Thread: S15 EP36 "Rocking the Virbank Gym! (Part 2)"

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Ash's 3-on-6 gym battle against Roxie, the leader of Virbank Gym, continues. Can he attain victory against her Poison type pokemon?

I felt the dub version a bit cold today, as compared to last week. Unnecessary music editing and all. The characters' VAs did a fine job though.
Iris: "Pignite, fight! Do it right!" XD ... It sounded a bit awkward to me, IDK why. Oh well...

WTP:

Garbodor's voice is hilarious and having it battle Palpitoad just enforces that even further - I know it's probably not the intention for the battle to be funny, but I was laughing a lot during this episode. Otherwise, my only problems with the episode are the unbalanced nature of the gym battle, so nothing the dub can do about that.

The dub kept the 'Next time a new beginning' on the end of the episode - not sure what to make of that but all signs are that they are just going to keep running as Rival Destinies - though perhaps I can hope for a new intro animation next week, otherwise I'd have thought they would edit this to To be continued. Looking forward to next week regardless.

That eight for eight, but we're too early in the series for it to all be over that quick. But don't tell me what's coming next!

Anyway, this, being Ash's eighth battle, was one of Ash's tougher battles. But I found it pretty similar to DP068, A Triple Fighting Chance! Right down to how Iris cheered Ash on the way Dawn cheered Ash on. Right down to Iris & Dawn's "do it right" line. Except, to borrow from this episode, and Spinal Tap, Iris took it up to 11 and had Axew, Cilan, and herself in full war paint, war drums, and war... ponchos, drowning out the cheers of the rest of the room to incense Ash's morale.

I would've considered Roxie giving Ash's Pignite a Pecha Berry cheap, if his Pokémon didn't absolutely need them. It was a wash, had it not been for those berries Ash probably would've lost. 1 Pokémon each is even, Ash? In some cases, yes. But you started out with 6, she only had three. If this was truly even, you wouldn't have any more Pokémon. She did you twice over for each Pokémon, man.

Ash should be able to give his own Pokemon berries - I think it's enough of a tactical risk to take the 10 seconds to eat it mid battle to justify it in the anime's battle rules. Sure it's a bit stupid that the Gym leader would give Pignite one, but I wish that curing status issues mid battle would be a more normal part of the anime's battle methods. It's especially relevant when there are moves based on the use of berries.

Did ash forgot about Pikachu's static ability, kinda made me mad that Cilan was the one who pointed it out and not Ash.

Anyways hopefully they'll remix the Rival Destinies opening with scenes from Be an Arrow!

A better dub than last weeks I though. Shame we couldn't get the episodes back to back like they deserved.

Still a bit disappointed in Scolipede's voice, but the rest of the voices, those done by both human and pokes were good. Liked Garbodor's voice just as much as I did in it's previous debut. I liked how they made use of its arms in the fight to escape and dodge various attacks, that was cool.

Palpitoad, Y U NO GET MORE EPISODES!? You're so cool in all the ones you appear in!

I actually hope Roxie appears again, even though the chances are slim. Her banter with Ash was enjoyable.

I liked this episode, but there were a few things I didn't like at all.

1) Roxie giving Pignite a berry. That was cheap.
2) Garbodor's Hyper Beam having no recharge effect. That was cheap.

Also, if I was in the crowd I would not be cheering for Ash's win. He used 6 pokemon against three. Roxie cured one of his poisoned pokemon, and he had to use Pikachu to even beat Roxie's Garbodor, and that was really only because it was paralyzed. IMO Ash did not win this last gym battle, it was a forced victory.

Oh, did anyone else think at first that Meloetta had help Pikachu by tying Garbodor's arms together, because at first that's what I thought had happened. Anyway, I would give this episode 7/10. I can't wait to see what this new beginning thing is all about!

Well the dub was interesting, dub actors did a pretty good job. Garbodor's dub voice though.....nuff said.

Originally Posted by Torterra Trainer

2) Garbodor's Hyper Beam having no recharge effect. That was cheap.

In the BW series have we even seen when a Pokemon that had to recharge from a Hyper Beam or Giga Impact yet? I can't recall from the dub episodes so far. I remember against Burgh his Leavanny used continuous Hyper Beams in the battle without one sign of having to recharge. So, this reminded me of that battle and I think that would be ranked #1 in the lamest gym battles in Unova in my opinion.

I guess the rules governing the effects of attacks and abilites are kind of an on/off thing. Which is weird, since TPTB act like they're sticking to the game mechanics (4 moves per Pokemon, and that sorta thing). One more reason why I think they don't often know what they're doing. And yes, once again they made sure Uberchu saved the day (though it was less unrealistic than a few battles I can name...yes, Flint of Sinnoh, I am looking at you).

And did anyone else notice they inserted a bit of Season 1 background music? That's one thing I hope they do more often. Now if they could just bring back the original "Who's That Pokemon?" graphic/music...

(I've been busy recently so I wasn't able to post reviews regularly)

This was a good episode and in my eyes a worthy eighth gym battle, considering that the last gym battle of the respective region has always been considered something special. And although I still don't like the fact that Ash was allowed to use six Pokemon against only three of Roxie's because in retrospect it kind of looked like an unfair victory, I think that the battle as a whole was well thought-out, having exciting twist and turns and different strategies.

What I'd like to point out in particular is that Pikachu was able to win with brute force for a change. In many battles and almost all gym battles which he took part in, he had to rely on strategy and certain unexpected tricks because he often didn't seem to be on par with his more powerful opponent.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm convinced that strategy is a good and important thing but we also need to see a Pikachu who is able to win by strength alone, something we witnessed today.

But do you want to know what's really best about this episode?
Next week SHE returns! SHE, the Queen of Pokemon and most wonderful angel! Everybody bow down to Cynthia!

Ash's line: "Don't you dare go easy on me" made me faceepalm after he had already excepted a Pecha berry and the 6-3 matchup, granted Palpitoad didn't actually do damage to Garbodor but Koffing took Boldore, Unfezant and Leavanny's attacks.

Visually this battle is awsome, we get to see six of Ash's pokemon performing quite epically but this does not make Ash look particuraly strong.

thought this was dubbed well, the animation was quite terrible though..

loved the episode regardless, and i cannot wait for next week! XD

it was meh. the animation was on the bad side. iris and cilan looked like an accident in a car paint shop. O.o the battle was fair but not too oh ah. it was better then

the next gym battle with a certian annoying kid

. but id give it a 6.5/10. i wish Roxie would have sang "I Love To Singa"... Hope the Gym battles (after next one) get better.