A Full Course Tag Battle! (544)

[wobbanut]

Ah, the return of May, how I've been waiting for this episode. It was so great to see May again, and I'm glad to hear updates on Max, Drew, and Harley (I didn't like Harley at first, but he grew on me). Glaceon was cool, and it was a treat to see Munchlax again. I liked when May sent him out to search for the food, and he found it perfectly, and the other one didn't. LOL I liked seeing May get fiery mad too, and Dawn's reaction. Heehee, it reminded me of "Showdown at Linoone" (lightning May!).

Now, please, for all that is holy, DON'T bring back "May's Expedition"!

Apart from that, the battles were cool, though Ash and Brock won a bit too easily. I liked May's reaction to Team Rocket's new motto, and the fact that Team Rocket actually was able to eat all the food they stole (at least what was on the table) for a change. Overall, great episode.

Now I can't wait till later this week, when I can finally see "Crossing the Battle Line" on DVD two years after those #@$#@! schedulers cheated me out of a repeat!

[HoennMaster]

After seeing the pictures of the Fantina episode and watching this episode, I now love Drifloon.

[dman_dustin]

A Pokemon like Snorlax with a load of Sp. Def. just CAN'T be OHKOed by a Volttackle, although it's Pikachu's strongest attack and has become really powerful by now.
There's simply no Snorlax which is so weak not to be able to endure one single hit! His physique alone prohibits this assumption. With all due respect to Ash, (and I'm convinced nobody really doubts my loyalty to him) but Ash isn't Cynthia! (not yet!!)

Roman's Snorlax:

1. It's not Ash's Snorlax
2. Pikachu was able to knock out a fully rested Regice with "one" volt tackle. Regice is legendary, Snorlax is not.
3. If this was the game, then you would understand "how" Ash was able to knock out Snorlax with one shot. They have weak Pokemon in the games, like lvl 15, and even if Pikachu was the same level, big power attacks seem to knock out a lot of Pokemon at a low level even if your also at a low level. My level 1 Cyndaquil who knew flamethrower was easily knocking out higher leveled Pokemon with one hit.
4. Snorlax was volt-tacked in the head, as I have seen with some shooter games, head shots are usually one hit kills.

[DanChimchar]

I love how may loves food its so funny and cute. You have to love when she gets mad over some stupid food
I did miss may and now she returns to bad she leaves again oh well I'm still can't wait to watch the whole Wallace cup in english dub

[uber gon]

I love how may loves food its so funny and cute. You have to love when she gets mad over some stupid food
I did miss may and now she returns to bad she leaves again oh well I'm still can't wait to watch the whole Wallace cup in english dub

We may see May again post-Sinnoh.

[Cobalt_Latios]

First of all, I want to apologize if the following review won't probably be as enthusiastic as you are used to it.

I take it you didn't like it.

In a word, this episode was neutral. There wasn't really a climax in it, but the opposite wasn't the case either.

Let me ask you a quick question: have you ever had a good friend of yours leave you (maybe change school, something like that), and then you meet them again at some event after, say... 3 years? This was sort of like that. Unless you haven't really had an experience like that, then you should have realized that this was more of an "hey guys, I'm back! I decided to celebrate my temporary return by going to a restaurant.".

I'm getting the impression this has never occurred to you.

(everyone else, that one "" thing wasn't criticizing it, I was drawing it out. It's in no way a negative remark.)

But now, we've unfortunately reached those aspects of the episode which I 've gotta criticize:

Ash's and Brock's Tag Battle against Roman and Kylie was a impudence!! Writers, who do you think we are that we don't realize, how ridiculous this quick win was ??
A Pokemon like Snorlax with a load of Sp. Def. just CAN'T be OHKOed by a Volttackle, although it's Pikachu's strongest attack and has become really powerful by now.
There's simply no Snorlax which is so weak not to be able to endure one single hit! His physique alone prohibits this assumption. With all due respect to Ash, (and I'm convinced nobody really doubts my loyalty to him) but Ash isn't Cynthia! (not yet!!)
Even Brock's interpretative attempt ( "Guess, they weren't as strong as we thought they were." ) wasn't sufficient enough to justify this victory.
You wanna know the truth? The writers simply had run out of time for two comprehensive battles, so they gave the two boys a cheap win and tried to justify it with the aforementioned excuse of Brock!
No,we don't want to see such an unjustified victory.

Do you want to know something? I can tell you that I'm more baffled as to how Munchlax can learn freaking' Giga Impact than the fact that they were weak.

I always thought it was just noodles though.

Well, that's more or less because that's what the focus of Pasta La Vista was all about. When things are kind of side slacked you tend to not really pay attention to it as much.

Roman's Snorlax:

1. It's not Ash's Snorlax
2. Pikachu was able to knock out a fully rested Regice with "one" volt tackle. Regice is legendary, Snorlax is not.
3. If this was the game, then you would understand "how" Ash was able to knock out Snorlax with one shot. They have weak Pokemon in the games, like lvl 15, and even if Pikachu was the same level, big power attacks seem to knock out a lot of Pokemon at a low level even if your also at a low level. My level 1 Cyndaquil who knew flamethrower was easily knocking out higher leveled Pokemon with one hit.
4. Snorlax was volt-tacked in the head, as I have seen with some shooter games, head shots are usually one hit kills.

This should explain things.

We may see May again post-Sinnoh.

Kind of like what they did to Misty? If so, we may have the second actual pattern to occur in this show: the destruction of bikes a la Pikachu, and previous major characters returning for their own arcs twice.

~C_L~

[ash_forever]

Let me ask you a quick question: have you ever had a good friend of yours leave you (maybe change school, something like that), and then you meet them again at some event after, say... 3 years? This was sort of like that. Unless you haven't really had an experience like that, then you should have realized that this was more of an "hey guys, I'm back! I decided to celebrate my temporary return by going to a restaurant.".

I can't quite get what you're trying to tell me.

This was sort of like that

First, you're comparing this episode with an emotional reunion of friends who have been being separated for a long time
and then

that this was more of an "hey guys, I'm back! I decided to celebrate my temporary return by going to a restaurant

you're asserting the episode wasn't meant to be emotional at all but a mere, quick visit of May.

3. If this was the game, then you would understand "how" Ash was able to knock out Snorlax with one shot. They have weak Pokemon in the games, like lvl 15, and even if Pikachu was the same level, big power attacks seem to knock out a lot of Pokemon at a low level even if your also at a low level. My level 1 Cyndaquil who knew flamethrower was easily knocking out higher leveled Pokemon with one hit.

There's a little logical mistake in this thought.
We may certainly assume that Roman hasn't been the owner of the restaurant for only a few days. As it seems to have a good reputation all over Sinnoh (as May pointed out!), it's justified to assume that Roman has been the owner for at least some years, which implies that he must have battled countless times over the years. And this again implies that his Pokemon should be much stronger with all this intense training.

Are we talking about the same "old times"?

When talking about the "old times", I mean those hardly comprehensible victories which somehow left a bitter aftertaste, although your idol Ash won, for example Pikachu throwing the huge and heavy Milotic around like a wrestler (->last gym in Hoenn)

And it's very possible to OHKO a Snorlax if there's a huge level difference. Hell, I've OHKO'd Wobbufets. It's not that hard. I could understand if you've never played the games, but...

No, I'm afraid I've to disagree with you!
Undoubtedly, it's possible...with a Dragon Dance-, Swords Dance- or Choice Band boosted attack of Tyranitar, Garchomp or a fighting type Pokemon.

Sorry, there's no really sensible explanation for this battle which I could accept, unless perhaps this one:

4. Snorlax was volt-tacked in the head, as I have seen with some shooter games, head shots are usually one hit kills.

[Faerie]

When talking about the "old times", I mean those hardly comprehensible victories which somehow left a bitter aftertaste, although your idol Ash won, for example Pikachu throwing the huge and heavy Milotic around like a wrestler (->last gym in Hoenn)

Oh, I see what you're saying. And you do have a point. BUT this victory was hardly incomprehensible. I'll explain that below.

And as for the part in bold, please speak for yourself. I'm not exactly a fan of Satoshi. :P

No, I'm afraid I've to disagree with you!
Undoubtedly, it's possible...with a Dragon Dance-, Swords Dance- or Choice Band boosted attack of Tyranitar, Garchomp or a fighting type Pokemon.

When you say this, I think you're assuming that Pikachu and Snorlax are at the same level of strength, or close. That's not a good assumption to make under the circumstances: Satoshi has had Pikachu since the beginning of the series, and he's always overused the thing. It should be ridiculously powerful right now. And Volt Tackle is a ridiculously strong attack. And Pikachu is darn good at it. It's not at all implausible that it was an OHKO.

Finally, there's one thing here that no one seems to take into account: Roman and his fiancee probably let Satoshi and Takeshi win. How else would they get customers? If they beat everyone they battled, then their restaurant would have no customers. Sure, the meal is free, but it's too expensive just to make all that food and have no one eat it. If no one won and ate there, the restaurant would be closed down.

[uber gon]

Kind of like what they did to Misty? If so, we may have the second actual pattern to occur in this show: the destruction of bikes a la Pikachu, and previous major characters returning for their own arcs twice.

~C_L~

Well that's one pattern I'll be very optimistic about.

[ash_forever]

Finally, there's one thing here that no one seems to take into account: Roman and his fiancee probably let Satoshi and Takeshi win. How else would they get customers? If they beat everyone they battled, then their restaurant would have no customers. Sure, the meal is free, but it's too expensive just to make all that food and have no one eat it. If no one won and ate there, the restaurant would be closed down.

Again, I have to object!
So, why didn't they let they young man win either who rushed out of the door after our heroes had arrived ? :P

Conceivably, Ash and Brock appealed to them, but, frankly, that's not a very conclusive argument to me. I rather think that they treat all their potential customers equally and now we've reached the point again where we began.

[Faerie]

Again, I have to object!
So, why didn't they let they young man win either who rushed out of the door after our heroes had arrived ? :P

Well they went easy on Satoshi and Takeshi, of course, but even if they were toning down their skills, that kid just might not have been strong enough to beat them. He looked young, so it would be sensible to assume that he doesn't have enough experience or talent to beat them.

But, I think we're kind of dominating this thread with our debate, so I think we should just agree to disagree. xD

[Shiny qwilfish of doom]

nice to see may again,cant wait for the next episode.this is also one of my favorite episodes.even her expressions when team rocket steals the food.

[dman_dustin]

There's a little logical mistake in this thought.
We may certainly assume that Roman hasn't been the owner of the restaurant for only a few days. As it seems to have a good reputation all over Sinnoh (as May pointed out!), it's justified to assume that Roman has been the owner for at least some years, which implies that he must have battled countless times over the years. And this again implies that his Pokemon should be much stronger with all this intense training.

Roman looked...maybe older than Brock, or at least old enough to marrying someone *who knows what the age is at since this show has referred to Brock being married and as we know, Brock is still pretty young*

Plus there's the fact he had a Fiance, maybe he had a Fiance after the restaurant was established but looking at Roman's age he doesn't look old enough to be an established owner and that young. He may be the owner simply because he inherited it which is a fair assumption.

Plus looking at Team Rocket, if they could build stuff (a shoddy Cafe shack) in under a day, I'm sure six months of actual hard work should be able to make a restaurant as well equipped as the one we saw (Plus if they had Pokemon to help, it would take less time, remember the Bibarel episode, they built a bridge in like a couple of hours). But you do bring the point of it being a good reputation.

Yes but Roman only stays in one spot, Ash travels around the world, Ash's Pikachu has far more experience. Plus how is Roman's Pokemon going to get stronger if all he battles are weak trainers? Take the games for example, you wouldn't want to raise your level 60 Pokemon near your hometown, would you? They only give you like 40 experience points, as opposed to somewhere else you could get up to a 1000 experience points.

My point is Roman may have the experience to beat weak trainers, but Ash is not a weak trainer, Pikachu is not a weak Pokemon, and Volt tackle is not a weak move. Perhaps if Pikachu used tackle maybe then it would be more of outrage.

Also consider Roman had more than one Pokemon, even if Roman was a skilled trainer, who's to say Snorlax has been trained as extensively?

[CyberCubed]

Kind of like what they did to Misty? If so, we may have the second actual pattern to occur in this show: the destruction of bikes a la Pikachu, and previous major characters returning for their own arcs twice.

Funny stuff, but Misty appeared in Hoenn after the 3rd Gym, and now May appears in Sinnoh after the 3rd Gym.

Is it a coincidence that the girl from the previous saga appeared for a short arc after the 3rd Gym? I wonder if the writers did that on purpose.

Given that May already has 3 ribbons in Johto, there's a possibility she might make another surprise appearance at the end of Sinnoh, maybe even at Dawn's Grand Festival. You never know.

[Cobalt_Latios]

First, you're comparing this episode with an emotional reunion of friends who have been being separated for a long time and then you're asserting the episode wasn't meant to be emotional at all but a mere, quick visit of May.

Well, if you did have friends you haven't seen in a while come back to visit you, wouldn't you like to bring them to a very nice restaurant to celebrate the reunion. And what I was doing there was summarizing this. And if you think about it, it is as quick visit. She's here for roughly 4 episodes. A few days if you think about it. That's pretty quick from a show standpoint. Especially this one.


Kind of out there, but this makes much more sense to me, mostly because during the time this episode aired, my Japanese student (not anymore anyways...) from 5 years back came here for a 10 day visit (she heads back on Saturday). And considering she arrived here 2 days prior to this episode, well it seemed rather fitting.

edit:

Roman looked...maybe older than Brock, or at least old enough to marrying someone *who knows what the age is at since this show has referred to Brock being married and as we know, Brock is still pretty young*

Plus there's the fact he had a Fiance, maybe he had a Fiance after the restaurant was established but looking at Roman's age he doesn't look old enough to be an established owner and that young. He may be the owner simply because he inherited it which is a fair assumption.

You know something funny, when I was about maybe 12 years old, I actually created a character for this show (the thing a kid my age would do). He was a little older than Ash and owned an Amusement Park. Hence why I actually laughed pretty hard when I realized that Roman was the owner. But I can't help thinking that he's based on a character in the game who's relative owns the place. And if I'm not mistaken, I don't a fiance is equal to a wife. But, I don't know enough there, so carry on.

Plus looking at Team Rocket, if they could build stuff (a shoddy Cafe shack) in under a day, I'm sure six months of actual hard work should be able to make a restaurant as well equipped as the one we saw (Plus if they had Pokemon to help, it would take less time, remember the Bibarel episode, they built a bridge in like a couple of hours). But you do bring the point of it being a good reputation.

Being a cartoon based upon a game, you could easily say that realism likes to really bend itself in interesting ways. Next to anything is possible. And the writers (both game and show) like to do things for the heck of it. I'd say they have enough imagination to pull stuff like this off with ease, and without worry. I mean, are you really thinking about real life stuff when playing these games?

Yes but Roman only stays in one spot, Ash travels around the world, Ash's Pikachu has far more experience. Plus how is Roman's Pokemon going to get stronger if all he battles are weak trainers? Take the games for example, you wouldn't want to raise your level 60 Pokemon near your hometown, would you? They only give you like 40 experience points, as opposed to somewhere else you could get up to a 1000 experience points.

It's funny you mention game mechanics in battle only situations as opposed to the actual game as a whole. Not to be mean or anything, just sort of pointing something out here.
Who knows, maybe the writers just tossed that kid who ran out for good laughs to add a good few minutes to the show to allow the main cast time to think: "was this really a good idea?".

My point is Roman may have the experience to beat weak trainers, but Ash is not a weak trainer, Pikachu is not a weak Pokemon, and Volt tackle is not a weak move. Perhaps if Pikachu used tackle maybe then it would be more of outrage.

I'm gonna bold this for better view. I want this general argument to end soon.

Also consider Roman had more than one Pokemon, even if Roman was a skilled trainer, who's to say Snorlax has been trained as extensively?

I'd say his Girafarig was better trained than Snorlax. Considering what it did to Blaziken. However, that's an entirely different playing field altogether.

~C_L~

[pi-pikachu1_1]

Just one thing:

NEVER STEAL ANY FOOD FROM MAY

[uber gon]

Just one thing:

NEVER STEAL ANY FOOD FROM MAY

Heh, I'm hoping we'll see May get mad over stolen food in later episode

[HoennMaster]

Funny stuff, but Misty appeared in Hoenn after the 3rd Gym, and now May appears in Sinnoh after the 3rd Gym.

Is it a coincidence that the girl from the previous saga appeared for a short arc after the 3rd Gym? I wonder if the writers did that on purpose

Also notice how when they meet Misty and May they are both by lakes?

[uber gon]

Also notice how when they meet Misty and May they are both by lakes?

Well Misty's arc took place in some alternate dimension, whereas May's arc is just some normal contest episode.

Just wanted to differentiate the two.

[Genome]

Pokemon crackers. Will satisfy Ursaring-sized hunger!

Harley unbeaten? Please don't tease me.

So Glaceon pushed Delcatty out of a window in MY POKEMON? Oh no you don't!

Aren't you two a little young to be owning a 7 star restaurant?

I imagine this is what a master referee would look like.

A sad day for Snorlaxes everywhere (or would the plural still be Snorlax?)

NEVER UPSET MAY now added to the wedding vows.

"It's just like radar" Oh geez. We need Tracy for this one.

First a Thunder Stone and now a 7 star pizza dinner, TR's on a roll!
But now I feel like they're neglecting Pikachu.

I love Blaziken battles. It's an inferno from above! Johto will be burned to a crisp. Although this time sounds like it has a rag in its mouth compared to the one against Sceptile. At least it didn't say its full name as much.

So who's paying the bill this time?

8/10 May pretty much stole the show. I MISS MAY.