Let's start with the positives. The animation was quite superb, probably even better than the last episode if I had to be honest. Greninja still had a very impressive fight. I enjoyed watching Mega Charizard vs Ash Greninja duking it out in what may be the best moment of animation in the entire Pokemon anime.
As for the negatives... I bet you all want to know what I thought about the conclusion of that battle. Here's the short answer:
...
In fact, I was even satisfied with the outcome.
Now for the more in-depth explanation.
I watched the newest episode when I woke up. I wanted to make sure I would watch it without being spoiled in advance. I watched it on Youtube because it was the only website that had the new episode uploaded at the time. When I saw the like/dislike bar where there were more dislikes than likes, I
knew something bad happened in the episode that made people very angry: I had a feeling it was either Alain won or Team Flare interrupted the match towards the very end, forcing the Kalos League to shut down for the time being.
Going into my experience watching it, A part of me was optimistic that Ash was going to win. I mean, it would be a great way to continue the 20th anniversary celebration, Ash's team was looking pretty impressive (at least IMO), and even the anime was hyping up that Ash-Greninja would surpass Alain considering that Ash almost beat Alain and Diantha a couple of episodes ago (only reason he lost those matches was because he didn't fully master the Ash-Greninja transformation at the time). However, since Ash has a history of losing at every League he's competed in so far, a good part of me expected he would lose. I also thought another good possibility was that Team Flare interrupted the League. Long story short, I was not overly optimistic because I was prepared for any scenario the anime would throw at me.
Then came the ending. Ash-Greninja throws the Explosive Shuriken. As Greninja charges it up, Alain orders Charizard to use Blast Burn. Greninja threw the shuriken, and it looked like the Shuriken made contact with Charizard the moment Blast Burn hit Greninja. Probably the biggest explosion that ever happened in the Pokemon anime results from this. Charizard and Greninja struggle to stand, but Greninja ultimately is the one to fall, thus giving Alain the Kalos League victory.
When I Greninja getting knocked out, I did feel a little emotional inside. I will admit that ending was pretty ridiculous. Charizard surviving the Explosive Shuriken like that was pretty frustrating to see. It's almost as if the writers are simply glorifying the most popular Pokemon in existence once again, not to mention that an ending as disappointing as that was like how Ash lost to the overpowered Tobias. The moment Greninja was defeated, I figured out that's where the dislikes came from, and I knew the Pokemon fandom would be mad about this.
But I wasn't salty. In fact, I noticed there were still some admirable things about this finish that was still much better than Ash's Sinnoh League loss.
Let's start with Alain himself. The problem with Tobias was that he was introduced during the Sinnoh League, and he was pretty much designed to take out Ash in the League. He even had very little backstory. The only background we learned about Tobias was that, according to Conway, he cleared all the gyms using only his Darkrai. The fact he was sweeping every League match with only his Darkrai comes to show how overpowered he is. Yes, Ash managed to knock it out, but then Tobias had a Latios on his team and swept him from there. Afterwards, you can imagine Tobias had an easy time winning the finals with those two Pokemon.
Some of you will already compare Alain to Tobias because much like the latter, Alain basically swept most of the League matches (and perhaps even the Gym Leaders if his match with Korina was anything to go by) with only his Mega Charizard (with the exception of his second battle with Ash and his top 4 match where he used Metang and Metagross respectively). However, Alain was still handled much better than Tobias for two reasons:
- Unlike Tobias, Alain ended up using his entire team against Ash, unlike Tobias where he only used two Pokemon. The fact Ash forced Alain to use his entire team shows that Alain isn't as overpowered as the Darkrai trainer.
- And probably the most crucial difference: Alain is a character who we knew for a very long while. Unlike Tobias, Alain is a character who we saw develop. He was the main protagonist of the Mega Evolution specials after all, not to mention he also made multiple major appearances in the XY&Z portion of the anime, and this allowed us to understand his character for quite a while. He wasn't just some edgy protagonist or a Gary Stu. We saw the high points of his character, and even his low points. Those low points even allowed him to develop as a character.
And now for the second admirable thing about the finish: how Ash and the others react.
I was expecting Clemont, Bonnie, Serena, Sawyer, and the XY rival trio to show some visible signs of upset upon Ash's defeat. I even thought Ash would show some signs of disappointment. It turns out none of them were mad about Ash losing at all.
Clement, Bonnie, Serena, Sawyer, and the XY rival trio all looked very satisfied with the outcome. They acknowledged that it was a really good fight, and that both thought Alain and Ash put up a very impressive fight. They also believed Ash has done a really impressive job throughout it.
And now we have Ash himself. He just lost the finals. Does he cry? No. Does he become angry? No. His reaction then?
He doesn't look the least bit upset. Now let's look at how he approached Greninja.
Translation of what's going on:
Ash: "You did well, Greninja."
Greninja: "Kouga..."
Ash: "Don't apologize. I'm thankful to you guys."
Greninja apologizes for not being able to win, and Ash was still very proud of all his Pokemon for all the effort they put into that fight. Ash is not the least bit of upset, unlike his past League matches. Heck, he is happy watching Alain get his trophy during the winner's ceremony and congratulates him for a job well done. Again, no visible signs of disappointment.
One might be questioning this and saying,
"Why isn't Ash bummed? He just lost the finals in a very close match!"
The way I look at this, this demonstrates how far Ash has grown as a Pokemon trainer. He isn't upset that he lost. He puts up a smile. Ash knew Alain was a very strong opponent, and the two even developed a strong bond. Ash knew that he and his Pokemon were battling at their very best. He's happy that he made this far. The way he looks at it, he's made it to the finals. That's the farthest he's ever been, and making this far is an impressive accomplishment.
Ladies and gentleman, this is character development!
In addition, what was the one trait that Serena likes the most about Ash?
He's an optimist! The fact Ash is staying this positive about the loss captures this. Again, this shows how far Ash has grown as a Pokemon trainer.
So in all, I wasn't even mad that Ash lost. I didn't put my hopes up that much and was ready for whatever the outcome would be, whether it be Ash winning, Ash losing, or Team Flare intervening. The ending of the battle, while admittedly cheap, was still really good. At least Ash lost to a trainer who we got to know and perhaps even become attached to, unlike Tobias. Ash's optimistic reaction following his loss also shows how far he's developed as a Pokemon trainer.
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As for the rest of this episode, I was partially right about something: Team Flare
does interrupt during the Pokemon League, specifically during the trophy ceremony. The way how it develops was also pretty epic. Team Flare's technology has developed to the point they are able to fully mind control Zygarde, turning it into its 50% form and unleashing the destructive vines that start to destroy Lumiose City, including the stadium. Lysandre looks really intimidating during this part of the episode. He even left the League stadium sometime towards the end of the battle to visit Prism Tower and execute his evil plan.
And to be quite honest, the end of the episode is
really making me look forward to this upcoming arc!
But yeah, I can imagine being a Rock type slows it down a bit.