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Review S15 EP42: Jostling for the Junior Cup!

Have I mentioned how much of a fan of Georgia I am? It's worth repeating - with this episode cited as a huge bulk of the reasoning. Had some of the funniest moments of this episode (Dragon Doofus!) and also the most important in her telling Iris about needing a dragon type that listened to her.

Burgundy was good too in yelling at Dawn, though I don't get why she had to compete in the tournament to face Cilan - it's not like he'd say no to a battle. Indeed it would have been nice if he couldn't enter because he was a Gym leader (It's a Junior Cup after all) and Burgundy got all that way only to find that out.

Sarcastic Ash in the early parts of this episode is another good thing - considering everything he's been put through over the years a normal reaction would be to be like that all the time. It'd have been nice if Dawn commented on the fact that Nurse Joy both looks different (for the better I say) and doesn't use a Chansey - can't see any reason to point out the temporary Pokemon Centre without that.

The tactics that Beartic used in battle are poor - I really dislike that Hidden Power is contstantly used with no reference to the type of it - Hidden Power can either be a really smart move or a dumb one, but without any reference to type, or obvious difference in damage it just seems like the animators being lazy and using the simplest move to draw. Still, holding back on the ice type moves was annoying - Georgia has two of three Pokemon as Ice types for a reason, not to go around using ineffective moves.

Caitlin and Cynthia's chat after their battle seemed excruciating in its blandness - their voices and personalities just didn't suit that conversation and it comes across as just plain unpleasant.

Of course until she loses, Iris' Dragonite precludes calling this a good episode.
 
Moe said:
Burgundy was good too in yelling at Dawn, though I don't get why she had to compete in the tournament to face Cilan - it's not like he'd say no to a battle.
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Maybe she wanted to defeat him in front of a large crowd?
 
Now I know why they brought Dawn back: so she could comment on all the bad characterization we've had for the past two years. (I'm almost surprised they didn't bring back that guy whose name nobody can ever pronounce.) I won't go through the full list again.

For the record, the Cynthia/Caitlin battle was not ten minutes, but still entertaining enough. And in pre-sponse to whatever Queen Cynthia's going to say, a curbstomp battle wouldn't have been as entertaining, no matter what Cynthia's credentials as a champion. She should still earn her victories. Cool battle music, though.

As for the rest of the battles...Grass beats Fire in one move, Grass beats Bug, etc. It seems that the only reason anybody won was because (A) the losers weren't even trying, or (B) type matchups no longer mean anything. (Burgundy was definitely in Category A against Trip.) This was particularly egregious with Iris vs. Georgia. First, everyone repeatedly explains that Dragons are weak against Ice (as if we didn't already know that). Then, Dragonite takes three (I repeat: three) Ice attacks without even flinching. Is Dragonite supposed to be that damn strong that Ice can't hurt him, or are TPTB even sloppier than usual? Seto Kaiba couldn't have screwed the rules any more thoroughly. I agree with Cilan: a defensive/evasive strategy would've been a better way for Dragonite to overcome Ice.
 
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In retrospect, it's rather hilarious seeing Trip being hyped up like this (even being referred to as a GENIUS by the announcers - HA HA HA, how is that even a fact given his pitiful performances in the past two tournaments?), knowing by the end of this tournament in which he and his Serperior are glorified that they will be unceremoniously shut out with a glorious LAST PLACE ranking in the League around ten episodes from then. It really makes me wonder why they even bothered putting this much effort into his presentation, though I will admit it was hilarious seeing Trip being a total JEALOUS GIRLFRIEND around Alder. Especially the first time when he deliberately cockblocked Alder from Cynthia (who he wasn't gonna get anyway, but the timing was still glorious).

Still, Trip's progression in this tournament feels extremely artificial given that the last time we saw him in the series, he got his ass kicked by Bianca in Donamite's first round, and since they never bothered to delve much into how Trip actually TRAINS his Pokemon, it feels incredibly contrived that he went from going on a glamorous losing streak to being totally untouchable. Especially since this came at Burgundy's expense this episode - facing a TYPE DISADVANTAGE no less, and OHKOing in short time. I swear, I do not recall the series pre-BW being this goddamn backwards about type interactions.

And Iris vs Georgia was even worse about that, with Dragonite's disobedience (and Iris being more annoyed than concerned about her Dragonite's behavior, especially since she JUST CAUGHT IT and she knows firsthand that it can be spontaneously dangerous) being icing on the suckass cake. Georgia was the only one who had a great moment in this episode, being totally justified in telling Iris off about the victory not being legit. I only wish the tournament officials had half the common sense that Georgia did and disqualified Iris right from the moment it was obvious that Dragonite wasn't gonna comply to shit. I did get annoyed with Georgia not getting straight to the point with her Beartic's ice attacks, though most likely we would've just seen Dragonite effortlessly shake off like six ice attacks rather than three. While I can laugh off Trip's bullshit progression in this tournament because of the recent events in the not-so distant future, Iris' progression continues to piss me off as much as it did when this originally aired in Japan. It's just unreal that anyone behind this show thought it was a good idea to practically hand Iris over a godly-powered Dragonite with no repercussions to its issues (until Ash vs Iris comes up, but it doesn't at all make up for the shit that happens before this - she should've lost like this in round one), and throw two relevant characters under the bus just to build up hype for someone who honestly doesn't need nor deserve it, ESPECIALLY since Iris will be getting shit-tons of episodes devoted to her after this. Auuugh.

It probably would have helped a lot if this episode didn't devote a good chunk of its time to a pointless exhibition battle AND pointlessly telling us EVERY SINGLE MATCH-UP including the background characters we don't give a shit about, but the narrative in its own right was skewed all to hell and back regardless. As is the rest of this tournament.

So yeah, there's not a lot to like about this episode. But plenty to hate, and hate hard. I don't know what the hell happened two years ago, but the staff pretty much lost all ability to make a good tournament. That's a mystery that forever eludes me.
 
This episode is still horrible.
Dawn should have battled and beaten Burgundy, since she's losing in the 1st round anyways, not Trip! Why couldn't Trip get Dawn's cotd opponent? :/
Also the battles are way too rushed, I mean what the hell? Everything was like a 5 second shot. And type advantages don't even seem to matter anymore.
 
Dawnboy said:
This episode is still horrible.
Dawn should have battled and beaten Burgundy, since she's losing in the 1st round anyways, not Trip! Why couldn't Trip get Dawn's cotd opponent? :/
Also the battles are way too rushed, I mean what the hell? Everything was like a 5 second shot. And type advantages don't even seem to matter anymore.
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Trip's loss to pikachu was far worse BS than lowering your opponent's defense then taking them out
 
This episodes proved that having to many rivals is a bad thing..

Honestly forgot about the existence of georgia and that purple haired chick :X
 
DracoMan said:
And in pre-sponse to whatever Queen Cynthia's going to say, a curbstomp battle wouldn't have been as entertaining, no matter what Cynthia's credentials as a champion. She should still earn her victories. Cool battle music, though.
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haha, you've already been waiting for my response ? How nice ^^

OK, first of all guys, I have to apologize for not being active during the last few weeks. You see, I've been really busy with my job lately.
But now that my dear Cynthia is back after a short break, I'm back to writing reviews as well.

Sure, I would have preferred to see a curbstomp battle but as this was supposed to be an exhibition match, it was OK with me that Cynthia and Caitlin only had a friendly match, so to speak. I mean Cynthia would have won this anyways, no doubt about it, (Gothitelle already had problems getting back on her feet after Garchomp's first attack), so why not have a nice little exhibition match? After all, it did serve a certain purpose and this brings me to a post by Moe:
Caitlin and Cynthia's chat after their battle seemed excruciating in its blandness - their voices and personalities just didn't suit that conversation and it comes across as just plain unpleasant.
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I'm sorry, but it's quite the opposite! It was revealed that Cynthia and Caitlin used to spend quite some time together and that Cynthia used to support and train Caitlin. So learning something about their common background was just awesome and what they were saying in their conversation after the battle fitted their personalities to a T. That mature and sophisticated way of talking is exactly what you'd expect from Cynthia!

But now let me talk about the most important part of the whole episode. Every Cynthia fan should actually rejoice today given how often she was praised in this episode. I find it so amazing that although Cynthia's debut episode was long ago, she is still being praised and presented as THE Champion and star. It's like a dream come true!
So, here are the most wonderful lines about Cynthia from this ep:

Announcer: "...the beautiful Master of battle, Cynthia"
(Perfect, just perfect!)

Caitlin: "My heart used to skip a beat every time we battled"
(Yes, you're so right,Caitlin, mine still skips a beat whenever I get to see her!)

Caitlin: "My heart is still pounding from her powerful attacks"

Caitlin: "Cynthia, you're a trainer who possesses both excellence and elegance!"
(Oh how wonderful and profound words! Thank you so much, Caitlin!)

And probably the best line:
Alder (on Garchomp's Dragon Rush): Shocking...amazing strength!

If even Alder, the Unova region's champion, is shocked by Cynthia's power, then I guess his comment is the ultimate proof that Cynthia is really the best in the whole wide Pokemon world! Wow, that quote is as great as Christmas and birthday together!! (Thank you so much, Alder, that was the first time you said something extremely good!)

And if all those amazing quotes were not enough, we got a plethora of wonderful scenes and pictures of Cynthia, too!


And by the way, I don't get it why some people are making a fuzz over whether Dragonite was overpowered or not. From the very first second since it appeared , Dragonite has always been portrayed as highly determined and as a really tough fighter that never backs down. It's totally plausible that Pokemon have such a personality and, that's why I've taken an instant liking to Iris' new Pokemon because its strength and determination is what reminds me of...who could it be? Of course, Cynthia and Garchomp!

Edit:
Just added the most beautiful Cynthia pictures from this episode.
I hope you find them as wonderful and perfect as I do!
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I thought the episode was okay. It was fun to see Dawn meet the BW rivals. My favorite part of the episode was when Caitlin and Cynthia battled because they are both strong characters who have a lot to offer.

I was disappointed in Burgundy losing so soon though. I expected more from her, to be honest. I wish she would get a little more character development.
 
Dawn pretty much summarized the unova rivals perfectly. Pains in the neck indeed.
 
Queen Cynthia said:
And by the way, I don't get it why some people are making a fuzz over whether Dragonite was overpowered or not. From the very first second since it appeared , Dragonite has always been portrayed as highly determined and as a really tough fighter that never backs down. It's totally plausible that Pokemon have such a personality and, that's why I've taken an instant liking to Iris' new Pokemon because its strength and determination is what reminds me of...who could it be? Of course, Cynthia and Garchomp!
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At least Cynthia can control Garchomp. If the two work together so well, I'm guessing she actually raised Garchomp from a Gible, rather than being given a fully-evolved pseudo-legendary just like that. Plus they don't brazenly screw the rules. (Has Garchomp ever taken an Ice attack?) I imagine if Cynthia and Garchomp ever faced an Ice-type, they'd have an actual strategy to win, rather than rewriting the rulebook.
 
I did not exactly like the battle between Cynthia and Catilin. It felt like it was more talking than battling and half of the battling felt more like a contest battle than a battle. And I did find Catilin to be a bit silly. And it was a shame that the other battles were so short. And then Beartic vs Dragonite. OK, I can get that Dragonite is a strong and sturdy pokemon but three powerful Ice type moves from a powerful Ice type. Seriously? And then one hitting Beartic with one Thunderpunch. No the good things with this episode were Dawns interactions with Burgundy and Georgia.
 
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