New Title (Many Will Be Happy!)

[Lil Brother]

Thank god the writers are a bit smarter than the fandom gives them credit for, after all, we're not sitting through endless filler crap like we used to in the Johto era.

Holy shit, Scott. We get it already. You hate Johto. Just let it go. '_'

I hope Cynthia does the whole "OMG don't release Pokémon they are your special friends" thing in an agressive way and Paul goes "...I don't care, lemme alone" and then we see him not release the Pokémon he was about to or something like that. We all know he's going to be turned to the light side of the Force eventually. May as well make it a gradual thing, but keep him a badarse as long as possible.

But I dunno. *shrugs* Anyway, is it known where this takes place? Are they in Hearthome City? Well, even if they're not, Paul's appearance here is still close enough so that he's appearing where the D/P rival does.

 

[Ashfangirl17]

What I'm hoping even though its sad is that Paul does release his Pokemon and doesn't care what Cynthia says and walks away after. Than we still have his bad ass self. I mean we don't want Paul to loose his bad ass self this soon, heck I don't want him to loose his bad ass self till maybe the next series if there is one. Let Paul be Ash rival longer than Gary was.

 

[LibertyxIsxLove]

I love Shirona (she's gorgeous AND she's the first ever female champion :~D), and the fact that Shinji's going to make an appearance just sweetens the deal.

Now if only Hikari would develop a crush on Shirona...well, I can't be the only one hoping for some GirlPowerShipping, can I? 0_0

 

[Yamato-san]

Agreed. I don't know why people want a repetitive show to be any MORE repetitive than it is already. Thank god the writers are a bit smarter than the fandom gives them credit for, after all, we're not sitting through endless filler crap like we used to in the Johto era.

even in AG, it was still a little repetitive. I mean, is it just me, or did both Kanna and Genji use the same lousy "don't get overconfident" lesson for Satoshi? Though I guess Satoshi, given his cocky attitude, would lose sight of that every now and again... in any case, it's a lot better than that shitty "you gotta use the environment to your advantage" thing that came up out of nowhere in the equally shitty Hakuryuu's Lake episode (like we haven't seen Satoshi use the environment a million times before -_-).

 

[Geoffrey]

Ash getting beaten by an elite trainer, only to learn a lesson from an issue that will only ever be brought up in this episode? Wow, now there's something we haven't seen before!

Ash is the main character. Why should anyone else battle the Elite Four or Champion? Besides, we just had a secondary character battle an Elite Four member just a few episodes back.

 

[Cybersai]

Well we've never seen a rival battle an Elite member either so its still new.

I'm sure Ash will get to battle the Elite's eventually, its just that they're saving them for later.

 

[Ashfangirl17]

Ash is the main character. Why should anyone else battle the Elite Four or Champion? Besides, we just had a secondary character battle an Elite Four member just a few episodes back.

Chill, Ash will most likely battle one all of them soon, and if he sees them all in action now he will learn there moves and learn to use his skills agianst them and win this way. And besides we get to see Paul/Shinji loose this way...In front of Ash {Some thing I've wanted for along time}

 

[Geoffrey]

Chill? Also, if Ash doesn't battle now, he won't battle them "soon" as you have claimed. Hell, we don't even know for sure if he'll battle them. Sure, there's a lot of hints, but there isn't any hard proof he will. Also, if he doesn't, it could take a long time before he battles them. I mean, look at Agatha! He didn't battle her until after Hoenn!

 

[Cybersai]

The Elite 4 were built up in this season differently than the others from previous seasons. I'm sure Ash will battle them or it'll be a huge cop-out after the foreshadowing.

They probably had Dawn and Paul battle them first simply because they're saving Ash for last. I imagine he'll battle them properly as we get toward the end of D/P.

 

[Lentils]

Ash is the main character. Why should anyone else battle the Elite Four or Champion? Besides, we just had a secondary character battle an Elite Four member just a few episodes back.

So what if Ash is the main character, and so what if Dawn fought Lucian a few episodes back? There's not some unwritten rule that only Ash has to lose to an E4 trainer over and over again, and having other (important) characters do so once in a while is more benficial anyway. In this case for example, the results have a possibility to lead to something that's actually interesting, like y'know...progressing Shinji's character, for one? Which will most likely have some sort of effect on Ash during the episode/down the line anyway.

But hey, if seeing Ash battle and lose again and again to an E4 trainer is what floats your boat...

 

[Habunake]

Ah, I found a scan with a summary for this episode...dunno if it's one Sushi got the Paul thing from, but...

 

[Geoffrey]

So what if Ash is the main character, and so what if Dawn fought Lucian a few episodes back? There's not some unwritten rule that only Ash has to lose to an E4 trainer over and over again, and having other (important) characters do so once in a while is more benficial anyway. In this case for example, the results have a possibility to lead to something that's actually interesting, like y'know...progressing Shinji's character, for one? Which will most likely have some sort of effect on Ash during the episode/down the line anyway.

Yes, because Paul releasing his Pokemon is very interesting. Ash has only battled three Elite Four members, Lorelei, Agatha, and Drake. Whether you believe it or not, they were interesting battles, and Ash should be putting Paul in his place, not Cynthia.

 

[Ashfangirl17]

Georffrey will see Ash put Paul in his place when the leauge comes around, you just know he's going to defeat Paul and make him angry. Either way Ash gets to see Paul loose, its going to be awesome. I love Ash battles too {Very much so} But seeing Paul get his ass kicked by some one in a high postion is very good.

 

[Geoffrey]

Either way Ash gets to see Paul loose, its going to be awesome.

How will Ash seeing Paul lose be awesome? Ash saw Gary lose in the Indigo League, and he still acted cool. Paul will do the same thing, so there really isn't anything awesome about it, unless I'm missing something here. :-/

 

[Ashfangirl17]

Well I think it will be awesome becuase he has never lost one battle, he expects to win every battle. I think what we all are looking forward to is Pauls reaction of loosing and Ash as well. I mean Paul has always called Ash names and looked down on him as a looser, so if loss and in front of Ash, I think it will be a neat reaction...Ticked off or a mess. Who knows what Ash will do, will he say a few mean words to him after all the teasing Paul did to Ash for loosing? Or will he just give a few kind words making Paul see the light of Ash not being a bad guy. Or maybe Ash will end up battling after and win better than Paul. Its different reactions yah know? I see Paul being very ticked, I mean every time he has lost he releases his Pokemon, and if he does release all of them in front of the girl he battled with she will give him a rant on how to take care of your Pokemon, be sure of that LOL. Next Ash will battle him in the leauge and will give him words as well and win. So relax, Ash will have his day.

 

[Lentils]

Yes, because Paul releasing his Pokemon is very interesting.

Because of course we all know how Shinji releasing a pokémon is going to be the main focus of the episode...

Ash has only battled three Elite Four members, Lorelei, Agatha, and Drake. Whether you believe it or not, they were interesting battles, and Ash should be putting Paul in his place, not Cynthia.

They weren't really. I'll give you Lorelei, because that was the first time they dealt with such a situation, but with Drake all they really did was deal was recycle the exact same issues of overconfidence, and Agatha was...well...not that good anyway, despite some decent animation. Hooray for damaging Gengar slightly, I guess?

Of course Ash should put him in his place, but they're obviously saving that for the time when his team is a little more developed than it is now. Out of all the other options available, I'd say that getting decimated by the league Champion makes for a worthwhile runner-up.

 

[Every Breaking Wave]

Agatha was...well...not that good anyway, despite some decent animation. Hooray for damaging Gengar slightly, I guess?

Are you kidding? Ash almost beat Gengar, it was really close. And considering that the Gengar is almost certainly the same one that we saw battling Bruno in episode one of the entire franchise... I'd say he did really well!

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

We don't know for sure that the trainer at the beginning was Bruno. What would he be doing battling with a Nidorino anyway? (although what was Giovanni doing with a Kingler? So whatever)

But anyway, it could have just looked like him. And even if it was him, we don't know that his opponent was Agatha.

And oh yeah, really close, what with Ash using Quick Attack on a ghost...

 

[Lentils]

Are you kidding? Ash almost beat Gengar, it was really close. And considering that the Gengar is almost certainly the same one that we saw battling Bruno in episode one of the entire franchise... I'd say he did really well!

Pikachu hits Gengar three times, Gengar gets up completely unfazed and proceeds to one hit KO Pikachu with Dream Eater. Perhaps I'm missing something, but that doesn't really strike me as a close match. Or 'almost beating', for that matter.


In any case, I'm still not really getting why a perfect chance to explore and develop the personallity of one of the more unique characters on this show should be considered boring when compared to a battle that would most likely not break the boundaries of anything other than eye-candy. Which, I might add, we'd probably get with Shinji battling Cynthia anyway, especially since Shinji's battle tactics are often pretty entertaining.

 

[Suzu]

Now if only Hikari would develop a crush on Shirona...well, I can't be the only one hoping for some GirlPowerShipping, can I? 0_0

No, you're not. Hellz yeah to the HikarixShirona!