BW 011 "Ishizumai! Take Back Your House!!" Review Thread

[OmigawdMatt]

I liked this episode! The preview only showed Ash and his group roaming around the rocky area, showing Ishizumai here and there - so I thought the episode would be boring. Also, I had a feeling Dento would get the Ishizumai because he was shown a lot so that was pretty interesting. From the preview, I thought it would be a boring filler. While watching the actual episode, it showed Team Rocket AND Ishizumai's bonding time with Dento so this episode turned out to be great.

To me, it doesn't seem like a filler. I'm glad Dento has an Ishizumai now. I'm expecting it to be extra caring for the group, mainly Yanappu.

[TeddiUrsa]

tbh I expected Dento to get Oshizumai ever since the preview for this episode was released.

When I went to serebii this morning I thought " I bet Dento will get this thing" and...bingo. His bio was updated.

And I am sure I wasn't the only one who isn't surprised. It is a cool Pokémon anyway and proves once again that a gymleader doesn't need to stick to one type only.

Good episode, but I kinda think that Tamagawa was 'wasted' on this episode. The fighting at the end was good, but Tamagawa works best with battle HEAVY episodes or comedy ones.

[Adamant]

As long as it leads to a Giovanni conclusion later in the arc, you can't say its pointless.

Sure I can. Are you seriously saying all their screentime from BW8 couldn't have been cut without problems? That's the thing - nothing of importance happens in these scenes, they just kill time and give the Rockets their apparantly obligatory appearance.

Adamant, they used this same kind of build up for Galactic in DP so it's not pointless... They also did the same thing with Aqua and Magma... It's very much important build-up until a few major battles happen...

Magma, Aqua and Galaxy did not appear in short pointless scenes in every single episode.

It's also called having two separate plots that'll meet up later on in the story which is excellent story-writing skills....

It's not a "plot". Nothing happens in most of these scenes that couldn't have been explained later when the plot is actually happening. This isn't good writing, just like it wouldn't have been good writing to stuff some scene of a Galaxy goon talking on the phone for a minute in every single DP episode.

Because honestly TRio is more interesting now than they've been in the last decade with having their own story going on that isn't Ash centric... But it's actually TRio centric on their scenes...

How are these scenes "interesting"? Nothing ever happens in them. How does "the trio steal some information on the Meteonite" add anything to any sort of story?

[Ryuutakeshi]

So let's assume TR's scenes got cut. What happens when that plot climaxes? A lot of prep stuff for it happened off screen and we only just now heard about it. At which point, EVERYONE is going to be saying, "well gee, that would have been nice to see!"

[Hellion]

Good points and bad points about the episode.

Good
- Dento, Dento, Dento, did I mention Dento?
- Ishizumai's ninja moves and charming personality
- Dento/Yannapu bonding moment.
- Team Rocket in another Mission Impossiblesque moment of awesome.
- Iris does more than nothing and is apparantly well versed in natural medecine.

Bad
- Kibago needs to stay in Iris' hair when it's not doing anything which is 99% of the time. It's not getting developped, he doesn't have funny or touching interactions with the other pokemon and he's overall uberblah. Instead of him helping out, it should have been another one of Ash's pokemon that actually need screentime, aka Pokabu.
- Speaking of pokémon that need a personality upgrade, Mamepato... just mamepato. It needs to not suck the life out of a scene.
- Ishizumai knows 5 moves, it's too much. It's overkill.

Sure I can. Are you seriously saying all their screentime from BW8 couldn't have been cut without problems? That's the thing - nothing of importance happens in these scenes, they just kill time and give the Rockets their apparantly obligatory appearance.

But then again, the same could be said about just about every pre-BW episodes when Ash and co are doing something, then TR shows up for no reason. A minute and a half long fight ensues, then they blast off without ever impacting the plot of the episode. That was also just to give them an appearance. At least now it's building towards something instead of rehashing the same crap every week in my opinion.

[Adamant]

So let's assume TR's scenes got cut. What happens when that plot climaxes? A lot of prep stuff for it happened off screen and we only just now heard about it. At which point, EVERYONE is going to be saying, "well gee, that would have been nice to see!"

I didn't see people crying about not getting to see 10 scenes of Saturn getting told by Akagi to go to this and that town to get information on where to get information on where to get information on where to find that whateveritwascalled thing from the Zui ruins, or 20 scenes of Pluto reseraching ruins trying to figure out which one was the right one. They showed what was worth showing, and ignored all the boring behind-the-scenes shit that obviously had to take place.

But then again, the same could be said about just about every pre-BW episodes when Ash and co are doing something, then TR shows up for no reason. A minute and a half long fight ensues, then they blast off without ever impacting the plot of the episode. That was also just to give them an appearance.

Sure, there were a few episodes where that was the case, but don't pretend the vast, vast, vast majority of episodes didn't use them as part of the plot, rather than some unnecessary sidestep to force an appearance.

I can only think of a handful myself, so give me, say, 10 episodes where their appearance had nothing to do with the actual plot. And they can not be gym, contest or league episodes.

Not that easy, is it?

(also, they ARE rehashing the same crap every episode now too. It's just "they meet with someone and get some item or talk to the boss. It's incredibly samey and not at all interesting to watch)

[Eitarou]

THAT..WAS...AWESOME

Ishizumai better use Shell Break more often...but he is Dent's Pokemon

so I doubt it...

[Agent_Kir]

So, it's not a filler after all. Surprise, surprise.
That one meteorite changes forms of Deoxys in games.

[Hellion]

Not that easy, is it?

Actually, it is very easy. There are hundreds of episodes where you just take out Team Rocket and it would have little to no impact on the plot.

also, they ARE rehashing the same crap every episode now too.

True, I'm not saying they aren't. But, at least it's building towards something instead of just them capturing Pikachu and/or Pokémon of the day... I think it's okay to think that the new rockets aren't all that, it's an opinion, but at the same time the over glorifying of what came before is just as bad. The pre-BW rockets weren't intrical parts of every single episode. They weren't bringing loads of freshness and new adventures all the time.

[Adamant]

Actually, it is very easy. There are hundreds of episodes where you just take out Team Rocket and it would have little to no impact on the plot.

Hundreds? As in "more than 200"? I... really doubt that. But hey, that means it should be easy enough to list 10.

[Hellion]

Hundreds? As in "more than 200"? I... really doubt that. But hey, that means it should be easy enough to list 10.

EP004-Challenge of the Samurai
EP009-School of Hard Knocks
EP011-The Stray Pokémon
EP023-The Tower of Terror
EP025-Primeape goes Bananas
EP027-Hypno's naptime
EP030-Sparks fly for Magnemite
EP036-The Bridge Bike Gang
EP041-Wake Up Snorlax
EP042-Showdown at Dark City

And I only had to go through 42 episodes to do it! That's not counting the gym battles episode... So yeah... That doesn't mean that Team Rocket didn't add comedy to those episodes but were they intrical to the plot? No. Did they add elements of freshness to those episodes? No. That's my point. That you think that new Team Rocket is boring is on you. It's your opinion and I respect that, but at the same time, acting like they were totally essential to the show and were always relevant to the plot of the episodes before that and that this is somehow new is just not true.

The difference is that Team Rocket's role in this episode is based on their own plot instead of Ash's plot. They have their own thing now and its building up towards something for them. Was it thrilling to see them being superspies? To me, it was more thrilling than having them try to capture Pikachu and doing the same thing every week. Be that as it may, that's my opinion.

[Lord Fedora]

Adamant, the Rockets executed a ninja-esque break-in to a high security facility using advanced technology to steal data which will be integral to the plot later. How is that boring?

I knew Dent was going to catch Ishizumai because I made the mistake of checking Serebii before *removed* this morning ;^^ Still, I did not expect it to turn out to be such a ninja, or so incredibly ballsy. And Shell Break? That was awesome.

@Eitaro: If Satoshi is smart enough to use Tsutaja's Attract, then Ishizumai will get enough screen time for more Shell Break.

Oh, and we finally see what Dento looks like without his fancy clothes. I do not approve.

[Emolga]

I did not think Dento would catch Ishizumai. I'm glad he did, because that little guy was adorable! Seeing his and Yanappu's interactions with it was really, really awesome. Loved the animation for the attacks, especially Shell Break. Finally, a new addition for Dento! Now they've all got at least two Pokemon on their team. Glad to know the writers are finally turning what would've been fillers into actual episodes developing the side characters. :'D

[Eitarou]

Adamant, the Rockets executed a ninja-esque break-in to a high security facility using advanced technology to steal data which will be integral to the plot later. How is that boring?

I knew Dent was going to catch Ishizumai because I made the mistake of checking Serebii before Anime Avenue this morning ;^^ Still, I did not expect it to turn out to be such a ninja, or so incredibly ballsy. And Shell Break? That was awesome.

@Eitaro: If Satoshi is smart enough to use Tsutaja's Attract, then Ishizumai will get enough screen time for more Shell Break.
Oh, and we finally see what Dento looks like without his fancy clothes. I do not approve.

Dent isn't Ash

so he obviously won't battle as much as Ash will...

[Lord Fedora]

Dent isn't Ash

so he obviously won't battle as much as Ash will...

My comparison is that the writers learned from their previous mistakes of making Satoshi, frankly, a moron when it came to obviously good move choices like Attract, so it's entirely possible that they've learned their mistakes of not giving the sidekicks and their Pokemon enough battles and screentime. Doryuuzu beat the everliving crap out of Pendora after all.