Review SM143: Conclusion! Gaogaen VS Nyaheat!!

[Gabo2oo]

Honestly...? I don't see any of that at all. It wouldn't have mattered if it was Hala, Gladion, Hau .etc. I feel like Tapu Koko would have picked any of them in that situation. All it cares about is battling Pikachu and it needs a human proxy, a tool, to use its Z-move.

But that's my point, it didn't look like it mattered because it probably didn't, as you say. It should have mattered IMO.

On topic, which soundtrack was used during Naganadel vs. Lucario? I can't put a name to it. Anyone?

The one from the cold open is the Battle Spot theme. The one after the opening is Super Secret Training (underrated banger IMO). The last one is We'll Fight Too from the Hoopa movie.

 

[lonerlotad]

To be fair, I still see a lot of people especially on Youtube that discredits SM as one of the good Pokemon series just because they don't like the art style. Honestly, THEY CLEARLY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE MISSING.

 

[OniCornwalis]

This episode was insanely good. Obvious shoutouts to Incineroar vs Torracat, but I want to give an equal shoutout to Naganadel vs Lucario for being just as well animated and well thought out. Torracat evolving after he beat Incineroar was the ultimate chad move, as it was basically "fuck you, I don't need to evolve to be stronger then you."

How the hell did this league, which up until the exhibition match was pretty mediocre, have one of the top 4 battles of the entire show along with Ash vs Paul, Ash vs Sawyer and Ash vs Alain?

Edit: This is the first time Ash has used an Electric type move for a Pokemon other than Pikachu in 22 years.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

This was amazing! The battle between Naganadel and Lucario was great, but Torracat's battle with Incineroar was awesome. The animation was great and I love the new visual effect Blaze has. I'm glad they used the Ash-Greninja theme here and I'm so glad that Torracat got to defeat Incineroar without even needing to evolve first. The evolution was unexpected here, though I just thought it was odd that Incineroar never collapsed or anything. It was just odd. Tapu Koko joining the battle was really unexpected, though I think its gonna make for a great finale to Ash's battle with Professor Kukui.

Amazing episode!

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

though I just thought it was odd that Incineroar never collapsed or anything. It was just odd.

Barry's Empoleon fainted the same way against Paul's Electivire at the Sinnoh League.

 

[KennyC222]

This episode was insanely good. Obvious shoutouts to Incineroar vs Torracat, but I want to give an equal shoutout to Naganadel vs Lucario for being just as well animated and well thought out. Torracat evolving after he beat Incineroar was the ultimate chad move, as it was basically "fuck you, I don't need to evolve to be stronger then you."

How the hell did this league, which up until the exhibition match was pretty mediocre, have one of the top 4 battles of the entire show along with Ash vs Paul, Ash vs Sawyer and Ash vs Alain?

agreed! This episode (Ash vs Kukui) is one of the best after Ash vs Alain, Ash vs Gary, Ash vs Paul and Ash vs Gladion!

 

[KenzeyEevee]

I don't get why you are hyping up this part of the battle. It wasn't amazing, missed dialogue between Kukui and Ash and couldn't reach the level of DP or XY. The evolution for crying out loud was pointless and was only a way to let it faint. What is with SM and explosions this week and next week?

 

[BigDocFan]

I'm really glad they didn't give us any scenes of Team Rocket, Bewear or Stufful this episode, helped keep the focus on the match

It's also great to see Hau and Gladion making silent cameo's watching the match

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I'm really glad they didn't give us any scenes of Team Rocket, Bewear or Stufful this episode, helped keep the focus on the match

I have a request: could you please stop bringing it up every time how you like Team Rocket's absence and hate their presence?

 

[Kurolegacy]

What is with SM and explosions this week and next week?

They wanted to go out big so they outsourced to Michael Bay.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I'm really glad they didn't give us any scenes of Team Rocket, Bewear or Stufful this episode, helped keep the focus on the match

It's also great to see Hau and Gladion making silent cameo's watching the match

I have a request: could you please stop bringing it up every time how you like Team Rocket's absence and hate their presence?

Yeah, it’s fine when it’s relevant to the topic at hand and contributes something new, but I sometimes feel that it’s mostly tacked on just to show your distaste for TR. It’s fine to not like a few characters, but most of us don’t really go around in most threads with "I'm glad Sophocles didn’t get a speaking role!" "Wow! Lillie did nothing and that’s great!" "No kiawe for once!"

I don’t mean any harm, or mean to contest your opinion since you’re perfectly entitled to it, but I can bet a decent amount that most people on here know about it by now.

 

[Gabo2oo]

I have a request: could you please stop bringing it up every time how you like Team Rocket's absence and hate their presence?

Honestly though I think there's almost no thread where BigDocFan doesn't talk about Team Rocket. If they're missing he praises it, if they're in it he complains about it. Nothing wrong with giving his opinion, my point is that I'd say this is more of a take on the characters and the whole show itself. It's as if I mentioned how I don't like the lack of shading on most SM threads. It's not invalid, it's just that it's more of a "big picture" problem rather than something that should concern each episode's thread IMO.

Just for the record though, I do agree that Bewear scenes here would've been out of place. I personally would've liked to see silent cameos of the TRio watching the match like Hau and Gladion though, but it's not like they have been much of an influence on Ash or his Pokémon this series (like they were for Chimchar back in Sinnoh), so it's not that big of a deal. Honestly we're lacking some Brock/Misty cameos here more than anything; I'm just gonna assume this League isn't broadcast overseas to hide my pain. I'm glad Oak and Delia witnessed Ash's first League win at the very least.

 

[Moonbyum]

SM143 was an another amazing episode. Naganadel vs Lucario was a really good fight and I'm glad Ash's Naganadel has it's first win in a Pokemon battle. The continuation of the fight between Incineroar vs Torracat was also great and intense, I also love the music and the animation during both fights and it was just so enjoyable to watch. I'm also Ash's Torracat fully evolved to a Incineroar and makes another great pokemon in his team. During the end of the episode since Tapu Koko wanted to battle Naganadel and Pikachu I'm still pretty curious of what his other pokemon will be from Kakui's team. But overall I'm so excited for the next episode. SM143 was such a fantastic episode to watch.

Overall Rating: A

 

[Queen Cynthia]

I bow down before the Alola League!
Yes, SM used to be very weak, especially during the first part of the anime. But this awesome, intense conclusion sure makes up for everyhing SM had previously been lacking!

Ash vs. Gladion was totally intense already, then we got an even greater and more intense showdown against Kukui. And just when you thought it wouldn't get better than that, we'll even get an epic final showdown against the arguably strongest Pokemon/Guardian Deity of Alola. Guys, I'm slowly running out of words to describe all that intensity and excitement!

Every battle in this week's episode was so fantastic, thrilling and intense plus we got an evolution that was done in the best and most logical way possible! Torracat evolving as a reward for finally defeating his rival and then being unable to move (presumably because it was totally exhausted and overwhelmed by his new powers) was done excellently! A new way of having Pokemon evolve that seems perfectly logical.

Besides Sinnoh and Kalos, this will be remembered as one of the best leagues ever and I only have three words left:
Fantastic, intense ... EPIC!

 

[Kurolegacy]

I bow down before the Alola League!
Yes, SM used to be very weak, especially during the first part of the anime. But this awesome, intense conclusion sure makes up for everyhing SM had previously been lacking!

Ash vs. Gladion was totally intense already, then we got an even greater and more intense showdown against Kukui. And just when you thought it wouldn't get better than that, we'll even get an epic final showdown against the arguably strongest Pokemon/Guardian Deity of Alola. Guys, I'm slowly running out of words to describe all that intensity and excitement!

Every battle in this week's episode was so fantastic, thrilling and intense plus we got an evolution that was done in the best and most logical way possible! Torracat evolving as a reward for finally defeating his rival and then being unable to move (presumably because it was totally exhausted and overwhelmed by his new powers) was done excellently! A new way of having Pokemon evolve that seems perfectly logical.

Besides Sinnoh and Kalos, this will be remembered as one of the best leagues ever and I only have three words left:
Fantastic, intense ... EPIC!

Personally I find that with the Alola League, really only the battles from the semi-finals onward were actually good and it kinda exposes a fundamental flaw in that it shows that they were capable of having good battles all along and simply didn’t. Mind you, these battles are good, it’s just kinda a too little, too late kind of thing.

 

[SwadloonBoy]

• picking up where we left off last week with the Lucario vs. Naganadel match-up. These are both Pokémon I’ve used on my in-game teams so unfortunately I can’t pick a side :3
• actually listened to the full intro this week because I know we have so few episodes left with this series ;-(
• the emphasis on Lucario struggling to stand up was really sad lol Well, anyways! Ash takes the lead once again...good for him; I’m rooting for his winning streak to continue as a newfound champion and all
• “Agoyon wins in its battling debut!!” Krabby’s IMPACT
• And Torracat vs. Inceniroar has begun....I’m not ready....I can already sense how shook I’m about to be by this battle, y’all
• starting things off by circling around each other for a full minute....INTENSE
• Inceniroar after using Bulk-up was SCARY....did not need to see that
• can we get an episode just about Delia and Burnet hanging out...maybe throw Mr. Mime in there too
• Inceniroar grabbed Torracat out of mid-air NOOO
• the camera zooming in on Torracat as the bell begins to chime....girl talk about dramatic tension
• OH SHIZ HERE COMES THE Z-MOVES...was wondering when those were gonna show up
• everybody in that stadium should at least be mildly injured from that Z-move collision....Kukui better get himself a defense attorney
• omg Torracat won!!!!! I’m so happy for him accomplish your goals, honey
• TORRACAT IS EVOLVING TITJTJEJAJEHRJTHRJE (not to brag but I literally predicted this like last week)
• Inceniroar standing there petrified after evolving was very odd lol.....Colin Creevey realness
• aw everyone clapped for Inceniroar <3
• Kapu-Kokeko interrupting the battle is great and all, but not knowing who Kukui’s last Pokemon was is gonna keep me up at night for years to come....

- rooting for Pikachu to win next week...and hopefully we’ll get some beautiful animation out of the battle as well

 

[Nicolas721]

Lucario vs Naganadel was nice. It had good strategies, nice pacing and an interesting finale. Also, only Pokémon could make a giant dragon bee spinning look cute.

Torracat vs Incineroar had awesome moves, decent strategies, very cool visuals and animation and a satisfying ending. It's a good lesson on how rivalries should be finished, with both parties giving their all. However, I felt the pacing was more similar to SM141 than to SM142, I felt disconnected from the experience several times. And Ash's Incineroar standing still for several seconds was all kinds of creepy.

Tapu Koko's introduction wasn't satisfying. I was hoping Kukui had already decided it from the beginning, or at least that it would have the consent of his 6th Pokemon, but neither happened.

 

[Pulsaro23]

So, I planned on doing this review as early as Monday, but I've had a busy week and had to put it off several times. But I finally have some spare time and, by Arceus, I'm gonna finish this review (even if I have to make it shorter than I'd like to and might make some spelling errors).

So, first off is the battle between Naganadel and Lucario. It was intense and well-animated, with the most out-of-place moment being when Ash ordered Sludge Bomb on Lucario. Yeah, yeah, he's an eternally 10-year old kid (which also extends to his mentally, apparently), I know. But, considering how many Lucario he's met and fought and considering that he's journeyed through 8 regions now, one would expect him to remember that: a) Lucario is part Steel-type and b) Poison doesn't affect Steel. Also, moving on to my weekly segment of What Even Is That Move Animation?: Nagaganedela's X-Scissor doesn't look like an X-shaped move at all. Ignoring the fact that Naganangnade has two side stingers (not to mention, two perfectly healthy arms), which could've easily been used so that X-Scissor would actually look like an X-Scissor, if the writers/animators/director/whoever made that decision really wanted to show Nagalaganade use its stinger, why couldn't they call the move Fell Stinger? That's a move that hasn't made it's anime debut yet and it would've been a perfect fit for Nalagalandalde, so why not do that instead? Or, better yet, have it use its two stinger on the sides of the big one instead, since it was very capable of using them to launch two Dragon Pulses at Lucario. Double also, I really don't know what to say about the fact that Nagalaganadel won its first ever official battle. On one had, it kind of makes sense, considering that it's a fully-evolved Ultra Beast and all. But, on the other hand, it hasn't trained (or done anything worthwhile, for that matter) while in Ash's care as a Poipole, with all of the supposed training it did to evolve having happened off-screen. Plus, this is supposed to be a battle against one of, if not the strongest Pokémon Trainer in all of Alola. Yeah... Regardless, the bit after its victory, where it started twirling in front of the classmates' Pokémon as they cheered for it was pretty neat and somewhat adorable.

Moving on to the main event, we've got the fated battle of the cats. And, I gotta say it was the most satisfying battle I've seen this whole series. Outside of a few, jarring scenes of reused animations, the battle had some great animation, it had some cool call-backs to some of their previous battles, both opponents were shown to be giving their all to be using most, if not all of the moves they know in order to overpower the other one and, overall, it was very intense. And taht finale, what a finale! The two fire cats not only hurled some Inferno Overdrives at each other, but they then went inside them as they were colliding in order to deal the finishing blow. The animations, the designs, the background... absolutely everything about that scene was near-perfect and that has got to be the most epic scene in the history of this series! My only gripes with this battle were the fact that no one, absolutely no one had any kind of reaction (be it exaggerated or not) to Ash using a Firium Z. Not Kiawe, who's the Fire-type expert of his current group of friends (or nay of the classmates for that matter). Not Rotom or Pikachu or any of the classmates' Pokémon, who supposedly had no idea that Ash had obtained a Firium Z. Not even Kukui, who, considering the fact that he's seen Ash do that exact same pose many years ago (even if he didn't know it was him) and that, as far as we know, he had no idea that Ash even has that Z-crystal, would make one believe that Ash using Inferno Overdrive will make him realize that Ash was the Move Kahuna. And speaking of reactions, the fact that the classmates and their Pokémon's reaction got downgraded back to staticky staring in awe like they're a bunch of lifeless logs, especially after the previous episode, where they were all shown to be having some livelier, enthusiastic and downright passionate reactions is very disappointing.

Now, while I wanna say that Torracat evolving was a pleasantly wonderful surprise, but, considering all of the stuff with its fire "cat bell", I would've been more surprised if it didn't and even annoyed if it wouldn't have led to anything. But it was still pleasant and wonderful nonetheless. A great, well-deserved reward for Torracat that's a testament to its growth (even if its focus poorly handled, it didn't participate in that many battles, it didn't receive that much screen time and the only time it actually received development was in episodes that either had Kukui's Incineroar or Stoutland). As for it not getting to do much as an Inicineroar... maybe it will get some focus in the new series, considering that Ash will be traveling throughout all of the past regions? Who know? At this point, anything is possible in upcoming series. Also, this shot really makes Incineroar look creepy, almost like it's possessed (and just in time for spooky month!) or something:

Spoiler

STOP LOOKING INTO MY SOUL!!!!

Speaking of weird things, these have got to be the worst background characters I've ever seen.

Overall, an almost great and well-written episode that features an excellent conclusion to Torracat's character, its development and its rivalry with Incineroar... that gets almost immediately spoiled by the sudden appearance of Tapu-kriffing-Koko, who decides to slap Kukui's sixth Poké Ball out of his hand and declare itself as Kukui's last Pokémon. I know it's more-or-less in-character for it to do this and that it's in line with the way it's been depicted, but it's still stupid nonetheless. Besides the fact that it feels like they're trying to cram an important battles into one episode for no reason (as this episode, or one of the next ones, could've focused on the battle without having it be part of the league), I feel like the Ruins of Conflict or Melemele Island's forests would've been better suited for the Tapu Koko vs. Pikachu rematch (since the former's Tapu Koko's shirne and the latter's where it and Ash have battled (and technically met) before) than the Alola League's stadium. This is supposed to be one of Ash's biggest challenges in Alola after all (akin to a Grand Trial, in a way), not a spectacle, so having a crowd witness the event is completely unnecesarry.