Thread: "Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym!"

BW50 - Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym!

Ash's challenge against Elesa is soon to take place. After considering which Pokémon to use against Elesa's Electric types such as Zebstrika, Ash decides not to use Pikachu who doesn't seem happy at all with the decision. Concluding that he'll need to rotate his team to accomodate a Pokémon currently at Juniper's laboratory, Ash goes to collect them. Will his preparations and team members be enough to defeat Elesa?

Now that I have the context, I underestimated this ep. Nonetheless, Ash should've been more careful than this, regardless of planning not being his forte.

Just wanted to point out that the title card didn't have the "Battle" part in it.

Originally Posted by Jo The Marten

Just wanted to point out that the title card didn't have the "Battle" part in it.

Ooops, thanks for pointing that out!

One thing that really stood out as a dislike from this episode, is that during the cutaway of Elesa after Palpitoad's first win, Ash repeated the exact same line of dialogue, which seemed extremely unnatural.

I don't like how few hits the wins came from, sure you could suggest Palpitoad and Pikachu didn't take much damage from Flame Charge and Tackle respectively, but still the easy defeats when they actually got attacks in seemed really unbalanced.

I liked Ash's forgetfulness - Ash having a problem battling through over-thinking about tactics is far more believable than the other times he loses battles in BW, where they don't go to similar lengths to establish why he's not winning in cases where he usually should. Putting things down to Ash's tactics is better than the power levels just jumping around like mad in other battles.

That said, it's totally illogical that he wouldn't have had Snivy on hand. He usually carries the starters plus Scraggy and Pikachu, with Tranquill nominally as the 6th, though usually not shown in the group eating shots. For him to be making a single exchange for Palpitoad should still have meant him carrying the others. For it to be vaguely believable when he pulls out Tranquill for a search, his 'standard' team should be rather constant. A scene of him sitting down on the battle field and getting some paper out could have been a better scene instead of having a mid battle exchange that he shouldn't really have needed.

Iris' reaction to the battle seemed odd - the previous Gyms she has usually not been as open in barracking, and at least significantly more reserved.

On the plus side, I like angry Pikachu and any appearance from Palpitoad is full of win. And apart from a few lines of awkward dialogue - the attempts at putting sparkle in to every line didn't always work, Elesa was good.

Elesa was a really likable gym leader. Exuded confidence, and was generally presented well in the anime I thought. That said, her pokes came off a bit weak-sauced. Only really Zebstrika was able to take more than one hit. Still, for what they were, I did enjoy the battles.

I know some people are probably going to be annoyed with Ash's demeanor and attitude this ep, but I found it endearing, and to be honest, a bit more true to actual people. Growth isn't always a straight rocket up people, Ash is allowed to have off days.

Originally Posted by Iteru

Originally Posted by Jo The Marten

Just wanted to point out that the title card didn't have the "Battle" part in it.

Ooops, thanks for pointing that out!

No prob, man.


I loved how "I FORGOT SNIVY WAS A GIRL" echoed through the gym. Also Pikachu's hissy fit still makes me laugh.

Elesa was fun to watch, though I have to say my favorite part about this episode was the referee giving Ash attitude for stalling. I don't believe I've seen a more easily-annoyed referee in this show. XD

While I get the message this episode was trying to send, it just feels very wrong when you consider how Ash has performed for most of this series and how he seems to mostly win when he's not only improving his strategy, but going up against type disadvantages constantly (and by his own volition). Actually planning things out and considering type logic came straight out of left field for Ash, and then it's treated like a bad thing. This is where BW's inconsistency with the rest of the anime really hurts episodes with potential like this, because Ash sure as hell didn't get this far by acting the way he did in this series. Of course, I understand it's no better to err to the other extreme (which I suppose was the actual intent of the message; it just doesn't come off like that when Ash's way of battling this series is the complete and total opposite - they don't display a real medium with him), but this is what happens when BW tries to teach a moral, I guess. Even with all that planning, Ash relying on just Palpitoad to take out everything is a pretty stupid-ass move. :P

The battle itself... eh, it wasn't as boring as Burgh's, but it left a lot to be desired. It says something when the highlights of said gym battle consist of Snivy and Emolga's Attract duel and Ash admitting to EVERYONE in that gym that he forgot Snivy was a girl. ... And everyone in that damn gym except Cilan was a girl. XD I was disappointed to not hear an outcry from the crowd after he said that. Speaking of, the fact that Elesa alone probably has more fangirls than the Striaton triplets combined is a bit creepy. Hilarious, but creepy. I guess one positive thing is that, knowing the line-up Ash will use against Clay, means that maybe Ash isn't giving type logic the middle finger as much as he used to.

The writers fixed Ash, I think, after his almost-reboot to begin this series.

Cilan remarks, when Ash picks Pikachu, that he sees the Ash he remembers. This is the Ash Cilan joined up with, for the reason of learning about him. Cilan now has Ash figured out, and wants to gauge his potential until the end. This is fulfilling Cilan's purpose.

We also see Ash remember that he has rarely needed iron-clad strategy before, and then returns to his original style. Furthermore, the writers send us undertones that the epic skill reminiscent of Ash in Sinnoh League Victors is returning, when he and Pikachu make that practically psychic connection and then kick butt. We also see Pikachu's strength returning to its uber-level, which I'm happy to see. And the OHKO on Tynamo? Justified. That thing only knew Tackle, so despite its speed, we can assume the thing was a glass cannon deserving of just one good whack.

Finally, Ash was still the Ash we all remember. He forgets Snivy is a girl. Which was laugh-out-loud worthy, honestly. Oh, and the fact that he forgets twice that Emolga is part Flying-type. Fool! But, totally worth laughing about. I do like how the writers twice portrayed the Pokemon easily bouncing back from NVE moves, as with Palpitoad and Emolga both easily taking the hits from Flame Charge and Leaf Storm respectively.

Overall: a good episode. I'm seeing a general upturn in events since the group reached Nimbasa. Everything is actually starting to get really good.

Well, in my opinion, Tynamo has patience issues and Ash should have lost due to poor planning.

But ignoring that, I did find the battle scenes to be very well done. The way Elesa's attacks were portrayed really gave a sense that she had a tough team. I especially liked the motion blur for Emolga's Flying attacks. I absolutely loved Elesa's personality, and the screaming fangirls seemed reminiscent of Gary Oak (I wonder if that was intentional?), and gave an amusing twist to the battle. Overall, I enjoyed it.


....is it bad that I still don't completely understand what Pikachu's strategy with Thunderbolt was?

I never thought I'd see Ash be so confident to win a gym battle that he'd he only pack the one Pokemon (sans Pikachu, of course) with which he plans to win due to the type advantage and leave the rest at a Center. Lol, silly Ash. It was moments like that and others that made this an entertaining gym episode.

This was a pretty entertaining episode, my first episode in a long while.

Elesa looks awesome and the gym looks very captivating. Her Pokemon are also awesome. Just not the way Tynamo is pronounced. No emphasis on the "a".

Ash was pretty stupid in this episode. He did not know that Snivy was a girl? Wow.

That's all I got to say. I haven't yet seen the Bianca episode, so I might've missed something.

There's one question that could sum up Ash's actions during this entire episode: What are you doing?

That being said, Palpitoad was great, Emolga was great, I did not expect Tynamo to just rush off like that.

Ash's battle with Elesa reminded me of Jaden's duel with Zane in the Duel Academy Grad Match. Both times the hero came in with a pre-prepared strategy to counter his opponent's strengths, but watch his strategy fall apart. He was then forced to fall back on his usual instincts in order to have a real chance. Strategy and planning are definitely not Ash's strong points. Instinct and spontaneity are.

I face palmed so often, I nearly gave myself a headache. What the heck has happened to you, Ash? Ugh, that was an embarassing performance. How he managed to win this time, I'll never know.

It started promisingly enough. I was glad to see Ash is apparently strategizing again. I honestly thought he had regained his competence for a while, especially once the battle started. Great, he's finally relying on type advantages again, and he couldn't have picked a better choice than a Water/Ground type like Palpitoad for Elesa's Zebstrika. This was definitely the best part of the battle, Zebstrika fought well, despite its massive type and move disadvantage, and the increased evasion from Flame Charge was a nice touch, but once Zebstrika went down and Emolga was sent out, everything fell to pieces and strategic Ash revealed to be a big lie.

Really? Attract again? And not even a new Pokemon to use the move. I'm the curious type, I like knowing the genders of the main Pokemon, but can't it be left for another time and not a Gym Episode? I can't believe Ash was so overconfident he would win with just Palpitoad, he left the rest of his Pokemon at the Pokemon Center! Even Kanto Ash never done anything like that. Considering all of his Pokemon were recently stolen, he should be extra careful from now on. I assume this scene was only there to pad out time. Where are Team Rocket when you need them?

It's not a total shock Ash forgot his Snivy is a girl, I'm not convinced he even knows what genders are. XD I wouldn't have minded him unknowingly using a Grass-type against part-Flying type Pokemon, because it's actually similar to the effect the Emolga in Elesa's gym in the games have, but surely Ash should've known this already, since one of his "friends" has the Pokemon herself? Poor Snivy must've been gutted to have a loss against her most hated Pokemon species. The battle was too one-sided for my liking, but I suppose Snivy didn't have have much of a chance, with only ineffective Grass moves at her disposal and no Attract. I'm disappointed her first Gym battle went badly, but at least she makes up for it next time.

And of course, Pikachu had to save the day again, groan. Still, the battle became unintentionally hilarious near the end, thanks to the ridiculous Tynamo. Who knew a tiny fish could be physically strong enough to smash Pikachu into the floor and wall?

Overall, it could've been worse. Ash didn't use Tranquill and Oshawott, which means he must be improving somewhat, and I would still rate it above the Striaton trio and Burgh battles, but Ash's stupidity and the messed-up moral (Don't rely on strategy, it'll only make you become an even bigger dumbass than usual. Be yourself, a regular dumbass) spoiled what could've been the best Unova Gym Battle yet. I did love Cilan's relaxed attitude on the roller-coaster, though. Anymore calm and he'll be falling asleep, Mr. Bean-style.