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Review XY138: The Last Battle with Satoshi! Serena's Choice!!

Apparently, Sawyer mentioned the monolith. Was it anything important, or is he just saying it was returned to Hoenn?
 
Apparently, Sawyer mentioned the monolith. Was it anything important, or is he just saying it was returned to Hoenn?
I think he was saying that they couldn't be sure it had been destroyed.
 
I'm genuinely surprised Serena decided to partake in Contests, and the fact that they even came up at all. I really thought she was going to give Performances another go with Palermo.

That being said, I'm happy for her though. I like anime Contests a great deal over the Gym route, so I'm excited by the prospect of her competing in them. She'll have no problem making it to the battle round. If they release a side episode of her (like they did with Dawn, Brock, Iris, etc.), I hope it covers her first Contest.

It does irk me though that the writers decided to make this her ultimate goal instead of Showcases-in that case, they should have had Serena do Contests from the start. The animation with XY's team would have made all the visuals great, she would have had more active screen time and overall better development. A missed opportunity if there ever was one since we don't know the next time a goal like Contests will be animated again (certainly not in Alola).
 
You can blame Chief Series Director Yuyama Kunihiko or Series Director Yajima Tetsuo for the lack of mentioning of Satoshi having been to the Hou'en region. They're the ones that approve of scripts and storyboards, to say nothing of setting the rules for a series.
 
You completely missed the mark so I'll say it once more, Serena is NOT abandoning performing, she's literally getting more life experience for herself from an occupation that's EXTREMELY SIMILAR to her own, she's still a performer, nothing has changed, Kalos Queen is still her end goal, she just wants to take a diffrent path them Aria to get there, that's believable and there's nothing wrong with that. I don't even know where you got the "she wants to perform street shows" idea.
I want to know if Serena actually said she will be using Contests as a means to get more experience to one day return to Kalos and become Kalos Queen. It's a real question, I don't understand Japanese.

From what I've gathered, Serena rejected Palermo's offer saying she is happy when she is making the people around her feel happy. She wants to see people smiling, like she did today while performing alongside Shauna and Jessie.

After that, Palermo said she should go to Hoenn to compete in Contests, and Serena felt it was good suggestion and set her sight on Hoenn Contests. Her original idea wasn't to become a Coordinator and then use her Coordinator experience to make her Showcase performances better. She was simply moving from another region to make people smile. That's where I got the idea she would put on street shows.

To become a better performer, might as well say Ash isn't passionate about Pokemon training because instead of doing gyms he's going to school for a sags
Again, did she actually say she was heading to Hoenn to become a better Performer? It seemed to me she was pretty satisfied with simply making people smile, which I'll admit is a part of her goal, but I think a Performer would be better off making a Showcase crowd smile then moving to a region where the concept of Showcases is strange to virtually everyone.

Just typing "going to Hoenn (where Showcases do not exist) to become a better Performer" sounds stupid.

About Ash, well, it depends on what will he study. If he is going to analyze battle strategies, something Conway and more recently Sawyer do, then it's all good. It's something that ties directly into his goal. He's learning something in his field, in his area of expertise, in what he wants to specialize. Serena, on the other hand, is changing goals (even if temporarily). When Ash goes to study, he will still be a Trainer. When Serena moves to Hoenn to compete in Contests, she will be a Coordinator. Even if part of what they do is similar, Coordinators and Performers aren't the same. She changed goals.

Not saying you're wrong there but there's never one "right" path to reach your goals and I assume Serena wanted to choose her own path instead having one laid out for her to follow, I don't even think she rejected Palmero forever, she just wants more life experience.
And I didn't say there was one right path. People sometimes achieve similar results through different methods. I wasn't questioning that. All I said is that there are methods that are more effective than others.

If what you say is true and Serena is aiming to become a better Performer, going to Hoenn and learning about Contests might help her with that. But staying in Kalos and learning from a Showcase expert like Palermo is way more effective.

Contest battles still take in a Pokémon m's charm and how they move and shine into account you know, and battle experience is something Serena could use in general
Finally something we agree on, Serena really could use some battling experience.
 
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Yeah, you're completely right.

Tag Battles, which are literally regular battles with a partner, were super easy, right? There was nothing to learn aside from combining battling and helping a friend, which are things Ash and his traveling companions do on a daily basis. And Double Performances, which are literally performances where Coordinators send out two Pokémon at once, were also easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Even things which are really alike proved difficult for Ash and his friends to learn.

Serena has to learn to show off her Pokémon, which right now she doesn't know how. She is always at the center of her performances. In Showcases, the Pokémon are there to make the Performers look good. And I must add that I never said that Serena will have a hard time turning from Performer to Coordinator, even Ash learned about Contests. I just said that learning about Contest Battles will ~go to waste~ once she returns to Kalos because Showcases have no battles. I also pointed out the differences between Showcase performances and Contest performances, and Serena is going to learn a thing different than the one she is actually aiming to master.

Serena dropped the chance to learn the ins and outs of Showcases with a former Kalos Queen and a competent talent scout who made Aria famous to go learn about Pokémon Contests in Hoenn. What the actual fuck.

The scouts not going anywhere, see'll still be there in kalos to tutor serena whenever she decides to return. Also boarding your horizon instead of staying in one region for your entire career seems like a more sensible(and fun) option if you ask me.

Also, last time I checked, neither ash, may, or dawn had prior exp with both battling, and performing prior to their first contest, so shes got a head start in that regard. And battling and context have different rules ash wasn't used to, but serena shouldn't have difficulty adjusting in that regard.
 
I am so furious at the writers for turning her into a coordinator AFTER she leaves. Pokemon Contests are so much more fun to watch in the anime than the horrible idea that was Showcases. They should have done this two years ago when ORAS came out. Serena's goal in life is officially as messy and confusing as Ambipom!
 
Don't really care that she is entering the contests. The fact that she is heading to Hoenn after the group separate is the highlight of this episode. 4/10 f0r effort.
 
This was a good episode for Serena. There are a few things I'm not all too happy about, but a good episode all the less.

I like that Serena decided to put on the special Showcase in secret, telling only Sycamore the night before it was to happen. I'm glad Shauna participated, but I guess showing off her other Pokemon that haven't been seen before was out of the question. Seriously, the last time we're ever going to see her, the last Showcase performance we'll ever see which was supposed to be a big blowout to cheer up the residents of Lumiose City...and we only get to see the same old Ivysaur and Flabebe combo we've seen since the beginning. That was probably my biggest disappointment in this episode. I'm not pleased that Jessie joined in, but at least she didn't screw anything up. Serena was amazing though. I was nice to see her performing again. I'd missed that.

I also loved how the crowd got in on the show and started dancing. I lol'd at Clemon't falling onto Noiver and Alain not wanting to dance. But I must say, the huge crowd on non-animated people next to the animated characters was seriously off putting. I'm glad they got to see the rivals off in the end. And nice return of ear pulling. It's been too long:p

Ash and Serena chilling together was nice to see, though I'll never understand how he all of a sudden decided to have a battle after all of that. Then again, it is Ash. Anyway, the battle was just what I expected so nothing really to say about it. I was surprised by how hard Pikachu was going on Braxien though. He straight up slammed her into the ground, lol.

And now Palermo. I must say that I'm quite dissapointed that Serena didn't take her offer to train under her. But I guess she should do what she feels is best. I hope that going to Hoenn and trying Contests will give her more ideas of what to do with Showcases. I just desperately hope she doesn't decide to become a Coordinator. I'd be really annoyed if she gave up the first career she fell in love with just to become yet another Coordiantor:/ But I guess only the future will tell.

Overall, a nice pre-finale for Serena. 9/10.
 
Why would Ash bring up that he went there? He would've done it a long time ago when they first met Sawyer and his Treecko. We would think that would remind him if his own travels in Hoenn with his Sceptile, but it doesn't. The XY series just doesn't want to talk about Ash's past except for his early childhood for some reason.

A more plausible reason for this is more like Negative Continuity. Sometimes, the writers will act like entire arcs never happened, so maybe they just decided to pretend Advance Generation never happened for the sake of poor writing. And that is just too bad, as it is one of the now VERY rare times Ash actually succeeded in something (the Battle Frontier, which many have forgotten is actually in the games too).
 
I'm quite surprised to see people more angry over Serena's decision, rather then the battle.

Some highlights for me:
*Tairenar realistically not lasting against Pikachu.
*Maiika popping out of its Pokeball. Could it possibly be Manene 2.0?
*Team Rocket not blasting off or having to perform their motto.
*They reminded us Flabebe still existed.
*The dance party, featuring Serena, Sana, and Musashi.
*The rival closure.
*The group gathering after the Team a Flare arc.

Really good episode overall for me, ignoring Serena going to the mysterious place of all the rest of Satoshi's pals. 8/10
 
(Disclaimer again: I've only watched Original series through Advanced generation, and coming back to the late XYZ saga)

If I see carefully, Showcases and Contests aren't completely incompatible to each other. Both involve improving conditions of Pokemon for preparation, and each one has a part involving a freestyle performance. The main differences are the types of events between the two: One emphasizes the person's Pokemon battling with choreographed moves, and the other involves the person proving some other kind of Pokemon-relevant skill, depending on the theme of the showcase itself. Either way, each one shares the art of using Pokemon to entertain the watching crowd.

That said, though... Serena is now in a very awkward situation in the way she is abruptly switching between the two. In one way, she probably will be a master at the freestyle round in the Hoenn-style contests. No really - It appears she really knows how to mix moves together to stun a crowd. However, it seems like her battle style took in a large amount of inspiration from Ash himself. In fact, if you all remember, she once actually dressed up as Ash and emulated his demeanour to battle a trainer while Ash was sick. (Not to mention that this was totally awesome to see!)

Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, May left Ash because of the fact that normal battling skills of a Trainer aren't necessarily compatible with coordination battles. I.E. May supposedly took in too much of Ash's straightword battle style, and her rivals told her that this held her back in contests. In such, Serena looks like she, like May, could also have a rough time tuning her battling skills to match those of a coordinator - and she may notice a conflict between the Showcase and Battle philosophies that she acquired in her Kalos journey.

Of course, Ash is different now, and the way the Anime sagas isolate character progression between each other, anything could happen.
 
Unfortunately, if I remember correctly, May left Ash because of the fact that normal battling skills of a Trainer aren't necessarily compatible with coordination battles. I.E. May supposedly took in too much of Ash's straightword battle style, and her rivals told her that this held her back in contests. In such, Serena looks like she, like May, could also have a rough time tuning her battling skills to match those of a coordinator - and she may notice a conflict between the Showcase and Battle philosophies that she acquired in her Kalos journey.
I don't remember this happening and in DP, there's one thing that I think is important to remember. Zoey's issues with trainers who compete in contests and battles. She had this black and white mindset, and Ash and Nando bothered her because of this. She eventually learned by the Wallace Cup that learning from both trainers and coordinators battle styles is beneficial.
 
From what I understood, it seems like Serena's going to try Contests out to gain more skills as a performer. She isn't giving up her dream, just going at it in her own pace I guess.

You think we'll see a May cameo in the ORAS outfit, or will they completely disregard she still exists?
 
I don't remember this happening and in DP, there's one thing that I think is important to remember. Zoey's issues with trainers who compete in contests and battles. She had this black and white mindset, and Ash and Nando bothered her because of this. She eventually learned by the Wallace Cup that learning from both trainers and coordinators battle styles is beneficial.

Two different scenarios.

May's battle style was pretty straightforward. She would command one attack after another and would often go for broke. She relied on surprise attacks such as Assist and Metronome instead of carefully developing a well-thought plan. Of course she had some combinations up her sleeve sometimes, but planning ahead and being prepared for what might come her way wasn't really May's strength.

For thinking that the best defense is a really good offense (something she concluded after watching Ash's many battles) she ended up with a style that is more fitting to regular Trainers than actual Coordinators. This led to her downfall against Solidad in the Kanto Grand Festival. Solidad allowed May to move first, and then she asked her Pokémon to dodge all of May's attacks in an elegant way. Slowbro literally danced around one of May's attacks.

What Zoey admitted to Ash is that Trainers and Coordinators can learn from one another, not that they should have similar battle styles. Throughout the Diamond & Pearl series we saw how Ash and Dawn benefited from taking pages from each other's books, like Dawn implementing that trick of making a Pokémon eat a move compatible with its type and Ash evading attacks with the spinning dodge technique Dawn taught him while he trained for his rematch at the Oreburgh Gym.
 
What Zoey admitted to Ash is that Trainers and Coordinators can learn from one another, not that they should have similar battle styles. Throughout the Diamond & Pearl series we saw how Ash and Dawn benefited from taking pages from each other's books, like Dawn implementing that trick of making a Pokémon eat a move compatible with its type and Ash evading attacks with the spinning dodge technique Dawn taught him while he trained for his rematch at the Oreburgh Gym.
Yeah, this. Though I don't know if we'll see if Serena uses things she learned from Ash if we ever get to see a special where she competes in a contest.
 
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