Review JN129: The Finals I: "Torrent"

[FinnishPokéFan92]

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Feel free to discuss the first part of Ash vs. Leon here.

 

[Singaporean]

What a surprise to see both 1-1. Hope, another episode Ash can counter Mr. Rime move-set.

Overall rating: A

 

[BigDocFan]

Was nice to see Cynthia and Diantha remained to watch the final battle, unlike the others

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Pretty good first part for this battle. Plenty of stuff going on, some nice animation to go along with it, some good strategies from both Ash and Leon and cameos from the likes of

Spoiler

Iris, Lance, Alain, Sycamore, Mairin, Raihan, Piers, Marnie, those Team Yell guys and Allister. Even Cynthia and Diantha are still here too so that's cool.

 

[JinksChow]

Pretty good first part for this battle. Plenty of stuff going on, some nice animation to go along with it, some good strategies from both Ash and Leon and cameos from the likes of

Spoiler

Iris, Lance, Alain, Sycamore, Mairin, Raihan, Piers, Marnie, those Team Yell guys and Allister. Even Cynthia and Diantha are still here too so that's cool.

Spoiler

Given that we know an "insider" leaked that Cynthia had planned to retire after the Masters Eight in the previous clipshow episode, I can't help but imagine how a potential conversation between her and Diantha might go...

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Great animation and episode

 

[Him1612]

What Leon says? Is 3 VS 3 gimmicks or 3 vs 1???

 

[BigDocFan]

Full VA list courtesy of Adamant

Rica Matsumoto: Satoshi
Daiki Yamashita: Go
Ikue Ohtani: Pikachu
Kana Hanazawa: Koharu
Kenyu Horiuchi: Professor Okido
Megumi Hayashibara: Musashi
Shinichiro Miki: Kojiro
Inuko Inuyama: Nyarth
Yuji Ueda: Sonansu
Etsuko Kozakura: Pochama
Daisuke Namikawa: Lucario
Kenta Miyake: Kairyu
Kei Shindo: Eievui
Yasuhiro Mamiya: Gangar
Hana Takeda: Sarunori
Yuko Kobayashi: Shigeru
Masami Toyoshima: Hanako
Megumi Toyoguchi: Hikari
Daisuke Ono: Dande
Tomo Sakurai: Shirona
Fumiko Orikasa: Carne
Marina Inoue: Sonia
Ayahi Takagaki: Tokio
Takuto Yoshinaga: Hop
Yo Kitazawa: Danpei

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I actually saw Psychic Terrain in one of the previews, so it wasn't that big of a surprise to see it getting used.

 

[Max1996]

What Leon says? Is 3 VS 3 gimmicks or 3 vs 1???

I think it was that, initially, the referee declared the '1 gimmick each' rule applying again, but Leon objected, saying he wants the match to be more interesting and allows Ash to use all three.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I think it was that, initially, the referee declared the '1 gimmick each' rule applying again, but Leon objected, saying he wants the match to be more interesting and allows Ash to use all three.

Correct. My theory is that Leon will use Dynamax/Gigantamax more than once thanks to Eternatus. Would be cool if the same thing would allow Ash to use Gigantamax Pikachu.

 

[VetProf]

With Inteleon already being down, I doubt we're gonna be seeing multiple G-Maxes from Leon. Plus, if they were really gonna have Eternatus help with that, I think Leon would've brought it up at the start of the fight. From what I can tell, the only thing he suggested was letting Ash use all three of his gimmicks without any restrictions. As I've said in the preview thread, I do have some gripes about Leon pulling a last minute rule change to make the fight harder for himself (and Ash immediately accepting his offer), but I do agree that it's perfectly in character for Leon to want to challenge himself this way, and it would ultimately make for a more entertaining battle. From Ash's perspective, both trainers would be battling at full force, so it makes sense that he'd accept the offer too.

On a side note, it's nice to see confirmation of Gengar having Cursed Body. Based on Ash's reaction to it, it seems he was already aware of it, too.

 

[Audino1008]

Apparently Leon can just change the rules as he pleases. I'm not complaining, though. It's gonna be nice to see all 3 gimmicks.
Cynthia and Diantha seem pretty..... Close. Did they even interact in the games? It's like they were friends for years in the anime.
Why isn't Delia at the audience? She watched him live in the Alola league iirc and this is a way bigger deal. Seems weird watching it on a TV outside while the sun probably makes it really hard to see what's going on.

 

[KrspaceT]

Feels like the animation is either better or has more energy to it, and both Ash and Leon seem to be putting a fair bit of thought and planning into their strats. Looks to be fun match

 

[L-05308]

Part of me thinks maybe Inteleon went down a bit easy, it’s battle was great but given I know it’s Leon’s seems like it should have took a lot more…

Apart from that, it’s really good - I like how they’re peppering in the cameos throughout.

But there’s no real excuse for some of Ash’s Pokémon at Oak’s being missing

 

[BigDocFan]

I'm trying to see if I understand this, Leon allows Ash to use Z-Moves, Mega Evolution and Gigantamax instead of 1 throughout the battle, not sure if that is him being cocky thinking he'll beat Ash as easily as a Caterpie either way

Would be nice to see Leon allowed the same privilege

 

[KrspaceT]

I'm trying to see if I understand this, Leon allows Ash to use Z-Moves, Mega Evolution and Gigantamax instead of 1 throughout the battle, not sure if that is him being cocky thinking he'll beat Ash as easily as a Caterpie either way

Would be nice to see Leon allowed the same privilege

Guy's more of an entertainer than Ash is, from a few lines I remember him giving Ash after their first meeting concluded. From that context I could see him thinking the showcase would be neater that way.

Then again I probably am putting too much Jack Atlas in Leon's DNA

 

[BigDocFan]

Tracey has received a slight design change in this episode

 

[Handy Man]

This was an exciting start! There were so many cameos, and I like how abilities like Libero and Cursed Body are being fully utilized. It's nice to see that Dawn showed up in person, and I'm hoping a lot of Ash's friends trickle in over time. I'm fully expecting a bunch of seats to be reserved for Alolan folks, JN112 built up their hype for their champion so much. I just wish Goh and Gary argued with the Project Mew leaders and postponned whatever they needed to do by a day. Surely it couldn't be any more important than their friend fighting in the most important match of his life? Overall, I enjoyed this episode more than most of the other PWC episodes so far, and I look forward to seeing the rest of it. Next week's episode lands on my birthday too. I can only hope that characters like Misty, Brock, May, and Serena are shown to be watching the battle next week, because that would be the greatest birthday present ever.

Also, the three week break helped my mentality immensely. Sorry if I was imposing my stress onto others, but it feels good to be back. The show is much more enjoyable when there's no breaks and clip shows to disrupt the pacing, and now we'll get a whole month of Ash vs. Leon!

 

[Emelie]

If Leon won't use more than one gimmick does that mean Ash's victory will be unfair if he wins? Or is the point that Leon is starting to get too cocky and that is meant to be a character flaw?

Maybe they did that on purpose to not make Ash seem too overpowered if he beats Leon thus justifying why they will regress him again in the next season?

Seeing Dawn cheer for Ash was cute, at least she got to see the counter shield in battle! Makes sense since she was the companion who trained the most with Ash. Meanwhile Iris is just chilling in a random tree with her tablet lol.

Seeing Diantha and Cynthia be friends is cute too. Cynthia seemed a little bit lonely in those childhood flashbacks (compared to Leon's and Diantha's backstories which showed other human characters).