I must say, I’ve forgotten how much I enjoyed the “Pokémon World” opening, especially given how much I’ve been listening to it lately. One quick link to it, then I'm going to get to the really fun stuff.
We open proper on Ash, Misty, and Tracey heading to Pummelo Island for the final challenge in the Orange Islands, leading to our title for the first of this two-parter: "Hello Pummelo!"
After Ash registers for the tournament, he's taken on a brief tour of the hall of fame as we get a brief montage of the challenges that he's had to overcome on his journey through the Orange Archipelago. In many ways, it's kind of like a precursor to how the Sun and Moon series blended the usual action/adventure elements with more unconventional challenges in an island archipelago setting.
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| Clockwise from top left: Cissy, Rudy, Luana and Danny, the "Orange Crew." |
It also turns out that this time around, the challenge is against the reigning undefeated champion: Drake! I made sure to point out this detail before the battle officially begins, especially with what I have in mind later on.
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| "I'm a dragon master, esé, please stop sending me jokes about Hotline Bling." |
His champion Dragonite is also able to send Team Rocket blasting off in the first act with a single Hyper Beam, I already have a joke in mind for that, but I'm going to wait a bit to use it.
Since the battle will be a full 6 VS 6 match, Ash determines who he will use for his fight against Drake tomorrow morning. Most of his current roster is raring to go, but his Snorlax is currently out after a good meal. So, he decides to swap it for one of his 30 Tauros at Oak's lab. Yeah, that takes me back to watching this as a kid without any knowledge of where he got them in The Legend of Dratini.
As Team Rocket tries to regroup on the beach, a truck telling of the match tomorrow gives Meowth a great idea: to steal Dragonite AFTER he's all tuckered out! Yes, because that strategy has worked out so well before! In fact: maybe I'll marry Daisy Ridley!
The day of the tournament has come, and as Ash prepares to face off against Drake, the two share the traditional handshake before the battle begins; and I am about to share something that I have enjoyed ever since I was eight years old.
Ash of course leads with Pikachu, and Drake counters with Ditto! I must say, since his first encounter with Duplica, there's a lot of progress made with fighting Ditto. To me, it's not a lack of progression for "Ashy Boy" and more of a refusal to acknowledge what there actually is. Honestly, it's almost as bad as Nina in Code Geass in some circles.
We pick up with the light cleared, and it's a double KO! With Lapras and half of Drake's team down, the field changes to the ground type and the second part of the match begins! As Team Rocket waits to make their move and Ash briefly does some calisthenics during the field change: sometimes it's the little touches that make these episodes so much fun after all these years.
The next heat is between Drake's Venusaur and one of Ash's Tauros! Though Venusaur is a powerful frog with a tree growing out of its back (a ghostly owl with a cloak made of leaves is different from that how exactly?), and Tauros does initially have trouble with the sandy terrain; Tauros does come out with another win!
After that, Ash sends out Bulbsaur, and Drake counters with Electabuzz! Though Bulbasaur has a type advantage, he's ultimately overwhelmed by Electabuzz's sheer raw power! That's actually not a total stretch, as someone who's both been caught off guard and taken advantage of the CP in doing raids for Pokémon Go.
The day of the tournament has come, and as Ash prepares to face off against Drake, the two share the traditional handshake before the battle begins; and I am about to share something that I have enjoyed ever since I was eight years old.
The referee also explains that after three of any fighter's Pokémon faint; the field will change, which is something that has become commonplace in many subsequent tourneys. I will not let them dwell on me too much, especially as they're one of the reasons I subconsciously list competitiveness as a flaw on my résumé. The first field is on the basic ground, with a body of water in the center.
Ash of course leads with Pikachu, and Drake counters with Ditto! I must say, since his first encounter with Duplica, there's a lot of progress made with fighting Ditto. To me, it's not a lack of progression for "Ashy Boy" and more of a refusal to acknowledge what there actually is. Honestly, it's almost as bad as Nina in Code Geass in some circles.
Though Ditto did copy Pikachu's move pool, they didn't manage to get the actual fighting style down; and Ash wins the first heat! Especially remarkable, as this Ditto is mentioned to have psyched out several previous opponents.
Drake's second monster is Onix, and Ash calls back Pikachu for now in favor of Squirtle! To think people say he doesn't care about type balances. To be fair, some of them can catch me off-guard: even my latest trip through Kanto in my copy of Let's Go Pikachu is surprisingly challenging even without every modern feature from newer games.
Though Onix tries to use Bind on Squirtle, he quickly uses Withdraw is able to eke out a Hydro Pump! Following up with a Skull Bash, Ash defeats Onix and wins the second heat! I guess when you don't have safety sprinklers to activate, you make due with what you've got.
Drake then sends out his Gengar, and when Tauros proves ineffective, Ash instead decides to use Lapras, and the first part ends on their Night Shade and Ice Beam attacks colliding in a flash of light! To be continued, right now!
After a brief "previously-on" reel of the last episode, we get the second half of this two-parter: "Enter the Dragonite!"
We pick up with the light cleared, and it's a double KO! With Lapras and half of Drake's team down, the field changes to the ground type and the second part of the match begins! As Team Rocket waits to make their move and Ash briefly does some calisthenics during the field change: sometimes it's the little touches that make these episodes so much fun after all these years.
The next heat is between Drake's Venusaur and one of Ash's Tauros! Though Venusaur is a powerful frog with a tree growing out of its back (a ghostly owl with a cloak made of leaves is different from that how exactly?), and Tauros does initially have trouble with the sandy terrain; Tauros does come out with another win!
After that, Ash sends out Bulbsaur, and Drake counters with Electabuzz! Though Bulbasaur has a type advantage, he's ultimately overwhelmed by Electabuzz's sheer raw power! That's actually not a total stretch, as someone who's both been caught off guard and taken advantage of the CP in doing raids for Pokémon Go.
Now, Ash sends in Charizard, and despite a type disadvantage, he's raring to go! I am working on my positive recap of "Charizard's Burning Ambitions" as one of my final Johto recaps, just a heads-up.
Though Electabuzz does get some good licks in, Charizard is able to win with one Seismic Toss! It's a real thrill seeing that attack in HD in my Let's Go Pikachu game. With Electabuzz down, Drake takes the Poké Ball hanging from his neck to reveal his ace, which made him the undefeated champion: Dragonite!
Though Ash's remaining Pokémon put up a good fight, one by one; Dragonite KOs Charizard, Tauros and Squirtle thanks to its strong resistance against most types that aren't its own or ice! Fairy type wouldn't come for about 13 years, and with it numerous jokes about cute pink dragon slayers.
Team Rocket also tries to steal Dragonite as it keeps taking damage, but their attempt goes little better the second time; as Drake once again tells Dragonite to send them blasting off. Maybe consider taking up the harmonica, fellas.
Now, the final heat has come; with Dragonite against Ash's Pikachu! Though Ash's Pikachu has quite the challenge at hand, much like its trainer, it persists!
I must say, even though this battle may not be the top-tier animation whenever Iwane is involved, Yusaku Takeda is actually doing a good job with this part. While the outcome may often be what rankles many fans, for me; the journey is every bit as entertaining as its destination if not more. I will explain about this further in a bit, but it's kind of like Scooby-Doo in some respects: I have a solid of idea of what will happen, it's seeing how that's the interesting part.
While Dragonite tries to recharge from its last Hyper Beam, Pikachu gets on top of Dragonite's head and unleashes a critical hit with one last Thunder attack!
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| You've been THUNDERSTRUCK! (Apologies to Little Onix for using this joke.) |
So, as Drake congratulates Ash on his victory; we get the photograph and hand prints of our victors as Ash prepares to head home with his trophy in hand!
While other parties may debate about the true nature of this victory, I still submit that I get a kick out of these episodes every time I put them on. Though this season may not be my favorite, this fight is easily on the list of my favorite battles of the entire series. I still don't know what will happen with the plans for the Alola League, but this is a good model to follow for that. Just in case: I'm hedging my bets with 50 Quatloos apiece on each competitor.
I also would have no objections to another series in a darker vein following other characters (maybe expanding the model for Origins and Generations into something like the Netflix Castlevania series), but you would have to be very careful not to screw it up. If you do, that's something that could turn the next generation of fans into nihilists; threatening to cut off someone's "Johnson." I can understand some people's feelings to a fault, but others go way past the fault; and that's the kind of mentality that got mocked in "The (Edit) War for Ash's Freedom to Not be Betrayed."
As for a potential PG-13 rating for the Detective Pikachu movie: I'm honestly OK with that. That's about as high as I would go, since it would be no different than a typical Star Wars or Marvel Cinematic Universe film if they pulled it off. It doesn't have to be like another overblown Transformers film (Bumblebee seems to be the first one that isn't glorified blockbuster fluff), but casting Ryan Reynolds in the title role almost had the Deadpool mashups make themselves. Still, I can openly admit as I finish this that I'm a man that likes both silly, family-friendly works about pocket monsters and Hard-R superhero dark comedies about foul-mouthed Canadian antiheroes. I only have a little bit more I want do to this year, so I'm making the remaining days of 2018 count. I have more to do before then, but I definitely will have all of what I have left posted before the clock strikes midnight. I will have made a decision on a new potential blog for 2019 after Christmas; so I will get back to work on my next recaps as well as getting further in Let's Go Pikachu (just about to challenge Celadon Gym). That's all for now. See you, space cowboy.
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