Review SM009: The Leader Pokémon is Dekagoose!

[Tuoko]

Ash did say back in episode 2 that he wanted to get all the Z-Crystals, so I'm expecting him to.

 

[Jukain]

Wow. Then things are definitely going to be different since the game by default only gives you 14 of the crystals. The remaining 4 are totally optional, although one is flipping right there, why wouldn't you pick it up? If distributed evenly and following the previous trend of 3 year gens, then we would have about 6 crystals a year, possibly more to compensate for the end scenario or whatever else they have planned. That should possibly mean a crystal every month or less, and that's just assuming a normal pattern. They've already gone a lot slower than that, so I don't know what's going on. Maybe they plan on the crystals not relevant to the island challenge being given to him by other means just like in the game, otherwise I cannot justify them waiting this long to have two major parts right beside each other.

 

[Nicolas721]

The episode was decent, but I'm dissapointed on how they handled the trial, both the preparation and the execution. First of all, Ash just wokes up one day wanting to get another Z-crystal because "it's fun and cool" (why didn't he thought the same about Mega evolution?) and he gets away with it without any ritual (which is disrespectful to the games in my opinion). Then, there's no trial, but rather an awfully convenient question from Hala. And the answer for it is on the internet on the books, which is something good and bad and the same time.

The battles were okay at best, Rowlet's early defeat leads me to think that they don't know how to handle 1vs2 battles, and it was short. And at the end, Hala's surprised that the Pokemon is delivering Z-crystals. If it wasn't Gumshoos, then who?

 

[Johtohfiller]

I like the Gamba no Bouken reference.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

"So Satoshi, how would you solve this problem?"
"I'd battle them!"
"Battling isn't everything! You have to protect pokemon, blah, blah...Please search for an answer that doesn't involve battling."
786 hmmms later...
Answer is: You have to battle wild pokemon! And then, if you win, they battle them instead of you...

Thank you Hala, I guess, for wasting Satoshi's time.

 

[Syrinaris]

You know, a couple of episodes ago we watched Ash deal with his Litten problem. He started out wanting to battle it and put it on his team as a form of revenge for stealing his precious croquette sandwich. But then, as he saw Litten's dealing with that Persian, and then the fact that Litten is caring for an elderly Stoutland, he completely changed his approach. He came up with a non-battling solution to the problem in the form of taking food to them to help care for them, and I'm guessing, he wanted to try to befriend them and gain their trust. And he thought this up all on his own without any help from anyone.

So now they turn around in this episode and they portray him as being a complete idiot who can't even think to type "Alolan Raticate problem" into the school computer to look up information about it that would help him formulate a solution. This is a point of contention for me with this episode. Especially after it turns out that, when it's all set and done, Ash has to engage in battle anyway. He can't just go and ask the Gumshoos family/friends for assistance, he has to actually battle them. And then the Gumshoos family/friends goes and battles the Raticate family/friends. So whatever....

Aside from that, I did enjoy the rest of the episode. Some good humor with Pikachu going on acting like a dork in some of the scenes. That was pretty funny. And I noticed that when Mallow said to Lillie that her previous sense of nervousness was because she was scared, Lillie didn't deny it for once. So I guess that's progress. And I like how Ash was concerned because he thought he would get in trouble for having his friends help him. That was a nice touch.

I did enjoy the Totem battle quite a bit. There certainly was a lot of movement going on. Ash jumped up and down off that ledge to get different vantage points as the battle went on. And my favorite parts were when Rowlet used Leafage as, dare I say it, a Countershield move. And then later when Pikachu got under the Sand Attack and used that as a kind of Countershield to protect him as he was ramping up his Quick Attack. And Tapu Koko is there and watching it all going on. That thing is gaging Ash's worth as a battler. And Hala's comments at the beginning and end of the episode about how Tapu Koko has really taken an interest in Ash, and Guardians don't usually hand out Z-Crystals, really make me feel that this is foreshadowing what is going to be happening later on.

And as far as Gumshoos & Co chasing off the Raticates & crew. You know, Hala, they're just going to go find another town to invade and then the problem is going to start all over again. So, in reality, you didn't actually solve the problem, you just moved it to a different area where it will need to be addressed again at some point. *shrugs*