Review JN068: A Rival for Go!? The Road to Mew!!

[Reborn Talonflame]

So I have to ask. Is Goh an inexperienced trainer or a competent trainer?

I think you’ll find that prior to this series, everyone asked that question about Ash...

Personally, he’s still inexperienced, but is competent enough to hang in there.
Evolutions don’t really indicate a trainer’s experience in the show (Cameron, of all people, had a Hydreigon in B&W - a pseudo-legendary), whilst legendaries feel a though it’s more a trainer’s will/bond that connects them to a trainer, and I generally think the instances of Zapdos and Flygon were just a case of Goh’s learning from Ash - utilising the battlefield and surroundings to create opportunities - as he’s also a perceptive trainer. However, this perception doesn’t correlate to his ability to pick up cues in battle of when to do certain actions, showing inexperience, and has often led to his Pokemon being caught off guard, like this episode.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Why couldn't Gary be the co-protagonist instead of Gou? (I'm not Gou-hating, I just think that would make for an amazing series). The research fellow aspect would also make more sense since Gary wants to be a researcher already.

 

[Paulisthebest]

After rewatching the Moltres battle (for like the 7th time at this point), you realize just how pathetic Zapdos looked when it got pushed back by Raboot (with a little help from Flygon but mostly aerial assistance) considering Moltres was on the verge of taking out Cinderace (saved by Pikachu & Electivire) & Infernape (Blastoise came in at the last second), took down Blastoise and only fled after it was pushed back via an electric combo from Pikachu & Electivire!

 

[DarkraiKnight]

After rewatching the Moltres battle (for like the 7th time at this point), you realize just how pathetic Zapdos looked when it got pushed back by Raboot (with a little help from Flygon but mostly aerial assistance) considering Moltres was on the verge of taking out Cinderace (saved by Pikachu & Electivire) & Infernape (Blastoise came in at the last second), took down Blastoise and only fled after it was pushed back via an electric combo from Pikachu & Electivire!

Well, that’s because he wasn’t fighting at full power, so it’s understandable.

 

[Craiden]

Yeah, Zapdos was nerfed (in-episode it's explained) but it was nice seeing the Moltres respect.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

It really looks like there's someone in the anime staff who has a bit of a grudge against Zapdos: in XY one got pummeled by Noivern, who is Ash's weakest Kalos mon by a significant margin, and in this series it's been the least impressive of all the Legendaries who have appeared.

Lugia was able to shrug off multiple hits from a large group wich included Pokemon that either had the type advantage against it or were extremely powerful

Eternatus took the combined strength of multiple pokemon (which included two other Legendaries) to bring down

Zacian and Zamazenta did the heavy-lifting in the aforementioned Eternatus battle

Goh could only successfully capture Suicine after it had exhausted most of its energy constantly purifying a lake that was being intentionally polluted by poachers who then proceeded to pummel it with multiple Pokemon at once, meaning it was significantly drained by that point

Mewtwo singlehandedly took Pikachu, Lucario, and Cinderace to the cleaners with basically zero effort

And now Moltres was able to browbeat two powerful veteran battlers (Infernape and Blastoise) and a Pokemon who in the past has OHKO'd Pokemon with resisted moves in two separate occasions (Goh's Cinderace, who beat Oleana's Milotic with one Pyro Ball and later beat a Boldore with a single Quick Attack of all things. And that was after Boldore had used Harden twice) and was able to give Zapdos a tough time as a Raboot

I wonder what exactly did Zapdos do to deserve this disrespect, because it is admittedly quite ridiculous.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

It really looks like there's someone in the anime staff who has a bit of a grudge against Zapdos

I wonder what exactly did Zapdos do to deserve this disrespect, because it is admittedly quite ridiculous.

I've had the same thoughts about Starmie. In the games, it's a heavy-hitting Special Attacker, but we've hardly ever seen one score a win in the anime: Misty's Starmie lost against a Graveler, another Starmie lost against a Raticate, Rudy's Starmie lost against Ash, and so on. And what's more, the anime decided to favor Staryu over Starmie as Misty's ace for some unfathomable reason, to the point that they eventually even have her dump the latter at her Gym for literally no reason and doom it to have no more spotlight ever again.

Easy to see why Suede keeps making jokes about (almost) every Starmie in the anime being one-shotted.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

in XY one got pummeled by Noivern, who is Ash's weakest Kalos mon by a significant margin, and in this series it's been the least impressive of all the Legendaries who have appeared.

Funny how the battles with Moltres also mirror one another: Moltres being this dangerous juggernaut that can shrug off super effective attacks and hit back like a train, while Zapdos is both times relegated to being... let’s say underwhelming.

 

[puddleths]

It was fun seeing Ash command a reserve in battle for the first time since Charizard in BW. Would have liked Infernape having an update in its moveset, but it's nostalgic if nothing else. The battle with Moltres left something to be desired, so hopefully Infernape (and some of the other reserves) get another chance down the line.

As for Go, having Gary as a means to push him is a step in the right direction.

 

[PaperSplash]

I noticed that Ash's Infernape's gender was soft confirmed in this episode, since Gary refers to it as "he". And I'm not just talking about the subs either; he actually uses "kare" (the Japanese equivalent of "he") in the audio. Not sure if Bulbapedia will take this as sufficient proof though.

Did you think another voice actor replaced the late Unshō Ishizuka as providing his second voice role as Ash's Muk, or was Ishizuka's voice recording archived for his posthumus voice role as Ash's Muk? Why?

It seems to have changed. I don't think it's confirmed who replaced Ishizuka as Muk but my first guess would be Kenyu Horiuchi since he already inherited Ishizuka's roles as Professor Oak and the narrator.

 

[thomaswiencek]

Well, in this episode, other than Muk, who do you think voiced all Ash's Pokémon at Professor Oak's Laboratory seen in this episode, or do you think that the original voice actors' voice recordings were archived for their voice roles as these Pokémon?

 

[Eitarou]

If they used archives, we'd know. They credit those, too.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

So... with Talonflame being able to land a hit on a Mega and on a Moltres, does this mean Talonflame is officially stronger than Infernape, since it failed to land a hit on the Moltres.

This is a false equivalence because we don’t know if it’s the same Moltres they both battled. It’s quite honestly weird logic and seems bait-y to me. By that logic Bellsprout is stronger than Latios since it defeated Ash's Pikachu.

 

[nickdt]

Didn't we see a Pokeball capture in a grass section in a preview. I guess that was Onix.

 

[Eitarou]

There was no such scene. There was the frozen Poke Ball one, though.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

After rewatching the Moltres battle (for like the 7th time at this point), you realize just how pathetic Zapdos looked when it got pushed back by Raboot (with a little help from Flygon but mostly aerial assistance) considering Moltres was on the verge of taking out Cinderace (saved by Pikachu & Electivire) & Infernape (Blastoise came in at the last second), took down Blastoise and only fled after it was pushed back via an electric combo from Pikachu & Electivire!

That's exactly what I found so disappointing about how they portrayed this Moltres. At first, it appeared to be that badass, (almost) invincible legendary bird, but suddenly it was almost taken down pretty easily. Isn't a legendary supposed to not only be a little bit stronger but significantly more powerful than "normal" Pokemon? And the straw that broke the camel's back was the final scene where Moltres had to flee (!) from the battle. Just imagine, a legendary Pokemon fleeing from an ordinary battle! How unworthy can it get?

I wonder what exactly did Zapdos do to deserve this disrespect, because it is admittedly quite ridiculous.

Now I guess Moltres has joined the Club Of The Degraded Legendary Birds. That somehow makes we wonder in which way the writers are probably going to destroy Articuno?

 

[Craiden]

Moltres essentially destroyed one of Ash's strongest Pokemon, arguably Gary's strongest Pokemon, and shook off a rather strong Electric combo attack fairly easily, I wouldn't call that "degraded."

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Moltres essentially destroyed one of Ash's strongest Pokemon, arguably Gary's strongest Pokemon, and shook off a rather strong Electric combo attack fairly easily, I wouldn't call that "degraded."

And that’s considering that Moltres is pretty much the legendary equivalent of a route 1 bird.

 

[thomaswiencek]

Moltres essentially destroyed one of Ash's strongest Pokemon, arguably Gary's strongest Pokemon, and shook off a rather strong Electric combo attack fairly easily, I wouldn't call that "degraded."

Which ones of Ash and Gary’s strongest Pokémon are you talking about that Moltres has destroyed?

 

[Craiden]

Which ones of Ash and Gary’s strongest Pokémon are you talking about that Moltres has destroyed?

Yeah, I figured Infernape would be a point of contention making that statement, but I don't think it's hard to come to the conclusion Blastoise is Gary's strongest Pokemon (which is why I did preface with "arguably.")