Review JN115: Opening! Masters Tournament!!

[Soniman]

Alan was absolutely destroyed by Leon, who didn't even need to use his full roster to win. It was so strange seeing Alan's Lizardon get walked over by Leon's considering it was depicted as pretty much invincible during XY... still, for everyone who was salty over Alan's victory over Satoshi I imagine this battle was very satisfying.

I felt the exact opposite actually, Alan was so terribly handled plot and character wise I wish they never brought him back.

So many potential ways he could’ve been utilized in this tournament and absolute zero of that potential was met, bafflingly terrible execution all around

 

[Sai]

Because I personally care more about portrayal than track records, she may be a Champion but I don't think they've been given her proper focus regarding that.

I would've been okay with her selfie scene if it wasn't almost the one character-driven moment she got in the whole episode. The other one was running alongside Ash and it was way too brief.

I could also be biased because I've never been a sucker for these "OMG we're all FeMaLe!" sort of interactions in the first place, but I'm not saying it's out-of-character for Iris or anything. Just not the primary thing I would've wish for her to get.

Iris is the youngest champion and she was excited over Cynthia in BW the same way. Her being impressed by two female champions fits her character well. The whole point of that scene in the halls was showing how excited Ash/Iris were but how serious everyone else was.

 

[Emelie]

I think the moment when Iris and Ash enter the room and the air is really tense is interesting. It feels like a lot is at stake here, perhaps even careers. Iris and Ash are children so they don't think of it that way, they mostly want to battle because it's fun. Kind of ironic considering Iris' old gag.

Kind of a shame Alder wasn't in this tournament. Perhaps he could have lightened up the mood. Everyone seems a little stiff right now which is a shame because it would have been nice to have some more personal interactions. Ash also just decides that he doesn't care about the champions and decides to hang out with Gou and Hop instead lol.

I'm sad that there is only 3v3. I hope the semifinal will have 6v6 at least. I really want to see a full battle between Ash and Cynthia.

As weird as this might sound I wonder if there is still hope for Ash vs Alain. Maybe he will train Ash before the big battle against Leon and that is when Greninja returns again. I noticed that type match-up seems to be a big deal in M8 so using his strongest water type against Leon's Charizard seems logical.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Alain's Mega Charizard X got one-shot by Leon's base form Charizard. Everyone take note of that for when Ash's Lucario inevitably tanks 20 Fire Blasts, and probably a couple Gmax Wildfires, only to turn the tides with a single Bullet Punch.

Iris seemed to be showing nerves during the battle, probably an acknowledgment that she's the least experienced when it comes to this kind of high-level competition. Despite being a Champion, she's very young and she earned her title in a fraction of the time that it took Ash to. This is probably a sign that she'll lose to Cynthia (as if that wasn't a given).

Edit: I interpreted Alain's look as an edgy sign of acknowledgment, but it obviously could have been conveyed more clearly if it's causing so much confusion.

 

[puddleths]

Yawn Wake me up when the tournament starts... oh... this was it.

Alain giving the cold shoulder to Ash. Yeah, they're definitely going to have a friendly training battle, sure.

 

[LeonMagnus]

I felt the exact opposite actually, Alan was so terribly handled plot and character wise I wish they never brought him back.

So many potential ways he could’ve been utilized in this tournament and absolute zero of that potential was met, bafflingly terrible execution all around

I think the problem with Alain is that he should have never set foot in this anime’s world honestly. At least not as they wrote him in the Mega Specials which maybe should have been their own Pokemon world separate from Ash’s. He’s kind of like Goh in a sense of where his feats are so insane that they screw with any portrayal of balance in the show.

They really should just say that his original mega ring was tampered with, it would invalidate his Kalos win but it would explain why he can no longer go toe to toe with Champions.

 

[LagCross]

At the very least this episode announced that Ash is the Alola Champ in front of the crowd that is not Alola.

 

[LagCross]

Also Alain you shouldn't replace Blast Burn, I mean I know you want to be like Leon's Charizard & its admittedly awesome varied move changes but look where it got you.

 

[Paulisthebest]

I don't hate Alain. I recall being bitter as heck when he beat Ash in the Kalos finals, but I eventually got over it when I reflected on his Charizard's experience vs. Greninja's.

It did feel awful for the writers to bait older fans who walked away from the series years ago to come back due to Ash making it to the FINALS for the first time ever! Only to lose...

All of that to say, Alain didn't deserve to go out THIS badly. No, I didn't expect him to WIN against Leon. However, his Mega Charizard X getting beaten by a super-effective but non-STAB Dragon Pulse from a normal Charizard (not mega or gigantamax) was just ridiculous. Yeah yeah, recoil damage from Flare Blitz on Rillaboom blah blah but still!

Mairin crying was sad, but it's like "Nah fam, remember when you were cheering for Alain while WE all cried because Ash lost?!" HAHAHA let me stop playing...

This battle reminded me of Gary vs. Ash in the Johto League. As a kid, it was epic to see these two FINALLY battle in a league. However, looking back...WAY TOO MANY ONE HIT KNOCKOUTS...just like this battle.

I thought Chesnaught was the best off Alain's team today in terms of how it was portrayed to handle itself. Acrobatics dang 4x weakness to flying.

That look Alain gave Ash...eh, yeah it felt cold and dismissive. However, I thought about it in the sense of "This is the BIG LEAGUES! It's not about being friendly, it's about WINNING!" because he saw Ash as a threat. I don't know maybe I need to look at that scene again or something. However, Alain is known for being a serious person most of the time. Regardless, I LOVED the episode up until the battle started and it was so rushed.

Air Slash, Fire Blast, Ancientpower...aside from the fourth move Dragon Pulse wasn't Leon's Charizard using the SAME moveset from the games when you battle against him in the finals of the league?!

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Well, this battle was… certainly one of the battles the anime has ever had.

Alain was so bland in this episode that him getting eviscerated wasn’t even cathartic.

 

[swampertus]

I already rewatched this battle like 5-6 times and I really enjoyed Alain being demolished. Will keep watching it for 2 weeks till next episode

 

[Sai]

I already rewatched this battle like 5-6 times and I really enjoyed Alain being demolished. Will keep watching it for 2 weeks till next episode

I mean nobody cares, lol. I doubt anyone here feels that strongly about Alain that making a spite post isn't going to trigger anyone.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

Introduction was really epic, and the battle was alright. Only really thing I can say is about the writing for three characters here - Alain, Iris and Hop.

Iris, feels 100% genuine, like the writers have given some thought towards her being here. She has that excitement and confidence of a newly appointed Champion, yet still hesitated to ask for a picture with Diantha and Cynthia, and complete fear for taking on the latter. That’s just so cute.

Alain was made to be a punching bag, but what do you expect. Would have thought Alain and Ash would have interacted more than a simple nod of the head, but I guess it shows they’re both on a different goal from all those seasons ago - they’re not there to be friends and battle again, it’s to beat Leon. At least there was a mention of Ash battling Alain when his Charizard came out.

Hop, sadly, is looking, and very much feeling like, Max 2.0. Why do the writers always make these characters that ogle over another, where they can’t shut up about them, and cry when something goes wrong for them. It’s probably going to get annoying really quickly where he’ll reference his brother every time they cut back to Goh and Ash during a battle. If this is all he’s going to do, then why include him?

 

[Enzo]

I talked about this in another thread, but I feel like they brought Alain back just to lose to Leon to make the later seem better by comparasion. Besides, I believe that they thought that seeing Alain being torn apart by Leon would make people feel cathartic and would make them start to like Leon, because they know he's hated by (most of) the fandom.

Except that not only was the execution absolutely awful, but they completely missed the point that people wanted Alain back for him to be defeated by Ash, not Leon.

 

[swampertus]

I don't really care if anyone cares or not lol. I am just glad and happy that it has happened. That is all lol.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I don't really care if anyone cares or not lol. I am just glad and happy that it has happened. That is all lol.

I feel it was still wrong to feel happy about Mairin crying. She's just an audience member and didn't do anything wrong.

 

[SonansuMan]

The bar is officially in Australia.

Disappointing to see them fumble the bag with this episode after they’ve been giving us near perfect episodes this past month, most of which unlike this episode, actually had really good pacing. I think they would’ve benefit from either just making this a setup episode or at least lengthening it to an episode and a half to give Alain a better showing, because it felt like I was watching a TR showdown in the league with how fast his Pokémon dropped. He also doesn’t even get the opportunity to fully interact with Ash which makes me curious why they even brought him back when someone less fleshed out (Tobias maybe? ) could’ve filled his position. The animation here also being underwhelming outside of the Dragon Claw interaction doesn’t give me a strong first impression for the rest of the tourney if they made a character this major go out on such a whim

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:

• It would be insane if the scene of Mairin crying is the final shot of her in the series
• Happy to see the quartet back, and for once without the demon child being disruptive! If the PV is anything to go off of, hopefully they’ll get to be regulars in the League arc.
• It’s disappointing how many Galar Pokémon in this series are going to be relegated to BG cameos by the end of the series
• What was the point of the Hop battle?

OVERALL SCORE:
4/10

 

[Sai]

The whole intro of the Champs should of been its own episode because all those interactions were great.

 

[swampertus]

I feel it was still wrong to feel happy about Mairin crying. She's just an audience member and didn't do anything wrong.

Her existence is the reason Alain beat Ash in the finals.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Her existence is the reason Alain beat Ash in the finals.

Thing is, Alain didn’t organically beat Ash due to Mairin. He beat Ash because the writers telegraphed it would happen, execution be damned. Blaming anyone in-universe for what was clearly solely a higher up decision doesn’t add up.