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Review HZ127: Hyper Training! Everyone's Respective Feelings

Good on Nemona for managing to beat that boring yellow jackal twice now and with Pawmot dealing the blow to it after it lost before. Still don't care for this rivarly though and there's quite a lot of losses this time: Ult was swiftly defeated by Hassel, Dot lost to Penny and even Liko ended up tying with Ann.

Other than this though and the whole stuff with Dot (she says she'll just be fine acting as a support member and Iono looks a little sad about this which'll lead into the battle they'll have next week, looking forward to some more development for her and Quaxwell potentially evolving), I thought this episode was really bland and unremarkable. Essentially, the microwave burger you have that you know isn't going to be great but you just want something nice and quick.

Also I love how Cap was just standing on Larry's head. That was pretty funny.

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What a dramatic training episode with Liko and Ann draw. Roy lose to Nemona, Dot lose to Penny. Finally, with Uruto lose to Hassel with that being say conclude it training over for the preparation against Spinel.

While Dot know the dark secret that Penny attack other pokemon that are not battle to learn the reality. That she and Quaxwell don't have that kind of determination. The losing will keep repeating. That is where Iono will strengthen them up in next Friday.

Overall rating: B+
 
RetroPokeFan said:
Good on Nemona for managing to beat that boring yellow jackal twice now and with Pawmot dealing the blow to it after it lost before.
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Only way for Roy to beat Nemona is by obtaining Lucarionite Z. Otherwise, the L will keep piling up. However, getting that Mega Stone chances is very silm. Only answer find out in April.
 
Omodaka's knowing smile here is top tier.
"I declare you wife and wife"
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Aoki and cap were indeed precious
but Aoki's muttering was so quiet i barely heard him above the music tbh lol

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Dot decides to switch to support, but most likely she will be convinced next episode to change this decision, after the battle with nanjamo.

We'll see i guess.
 
RetroPokeFan said:
Good on Nemona for managing to beat that boring yellow jackal twice now and with Pawmot dealing the blow to it after it lost before. Still don't care for this rivarly though and there's quite a lot of losses this time: Ult was swiftly defeated by Hassel, Dot lost to Penny and even Liko ended up tying with Ann.

Other than this though and the whole stuff with Dot (she says she'll just be fine acting as a support member and Iono looks a little sad about this which'll lead into the battle they'll have next week, looking forward to some more development for her and Quaxwell potentially evolving), I thought this episode was really bland and unremarkable. Essentially, the microwave burger you have that you know isn't going to be great but you just want something nice and quick.

Also I love how Cap was just standing on Larry's head. That was pretty funny.

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Yeah...
 
NumberOneSpinelApologist said:
Omodaka's knowing smile here is top tier.
"I declare you wife and wife"
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View attachment 237877
Aoki and cap were indeed precious
but Aoki's muttering was so quiet i barely heard him above the music tbh lol

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Dot decides to switch to support, but most likely she will be convinced next episode to change this decision, after the battle with nanjamo.

We'll see i guess.
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Isn’t it a little bit too extreme for the first two pictures to be almost like a wedding? But it’s like when sun and moon when Mallow was close to every alolan girl in most fanart
 
They're getting better at managing multiple battles in the same episode. It's still a bit chaotic but it works.

I'm glad the writers didn't give another loss to Liko, instead making it a draw despite the fact Armarouge was heavily disadvantaged in type. It probably speak of him and Liko's strength that they could turn it into a draw, if anything.

Roy did his third match against Nemona... I liked the animation a lot, they really did good with the boxing fight, but I do have some fatigue of this matchup. And I still have the same feeling than the first time - Pawmot and Lucario's moves keep feeling mismatched to me. I'm done with Metal Claw, make it learn Meteor Mash or Bullet Punch, or even Extreme Speed, just... do something new with Lucario for god's sake! Or bring us the damn Lucario-Z (I can't even think of how they would introduce it in the story at this point).

Ult got pulverized. Type matchup asides, he definitely looks like the weakest of the quatuor, solely for the fact he lacks experience and can't strategize as well as the others (feels more like luck when he does it). And he's not very observant either. He probably should take Drayton's advice meant for Roy, and start relaxing in battles. Maybe then he would stop seeing every problem as a nail to hit with a dragon hammer.

I'm glad they're making another mini-arc to foreshadow the evolution of Quaxwell, and I LOVE cute family interactions between a trainer's Pokemon. Can't get enough of the siblings dynamic. I was surprised of what Penny did, and... well, she's correct. You can't expect the Explorers to play fair. They can't win if Quax has his mind elsewhere, or if he's tanking hits on purpose to protect his siblings (even if I love that). But at the same time, this is giving me way too much hope for the final battle. I'm bad with my expectations, I sound like a broken record, but it seems pretty much every time the writers try to dip their toes into something more serious in Horizons, they refuse to pay it off.
You know what I thought immediately when Penny made that comment? "What if Spinel attack the trainers?" There's zero percent chance they do that, and asides from exactly once (when they unveiled the Strong Spheres for the very first time), the Explorers haven't really done any dirty plays I can remember? Or at least not in a battle. So Penny's actions and words in this episode were a nice surprise... but when you look back it sounds very empty.

Back to Dot anyways, she will certainly change her mind after next episode and her rematch against Iono, and I'm happy about it, she needs the spotlight. Which leads me to the question, will Ult also get a penultimate growth episode before the end of the arc? He doesn't have a Pokemon to evolve or anything, there's pretty much nothing to change on his Pokemons... The only thing that must change is him. You know what? Get us a Roy VS Ult battle. Make them fight over who gets to use the Black Rayquaza. And maybe Ult loses again, but at least he can learn a thing or two. He's had nice interactions with Amethio, and Lacey, etc, but now he deserves a true payoff to them. His fight in this episode looked like backpedaling.
 
Well.its a been a while since an episode disappointed me this bad but yikes. Not a single victory at all. Liko was the only one to have a semi decent result but a tie honestly feels like an insult to her character with all she's finally accomplished as of late. Ult got destroyed as I expected. Roy surprisingly lost again...nothing more to say. But the one that has absolutely triggered me. Is dot. Feels like all her progress she made in arc 5 was just erased for no reason. Reminds me of liko in the timeskip era. Honestly a shame. This could've been really good. But it just isn't. So for the first time in awhile. This episode gets a rating of 0 iut of 5 . Very underwhelming and disappointing.
 
Cool episode, a fairly efficient catch-up with some secondary characters. I honestly hoped Nemona, Penny and Anne would join the team permanently, but alas.

I have a feeling that Liko, Roy and Dot were defeated a little bit too easily. I get that Liko and Roy both were low-key handicapped (Liko badly type-disadvantaged, Roy slightly type-disadvantaged) and Dot seems to fare better when the whole team cooperates than in 1v1 battles. But still.

Anne realized that all she needs to do to win Liko is just communicate the intent because all other suitors are too awkward or shy to do even that.

After defeating Dot Penny had to hide behind the glasses to not show that she actually had fun pulling off dirty (pun intended) moves.
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Also spoiler without context:
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There were also some shots which were suspiciously meaningful, with the "they didn't have to draw this but they did, why?!?!" vibe. I hope the series is setting up some deeper stories, but I don't have much expectations.
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Below doesn't count because we know it will be resolved next week.
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LegendsCelebi said:
Dot just got hit with a mixture of guilt and confirmed insecurity. Feeling of erased progress is exactly on point and likely what she feels at this moment.
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And this late in the series. Honestly this episode was terrible. Reminds me of what the writers did when they regressed liko in arc 5. Just awful....
 
I mean, it totally makes sense to feel insecure just before gathering the party for the final battle. Dot feeling that she is emotionally "not enough" is also very in character, and her logic for retreating to the back seat is not entirely wrong and internally cohesive. I'm not saying that she should, and the next episode will also definitely deal with those feelings. but I'm just saying that this story beat is not only quite realistic, but is very understandable from Dot's point of view.
I believe it is a decent setup for the next episode.
In real life, progress is not linear. There is no reason for it to not be reflected in how the characters grow and develop.
 
NumberOneSpinelApologist said:
I mean, it totally makes sense to feel insecure just before gathering the party for the final battle. Dot feeling that she is emotionally "not enough" is also very in character, and her logic for retreating to the back seat is not entirely wrong and internally cohesive. I'm not saying that she should, and the next episode will also definitely deal with those feelings. but I'm just saying that this story beat is not only quite realistic, but is very understandable from Dot's point of view.
I believe it is a decent setup for the next episode.
In real life, progress is not linear. There is no reason for it to not be reflected in how the characters grow and develop.
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If this was early in horizons then I'd be fine with it. But this late in the series. Its just stalling the story. Now dots tumbled off a cliff just like liko did in arc 5. Not a good idea
 
NumberOneSpinelApologist said:
I mean, this being this late in the series is exactly why they are doing it now. It is in simplification, the Pokémon boss battle equivalent of stage fright.
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Should've happened way earlier. But the writers just hate the girls most of the time and wasted all of arc 5 on the ash clone and the useless filler character instead of those who needed development. Now we get this slop Easily one of horizons worst episodes ever alongside 63,95,108,and 111.
 
Well, I saw the battles. To me, the results are of varying quality, but I will say the battles looked pretty nice.

I am glad that Liko didn't lose persay. If anything, Ann never stuck me as all that great of trainer with her never winning a battle on-screen despite us being told that she is the Ace of Indigo Academy. So her getting a tie with Liko against a Pokémon hers had an advantage over is serviceable.

The animation of Pawmot and Lucario boxing looked neat, but like other users have said, I am tired of seeing these two in particular battle. Also while I don't hate Pawmot being able to dodge Lucario's attacks while using Focus Punch, wasn't there a big deal about Lucario being very fast during the Mega Evolution special? Where did that speed go?

Ult is not a skillful trainer. He is a strong one, but he never really pays attention to his surroundings when battling and it keeps biting him in the rear. I really should have expected him to lose, but it is wild to see Dragonite get trapped between ice pillars not try to tell if to fly out or try to prepare an attack when Baxcalibur was using Glaive Rush. Doubl - Echo is right. Ult should have been the one to learn how to relax in a battle and pay attention as well.

I actually kind of like the lesson that Penny was meaning to impart to Dot. The Explorers may try to employ some nefarious, unfair tatic, and Dot need to be ready for it. I also think Penny is trying to help Dot deal with some sort of imposter syndrome that I think she's had a stretch of Horizons. I hope that we can deal with these issues and that the lessons can stick. The battle looked alright.

Sorry for the long post. I generally have a lot of thoughts when we have battle-focused episodes like these. The biggest take away for this episode is what is each character going to do from this point forward. Even if there isn't much time left.
 
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