Pokémon anime

In that case Ash will probably get Pikanium Z or Pikashunium Z for the Electric Trial.

edited 12th Jan '17 7:58:48 AM by WorldTurtle2

This is like the fourth or fifth time Ash has beaten a Hariyama owned by a important trainer/Gym leader. Brawly's in Dewford Gym in Hoenn, then Tyson's in the Hoenn league, then Greta's in the Battle Frontier, and now this.

I don't recall if Ash ever battled a Hariyama in DP through XY though. Its pretty funny when you see Ash beat the same pokemon over and over.

Eh, I don't know if I'd really see it as a pattern as you seem to if it hasn't happened for so long.

it's not as omnipresent as every Rock Gym Leader using an Onix XD

Not to mention Geodude. Brock, Roxanne and Roark all battled Ash with a Geodude.

True, but Grant got his Amaura swapped for Onix.

So in Sun and Moon, the Z Crystals are essentially the badges then huh?

In fact, you could view them as being both badges and TM's in one package to some extent.

It seem so. Its really the only way for the anime to show progression. They did the same thing in the Battle Frontier arc with the Frontier symbols, then of course with the Contests and the ribbons.

The anime's few signs of progression are the tokens Ash wins after defeating someone important. If they took that away, nobody would know what was going on.

To be fair, they serve the same purpose in the games too.

Fixed.

On that note, remember that Sophocles' precursor at the observatory had a different element. Ash will probably get the Steelium Z from the observatory trial. Of course, the question now becomes how will he get the Fightinium Z? Or will he even need it?

edited 12th Jan '17 6:28:23 PM by DonaldthePotholer

Heh, Hala is technically also an Elite 4 in the games. Does that mean Ash beat an Elite 4 member for the first time in the anime?

One interesting bit about the episode that bee the battle with Hala, Kukui says to Ash that he can probably only use one Z-Move at his current power level (with Pikachu and Rowlet). Something to consider.

Oh god. Is Pokemon turning into Dragon Ball Z? Monster Ball Z?

Fun Fact: Masaaki Iwane, a major Key animator for the Pokemon anime since the middle of the Kanto saga, was a key animator for a lot of Dragon Ball's best fight scenes in the anime. He's Key animated more episodes of this season of the show by himself then in any saga yet.

edited 12th Jan '17 7:35:55 PM by Demongodofchaos2

Tomioka is also writing for Dragonball Super currently, he wrote the first 5 episodes of the Zamasu/Goku Black arc and many others recently.

Meanwhile Tomioka was one of the best pokemon writers and has been with the anime since episode 3 where Ash captures Caterpie. I wonder how he feels writing for Ash for 20 years and not being able to take him beyond the boundaries of the anime?

I imagine he must be pretty frustrated.

Imagining writing a character for 20 years, and not being allowed to let them accomplish their one stated goal. It's pretty ridiculous.

I wonder how he felt about Shudo's originally planned grow up and get a real job ending for Ash?

I wonder how Shudo would've felt about the Eevium-Z subplot of Sun and Moon since it's right up that alley.

edited 13th Jan '17 10:56:34 AM by rmctagg09

"How is Pokeymans still a thing?" probably.

This episode didn't make any sense, either!

Why would Ash take that bowl of dog food with a hungry puppy and pika waiting at his feet and struggle to walk as the critters jump around his feet, only to then put down the bowl in the middle of the room and just on the edge of the carpet! It's gonna be a royal pain to get the food stains out of that thing! Jesus Christ!

"Middle of the Kanto Saga"? That's Iwane as an animation director. As a key animator, he's been working on Pokemon since episode 3!

Back then, Iwane worked at an anime support studio called Studio Cockpit. Those are studios that are called by bigger animation studios to help ease their workload, hence Toei and Dragonball Z. I'm guessing OLM hired the studio, realized that Iwane was a great asset and snatched him and his friends up to work for them in-house because once Pokemon started, Iwane's credits start to get less varied.

edited 14th Jan '17 3:20:13 PM by DS9guy

I like how everyone looks genuinely black except for the cute little sister character

To be fair, my sister's a little brown too compared to the rest of us.

At least Kiawe is the first genuinely black main character. Iris had brown skin but she wasn't intended to be black, and Brock's skin was always slightly darker than the rest of the cast too.

Is Kiawe even supposed to be black? He seems like some sort of islander... person type. I mean, Pokemon's a fantasy world, why would anyone there have Earth ethnicities?