• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

Review JN122: The Semifinals I: "Overwhelming Victory"

Well folks, after a month away the Masters Tournament comes blazing back onto our screens with Leon vs Carne... taking a back seat to a "lost at the league" episode.

Yes, they actually did it. We missed most of the match so that we could have Satoshi, Go and Shirona search for some stupid kid who'd wandered off to watch a Himenka sing. It didn't help that what we did see of the match looked amazing... Kyodaimax Lizardon vs Mega Sirknight had some fantastic animation going for it. I appreciate that showing us an entire full battle for a match not involving Satoshi where we pretty much know the outcome might feel like a waste of budget, but couldn't we have had a bit longer than what we got?!

Having said that, it doesn't look like the rest of the match was up to much as Carne definitely had her backside handed to her... most of her team were taken out by Leon's Gorirander and Dorapult. I hate how despite how powerful Carne was made out to be before, now she looks like a weakling just so the writers can pull the "we can't reveal most of Leon's team until he faces Satoshi" trick.

In conclusion, Journeys returns as frustrating as ever with its pacing. Satoshi vs Shirona better be amazing.
 
Wow. Cynthia's backstory wasn't much of a backstory. It was just "I raised Garchomp when it was a Gible, we're the best partners now."

Like come on folks, this is a battle quite a few are excited for, you could have done so much more instead of wasting most of the episode on Lost at the League 2: Electric Boogaloo (tell us how she became a champion, how it was like back then, any motivations and stuff) but hey JN be JN.

Not a good first impression for what's to come.

As for the battle, not even worth talking about.
 
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
Kenta Miyake: Kairyu
Daisuke Namikawa: Lucario
Yasuhiro Mamiya: Gangar
Hana Takeda: Sarunori
Shogo Sakata: Gablias
Daisuke Ono: Dande
Tomo Sakurai: Shirona
Fumiko Orikasa: Carne
Yo Kitazawa: Danpei
Takuto Yoshinaga: Hop
Yuna Ogata: Vic
Chisa Suganuma: Toria
Kenyu Horiuchi: Narration
 
Was hopping this would be more like the battle-less episode in the Kalos league than Lost at the League…

They should have just made it the battle right from when they saw it on the big screen.

Don’t like how Leon swept Diantha - just going to make it feel fake if Ash beats him…
 
"Keeping Leon's team a secret until he faces Ash" as if the anime hasn't been copy-pasting every character's game teams JN keepin JN-ing

Someone check Rillaboom's Tera type as it roasted in the flames for a good few seconds with what looked like 0 to little damage.

The writers trying to pull every single trick up their sleeve to make us believe that Ash's bond and strength with his 100 episode old Lucario is a match to a Garchomp that Cynthia has had since childhood will never not be funny.
 
"Keeping Leon's team a secret until he faces Ash" as if the anime hasn't been copy-pasting every character's game teams JN keepin JN-ing

Someone check Rillaboom's Tera type as it roasted in the flames for a good few seconds with what looked like 0 to little damage.

The writers trying to pull every single trick up their sleeve to make us believe that Ash's bond and strength with his 100 episode old Lucario is a match to a Garchomp that Cynthia has had since childhood will never not be funny.
Staff pulls a sneaky and gives him Eternatus, Calyrex Ice Rider and Urshifu Rapid Strike Style.
 
The writers trying to pull every single trick up their sleeve to make us believe that Ash's bond and strength with his 100 episode old Lucario is a match to a Garchomp that Cynthia has had since childhood will never not be funny.

I honestly can't understand the problem with this because hasn't this happened since the show began. In-universe, Satoshi has owned all his Pokemon for less than a year and yet they've managed to take down Pokemon belonging to seasoned trainers that have been with them for years. Remember the last series, how Satoshi's Nyaheat was able to defeat a Kukui's Gaogaen that had been his partner since he was a kid. Even this series... I have less of a problem with Lucario taking down Gablias than I do with Negigaknight knocking out an Elite Four member's Mega Evolved ace.
 
The writers trying to pull every single trick up their sleeve to make us believe that Ash's bond and strength with his 100 episode old Lucario is a match to a Garchomp that Cynthia has had since childhood will never not be funny.
To be fair it's game-canon that the protagonist is the only person whose Pokémon get Affection bonuses, from which we can infer none of the Gym Leaders, Elite four, and so on are actually that close to their Pokémon.;)
 
I think this might have happened because they originally planned on only showing the battles that don't include Ash in still-frames. My guess is that they didn't have time to change Diantha vs Leon so that is why this episode sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps it's also partially COVID's fault?

That being said I still think the writing could have been better. Why did Leon's Rillaboom defeat so many of Diantha's Pokémon when Alain (who is not a champion) defeated it so easily?

Is Alain really that much stronger than the Kalos champion? If that is the case why didn't they have Alain defeat Diantha in the first round and then have him lose to Leon in the semifinals? I think that would have been better writing (since they didn't want Alain to fight Ash for some unknown reason).

Maybe they could even have given Cynthia's retirement plot to Diantha and have Alain take over her title while she chooses to focus on her career as an actress. This would have been good continuity as well since the clip show told us that Diantha was so busy with the movies that her manager had to make a new schedule for her so that she would have time for the Masters 8.

Also disappointed in Cynthia's backstory (or rather lack thereof). It didn't tell us anything new since we already knew that she hatched her Gible from an egg thanks to the magazine.

What happened to her being similar to Paul when she was younger and only thinking about getting stronger? Is that not canon anymore or did that happen later when she was older? I think that would have been a much more interesting backstory. There could even have been some good character development if they told us why she changed from being a Paul type of character to the respectable and kind champion she is today.
 
Last edited:
You know. I would be fine with Leon winning against Diantha. I just wish it was done in a way that did not remind people why she was so derided in the XY games and consequently, gave her such an unflattering reputation for so long. In short, I can't wait for this series to end so I never have to look at Leon again, cause I don't know about you, but the anime's push of making him supposedly so powerful is getting on my nerves.
 
Please note: The thread is from 2 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom