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Review S19 EP19: Master Class Is in Session!

So we finally arrived at these eppys. I believe we were let down by not seeing Shauna's performances at all, Serena's just seemed like more of the same maybe it would have been nice to see. Her try something else or borrow a Pokemon's from one of her friends and use them, I'll even say that Miette performance was better than hers.
 
Finally the Master Class! I'm so hype!

Wow, funny how Serena's rivals all just so happen to coincidentally show up at exactly the same time. And wtf, their Pokemon just appeared out of air. Cuz they sure weren't there when they walked over. Well, actually, the camera angle was above their bodies so I guess its possible that they were there and just unable to be seen. Weird though. I like how they still show off Smoochum's crush on Pancham. Miette teasing Serena though is still kind of annoying and pointless, but whatever.

Damn that Honchcrow looked super stylish. Wish we would have seen him during the showcase. I really like how Serena and her Pokemon made a new promise on Braxien's branch; now including Sylveon. I also liked the scenes of Serena's rivals and their Pokemon prepping in sync with each other; particularly Slurpuff fixing her bow (so cute), and Smoochum applying lipstick.

Ok, I just have to say that I was so happy to see that Grace not only went to see Serena perform live for her final Showcase, but that she even got dressed up. That so heartwarming and surprising for me. I really liked how the girls had to use their winning keys to open their door. I know that there's probably no way this could happen, but I think it would be incredibly funny if someone tried to sneak into the Master Class with fake keys and got locked in their little booth and couldn't escape. Lol. I really liked how they showed Sycamore, Trevor, Tierno, and especially Rhyhorn and Fletchling via Grace's laptop watching Serena and Shauna. I thought Korrina, Viola, Alexa and especially Goodra and his gang were odd choices since Serena being a performer was never mentioned around any of them iirc. Then again, I guess they could have been watching for other reasons. Whatever, still thought it was nice. Aria and Delphox looked gorgeous in their dresses. Aria's minor glance at Serena was nice.

Wow, that outfit Kiri had Scraggy wearing almost made it look appealing. I was really let down by Nini's performance. She really should have and could have done more. She could have made use of Smoochum's psychic powers. Sigh. I loved how the Master Class incorporated online voting through phones in addition to voting within the Showcase hall. Man, felt so bad for Nini when she started crying. I'm glad she got second though. I'll never understand how Jessie won since all she did was have Gourgiest shoot Shadow Balls in the air over and over. Honestly, as much as I love Nini and wanted her to win, I felt Kiri and Scraggy did the best. Oh well.

Miette and Slurpuff's performance was so cute. Serena's was swag, but just like with Nini, I hoped she would have done more. Sara Lee's was fabulous and Glaceon looked adorable. I would have voted for her myself. But I seriously wish she would have used her Leafeon instead. Not only has her own Glaceon already appeared more than her Leafeon, but in general Glaceon as a species have appeared more than Leafeon. Her appearance even matches Leafeon more for pete's sake.

Weird how Pancham and Sylveon were kind of just sitting there watching the screen after Serena was shown to win her section. I thought they'd be jumping around and cheering or something. At least Shauna looked super happy. Aw man, Miette's crying too. Man, I'm feeling so sad for these girls. They deserved better and it should have been one of them in the semi-finals over Jessie imo. I'm glad she and Nini were encouraging Serena to win afterwards though.

Man, why didn't we get to see Shauna's performance? They showed everyone else, why not Shauna? Wow, more Charge Beam Furfrou, even in just a still shot. Ok, I refuse to believe that James isn't annoying the hell out of everyone around him. And seriously, Flabebe and Ivysaur again from Shauna? She's used the exact same combo of 2 Pokemon in every Showcase we've seen her in. Could they really not have let her do something different for the Master Class and use Swirlix and/or Gothita for once? Now that's a major letdown. I was surprised and happy to see Serena without Braxien though. It'll be interesting and refreshing to see and Free Performance without her. And lol Flabebe just vanished at the end.

Overall, some really nice things and some letdowns. I'm still hyped for the finale though. I'd say 8/10.
 
Wow, they changed two dub names :eek: Kiri is now called Concetta and Clarissa is now Clarice. This is Scottie/Sawyer all over again.

Well to be fair, Sawyer's case was a bit different. I don't think anymore called him Sawyer in XY064 and it could have just been an error in the closed captions, whereas with Clarice and Concetta, there isn't much of an excuse.
 
Well to be fair, Sawyer's case was a bit different. I don't think anymore called him Sawyer in XY064 and it could have just been an error in the closed captions, whereas with Clarice and Concetta, there isn't much of an excuse.
It's still similar, and when TPCi dubbed Sawyer's debut episode they already should have been aware he was going to be a major character in this saga, so they should've been consistent with a name. It could indeed have been an error though. It just baffles me how they couldn't be consistent. I mean, Concetta's name was revealed to be Kiri just four episodes ago, just four.
 
I saw the Japanese English subs for this episode so I knew what would happen, however it didn't take the enjoyment I got out of watching the English Dub version; now I'm not going to hate on the episode because I liked it, however I will say what I like most about it.

- First I loved Miette's and Jessie's performances the most out of all the performances and I would have voted for them hands down. :love::love:
- I did like Concetta's and Clarice's performances better then Serena's and Nini's and again would have voted for them over Serena and Nini.
- I liked how Clemont was so into Serena's performance and only her's; Props go to Bonnie and Ash for complementing Miette, the only two to do so. My girl Miette deserved to go further then she did.
- It was nice to see Serena's mom and her Pokemon; Loved seeing the cameo's of Sycamore & his assistance's, Korrina, Lucario & her grandpa and Goodra & his friends in the wet lands.
- Liked seeing Aria again and though she's a bluntly honest person and can come off as mean, I liked seeing Palermo again too.

Now the two things I disliked about the episode:

- Tierno & Trevor were not there in person to cheer for their best friend; they should have been there. Serena has her best friends there Shauna should have had support there too. :(
- My girl Miette coincidentally competing against Serena in the first round and losing; I loved Miette's performance better. :(

Just my opinion, Peace PokeFan's! :cool:
 
I'm still not over how small this competition really is. 27 contestants (28 if you count Aria) is such a small number for what is literally the Pokémon Showcase to end all Pokémon Showcases. This is meant to be the grand finale, you know. Shauna said it herself, it's "the big event we've been dreaming about." It's the Performers' equivalent to the Trainers' League Conference and the Coordinators' Grand Festival, but it fails to give me that major tournament feeling and I was expecting a bigger number of girls competing here.

I know the amount of people in a competition is kinda trivial since we only get to see the main characters and their rivals, but I generally use this information to factor how relevant a tournament is. Remember all those small tournaments in the Best Wishes series? Those always had only 16 contestants. They were so unimportant. I mean, a football match has more people involved. It was like kids in a neighborhood who decided to come out and play.

I'm bringing that up because I think it's really sad that a nationwide competition to decide who will be crowned the Kalos Queen has only a few more contestants than a small, mediocre tournament hosted by Don George. Both the Pokémon League Conference and the Grand Festival have over 100 contestants and it baffles me that the Master Class is less crowded than the Whirl Cup.

That is just one of the problems I have with this competition. Shauna barely appeared in this episode. She was there in the gate to the castle with Serena's other rivals and she appeared backstage for a few seconds, but we didn't see any of her performances. The episode ended with Pierre announcing that Shauna is one of the semifinalists and I don't know how she got there. Even in the clips they showed, there wasn't much about Shauna. So much for Serena's main rival, the one who introduced her to the world of Showcases.

But maybe it's a good thing we didn't see Shauna performing because honestly all the performances in this episode sucked. I have mentioned in the past that Jessie is one of the few Performers who keep it fresh and is always changing her style, but her performance here consisted of spamming Shadow Ball. She didn't command any other move. It was Shadow Ball the entire time. A disaster if you ask me. But I recommend her for covering her opponents in smoke, a really smart move.

Lovely to see that Nini is besties with Serena to the point of asking her to win the Master Class for her. It's sure adorable when you consider that the two have no real interaction other than "Hi, you're here, I'm here too." / "Good to see you!" / "See you next time!" And Serena is sure confident, isn't she? She promised Nini and Miette that she would win. Stupid kid. You're not supposed to promise what you can't deliver.

Now seriously, it was sad seeing the two of them crying. Nini and Miette [and Shauna and Jessie, since we're at it] were mistreated during this whole arc. I don't know what exactly I was expecting, but I sure didn't see the two of them losing in the very first round. There were a few things I enjoyed about this episode, like how Miette dried her tears before going to congratulate Serena only to tear up again. I also liked seeing Grace talking to her daughter over the videophone at the beginning of the episode, and I have a soft spot for Aria. She was gorgeous in her new dress.

Not much else to say. Good thing there was no Theme Performance because all of them have been utterly boring with the Performers doing most of the job and little to no focus on their Pokémon. Shame that the writers didn't explain how Jessie won her other two Princess Keys. Laughed hard when Clemont said the whole world was watching the Master Class. I found it amusing because Serena (and Bonnie) had never heard of Pokémon Showcases before the Pokémon Summer Camp.

Yep, I'm done reviewing this episode.

Side note: Ugh. I really hate Pierre's voice in the English version. I don't want anyone to think I'm bashing the dub (not one of those), but hearing Pierre's English voice is suffering. The Japanese and Brazilian voice actors do a good job with the French accent and all, but I can't help but feel like Pierre's voice in the English dub is strange. I don't know his English voice actor (the guy could even be French for all I know!!!), but Fantina's French accent was okay to me while Pierre's just makes me cringe.
 
I said it before, and I'll say it again: Ed Goldfarb scores Showcase episodes best.

Honestly, this didn't seem all that special of a showcase. Maybe that'll change next week. I don't have much else to say about this one.

I don't know his English voice actor (the guy could even be French for all I know!!!)

Gilles Motais is the name of Pierre's English VA. I don't know who he is, but that name sounds French to me. I think he's an okay Pierre.
 
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This is going to be a short review because I was pretty disappointed after watching today's episode. First, I already mentioned several times that I simply don't like performances and I'm pretty sure my opinion on that won't change much anymore.
The second and even more important reason for my disappointment,though, is the fact this "Master" Class should be renamed into Disaster Class if you ask me. Yes, the location, the stage and several other things like opening the doors with the keys the performers had won before were really nice to see but the rest was just wirtten poorly! Let me explain:

First, what really bugged me was the fact we had to take for granted that Jessie has won two more princess keys. She is one of Serena's main opponents and we get to see nothing how and why she won those previous performances (except for that one episode). What a letdown!
The biggest disappointment and my main point of criticism, however, is how terribly rushed the whole thing was! Awful! I mean if we're supposed to believe that the whole world is watching, this contest deserves at least four or five episodes. All the hype the writers were trying to build up during XY(Z) and now here we are here seeing how they rush through the competition as if it was some unimportant local tournament..

I honestly don't know how much more Pokemon Performance-episodes there will be left but if this Master Class isn't meant to turn into a Disaster Class, they better have a plan up their sleeve. (I just realized that the review actually got longer that originally planned ^^)
 
I find it unlikely that all the people she's met would happen to all be at the gate like that, no one else really around.

Once again Serena wasn't the best one of her group.

I did lol at the smart phone though... why do Ash and his friends not have those?

That was pretty bleh. Eh at least they wont be much longer in terms of screen time.

Was like loldamn at Miette suddenly caring that they're 'friends'.

did-did they just skip the entire second round?
 
The fact TPCi kept only 1 Japanese theme in this dub episode (the title card) tells me that they either despise the Japanese OST by Shinji Miyazaki, or believe Goldfarb's stuff is better (inb4 it is, because I don't think so).

I wish James would get some medicine for his cold in the dub, though, seems like he's congested if you ask me. Also, he sounds incredibly goofy when he shouts, it's impossible to take him seriously.

Jessie's overacting when shouting "FUUUUUUUUUUULLL POOOOOOOOWEEER" was laughably bad voice acting as well, imo.
 
It just baffles me how they couldn't be consistent. I mean, Concetta's name was revealed to be Kiri just four episodes ago, just four.

I'll admit that I spent a full 10 minutes ranting to myself about it at the time, but in this one instance it works in a strange way. We know that Kiri and Concetta are the same character, but let's not forget that Cal was seen watching the round she was in during Master Class Choices. Thanks to that animation error there were two Cals, so if we say that Kiri is a one-time character who was in Serena's round with Rhyhorn while Concetta was in the back room watching it, the animation error becomes mute. It's not as though Scraggy is a particularly rare Pokémon.

TCPi are still abysmally careless to change the name over the space of 4 episodes, but I can somewhat forgive it here due to the afformentioned animation error essentially rendering Cal and Other Cal as two separate characters, even if it was for a second or two.
 
Alright, so the Master Class begins! And we get to see Nini, Shauna, Miette and Jessilee participate too. Seriously, I wanted that either of Team Rocket members explain how did Jessilee get two more Princess Keys, but whatever?

The Performers opening the door with their keys was neat. I really loved that part!

Okay, so none of Serena's rivals' Pokémon have evolved, not even a single stage; except for Shauna's Bulbasaur, they are just as they were in debut. WHAT????? This is the only thing that upsets me about the way Serena's rivals were handled (Not counting you, Miette! All your Pokémon are fully evolved and I appreciate that :love:). Unless each of their Pokémon holds an Everstone, I do not see any reason why not at least one of their Pokémon has evolved by atleast one stage, especially when something like Evolution is very crucial in a Pokémon's life and raising. I particularly wanted to see Jynx, Gothorita and Floette in the Master Class, but guess not!

That's not to say, I did not like their performance. Nini's performance was pretty interesting, a clever use of Heart Stamp there! Miette's was also good to watch.

Serena and her rivals' performance excluded, I really loved the performances of a few minor rivals of Serena, especially Sara Lee's performance with her Glaceon.

Okay, so its Semi-Finals already! That was quick! Not that I am upset or anything, though! I will happily take whatever the anime presents me with...yes, even the no-evolution-for-Pokémon-Performers's-Pokémon. Now it's Serena VS Shauna VS Jessilee!
 
I’m gonna be honest. I didn’t like this episode. Now before I get into the negatives, let me talk about the postives I saw in this episode. I liked the way all of Serena’s rivals came back. Whether the rivals were memorable or not is up for debate, but the reunion itself was a nice one imo. The scene with Serena talking with her mom through the PC was honestly very sweet and the fact that her mom came out to watch was nice. I appreciate how they showed off everyone watching and cheering for Serena back at their homes.

Now onto the negatives and this ironically has to do with Jessie. Where and when did Jessie get her other 2 keys? They showed Jessie getting all 5 of her ribbons in DP, but only showed her getting 1 key in XY. I mean it’s not THAT big of an issue, but it would’ve been nice to see her get all her keys.

I think the performances in Master Class were Mediocre, but that’s just me. The pacing of the tournament was just trash. They showed off Jessie and Serena’s full performance, then they just sped through most of the tournament and went straight to the semi finals. I believe this is because they put most of the important characters against each other in the first round, causing them rush to the semi-finals. This could’ve been at the most a 4 episode arc, but it’s ended in the next episode.

Not a good start to the Master Class.

Rating:3/10(Mediocre)
 
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