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Review S17 EP43: Showdown at the Shalour Gym!

This was a great battle. Better than I expected.

I'm glad both Hawlucha and Fletchinder got wins here, with Fletchinder finally getting a win in a gym battle that Ash wins overall. I liked how the battle started with Ash trying to use Tierno's dancing techniques, only for him to realize that he should stick with his own “rhythm”. It was nice that Serena was the one to remind him of this. I also thought it was hilarious how he kept saying “use rhythm” to do certain things. Like seriously, what do that even mean? I especially loved the battle against Machoke and seeing how resilient Fletchinder was. Oh, and that Focus Blast dodge was amazing, and I was surprised to see how quickly Machoke lost. Either he's really weak defense wise or Fletchinder is super powerful attack wise. Bonnie took the words out of my mouth when TR showed up. Seriously, it just took away from seeing Hawlucha battle MLucario imo, which I wasn't pleased with seeing as we only really saw him get knocked out afterwards. Well, at least Froakie and Fennekin got to do something here. I guess that's something.

It was pretty upsetting at seeing Bone Rush effect Hawlucha, especially after other move-type relationships had been going (Leech Seed on grass-types). But I was pleasantly surprised by Pikachu vs MLucario. Much better than his last Lucario battle for sure. I liked how he only really used Iron Tail to block some of Lucario's attacks and Quick Attack to boost the speed at which Pikachu used Electro Ball. Oh, and I of course loved the Rock Tomb climb reference.

So overall, I'm really glad Fletchinder got a win. I'm glad Hawlucha won too, but he's already had more focus on him in the last few episodes than Flechinder's been getting after 42. So yeah. Also glad that Fennekin and Froakie worked to stop TR from interrupting Ash. However, as I mentioned earlier, I feel Korrina's other Pokemon went down a bit fast. Especially Machoke, who only took 2 attacks; neither of which was even super effective. So with all of that in mind, I'll give a score of 7/10.
 
I think I covered off everything I could say about the battle itself when reviewing the episode in Japanese, so I'll just comment on the dubbing here.

This is one of a very small number of episodes where I cared about the music being changed - it just all seemed off for the tone of the gym battle and was very quiet in parts - but not in a dramatic way.

They also removed the text from Korrina's moves when introducing Lucario - which I wasn't expecting given how the other recent appearance of Japanese went through to the dub unaltered (Oak's Live Caster segment in BW128).
 
I almost turned this one off 4 minutes in after all the rhythm bullshit. Shut up!!!

The Power-Up Punch Lucario delivered to Fletchinder was devastating.
 
Moe said:
They also removed the text from Korrina's moves when introducing Lucario - which I wasn't expecting given how the other recent appearance of Japanese went through to the dub unaltered (Oak's Live Caster segment in BW128).
Click to expand...

Ugh I fucking knew it.

The dub's really been on a roll lately, huh?
 
Well, I must say that I'm not very happy with this episode.

First of all, Korrina's other two Pokemon went down WAY too early, so that those victories hardly seemed legit. But much more important to me was the eagerly anticipated showdown between Mega Lucario and Pikachu... And to sum it up in a few words: It wasn't a showdown but a letdown!
After all those episodes about Lucario's struggle, about trainer and Pokemon fighting hard to make their hearts become one and about how awesome Mega Lucario is in general, this is all Lucario can do? Seriously? I mean we're talking about Pikachu who often has a hard time against a random COD's Pokemon and we're talking about Mega Lucario who's supposed to be super extra powerful! Don't get me wrong, Mega Lucario definitely deserves all that praise and hype but what we got to see today wasn't the same powerful Lucario as in previous episodes.

So, my final opinion is that, figuratively speaking, Mega Lucario was put in chains today, while Pikachu got his usual power boost when it comes in handy for the writers.
Yes, I know that I'm a little bit prejudiced because I simply love Mega Lucario and don't want to see it lose but they could AT LEAST have made this battle a two parter with the second episode solely dedicated to Lucario vs. Pikachu. THAT would have been a worthy and dramatic showdown and maybe then Ash would have deserved to win that battle. But this was just a disappointing, unsatisfying episode with an unnecessary defeat...
 
Am I the only one who thought it was cheap of Korrina to Mega-Evolve Lucario? I know Ash wins in the end but I still saw that as unfair to him.
 
Leaving aside this weird urge to punch any person involved in the English dub of the series... I must say that was a pretty good paint edit.
 
This is everyone's one and only warning to stay on topic. As it has been said several times, the dub review threads are not a place to complain about the anime as a whole. Off topic posts will be deleted and infractions may be handed out if it continues.
 
*uses drain punch when already full HP*

I knew focus miss was gonna miss and it was still hilarious.

So 2-0, guess Mega Lucario will take out two guys then Pikachu takes out Lucario. It always annoyed me she didn't use Lucario in the gym battle in game. Since all I see are normal and fighting moves imagine if he did what I did and brought a Honedge...

With mega evolution it just shows they want all the gyms to be OP in this series xD uber in the third gym!

Lowering Pikachu's special attack whilst Flethinder is battling, so rude. I bet it doesn't even have any special moves like Korrina's in game... oh right, Aura Sphere. Of course, it's a Lucario...

"why do you even have to be here" so true Bonnie, so true. Please stop ruining the episode Team Rocket.

Wait, bone rush on a flying type? well there's the Lucario taking out both (who were both super effective) now for Pikachu to beat Lucario (who is resisted)


and lol two SE Pokemon can't beat Lucario

Great battle tbf. I thought a few times Volt Tackle would've been useful...

Aw no more Korrina.
 
So the Gym Battle commences.

I'm starting to wonder why Ash even thought he needed this Rhythm stuff to beat Korrina? I mean, yeah it works for Tierno, but he acts like the only way he can possibly beat Korrina is to use the Rhythmic Battle Style. Does he really lack confidence in himself so much?

Also, isn't having Pikachu dance for you cheating?

Ash is getting carried away again. -.- How do you use rhythm to dodge? And even worse: "Use Rhythm!" WTH Ash? Can you just punch the damn thing? It's pretty clear that Ash just ain't got rhythm (someone get that reference).

I know I'm complaining about this rhythm crap, but he figures out he doesn't need it five minutes into the episode? Then what the hell was the point of spending half of the last episode on him learning it?! And then there's that sh*t I don't like. Ash was clearly losing and then he nearly effortlessly just comes back and beats Mienfoo like it was nothing. Like, you you at least try to make it something like a battle? It doesn't help that he did the exact same thing for Machoke! It just feels like they're handing him these wins out of their asses rather than earning them. Though, she has Focus Miss on her Machoke so she doesn't really get my sympathy on this one.

"Why do you even have to be here?!" - Bonnie. Took the words right out of my mouth~ But not only did neither Ash, Gurkinn, nor Korrina see what happened up there, they apparently can't see the fading smoke or BIG ASS HOLE IN THE CEILING either! Seems logical. I have noticed that Serena does seem to be using Fennekin more to battle. So that is nice to see.

I love the subtle yawn from Dedenne. So cute~ Nice random-ass Saiyan burst of Thunder from Pikachu, too.

So Pikachu ends up getting the victory. Well, it didn't feel forced, so I can accept this victory for Ash~ And holy bananas, Korrina is tall as hell.

I guess the battle wasn't bad overall, but I still didn't really like the ones involving Korrina's other Pokemon. Ash beating them both just felt so forced and they had no choice but to have Mega Lucario curbstomp Ash's other two Pokemon right after to make it look more even. Perhaps if Mienfoo won her battle like she should have, it wouldn't have felt so one sided. Also, the thing with the rhythm being so quickly scrapped gives me mixed feelings. And once again, Team Rocket shows up for really no reason. I guess I'll give it a 4/10~
 
I don't really get why people were complaining about Bone Rush hitting Hawlucha, both here and in the Japanese thread. Why wouldn't it? The whole reason Flying types are immune to Ground in the games is based on the idea that shaking ground won't affect you if you're in the air. So when you're outside the Boolean, mathematical battling of the games, there's really no reason a bone or a thrown clump of mud shouldn't affect a Flying Pokemon, if it hits.
 
Please note: The thread is from 9 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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