Review JN116: Champions' Pride! Wataru VS Carne!!

[Reborn Talonflame]

It's a catch 22 with Lance facing off Leon again because you know nobody could defeat Leon except Ash. And those two aren't fighting till the finals.

Thus, Lance defeating Diantha only to lose to Leon would be anti-climactic and predictable. It's the same reason why Iris defeating Cynthia only to lose to Ash doesn't have the same weight as Iris losing to Cynthia and then Ash has to face off the Sinnoh Champion.

Really, at least Diantha would by default offer something new to the table against Leon. Personally, I hoped that Lance faced off against Iris because Iris would have a better shot of winning as a new Champion.

Well, I had a feeling Diantha would win for those reasons, but after what they did with Alain, I always have my doubts now.
To go with your comment about Lance facing Iris, if I was to make the PWC, it would have been…

Spoiler

First Round:
Diantha v Leon
Lance v Iris
Steven v Alain
Ash v Cynthia

(This gives more unpredictability to the matches; will Iris defeat one of the Dragon Masters, will Alain beat Steven after all this time, etc. As well as that, the rankings have some sort of actual coherence to who they face - the top four don’t face each other, like the cannon version, but instead get the “weaker four”.
Not only that, there’s more of a connection between the characters in these match-ups. I know having Cynthia knocked out early on is disrespectful, but, having Lance and Steven out so early in the actual cannon one is just as bad)

Round Two:
Leon v Iris
Alain v Ash

Final:
Ash v Leon (Choose your winner)

 

[WatcherMark]

Well, first impression was that this battle was much better than last weeks.

Don't get me wrong, the animation quality was not good but at least every knock-out felt earned unlike Leon vs Alan (who I'm quite surprised to see sticking around). I really appreciated Musashi cheerleading for Pumpjin remembering her own, and as someone likes seeing obscure attacks getting used, I got a huge buzz out of seeing Trick or Treat being used (extra points for closely resembling the game animation).

I also appreciated how we didn't know who was going to win. Was Wataru going to get his desired rematch against Leon or was Carne going to get her shot at Galar's No. 1? The unpredictability made this engrossed... gotta say though, I'm glad Carne was able to pull out a victory in the end. Looking forward to seeing her go up against Leon in the next round.

Cameos galore! We got the XY gang which didn't surprise me, but the crew from the Legend of Thunder special as well as Hiroshi? Did not see any of them making an appearance at all!

 

[Sai]

I thought the animation looked perfectly fine. Obviously not as good as next week's or Iwane's stuff but none of the Pokémon looked off model and the way the attacks themselves were animated were fine.

Apparently this ep had some outsourced animators from China but I didn't notice anything off.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

The person with the type advantages and the clever tactics beat the underdog that’s always relying on brute strength.

Is… is this what hope feels like?

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Gonna echo the thoughts of a lot of people here, but I can't help it, since it's so refreshing to watch a new episode after all this time.

This was a pretty cool battle all things considered, especially compared to Leon vs Alain. The animation was a bit lackluster, but I think this was nicely made up for with all the strategies shown: I loved how Reflect and Light Screen were used here, as this is probably the most game-accurate depiction of them. Gourgeist using Trick-or-treat to land super-effective on Gyarados and ultimately defeat it was awesome too. And Jessie's rooting for Gourgeist due to her having used one in XY was equal parts funny and sweet.

I'm also quite happy that Lance's Dragonite was his Dynamax Pokemon instead of Gyarados, as the former is his true ace.

And of course I'm happy to see Diantha win, especially since she did use the better strategies whereas Lance mostly just used brute force and super-effective hits. Mega Gardevoir clutch ftw.

 

[Sai]

It's also great to see Pokemon barely used in major battles like Diantha's first pokemon. I don't think it ever appeared since that early XY filler from 2014. Considering we have 3 Dragonite's in this tournament getting to see some lesser used Pokemon is great.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

So can we finally stop saying Diantha is the weakest Champion? Good on Diantha! I actually thought the battle was great! Diantha pulled out some pretty interesting strategies. Also Jessie fangirling over Diantha's Gourgeist was adorable! Also I'm shocked by the fact that Ritchie, Jackson/Vincent, Jimmy, and Marina all made cameos. They really weren't kidding about those surprise cameos. We might just wind up seeing someone like Georgia pop up next week. Cilan is a must though. Overall, this was a great episode and I'm glad Diantha won.

 

[KrspaceT]

One would hope but Ash still gets crud flung at him

 

[Paulisthebest]

So, did Lance just forget how to tell his Pokemon to dodge attacks?

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Hydreigon vs Gardevoir is how you play a oneshot. It didn’t go down to a wimpy swat with barely any impact behind it, it took a larger than normal strike it was quad weak to, coming from a Mega, and still managed to withstand it for a few seconds before going down.

Take notes, whoever wrote Alain’s battle.

 

[isrrael120]

So can we finally stop saying Diantha is the weakest Champion?

I doubt that will happen to be honest!

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

So, did Lance just forget how to tell his Pokemon to dodge attacks?

No. Dragonite was unable to dodge because of Hyper Beam's recharge phase.

 

[Alola]

No. Dragonite was unable to dodge because of Hyper Beam's recharge phase.

I think they’re referring to every other point aside from that. Like how Dragonite didn’t dodge Blizzard or Rock Slide, Gyarados not dodging Trick-or-Treat or any of Gourgeist’ Ghost attacks, Hydreigon just taking Trick-or-Treat and Moonblast…

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I think they’re referring to every other point aside from that. Like how Dragonite didn’t dodge Blizzard or Rock Slide, Gyarados not dodging Trick-or-Treat or any of Gourgeist’ Ghost attacks, Hydreigon just taking Trick-or-Treat and Moonblast…

Hyper Beam makes sense, but those ones don't.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I think they’re referring to every other point aside from that. Like how Dragonite didn’t dodge Blizzard or Rock Slide, Gyarados not dodging Trick-or-Treat or any of Gourgeist’ Ghost attacks, Hydreigon just taking Trick-or-Treat and Moonblast…

Hyper Beam makes sense, but those ones don't.

The first example you mentioned was also because of Hyper Beam. With Gourgeist's Ghost moves, the attack were coming from unexpected directions, Rock Slide hit because Dragonite was busy using its own move at that moment, and so on.

 

[Paulisthebest]

I think they’re referring to every other point aside from that. Like how Dragonite didn’t dodge Blizzard or Rock Slide, Gyarados not dodging Trick-or-Treat or any of Gourgeist’ Ghost attacks, Hydreigon just taking Trick-or-Treat and Moonblast…

Thank you!

Not only that, um...what happened to Diantha being able to communicate with her Pokemon (specifically Gardevior) via eye contact as opposed to calling out attacks just like any other trainer?

Ok, I rewatched the battle and I did notice she did the 'eye thing' ONCE' at the very end for her mega fairy dodged Hyper Beam before she called out for a final Moonblast.

*I was never really a fan of that battle tactic in the XY series when she'd do it. However, that got thrown out of the window in this match.

 

[Alola]

The first example you mentioned was also because of Hyper Beam. With Gourgeist's Ghost moves, the attack were coming from unexpected directions, Rock Slide hit because Dragonite was busy using its own move at that moment, and so on.

You’d be forgiven not expecting Hyper Beam recoil to apply since the writers are never consistent with it. Case in point, we literally just had a fight where Lucario appeared on Gyarados’ flank amid a smokescreen, after it used Hyper Beam mind you, and it was still able to intercept the incoming attack with its body. Or how Lance’s Gyarados was able to move and break up the battlefield after firing Hyper Beam against Leon’s Charizard.

Anyway, I disagree - there could have been more evasiveness, or at least attempts to dodge, on Lance’s part as a whole.

Hyper Beam makes sense, but those ones don't.

Lance’s Pokémon were quite lethargic in my opinion. We didn’t even see any flying maneuvers from Dragonite or Hydreigon - their aerial advantage was not taken advantage of.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

That moment when you realize this is the second time we've seen a giant Dragonite in the anime.

 

[ripplefieldz]

THEY GOT THE LEGEND OF THUNDER CHARACTERS IN HERE? I DON'T REALLY CARE ABOUT THE PWC BUT THAT'S. GOOD FOR THEM! GOOD FOR THEM!!! hopefully we can get some acknowledgement of the movies too sometime

 

[90'sPokéfan]

With the preview I thought Jessie would be hyped because of the Gourgeist on the field. I was correct.

It was nice to see Richie again, and the Johto and Kalos characters. Next week some Sinnoh and Unova cameos if logic is respected.

The fight also wasn't bad, I did enjoy it even if it was the machup I was the least hyped about in this round. Next week Cynthia vs Iris, which I'm looking forwards to.