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Review JN047: Pokémon Champion! The Battle of Big Eaters!!

Daren said:
Ash was doing that for years too, let's be fair. Pokéringer, Rapidash race, Balloon race..
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Did you miss the part where Ash is notorious all over the world for losing leagues for 20 years? Or how he loses at least one gym battle per series? Ash has had larger imperfections than not being able to catch a Flabebe with Rotom screaming a catch bonus.
In fact, in Ash's debut series he was borderline ridiculed every other episode.
 
For the most part, this episode was rather boring

A few positives for the episode was the variety of Pokemon seen this episode taking part in the contest and Skwovet getting some much needed focus
 
  • ++ One of the better things about this episode is giving Kikuna and Sakuragi screen time alongside Koharu, one that's thankfully a more prominent role with the remarks they keep making as the competition progresses, and not just a bland cheerleader type of role (which they've thrown onto Ash in this very episode for some reason). Given how enthusiastic Kikuna was about the entire competition, I'm surprised that they didn't give her this episode and have her be its star, it would have been a decent change of pace and actually made this episode much better. If not her, then TRio could have at least had this episode to themselves since they were at some of their best here and because their last core focus episode is half a year old now. I was actually rooting for TRio to win this episode despite all of their cheating (which led to some hilarious results) given how poorly they've been handled and they deserved to win at least something. At least even their dirty play took quite some effort and admittance on their behalf and exposed their flaws, unlike a certain someone. And finally, that Blaziken was an absolute MVP. The entire thing with it dropping out and refusing to eat Torchic shaped food was one of the better written gags. Also, James is the best member of TRio imo.

  • - - - TRio's handling has been abysmal in this series for the most part. So when we finally get an episode that had a good thing going for them, having success that isn't a generic steal plot... they get tossed aside anti-climatically at the end (made worse when you consider why they were tossed aside, check next con). @ii kanji and @TRNatalie go into far better detail in this post as well as this one, but in case you don't want to read the lengthier posts, the gist of the current issue is this: TRio have basically been relegated to being 'backward' characters in the bigger picture with no Pokemon or personal connections of their own, being used sparsely without being treated as major characters in a proper way (despite being as old as Ash), and what could have been a Pokemon they could have had that with has become an ungratefully toxic gag. It may have been funny the first few times, but now it seems like they're using it to get rid of TRio conveniently from scenarios. And like a friend of mine said, Morpeko is completely random compared to Bewear, who actually had motivations and a story to her character.
  • - - I didn't mind the concept about the eating competition (even if it weirded me out a bit), but there were FAR too many "happy coincidences" to favor a certain someone. The Champion Snorlax being paired with Blaziken to eliminate it early, dish types and paired match-ups, Skwovet pulling out a Tamato Berry out of nowhere to change the taste of the dish, rules suddenly being established mid-competition to favor, Morpeko's appetite being suddenly sated etc. Fine, coincidences and all that happened, but the fact that Goh acts all arrogant/smug while throwing around lines like "I'm a natural" as if it were his skill rather than luck and plot convenience that led him to winning (and him being praised all the time for it) makes him far more unlikable than ever before. This episode objectively cements the legitimacy of the Gary Stu remarks, and judging from how the episode was written, it seems like they're intentionally making him a Gary Stu. It also doesn't help that Skwovet/Greedent was treated like an eating machine PotD plot device rather than a character, with it only being showcased in this episode for its evolution.

  • ~ I love the new intro segment for finally involving all the key Pokemon in this series as well as that group photo. It's comical how camera shy/reluctant Lucario is with Dragonite pushing it into the picture. I hope that the part with Bea and Raihan get updated with more rivals, especially recurring ones.

4/10: I could have enjoyed this episode a lot more as a slice-of-life filler if it didn't highlight long standing problems in this series, and on top of that, present those problems in an intentionally obnoxious manner.

Black&White said:
What setback do you exactly want him to have? At least he has changed some of the ways he approached captures such as actually starting to battle the stronger Pokemon instead of constantly throwing Poke Balls. If the instant balls always worked out for him he never would have done that.
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The instant balls should never have worked in the first place. Battling a Pokemon is supposed to be the 'default' way of approaching potential captures, not a change and a different way of catching as you put it.

And what setback do I want him to have? One where he really questions his path, his methods, his goal, shows some insecurity in what he does etc. One where he gets called out on for his mistakes, where he gets ridiculed by his shortcomings, where he doesn't do everything perfectly and then decide to act all smug about it. And not be resolved within the same episode by plot convenience.

The Mewtwo episode last week was the perfect one to have handled that. Mewtwo absolutely thrashed Goh. He called him out on the weak link between Mew and catching everything. He should have been the one to ridicule Goh and make him rethink things through.
Black&White said:
And he has flaws in other areas such as social interactions with humans. That was a major plot point in the Alola episode
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And how many times has that come up again? It was only a plot point for that episode only, without any lasting effect.
 
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Now reading the always amazing review @Panky.. I realized one thing.

In the summary of this episode it was explained that Team Rocket were mistaken as the jury of this eating contest. Was that shown in the episode? Why Team Rocket was the jury of this?

This is a trend that has been repeating in some episodes.

We dont know how Team Rocket got there.

It happenede with Chewtle, with Morpeko, with Eternatus, and with this.

I guess the R is for Random now.
 
When I saw the preview for this last week, I wasn't very invested. However, I ended up being delightfully surprised with such a neat filler episode!
  • The machinations that went on during the eating contest were quite insightful!
    • Go's Skwovet using Bullet Seed to empty its stomach of seeds was ingenious; we also got confirmation that Berries actually possess seeds (which is interesting considering how players grow them in the games).
    • This one was pretty obvious, but TR sabotaging several champions with very filling cookies...only to almost end up sabotaging themselves when Morpeko attempted to consume them.
    • James picking the hot dish for an Ice-type Pokémon and anticipating the limbless Glalie would inadvertently freeze the bowl alongside its food; also, kudos to the writers as wild Glalie do in fact freeze their prey solid before eating them.
    • Go and Muk's Trainer trying to one-up each other, with the former observantly noting Muk's distaste for sweet food and the latter noting Skwovet's having "too much of a good thing." Go's idea to change the taste of the sweet Pecha Berry dish, although contrived, was also neat to see.
    • Blaziken refusing to eat Torchic-shaped manju, that was shaped a bit too realistically, out of principle; I also liked how Ash was the one to note its evolutionary line as an explanation. And I think this is most explicit personality we have seen of any animated Blaziken.
  • There was a nice variety of Pokémon that we witnessed; I never would have expected a Blaziken to be a champion of eating-I mean, out-eating a Snorlax? Wow. We also saw other Pokémon that were not typically associated with large appetites, such as Vigoroth and Bisharp. As a side note, it would have been fun to see May & Munchlax participating in such a contest. Or, as this food episode ties into a subsequent Unova episode, Cilan easily could have been one of the cooks here for a two-parter. Come now, writers-this continuity practically writes itself!
    • I never understood the need to have minor COTD dress up like their Pokémon, especially when we see the Pokémon more often than the Trainer; I feel the Pokemon stands out enough already. Just a minor nitpick.
    • It was also nice that Ash and Go's other Pokémon besides Lucario & Cinderace got some spotlight. I found it interesting that Dragonite is apparently a light eater (despite its size) and I enjoyed seeing Skwovet evolving into Greedent; I doubt the greedy squirrel will have anymore relevance going forward, so an evolution here felt like an appropriate way to conclude its "arc."
  • Koharu, her father, and Kikuna got to be relevant as well, which was enjoyable to witness. Particularly Kikuna, as she temporarily transcended from background assistant to a Pokémon Eating Contest Connoisseuse; her attempting to change Koharu's perspective on the contest was a pleasant endeavor and seeing Koharu end up enjoying the occasion was charming.
  • While Go ended up winning, I find it interesting we technically did not see how Skwovet would have stood up to Blaziken; if not for that moral crisis, Go could have very well lost (and TR would have won!). That aside, I thought this episode had great representation of Go's analytical nature.
 
Quite good comedy filler. Team Rocket were great IMO - I can see where the complaints about Morpeko are coming from, but I don't fully agree. I see potential for an interesting dynamic there where the TRio come to love Morpeko despite its gluttony, and Morpeko comes to love them and tones down its antics - if they give the rodent proper screentime, which remains to be seen.

My main complaint is the overemphasis on Go. I don't mind that he won; Skwovet is already established as a huge eater - but they could have done it without portraying Go as a genius at everything.

Nice to see more screentime for the Sakuragi gang.
 
ii kanji said:
Yeah they did, I can vouch.
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Me too. It’s why Meowth was in the box with the balls, to rig it by taking one of the favourites out of the contest and give Morpeko an advantage. It’s likely their swelling cookie gambit is why Morpeko’s appetite failed it just at the point it could have won over Skwovet, so hoist by their own petard. A bit surprising they didn’t get caught out.
 
Alola said:
I never would have expected a Blaziken to be a champion of eating-I mean, out-eating a Snorlax? Wow. We also saw other Pokémon that were not typically associated with large appetites, such as Vigoroth and Bisharp.
Click to expand...
I guess they wanted to show the troupe that the thin unassuming guy with a fast metabolism has an insatiable appetite.
 
The drawings... In HD this episode burns my eyes ...
8405BCA2-9B91-4BF8-A838-FBBE74ECBB3A.jpeg

55C1D3A3-306A-4C09-84A7-F942C14BF1E4.jpeg
 
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