Review XYS04: Mega Evolution Special IV

Nice episode to introduce the Zygarde plot I suppose.

Ok, can I just say how much I liked that they showed some of Sycamore's Pokemon playing while he was on the phone with Steven. Especially his cute little Zigzagoon.

Alright, I really loved the watch Key Stone holder that Venusaur's trainer had. Actually, I liked his entire design; including that umbrella he had. I also liked that Alain healed Charizard from poison with a Pecha Berry after the battle. Wow, Alakazam man keeps Alakazam's Mega Stone on its spoon. I sure hope he never loses that spoon, lol. And later we even get to see a potion healing. This is nice. It actually feels like how back to back battles are in the games.

Ugh, of course Marin is still stalking Alain. What does she mean "our journey" and she and Chespie got stronger? Alain never agreed to travel with her and she hasn't gotten the slightest bit stronger. Seriously, who the hell is she to insist that she travel with him just because she wants it? Man, if I was Alain, I would have roasted Chespie with MCharizard a long time ago.

I like how Malva, like Seibold, also didn't Mega evolve her mon at the immediate start of the battle. But lol, Alain, why start off using Flamethrower on a Fire type who has the possibility of having Flash Fire as an ability? I thought he’d be smarter than that. I also liked when Charizard and Houndoom were inching around the field while Alain and Malva were talking instead of just standing there. I was confused when Alain had Charizard use Blast Burn on Houndoom at the end, but then I remembered MegaHoundoom doesn’t have Flash Fire:p

I fail to understand why Marin is yelling at those assistants and throwing accusations at them when they are trying to help her Chespin. And to be honest, she let her Pokemon walk around a laboratory unsupervised, so whatever happened to Chespie is ultimately her fault. DAMN Alain's expression looked deadly at the end there. Not sure why he cares so much about seeing Marin smile, but whatever. Also nothing more to really say about Mairin. I still find her as annoying and pointless as I always have. I'm glad she didn't take up much time here fortunately.

I thought this was a nice episode, but it felt a bit odd having Alain's Mega battles and the Zygarde stuff happening all at once. It all seemed a bit clustered, but overall it was okay. 8/10
 
I agree that seeing the pecha berries and potion during the 10 battles was neat. It seemed to mirror elite four matches in the game. Since we know that Ash is going to meet Alain at some point I hope they don't have Ash win in a battle now that Alain has been shown to beat an elite four. Sometimes they seem to miss the boat on the relative strength of certain trainers, but Ash has never been close to beating an elite four with some of his best teams, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense.

I personally like Mairin and I would like to see her in a battle or something (of course not the point of mega evolution special since she can't use it). Although I might have missed it, I thought Lysandre told Alain that completing his quest of beating all mega evolved pokemon is how he can help Mairin and Cheapie, which doesn't make any sense at all. Anyway, all in all it was a good episode and has me excited for XYZ season.
 
What a nice episode. I really enjoyed watching the special without having to read subtitles. I believe the voice acting was great.

Unfortunately, they didn't keep the epic music at the end (where Alain shows his eyes of rage).

But I guess some audio editing will fix that.


sc190191 said:
Since we know that Ash is going to meet Alain at some point I hope they don't have Ash win in a battle now that Alain has been shown to beat an elite four.
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Yes, since Alain was capable of beating 10 mega evolved pokemon, with one of them being an elite four , I'm afraid that Ash has no chance of beating him in their first meeting.

Which, I believe, will be the reason for our old body, Charizard, to make his epic return in Kalos.

I can't wait to see those two facing each other in battle
 
What a great way to build up hype up for the XYZ series! I can't wait to see how things play out in the future regarding the whole Ash vs Alain thing too.
 
I liked the episode mainly because of the plethora of mega-evolved Pokemon and heated-up battles (though some of them were unnecessarily limited to one short shot). Also, Part IV once again proved why this whole special is a highly interesting alternative especially aimed at the older audience.

Mega Evolution Special's success is also due to the tension it's building up continuously. It raises more questions than it solves, and I haven't decided yet if that's a good or a bad thing. I'd say this questions ultimately depends on whether or not all those problems will be solved in the final episode and that's also when we will be either disappointed or totally excited.

On a sidenote, I found it interesting how ambivalent Alan's relationship towards Mairin was. First, he screamed at her and more or less urged her to leave him alone but then he became totally furious after learning that he wasn't able to protect Mairin and Chespie. (And by the way, those eyes were probably one of the most intense eyes I've ever seen in Pokemon besides Evil-Ash in Sinnoh). I think he's actually torn apart between a deep concern for her on the one hand and pursuing his dreams on the other. Very nicely done!

So all there is to say is that I'm really looking forward to the final episode and hope that it'll air soon
 
Queen Cynthia said:
I'm really looking forward to the final episode and hope that it'll air soon
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All the promotional material for this special in Japan heavily implied that Act IV was the final episode. It seems like the conclusion you're looking forward to will be taking place in the regular TV series.
 
I just hope those mega Trainers come back sometime. They seem like a colorful bunch. T'would be a great shame to waste such interesting designs and (apparent) over the top personalities on them being cannon fodder (barely seen fodder at that)...
 
I think the friendship between Alain and Mairin is the most powerful part of the side series. This was a good follow-up to Mega Evolution Special III and a good way to lead into the next one.

I'm still a little skeptical about Alain's Charizard defeating Malva's Houndoom. Houndoom got in so many hits and Charizard managed to destroy the floor with a Blast Burn that fainted Houndoom, which doesn't really seem right to me. With an agile Pokémon like Houndoom, I have a hard time believing that one Blast Burn - especially considering the Flash Fire Ability - could faint it no matter what happened to the battlefield. Also, just where did Lysandre find all of these Trainers? ...But that's getting a bit too picky.

I thought the scene between Alain and Mairin in the middle of the battles was done well. There was no way Alain could convince Mairin to stop following him without hurting her feelings, but especially after Mairin and Chespie saved him during the clash between Kyogre and Groudon, I think the argument about not getting stronger with her around is less likely to be the actual reason than his original assertion that she would be in danger tagging along with him. Alain obviously cares about Mairin, especially considering the episode's ending.

Speaking of the ending, Alain's expression as he walked away from Mairin and Chespie was... kind of terrifying. I guess my only complaint is that he's so bound and determined to see Mairin smile again when he's the one that crushed her hopes of staying with him in the first place. But that is more in line with the friendship the two have developed thus far.

There are some things I don't understand, like why Chespie decided to enter an obviously restricted place, how Zygarde managed to reach out to it, and what exactly happened to make it fall unconscious like that, but I think all of that will be explained later on.

I'll go with 9/10. Great setup for the next installment in my opinion, and I think the characters' actions throughout are very believable.
 
Aggron989 said:
With an agile Pokémon like Houndoom, I have a hard time believing that one Blast Burn - especially considering the Flash Fire Ability - could faint it no matter what happened to the battlefield. Also, just where did Lysandre find all of these Trainers?
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Houndoom's ability changes to Solar Power upon Mega Evolution, so Flash Fire's immunity would be a nonissue.

As for whee Lysandre gets the trainers, I like to believe that he either advertised a Mega-based tournament or something, thus making Lysandre Labs look more affable. Or Alain isn't the first person Lysandre has been manipulating.
 
What a way to end 2015...A perfect lead into Zygarde mythos for 2016, too.

And I gotta say, the voice acting was really impressive imo.
 
I instantly thought Weevil Underwood too.

I wanna know where all these people got the mega stones from.

I liked the usage of items on Alain's part, seems they don't get used in battle - which is something I approve of.

Some of the battles were good. Charizard was probably not going to lose any outside of the Houndoom though, they were all set up for him to win with type advantages. Even if Venasuar is neutral due to Thick Fat. I like that ablities played more of a role - though why did Alain not wait for Houndoom to mega evolve? the point was supposed to be defeating mega evolved Pokemon, so what would he have gained if he'd ended up one shotting Houndoom there? but yeah, decent.

Overall I think it suffered being only 20 minutes and the non battle parts were too rushed, so 50/50. Shame there's no more of this I guess and I hope it's not to barren in the main show for us to see what's going on.

Also the angry Alain wasn't done very well. Idk if that was just a dub thing.
 
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