Review JN117: VS Shirona! Iris's Road to Dragon Master!!

[PrettySylveon]

Agreed. I found it incredibly off-putting that he just...watched her, as well as Go

He did the same thing when May cried after she lost to Solidad. None of them actually hugged her.

 

[PrettySylveon]

Yesss.. they didn't disrespect excadrill, like i feared they would

One thing about Iris’ Excadrill was that it never took losing well, so it’s so cool that it finally won.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

The episode overall was nice, the battle I’ll talk about in a second, but the score…oh my, goosebumps. When Garchomp entered, it felt like someone called the Grim Reaper to make an appearance to collect Iris’ soul, and made an example of what Iris was up against, or what every kid felt like when playing D&P.

Spoiler

The battle didn’t really get going until Garchomp Mega-Evolved, so I don’t think this was as good as Diantha v Lance. It felt abrupt in stages, Gastrodon was using its slimy body in the rain to slip off of Excadrill’s attacks, then suddenly it gets one-shot. Then, to remind us of Cynthia’s capabilities, Excadrill proceeds to get one-shot.
And Dragonite…the disrespect. After all it went through in B&W, to have the record it does in Journeys and get beaten that quickly…This was a Pokemon that arguably had the most development for not only itself, but Iris as a whole in B&W, and it got brushed to the side. I don’t care if it lost again, at least show it put up a fight, that was embarrassing.
Well, considering Lance’s Dragonite’s performance last week, I guess someone’s was bound to under-perform, seeing as how Ash’s is going to come later.
At least Haxorus v Garchomp was good. Defiantly felt the power and tension when they collided with Psycho Cut and Dragon Claw centre-stage, and was fun to see.

What made this episode wasn’t the battle, it was the essence of what it meant to the progression of these characters. Iris, a newly crowned Champion still has a lot to learn, but she is clearly an icon to Unova going so far against Cynthia (without a gimmick), giving spirits to those watching her like Alder, Trip, etc.
And what justifies her place in the PWC is setting-up Ash. If she wasn’t here, I think it doesn’t give weight to what Ash is up against - he knows this is no game, and he wants to win for Iris and everyone. Whilst next week looks pretty obvious result-wise, it’s cool to see Ash like this.

Lastly, the returning characters are cool to witness, but they seem…random. Not Paul & Regie, or Volkner & Flint, they’re natural. But, the former Champion of Unova, Trip, Georgia, Bianca AND Stephan all watching together in the middle of no-where? Like it’s a annual get together? Trip and Alder basically have no interactions with those other characters, what are they doing together, hahaha.

 

[Alola]

He did the same thing when May cried after she lost to Solidad. None of them actually hugged her.

No, they didn’t. But as I mentioned earlier, he and Brock put their hands on her shoulders as a way of comfort. They didn’t just stand and stare at their friend sobbing following such an emotional event - which was my entire point; there should have been some kind of physical consoling, in my opinion.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Gastrodon was using its slimy body in the rain to slip off of Excadrill’s attacks, then suddenly it gets one-shot.

Excadrill used Horn Drill. Hence the one-shot.

 

[BigDocFan]

Full VA list courtesy of Adamant

Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi
Daiki Yamashita: Go
Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu
Megumi Hayashibara: Musashi
Shinichiro Miki: Kojiro
Inuko Inuyama: Nyarth
Yuji Ueda: Sonansu
Kensuke Sato: Kairyu
Hana Takeda: Sarunori
Shogo Sakata: Gablias
Tatsuki Kobe: Ononokus
Kenichi Suzumura: Daigo
Daisuke Ono: Dande
Tomo Sakurai: Shirona
Fumiko Orikasa: Carne
Kensho Ono: Alan
Aoi Yuki: Iris
Yo Kitazawa: Danpei
Takuto Yoshinaga: Hop
Marina Aicholtz: Go's Smartphone Rotom
Kenyu Horiuchi: Narration

 

[PrettySylveon]

No, they didn’t. But as I mentioned earlier, he and Brock put their hands on her shoulders as a way of comfort. They didn’t just stand and stare at their friend sobbing following such an emotional event - which was my entire point; there should have been some kind of physical consoling, in my opinion.

Hey I just remember them not hugging. I haven’t watched AG in years.

 

[Reborn Talonflame]

Excadrill used Horn Drill. Hence the one-shot.

I always think they should just scrap the OHKO moves in the anime. They make no sense without a detrimental side-effect. Like, who wouldn’t just start with that instead of Metal Claw and Drill Run? If they’re waiting for an opening, like Gastrodon being stationary within the water, then they sure don’t make it obvious to realise. It just makes them look broken.

 

[Singaporean]

What an episode and also to see Iris finally showed emotional since in Best Wishes series after get a L. Nonetheless, it a hard fought battle and love to see Cynthia have Mega.

Overall rating: A-

 

[PrettySylveon]

Shit if I were Iris, I would have been crying after the time when she lost to Ash’s Krookodile back in BW since that shit was embarrassing. At least with Cynthia, she put up a fight and Excadrill won.

 

[VetProf]

Giving Cynthia's Milotic Disarming Voice feels like such an odd choice on the writers' part, considering that Ice Beam would've been a significantly better choice. Her Milotic already knows that move in-game, and it would've dealt much more damage to Dragonite than Disarming Voice, making Dragonite's defeat feel much more believable. I understand what they were trying to do by having Dragonite be knocked-out by Iron Head while it was completely restrained by Milotic, but it still felt kinda abrupt given how tanky her Dragonite should be. At least Dragonite managed to land some solid blows on Milotic before it went down, allowing Haxorus to quickly swoop in and get a swift KO on Milotic.

 

[L-05308]

This was very cathartic - seeing Haxorus and Excadril outperform Dragonite, makes sense that one Dragonite would get skimmed over this tournament.

The cameos were cool, but I kinda wish we saw characters more relevant to Iris like the Elder from the village of Dragons and her friend too (Shannon?) And Cynthia’s grandma would’ve been cool too - I suppose they are saving Cilan and Dawn for Ash.

The battle was pretty good, both trainers looked great and each Pokémon besides Dragonite got a great showing too.

Thinking about it, Ash doesn’t really hug people but I was waiting for him to hug Iris here - oh well.

Question: Did Lance actually appear in this episode?

 

[Adelon]

Ash didn't hug Iris when she was crying because Japanese kids don't really hug the opposite sex as much as Western children might. Its a more socially conservative culture.

 

[PrettySylveon]

Ash didn't hug Iris when she was crying because Japanese kids don't really hug the opposite sex as much as Western children might. Its a more socially conservative culture.

But as mentioned before even May got some comfort from her friends.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

But as mentioned before even May got some comfort from her friends.

Ash was at least in Iris's presence. I'm sure that was at least considerate.

 

[isrrael120]

the battle was good it reminded me of the previous Lance vs Diantha battle because of how it started and ended!

and well more cameos to add!

 

[Adelon]

Ash was at least in Iris's presence. I'm sure that was at least considerate.

I haven't watched the episode yet but he might have also thought now wasn't really the best time to hug Iris. Sometimes people want a bit of physical space when they feel sad.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

A small but interesting detail I noticed: in each Masters Tournament episode so far, Morpeko has been seen eating food items from various regions. In JN115, it was eating some Poké Beans; in JN116, it was eating a Sweet Heart; and in this episode, it was eating Casteliacones, Old Gateau, and Shalour Sables. I'm curious to see what it'll be eating in the next episode.

 

[KrspaceT]

I'm reminded of that Persona 3 or 4 confident where hugging the upset girl is the wrong thing to do. Oh Japan...well at least you make my daily trope easy.

 

[Soniman]

I'm reminded of that Persona 3 or 4 confident where hugging the upset girl is the wrong thing to do. Oh Japan...well at least you make my daily trope easy.

And the wonder why they have population issues when simple physical contact is so taboo even in the most logical circumstances lol