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Review SM009: The Leader Pokémon is Dekagoose!

I Personally think that the Episode was pretty good (Don't watched with subs yet)
Things that I think was interesting:
Hala Appearing for the First time
A Reference to the "Team Rocket Blasting off again"
Updates about Lillie's Egg
Ash winning his first trial, and Rotom taking a photo of him on his victory pose
and The first episodical Appearance of Jenny on the series

Everyone was thinking that Ash will Lose on his first attempt on the Trial and he will going to try again now with Alolan Rattata and Raticates, but this doesn't happen. But I liked that they gave a little focus on it too.

10/10 for sure
 
*sees Gumshoos giving the Normal Z* RIP Ilima ;-;

Also, the stones get the badge treatment.

I don't mind that the battle started later in the episode. After all, it's the introduction to the Island challenge, so it feels normal (no pun intended ;D), though hoping for future Totem battles to be longer.

Highlights of the episode:
* Pikachu acting like a cat for the first half of the episode
* Bewear force feeding TR
* Bewear everything
* Rowlet showcasing its silent stalker abilities. That little thing can go from 0-100 real quick
* That size difference between normal Gumshoos and the Totem one O_O
 
I watched it without subs and little bit perplexed with random TR, School mates and Haunter scenes. What was their points?

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Can't say I'm thrilled about how the island challenge is being handled here. Perhaps the battle with Hala will be better. On the other hand, we get to see just how much bigger the Totems are. It's like a whole evolution's worth of growth on the buggers. Also, a flipping missed opportunity to somehow have Totem Raticate show up. It could've been done.
 
That Team Rocket scene was hysterical. Not least for the flashback of Bewear punching food into their faces, but also for them being like "Yes, we get to blast off again!" only to get snatched out of the air by Bewear.

Those random shots of Haunter and Komala were just transitional/passage of time shots, there to make Ash's jumping around the island locales less jarring. They're like scene breaks.

I thought this was a great episode and an apt introduction to what trials are all about. I watched it raw, so this is mostly guess work, but I think Hala asked Ash how he would solve the Rattata/Raticate problem and told him that simply beating them up (which was Ash's first answer) wouldn't work, as the whole point of using Z-Moves and whatnot is to understand Pokemon's connection to nature and whatnot. Basically echoing what Kiawe said. Ash got his answer when Rotomdex told him that Yungoos and Gumshoos were introduced to Alola to cull the Rattata/Raticate population.

It's a lot better than the game's version of the trial, which amounts to beating three Pokemon then beating the Totem. This version emphasises the idea of working with Pokemon and nature a lot better.

Interestingly, Tapu Koko takes the Z-Rings from Hala's house and gives them to trainers, which explains how Ash got his. It seemed to be flying off with another ring while Hala and Ash were talking, which may be foreshadowing another Z-Move user appearing in the future.
 
Another good un, I just love how Gumshoos just looked like "Fine, take ya Z crystal." And poor Team Rocket, they nearly captured that old magic by blasting off and then Bewear ruined it for them. Hilarious.

So will the Z move work tomorrow? Probably will? Will Ash win though? Who knows?
 
I like the anime's version of the totem battle more then the game's, but we don't know how the other 6 would go.
 
As much as I was excited for this episode, I was kind of disappointed with it.

The beginning was nice. Rotom was as cute as ever and I love how Kukui is acting kind of like a dad to Ash. But I have to say that I'm liking Pikachu less and less as the episodes go by, which is really sad as I've never had an issue with him before, but I just can't take how weird he's acting. Doing things like randomly deciding to gorge on food he was sharing with Kukui's dog and playing on Hariyama/taking a nap while Hala is having a serious conversation with Ash is just so off putting. Really hoping that Ash gets Litten soon, because I'm not liking either of the two Pokemon he has right now. Rotom Dex is a more tolerable Pokemon, and he's a Pokedex more than a Pokemon.

I do like how Rotom still frequently takes pictures of the situations going on around him. And of course Togedemaru is still adorable; knocking the other Pokemon off of the table before cuddling up to Pikachu. And what the hell was up with that random Psyduck looking like it was trying to fly or something.

Now as for the trial itself...I was really disappointed. Maybe I hoped for too much expecting them to mimic the execution from the games. I was hoping they'd have Ash find the Yungoos and Gumshoos in their burrows and just battle them 1-on-1 before battling the Totem. Instead, they both just go straight to Ash and he battles them with both of his Pokemon so it's an even 2-on-2. Then to make matters worse, Ash takes on Totem Gumshoos with both of his Pokemon while the Totem never calls upon an ally, which is the main aspect of Totem battles in the games. What made the Totems so fun and challenging was how they were a 2-on-1 format that always puts the player at a disadvantage and this episode reversed the entire situation and made it easier for Ash. Sure Rowlet got K.O.'ed so it was just Pikachu vs. Totem Gumshoos, but I still would have liked for it to have called on an ally like it does in the games to make it more difficult for Ash to win. I also felt that the battle was way too short and that Gumshoos went down rather quickly. This was Ash's first trial and it just seemed way too quick and easy for him. I hope the battles against future Totems are longer and actually use the S.O.S format:/ Well, on the bright side, I lol'd at the bird getting knocked out from a rock:p

Another thing I didn't like was the Raticate/Rattata situation. Not only was it weird for them to be out during the day when they're supposed to be nocturnal, but it seemed to just take time away from Ash's trial that could have been spent on a longer, more difficult battle against Totem Gumshoos. Oh well, hopefully the battle against Hala will be good.

I'm going to give this a 6.8/10. I was just really bummed by how the trail went :(
 
The Rattata/Raticate thing was part of the trial, though. The whole purpose of Ash taking part in it was, essentially, to solve the Rattata/Raticate problem.
 
I just think it's really hard to make a lengthy battle VS wild Pokemon good and exciting, like these Totem Trial battles. Strategy, reactions, commands from the other side is almost completely lost due to the absence of a trainer and that kind of makes things feel underwhelming.
 
Actually, the trial is beyond my expectation, and as far I can tell, trial is not supposed to be stagnant, because different trainer has different mindworks, that's why Hala put Satoshi in that kind of trial.
Just think about it, if someone like Paul do that kind of trial, is that any possible? i don't think so, high probability that Hala will put him in different's kind trial.
The anime already shown how flexibel it can be, so no wonder the trial looks different from the game. The game already good, but anime is also good with difference way
About why there's no ilma? I think Hala is the who took responsibility
He's the Kahuna, and you know what? We do Ilma trial because we want to battle Hala, it's logic if we comprehend this as a shortcut, since Ash does took the trial, and by the kahuna itself! And hala does seems to be interested on Ash
 
Nice enough episode with decent animation, I think. Satoshi's face expressions are much improving.
Glad we got an update on what Team Rocket are doing with the Kiteruguma situation, which others pointed out, was the funniest part of the episode. Kiteruguma's all LET ME SAVE YOU. It's a nice ironic opposite of always having TR starving and eventually blasting off like in previous seasons.
 
Nice enough episode with decent animation, I think. Satoshi's face expressions are much improving.
Glad we got an update on what Team Rocket are doing with the Kiteruguma situation, which others pointed out, was the funniest part of the episode. Kiteruguma's all LET ME SAVE YOU. It's a nice ironic opposite of always having TR starving and eventually blasting off like in previous seasons.
Kiteruguma's mission: make sure the TRio stays on terraforma by ANY means possible
 
Nice gentle intro into the battling aspect of this series. Battles are normally my least favourite element of the show but I really enjoyed the trial in this episode and the animation was really nice. I was surprised to see that Shimura animated this episode?! I guess maybe the new style/method of production suits her better, hooray!

Pikachu stole this episode for me. I couldn't pay attention to the dialogue or anything else whenever he was on screen. No one knows how happy Pikachu being expressive again makes me after the dry spell of XY!

The self-awareness of the TRio scene was first class. I don't know if it's just because I'm just stupid (a factor, I know), but till date I have been fooled by each one of these gags into thinking that they are going to get blasted off. (New episode titles besides) the scene in this episode made me feel like the gag won't last forever and at that point the question "Why is it doing this?" will get explored.
 
I was surprised to see that Shimura animated this episode?! I guess maybe the new style/method of production suits her better, hooray!

This episode was all Iwane's work. No idea why Shimura was listed as animation director.
 
I have to say, I'm a little surprised of how big the Totem Pokémon was, especially in comparison to its regular state.

The animation looked really decent too this week, hope they can keep it up!

Bewear is slowly starting to make me miss blasting off again.
 
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