day 1783 ash catches a tepig {bw4} day 1786 ash gets 1st badge, meets dr. fennel, cilan joins the group, ash catches a snivy {bw5,6,7}
If Torterra was a mirrored analogue for Bulbasaur, and Sandile can be likened to a lowly copy of Squirtle, then Tepig draws heavy allusions to Charizard back to his early days as an abused salamander. What is it with that, why do all the fire starters of Ash, except Quilava, have such depressing pasts? So Ash saves Tepig from starving to death and he joins up, and TR gets one last shot at wacky hijinks. Compared to the last three episodes, this one was simply amazing. Sadly the reprieve is over, back to your regularly scheduled rampant stupidity courtesy of best wishes.
So bw 5+6, they get to striaton. Iris continues to (hmm diplomatic way to put this), grate on every last one of my damn forsaken nerves, then Cilan shows up and I am severely underwhelmed. Unlike Iris, I don't hate Cilan however, like his co-star he has no personality of his own.
He fulfills the caretaker occupation of Brock, but is otherwise really bland. At least at first glance. Look deeper though, and you will begin to notice that his supposed to be funny over the top dialogue+actions take on a very dark turn when you assume that his metaphors about food as it relates to 'everything' are literal and then he becomes either a cannibal or a rapist. Now, this doesn't elevate him in a story context at all, but hey whatever gets me to tolerate ½ of the new main group is OK right? 2 points in his favor, his Japanese voice actor is also Light Yagami, and I like him a tiny bit more than Tracey at least.
The gym battle much like the majority of this series is a load of dung. Not that I'm not used to Ash having trouble with the 1st gym in a region like with Roark or that mock battle with Norman, but here for some reason it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I mean, per my theory as it concerns Ash's modus operandi post Johto, I'm fine with Pikachu losing to Panpour as an isolated event, they're holding back... it's just that when paired together with how Ash handles the other 2 rounds namely not pressing type advantage even though he should opting instead to fight fire with fire and take the short stick with Oshy against Cilan's Pansage.... and then considering that fight with Trip, it's like the writers are only allowing Ash to win fights he can't, shouldn't, or would have a hard time with while negating any obvious successful routes in a direct rebuttal to the smarter way Ash was battling in the latter half of Sinnoh; namely as a method to force drama by having the now very seasoned veteran appear as if this was his first week on the trail.
Forgot to mention Ash challenges all 3 of the waiter brothers, minor points for bravado. This of course is ruined by Iris sniping about how the gym doesn't usually work that way, Ash's disadvantageous team, and his poor battling skills. Do I have to choke somebody? Also when Ash goes to get his team healed, he has seemingly forgotten that all Nurse Joys look the same and has to be informed of that, (Do I have to choke somebody?) When he himself was the one that imparted that same wisdom on May and Dawn, both of whom along with Misty I'm seriously starting to miss.
While that's been happening TR, instead of Plasma, has been messing around with the dream yard and the musharna collecting info for Giovanni, Ash and the rest stop them before any damage is done, but their reconnaissance still goes off without any problems. Competency is great! I'm still irked it came out of left field like that though.
Cue bw7 still the same day, as Ash+Iris are about to partake in one of Cilan's meals for the first time. As for Ash's Snivy, I like her a lot more than the other flaky member of the group. (geddit? Snakes shed and I hate Iris? Anyone? <chirp-chirp>) Nice to have Ash have 2 confirmed females, the other being pidove, at once. Team Rocket gets briefed on a mysterious rival organization, Plasma, duh
bw8 is the first new filler, it's nothing to write home about and since I'm having trouble dealing with the mind numbing crucial plot eps I'd certainly advise skipping it. 9 reveals a # of things, for one Axew is a worthless waste of space who can't even take a severely weakened bullet seed attack while in a training exercise and is in fact Togepi with all her endearment removed and replaced with more fuck you're annoying, for another that Iris has an Excadrill whom I like already because he disobeys his trainer, and that whatever situation is gonna go down with both villainous teams... it's gonna be in the desert resort.
day 1792 ash again loses to trip...legitimately this time, sure he has some battling exp. now, but really I can't accept his victories over ash as being real. {bw10}
Trip continues to be a snide little elitist shit, they have a 5 vs 5, and Trip proves that he has obtained the powers of both PLOT-KAI and PLOT NO JUTSU as there is no other reason for Ash to lose, 0-3 especially, except for the authorial mandate that Ash can not accomplish anything without major setbacks until the end of a series, right before being ground into the dust of failure again.
Next time... Characters I actually like in Best Wishes?!!! Wait... what's the catch? Oh right, they don't get any damn screen time, I should have known. Eps 11-19
