Review S19 EP38 : Down To The Fiery Finish

[Johtohfiller]

My complaint is less with Alan beating Ash and more with how they handled it. He pretty much won just because Hypezard X could take a seemingly endless number of hits. Everything after the internal monologue felt anticlimactic too, like they were deliberately downplaying it to put more emphasis on the Flare finale as the real main event.

 

[SonansuMan]

Being that I don't exactly care about who won the league or not, I just like to sit back and watch the salt roll in.

I would've honestly preferred it if Greninja got to use his Mega Shuriken like most others agree. It would've been very interesting to see Alain fight Grace, but I can dream.

 

[ScienceRules]

Being that I don't exactly care about who won the league or not, I just like to sit back and watch the salt roll in.

I would've honestly preferred it if Greninja got to use his Mega Shuriken like most others agree. It would've been very interesting to see Alain fight Grace, but I can dream.

But Greninja used it... I think it was neutralised by the über Blast Burn.
Is Grace Serena's mom?

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Hm.......................................................

I do like how they showed Pikachu as being too tired to use Quick Attack after the first attack. Its much more realistic than him just going attack, attack, attack, after all of this accumulated battling. Using Iron Tail on the field to block the Flamethrower was cool. Though going in to use Iron Tail to combat Dragon Claw was a bad move. Size tends to win in those situations and...yeah Charizard's came into play there. Should have gone with T-Bolt imo. Also, forgive me if I'm wrong, but it looks like reused the same exact image of Pikachu being KO'd by Sawyer's Sceptile as they did for him here with Charizard. Like I said in the last episode, I like how Alain specifically used Charizard to beat Pikachu. Shows 1. how much of a threat the little guy was 2. how he wanted to keep Bisharp to get another quick OHKO on something else.

Goodra. Poor Goodra man. He (and Noivern) pretty much got the worst match ups of this league. First he's up against a Pokemon his STAB move can't touch, then he goes against a speedy killer who resits all of his damaging moves. His only benefit was having Rain Dance so his Hydration wouldn't allow him to get paralyzed by T-Wave, but that didn't even matter in the end. Also, that Iron Head to the face tho...damn.

Well, it was nice to see Ash actually have Greninja using his water move with the boosted rain effects... for Bisharp. Seriously, why the hell didn't he use Water Shuriken on Charizard while it was still raining. He literally had the perfect opportunity to get a point blank boosted Water Shuriken in Charizard's face and he goes for Cut. That makes 0 sense. It's also just as stupid that Alain a. had Charizard start out with a weakened Flamethrower and b. didn't Mega Evolve him right away so he wouldn't have had the water weakness. Aye, great start to the final match up. Now I'll admit, using the Water Shuriken to stop Blast Burn was pretty dam cool. And I did like how it constantly showed Ash feeling Greninja's pain. But yeah, the giant glowing shuriken of death was a big tease. Also, I miss the days were Pokemon used moves that required them to recharge, and they actually became immobile for a moment to recharge...

I was upset about Ash losing at first, and to be honest I still kind of am a bit salty, but I'm not angry. I've stopped really caring about Ash or having any hopes about him winning a league for a while now, so this isn't a huge disappointment for me. The biggest thing for me though, and I know I'm immensely unpopular in this opinion, but I wish it would have been a tie. Yeah, Ash finally made it to the finals and I'm certainly grateful for that and yeah, his Pokemon technically still would have lost, but I would have much rather he have been able to say "At least I defeated his Charizard". Hell, even if Greninja would have fallen first he still would have at least had the honor of making Alain's strongest Pokemon go down as well. For me that would have been better than, he made to the finals, but he still didn't take his final opponent down. Ash was certainly wronged in Sinnoh with Tobias's legendaries, but at least he took out 2 of his Pokemon, something no one else could do.

I'm also bothered by the fact that Ash didn't seem even slightly upset over his loss. He just made it to the finals of a league and was one Pokemon away from claiming victory and then he lost. Can there be some emotion? I'm not saying he has to be depressed or enraged, but its almost like he has no feelings over it. Like it was just another battle he lost. I think a scene of him being a bit saddened after the match would have been nice to at least show that he has some feelings about his loss. The attitude of "oh well, maybe next time" just rubs more salt in the wound imo.

Overall, I'll give this a 6.7/10. Could have been much better, nuff said.

You ain't wrong on the KO scene, it's the same one from Clemont's gym battle.

 

[Lucifer Angel]

Even though it was disappointing that Ash lost I still enjoyed the battle between MCX and Ash-Greninja.

 

[Muur]

I couldn't really enjoy it knowing what was going to happen lol.

The result was spoiled for me probably hours after the original episode aired, darn Reddit.

Surprised they'd have Pikachu taken out from normal Charizard and Goodra went out too quickly for me but eh.

Also, I miss the days were Pokemon used moves that required them to recharge, and they actually became immobile for a moment to recharge...

Charizard did after the first Blast Burn, he wasn;t moving and that allowed Greninja to get a few Ariel Aces into Charizard's face

 

[SonansuMan]

But Greninja used it... I think it was neutralised by the über Blast Burn.
Is Grace Serena's mom?

I mean Diantha. Derp.

 

[Syrinaris]

I had heard about how the league ended, when the original Japanese episode aired, which is why I chose to avoid watching it because I wasn't interested in viewing this twice.

The strategy of using iron tail on the ground to throw up enough dirt to block that flamethrower was pretty cool. But I knew Pikachu wasn't going to last long when he put his front paw down for support when Ash was telling him to use Quick Attack. And yeah, nice commentation from the announcer saying how Thunderbolt was super effective but, hey Charizard is still standing! - with no seeming damage whatsoever.

Was glad to see Goodra get a block in against that Ironhead from Bisharp and points for throwing it off. And then was equally nice to see it actually get a direct attack in with Bide before it got knocked out. Darnit, writers, what have you got against poor Goodra? And man, that Guillotine, that was horrifying, yikes.....

Well, then Greninja comes out and pretty much effortlessly knocks out Bisharp with the first attack. Okay, then... Ash why didn't you use Water Shuriken for Gre's first attack against Charizard while Rain Dance was still in effect?

I really can't help but sidestep for a moment and say that the running commentary from Sawyer, Clemont, & Trevor took me back to when I watched the original Yugioh series and the characters were always commenting on how OMG he threw out this card! and it's going to have this effect! and ..... guys, no..... just...stop...

So the battle between Ash-Gre & MChar was pretty awesome. The giant Orange-Water-Shuriken-Of-Death was even more awesome. And then poor Gre keeled over....

Look, I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed. The franchise has been celebrating their 2oth anniversary all year long. What a perfect way to end this year and hand things over to the new SuMo series than to have Ash win a league for once. I honestly will never understand this seemingly crippling fear that TPTB persist in clinging to over letting Ash win a league. The way they've always written Ash over these 20 years is as an adventurous young trainer who likes traveling to new regions, meeting new pokemon, and making new friends. There is an old saying about how there's always someone snapping at your heels, coming up behind you wanting to overtake you. (or somesuch). Ash winning a league in Kalos is not an automatic given that he will win a league in Alola, or any other region any time soon.

But, whatever. We've hashed this to death by now and so I'm just going to leave it at that.

I look forward to the Team Flare arc playing out, which I did watch in the original Japanese episodes, and will gladly watch a second time in the English dub.

 

[Harryghost]

This is going to be preeeettttty.... long, so brace yourself before reading!

Talking about the plot first, I was actually a little happy when Pikachu was knocked out by Charizard, specifically because it managed to somehow win against Metagross in the previous episode, and I was not happy with that battle.

Next up, Goodra versus Bisharp. I liked how Goodra used Rain Dance so it can't be paralyzed, thanks to Hydration. But that did not help it much, as Alain did not attempt to paralyze it in the first place (probably because he knew of Hydration; I don't know!), but damn... Goodra had it pretty rough in the battle. And that, Guillotine, doh. *shudders* Facing off against a Pokémon that resists all of your moves, especially when said Pokémon can easily knock you out with a OHKO move is bad already, but the Guillotine animation just made it much more brutal .

And then, Greninja makes quick work of Bisharp with a rain-boosted Water Shuriken. But seriously, Ash, it would have been a lot better if you spammed another Water Shuriken at Charizard while it was still raining, instead of commanding a Cut, which you could have used after the rain stopped. That would have boosted your chances of winning. Nah, not really!

The Blast Burn and Water Shuriken cancelling each other was awesome, and so was the giant yellow Water Shuriken that Greninja manifested out of blue (no pun intended). And if that does not knock out a Charizard, I don't know what does!

Anyways, the battle is concluded and Alain is the Champion. Okay I am fine with that. Not really; the way things worked out, not at all *gets a grip over his saltiness and proceeds writing* Alain is feeling a bit stronger now, and decides that he must complete collecting Mega Evolution Energy for Chespie's sake. Wouldn't it have been better if he did just that?

Meanwhile, Ash is feeling apologetic for not being able to win the Kalos League, vows to meet new people and Pokémon, and keep getting stronger, and aims to one day become a Pokémon Master. Really, writers?

Meanwhile, Team Flare is up to no good, and has started their operation to build a beautiful world.

Diantha crowns Alain as the Kalos Champion and Ash congratulates him; but everything is not serene and nice as it seems, cause the stadium and, by extension, the entire Lumiose City is being attacked by large mutated vines controlled by Z2 in its 50% Forme. And, the episode ends amidst this chaos and confusion.

*sighs* Now, where do I start? I know *snaps fingers* it's backstory time!

You know, back when this episode had not aired in Japan, yes, before August 18th, me and my friends would often discuss about the the possible outcome of the Kalos League. My friends were relatively new to the series, did not about Ash's previous records, and felt that Ash would win this time for sure. I, however, being the guy who I am, would often reject their verdict (more of, playfully), and would claim that Ash will not win the League, cause he never has; status quo is status quo. Deep down, however, I thought that Ash might actually win this time around by a small probability, (yes, I was slightly hypocritical there), cause this Ash is the best Ash I have seen in a while, and I felt if this Ash does not win a League, I don't who does!

And, then came the fateful day, August 18, when this episode aired, and I saw the result on Bulbapedia. And despite the fact that I was not expecting much, I, for a good one hour, traversed through the original review thread of this episode, experiencing mixed feelings of disappointment, saltiness and shock. I don't why; I just did. I watched this episode just yesterday (which is why I am reviewing this now), but ever since I learnt about Ash's loss and have anything connected with this episode discussed, I tend to get a bit sad.

Of course, I am not mad at Alain being the Champion (no, I really am not!). I am mad at him being the Champion, with the way the events turned out. Seriously, I would have actually preferred Alain winning the League, if he had anything but a Charizard; anything which is not weak to Greninja's moves. It would have been better if Sawyer had Charizard and Alain had Sceptile, because then, that would logically explain the outcomes of their respective battles against Greninja. It does not help either that Alain and his Charizard are insanely powerful; they have not lost a battle since Mega Evolution Special I, which is why I wanted Ash to beat Alain even more, just this one time.

Of course, plot armor is a thing, and, seriously, I am okay with it. Frankly, from an anime perspective, I can actually see a Charizard beating a Greninja (and a Greninja beating a Sceptile, for that matter). I do believe that victory in the anime is not just a matter of super effective! and not very effective... moves, but, as I mentioned in the review thread for A Unova League Evolution!, depends on a number of external factors. I now realize that this notion just helps me embrace the disappointment, actually. I don't think it is very, very useful in explaining Ash's loss in both Unova and Kalos!

I was/am disappointed about Ash's loss, but that in no way, stops me from enjoying the Pokémon anime as it is. So, I gladly accept the outcome of this battle, and move on, especially when the Team Flare arc, and the remainder of the XY series as a whole, looks so promising. Though, I could have done without Ash declaring to meet new people and Pokémon and become stronger, after his loss; SERIOUSLY WRITERS?! That's just adding salt to wounds!

Thanks for the long read.