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Old 11-07-2011, 11:12 PM   #1
Talon87
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[Anime] The Don Battles!

The Don Battle mini-arc represents everything that is good about B/W but at the same time everything that has gone horribly wrong. ^^; What do I mean by that? Well, on the one hand, it's a smorgasbord of inside jokes and inter-character gags. We get to see Iris's rival, Ash's rival, and Dent's rival all in one setting. We also get to see Bel being Bel, Kenyan being Kenyan, and some pretty hysterical things in general. But at the same time, when the Don Battle series started, we were halfway through the second bunch of twenty-six episodes for the season and still with no fourth gym battle in sight. What led many people to draw the conclusion that B/W was the most epic season since the original Kanto series was in part, no doubt, the comparisons with Season 1's incredibly fast pacing. In the first 40 episodes of Kanto, Ash obtains six of his eight regional gym badges. In the first 25 episodes of B/W, by comparison, he obtains three: maybe not quite as fast as in Kanto, but without a doubt the fastest turn-around in well over a decade. Not since Season 1, truly, had he gone through gyms so quickly. Fans were pretty stoked. And then ... the gym battle dry spell hit. And fans were bummed to discover that it was business as usual in the ShoPro studios. We went (not a joke) twenty-six episodes without a single gym battle. (Ash won his third badge in Episode 25; he would not go on to win his fourth until Episode 52, twenty-seven episodes later!) That was pretty bad. I remember when fans felt like it was taking forever for us to get from Fuschia City to Cinnabar Island while we waited for WB to wriggle their way into an exclusive broadcasting rights contract with 4Kids, and that was only a four-month wait! (October 1998 thru to February 1999 when new episodes began airing again. Blaine showed up soon afterwards iirc.) I could try to convince myself that this is what ShoPro was going for -- that they were deliberately trying to recreate the authentic 1998 Pokémon fan experience for a newer generation -- but no, because that only applies to the American fans, not the Japanese, and in Japan, there was like, what? An eight-episode delay between Fuschia and Cinnabar? So no. This gym drought in B/W was just bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Another mixed aspect to the Don Battles' greatness is Ash's power reset. On the one hand, the Don Battle series painfully reminds us that ShoPro resets Ash every region and makes him basically have to start all over from the ground up. This would be okay if Pokemon were not the sort of show which is nominally heading somewhere. But that's just it: Pokemon has always been one of those shows which nominally headed somewhere -- namely, Ash beating the League, taking on the Elite Four, and perhaps one day becoming a Pokémon Master -- and so while it's all well and good that he has had to improve over the past (IRL) fifteen years and (in-universe) less than one calendar year -.- (*shakes fist at ShoPro angrily*), the fact that they keep resetting his competencies makes it seem like we're just spinning in circles. But I guess you know what you're getting into when you choose to watch Pokemon. lol So, what about the other hand? Well, on the other hand, resetting Ash's power level brings us back to some of the magic of the first series. Unova's Ash is, despite his reset, still a better trainer than Kanto Ash was. But like Kanto Ash, there's this element of experimentation, of unorthodoxy, of chance victories and chance defeats. It makes for a more exciting viewing experience than, say, watching Level 99 Pikachu mutilate Level 18 Sandiles and Cinccinos.

But I digress! In the end, I'd say that the Don Battles were like 90% good, unexpected, welcome fun and only 10% disappointing. They gave us some good laughs, some memorable moments, and something to watch while we waited for the fourth Unova gym battle to roll around. Well, I say "we," but I myself didn't get off my lazy butt to watch them until some time 1-2 weeks ago, actually. ^^; But you know what I mean.

Have some screencaps! :O

Episode 41:
Iris and Langley getting along
Ash making his own version of the Ż3Ż face
Iris's Watchog Creeper (1 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (2 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (3 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (4 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (5 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (6 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (7 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (8 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (9 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (10 of 10)

Episode 44:
"Got your tail. " (1 of 2)
"Got your tail. " (2 of 2)
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Old 11-08-2011, 10:23 PM   #2
AK2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
The Don Battle mini-arc represents everything that is good about B/W but at the same time everything that has gone horribly wrong. ^^; What do I mean by that? Well, on the one hand, it's a smorgasbord of inside jokes and inter-character gags. We get to see Iris's rival, Ash's rival, and Dent's rival all in one setting. We also get to see Bel being Bel, Kenyan being Kenyan, and some pretty hysterical things in general. But at the same time, when the Don Battle series started, we were halfway through the second bunch of twenty-six episodes for the season and still with no fourth gym battle in sight. What led many people to draw the conclusion that B/W was the most epic season since the original Kanto series was in part, no doubt, the comparisons with Season 1's incredibly fast pacing. In the first 40 episodes of Kanto, Ash obtains six of his eight regional gym badges. In the first 25 episodes of B/W, by comparison, he obtains three: maybe not quite as fast as in Kanto, but without a doubt the fastest turn-around in well over a decade. Not since Season 1, truly, had he gone through gyms so quickly. Fans were pretty stoked. And then ... the gym battle dry spell hit. And fans were bummed to discover that it was business as usual in the ShoPro studios. We went (not a joke) twenty-six episodes without a single gym battle. (Ash won his third badge in Episode 25; he would not go on to win his fourth until Episode 52, twenty-seven episodes later!) That was pretty bad. I remember when fans felt like it was taking forever for us to get from Fuschia City to Cinnabar Island while we waited for WB to wriggle their way into an exclusive broadcasting rights contract with 4Kids, and that was only a four-month wait! (October 1998 thru to February 1999 when new episodes began airing again. Blaine showed up soon afterwards iirc.) I could try to convince myself that this is what ShoPro was going for -- that they were deliberately trying to recreate the authentic 1998 Pokémon fan experience for a newer generation -- but no, because that only applies to the American fans, not the Japanese, and in Japan, there was like, what? An eight-episode delay between Fuschia and Cinnabar? So no. This gym drought in B/W was just bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Another mixed aspect to the Don Battles' greatness is Ash's power reset. On the one hand, the Don Battle series painfully reminds us that ShoPro resets Ash every region and makes him basically have to start all over from the ground up. This would be okay if Pokemon were not the sort of show which is nominally heading somewhere. But that's just it: Pokemon has always been one of those shows which nominally headed somewhere -- namely, Ash beating the League, taking on the Elite Four, and perhaps one day becoming a Pokémon Master -- and so while it's all well and good that he has had to improve over the past (IRL) fifteen years and (in-universe) less than one calendar year -.- (*shakes fist at ShoPro angrily*), the fact that they keep resetting his competencies makes it seem like we're just spinning in circles. But I guess you know what you're getting into when you choose to watch Pokemon. lol So, what about the other hand? Well, on the other hand, resetting Ash's power level brings us back to some of the magic of the first series. Unova's Ash is, despite his reset, still a better trainer than Kanto Ash was. But like Kanto Ash, there's this element of experimentation, of unorthodoxy, of chance victories and chance defeats. It makes for a more exciting viewing experience than, say, watching Level 99 Pikachu mutilate Level 18 Sandiles and Cinccinos.

But I digress! In the end, I'd say that the Don Battles were like 90% good, unexpected, welcome fun and only 10% disappointing. They gave us some good laughs, some memorable moments, and something to watch while we waited for the fourth Unova gym battle to roll around. Well, I say "we," but I myself didn't get off my lazy butt to watch them until some time 1-2 weeks ago, actually. ^^; But you know what I mean.

Have some screencaps! :O

Episode 41:
Iris and Langley getting along
Ash making his own version of the Ż3Ż face
Iris's Watchog Creeper (1 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (2 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (3 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (4 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (5 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (6 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (7 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (8 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (9 of 10)
Iris's Watchog Creeper (10 of 10)

Episode 44:
"Got your tail. " (1 of 2)
"Got your tail. " (2 of 2)
Talon... my lad, you are the epitome of a "win". You took the words out of my mouth and captured my thoughts on this mini-tournament
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