Review JN104: Hyper Class! VS Dracaena of The Big Four!!

[Queen Cynthia]

Why would Ash know about Mega evolutions he's never seen before? Ash never learns about pokemon before he sees them face to face. There's a lot of writing problems in this battle but not knowing Mega Altaria's type changes is not one of them

I kind of find it awkward having to find excuses for Ash, currently ranked 9th in the world(!), not having to know Pokemon he hasn't seen before. This could be acceptable for the inexperienced Kanto, Orange and maybe even Hoenn-Ash. But again, at this stage it's absolutely unacceptable if somebody doesn't know all the Pokemon there are in the official dex plus at least their types. That such basic knowledge that it already hurts! Let me give you a real-life example: It's as if a soccer player taking part in the semi-finals of the soccer world championships doesn't know what "offside" means. Or a professional classical musician who doesn't know Mozart (I could go on here forever). You could argue "But he never actually met Mozart!" Well, that's what's called thorough preparation and what Ash can't afford to neglect any longer if we want the episodes to stay plausible at this point.

I know when Cynthia was revealed to be in the Masters 8, I was afraid she'd battle and LOSE to Ash in a match that made 0 sense with him using far less experienced Pokemon and breaking battle mechanics like Pikachu's Z move working on an Electric type with Motor Drive -_-

Oh my God, I can't tell you how right you are! Let me tell you it's my greatest fear of all concerning the Anime and I don't know how to react should it actually happen.... Given the declide of quality in recent battles, it's not unlikely....God forbid!

 

[jbmasta]

• Sirfetch'd having this degree of control over Meteor Assault isn't so farfetched (pun unintended). In the Sinnoh League Ash's Gible only mastered Draco Meteor during a match, and in the previous episode the problem Sirfetch'd had with the Meteor Assault move (keeping the energy at the end of the sword) was fully resolved. Back in Johto he was relying on Cyndaquil's flame to light in order to use fire type attacks against Bugsy at a point Cyndaquil didn't know how to trigger it reliably. Ash has relied on flimsier odds for higher stakes in the past.
• Ash didn't know Drasna had a Keystone for Altaria, his reaction is one of surprise. He hadn't encountered Mega Altaria either before this point (the only other Mega Altaria to appear was in the ending segment of a Mega Evolution Special), so he didn't factor the type change into his strategy. Clemont's reaction is "She's finally Mega Evolved it!", so clearly it's a relatively recent upgrade for Altaria.
• Bonnie proposing to Drasna on Clemont's unwanted behalf was another shot of XY nostalgia. I've only seen the dub for that series, was the "s'il-vous-plait" line used whenever that happened in the Japanese for that series? It's a fun reminder of Kalos being based on France.
• Dracovish and Sirfetch'd cheering each other on and wanting to stick around was touching

 

[VetProf]

I don't blame Ash for not knowing that Mega Altaria is part-Fairy. He has never seen one before, and he's never been the kind of person who meticulously researches his opponents prior to battling them.

With that said, I do blame Clemont for not warning his friend that his upcoming opponent's ace can Mega Evolve into a Fairy-type, despite knowing full well that his friend intends to use a Dragon-type in the battle, and said Dragon-type just learned a new Dragon move the day before that battle.

Clemont hiding his embarrassment of his prior loss to Drasna almost caused Ash to lose to Drasna as well. Good job, dude.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

It actually does, there’s plenty of instances of a Pokémon only dedicating one episode to learning a move the episode it’s introduced, off the top of my head Buizel learning Ice Punch and Gliscor learning Giga Impact

Sirfetch'd having this degree of control over Meteor Assault isn't so farfetched (pun unintended). In the Sinnoh League Ash's Gible only mastered Draco Meteor during a match, and in the previous episode the problem Sirfetch'd had with the Meteor Assault move (keeping the energy at the end of the sword) was fully resolved

I see your point and I do agree when it comes to "normal" moves like Ice Punch. Star Assault, however, is obviously meant to be something special and will most likely become his signature move. I don't know how you see it but I for one expected much more effort, sweat and training ("no pain no gain"). Sirfetch'd learning his very special move that easily just didn't feel "genuine" if you know what I mean. Compare that to Ash's and Greninja's long struggle, for example. That felt real and "deserved", but Star Assault felt like throwing in a TM in the games: "Here, have that TM! Now use that move!"


As for Ash not knowing Mega-Altaria was Fairy-type, I'll stick to my opinion that not having seen such form is no excuse whatsoever for not even knowing the basic details about it. There sure must be some kind of official and publicly available Pokedex in the Pokemon world. Ash could have done some research on Drasna. Ash could have known what Pokemon she possesses. And given that Drasna has an Altaria, Ash should have predicted the chances of it being able to mega evolve, too. (There have only been 48 mega evolutions to date, so I guess it shouldn't be such a problem to remember them)
Well, this is one of the main problems with Journeys: Ash is supposed to be seen as number 15 (now number 9) in the world, while still being treated sometimes as the naive little boy who's surprised when he encounters a Pokemon he hasn't seen before. If you ask me they should finally decide if Ash keeps acting as the rookie he used to be or if he's meant to be considered a professional and experienced trainer by now.

Satoshi has lost his signature style at battling, where has his creativity and inventiveness gone.....
And that is enough for me to brand this battle as bad.

I agree with you! That "make Altaria wet"-trick he pulled off involved at least some creative thinking but eventually didn't give him any advantage. Instead he simply overpowered a strong member of the Elite Four with a Pokemon that only joined his team less than 100 episodes ago and has hardly undergone serious training so far.
If Pikachu who's been part of his team since the very first day had pulled that off, it would have been totally fine, but all his other Pokemon haven't been around long enough to be that strong already. Unlike Ash, Drasna has probably trained her Pokemon for a very long time, though. So, Ash ploughing his way through the Hyper Class that easily didn't feel earned and kind of leaves a bitter aftertaste in my opinion.

 

[jbmasta]

I don't blame Ash for not knowing that Mega Altaria is part-Fairy. He has never seen one before, and he's never been the kind of person who meticulously researches his opponents prior to battling them.

With that said, I do blame Clemont for not warning his friend that his upcoming opponent's ace can Mega Evolve into a Fairy-type, despite knowing full well that his friend intends to use a Dragon-type in the battle, and said Dragon-type just learned a new Dragon move the day before that battle.

Clemont hiding his embarrassment of his prior loss to Drasna almost caused Ash to lose to Drasna as well. Good job, dude.

Clement didn’t know it could Mega Evolve, as I pointed out in my comment. His reaction was also that of surprise.

 

[jbmasta]

As for Ash not knowing Mega-Altaria was Fairy-type, I'll stick to my opinion that not having seen such form is no excuse whatsoever for not even knowing the basic details about it. There sure must be some kind of official and publicly available Pokedex in the Pokemon world. Ash could have done some research on Drasna. Ash could have known what Pokemon she possesses. And given that Drasna has an Altaria, Ash should have predicted the chances of it being able to mega evolve, too. (There have only been 48 mega evolutions to date, so I guess it shouldn't be such a problem to remember them)
Well, this is one of the main problems with Journeys: Ash is supposed to be seen as number 15 (now number 9) in the world, while still being treated sometimes as the naive little boy who's surprised when he encounters a Pokemon he hasn't seen before. If you ask me they should finally decide if Ash keeps acting as the rookie he used to be or if he's meant to be considered a professional and experienced trainer by now.

I will admit Ash did research his opponents in the Silver Conference, but since then he’s relied more on what he’s actually seen firsthand of an opponent to develop strategies to defeat them, such as using Heracross against Darkrai because it knows Sleep Talk as he knew Darkrai put opponents to sleep.

 

[Nicolas721]

I watched this with low expectations and it was okay...kinda. Farfetch'd and Dracovish's relationship was cute and it was funny that it was so strong to boost their powers in the battle. Also, Altaria was well animated and memorable and the twist and strategies were fine.

However, the ending was rather bad due to Drasna's Pokemon falling too quickly and easily. I agree with people who said that Ash didn't deserve to win, his Pokemon were literal sponges, and neither the buildup for the duo nor the battle itself made Ash winning against the type of trainer that gave him so much trouble in the past. I'm glad more people are realizing that Ash curbstomping very strong trainers in two-on-two or one-or-one battles with underveloped Pokemon was a bad idea that only could lead to this type of situations and that would be very hurtful for his character.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

Even if Clemont knew of Mega Altaria’s type change, I really doubt Ash would even want to know what Drasna’s battling style and team is like.
In the same series Ash and Clemont were together, Ash straight up refused to hear what Olympia’s team was like, after Tierno was beaten by her.

A bit like every main character in anime, Ash is one of those people that doesn’t want an advantage going into a fight, cause he wants both opponents to be at their best. Clemont probably figured it was a waste of time to even try to tell Ash.

This is one thing I like that was changed from the OS version of Ash. In the Silver Confrence, Ash researched Macy to know to bring not only water-types, but Phanphy to counter Electabuzz. Which, in all honesty, pretty much won him the fight, and it felt quite cheap. Here, it’s like we know Ash is a genius when it comes to battling, from his own ingenuity and quick-wits to get him out of cornered situations. I don’t mind if it’s instances like Tobias’ Darkrai, because that’s one Pokemon - not the entire trainer’s gimmick (like Macy) which is a pretty big deal in fighting.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

I think problem is Drasna's pokémon took many hits but show no signs of weakness, especially compared to Ash's pokemon. Which is why their defeats looks weird

 

[90'sPokéfan]

In the Silver Confrence, Ash researched Macy to know to bring not only water-types, but Phanphy to counter Electabuzz. Which, in all honesty, pretty much won him the fight, and it felt quite cheap.

Didn't Phanphy lose the battle before Electabuzz, leaving Squirtle to defeat both Electabuzz and the other remaining Pokémon?

I don't think it is cheap to research your opponent and try to counter his/her tactics. And if the opponent is smart, (s)he will know and try to switch some things up to counter this possible counter. (Not a reference to the Alola League finale )

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Didn't Phanphy lose the battle before Electabuzz, leaving Squirtle to defeat both Electabuzz and the other remaining Pokémon?

I don't think it is cheap to research your opponent and try to counter his/her tactics. And if the opponent is smart, (s)he will know and try to switch some things up to counter this possible counter. (Not a reference to the Alola League finale )

That was the battle where the infamous “Ash’s Pokemon are water type and totally weak against fire types”

 

[vivian20]

The battle was bad. Ash´s pokemon had type disadvantage and won against a E4. Its a battle against a E4, it should look amazing! But we didnt even saw Dracovish hit noivern! They should at least show Dracovish dodge dragon pulse and hit noivern! Altaria used cotton guard , but it was still hit with strong jaw boosted ice fang and it had a 4x weakness to it . It mega evolved later, but Mega evolution doesnt recover hp. It seens that Drasna just understimated Ash somehow. She kept telling her pokemon to block ash´s pokemon attacks, but she could tell them to dodge . Her pokemon could fly, noivern had ranged attacks, while the only option Ash had for ranged move was water gun, and Drasna´s pokemon resisted it.

I liked to see dracovish and sirfetch´d bonding. This team lacks interaction . I hope this bond is kept in later episodes.