• Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Review JN077: Super Electromagnetic Hyper Class Battle!

Alola said:
This episode started off on a wonderful note, but began to spiral downwards the moment Gengar got jobbed again. So I've got mixed feelings; it was animated very well, but some of the narrative choices could have been better.

So, I guess I'll talk about what I disliked first.
  • Ash & Pikachu's Z-Move magically bypassing Motor Drive was cheap writing, made even more blatant as Pikachu's prior Thunderbolt was something Electivire was rendered immune to thanks to Motor Drive; they specifically called mention to this Ability during the fight a couple times, too. I figured it was coming, but I really hoped the move wouldn't work and reality would kick in. I mean damn, they could have had Ash & Pikachu use it on Volkner's other Pokémon. Really ended the fight on a sour note, for me.
  • Gengar gets j/robbed again. It's just sad, at this point. I'm glad it landed hits on Luxray, but they could have given it a KO; at least a double KO if they still wanted it to go down.
  • Lucario took out Luxray too quickly and in an anticlimactic function. I thought we were going to see more from the Gleam Eyes Pokémon; it was kind of stagnant in battle, which is the opposite of how it fought before, against Infernape. Also, Lucario...got rid of its paralysis? Through the power of Affection?
  • I really think Ash should have lost, because I feel Volkner was the better battler of the two.
What I loved:
  • Hoo boy, the animation. I don't know, this may be the best animated fight in Journeys so far, if not one of them. Everyone and everything looked good. Some of my favorite moments were Lucario scoping the Electric Terrain, Luxray getting thrown by Psychic, and Pikachu and Electivire's mid-air Iron Tail jousting.
  • Volkner's battle style was powerful and calculated. He made use of Electric Terrain for his team, as well as Rising Voltage (which looked great), utilized Hex's secondary effect through paralysis twice, switched accordingly with Electivire and Rotom - F, and overall hit hard. He dominated the first half of the match, before plot dictated that Ash win instead, smh.
    • Speaking of Volkner's team, Rotom - F was the highlight for me. Those Hexes were chef's kisses. I also appreciate that Electivire was given a complete moveset with electrical moves this time around, rather than Fire/Ice Punch.
  • They got right to the battle, which was appreciated. No captures, no conversations, just a near 22 minutes of nicely animated battling action.
  • Cynthia has been confirmed as one of the last PWC members, if not the last one. Congrats to everyone who speculated so! I think a Ash Vs. Cynthia match would be awesome, but I don't want to see her lose to Ash - especially not with what happened today. So, I am looking forward to how that plays out.
Also, I wouldn't be quick to confirm that Gengar's official Dazzling Gleam move was an error or nonexistent, just because Ash didn't use it here. Gengar only used Psychic, Ice Punch, and Night Shade during its battles, so the jury is still out on whether or not Shadow Ball has been forgotten for Fairy coverage.
Click to expand...

Dazzling Gleam replaced Psychic in the segment clip. It still used Psychic in todays episode. So you can safely assume it was nothing more than an error for this episode at least. Its still possible it learns it in an upcoming episode though and replaces Psychic then.
 
WOW!

This is probably my favorite battle in Journeys.

We got straight to the battle, no time wasted.
The Hyper Class Stadium has such a grand atmosphere, I love it.
Even if he didn't get a win, Gengar was BADASS. I still wish he got a win, but I'm very satisfied with his performance. If I didn't keep track of the score I might've not notice how badly he did. He was a fierce battler here.
Lucario got his chance to shine, and boy was he great. Two wins, even if one of them was a double kill? That's way more than everyone expected for him.
The Z-Move didn't feel like an overpowered Deus Ex Machina, it felt more like a flashy finisher with a bit of fanservice (the good kind) and it could've been a super strong Thunder and Ash would've probably still won.

And since "Overcharging" Electric Pokemon is a common trope in the anime, I consider it to be a rule of the Anime world like water making Ground Pokemon vulnerable to Electricity. Still not a huge fan of it, but not mad about it either.

The thing I didn't like about this Episode is how fast Ash climbed up the ranks. And it's not like his performance was so much better than Volkner's that he deserved over 30 ranks, the match was super close. You would think the writers couldn't afford to have him progress so quickly since they had him earn 400 ranks off-screen in the Super Class, but they're really rushing through it, unfortunately. He'll probably reach the Master Class after two more battles in this pace. I hope he gets some loses, I still think he should've lost against Iris, it's not fun when he wins pretty much every major battle on the first try. And no, the first Match against Rinto and the 2 battles he lost before getting a tie againt Bae don't count, these were really brief.


Overall, really awesome episode, one of if not my favorite episodes in Journeys.
 
Alola said:
Gengar gets j/robbed again. It's just sad, at this point. I'm glad it landed hits on Luxray, but they could have given it a KO; at least a double KO if they still wanted it to go down.
Click to expand...
I was expecting Gengar to be the fall guy, to be honest. Unlike Lucario, it at last has managed to score a notable WCS KO in its current stage, unlike Lucario.
 
I mentioned this before, but it is hard to not have some sort of "ranking" system feel scripted...in a scripted event, but this is how typical MMR systems can be.
 
So Ash can defeat an old acquaintance in the PWC without using Dragonite. :p

Poor Gengar... It's like the bad luck course is hitting it. It put up a decent fight against its opponents, but it didn't manage a single KO.

Like I hoped, the battles are now 3 vs 3. Three of Ash's Pokémon fought Bea in the past, are those 3 be present for the rematch? (Sirfetch'd, Lucario and Pikachu)

However, I wouldn't mind switching Pikachu out for Gengar so it can finally hit another KO. Dracovish would also be cool against Bea. It can lead to funny actions and reacrions. :p

A decent episode. I wonder if, how and when Ash's Z-ring will be used in the future.
 
They somehow managed to do practically everything I didn't want to see happen. It's Ash-Greninja vs Diantha's Gardevoir all over again, the point where I gave up on XY.

And just like that, I'm done. I think I've given this particular series enough chances to buck up and stop resembling blatant fanfiction. There's Ash having his very own Riolu (a bad omen for writing quality if I ever saw one), Pikachu suddenly thinking he's neglected now (when he gave no more than zero fucks over Ash favouring Greninja, I must add), and here we're openly ignoring an Electivire's Motor Drive just for the sake of some eye-popping finish? Just like Sword and Shield, Journeys can take a hike.
 
I'm glad Lucario finally got a PWC win here, but Gengar getting shafted doesn't feel right when he hardly ever gets to battle. And WOW having Pikachu using his Z-Move to bypass Electivire's Motor Drive was poor writing. Corckscrew Crash would have been fine, but really? The move Electivire is supposed to be immune to? The battle had some good moments, but I wish Gengar got to take out Rotom while Lucario still got to defeat Luxray without a double KO. Ash still gets a win though and now's we're getting to the biggest threats out there. Most importantly, THE QUEEN IS BACK!! Champion Cynthia is here!! We're FINALLY getting Ash vs. Champion Cynthia!

Audino1008 said:
I hope he gets some loses, I still think he should've lost against Iris, it's not fun when he wins pretty much every major battle on the first try.
Click to expand...
The only person I'd be okay with him losing to is Champion Cynthia.
 
Okay, let's get down to it:

What I liked:

  • It went straight to the battle and it was nearly 22 minutes of pure fighting. Finally an ep like that in JN.
  • No Goh-capture moment thank God.
  • This was pratically a Goh-free episode focused squarely on Ash and his team and I've been craving this for nearly 2 years of JN's run.
  • The animation was actually good, since I got scared midway through the ep because I thought they would cheapen it during some scenes, but nope: good and consistent animation.

What I didn't liked:

  • Gengar, sweetie... I'm so sorry. Your first battle in over a year (JN025!!!!!!!) and you didn't even scored a win? Listen, I like Lucario, but Rotom's defeat should've been by Gengar's hands. Sorry not sorry.
  • This is less of a complaint and more of head-scratching moment for me, but am I the only one who thinks Luxray fell too fast? Idk, like, Rotom did more than the Pokémon that was supossed to be Volkner's Ace. That was... a choice, really.
  • And the fact that I was proven right at the end: 10 Million Volts Thunderbolt and Pikashium Z are some of the worst things to ever happen in this anime. Now it's been proven that not even an Electric-negating ability can stop it.

This is more of an expansion on my last point:

This just proves what I've been saying: this Z Move is nothing more than a Heaven-sent, cataclysmic-level, ''get-out-of-jail-free-card" plot device. In every single use of it, it's always to assure Ash the victory. Nothing can resist it, apparently: A powerful, ultra beast/human fusion can't, an Electric-type Legendary using a Legendary-level Z Move can't, and now even an ability that was supossed to negate it's damage was unable to do so. Honestly? I won't be surprised if Ash just uses it on a Ground type without Soaking it first and being able to brute-force his way past type immunity.

This is just objectively bad/cheap writing for me.
 
Alola said:
This episode started off on a wonderful note, but began to spiral downwards the moment Gengar got jobbed again. So I've got mixed feelings; it was animated very well, but some of the narrative choices could have been better.

So, I guess I'll talk about what I disliked first.
  • Ash & Pikachu's Z-Move magically bypassing Motor Drive was cheap writing, made even more blatant as Pikachu's prior Thunderbolt was something Electivire was rendered immune to thanks to Motor Drive; they specifically called mention to this Ability during the fight a couple times, too. I figured it was coming, but I really hoped the move wouldn't work and reality would kick in. I mean damn, they could have had Ash & Pikachu use it on Volkner's other Pokémon. Really ended the fight on a sour note, for me.
  • Gengar gets j/robbed again. It's just sad, at this point. I'm glad it landed hits on Luxray, but they could have given it a KO; at least a double KO if they still wanted it to go down.
  • Lucario took out Luxray too quickly and in an anticlimactic function. I thought we were going to see more from the Gleam Eyes Pokémon; it was kind of stagnant in battle, which is the opposite of how it fought before, against Infernape. Also, Lucario...got rid of its paralysis? Through the power of Affection?
  • I really think Ash should have lost, because I feel Volkner was the better battler of the two.
What I loved:
  • Hoo boy, the animation. I don't know, this may be the best animated fight in Journeys so far, if not one of them. Everyone and everything looked good. Some of my favorite moments were Lucario scoping the Electric Terrain, Luxray getting thrown by Psychic, and Pikachu and Electivire's mid-air Iron Tail jousting.
  • Volkner's battle style was powerful and calculated. He made use of Electric Terrain for his team, as well as Rising Voltage (which looked great), utilized Hex's secondary effect through paralysis twice, switched accordingly with Electivire and Rotom - F, and overall hit hard. He dominated the first half of the match, before plot dictated that Ash win instead, smh.
    • Speaking of Volkner's team, Rotom - F was the highlight for me. Those Hexes were chef's kisses. I also appreciate that Electivire was given a complete moveset with electrical moves this time around, rather than Fire/Ice Punch.
  • They got right to the battle, which was appreciated. No captures, no conversations, just a near 22 minutes of nicely animated battling action.
  • Cynthia has been confirmed as one of the last PWC members, if not the last one. Congrats to everyone who speculated so! I think a Ash Vs. Cynthia match would be awesome, but I don't want to see her lose to Ash - especially not with what happened today. So, I am looking forward to how that plays out.
Also, I wouldn't be quick to confirm that Gengar's official Dazzling Gleam move was an error or nonexistent, just because Ash didn't use it here. Gengar only used Psychic, Ice Punch, and Night Shade during its battles, so the jury is still out on whether or not Shadow Ball has been forgotten for Fairy coverage.
Click to expand...
I feel Gengar was supposed to learn Dazzling Gleam, but since there are some production issues, it never happened.
 
I was on the edge of my seat the entire battle. Volkner really gave Ash a run for his money, and at some point, I was even certain Ash was going to lose. I do feel bad for Gengar, but it did put up a good fight and got a reasonable amount of screen time. Pikachu won the entire battle as expected; but I have to say, Lucario was the MVP for me: knocked out two Pokémon and even showed some good endurance which reminded me of Dragonite. What move did it use to K.O. Rotom? For a second, I thought it was a new move, but there’s been no mention of it, so maybe Force Palm? Overall, great episode!

The Cynthia hype was also a great way to end it!
 
Nope. This was a dreadful episode.

I praise the fluid animations, but that's all.

Everything else was only decent to just barely acceptable.

But that Nuke, now it's proven that it's a DeM.

Denji should've won, Satoshi used hacks.
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.

Similar threads

Eitarou
Review HZ045: To a Place Far, Far Away
2
Replies
39
Views
3K
Squad_Broke_Down
Squad_Broke_Down
Eitarou
Review HZ044: A Plan to Capture Rayquaza
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
HilbertIdeals5
H
BigDocFan
Review HZ043: A Letter of Challenge from the Explorers
Replies
17
Views
1K
skynerel
skynerel
BigDocFan
Review HZ040: Farewell, Nyahoja?
2
Replies
29
Views
2K
HilbertIdeals5
H
Eitarou
Review HZ042: Transform! Hero of the Seas, Irukaman!!
2
Replies
34
Views
3K
Poke Trey
Poke Trey
Back
Top Bottom