Pokémon anime

Here is the ultimate problem with Ash vs Hau

Hau NEVER STOOD A CHANCE

This is almost basically pounded into us the moment Rowlett gets back up and wins... Hau's mon struggled to its feet... Rowlett decided it could just take a nap and wasn't worse for wear... Thats how tense the fight is...

You'd know good and well if Ash had legit lost because Rowlett's Idiotic comedic trait of Narcolepsy kicked in

Yall would be calling for Hau, Rowlett and Nanu's God damn blood

Ash can't Win without controversy, He also can't Lose without controversy

Now the real answer was just to cut the Rowlett naps bit... but then someone would be complaining that once again Ash just stomps everybody not named Guzma or Gladion

That said Alola has been much more comedic in Tone, Rowlett's nap bit is a running gag... The problem is of course having Hau burst into tears

Whats the The tone here?

The fact that so many people are upset about it says something

If Ash had LEGIT LOST cause Rowlett took a nap at an inconvenient moment, We would not be discussing how Anime Hau deserved that win.

Lets not fucking kid ourselves

I mean, isn't wrong. I think it's kinda messed up that things are so bad that, after being hyped for Ash to win in a previous League, people are now claiming he doesn't deserve it.

It's just backlash against the pointlessness of him not only losing, but of the leagues in general.

There really wasn't much hype for it, so doing something like this (even if it does fit the comedic tone) just acts as the wafer thin mint.

There shouldn't have been a league this series. Hell, maybe there shouldn't have been league after Johto and Kanto. Just give the concept a break until you're ready to let him win.

But they wouldn't do that.

Kalos... They broke thier own Camel's back

cause they hyped the FUCK out of it as the one Ash could win

I get the idea they wanted to Avoid a Paul/Tobias Scenario 'Ash defeating Paul was the Sinnoh arc's emotional climax. so they foolishly made Alain the final opponent cause at that point Ash defeating Alain was Ash's story point

So people just put two and two together

and then He lost...

Hilariously Up until Kalos you had the same head writer since Shudo left

S&M is the first time the shows had a new head writer

I disagree with Rowlet treating it as a joke, he just gets tired. He gave his all fighting Hala's pokemon too and fell asleep, especially how hard he was trying. The mon asked another Pokemon just to brought his damn family from far away just to help him get stronger to fight his rival. Rowlet was definitely trying and Deidcueye got nearly 4 kill shots on him.

Honestly, despite Hau not getting much to do, he still put a damn good job.

I just assumed that Rowlet at some point before his introduction to the series accidentally picked up an TM(Rest) when confusing it for food (happened before) and managed to set it off, have "Rest" added to its move-set, and then gained the narcolepsy due to his nature to execute his moves in the oddest of ways...(Just look at Featherdance and Seed Bomb...), so instead of allowing him to recover ALL HP in one go, it recovers it little-by-little the more rounds he stays asleep... so in a sense, it wasn't that much of an asspull really...

He just used another move without any prompts in order to recover some HP while it could.

And that's a legit move in any fight, assuming the opponent can stay away long enough for the move to recover enough HP to change the tide of the fight.

That's how I saw it anyway...

Edited by TitanJump on Aug 6th 2019 at 5:54:20 PM

The thing with leagues is that the games the anime is based on have them, so the anime has no choice but to have them too. Albeit the game leagues weren't Tournament Arcs prior to Sword & Shield.

We thought the Sun & Moon games wouldn't have a league at first only for them to turn around and say "Alola doesn't have a league YET". Once that announcement was made, it was inevitable that the anime would follow the same path of there not being a league at first, but having one made later. Even if it does make the league end up feeling like an afterthought despite the build-up.

Edited by Zoroark69 on Aug 6th 2019 at 11:14:24 AM

In others news, we've got two new titles and one new summary

SM137: Undefeated Emperor Guzma! Summary (airs September 1st)

• It's the second match of the semifinals. Scizor suddenly had to battle due to Guzma's partner Pokémon Golisopod's "Emergency Exit" activating, and it ended up losing to Torracat, making Guzma indignant with rage over Golisopod's tendency to do as it pleases. And even though Guzma has been in the lead so far, he gradually loses his pace as he sees his old rival Kukui in Ash's forthright eyes.

• Screenplay 面出明美 (Akemi Omode)
• Storyboard 浅田裕二 (Yūji Asada)
• Episode Director 浅田裕二 (Yūji Asada)
• Animation Director 岩根雅明 (Masaaki Iwane)
• Animation Director 志村泉 (Izumi Shimura)

SM138: The Finals! The Strongest Rival Showdown!! (airs September 8th)

• Judging by the title, obviously Ash vs Gladion.

• Screenplay 藤咲淳一 (Junichi Fujisaku)
• Storyboard 齋藤徳明 (Noriaki Saito)
• Episode Director 小柴純弥 (Junya Koshiba)
• Animation Director 新城真 (Makoto Shinjō)

People are already upset about Fujisaku (the same guy who wrote the Ash vs Hau battle) being the writer for this one.

Edited by Zoroark69 on Aug 6th 2019 at 12:21:19 PM

This ain’t gonna be pretty, people. Fujisaku might do what was done in Kalos. Might wanna brace for disaster while you still can.

Edited by AjWargo on Aug 6th 2019 at 3:28:53 PM

Well the final title implies its Ash vs. Gladion, so Ash should beat Guzma and make it to the finals again.

Usually Ash beats his main rival in the league, but after what happened with Alain in XY, I wouldn't put it past the writers to have Gladion win. Some might say Alain wasn't a traditional rival, but for all intents and purposes he was. Shota was always more of a secondary rival even if he was introduced as one first.

I guess the thing that would be odd is Gladion has no reason story wise to be battling Kukui, so that would be lost. Funnily enough the SM league is going on longer than expected and with Gen 8 coming in November, there's probably only going to be like 3-4 eps left after the league ends. Whatever they do with Mohn is probably going to be a single episode rather than an arc, because the last 2 eps will be the usual goodbye/farewell eps of every series. I wonder if Lillie will get a special after SM ends instead if they run out of time.

Well, Precita, expect the marketing division to try the same sneaky trick they tried at Kalos and hype the fight up, but remember not to heed too much of what they have to say. After all, even if they weren’t lying back at Kalos, that was still manipulating the public!

Regarding Rowlet "learning" Rest, you would think that we would have seen it developing over the course of the saga.

Regarding the Leagues: the games don't have the same Leaguess that the Anime does. This would have been the perfect chance to have a Truer to the Text version of a League, much like Performances being a Truer to the Text version of Contests,^note being girl-only notwithstanding, by having Ash battle Gladion for the right to face Hala, Olivia, Molayne, and Kahili in succession before facing Dr. Kukui The Masked Royal for the Title.

Anyway, the Episode title implies Ash, but not necessarily Gladion. Refer to the title of the 2 episodes prior to the start of the finals:

"Rising Fire! There's More Than One Rival!!"

From Ash's perspective, Guzma's a villain, not a rival. It may be a different story for Dr. Kukui, but then the title doesn't make sense if Ash and Guzma are in the same Semi.

This title effectively says that Kiawe is not going down without a fight, and may even pull off a Dark Horse Victory over Gladion.

The question then becomes "Will whoever makes it out of that have enough left for Dusk Lycanroc?" If it's Gladion, then I'd bet against. If it's Kiawe... I may bet for, just out of spite. That's the way this saga has been, as is the series as a whole.

And, from a storyline perspective, Kiawe was the battling expert before Ash came on the scene. The finals against the would-have-been Sixth Ranger would be the perfect opportunity to undo his de facto (albeit Justified) demotion at the start of the series.

Then again... that will mean that Ash would lose two Finals in a row, and 3 Leagues total... to a Charizard... Could I be that vindictive over this "League" and/or put my rep behind this saga's propensity for zaniness?

Actually, when you put it that way, that's just as good as "Ash is well past due"...

EDIT: Then again, Ash=Kukui is a stronger argument for the former's victory. Good thing that I didn't make a pick.^note I nearly did, though... before remembering Ash's Charizard...

Also, Emergency Exit should not Activate in a 1-on-1. More Bush-Leagueness from this, well, Bush League!

Edited by DonaldthePotholer on Aug 6th 2019 at 8:19:53 AM

It's kind of dumb for the whole league to be one on one.

Yeah. That’s another reason why I fear people will be up in arms if Ash wins this Leauge. Of course, I’m not going to be so easily fooled this time and am keeping my guard up.

Emergency Exit also activated in Guzma's previous battle against Ash.

Considering the absence of "HP" in the anime, the only way to adapt is to change it to "Golisopod quits when it takes too much damage".

Kinda like this?

https://youtu.be/AaQuc1IVqrE

Edited by AjWargo on Aug 6th 2019 at 10:05:07 AM

It's one thing when it activated in a random battle against Ash.

But Emergency Exit "activating" when he's supposed to be Guzma's only Pokemon in-hand is completely against the game rules. If you only have one Pokemon, then that Pokemon, by definition, is unable to withdraw, even if mandated otherwise.

And if this is triggered because Guzma has other Pokemon "in hand"... then it's on the Officials for not physically restricting the combatants to a single Pokemon per round. (They can change between rounds, but in a 1-on-1, each trainer should have only their intended combatant.)

... I mean if you want to be technical that should count as the Pokemon being disobedient and refusing to battle

Clearly Guzma should lose because of his mon's quirks

Maybe I'm not being clear here.

I don't mean that Guzma should be disqualified if Golisopod withdraws via Emergency Exit...

I'm saying that Golisopod should be unable to withdraw, even if it wants to, or even Guzma wants it to, by some force or other as a virtue of the battle terms themselves.

Okay, that was unclear. I'll say it even more simply:

Golisopod should be physically unable to withdraw once out on that 1-on-1 battlefield.

I would accept Guzma physically rebuking Golisopod's attempts to withdraw, partly due to his nature and partly due to the tone of the series. But if not, then Golisopod should be unable to enter its Pokeball. Maybe the battlefield should have some sort of jamming mechanism like in Movie 7: EDIT: No one goes in or out once the field is up. Whatever. If Golisopod is the only eligible Pokemon on Guzma's side, then it should not be able to withdraw from an official battle. EDIT: That's the games' rules, after all: If you only have 1 Pokemon that's not fainted, then it cannot withdraw.

Edited by DonaldthePotholer on Aug 6th 2019 at 11:19:09 AM

This ain't the games. It's a natural instinct for Golisopod to make a Tactical Withdrawal, even when it's one vs one like the last time that Guzma fought Ash. I wouldn't be surprised if the League has to change the rules to accommodate the new circumstances.

Regardless, so much for Guzma being the "League kicker." I knew that if faced against Ash again, Guzma would lose. He's not simply up against The Hero of the story, but also the kid who is metaphorically Kukui's son. And there can be no humiliating loss for Guzma than losing to Kukui's protege. Heck, it would make him the only Villainous Team Leader to unambiguously be defeated by Ash single-handedly (Lysandre at least took down 4 of Ash's team, and Ash had help with Charizard; Giovanni was able to trounce Ash but they had no proper rematch).

Anyways, now that Ash has been confirmed to reach the finals (again), I would like to bring up what young Kukui said:

So what happens if you win the Pokémon League!?◊

So the finals is going to be either two vs two or three vs three. I'm down with that.

Would be interesting if the finals were 4 v 4. Ohh, question time, how do you think the battle betwen Gladion and Ash play out if that happened?

My best guess is that Gladion would use the Pokémon he uses in the games, since both Pokémon we’ve seen Guzma fight with are ones he owns in the games.

He's got Blacky/Umbreon, Lycanroc, Silvally, and Zoaroak. Soo...I guessing.... Pikachu vs Blacky Lycanroc Duo Torracat vs Silvally Meltan...'s evolution vs Zoarak

We saw all of Gladion's Pokemon in the episode before the league, where he found his dad's Zoroark and it joined his team. After capturing Zoroark, he introduced it to the rest of his team.

Gladion's team is Umbreon, Midnight Lycanroc, Silvally, and Zoroark. At most, it'll be a 4v4 battle due to Gladion being one Pokemon short compare to Ash.