Review JN122: The Semifinals I: "Overwhelming Victory"

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Can I just say how toxic it is that Leon says “You made me sweat time and time again. I was just lucky today, that’s all.” when he beats Diantha 4-0? If I were Diantha, I would feel terrible that I didn’t stand any chance against the #1 seed. Leon saying that just rubs salt in a wound, it’s just rude to downplay your victory in front of the loser like that. Leon has a disgusting ego that deserves to be destroyed, but if other regional champions can’t hold a candle to him, then Leon will be encouraged to keep flexing on everyone. What an aggravating character.

The sheer irony is that this line was clearly intended to make Leon seem like a humble winner, but the fight was so ridiculously one-sided that it instead comes across as kinda condescending.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

I think I figured out how Rillaboom was made out to be so strong
Leon's ace strategy with it is Acrobatics
With that move, Rillaboom's speed makes to tricky of a target to actually hit
And once it lands a hit, Rillaboom can just pile on the onslaught with his other moves
Reason Diantha had a hard time is cause Most of her pokemon involve landing direct hits or are too slow
And it's probably why when she finally landed a hit with Goodra, Rillaboom is bulky enough to take the hit
Cause it hasn't taken much damage in the other fights
So the key to beating Rillaboom, is keeping him stationary or cut off his movement
Making him more open to attacks

I wish there was actual logic in place to how this battle was handled, and appreciate you breaking it down so succinctly, but somehow I doubt the writers were this analytical in their approach. They just want Leon to be as overpowered as possible to play up the trope that he’s the ultimate challenge (so far).

 

[Knightwolf09]

I wish there was actual logic in place to how this battle was handled, and appreciate you breaking it down so succinctly, but somehow I doubt the writers were this analytical in their approach. They just want Leon to be as overpowered as possible to play up the trope that he’s the ultimate challenge (so far).

It's not like I just made it up. I actually noticed it both its battles here and with Alain. Only time Rillaboom actually got hit is when it's stationary or caught like it was with Gardevoir's Psychic, or more so when it's on it's drum. However, every other time when it's away from it, it's constantly moving and flipping. We know Leon's not a meathead and just using brute force to win. He actually strategizes and learns from his opponent. So although they're not spelling it out what his strategies are, it's clear there is actual thinking there

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Reminder that Alain took out Rillaboom in two moves compared to the 4 pokemon it took Diantha

 

[Imtnt]

Reminder that Alain took out Rillaboom in two moves compared to the 4 pokemon it took Diantha

I think we got a better effort from Alain.. Yet if it was 3 vs 3 maybe we could see all of Leon's pokemon in compare..

 

[Knightwolf09]

Reminder that Alain took out Rillaboom in two moves compared to the 4 pokemon it took Diantha

Technically Diantha took it out with 2 moves too. Fire Blast and Psychic

 

[Imtnt]

Technically Diantha took it out with 2 moves too. Fire Blast and Psychic

Off screen he could have been taking some hits..

 

[Knightwolf09]

Off screen he could have been taking some hits..

Maybe. But by the looks, there's not a scratch on it

 

[Nicolas721]

The beginning wasn't bad really, it was fun to see Ash interacting with Cynthia and getting their own fanclub. But then it dragged, and dragged, and dragged...No ofense to Eldegoss, but couldn't they have chosen a more interesting Pokemon? And more importantly, didn't we went through A WHOLE MONTH of making up for the battles' cost? If they had at least tied it up to Cynthia's journey or something it would have been passable but not. And yes, equaling your first Pokemon raised since childhood to a wolf that "was waiting for you" after you had 1000 adventures is very bad.

The battle is another example of "decent ideas, terrible execution". It had decent animation and a decent ending, but the presentation of Leon as someone who can just plow through anything feels boring and unconfortable. I get that they are trying to avoid the Alain mistake with potraying other Pokemon apart from Charizard, but at what cost? Gardevoir beating Rillaboom barely feels like an accomplishment, the battle should have been at least a 6-4, with Gardevoir tieing with Leon's final Pokemon, and Leon using more tactical switches instead of just brute force.

 

[Kairyu]

I finally watched the ep and I don't get what all the fuss is about. The "lost at the league" segment barely took any significant time out of the episode - seems like a big exaggeration from the fandom how it "ruined" everything.

The Cynthia backstory in the beginning was great and there wasn't really much more to say so I don't get all these people saying they should have spent further time on that. Getting to know how she got her first mon and how she treats it outside of battle is all you can ask for.

All these complaints about how Leon won with too big of a margin and how they didn't show the rest of the fight... 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.

Secondly, do we really gain that much from extending it and showing all the matchups? It will just be a bunch of one or two shots anyway, better to shorten it and give us a lengthy showdown between the aces with their gimmicks in action (which is what happened). And it was pretty good... well, as good as it gets for a dyna/gigamax fight in the show.

 

[Hoppinmad]

The sheer irony is that this line was clearly intended to make Leon seem like a humble winner, but the fight was so ridiculously one-sided that it instead comes across as kinda condescending.

I 2nd (3rd?) this as well.

It's like winning an arm wrestling match against a 5 year old kid: "Wow you're amazingly strong! You really had me on the ropes for a second there!"

The absolute disrespect towards Diantha.

 

[HiroHunter]

Can I just say how toxic it is that Leon says “You made me sweat time and time again. I was just lucky today, that’s all.” when he beats Diantha 4-0? If I were Diantha, I would feel terrible that I didn’t stand any chance against the #1 seed. Leon saying that just rubs salt in a wound, it’s just rude to downplay your victory in front of the loser like that. Leon has a disgusting ego that deserves to be destroyed, but if other regional champions can’t hold a candle to him, then Leon will be encouraged to keep flexing on everyone. What an aggravating character.

If I was in Diantha's place when he said that shit all I would say is "Get bent you fuckwit."

 

[Knightwolf09]

If I was in Diantha's place when he said that shit all I would say is "Get bent you fuckwit."

Technically he was lucky. Lucky she didn't have a single answer to Rillaboom -w-

 

[Imtnt]

Do you guys remember guys if she landed a hit on Charizard ?

 

[Eitarou]

Do you guys remember guys if she landed a hit on Charizard ?

Yes, with Thunderbolt.

 

[HiroHunter]

Yes, with Thunderbolt.

That i'm going to guess did jack shit.

 

[Max1996]

That i'm going to guess did jack shit.

Considering it was a Gigantamax Charizard, you guessed right.

 

[Knightwolf09]

Well it shook it a bit actually. Pushed Charizard back a bit.

 

[VetProf]

All these complaints about how Leon won with too big of a margin and how they didn't show the rest of the fight... 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.

Leon being so ridiculously strong is the exact problem that most people here have with his representation. We know he's supposed to be that strong because the writers kept shoving it into our faces every time he's on screen, the problem is that his past two wins have been exaggerated so much, it makes his strength look too comically over-the-top compared to everyone else in the competition. This huge gap in strength will also make it difficult to make his loss against Ash later believable, if and when it happens.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]