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Review S15 EP22: The Clubsplosion Begins!

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Ash and his companions are ready for a big-time showdown. Amazing Trainers from all over Unova are ready to give it their all in this Pokémon battle tournament for the ages, and that means Ash and the gang will have to face some of their most challenging rivals: Bianca, Trip, Burgundy, and Georgia are all waiting to take them down! Can our heroes step up to the challenge?
 
What a tournament opener, it was alright but it was too much like the first episode of the Don George Tournament in Nimbasa City.

Edmond the “Rain Man” as soon as he started talking I was like WTF…he sounded an “emo-James” from season 1 (the voice actor back then anyway). It was a nice touch showing how Low Sweep lowers the opponent’s Speed that was good strategy on Stephan’s part teaching it that move.

Bianca flirts with Sawk because of its muscles (the same with Conkeldur and Throh), I would call Pokemon/Human shipping for this one but it is a strangle thing imaging Bianca laying an egg…

That one guy that will battle with Throh looks like Krillin from DBZ except that he has a nose, no marks on his forehead, a cleft in his chin, "eyes" and is tall.

Scraggy kind of looked strange dodging that Seed Bomb like it was “flying” or something. I don’t know why but it looks cute when its Hi Jump Kick misses and it holds its knee.

Ash: “Give it your all!!!” *learns Focus Blast*

Hmmm…I think I figured it out, in the anime there are no TM/HMs it’s a matter of what your trainer yells out when their Pokemon is in a pinch in order to learn a new move to win a battle.

Throh, honestly I did not think you said it like “throw” but now it makes sense; Sawk will “sock” its opponent while Throh “throws” its opponents.
 
"Montgomery" really is a weird name.. I think "Magnum" would have sounded better but oh well. Oh and Burgundy please stop saying things in french..
 
"Montgomery" really is a weird name.. I think "Magnum" would have sounded better but oh well.

Montgomery, who? Masaomi's name?
Also, I would like to know Akkie/Bakkie/Chakkie, Edmond (same?), Flora, Grace and Domon's dub names as well.

Akkie was Angus or something like that.. I think Flora remained the same I don't remember the others.
 
Damn. Why does Simisage get such an absolutely terrible voice in the dub? Kinda mixed on the idea of Cilan's Pansage evolving now if it means listening to that more often. Seismitoad on the other hand sounds really good, so Palpitoad is welcome to evolve - get on it writers!

Have I ever mentioned how brilliant I think Georgia is as a character? Every line of hers was good this episode. Which is nice as it makes up for nearly every one of Iris' lines being bad - what does she mean by not having entered a tournament in a while? She's entered every single one Ash has been in and not ever mentioned wanting to battle more at any other point, it would be nice if they occasionally put lines in the episodes leading up to these tournaments to set up her interest in competing, they always seem to be stretching for the reasons why Iris and Cilan enter these things.

Actually, Cilan probably deserves a bigger mention than Iris for being useless here - he should have lost that battle (I literally turned my head for a few seconds and then the battle was over) and there seemed to be no point to his evaluation time - he didn't actually say anything about his opponent, only seemingly using it to time delay on a solarbeam (is that the way of hiding the time it takes to charge moves like that - give a lecture mid battle?). It seemed here that the only reason for doing it was to set up the reaction, rather than any useful advice or analysis on his part. Like with everything, unless they mix up how it's used, it just gets boring and repetitive rather than being an interesting character quirk.

The episode all round has a bit of a pacing problem, it managed to spend a lot of time pre-tournament but almost all of the decent interactions happened in a few seconds mid-battle. They should have chucked a bit of this episode into the end of last week's one and given a bit more time to the battles.
 
I first thought I heard "Scraggy handled that Low Sweep like a bro!" instead of pro. :p I think I like "bro" better.

That's how Conkeldurr is pronounced? I never would have thought of saying it like that on my own. I guess it's to get the emphasis off the DURRRRRR in its name?

Oh Stephan, you wouldn't have to change your name. You'd just have to change how it's pronounced. :p That said, most of his reactions to his stupid name gag weren't so bad this time around. Let's see how long that lasts.

Bianca, you may be onto something about Trip liking to lose. I mean, come on, underestimating your opponent whom you know little to nothing about? Trip, you're a master of the BASICS. Pretty sure it's a basic thing to not underestimate your opponent. Trip just seemed so bored this episode. Even when he was like "whuh?" when Ash's Scraggy made a comeback in its match, it didn't look like Trip was reconsidering his opinion of Ash like it was strongly implied with Paul whenever this stuff happened in DP. All this just makes me wonder why Trip of all people gets to be Ash's "main" rival when Bianca and even Stephan have much better defined characters. Trip feels like he's just... there.

Did Iris actually get sarcastic in an amusing way? Did she just say "Great... It's party time~" when Cilan did his Evaluation Time? If so, she should do that more often. I was fully expecting "bawww boring lecture time" again. And since she directed it at Trip, I didn't mind "he's such a little kid" this time, either.

But I did love Georgia calling Iris out on her own bullshit. And apparently the excuse Iris is giving for not using Axew is... strategy? How does that even make sense. Unless she's aware that type logic is backwards in the BW series, she'd be better off using Axew against a Dewott and all those numerous Fighting-types out there that are gonna be super-effective against her ubermole. Come to think of it, the fact that Iris will eventually lose this tournament makes me wonder if this is the reason she's not using Excadrill for the upcoming tournament in BW2. :p "Welp, he lost once, time to retire him!" ... I'm joking, people.

Still, it's both pleasing and sad with Georgia. She's literally the only form of canon that's addressing Iris' flaws, but no one takes her seriously in the show because.... I have no idea. I did like the snarkiness between her and Burgundy, though. >D Those two alone can make these tournaments worth it. Montgomery sounds like a fitting replacement for Masaomi. He's based off the rich kid trainer classes in the games and I recall at least a couple of fictional characters who were rich and named Montgomery. The only one I remember instantly is the Yosemite Sam Jr. kid from Tiny Toons, though. :p

Just like last tournament, I'm still calling this Donamite and not Clubsplosion. Clubsplosion is a stupid name. This and the sommelier/connoisseur thing are the only exceptions to my staying consistent with using English names for everything.

Speaking of, Flora definitely kept her name and I think Grace did too.
 
Is it just me, or were TPTB trying to squeeze as many running gags, one-dimensional chaacterizations, and half-baked rivalries as possible into this ep? Bianca knocking Ash into the drink, no one pronouncing Stephan's name correctly (maybe he should change his name to "Bob"; hard to screw that up), Burgundy and Georgia being arrogant jerks, and Trip really needs to lay off the Valium. Maybe he should trade it with Bianca in exchange for her caffeine.
 
To me, Bianca's fawning over Sawk reminded me of the gag in Pokemon-X where the main character's mom gets all thingly in her pants over Machoke. Lol
 
This was a pretty nice episode. Especially with all the different characters. Emo guys, rich snobs, yeah... Nice to see everyone again. The battles were pretty nice, though I thought that Scraggy was gonna evolve when he was using Focus Blast that first time. And Bianca being all fangirly around Sawk was pretty hilarious.
 
kkie = Angus, Bakkie = Betty, Chakki = Getty, Domon = Delbert, Grace = Gail, Masaomi = Montgomery ... O_____O

I still didn't get the town's name. It sounded like Ambeeger/Ambiger/Ambeega town or something like that... What WAS it?

Anyway, I enjoyed the episode. The dub did a normal job, so I'm not that disappointed.
 
I still didn't get the town's name. It sounded like Ambeeger/Ambiger/Ambeega town or something like that... What WAS it?

The dubbers wanted to troll with us by giving us an ambiguous spelling.

But seriously, I think its just Ambiga Town, though I can't confirm it.

Don't you worry, I have got my 'cc' guy :p

We will have Toaru's name pretty soon, hopefully.

Edit: It's "Ambiga Town".
 
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The battles in Best Wishes are weird. They fights alternate between gentle aftershots of an uppercut or a tackle, to a pokemon nearly having its eye shot out from the force of being kneed in the face....


...kay.


But joking aside, this was a pretty entertaining ep. Sawk vs Seimictoad was phenomenal kickoff to the tournament, dampered only by Edmond's weird voice. Oh and have I mentioned how much I love Natsume? I don't know what it is, but her battles seem to have a nice flow to them.

I know some people are a bit flustered by the actual lack of rivalry between Cilan and Burgundy, but her reactions to Cilan's complete lack of a worry towards her hostility are worth it. I loved how she stuck out her tongue like a 3 year old.

Ash's Scraggy learning Focus blast like that is a bit deus ex machina, but like I said, you gotta kinda accept that with the series. I don't know what it is about Scraggy's battles, but there's just something thrilling about them, despite his lack of moves.

Him leering the opponent trainer was pretty good too.
 
Simisage's VA is.....Eric Cartman?
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I don't know what to think of Conkeldurr's pronunciation. On one side I like it, on the other hand I hate how TPCI has been emphasizing a Pokemon's name.

Overall I think this was an okay episode.
 
Re-watching the episode made me ask the question; If Bianca had a Facebook would she constantly be "poking" people?

Would have been interesting to see Ash battle Conkeldurr in the first round considering how big it is compared to the tiny Timburr it was in the past. Interesting to see how Oshawott would last against it let or any of Ash's team, but I'm just judging by size alone which in the anime isn't the best way of judging the outcome of a battle.

I'll give Cilan credit for Pansage gathering solar power during Cilan's evaluation time then launching Solarbeam, should use that strategy more often.
 
To me, Bianca's fawning over Sawk reminded me of the gag in Pokemon-X where the main character's mom gets all thingly in her pants over Machoke. Lol

OH SNAP! You're totally right! How could I forget about that?! XD

Oh, and Scraggy? Don't listen to these people! You keep on trucking, little dude!
 
I'm kinda disappointed that the dub producers didn't follow the Japanese version by giving the Simi siblings names similar to their Pokemon. I don't think it's a thing that could have translated easily (they'd have been named Simsa, Simpo and Simse / Sasi, Posi and Sesi if it was followed literally), but couldn't they have put in a little effort. Even Sammy, Poppy and Selly (made that name up) would have done. Angus, Betty and Getty sound so random.
 
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