REVIEW: SM134: Everyone's Fully Powered! The Road to the Semifinals!!

[BigDocFan]

SM134 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Discuss the episode here.

 

[Alola]

Welp.

Lana vs. Guzma is officially the most unnerving, most uncomfortable battle I have ever witnessed in the Pokemon anime.

 

[Singaporean]

Exciting finishing battle for Vikavolt and Charizard. While feeling bad about Primarina being destroyed by Guzma Golisopod.

Overall: B+

 

[BigDocFan]

Lana vs. Guzma is officially the most unnerving, most uncomfortable battle I have ever witnessed in the Pokemon anime.

Was certainly an intense battle, quite savage as well. Just shows that Guzma is taking his intentions of destroying the league seriously

Guzma vs Lana has to be one of the best episodes of the league

Was great to see Kiawe's Charizard getting some proper battling done, just wish Inferno Overdrive was used instead of Supersonic Skystrike

 

[RetroPokeFan]

If there's anything this episode has confirmed, it's that Guzma has to be one of the most delirious main leaders I've seen in the anime's history, in fact he's the Garou of this arc.

His strategies, his personality, his continuation of his vendetta against Kukui, the way that Izumi Shimura presents him here. His anime counterpart is literally one of the most terrifying and creepiest people you would ever want to meet and they showed it perfectly off with the battle against Lana.

The entire scene of Golisopod grabbing Primarina by the neck so it can't sing or use it's Z move actually legitimately gave me chills.

I'm actually hoping they give Team Skull a short arc to wrap things up now. Sure, it'll probably not happen since they'll only have a few episodes left after the league, but one can dream.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Welp, that was the most anticlimactic Z-Move I think I've seen in the whole anime. All that buildup, only for it to be over in an instant and do absolutely nothing, as expected.

Vikavolt seems to have upgraded to a better Electric move. Again. Sophocles has learned more off-screen moves than any other main character in this series.

Guzma was every bit as brutal as we expected, and even more! Lana fought well, but in the end, it wasn't enough.

Overall, a massive, massive improvement in quality compared to the last episode! See, Fujisaku-san? This is how good battles are written!

 

[Shadowlarvitar]

And the writer's pet finally went down, good riddance!
The battle was good... when Primarina was getting deserving beaten down. It shouldn't have gotten out a single attack! -.-

 

[P_S_B]

Now this is how you write a League episode.

Some nice strategies from both Sophacles and Kiawe, along with a particularly tense battle between Lana and Guzma with Lana being clearly outmatched to help build Guzma's thread and it's always nice to see Guzma's dirty tactics at play, if a bit chilling to watch in the moment. I especially liked how Primarina's cry sounded like she was calling out, "Suiren!" as if she was desperately calling for help from her trainer who had to watch helplessly as all her strategies to protect Primarina got countered by Guzma. I don't know if the dub will be able to replicate that unless they put some accent on "Rina!" so it sounds like Lana, but I don't know how well that would work. Also nice to see Shaymin get the chance to do something constructive.

My only complaint really was the overuse of that one shot of the Pokémon cheering, with it appearing I think 5 times I counted.

 

[JeoDude]

Great episode with two intense battles in a different way (friendly and brutal). Sophocles has made great progress as a trainer since the episode when Vikavolt fought Crawdaunt. His strategies gave Kiawe a hard time. My only nitpick for this fight is that Vikavolt can suddenly use Wild Charge, but that is no big deal for me.

Lana vs Guzma is one of the most brutal pokemon battles I have watched from the Pokemon anime. Primarina has offered a good fight against Golisopod, considering Primarina couldn't use her vocal moves until the z-move. I wonder why Primarina suddenly could sing again during the z-move. Was there an explonation?

I give this episode a 8/10, of course that can change when the subs are out. The animation quality improves significantly judging from next weeks preview, so next weeks episode looks really good on that part.

 

[BigDocFan]

This is definitely the best episode of the league so far, mostly thanks to the battle between Guzma and Lana

Loved how Sandy was supportive, a cute scene between it and Pikachu

 

[Alola]

Lana vs Guzma is one of the most brutal pokemon battles I have watched from the Pokemon anime. Primarina has offered a good fight against Golisopod, considering Primarina couldn't use her vocal moves until the z-move. I wonder why Primarina suddenly could sing again during the z-move. Was there an explonation?

Despite the name, Oceanic Operetta actually is not a sound move in the games.

 

[TheAerialAcer]

brutal.

Spoiler

 

[BigDocFan]

This episode reminds me of how great Diamond and Pearl was, the battles could be quite brutal at times, especially those against Paul and Hunter J

 

[TheAerialAcer]

This episode reminds me of how great Diamond and Pearl was, the battles could be quite brutal at times, especially those against Paul and Hunter J

Yeah. I remember their Drapion’s always trapping Ash’s Pokémon with their “tails” and poisoning them, similar to what Golisopod was doing to Primarina.

 

[Plumeria]

Golisopod slicing Oceanic Operetta in half and then immediately making the final blow on Primarina (with Goli looking like the samurai its design is based on) was an amazing end.

 

[FCBayern]

That was some nerve wracking battle..

I haven’t watch the episode in subbed yet but damn I felt that, the scene with the audience gasping in horror reminded me of a dejected football crowd witnessing their team lose at home to their arch-rivals..

We all knew that Lana was gonna lose and Guzma would dominate this battle but I never expected her to do down that savagely and brutally, it was nice to see that she was still in good spirits when most people would fall into a crippling depression after being beat like that!

She did have some good ideas by trying to limit Golisipod’s movement with Icy Wind but I felt that she lacked the experience and skill to be able to implement them properly in a high stakes situation against a superior opponent!

As for Guzma wow, that was some battle.. His character is terrifying and very dark, I’ve never seen someone that evil in the Pokémon anime in a while.. He started strong, ended strong and even went for the overkill just to remind Kukui that he’s coming for him and his league!

The Skull Boss is out for revenge and I love that he just walked off smugly at the end without shaking Lana’s hand, idk what he said to Olivia though when she confronted him, I assume that she was asking him to be a good sport after his W or something and he just scoffed and walked away..

My theory about Guzma facing off against the Pokémon school kids and destroying them has come to light and now it’s up to Ash and Pikachu to put Guzma in his place.. I felt bad for Lana but you know it’s good to see her shown as an imperfect character for once!

I like the fact he started off with different move this time, she was too naive in thinking that Guzma would use First Impression again to start off their battle and after a shocking pause for a few seconds, he then decides to surprise her with another move instead before she can hit with Sparkling Aria!

His whole battle from start to end was something of magic, starting off with Throat Chop preventing Primarina from using its signature move, then using a super-effective Poison Jab to poison it, using its claws to drain Primarina’s energy, and then finally using Liquidation to break the Z-Move into half to finish it off!

Apart from a few frozen limbs, there was no significant damage to Golisipod.. The guy had a perfect battle, I’ve never seen an evil team boss battle with so much tactical awareness and strategy without having to resort to any gimmicks like the other contestants, no Z-Move, no problem at all for Guzma!

As for the other battle, good for Sophocles for giving Kiawe a run for his money! But damn even though Kiawe rarely uses Charizard in battle, all those years of experience with his Kahuna grandfather helped him manage this battle pretty well..

After last week’s debacle, I’m glad that they made up for it with an episode that is probably one of the best of the S/M series imo.. Props to whoever wrote this episode, if the remaining league battles turn out to be this good or better wow!

Looking forward to next week’s episode, hopefully Kiawe gives Gladion a good battle at so it doesn’t look like he’s just cruising through this tournament waiting for Ash to give him a wake up call..

8.5/10 for me

 

[WatcherMark]

Damn, the battle between Suiren and Guzma was amazing but brutal. I liked it for despite showing that Ashirene was a strong Pokemon, it didn't stand a chance in this match. I did like how Suiren prepared for a First Impression attack, and how Guzma seemed to predict this and changed his strategy. Also, poor Ashirene... it was bullied as an Ashimari by Team Skull and now in its final form it got another beating from the team.

Kaki vs Mamane was satisfying too for how our electric youngster did manage to put up a decent fight and it did look for a few seconds like he could have pulled off a win if he'd been a bit more skilled. Also, I get a strange satisfaction over seeing a Pokemon learn a new move only for it to fail.

Speaking of failing moves... we've had four Z-Moves fail in two episodes. Bit of overkill? Man, I'm glad they're getting retired after this series.

 

[MegaGreninga]

Was certainly an intense battle, quite savage as well. Just shows that Guzma is taking his intentions of destroying the league seriously

Guzma vs Lana has to be one of the best episodes of the league

Was great to see Kiawe's Charizard getting some proper battling done, just wish Inferno Overdrive was used instead of Supersonic Skystrike

Not really since it was given by god pokemon makes more sense

 

[L-05308]

Who’d have thought after all the hate he got that Sophocles would get the most consistently awesome performance in the league? The Vikivolt v Charizard battle was pretty amazing!

And, oh heck, Golisopid v Primarina was terrifying- watching Primarina crawl away (poor Manoeuvrability on land) was really unsettling. It’s really cool just how brutal Guzma and Golisopod were shown to be!

So, are the other Meltan just slowly crossing the ocean floor? Must be miles away!

I know a lot of people didn’t like the last episode (they’re overreacting) but I’m sure we’ll all agree this one is probably the best Alola league episode so far!

 

[UxieLover1994]

A rare acknowledgement from the writers in regards to typing, as Poison beats Fairy... provided that Golisopid did attack Primarina with Poison Jab.

Ash vs. Guzma can go either way, given many past episodes show that anyone commanding their Pokémon to fight dirty is irredeemably evil, and should be arrested, yet double standard is in play, as Ash can dirty, but will be treated in the right. On one hand, Ash wins (legally or through another deus ex machina), showcasing that it's wrong to fight dirty. Or Guzma wins, reinforcing the status quo but providing justice for Hau's loss by SOS Rest.

I'm not seeing Guzma's hidden heart of gold being adapted here, implying he and Team Skull will end up in jail by Officer Jenny like all villain team leaders in the past apart from Giovanni (still active), Cyrus (trapped in an alternate dimension) and Lysandre (deceased).

This episode plays out much better than the last one, I'll say.