Review JN051: Kamonegi's Great Trials!

[KrspaceT]

Found this on the bulbagarden discord. Not sure who originally wrote it (it's in quotation marks) but my god they took the words out of my mouth.

Edit: Found the source: 'The Great Farfetch'd Trial! (1140)'

Spoiler

View attachment 139041

Can I borrow that for spacebattles discussions?

 

[Ryker101]

Can I borrow that for spacebattles discussions?

Sure go ahead, it's not mine anyway

 

[Schemer99]

Found this on the bulbagarden discord. Not sure who originally wrote it (it's in quotation marks) but my god they took the words out of my mouth.

Edit: Found the source: 'The Great Farfetch'd Trial! (1140)'

Spoiler

View attachment 139041

Sorry, this is too cool of a premise, so that means the writers won't implement it.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Also liked that Ash lost some of those battles, because he wants to start a streak with Farfetch'd's battle

Ash says they have a streak going, so I don't think he's lost any of those off-screen battles.

This episode shows us that Kamonegi's problem is that it relies too much on brute strength to win. And that while that's fine for some opponents (Dotekkotsu guy) it doesn't work on others (Ellade guy). OK, fine. BUT, the episode doesn't bother to tell us at all what Satoshi or his Kamonegi is going to do about it. The episode ended with the most generic "alright, let's train and become better!" , with the triumphant music in the background and all that, and it's the kind of thing we've seen a million times by this point.

What'll probably happen is that Kamonegi will train a bunch off-screen and then the next time this show has a Kamonegi episode they'll have it "show off the results of its training" and easily beat its opponent, using almost exactly the same battle strategy it used here.

I have to agree with @VetProf and say that's not likely to happen. Ash will train, for sure, but it'll take his encounter with Wikstrom to realize what Farfetch'd is really missing. And that excellent Discord post also made me realize why Farfetch'd was wearing an armor in the special preview. It's foreshadowing its ascension into knighthood, i.e. evolving into Sirfetch'd.

 

[GrookeyFan77]

Now that I watched the sub, Lets... REWIEW!!!
Good Stuff
+ Kamon vs Gurdurr
+ Good development for Kamon
+ Battle was epic
+ Kamon personality
+ Ash new Rival (Hopefully)
+ Hype for Kamon vs Wikstom
+ Not much Goh Geodude crap
+ Ash focus
Bad Stuff
- Goh Geodude Crap
- WHY DIDN'T THEY SHOW THOSE BATTLES!!!
8/10 Pretty good!

 

[Queen Cynthia]

What you think
Ash farfetch like I said on top

Don't harass other members to answer your questions - if they want to, they will do it on their own. That's how forums work, and you'll have to get used to having your messages ignored from time to time.

I didn't want to ignore him/her. I just didn't quite understand what he was trying to say.

He literally hasn't lost a single PWC match in which he used Pikachu, Gengar, or Dragonite. He remained undefeated until he started exclusively using his newborn Riolu. That's a pretty serious handicap.

Like I said, I would prefer to actually see the battles, but I just don't see the point in lingering in the Super Class much longer. I care more about the Hyper and Master Classes, that's where all the cool kids are hanging out.

Yes, I agree here but I'd also like to emphasize that if there hadn't been that many filler episodes focusing on Go, there would have been plenty of time for some serious training and PWC episodes. I just don't like if all the action happens off-screen and then you're expected to believe that it has all happened already as if by magic.

What'll probably happen is that Kamonegi will train a bunch off-screen and then the next time this show has a Kamonegi episode they'll have it "show off the results of its training" and easily beat its opponent, using almost exactly the same battle strategy it used here.

I'm afraid that's exactly what's going to happen While we're watching Go throwing Pokeballs at randomly appearing Pokemon, all of a sudden Farfetch'd will enter the stage and be like: "Look how strong I've become within a couple of weeks. All my problems are gone now. Believe it or not." Just hope that Wikstrom episode will be good enough to explain Farfetchd's change in a plausible way.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I'm afraid that's exactly what's going to happen While we're watching Go throwing Pokeballs at randomly appearing Pokemon, all of a sudden Farfetch'd will enter the stage and be like: "Look how strong I've become within a couple of weeks. All my problems are gone now. Believe it or not." Just hope that Wikstrom episode will be good enough to explain Farfetchd's change in a plausible way.

I personally find this level of pessimism unwarranted. I have faith that Farfetch'd will get proper development before it evolves.

 

[Gengarzilla]

While it's nice to see where Ash stands on the path to number one again, that's... honestly a pretty sizable jump in his rank. Imagine if we just skipped gym battles the way we're skipping World Coronation fights? I agree they've been rather lacking for the most part and were often crammed into an episode to fill time, but come on, a little flashback montage wouldn't have been that bad. It's remaining me quite painfully of the time Jessie pulled two Pokémon Showcase Keys out of her arse. Show, don't just tell.

Then again, it feels like they wrote themselves into a hole with that "durr hurr bea is suddenly 189 because its her sword and shield number i'm so smart" thing. That's pretty much his long term goal at the moment.

 

[ii kanji]

I'm also in the dissatisfied camp right now. It has been 24 episodes, nigh on half a year in the real world, since Kamonegi was captured. It has had woeful screen time and focus, and although this is a simple story (character's raw power is great, but they are lacking situational awareness), it actually feels too much pressurised into a single episode like this after so long. The story is so simple in fact that it wouldn't even need build-up as such, just for us to have seen Kamonegi's power +/- a hint of its weakness prior to it explored properly.

What has happened to Satoshi? He is not in sync with Kamonegi at all, and he doesn't seem to even be aware of it until maybe the end of this episode. His strength has always been his natural affinity to connect with others, especially his own Pokemon, so this just feels crap. The rank jumping is cheap af but you've all said everything there is to say on that.

(Also, I know I hate battles, but that one lasted way too fucking long right?)

The good things were of course the art and animation, well done team, and the introduction of Rinto who I hope we'll see much more of and will continue to be a bit of a smug arse going forwards.

 

[VetProf]

Just watched the episode with subs, here's my thoughts on it.

• After all this time, we finally got some proper G. Farfetch'd focus. That alone gives this episode a huge plus.
• Lots of people here seem to be bothered by Ash's sudden offscreen jump in ranking, though I'm personally not too bothered by it since Ash is still relatively low in the rankings where it's reasonable for him to be breezing through most of his opponents. Sure, more screentime on PWC battles would've been nice, but if I had to choose between getting a few high-quality battles + offscreen victories vs dozens of mediocre onscreen battles, I'm definitely choosing the former. With that said, I do expect things to slow down once Ash gets into Hyper Class so that offscreen victories won't be necessary anymore.
• It feels nice to watch a 1v1 battle where neither Pokemon went down in one or two hits. Sure, most of the battle was basically just them wailing on each other with next to zero strategy involved, but it still felt quite satisfying to watch, especially since the animation was pretty good in this episode.
• I like how G. Farfetch'd can be seen charging with its leek several times during the battle, which basically confirms that it's gonna evolve and learn Meteor Assault eventually.
• Considering Journeys' huge focus on in-game characters, I'm quite surprised that we might actually be getting an anime-original rival here. Not only does the Gallade trainer look pretty cool, but this also gives me hope that past anime-original rivals might return as well. As happy as I am that characters like Iris and Gary are returning, we still haven't seen any anime-original rivals make a return in this series, so hopefully this is a sign that characters like Paul could return.

Overall, I think this was a great episode. Hope we get to see more of the Gallade trainer in the future. And maybe some returning anime-original rivals too.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

The beginning with Ash's Pokemon sparring was really cool. And I must say that Farfetch'd really does have every right in the world to be angry at Ash: not only is the poor guy the most underused Pokemon in his team, he's also the only one who isn't fully evolved yet. Not to mention that whole deal about supposedly being Riolu/Lucario's rival and sparring partner that never led to anything substantial other than making the punchy doggo look better at the poor bird's expense.

But at long last, Farfetch'd gets his time to shine, and not only that but he finally gets to win Ash a PWC battle. I was really hoping he'd learn a Fighting-type move by now though, or at least have Leaf Blade instead of Fury Cutter, but that's a minor nitpick since the battle against Gurdurr was still really cool, and easily one of the better choreographed and more intense ones we've had in a while. It does make it a bit of a shame that we had a significantly less cool batter right after and maybe it's just me but I really dislike that Gallade already: he came off as insufferably arrogant and smug with his whole "lol, look at me expertly block/dodge literally all of ur attacks and then incapacitate you with a single False Swipe just to show you how much more superiorer I am" shtick... okay, maybe that's kind of unfair. I'm admittedly overreacting from bias because this Gallade kinda pulled the rug from under my current favorite character's feet literally moments after he got a much deserved bone throw. Either that or I was just reminded of Trip's Serperior, who was similarly an arrogant smug jerk who never once got a single victory that wasn't complete overpowered BS. At least Gallade's trainer was nice, but still, I'll be looking forward to hopefully seeing Farfetch'd/Sirfetch'd kicking this Gallade's butt in the future.

All that aside, I agree with the general sentiment about PWC matches being skipped so frequently. This is supposed to be Ash's main goal yet it's taken a huge backseat to literally everything and that's pretty disappointing. It doesn't help that other than the battles against Visquez, Korrina, Bea and this newest one with Genba, most PWC matches have been pretty underwhelming and feel more like what in past series would have been filler sparring matches. However, I wouldn't mark that against this episode, since this problem is a series-wide one.

Overall, this was a great episode, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Farfetch'd develops.

 

[Craiden]

I'm also in the dissatisfied camp right now. It has been 24 episodes, nigh on half a year in the real world, since Kamonegi was captured. It has had woeful screen time and focus, and although this is a simple story (character's raw power is great, but they are lacking situational awareness), it actually feels too much pressurised into a single episode like this after so long. The story is so simple in fact that it wouldn't even need build-up as such, just for us to have seen Kamonegi's power +/- a hint of its weakness prior to it explored properly.

What has happened to Satoshi? He is not in sync with Kamonegi at all, and he doesn't seem to even be aware of it until maybe the end of this episode. His strength has always been his natural affinity to connect with others, especially his own Pokemon, so this just feels crap. The rank jumping is cheap af but you've all said everything there is to say on that.

(Also, I know I hate battles, but that one lasted way too fucking long right?)

The good things were of course the art and animation, well done team, and the introduction of Rinto who I hope we'll see much more of and will continue to be a bit of a smug arse going forwards.

I stated this before, and I don't know if it's correct, but there were several moments in the episode that led me to think that the writers were admitting to "our bad, sorry Farfetch'd has rarely appeared," and the "out of sync"
thing is one of them. That being said, this is consistent with episode 27, and how we were introduced to Farfetch'd, so I don't think this was "too pressurized" either. Now, it was odd seeing so many alludes to them saying "our bad" (Farfetch'd being surprised he was asked if he wanted to go out being my favorite) but I did enjoy those moments mostly (part of why I liked this episode as much as I did). And the battle probably went on a tad long, but I enjoyed it enough to where that didn't detract from it (which surprised me, since this was just two Pokemon hitting each other (or blocking) really hard.

 

[ii kanji]

I stated this before, and I don't know if it's correct, but there were several moments in the episode that led me to think that the writers were admitting to "our bad, sorry Farfetch'd has rarely appeared," and the "out of sync"
thing is one of them.

I did pick up on this, but I also think it's really a paltry way to make up for piss poor series planning.

Why do people think that Kamonegi was angry at Satoshi? I didn't get that impression at all. I know he gave him a couple of whacks round but I thought he was just demonstrating eagerness to fight. I might have missed something in the dialogue though.

 

[Craiden]

I did pick up on this, but I also think it's really a paltry way to make up for piss poor series planning.

Why do people think that Kamonegi was angry at Satoshi? I didn't get that impression at all. I know he gave him a couple of whacks round but I thought he was just demonstrating eagerness to fight. I might have missed something in the dialogue though.

I would guess because they are upset about Farfetch'd rarely appearing, which is fair, but outside of the "sorry Farfetch'd hasn't appeared" moments, I think (and this is why I didn't think this was too much for one episode) we learned just how focused Farfetch'd is on getting stronger, but also that he's stubborn, and easily provoked, and those are two things he will need to overcome to maximize potential.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Why do people think that Kamonegi was angry at Satoshi? I didn't get that impression at all. I know he gave him a couple of whacks round but I thought he was just demonstrating eagerness to fight. I might have missed something in the dialogue though.

It's probably more frustration than straight up anger. When Farfetch'd agreed to join him, Ash promised that they would get stronger together. Fast forward 24 episodes and Farfetch'd still has yet to win a battle, and it seems like Ash's promise has gone unfulfilled. I think he is frustrated at his constant losses, and he blames both Ash and himself for it. Up until this episode, Farfetch'd seemed to trust Ash and go along with what he said, this is the first time we see him actively rejecting Ash's support.

 

[nickdt]

I really doubt Gary will be apart of the PWC, as the last time we saw him in D&P, he was a scientist/researcher. I mean, he wasn’t even participating in leagues anymore, so why would he change into battling again? Maybe he battles cause he wants to learn more, like Kukui, but I really don’t se it. Iris, maybe.

Like i already said earlier: Brock is a Pokemon Doctor in training. Despite that, he got his hands on Mega Steelix and the Kanto 2-parter during the Alola arc, also seems to imply that Brock uses the Cerulean Gym to train against Misty. For all we know Gary has done the same in Sinnoh, training with Gym Leaders and the like.

 

[Beary]

This guy should of just been wally tbh. He fits the character better than this rando

 

[Twilight-Kun]

This guy should of just been wally tbh. He fits the character better than this rando

First Wally was replaced by Morrison in Hoenn, then Sawyer in Kalos, and now Rinto in Wherever The Plot Demands It

At least he's got a Gallade this time, so that's one step closer, I suppose

Poor kid just seems doomed to never exist in the mainline anime

 

[Dogasu]

It's so weird to me that our heroes went to the Rock Tunnel because of a supposed swarm of Ishitsubute but then never actually bother to go inside to look for them.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I personally find this level of pessimism unwarranted. I have faith that Farfetch'd will get proper development before it evolves.

They already butchered its development. And with the way the previous Pokemon that needed development (Riolu) was treated I don’t blame anyone for tempering their expectations. The fact that it took this long for farfetc'd to even APPEAR post capture and do something says volumes.

but if I had to choose between getting a few high-quality battles + offscreen victories vs dozens of mediocre onscreen battles, I'm definitely choosing the former.

As far as I’m seeing we haven’t even gotten the former so it isn’t a true trade off.