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Review S19 EP16: Master Class Choices!

Honestly, for Serena's last Showcase, this was a bit of a letdown. It was a bit too rushed for me.

Well, first and foremost, I like that they're still showing off Sylveon's closeness with Bunnelby. I was worried that they might not focus as much on it after her evolution. So seeing him encourage her before the Showcase and watching it was great. And dang that key is gorgeous.

Ok...so why do Pokemon Performers need to have the ability to charm Rhyhorn? That's pretty wierd, but anyway, I found it incredible odd how a majority of that herd was comprised of male Rhyhorn that just so happened to fall in love with a human girl on sight. I did like that Serena actually had to coax the last one on her own at least, but Braxien and Pancham literally did nothing. And honestly, now I wonder what Serena's plan would have been and what her Pokemon would have done had the Rhyorn not had a crush on her. It just seemed so lazy, rushed, and bordering on to DEM. Also, I think it would have been much more interesting and added much more of a challenge if the Performers had to the the Pokemon to go to them on their own without the use of moves. Otherwise anyone could have just been like Amelia and just used Attract to gather them all. It wouldn't have made a difference for Serena, but still)

Amelia's freestyle performance was cool. I enjoyed seeing her ride on Dragonair. Though honestly, I expected something a bit flashier. I liked that Sylveon was nervous due to her mistake in the last Showcase and that Serena was able to cheer her up and give her confidence. I'm so glad that Serena used all 3 of her Pokemon in her freestyle. It was amazing and certainly better than Amelia's imo. I especially enjoyed seeing her and all of her Pokemon dancing. She definitely deserved to beat her. And that fabulous key tho:) Lol at Bonnie shaking Ash when Serena won. I only wish we could have seen more Performer's freestyles. I mean, all they ever show are still shots anyways, but here all we saw were Serena and Amelia. Like I said, the biggest problem with this showcase was that everything was so rushed.

Nice that Serena called Shauna to tell her about her final key. Minor thing, but I honestly thought Serena holding Sylveon at the dinner table rather than Pancham was weird. I mean, Pancham is the smallest, so it just seemed a bit odd to me that she wouldn't be holding him, but whatever. And do my eyes device me? Did Chespin actually give his entire bowl of food to Pancham and not even try to take any more away from someone else? Oh please tell me his days of being an asshole are finally over.

Ok, was Serena forgetting her brush the best way to get her to see that scene with Amelia and Palermo? Because that was just totally odd. They couldn't have let her just be taking a walk or let that happen right after the Showcase or something. That was really just too random for my tastes. I did like Braxien telling Pancham to whisper and Sylveon comforting Serena after Palermo said. that she was "lacking something".

Lastly, I just need to say that I thought Amelia was a pretty pointless addition. She was literally just another performer, the only difference being that she was really well known and was snobby for no explained reason. And Serena beat her pretty easily so she didn't even act as any sort of challenge. Nothing major even came from her appearance. She could have not even existed and the episode would have been pretty much the same.

Overall, the Showcase was far too rushed for Serena's last key. All of the past Showcases up until this point were great, but for the last key of all things, this was disappointing. I guess at the very least, Jessie didn't appear at all, so that was good. I'd say 7/10. Could have been much better.
 
Cal's name seems to be Kiery, while Kazari is Kazaly, same as her French name. I'm also pretty sure that Kazaly is voiced by Emily Jenness, since she has a distinct Dawn twang in her voice. I can't make out Kiery's actress because Scraggy keeps talking over her.

As for the episode, the whole Rhyhorn automatically flock to Serena thing was unbelievably cheap and should never have made it past the first draft. Amelia wasn't particularly concerning either, similar to Team Rocket being the gym leaders of the Viridian Gym; you know the hero is going to win with minimal effort.

They seem to have suddenly come to the conclusion that they had left the performance arc too late and now need to wrap it up as quickly as possible, and this episode suffers tremendously as a result. I sincerely hope they learn from this and greatly improve on the Performance side of things in the next series. The recurring background performers and variety of appeal rounds worked well, but the pacing of the arc needs to be planned ahead and not rushed to conclusion, creating unsatisfactory contrivances like the Rhyhorn from this episode.
 
I've never thought of Ed Goldfarb as a bad composer. He really tends to be at his best with Showcase episodes like this. Though "Party Dancecapades!" from a few weeks ago was better scored, I'd say this is second place to that.

Now then, I can't really say this was that good a Showcase. Serena won the Rhyhorn round much too easily and cheaply. It at least worked as a good debut for Sylveon (in that form, mind you). Though, really, must the camera move around so much during that dance??

And also, for some reason, this is the second episode in a row whose French dub aired before the English one. And finally, this is the last dub episode where Theresa Buchheister was the VD.
 
I've never thought of Ed Goldfarb as a bad composer. He really tends to be at his best with Showcase episodes like this. Though "Party Dancecapades!" from a few weeks ago was better scored, I'd say this is second place to that.

Now then, I can't really say this was that good a Showcase. Serena won the Rhyhorn round much too easily and cheaply. It at least worked as a good debut for Sylveon (in that form, mind you). Though, really, must the camera move around so much during that dance??

And also, for some reason, this is the second episode in a row whose French dub aired before the English one. And finally, this is the last dub episode where Theresa Buchheister was the VD.
That's true. Lisa Ortiz takes over direction next week and I for one am skeptic at what she could be doing now that she's running things. Also, I will say that compared to Party Dancecapades this episode was kind of weak due to Serena getting her last key/a rival that that was clearly a 1-shot and that we will be attending the master class so soon later this month. I for one agree that Ed Goldafrb is a great music composer for Pokemon and this episode clearly shows it, but definitely again compared to the Party episode, it's 2nd best. Also, because my OCD is telling me this why did the French get this EP and last week's EP before the US release did?
 
I found this Showcase to be rather weak as well, the first part with the Rhyhorn was boring. They only liked Serena cuz they were horny for her so that's why she one that. As for her dance in the final part was rather bland it had some nice moments. But I'd like to see Serena try something else other than the same old things.
 
Wait, Lisa Ortiz hasn't taken over directing yet? For some reason I thought she already had, though it would make sense that we wouldn't see her work right after the announcement was made seeing as it takes a few months to dub an episode. Her acting abilities were passable at best, and I do mean at best, so hopefully she can direct better than perform.

On a side note I thought the music piece that played during Serena's performance was decent, it definitely had the right vibe to it. That being said I would have 100000000x preferred DoriDori to play or at least an instrumental version of it, mainly because it's probably one of my favorite vocal songs this show has ever put out.

Also, the animation of Serena dancing was probably some of the most complex this show has seen, I'd even put it above most of the movie animation. Was it outsourced or did they just dump the entire episode's budget into that one sequence?
 
Yeah, I sorta guessed that a dub wasn't going to save this one. Translated or raw, it's still the weakest Showcase episode yet. I definitely speak for many here when I say that this is the moment the writers stopped caring.
 
Serena's performances are actually quite boring without DreamDream playing...

It's just her and some Pokemon bouncing about on a small part of the stage, which must be boring for the people at the back who can't see it very well. Amelia's performance was much more "polished" and made better use of the space.
 
Frankly, this episode proves once again that Pokemon Perfomances are a pretty useless invention.
Taming and attracting Rhyhorn? Seriously? If anything, it's a gift that a Pokemon TRAINER needs to have but not a performer. Also, if they really want to keep that element, ban all type of moves like Attract and only have the performers themselves show their social skills when it comes to dealing with Pokemon. Attracting the Rhyhorn with a move is cheap, uncreative and makes the whole "competition" kind of pointless.

Another aspect that I have to criticize: I absolutely disagree with the way Palermon deals with young performers. I'm not talking about that snobby Amelia who deserved to lose. What I'm talking about is the way she spoke to Serena. That girl is still a rookie and far from being a professional performers, so dear Palermo, what in the world do you expect? And what gives you the right to treat her so condescendingly?
I know Palermon is interested in Serena but if she really wants to further her career, she shouldn't just blame her for lacking something and then drive away without saying a word. What kind of philosophy is that? I'll tell you what she should've done instead: Be patient and friendly, give her at least some practical advice so Serena can find out on her own how to improve and last but not least, don't discourage but ENcourage her to always give her very best!

Apart from that, a normal episode I'd say.
 
I highly doubt that in a real contest where a home town star gets that much support would lose when it's the crowd who chooses who wins.

The stuck up girl had a way better performance too, although Serena's just seemed like what an idol would do.

I call shenanigans.

Okay episode that was hella rushed, tbh. Seems shoehorned in to give Serena a third key. ...also why did those Rhyhorn even chase Serena in the first place.

Also, no one making a big deal about a shiny Dragonaire.
 
I really loved this episode and was greatly dazzled by the Showcase performances. To be very honest, I do not mind Showcases at all. I am always impressed seeing all the performances the Performers put up. I like the dancing part of Showcases a bit less, but never mind. The event also provides a goal for someone who does not like to battle, like Lillie from Generation 7. And this one was no different in dazzling me.

I kinda feel that Amelia's performance was better than Serena's and with nearly all the audience cheering for her, she should have won the Showcase. But, never mind, Serena has her third Princess Key and that's that! Where's Jessilee?

Also, I really liked the background music that played when Palermo was talking with Amelia and later Serena.

All in all, a pretty dazzling and interesting episode for me, at least.
 
well, if you hear carefully, Serena's Braixen will actually say: "Thanks!"
 
I love everything about this episode. I love the fact that we have been introduced to a new character called Amelia that she has a character which no other rival had before this really confident but also really arrogant and calamitous attitude which of course has made Serena really nervous but I also love that Serena didn't got intimidated by Amelia and also performed really good. I also left the conflict between Serena and Palermo and that Hilaire mob tries to push the arena harder to get better and better but in VN. Of course, I love the little details. For example, Serena's Sylveon was still worried and nervous about what happened in the last type of tripokalon and that Serena even much short even more that she develops that her character even developed more and that she takes responsibility for her pokemon, I love that. I also love that Ash even didn't really care about his last batch to finally enter the Kalos League and instead of that, he actually cared more about Serena that it's more important right now that Serena will take part in this masterclass try instead of aiming for 8th batch and that was beautiful. The story was beautiful, everything more in the story was absolutely beautiful.

The focus, of course Serena's fleurrh city showcase and the focus perfectly describes the situation of the story that Serena has a lot of conflicts with in this episode between Amelia between Palermo and also between herself because she also helps herself but of course, she's getting cheered up by her friends and especially by Ash because she gets motivated by Ash as attitude during the tripokalon and also the tripokalon and this was beautiful.

The Animation was Amazing. The Main animation focus was ,of course the free performance and although I really love how
they animated these Rhyhorn turning section, the free performance is of course the main highlight of this episode. I loved how they animated Amelia's performance which was really crisply animated. It was perfect, it was shiny and this is how a performance should be and of course there was Serena 's performance which was really really well done. Serena's performance was also perfect. I've really also loved the length of both performances which were really good. Amelia's performance wasn't too short, and so wasn't Serena's and because of that, I loved this animation highlight.

This episode was wonderful and perfect.

Rating: 9.5/10 (Amazing)
 
I remember watching this episode and enjoying Amelia’s and Serena’s performance. The Rhyhorn portion seemed way to convenient for Serena I think it was unrealistic that Amelia lost the showcase given the fact that she is popular in that town. I wish Amelia had been a recurring rival because her shiny Dragonair and performance were great! She also had a clashing attitude with Serena, which could’ve developed into an interesting rivalry.
 
I remember watching this episode and enjoying Amelia’s and Serena’s performance. The Rhyhorn portion seemed way to convenient for Serena I think it was unrealistic that Amelia lost the showcase given the fact that she is popular in that town. I wish Amelia had been a recurring rival because her shiny Dragonair and performance were great! She also had a clashing attitude with Serena, which could’ve developed into an interesting rivalry.
The way Serena tames Rhyhorn in primary examination was very nice, in my opinion.

Serena and Amelia freestyle performance are awesome.

To be honest, Amelia is better character than Miette, Nini,etc.

Had she appeared earlier, she would have been a good rival.

It's a shame that Amelia only appears in one episode.
 
The way Serena tames Rhyhorn in primary examination was very nice, in my opinion.

Serena and Amelia freestyle performance are awesome.

To be honest, Amelia is better character than Miette, Nini,etc.

Had she appeared earlier, she would have been a good rival.

It's a shame that Amelia only appears in one episode.
I think Miette was more of a romantic rival as she was mainly there to tease Serena about her crush on Ash, but they could’ve developed that rivalry further. Nini didn’t get enough screen time either. These characters could’ve help develop Serena in different ways since each one of them had a distinct personality. Amelia was great and I concur with you in that is a shame that she only appears for one episode. The conversation she had with Palermo was interesting and it would have been interesting to see if she had learned her lesson after talking with her and if she had appeared in future showcases they could have explored more about her story and popularity (which is implied to come because of her family name).
 
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