using it here as well, maybe Hitmontop

 

[Johtohfiller]

Though I agree that this seems soon - I was hoping for a training episode before the rematch. This calls for a montage.

Wait a minute...was this a spoiler?

Spoiler

Riolu is shaking his butt while standing next to Lycanroc, who as a Rockruff did training that involved...shaking his butt. Ash is going back to Alola soon...time to shake butts again?

 

[Max1996]

Wait a minute...was this a spoiler?

Spoiler

View attachment 135598

Riolu is shaking his butt while standing next to Lycanroc, who as a Rockruff did training that involved...shaking his butt. Ash is going back to Alola soon...time to shake butts again?

I didn't notice initially, but it's meant to be a shiritori chain.
サルノリ (Grookey) -> リオル (Riolu) -> ルガルガン (Lycanroc)

 

[Daren]

Riolu is shaking his butt while standing next to Lycanroc, who as a Rockruff did training that involved...shaking his butt. Ash is going back to Alola soon...time to shake butts again?

Ah, the Mr. Miyagi method of training; seemingly unrelated tasks with secret applicability.
...is that the secret? Is butt shaking the special training that let Ash win the Alola league? The real secret for top trainers?

Spoiler

Is that how Tobias trained?

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Wait a minute...was this a spoiler?

Spoiler

View attachment 135598

Riolu is shaking his butt while standing next to Lycanroc, who as a Rockruff did training that involved...shaking his butt. Ash is going back to Alola soon...time to shake butts again?

I see Ash is going back to his roots.

Well, it surely worked last time.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

Considering Ash wanted “revenge”, which I never thought I would hear from Ash of all people, maybe he wants to fight her again so quickly because he’s desperate, and in the process loses again.
That would crush him, and maybe Bea would teach Ash a thing or two about discipline/train him to be stronger. Just something I thought would be cool and interesting.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Much as I like seeing Hawlucha battle, I'm hoping Bea will use a different Pokemon this episode

Grapploct seems to be her ace so I can her using it here as well, maybe Hitmontop

The true scary thing when it comes to Bea’s strength is that strong as Grappoloct is, I don’t think it’s her ace. That honor will more than likely go to her Machamp especially since, thus far, the Galar trainers have been Game accurate with their aces.

 

[SammyW27]

I just hope there's some strategy and quick thinking involved and it's not just a G-Max slug fest similar of like what happened with Wulfric. Or worse, what happened in most of the Isshu Gyms...

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Wait a minute...was this a spoiler?

Spoiler

View attachment 135598

Riolu is shaking his butt while standing next to Lycanroc, who as a Rockruff did training that involved...shaking his butt. Ash is going back to Alola soon...time to shake butts again?

How did butt shaking help with training?

 

[Kurolegacy]

I just hope there's some strategy and quick thinking involved and it's not just a G-Max slug fest similar of like what happened with Wulfric. Or worse, what happened in most of the Isshu Gyms...

Even if G-Max does come into play, it wouldn’t be until the tail end of the battle or at least would only take up 1 part of it since it can only be done once per battle and only maintained for a brief period of time. So unless it came down to a 1 v 1, we’ll definitely get more action outside of that.

 

[lonerlotad]

Worst case scenario is that Ash will lose this rematch again because Bea is revealed to be a Hyper or Master Class material and just climbing up the ranks starting from Normal Class as part of her sadistic training style (probably her resolve when she loses to Leon from previous PWC). I'm not saying that Ash is not a Hyper or Master class kind of trainer, it's just that using Galarian Farfetch'd and Riolu won't suffice against Bea.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

The true scary thing when it comes to Bea’s strength is that strong as Grappoloct is, I don’t think it’s her ace. That honor will more than likely go to her Machamp especially since, thus far, the Galar trainers have been Game accurate with their aces.

The thing is, we never saw the Pokemon that beat Mega Lucario, just a view of Korrina and Mega Lucario. So, this probably is frighteningly right.

Worst case scenario is that Ash will lose this rematch again because Bea is revealed to be a Hyper or Master Class material and just climbing up the ranks starting from Normal Class as part of her sadistic training style (probably her resolve when she loses to Leon from previous PWC). I'm not saying that Ash is not a Hyper or Master class kind of trainer, it's just that using Galarian Farfetch'd and Riolu won't suffice against Bea.

And seeing how Korrina was presumably thrashed by Bea, again, who knows what her strongest Pokemon is, Bea is probably one of the strongest people Ash has ever met. I mean, Alain destroyed Korrina with his Charizard, look how strong he was. Bea could honestly be Alain-level terms of strength, maybe even stronger, because Alain faced Korrina before she got stronger and faced Bea (Korrina must of faced Bea in a Coronation Series Battle/PWC).

 

[VetProf]

Worst case scenario is that Ash will lose this rematch again because Bea is revealed to be a Hyper or Master Class material and just climbing up the ranks starting from Normal Class as part of her sadistic training style (probably her resolve when she loses to Leon from previous PWC).

I'm pretty sure all trainers have to start from Normal Class at the beginning of every World Championships season, regardless of their previous ranks or achievements.

 

[Matleo]

So soon? Well, I'm stoked anyway. I suppose the Alola gang managed to lift his spirits enough for him to want a rematch. Question is, will he use any of his Alola Pokemon? That would be awesome, but it would be more in character for him to want to use the two that were defeated last time. That said, it doesn't look like Riolu will be evolving before this episode, so if Ash actually wins with it that would be ultimate insult to Korrina, Riolu succeeding where Mega Lucario failed.

evolving during it or at the begining of it? maybe battles and wins first round?
both could learn new moves and surprise us...
Interesting what format? 2vs2 or 3vs3? weird they make all battles 2vs2 lately... or one vs one.... they have new cartoon designers and creators and treatead Alola like Orange Islands with 6vs6 final battle and now this like a weaker Johto...

 

[Panky..]

I'm pretty sure all trainers have to start from Normal Class at the beginning of every World Championships season, regardless of their previous ranks or achievements.

I don't believe it applies to the Master tier though, since those ranks need to have weight, especially the #1/World Champion spot. So everybody except the Top 8 receive a reset with the #1 position being permanent until the next Masters Tournament and #2-#8 being displaceable.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I'm not sure how we could have Farfetch'd and Riolu pull a win here without it looking seriously contrived. It's been only five episodes since Bea's Hawlucha and Grapploct wiped their faces in it. Just like Ash's rematch with Wulfric, I think this battle is simply coming up too early.

Why the rush to wrap up the Ash/Bea rivalry when we're not even forty episodes into Journeys? They should still have the time to stretch this out and give Ash more a chance to believably get his Pokémon ready for round two.

 

[dawn dusk]

I hope Riolu evolves in this episode.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I hope Riolu evolves in this episode.

Preferably before this episode. Evolution during battle is a cheap way to win.

Here's a magazine scan that may hint towards the rematch happening at Bea's Gym and the Trainers using Dynamax.

Spoiler

Based on the focus on Bea's Dynamax Band.