Review JN122: The Semifinals I: "Overwhelming Victory"

[Soniman]

The “lost at the league” segment definitely wasn’t as long or tiresome as the OG but it being there AT ALL is such a boring waste of time. 5 minutes may not sound like much but it’s a decent chunk in terms of battle time

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Gross. Ash looks gross. And I hate his Mega Lucario

 

[Enzo]

I have a theory on why Rillaboom was presented like that in this ep. It's basically an union of two things:

1) Remember how we used to joke about Leon being the incarnation of that one joke that goes like "Me as a kid playing Pokémon be like 'Have an overleved starter I use for every single thing and a bunch of level 10 Pokémon I caught randomly and a HM mule'''? Yeah... about that. I think Rillaboom was showed like that in order to show us Leon isn't like that and he's not (that) dependant on Zard, as his other mons are just as strong but not stronger than Charizard because Charizard is the Ultimate Supreme Ethereal Pokémon okay kids?;

2) This is essentially a combination of some characteristics of Rillaboom as a Pokémon:

Spoiler

I. Rillaboom is a Galar Pokémon;
II. Rillaboom is a Galarian Starter;
III. Rillaboom is the final evolved form of Grookey, arguably the most controversial mon of recent times for multiple reasons I won't bother listing rn, but with the main ones being that Goh's Grookey is useless and weak and the Galarian trio in general have had terrible showings throughout JN.

So I'm assuming it's cuz they wanted a galarian starter to be the star of the battle to try and pretend that they care about Galar and it's starter trio.

Have you guys ever just read/watched/listened something that you can just feel the writer being self-congratulatory about it? Like, you can just feel the writer being all "Hehe I'm so good at this!". Yeah. That's what I feel when I look at this. I can just tell the writer was all like ''Haha I just fixed two issues the fans had with the series in one strike! I'm a genius!" when in reality they didn't fixed shit and actually made it worst, as the takes of Leon being too overpowered and baddly written just got even stronger because we have this bs of a battle as even more proof.

 

[Imtnt]

I have a theory on why Rillaboom was presented like that in this ep. It's basically an union of two things:

1) Remember how we used to joke about Leon being the incarnation of that one joke that goes like "Me as a kid playing Pokémon be like 'Have an overleved starter I use for every single thing and a bunch of level 10 Pokémon I caught randomly and a HM mule'''? Yeah... about that. I think Rillaboom was showed like that in order to show us Leon isn't like that and he's not (that) dependant on Zard, as his other mons are just as strong but not stronger than Charizard because Charizard is the Ultimate Supreme Ethereal Pokémon okay kids?;

2) This is essentially a combination of some characteristics of Rillaboom as a Pokémon:

Spoiler

I. Rillaboom is a Galar Pokémon;
II. Rillaboom is a Galarian Starter;
III. Rillaboom is the final evolved form of Grookey, arguably the most controversial mon of recent times for multiple reasons I won't bother listing rn, but with the main ones being that Goh's Grookey is useless and weak and the Galarian trio in general have had terrible showings throughout JN.

So I'm assuming it's cuz they wanted a galarian starter to be the star of the battle to try and pretend that they care about Galar and it's starter trio.

Have you guys ever just read/watched/listened something that you can just feel the writer being self-congratulatory about it? Like, you can just feel the writer being all "Hehe I'm so good at this!". Yeah. That's what I feel when I look at this. I can just tell the writer was all like ''Haha I just fixed two issues the fans had with the series in one strike! I'm a genius!" when in reality they didn't fixed shit and actually made it worst, as the takes of Leon being too overpowered and baddly written just got even stronger because we have this bs of a battle as even more proof.

So I think you are right, there ia still lack on the anime of what Leon is able to do without Zard (and now we add Rillaboom to this) and I don't think the other 4 pokemon will be so over powered. Prob there will be another MVP for one epiaode there Ash will steuggle("Hehe I did it again" yours the writer). We just don't know how the writer is going to get out of this, after assuming Ash can win this, it could be a realy bad fight. I can't feel for the underdog to win, I prefer he will be in the final as the most valued opponent against the not so perefect champion. NO BODY WANTS A GALARIAN TOBIAS RIGHT NOW.
Anyway and anyhow.. I hope Mega sized aura or Pika Z move won't be the only option in the arsenal.

 

[Sai]

Yeah it did look like Gardevoir's Thunderbolt definitely did some damage to Gmax Charizard, it pushed it back and look like it took damage. So I guess we can see that Diantha managed to get one big attack on it at least.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

That i'm going to guess did jack shit.

Considering it was a Gigantamax Charizard, you guessed right.

Literally lifted it off the ground and pushed it back, so no, it didn't do nothing

 

[Imtnt]

Yeah it did look like Gardevoir's Thunderbolt definitely did some damage to Gmax Charizard, it pushed it back and look like it took damage. So I guess we can see that Diantha managed to get one big attack on it at least.

Literally lifted it off the ground and pushed it back, so no, it didn't do nothing

So it is safe to say Pikachu can take down Zard. And even with the bad writing it is almost like Pikachu is the only rival possible; they were having an unoffical match before, Steven and Cynthia look at Pikachu as the game changer - the look of Pikachu watching the Semi of Leon.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

firstly, we knew Leon is ridiculously strong and Diantha did great against Lance already, so her losing big isn't really that big of a deal.

I mean… that’s exactly what makes it baffling. Lance was able to stand toe to toe to Leon; and Diantha defeated him with her tactics. Losing spectacularly to Leon for her makes no sense in this context. Leon is supposed to be ridiculously strong; but so are all the champions. Diantha is not a rookie trainer, she’s supposed to be one of the strongest trainers in Kalos, and stronger than Lance.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

1) Remember how we used to joke about Leon being the incarnation of that one joke that goes like "Me as a kid playing Pokémon be like 'Have an overleved starter I use for every single thing and a bunch of level 10 Pokémon I caught randomly and a HM mule'''? Yeah... about that. I think Rillaboom was showed like that in order to show us Leon isn't like that and he's not (that) dependant on Zard, as his other mons are just as strong but not stronger than Charizard because Charizard is the Ultimate Supreme Ethereal Pokémon okay kids?;

If that’s the reasoning in any part I’m gonna have a laugh at the end because they’ll inevitably backtrack on it in Ash vs Leon, because Ash would need to KO them all with the less stronger Pokémon to reach Charizard in the first place. How to self sabotage your character 101.

To be fair they warned us Ash would be getting “unbeatable” but… seriously?

 

[Imtnt]

If that’s the reasoning in any part I’m gonna have a laugh at the end because they’ll inevitably backtrack on it in Ash vs Leon, because Ash would need to KO them all with the less stronger Pokémon to reach Charizard in the first place. How to self sabotage your character 101.

To be fair they warned us Ash would be getting “unbeatable” but… seriously?

We don't know if any of the other 4 pokemon are just as strong, and Alain did handle Rillaboom... but I agree - even if we put aside the level of pokemon - as a trainer Leon won't be any less powerful against Ash and it might be awful realisticly.

The only thing makes it even fair to try beat Leon - Ash was up against ranked 2nd and 3rd, did well (for sure, he will look great against Cynthia, though not sure he will get the win) while Leon won against 2 XY trainers we already knew Ash himself could handle..

 

[isrrael120]

this episode feels without a clear point just random stuff and a poorly written quick battle!

 

[jbmasta]

A massive disappointment. The opening was cute, with more on Cynthia's backstory but then Vic and Toria (ugh, now is too late for new Sword and Shield references) show up and eat up episode time like the second coming of the Axew episode of the Unova League (again, too late to highlight Galar pokemon in the final tournament arc of the season!). Gigantamax Charizard just makes me groan because it means the match is about end, it's that OP.