Review JN114: Training Battle of Flames! Satoshi VS Shinji!!

[BigDocFan]

VA list courtesy of Adamant

Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi
Daiki Yamashita: Go
Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu
Kenyu Horiuchi: Professor Okido
Megumi Hayashibara: Fushigidane
Shinichiro Miki: Negigaknight
Mika Kanai: Bayleaf
Yuji Ueda: Goukazaru
Daisuke Namikawa: Lucario
Kenta Miyake: Kairyu
Yasuhiro Mamiya: Gangar
Daisuke Sakaguchi: Fukamaru
Misato Fukuen: Mijumaru
Hana Takeda: Sarunori
Masami Toyoshima. Hanako
Kiyotaka Furushima: Shinji

 

[-PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Why? I haven't had time to watch it. It just bugs me so much because Paul has got such bulky Pokémon like Ursaring, Honchkrow, Torterra etc... only to not use them. It's a shame he's just copped out.

I had a feeling Electivire and Torterra were still his 2 strongest,Garchomp is probably 3rd behind them due to it's feat against Ash's Dragonite.The guy has such a stacked roster of powerful pokemon him being a gym leader just seems underwhelming for someone of his level.He definitely has the skill to qualify for gym leader but in terms of power he's more suitable for being a Frontier Brain.

 

[Sai]

Given Brandon was only mentioned in the magazine summary but not the episode itself, my guess is the anime staff were told to avoid all mentions of Battle Frontier because both sets of remakes, ORAS and the DP remakes, completely removed them from the games. GameFreak killed the Battle Frontier, so that's why it's not brought up in the anime now.

 

[Blob]

I had a feeling Electivire and Torterra were still his 2 strongest,Garchomp is probably 3rd behind them due to it's feat against Ash's Dragonite.The guy has such a stacked roster of powerful pokemon him being a gym leader just seems underwhelming for someone of his level.He definitely has the skill to qualify as gym leader but in terms of power he's more suitable for being a Frontier Brain.

Plus that means he's going to have to settle for a type. For someone for so many Pokémon, that can't be easy to do.

 

[Sai]

Paul probably has 50+ pokemon we don't know about. Remember how he had a Nidoking and Gliscor that only showed up for 1 episode back in DP?

Who knows what else he has.

 

[-PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Paul probably has 50+ pokemon we don't know about. Remember how he had a Nidoking and Gliscor that only showed up for 1 episode back in DP?

Who knows what else he has.

Yeah I always had in the back of my mind that Paul had more pokemon that we never seen on screen.He didn't compete in the Kanto,Johto and Hoenn Leagues with just Torterra,Murkrow and Weavile.Plus he also mentioned in the Hearthome City Tag Battle Tournament Arc that Chimchar had the potential to be stronger than all of his fire-types which implies he had more than just Magmortar.

 

[Sai]

Yeah I always had in the back of my mind that Paul had more pokemon that we never seen on screen.He didn't compete in the Kanto,Johto and Hoenn Leagues with just Torterra,Murkrow and Weavile.Plus he also mentioned in the Hearthome City Tag Battle Tournament Arc that Chimchar had the potential to be stronger than all of his fire-types.

Yes, it was obvious he rotated his Pokemon even back in Sinnoh, which is why he used different pokemon at the lake battle with Ash then the one in the league, and all the other random pokemon he had at different times.

And since he competed in 4 regions during DP like Ash did, he likely had a whole bunch of pokemon prior to when we were introduced to him. And this is not even counting the 12 year gap from when BW started to today's episode...where as seen with his 3 new pokemon now he probably has a ton of other new pokemon too.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Given Brandon was only mentioned in the magazine summary but not the episode itself, my guess is the anime staff were told to avoid all mentions of Battle Frontier because both sets of remakes, ORAS and the DP remakes, completely removed them from the games. GameFreak killed the Battle Frontier, so that's why it's not brought up in the anime now.

Brandon: NOOOOOOOO

 

[-PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Yes, it was obvious he rotated his Pokemon even back in Sinnoh, which is why he used different pokemon at the lake battle with Ash then the one in the league

Or the writers purposely left Ursaring,Torterra,Honchkrow and Magmortar off Paul's team to prevent him from beating Ash at the Sinnoh League.
Yeah he used Aggron/Gastrodon to scout Ash's team and then Drapion/Electivire to sweep.

 

[KrspaceT]

Magmortar and Ursaring took a ton if hits against Barry. Electivire took none. Also Tobias. Paul would not want to fight Tobias without Torterra. That thing made Cynthia use effort.

Ash and Goh went to the game BF early in Journeys and we see Z moves and mega evolutions. GF would not let those by per the same logic and Z moves aren't even in Go

 

[El Squibbonator]

Plus that means he's going to have to settle for a type. For someone for so many Pokémon, that can't be easy to do.

If he's becoming the Viridian Gym Leader (really the only possibility, considering every other Gym Leader we know of is still in their position), then I have a hunch he might take over Giovanni's position as the region's Ground-type expert. His team could consist of Torterra, Nidoking, Garchomp, Gliscor, and Gastrodon.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Just got access to subtitles, and checked the ending. Apparently, yeah, Paul indeed is a Gym Leader now. Or rather, to be specific, he's been asked to become one.

 

[Eclipsical]

Seeing all of Ash’s Pokémon animated and interacting together made me tear up.

 

[puddleths]

It was already abundantly clear, to me. But subs confirm Ash is not using reserves.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Another thing from the subs: Paul didn't participate in the WCS because he "doesn't have time for festivities", as he puts it.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

This was a pretty neat episode. I loved seeing Ash's old Pokemon again even if they're obviously not gonna take part in the Masters 8 tournament, which I honestly find pretty sad considering how powerful several of them are and how it'd be a neat opportunity to show the not-so-powerful ones' improvement. I guess the fact that everyone is partaking in training Ash's Champion team is meant to subtly imply that all of Ash's old Pokemon are Champion-tier now, but it'd still be nice for that to be shown in a more explicit manner. Ah, well, it's not like the Journeys team could afford to give up screentime anyway since they've been so underused throughout the saga, so it's not too bad, I guess.

The battle between Ash and Paul was also pretty cool, though I'm not sure I like Gengar learning Will-o-Wisp, since his last-seen moveset was already amazing and didn't really need improvements. I do wonder which move he forgot, though. Also, yikes, Dragonite just has horrendous luck against Dragon/Ground-types, doesn't she? Anyway, she's lost twice in a row now, so hopefully they'll give her wins again in the Masters 8. Pls writers.

Lucario learning Bullet Punch I didn't see coming but it is interesting. This makes him the first Lucario to put more emphasis on his Steel half than his Fighting half (since his new moveset seems to be Aura Sphere/Steel Beam/Double Team/Bullet Punch). Hopefully Sirfetch'd will finally break out of Luke's shadow as a result since he no longer has to compete for the Fighting title.

I find it weird that Paul straight up didn't participate in the PWC, though. Given what that tournament is about one would think it'd be right up his alley. I also find it interesting that the fact that he's been asked to become a Gym Leader implies that the subplot of the Viridian Gym being Leaderless might finally be resolved: back in AG Agatha was filling in for Gym Leader until a suitable replacement could be found, and by the looks of it Paul's gonna be it. It does actually serve as an interesting nod to how Blue becomes the Viridian Gym Leader in the games.

 

[puddleths]

I find it weird that Paul straight up didn't participate in the PWC, though. Given what that tournament is about one would think it'd be right up his alley.

The "explanation" (really the whole episode) would have been so much more of a headscratcher if not for the interview with the scriptwriter. Linked for those interested.

Watching with the knowledge he wasn't supposed to be here makes the sloppy writing understandable.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

What the heck happened with Gyarados and Lucario?

Gyarados didn't flinch from the Bullet Punches and Lucario ate a point-blank Hyper Beam, yet when the dust clears, the roles are suddenly reversed.

 

[Sai]

The "explanation" (really the whole episode) would have so much more of a headscratcher if not for the interview with the scriptwriter. Linked for those interested.

Watching with the knowledge he wasn't supposed to be here makes the lazy writing understandable.

I think that was way before they decided to have him in the episode. In a way it makes sense, this isn't the same Paul from the end of DP and he is forging his own path. As seen by his powerful pokemon he clearly hasn't gotten any weaker and is basically scaled to be on tier where Ash is now, so basically Elite 4/Champion level.

 

[Craiden]

As mentioned above, Paul wasn't originally supposed to be in this episode, that said, on top of everything else, he was generally pretty good. This is the type of episode we needed more of during the PWC, but we finally got it. From the interactions, to the training (Oshawott for M8 when?) to the battle (even though nothing was "flashy" about it) just an all around really good episode. Paul's insistence on the Pokemon going on their own so he could talk to Ash was rather interesting (even though my kid self, and maybe me generally wish Charizard had a reaction to Paul) and him using Champions' Pokemon (Aces at that) on top of the battle strategies was solid. And while it won't put it to bed, I hope people at least give "offscreen" training a rest, it's been a thing for a very long time, and seeing Bullet Punch, and Draconite Meteor for the first time (even though the latter could've used more flash) was cool.