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Review SM015: The Clawed Hill, Iwanko and Lugarugan!!

The first rule of Pokemon Fight Club is: you do not talk about Pokemon Fight Club. The second rule of Pokemon Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Pokemon Fight Club! Third rule of Pokemon Fight Club: if someone yells “stop!”, goes limp, or taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight...

Great episode! I guess Iwanko was a wild pokemon after all? Also nice references:

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The first rule of Pokemon Fight Club is: you do not talk about Pokemon Fight Club. The second rule of Pokemon Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Pokemon Fight Club! Third rule of Pokemon Fight Club: if someone yells “stop!”, goes limp, or taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule: only two guys to a fight...

Right on! DO TALK about Pokemon Fight Club. Nice Fight Club reference.
 
VERY Unexpected capture! It was a pretty good episode and I'm so happy that Kukui gave Ash his Rockruff.

It was not Kukui's Rockruff , it was just a wild Rockruff , even in the pokeproblem segment Kukui said : "the answer is rockruff! why did you think it was my pokemon after all this time ?" something like that.

Probably the first SM episode I liked btw.
 
Character development, action, an interesting plot with the Fight Club, Kiawe being relevant and doing something, the OP playing as an insert song for additional excitement, great animation... why can't every SM episode be like this?

This episode was amazing, probably my favorite of SM.
 
Debatable content aside, I think this was the best episode so far, along with the episode about Lillie and Shiron. The plot was quite interesting for once and we got some proper character development, along with good pacing.

Bonus points for featuring one of my favorite Gen VII Pokémon and for having it join Ash's team.
 
It's a fun episode and I like how it featured Rockruff and midday Lycanroc. Ash finally has a Rockruff in his team. Rockruff is Ash's first rock type Pokemon since his Roggenrola evolved into a Boldore during BW 5 years, 1 month, 2 weeks, and 4 days ago.
 
Hooray! Finally, one of my fave Alolan Pokemon joins Satoshi's team. I usually have rotten luck when it comes to my faves joining his teams. It's both adorable and loves to battle. And no Team Rocket this episode - Bonus! Fingers crossed it's gonna be the main powerhouse of the team. Of course, there's the question of if it will evolve, and if it does, which form will it take?

BTW, Satoshi, you somehow managed to make Okido's Pokemon-face gag even creepier than he does it, and that's saying something.
 
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I'm so glad that Iwanko and Pikachu's bromance can now continue indefinitely! Iwanko is so cute it gives me heartburn. I can't believe Satoshi was allowed to getto it!

Though tbh my fave bit of the episode was Kukui trolling at the end like you thought Iwanko was my Pokemon LOL U FOOL.
 
Even without TR/Bewear this manages to be my favorite SM episode yet. It's got Tomioka's style all over it. I've been disappointed with the lack of battling so it's refreshing to get an episode with lots of it. I like the idea of Pokemon holding their own fighting tournaments in the wild, fits right in with my headcanons.

It does still have the problem of Ash's friends barely being there, I like that they're giving Prof. Kukui a lot of screentime though.
 
That was a pretty good episode, but I'm curious as to why Rockruff had to have that training in order to build up the ability to use Rock Throw and why Pikachu flashily made Pikachu do that sparkling, exploding Electro Ball. And I wonder who organised the fight club, I'm guessing the two Lycanroc, but I'd like to believe it was the Spinda. I think it was the only Pokemon there that there was only one of, if that makes sense.
 
I haven't been able to see the episode yet, but apparently Rockruff joins Ash...?

Edit: I haven't watched Fight Club yet, but I do see that this episode is kinda based off it. Also, there were some scenes that were just great. It's a good episode, however there were some repeated scenes that kinda ticked me off.
 
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I need a gif of Ash and Pikachu headbanging.

The wild Pokemon coming together to train without human intervention was a cool concept and a refreshing change from the vindictive fighting rings we've seen in the past.

On the other hand, it'd be even better if Iwanko (completely forgotten its English name) was cast from the group because it received human help. In fact, I want to see an episode about that.

The other fun part was the training montage. Ash at his crazy best right there. It's always fun when he gets involved in the training directly instead of standing on the sides calling out order.
 
Each time I watch Sun and Moon, I get reminded of the Beginning Saga from time to time.

My favorite part was the battle between Rockruff and Magmar; especially with the two Lycanroc watching Rockruff the entire time.
 
I just adore Ash this series. He's reminding me of why I loved his character in the first place. Between the silliness (his Samson Oak impersonation was so funny), his determination to help Pokémon, and his kindness, THIS is the Ash I've missed seeing. That was a huge part of what made this episode so enjoyable for me.

The other part was Rockruff. He is just so cute! I love seeing a Pokémon really act like the animal it's based off of. Watching Rockruff play and get excited on top of battling just reminded me of a little puppy. I'm so happy he's now with Ash...I think he's easily going to become one of my favorite "Ash Pokémon" ever!

And, once again, I love the classmates. I think it's great that they can make minor appearances in the episodes and not feel out of place. Them watching Ash take Rockruff's attacks and commenting like "he's insane" was awesome. Just adds more to the way I'm enjoying Ash's portrayal so far.

The only thing I didn't like was the shot of the two Lycanroc howling...three times. It stuck out like a sore thumb and just felt kind of lazy. Don't really know why that was needed, but it's a minor nitpick.
 
Yeah, I really didn't care for this episode at all. Not only because of how it focused on one of my least favorite Pokemon introduced this generation, but also because of how boring it was. The entire plot with Rockruff going out to go fight with wild Pokemon was semi-interesting, but the way it was present was just so dull. Ash trains the dog to fight with the power of headbanging in a very boring montage which doesn't even make it seem like the mutt got any stronger. Then to make matters worse, the mutt easily defeats the Magmar it struggled with before in a super rushed rematch battle that just feels empty. But I will say that I now love Magmar just a bit more after seeing it trash the ugly mutt. Plus the way it was flexing and strutting around was super cool.

But here's the worst thing about this episode. Ash's capture of the rock dog was so unnecessary. I seriously believe this is one of the most forced captures out of this entire series. Ash has had no meaningful interactions with that dog outside of this episode, and even here, there was nothing really special about what Ash did that should have given him a reason to take ownership of Rockruff. It makes no sense that Kukui would just give away a Pokemon he's had for who knows how long to some random kid he's just starting teaching just because he 'trained' it for a bit to win a fight. This episode should have been about Kukui training his Pokemon to go win that fight. Not Ash. If they wanted Ash with a Rockruff, they should have just let him go to Ten Carat Hill (or whatever anime equivalent they could have made) and let him go catch a wild one. There was no need to take Kukui's. And why the hell didn't Rockruff have a Pokeball anyway?

Also, second worst thing about this episode...Shiron's absence :( That was disappointing. Overall, 2/10. Literally the only thing I enjoyed was Popplio making that giant bubble in the beginning of the episode that exploded and splashed the other Pokemon and Magmar pummeling the ugly rock mutt.
 
But here's the worst thing about this episode. Ash's capture of the rock dog was so unnecessary. I seriously believe this is one of the most forced captures out of this entire series. Ash has had no meaningful interactions with that dog outside of this episode, and even here, there was nothing really special about what Ash did that should have given him a reason to take ownership of Rockruff. It makes no sense that Kukui would just give away a Pokemon he's had for who knows how long to some random kid he's just starting teaching just because he 'trained' it for a bit to win a fight. This episode should have been about Kukui training his Pokemon to go win that fight. Not Ash. If they wanted Ash with a Rockruff, they should have just let him go to Ten Carat Hill (or whatever anime equivalent they could have made) and let him go catch a wild one. There was no need to take Kukui's. And why the hell didn't Rockruff have a Pokeball anyway?
Rockruff was never Kukui's Pokémon to begin with (this was stated multiple times throughout the episode). It was a wild Pokémon that stumbled across Kukui's house and stayed with him under his care because Kukui had given it food when it was starving. Kukui only gave Rockruff food and a roof to sleep under to be safe. Sure, he cared about Rockruff, but seeing the bond it had build with Ash made him realize Rockruff was perfect for Ash and since Rockruff wasn't his Pokémon but just a wild Pokémon he befriended, this makes sense.

And no meaningful interactions? I disagree with that. Rockruff has been shown from its debut to have a lot of affection for Ash and this has continued through other episodes until this episode. Sure, they could've emphasized on it some more but to say this capture is forced because Rockruff has had no meaningful interactions with Ash is nonsense in my opinion.
 
I remember in the preview for this episode, from last week, Ash could be heard saying something like "Don't look!". Was there any moment in this episode that had that?
 
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