Review S17 EP17: A Rush of Ninja Wisdom!

[Pokemaster97]

XY017 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Please keep all discussion pertaining to future episodes inside spoiler tags.

 

[radek.tadajewski.7]

Did anyone notice the Vs. screen wasn't fixed in the dub? That's strange, it shows Ash's Pikachu instead of Froakie.

 

[Sakuraa]

Another amazing episode. Here we got a mixture of awesome ninja Froakie development and adorable Bonnie cuteness.

Ok, first things first, I LOVED all of the ninja-ness here. From Froakie using his Frubbles to expose Sanpei to running on water, it was awesome! I felt like I was watching Pokémon version of Naruto throughout this episode.

The battle against Froakie and Frogaider was good. I liked all of Frogaider's sleek ninja-like swiftness and Froakie was pretty good showing off his moves and battle skills (since it’s not like he did any damage). I love the part where Froakie used his Rasenga-, I mean Water Pulse at the tree, only for a log to fall down. My gosh, what the hell did Sanpei do when he created a wind storm and move Fraokie out of the way of Frogadier's attack and then Froakie just appeared in his arms. That was awesome. I liked how Froakie was upset from the loss and wanted to get stronger by learning from Frogaider. It even looked like it was hard for him to ask for help. I’m lovin’ this guy more and more.

All of the training was really entertaining. Increasing not only Froakie's running speed, but his jumping speed was really strategic and I'm eager to see how this training will play out in the future. As I already mentioned, I particularly enjoyed the scene where Froakie tried over and over to run across the water. He was so cute when he was so happy he finally got it right. Frogaider's water running was cooler though (Of course that may be my bias for preferring Frogadier over the other members of its line). Also hilarious was how Ash just jumped into the water and assumed he should have been able to do the technique too, without even knowing Sanpei couldn't do it. I hope we get more training episodes in the future that are as creative as this one was. If I can say one positive thing about TR here, they let Froakie showoff his new Shadow Clone Juts-, I mean Double Team and then get blasted by a double Rase-, Water Pulse. I also like how Sanpei commanded Frubble as if it were an actual move.

Okay, Clemont's invention. WTF? I mean seriously, what was he trying to do? The whole time he was talking while wearing those things I was just thinking, "THIS IS NOT SAFE!”. Well, at least it didn't blow up.

And finally, the Bonnie cuteness! I loved her, Pikachu, and Dedenne's little ninja outfits. But seriously, why does Serena have all of these outfits? Anyway, I LOVED Bonnie in this episode and all of the ninja activity she was doing. Her ninja running, cloaking (did Pikachu and Dedenne really not see her?), breathing underwater, jump training, throwing leaves like shuriken, and the leaf cloak. Bonnie was amazing! It's nice that they gave her this cute entertaining thing to do so she wouldn't just be standing around watching Ash like Clemont and Serena.

Overall, a great episode. 9/10.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Ok, So I Bailed on Last Weeks Episode So I'm back and we had a Good Episode. Ninja Style.

So we start Off with Training with Ash and Froakie and then we have Sanpei and Frogadier coming out of nowhere NINJA STYLE! We have a Battle and well Obviously Frogadier Wins LOL.

So we have a Bunch of Training Scenes and it is Cool. Bonnie gets into some Ninja Clothes from Serena and both Pikachu and Dedenne Join the Party of doing NINJA STYLE. While Bonnie was Cute in the Ninja Outfot, She Annoyed Me, it's just she bugs me a lot and this was NO EXCEPTION. But seeing all the Training was Cool.

I got some Naruto Vibes hear, I Haven't Watched too much of it but I saw a bunch of Nostalgic there. Froakie and Frogadier Running on Water was Good. And Ash trying to Run On it LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL THAT WAS Funny.

Also now for one of the Cons, WTF WAS THAT WITH Clemont "HE BLASTED OFF AGAIN!" That was just SOOOOOOOOOOOO RANDOM LOL 0_0

And Team Rocket was UNNECESSARY IMO, yeah I get they were Needed for Froakie to Learn Double Team but still, JUST RANDOM.

ALL THE main Characters EXCLUDING Ash were USELESS I THOUGHT. Ash was AWESOME, I saw a bit of his Old Character and Personality from AG.

Overall Very Good I thought, Better than the One I Purposely Bailed on Last Week, but I will Give it a 7.7 Good Episode.

 

[Team Gaara]

So I guess ninjas are just common things in Kalos? I mean, I know they just chill around in Hoenn and Sinnoh, but Bonnie was pretty nonchalant about this random-ass ninja~

Looks like this’ll be our token: “Ash’s pre-evolved Pokémon is just as good as your evolved one” episode. Though, I wonder why Pikachu was in the VS? Hasn’t it shown Froakie before in the Sylveon episode?

So we got: Replacement jutsu, hand signs, walking on water, jumping from trees, toads…don’t try to tell me they weren’t copying
Naruto. Not that that bothers me whatsoever.

And so we’re getting a training episode with some adorable Bonnie. That’s pretty cool~ I loved that Bonnie wanted to be a ninja, but first of all:

How did Serena produce that outfit so fast from that little box?

Secondly, how does Pikachu end up being a ninja?

Well, whatever, it’s adorable watching them ninja around in the background, anyway.

You know, Clemont, not everything in life warrants an invention. -_- Especially something as simple as jumping.

And so Clemont just went to the moon…aaaaannnddd? Where the f*ck did he go?!

Well, anyway, it was funny how Ash tried to run on water and Bonnie and Pikachu to come save him.

TEAM ROCKET?! Double U-Tee-Eff?! Where the balls have they been and why are they back? Really, why have they been gone so long and choose now to come back?

In the music department, Frogadier had some awesome “Who’s That Pokémon?” music.

Where the hell is Ninja Villiage? We need to go there sometime, because it sounds kickass.

So the brothers’ names are 1, 2, 3, right? That’s cute~ Though, is Venusaur a Ninja Pokémon? It doesn’t seem as fitting compared to Greninja. Like, why not Shiftry or something? I mean, Shiftry totally looks like Jiraiya.

Bonnie is the most adorable ninja That leaf cloak was so cute. And Pikachu, too. Wow, it’s been a while since Pikachu’s gone anything cute.

They got all kinds of off track with this ninja training. It took this long to actually do the Quick Attack~ More important, though, why the hell is Team Rocket here? Is their inclusion just to show Froakie mastering Quick Attack? Because that’s pretty cheap; they literally served no other purpose.

Regardless, I guess the fight was pretty cool. And they even had the Shadow Clones and Giant Rasengan. That’s pretty cool~ Glad that Froakie’s training paid off~

Overall, that was a really good training episode. And I liked that they didn’t try to totally force the whole “power of Pokémon has nothing to do with evolution” on us this time. And the many Naruto references that I liked to interpret, were very appreciated.

Sanpei and his Frogadier were very nice characters and I liked they bond that grew between him and Ash. It makes me wish the two will return as future rivals~

I would like to note that Serena’s only viable contribution was making Bonnie cuter. Well, thanks for that, Serena~ But really though, Serena felt the most left out today. Clemont made a freaky-ass invention that we have no idea what happened to and made comments from time to time, and Pikachu, Bonnie, and Dedenne played ninja while Ash trained. I’m not saying Serena has to do everything, but can she at least do something other than standing around and making clothes?

Regardless, it was a good episode, all in all, with the only major problem being the needless inclusion or Team Rocket. So I’ll give it a 9.3/10.

 

[Johtohfiller]

They didn't change Sanpei's name!

 

[Grabbergirl]

Haven't watched it yet. Glad they didn't changed Sanpei's name because I can imagine them naming him something stupid like "Onesie".

 

[Team Gaara]

Haven't watched it yet. Glad they didn't changed Sanpei's name because I can imagine them naming him something stupid like "Onesie".

Sanpei's name includes the number three (san), not one.

 

[Alpha71689]

It's was a pretty good episode. The battle was decent, and the training montage was OK. The only problem I had was Team Rocket abruptly coming back, even though I wasn't glad they did come back. I am only guessing they were in this episode to set up Froakie learning Double Team.

 

[Srebak]

I've just started watching the episode and i have to say, some of the ninja's comments seemed uncalled for. I thought Froakie's earlier training looked pretty good and that Froakie himself put up a great fight during the battle.

Also, hasn't Ash battled faster pokemon and won in the past? And has done so with great strategies?

 

[Beth Pavell]

Ninja Village isn't quite as stupid a name as Village of Drayguns, but it's close >_>

I've got to say, I'm a bit overdosed on Froakie at this point. I reckon I would have enjoyed this episode more if we'd seen more of Fletchling than bubble frog in previous episodes. but it was a serviceable training episode. As usual, the modern-day ninja thing sticks out, even more so considering that this is supposed to be pseudo-France, but whatever. Great battle, it has to be said, watching Froakie and Frogadier duke it out was good fun.

I liked the little vignettes of Bonnie playing - another very quick and cute reminder that she is a little girl without getting in the way of the A-plot. Compared to the way that pokémon has always dealt with kids in the past - and I refer to the COTD kids and whatnot - it's actually believable compared to the exaggerated kid-voices of, say, Brock's siblings

Oh, and Clemont's invention was hilarious. I loved how we didn't even see him land, it just went on to the next scene

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Oh yes, this was what I'd like to call an "authentic and real Pokemon episode". Authentic and real because it focused on every Pokemon trainer's main goal, namely training and battling. After all, the show used to be all about Pokemon battles, but in my eyes that changed in the past unfortunately. So, I think from now on the majority of the episodes should again be like this one with training and battles being the main focus.

And finally we got a CoD who didn't just serve as a comic relief but was an experienced ninja and opponent who needs to be taken seriously! The training techniques he taught Ash were awesome and it was a pleasure to watch both the battle and the training session. Also, I liked how they showed Ash struggling to accept his defeat and his unwillingness to beg Sanpei for advice. I can easily imagine how embarrassing he must have felt.

All of the training was really entertaining. Increasing not only Froakie's running speed, but his jumping speed was really strategic and I'm eager to see how this training will play out in the future.

Guess what? That was my only concern while watching the episode. I'm pretty sure, no, I know it that all his hard training and the ninja thing will never be mentioned again in the future. Having watched this show for ages, I'll assure you that the writers will treat Froakie as if this episode had never happened and all that will be left is his new move Double Team. (This is only a prediction, though, as I don't know anything about Froakie's development in the current Japanese episodes.)

To sum it up, this was a great episode and definitely one of the best XY episodes so far!

 

[Karamazov]

Definitely one of the better training episodes. The humor was great (and Bonnie's inclusion made things a lot funnier, to boot), and Sanpei was really cool.

 

[Meowstic]

Was it just me or did Ash sound extremely constipated after his battle against Sanpei (Specifically right before Sanpei gives Ash a remedy for his Froakie)?

 

[Alpha71689]

Was it just me or did Ash sound extremely constipated after his battle against Sanpei (Specifically right before Sanpei gives Ash a remedy for his Froakie)?

He did sound like he was, but that was just him being frustrated with what Sanpei said about Ash's Froakie.

 

[Muur]

Bubble and Quick Attack > all other moves

Least the Ninja's a nice guy even though he has a stupid voice

Hope this means Ash will evolve his Froakie in the future

I did lol when Forakie fell for the Frubles thing like when he was fighting Fletchling

lol at the spring machine. Bonnie's ninja stuff is pretty cute.

All this for quick attack...?

it's funny because quick attack is weaker than tackle. Pikachu should've shown his Quick Attack. ...so why could Pikachu not just cut the net with Iron Tail?

So Double Team as well? that's 5 moves now, which has it forgot, Bubble, Pound?

I suppose it's not a filler as Froakie learns two moves :O. Unless that wasn't quick attack I guess.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Truly enjoyed this episode, especially with all the side stuff going on with Bonnie/Pikachu/Dedman

 

[EliteTrainerXeos]

For those saying that this training won't be mentioned or used in future episodes (You're in for a surprise)

Anyhow, I thought Sanpei's voice was very fitting for the role, although I was expecting a voice similar to Froakie's for Froadier.

Overall I preferred it in English rather than Japanese (Wow, that's a first.)

 

[Akari]

Bonnie was MFing adorable in this episode. Wow.

 

[farmerluk]

I like the way the Ninja's way of hiding is the way they hide in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, hoping they include more from them games as we head towards the new games release in November