Review SM142: Burn! Swell Up!! Full Battle!!!

[TheAerialAcer]

Do we even know if Melmetal knows Thunderbolt? It was only used in its debut and even then, is there any proof that the Meltan that used it is the one that Ash caught? I hope it doesn’t know Thunderbolt, that would make Ash’s choices of moves more understandable.

 

[Knightwolf09]

So Imma take a guess here, but with the episode after next being Pikachu vs Tapu Koko, Kukui hasn't brought out it's 6th and Torracat vs Inicineroar concludes next ep. I'm going to take a guess the before Kukui sends out his 6th Tapu Koko gets so excited it teams up with Kukui just to fight Ash and Pikachu in the last round.

 

[BigDocFan]

Do we even know if Melmetal knows Thunderbolt? It was only used in its debut and even then, is there any proof that the Meltan that used it is the one that Ash caught? I hope it doesn’t know Thunderbolt, that would make Ash’s choices of moves more understandable.

Don't think Ash realizes his Meltan was able to use Thunderbolt, would certainly have been useful against Empoleon, right Pikachu

 

[Gengarzilla]

They may be down to three Pokémon apiece, but I honestly think Ash is getting his back shoved against the wall here. The matchups where Kukui won have been rather more dominant than most of those where Ash won. On top of that, Pikachu did much worse than we all expected against Empoleon...

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

They may be down to three Pokémon apiece, but I honestly think Ash is getting his back shoved against the wall here. The matchups where Kukui won have been rather more dominant than most of those where Ash won. On top of that, Pikachu did much worse than we all expected against Empoleon...

At least Kukui’s Empoleon broke its kind’s curse of getting bodied by electric types.

 

[DynamicFusion]

All KOs were due to Super-Effective Hits. Typical Tomioka.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

(Also, is it just me, or did they reference the spin technique from the DP series when Rowlet dodged Crush Claw?)

That was actually Superpower.

All KOs were due to Super-Effective Hits. Typical Tomioka.

Makes sense for a powerful hit to finish the job.

 

[WatcherMark]

I enjoyed this episode. We got some nice battle action, I was very glad to see Mokuroh and Melmetal get some victories (someone really needs to explain to Satoshi the difference between Featherdance and Substitute) although it was kinda let down by seeing Pikachu getting smacked around (Satoshi seemingly forgetting about Thunderbolt for a while). I was a bit disappointed to see Lugarugan go out so quickly, but considering its had enough glory this league and managed to get in some good hits, I'm not too bummed about it. Some nice music choices too (I don't think I'll ever get sick of the Regi Battle theme).

I do feel Satoshi is losing ground fast at the moment. Right now both sides have three Pokemon left, with Satoshi only having one fresh Pokemon while Kukui has two. I feel the kid is quickly going to be forced into a corner if he doesn't up his game.

Don't know what on earth was going on with the scoreboard though, the Pokemon on Satoshi's side kept moving about. Even the knocked out ones.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

All KOs were due to Super-Effective Hits. Typical Tomioka.

Wasn’t Empoleon knocked out due to Melmetal's moves which it’s 4x resistant to?

 

[KiranTheWitch]

I'm just wondering what the episode next week will reveal. I want to know what the last Pokemon Kukui has and why it's being kept a such a secret.

 

[CaptainBuggles]

I keep trying not to be upset about how the anime handles damage and type-effectiveness

But it's so hard when they just refuse to be consistent about it, even in battles this important.

One minute it matters, the very next it doesn't. It's even more frustrating when Kukui's specialty is supposed to be Pokemon's moves.

At this rate I think I'd be happier if they just made the anime an explicit AU where there is no type chart at all, and the types are only there to add flavor and spectacle to battles. It literally becoming completely meaningless would be better than constant back-and-forth on whether it's important or not.

Beyond that, the last couple of battles have actually been kinda fun. Even Rowlet in this fight is somewhat better, since at least now its gag thing is still part of the battle and not some stupid fakeout. Still, the type stuff is just really frustrating to me, despite how many times I try to brush it off.

 

[TheAerialAcer]

Two quick things I wanted to say.

1) while I understand that Empoleon going down to a move it’s 4x resistant to is kind of unbelievable and a bit annoying, I feel Empoleon would’ve lost to Melmetal eventually. Hydro Pump is deflected by Double Iron Bash, Whirlpool doesn’t work on Melmetal, and I doubt Metal Claw and Drill Peck would’ve done much of anything, if it could even get in close enough to launch those attacks. While I think Kukui should’ve realized this and recalled Empoleon, he didn’t and so it is what it is. The writers just did us a favor and made Empoleon go down in 2 hits instead of 20. (Guess they learned their lesson from SM138)

2) I hope the dub refers to Rowlet’s “featherdance” as “substitute” as that pretty much is what the move is. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time the dub changed up the moves (on purpose or on accident).

 

[Panky..]

My Review.

Pros:
The animation and music is spot on point, not to mention the framerate in general is better after the past few episodes. Seed Bomb was finally useful even if I personally didn't like that annoying ping-pong since it wasted time, I also mentioned in Cons on how Braviary's defeat should have been handled in a more realistic manner. I'm very happy that Torracat got a decent amount of spotlight and glad to see it's still on Blast Burn Monster Energy boost after last week's episode. Also glad to see that there's no TRio, Bewear or stupid filler scenes again. Thankfully, Pikachu is still relatively fresh other than a minor bath though I feel like Pikachu could have Thunderbolted the Whirlpool and hurt Empoleon subsequently. Glad to see Melmetal get a win due to its relatively bulky and heavy build that Kukui couldn't do much against even if it's in an annoying fashion as described below (along with the previous point). Don't see the point of Empoleon being thrown into Kukui after its defeat other than for a pointless gag. Glad to see Kukui's childlike behavior surfacing and that he can be taken by surprise as well.

Cons:
Lycanroc was defeated far too quickly, and its screentime was shifted to Rowlet and its gags. Rowlet defeating Braviary is a bit cheap in the way it happened, it would have made sense if Lycanroc had dealt more damage because Oak did remark that Lycanroc's effort wasn't wasted though there needed to be more. Rowlet still has that magical Feather Dance Substitute, thankfully I'm glad to see that it didn't help much this time. The two battles against Empoleon were annoying in the sense that Ash somehow forgot that Pikachu has Thunderbolt or the remaining 2 attacks of Melmetal. Also, what was the point of Lycanroc slicing Incineroar's arm if it didn't factor in the grappling match against Melmetal? Because it would have been the perfect time to show that.

Extra:
It's really annoying when we see the prideful Pokemon who refuse to switch out. Lycanroc could have had some moments of rest before being sent out later but instead it had to act proud and go down unnecessarily. At least Torracat was smart enough to know that substitutions help. I was also hoping to see a spinning Darkest Lariat and Double Iron Bash collision as a Beyblade reference.

Verdict: I'll give it a 7/10, it was quite a rushed battle which is especially odd if this is going to be a 4-parter. Even the one against Paul, despite being a 3-parter, was well balanced out (RIP Torterra though). Very ironic when you consider that both this battle and the one against Paul were written by Tomioka.

I'm not really a fan of Koko interrupting and making Kukui's 6th mon pointless but thankfully Pikachu is still relatively fresh.

 

[Sakuraa]

Now this was a good episode. Much better than the boring episode last week. This is how the first episode of this battle should have been.

I was a bit surprised how rock wolf who took an assload of Counters to the gut went down so quickly today. But I guess's it was clear they only needed him to weaken Braviary to make it easier for the bird to take it down before getting demolished by Venusaur. And did I miss something. When did the entire cast turn into Rowlet stans? The were cheering for him like crazy, desperately hoping for him to beat Venusaur, and then acted like the world was over when he went down, but they didn't seem to care at all when Melmetal or rock mutt fainted. Even Ash seemed devastated when the bird was K.O.'d over either of the other two. What the heck is up with them? Oh well, I didn't think I could hate the bird any more than I already do, but this episode sure helped with that. Anyway, I only wish a Pokemon other than Torracat would have taken down Venusaur, since he's gonna have his big moment against Kukui's tiger later. Maybe Naganadel or Melmetal...

Moving on, Lana fangirling over Empoleon was like the best part of this episode. She is too cute. Also, I must say I never really cared much for Empoleon, but this thing came across as so entertaining. I don't think we've ever seen that much personality from one of these guys before. Actually, a lot of Kukui's Pokemon seem to have a bit of personality to them, I like it. I only wish Melmetal would have been the sole Pokemon to fight it. Pikachu...really didn't do much.

The remainder of the fight went as expected. Man, this episode made me remember how much I hate that tiger. Seeing it use Blast Burn is so disgusting. But anyway, I am excited for Naganadel vs. Lucario. It's really funny to see that thing still acting all twirly and whirly after evolving.

Last this I must note, it was great seeing the entire gang and their Pokemon getting so into the battle (aside from them all being Rowlet stans). Faba and Wicke supporting Kukui and Ash respectively and trying to out cheer each other at the end was super cute. I love that Faba had a bunch of light sticks with him. This episode gets an 8/10.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Just realised this, but I love how Naganadel’s existence was just revealed and yet the scoreboard had a perfectly clear shot of it and an up close face avatar.

I guess it was in the Aether database.

 

[Knightwolf09]

I will admit the gags in Empoleon's fight did feel a bit shoved in. Like it didn't need to be funny, yet there was random humor. But the most charming thing about these battles is seeing Kukui being constantly surprised with how well Ash is beating his team, with surprise factors at every turn, and loving every second of it.

 

[Gabo2oo]

I'm quite short on time these days so I'll try not to go into details, but MAN what a battle this is turning out to be.

Shoutouts to the writers for what they're doing with Kukui. He's genuinely surprised by how far Ash and his Pokémon have gotten, so even when he's got the upper hand he still looks impressed, and almost backed into a corner. And even if Hala didn't point it out, you could really tell he's getting all pumped up in an almost child-like way. Good storyboarding and terrific performance by Nakagawa on that as well.

Also for one, the reactions from Ash's friends and family actually HELP the viewer immerse in the battle instead of taking them out of it for the sake of technical explanations. The funny reactions from Sophocles, Kiawe and Lana (also thanks to the storyboarders for that, she's more of a fighter than Mallow and Lillie so it makes sense), the sheer look of admiration Burnet has when Kukui goes all out, small details like Lusamine getting fed up with Faba's fanboyism, etc. It was all really well done.

Now the animation is still not the best I've seen in this series (Kiawe vs. Brock / Ash vs. Misty still hold that title IMO), but just like the previous episode, it's consistently good instead of wobbling around in terms quality. But on top of that, man the pacing is really good and I think that's even more important. If you won't have a fully dynamic 3D camera work and that sort of stuff, you can make up for that by making the action quicker, and that's exactly what they did here. Good job on that department.

Not to mention they snuck up some slapstick comedy here and there, which makes things more interesting to watch by default. I mean things like Empoleon pushing Kukui to the wall, the Pokémon visibly reacting when their attacks don't work like they wanted, etc.

Another thing I loved is how much switching Pokémon in and out has taken place here. Throughout the whole anime, tis something the referee always mention but it's rarely exploited by the Trainers. I don't remember the last time the same Pokémon was recalled twice, like Nyaheat did here. I also don't remember the last time Ash recalled Pikachu. Just generally speaking, I love how they're doing it because it makes the battle look more strategic. The type advantage-based decisions are always welcomed as well.

 

[KiranTheWitch]

Just realised this, but I love how Naganadel’s existence was just revealed and yet the scoreboard had a perfectly clear shot of it and an up close face avatar.

I guess it was in the Aether database.

I was thinking that the league had the competitors all do battle pose pictures with all their Pokemon for the score board either before or as the league was starting to make the board more interesting.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

I was thinking that the league had the competitors all do battle pose pictures with all their Pokemon for the score board either before or as the league was starting to make the board more interesting.

If that’s the case it’s funny to imagine how many times they had to reshoot Pikachu’s until they got his dynamic middair pose right lol

 

[Beatsy Ray]

This episode was nearly perfect for me. Just 20 minutes of high stakes battling. While Feather Dance was used questionably in the Hau battle, I think was really cool here. I love how seriously Kukui is taking this, he doesn't appear to be going easy on Ash at all. I have to say, the longer this league goes on, the less significant the Hau battle misstep seems to me. This is actually becoming one of my favorite leagues. Also I agree that Tapu Koko will probably interrupt right before Kukui sends out his last Pokemon, and become his sixth.

But I have to say, I don't think I'll be able to deal with Naganadel's voice much longer.