Review S19 EP34: Analysis Versus Passion!

[Playerking]

XY127 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Please keep future events in spoiler tags. Thanks.

 

[Sakuraa]

Talonflame won! Oh, and the rest of the episode was good too

I was surprised that we got to see the end of Alain vs. Remo. I do want to quickly mention that I like that Remo is yet another person who nicknames their Pokemon Anyway, I found it weird that Alain had Charizard Mega Evolve against Garchomp. I mean, I get that he wanted the power boost, but he also gave himself a weakness to Garchoo's dragon-type moves. Ah, who cares, it's not like he had any chance of losing. On to the main battle.

Damn, that intro for Hawlucha was awesome. I adored his outfit and I loved the fact that he asked Serena to make it for him. Wow, Bonnie would be the person to find Slaking cute. Ok, I get that Hawlucha and Ash both probably wanted Hawlucha to get a win after that superb intro, but he really should have switched him out. I mean, after he saw that his attacks were doing virtually nothing, and then that Slack Off healed Slaking, he should have just gone with someone else. But of course he has to get one shot by Counter. Well it was a good strategy from Sawyer, I'll say that. But really Sawyer of you always wanted to try Slaking against Hawlucha...why are you only just doing it now?

Okay, seriously, where the hell is Razor Wind? Like seriously, Hawlucha just lost due to hammering Slacking with physical moves and getting destroyed with Counter. Then Talonflame comes out and...starts hammering Slacking with physical moves. I thought we'd see Razor Wind for the first time in forever to get past the Counter strategy, but I guess not. Whatever, he got a win so I'm pleased.

Ash really should have switch out Talonflame for Pikachu as soon as it came out. There was no reason for Talonflame to stay in that battle and go down like that. He could have been saved to do damage to Sceptile, the sword, or even take on Slurpuff to protect his dragons. I also felt that Talonflame getting OHKO'd by Aqua Jet was a bit much. The Ice Beam pretty much did nothing, and maybe it's just me, but I feel the Aqua Jet should have been slightly weakened with the fire-water collision. Oh well. At least he got one win. Pika vs. Clawitzer was pretty straight forward so not much to say about it. Except that Ash really seems to like having Pikachu use that "captured in appendage Electro Ball" strategy.

Well this is great. This is the moment Ash could have had Talonflame come back out to fight the sword and let Pikachu rest for later. Or let Pikachu start out and then have Talonflame finish. Guess, we'll have to wait to see what ends up happening since it seems his hiding in the trees strategy is out.

Overall, a nice start to the first full battle. Switching out Hawlucha and Talonflame when they were struggling would have made this a much better match though. 8/10.

 

[technickal]

Another great battle episode! I like how everybody got some good hits in. Even Hawlucha wasn't just there to faint!

-The CG in this episode was amazing. And I think I heard another new dub-only music track that I really liked.
-Remo is admittedly just a glorified filler trainer, but I appreciate the fact that they tried to give him a little depth in that brief appearance.
-The "similar, but different" approach of Sawyer compared to Ash is giving me Ritchie vibes.
-Hawlucha's luchador costume was awesome. I wish he kept it for the battle.
-Slaking isn't the kind of thing I would call cute, but Bonnie's "I wanna hug!" comment is.
-Team Rocket genuinely feels bad for the twerps? That hasn't happened in a loooooooooooooooooooooong time.

 

[Keshav]

Awesome start to an epic battle! I really liked the music. I'm glad that Garchomp at least hit charizard once!
Too bad for Hawlucha, he wanted to be the star. Talonflame did well, but I was hoping for a switch. Pikachu vs clawitzer was good.
10/10

 

[Pokefan19]

You see, that's how they should have done it this whole time, just show off the last battle (or most important) occurring as we saw with Alain vs Remo. Why it couldn't have been done like this the first two episodes to show how we managed to already get to the Semi's I'll never truly understand, although I have a good idea why, but I guess it doesn't matter now.

I guess I was the only one who was disappointed Talonflame was left in a clean up role after Hawlucha did all the work with nothing to show for it... Was it so hard to just let Talonflame get it's own clean win and just have Hawlucha get his shining moment? Otherwise, it played out as pretty much expected, Ash once again tries to prove his Fire types can beat Water types (Pignite vs Samurott) , when we all know the only non Legendary Fire type who is immune to Water types is Charizard (Charizard vs Blastoise). Naturally Ash realizes Electric types have an advantage after needlessly wasting a Pokemon for no clear reason and promptly curbstomps. Long are the days when Ash and Paul would switch out for strategy... Oh well

Spoiler: Click at your own risk

Enjoy that random Hawlucha attire while you can, it's a one off appearance for whatever reason. Ash really leaves you guessing next episode as he remembers he can switch out Pokemon by recalling Pikachu after he defeats Aegislash, which of coarse leads to the most highly unlikely scenario but still happens anyway back to back ties. The chances of tying are already slim, but come on, 2 ties in a row? You were that undecided on either Ash or Sawyer getting a victory in one of match ups? Whatever, that's all I'm spoiling because the last two match up are really straight forward although there is one headscratcher at the end, but I'll leave that up to you to decide.

 

[Muur]

Pretty good battle thus far although Slaking took way too much damage, that was like 70000 fighting moves to the face. Dude no sold it WWE style. Maybe that's what they were going for.

Spamming psychical moves again was a bad idea though... it's almost like Ash doesn't know what Counter does.

Now for the long wait for part 2 d;

 

[Syrinaris]

I thought this was a really good episode. For me, I think Sawyer is definitely up there as one of the best rivals that Ash has had in any of the sagas. I'm glad he was a character they introduced earlier and took the time to flesh out his character and give us a chance to see how he grew and became stronger in between episode visits. That was a lot better than just throwing someone strong at Ash out of the clear blue near the end of the saga.

I certainly wasn't expecting him to throw out that Slaking and use it against Hawlucha like that. Poor Hawlucha, he really wanted to dress up and put on a good battle show for the audience and then he just gets smacked down by a counter move. On the flip side of that, Sawyer should have known better than to have Clawitzer grab Pikachu's tail. I saw that ElectroBall move coming as soon as he had Clawitzer do that.

I can't wait to see the back half of this battle. I hope it's as good as the first half was.

 

[Harryghost]

Sawyer and Ash's battle is up next, and it was a pretty good episode IMO.

First up, we have Alain Charizard vs Remo , and it was pretty good at that. Garchoo vs Mega Charizard X was interesting and engaging. And despite the fact that I am not a big fan of nicknames for Pokémon, and have not nicknamed any Pokémon that I own (barring the ones received in trades) in the games (don't hate me please), for some reason, I do not seem to be bothered by Remo doing so one bit, and was actually pleased to learn that he nicknamed his Rhyperior as well. Wanted to see Granbull battle as well, but I guess not.

Hawlucha's costume was adorable as hell, and I actually wanted him to put it on for the entire battle, but I guess not. And, I am with Bonnie on this one; I find sleeping Pokémon (and for that matter, sleeping animals) cute as well. Poor Hawlucha could not get a win, damn. But that Slaking is OP as hell, if it took those super effective moves and just received scratches from that. Good to see Slack Off in the anime as well.

I do not quite understand why Slaking got knocked out the way it did. You would expect that after using Slack Off, it should just be able to recover its health and not feel pain one bit; why did it feel hurt in the leg then, I cannot comprehend!

Sawyer, you should have known better than using Hammer Arm on a Talonflame. Oh well, Slaking falls down, and I was quite relieved, because it was powerful as hell, and seemed to pose a great threat to Ash and his Pokémon with Counter, Slack Off and Hammer Arm.

Talonflame versus Clawitzer is up next, and as I had expected, Talonflame is knocked out, because umm..., last I checked, Water type was super effective against the Fire type.

Spoiler

*looks at Alain and his Charizard*

I mean, Talonflame did good nonetheless, but Ash should have just switched Talonflame for Pikachu, BEFORE the Scorching Pokémon fell down.

So, Pikachu likes to use Electro Ball when he is restricted in some way. First Serperior, and now Clawitzer. Good thinking though, Ash; I'll give you that as I actually enjoyed it.

I especially enjoyed that Aegislash appeared on-screen cut the trees to prevent Pikachu from hopping around with Sacred Sword. Now, what will you do Ash?