Review BW010: Rival Battle! The Strong Opponent Pururill!

[Cybersai]

I really don't get were all this "I'm going to get stronger and beat Shooti" crap is coming from after Ash lost to Shooti. Hello Ash, you could have just used Sceptile, Infernape, or some other powerhouses and you would have won.

LOL, imagine if those Pokemon got, "de-powered" the same way Pikachu does in the new region?

Imagine if Infernape lost to Shooti? lol, the outrage would be 10 times worse.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

*sigh*
After what happened the last time they battled, and the critism I got from others for pointing out my distate for Shuti's status, I can't say I'm impressed yet. I don't think I need to say much since I'm late and others have pointed it out, but I just want to make a point clear. It seems that moreso than any other rival in the past, the writers takes the current rival's Gary Stu-ness to the max. By making him a rookie, they just had to give him a powerful team so quickly. The simple solution would have to have made him an experienced trainer right from the start, like Paul. I can understand Ash's loss, but for crying out loud, why not make it a closer battle, or a tie. At the very least, have Pikachu K.O. more of Shuti's Pokemon. Instead, Ash pretty much gets steamrolled. I know we've had stuff like this in the past, but not to the degree of this battle, unless someone can name another one. What could have been a decent episode otherwise, was ruined by a cheap rival. Overall, my response to the outcome of this battle is NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
*calms down*
I hope the writers can come up with a good way to make this rivaly more interesting in the future. I had high hopes for this episode.
And on the bright side, I think I know who my starter in Black/White will be (guess which one). So I thank this episode for that.

 

[Olivia Eon]

Wow, am I the only one who found Shooti and Ash's "rivalry" to be rather amusing? :O

 

[Yankees4life]

This was a ridiculous lost for Ash. I hope Cheren/Bel can spice up the rivalry a bit and maybe we can see Ash pulling a win or two

 

[RoboJaden4679]

Tsutarja using attract on Janovy was pretty funny and cute. Also, Shooti's pokemon are impresivly strong!

 

[Cybersai]

Wow, am I the only one who found Shooti and Ash's "rivalry" to be rather amusing? :O

Amusing that Ash was pretty much battling Paul-lite?

 

[Froakie]

Although I won't down play Shooti -at the moment- Paul's rivalry with Ash was at the moment much more superior. Paul abandoned Chimchar and Ash beat Paul with that Chimchar. If they reuse the 'don't win until the league' thing, I won't be impressed. They could have gone for something different, a friendly rival? A really poor rival who gets stronger a stronger. I don't know.

 

[Idon'tcare]

I can't believe I forgot to mention the most obvious difference between Shooty and the old Shinji-

Shooty cares for his Pokemon, and if they lose to an opponent who he thinks isn't worthy he doesn't get angry at them. Whereas the old Shinji was the opposite. If that whole thing with Attract happened to Shinji's Pokemon back when he was a jerk he might bad mouth it in anger for falling for it. When Janovy lost Shooty just recalled Janovy to his Pokeball and said he didn't expect Satoshi to use Attract.

Shooty caring for his Pokemon but being a jerk rival towards Satoshi reminds you more of the old Shigeru (and I guess you can say Shuu as well even though he's not Satoshi's rival) than the old Shinji. Doesn't it? And I know the current Shigeru still cares for his Pokemon

Also the old Shinji's views on how a Pokemon wins a battle is different. For Shooty if his Pokemon won, it won and he's happy enough- this is the case for most trainers. But for Shinji, even if a Pokemon won he wasn't satisfied if he thinks it didn't do so well and sometimes ended up releasing it (as he did with a Mukkuru who defeated Satoshi's one).

 

[Sweet Veil]

Did Junsa/Jenny get a new voice actor she sounds like Musalina/Jessie.

 

[Necrozma]

I've finally found time to watch this episode, and even though I already knew the outcome, I enjoyed the battle. Though as much as I hate it - I gotta admit this; Satoshi deserved to lose this match. You can actually see that Shooty trained his Pokemon in meanwhile despite the fact that he's only a beginning trainer. Satoshi needs to catch up to him because seeing how Mijumaru and Pokabu fell to Aerial Ace (was it?) was actually pretty damn depressing. <_<

On the other hand, (my lovely) Tsutarja pleasantly surprised me. I'm glad she was the focus of the battle and that she got at least one win against her own evolution. Oh, not to mention, Leaf Blade is mega awesome! The attack animations also amused me, I love the animations for Water Pulse, Protect and Evil Eye - so wicked. :-D

TR = EPIC ('nuff said) Though I kinda miss them following Ash and the gang. And I hate the writers for making me say this. ;-)

 

[Olivia Eon]

Amusing that Ash was pretty much battling Paul-lite?

Well Shooti looks like Paul so I'll give you that but other than that the only thing he has in common with him is being arrogant. ALL of ash's rivals have been arrogant at some point so that is not as much of a surprise to me. I find Shooti to be a lot more emotional than Paul and that probably has to do with the fact ever since he was introduce he has been shown to be rather childish. Ash's main rivals have always used the same formula and characteristics and that is something think people should have learned by now. There are types of characters and there are "copycat" characters. In the end it is your choice if you feel you can put shoot in the "copycat" section but I don't think looking a like is enough reason to say that he is Paul version 2


I cannot see why ash should have win the battle he hasn't trained any of his brand new pokemon. Shooti who has already gotten his to evolve. That doesn't just come from sitting around and being a newb. OK maybe in pokemon it does but still...

 

[Iteru]

seeing how Mijumaru and Pokabu fell to Aerial Ace (was it?) was actually pretty damn depressing. <_<

Yep, Tsubame Gaeshi is Aerial Ace. I'm still so glad with how it looks now compared to before.

 

[CrazyYanmega]

I think Ash could have lasted longer if he'd switched out Pikachu when Janovy came out. Does anyone agree?

 

[Necrozma]

I think Ash could have lasted longer if he'd switched out Pikachu when Janovy came out. Does anyone agree?

I think he should have sent out Pikachu against Hatopoo, not to mention the fact that the bird used Aerical Ace which could clearly have gone into Ash's advantage by using Static. :S

But yeah, he made a mistake and lost because of it.

 

[Yankees4life]

Ah, clone talk is always fun. Remember "Dawn is a May clone" during early DP? How about "Iris is a Misty clone" because people are impatient as shit?

Nobody's a clone of anybody, only if they look AND act the same. Shooti acts differently than Paul. Curbstomp Battles don't make him a clone, Jesus...

if you believe that....


and only you believe that

 

[devil55]

Shooti is a lot more interesting character and rival then Paul who lack any personality,thank god Shooti won't never be anything like Paul at all.

 

[magicallypuzzled]

he's not the only one who thinks that.


at any rate i fail to see how shooti looks all that much like paul in the first palce his hair style and color are completely different. as well as his facial structure while simular are different than pauls as well so i realy don;t see this clone aspect any way you slice it.

 

[pharaohyami5000]

Late reply from me. I was waiting for the episode where I can fully understand to arrive, but it's delayed.

Anyway, Shooti is still okay to me so far. Like many others have said, his design is similar to Paul's and a bit distant. However, he does explain to Ash his strengths and weaknesses during and after the battle and questions Ash if he's truly ready to battle from what happened the 1st time. Not very snobbish but very social compared to Gary (1st season) and Paul.

As for Ash, he was more reckless this episode and this reminds me of that Ash VS Takuto where he wasn't able to battle or reveal all of his opponent's monsters. Oshawott could have tried defending with Shell Blade, Tepig should not have been the next monster in line even though it probably couldn't take out Shooti's Janobi, and Snivy should have done continual Leaf Storms. Unsure if Eccentric/Perversity is her ability though. At least Ash didn't have Mamepoto use Quick Attack on the Water/Ghost but at least escape Water Pulse with it. Yes, Ash was in over his head this episode.

The multiple Don Georges was unexpected to me. Since I know there are multiple Battle Clubs in Unova Region I should have expected this. What I thought was that Don George's disciples would run each club instead of his siblings. Like with Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, how would a reverse gender of Don George look like?

This episode was OK. I feel Shooti could be a bit of a mentor-type rival yet helps him indirectly.

 

[Geodude]

There's been a lot of discussion over this battle, including Hatooboo's two OHKOs. There are two things, however, that I should point out. One has been mostly overlooked, the other completely ignored.

1) Pikachu also had an OHKO, it took out Hatooboo with a single Volt Tackle.

2) You know that red glowy move Hatooboo used a few times? It was Cheer Up. Need I say more?

 

[PDL]

1) Pikachu also had an OHKO, it took out Hatooboo with a single Volt Tackle.

Considering that this is the same Pikachu which is known for KOing Rhydons with electric attacks and most recently took down a Latios single-handedly, having a OHKO against a Pokémon that hasn't fully evolved and has a type advantage over isn't much of a feat...

2) You know that red glowy move Hatooboo used a few times? It was Cheer Up. Need I say more?

I was wondering what that power-up move was. Although it doesn't make sense that it would be depected like that. Then again, Helping Hand is depected as a weak electric shock towards the partner...