Pokemon SS

[Doppleganger]

A lot happened in the past few episodes. Ash is #9 in the world and beat an Elite Four; Serena came back for a cameo in an episode, Lisia debut, Ash got an old badge and we got to see Citron/Eureka again.

The weirdest part? Lisia's voice actress was really cute, so I looked her up. Apparently, she's married to Yuki Kaiji (Citron's CV), so basically, in-meta verse, Lisia and Citron are married.

Eureka must be so proud!

[Doppleganger]

Alain is in the Masters 8.

[Char]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Alain is in the Masters 8.

Where?

[Doppleganger]

A Chinese leaker (who was 100% right on all leaks) said that Alain is featured in the Masters 8 and all the members are going to be revealed the episode after the one Alain appears in.

[Doppleganger]

Alain got HUMILIATED!

[Char]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

Alain got HUMILIATED!

Brutal

[Doppleganger]

There's no leaks for the next week's of episodes since there's a two week break, so no-one can watch them early.

However, the official Twitter account seems to imply that the winners of the 1st round are:

Spoiler: show

Leon, Diantha, Cynthia, Ash

[AK2]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

There's no leaks for the next week's of episodes since there's a two week break, so no-one can watch them early.

However, the official Twitter account seems to imply that the winners of the 1st round are:

Spoiler: show

Leon, Diantha, Cynthia, Ash

Diantha? That's a pleasant surprise!

[AK2]

Btw, in regard to Alain: I briefly bring that up in a video I made in response to a youtuber. Shameless self promotion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttgH...BrianFrancisco

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by AK2

Btw, in regard to Alain: I briefly bring that up in a video I made in response to a youtuber. Shameless self promotion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttgH...BrianFrancisco

I don't know the video you're responding to, but that's a pretty balanced take.

The issue with this episode isn't exactly with this episode, it's something that's been percolating for a while. Namely, that PM appears to be retconning several defining aspects of XY, and a lot of Poketubers who have been suspecting a conspiracy seem to have those fears justified with this episode. They're lashing out in nitpicky, semantically ways, but the core issue is they're afraid the anime is trying to retcon their favourite series.

And I don't think they're wrong!

IMV, this episode was really good. Not a 9 or a 10/10 but really solid, as the main purpose was to establish how strong Leon is (and, by proxy, how much stronger Ash is compared to his XY self). It's not about Alain, it could be any of the other league winners, but Alain had recency and a Mega Charizard X so he seemed like as good a candidate to face Leon.

Not to mention, the start of the Kalos League featured Mega Y vs Mega X where Alain basically did what Leon did to him here. It's like poetry, it rhymes.

I like Lumiose Trainer Zac, he's my favourite of the tubers and is generally very restrained. His reaction to this episode surprised me, but again, he's a pretty big XY fan and the anti-XY bias has been brewing for a while.

I'd say Zac is an Ash-Greninja fan above all else, then XY in general, and very low is Amour. So you can see the thought process:

-Ash-Gren is removed from flashbacks and only vaguely alluded to by Ash
-Reserves and old Pokemon are ruled out of the PWC with the Paul episode
-Alain gets humiliated by Leon, which upsets the portrayal of power levels from XY

Not surprised this elicited an emotional reaction. I was surprised that he let it get to him that badly because I've grown to consider him beyond it.

[AK2]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I don't know the video you're responding to, but that's a pretty balanced take.

The issue with this episode isn't exactly with this episode, it's something that's been percolating for a while. Namely, that PM appears to be retconning several defining aspects of XY, and a lot of Poketubers who have been suspecting a conspiracy seem to have those fears justified with this episode. They're lashing out in nitpicky, semantically ways, but the core issue is they're afraid the anime is trying to retcon their favourite series.

And I don't think they're wrong!

IMV, this episode was really good. Not a 9 or a 10/10 but really solid, as the main purpose was to establish how strong Leon is (and, by proxy, how much stronger Ash is compared to his XY self). It's not about Alain, it could be any of the other league winners, but Alain had recency and a Mega Charizard X so he seemed like as good a candidate to face Leon.

Not to mention, the start of the Kalos League featured Mega Y vs Mega X where Alain basically did what Leon did to him here. It's like poetry, it rhymes.

I like Lumiose Trainer Zac, he's my favourite of the tubers and is generally very restrained. His reaction to this episode surprised me, but again, he's a pretty big XY fan and the anti-XY bias has been brewing for a while.

I'd say Zac is an Ash-Greninja fan above all else, then XY in general, and very low is Amour. So you can see the thought process:

-Ash-Gren is removed from flashbacks and only vaguely alluded to by Ash
-Reserves and old Pokemon are ruled out of the PWC with the Paul episode
-Alain gets humiliated by Leon, which upsets the portrayal of power levels from XY

Not surprised this elicited an emotional reaction. I was surprised that he let it get to him that badly because I've grown to consider him beyond it.

It was in response to this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNkl...el=SchizoManic

don't even think he is the most angry of the Poketubers to have beef with the show right now, but he was a man in a mission so it was just enough water to flow out of the glass for me.

[AK2]

For anyone interested, here are my 4 favorite Poketubers and why. No particular order.

Prof Alex Silver: Nice to see a middle aged guy doing this. His reviews on the appearences and moves of various characters Pokemon is thorough, but I have no ideas -how- he gets the time to do this, he said in one video he has a 9-5 job with consulting and he doesn't look like he neglects himself. https://www.youtube.com/c/ProfessorAlexSilver

Charusharu: Charles seems like an expat who moved to Japan, I haven't done much digging. He is calming and mature, but also funny and knows how to find perfect visuals for the dad jokes. Great source to get powerful, insightful, "extra credit" insights after an episode or spoiler leak. Very good with emotional character bios too. He also knows Japanese and has a lot of insider things from Shopro. https://www.youtube.com/c/charusharu

Lumiose Trainer Zac: As you mentioned, this guy is great! He is -not- the only Poketuber to rate episodes, but he is the only one to rate -every- episode. I especially like his episodes rating all the Leagues and his one on the character growth of Ash. I think his ratings are fair and pretty head-on. Good balance of trendy humor and not getting too silly, but being able to stay focused. Also gets the reviews done in a good 3 minutes instead of like 7 or 8, which is sometimes too much and more like a recap. https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...se+trainer+zac

DeGra: A cute couple who react to Pokemon. Boyfriend watched show as kid until midway through Johto and played some of the games. Girlfriend was completely new to the franchise when they started. It's fun seeing the show grow on her and hear how offscreen she has played some of the games for the first time. The boyfriend is peppy and funny and it's a journey seeing him react to something while remembering how he felt about it as a kid. I highly recommend the video where they react to every Japanese opening and the one where they react to all the English openings. They are doing the third movie soon on their patreon. Also cover Dragon Ball and Attack on Titan. https://www.youtube.com/c/DeGRAreal

[AK2]

Since more than like, 4 people watched my recent video, I made one about the pacing of the Masters 8 Tournament and how I think it's being done rather lazily and "safe".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx10...BrianFrancisco

[AK2]

Originally Posted by AK2

Since more than like, 4 people watched my recent video, I made one about the pacing of the Masters 8 Tournament and how I think it's being done rather lazily and "safe".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx10...BrianFrancisco

Particularly with the 8 Dungeon formula, tried and true

[Doppleganger]

My critique of your response is that I don't think the PWC is the biggest tournament ever...only to a casual viewer, I think.

If the PM anime is going to end, it'll end in March, around the same time Sun/Moon did three years ago. It's currently June, meaning the PWC will wrap up sometime around August, comparable to Pokemon Leagues in the past.

Note that XY didn't end in March due to the high number of specials aired instead, but it otherwise would have. Specials that for PM were relegated to Amazon Prime.

Add this to the suggestion that the non-Ash battles were originally not going to be animated...what we're looking at is essentially the Pokemon League of PM, at the traditional placement of the league. Meaning there's 6 months gap between now and the end of PM if it really will end.

I seriously doubt Ash wins here and we just cruise control with Go until the end of PM, and they break up for Scarlet/Violet. That would be a regression back to the formulas proven obsolete by SM.

So the PWC cannot be the true end. There's likely something Ash does battlewise after this, if it's the Isle of Armour, the Galar League, Sinnoh BF, WHO KNOWS. Ash beating Steven is already a huge enough accomplishment that he doesn't have to beat Cynthia or Leon to prove himself a Pokemon Master or the Alola Champion.

[AK2]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

My critique of your response is that I don't think the PWC is the biggest tournament ever...only to a casual viewer, I think.

If the PM anime is going to end, it'll end in March, around the same time Sun/Moon did three years ago. It's currently June, meaning the PWC will wrap up sometime around August, comparable to Pokemon Leagues in the past.

Note that XY didn't end in March due to the high number of specials aired instead, but it otherwise would have. Specials that for PM were relegated to Amazon Prime.

Add this to the suggestion that the non-Ash battles were originally not going to be animated...what we're looking at is essentially the Pokemon League of PM, at the traditional placement of the league. Meaning there's 6 months gap between now and the end of PM if it really will end.

I seriously doubt Ash wins here and we just cruise control with Go until the end of PM, and they break up for Scarlet/Violet. That would be a regression back to the formulas proven obsolete by SM.

So the PWC cannot be the true end. There's likely something Ash does battlewise after this, if it's the Isle of Armour, the Galar League, Sinnoh BF, WHO KNOWS. Ash beating Steven is already a huge enough accomplishment that he doesn't have to beat Cynthia or Leon to prove himself a Pokemon Master or the Alola Champion.

Firstly, I just want to copy and paste something I was about to post: "So Lance vs Diantha and Cynthia vs Iris will be one parters. Maybe the same with Ash vs Steven. Sigh. Three parters CAN be done well in 20 minutes with no TR nonsense and sidekick audience dialogues (Brock explaining to girl companion what a move does) and -that- is promising so far. Sigh. Im worried these will also be rushed powerhouse beatdowns. This possible final tournament with Ash is seemingly being treated as regular League. With things being wrapped up with the first rounds, it will provide possibly 16 episodes for the last three battles. This is good, but…….. there will be time to be put aside for project Mew, if Ash retires and another poor soul isn’t stalked by TR, even less time to work with. If they pull this off, every moment will count."

1. In regard to when the show will end, why do you believe it will be in March? The new games will be out in November, and since Johto, the show has always matched the games with advertising the new regions. Gamefreak and Shopro would have to make a compelling reason for kids to tune in when there is a whole new region and Ash or Go or still playing around in whatever original 8 regions they are in for the last 3 years.

2. If the answer is to send them to the new region, then, why wouldn't they wrap up the current series by November if Ash/Go are not boxed in to the first 8 regions?

3. I can see them easily filling up the six month gap. The reason is because they will have the next 3 episodes to get through the last three "first" rounds. After the three week gap that started last week is over. By then it will nearly be August. August and September could easily be filled by the final three battles if they are all 6 v 6. With less TR nonsense so far and panning away to the audience, it would need to be two parters for the last three battles. BUUUT some previews show Oak/Deliah/Tracey/Charizard/Krookodile/Infernape/Pignite in the audience. There are likely more of Ash's Pokemon either there, or being shown watching from Oak's/Kukui's on tv. Im HOPING Ash's (all of them) traveling companions in the past will show up by the final battle at the latest.

Therefore, there will be a lot of panning out to the audience. If these final battles are done right, I mean Ash vs Paul/Sawyer/Alain/Brandon/Kukui/Gary level of suspense, it would be important to make the battles long if there are too many interruptions. Ash v Paul was 3 parts. Ash vs Kukui was 4.

So we would then find ourselves in October. Project Mew, final mission, with Regigigas and then Mew would be 3 or 3 parts if done well.

If, and only if im write, they would then use four more episodes to tie up loose ends with TR, Ash's buddies (contest girls) reaching the next or final step of tier goals. But we wont even have that if the 6 v 6 battles (im presuming the final three are 6 v 6) are 4 parts.

So, it could be wrapped up by November, but barely.

4. I don't know man, they probably would have done the Sinnoh Battle Frontier back in the day if they wanted to. They probably wanted to avoid redundancy (Ash won the Kanto one) and focus on advertising HeartGold/Soul Silver after three years into Sinnoh. As for the Galar League, it would be a downgrade, especially if he he didn't win it, after fighting the seven other strongest trainers in the world, same reason he didn't go on the gym quest this series. As for the side regions, they have made appearances in Project Mew episodes, and will likely continue to with the Regigas foreshadow. The writers don't care enough, as they gave the Hisui region as simple 4 part Amazon Prime series that didn't even show any living Hisuin Pokemon

5. People hate Goh. I have NEVER seen a companion of Ash's, even Max, get so much hate. I can't see project Mew taking more than 3-4 more episodes at best because most people don't care, and they don't like Goh. It would be a ratings nightmare to have Goh as the main character from November-March doing an excruciatingly long final mission for project Mew. Once he see's (maybe the writers still intend on him catching it), Goh's goal will be done, nobody (even if they like Goh) want to see him catch Pokemon aimlessly to fill up his Dex, especially after having worked his way up to Mew.

6. Ash has always worked his way up with his goals. With the exception of Unova, his rose through the ranks each League, until he became a regional Champion. They will in no way be able to get people to watch Ash train another 3 years to just -maybe- beat Leon next time, let alone Cynthia. I certainly couldn't imagine him then finding a compelling goal that is part of a compelling narrative. Remember, we have never had Ash have a goal that is focused for three years on defeating just one guy.

7. Nothing your saying is impossible, but on a final note: if Ash -does- win, where would he go from there? If that doesn't make him a "Pokemon Master", maybe they could do a handful of Pokemon Chronicle like stories for Ash to explore this, while a new protagonist leads a new series, unless Nintendo/Game Freak compel ShoPro to convert their model to what they have done for the last 12 years, where they made 6-9 different five to ten minute animated shorts to promote the games. Pokemon is still a popular franchise, but the anime is old news for kids in Japan, think of it as the Facebook of kids anime, while kids have moved on to their own, new, Tikotok-like anime.

So, yeah. Those are my thoughts, feel free to disagree but I hope I made some good points.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by AK2

7. Nothing your saying is impossible, but on a final note: if Ash -does- win, where would he go from there? If that doesn't make him a "Pokemon Master", maybe they could do a handful of Pokemon Chronicle like stories for Ash to explore this, while a new protagonist leads a new series, unless Nintendo/Game Freak compel ShoPro to convert their model to what they have done for the last 12 years, where they made 6-9 different five to ten minute animated shorts to promote the games. Pokemon is still a popular franchise, but the anime is old news for kids in Japan, think of it as the Facebook of kids anime, while kids have moved on to their own, new, Tikotok-like anime.

There's zero chance they replace Ash. I think you're substituting wishful thinking for a prediction. If anything, the reception towards Go in the ESC would downplay any chance of Ash retiring, and in the event he DOES retire, he would be replaced with...Go.

Ash is a creation of Takeshi Shudo and has been further refined by Atsuhiro Tomioka. Even without his decades of pull, he's got a lot to him that make him instantly recognizable. There's no chance ShoPro/OLM get rid of him.

With that out of the way...

Originally Posted by AK2

1. In regard to when the show will end, why do you believe it will be in March? The new games will be out in November, and since Johto, the show has always matched the games with advertising the new regions. Gamefreak and Shopro would have to make a compelling reason for kids to tune in when there is a whole new region and Ash or Go or still playing around in whatever original 8 regions they are in for the last 3 years.

2. If the answer is to send them to the new region, then, why wouldn't they wrap up the current series by November if Ash/Go are not boxed in to the first 8 regions?

This is my bad, I got confused with the English dub dates. With only a few months until the Gen IX games we're either seeing PM continue into Gen IX or a rushed PWC and short-arse Project Mew finale.

I think PM continuing is the likely scenario because PM itself was a sequel to SM, in that it takes place like a year after SM and continues storylines from that show, notably the Lillie subplot with finding Mohn.

Go vs Dynamax Regigigas might be the Project Mew finale for this year, but it wouldn't be the end of Project Mew. Finding Mew is as ephemeral as becoming a Pokemon Master.

Originally Posted by AK2

4. I don't know man, they probably would have done the Sinnoh Battle Frontier back in the day if they wanted to. They probably wanted to avoid redundancy (Ash won the Kanto one) and focus on advertising HeartGold/Soul Silver after three years into Sinnoh. As for the Galar League, it would be a downgrade, especially if he he didn't win it, after fighting the seven other strongest trainers in the world, same reason he didn't go on the gym quest this series. As for the side regions, they have made appearances in Project Mew episodes, and will likely continue to with the Regigas foreshadow. The writers don't care enough, as they gave the Hisui region as simple 4 part Amazon Prime series that didn't even show any living Hisuin Pokemon

Ash could easily steamroll the Galar League in a handful of episodes should he decided to challenge it. It's just a possibility, assuming that Lance beats Leon and the PWC does not conclude with Leon v. Ash.

I think it would be a neat twist if the finale is Iris v. Lance, with Iris losing, Ash having beaten Steven as his only accomplishment. Then he has to challenge the Galar League to get to face Leon. That creates a new hierarchy of power and doesn't make PM so ridiculous in how Ash trained a champion team in no time.

Originally Posted by AK2

5. People hate Goh. I have NEVER seen a companion of Ash's, even Max, get so much hate. I can't see project Mew taking more than 3-4 more episodes at best because most people don't care, and they don't like Goh. It would be a ratings nightmare to have Goh as the main character from November-March doing an excruciatingly long final mission for project Mew. Once he see's (maybe the writers still intend on him catching it), Goh's goal will be done, nobody (even if they like Goh) want to see him catch Pokemon aimlessly to fill up his Dex, especially after having worked his way up to Mew.

Go is more liked in Japan, and that's the only market that matters really. It's true Go was really bad early on but they fixed him some. I still see him as more Ash's son than Ash's BFF, but that is neither here nor there.

Originally Posted by AK2

6. Ash has always worked his way up with his goals. With the exception of Unova, his rose through the ranks each League, until he became a regional Champion. They will in no way be able to get people to watch Ash train another 3 years to just -maybe- beat Leon next time, let alone Cynthia. I certainly couldn't imagine him then finding a compelling goal that is part of a compelling narrative. Remember, we have never had Ash have a goal that is focused for three years on defeating just one guy.

The thing is, the league has never been what makes a Pokemon Master. Ash says this himself in PM, and in the OS Ash wasn't even thinking of the league despite wanting to be a Pokemon Master. There's plenty of Pokemon-related activities he can do, not to mention strong trainers that didn't participate in the regional circuit like PM's own Tsurugi, he of the x3 Regis and x1 Urshifu-SS. A veritable Tobias who is Go's boss.

I'm sure the anime could think of something. Like one idea I had was Ash gets an egg from a new region's professor, and it turns out to be a baby Yveltal, who Ash has to train from disobedient destructive legendary into an obedient ace.

Ash hasn't really had a fully disobedient Pokemon since the OS. We could use another arc like that with a Pokemon that would be naturally disobedient for obvious reasons.

[AK2]

Well... my response. https://www.youtube.com/watchv=xy3oh...BrianFrancisco

Sorry, just wanted to do something on camera in an hour that would take 2 hours on here,

[AK2]

Is Goh such a bad character? Maybe, maybe not. Let's look into some of the criticisms against him and discuss what the writers could have done better and how he stacks up to past travel companions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPFM...BrianFrancisco

[AK2]

*sigh*

I was originally excited to find out that the title for August 5th's episode: "The Possibilities are Endless for Koharu and Eievui!" had been revealed.

Koharu's arc has been........ meh.

Not to be overly cynical, who doesn't like Eevee?

But, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan,,,

People are nostalgic about Misty, but honestly, before she became competent off-screen as a gym leader, she hung around for 275 episodes and the most exciting thing I could say about her was Psyduck. Psyduck was epic. However, before she became a robot in Johto, she atleast HAD a (sometimes nasty) personality that was fun to watch when she and Ash bickered like brother and sister.

Then came three generations of Poke-contest girls (I will get to Iris in a minute). These girls had personalities, goals, and growth.

Iris was a new Misty, minus the Psyduck, but atleast we saw her grow on her journey with Ash.... too bad her montage to finally decent Trainer to full-blown Unova Champion was off-screen. Still, something.

Ash's three girl-friends in Alola all had something going for them. Lilie had the arc of overcoming fear of Pokemon, dealing with a neglectful mother, and now reunion with her dad. Mallow had a bubly personality and was already meeting her goal by helping out her family's restaurant- the episode where Shaymin got her to talk to her late mother was dope. Lana was kind of the weaker link, but she had a prankster personality that could make you laugh, and who could forget her battle against Guzma and how under-handed he was.

Koharu started out promising. She was a girl who didn't -dislike- Pokemon (as May did at first) but she also wanted to be more than just the daughter of a professor. As the companion manga to Journeys showed, she was a girly-girl who fit into any anime based on school life. She had friends at school and talked about things in a cute diary way. She was Goh's only friend, and understood him. The two hyperactive ten year old Pokemaniacs was a little... much, though as the first intro showed, and she would need space... a Pokemon Trainer she was not. Therefore, she was not the third member of a trio.

The second intro showed her coming around, and by the third she was used to and enjoyed Ash and Goh's company, eccentricities and all. When she -did- show up it seemed like the writers were combing around with a way to make her presence felt and any appearance now we would get character growth and maybe a goal.

What went wrong? She went from a bubly character who stood by Goh in thier younger years, to the instrument to introduce what I speculated was the case as soon as she got Eevee... the character who shops around for the perfect evolution for her Eevee, which I expect will be the gen 9 form.

This is a problem.

Yes, Eevee is comparatively as popular as Pikachu, but lets break it down. It had a very good into episode in Kanto, where we met all its Eeveelutions and learned of their unique traits, and also learned it's ok for it to stay as an Eevee. Orange Islands, we learned Gary had one and it performed well in battle.

So far, so good. With Johto, we knew we would see more Eevee stuff what-with the introduction in the games of Umbreon and Espeon. Sure enough, the writers (cleverly) introduced Umbreon as the Eevee Gary beat Ash with, all grow'd up. We then met the Eevee -sisters- and in Sakura actually had a returning character in another episode and in Journeys! Espeon would be her Eeveelution.

I am not going to go over every Eevee/lution appearence, but continuing on to the main point...

May later got an Eevee. Ok.... I mean, who doesn't like Eevee? It would be the doorway to Glaceon once May returned in Sinnoh.

Then came Unova and the Tournament Victor was an Eevee/lution trainer. Kinda getting a little old, but whatever. Then Serena got an Eevee which become her Sylveon. Then Llana got the messy-furred Eevee in Alola.

And in 2020 the writers decided that with all of that and Let's Go Eevee in the not too distant past, that Koharu's goal would be.... to get an Eevee. And rehash all the past Eeveelutions before the gen 9 reveal.

I'm not trying to be a Scrooge, as it has been cute and charming to see how Eevee has learned things from its evolutions and how that culminated in the Serena return episode. But come on...

And that's the thing. That is what Koharu does. She promotes an overused Pokemon and shows off its overused evolutions. When she does appear, the writers also just kind of tend to have her do small things like help Ash and Goh feed the laboratory Pokemon. Not much else....

Wasted opportunity.

Which leads to my main point, at first I was happy to see this episode title because it showed that the writers don't necessarily have it planned out to rush through the entire masters 8 tournament just for the Koharu Eevee story (not to mention project Mew) and the title seems to imply Koharu's story could be done in one episode. We don't know yet if the tournament will take a break for a day or if this is one of those Axew gets lost kind of fillers.

But what irks me is that this will air TWO weeks after the Ash-Steven episode (also confirming that all 4 early battles will only be one episode 3 v 3's).

What in the actual? We will only have 3 episodes after a three week gap! After that another gap? Are you kidding me? This will only allow for about 14 episodes or so for the last 3 battles, and wrapping up project Mew.... confirming the fast-pace nonsense will likely not be over.

I mean, this is an opportunity for a truly epic tournament and to see that the writers are rushing through things for things like the, frankly, unexciting Eevee story is a real bummer. Journeys has been going since November 2019. These loose ends shouldn't still be dangling so close to November 2022.

Video version of this with a little extra, here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FteX...BrianFrancisco

[AK2]

Today I also posted a second video. This is in response to a video by Poketuber:
Prof. Alex Silver
His channel is awesome and I highly recommend it as one of the best on the internet.
It doesn't mean that I always agree with his opinions though :P
His original video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYXA...orAlexSilverMy response is here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osnc...BrianFrancisco

[AK2]

*Video version of this at*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfeu...BrianFrancisco
and general channel update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBdG...FranciscoSoooo, I rated Leon vs Alain a 4/10

What about this week?

Solid 7.5

Pro's: Even without seeing the subs yet, it was cool to see Jessie get excited about Diantha's Gourgeist and root for "team" Gourgeist. I mean, how often do we see characters cheerlead a Pokemon just cause they have one, let alone reference it? Think episode 3 of Journeys, with Ash not referencing Bulbasaur.

]It was cool to see the other top 8 contenders talking in the background. Alain had more dialogue in his out of battle phase than he had in the last episode, and this is good for developing all of the top 8. It's also good that TR nonsense and such top 8 banter was kept to about 3 minutes of the 22 minute episode. This has been a very good trend in this series, think back to past leagues with TR sometimes taking up -half- an episode.

The battle itself was -good-, not great. I am happy that Diantha won. It shows that the tournament isn't necessarily always going to be predictable. Lance has old school backing and the iconic look of a champion what with the cape. I don''t see Diantha making it to the finals, and feel that the rest of the battles are an easy guess, but this was a good outcome, and once again iron-cladded the leaker that has been on the net since March.

We had cameos! Richie representing Kanto. The summer camp gang trio and Sawyer representing Kalos. Some people pointed out Sawyer was from Hoenn, but it's really not important.... I actually -forgot- that detail. He appeared in XY/Z and was an important rival in the -Kalos- region during that point of the story. Simple.

Cons:
Half a point off for none of these characters have one line of dialogue let alone actually being at the tournament in the audience. This should -not- be treated as just another League, it's supposed to be the biggest tournament in the world and is likely the last time we will ever see these characters.

One point off for the battle seeming rushed. They should have started this tournament months ago if time is an issue.

One point off for Diantha AND Lance (2 of the strongest trainers in the world) standing there and taking hits on atleast one occasion. Dodging is a thing in the anime which liberates it from game mechanics and has always been a strength for the show. Pikachu for example is very well known for actually -dodging- things in battle, I mean Ash vs Lt Surge leaned heavily on this back in 97.

Final assessment: Good, not great battle. Better than last time. The tournament seems like it's auto-piloting quickly referenced game mechanics and is in a hurry. Hurry for what? The Koharu/Eevee filler coming up?

[AK2]

*sigh* this battle was boring

I will post a second video after seeing the subs, but here is my dispirited and quick take:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOmV...BrianFrancisco

[AK2]

This Poketuber pointed out the issue of these battles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRHu...nel=Pokeferlax
Part two:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezXj...BrianFrancisco

[Doppleganger]

I liked both battles. Very sad though.