Talkback: Pokemon the Series: SM: Ultra Adventures: "Battling Besties!" [11/16]

[Light Lucario]

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

Recently:
Ash and Torracat unknowingly travel back in time and meet a young Professor Kukui.
Ash receives a Firium Z-Crystal.
Lillie masters her Z-Move Subzero Slammer.
Professor Kukui announces that the Alola League winner will battle the Masked Royal.
Gladion is reunited with his father's Zoroark.
Ash and his friends arrive at Manalo Stadium to take part in the Alola Pokemon League.
Hau and Illima arrive to participate in the Pokemon League as well.
Team Skull attempts to destroy the Pokemon League for Guzma.
Guzma arrives to take part in the Pokemon League in order to destroy it himself.
The Masked Royal announces that the preliminary round will be a Battle Royal.
The Battle Royal preliminary round begins.
Ash, his friends, Team Rocket, Guzma and Faba make it to the next round.
The next set of matches for the Top 16 are announced.

Last Time:
"Battle Royal 151"
The first Alola Pokémon League competition has begun, and it start off with a bang. First up is a massive qualifying round where 151 Trainers and their Pokémon engage in a wild free-for-all Battle Royal. Only the top 16 competitors will proceed to the next stage, and Ash and his friends are determined to stand among the victors! There are plenty of rivals for them to defeat, including Team Rocket and Team Skull. Will Ash and his friends make it to the Top 16?

This Time:
"Battling Besties!"
Saturday November 16th, 9:00AM
Now that the Alola Pokémon League’s qualifying round is over, it’s time for the real matches to begin! Ash faces off against the scheming Faba, and crowd favorite Ilima takes on Team Skull’s Boss, the foul-tempered Guzma. But perhaps the most exciting match of the day occurs when Lana and Primarina battle against Mallow and Tsareena. The two may be best friends outside the arena, but that won’t stop them from giving their all during this battle!​

Notes:
The 22nd season of Pokemon is here to keep promoting the seventh generation.
Disney XD is the new home for the Pokemon anime series.
Pokemon Sword/Shield are available now!
A new Pokemon series will premiere in Japan on November 17th.
Detective Pikachu is coming to the Switch.
Pokemon Masters is available now.

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this episode was pretty good. Ash vs. Faba was a bit of a disappointing note to start on though. I really didn't like that Faba cheated by forcing Meltan out of its Pokeball. He was desperate to get that battle with the Masked Royal, but it reminded me of how much I really didn't like that he was redeemed and forgiven so easily. It was also kind of annoying how Meltan won relatively easily. Part of it was because they had to cram multiple battles into this episode and Faba was obviously going to lose anyway, but since Meltan hasn't had much of a chance to battle, I was hoping that it would have a more believable win. It wasn't forced or poorly done exactly, but just maybe too quick and easy after Meltan ate some of Hypno's pendulum.

Guzma vs. Illima was much more interesting. Guzma's Scizor was really strong and intimidating. It was also cool to see a Mega Kangaskhan. The way Guzma won was pretty believable too. Kangashkan would be more worried about protecting its baby, so that would throw off its movement enough for Scizor to move in fast enough to do some major damage. It is kind of strange that they didn't have Illima battle against any of the main cast though. Having Guzma defeat a big fan favorite character expected to make it much further in the Alola League makes him more of an established threat. But they also spent two episodes focused on Illima, so having him lose in the Top 16 after all that hype seems a bit strange.

Hau vs. Samson Oak was barely a footnote, which is a shame considering the lack of Hau's screentime and how we haven't seen Alolan Raichu in battle that often. But Samson is just a joke character, so they wouldn't want to focus that much time on it. Mallow vs. Lana was a pretty good match though. It was understandable that Mallow was nervous about battling one of her friends right off the bat and that threw off her connection with Tsareena as well. I don't like that Primarina learned Icy Wind off-screen. It makes sense for Lana to teach it to Primarina, but I just think it's lazy for it to happen off-screen, along with their training in general.

Mallow was quick to give up, but her heart wasn't into the battle. I like that Tsareena refused to go back into its Pokeball. It showed just how strong its determination was. I liked that Lana pointed out that Tsareena still wanted to battle and that Mallow should keep going until the end. Once Mallow and Tsareena were truly connected, she was able to pull off her Z-Move for the first time. Both Lana and Mallow's Z-Moves clashing like that was pretty cool. Lana winning in the end made sense though. Tsareena took a lot of damage earlier and after all of the hype for Lana, she wouldn't lose that quickly. While I don't feel a strong friendship vibe between Lana and Mallow, they are still friends and they were both happy to battle each other. I liked that Mallow's older brother was happy for her even after she lost. Overall, it was a pretty good episode.