Review XY119: Rival Showdown! Satoshi VS Shōta!!

Interesting episode. I'll do a run-down...

- Episode begins with Satoshi battling against a trainer's Hassam and winning. Soon after he's approached by Shota.
- As we saw in the preview, Shota has all the badges he needs to enter the League. Shota is impressed when he learns Satoshi battled Carnet. The two soon agree to battle.
- Meanwhile, Junsa and a police squad investigate a forest and are suddenly attacked several giant vines. Team Flare is responsible (I don't speak Japanese, so can't tell you if this was intentional or accidental). Z2 is now in Fleur-de-lis's office it seems.
- The battle begins, Onvern vs Nidangill. Nidangill begins boosting its defence with Iron Defence, making me wish Onvern had a new move in its set...
- ...and my wish is granted, as Onvern busts out Dragon Claw. Nidangill is defeated.
- Next up is Bloster, and it uses a Mega Launcher powered Dragon Pulse against Onvern who goes down.
- Satoshi uses Luchabull next (has anyone noticed how Satoshi never uses Pikachu anymore in trainer battles, not that I imagine many mind this). Bloster uses Ice Beam which scores a direct hit and Luchabull is knocked out. Poor guy, doesn't do anything for weeks and he's taken out like a chump when he is finally called upon.
- Satoshi sends out Gekkouga who makes quick work of Bloster with a Cut. One left on each side now.
- Shota send out Jukain last, and the two Pokemon begin a hard fought battle. Soon Satoshi begins to unlock Satoshi-Gekkouga. The XYZ theme starts up and... it fails and Gekkouga doesn't transform (although it does speed up so fast it can't be seen by anyone for a few seconds)! Satoshi is left weakened from this, and this allows Jukain to get in a hit with Leaf Blade. Satoshi loses!
- Satoshi of course takes it in his stride. Shota decides to travel with them to the last Gym.

So yeah... Satoshi-Greninja failed totally this week. I'm wondering what this means for the gym battle. Also, Shota is clearly on Satoshi's level now battling-wise so he'll definitely be a main opponent in the league.
 
So surprising, but it looked like a necessary thing to happen. It's good that Noivern won, and Dragon Claw! So yeah, Ash will hopefully win now in the league.
 
It's nice for Sawyer that he could bend the rules and have Clawitzer use Heal Pulse to heal itself lol.
 
Congratulations Anime team! Thanks for giving us a completely valid reason why Ash can lose the league this time.

And so their trial is the out of nowhere sudden failure of Ash Greninja? Really, count me out of this arc. I am done at this point.
 
Mareepy said:
Congratulations Anime team! Thanks for giving us a completely valid reason why Ash can lose the league this time.

And so their trial is the out of nowhere sudden failure of Ash Greninja? Really, count me out of this arc. I am done at this point.
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First of all, isn't the whole point of Satoshi losing control of the Satoshi-Gekkouga process being to show him mastering it. They've set up this plot, I doubt they'll follow it through and have Satoshi totally get control of it.

Second, how is this sudden? Satoshi has been losing control of it since the second battle with Alain... hell, we saw it had drawbacks once it was revealed he was being weakened by it. I don't understand how this has come out of nowhere.
 
WatcherMark said:
First of all, isn't the whole point of Satoshi losing control of the Satoshi-Gekkouga process being to show him mastering it. They've set up this plot, I doubt they'll follow it through and have Satoshi totally get control of it.

Second, how is this sudden? Satoshi has been losing control of it since the second battle with Alain... hell, we saw it had drawbacks once it was revealed he was being weakened by it. I don't understand how this has come out of nowhere.
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Tsutarja said:
LOL "sudden failure". The form hasn't been under control ever since its debut.
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1. Since when did Ash-Greninja lose control? Are we watching the same show?

2. All long is that they didn't manage to stay on sync for a long battle, and it may be because it takes a toll on Ash, but never that they just flat out not be able to be on sync. So yes it is out of nowhere.
 
After seeing this episode I have to say, it was really good and Ash-Greninja fails for the 1st time? I'm actually surprised but should've expected it due to them fainting so much and besides Sawyer put in work which also was a surprise since he beats him. Well, also I like that Noivern learns Dragon claw so more development for our Dragon here and at the end man the league couldn't look any closer with how things are going!
 
Mareepy said:
1. Since when did Ash-Greninja lose control? Are we watching the same show?

2. All long is that they didn't manage to stay on sync for a long battle, and it may be because it takes a toll on Ash, but never that they just flat out not be able to be on sync. So yes it is out of nowhere.
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You do realise that Ash himslef has said that he has little control over when the transformation happens, heck it didn't happen against the battle with Luxray as well which is why they called it off. Ash Greninja only seems to happen in a tense situation or when Greninja is struggling which it wasn't when Ash tries to force the Ash-Greninja transformation this episode as Greninja wasn't struggling at that point nor was he in a tense situation.
 
Lysandre-Fan said:
You do realise that Ash himslef has said that he has little control over when the transformation happens, heck it didn't happen against the battle with Luxray as well which is why they called it off. Ash Greninja only seems to happen in a tense situation or when Greninja is struggling which it wasn't when Ash tries to force he Ash-Greninja transformation this episode as Greninja wasn't struggling at that point nor was he in a tense situation.
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No control over transformation =/= losing control. Ash never lost control of Ash Greninja, as in Korrina's Mega Lucario.

He never gained control of the process of transformation, but also never lose control of Ash Greninja too. So what exactly did he lose control? The one he didn't lose or the one he never gained?

WatcherMark said:
Since the Alain battle, when it causes him to faint. You even quoted the post where I stated that.
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Really? I already explained that.

Refer to 2.

And above. You can't lose control over a thing you never have control at.
 
Mareepy said:
So yes it is out of nowhere.
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Ash/Greninja do not have full mastery of the transformation.

If they did Ash would never faint and Ash/Greninja could stay in that form for a much longer amount of time. It is clear that they have yet to gain full control. Greninja transforming for a short time doesn't equate Ash and Greninja being in full control over when that transformation happens or how long it lasts.
 
Mareepy said:
No control over transformation =/= losing control. Ash never lost control of Ash Greninja, as in Korrina's Mega Lucario.

He never gained control of the process of transformation, but also never lose control of Ash Greninja too. So what exactly did he lose control? The one he didn't lose or the one he never gained?
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Woops was supposed to say that Ash himself can't force the transformation to happen yet since he has no control over when the form activates.

Also remember that Ash and Greninja have to be in FULL SYNC for the transformation to occur other it will never initiate for example vs Luxray.
 
Tsutarja said:
Ash/Greninja do not have full mastery of the transformation.

If they did Ash would never faint and Ash/Greninja could stay in that form for a much longer amount of time. It is clear that they have yet to gain full control. Greninja transforming for a short time doesn't equate Ash and Greninja being in full control over when that transformation happens or how long it lasts.
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Now some question. When did Ash and Greninja managed to be on sync? What is the similarity between the situation? And then why is this time considered a different situation? Is there any indication of this time being different?

Just ask yourself. No need to answer me as I don't want to care about this episode anymore.
 
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Mareepy said:
And so their trial is the out of nowhere sudden failure of Ash Greninja? Really, count me out of this arc. I am done at this point.
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Lysandre-Fan said:
Woops was supposed to say that Ash himself can't force the transformation to happen yet since he has no control over when the form activates.

Also remember that Ash and Greninja have to be in FULL SYNC for the transformation to occur other it will never initiate for example vs Luxray.
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Yes, we cannot just jump into assumptions and declare the anime as having jumped the shark. Not everything has to be 100% accurate, and expect occasional failures, even if we do not yet know why.
 
I think the whole point of the episode was to show the negative consequences of Ash trying to rely on Ash-Greninja all the time to win battles which ultimately resulted in him getting distracted and losing the match. This all leads to the upcoming "Dawn of Evolution" episode where Ash realizes from the wild Pokemon that he shouldn't rely on the evolution to win him matches but rather battle naturally without worrying about the evolution since that's when Ash and Greninja do their best.
 
I'm sort of glad Ash lost here. I was afraid they'd leave Shota's accomplishment until the league were he would defeat Ash there. But now seeing that he managed to score a win + other characters acknowledging his growth means he doesn't have to have a win handed to him in a last battle with Ash. This makes me more confident about Ash's chances in the league. Now, I don't mind that Ash couldn't bring out Greninja's transformation, what with him having no control of it, not being in synch and his aforementioned black-outs in the previous 2 battles, but it does bother me that he seems to do it right in the next episode. I mean no way their issues would get solved that fast.
 
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