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Review SM139: Birth! The Alola Champion!!

Me when Ash finally claimed the victory:
125144

What an episode. What a thrill. What a thing this was.
Such a good time.
 
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I don't know how to watch it live, you type in watch tv tokyo into google and none of the results work, so I've been waiting all morning (10:30 AM here) for this thread to go up to find if he wins.

So proud of our boy to see he's finally done it!!!
 
I forgot that Lycanroc knew Counter, this must be the first time its been used since Lycanroc first learnt it

Was disappointed that Ash used Breakneck Blitz to avoid Never Ending Nightmare but was glad that Z-Moves resulted in them both getting knocked out

Team Rocket were as pointless as always, hope Bewear comes next episode
 
Episode Review (My opinion):

Pros:
The battle was very well animated, so it does seem like the budget was shifted from the previous battle and saved for this one. Using Breakneck Blitz was the right idea like I predicted earlier due to the ability to control the Z-move's direction and baiting Zoroark's own move against it. Type: Wild flashback was a nice touch, good prediction again by someone who said it would play in this episode. I'm very glad that Nightroc wasn't instantly defeated after its confusion, that would have been a bad premise. Countering a Counter to deal 4x damage was a clever idea, and it wasn't exactly unbelievable since it can work. That look of disbelief on Ash's face when he won it though, that's a proper reaction to this win.

Cons:
Zoroark vs. Pikachu ended too quickly despite all the preview buildup, this can be amounted to wasting time with all the recapping. I didn't even realize the episode had begun due to direct resume from the recaps. Wasted time with Bewear lair scene again.

Bonus
At least Pikachu got two wins in the match against two Pokemon who weren't pushovers. Stone Edge spam was a bit annoying by Nightroc, good to see though that it + Outrage actually tired out it from overusage. Nightroc biting itself was really disturbing tbh. Win was predictable thanks to Oha spoilers (screw them and their cringe), thank heavens that it turned out better and exciting than I thought. My heart nearly slipped when I thought Duskroc went down.

Verdict: Episode gets an 8.5/10, and thank fuck Fujisaku didn't mess it up. I won't be surprised if some other writer (Tomioka or Omode) helped him with it though. At least the League ended on a decent note, now we have the full battle from Tomioka to look forward to.

Also, where did Kukui get a Lucario from?

Nonetheless, a win is a win and a major conclusion for Ash to be replaced by someone in the new series.
Won't happen.
 
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Ash... won? Does this mean Tarzan returns to Kingdom Hearts now?

Nonetheless, a win is a win and a major conclusion for Ash to be replaced by someone in the new series.
He'll still be around for the SwSh series, most likely. Doubt they just let Ash win this one just to state he's finished his journey and became a Pokémon Master so they could reboot the anime. A win is prestige, after all, not the sign of Masterhood.
 
Ash... won? Does this mean Tarzan returns to Kingdom Hearts now?


He'll still be around for the SwSh series, most likely. Doubt they just let Ash win this one just to state he's finished his journey and became a Pokémon Master so they could reboot the anime. A win is prestige, after all, not the sign of Masterhood.
If the next series league begins. I'll wish, they hired this guy (Junichi Fujisaku) to do those episode again. But we can wait through another 3 year.
 
Ash's reaction (or non-reaction) was absolutely priceless. I find it completely believable that it would take him a solid minute to realize he's actually won this time after some extremely long couple months of losing every single tournament-type league he's ever taken a part of. I was glad they didn't make him cry, though, because that would have probably broken me (+bonus points if it's an ugly cry).

Also, where did Kukui get a Lucario from?
Ever since Incineroar and later Braviary first appeared it was kinda obvious (at least to me), that Kukui probably had more Pokémon he doesn't really use or keeps hidden from the rest. Wouldn't be surprised if he had a full team under his sleeves (then again, he's shirtless and therefore doesn't wear sleeves but I'm going off track with this lol)
 
I appreciate that he won, really I do, but let's be honest here, the battles in this episode were a tad underwhelming. Pikachu and Zoroark got KO'd too quickly. Sure, it looked cool, but it needed more substance. Lycanroc vs. Lycanroc wasn't much better, mostly being Gladion using the same Accellerock and Counter strategy over and over again. Seriously, it was just Accellerock vs. Accellerock, Gladion uses Counter, Does massive damage, Ash's Lycanroc gets up to Gladion's surprise, rinse and repeat at least two more times. There was the hurting itself in its Outrage confusion to break it up a bit, but the fight overall was still very repetitive. Don't get me wrong, it was certainly a big step up from most of Fujisaku's other battle episodes, but it wasn't as good as Pikachu vs. Silvally last week.

Not to mention that Ash's Lycanroc just kept soaking up what should have been massive damage hits, (being twice the damage it was dealing to Gladion's) only to just not go down. On the other hand though it was nice to see that shoe on Ash's foot for once, after the Kalos League where you had Alain's Charizard take enough damage to get knocked out like 8 times over only to end up winning anyway.

Still sad to see screentime wasted on Team Rocket and Bewear nothingness, although the preview makes me hope that it might all be worth something if we get Bewear vs. Guzzlord next week.

It was far better than I would have expected if you'd asked me after the Hapu or the Hau battles aired, but not as good as I would have hoped for a battle that ended a 22 year journey to be.
 
Now, we can all sleep happily after this episode. looking forward to the Guzzlord invasion and Ash Versus Kukui Mini Arc. Before, the Mohn Arc begins. Wish, that shiny Guzzlord is not Mohn owned. Otherwise, it will mind blow.
 
I love even Ash himself is just shocked by this turn of events. Like "Wow, I never thought I'll get this far."

View: https://twitter.com/AshandSerena/status/1173166304104046592


Oh, and poor Zoroark. Got itself knocked out by Pikachu after knocking out Pikachu. A Double KO, which likely negate any potential chance to soften Dusk Lycanroc for Midnight Lycanroc. I guess old Zoroark will go down as the Pokémon that failed to stop Ash from achieving his "dream."
 
I think people are overlooking the fact that Bewear must be pissed. Did you see what it did to the Oranguru robot?

Team Rocket are going to die sometime soon, I'm pretty sure that's accurate.

But what I really hope doesn't happen is Bewear getting involved with Guzzlord.
 
I think people are overlooking the fact that Bewear must be pissed. Did you see what it did to the Oranguru robot?

Team Rocket are going to die sometime soon, I'm pretty sure that's accurate.

Gives me hope that Bewear will ensure that Team Rocket never leave Alola
 
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