Review XY125: The Kalos League Begins! The Mega Lizardon Showdown: X VS Y!!

The battles weren't fully shown
Ash's battle was just greninja vs altaria who was OHKOed

And diantha opening the league was nice.
Were the shortened battles in previous leagues?
 
League arcs usually last for about 7 episodes and there are at least two episodes dedicated to one big match. Battles as early as this were not as shorten or abridged compare to this episode but then again, no league has ever featured an Ash this competent before nor have they ever reached the finals aka Top 2. The highest rank Ash has ever gotten was the Top 4. This league seeks to break that record.

And I do love Ash's look after he has beaten that rogue trainer. It's serious and stern compare to his usually happy and hotblooded self. It reminds me of his game counterpart, Red, in his FireRed/LeafGreen official artwork. And that always makes me happy.
 
Rundown of the episode:

- The gang arrive in Miare City. Citron and Eureka make no effort to visit their dad or check on the gym... it's straight on to the league, which is set out like a full Olympic village which is pretty cool.
- Also at the league is Pachira reporting on the tournament with Team Rocket as her crew (Nyarth is standing on Sonans, which is pretty funny). She spots Satoshi and interviews him, which seems to piss off some random redhead for some reason.
- Later, Satoshi and friends are at a welcome buffet where they meet Shota, Tierno and Trova and briefly exchange greeting (with Tierno complimenting Serena on her Tripokalon performance). He also sees Alan and Professor Platene (who has no lines) reunite, however while Platene exchanges a hand Alan simply bows and walks off, saddenening Platene.
- Redhead (I don't know his name) challenges Satoshi to a battle and sends out his Trimmien. Satoshi is about to agree when the others stop him since it clearly isn't a good idea for now. Satoshi apologises as he leaves.
- The match-ups are sorted... Alan vs Trova, Satoshi vs random guy, Tierno and Shota against two no-name trainers who clearly are just there to fill the rankings.
- The League is declared open by Carnet, who has her own seat in the rafters which Platene. A ton of Yayakoma are released from a giant Poke Ball, because why not?
- Straight onto the match. This league has a very different feel to all the others, which I appreciate, it's clear XY's animators have gone all out to give us a league that seems fresh. First round matches are 3vs3 (take that, Isshu League) with the early leagues, a special field is selected and Alan and Trova get a rock field. Both send out their Lizardon.
- Trova Mega Evolves his Lizardon (the Mega Stone is on its tail) first and shoots a couple of moves at Alan's Lizardon. Alan then Mega Evolves too, and a brief exchange of moves is given (Trova's Lizardon now has Dragon Tail). Mega Lizardon Y shoots a Fire Spin however Mega Lizardon X fires Flamethrower and Trova's goes down... gee, that was fast.
- At this point, Satoshi leaves the stadium (I think its to try and get a better view or to be in a position to talk to Alan following the match). When in the corridor, Redhead finds him and challenges him again, refusing to let Satoshi pass. With no choice, Satoshi sends Pikachu to battle Trimmien.
- Trova sends out Ptera next, however we don't get to see much of the rest of the battle as it's intercut with Pikachu vs Trimmien (with the Pikachu match getting most of the attention, half of what we see of Alan vs Trova is on background screens because of course kids care more about Pikachu against random normal type than Lizardon vs Ptera).
- Don't ask me how, because we don't see it, but Ptera is quickly taken down by Mega Lizardon X. Trova sends out his final Pokemon, a White Flower Florges. Obviously, he quickly uses Moonblast to take down Mega Lizardon X... no, sorry, I made a mistake. Rather, he has Florges use Energy Ball (seriously Trova, you're meant to be smart so WTF?!) which Mega Lizardon X quickly takes care of with a Flamethrower which also knocks out Florges in one hit. Trova is out, and Trova is bummed. I don't blame him, that was embarrassing. Were the Gyms feeling charitable when he got his badges?
- It's time for Satoshi's match but he hasn't shown up, and the referee is about to disqualify him (with no Hiroshi to beg for more time). Satoshi finally appears at the last second apologising. We then see the end of the battle where Pikachu knocked out Trimmien, causing Redhead to cry like a baby. Satoshi leaves him to it.
- Battle begins, Gekkouga vs Tyltalis who has Draco Meteor as a move. Satoshi-Gekkouga quickly appears and absorbs the move, using its power to charge Water Shuriken up. This knocks out Tyltalis.
- And then... we don't get to see the rest of the battle. We're just told Satohsi won, as did Tierno and Shota. Seriously show, what the hell?! We wasted time on Satoshi and random guest trainer completely pointless battle and lost time that could have been spent on more important stuff like fleshing out Alan vs Trova or more of Satoshi's first round battle. Seriously, bad move show.
- Episode ends like that, with the gang looking at the board of first round victors. Very quick ending, clearly the writers were trying to cram everything into this week.
 
Maybe Redhead is a secret member of Team Flare, and probably be a spy for Lysandre. That, or some trollish sore loser.
 
Seriously rushed. 3 battles in one episode wasn't going to work. They choose to show most of the Furfrou vs Pikachu, but not the full league battles.
I hope Astrid vs Ash (from what it looks like in the preview) is fully shown. Next week is 2 battles... so eh, we'll see I guess.

Edit: From screenshots I saw on twitter it looked like Alain had Ludicolo and Blastoise, two Pokemon that Tierno has (shown in the preview). Yeaahhh no. Alain does not have those 2 pokemon.
 
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What was the entire point of the mohawk dude (Takeru is his name, right?). I mean yeah it could set up some storyline during the league but why? He doesn't even participate. Unless he has something to do with Team Flare, but that seems kinda unlikely? Anyway, it took away from some of the battles. As poorly developed as Trevor is, he didn't deserve such an awful league exit. At least we got to see other Pokémon of his... sort of. Just a couple of seconds. And a shame Ash's battle wasn't fully shown.
 
It would have been nice if ash remembered draco meteor climb and made greninja use it because continuity is a thing
 
Not the best opening to the Kalos League. The criminally underexposed Y fell to writers favorite X in a heartbeat just as I predicted all along and everything else felt ridiculously rushed. And I'm not surprised. I went in with low expectations anyway.
 
The battles here were nice ash-greninja used Draco meteor climb I was proud of that reference and I liked how everyone's reactions when they saw ash-greninja I wonder what the announcer was saying is ash a complete mysterious trainer as Tobias ? Can't wait until next league battle:D
 
I must add, this episode should have been called "The Kalos League Begins! The Mega Douchebag Showdown: Pikachu VS Trimmien!!" The focus on Ash vs Redheaded Roadblock really didn't need to happen, Trevor got sidelined here enough as it is without that taking up time...
 
Well, Ash is the show's main protagonist. The episode's title is misleading, but as I've said before, I haven't been reading too much into the episode titles translated from Japanese. As someone said before me in this thread, it should simply have been "Kalos league begins!"
 
Okay.... This was a BIT disappointing. Let's go to Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y. Simply all our hopes crashed. Simply the hope of Mega Charizard Y giving up a good fight crashed. SIMPLY the episode focused on a possible team flare grunt than his true league battle. SIMPLY mega Charizard X (though it's one of my faves) crashed up Mega Charizard Y, Aerodactyl, and Florges in OHKOs. Come on. Even battles involving the 4 OHKO moves last longer than that.

1st Mega Charizard X vs Y. That was the MOST disappointing battle in the whole 20 years of Pokemon. Mega Charizard Y gets knocked out by literally a single move, which is *sigh* fire type. And the one who designed mega Charizard Y's first shot out to be fired. It looks nothing like the sleek mega Charizard Y, and come on, those extra wings are used to fly BETTER and HIGHER. Mega Charizard Y, on its first shot looks as if its consumed a snorelax's pokemon food.

2nd Ash-Greninja vs Altaria. Though I'm a fan of Ash-Greninja, it was simply too OP, OHKOing a mega Altaria, who bears a resistance to water, and dark.

3rd Ash vs Redhead. Do I need to say anything. (It would only be worthwhile if it is a part of Flare climax)
 
This episode was a waste IMO. The whole Charizard battle was crap, they literally wasted Charizard Y on Trevor, and literally didn't even bother to show the whole battle in favor of Ash fighting some random monhawk guy he bunped into at first. Then the Altaro battle was also a rushed waste. Not a good start IMO.
 
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