“Familiarity Breeds Strategy!” Review Thread

[Mijumaru]

It’s the start of Ash and Paul’s three-part Sinnoh League full battle! Hooray.
It’s also the last episode of the year.
It also means that the battle will take over the course of five weeks... which is annoying.

[SilverChromeX]

DX Believe in the power of Christmas and bringing hopefully two new episodes. Heck, maybe even New Years Eve! D:

TIS FREAKING ON :D

[Electivirus]

Well, at least we're ending the episode with a good episode.

Also, lol @ Gliscor's fluctuating size.

That was quite the interesting talk Paul and Dawn had.

[SilverChromeX]

As always, Barry is completely left out on everything going on. xD

I've anticipated the conversation Dawn and Paul would have for some time. I've seen the one in raw, but I wanted to know what it was they were saying so bad. xD

[Mijumaru]

I liked the interaction between Dawn and Paul at the beginning. For a second, it reminded me of the Twilight saga.
Although that metal sound really hurt my ears badly...

[Tsutarja]

So, what were they saying? xD

[SilverChromeX]

That's for you to find out Tsutarja :P

DX No Twilight Saga references - it's horrible

Anyways, so far Ash brought out Pikachu and Infernape. Paul's Aggron is in no doubt a strong Pokemon. No matter how "awesome" they showed Pikachu's thunderbolt, it didn't show much of a result on damaging Aggron. Now to wait for an exaggerated scene where an attack practically lights up the stadium. :D Generally that's a good note that a Pokemon received crucial damage or a critical hit.

[Mijumaru]

They were just saying stuff about battle strategies, how Paul hates Ash and how Paul is extremely positive that he's going to win.

EDIT: Did James just say Poker Face?

[Tiki Man]

So much tension in this episode especially during the scene with Paul and Dawn, it’s a good thing we have Barry around to break that tension. Also who does James think he is reciting all that poetry, Professor Oak? This episode went by way too fast for me, can’t wait for the next part.

[Mijumaru]

This episode was good, but it could've been better. Not the best episode of the Sinnoh League, but it'll do.

6.7 points out of 10

[Ambipom666]

Another nice episode. I like the next two parts of the Ash/Paul battle better, but this episode does a good job of setting up the battle. The thing I liked most about the episode was how Reggie acknowldeged that both Paul and Ash are both strong. And seeing him tell Paul to win was a nice touch. The only cons I had was Team Rocket's dialogue and the fact that we kept only one BGM from the Japanese version.

EDIT: the title finally makes sense to me.
For the record, it wasn't me being dense, it was title of the episode being silly.

[Charbok]

Barry freaking out definitely got a laugh from me xD

I had a feeling Ash would use his same pokemon from their last battle. Plus I didn't expect Paul to use Ash's counter shield against him like that. And it looks like they finally decided to pronounce Drapion closer to the Japanese pronunciation because I remember J saying it as "dray-pi-ahn* with a long a sound.

Team Rocket's cheery rhymes are back -_- I didn't really hear that many of them in the last episode.

[Mijumaru]

Drapion has been pronounced that way for a long time, if not forever.

[The Puppetmaster]

Oh gosh, James alluding to Lady Gaga?

Nice episode, can't wait 'til the next few parts get dubbed.

Reggie's pep talk was a bit cheesy, but most pep talks are cheesy anyway.

What bugged me about this episode were the many explanations. I know that some were necessary for those that don't know moves and abilities, but when Dawn says something like, "Since Gastrodon is a Ground and Water type, it's a good thing Ash switched Infernape out," it seems a bit unnecessary.

I thought it was funny when Cynthia said, "Looks like Ash's Chimchar has become an Infernape." It evolved so quickly she didn't even get to see the Monferno stage (well she could have if Ash had brought it out during the Galactic finale).

[Mijumaru]

Paul somewhat annoyed me with his overconfidence. I mean, he's never overconfident.