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Review S15 EP35: Rocking the Virbank Gym! Part 1

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BW083 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia
From the official site said:
Gym Leader Roxie knows how to play a good beat...and she knows how to beat her challengers, too! Her Poison-type Pokémon have rocked all the competition they’ve faced. Now it’s Ash’s turn to see if he can hit all the right notes at Roxie’s underground music club—and she’s even letting him use all six of his Pokémon against her three! Can Ash deliver a memorable performance against this virtuoso Gym Leader?
 
So, Ash's eighth Gym battle will take place... in the basement of CBGB?

Anyway, first thing that really popped out at me, although it took me a while to realize the gravity of what I was looking at, that was a Koffing there! A non-native Pokémon from the prior gens! This battle is already different. As for the 6 vs. 3 matchup, even though it's looking like Ash is gonna need it, I was hoping he would pass on it and beat Roxie on equal terms. He could still agree to it, then beat her in three Pokémon rounds. But no, he's not THAT good.

Speaking of Roxie and her Koffing and their band, the Toxics, they're based in Virbank City, right? Okay, Unova, that's supposed to be New York City. Got it. But Virbank is supposed to be like California. Is there really a relevant punk scene in California? Then I considered Green Day. So, are the Toxics supposed to be like Green Day? With the rhythm guitarist or bassist or whatever being named Bad Billy Jo, I'm thinking so.

But one last question, is Roxie not wearing any pants? And is that just a shirt? That's very irresponsible to just wear a shirt. Tsk tsk
 
Doesn't it suppose to be in the Sticky thread !
Anyway , I really piss that writer decide to make it 6 vs 3 match.
I mean , Gym Battle is only thing in this series where Ash get to fully shine .(Since he isn't allow to win Long term tournament)
Does Writer has ruin that to by making it 6 vs 3 battle ???
 
I have a problem with Roxie voice actress. I think that it is intressing that they are use 6 to 3 because gym leaders has to see how the trainer stenghts and weakness
 
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A rather disappointing dub to be honest, despite it getting some things right. I actually felt like this was a good solid gym conclusion to the mixed bag of the Unova gyms. Roxie's voice was alright. The battles were entertaining, with enough thought to be interesting, but not overblown.

That said, and I actually hate to say this, dub music really took away from this ep. The close ups on Roxie and her band members as she played, and not being able to actually hear their instruments was just embarrassing compared to the original.
 
Well the episode had its ups and downs but I thought it was a good one.

Not surprising to get a Pokedex scan on Koffing for the newer generation of fans that don't know what a Koffing is because its Gen I so I wasn't that ticked about it.

If I had a dollar for every time a person in Unova went crazy over Ash's Pikachu I'd have more money than TR has spent on crazy gadgets and mechas on their failed plots back in the old days...

I think this was the first time since Paul's Aggron using Metal Sound on Pikachu during the Sinnoh League that we've heard of a Pokemon's Special Defense being lowered, I enjoyed that part of the episode when Energy Ball caused green sparks to come off of Koffing.

Kind of like Roark's Cranidos, Gardenia's Turtwig and Elesa's Tynamo we have a 1st stage Pokemon that is extremely overpowered in terms of Speed stats. Though in Koffing's case we actually have a legit strategy for offensive AND defense from Roxie.

I wasn't too excited over her dub voice though. It was kind of cool to have the band and crowd cheering on her competitors and her being a good sport to those she has defeated.

Not sure but I would be pretty pissed if something randomly called for an attack and blew up part of the sound system or whatever was sticking out of the ceiling. Come on Ash, you should know better than that.

Kind of ironic that Boldore and Unfezant (2 Pokemon that evolved and won gym battles for Ash in the past) were the first Pokemon on his team defeated and then Leavanny (who evolved in its 2nd form during gym #3 and lost there too) was the one to bring Koffing down.

Really not impressed with Ash still using it against a Scolipede and a Razor Leaf? Even if it landed a critical hit that fully evolved Bug/Poison type wouldn't feel much of anything. But this is the anime after all...

Using String Shot like a Super Rod (that's what I thought of for Ash "reeling" in Koffing) was pretty good to land a close attack.

I'm not mad at Ash for using 6 Pokemon, because he did try to talk Roxie out of it so that character he is well known for shown for a second. As Roxie said, she is the gym leader and she makes the rules can't argue with that.

Funny how the 8th leader is usually stubborn or confident in more ways than one and sends Ash through a loop remember what he had to go through to get a legit battle with Volkner?

Can't wait for part 2.
 
Overall, I was pretty pleased with this episode. There were some ups and downs, but overall it was one of the better episodes.

Roxie's voice actress seemed a bit... weak. She didn't sound too excited, considering the role she plays as a punk band. She sounded almost, I dunno... mellow. Not quite rockin' the house, if you ask me. But, nonetheless, she was good enough.

The 6 vs. 3 is a nice change. It appears more akin to the games, for starters, and it really shows off Roxie's skill and determination. It shows more of how a Gym Leader should be; be willing to accept any and all forms of challenges, even if the odds are (numerically) against them. I think it really adds a bit more flare to the gym battle. Not to mention Ash will need it, as two of his Pokemon fell pretty quickly to just a Koffing. Not your usual muscular or powerful-looking Pokemon you see moping the floor with someone, just an overgrown, toxic-filled balloon. Interesting twist.

I was glad to see more strategy this time by Ash's Leavanny. Energy Ball lowering Koffing's Special Defense was something you don't see too often. And an excellent use of String Shot. Round and round it goes! Where it stops, only Leavanny knows! *chuckles* Too bad we can't copy that idea in the games, it would make String Shot more useful, but whattya gonna do.

It was nice to see the crowd cheer both the Gym Leader and challenger. The only time we usually get a crowd is during the league, even though most Gyms have stadium-sized seating. Wonder why that is?

But one last question, is Roxie not wearing any pants? And is that just a shirt? That's very irresponsible to just wear a shirt. Tsk tsk

I'm pretty sure she has a pair of short shorts under that long shirt. If she didn't, she might not like it if an opponent's stray wind-like attack, like Gust, missed, and gave the audience something REALLY interesting to look at. But I'm pretty sure she has a pair of light blue shorts under that long, punk-ish shirt, otherwise it could cause her an embarrassing moment if something went astray. But for all we know, that kind of thing might be common in punk concerts... better shut up now...

Meloetta was so cute, hiding behind that spotlight, watching the battle. I have to say it might be my favorite Legendary Pokemon at this rate. I do hope Ash catches it one of these days (wishful thinking, I know, but if Iris could have a pseudo-legendary but Ash can't, I'd say he deserves something like that more than she does).

Overall, one of the better episodes. There were some bad points, but the good stuff outweighed it big time. I can't wait for part 2. I believe this is the first time we've seen a straight-shot two-part Gym Battle (not including rematches). If not, it's been a very long time.
 
I do hope Ash catches it one of these days (wishful thinking, I know, but if Iris could have a pseudo-legendary but Ash can't, I'd say he deserves something like that more than she does).

spoilers guess who doesn't catch meloetta
 
spoilers guess who doesn't catch meloetta

I'm well aware that he didn't catch it as of yet. I know it left with Larry. However, don't forget it took Krokorok 62 episodes to be caught from his debut, but Ash caught it regardless. The anime still has time, and anything can happen. After all, in BW, the impossible has occurred: Ash regressed into a dense rookie again, gets schooled by an obnoxious rival repeatedly, Iris and Cilan are the new Misty and Brock, TRio has become serious bad guys, and a main character caught a pseudo-legendary Pokemon. What's saying something like that won't happen?

Anyway, I forgot to mention one last thing about the episode. I was a bit disappointed at the lack of Roxie's band music in the background. Considering the Japanese version had more music played by her band, and how much the rock band theme as a whole was toned down, it was sort of a drag. After all, Roxie's band is a focal point to the gym's theme and style, so why tone it down so much?
 
Loved this episode, shame it wasn't a double episode :( anyways i guess i'm the rare person here who actually like's roxie's dub voice.

Anyways 9.4/10
 
spoilers guess who doesn't catch meloetta

I'm well aware that he didn't catch it as of yet. I know it left with Larry. However, don't forget it took Krokorok 62 episodes to be caught from his debut, but Ash caught it regardless. The anime still has time, and anything can happen. After all, in BW, the impossible has occurred: Ash regressed into a dense rookie again, gets schooled by an obnoxious rival repeatedly, Iris and Cilan are the new Misty and Brock, TRio has become serious bad guys, and a main character caught a pseudo-legendary Pokemon. What's saying something like that won't happen?

well the fact that no matter what ash put his mind in the writers nearly always screws him, that happen in every pokemon league and he was only compensated in the orange island and in the battle frontier, but after that he wasn't been able to pull it together, and i'm still in rage for tobiasmotherfucker, anyway ash also has catch a little to many pokemon of unova and i don't think he needs more because in fact some of them are getting neglected like palpitoad and some of them are getting overglolified like snivy
 
I think I said just about everything I could about this episode when it aired in Japan, so I'm not going to debate the merits of the 6 vs 3 - suffice to say I hate that in every way.

But on the dub, this was one of the rare times I did have a problem with the music, it was really a main part of Roxie's character so I really wish they went to more effort in putting that part of this episode together. Otherwise the dub itself was fine I think - Roxie sounded pretty much how I expected her to.
 
* The dub music was disappointing, well... Like always.
* Alyson did a tremendous job with Roxie's voice... LOVED IT! Same for Sarah.
* The referee's voice was a let down. And why is that important? Well, it is for me. For one thing, I really liked his "OH NO!" in the original, when Koffing got defeated.
* Koffing's voice was fine, no complains.
 
:notbad:

A gym eppy that has yet to disappoint.

But ROXY is the name for the gym leader, ROXY??? THE HELL??

200000/10
 
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Roxie's voice dub >.<
too bad pikachu didnt battle koffing or we would hav had a Nostalgic throwback to the 90s
However i did like that the crowd chearing for roxie was 80million times better then in the Japanese version of having to hear a high pitched and squeaky "HOMIKA" over and over.
Not too bad for a gym episode
 
>Roxie plays a dub-insert piece
>Ash and co. cover their ears and are clearly in pain

LOL!

I really loved Roxie's voice. It's so confident and powerful, much better than anything I was expecting. Whoever her VA is, kudos to them for actually being able to emote.

I'm really liking Ash's strategy with Leavanny here. The boy really works well with this Pokemon, and it's good to see their training has payed off.
 
Okayy i have watched this episode 4/5 more times.. YES that many times lol :)

So i had a better chance to observe it and i really gotta give it to tpci, Excellent dub :) i cannot get enough of roxie's voice seriously!! it's utterly perfect, and i was impressed with how well tpci blended their dub music into the rock scenes.

And koffings voice didn't sound much different from it's 4 kids counterpart, thank god! and i was really impressed with the dub music in this episode, i remember the soundtrack being quite repitive in the original, so i was pleased with the change, overal this would have to be the most flawless episode tpci has yet to dub, and it's only going to get better.

I'll change my score to a 9.9/10
 
Why did Ash Pokedexed Koffing!????

I still can't get over that 6 on 3 battle!
Roxie was quite nice and entertaining!

It was a quite interesting battle! :D Leavanny my shining star AMAZING! :D shame it got knocked down after one Toxic! :(
 
It's funny how Ash Pokedexed Koffing when he's seen James used one for years. Though I suppose it's so newer fans who've only played Black and White know who Koffing is.

A pretty decent dub. I like Roxie's voice, she sounded tough and someone who would be a in a punk-rock band. I'm assuming their name is supposed to be a parody of Green Day, considering their guitarist's name is Bad Billy Jo. I might be the only who was annoyed with the "rock" puns. I get she's in a rock band, but they seemed to overdue in my opinion. I really don't pay attention to have much original music is replaced in dubs, but I really liked the music they used.

I'll give the episode 7.75/10
 
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