Opinons of the Sinnoh Grand Festival

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JohnLogan

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Anyone's thoughts on the Sinnoh Grand Festival?

I loved all the double performances.

Kenny getting eliminated early was surprising but realistic.

Dawns first round against Ursula was great and I loved all of Johanna's reactions watching from home.

But they completely skip over the eighth and quarter finals. Dawn, Jesselina, Zoey and Nando all win them of screen to form the final 4. May didn't even make it past the quarter final during her first grand festival.

Opinions?
 
Nando vs Zoey was peak, possibly the best contest battle in the whole show. It showed how you can use combinations to masterfully counter your opponent. The rest was cool too, Kenny not making to the second phase was disappointing but he redeemed himself later, Dawn vs Ursula hasn't aged that well but has a couple fun moments, Dawn vs Zoey was fun and exhilarating (though maybe Dawn should have won). A fun and memorable festival that encapsulates Dawn's arc pretty well.
 
I loved it! To this day I'm still surprised they really let Jessilina go all the way to the top 4. Nando vs Zoey felt like a final round battle and it was simply perfect! I liked the other battles as well, but I think that one was the best! I wish Dawn had won the whole thing. Nonetheless that final move from Togekiss and Piplup was peak and if they had dodged Gallade's attack they would've won the battle. Dawn made the mistake of taking the attack head on, taking the hit and leaving Glameow without receiving any damage at all. I liked how at the end, Dawn was satisfied with the result and didn't feel bad about it, showing the audience how much she had grown from her first contest defeat.
 
Nicolas721 said:
Nando vs Zoey was peak, possibly the best contest battle in the whole show. It showed how you can use combinations to masterfully counter your opponent. The rest was cool too, Kenny not making to the second phase was disappointing but he redeemed himself later, Dawn vs Ursula hasn't aged that well but has a couple fun moments, Dawn vs Zoey was fun and exhilarating (though maybe Dawn should have won). A fun and memorable festival that encapsulates Dawn's arc pretty well.
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I agree with all this. Did it bother you we didn't see at all who Dawn battled in the eighth or quarter finals though?
 
@JohnLogan Most League or Tournament skip a few battles or rounds. Sometimes, it is the price to pay just to not be stuck in them for many episodes.
 
Dr. Gro 3001 said:
@JohnLogan Most League or Tournament skip a few battles or rounds. Sometimes, it is the price to pay just to not be stuck in them for many episodes.
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I guess, but with all the filler episodes and all the build up, cvouldn't they have given the Grand Festival one more episode?
 
I thought that the Sinnoh Grand Festival was pretty solid. Kenny being eliminated right off the bat was a bit surprising, but he was the least interesting of Dawn's rivals and it showed how having too much power can backfire during a Contest too. Dawn vs. Ursula wasn't that great from what I remember. After showing such a great and unique first round performance with that double evolution, Ursula not getting any victory afterwards was disappointing. Besides that, it just felt like an unsatisfying way for Dawn to defeat her again. Their first Contest battle was fine, but the second and third were more lackluster in my opinion.

Jessie was really treated poorly. I didn't expect her to win or to get further than Dawn, but after she legit earned her way into the Grand Festival and improved over the course of DP, not showing any of her victories on-screen and her last Contest battle being mostly off-screen was such a disappointment. It's sad that Pokemon Performances treated Jessie better despite being a much worse goal and not written nearly as well as her Contest journey. While skipping battles wasn't new for these tournament arcs, I do think it was more of an issue here than the Hoenn or Kanto Grand Festivals. We only saw one of Dawn's battles before getting to the final round and since I didn't think that was a good Contest battle for her, it did make getting to the final stage much less satisfying than it could have been if we had seen at least one other battle on screen.

Zoey vs. Nando was terrific though. It was a good fast paced Contest battle that really made use of the different battle format. It might be the best Contest battle in both AG and DP. Despite my issues with skipping over many of Dawn's battles, Dawn vs. Zoey was also still pretty solid. I remember people being upset even at the time that Dawn lost and I could understand to a point. This was the first time a main character got to the final round, so not getting a victory would make it more upsetting or disappointing for some fans. But even at the time, I thought it was pretty justified and believable. As good as Dawn was throughout that battle, Zoey was always one or two moves ahead of her. They both deserved to be on that final stage together, but I think that their differences in skills were still noticeable. Being so impressed by her battle with Nando most likely helped too, but I just don't think Dawn was ready to be a Top Coordinator yet.

And it didn't make her journey feel like a waste. Her reaction to the defeat showed how she better understood what being a Pokemon Coordinator meant, that she was better able to handle losing than she did earlier in the series and she was still determined to become a Top Coordinator. It's just a shame that the writers seemingly didn't know how or didn't care to show her making more progress passed this point in her appearances in BW or Journeys, but that's less on the Sinnoh Grand Festival and more on the writers in general. While it had some pretty big issues for me, it was still a pretty good Grand Festival and a good sendoff for Contests. I still think it's such a shame that they had to remove Contests. It was necessary for marketing purposes, but even after all these years, I think that the anime lost something important when they stopped doing Contests and never found a good replacement for them.
 
It's definitely a step up from the AG era Grand Festivals in that there is no last-minute rival that beats Dawn to prevent her from winning.
Though, I do wish that Dawn had some more male Coordinator rivals like May so that Contests wouldn't be seen as a girly thing. Drew and Harley are iconic, but I do like Zoey a lot too!
I honestly like that mostly everyone had a full team of six and that they use a variety of team combinations for each round instead of using repeats.
Nando vs Zoey was definitely the highlight of the arc in that it was the most artistic battle.
Though, the Dawn vs Zoey fight was also really good in that both trainers use their partner and their most recent additions.
 
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