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Review JN132: The Finals IV: "Partner"

Twenty-six years earlier...

Screenshot 2022-11-11 113809.png


What an episode! This had everything we wanted... cameos from everyone, fantastic animation, music was superb. I genuinely can't fault this. I'm going to wait until subs come out for a complete opinion but I can confidently say this was one of my favourite episodes of all time.

Honestly, I came into this expecting Satoshi to lose. Even when Aceburn finally went down pretty early on, I still thought Lizardon was going to prove to be just too much. When Pikachu went down, I was certain that was it. We were going to cut to spiral eyes. The match was over. Satoshi had done his best and I had no complaints.

But then... but then... we had Pikachu's white space where he was visited by every single one of his past times and I was just extremely emotional here. I would never have guessed we'd get to see Pidgeot, Butterfree, Okorizaru or Eteboth again... hell, we even got to see Yogiras briefly (guess it's officially counted as one of Satoshi's Pokemon). This was absolutely a love letter to everyone who had stuck with Satoshi throughout his many journeys, and just when you think things can't get any better the original theme starts up (if only the dub would do this... you know they won't), the cap goes backwards and Pikachu only goes and knocks out Lizardon! Amazing, just amazing. I had to laugh when the show gave us a fake out of Pikachu waking up in a hospital bed making us think he'd lost but nope! Nice but of trolling show.

Seriously, I'm now thinking the anime has to end. Not just because of the win, but given all the cameos and references we've had this series it feels like the perfect time to end it.
 
I am overwhlemed with emotions. It was a bumpy ride, but it still feels so gratifying to see this boy and his partner finally reach this momentuous occasion, especially after following his journey for 2 and a half decades. I'm joyous and at the same time anxious of what comes next.
 
Gard81 said:
I am overwhlemed with emotions. It was a bumpy ride, but it still feels so gratifying to see this boy and his partner finally reach this momentuous occasion, especially after following his journey for 2 and a half decades. I'm joyous and at the same time anxious of what comes next.
Click to expand...
From world championship become biker in Paldea and at the same time Geeta evil plot unfold since any character with the title Chairman/Chairwoman or director always up to no good.
 
You know, with how Aura's been shown in Journeys, heck even in Riolu's debut episode it is implied that Ash and Pikachu battling together causes aura stuff, do you think the vision might have been real?

Like it wasn't Pikachu's visualization of willpower, but a less refined take on what Lucario's done a few times?

...Though that does imply that Ash and Pikachu are KH protagonists (at least as i've seen it pre 3, not sure if that changed anything, please no spoilers)
 
Type: Wild:
Na na na na na na na na na na na (We see a shot of Ash first starting out his journey and declaring that he’ll be a Pokemon master)
Remembering the days I trained hard and I played in this little town (recaps the first episode)
Feeling so proud of the friends that I made, I look forward to them everyday (shows Ash through the years with all his traveling companions)
The sneakers that I wear, the coolest of all pair, take me everywhere (shows Ash loosing Kanto, earning Charizard’s trust, beating Drake, Gary, loosing to Harrison)
You’ll only find them in Pallet Town (shows Ash loosing to Tyson)
Worn out but the best you can find (shows Ash beating Brandon)
They help me get through, my journeys time after time! (shows Infernape beating Paul)
And before you know it, Type Wild! (Shows Sceptile beating Darkrai and Ash loosing to Tobias, Ash loosing to Cameron)
I’m gonna reach my goal, Type Wild! (Shows Greninja vs Sceptile and Greninja falling in the Kalos League before showing Ash kneeled over)
Keep on going, Type Wild! (Shows Ash and Pikachu beating Tapu Koko and a shot of Ash and Pikachu laying on the ground)
I’ve got to stay strong, Type Wild! (Shows final clash between Pikachu and Charizard before screen fades to white)
And I know, what I will say, one day (shows scene with all of Ash’s Pokemon cheering Pikachu on)
Hello, my dream (Ash’s team holding the trophy)
 
On page 132 of the episode it says that he returned to Vermilion. Ash is still in Galar. Multiple Gossifleur fly before hotel.
 
Despite this unfortunately getting spoiled for me (cameos and result of the fight), it speaks volume for how good of an episode this was when I was still star-struck.

I think this perfectly captures what it’s like to have been watching the anime from literally day one, of my life, but so many others’ as well. Having Pikachu hear the very first conversation it had with Ash, the golden trio greeting Pikachu, followed by literally every Pokemon of Ash (even Larvitar!) for one final push was genuinely hard-hitting. It literally felt like all of Ash’s journeys came together, which is fitting as Ash has always said there’s something to learn from everything. And, despite the over-saturation of being used, as the title suggests, Pikachu is surely the undisputed head of Ash’s Pokemon. If the fight against Cynthia and Steven wasn’t impressive, this was insane. He is Ash’s greatest partner, and this made me feel that.

And whilst there’s room to debate whether or not this is the best fight overall (I still think the final fight against Kukui and Paul are better), that was certainly my favourite one-on-one battle of the entire series. The angles, the movement, the collisions and techniques used…The usage of the environment to climb the stadium, and the flair, voice acting and engagement of both trainers and Pokemon…not to mention the animation! Better than Infernape v Electivire, better than Greninja v Charizard, better than Lycanroc v Lycanroc. Simply incredible. It was worth the wait.
 
This episode was just pure, raw awesomeness. Like, I am really struggling to write a proper review because of how epic it was. So I'll just go over some of my highlights.
. The return of ChunkyChu
. That lightning fast quick attack
. Charizard just taking that iron tail to the chest like it was nothing
. All of Ash's past pokemon and companions making an appearance
. Aim to be a pokemon master playing. I might not of grown up on the original Japanese dub, but that still got me hyped (no way the English dub will be able to top that unless they use the Pokemon theme song)
. That final clash was just so well animated. Though it felt less like a clash between a thunderbolt and fire blast and more like a clash between volt tackle and a super powered flame charge.
Final rating for this episode... 10/10. Easily surpassing Lucario vs Garchomp as my favorite journeys final clash and earning a spot in my top 10 favorite battles as #7.
 
I think there's one detail that's not been talked about much yet. In the first episode of the finals, Leon thought how this reminded him of his first battle. And now we see that it's indeed true, because the "unbeaten" Leon actually went and lost his first-ever battle against Sonia. Just like he lost here.
 
Spoiler - I liked it very much as well. :giggle:
I do not know yet whether I will be doing my usual “The Best/Good/Bad/Ugly” review, since it would probably not do it justice. Maybe after subtitles.

Episode reminded me how I liked Garchomp vs Lucario as final brawl. Something along the way - we would not achieve the emotion we want with classic moves and strategy, let’s hype it up to 11 and make it titanic clash. And it was done right… and it simply works.:bulbaLove:
What I probably liked the most was that title ”Partner” was spot on, that from narrative perspective, this was more about Pikachu and Pokémon than about Ash and Leon.

And seeing Butterfree with Pidgeot was simply too much. :cry: Although I liked other cameos as well.

I may end it with controversial take, that maybe it is blessing in disguise AniPoke had some many production problems recently. Because one may entertain how it all could be even improved with more time and budget (cameos definitely). But the absence of means probably pushed them to concetrate on the most important thing - emotions. And it was right battle to pick. I joined this forum with behemoth of post how they have very tight window to make this work logically. Power-scaling, Ash‘s strategy deficit, every world building theme they introduced was very much bent and stressed by having Ash suddenly become Monarch. They said “screw it”, we will drag him there anyway and make you FEEL along the way. It was probably the only meaningful thing to do, and they did it right.

So Chapeau AniPoke, this frontal attack on our emotions was so powerful, that we have fallen like that poor Cinderance despite being Gigantamaxed with doubt.;)
 
Forgot to mention, thank you writers for making Hop actually take his brother’s loss on board without whining about it. He actually seems like a decent person now, and not a joke. Speaking of which, Max (who was a kid when he was throwing tantrums at his family’s loss, so he got a pass) seen Ash lose the Johto Championships on TV, now he’s seen him become the very best.

Whilst speaking of the deserving appraisal of the episode, there was one thing I didn’t understand.
Pikachu and Cinderace just randomly stopped their Gigantamaxes? They used one move and were back to normal - Cinderace I can understand becuase it was eventually knocked out, but Pikachu?
 
Reborn Talonflame said:
Forgot to mention, thank you writers for making Hop actually take his brother’s loss on board without whining about it. He actually seems like a decent person now, and not a joke. Speaking of which, Max (who was a kid when he was throwing tantrums at his family’s loss, so he got a pass) seen Ash lose the Johto Championships on TV, now he’s seen him become the very best.

Whilst speaking of the deserving appraisal of the episode, there was one thing I didn’t understand.
Pikachu and Cinderace just randomly stopped their Gigantamaxes? They used one move and were back to normal - Cinderace I can understand becuase it was eventually knocked out, but Pikachu?
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It’s implied that Eternatus juiced them up just enough to not wreck the stadium a second time.
 
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