Review S20 EP36: Trials and Determinations!

[abcboy]

SM036 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

The episode is available on the Watch Disney XD site and app. Please keep future events in spoiler tags.

 

[BigDocFan]

Looking forward to watching this episode, wonder who voices Probopass now

 

[radek.tadajewski.7]

Looking forward to watching this episode, wonder who voices Probopass now

Yeah, and who reads Who's That Pokemon? too? I bet it's Ash and his friends as usual. Maybe the closed caption will tell who it is.

 

[Pkmndub]

Cast List:
Sarah Natochenny
Laurie Hymes
Jessica Paquet
Rosie Reyes
Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld
Marc Swint
Rodger Parsons
Roger Callagy
Carter Cathcart
Abe Goldfarb
Marissa Kennedy
Lisa Ortiz
Michael Liscio Jr.
Haven Paschall

Who's That Pokemon!?:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihtQsyZrMc0&feature=youtu.be


Pokedex Entries:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do2KjeDooR4&feature=youtu.be


@radek.tadajewski.7 captions say Ash/Olivia

 

[BigDocFan]

Trying to work out who voices Lycanroc and Probopass, a bit hard to tell

Who's that Pokemon sounds like just Ash and Olivia

 

[radek.tadajewski.7]

Trying to work out who voices Lycanroc and Probopass, a bit hard to tell

Who's that Pokemon sounds like just Ash and Olivia

Yeah, Olivia and Ash are doing it... OK, I guess this can be added.

 

[BigDocFan]

Judging by the fact that Probopass sounds male, I've narrowed down its voice actor to

Marc Swint
Rodger Parsons
Roger Callagy
Carter Cathcart
Michael Liscio Jr.

 

[Poke Trey]

I'm going to say Cathcart on this one, since I think every one else seems to be voicing other characters. Anyways, I loved this episode a great intense battle between Ash and Olivia, plus Rockruff and Lycanroc stole this for me with their part. What caught me off guard was how Rockruff actually attacked Rowlet so it can handle it's own evolution, that's insane but that is definitely showing development for it and how far Rockruff has trained to handle Lycanroc. BTW, more Rockruff attention is always a plus for and next week's episode I was told that it was getting a major spot in it, wonder what's going to happen? So in the end, I will give this an 9.5/10 definitely my favorite totem battle so far.

 

[radek.tadajewski.7]

So, uh, were there some edits in this episode, like VS screen and two Z-Moves?

 

[BigDocFan]

VS screen had changed and the Z moves were edited from the Japanese version as per usual

Review time

I really enjoyed this episode, was brilliant to see Probopass for the first time since D&P

Brilliant voice acting from Haven Paschall as Rockruff, was very shocked to see it knock out Rowlet

 

[Rajas20]

Good episode, really missed seeing a proper battle for a while now. On another note, i'll miss Rockruff as he/she was too cute but seeing as his Lycanroc has the same traits nearly it's all good. Nice nods as he recalled Gladion's Z-Move to help him avoid Olivia's, he also used Rock Tomb climb for Rock Slide and his slamming fist into the ground seemingly was a callback to Alain's Blast Burn move which was cool as well. All in all a very good episode and I feel that Kukui noting Ash's aura when he's determined is quite intriguing if they do utilize it in the future as to probably further explain why Tapu Koko chose him etc.

 

[technickal]

Great episode! Rockruff is still a cutie, even when it’s acting like a dog with rabies.

One thing that stood out to me though is how Ash mastered Bloom Doom so easily. With how hard a time he was having in the beginning of the episode, I’d figure it would have taken a few more tries.

Ash is on a roll lately, but I hope he doesn’t win all trials on his first attempt. That would be just boring.

 

[radek.tadajewski.7]

Why did no one add trivia to dub edits? It's clearly that the VS screen got edited and the Japanese text around Z-moves are removed from the dub version.

 

[BigDocFan]

Why did no one add trivia to dub edits? It's clearly that the VS screen got edited and the Japanese text around Z-moves are removed from the dub version.

Sadly I am unable to make any edits to Bulbapedia at the moment as I can't confirm my email address as I am unable to change it to my new one

 

[Islander Princess]

This episode was meh. I can't remember if I enjoyed it more or the same in Japanese. I definitely feel like the dub's dialogue tends to water everything down and tends to make the episodes less interesting to me than the original.

I do know something I enjoyed originally and here was getting to see Olivia before the trial, both in the temple and right before the actual battle. I just really like how they always remind us how important nature and Pokémon are to the people of Alola, and how these trials are a big part of the region's culture. It really sets them apart from a gym battle and I appreciate the uniqueness. I felt like Olivia's dialogue was lacking compared to the Japanese, but the sentiment was still there and I liked those scenes for the substance behind them.

The battle itself was pretty good, considering I don't like watching them. I did zone out a bit during it (more than my original watching) but the animation during it was definitely fantastic and kept drawing my eye back. Ash performing Bloom Doom with Rowlet and "battling" alongside Rockruff was awesome.

I remember hating Ash being able to dodge a Z-Move the first time I watched this, and I still hate it now. I didn't think it was cool. To me, it kind of defeated the whole purpose of the Z-Move. They aren't meant to miss. The whole tactic just felt contrived.

Also, I wasn't big on Rockruff's portrayal here. I understand they get more aggressive before evolution, and that this was already stated before, but I felt like they took it from 0 to 60. It just felt really rushed and probably could've been built up to a bit more gradually.

 

[Pkmndub]

Also, I wasn't big on Rockruff's portrayal here. I understand they get more aggressive before evolution, and that this was already stated before, but I felt like they took it from 0 to 60. It just felt really rushed and probably could've been built up to a bit more gradually.

You're right about that. It's like it happened mid-episode

 

[Sakuraa]

Starting this off by saying I loved Kukui's Focus Blast comment. In fact, I like all of his Pokemon move related word play. Anyway, I could go on a rant about how it's disgusting that Ash is even having this battle when he completed a grand total of 1 Akala Trial, but honestly I think it's even worse that Oliva was trying to explain why Ash was so worthy of a double battle because of so many irrelevant things. He completed one Trial on that island, but he gets rewarded with a special double battle because he completed Hala's trial (what the heck does that have to do with anything) and has 3 Z-Crystals right now (not even the 3 Akala Z-Crystals). I thought it was also hilarious how she said she had cute rock-types when she literally owns two of the ugliest Pokemon in existence.

Well, this episode already starts out bad with the rock dog biting the hand that feeds him. Man I can't stand that thing. As for one positive, at least Ash's classmates watch his battle here, unlike with Hala. Anyway, initially, I actually liked that that made this a double battle as I felt that it added something interesting to differentiate it from Hala's battle. That said, unfortunately, the double battle status did nothing to make this battle stronger. In fact, I'd almost say it made it more boring and that a single battle may have been better. I mean honestly, most of the match was just the owl flying around with the dog. The only interesting bits were when they weren't clinging together. But even still, overall the battle felt really messy. Sometimes it almost felt like 2 separate battles going on at the same time rather than a cohesive double battle. I also just have to say that Probopass's noses talking was a bit creepy to me.

I hated that they actually used Stealth Rocks in the double battle where no new Pokemon would be entering said battle and thus had to change the way it worked to compensate for that. Another reason why they may as well have just made it a single battle. Continental Crush was incredibly disappointing in that it was effortlessly dodged by Ash's Pokemon. I hated that they didn't have Ash do the entire Bloom Doom pose, and cut out the beginning where Ash was supposed to mimic a growing tree. And worst of all, Rockruff KOing Rowlet was so damn unnecessary it's not even funny (and this is coming from someone who hates the bird). Aside from the stupidity that a single Bite from Rockruff was able to KO Rowlet when it withstood attacks from Oliva's fully evolved Pokemon, it was totally pointless. If they wanted a final 1-on-1 battle between the dogs, they could have just had Ash call the bird back. Or idk, maybe let it get knocked out by OLIVA'S Pokemon. I think the thing that annoyed me the most was that Ash didn't even scold the dog on knocking out it's teammate and instead just did his stupid little twerking thing to cheer him up. Then the huge match between the two dogs was a rushed, less-than-a-minute attack spam. Ugh...this battle was just all around bad and Rockruff continues to rival Rowlet as one of Ash's worst Pokemon.

3/10. The only positive thing that came from this episode was seeing a new Z-Move.

 

[Muur]

So the dance is important after all. Good job our trainers in game are masters of the dance. WALTZ TIME.

"I always deliver when it really counts". That explains the 7 winners medals from defeating the elite 4 and champion after winning the league in each region, fair play Mr Ketchup.

I'm sad that Olivia doesn't have the cool evil looking Lycanrok. It'd be too many with Gladian having one as well as guess but still

Rockruff is being hella evil today. Not sure why everyone is okay with it? it should be scalded.

Probopass seems kinda OP for this point. Also a double battle!? this is changing things a lot! and it's cuz he has 3 crystals? I mean, it's supposed to be that he has 5 at this point so if that's the case, ours should've been a triple battle! ignore they don't exists like, this is animu logic. Also weird that Kiawe won with his Turtonator against Olivia, that must've been quite the battle to beat 2/3 dudes with his one. At least this again confirms the battle difficulty is based on how many "badges" the trainer being fought has. Guess that's why Probo is here too. Still though, only three...

If this is 2v2 stealth rocks is pointl-and oh of course it works differently in the anime.

Lmao at Probopass jumping around with the noses. That's hilarious. Although Rowlett so far has taken way too many super effective hits.

"Do it Rowlett!" Ash didn't even tell him WHAT to do. Rowlett a psychic type now?

Why could Leafage beat Rock Slide this time when last time it lost when it had the back up as Rock Throw? to quote Rotom-dex, DOES NOT COMPUTE!

Lmfao I was thinking Ash might accidentally KO his own Rockruff with that Bloomdoom alongside the other two (Even tho it's single target) but I defo didn't expect Rockruff to KO Ash's own Pokemon. Why are we still okay with this again? that Pokemon needs a serious kick up the ass. I expected a "Roclruff wants to fight on his own, let's return Rowlett" thing to happen but not a "lol die Rowlett"

Ash, stop twerking.

Oi, Lycanroc didn't have swirly eyes - you cheated Kukui.

Also Ash shouldn't have won really. Two fully evovled Pokemon and Ash has two base stage with terrible moves, whilst Olivia had good - super effective - Pokemon and there was a lot of not dying to SE hits, more so than usual and then Kukui shows he's a bit of a crap ref calling the battle before it even is actually over. FFS Pocket monsters.

"Rockruff is gonna evovle? I wonder if it'll be Midday or Midnight?" . Heh, I wonder. tee hee.

I think it was a good double battle but too many shenanigans.

 

[Harryghost]

So, Ash's grand trial is next. All right!

Rockruff's sure acting strange. I wonder if those are signs of its evolution.

Ash messing the pose for Bloom Doom cracked me up.

So it's a double battle. That's interesting.

Always nice seeing Probopass in the anime.

Hmm... the new Magnet Bomb animation looks cool actually. Still prefer the older animation though.

That Stealth Rock destruction was pretty clever. That's Ash for ya!

That Bloom Doom animation was beautiful!

Aww, Poor Rowlet! Got rekt'd by a rock puppy!

Rockruff versus Lycanroc felt a bit rushed to me TBH. Still, beautifully done.

Dem prediction skills. Wonder which form Rockruff will evolve into.

Overall, a well-written, good episode. The derailment of moves from their game mechanics did bother me sometimes, but that was made up by the beautiful writing behind it. I'll give this episode a 9/10.