Check out me and my wife, Francesca, reacting to Pokémon every Thursday and Dragon Ball every Friday! Join us on our Tuesday gaming livestreams and don't miss our other reactions to shows like Boruto, My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Re:ZERO, and more!
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Oh my god, this was such a great episode 🤩. I'm pleased you guys had such a ball with this reaction. The Blackthorn City Gym is earnestly one of the hardest battles Ash ever endured, and it makes sense given that this was his last Gym. Plus, it was a Dragon-Type Gym after all, lol. I already knew Clair was goated, but this episode showed it especially when she's having an actual Pokémon battle. That Kingdra of her's was crazy. 6:32, really embodied just how mighty it was 😂. This has to be without a doubt the most I've ever been invested with the Team Rocket side plot. Not only was it interesting, as it involved them trying to get into the Dragon's Den (for which is very beautiful by the by), but it was absolutely hilarious, lol. 8:50, this episode is honestly the sassiest we've ever seen James get 😆. Loved his dry humor. And Dragonite was very adorable here 😊. I love how it was portrayed as a gentle giant of sorts, which matches its appearance in a way. And lastly of course, I was just as elated as you were when we got to see Charizard make his return by the end of the episode 😁. I agree with the notion that this insinuates his training is finally complete! Meaning that he'll be a great help for Ash in handling his rematch with Clair. Not only that, but this means he gets to be on the team, I'm sure he'll also be a big help during the Johto League. Can't wait to see your reaction t9 the next episode you guys. Given the story that was playing out here, im sure itll be very entertaining 😄.
I have been waiting so long for these next few episodes. I can't believe you're finally watching them. They're some of my most favourite episodes in the entire series. I rewatch them all of the time.
It feels weird to see Yamcha doing careless mistakes like not guarding legs or plan on his footing during fights to get kicked on the shin like that. Thats like a basic martial art kind of thing, and for all the time he spent training all those years, something basic like that shouldn't be an issue for him, but yet they made him looked so bad for this match. 🤷♂️ Almost felt like Toriyama created this character to resemble someone he hates in real life.
In the Super manga Goku doesn’t have the goofy goober personality as he did in the anime, he’s like what y’all described him to be at the end that he has a rounded personality. He can be goofy and a bit stupid, but serious, wise, and strong all at the same time. So when the Super anime returns and we get the Moro and Granolah arcs we’ll have the same Goku we had in DBZ
And the biggest problem finally shows itself: Ash's Johto Mons are very underwhelming. Noctowl, a fully-evolved Mon was very clearly struggling against Clair.
The sarcasm was real in this one. Hey James you're on fire, oh wait. Dragon types are really strong but Kingdra is part water type. it should have been somewhat affected by Pikachu! I think Claire is cheating.
- Of course... the trivia point about Brock sarcastically remarking that riding on Staryu is a new experience for him... could also be sarcastic due to the whole memory erasure thing in Mewtwo Strikes Back. It hasn't been the first time this was put into a joke context like that iirc. - 20:43: There are certainly times when Bulbapedia Trivia is a bit weird like here with assuming that Dragonair used Flash despite it not being mentioned... you know... I actually gotta ask if that contradicts their manual of style 'cause I have seen a case in modern Pokémon anime days where a move would insistently not be added to the Pokémon page until it was mentioned by name unless it has a unique animation in its own series.
Update: Yeah, that Error about Dragonair using Flash actually was erroneously placed on there by someone. I checked back with their staff after also checking the Japanese version that it is the same there and then proceeded with removing it from the proper pages (the episode page, the page for Clair's Dragonair and the page for all Animated series move errors). So thanks to you two for highlighting the Trivia for someone like me to see it and report it.
Now this episode was a better display of Kingdra’s power. Not only is it quite a versatile Pokémon (as it has the stats and moves to be run physically or specially) and an amazing Swift Swimmer, but it was a fearsome adversary back when it debut. Water/Dragon is such a strong typing, neutralizes its weaknesses to Electric, Grass, Ice, and only weak to Dragon. You’d need a Dragon-type Pokemon or move to give you the edge when you went up against one (which was no easy feat given how seldom they were in Gen. 2 with literally just the Dratini line as your only other option). Which made Clair Kingdra quite formidable to go up against. Juan’s Kingdra was a bit easier in Emerald since you had the Altaria and Flygon lines to use against it (or Rayquaza if you just wanted to make the rest of the game easier). But it ran Double Team, and no one likes dealing with Evasion spam.
The dub name they choose for Kami doesn't really help knowing it's Kami, because in sub Kami calls himself "Shen" where Goku deducted that it sounded similar to ShenLong ( or Shenron whatever) and that's how he found out it was Kami (and ofc because of how he was fighting and stuff). But the dub choose to call him Hero, but i can't really find any logical correlation with that name and Kami/God tbh, so the viewer just end up being confused on how the hell Goku actually figured that out lol (with his fighting style maybe?). Probably would've been easier to just call him Shen.
