Talkback: Pokemon the Series: SM: Ultra Adventures: "A Battle Hand-Off!" [10/27]

[Light Lucario]

Join Ash and Pikachu as they make new friend and explore the Alola region.

Recently:
Kiawe and Marowak are able to use Inferno Overdrive together.
Team Rocket gets a Z-Ring from Nanu in order to use their Dark Z-Crystal.
Jessie gets a Mimikyu Z-Crystal.
Ash heads towards his next set of Trials for the Island Challenge.
Ash meets Acerola and Nanu.
Ash challenges Nanu to a Grand Trial, but Nanu refuses.
Ash loses to Nanu in a practice Grand Trial and decides to remain on Ula'ula Island to do some training.
Ash goes to train with Tapu Bulu for his upcoming rematch against Nanu.
Rowlet learns Razor Leaf and Lycanroc learns Stone Edge.

Last Time:
"Some Kind of Laziness!"
Ash is ready to participate in his next grand trial! He’s traveled to Ula’ula Island to find Nanu, the island kahuna, but Nanu doesn’t seem terribly interested in accepting the challenge. Ash’s new friend Acerola attempts to convince Nanu to grant Ash a “pre-trial” battle to see if he’s strong enough for the Trial. Will Ash be able to defeat Nanu?

This Time:
"A Battle Hand-Off!"
Saturday October 27th, 9:00AM
Fresh from his training with Tapu Bulu, Ash is ready for a rematch against Nanu, the kahuna of Ula’ula Island. Before the grand trial, however, Nanu has another pre-trial test for Ash. Our hero is tasked with winning a Pokémon battle against Team Rocket! Unfortunately for Ash, Jessie and Mimikyu have mastered Mimikyu’s Z-Move, and Mimikyu is determined to show Pikachu its full power. Will Ash be able to win and earn the right to challenge Nanu again?
​

Notes:
The 21st season of Pokemon is here to keep promoting the seventh generation.
Disney XD is the new home for the Pokemon anime series.
New episodes premiere on Saturday mornings again.
Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee will be available for the Switch on November 16th
A new Mystical Pokemon named Meltan and its evolved form Melmetal have been revealed.
There is a main series Pokemon game in development for the Switch system.
The episodes are available on both Disney XD's website and On Demand section.
Please avoid using detailed spoilers here. Thank you.

 

[LinusFan303]

So Bewear finally figured out those were fake Team Rocket. The short school scene was a little too on the nose. Team Rocket really have advanced well in their own training, Pikachu learned a new move yay!

 

[AnotherRandomGuy]

A nice episode.

Team Rocket was so close to winning too, but Ash being the protagonist he is of course lucked his way out of it, but that's small potatoes really.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this episode was pretty good. It was nice to see Team Rocket train with their Z-Move. Jessie is Mimikyu's trainer, so she would be the only one required to do the pose, but they're a team and work together. They were even eager to battle against Ash right away. Ash's bit of training was also nice and showed that Lycanroc was able to not be consumed by its anger with a little bit of dirt.

It was kind of funny how Nanu tried to send Team Rocket off on a wild goose chase just so that he wouldn't have to do any work only for Ash to show up right away. I'm still confused why they kept calling the trial a pre-trial. At least Nanu had a good idea with using Team Rocket for Ash's Trial and it was a nice way to adapt Acerola's trial from the game. Instead of just bringing in a Totem Mimikyu, they used Jessie's Mimikyu to fill the role and give Team Rocket something to do. It's kind of weird to eliminate a trial like that while simultaneously trying to adapt it, but it's pretty clever and interesting.

The battle itself was pretty good. Mimikyu was on the offensive right from the start and Pikachu was having quite a hard time with it, which is different than how it normally handles Team Rocket's Pokemon. Bewear crashing through the tree when it realized that Team Rocket was gone was pretty funny. It seemed like it was going to take them back right in the middle of the match, but Mimikyu somehow convinced Bewear to give them more time.

It was pretty cool to see Team Rocket use the Z-Move pose and shout out Let's Snuggle Forever. Their reactions to the move itself were pretty hilarious. Meowth knew full well just how terrifying Mimikyu can be like that. Pikachu learning Electro Web was a weird surprise. They established earlier that something was strange about its Electro Ball, but I didn't think it was going to learn a new move. This mini-arc has been all about Ash's Pokemon learning new moves. It's kind of funny in a way. I was upset over Pikachu forgetting Volt Tackle for Electro Ball, but I've been used to Electro Ball for awhile only for them to replace it with another move. Electro Web could be possibly used for both offense and defense though. Of course, once Ash and Pikachu were able to use their special One Million Thunderbolt move, it was all over for Mimikyu.

It was strange that I almost was rooting for Team Rocket. I knew that they wouldn't win. It wouldn't make sense for Ash to deal with another defeat already and I obviously wouldn't want them to get Pikachu, but they actually trained for this match. It wasn't much, but they spent time working on Mimikyu's Z-Move pose and were acting like a team. Ash had a bit of training at the beginning, but Pikachu learning Electro Web felt like a bit of a cop out. There have been other times where Pokemon learn key moves in the middle of a battle. Sometimes it works, but sometimes it feels cheap and I think that this was more on the latter side than the former. It was still a pretty good match. Pikachu learning Electro Web might have worked a bit better if they established it in the previous episode instead of this one.

It was still pretty hilarious to see Bewear run off with Team Rocket in a grocery shopping cart. Ash got his chance for a Grand Trial with Nanu as a result of his victory. This was probably the best Trial in the series thus far, but I think it helps that it was more like a regular trainer battle in the disguise of a Trial. It almost makes the Ula'Ula set of trials feel more like a Gym battle than the other Trials do. The writers probably wanted to do something that they're more familiar with than adapting the Trial more faithfully. It is kind of weird to do that, but this was a more creative way of showcasing one of the Trials in the series thus far and it's one of the few times where I almost wanted to cheer for Team Rocket, so I give them credit for that. Overall, it was a pretty good episode.