[29] Fighting Pokemon! The Big Battle!
Feb. 17th, 2024 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marchionessofmustacheSo this episode starts out with the narrator talking about how recently Kasumi caught Koduck and Takeshi caught Rokon, but Satoshi hasn't caught anything! Even though he just caught Okorizaru a few episodes ago... and befriended Ghost... but whatever I guess those don't count :)
So Satoshi sees a wild Ebiwalar and decides to fight it to try to catch it. I think this is the first time he ever decided to fight a Pokemon to catch it?! Pikachu is scared at first, but Satoshi gives him a little fist-fighting training, and Pikachu goes in with boxing gloves to fight. Why not just electrocute it...????? At first Pikachu is completely helpless, but with some pep talk from Satoshi, he manages to land a rocket punch blow to Ebiwalar's face.
Despite all the epic buildup, Ebiwalar just brushes it off, and then his trainer appears, telling him not to underestimate any opponent, and go all out. So Ebiwalar beats the crap out of Pikachu after that.
Ebiwalar is a really cool Pokemon. I don't know why but it just looks AWESOME to me. Even though I think kicking is cooler than punching and overall like the concept of its counterpart Sawamular better, there's just SOMETHING about Ebiwalar that makes it my actual favorite of the two.
Then a young lady that was hiding behind the trees during this time jumps out and begs her dad (Ebiwalar's trainer) to come home. But he says he can't until he becomes a P-1 Champion, and runs off. The young lady (I think her name was Manami, I kinda forget) takes Satoshi and friends to a dojo where she explains that the P-1 Grand Prix is a tournament for fighting Pokemon, and she wants the gang to defeat her father's Ebiwalar to try to knock some sense into him.
Now, I don't know exactly how that's suppsoed to work, since he's whole thing is he won't come home until he WINS, he's probably already suffered defeat before and is adamant to keep going until he wins. So you think they'd help him train or something, but no, she wants him to lose.
Satoshi agrees to enter Okorizaru, and Takeshi is going to enter... Ishitsubute... despite the fact that it's not a fighting Pokemon and only has two limbs. But whatever, JUST ACCEPT IT.
The Rockets see the poster for the P-1 Grand Prix and decide to enter to win the belt so they can sell it. Kojiro and Nyarth imagine eating a buffet of gourmet food, while Musashi entertains the idea of getting a makeover and a harem of cute boys in speedos.
Of course, they don't have a fighting-type Pokemon, so instead of putting Nyarth in boxing gloves like Satoshi did to Pikachu, they decide to steal some dude's Sawamular. They even strip the guy to his undies and leave him locked up in the bathroom so they can wear his clothes!
I'm always up for some naked middle-aged man bondage. Because, uh, that's totally what this episode is about.
Yes, I had to include that screenshot.
I guess this is a good enough time to talk about Sawamular -- I mentioned before that I like it in theory more than Ebiwalar, even though I don't actually like it more, but it's a very close fight (get it, fight?!) between the two. I had an Ebiwalar figurine when I was a kid and my mom's dog bit the leg off :( I will never forgive T_T But yeah, this is another really cool Pokemon.
I never really thought about it before, but I actually like Fighting-type Pokemon quite a bit. My favorite is bug, then poison, and then I really like grass and fairy a lot... but if I had to make a top 5, maybe fighting would even come in at #5??? Hard to say. I do like flying because I love the birds, but the non-bird flying things are not particularly interesting to me. It's more just that I like bird-shaped Pokemon than I do like the flying type itself. So yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say fighting type can be top 5 types. I SAID IT.
The tournament commences, and Okorizaru wins his first match against a Wanriky. He actually does bad at first, but when he gets flung out of the ring, Satoshi dives to catch him, and he's suddenly enamored with Satoshi and does whatever he says, despite having never listened to anyone before.
He defeats the Wanriky, then Takeshi loses to the Rockets' stolen Sawamular. We get a little montage of Sawamular, Ebiwalar, and Okorizaru winning all their matches until it comes down to the final few stages. Ebiwalar is up against Sawamular, and of course the Rockets gotta cheat. When they first showed Nyarth carrying a syringe, I totally thought it was going to be performance-enhancing drugs lol. And I was like "Wow, I bet this was cut out of the English version!"
But it ended up just being glue that he poked into the bottom of the ring, making Ebiwalar's leg get stuck so Sawamular could kick the crap out of him.
But before Sawamular could land his final kick, Manami jumps in the ring and begs for them not to hurt her father's Pokemon anymore. Dad jumps in front of Nanami, then, and ends up taking the hit.
So in the time Sawamular did one kick, Nanami ran from the stands, jumped in front of Ebiwalar, called out to Sawamular, her dad saw what was happening, jumped into the ring, stood in front of her... and then the kick connected. Totalllllllyy makes sense.
Anyway, Okorizaru ends up beating Sawamular after Pikachu disarms the trap Nyarth had set for Okorizaru. Manami's dad (I think they actually said his name like once but I totally didn't remember it) asks Satoshi if he can take care of Okorizaru and make him into a P-1 Champ. Despite the fact that he literally just became a P-1 Champ with Satoshi and got the belt and everything. But I guess this guy wants to become champ himself, so he just takes a Pokemon that's already a champion...???? IDK kinda sus, Nanami's dad.
So Satoshi, despite being pressured to catch a Pokemon at the beginning of the episode, actually LOSES a Pokemon by giving it away. Okorizaru seems really attached to him and gets teary-eyed when they part but like... it's just because he caught him that one time...? Like before this Satoshi literally NEVER used Okorizaru in battle or even let it out of its ball except to beat up the Rockets the second after he caught it. There's been literally 0 development of Okorizaru and Satoshi, not even a scene to show that he still doesn't listen... and it's not even been that long. Like Okorizaru was, what, four episodes ago? So yeah, hard to get emotional about this breakup.
The show doesn't really make it like it's supposed to be that emotional, though, but still... you'd think parting with a Pokemon would have more of an emotional effect, but other than Okorizaru's little cry eyes for a second, everything is perfectly cool. A bit of a let-down that we didn't get to see more Okorizaru before this.
Also, a little note, Okorizaru DOES appear in the "Spurt!" OP, unlike Ghost. Despite Ghost having more impact and screentime. I guess Okorizaru just "counts" because Satoshi actually caught it, and Ghost just... follows him for a day.
So despite the little teaser with the opening narration, Satoshi does not catch a new Pokemon. He also loses one so he's down to five in his active roster -- Pikachu, Zenigame, Fushigidane, Hitokage, and Pigeon. Does he just leave Crab at Ookido's and just carry around five...? Maybe he'll catch a new one next episode. IDK. I definitely don't remember the order of events in this show at all lol. And I haven't been listening to the ED now that it changed to the Nyarth song, so I haven't been stumbling into the next episode previews XD So I have NO IDEA what is up next. We shall see!!
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So Satoshi sees a wild Ebiwalar and decides to fight it to try to catch it. I think this is the first time he ever decided to fight a Pokemon to catch it?! Pikachu is scared at first, but Satoshi gives him a little fist-fighting training, and Pikachu goes in with boxing gloves to fight. Why not just electrocute it...????? At first Pikachu is completely helpless, but with some pep talk from Satoshi, he manages to land a rocket punch blow to Ebiwalar's face.
Despite all the epic buildup, Ebiwalar just brushes it off, and then his trainer appears, telling him not to underestimate any opponent, and go all out. So Ebiwalar beats the crap out of Pikachu after that.
Ebiwalar is a really cool Pokemon. I don't know why but it just looks AWESOME to me. Even though I think kicking is cooler than punching and overall like the concept of its counterpart Sawamular better, there's just SOMETHING about Ebiwalar that makes it my actual favorite of the two.
Then a young lady that was hiding behind the trees during this time jumps out and begs her dad (Ebiwalar's trainer) to come home. But he says he can't until he becomes a P-1 Champion, and runs off. The young lady (I think her name was Manami, I kinda forget) takes Satoshi and friends to a dojo where she explains that the P-1 Grand Prix is a tournament for fighting Pokemon, and she wants the gang to defeat her father's Ebiwalar to try to knock some sense into him.
Now, I don't know exactly how that's suppsoed to work, since he's whole thing is he won't come home until he WINS, he's probably already suffered defeat before and is adamant to keep going until he wins. So you think they'd help him train or something, but no, she wants him to lose.
Satoshi agrees to enter Okorizaru, and Takeshi is going to enter... Ishitsubute... despite the fact that it's not a fighting Pokemon and only has two limbs. But whatever, JUST ACCEPT IT.
The Rockets see the poster for the P-1 Grand Prix and decide to enter to win the belt so they can sell it. Kojiro and Nyarth imagine eating a buffet of gourmet food, while Musashi entertains the idea of getting a makeover and a harem of cute boys in speedos.
Of course, they don't have a fighting-type Pokemon, so instead of putting Nyarth in boxing gloves like Satoshi did to Pikachu, they decide to steal some dude's Sawamular. They even strip the guy to his undies and leave him locked up in the bathroom so they can wear his clothes!
I'm always up for some naked middle-aged man bondage. Because, uh, that's totally what this episode is about.
Yes, I had to include that screenshot.
I guess this is a good enough time to talk about Sawamular -- I mentioned before that I like it in theory more than Ebiwalar, even though I don't actually like it more, but it's a very close fight (get it, fight?!) between the two. I had an Ebiwalar figurine when I was a kid and my mom's dog bit the leg off :( I will never forgive T_T But yeah, this is another really cool Pokemon.
I never really thought about it before, but I actually like Fighting-type Pokemon quite a bit. My favorite is bug, then poison, and then I really like grass and fairy a lot... but if I had to make a top 5, maybe fighting would even come in at #5??? Hard to say. I do like flying because I love the birds, but the non-bird flying things are not particularly interesting to me. It's more just that I like bird-shaped Pokemon than I do like the flying type itself. So yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say fighting type can be top 5 types. I SAID IT.
The tournament commences, and Okorizaru wins his first match against a Wanriky. He actually does bad at first, but when he gets flung out of the ring, Satoshi dives to catch him, and he's suddenly enamored with Satoshi and does whatever he says, despite having never listened to anyone before.
He defeats the Wanriky, then Takeshi loses to the Rockets' stolen Sawamular. We get a little montage of Sawamular, Ebiwalar, and Okorizaru winning all their matches until it comes down to the final few stages. Ebiwalar is up against Sawamular, and of course the Rockets gotta cheat. When they first showed Nyarth carrying a syringe, I totally thought it was going to be performance-enhancing drugs lol. And I was like "Wow, I bet this was cut out of the English version!"
But it ended up just being glue that he poked into the bottom of the ring, making Ebiwalar's leg get stuck so Sawamular could kick the crap out of him.
But before Sawamular could land his final kick, Manami jumps in the ring and begs for them not to hurt her father's Pokemon anymore. Dad jumps in front of Nanami, then, and ends up taking the hit.
So in the time Sawamular did one kick, Nanami ran from the stands, jumped in front of Ebiwalar, called out to Sawamular, her dad saw what was happening, jumped into the ring, stood in front of her... and then the kick connected. Totalllllllyy makes sense.
Anyway, Okorizaru ends up beating Sawamular after Pikachu disarms the trap Nyarth had set for Okorizaru. Manami's dad (I think they actually said his name like once but I totally didn't remember it) asks Satoshi if he can take care of Okorizaru and make him into a P-1 Champ. Despite the fact that he literally just became a P-1 Champ with Satoshi and got the belt and everything. But I guess this guy wants to become champ himself, so he just takes a Pokemon that's already a champion...???? IDK kinda sus, Nanami's dad.
So Satoshi, despite being pressured to catch a Pokemon at the beginning of the episode, actually LOSES a Pokemon by giving it away. Okorizaru seems really attached to him and gets teary-eyed when they part but like... it's just because he caught him that one time...? Like before this Satoshi literally NEVER used Okorizaru in battle or even let it out of its ball except to beat up the Rockets the second after he caught it. There's been literally 0 development of Okorizaru and Satoshi, not even a scene to show that he still doesn't listen... and it's not even been that long. Like Okorizaru was, what, four episodes ago? So yeah, hard to get emotional about this breakup.
The show doesn't really make it like it's supposed to be that emotional, though, but still... you'd think parting with a Pokemon would have more of an emotional effect, but other than Okorizaru's little cry eyes for a second, everything is perfectly cool. A bit of a let-down that we didn't get to see more Okorizaru before this.
Also, a little note, Okorizaru DOES appear in the "Spurt!" OP, unlike Ghost. Despite Ghost having more impact and screentime. I guess Okorizaru just "counts" because Satoshi actually caught it, and Ghost just... follows him for a day.
So despite the little teaser with the opening narration, Satoshi does not catch a new Pokemon. He also loses one so he's down to five in his active roster -- Pikachu, Zenigame, Fushigidane, Hitokage, and Pigeon. Does he just leave Crab at Ookido's and just carry around five...? Maybe he'll catch a new one next episode. IDK. I definitely don't remember the order of events in this show at all lol. And I haven't been listening to the ED now that it changed to the Nyarth song, so I haven't been stumbling into the next episode previews XD So I have NO IDEA what is up next. We shall see!!
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