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

[WatcherMark]

XY138 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.

There was a lot of talking in this episode so I can't really give you guys a full breakdown of what happened, so here's the bullet points:

- Grace comes to visit Serena, then leaves the next morning because that's what moms do I guess (pity she's not Satoshi's mom, they seem made for each other).
- Grace and Limone got a scene together, so you just know ParentalShipping is going to happen now.
- Satoshi and Serena have a battle and, true to form, there is no winner. In a nice callback, it's the same battlefield Satoshi battling Citron in the first XY episode. Sadly, Tairenar didn't evolve despite it being the perfect opportunity to do so, leaving her stuck in her middle form forever.
- Shauna, Trova, Tierno and Shota all made their goodbyes in this episode. I'm glad they all got a proper farewell scene. Sadly, Shauna's Fushigisou didn't evolve either and is also stuck in its middle form forever.
- Serena decides to accept Yashio's offer... and they talked quite a while. I'm not sure why, but it looks like Serena is heading to Hoenn (which is now alongside Johto as the place to dump unwanted old characters... maybe she'll bump into Hikari and Dent).

 

[TyphoonStrom]

Great ep. its great everyones getting closure, especially the rivals, they learned their lesson from BW where they sorta just disappeared for halfway through the series.

 

[Mikuri]

I heard Serena is going to Hoenn to compete in Pokémon Contests. Is that true? If so, I feel really sorry for all those people who said Serena would never give up being a Performer after "all the trouble" she went to "find her true calling."

Just when I thought Serena's story arc couldn't get any messier.

 

[callmebiceps]

I heard Serena is going to Hoenn to compete in Pokémon Contests. Is that true? If so, I feel really sorry for all those people who said Serena would never give up being a Performer after "all the trouble" she went to "find her true calling."

Just when I thought Serena's story arc couldn't get any messier.

Isn't it possible/more likely that she is doing it to train? That's what it sounded like, though I don't speak Japanese.

 

[Dogasu]

- Serena decides to accept Yashio's offer...

That's actually the exact opposite of what happened. Serena declines Yashio's offer, saying that the dinky little show she put on earlier that day (also, ugh) showed her that hey, I could reach way more people traveling around from region to region than if I just stayed put in one place with some old lady. Yashio respects her decision and suggests she goes to the Houen Region since they have this different type of competition known as "Pokemon Contests."

The most infuriating thing about this episode, to me, was the part at the end when Serena announces her intentions of going to the Houen Region and Satoshi makes zero mention of ever having been there.

 

[Mikuri]

Isn't it possible/more likely that she is doing it to train? That's what it sounded like, though I don't speak Japanese.

I don't know. I'm reading these comments in other message boards too. I'll have to watch it subbed first.

Honestly, even if she's not giving up being a Performer, it's just silly to start entering Pokémon Contests now. First because she will have to learn about Contest Battles, which will amount to ~nothing~ when she comes back to Kalos because Pokémon Showcases don't have battles. Another reason is that Contest performances are about showing off the Pokémon, displaying their charms and skills, whereas Showcase performances are dance routines with moves thrown in.

I am really saddened by the fact Serena is becoming a Coordinator just NOW. When the XY series was at its beginning, and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire were not even announced, I said the writers should make her interested in Contests because I knew the remakes were coming. But they spent a full year doing nothing with Serena, and then coming up with Showcases, and now they drop it in favor of Contests. It's just messy and it scream poor writing.

 

[Hifen]

The most infuriating thing about this episode, to me, was the part at the end when Serena announces her intentions of going to the Houen Region and Satoshi makes zero mention of ever having been there.

This.
And also, I didn't see the point of their battle at all. Think this was about Ash teaching Serena about bonds between trainer and pokémon and how they should be together for every new challenge...meh. Unremarkable to say the least.

 

[WatcherMark]

That's actually the exact opposite of what happened. Serena declines Yashio's offer, saying that the dinky little show she put on earlier that day (also, ugh) showed her that hey, I could reach way more people traveling around from region to region than if I just stayed put in one place with some old lady. Yashio respects her decision and suggests she goes to the Houen Region since they have this different type of competition known as "Pokemon Contests."

That's what you get when you can't understand Japanese. I thought Yashio was going to Hoenn and planned to take Serena with her...

Also, having Serena become a coordinator indicates to me that even the anime accepts that contests were much more interesting than the Tripokarons were.

 

[TyphoonStrom]

That's what you get when you can't understand Japanese. I thought Yashio was going to Hoenn and planned to take Serena with her...

Also, having Serena become a coordinator indicates to me that even the anime accepts that contests were much more interesting than the Tripokarons were.

I don't know. I'm reading these comments in other message boards too. I'll have to watch it subbed first.

Honestly, even if she's not giving up being a Performer, it's just silly to start entering Pokémon Contests now. First because she will have to learn about Contest Battles, which will amount to ~nothing~ when she comes back to Kalos because Pokémon Showcases don't have battles. Another reason is that Contest performances are about showing off the Pokémon, displaying their charms and skills, whereas Showcase performances are dance routines with moves thrown in.

I am really saddened by the fact Serena is becoming a Coordinator just NOW. When the XY series was at its beginning, and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire were not even announced, I said the writers should make her interested in Contests because I knew the remakes were coming. But they spent a full year doing nothing with Serena, and then coming up with Showcases, and now they drop it in favor of Contests. It's just messy and it scream poor writing.

Contest and showcases are both compatible with one another, she can both perform, and battle, so theres actually isnt anything new for her to learn, aside from combining the two. Actually, she may even surpass may, or dawn because of her experiences with showcases.

 

[Soniman]

I don't know. I'm reading these comments in other message boards too. I'll have to watch it subbed first.

Honestly, even if she's not giving up being a Performer, it's just silly to start entering Pokémon Contests now. First because she will have to learn about Contest Battles, which will amount to ~nothing~ when she comes back to Kalos because Pokémon Showcases don't have battles. Another reason is that Contest performances are about showing off the Pokémon, displaying their charms and skills, whereas Showcase performances are dance routines with moves thrown in.

I am really saddened by the fact Serena is becoming a Coordinator just NOW. When the XY series was at its beginning, and Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire were not even announced, I said the writers should make her interested in Contests because I knew the remakes were coming. But they spent a full year doing nothing with Serena, and then coming up with Showcases, and now they drop it in favor of Contests. It's just messy and it scream poor writing.

Serena wants to Blaze her own path and expand her horizons as a performer so she's trying out the extremely similar contests, I fail to see how that's poor writing when Serena's arc was all about growing up and independence and hey look at that she made this choice completely for herself and it makes sense for her to do so rather then falling under Yaisho's tutelage and just listening to what she says.

Yiu can't really say the knowledge she gains will amount to nothing when appeals and performances are again, extremely similar and Serena straight up says she needs to Polish her performances and moves

It was a good episode and Serena will continue to live on as a understated character in this fandom

 

[Kirby4ever]

I don't mind that Serena is dropping showcases in favor of Pokemon contests since she wanted to travel more, meet new people, and continue making people around her happy. Traveling some more is going to help Serena grow and mature more then she would by just staying in one place all the time.

 

[Handy Man]

The most infuriating thing about this episode, to me, was the part at the end when Serena announces her intentions of going to the Houen Region and Satoshi makes zero mention of ever having been there.

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.

 

[KatsumiChris1991]

Contest and showcases are both compatible with one another, she can both perform, and battle, so theres actually isnt anything new for her to learn, aside from combining the two. Actually, she may even surpass may, or dawn because of her experiences with showcases.

I don't think so, both May and Dawn are both in a way higher league than her.

 

[Mikuri]

Contest and showcases are both compatible with one another, she can both perform, and battle, so theres actually isnt anything new for her to learn, aside from combining the two. Actually, she may even surpass may, or dawn because of her experiences with showcases.

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.

Serena wants to Blaze her own path and expand her horizons as a performer so she's trying out the extremely similar contests, I fail to see how that's poor writing when Serena's arc was all about growing up and independence and hey look at that she made this choice completely for herself and it makes sense for her to do so rather then falling under Yaisho's tutelage and just listening to what she says.

Yiu can't really say the knowledge she gains will amount to nothing when appeals and performances are again, extremely similar and Serena straight up says she needs to Polish her performances and moves

It was a good episode and Serena will continue to live on as a understated character in this fandom

It's poor writing when Serena abandons her original goal to go to a different region and make people smile. She didn't know about Pokémon Contests, Palermo was the one to inform her about them. Her idea was to move to whatever region and put on street shows to make people smile. I don't even.

Serena's journey was about not knowing what to do and discovering her passion in Pokémon Showcases. And now she drops a thing she is so passionate about to go compete in Contests. Serena herself said she was afraid all the things she learned would go to waste, and her mom had to convince her otherwise. It's that talk again, nothing a Trainer ever does is a waste of time. Yes, I agree, but there are always more productive things for a person to learn. Always. And if Serena wants to become a Kalos Queen, I suspect training under Palermo would be better.

I said she would gain nothing from Contest Battles. Not the performances. Read my post again.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

So Serena is going to become a coordinator instead of a performer now? I actually don't mind this. Pokemon Showcases have always been a watered down appeals round, so she'll do well as a coordinator. I just wish they sent her down this path from the start.

 

[L-05308]

She going to... Hoenn... to do contests... Instead of Showcases...

Contests instead of showcases

Are you **** *** kidding me? All of the *** showcases *** **** and now she decides to do contests?!

 

[Soniman]

It's poor writing when Serena abandons her original goal to go to a different region and make people smile. She didn't know about Pokémon Contests, Palermo was the one to inform her about them. Her idea was to move to whatever region and put on street shows to make people smile. I don't even.

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.

Serena's journey was about not knowing what to do and discovering her passion in Pokémon Showcases. And now she drops a thing she is so passionate about to go compete in Contests.

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

Serena herself said she was afraid all the things she learned would go to waste, and her mom had to convince her otherwise. It's that talk again, nothing a Trainer ever does is a waste of time. Yes, I agree, but there are always more productive things for a person to learn. Always. And if Serena wants to become a Kalos Queen, I suspect training under Palermo would be better.

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.

I she would gain nothing from Contest Battles. Not the performances. Read my post again.

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

 

[Handy Man]

Wait, I just realized something. Kanto has contests too, right? It would have been cool if Serena got to visit Professor Oak again and meet Dahlia before Ash and Serena parted ways, but I guess they missed that opportunity. No big deal though.

 

[Flynn]

I hope this means that the inevitable Serena special is about her participating in a contest.

 

[ii kanji]

Fairly dull tying up loose ends episode. For me the only enjoyable bits were Musashi being super endearing and taking part with the boring twins "performance" (but why, after so much eye-rolling, were her gang seen crying apparently happy tears in the bg later?!), Alan's horrified face whilst dancing and Shouta pursuing his ultimate dream - Daigo.

I am not against Serena participating in Houen contests per se - as some others have already said, it can be interpreted as her just broadening her experience base before coming back to specialise in performance - but DAMN I am so effing annoyed that they didn't just do contests from the beginning and save us all the time we wasted watching that bollocks!