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Preview SM118: Aim for the Top Floor! The Explosive Dragon Gym!!

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Personally, I actually enjoy the pre-XY Dragon Claw (and, by extension, its depiction in this episode) more than the XY one, since, here, it actually looks like a normal Pokémon move, as opposed to the mega shiny hyper version from the last series, which was a little too overwhelming for me.

Speaking of moves (since I never talked about this), can I just say how terrible Dark Pulse looks. They took the move with the most cool and iconic look and turned it into such a generic, lacklustre, ugly and dull move. A shadow of its former self and a complete downgrade. And why, I still don't know.
Oh, I agree with you, I just wish the two moves kept the color symmetry from the last seasons.


This Zweilous’ Dark Pulse actually looks way duller than the one Gladion’s Umbreon uses. Dunno why.
 
Should we be concerned that Lana's good with throwing stars...<_<

Well, well, well, Meltan's battling. This should be interesting.

With Isshu Dragon's appearing, now I REALLY want Ryuki to be related to Roxie
(though chances are much better he won't be :cry:)

Why is Ash so surprised? He knows ninja's, he has a ninja pokemon!

The screenwriters cherry pick what's canon and continuity as they need it. Plus, Ash has been having a lot of memory problems in Alola in general. Though it could be he wasn't expecting ninjas in this saga. (NOBODY EXPECTS A NINJA APPEARANCE!)
 
Summary and staff list, credit goes to Dephender.

Satoshi and the others have come to the Gym of Kanto in Malie City. The gym appears to be modeled after a gym in the Kanto region, but for some reason a group of Trainers dressed as ninjas lie in wait for them inside. And when the group hears they can have a Pokémon battle against the head of the Gym on the top floor if they win against the ninjas on each of the other floors, their fighting spirit flares up.

Screenplay 面出明美 (Akemi Omode)
Storyboard 樋口香里 (Kaori Higuchi)
Episode Director 牧野吉高 (Yoshitaka Makino)
Animation Director 山崎玲愛 (Rena Yamazaki)
Sounds like an early Dragon Ball saga. Akira Toriyama could make a 15 episodes arc with that content lol
 
Oh yeah, I forgot Ryuki also reminded Jimmy as well or rather a combination of both Roxie and Jimmy. If that ever make sense. Despite, Jimmy is a character of the day.
 
Speaking of moves (since I never talked about this), can I just say how terrible Dark Pulse looks. They took the move with the most cool and iconic look and turned it into such a generic, lacklustre, ugly and dull move. A shadow of its former self and a complete downgrade. And why, I still don't know.

I dunno. I was off-put by the new Dark Pulse at first, but it's definitely grown on me. I don't think it's better than the previous depictions, but it's definitely not generic, ugly, or dull at all.
 
I don't think it's better than the previous depictions, but it's definitely not generic, ugly, or dull at all.

Here's the 2 version side by side.

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Compared to how it used to look, the SM version is definitely dull. Instead of firing a cool-looking beam of dark rings, the move has the user shoot a bunch of mini-Shadow Ball rejects. And what even is that rainbow circle around it? This is supposed to be a Dark-type move, not a Fairy-type! But those crescents make it look slightly mirific.
 
I wonder if this episode will actually feature a substantial battle...
 
Anyone know what the song is at the end of the preview? Is it from the full version of Your Adventure because it sounds like the singer from it
 
Anyone know what the song is at the end of the preview? Is it from the full version of Your Adventure because it sounds like the singer from it
Yup, this part comes right after the guitar solo.
 
If SM114 and SM115 are of any indication, then yes, it will!

Heck, I'd say 117 had a substantial battle.
After all, with the League on the way, they REALLY need to start being more action packed (though they should've started sooner)
 
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Heck, I'd say 116 had a substantial battle.
After all, with the League on the way, they REALLY need to start being more action packed (though they should've started sooner)

Wasn’t 116 the episode about Mohn? There really wasn’t a substantial battle in that one...
 
Man, I've been so enthralled by my own "Head bobbing Druddigon" gif that I missed some other stuff from the preview. Like the fact that Ryuki's "eyes" are white instead of yellow (for whatever reason). Or the fact that he no longer has dragon-like claws on his gloves (which is a shame, since I liked that little detail on his costume).

Also, I've noticed a substantial lack of classmates in Pokémon battles and supposed Gym Trainers, contrary to what the summaries say. This better not mean that Ash's the only one who wants to challenge the gym or that a majority of the episode will be about the classmates dodging traps, playing ninja and gushing over food.
 
This would have been the perfect place to retroactively introduce Janine when you think about it. She's a ninja, from a Gym in Kanto, not to mention the Kantonian Gym here is most likely based on the Fuchsia Gym. They would have needed to come up with a reason why she's in Alola but that wouldn't have been that hard. Ryuki isn't from Alola either.

It's cool to see Ryuki too I guess.... A bit odd that a rock guitarist specializing in Dragon-types is leading a Gym full of ninjas but nice to see him show up nonetheless.
 
I dunno, battles and all that shizzle.
 
I dunno, battles and all that shizzle.

I mean, we already know there's only going to be one battle, so there probably won't be any disappointment there. And even if said battle isn't the greatest in terms of choreography, Ryuki's sheer personality will probably save it from being terrible (unless they do something really stupid, but given the last two episodes, that seems unlikely).

By the way, since no one's posted the first preview yet, here it is!

 
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