Review XY126: Mega Jukain VS Raichu! I Received Some Experience Points!!

[Neo Blaze]

XY126 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Discuss the episode here.

 

[alondon17]

goodra is BAAAAAAACK.
ash vs astrid was just hawlucha's final hit on mega absol
Tierno VS Shota was a full battle, already better than the first episode
remo will be vs alain and we all know who will win.

and no preview!!!!! because movie

 

[WatcherMark]

Here's a complete recap.

- This week, instead of a traditional recap, we get Pachira recapping what's happened so far as well as commenting on Ayaka and Louie's battles. Nice change of pace.
- After the titles, we're at Satoshi vs Ayaka which is already in the final battle between Luchabull and Mega Absol. Luchabull gets a revenge victory and defeats Absol with a Flying Press, winning Satoshi the battle.
- We seem to have missed a huge portion of this tournament (three battles in fact... aren't you glad we wasted an episode in a mechanical maze), as we're already at the quarter finals. Alan is already through.
- Satoshi and Shota share some words. We get a brief scene of Team Rocket getting tired of Pachira ordering them about.
- The gang and Trovo are in the crowd to watch Tierno and Shota's battle. Sana is also in the audience to cheer on her friend. She joins the others and catch up.
- The battle begins, Runpappa vs Gillguard. After a brief dancing fit, Tierno has Runpappa use Rain Dance, to which Shota has Gillguard power up with Swords Dance.
- Runpappa has Swift Swim, which allows it to hit Gillguard with a few Hydro Pumps. Shota eventually manages to have Gillguard use King's Shield to block then hits Runpappa with Sacred Sword. Another Swords Dance and Sacred Sword later, Runpappa is out. Tierno then sends out Raichu.
- Raichu uses Charge Beam, but Gillguard uses King's Shield to block. Tierno then has Raichu use Dig, and the attack is enough to knock Gillguard out. Cue another spot of dancing.
- Peroream vs Raichu. Peroream hits Raichu with Attract and it works, allowing Peroream to hit Raichu with Energy Ball. Tierno recalls Raichu and replaces it with Kamex. Shota has Peroream use Attract again, but Kamex dances and blocks it (!). Kamex uses Hydro Cannon which knocks out Peroream. Tierno is now winning.
- Shota brings out Jukain (who now wears a scarf, which is tied together with the Mega Stone), and Kamex uses Ice Beam. Leaf Storm counters this, so Kamex uses Hydro Cannon. Jukain dodges it and uses Leaf Blade on Kamex. It's a hard hit, but Kamex survives it.
- Kamex goes in for a Skull Bash, but Jukain uses Frenzy Plant which hits. Kamex is knocked out upon hitting the ground, but before it is it manages to use Rain Dance (powering up Raichu's electric attacks and weakening Sceptile's grass attacks... nice move Tierno).
- Raichu is brought back out. Citron is supporting the electric-type. Raichu is commanded to use Charge Beam, however Shota decides now to evolve Jukain (and Mega Jukain looks awesome).
- Mega Jukain easily survives Charge Beam, and Tierno is now worried. Jukain rushes towards Raichu with Dragon Claw, and dodges a Focus Blast before hitting. Raichu is out, and Shota wins.
- Shota is added to the semi-finalists (and Remo also got through). Obviously, it's Satoshi vs Shota and Alain vs Remo.
- Outside, Satoshi thinks about his upcoming battle and realises he's late for a meeting. But late for what meeting? We hear a car horn... it's NUMELGON! Hell yes! Satoshi thanks Kenzo for bringing it.
- We get an (unseen in that episode) flashback of Satoshi's recent visit to the Wetlands, where he asks Numelgon if it would help him in the upcoming league. Numelgon agrees.
- Satoshi sends out all his Pokemon. With his full team assembled, he's ready to take on Shota.
- We get an Okido's Holo Caster for the first time in forever (I've missed you Rotom) on Volcanion. Wonder if its back for good.
- No episode next week, instead the TV premier of the Hoopa movie. BOO! Why does this always happen during leagues?

 

[SandyBoi]

First 30 seconds or so after the OP were disappointing - only saw Hawlucha's last move which takes out Mega Absol. Luckily enough we got the full battle, albeit a 3 vs 3 between Shota and Tierno.
Some nice strategies used - Tierno got Blastoise to use Rain Dance before it got knocked out - for when he chooses Raichu. Of course, he had no idea Mega-Sceptile's ability was Lightning Rod.
Shota's smug face XD

Aaand of course, Ash's 6th is Goodra.

No preview either ;_;

 

[SamurottMan]

I don't know why but I got angry watching MegaPokemon defeating non Megas and then Ash appears defeating a Mega with a non Mega.

Skipping a round is okay, but skipping two rounds feels really rushed. Ash VS Astrid could've been a separate episode between this and last week's ep and the pace would've felt less weird.

Apparently Remo has a change in his design.

Shota VS Tierno was 3VS3 which was shown from start to end (Shauna shows up btw). And Tierno clearly was the underdog in the battle. Overall the battle was good, although I'd love to have a match not to end up with a lot of OHKOs.

I'm probably complaining too much, but this league doesn't spark any interest in me whatsoever. The whole AlainVSAsh isn't really the drama I want, so hopefully if they battle the battle is good.

It's also interesting how Top64 through 8 were 3VS3, usually Top8 starts the full battles. Also, another league without a girl in the Top4 with Astrid getting Katharine'd.

In conclusion, this episode did feel like a typical league episode, although it felt really distanced from last ep, but the next episodes will directly follow from this ep so it's good.

Also, Goodra's back and will battle Slurpuff?????????

 

[Necrozma]

That awkward moment when TR get more screentime than Ash vs Ayaka battle. Yikes.

 

[P_S_B]

So we went from Top 64 to Top 8, then skipped 2/3rds of that as well? I'm sorry, but nothing about that is even remotely acceptable. At the very least there should have been a slideshow showing Ash and co. advancing through the rounds (similar to what they did in the Showcases for non-main characters) with Ayaka's battle shown in full.

I like to think the worst part of the league is over and it will only get better from here, but so far we've skipped most of Trevor's battle so Ash can fight some crybaby who didn't even get 8 badges, skipped 2 rounds completely and most of a third. It's not on.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Certainly better than last week. I loved Sawyer and Tierno's battle, but I don't like how we have had very little focus on Ash's Battles during this league. Are we REALLY only going to see him have 2 full on screen battles? This is the biggest problem with the Kalos League. Other than that, Goodra is back! Ash's ultimate team is FINALLY completed. He deserves to win with a team this good. I only really give this a 6.5/10.

 

[radek.tadajewski.7]

Did anyone notice Squishy didn't pop out from Bonnie's sachet in this episode nor appear? But I'm glad Goodra returns to Ash's team, making his full team for 6 vs 6 battle. And wobbuffet either.

 

[Ghurlag]

Well, Ash has reached Top 4 again, but boy, they're just racing to get this league over. No connection with family and friends elsewhere, no subplots, no opponents with character or notable tactics. We've seen 1.5 battles so far, and just two tiny portions of Ash himself battling, which gives the impression he's just steamrollering his way so far. Given how he struggled for his eighth badge, I was expecting a little more respect for these trainers.

The writers might be shooting for more time to really get into the battle with Sawyer (which Ash will almost certainly win) and the battle with Alain (whose other Pokemon have yet to appear) but we're going to have to set the record for both Ash's highest ranking and most unsatisfying achievement of it. There was room here for Ash to bring in his Oak'd Pokemon for early matches and preserve most of his A-team for the later battles, but they seem to have decided to instead skip all of that in favour of Rival Battles.

 

[TyphoonStrom]

Why do people assume episodes were wasted? Their made weeks in advance, its not like they could drastically change much after sun/moon was announced just a month into the year, to hit release by NOV no less, and had to cover serenes master class, ashs kalos quest, team flare plot, and the series finale after the episodes they've already created. They really are, based on the significant pace jump after sun/moon trying to finish this series around its launch.

 

[IncineROAR]

I'm annoyed and happy with Goodra returning. Mainly because the dub voice for that mon is annoying.

I think it's great we are just going straight through the league. I'm sure the Sawyer and Alain battles will take several episodes to play out, and we still haven't had a Team Flare climax yet. I'm sure the producers/writers of the anime would like to wrap things up in time for Sun and Moon.

 

[Gard81]

The battle between Tierno and Sawyer was interesting, certainly lived up to the title, and unlike last week's episode, it was more balanced. Dunno why people are so annoyed at battles getting skipped, it's not like they were that relevant or had any build-up, unlike the ones against Sawyer and Alain. The writers aim to build up momentum towards the final match. In that aspect, I say they're doing fine so far.

 

[Gengarzilla]

This was definitely better than the last episode. I enjoyed seeing Tierno make good use of Rain Dance with his three Pokémon and overall prove himself to be an obstacle for Sawyer by whittling him down to just Sceptile. That's more like it, guys.

Astrid got sidelined but I really couldn't care less about her or Remo, both of them were just resurrected to make up the numbers like all those random Unova trainers. It's a foregone conclusion that Remo's going out too. So much for them.

Pacing issues are still rife though. Even though I knew this beforehand, jumping from Top 64 to Top 8 in one episode is a bit dizzying.

 

[SammyW27]

That awkward moment when you realize the League is more or less a formality at this point...

Still better than the last episode though.

 

[Lucifer Angel]

I really wish that Ayaka could have been around longer than 30 seconds I feel. That Ash's win against her was nothing more than a very rushed fight just so that they could get to. Shota vs Tiero which was a decent battle, this also means that Ash truly will be getting to the finals once he beats Shota and Alain beats his opponent.

 

[SonansuMan]

Holy crud, Squishy didn't even get a second..

Does this episode count as an appearance for Sonans though? It was in the episode, but it's actually body wasn't physically seen.

Dub audience will have better time watching this as long as they don't read the wiki. (Japan sure loves spoilers, don't they?)

Got to see my boi Gillguard. Did great battling.

I'm automatically going to assume Alain wins because not only cause he's the Chuck Norris/Trollbias of this series, but well...... that's all I got.

 

[Kairyu]

Not impressed with this episode at all. The animation was not much better than last week and reeked of laziness with stock footage and still shots. Overall the battle felt really slow and uneventful with no intensity whatsoever. And when they finally got to the supposedly good stuff - Mega Sceptile vs Raichu - it was a 1 hit KO.

First two Kalos league episodes have been huge disappointments with garbage writing and animation. I seriously hope things will improve remarkably. What we've gotten so far is not good enough for a league.

 

[Sakuraa]

Better than last week's episode.

Ok, ignoring that blatant error of Astrid's Absol appearing as a regular Absol one second, then becoming a Mega Absol the next, I'm pretty miffed that we didn't get to see more of this battle. I wish we would have seen it happening at the same time as Sawyer vs. Tierno. That means the only female we got to see in the league was only shown for less than a minute...and losing at that.

Shuana showing up to watch Tierno's battle was nice, though it would have been nice if she'd shown up to watch Trevor as well. Then again, I guess it is better not to have seen him get swept in person:/ Anyway, on to the battle itself. Man, I will never get tired of Tierno and his Pokemon's synchronized dancing. But geez Trevor, cool it with the photos. The match hasn't even started yet. I feel like this is the first time I don't really mind move spamming. Honestly, I'd try to make the most of rain boosted Hydro Pumps myself. I was actually surprised that Tierno actually switched to Solar Beam instead of trying to get in that last bit of boosted power before the rain stopped. Regardless, I'd say the first match was good overall. I did like how they showed how frail the sword is in attack mode.

Raichu is so cute. I loved seeing him break dancing again. Also glad that he got a win against the ugly sword. I'm glad that Slurpuff got to incapacitate Raichu and do some damage here since last time we saw her, she pretty much did nothing. I'm also glad she was confirmed female. Damn, infatuated Raichu was hilarious. I liked Blastoise using his dance strategy to avoid getting infatuated, but of course, that leaves Slurpuff relegated to getting one shot once again.

Sceptile was amazing as usual. I love the scarf that holds the Sceptileite. I do like how Tierno had Blastoise use Rain Dance right before it was defeated to aid with Raichu's Thunder. That seemed like a strategy a person playing the games would do. And damn, that Mega evolution into MSceptile was powerful. Sucks that it pretty much left Raichu powerless to do anything to it. Oh well, good match overall.

Lastly, finally, Goodra is back and ready to battle in the league! This is great! I can't wait for Ash vs. Sawyer. 7.8/10.

 

[KrspaceT]

I'm honestly convinced that Sun and Moon was supposed to come out next year but Pokemon was asked to start working on it earlier than planned. Despite how well all Gen 6 games are selling (14.7 and 11.84 vs the DS gens 18.23 and 12.72 and 15.58 and 7.97), I wonder if issues that are affecting the Wii U' and NX might have required a sped up high tier killer app for this holiday season.

As a result, they had to decide on what battles were vital to show, and what were not. Now, given how little some fights in past leagues are remembered (Ash vs Conductor Fire guy or Ash vs Furret guy), they may have decided to make cuts to ensure that big fights can be pulled off.

Now, if they can give Ash a good showing in Ash vs Sawyer and possibly Ash vs Alain.....

Of course, the length they had the league go into before Ash's big battles (Top 4) makes me think: I've long assumed that a lot of the Sinnoh League was written during a part of planning when Ash was going to be retired for Gen 5. Ash vs Paul would have instead been the final battle.

It was changed in development, which swapped some places, added Tobias, and probably cut out fights with Barry and possibly put Nando much earlier than intended.

Now.....Ash returns to that deep into the league once more.....