Review SM043: Gym Battle! Z-Move VS Mega Evolution!!

[Rajas20]

I normally like to go for confirmation lmao, but in this case the translation made it seem that Rotom went on a journey I suppose. One can hope

 

[NeoMiniTails]

Just a random thought: what if Rotomdex really went on a journey through Kanto (which I think is the producer's way of laughing at 20 years and Satoshi is still 10)... What would Sabrina think when she sees a pokedex possessed by a talking ghost type pokemon on a journey to conplete the dex owned by the boy who made her laugh?

 

[Rajas20]

She'd fall in love

 

[Srebak]

I have to say, even after almost a week after finally watching this episode in English sub, certain aspects still keep me from enjoying it and the two-episode arc as a whole, which is upsetting because there was just so much to like about all of this, I mean; Brock and Misty had finally come back after so long, Ash's Alola class coming to Kanto and meeting his old friends, Alola possibly gaining a Pokemon league of its own and Ash not losing a battle within this same story arc.

However, the aforementioned things that bother me are really hard for me to ignore; Ash's obtainment of the Boulder and Cascade badges being brought up (a folly from the Kanto saga that i had hoped would be forgotten) and Ash and Misty having that one moment of banter after their match. They both just hold me back from enjoying this episode that almost everyone appears to enjoy.

Also, i feel the need to point out that, technically speaking, I don't think Ash did get his first two badges out of pity. Technically, he got them because Brock seemed to finally see him for the kind of person that he really is at his core; a good-natured person who truly wants to win his matches fair and square, and who will ultimately decide against using unfair methods for victory. As to how he won the Cascade badge, well, to be perfectly fair, he basically won it because Misty's sisters were showing him gratitude for helping them protect their gym. Granted Ash's first two badges might not have been won the traditional way, but saying that he got them out of pity implies that the gym leaders basically just gave them to him so that he would just shut up and leave, which, as i recall, was definitely not the case. He got them because of his real true character at heart being seen and noticed, that's really something that needed to be said.

Please comment about this if you see and read this.

 

[~ Blazing White Yang]

Was that really in the translation? lol.

But yeah, the whole pity Badges thing is rather overstated. We can joke about him not earning Badges through Battling, but much of the first season just in general was about Ash being someone of integrity even if he wasn't terribly skilled.

 

[Gabo2oo]

Misty teased Ash about his "pity badges" during season 1 too, so it's not like this is a new thing at all.
In fact, I see it more as a callback to that, rather than unfairly misrepresent what happened back then.

 

[NeoMiniTails]

The badges comment was said in a jokingly fashion, not a "you're such a kid" type of comment. When Satoshi was bragging about having gotten all the Kanto badges, they brought up that many didn't come from winning.

It's a bit embarrassing to him, but the way the seiyuu both said it was not to be seen as anything more than two friends fondly teasing him. They didn't say it in a way that suggested that they didn't think he was a good trainer now.

In fact, in two scenes, the writers did a good job of showing how Takeshi and Kasumi really think of him. First was when Takeshi hinted to how Satoshi helped him develop his gym battling style without saying a name.

Second scene came later when Kasumi was thoroughly impressed and somewhat proud of Satoshi that he "really has become strong." Being who Kasumi is she makes fun of him a bit because she can't just give a compliment to him (even if it was only to herself) without reminding him that he still has things to improve.

It was keeping them in character. Their friendship is not the XY era type of friendship. The three of them act like brothers and sisters. They all love each other deeply, but they also argue and sometimes make fun of each other. The three of them support each other.

In many ways, the OS cast mirrors Sun and Moon casts relationship. Its clear that they all care about each other, but its okay for them to joke around with one another.

For me, the capitalization of seeing that and allowing them all to flow off each other is what made two episodes remarkable. Unlike when Hikari came back on BW Da, they kept these characters in character and they still felt fresh.

 

[Islander Princess]

It was keeping them in character. Their friendship is not the XY era type of friendship. The three of them act like brothers and sisters. They all love each other deeply, but they also argue and sometimes make fun of each other. The three of them support each other.

In many ways, the OS cast mirrors Sun and Moon casts relationship. Its clear that they all care about each other, but its okay for them to joke around with one another.

For me, the capitalization of seeing that and allowing them all to flow off each other is what made two episodes remarkable. Unlike when Hikari came back on BW Da, they kept these characters in character and they still felt fresh.

THIS.

I don't want to see characters, who have pre-established personalities, being goody two shoes all the time and never so much as joking with one another. To see Brock and Misty like that, quite frankly, would've been jarring. That's part of their characters, it's part of the past trio's history, and I honestly think leaving out the "pity badge" mention (which, as others have said, was said in a joking/teasing way and not in any way meant to be malicious) would've been a disservice to those characters.

 

[Rajas20]

THIS.

I don't want to see characters, who have pre-established personalities, being goody two shoes all the time and never so much as joking with one another. To see Brock and Misty like that, quite frankly, would've been jarring. That's part of their characters, it's part of the past trio's history, and I honestly think leaving out the "pity badge" mention (which, as others have said, was said in a joking/teasing way and not in any way meant to be malicious) would've been a disservice to those characters.

I found it hilarious, one thing I missed was Ash retorting to Misty thinking she's a beauty. Would have been nice banter.

 

[Srebak]

1. Could it be possible that the reason that Ash didn't comment on Misty calling herself beautiful was because he thinks that she's right about that?

2. After putting more thought into it, I think that I may have figured out the reasons why the scenes that I've mentioned before bother me.

A.) Because after such a long time of being made to assume that the current Alola cast didn't know very much about Ash's past successes and accomplishments, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally start letting them all just how experienced a trainer Ash really was by the time they met him. He doesn't know that much about the Alola region because he's clearly still new that part of the world, but, for the first time in a long time, his class was on his home turf, a region that he's spent a great deal of time traveling in the past. But, then, just when it was starting look like his past accomplishments were just starting to be brought up to his Alolan friends, his original friends undercut the moment by pointing out one of his past follies in regards to his quest for Gym badges. This really underminded a pretty good opportunity for Ash's past successes to at last be brought up, instead of being made to become a part of the past no longer considered relevant. I mean really now, by this point, Ash should be carrying around quite the reputation as a very skilled and talented Pokémon trainer and having the fact that two of his first gym badges were not won in the traditional sense be mentioned and revealed really put him at risk of losing some respect from his Alola classmates and he really didn't seem to have all that much of that as it was anyways, especially from Kiawe.

B.) That one scene where Misty taunts Ash after their battle bothers me because it seems upsetting that after all this time she still hasn't gotten over the need to do that. You may call that sticking with her character, but I call it her never getting over a bad habit. Ever since at some point during the Orange Island saga, Ash had begun to taunt Misty less and less, up until his taunting of her, at last, ceased all together. Nowadays, all he ever seems to do is praise her and her skills as a trainer and a gym leader. So the fact that she still has the need to taunt him is very hard to fathom.

 

[NeoMiniTails]

Kasumi also taunted Satoshi less and less, and the both of them argued less and less.

His classmates respect him a lot. They don't worship his every move, but its obvious that they love him like a brother (especially Mao, Kiawe, and Lillie.) Yes, they acknowledge his faults as friends sometimes do, but they also recognize his good qualities as friends should.

I'm sorry, but if Kasumi was constantly praising Satoshi this entire episode---that would be annoying and it would take away from the showing the audience and the casts how much he'd grown throughout the entire series. They could've had Serena or Clemont (I love them, but they are not Kasumi) come back to compliment Satoshi for the class to hear if that was the case.

Technically, Satoshi hasn't left home for over a year as he's still 10. Not much is gonna change for their personalities besides a closeness...

 

[Johtohfiller]

It did bother me somewhat that Ash said something like "Misty might not look like it but she's a tough gym leader". I don't recall him saying things like that post-OS and I always liked that he moved away from it. I headcanon it as an in-joke with Misty but I can't help but wonder if they threw it in "because Kanto".

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

"I want to have a serious battle with Brock" Are you implying the two on one battles weren't serious Kiawe? Because you're right. I don't know why they didn't make them serious double battles. I mean I understand the serious part because the limited episode but having them be double would let them show off more of their old pokemon.

Here's how I would block the Misty battle:

Kingdra who would balance on his tail out the water would battle Lana's and Mallow's pokemon while Psyduck was oblivious. Until Kingdra gets knocked until Psyducks head causing the confusion one shot. It would take around the same amount of time but it would more make sense having by having it be a serious battle as opposed to randomly unserious battle and it would show off Kingdra. The only issue would be taking away from Psyducks jokes but I'm personally okay with that.

As for the main course I was disappointing by the lack of more complete key stone holders but it was nice to see Pikachu battle such a huge pokemon for once.

Also thank you Lillie for finally pointing out Steelix is on equal footing with fire types.

Ash finally earned his Cascade Badge despite him beating Misty before now all he needs to do is rematch Brock, Erika, Sabrina, Wattson and Roxie. In regards to the pity badges I felt like he could have defended himself better but then again. Ash lost almost every defensive bone in his body after OS. But him saying "If I didn't deserve the cascade badge I wouldn't be Tododile's trainer" would have been nice despite being out of character.