Review XY044: Shara Gym Match! Pikachu VS Mega Lucario!!

[Adil]

XY044 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Sorry for the delay

 

[Dark/Legendary Master]

Hawlucha v. Mienfoo:
Pace was off initially but that was done on purpose as Ash realized he couldn't adjust to Tierno's rhythm and decided to use his own style of battling. Hawlucha tanked hits like a mofo and Mienfoo gave some pretty big ones but Flying Press finally gets a solid KO (barring the Froakie fight but that was a draw). Ash smartly recalling Hawlucha for the big fight afterwards.

Fletchinder v. Machoke:
Machoke initially starts physically dominatig Fletchinder but Flame Charge's speed boosts and its nimble frame eventually help him outspeed his opponent and get a key decisive win but not before tanking quite a bit of damage.

Fletchinder v. M-Lucario:
Fletchinder started off hot but was just too beaten up to really but up more offense. I wonder how a fresh Fletchinder would have done. Still it was pretty badass not seeing it succumb to Metal Sound and still landing a Flame Charge.

Hawlucha v. M-Lucario:
Sadly for Hawlucha, Ash insisting on initially using Tierno's style meant it took a lot of damage from Mienfoo and M-Lucario just overpowered it in the end

Pikachu v. M-Lucario:
Ash smarty kept Pikachu fresh while M-Lucario had already been through the cleaners and Ash had to use less head on strategies and go for more quick last second dodges than powerful impacts. Also Iron Tail came in clutch again, blocking what could have been a fatal Bone Rush and Ash using it to deflect and bounce off of Aura Sphere like he did to Grant's Tyrunt's Draco Meteor. Also I was going to slap Ash for using Quick Attack initially until he called for Electro Ball, which's power was increased due to the boosted speed. Pikachu's last second dodge at the end bought him the space and time needed for a last second Thunderbolt to win it.

All in all pretty solid Gym Battle. Yes TRio appeared but they didn't even do jack and Froakie and Fennekin got some exposure. M-Lucario's noobness at Mega Evolution showed and I doubt Ash would have had the same success against Gurkinn's or Alain's at this point, also traveling with Korrina for a while surely helped him gauge her fighting style a bit. Lucario curse is finally broken and Ash gets that Rumble Badge.

 

[Ampharos King]

LOL at Korrina's Pokemon's moves. They're almost all Fighting-type moves. Any challengers that use Ghost-type Pokemon would have had an easy time against Korrina. A Drifblim would have been immune to Lucario's Bone Rush as well.

 

[Grabbergirl]

The battle was awesome! What Korrina gives out the badges? I thought Gurkinn gave them out. Please make Korrina recurring she deserves it. Finally Gurkinn actually smiles! It's not the fake/emotionless smiles like he had in episode 31 and 33. It shows Gurkinn could actually seem happy and friendly for once despite being grouchy, mean, and ungrateful.

 

[Moe]

I came in with fairly low hopes given the 'Pikachu vs Mega Lucario' title - knowing how those battles went in the previous arc - but I was very pleasantly surprised.

For a moment briefly after Hawlucha and Flechinder won individual battles, I was almost thinking Ash would sweep the Gym, not have to put Pokemon up for a meaningless and unnecessary fall, recalling a Pokemon at the right time and letting them rest. Nope, we obviously need to make sure that neither of his other Pokemon can come out of things on top. Frustrating, but Hawlucha's awesome battle victory pose makes up for it.

Team Rocket get treated like they should be - a sideshow, a distraction, something to be quickly tossed aside. Bonus Froakie ninja and Serena battle time makes it not a worthless venture - Ash looking up the the clearing dust and it all being just fine is kinda cool. So all round, a good thing.

So the main event - Pikachu vs Mega Lucario...

I really hope I can read a lot into this episode, because two important things happened, Ash realised he needed to follow his own unique battle style, and then Pikachu relentlessly kicked arse. The Quick Attack just to make the Electro Ball happen sooner, turning around and quickly going into the next attack without worrying about being hit the last time, it was all Pikachu at his best, and while my worry coming into it was that this victory would feel cheap because of how much stronger Mega Lucario was shown to be earlier, Pikachu looked as strong as would justify the win.

Sure, Pikachu does bounce around in power to fit the plot - but those two things made me feel like there's something more going on here. Along with the little tiny nods to combination moves that we're seeing - sure a little bit of that happened in Unova as well, but let me dream...

 

[dman_dustin]

I cry foul on Bone Rush being used as a one-two step to knocking Hawlucha out. It should not have hit Hawlucha setting up for an aura sphere defeat. I call foul because it seems as if ground type immunity to electricity as well as ghost type immunity are the only immunities addressed. Hawlucha should have scored a flying press, then Hawlucha could've lost.

I don't like how Pikachu was used, but taking the battle by itself makes it NOT awful. However in context with the usage of Pikachu so far, it wasn't that great. But finally Ash defeats a Lucario. What I do disagree with the battle, is making Pikachu look superior to Hawlucha and Fletchinder, I get that they took damage prior to the battle, but I could swear, Hawlucha and Fletchinder would have had a better time against M-Lucario over Pikachu any day. The fact Pikachu saved the day unsettles me. But otherwise it was a fine battle. Probably Pikachu's best (yet really short) battle of the Kalos region.

Edit: To add, this has so far been the best gym battle yet.

 

[JacobYBM]

Woah, Fujii Shingo and Yanagi Ryuuta provided key animation. Ebara Yasuyuki provided second key animation. Three talented key animators not from Studio Cockpit working on Pocket Monster is a sight you do not see very often. It is something of a mysterious, to be honest. While it is understandable not everyone wants to work on Pocket Monster it is pretty surprising talented key animators don't try to make use of the series' stronger schedule. Then again, it's rare an episode even has enough drawings to make a talented animator spending him time to work on the series worthwhile.

Head Writer and Episode #44 Scenarist Tomioka Atsuhiro did a fine job with the scripting for this gym battle. Satoshi found he could not copy Tierno's rhythm, which makes perfect sense given Tierno has likely had years to develop such a style and understanding while Satoshi has had not even one year. I'm glad to see none of Satoshi's members lost to Corni's other two Pokémon. I do think Tomioka could have scripted an instance where it was visible that Hinoyakoma and Luchabull had dealt some damage to Mega Lucario that affected its performance against Pikachuu. I can understand if the sentiment from her or Series Director Yajima Tetsuo was that if Lucario did suffer from palpable damage from fighting the other two it would have hindered some of the grudge match feelings going into the fight. Oh, well. It is what it is.

Episode #24 "The Undersea Castle! Kuzumo and Dramidoro!!" will finally air 20 November 2014. It was originally set to air 24 April, but was skipped due to the sinking of the MV Sewol in South Korea.

 

[Sakuraa]

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 battle that Ash wins overall. I liked how the battle started wiith Ash trying to use Tierno's dancing techniques, inly for him to realize that he should stick with his own style. I especially loved the battle against Machoke. Fletchinder dodging that Focus Blast 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. I don't even know why TR was here. 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 got to get rid of TR. 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.

 

[Gabo2oo]

I don't really know how I feel about this episode. On one side, we have Ash realising he should rather use his own battle style, which is significant because it gives us even more continuity and characterization for Ash. We also have a cool twist with Froakie and the others fighting Team Rocket instead of them interrupting the battle or something, a great performance from Ash's Pokémon overall, and a callback to the previous Gym Battle.

On the other side, we have a somewhat weird animation where smooth and fluid scenes are randomly combined with static shots with no moving background, and, in my opinion, a terrible conclusion for the episode: everything was going well until V (Volt) started playing. First of all, I think it was a bad choice to use the opening theme there. I mean, the long-awaited clash between Electro Ball and Aura Sphere totally seems like the climax of the battle, specially because of how the scene is played and the visuals. Yet the music completely nullifies that feel. Mute the audio and imagine that another, more serious BGM (like Best Wishes' To Each Future, f.e.) was used instead. It would have made the final blow a hundred times better.

Secondly, that pacing at the end was horrible. 45 seconds is not long enough to say goodbye to characters like Korrina and Lucario, and once again, the music didn't help at all either. The fistbump and all of that was good, but it still felt fast-paced. There's no need to find out where the next Gym is right away because that could be done in the following episode. The pacing could also have been balanced a bit by having the BGM start playing after the sunset scene begins, but since it started playing when Ash was first handed the badge, everything turned out to feel even more rushed than it was.

I guess I could say the episode was good, but it just ended with the worst possible last impression.

 

[Odinn]

I thought Ash will be defeated and there'll be a rematch. Although it happened in first gym-battle and we have a delayed battle with Clemont already. But I'm unhappy with the battle.

- There were too many scenes just focusing on Serena's concerns.
- Tierno wasn't that strong personality to change Ash's battle style. There was no point of trying Tierno's style.
- Hawlucha's turnaround was cheap, IMO. It just took 2 non-super-effective move to take Mienfoo down.
- Machoke crushing down Fletchinder to do ground seemed a lot stronger that Lucario's one. Wasn't Lucario the all super-powered one?..
- I didn't like the fact that Hawlucha and Fletchinder didn't do enough damage to Lucario, so Pikachu could pull a win against it. A pre-sequel about Ash training Pikachu just for Korrina would make this episode more reasonable. I know there were many episodes focusing on Lucario vs. Pikachu but the difference between was sooo obvious. Pikachu looked like it's on par with Mega-Lucario suddenly?..

 

[DashingFox]

Loved the battle. XY is still going strong!

Though the wins/losses went exactly as I predicted, there were times in both of Hinoyakoma's and Luchabull's first battles that I swear they would've lost. That really kept the battle interesting and I'm glad they each got victories. Also, look at the regional flier being used in three gym battles in a row! Hurrah!

As for Pikachu, I'll admit - I was very impressed with him. I was really expecting some random come from behind strategy with M-Lucario dominating for most of the match, but it was such a pleasant surprise to see how well they fought. It wasn't cheap at all, reminded me of how he took control of the final battle against Zakuro.

So in short: fanstiastic gym battle. Eager for the 4th one.

 

[dman_dustin]

Secondly, that pacing at the end was horrible. 45 seconds is not long enough to say goodbye to characters like Korrina and Lucario, and once again, the music didn't help at all either. The fistbump and all of that was good, but it still felt fast-paced. There's no need to find out where the next Gym is right away because that could be done in the following episode. The pacing could also have been balanced a bit by having the BGM start playing after the sunset scene begins, but since it started playing when Ash was first handed the badge, everything turned out to feel even more rushed than it was.

I guess I could say the episode was good, but it just ended with the worst possible last impression.

Korinna's been in 6 episodes, she doesn't need a long goodbye scene.

 

[Gabo2oo]

Secondly, that pacing at the end was horrible. 45 seconds is not long enough to say goodbye to characters like Korrina and Lucario, and once again, the music didn't help at all either. The fistbump and all of that was good, but it still felt fast-paced. There's no need to find out where the next Gym is right away because that could be done in the following episode. The pacing could also have been balanced a bit by having the BGM start playing after the sunset scene begins, but since it started playing when Ash was first handed the badge, everything turned out to feel even more rushed than it was.

I guess I could say the episode was good, but it just ended with the worst possible last impression.

Korinna's been in 6 episodes, she doesn't need a long goodbye scene.

Six episodes that were completely focused on her, she does need a longer goodbye scene. Or perhaps not even longer but simply less rushed, it felt like it was shoehorned at the last minute.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

Well, we have a highly anticipated gym battle - and surely one of the most anticipated Kalos League gym matches - and for the most part, I have to say that I am content. Hawluch should've technically not taken damage from Bone Rush; but, whatever. I'm glad that all of Ash's Pokémon got a chance to shine, by getting a win against each of Korrina's Pokémon. I also like that Team Rocket didn't get to interrupt the battle, because they were stopped by Ash's friends this time.

Overall, a fine gym battle, and by far the best one in XY so far.

 

[dman_dustin]

Secondly, that pacing at the end was horrible. 45 seconds is not long enough to say goodbye to characters like Korrina and Lucario, and once again, the music didn't help at all either. The fistbump and all of that was good, but it still felt fast-paced. There's no need to find out where the next Gym is right away because that could be done in the following episode. The pacing could also have been balanced a bit by having the BGM start playing after the sunset scene begins, but since it started playing when Ash was first handed the badge, everything turned out to feel even more rushed than it was.

I guess I could say the episode was good, but it just ended with the worst possible last impression.

Korinna's been in 6 episodes, she doesn't need a long goodbye scene.

Six episodes that were completely focused on her, she does need a longer goodbye scene. Or perhaps not even longer but simply less rushed, it felt like it was shoehorned at the last minute.

Apologies, I meant 7, forgot that the Mega Evolution Arc with Korinna was 5 episodes instead of 4.

But that's my point, she's been in so many episode for a gym leader, that she doesn't need a long goodbye.

She introduced us to the troubles/problem with Mega Evolution, some background on mega evolution and introduced herself as Gym Leader of Shalour City. And Ash defeated her. She didn't need a long goodbye because she did was she was supposed to do.

A long goodbye scene wouldn't have made any sense. Because really outside of Ash winning the Rumble Badge, nothing really happened with Korinna. Ash didn't get a mega ring, and I seriously doubt this will be the last episode Korinna will be in. If the rest of the XY series gets mega evolution heavy down the road.

So yeah, she's done for the moment. Time to move onto other characters now.

 

[Alola]

I have very mixed feelings about this episode.

Firstly, Ash’s initial change of battle style. I just can’t comprehend it, really. He happens to see another trainer have his Pokémon do little jigs in battle, and all of a sudden he then decides to have all of his own drop everything and follow suit? That’s real original. Not to mention, Ash has literally spent years developing and honing his own battle style that has explicitly been noted so many times. So explicitly, that even another main character copied and tried to make it her own (it was that effective and influential). And with personal, unique feats like the counter shield, it makes me wonder why Ash would forgo all that for something so…foreign.

Not to mention, if the battle didn’t make things any clearer, he evidently didn’t even practice the dance routine long enough for Hawlucha, and assumedly the rest of his Pokémon, to be comfortable with it. Thus consequently, Hawlucha ended up taking much more damage than it should. And it also feels like a big slap in the face to Hawlucha as we had a whole episode devoted to establishing its own unique battling style. And as we learned from Dawn and Togekiss, a trainer adjusts to the Pokémon and enhances their talents, not the other way around.

Once common sense caught up however, the battles became much better. Hawlucha taking down Mienfoo was short, sweet and to the point (it was also good to see Mienfoo animated in general). I loved Hawluchas badass victory pose followed by its ever amazing theme. However I was severely disappointed when it lost so abruptly to Lucario. Next up was Fletchinder who I was dying to see. Its battle was short too, but very exhilarant with both Fletchinder and Machoke trading blow for blow. See Ash? This is has been and always will be your battling style. Stick with it.

As for Lucario, I can’t really say anything because we all know how it was going to end (despite Pikachu’s earlier attempts at besting the Aura Pokemon). I will say this though-it’s very interesting how Pikachu finished off the Gym Leaders signature Pokemon with Thunderbolt yet again. This makes for three times now. Also, I liked how Korrina dropped Swords Dance in favor of a Metal Sound + Aura Sphere combo.

I also really liked how Team Rocket was handled by Serena and Clemont. They bluntly pulled a “YOU SHALL NOT PASS” without batting an eyelash. A shame though that they didn’t let their starters stay and watch the battle (I really liked how Ash visbly saw them recall said starters from afar). Also, loved Dedenne’s occasional tired/bored expressions. I appreciate the little things like those.

Lastly, I agree with Gabo. That conclusion was very lackluster, considering the amount of time and character development we’ve received with Korrina and Lucario. It certainly could have been a lot more heartfelt than that, with more substantial goodbyes and maybe even a memory montage or two. Heck, they even gave her a heavy dialogue focused focus episode right before the very gym battle! And why does Ash have to rely on a Gym Leader to reveal another Gym Leaders location? As Gabo said, that trope could have easily been covered in the next episode. Or the gang could just plan to visit the city anyway to take a break (as it is a resort city). I did adore those dual fist bumps at the end though.

Overall, this episode had ups and downs. After Ash came back down to reality, the ensuing battles were great and well animated. I just didn’t like the random dance battling and the rushed goodbye. Also, why for heaven’s sake wasn’t the gym battle music used in the gym battle? I really love that piece, but whoever is in charge keeps being a jerk and not playing it, instead opting to play every other piece under the sun. I don’t think any other series has used the standard trainer battle and wild Pokémon battle as much as XY has (or will).

 

[dman_dustin]

I have very mixed feelings about this episode.

Firstly, Ash’s initial change of battle style. I just can’t comprehend it, really. He happens to see another trainer have his Pokémon do little jigs in battle, and all of a sudden he then decides to have all of his own drop everything and follow suit?

He did it because Tierno beat him, and he thought his own battling style was lacking. So he decided to adopt the strategy to help him be a better trainer. It just didn't work because Ash isn't good at it.

 

[Alola]

I have very mixed feelings about this episode.

Firstly, Ash’s initial change of battle style. I just can’t comprehend it, really. He happens to see another trainer have his Pokémon do little jigs in battle, and all of a sudden he then decides to have all of his own drop everything and follow suit?

He did it because Tierno beat him, and he thought his own battling style was lacking. So he decided to adopt the strategy to help him be a better trainer. It just didn't work because Ash isn't good at it.

I know why he did it, it was more of a rhetorical question. I just don't like how one loss to another trainer who has a unique battle style causes Ash to want to drop his and utilize said persons battle style. Now if he adopted certain elements and mixed it in with his own, then fair enough. But just blatantly copying someone else when what you have already is great really irked me. It's like everything he worked on and accomplished from Indigo to Sinnoh was thrown under a bus (well momentarily). Not to mention, it appeared as if he didn't take much time to fully develop Tierno's dance style anyway. It looked like a halfhearted effort.

 

[novalysis]

I thought the main benefit of Dance Battling was superior co-ordination and timing? If that's that's the case, Ash shouldn't have copied the style whole sale in actual battle - he'd never be able to battle that way, and should have recognized that the key was to incorporate the idea of rhythm to improve his timing and co-ordination with his Pokemon, not copy it wholesale. But then again, this is Ash we are talking about, he clearly never really thought things through, which fits characterization... but still....

Also, I wonder how different X&Y would have been if Korrina took Serena's companion slot instead (ie: the anime opts for the two gym leader approach again.) It just seems that Korrina is too fleshed out and multi-dimensional to be a simple character of the week or even character of the arc. I really wondered whether the pre-season storyboards actually considered the two gym leader companion approach at one point, but finally decided to go for Serena instead - and Korrina's surprising levels of development and characterization was actually a left over from initial planning. This, mind you is just speculation, but I find Ash and Korrina's character dynamic quite intriguing, in a way Ash and Serena's dynamic ever accomplished (to be fair, Serena is a welcome replacement from Iris "such a child", and her character arc is probably deliberately slow ).

 

[Johtohfiller]

I could have done without Team Rocket. Yeah, they let the Kalos starters have some action, but I'd rather have seen more of Hawlucha vs. Lucario.

Iron Tail confirmed as Pikachu's best move.

I hope they bring up the dancing thing again next time Tierno is in an episode, I don't want them to drop it entirely.

I'm really looking forward to watching this one subbed. It was a really fun episode to watch but I get the impression there were some pretty significant lines and I feel like I'm missing a lot without knowing what they're saying.