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Review JN108: Lucario and Gekkouga! The Wave Guidance of Destiny!!

This was awful. First you‘re telling me Goh’s Frokie just gets to evolve to Frogadier out of nowhere like that, which pretty much hints that they’re just gonna hand him a Greninja cause “Durrr we‘re just gonna keep Ash’s in Kalos, but we can give Goh one”

Second did they really just retcon Greninja’s bond form like that? What the frack anipoke writers? You can’t just take something special away from Ash and Greninja like that

Third the training and animation was sloppily done and the whole reunion was incredibly disappointing, and what did it all amount to? A bigger Aura Sphere? That’s it? I think this is one of the worst episodes I’ve seen in Journeys!
Froakie didn't evolve out of nowhere. He battled for that evolution. What more do you want? Also, yeah, Goh's gonna need a Greninja if he's gonna fulfill his dream. Not everything he does is an offense to Ash.

Also, it's highly likely that they didn't retcon anything. Pretty much every time they've "retconned" something out of existence, it came back later, just like they did with Serena (and that was two episodes ago). They're likely building suspense for a future appearance.

And lastly, what did you think the power-up was gonna be? They showed this would happen in the premiere of the fourth OP.
 
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I thought this episode was heartwarming and nostalgic the whole way through with the flashbacks too. The training scenes were well done showing how Greninja was much stronger and how Lucario had to control its Aura powers. Seeing the two team up on the vines again was great.
 
Froakie didn't evolve out of nowhere. He battled for that evolution. What more do you want? Also, yeah, Goh's gonna need a Greninja if he's gonna fulfill his dream. Not everything he does is an offense to Ash.

Also, it's highly likely that they didn't retcon anything. Pretty much every time they've "retconned" something out of existence, it came back later, just like they did with Serena (and that was two episodes ago). They're likely building suspense for a future appearance.

And lastly, what did you think the power-up was gonna be? They showed this would happen in the premiere of the fourth OP.
Oh one battle, I'm so proud of golden boy Goh and his Pokemon barely putting any effort into anything and being rewarded for it.

And retcon or not, I'm pretty sure we aren't gonna see AG again.

I don't see anything super special about making an attack bigger.
 
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So weird that they retconned Ash-Greninja... WTF??? And Greninja gets used as a pawn for Lucario, shocking. And no IKU Z at all (although one flashback referenced the opening). Greninja hates Lucario for replacing him confirmed and for being better than him.
After an amazing Serena return episode, we get this dud. If Alain comes back and Ash-Greninja FINALLY beats that stupid MCX, then this episode will sting a lot less.
I guess bond phenomenon and aura are connected. But hooray to Ash actually training his team on screen for once!
 
And retcon or not, I'm pretty sure we aren't gonna AG again.

Having Greninja battle without in the whole episode does feel like it's being saved for later.
I don't see anything super special about making an attack bigger.
He powered up his attack, learned to control its senses/Aura in the lake and against the vines (in the beginning of the ep it's attacks bounded off them) etc.

Little confused what you expected otherwise? We got a training ep with two pokemon working together and nostalgic flashbacks.
 
That’s the annoying bit when it comes to this episode. Like, at that point the writers are just taunting the fans again. They know that the fans want Ash to get his Greninja back and so, rather than allow it to happen, they instead create a plot to prevent that while further feeding their writer’s pet. The monkey’s paw aspect of the writing just gets so tiring.
I'm just laughing at this point. It was caught like 3 episodes ago? And it already evolved???

Lmao step aside Sobble, we now have a new contender for the most rushed Goh evolution in this series

It's like they keep trying to outdo themselves with how low they can go
 
I thought that the reason why they didn't give Serena's Eevee the female tail was so the XY flashbacks could be as accurate as possible. But now they go out of their way to outright remove Ash-Greninja from scenes it previously appeared in. I just don't get it.
 
A bit of a snoozer. Greninja so thoroughly outclassing Lucario (did it even use a proper move?) was amusing.
What didn't you like about it? It's probably the best showcasing of one of Ash's old pokemon in awhile, and as you mentioned we saw how it was outclassed, then Greninja felt sorry and wanted to help it control its Aura in the lake. The final shots of the two working together with their attacks was also great. Including the Raihan scenes and stuff like the flashbacks and farewell also gave it some nice emotional moments and foreshadowing
 
I mean they eventually brought Charizard back permanently after having pretty much rejoin his team as a memember for an arc in BW, but I think that was at a time when the ratings were pretty low wasn’t it?

I still for the life of me don’t know why Squirtle is ball and chained to his squad though. He basically got Primeaped.
Yea but in Charizard’s case it was just in training and would periodically be called on. With Greninja, the writers basically invented a roadblock that prevents it from doing so because, for whatever reason, they can’t invent a permanent solution to the vines in spite of Greninja’s massive popularity. Honestly, the whole vine plot just becomes a disservice to the fans since it denies the ability to ever see Greninja in action again since its duty is eternal (and given that, Kalos is screwed the day Greninja dies since apparently no one else can do the job).
I thought that the reason why they didn't give Serena's Eevee the female tail was so the XY flashbacks could be as accurate as possible. But now they go out of their way to outright remove Ash-Greninja from scenes it previously appeared in. I just don't get it.
You expect actual consistency with these writers? Foolish mortal.
 
Gou-ry Stu is back, with a vengeance.

It doesn't matter that his Keromatsu evolved during a practise battle.
As far as we are concerned, this could have been its first battle ever and it still evolved.

What was the point of having Gou tag along?
He gets in the way of what it was supposed to be a very personal episode for Satoshi.
It should have been just him, Gekkouga and Lucario; exploring the bonds while training.
Unless they are using him to make Satoshi remember things he forgot, like someone said that time.

But of course, the episode loses a lot of aspects with the 'downplaying' of the Bond Phenomenon.
Then one has to wonder why Gekkouga should be the one mentoring Lucario.

The vine-shit is still going and with no solution in sight, I hated it back in XYZ and still now.
And the League Final flashback got me incensed due to how inaccurate it was.
 
Yea but in Charizard’s case it was just in training and would periodically be called on. With Greninja, the writers basically invented a roadblock that prevents it from doing so because, for whatever reason, they can’t invent a permanent solution to the vines in spite of Greninja’s massive popularity. Honestly, the whole vine plot just becomes a disservice to the fans since it denies the ability to ever see Greninja in action again since its duty is eternal (and given that, Kalos is screwed the day Greninja dies since apparently no one else can do the
They can simply having Greninja used if Ash wants to again, and say the vine stuff is over. It's not a big mystery since Ash knows where it is as shown in this episode. There's literally Greninja toy merch showing up for the next few months, it's pretty obvious what's being telegraphed.
 
So weird that they retconned Ash-Greninja... WTF??? And Greninja gets used as a pawn for Lucario, shocking. And no IKU Z at all (although one flashback referenced the opening). Greninja hates Lucario for replacing him confirmed and for being better than him.
After an amazing Serena return episode, we get this dud. If Alain comes back and Ash-Greninja FINALLY beats that stupid MCX, then this episode will sting a lot less.
I guess bond phenomenon and aura are connected. But hooray to Ash actually training his team on screen for once!
I thought that the reason why they didn't give Serena's Eevee the female tail was so the XY flashbacks could be as accurate as possible. But now they go out of their way to outright remove Ash-Greninja from scenes it previously appeared in. I just don't get it.
I don't feel Ash-Greninja was retconned or anything. It's just being kept hidden, possibly for a future return where it will appear again.
 
Yea but in Charizard’s case it was just in training and would periodically be called on. With Greninja, the writers basically invented a roadblock that prevents it from doing so because, for whatever reason, they can’t invent a permanent solution to the vines in spite of Greninja’s massive popularity. Honestly, the whole vine plot just becomes a disservice to the fans since it denies the ability to ever see Greninja in action again since its duty is eternal (and given that, Kalos is screwed the day Greninja dies since apparently no one else can do the job).

You expect actual consistency with these writers? Foolish mortal.
Good point, I think they also mentioned that Charizard actually became the strongest in the valley so they actually closed that arc.

They just flat out wanted Greninja/Ash Greninja gone.

If they wanted to close the arc they probably would have wrote this episode more along the lines of them finding the core of the issue, having both Lucario and Greninja team up and completing the mission and bringing him back to Oaks or the lab sanctuary where he can train Goh’s.
 
But of course, the episode loses a lot of aspects with the 'downplaying' of the Bond Phenomenon.
Then one has to wonder why Gekkouga should be the one mentoring Lucario.
Pandering to XY fans without actually making Greninja relevant to anything major. Why remind us that Ash has a unique bond with a Pokemon that was released? Instead they retconned it to another type of aura to give Lucario something out of it.

Goodbye, Ash-Greninja.
 
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Pandering to XY fans without actually making Greninja relevant to anything major. Why remind us that Ash has a special with a Pokemon that was released? Instead they retconned it to another type of aura to give Lucario something out of it.

Goodbye, Ash-Greninja.
They literally had Ash reference it's form on the plane to Go. Saying it's been retconed is false and people should wait till subs to see.

Besides that the episode made it perfectly clear Ash and Greninja still share whatever the bond or Aura form was from XY similar to Lucario now.
 
Oh, come on.

"When we get excited during battles, I become like Gekkouga and Gekkouga becomes like me. The sensation we get when that happens kinda resembles Lucario's wave guidance".

He's literally comparing it to aura, as seen in this episode. Not to mention the retcon to the Alain battle.
 
He's literally comparing it to aura, as seen in this episode.
The two powers are very similar, since they both allow Ash to move in sync with his Pokémon and increase their power. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bond Phenomenon has been about Aura this whole time.
Not to mention the retcon to the Alain battle.
That's not a retcon. They're just keeping the Ash-Greninja form hidden for this episode, possibly to keep it a surprise for new viewers for later.
 
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