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

[SonansuMan]

Why the big fuss over likes? Not necessarily every post that doesnt show up with a JPG at the bottom of the screen is a bad one or didn't deserve any, it's just an arbitrary feature that shows that people read your post.

Musashi barely fought. And that plan of them to let her win was... Ridiculous.

I finished watching the episode with subs last night and never got any of the context for the battle, but both Jessie and James seemed... super out of character? Jessie may be a glory diva in a lot of episodes, but has ever she really been selfish enough outside of the SM episodes to make her own friends give up their stuff, for her benefit? It feels all so different from the same Jessie that released (or attempted to release), half of her Pokemon for their own happiness. James also felt like a doormat for 90% of the episode and didn't even got closure after the battle unlike Lana and Mallow did.

I feel like I'd be so much less unsatisfied with the episode if the name was instead "Lillie vs Gladio! A Battlefield of Brain vs. Brawn!" so I wouldn't actually have to hope on TR for once getting a better than decent battle in the series that wasn't just getting jobbed or "KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" in the last 30 seconds, especially since Mimikyu's been the most effective Pokemon they've ever had. The best one I can remember is Alolan Raticate and that was more than 2 years ago.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Where did James's enthusiasm about the chance to get to battle the Masked Royal disappear to all of a sudden?

 

[ii kanji]

It's part of the architecture of XenForo. We can add our own custom reactions but the basic "like" is always embedded in the system.

Hark how bemoaning any aspect of XenForo brings out a big boss from the woodworks! Don't worry, none of us are planning on defecting from BMGf anytime soon.

 

[TeaWest]

I just don't frequent the anime section

I haven't seen an episode since BW I think

 

[Jez]

Jessie may be a glory diva in a lot of episodes, but has ever she really been selfish enough outside of the SM episodes to make her own friends give up their stuff, for her benefit? It feels all so different from the same Jessie that released (or attempted to release), half of her Pokemon for their own happiness. James also felt like a doormat for 90% of the episode

It was the soul of Jessiebelle in the body of Jessie disguised in Sina. XD

 

[ii kanji]

I just don't frequent the anime section

I haven't seen an episode since BW I think

You could change that you know. We in the Anime/Manga Subforum can be annoyingly friendly I'm also sure that if you expressed what aspects of the anime you had previously enjoyed, people would be falling over themselves to recommend some good examples from XY & SM.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I just don't frequent the anime section

I haven't seen an episode since BW I think

You have no idea what you've missed. Most Pokémon fans consider the XY series a masterpiece on par, if not even superior to the DP series. You should watch at least a couple of episodes from it to see how good it is. And while not on par with XY, the SM series is good in its own way too and has even had some pretty dang emotional episodes.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Well, that was one of the most misleading titles of the SM Saga, and Kiawe vs Acerola dragged on far too long and wasted animation that'd have been much better suited for Gladion vs Lillie

Umbreon flying through the air after no-selling Shiron's Z-move was hysterical and since Shiron didn't actually faint, I guess that was a forfeit?

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Umbreon flying through the air after no-selling Shiron's Z-move was hysterical and since Shiron didn't actually faint, I guess that was a forfeit?

Referee decided that Shiron is unable to battle, and end the match. Which was a wrong assumption on her part, if you ask me.

In all seriousness, this is what pisses me off about the like system. BMGf is a forum, its purpose is to facilitate discussion. I will never understand why they introduced this brainless social media function.

I think it should stay active but close to the public, so only posters can see the likes they received.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Referee decided that Shiron is unable to battle, and end the match. Which was a wrong assumption on her part, if you ask me.

I think Snowy did faint, as it didn't open its eyes after falling into Lillie's arms.

I think it should stay active but close to public, so only posters can see the likes they received.

I'm perfectly fine with the system as it is.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Which was a wrong assumption on her part, if you ask me.

So when Mallow wants to throw in the towel and end the battle, it's a disgrace, but when Lillie does it, it's fine

That's a big piles of "yikes" in terms of favoritism

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

So when Mallow wants to throw in the towel and end the battle, it's a disgrace, but when Lillie does it, it's fine

But she didn't throw it, it was the referee's decision.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

But she didn't throw it, it was the referee's decision.

Just because there were no swirly eyes doesn't necessarily mean that it wasn't a legit KO.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

I'm perfectly fine with the system as it is.

But this way people wouldn't be feeling left alone.

Just because there were no swirly eyes doesn't necessarily mean that it wasn't a legit KO.

There is no other way to understand if it's a legit KO, so...

 

[BigDocFan]

Although it was rather pointless, I enjoyed the brief scene showing Bewear and Stufful putting on a performance in the hot spring, it shows a nice family moment not involving Team Rocket

 

[Nicolas721]

The battles between the games' trial captains were surprisingly decent while the ones between the siblings & almost-siblings were disappointing.

Sophocles vs Mina was short but it did its job well showing a very unusual flying bug vs flying bug battle.

Jessie vs James was disappointing. It makes sense that Wobbuffet would spam its counter moves, and that Mareanie would do her best to praise James, but it's clear that it was written by someone who didn't care much about their character history, we didn't even saw many reactions from Meowth. Also, they should had given more use to Mareanie's toxic powers.

Kiawe vs Acerola was nice. It had a very interesting strategy and good moments. It makes sense why they gave it a longer runtime than expected, as Gengar is popular and Kiawe needs more on-screen victories.

Lillie vs Gladion...sigh. I don't know why they invented a battle style for Snowy if they weren't going to use it enough or implement it poorly like in this episode, and Lillie as an studious person should had been able to prevent some of her brother's strategies. At least it made me laugh when Gladion showed that he still doesn't trust Faba.

The scenes at the beginning and at the end felt very slow paced.

Lana vs Guzma and Kiawe vs Sophocles are surprising, most of us were expecting Guzma and Kiawe to be switched. I guess they want Guzma to take on the strongest trainers and Sophocles to lose against his best friend.

 

[ShadowZone1996]

This had so much potential to be amazing, but it was just... terrible. Jessie, James and Meowth are all so out of character in this one. James was so fired up a few episodes ago. He cared about winning so much more than Jessie, but here he couldn't care less about being in the battle. He just fully went on board with Jessie wanting the victory. They could've had so much more emotion in that battle. They could've cared so much more about battling each other. I was ready for a big reaction from James and Meowth when they found out Jessie was using Wobbuffet. My favorite thing about the whole episode was Ash reading the title card cause it's been years since I've heard him say their names, and that says a lot about how awful this episode was put together.

 

[Kurolegacy]

This had so much potential to be amazing, but it was just... terrible. Jessie, James and Meowth are all so out of character in this one. James was so fired up a few episodes ago. He cared about winning so much more than Jessie, but here he couldn't care less about being in the battle. He just fully went on board with Jessie wanting the victory. They could've had so much more emotion in that battle. They could've cared so much more about battling each other. I was ready for a big reaction from James and Meowth when they found out Jessie was using Wobbuffet. My favorite thing about the whole episode was Ash reading the title card cause it's been years since I've heard him say their names, and that says a lot about how awful this episode was put together.

Really, while I had absolute zero expectations for this given that it was TRio battling, if they were gonna use them like that rather than taking this seriously, they might as well have let 2 of the recurring characters make it into the top 16. Hell Kahili and Pikala could have made more interesting battles than what they gave us with Jessie and James.

 

[SwadloonBoy]

SwadloonBoy’s thoughts~

• going into this episode rooting hard for Jessie to win...literally nothing else matters
• I thought for sure they introduced the plot with Magearna to give Lillie a shot in the league...but Lillie has to do battle in this episode...and Magearna is still nowhere to be seen :0
• I don’t want the top 8 to be cluttered with the main cast still...so one of Mamane and Kaki simply have to lose...and I’d rather see Mamane lose...so I’ve gotta root for my girl Mina in this first match
• so Mamane won...congrats, I guess!! But I just feel like he’s gonna get unceremoniously booted in the next round lol...and him winning honestly makes me think Kaki is losing his match :0 idk why, but I just don’t see the writers having half of the top 8 be from the group of classmates
• omg it’s Jessie vs. James already??? I figured it would be at the end of the episode!! I’m not emotionally ready!!
• I feel like James is going to win just because they’re going so far out of their way to show that he isn’t taking the competition seriously...like I get it....that’d be so ironic and funny...NOT...let Jessie have her moment!!!!!!!
• Jessie using Wobbuffet <3
• James is so annoying.....like, he’s trying to be a good friend to Hidoide....but he’s being a TERRIBLE friend to Jessie by trying to take something away from her that she clearly cares about when he doesn’t give a Rattata’s behind
• Jessie really lost......I guess I won’t be tuning back into this show until Galar in November

• jk I’m back...but still disappointed
• Acerola BETTER WIN.....sick and tired of women losing to men in this episode....it’s time for a feminist agenda
• that Gengar is scary wow
• Kaki won.....I’ve been disappointed with every single outcome in this episode so far....I don’t see why they’re allowing so many main characters to make it so far in the competition when they won’t have enough screentime to give them all the satisfying battles they deserve
• if Lillie loses, a male character will have beaten a female character four times in this episode
• Lusamine supporting her kids <3
• ok so Lillie lost, and I guess that’s fine because I always expected her to lose against her brother, but it is absolutely ridiculous to write an episode where 4 females get defeated back-to-back-to-back-to-back by 4 male characters...there is absolutely no reason why Jessie and one of Mina/Acerola couldn’t have won....Lana is literally the only female who survived the first round....1 out of 6...pathetic

Thoughts on the Round 2 matchups...

• Gladio vs. James (yawn, we all know who’s winning that)
• Ash vs. Hau (I’m rooting for precious Hau out of protest to the show <3)
• Kaki vs. Mamane is actually very interesting....I hope Kaki wins!!!
• Guzma vs. Lana is complete BS because she has almost no chance of beating him considering where the story seems to be going....having your only strong female character be beaten by an obnoxious villain who was only written into the show at the 11th hour is just so, so needless and annoying...you deserve better than this, Lana

• oh no a Wingull showed up....let’s hope nobody brings up its in-game animations
• looking forward to a Rowlet-centric ep next week to get the nasty taste of this week’s ep out of my mouth...

 

[MegaGreninga]

SwadloonBoy’s thoughts~

• going into this episode rooting hard for Jessie to win...literally nothing else matters
• I thought for sure they introduced the plot with Magearna to give Lillie a shot in the league...but Lillie has to do battle in this episode...and Magearna is still nowhere to be seen :0
• I don’t want the top 8 to be cluttered with the main cast still...so one of Mamane and Kaki simply have to lose...and I’d rather see Mamane lose...so I’ve gotta root for my girl Mina in this first match
• so Mamane won...congrats, I guess!! But I just feel like he’s gonna get unceremoniously booted in the next round lol...and him winning honestly makes me think Kaki is losing his match :0 idk why, but I just don’t see the writers having half of the top 8 be from the group of classmates
• omg it’s Jessie vs. James already??? I figured it would be at the end of the episode!! I’m not emotionally ready!!
• I feel like James is going to win just because they’re going so far out of their way to show that he isn’t taking the competition seriously...like I get it....that’d be so ironic and funny...NOT...let Jessie have her moment!!!!!!!
• Jessie using Wobbuffet <3
• James is so annoying.....like, he’s trying to be a good friend to Hidoide....but he’s being a TERRIBLE friend to Jessie by trying to take something away from her that she clearly cares about when he doesn’t give a Rattata’s behind
• Jessie really lost......I guess I won’t be tuning back into this show until Galar in November

• jk I’m back...but still disappointed
• Acerola BETTER WIN.....sick and tired of women losing to men in this episode....it’s time for a feminist agenda
• that Gengar is scary wow
• Kaki won.....I’ve been disappointed with every single outcome in this episode so far....I don’t see why they’re allowing so many main characters to make it so far in the competition when they won’t have enough screentime to give them all the satisfying battles they deserve
• if Lillie loses, a male character will have beaten a female character four times in this episode
• Lusamine supporting her kids <3
• ok so Lillie lost, and I guess that’s fine because I always expected her to lose against her brother, but it is absolutely ridiculous to write an episode where 4 females get defeated back-to-back-to-back-to-back by 4 male characters...there is absolutely no reason why Jessie and one of Mina/Acerola couldn’t have won....Lana is literally the only female who survived the first round....1 out of 6...pathetic

Thoughts on the Round 2 matchups...

• Gladio vs. James (yawn, we all know who’s winning that)
• Ash vs. Hau (I’m rooting for precious Hau out of protest to the show <3)
• Kaki vs. Mamane is actually very interesting....I hope Kaki wins!!!
• Guzma vs. Lana is complete BS because she has almost no chance of beating him considering where the story seems to be going....having your only strong female character be beaten by an obnoxious villain who was only written into the show at the 11th hour is just so, so needless and annoying...you deserve better than this, Lana

• oh no a Wingull showed up....let’s hope nobody brings up its in-game animations
• looking forward to a Rowlet-centric ep next week to get the nasty taste of this week’s ep out of my mouth...

Guzma vs Lana is good idea she probably going to do her best since both of Pokémon were mistreated by Skull Gang