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Review JN065: Dragon Battle! Satoshi VS Iris!!

My favourite exchange during this episode was:

Iris: *calls Ash a kid for getting excited over battling too quickly*
Ash: You're the kid!
Iris: I'm not a kid I'm the Champion!

If only Ash responded with "Well I'm a Champion too!". It would have been perfect. Ah well.

I came out of this remembering why I used to enjoy Iris' character. She's a hyperactive mix of cuteness, childishness, and competence and can have enjoyable interactions with Ash when the writers want her too. What this episode did so well was demonstrate her growth while at the same time remembering the ultimate purpose of the battle was to progress Ash into hyper class. She gets enough moments to show off and then loses in a way that preserves her credibility as a strong trainer and just feels "right". Maybe you can argue she should have won to really show off her new Champion status but that wasn't really the point of her return; she herself says becoming Champion wasn't even her end goal and that becoming a Dragon Master is still her focus.

To that end, we saw plenty of progress. She can tell right away Ash's Dragonite is a gentle soul, so when it starts to get fired up she jumps in to calm it down, telling it to enjoy the battle instead because that what she and Ash really want. It's possible she would have won the battle had she not done that, but she wanted the best battle she could get which speaks to her empathy for Dragon-types. They always come first.

Of course, she's made strides as a battler, too. She worked out swiftly Dracovish's weakness was it's mouth after watching it beat her Dragonite and managed to evolve Axew all the way to Haxorus, which ties up that loose end. But in the end, she came out second best to the classic Ash strategy of using offensive moves for defence and turning his opponent's power against them. Now we can add defeating a Champion for the first time to his rapidly expanding list of firsts.

Seriously, at the end of Best Wishes, if you had said Ash would win a Pokemon League and defeat a legit Champion you would have been called delusional. Somewhere along the line, someone just said "Screw it, let Ash be good and keep it that way!" and it just works. Nothing is off limits now.

On the technical side, the pacing of this episode was near perfect. They managed to establish the context of the battle and why it matters succinctly without wasting too much time, gave plenty of time to the battle itself so they could show off some fun action and slow things down so Iris can do her thing, and they ended on a promise of more Iris to come and Ash making progress on his goal. So much packed into 20 minutes without anything feeling under-cooked or neglected. Good job writers.
 
Forgot it. I loved the use of Ryuuseigun.

That's one of my favourite moves.
It was totally cool seeing it again.
 
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Artist unknown (Pixiv)
 
IMO this one was good but could have been great as a 2-parter.

Biggest plus is that I liked Iris here, I wasn't a fan of her in BW. Makes me wish BW had been written more like this.

I wish they weren't so allergic to having Ash mention his accomplishments though.

Might do a full review later.
 
Alright, again, very good episode, for the most part. As a reunion, it hit all the right notes (minus sassy Emolga) the characterization was fairly good (with a sort of exception, but even here, the character wasn't "wrong" just a trait was inaccurate) and the battle was solid (particularly on Ash's end). I get wanting to show off Iris's ability, but the ability was shown off in a way (imo) that inaccurately portrayed Ash's Dragonite, adding an unneeded conflict for it here (though I did appreciate this as a moment) and painting this as Iris "helping" Ash (which also wasn't needed, but less so, because of Dragonite's "issue" that was unnecessary). That being said, outside of that, Ash's tactics were sound, and Dragonite technically has/had 5 moves for a minute.
 
Just watched the episode with subtitles. Ash even took use of Dragonite's ability to affect weather when using Draco Meteor.
It does make me wonder if Dragonite really learned Draco Meteor. It did seem Dracognite trapped its opponents attack with Hurricane to form the meteor. Can it also replicate the move on its own in the future or will it be an improvised counterattack of sorts to return long ranged Dragon-type attacks? I guess the future will make this clear to us (unless I missed something and it's already clear).
 
I enjoyed this as a whole, but honestly, the battle itself was kind of bad. Mediocre animation, Iris' Dragonite and Ash's Dracovish were knocked out too easily, and too much talking between the bouts. In my opinion, Tomioka writes battles a bit too slowly paced these days with too much talking and strategizing and not enough brawling (this was apparent in the Bea battles which Tomioka wrote as well). Then again, this episode would have greatly benefitted from being a two parter which would alleviate this issue quite a lot (e.g. not having to spend precious battle time explaining Axew's evolution and Iris' dragon reading powers, that could've been taken care of in the first part).

Other than that, it was nice surprise hearing some old Miyazaki music again that I haven't heard since XY.

Was also fantastic seeing Drayden return seeing how he was portrayed as so crucial to Iris' development back in BW. He gotta be proud she's a champ now.

I also agree that Iris was much better written in this episode compared to BW. The balance between being mature and intelligent and being a bit more childish was greatly improved.

Iris making Ash's Dragonite toughen up and be less of a wimp was also very much welcome, thanks Iris!

And lastly, I cannot help but mention that it feels like the Champion status in the show has been greatly weakened with this episode. Iris' doesn't feel like she's on nearly the same skill level compared to the previous champions, who were portrayed as these completely unwinnable walls (even taking Ash's growth as a trainer into the equation).
 
I enjoyed this as a whole, but honestly, the battle itself was kind of bad. Mediocre animation, Iris' Dragonite and Ash's Dracovish were knocked out too easily, and too much talking between the bouts. In my opinion, Tomioka writes battles a bit too slowly paced these days with too much talking and strategizing and not enough brawling (this was apparent in the Bea battles which Tomioka wrote as well). Then again, this episode would have greatly benefitted from being a two parter which would alleviate this issue quite a lot (e.g. not having to spend precious battle time explaining Axew's evolution and Iris' dragon reading powers, that could've been taken care of in the first part).

Other than that, it was nice surprise hearing some old Miyazaki music again that I haven't heard since XY.

Was also fantastic seeing Drayden return seeing how he was portrayed as so crucial to Iris' development back in BW. He gotta be proud she's a champ now.

I also agree that Iris was much better written in this episode compared to BW. The balance between being mature and intelligent and being a bit more childish was greatly improved.

Iris making Ash's Dragonite toughen up and be less of a wimp was also very much welcome, thanks Iris!

And lastly, I cannot help but mention that it feels like the Champion status in the show has been greatly weakened with this episode. Iris' doesn't feel like she's on nearly the same skill level compared to the previous champions, who were portrayed as these completely unwinnable walls (even taking Ash's growth as a trainer into the equation).
I do agree (though I thought it wasn't very (if at all) apparent with Bea, but with Rinto, that yeah, there's too much "dialogue" in battling recently (though here, I did enjoy the tactics a great bit, so that offsets some of that for me, though also, I had a big issue with the Iris/Dragonite moment near the end) but that being said, it certainly doesn't help Alder, but other than him I think it's good (though I also think Iris shouldn't have been Champion at this point) that Iris wasn't portrayed like those Champions.
 
Honestly, after what I gathered from the episode on my own and after reading certain YouTube commentators say that Ash’s Dragonite would have lost during the first match had Ash not recalled it and in the final match had Iris “helped” it, I feel the need to say that Ash’s Dragonite really didn’t need this type of development. Even with Iris’ talent for Dragon type Pokémon, it feels as if Ash’s Dragonite should have put up more of a fight against Iris’ and delivered more damage. It also seems as though Ash’s Dragonite shouldn’t have needed to have that talk from Iris to put up a good fight against Haxorus. Now, I’m sure that a lot of Iris fans are glad to have her back and to see her in action, but honestly, i don’t think that it was really necessary to make her talent for Dragon type Pokémon to be that integral to the plot, especially if meant making one of Ash’s Pokémon weaker to both of hers in some way by comparison
 
Finally, finally an episode that was solely dedicated to Ash again. How long have we been waiting for that and how good it was compared to most Go-centered episodes!

Let me concentrate on the most memorable scenes now:
First, we've got the return of two powerful and I'd also say popular characters: Drayden and, of course, Iris. That alone won't guarantee that the episode will be great, but it's a very good start.
And ... the episode did turn out to be very good: No annoying interference from TRio or Go, no waste of time, just an exciting and intense battle between Dragon types, crowned with a final, spectacular Draco Meteor. Ash really deserved that victory!

Now there are a couple of questions that I kept asking myself during the episode:
1) Although Iris has officially been declared the Unova Champion, is she really on the same level as say Lance, Steven or, of course, Her Majesty Cynthia :notworthy:?
I'd say no because for a champion, she was defeated too easily. Ash has already had battles against non-champions that were even more intense and lasted longer. So I guess, there are some obvious similarities between Iris' strength as champion and the question whether wining the Alola League is equal to the "real" champions' status. It mght be true in theory, but in reality ... who knows? That's probably why Ash didn't just respond to Iris' provocative statement with "Well, I'm a champion, too !"
It makes no sense for the Unova Champion to be ranked lower than a bunch of gym leaders. Iris should have just replaced Drayden.
While the PWC actually works differently, because even strong trainers can rank lower depending on when they actually joined, I do understand what you mean and I agree with you. A champion in the Super Class?? Somehow that doesn't feel right at all. And as I said before, Iris was defeated too easily.

2) How did Haxorus manage to snap out of its confusion?
If the subtitles were right, Iris explained that Haxorus hit its head while attacking Dragonite. However, you clearly see that it was still confused after the attack and it wasn't until it had hit its head against the ground that it wasn't confused anymore. So, either the translation was wrong or Iris' and Drayden's explanation that it was the result of their intense training together was a bit too... well, let's call it optimistic.

3) A very intriguing question:
It does make me wonder if Dragonite really learned Draco Meteor. It did seem Dracognite trapped its opponents attack with Hurricane to form the meteor. Can it also replicate the move on its own in the future or will it be an improvised counterattack of sorts to return long ranged Dragon-type attacks? I guess the future will make this clear to us (unless I missed something and it's already clear).
If you ask me, it seems Dragonite did not know that move before, given that we never saw them train that move. What's confusing, though, was Ash's expression on his face. You could think that he knew what he was doing all along and that it was all planned before.
Still, considering the way Ash usually battles, I think it was a spontaneous, Ash-like strategy that turned into a new move (one of my most favorites ones, by the way). If Dragonite will have to replicate that technique or if he'll know the move from now on remains to be seen.

I thought Cynthia tbh
I might be wrong but looks like Elite 4 Flint, Volkner, Lt. Surge, Cynthia and Bea at the end
Believe me, I know the Queen when I see her. Cynthia's hair is much longer than that silhouette's hair and her hairbands are also missing in the picture.
So, I agree that's most likely Sabrina .

To sum it up: A great, intense and action-packed battle. I was a bit too short for my taste and I wished it had been a two-parter because next week's episode looks like a pretty ordinary filler. But still, great to see Iris again and even greater to get the full focus on Ash and on what he's best at: an awesome battle.
 
Okay, I finally had the chance to sit down and watch the episode and it was pretty cool. I wouldn't say it was amazing or anything, but it's been a long while since we had a serious PWC match, so I'll take whatever I can get. The battle between Iris and Ash was nice, but I have to admit I didn't like how the only Pokemon to tank a lot of hits during it was Ash's Dragonite while everyone else went down a lot more quickly, since imo it made the whole thing feel somewhat rushed. And Iris's Dragonite continues to be the Torterra of her team, lol. At least the reveal that Axew fully evolved was cool. Yes, it's a real bummer that it happened offscreen, but I think it's a lot better than him still being an Axew despite Iris's newfound Champion status. And speaking of Champions, I know Ash is super humble now, but I would have liked to see him mention to Iris that he is a Champion too. Come on, writers, I know you like Ash remaining the underdog, but this is a bit much.

Anyway, now that Ash's Dragonite learned Draco Meteor I do wonder which move was forgotten to make room.

Other random highlights that I found interesting:
  • Goh's meeting with Iris mirrors how Ash met her, since both boys mistook her for a Pokemon and tried to catch her.
  • Sirfetch'd opening the letter like a total boss and wowing everyone.
  • Goh caught a Pansear and a Panpour but not a Pansage, no doubt because he already has a Grass monkey on him.
  • Iris's reaction to Ash's Dragon-types was adorable.
It was still a very nice episode overall, and one that I think we can all agree was long overdue.
 
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