Review SM139: Birth! The Alola Champion!!

[Perpetual_Phoenix]

I know people want to shit on the Alola League for being a weak sauce League compared to literally every other league besides the Orange Islands. But c'mon people Ash finally fucking did the impossible! We either take it or leave it. I honestly take it after such a long wait. It's also so heartwarming seeing Ash's reaction to his win. Nothing exaggerated, but instead a reaction you would expect from him after so many failed tries. Pure confusion. Ironically enough now that he's won a league, I don't want to see his journey end just yet. There's still much potential for his character that it would be disheartening seeing his character be retired after one victory. C'mon Pokémon, we want to see more Ash Ketchum/Satoshi, not less.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Shows how he has matured over time.

Which is pretty ironic considering that SM Ash was probably some of the least mature that he’s been in the entire series.

 

[BigDocFan]

Its a shame that all of Ash's past travelling companions, maybe Gary too couldn't have been seen watching the league on TV

Imagine their faces on seeing Ash win

 

[Cresselia92]

I know people want to shit on the Alola League for being a weak sauce League compared to literally every other league besides the Orange Islands. But c'mon people Ash finally fucking did the impossible! We either take it or leave it. I honestly take it after such a long wait.

Well, I’ll gladly leave it. After waiting for 20+ years for Ash to win a League, this feels like one big kick in the butt toward people who expected something impressive to make his victory truly memorable. The lackluster League and convenient events that lead to this certainly don’t help.

It’s like if you ordered a meat lasagna in a restaurant, and the waiter brought you a spinach one. Just because you’ve gotten a lasagna, it doesn’t mean that the delivery was successful.

 

[ThatPikachuMain]

So Ash won, that’s awesome!
But my question is: where do the writers go from now, what are they gonna do in the coming episodes?

 

[BigDocFan]

But my question is: where do the writers go from now, what are they gonna do in the coming episodes?

Hopefully they'll help find Mohn and get Shaymin to Sky Forme to end those arcs

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

While I'm not a Twitter user, I just checked Twitter with the search words "Ash Ketchum", and saw so many positive tweets about Ash's victory! That really warmed my heart.

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ActualAero (Twitter)

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4xxoo5 (Twitter)

 

[Kurolegacy]

Well, I’ll gladly leave it. After waiting for 20+ years for Ash to win a League, this feels like one big kick in the butt toward people who expected something impressive to make his victory truly memorable. The lackluster League and convenient events that lead to this certainly don’t help.

It’s like if you ordered a meat lasagna in a restaurant, and the waiter brought you a spinach one. Just because you’ve gotten a lasagna, it doesn’t mean that the delivery was successful.

Agreed. It’s basically a matter of the ends not really justifying the means. Sure he won but the execution of the whole thing just feels completely dumbed down to the point that it didn’t even feel like a league. Ash becoming Champion should feel like the culmination of the development he’s had as a trainer. Instead it feels more like the writers half assed it with “Alright, you’ve been complaining that Ash never wins? Well here, happy now?!” This league lacked the spirit that leagues have in which it’s the final stage the journey has been building towards in that saga where everyone there is the best of the best to have made it to this point. Instead, we had 4 rookie trainers, TR, Faba and Samson Oak taking up half of the spots of the top 16 (for the sake of comparison, top 16 is the position Ash fought hard for back in the Indigo League and that Gary couldn’t even get to this showing how fierce the competition was). I’m happy for the win existing but this was not worth the 22 year wait.

 

[Digifiend]

Its a shame that all of Ash's past travelling companions, maybe Gary too couldn't have been seen watching the league on TV

Imagine their faces on seeing Ash win

Especially Brock and Misty. They'd definitely be proud. They've already appeared twice in SM, one more appearance wouldn't have hurt.

 

[BigDocFan]

Especially Brock and Misty. They'd definitely be proud. They've already appeared twice in SM, one more appearance wouldn't have hurt.

Agreed, I feel that even a non speaking cameo would have sufficed

Brock: To think that that is the boy who started late on his Pokemon journey, lost a league because Team Rocket tired out two of his Pokemon and barely trained his team

 

[Superblast]

I haven't been active on this forum in years, but I had to come back to celebrate this. I remember saying to myself after the disastrous Kalos League finale: "Well, that's it. He's never winning. The status quo has risen beyond god status."

And three years later, I'm so happy I finally can eat those words. THE STATUS QUO IS NOT GOD! IT HAS BEEN BROKEN AT LONG, LONG LAST!

Although let's be real: watching all the salt from some people is just as amazing as this historic moment, LOL

 

[Panky..]

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ActualAero (Twitter)

I forgot how dark his Sinnoh expression was. Then again, I'd feel the same way if I came across an AR hacker during a Wi-Fi battle tournament... who doesn't get banned somehow and goes on to win it.

 

[RustyTrubbish]

So are people going to finally stop shitting on Fujisaku now?

Lol, no. We'll stop defecating on him when he stops continuously defecating on us. One good episode out of dozens of bad ones that he's written doesn't change a thing.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Although let's be real: watching all the salt from some people is just as amazing as this historic moment, LOL

Considering that quite a bit of it is attributed to the execution of said win, I’d say that they’re justified in their “salt”. People want Ash to win but when it’s done in the way that this league did it, It just doesn’t feel satisfying especially with the fact that he basically climbed over a mountain of joke characters and rookies with the actual skilled trainers only being presented once it got to the top 4.

 

[Kairyu]

Why in the world was the animation so hideous in the second part in the episode, the dog vs dog fight? It looked so stiff and slow between all the reused Stone Edge animations! Why did OLM blow the budget on Pikachu vs Zoroark and leave the part that actually mattered in the hand of some amateur? Jesus, that seriously made me unable to enjoy this fight. Compare it to the finals in XY where OLM hired in a super good freelancer who created all original footage for the final fight...

 

[Panky..]

Considering that quite a bit of it is attributed to the execution of said win, I’d say that they’re justified in their “salt”. People want Ash to win but when it’s done in the way that this league did it, It just doesn’t feel satisfying especially with the fact that he basically climbed over a mountain of joke characters and rookies with the actual skilled trainers only being presented once it got to the top 4.

Eh no, only Faba was a joke character opponent, and Ash didn't exactly face any rookies. Hau was an average trainer (a diet Sawyer if you want, he does look similar after all), Guzma was a smart dirty fighter and Gladion was the obstacle he needed to overcome.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

People have already made some fanart of this notable occasion:

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Rikulaw (DeviantArt)

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TheZoe611 (DeviantArt)

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pokedrogon (DeviantArt)

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Alexalan (DeviantArt)

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Kurisumasu_Tapi (Twitter)

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O10yToNBDaei5DU (Twitter)

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DonKitchen96 (Twitter)

I forgot how dark his Sinnoh expression was. Then again, I'd feel the same way if I came across an AR hacker during a Wi-Fi battle tournament... who doesn't get banned somehow and goes on to win it.

That shot was from the moment when Ash was down to Pikachu, and he pretty much realized he had no hopes of making a comeback. His actual losing face was more calm.
PS. I edited the post to include another similar picture as well. Said losing face is visible on it.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Eh no, only Faba was a joke character opponent, and Ash didn't exactly face any rookies. Hau was an average trainer (a diet Sawyer if you want, he does look similar after all), Guzma was a smart dirty fighter and Gladion was the obstacle he needed to overcome.

Ash may not have faced rookies but that doesn’t change that the competition was littered with them. Substitute the rookies, Faba, Samson Oak and Team Rocket and you literally get a completely different competition where matchups can play out in different ways. The likes of about half of the top 16 were there as nothing more than canon fodder.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

This episode feels like it fell through an Ultra Wormhole from another timeline where the league was much better written

It's incredibly jarring

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

What's the point of Guzzlord being here again? Ash already dealt with a Guzzlord. Ash didn't beat anyone as strong as Tobias or Alain but, naw he needs to prove himself by beating fucking Guzzlord!