Review AG167: Decisive Game! Haruka VS Takeshi!!

[TeddiUrsa]

I'm guessing that's why she left with the little girl at the end, then, right? Hopefully she'll learn to do an appeal that's a little better than, "Look! Watch my Raticate chew up this stick! =D"

Nya, the stick chewing was better then squirtle´s appeal which is almost the same "freeze bubble to something to stand on"-thing..it´s gettin gold and I wonder why the jury still likes it....^^;

This episode is also the return of the May-stalking-team of the same Coordinators as in previous episodes as well. I wonder if one of them will be a filler-face at the grand festival as well, because...they never win a contest.

 

[Pie]

Nya, the stick chewing was better then squirtle´s appeal which is almost the same "freeze bubble to something to stand on"-thing..it´s gettin gold and I wonder why the jury still likes it....^^;

True. And overly special as it is, Eevee might not even be able to help that problem, which probably would've been the biggest upside to it knowing these crazy techniques so soon. There's not a lot of combinations it can do with Shadow Ball and Dig, is there? Well, maybe it can do something creative with Dig at least - something a la Harley's Cactune's drawing with needles?

 

[Kater]

They havent given Brock any credit for being a gym leader lately, i noticed that to.

 

[Geodude]

Betcha they will in the dub. That'd be one of the uncommon situations where a dub change would kind of be a good thing.

 

[Cybersai]

Maybe Brock just doesn't like to consider himself a past Gym leader for some reason. Did Brock ever really like the fact that he was a Gym leader? To me, he always seemed like he was a Gym leader more as an obligation, then actually enjoying himself.

I think it's clear he wants nothing to do with the Gym leader life and would rather be a breeder, and he doesn't see his Gym leader life as important. Something like that, or maybe the writers just have bad memories. :/

 

[FabuVinny]

I thought he made that clear in his first episode.

 

[Geodude]

It's clear that he doesn't want to be a GL himself or be considered a former GL, but he still clearly feels a sense of responsibility towards his home gym, as shown in his Hoso. But yeah, I think the lack of mention is kind of symbolic of Brock's feelings toward it.

 

[Cybersai]

And probably because the woman was only interested in his breeding/coordinator skills, she didn't seem to care about Gym leaders.

Oh well, another girl passes Brock by. As long as Brock keeps that Bonsly around, he's sure to get more attention.

I'll say it again: Bonsly has made Brock a chick magnet. After these 9 seasons and various failed attempts of getting a girl, he's now getting a *little* bit closer to finding someone, all thanks to a baby Pokemon. (Hell, remember all those girls surrounding him in the recent Harley contest episode?)

I'm glad May triumphed over a series veteran though, and in a believable way too. Now I'm hoping we get a May Vs. Misty fight down the road, just so May can beat her too. Not in a Contest though, but if the gang pass by the Cerulean Gym one more time it would be nice to finally see a May Vs. Misty match.

It would be sweet to see May have established canon wins against both series veterans (Misty/Brock). Here's hoping it happens before this saga ends.

 

[FabuVinny]

Misty is currently a Gym Leader an a very good one at that. The writers only dared to conclude this match because May needs the ribbon. If May and Misty ever had a battle that was concluded, there is nothing to stop Misty being the victor.

 

[Cybersai]

Of course, but that doesn't mean it won't be fun to watch would it?

 

[Archaic]

Oh well, another girl passes Brock by. As long as Brock keeps that Bonsly around, he's sure to get more attention.

I'll say it again: Bonsly has made Brock a chick magnet. After these 9 seasons and various failed attempts of getting a girl, he's now getting a *little* bit closer to finding someone, all thanks to a baby Pokemon. (Hell, remember all those girls surrounding him in the recent Harley contest episode?)

If Brock has any sense, he'll realise that entering lots of contests and trying to become famous will win him fangirls a lot quicker than wandering around the country hitting on girls randomly.

I'm glad May triumphed over a series veteran though, and in a believable way too.

What are you smoking, I want some. Seriously, are you wearing rose tinted glasses or something? It was obvious from the beginning of the battle that May was getting her arse whipped, and her win by points came from a strategy that shouldn't have worked, and from Brock's Pokémon suddenly becoming inexplicably, unexplainably and unconvincingly incompentant.

 

[Cybersai]

What are you smoking, I want some. Seriously, are you wearing rose tinted glasses or something? It was obvious from the beginning of the battle that May was getting her arse whipped, and her win by points came from a strategy that shouldn't have worked, and from Brock's Pokémon suddenly becoming inexplicably, unexplainably and unconvincingly incompentant.

But you're forgetting, this is a Contest battle and not a regular one, different rules apply. In fact, Jo-Jo said it best:

May's victory is now perfectly justifiable, as the point system in contest battles seems to be determined based on which Pokemon looks the best while fighting, not on which Pokemon has the greatest amount of HP left. E.g. Harley didn't gain any of his point bar back when Octillery used Rest, Drew and May both lost plenty of points apiece in the Grand Festival even though most of their battle consisted of dodging, etc. And May has had far more experience with making her Pokemon's attacks look pretty. It's still possible to argue that Brock would win if they ever had a straight-out physical battle.

Perhaps you people should take a page from Jo-Jo, I agree with her on every point. It IS still arguable that Brock would have won had there been no time limit, but otherwise, everything Jo-Jo says here sums up why May's win was believable.

 

[Kasumi]

But, in my opinion, the way Marshtomp battled made it look better than Eevee and that was during the whole battle.

 

[Archaic]

Agreed. Marshtomp looked very impressive, and pulled off several powerful combos in rapid succession, without constantly resorting to the exact same movements. Eevee on the other hand did the same thing over and over, and didn't look all that special while doing it. Furthermore, it kept on using the exact same losing strategy throughout the entire match. The only intelligent thing it did was leaping onto the rocks, and even there, that shouldn't have impacted the battle as much as it did, as Marshtomp should have, if it hadn't mysteriously become unable to do everything right, simply been able to knock it off with a Water Gun or other attack.

 

[Cybersai]

Maybe the judges just find Shadow Ball and Dig to be more impressive than Tackle/Mud Shot/Protect?

At the very least, Eevee did have a strong defense for being such a young Pokemon, and it did take a lot of direct hits which was kind of hard to swallow, but we've seen stuff like this countless times in the show.

It seemed like Brock was using regular battle tactics in this battle, and not thinking about Contest battling. May, on the other hand, was battling using her Contest experience. I think that was the difference, Brock was using raw power behind his attacks as if this was a Gym battle, and the judges didn't care for that.

 

[Geodude]

I think one thing some of these disappointed Brock fans aren't considering enough is that this was the final battle, meaning Brock had won every other battle up to that point (including, of course, the Absol battle that we saw). Reaching the final round in his very first contest is impressive, even May was unable to do that.

 

[Pie]

I think I can make a pretty good argument that there's a strong unfair advantage for May in this battle, probably just to give her that ribbon.

Let's go over the first half of the battle piece by piece, shall we? I'm literally going through this frame by frame as I transcribe the battle.

Spoiler

Things are kicked off with a "Here we GO!". May sends out Eevee with a wink. Brock sends out Marshtomp with his normal determined expression. May makes the first command, Shadow Ball. Brock, with a slight smirk, responds by telling Marshtomp to use Protect. May is surprised, and Brock clenches his fist and tells Marshtomp to use Mud Shot. May tells Eevee to dodge with a dig, and it gets out of the way just in time. Neither side has taken a hit.

Eevee is underground, and Brock tells Marshtomp to use its radar fin (handy thing, that) to locate Eevee's position. The judges discuss and seem quite impressed. Marshtomp tracks Eevee to where it's going to pop up, and when it does, it shoots a Water Gun at it, scoring a nice hit and successfully countering Eevee's Dig. May's Eevee has taken one direct hit followed by a rather painful looking flop to the ground, Marshtomp remains untouched. May looks concerned, the peanut gallery discusses a bit.

Brock tells Marshtomp to use Mud Shot. May tells Eevee to get out of the way, and it does by jumping backwards - but takes an indirect hit that is enough to knock it off its feet. May looks very concerned and surprised by how this is going. Eevee has taken about two decent hits, Marshtomp is untouched.

Brock wastes no time in telling Marshtomp to use Tackle, knocking Eevee down again before it can even get back up. Three hits on Eevee, none on Marshtomp.

May's starting to look angry now, and with a confident pointing finger she tells her Eevee to use Shadow Ball. Brock is ready for this again, and counters it with a Water Gun. As happens an awful lot in this anime, the two make an explosion for some reason when they cancel each other out. No one is even knocked back by this. However, Brock reacts immediately by telling Marshtomp to Tackle, and by Marshtomp using the kicked up dust from the explosion Eevee isn't able to see the attack coming until too late. Marshtomp gets its fourth good hit in on Eevee, and still hasn't been hit.

This is where May starts going Dig-crazy. Eevee burrows as soon as it lands, but again Marshtomp can tell where it is with that radar, and thus is able to hit it with another clean tackle when Eevee pops up again. Five hits on Eevee, none on Marshtomp.

Eevee lands on its feet and burrows again, and this time we see it pop up directly beneath Marshtomp not once - not twice - but four times. But as close as Eevee gets, Marshtomp jumps back and Eevee misses it by a small bit each time. Close as Eevee comes, Marshtomp shows no signs of being hit by this, not even so much as a small flinch of pain on its face that always shows up when a Pokémon is hit. So, assumably, it's still five hits on Eevee, none on Marshtomp.

More peanut gallery, breeder girl looks very impressed. Marshtomp and Eevee stare-down a bit while Lillian does her announcer thing as always. Brock, seeing Eevee's Dig as a potential threat, tells Marshtomp to use Mud Shot and turn the field to muck. May tells Eevee to use something (not sure what, I'm afraid) and it jumps into the air. Brock tells Marshtomp to use Water Gun on it, and it narrowly misses with two shots. However, when Eevee lands, it slips on the mud and falls down again. Five hits to none, Marshtomp looking great and Eevee looking pitiful. And to top this part off, Brock tells Marshtomp to use Water Gun, scoring another direct hit on Eevee and sliding it backwards on its butt.

Now, here's the thing.

Even assuming Eevee got in a few small hits with Dig, one would think that Eevee's score would be looking quite pitiful right now and Marshtomp's score would reflect the fighting-fit condition it's in, right? Six direct hits on Eevee in a Pokémon world where things can go down in one hit! And Eevee's a lightweight baby Pokémon - it's gotta be in rough shape, and it's getting covered in mud during a battle where condition means everything. On the other hand, Marshtomp's taken negligible damage if any, and has been countering pretty much everything Eevee has thrown at it. The judges seem more impressed by Marshtomp's radar than Eevee's getting knocked around. Even the music, which is playing things for May's point of view, is making it sound very dramatic and intense like she's getting completely dominated and - oh no - how will she ever make her way out of this one?! Really, is anyone going to disagree with me when I say that Marshtomp has been dominating this battle so far?

As it so happens, this is the first time since the start we see the scoreboard. How's that score looking, judges?

... wait, what?

I did a double take when I saw this. This is why I went back and looked frame by frame at the part where Eevee came close to scoring hits with Dig. Why is Brock nearly at the same low level as May? And this is right after adjustments for the last attack Marshtomp launched - before it, they are almost exactly at the same point. Brock was dominating and Marshtomp wasn't scratched and hadn't lost much energy due to using technques - shouldn't his score be a lot higher at this point, and hers notably lower? Did I blink and miss Eevee using Hyper Beam and Recover?

And that's all before you get to the part that Archaic mentioned, with May's Eevee running up the Water Gun (why do they think that could ever work) and suddenly hitting Marshtomp with attacks it had no problem countering before and so on and so forth.

What a fair battle, hmm?

Yes, this battle was very slanted. And considering how close the results were? I think I know just how Brock's contest debut should've turned out. That, really, is one of the things that make me love this episode - he may not have walked away with a ribbon, but I feel that he has proven himself the better coordinator, even if he doesn't have any deus ex machina on his side.

In short, Brock totally rocked in this episode.

 

[Maverynthia]

I don't understand why Brock entered the contest to begin with, I mean it was probably for that girl...but what other motivation does he have and will he continue in the contest? It seems really late in the game to jump in...

 

[FabuVinny]

He entered the contest to impress that girl and will probably never enter a contest again.

I haven't seen the episode yet but Pie presents a very convincing argument.

 

[Maverynthia]

I really don't see him puttig his heart and soul into trying to win it then, maybe have fun, but that's about it. It probably was a oneshot thing...