A Shape of Things To Come (483)

[Reign G]

Best part of the entire episode was Paul's "Duh!" at Ash outside the gym. His face made him look surprised at something, though...

Anway, apparenly I've also mispronounced Cranidos. I said Crain-Uh-Dos, but it's Crain-Ee-Dos. Huh.

Why'd they add electricity to Brick Break? I know Elekid's an electric Pokémon, but still...

Lotsa Abilities this time. But Blaze looked different. When May's Blaziken used it, it was a red glow. This time it's a fire. I like the fire better, but still...

I noticed that Paul always seems to be dissapointed in Chimchar, even if it gets victories (See the episode with the Stantler) Yet he never releases it. I wodner why. It can't be because he started with it, as Elekid is obviously his Starter...

I'm also seriously startting to doubt that Paul's a beginner. His Pokémon are way too skilled to be just starting out. And his Elekid...Wow...

(Woo! Rank up!)

Over and Out!

[Ashy Boy]

What sort of nasty stuff did Paul say to Ash this time?

[Sushi Bunny]

Best part of the entire episode was Paul's "Duh!" at Ash outside the gym. His face made him look surprised at something, though...

That was my favorite part of the episode too! In the Japanese episode he didn't even say anything, he just made that face, which was enough to make me laugh for awhile, but the english episode made it ten times funnier with the "Duh!".

But I wonder if he was suprised because Ian (is that how his name is spelled?) said that it was for rock Pokemon, and he only had an Elekid and Chimchar, and an Ursaring, that is if Ursaring hasn't been released. So maybe Paul/Shinji didn't really go to the Pokemon center, but went out to find a water Pokemon, that's why it didn't do so good in the battle. All I can imagine is Shinji/Paul looking around in a pond, then spotting an Azumarill and lunging at it!

Now on to Roark. He scared me... He was talking to rocks... And the rocks were talking back...

Something else that cracked me up was Shinji/Paul saying "Good for nothing" to the azumarill, and Ash just yelling "creep!" It seemed so weird for some reason.

I just keep remembering more and more things that are funny, Shinji/Paul's very first line, "Do I know you?" Something else I've been noticing is that Ash has been saying "Whoa!" a lot "Whoa it's Paul!"

[Pearl's Perap]

I really enjoyed this episode, mainly due to Paul being in it and, well, as usual, treating Ash like dirt, I love seeing him do that and watching Ash STILL get shocked at how he is, he might aswell give up trying to befriend him...

The gym battle was great, Paul's strategies made it entertaining to watch and each time I see it, his Chimchar makes me like that line more and more.

One thing that did...well...confuse me, was when Roark began talking to a fossil about 'old times', it was odd, to say the least, but when has pokémon ever been NOT odd?

8/10

[npdargy312]

I wonder when Paul will finally get his Murkrow we've known about 4 a long time now

[Rebeccag]

lol i quite liked this episode as it was the first gym battle not counting the fake gym with team rocket and the funny moment with paul going duh was funny as well overall a good episode

[Faraway_Mew]

I'm guessing he's been into the whole idea of battling via strategy a whole lot longer than Ash has. They are roughly the same age, so perhaps that's why Shinji is only now starting to train pokémon? Too engrossed with the technical side of pokémon and shunning all the other elements.

Ash just never grow old at all, if he does, he'll at least be a few years older then Hikari and Shinji presuming that they are ten.

I just don't like the whole electric beat rock and ground types, just plainly DON'T make sense at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One thing that did...well...confuse me, was when Roark began talking to a fossil about 'old times', it was odd, to say the least, but when has pokémon ever been NOT odd?

8/10

I guess it's the same case as anabel except it is the fossils this time (anabel sense feelings and talk to all living things), in the manga, Lance and Yellow could talk to pokemon, so i guess its not all that surprising.

[wobbanut]

It's funny that this is only the second time in the series history that Ash had to wait for someone else to finish their gym battle first (Gary in "Battle of the Badge" was first, and that one battle for May in Hoenn (Mauville?) doesn't count since it was a demonstration). Considering all the traveling he does, and how often he heard about Gary and the other Pallet trainers before him in the first few episodes, it's funny he doesn't run into this problem more often.

Anyway, this was a pretty good battle episode for Paul, and it's interesting to see how his style compares to Ash's. He's still so awful toward his pokemon, though, and I'm glad in retrospect that Chimchar didn't stay his.

[Maiev]

Alright episode. Paul's Pokemon were okay, Chimchar and Elekid sure took a beating though. He mustn't have had Torterra with him, or perhaps the writers just didn't want to showcase it too early, because it would have been a perfect Pokemon to use. Oh well.

And, of course, Paul's attitude to Ash is funny.

[Ash-kid]

I think that Gym battle is the best I saw!!!
I was laughting in the end of battle Elekid-Cranidos that Elekid was supposed to fall like Cranidos,but did not fell.

[Blue Snover]

I was surprised that Elekid lasted as long as it did, especially in a rock gym.

[(s.i.e)]

I was surprised that Elekid lasted as long as it did, especially in a rock gym.

why that? rock deals normal damage to electric types as far as i'm concerned, electric attacks have no use on rock however.

[Littlemyuu]

it was a nice episode, Paul did good in it

[Ash-kid]

I wish that the writers will show Paul's 8th gym.
This battle was the best. Paul with 2 week pokemon(Elekid, Chimchar)won 3 strong pokemon.

[S.Suikun]

For the record, I have gone back and lowered a few of my earlier grades now that I've established a firm rating system, and since this episode isn't perfect but probably stomps on any previous DP episode up to this point.

Over 100 episodes later, and Shinji is still the hatable little prick he was way back in simpler times. Looking back on these so-called simpler times, we can get a glimpse of how the writers intelligently established him thoroughly early in the game, unlike Shigeru or Shuu. And really, showing his match against Hyouta is a fantastic idea that gives us a reprieve from just seeing Satoshi all the time (sure, we saw Shigeru vs. Sakaki a decade earlier, but that ended in a flash). Not only that, but the battle is excellent, on top of essentially being a game elitist's orgasmic 22 minutes with all the abilities and attack dynamics being shown off. But even for those of us who could not give a rat's about what the hell "Static" does, it's still Sinnoh's best episode to this point.

Now, while Hyouta gets an unprecedented six episodes of exposure, he's actually a rather dry character outside being a fossil fanatic. I feel they could have developed him further or at least given him some characteristic that stands out, which is this episode's one and only faltering. Otherwise, the battle is intense and down-to-the-wire, as we start to get more of a sense of how competent Shinji is as a trainer. On top of some early Hikozaru foreshadowing, we see not only how strategic Shinji is, but how he's willing to let his Pokemon get harmed if it means a win. Team Rocket is also used well here (and in the next episode), setting up their big scheme in DP017 over the course of a few episodes so that little time is wasted. This is also a very violent episode, for the record, but one that uses violence to portray special abilities nicely, which we don't get too often in the anime.

A-

[Ciccone]

I've noticed that the best Sinnoh episodes seem to feature Paul battling a tough opponent. Well, this was a great way to showcase Paul's Pokemon as well as his battle strategies. Roark really did push Paul all the way though, and that was intense. Paul managed to win the badge but he was able to showcase a lot of talent and ability in doing so. 8/10.

[KGB13]

This Gym battle was quite entertaining. Paul's got some seriously tough pokemon that can sustain a lot of damage and dish it out. Elekid and Chimchar did surprisingly good considering they were at a huge disadvantage against all of Roark's pokemon. I really liked this episode and hope that Ash's battle is just as good.

[swampertlover5712]

i found the battle intersting, considering the fact Paul didn't have a water-type. he just had Elekid and Chimchar, good battle.
8/10

[Willow's Tara]

Not too bad. I laughed when Paul said to Dawn "Who are you? lol he probably didn't care to remember it anyways. It was a nice match between Roark and Paul.

I do agree it's a bit weird that Roark talks to fossils, alot more then when Anabel talked to Pokemon because they were living things. I guess it's one of those quirky things (Although Gardenia's quirks are the best out of the Sinnoh leaders I have seen Roark-Fantina, haven't seen the remaining lot).

[saar]

Paul has proved in this episode he is a good trainer, and even more than that- an amazing trainer. Maybe his training style(with releasing Azumaril)was bad, but he has a great strategy, and Roark couldn't have done nothing to stop him.