Review JN045: Sword & Shield IV - The Ultimate Sword and Shield

[Beatsy Ray]

Nah. I think it was because Eternatus was sucking up Dynamax energy, undoing both Gigantamaxes.

That makes more sense.

Her Gym could always be somewhere else in the anime. And their final rematch could also take place somewhere else, like at Wyndon Stadium.

Possible, but I don't see that happening. We're already a year into the series and Ash hasn't defeated a single Galarian Gym Leader, so it's entirely possible that not all 8 of them will be featured in this series, let alone additional alternate ones like Allister. If anything, they might establish that Bea and Allister somehow share the Gym, but I think it would be unnecessary to have to create an anime-exclusive Gym in an anime-exclusive City when people already associate Bea with Stow-on-Side. I also think it would be a waste to introduce a Gym Leader and never have them battle in their own Gym .

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Possible, but I don't see that happening. We're already a year into the series and Ash hasn't defeated a single Galarian Gym Leader, so it's entirely possible that not all 8 of them will be featured in this series, let alone additional alternate ones like Allister. If anything, they might establish that Bea and Allister somehow share the Gym, but I think it would be unnecessary to have to create an anime-exclusive Gym in an anime-exclusive City when people already associate Bea with Stow-on-Side. I also think it would be a waste to introduce a Gym Leader and never have them battle in their own Gym .

I think that's generalizing. I'm sure many people associate Allister with Stow-on-Side more than they do Bea. I think the Yamask pretty solidly proves that Allister runs Stow-on-Side Gym in the anime, and Bea's Gym is located elsewhere, possibly in a location we'll never see. Unless we get a solid confirmation the Bea is somehow the Stow-on-Side Gym Leader in the anime, that is going to be my theory on the matter.

 

[VetProf]

First when I was watching the episode, “Where are the other Pokémon?” was just a peeve. But when they reached this point, it genuinely impacted my enjoyment of the episode.

And to rub salt on the wound: literally all three attacks are not very effective.

To be fair, neither Ash or Gou knew Eternatus's typing, so you can't blame them for ordering their Pokemon to use not-effective moves. If anything, having them spam their most powerful attacks was probably the best choice here. Of course, this doesn't excuse the absence of the boys' other Pokemon like Gengar and whatever mons that Gou brought along with him.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Possible, but I don't see that happening. We're already a year into the series and Ash hasn't defeated a single Galarian Gym Leader, so it's entirely possible that not all 8 of them will be featured in this series, let alone additional alternate ones like Allister. If anything, they might establish that Bea and Allister somehow share the Gym, but I think it would be unnecessary to have to create an anime-exclusive Gym in an anime-exclusive City when people already associate Bea with Stow-on-Side. I also think it would be a waste to introduce a Gym Leader and never have them battle in their own Gym .

I wanna point out also that it seems like the anime has strayed away from anime exclusive towns. Alola had no anime exclusive towns and this series seems to be following that trend. And at this point, I'm starting to think we won't have Ash face another Galarian Gym Leader for a while unfortunately. They haven't done much of anything with Ash's goal lately and his side of the story has suffered.

 

[Nicolas721]

The battle between Ash and Rose was great, it was a very Ash thing to make both Pokemon to knock out each other and I liked that both Copperajah and Ferrothorn used similar moves. Goh's on the other hand...I would have understand their "Let's win with Ember!" pride in a gym or in a raid, but in a crisis it's a very selfish thing to do, and there's also the type issues others have already talked about.

The battle with Eternatus was very disappointing, as it basically amounted to the wolves being Deus Ex Machinas. And the reason why they helped Ash & Goh was because...they are now heroes for evolving their Pokemon or something? Themathically it doesn't make sense as they didn't develop at all during this arc.

An arc with good moments here and there, but that never soared because of the lack of buildup, and because it also felt like a checklist of things the anime would do if it was a faithful adaptation of Sword & Shield.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Why're you guys acting like type advantages haven't been ignored in the anime before? Sometimes hitting things really hard just works in this show.

Yes, anime does ignore type advantages a lot, but this is usually largely mitigated by the fact that battles are rarely ever OHKOs, so it's easier to suspend disbelief and just assume that if a Pokemon got KO'd by a resisted attack it's because it had already taken a lot of damage and simply was in range for a knockout. Here, however, Goh's Cinderace oneshots a freaking Milotic with a resisted attack, which is a real stretch. It could have possibly been alleviated if Goh and Raboot/Cinderace had landed more hits (preferably at least some of them being from non-resisted attacks) and/or if there had been more strategy involved, but that didn't happen, and Goh and Raboot/Cinderace were just "spam the exact same resisted attack over and over" the whole time, which on top of really stretching the suspension of disbelief was also pretty boring to watch.

This is nothing new. Serena's Eevee also evolved into Sylveon without knowing a Fairy-type move.

I mean, to be fair, that Eevee was only ever shown using three moves onscreen prior to her evolution, so it's entirely likely that her fourth move was either Charm or Baby-Doll Eyes. At least that's my headcannon

 

[nickdt]

Gou's Cinderace has good showings (and a good offscreen showing) vs the Dojo Master, Flygon, and Zapdos (somewhat). So, especially the grunt, I thought the showing was fair, and the tactics against Olive were fine (when they decided to quit sending Ember directly at it). That being said, unlike Ash, who was winning his battle against the Chairman (though you are also right to point out that he should've sent Gengar in after Pikachu went down) Raboot spent most of his battle getting soaked (though I do like it being able to take those, as he doesn't have a vital place for the water to strike), so I don't know how his evolution was "more earned" than Riolu's (which I thought was the 2nd best part of the episode, though Raboot evolving was good too).

The problem is that against both Zapdos and Flygon he had help, so those don't really count. Off-screen isn't showing though. For all we know Goh used Taillow against the Dojo Master. Considering that battle wasn't shown, it doesn't count either. Funny thing is: The only official on-screen battle against another trainer, Goh got obliterated. Another problem is that we don't see him train his Pokemon on-screen, unlike with Ash, so even if we don't see it all the time with him, we know he trains them off-screen as well (Unlike with Goh).

 

[Craiden]

The problem is that against both Zapdos and Flygon he had help, so those don't really count. Off-screen isn't showing though. For all we know Goh used Taillow against the Dojo Master. Considering that battle wasn't shown, it doesn't count either. Funny thing is: The only official on-screen battle against another trainer, Goh got obliterated. Another problem is that we don't see him train his Pokemon on-screen, unlike with Ash, so even if we don't see it all the time with him, we know he trains them off-screen as well (Unlike with Goh).

All of that is fair, though that "trainer" battle was a good bit ago, and he's shown enough through the non-trainer battles (Flygon/Aerodactyl, etc) to show improvement. Regarding the Dojo Master, you're not wrong there either (for some reason, just liked seeing "offscreen showing") but as the Dojo Master told them he had to battle, Raboot was slightly pumped up, so I think it isn't unfair to guess who he used there.

 

[Max1996]

All of that is fair, though that "trainer" battle was a good bit ago, and he's shown enough through the non-trainer battles (Flygon/Aerodactyl, etc) to show improvement. Regarding the Dojo Master, you're not wrong there either (for some reason, just liked seeing "offscreen showing") but as the Dojo Master told them he had to battle, Raboot was slightly pumped up, so I think it isn't unfair to guess who he used there.

I'm thinking the Flygon battle marked the start of Goh's (on-screen) improvement in battling.

 

[DarkraiKnight]

What's up with people saying that "Goh caught Eternatus?" 1) He and Ash caught it together, as was clearly seen in the episode, and 2) it's not like Goh is ever gonna use Eternatus anyway. If he'd thrown the ball himself, then there'd be something to that argument, but there really isn't anything to fret about here. Is the fact that HIS Poke Ball was used to do the deed really that offensive?

 

[Knightwolf09]

Yes, anime does ignore type advantages a lot, but this is usually largely mitigated by the fact that battles are rarely ever OHKOs, so it's easier to suspend disbelief and just assume that if a Pokemon got KO'd by a resisted attack it's because it had already taken a lot of damage and simply was in range for a knockout. Here, however, Goh's Cinderace oneshots a freaking Milotic with a resisted attack, which is a real stretch. It could have possibly been alleviated if Goh and Raboot/Cinderace had landed more hits (preferably at least some of them being from non-resisted attacks) and/or if there had been more strategy involved, but that didn't happen, and Goh and Raboot/Cinderace were just "spam the exact same resisted attack over and over" the whole time, which on top of really stretching the suspension of disbelief was also pretty boring to watch.

Except it wasn't an OHKO so to speak. Before, Milotic was taking on a flurry of embers while circling around so Milotic couldn't consistently block it's moves, already doing damage, then Raboot evolves and then delivers one of the most powerful fire type moves to the face. I think you might be thinking about type advantages too hard to point you're sorta killing the fun of the scene for yourself.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Except it wasn't an OHKO so to speak. Before, Milotic was taking on a flurry of embers while circling around so Milotic couldn't consistently block it's moves, already doing damage, then Raboot evolves and then delivers one of the most powerful fire type moves to the face. I think you might be thinking about type advantages too hard to point you're sorta killing the fun of the scene for yourself.

I don't think that the weakest Fire-type attack being used against a bulky Water-type makes that big of a difference. And I'm sorry but, what fun? Even if the whole type advantage issue isn't taken into account, the battle between Goh and Oleana would still be by far the most boring one of the bunch due to Goh and Scorbunny/Cinderace doing nothing but spamming the same attack over and over as though doing the exact same thing expecting a different result wasn't the definition of insanity. Except that when they do it "hard enough" it ends up arbitrarily working out for them because plot armor. In short, the type advantage issue for me is less the cause of my dislike for the battle and more something that just exacerbates that dislike.

 

[Knightwolf09]

I don't think that the weakest Fire-type attack being used against a bulky Water-type makes that big of a difference. And I'm sorry but, what fun? Even if the whole type advantage issue isn't taken into account, the battle between Goh and Oleana would still be by far the most boring one of the bunch due to Goh and Scorbunny/Cinderace doing nothing but spamming the same attack over and over as though doing the exact same thing expecting a different result wasn't the definition of insanity. Except that when they do it "hard enough" it ends up arbitrarily working out for them because plot armor. In short, the type advantage issue for me is less the cause of my dislike for the battle and more something that just exacerbates that dislike.

I mean Milotic was being pelted by actual rock flying at high speed. I'm pretty sure that hurts regardless of type advantage. Plus, Ember is Raboots strongest move. Gou couldn't use quick attack or his kicks cause it also has Aqua Tail, which makes close quarters even more difficult. So Raboot had to rely on the strongest move he had and essentially has worked the best. Have we forgotten that Ember also took out a Flygon? Gou only problem was just finding away to bypass Milotic's defensive tactics and the battle was his.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I mean Milotic was being pelted by actual rock flying at high speed. I'm pretty sure that hurts regardless of type advantage. Plus, Ember is Raboots strongest move. Gou couldn't use quick attack or his kicks cause it also has Aqua Tail, which makes close quarters even more difficult. So Raboot had to rely on the strongest move he had and essentially has worked the best. Have we forgotten that Ember also took out a Flygon? Gou only problem was just finding away to bypass Milotic's defensive tactics and the battle was his.

Sorry, but the rocks used for Raboot's Ember are tiny little things hardly bigger than grains of sand, not actual freaking boulders. If getting pelted by those is all it took to defeat Oleana's Milotic, then that thing is by far the weakest and most pathetic of its kind in existence. And Ember being Raboot's strongest move doesn't change the fact that it's still a weak attack that its opponent resists, nor does it change the fact that Goh didn't use any actual strategy to win. To be honest, when they showed that Flygon flashback and then focused on the lamps I was expecting something like Goh using the fire of the lamps to power up Raboot's attacks and/or somehow redirect Milotic's attacks back at it. Instead what ended up happening was just more mindless spamming except now it works because reasons.

Also, Ember didn't take out Flygon, what took out Flygon was Raboot kicking its own Draco Meteor (an actually powerful move against which Flygon is weak to) back at it. Plus, Flygon had already taken several attacks of varying effectiveness beforehand, so that situation is not at all comparable to this one.

 

[DarkraiKnight]

Sorry, but the rocks used for Raboot's Ember are tiny little things hardly bigger than grains of sand, not actual freaking boulders. If getting pelted by those is all it took to defeat Oleana's Milotic, then that thing is by far the weakest and most pathetic of its kind in existence. And Ember being Raboot's strongest move doesn't change the fact that it's still a weak attack that its opponent resists, nor does it change the fact that Goh didn't use any actual strategy to win. To be honest, when they showed that Flygon flashback and then focused on the lamps I was expecting something like Goh using the fire of the lamps to power up Raboot's attacks and/or somehow redirect Milotic's attacks back at it. Instead what ended up happening was just more mindless spamming except now it works because reasons.

Also, Ember didn't take out Flygon, what took out Flygon was Raboot kicking its own Draco Meteor (an actually powerful move against which Flygon is weak to) back at it. Plus, Flygon had already taken several attacks of varying effectiveness beforehand, so that situation is not at all comparable to this one.

Well, the reason it worked was because Milotic was being attacked from many different directions and thus could no longer neutralize the Embers with Water Pulse. If you look at the scene, it's pretty clear that's the problem Goh was trying to get around. (Still, I do agree that it's kind of BS that Milotic went down to 2 Embers and a Pyro Ball...even though Pyro Ball is pretty goddang powerful.)

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Well, the reason it worked was because Milotic was being attacked from many different directions and thus could no longer neutralize the Embers with Water Pulse. If you look at the scene, it's pretty clear that's the problem Goh was trying to get around. (Still, I do agree that it's kind of BS that Milotic went down to 2 Embers and a Pyro Ball...even though Pyro Ball is pretty goddang powerful.)

I still would have liked to see more strategy from Goh. Pokemon overcoming type advantages by being extra determined isn't nearly as satisfying as them doing so by fighting smart. The whole "I need to get a clear shot" problem would have also been easier to swallow if Oleana wasn't using a bulky Pokemon that Raboot is outright weak to both offensively and defensively, because the type weakness means that even if Raboot was somehow able to land a clear hit it still shouldn't make that much of a difference because Milotic resists it anyway. Honestly, this entire fiasco just makes me even angrier that G-Max Garbodor was given to some random nameless mook instead of Oleana: if she had used Garbodor here instead of Milotic, Raboot/Cinderace's victory would have been easier to swallow because at least Garbodor doesn't resist Fire. Plus, it's Oleana's signature Pokemon in the games! Of course, the battle itself still would have been boring, but at least one negative aspect of it would have been resolved.

 

[jbmasta]

Easily the best episode that concluded the darkest day arc and how sad that Rose get away at the end. Wondering if he going to take the crown legendaries in the future to plan another evil scheme again. Also, both Riolu and Raboot evolve at the same time before next episode confront Mewtwo. It is a huge surprised.

Overall rating: A

I wonder if they're saving Rose for an expansion pass themed appearance or arc. Having done the big Sword and Shield event this early it's possible.

Minor note with the sub, probably reflecting more of an American audience, but Cinderace's pokedex entry says soccer ball, not football as it's known as in the UK. It's not FISA after all, but I'm thinking geared towards Americans so as not to confuse them with American Football. Mind you, the voice acting never made much effort to highlight the UK basis of Galar anyway.

What's up with people saying that "Goh caught Eternatus?" 1) He and Ash caught it together, as was clearly seen in the episode, and 2) it's not like Goh is ever gonna use Eternatus anyway. If he'd thrown the ball himself, then there'd be something to that argument, but there really isn't anything to fret about here. Is the fact that HIS Poke Ball was used to do the deed really that offensive?

Even if Eternatus wasn't placed in secure storage its very presence was a crisis level problem. Go's happy with the 'dex entry anyway.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

The reason he's losing less now, is simply this thing called "improvement".

There’s "improvement" and then there’s giving accomplishments on a platter without working for it. It’s the latter now. Gou doesn’t train his Pokémon and then magically defeats high level Pokémon and trainers, and now those unjust wins are being used to justify ANYTHING. Raboot was also worn out due to its first ever Dynamax battle.

And the reason why they helped Ash & Goh was because...they are now heroes for evolving their Pokemon or something? Themathically it doesn't make sense as they didn't develop at all during this arc.

I thought it was because they had the sword and shield?

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

What's up with people saying that "Goh caught Eternatus?" 1) He and Ash caught it together, as was clearly seen in the episode, and 2) it's not like Goh is ever gonna use Eternatus anyway. If he'd thrown the ball himself, then there'd be something to that argument, but there really isn't anything to fret about here. Is the fact that HIS Poke Ball was used to do the deed really that offensive?

Goh did catch it. It was his Poké Ball, and the capture was registered on his Pokédex. Ash just helped to throw the Ball because it was so heavy. Even if he's never going to use it, he still technically owns it.

 

[nickdt]

Goh did catch it. It was his Poké Ball, and the capture was registered on his Pokédex. Ash just helped to throw the Ball because it was so heavy. Even if he's never going to use it, he still technically owns it.

The problem is Mimikyu then, since then the same applies for it, since it was James's Pokeball, not Jessies, despite her being the one throwing the ball. It would have been a different matter if James gave his Pokeball to her, but since she stole it, it remains James's Pokeball in that argument, since he never gave Jessie permission - meaning Mimikyu is his.

Another problem is Poipole then. Its not Ash's either using your argument, since the balls were given to the Ultra Guardians, not Ash specifically, for the only reason to capture the Ultra Beasts and send them back to their dimension - meaning the Aether Foundation owns Poipole/Nagandel, not Ash, which also instantly means his win against Kukui is illegal, since Ash used a Pokemon that isn't his.