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Review SM019: Intense Electrifying Training! Rematch with Kapu-Kokeko!!

I missed some 8 minutes of the episode, but I can tell this re-match was decent. I guess when the torrent is out, I'll watch it again to review better. Plus, how come no one is adding Poke Problem on this page? SM018 doesn't include one.
 
I admit I was expecting that rematch to be more one sided in the favor of the troll chicken diety. Huh, wonder why Tapu Koko battles Ash like that. Is it bored or does it have a reason....
 
That battle was quite bad. They hyped it up for weeks and all we get is a short bout with a stock footage usage that was really bothersome.

The Z-moves are supposed to be the highlight of each battle and when each and every Z-move is just stock footage then... well, the battles just aren't going to be interesting to watch when you've already seen the highlight several times before.

Also, stop wasting time on dull Sophocles shit and give us a more fleshed out battle instead.
 
That battle was quite bad. They hyped it up for weeks and all we get is a short bout with a stock footage usage that was really bothersome.

The Z-moves are supposed to be the highlight of each battle and when each and every Z-move is just stock footage then... well, the battles just aren't going to be interesting to watch when you've already seen the highlight several times before.
Of course Z Moves are going to be stock footages. What do you expect? OLM has done these for every scenes that required same routine/movement in their anime's for years. Hissattsu in Inazuma and Z Moves are the perfect examples. They just replaced the character and background whenever needed and match it to the same animation. Why would you waste time making new animation for the exactly same things?
 
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed by this one. Some of it was good, some was meh.

I still find Rockruff to be totally unfitting with Ash and I'm not just saying this just because I dislike the mutt. It just doesn't mesh with him imo, and to me it just feels like he's borrowing Kukui's Pokemon. I did like finally seeing a quadruped use a Z-Move though. I was wondering how or if they'd even have them do the pose with the trainer, so that was nice to see. Though honestly, this moment just showed how infrequently Ash even uses Z-Moves. A random battle 1 minute at the beginning of the episode was such a dull way to show off the dog using Breakneck Blitz for the first time.

I did like that they introduced Sophecles's family. His and his parents confused expressions are really cute.I loved all of the Togedemaru merchandise like the picture frame and hat. Also, that moment where Togedemaru hopped down the stairs and fell on the ground was really cute.

The part with the giant wheel overheating and exploding felt like such a Clemont moment. It seemed really unnecessary, but at least it ended up attracting Tapu Koko

The battle...was disappointing. For the big rematch against the Island Guardian, this was bit boring. The fact that it was a short fight shoved at the end of the episode was the main killer imo. It didn't feel like Ash re-matching an opponent he'd faced before, it just felt like a random battle for fun. And the only moment that actually made it seem as if Ash had improved from the last battle was the fact that he was actually able to knock Tapu Koko back with Gigavolt Havoc. Personally, I think it would have been nice if Ash would have used Breakneck Blitz against Tapu Koko instead. Not only would the move have been neutrally effective instead of nve, it would have shown off Ash's new skill to Tapu Koko. Also, the Z-Move stock footage...I get it, they don't want to re-animate a different version every time...but c'mon can we get a little variation? To use the same exact footage from start to finish as the second episode, all the way down to Ash and Pikachu getting hit by the wind and looking to see through the smoke of the aftermath...that's a bit dull. I'd take them just flipping it at this point, anything to look a bit different.

But yeah, long story short, I wasn't too interested in the battle. Honestly I preferred the moments of Tapu Koko knocking away the dog and owl, Togedemaru saving the group from the blast of electricity, and Tapu Koko saving Ash more than the actual battle.

So overall, this was good in some areas and poor in others. I'll give this a 6.5/10.
 
Why would you waste time making new animation for the exactly same things?

"Waste time"? Why would it be a waste of time for the animators to make a new animation for the same move? Don't you think the viewers would appreciate watching something new and not just a lazy copy paste? It's simply not fun watching something you've seen before. I thought that was a basic opinion.

Sure, OLM can get a way with using stock footage sometimes for the basic moves, like they've done in past sagas, but Z moves are almost always the climax and finisher of the battles and for that to be stock footage all the time just kills the excitement.

I mean, there is so much they can do with the animation, even if it's the same move. Change the angle, change the effect, whatever. Just give us something new. This is going to get really bothersome down the line if we'll see Pikachu use the exact same Z move animation in SM150.
 
For a big fight against a legendary, that was really, well, mediocre.

Ash decided on a whim he wanted to fight Tapu Koko again, then decided the best preparation for that was stuffing his face full of malasada and running about in a mouse wheel. I watched it without subs, but I just couldn't discern how that was helping him at all.

The big battle lacked any sense of grandeur and failed to make either participant look good. It was a standard exchange of blows with no real strategy involved. Tapu Koko looked like any bob-standard strong Pokemon and not the legendary it actually is. Tapu Koko waits for Ash to use a Z-Move, yet the fight somehow continues after that. All this seemed to do was repeat the mystery behind Tapu Koko's interest in Ash's Z-Move rather than add to the intrigue. What next for Tapu Koko? It just kinda vanishes.

Oh, and the episode had to end on a pointlessly dramatic cliff bit, with Pikachu once more falling to a grisly end and Ash once more diving off the cliff like a moron. Gotta put that drama in, I suppose.
 
That battle was quite bad. They hyped it up for weeks and all we get is a short bout with a stock footage usage that was really bothersome.

The Z-moves are supposed to be the highlight of each battle and when each and every Z-move is just stock footage then... well, the battles just aren't going to be interesting to watch when you've already seen the highlight several times before.

Also, stop wasting time on dull Sophocles shit and give us a more fleshed out battle instead.

It started out good but went downhill quick. There was way too much sideline commentary and not enough actual battle.

I'm wishing they had put Sophocles' parents into a different episode so they could spend more time on the battle.
 
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"Waste time"? Why would it be a waste of time for the animators to make a new animation for the same move? Don't you think the viewers would appreciate watching something new and not just a lazy copy paste? It's simply not fun watching something you've seen before. I thought that was a basic opinion.

Sure, OLM can get a way with using stock footage sometimes for the basic moves, like they've done in past sagas, but Z moves are almost always the climax and finisher of the battles and for that to be stock footage all the time just kills the excitement.

I mean, there is so much they can do with the animation, even if it's the same move. Change the angle, change the effect, whatever. Just give us something new. This is going to get really bothersome down the line if we'll see Pikachu use the exact same Z move animation in SM150.

I think it was a case of opportunity cost. One the one hand yes people would enjoy new animations for Z moves then reused stock footage, but on the other hand, that would mean they would not only have to make new animation but also pay for it. Which meant that either the production might get more exepnsive or that another part of the series might suffer from it.

Another factor working against it is precedence. For example, how many magical girl shows did you see that had different sequences on an episode by episode basis?

"but pokemon is not a magical girl anime!"

Fine, then I'll go for another example, how many times in Power Rangers/Super Sentai did you see the finishers use different footage?
 
This must be one of the most dull, slow-paced battles I've ever seen. Pretty dissapointing.
 
I suspect that Tapu Koko is just waiting for Ash's Z-Crystal to somehow evolve into a Pikachunium, or maybe Pikashunium, since Pikachu no longer uses Volt Tackle. Or heck with it, Ash will still use Pikachunium even if Pikachu doesn't know Volt Tackle. Not like this is the first time the anime stepped on the rules of the games.
 
Wow, i'm gobsmacked by the mixed reception here, I thought it was an alright battle, not as good as the first but still good enough. Could have done without the Ash saving Pikachu part though, kinda felt forced in.
 
As someone who hasn't enjoyed Team Rocket's motto since early Best Wishes, I totally understand the dislike of stock animation. That being said, it does at least mimic the games where it's literally the same animation over and over, so there's that?
 
Well, I see we've reached the rough equivalent of the 'protagonist falls off the bridge and Tapu Koko saves him/her' scene of the games.

This episode seemed to start out promising enough and then it just kinda slid off for me. I just don't find Sophocles all that interesting. I mean, sure it was nice to meet his folks. And, yeah, it was nice to have a look-see at his lab. Pikachu & Togedamaru goofing off in the lab was the best part of this episode for me. That was just funny as heck. But, by the time we got to the battle with Tapu Koko, I was feeling like I wished some of that time spent with Sophocles' family had been shortened so we would have gotten a longer, more significant battle. This just didn't feel like a battle with a legendary to me. It just seemed so ..... pedestrian. Like there wasn't really anything substantial that came of it that would help contribute to the growth of Ash's battling ability.

And after watching the battle anyway, I find myself wondering if my earlier theorizing might be incorrect. I had thought that perhaps Tapu Koko was testing Ash because it has some sort of awareness that danger is coming down the line and it wants to make sure that Ash is up to the challenge of thwarting that danger. After seeing it blow Rowlet & Rockruff back and zeroing in on Pikachu like it did, I'm wondering if it might not be a more simpler matter of Tapu Koko seeing Pikachu as a strong rival that it wants to battle, and that's like.... all there really is to it.

This was just an okay episode for me. I mean, I don't hate it, but I feel like there's a lot of mud we're swimming through here in regards to the whole Ash/Tapu Koko thing. I know, it's only been 19 episodes and we have a long way to go. Okay, yes. But the next time we get a Koko/Ash rematch, I hope there is some kind of information given that helps to shed even a little bit of light on why Koko is so interested in Ash & Pikachu.
 
I kind of fell off this series and decided to catch up. So when X&Y was ending I basically said I'd give the series 20 episodes to see what I think. We're almost at that point and what I've pretty much decided is that I'll occasionally check out more important episodes when things I'm interested in happen from the games, but overall I'm not a fan of how this series is being handled. I think the style and theme appeals to a different crowd of Pokemon fans than those who enjoyed X&Y more, as this one is far more based on comedy with occasional plot progression. Yes, comedy has always been a part of the anime but Sun & Moon amps it up to 11 with the crazy faces which is a jarring change in tone from the previous series.

I've gotten used to Team Rocket's and Satoshi's new designs but I still don't like them much and probably never will. That and what I still feel is this series' biggest weakness is the fact that Pokemon has always been an adventure/battle anime and the adventure portion of things has drastically decreased with the characters all staying in one location and exploring other parts of the region every 2 to 3 episodes or so. But again, as I've said in many other episodes, there seems to be a huge inconsistency with Satoshi's development as a trainer in this series. Some episodes it seems like he's making minimal progress such as winning a trial and then other episodes he's just clowning around and not getting serious. Like the episode where he seemingly can't keep track of his Z-Crystal, which is really frustrating to say the least.

I will say the positives of the series are the unique Alolan team they're building for Satoshi. I didn't think he'd end up with Rockruff so that was neat. Personally Rockruff is a favorite of mine. I also like the development with Lillie and Vulpix. She's not as good as her game counterpart so far but still the stronger of the characters personally. For Mallow, I can see the appeal in her as she's energetic and really sweet (my type btw) but I wish they'd do a bit more with her. Sophocles is whatever as usual and Kiawe and Lana are so-so for me atm. Lana hasn't had much focus since that one episode and Kiawe is still cool but hasn't had much shine. Kukui is always cool in both the game and anime, and Alolan Oak is a pain in the rear. Team Rocket has overall been pretty alright this time around despite their terrible new designs. I like the team they've got once again like Kalos and the gags with Bewear continue to be great. But I feel like Team Skull needs a bit more focus soon.

The series for me so far is average. Maybe better than some of Johto's and Best Wishes's worst filler episodes but hasn't done anything to really make me say it's worth watching every week. I'll definitely be invested in episodes focusing on Lillie and potentially Mallow and Lana or a specific Alolan Pokemon I care about. If the anime decides to do another trial somewhere in the next 20 episodes I'll check that out as well. But I just can't see the current formula working for 100 plus episodes.

As far as this episode specifically goes, I agree it feels very meh, especially when more than half the episode was centered around Sophocles filler.
 
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