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Review XYS03: The Strongest Mega Evolution ~Act III~

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First of all, I was not disappointed. The battle between the primals was amazing - it's a miracle that people got out of there alive.

Devon Corp looks gorgeous and prestigious than how I remember it back in AG. Looks like they underwent some major renovations.

I watched the episode mainly because of Steven, but Alan was really the star of the show.


I loved his interactions with Manon. She was so worried about him, and went to save him in the middle of the primals battle, just as he did for his Charizard.

And the hug at the end was so cute!
 
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This part was definitely better than the last and it might be my new favorite.

The battle between the Hoenn legends was amazing. Primal Groudon in particular was so damn badass destroying everyone. I loved the scene when he threw Kyogre. Mega Rayquaza was also pretty cool defeating the other two with one hit. Primal Kyogre...honestly, he just seemed to get thrashed throughout most of the battle. But anyway, I also really liked when Alain got put of the plane to get Charizard after he was hit my Groudon's attack. I still immensely dislike Mairin, but I'll give her some props for finally doing something useful in getting Alain out of the danger zone between the legends. I'll also admit that the hug between them was sweet. And finally it looks like Alain is doing some more mega on mega battling. I do wish we could have seen more of Lysandre though.

That's pretty much all I've got since there was a lot of dialogue in the beginning and at the very end. But I'll give this a 8/10 for now.
 
I'm afraid that for me this was the weakest of this side series so far (which I have so far really enjoyed, much to my surprise!)

I thought Groudon and Kyogre were hideous. The least menacing menaces I've ever seen. I thought that this might be the anime's chance to atone for its sins during AG but they were only marginally less ugly/pathetic than their appearances way back when :p Did anyone else notice that scene where they were just ?copulating while something more awesome (God knows what) was going on until it interrupted their embrace?! I was under the impression that the Lord Iwane is animating all these specials, which just goes to show how sh*te the designs for these legendaries must be given that they are yet to have an appearance which makes me feel that they are epic in any way.

As a result I was not able to really enjoy that over-hyped battle. The only bit that got me was when Lizardon got spiked - for a split second I actually worried if it was dead! Frankly, it's a complete miracle that no one did die. I know that people/pokemon have had some spectacular lucky escapes and that no one (bar J trololol) dies for longer than a minute on this show, but this episode pushed the limits of my belief over the cliff. When Manon, Alan and co were just jamming on the ice at the same time as it was being torn apart by the legendaries...?! Please.

Which leads me onto my favourite - Manon. What a great and sensible girl she is! I cannot remember a single main character having such a strong adverse reaction to entering an obviously foolish, deadly scenario before. It's a shame that they then backtracked by having her hide on that plane but I suppose they felt that they had to in order to include her in the main bulk of the plot.

As for the other characters, I know they're going for some sort of anti-hero thing with Alan but with each episode I find I genuinely like him less and less. Daigo proved himself to bore me once again... And this Fleur-de-Lys guy... So what? I just can't bring myself to care... Maybe it's because they've spaced the specials out so much.

I also feel I have to state my discomfort with the Manon/Alan relationship. As a brother/sister thing I think it's very sweet, but it has been left so deliberately open that it makes my skin crawl. Manon is canonically 10 isn't she? I'm sure we don't know Alan's age but based on everything we've seen I feel as though he's 16-18 years old (he's obviously several years older than her!) and for the writers to wedge in the shipping angle just feels wrong.
 
My highlights of Act III:


1. Poor Kyogre. It's only purpose was to be a rag doll. Even with all the natural energy in the world, it still was pitiful.

2. Manon actually having the common sense, worry and fear to not engage with gigantic, powerful, god-like legendaries. Kudos to her for trying to stop Alain, and eventually being the one to end up saving him. He best be eternally grateful.

3. Mega Rayquaza is badass. Bad. Ass. His timing was a bit late, but nonetheless he put the two Primals in their place.

4. Mega Charizard being impaled with extreme prejudice. If we didn't know any better, it looked as if it was stabbed to death. This became more or less true as we saw its flame nearly flicker out...

5. Fist bump between Chespin and Metagross ^___^

6. New Hoenn and Devon Corp are beautiful.

And as a side note, I could not stop thinking how much I like Manon's Chespin over Clemont's.
 
Pretty good, I loved the way Primal Groudon was channeling Godzilla -

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In fact, as the story progresses, the more it reminds me of a Kaiju film (one of the ones where they're taking it seriously). I think it'll be really good to see them all as one feature-length episode.
 
And lo, Arceus blessed viewers with a sweet battle involving the Weather Trio to wash away some of the noxious stink of the Groudon vs. Kyogre 2-parter from AG.
 
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Nobody's mentioned this yet, but Alan and Fleur-de-Lys return to the Kalos Region at the end of the special.

Iwane Masaaki's key animation was amaaaaaazing but dear God those CG helicopters looked like shit.

Misty-Moo said:
I loved the way Primal Groudon was channeling Godzilla

The special definitely had a Godzilla feel to it. Maybe a mix of Godzilla vs. Mothra (with Kyogre being Mothra, despite it being in the water as opposed to being in the air?) or Godzilla vs. Peguila (with the ice and all)?

Fairy Type Arceus said:
Finally we get the groudon vs kyogre battle we deserved 12 years ago.

I don't disagree, but I will point out that this special had a way bigger budget than those AG episodes had.
 
HYYYYYYPE. This side series fails to disappoint with the battles. That was so visually stunning...And the scale is exactly what it ought to have been.

And how much you wanna bet that rock will power the Ultimate Weapon? I mean really.
 
Pocket Monsters XY - Animator's Corner

TV Special 4 Information:

TV Special name: Pocket Monsters XY Special - The Strongest Mega Evolution - Act III

Script
Tomioka Atsuhiro
Director
Asada Yuuji
Storyboard
Asada Yuuji
Animation supervisor
Iwane Masaaki
Assistant animation supervisor
Sakai Hiromi Nakaya Toshiko
Chief animation supervisor
Hirooka Toshihito
Assistant chief supervisor
Matsunaga Kanae Shimura Izumi
Key animator
Iwane Masaaki

It is always wonderful to have the golden trio work together, especially given how seldom it has occurred in the past five years. As has become the norm, Assistant Animation Supervisors Sakai Hiromi and Nakaya Toshiko accompany Animation Supervisor Iwane Masa'aki, likely to clean up any of his hastily drawn key animation.

The storyboard from Episode Director Asada Yuuji is definitely one of his best in recent history. The canted angles, the use of foreground emphasis and background blurring really kept each shot nuanced and engaged.

I really wasn't expecting Iwane to be able to pull off another winner like this so soon after Episode #65 . There was great character faces and even some good character acting. Feelings were transmitted without words, one of the ultimate achievements of film. There's a very quick cut at 13:21 of Mega Lizardon that is quite nice. It's very Kanada-style, something Iwane specializes in. It gives the animation a nice, snappy punch that communicates a tone of 'cool' that is, excuse the phrase, 'cool'.

Ah, a parting of ways. I wonder where the storyline is going now that the Flare Gang has two legendary Pokemon under their command? I can't imagine the entire story can be resolved in only one more episode. At least two would be best. Act IV is coming in fall, which is probably going to be when the sequel to X and Y come out.

Screen captures!

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I can't imagine the entire story can be resolved in only one more episode.
The trailer for Act IV says "speeding toward a climax". Maybe it will be a two-parter, but I doubt that the series won't be wrapped up this year.

which is probably going to be when the sequel to X and Y come out.
It's hardly likely with Movie 18 promoting ORAS content (most notably Hoopa Unbound) and even the Act IV having a Red/Green logo (compared to Act III's Red/Blue logo for ORAS). There are also two unannounced spin-off games coming up (Rumble World and Detective Pikachu), to say nothing of Pokkén's arcade release.

It is not as if there aren't enough Mega Evolutions from the current games to promote, either. Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Venusaur and Mega Charizard Y immediately come to mind.
 
I'm pretty sure that the point of these specials while it gives us some epic action-packed episodes like this one is to develop Lysandre and Team Flare leading up to the climax of the plot which will probably take place in the main anime which will be the ultimate climax for the XY series itself.
 
The battle was overall good, after what happened in the past my expectations were low and it managed to surpass them. However, it has the same problem of the other Megaevolution specials, they are too forced to produce epicness.
I liked Manon's participation and her emotions during the episode, but I'm afraid that they will end up meaning nothing in her character arc.

I'm happy that this Hoenn arc is finally over, it wasn't bad but it felt too improvised.
 
What is the name of this ship?

9PwCu9B.jpg

(I have a new OTP guys.)
 
I'm a little sad that this series is presumably going to be so short. I think Pokémon would do well with producing a spin-off anime in the same continuity, and Alain (who only seems to lose to monster trainers like Elite Four members) would be a perfect antithesis to Ash, who never wins. I really hope that when both of their stories inevitably cross-over, they don't dumb down Alain's powers to make Ash seem beastly.

And I can't wait for this episode to come out in English!
 
Since I couldn't find this subbed I saw it raw today. This was a massive improvement over the Kyogre and Groudon battle we had last time to say the least.

I'm particularly impressed with how Alain's Charizard took a Precipice Blade and still remained conscious considering it's a legendary attack that its weak too. Steven and Mega Metagross showing their chops on why they're the top dogs in Hoenn was awesome too. I can't help but notice when Mega Rayquaza arrives the three legends almost duplicate the famous shot from Pokemon Emerald (Though Groudon and Kyogre are on the wrong sides to Rayquaza) which is a pretty cool nod to the games.

Now that Alain and Mairon went their separate ways I wonder what will happen then. My theory is Alain continues to support Lysandre and will battle Ash as The Dragon (doubly appropriate since Charizard X is a dragon) to Lysandre when Ash tries to stop his schemes with Alain not believing it's true. Mairon would be one of the only people around who can convince him otherwise leading to Charizard X vs Mega Gyarados for an awesome climax.
 
So today I just found a review of Act 3 by a Tumblr user who had also covered Act 2 (I tried to point people to it in the review for that but it didn't catch on). It's extremely detailed and cover a lot of hidden symbolism no one would have known about otherwise as well as connections to the other Acts and analysis of the different characters. Everyone whose watched up to this point should check it out if they want a different perspective on it.

In which Cass is the anonest anon that ever anon'd
 
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