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Preview JN109: VS Kibana! Battle for Masters Eight!!

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Honestly I feel like the series lends itself to Ash and his pasts achievements bolstering his credentials here given the series context. Like they could emphasize it better but it applies here more than most series I'd say
 
I wouldn't mind Ash losing here honestly, IF it leads to him training with Paul. If he's gonna lose, just please have a training arc with Paul and show Ash bounce back. I'll never forget how poorly they handled his last major loss.
 
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I just hope this is a double battle. Raihan is known in the games to favor double battles, as well as using frequent weather based tactics. Hoping to see some of that.
Absolutely. Times 10.

My first time fighting Raihan - it was a battle that is one of my favorites in my entire history with the Pokémon games, due to the riveting back and forth there was as we fought to control the weather. I thought I was savvy by having my Goodra setup Rain Dance and take advantage of its newly granted Weather Ball...but then Sandaconda busted out this Ability I've never seen before and suddenly a Sandstorm has reappeared, taking my momentum instantly (and it happened again, after I changed the weather with Dynamax, only for Raihan to do the same thing with his Max Move); not to mention, Breaking Swipe kept hampering my offenses and forcing switches. Granted, I did go in the fight with an equal amount of 4 Pokémon, so things were definitely more challenging than how one might usually play, but if the anime can make Raihan's fight have a semblance of his Gym Battle (and the Gym Battle, mind you; not his performance during the Championship League/Cup/whatever...), it would be an incredible episode of battling and animation.
 
Absolutely. Times 10.

My first time fighting Raihan - it was a battle that is one of my favorites in my entire history with the Pokémon games, due to the riveting back and forth there was as we fought to control the weather. I thought I was savvy by having my Goodra setup Rain Dance and take advantage of its newly granted Weather Ball...but then Sandaconda busted out this Ability I've never seen before and suddenly a Sandstorm has reappeared, taking my momentum instantly (and it happened again, after I changed the weather with Dynamax, only for Raihan to do the same thing with his Max Move); not to mention, Breaking Swipe kept hampering my offenses and forcing switches. Granted, I did go in the fight with an equal amount of 4 Pokémon, so things were definitely more challenging than how one might usually play, but if the anime can make Raihan's fight have a semblance of his Gym Battle (and the Gym Battle, mind you; not his performance during the Championship League/Cup/whatever...), it would be an incredible episode of battling and animation.
The thing about Raihan is he's gotta be one of the most unique Gym Leaders, and I fear having to face him. He's a Dragon type specialist, but that's not all there is to him. His team is not all Dragon types. While we've seen Gym Leaders in the past use Pokemon that don't fall in line with their type, they just didn't work, for example, Volkner and Flint's teams in DP and their first battles in BDSP. Those just felt random, like why does Volkner have an Ampipom and why does Flint have a Lopunny? It doesn't follow a theme. Raihan's team though has a theme that works. He has his Dragon types, as well as Pokemon that are good for setting up his weather conditions, like his Sandaconda that can activate a Sandstorm just from taking damage. And then he has Pokemon in the Champion's Cup like Torkoal which instantly summons harsh sunlight, allowing him to easily use Solar Beam. On top of all of that, his gym battle is a double battle, which generally requires more strategy to be put into thought in a competitive sense.

Seeing this being taken advantage of is something I really hope they use for Ash's upcoming battle. I want to see it become a double battle with Ash using Lucario and Dragonite hopefully, while dealing with the weather antics. I want them to actually really push Ash and his team to their limits with what they can do. Raihan is the gatekeeper for the Masters 8. I want Ash's win over Raihan whether its this episode or later to feel earned. I'm hoping its an actual test for him he passes because of him being forced to think outside the box rather than luck through brute forcing his way through. I want him to be forced to come up with unique strategies and counters. And I just hope it doesn't result in Lucario tanking absurd amounts of damage while landing a lucky one shot...I really don't like how a lot of his battles lean that way. I want to see actual counters and him landing a couple hits before KOing his opponents Pokemon. So that's pretty much what I'm hoping for.
 
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I find it 100% believable, actually; the show clearly showed in the past that there is a massive difference in power between Gym Leaders and E4/Champions.
Ash is E4/Champion tier as of the end of XY, where he just barely lost to someone who defeated an Elite Four. He doesn't lose to Gym Leaders if he's not severely handicapping himself somehow, like using NFE, one who whom is newly hatched.

There's also the Leon thing; if Ash is losing half his battles like people are asking for it's completely unbelievable he'd last against Leon.

Its not believable with this team.

If he would have used reserves from the likes of Charizard, Infernape, Snorlax, Sceptile, Glalie, Krookodile or Talonflame in high stake battles, then it would have been more believable.
 
Double battle makes sense and let's see if it's also a weather strategy.

However battles in Journeys while good and grandious did not have that out of box strategies that we had in past generations.
 
Keen for this throwdown. Lucario vs Duraludon I’m guessing? Wonder if they’ll repeat mega evo vs gmax again then

Also hope it’s not 1v1, double battle would be sick
 
Its not believable with this team.

If he would have used reserves from the likes of Charizard, Infernape, Snorlax, Sceptile, Glalie, Krookodile or Talonflame in high stake battles, then it would have been more believable.
The real issue is that Ash himself is mostly a background character in this series.
 
Yeah, I really don’t trust the writers to not make this utter bullshit anymore.

Like I said in another thread, the matchups and conclusions in Journeys might be as wild as it can get, but the execution of the battle is way too predictable: Ash gets thrashed the whole battle and is made to look like an imcompetent moron that doesn’t deserve coming this far, then his pokemon whip out some plot guns and win in the most convoluted way conceivable.
 
Ash was meant to catch the last Pokémon but is late now.
 
THERE'S THE WEATHER TACTICS!!
“TACTICS THEATRICS!”

On a more serious note, I’m glad they’re utilizing at least one of the two elements of Raihan’s Gym Battle. We rarely see weather be a dominant factor in a battle during the anime, especially more than one in one episode alone, so this should be a treat.
 
“TACTICS THEATRICS!”

On a more serious note, I’m glad they’re utilizing at least one of the two elements of Raihan’s Gym Battle. We rarely see weather be a dominant factor in a battle during the anime, especially more than one in one episode alone, so this should be a treat.
Now if we can just get the double battle.
 
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