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

[Max1996]

Seems like it. Or he is shown getting in at the beginning of the episode. Either or.

I'm rather torn on whether or not showing how it happens is a good thing. On one hand, not showing it feels a bit contrived. On the other hand, actually showing it might make the actual Bea fight a bit rushed.

 

[Panky..]

Ash getting into the Super Class off screen pretty much makes his entire skewed 'slump' and drop back to Normal Class in JN036 (and the writing around it in that episode) even more irrelevant, jarring and pointless, and only highlights the fact that there's a bad balance between both the co-protagonists given how they now have to give off-screen achievements to Ash as well (Though in his defense, he's barely had any focus episodes (JN025, JN030, JN034) since the hiatus ended. After the loss against Bea, this one would be his next core focus episodes with nothing in between dedicated solely to him).

Like seriously, why couldn't they just have Ash challenge Bea from the Normal Class itself, from where he was at the end of JN036? It would have made the win feel a bit more satisfying and even justified a huge rank jump back to where he was prior to the losing streak, given the gap the two have.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Poor Farfetch'd. It's kind of making me wonder if Ash should have even bothered catching it at all cause right now it's sitting in the garbage pile with the likes of Noivern and Torterra.

Also Pikachu most likely going down in favour for Riolu is giving me really bad Greninja vibes. It's a fighting type gym and Pikachu should easily whoop Bede's entire team but nope, gotta come up with some potentially forced moment to give Riolu a shot.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Like seriously, why couldn't they just have Ash challenge Bea from the Normal Class itself, from where he was at the end of JN036? It would have made the win feel a bit more satisfying and even justified a huge rank jump back to where he was prior to the losing streak, given the gap the two have.

I don't think Normal Class Trainers can challenge Trainers in the Great Class.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

Keep in mind that the percentages I calculated up were including shared/duo focus episodes. If we're talking about individual/core focus only then the percentage gets even more skewed with Goh getting 16 (+1 with JN038) and Ash getting 11. And out of those 11 for Ash, most of them came before the hiatus, with his post hiatus episodes being at a mere 3 (4 if you count this one) not counting shared ones.

Comparing that to DP (up to 37 episodes), Ash had 11, Dawn had 10 and there were 11 shared/team episodes.

We don't know that for sure. We only assume they don't want to because of the gap in skill level. It also begs the question on how they'll address entering the Master tier, since it would be stupid if you could displace a Top 8 trainer by beating some Hyper class member instead of the Top 8 trainer themselves.

Plus, it’s not like a participant can’t turn down the challenge, but I would assume that the Top 8 would have to battle every so often just to retain their position.
I would guess that a Top 100 trainer could be challenged by a Normal Ranking trainer, but most likely they would just turn it down as it wouldn’t influence their rank that much if they did win.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Ash: “It’s our rematch with Bea! I got back into the Super Class! Please battle me!”

I said it once and I'll say it again: Am I the only one who feels like they've completely undermined the Ash vs Korrina match? The entire thing was hyped up as the match that gets Ash to the Great Class, only for him to drop back to Normal Class by getting defeated by a couple of nameless extras, so he could now get back up to Great Class by (presumably) defeating a bunch of nameless extras. I spot some redundancy there, all for the sake of... something? Not something good, that's for sure.

 

[Schemer99]

I'm pretty sure you can challenge whomever you want so long as they accept, as Ash fought Tony who was most likely a Normal classer while he was Super Class.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I'm pretty sure you can challenge whomever you want so long as they accept, as Ash fought Tony who was most likely a Normal classer while he was Super Class.

I doubt that. And we never learned Tony's class, so he could easily be in the Great Class.

 

[Johtohfiller]

I'm wondering if the staff has even decided how PWC rankings work.

 

[nickdt]

I think Ash uses Pikachu to scout out Octolock and finding a way to deal with it via Pikachu (Which would be a nice bit of continuity with XY, when Ash used Fletchinder to scout out and finding a way to deal with Spritzee's Trick Room).

 

[Panky..]

And we never learned Tony's class, so he could easily be in the Great Class.

I doubt this. It's highly unlikely that Tony somehow outclasses Visquez while being a Gym assistant.

Unless he's pursuing his own goal of becoming a Pokemon Master in secret? Does this mean Tony will face off against Ash in the Master tier finals?

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

BOOOOO PIKACHU! Why are you even here? I hope they don't do something really stupid like not using Kamonegi in Satoshi's "revenge" match.
Not sure why people are so disappointed with not seeing Satoshi's reentry into super class. He's only few points and one match away from being in super class, it's not like something big for him to accomplish.
I guess Satoshi's big plan against Saito is softening her with sweets.

 

[SammyW27]

I'm wondering if the staff has even decided how PWC rankings work.

Nope!
Just a way to have a battle-centric arc now that Ash is apparently too good for a Gym Quest now that he's a "Champion" (though I use the term very loosely)

 

[Kurolegacy]

Nope!
Just a way to have a battle-centric arc now that Ash is apparently too good for a Gym Quest now that he's a "Champion" (though I use the term very loosely)

And it really further shows that they have no idea what to do with Ash even within those confines considering that if it isn’t an Ash-centric episode (which comes once in a blue moon these days) he’s just kinda there unless the writers decide to throw in a 30 second PWC battle. Remember how Ash used to have episodes where his Pokémon developed even if it wasn’t a capture or gym battle episode? Pokémon Journeys surely doesn’t.

 

[DynamicFusion]

XY&Z: Ash loses twice, problem is addressed next episode and he wins

SM: Ash loses, problem is addressed next episode, and he wins the 2 Trials

JN: Ash loses, unrelated Pikachu episode, Ash loses 2 more times + issue is addressed and then forgotten, 2 unrelated Alola & Fossils episodes, rematch

 

[R1ke]

I'm still pretty curious to see how Ash will deal with Octolock here.

He's already got a plan against Grapploct beforehand, and maybe Pikachu will play a part in it? I was thinking static could play into this, but that seems like a stretch.

Riolu is shown being better at maneuvering itself around Grapploct, so they've definitely been training on avoiding it. Still, it'll be really lame if he never gets trapped in it, at least once. Yet, I have no idea what kind of move he could learn to help him escape (Zen headbutt seems like a good option, but its a pretty odd move to carry on a Riolu/Lucario in the long term). I doubt they'll give him 2 status moves either (double team + one to escape octolock, if they replace force palm).

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

To be honest, I'm kinda torn on Pikachu being used here. On one hand, it really sucks that poor Galar Farfetch'd won't get a chance to shine, especially since it has yet to get any notable moments. On the other hand, Pikachu being used in lieu of Farfetch'd would actually help make Riolu's eventual victory over Grapploct more believable: Pikachu is Ash's most experienced Pokémon, after all, so he'll likely deal a lot of damage to Grapploct before going down, thus weakening it just enough for Riolu to finish off. After all, Grapploct is implied to be the Pokémon Bea defeated Korrina's Mega Lucario with, so Pikachu being used really is the only way to make Riolu succeed where a Mega Lucario failed seem credible.

Hopefully the battle is a 3v3 and Farfetch'd gets used, though. It really needs a win.

 

[VetProf]

I'm rather torn on whether or not showing how it happens is a good thing. On one hand, not showing it feels a bit contrived. On the other hand, actually showing it might make the actual Bea fight a bit rushed.

The writers could easily spend 15 seconds showing one of Ash's Pokemon beating an opponent's Pokemon to bring him up to Super Class. Maybe have the Pokemon used here be G. Farfetch'd so that it could at least do something in this episode now that Pikachu's seemingly replaced it in the rematch.

And yeah, I agree with @Ghost Diplocaulus. Pikachu being used here would make Riolu's victory much more believable, especially if no mid-battle-evolution shenanigans are involved. But at the same time, it's really sad to see G. Farfetch'd being sidelined. At least Dragonite and Gengar both had their chance in the spotlight. When's G. Farfetch'd's time to shine?

 

[Beary]

The writers could easily spend 15 seconds showing one of Ash's Pokemon beating an opponent's Pokemon to bring him up to Super Class. Maybe have the Pokemon used here be G. Farfetch'd so that it could at least do something in this episode now that Pikachu's seemingly replaced it in the rematch.

And yeah, I agree with @Ghost Diplocaulus. Pikachu being used here would make Riolu's victory much more believable, especially if no mid-battle-evolution shenanigans are involved. But at the same time, it's really sad to see G. Farfetch'd being sidelined. At least Dragonite and Gengar both had their chance in the spotlight. When's G. Farfetch'd's time to shine?

You’re forgetting it had time to shine off-screen

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Aaand 400 replies achieved! Well done, everyone!