Review JN123: The Semifinals II: "Dazzle"

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Roserade's Magical Leaf

Leaf Storm, actually.

 

[Sai]

Cynthia's tactics the whole episode really were great. Her constant switching confusing Ash why she would recall Spiritomb, using Togekiss and Roserade to inflict damage on Pikachu and Gengar before calling them back, sending out a ground type like Gastrodon against Pikachu, the Hypnosis/Dream Eater combo and of course the Destiny Bond as one last thing to screw over Pikachu.

This is exactly how a champion battles.

 

[PrettySylveon]

What? Gengar took multiple attacks in the episode from Spiritomb, Roserade's Magical Leaf. How in earth was Gengar one-shot? Did you watch the episode?

It wasn’t one-shot, but Gengar should have been able to resist Roserade’s Leaf Storm a lot better than it did. Gengar shouldn’t have gone down the way it did. I don’t blame cricketlaxwolvesbandy for calling bullshit regarding Gengar’s defeat (even though I do disagree with Gengar being one-shot).

 

[Sai]

It wasn’t one-shot, but Gengar should have been able to resist Roserade’s Leaf Storm a lot better than it did. Gengar shouldn’t have gone down the way it did. I don’t blame cricketlaxwolvesbandy for calling bullshit regarding Gengar’s defeat (even though I do disagree with Gengar being one-shot).

Gengar took multiple attacks from Spiritomb and Roserade's Leaf Storm. I think people should rewatch the battle. None of Ash's pokemon went down in 1 hit.

Dragonite also got tackled by Spiritomb even before the Hypnosis/Dream eater combo. Pikachu got hit with Togekiss Air Slash too

 

[PrettySylveon]

Pikachu got hit with Togekiss Air Slash too

Yet another attack that should have been resisted. Pikachu is an electric type, now.

 

[Sai]

Yet another attack that should have been resisted. Pikachu is an electric type, now.

I mean it does considerable damage and Pikachu withstood it anyhow. Had Destiny Bond not taken it down, Pikachu probably would have lasted long enough to take out Togekiss and maybe Milotic.

Pikachu really is the pokemon here that feels Champion tier on the Champions teams.

 

[BigDocFan]

Yet another attack that should have been resisted. Pikachu is an electric type, now.

True but it causes Flincing and Togekiss had Serene Grace which help make it happen

 

[Emelie]

It's a shame that last week's episode didn't give us some backstory how Cynthia obtained Spiritomb, now when we know thanks to Legends Arceus that it is actually made out of real human spirits! (The plot with Vessa was too sad).

I like how it's portrayed as a vengeful ghost since it revenge killed Pikachu with Destiny Bond while ominous music plays.

I like the reference to the counter shield in Sinnoh. Even if Dawn will never battle Cynthia like she does in the games she is still with us in spirit lol. There should have been a cameo of her watching the battle imo.

 

[Sai]

I assume Gastrodon is the weakest member of Cynthia's team. It wasn't made clear last time because Horn Drill was a one hit KO move but this ep did. Glad Pikachu took it down properly, I was afraid they would have it use Thunderbolt on a ground type but thankfully they didn't.

 

[PrettySylveon]

I was afraid they would have it use Thunderbolt on a ground type but thankfully they didn't.

That would have regressed Ash’s character, since it’s been shown time and time again that electric moves don’t work on ground type Pokémon. Thank goodness for consistency.

 

[nickdt]

Poor Gastrodon though. Its the second time in a row it loses against a Pokemon it has a type advantage against.

 

[El Squibbonator]

Am I wrong in thinking it's a foregone conclusion that this is going to come down to Mega Garchomp vs. Mega Lucario?

 

[Blob]

I hope the next round Sirfetch'd gets a win or two and Dracovish gets a win. It would be lame if either of them didn't get a win, since that means Lucario would sweep the rest of Cynthia's team Infernape style.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I've seen one person in Twitter theorizing that the way Ash beat Gastrodon was a reference to how he beat Grant's Tyrunt.

 

[Sai]

Am I wrong in thinking it's a foregone conclusion that this is going to come down to Mega Garchomp vs. Mega Lucario?

We already know that from older previews, Lucario is Ash's last pokemon standing

 

[El Squibbonator]

Then it stands to reason that Garcomp will be Cynthia's.

 

[L-05308]

This episode had Pikachu using a Thunderbolt Counter shield to stop a Hypnosis attack - I could never have any complaints.

I suppose Ash being behind will give a good opportunity for Lucario to pick up two wins here, but poor Dragonite - it’s been on a losing streak, still Sirfetch’d and Dracovish are more likely to get wins now.

This start to the battle gets me very excited for the next two parts

 

[LeonMagnus]

I like that battle overall so far and do like how Pikachu surprised and took her off guard, BUT I think this kind of shows how they have trouble handling Pikachu. They are respecting him as one of Ash long time Pokemon and it should be powerful but it seems it has to be at the sacrifice of his other Pokemon’s performance. Like Gengar should have gotten more respect in this battle than getting off a burn and chipping at spiritomb.

It’s like Pikachu is either not used enough compared to his current generation crew or its used too much at the expense of his new Pokemon’s performance.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Cynthia’s Garchomp should pulverize Lucario without a Mega and it should have been the one sweeping Ash instead of Spiritomb but instead Garchomp will lose to Lucario because it has two gimmicks plus Ash uses moves as well (literally used Aura Sphere vs Raihan, he didn’t even do that with Greninja, that’s cheating)

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

The queen really doesn't mess around. This is just what it should be for Ash: A real challenge. Champion Cynthia right off the bat is showing us why she's a serious threat. Right off the bat she's taken down half of Ash's team. The battle itself has been good, though Dragonite was done dirty. Dragonite should have been recalled. Gengar at least did some damage with Dazzling Gleam to Spiritomb and did get a burn Roserade. Pikachu vs Gastrodon was great, and seeing the Counter Shield return was also great. I am disappointed that Pikachu took down Gastrodon and Spiritomb instead of having Dragonite do it after jobbing 3 battles in a row now. Looks like all the heavy lifting will be up to Dracovish, Lucario, and Sirfetch'd. Overall a good episode. Great to see a good one after so many breaks and bad episodes in a row.