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Review JN014: First in the Isshu Region! The Raid Battle at the Ruins!!

I like that opening scene, ends with a postcard memory too!

Indiana Jane looks like Milo and/or Sophocles.

Return of the meme face.

Another lame capture with Darmanitan.

Sandile capture was better, would have liked more than a one-shot but at least they fought it.

Ash and Go keep stumbling right into traps, they've clearly never played Dungeons & Dragons.

Cofagrigus was actually creepy.

I'm not a big fan of when the anime is strict about type immunity, I actually hope they're not going to be consistent about that.

Shiny Hunter looks straight out of the early 90s with those clothes.

The COTDs were pretty good but I still think they should have worked the Rockets in.

Darmanitan at least got to battle, making the capture somewhat less lame.

I'm still not clear on what exactly a raid battle is in-universe but I like Golurk so this one was fun. I hope Go battling becomes the norm.

Whoa, they found El Dorado!
 
Also, am I the only one who would find it cheap if Golurk took part in tournaments? It would have to be nerfed in order not to make Ash's other Pokemon seem inferior. Meanwhile, Go will probably not use Golurk (maybe just against Gengar) and that's fine with me. Let the titan be a guardian.
Before watching this episode, I was expecting the giant Golurk to revert into a regular-sized one after someone caught it (similar to the actual raid battles in Pokemon Go), but for some reason it stayed huge even after being captured. Kinda reminds me of Totem-sized Pokemon like the Gengar that Acerola owns, except the giant Golurk is actually a lot more powerful than a regular one. Considering how OP it would be, I guess it's fine if it won't be used in actual trainer battles.
I'm not a big fan of when the anime is strict about type immunity, I actually hope they're not going to be consistent about that.
Type immunity is the one thing that the anime is 99.9% consistent about in regards to the type chart. I'm not sure why you think that's a bad thing, but expect type immunity to be consistent throughout the rest of the series (outside of abnormal situations like Pikachu using "Soak" in the previous season).
 
I'm not a big fan of when the anime is strict about type immunity, I actually hope they're not going to be consistent about that.

Okaaaay, this is a weird complaint. What exactly is wrong with type immunities (or following the type chart in general)? They're a big part of Pokémon battles in the games (so not having them would make for a pretty poor adaptation (and not the kind that's done to improve something)), they make sense within the universe and even outside of it to some degree since types are based on elements that exist in the real world and the way they interact (fire burns grass, water puts out fire, ground can't conduct electricity and is therefore immune to it etc.) and they can be used to provide the characters with an obstacle that they need to overcome by using their determination, instinct and outside-the-box thinking (which may sometimes lead to them learning something new and/or improving themselves). If anything, I'd argue that a lack of the type chart (or an inconsistency in it) would be worse, as then the difficulty of a battle (along with its stakes) would drop significantly, leading to characters no longer needing to come up with a creative and unique way of dealing with the problems posed by their opponent and to nonsensical garbage worse than Poni Grand Trial to become the norm.
 
I'm not a fan of how the anime has Go conduct catches, so I try not to sing the same tune during these reviews as we know it's not going to change anytime soon...

That being said, I have to say, his capture of Golurk was undeserved.
This basically sums up to entire episode! There isn't much more for me to say except that it was a bad episode and had so many elements that just felt wrong:

- Go catching such a powerful Pokemon (as it was proven later) like Darmanitan without even having to batte it -> wrong!
- Ash, who was still called a champion a couple of episodes ago, constantly forgetting about Ground-type Pokemon's immunity against Electric-type attacks -> wrong!
- That researcher constantly calling everything "enchanting" -> wrong (or at least pretty weird)
- At first, Golurk was portrayed as an almost unbeatable titan with the team's Pokemon doing hardly any damage against it and all of a sudden, it could be knocked out with one single (combined) attack ... -> wrong (or at least hardly plausible if you ask me)
- Go catching that powerful Pokemon like it was a random Pidgey -> also felt wrong (and undeserved)

Also, the boys' traveling around between different regions is something I like less and less. This episode was a prime example how poorly the whole concept is done. this week the boys are here, next week they'll be somewhere else with no explanation and hardly any introduction whatsoever. The episodes feel terribly rushed, everything is taken for granted and it just doesn't feel like the Pokemon Anime we used to know.
 
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Those COtDs are definitely going to come back.

This episode would have been so much better if the COTDs who weren't the shiny collector were replaced with the Rocket duo. Kojirou could have confirmed whether or not he got that Kamukame last week and Musashi using her Sonansu in a raid battle would have been a great way to make a joke about always getting stuck with a Sonansu Trainer when you try Sword & Shield raid battles offline.
Would have been great, but around 40% to 60% of this episode was produced before the games were released, so who knows if the writers got to explore enough raids to notice how useless Wobbuffet is.
I find it strange that the sand at the Desert Resort is so hot that it is extremely impossible to walk across, even for the Fire type Scorbunny
Not necessarily...
1) Scorbunny lived in Wyndon, which is a few meters away from the freezer that is Route 10.
2) Scorbunny (the species) gather energy by running and hopping, and Go's hasn't done that much this series.
3) Even people who like in warm places become tired of the heat eventually.
 
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Typical anime derp aside, this was a great shot that had a lot happening at once, which was fun to see
 
Alright, since no one else seems like they want to mention this, I’d like to draw attention to the fact that Go didn’t catch Golurk just to catch Golurk; he caught Golurk to SAVE ITS LIFE. The thing couldn’t transform out of cannon mode and was about to fall through the floor and most likely die (or break into a million pieces...which would also count as death), and Go quickly threw the ball to help save it. Heck, he even apologized to the others before he did it, because he knew they wanted a chance to catch Golurk to.

And btw, at the end of the episode, Golurk is STILL stuck with its arms and legs tucked in, which probably means that it’s crippled for life and is gonna remain like that for the rest of the series. Its fighting days are over, so Go did NOT get a “free powerhouse.”

Thus endeth my defense statement.

Edit: Well, since what I said was so blatantly ignored (even if it was a bit exaggerated, I suppose), I guess this is how things’ll be around here for the next three years. Go won’t stop catching Pokémon like this, so the opinions won’t change; no point in sticking around, I guess.
 
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And btw, at the end of the episode, Golurk is STILL stuck with its arms and legs tucked in, which probably means that it’s crippled for life and is gonna remain like that for the rest of the series. Its fighting days are over, so Go did NOT get a “free powerhouse.”
Something tells me the anime isn't going to have a Pokémon that was permanently crippled in a battle with the protagonists. I expect he'll be fine next time he appears.
 
And btw, at the end of the episode, Golurk is STILL stuck with its arms and legs tucked in, which probably means that it’s crippled for life and is gonna remain like that for the rest of the series. Its fighting days are over, so Go did NOT get a “free powerhouse.”

It's been shown that Golurk are capable of tucking in their body parts to function as cannons and rocket thrusters; I'm sure it's fine. Also, what you're referring to?

1582601734687.png
Golurk.png


A reference to the rusted robot from Castle in the Sky.
 
It's been shown that Golurk are capable of tucking in their body parts to function as cannons and rocket thrusters; I'm sure it's fine. Also, what you're referring to?

View attachment 131222 View attachment 131225

A reference to the rusted robot from Castle in the Sky.

Well, while Dragonite and Darmanitan launched their attack into Golurk’s cannon/rocket hole, it began sparking and shaking statically, and it couldn’t pull its arms and legs out again. Then the ground collapsed beneath it, and it almost fell, but Go saved it by capturing it. The next time we see it, it’s in Sakuragi Park, with its arms and legs still not out of their holes; it’s just sitting there with the other Pokémon climbing on it.

Frankly, I don’t know for certain if that means Golurk’s crippled for good, but it certainly seems like that’s what they’re implying to me.
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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