Review BW089: Iris and the Roughneck Kairyu!

[Idon'tcare]

One of these days I believe Dent's going to suffer from some serious back problems. Or maybe he already does.

The best part of this episode for me was the beginning. Because I enjoy seeing Pokémon blasting at each other.

Iris getting Kairyu is cool and I love Kairyu's tough expressions. Aside from all that, the episode didn't excite me.

 

[TPrower]

I'll admit it's kind of cool/funny to see a Dragonite that doesn't always have that cheerful, derpy expression on his face. Yeah, people complain that Iris is being a God Mod again, getting a fully-evolved psuedo-legendary, and I don't exactly know how I can effectively counter those arguments, but it is what it is. She's training to be a Dragon Master, so of course she'd have connections with other Dragons. Just look at how she handled that Druddigon way back when.

 

[Hellwarden]

Wow, Hydreigon has a fucking kickass voice....


Also, did Officer Jenny just hire a group of mercenaries to kill Dragonite with their pokes?


Da faq lady? YOU'RE TERRIBLE AT YOUR JOB!

 

[Adil]

The episode seemed a bit rushed to me. Either rushed, or I'm having a hard time believing that whole video camera thing.
Regardless, I find this uber cute.

Spoiler

Btw, did anyone else notice the BW (games) opening music (Ghetsis intro) when TR appeared? Pretty cool

 

[Satoshi_Pikachu]

I thought of this, then I realized none of them were carrying their backpacks, and Iris usually relies on natural remedies, which aren't really available inside buildings.

I'm sure Iris has a tree worth of berries in her hair. Regardless, they came and left more than enough times to try and organise something (that's certainly what I thought they were doing when they went out to the forest - not look for a surveillance camera) - just calling Nurse Joy even.

Even with nothing - hack away at the ice Dragonite made and use Ash's jacket or something. It's hard to portray Iris as caring about Dragonite more than anyone else while making no attempt to heal it whatsoever. They are trainers - I hate that they are shown as not being prepared for that sort of thing.

Well, that's a really good point. I'm not sure the ice would help having a double weakness to it and all, but you're right, they are never prepared for these things. When has Ash been prepared for stuff like this? He always improvises or gets help from his travel companions. It does suck, now that you mention it.

However, I don't particularly mind in this episode, since there wasn't much time. Maybe if they had cut boring TR or something.

 

[Caseydia]

Normally, I'd be angered that Iris has caught a fully evolved Pokemon (Dragonite). However, I realised that in the past, Ash has obtained Primeape, Muk, and Noctowl, Misty has obtained Gyarados, and Dawn has obtained Togekiss, so what the hey.

You're not comparing those Pokemon to a fully evolved dragon type are you? Because I think there is a big difference. Look at Gible, Ash took forever for it to master one attack and I know the writers aren't going to let him evolve it again until another two seasons later, so no. That doesn't work.

I don't think people care about fully evolved Pokemon, it's about a fully evolved dragon type that is almost close to a legendary if you were to do the math.

 

[PrezEvil]

Spoiler

 

[Cybersai]

Am I the only one noticing the writers are purposely not showcasing any of Dawn's Pokemon other than Piplup and Mamoswine? Yet another episode where we only see Dawn use Piplup.

Makes you wonder what the point of giving her a Quilava is if we're not going to see it. Other than that it was a fun episode, but the two Unova debuts barely did anything.

 

[rubinek]

The Dragonite really reminded me of the one in this comic strip:

Spoiler

Iris' new toy notwithstanding, this episode was nothing to write home about. Why was Meloetta even there? The Dragonite calmed down for a second, then continued attacking anyway. Padding much, writers?

btw. was it's fourth move revealed?

 

[Pidgeot]

Normally, I'd be angered that Iris has caught a fully evolved Pokemon (Dragonite). However, I realised that in the past, Ash has obtained Primeape, Muk, and Noctowl, Misty has obtained Gyarados, and Dawn has obtained Togekiss, so what the hey.

You're not comparing those Pokemon to a fully evolved dragon type are you? Because I think there is a big difference. Look at Gible, Ash took forever for it to master one attack and I know the writers aren't going to let him evolve it again until another two seasons later, so no. That doesn't work.

I don't think people care about fully evolved Pokemon, it's about a fully evolved dragon type that is almost close to a legendary if you were to do the math.

Nope, the only reason why I would be angered at Iris catching Dragonite is because it's fully evolved. That's it. It doesn't matter at all to me that it's a pseudo-legendary as well, as my post said. I mean, Ash caught a pseudo-legendary as well (practically, as Gible eventually evolves into Garchomp). I also wouldn't mind if a character caught a legendary either.

 

[Flying Christi]

I seriously couldn't give two shits about how that Dragonite was caught right before the tournament, or how strong it is. The point that I'm going to take is that Iris got a new addition to her party, which is a good thing (since that's about only her 4th poke in nearly 2 years). I think that, with the way how the series has advanced so far in general strength, that a Doryuzu that rarely battled since the Don Tournament, a young Kibago with powerful top level moves and a lazy Emonga with a weird Volt Switch...Iris would be a fucking pushover in this Tournament!

I'm glad to see that she has a powerful new dragon to not only complement her main objective (indirect character development FTW), but to get her to put up a bit more of a fight in the next episodes when this World Tournament...Young Tournament...Whateverthehellitscalled Tournament goes underway.

So really, I don't see what the fuss is all about and I don't really care about it. This is my approach towards the news that Dragonite was caught.

 

[wind]

I'm on the Dragonite is a solid character idea. I think it would stand out even if all the other pokemon on our heroes team were allowed a fair time to shine and had personalities, so that's nice.

Iris and Dawn weren't glued together this episode, at least, which is another good thing. And Piplup's cousin at least had a reason to come out of its pokeball instead of randomly coming forth for blatant marketing reasons.

That was some intro battle at the beginning. Real power there; seemed suited for those legendary bouts in the movies.

I think Dragonite might have done a better job at being the traveling pokemon with the gang than what Meloetta has done. But Iris caught it (or rather it caught her), so it is what it is (and that's been picked apart already). :> I thought its expression at being caught was what alot of people feel: okay, this is stupid, but Dragonite gets to stay. Though I think you can nitpick the "reasoning" for the difference in Meloetta wanting to simply travel with the gang, while Dragonite wants to be caught.

 

[Dogasu]

I wish the Meloetta and Rocket-Dan plots would hurry up and wrap up so those characters can stop eating up so much screentime in every episode. Yes, we get it, Meloetta can soothe pokemon with the sound of its voice, we don't need to be reminded of this every week.

 

[Grave-E]

Yes, we get it, Meloetta can soothe pokemon with the sound of its voice, we don't need to be reminded of this every week.

The lyrics of her song sum up my feelings about Meloetta's involvement in the story thus far pretty well.

'Meh, meh-meh meh. Meh, meh-meh meh. Meh meh-meh-meh, meh meh-meh, meh-meh meh."

 

[Hellion]

Didn't have much hope or expectations for this episode. I thought it would be bad and not only did it not disappoint in the badness department, it actually exceeded my expectations about how bad it was going to be.

First scene, oh look god mode Kairyu enters the scene. Wow, let it be known that it's super mega powerful and can cause shock waves with its attacks that ripple through an entire forest, something that we've never seen the Pokémon who have journeyed through the Isshu region with Satoshi and Dent do, cause this Kairyu is just much stronger and better than all of them. Then cut to Hikari, who's being vain and Iris who doesn't care about how she looks because she's above that. Power out, what's that Junsa, it's a Kairyu. Satoshi and Hikari, despite having dealt with rampaging Pokémon before while generally trying to understand and help the Pokémon here seem initially convinced Kairyu is to blame, but fear not, Iris is there to right their wrong because of her deep faith in Dragons and that she's never wrong. Satoshi and Hikari are in awe of Iris' Dragon Master knowledge and both immediately recognize how deeply wrong they are and how Iris is right, cause she's always right and never doubts herself. They go to the power plant Iris' huge mane gets through the shaft no problem, but Dento needs to be left behind, cause this episode gravitates solely around the black hole that is Iris. Junsa wants Satoshi to take a Pokéball, but he doesn't take it cause Iris has got everything under control because she's that great. Iris tries to help Kairyu while Satoshi and Hikari are just there to be in awe of Iris and look inept, cause they can't stand against Kairyu in combat despite both being very experienced and only Iris can calm the beast cause she's such a special snowflake. Junsa learns that Kairyu is hurt, well she starts going on a crusade for no reason than sadism towards hurt and not so defenseless Pokémon (because Kairyu is so strong that wounds can't stop him from kicking everyone's asses). Iris touches Kairyu and apparantly gets another unusual ability added to her already packed repertoire of skills only she possesses and sets her apart from all the weak and ordinary people. Junsar shows up with her posse. Kairyu beats them all to a standstill because it's ungodly powerful and then Iris delivers her pure radiant saint speech that quells everyone's hatred, all the while the others are out looking for the mcguffin that's going to clear Kairyu, who finally decides for no reason whatsoever to follow Iris, going against what we've seen of its personality just because he probably wants to bask in her greatness.

That about sums up the episode. It delivered on what it advertised. It was Iris glorification-hour at the Pokémon Animé. What I didn't like about the episode was that it twisted everyone into solely being there to make Iris look good with how inept and useless they were and be in awe of Iris, or be unnecessarily cruel and violent, so Iris in comparaison could look like a pure radiant saint in comparaison and fully capable and so much more perfect than everyone, to the point where it killed whatever tension this episode could have, whatever chance this had to actually lead somewhere and make Iris' character take an interesting turn. Hikari was back to being Hikari from early DP as if all her growth and development were out the window, Satoshi was holding the idiot ball and was Dent even in this episode? Oh yeah, probably the only funny moment came from his being stuck in the shaft. I think this episode could have gained a lot from having Iris actually being in the wrong, actually having doubts, because that's how she could have become relatable and compelling. And of course, had Kairyu just flown away, it would have been light years better than it was. Seeing a character being handed something they haven't earned is a major turn off for me.

Easily one of the worst episodes of the entire franchise as far as the storytelling goes. Meloetta and Team Rocket didn't help this.

 

[p96822]

This is not one of the worst episode in the franchise.

 

[HumanDawn]

Anyways, I LOVED THIS EPISODE ‹3
We had the little epic fight in the beginning with the Hydreigon's THREE MASSIVE HYPER BEAMS. That thing's a killer for sure. I hope that Dragonite meets it again and beats it.

I could really feel for and relate to the poor thing. Being mistreated and misunderstood for something you did unintentionally. I got the creeps for what they could have done to Dragonite after. It's a good thing that the gang came saving the day with all their faith in Dragonite. The group all contributed enough. Iris was as endearing as usual.

Piplup and Oshawott's lovey-dovey looks on their faces really did help lower the serious mood. Meoletta's singing is like a chill pill to me. It makes me feel so relaxed not giving a damn about anything.

I'm getting really excited for the coming TR plot with the water temple. Maybe next episode they'll be in it and do some researchin'. oh and THE BGM SOUNDED SO AWESOME <33333.

 

[Hellwarden]

I fail to see why Dento/Cilan being left behind was such a big deal. There have been plenty of eps focusing on the other two of the trio where Iris took a backseat. How dare those monsters in the form of writers don't have Cilan/Dento be at the center of every episode! THE GALL!

Also, Iris, actually, didn't do that much in this episode on her own. She figured out how Dragonite got hurt, and defended it when it was about to be slaughtered by a lynch gang. Ash, Dawn, Cilan/Dento would have done exactly the same in her position.

 

[Aestivate]

I've lessened my faith in humanity from reading the absolute Garbador(you're right, Garbodor is better than that) that is Hellion's “review”.

There are definitely more polite ways to let someone know you disagree with their opinion.
@Dogasu; already brought it up but in case any of you needed a reminder of what these rules are, let's take a look at the first one, shall we?

1. Insulting users for their opinions (Flaming and Baiting and/or thread bans; Abuse and Harassment and/or a forum ban
The Anime forum takes a strong stance against flaming those who you disagree with; disagree with someone by arguing in the context of the show and not about the user themselves.

 

[p96822]

I really like this episode because it was an Iris episode and the dragonite was different from other dragonites before it