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Review SM131: Musashi VS Kojirō! Battlefield of Truth and Love!!

Watching the whole episode, the title battle between Jessie and James was just as boring as I thought it would be

Was great to see some abilities being used, Cursed Body from Gengar and Snow Cloak from Snowy, now if only Ash was given the priviledge, Blaze, Overgrow might come in handy
 
BigDocFan said:
Watching the whole episode, the title battle between Jessie and James was just as boring as I thought it would be

Was great to see some abilities being used, Cursed Body from Gengar and Snow Cloak from Snowy, now if only Ash was given the priviledge, Blaze, Overgrow might come in handy
Click to expand...
Ash did those two abilities long time ago lol
 
The Sophocles vs. Mina battle was actually slightly longer than I expected, but perfectly okay.

Jessie vs. James... For a match worthy of an episode title, this was really underwhelming and didn't live up to my expectations. No new moves, no evolution, no anything new for Mareanie at all.

Kiawe's battle with Acerola was perfectly good. Didn't expect us to get the anime debut of Thief here. Now I'm wondering if Rapooh was actually using Thief in its debut episode too...

Lillie versus Gladion. Honestly, I liked this battle more than Jessie vs. James. Lillie used legit strategies with Snow Cloak and Aurora Veil, but was eventually defeated, even despite a successful Z-Move. I can actually buy that, because 1) Gladion is a more experienced Trainer with better-trained Pokémon, and 2) Umbreon is a really defensive Pokémon. Honestly, they should've made this the title match. My favorite battle of the episode.

Here's my calls for how the following round battles will go:
  • Gladion will curbstomp James.
  • Ash will have an intense battle with Hau and win.
  • Kiawe will beat Sophocles.
  • Guzma will take down Lana.
The semifinals match-ups will depend on whether Ash faces Guzma or Gladion next, but whichever one he doesn't face first, he'll likely face in the finals.
Diamond & Pearl said:
As far as we know, Kojiro has his Pokémon evolved two times (Dogasu and Weepinbell)
Click to expand...
dark_type_gymleader said:
Yeah... But that was like... Twenty years ago? Haha. It's long overdue that the gets another of his Pokémon to evolve.
Click to expand...
Don't forget his second Weepinbell from Johto.
 
Although more cynical people (myself included) back in 2016 knew Ash would lose the Kalos league, the trigger of the backlash was that the whole league had been poorly set up. Alan was set as the designated rival that Ash was expected to beat in the league, before being defeated by some gary stu. And then the infamous episode heavily gave false hints of Ash winning, which caused even a handful of cynical fans to believe Ash may win that time.

The writers are known to pull bait-and-switches at times to increase hype so that they can pull the carpet when enough are hooked. Likewise, episodes that promise something would happen, like a capture or learning a new move, only to turn out to be a filler. The hyped Ash vs. Kukui might also be a case of bait-and-switch, where instead, Gladion/Guzma/Hau would challenge Kukui instead.

This league could go anywhere, but I wouldn't count on Ash to win. If there's anything Kalos taught us, it's that we should never take false bait from the writers. Any fan outrage this time wouldn't be as extreme because now everyone is expecting a loss.

(And yeah, you're right @KrspaceT. When we have shows that bash critics (Teen Titans Go), are full of offensive humor (Family Guy), or have Donald Duck run away from his friends to be pampered by a billionaire (Bronco Busted), the anime's only controversial nature is nothing changing in the 22 years it's been on the air)
 
Sorta underwhelming compared to what I hoped for, but kept my expectations pretty low anyway.

The episode itself was okay, but why highlight Jessie and James's battle in the title when it was shorter than the battle directly after it? Felt a little baity.

Sophocles vs. Mina was short and started pretty abruptly, but had a lot of good aerial action and good chasing scenes. Not much I can really say about this battle compared to the others, but I did like the rising tension that came with Ribombee throwing out constant puffballs. (3/5)

Jessie vs. James was alright for what it could accomplish since there's only so much you can do with Wobbuffet, but again felt like it had much substance in the episode since most of the battle was revealed in the first preview. Wobbuffet's treatment in this series has been pretty mediocre this series, losing most of the humor I liked from him originally (still a few gems there but not enough) and has pretty much been reduced to a Walking Pokemon that just occasionally says its name, so seeing him do something minimally relevant in this series was nice, I guess. Mareanie is slowly becoming one of my favorite Pokemon with its personality and battling skills though, loved that she was more invested in winning than James was. My only real flaws with the battle is that most of it felt repetitive and it started the exact same way it ended (3/5)

Kiawe vs. Acerola had a nice setup and good animation, had a feeling of tension towards the middle of fight, and had nice pacing. The best fight in the League so far IMO (which is really not saying much) (4/5)

Lillie vs. Gladion was good as a reminder that Lillie is still a growing trainer at the end of the day, so to show the Icium-Z successfully landing in a real life, but to not take out Gladion's Umbreon reflected great on that and on top of that, the strategies Lillie used with Hail + Aurora Veil also showed the calculated side of her character compared to most of the cast, and it was overall great to see a character who was scared of Pokemon at the start change into so much more by the near end
of the series. Only wish Snowball could've evolved beforehand (4/5)

OVERALL SCORE: (14/20)
 
Waiter, there's been a mix-up. I think I have a Best Wishes episode in my Sun & Moon...
"Actually sir, the writer's often use the same recipe for SM's battles that they did for BW's."
Oh...

Makes me wonder if the creative teams wants this League (and saga) over with and out of way...
 
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Me watching Jessie vs James be like:

Image result for pokemon sleeping gif


At least that battle wasn't full of just angst and drama the way I feared it would be. I don't get why Mareanie couldn't have evolved here given the perfect opportunity, but whatever at least Bewear stayed the hell away from TRio. Lillie losing to Gladion... predictable. Kiawe beating Acerola... a shame.
 
My expectations were kind of higher than what we actually got, but there were still some very interesting parts in the episode.
It's sad that most of the battle was spoiled by the preview, but I actually enjoyed how James overcame Wobbuffet. If I am not mistaken, this is the first time in the anime that they address the fact that Counter and Mirror Coat are supposed to do twice the damage done to Wobbuffet. The anime normally uses Counter and Mirror Coat as reflective moves, without Wobbuffet taking actual damage (that we know of, of course). So it was neat how the anime addressed that Wobbuffet actually takes damage, and that this was James's strategy, which is different from every strategy that we have seen in the past to overcome Wobbuffet (namely, using a move that can't be countered or using a physical move on Mirror Coat/special move on Counter).
So I enjoyed how James used a new strategy to beat Wobbuffet. If he repeated a strategy previously used in the anime it would be kind of boring, so hooray!

And I have to reference how cute it was to see Mimikyu working with Meowth, delivering malasadas. And I also laughed at that Bewear scene.

I haven't seen a subbed version yet, but I have read here that next match will be 2x2? Is this real? Who will James use as a second Pokémon? Meowth, Mimikyu and Wobbuffet are seen rooting for James in the preview.
 
L-05308 said:
She’s a main character and therefore they’d want the character to have a moment to shine... Just as Mallow got her moments last episode despite losing.
Click to expand...
Mallow got completely curbstomped and the one time she pulled off a Z-Move, it was canceled out. Had they wanted her to shine, they wouldn’t have made it so one-sided and at least let her get some hits in even if she still lost.
 
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