Staging A Heroes Welcome (545)

[kiara911]

this was a great episode!! it was funy to see dawn freak out with her hair ^^
may to the rescue~!!
WHAT THE HECK WHY IS PAUL IN THERE?!
"What is he doing?" -Paul
all that for a little line. wow.
EEE DREW! why is he and harley smiling like dat
And the part with kenny, is the guy on the left of him wearing pajamas?
O.o

[Dattebayo]

The episode was alright, the only good part of the episode was May's contest outfit. It's looks more beautiful than Dawn's.

[Profesco]

One thing I notice that has changed between "Contests" and "Super Contests:" every contest in Sinnoh has been more boring than the Hoenn contests. Super Contests apparently grade on how well the Pokemon itself is shown off, as everyone keeps telling Dawn, but the Hoenn and Kanto contests were graded on how well the Pokemon used its moves and how creatively the moves were used.

In Hoenn, we got to see amazing combinations of moves and the Pokemon's physical abilities, which, when combined, were visually impressive and exciting to see. For instance, when May's Beautifly used Silver Wind to lock up Medicham's fists, then charge it in between the twin cyclones, that was real strategy being used in a contest battle. Beautifly pulled off something amazing, that just doesn't happen in normal battles. And of course, there plenty more examples besides this one.

But in Sinnoh, the only thing we've been given is the same old moves being used with no combination use in the same old way. The Super Contests seem to be all about using your moves and nothing else. I'll admit today, some of the Pokemon and trainer's final poses were very well-done, but the appeals were simply boring. Let's review Ambipom's Double Hit, shall we? All Ambipom did with ouble Hit was wiggle its arms around; it wasn't even using the leftovers from the Ball Seal to make fireworks (something the Super Contests have overused repeatedly). Super Contests have taken strategy out of the contest altogether, and twisted the meaning of "combination" to refer to making a move look bigger and flashier than usual, rather than combining two moves or a special physical characteristic to make a whole new action.

I loved watching this particular episode, if only for the throwbacks to Hoenn and Johto and the chances to see Pokemon doing cool Pokemon stuff (which I'm always happy to see), but it's convinced me that Sinnoh Super Contests are just not the same thing as Hoenn/Kanto Contests. I'm really starting to miss the spectacular Pokemon Contests from the other regions. Sinnoh just isn't shaping up.

[Brumrha]

"Hopefully" I got the right one...

There are several things about this that I would like to talk about. One thing is that May's contest wardrobe makes her look like a Middle Eastern harlot; of course, that's just my opinion... Also, there are times that I think that Dawn will probably need some tranquilizers to steady her nerves, otherwise, it'll take a miracle for her to win this. Another thing is that Jessie looks like a dork in her wardrobe; the fact that she didn't make it past the appeals made me laugh maniacally. She should try to call it quits while she is ahead.

Lastly, I was surprised that the ketchup boy has his own contest wardrobe. It does suit him well, however.

Whew! That's all that I can say, except that the ketchup boy is what I call Ash at times FYI.

[G4Pokefan]

I actually enjoyed today's ep. I had liked all the cameos from Drew, Harley, Paul, May's parents. I even missed Max a lil' bit. Piplup getting upset with Dawn. That was a chuckle.

[Meowth-Fan]

I usually don't like contests, but I liked this episode a lot.
It was funny how Dawn kept hugging Piplup tighter and tighter because she was nervous.
May's contest outfit is really cool and it's fun to watch Ash enter another contest.
8/10

[AstralEon]

Great episode. Alot to write about but im making this short.

The contest seemed boring in this episode. Mays Wartortle was cool to see but its performance wasnt much though to me... Ashs Buizel was...meh... along the line. Jessie performance was just humiliating... she was better of with Dustox. Dawns was too simple, not much. This is the beginning, and I can see why they made it poorly. Saving the best for last i guess.

Piplup is hugable and all but that just over doing it
That one line on Paul was just too short... he should say some heartless instead XD

It was nice to see some old rivals and friends. Only showed them and no talk. Still good though.

Overall... it was decent. Again its only the first part and hope the next episode will be more than this.

7.5/10

[PokemonHero]

I normally don't say this, but I feel sorry for Piplup. Poor Piplup almost got squeezed to death. Well, Dawn should be glad it was him and not Pachirisu.

Overall, a fairly entertaining episode. May wins my vote for best Contest outfit. There were some pretty good appeals there, but Jessie's was just plain awful. I sensed that things were going to be bad when she chose to appeal with Wobbuffet. I just had to laugh at her reaction.

Can't wait for the next episode.

[Cariyaga]

Er... Did I miss the episode? I was under the impression it came on in PM, not AM...

[Blaziken Trainer]

It was cool to see Ecruteak City for a brief millisecond. :P
And it was a pretty cool episode overall

[WaterDragon trainer]

This episode was good. It was little interesting to see Jessie use Wobbuffet in a contest. It was good to see a Finneon. I liked Paul’s random little cameo. Not much else beyond that.

[Charizard_Trainer88]

wow time goes by so fast...i remember when i first watched this episode as part of that double episode day i was thinking that it would be a while before this episode comes out in English..and that was May 9th...anyways i couldnt stop laughing at Ash's face he makes at Zoey when she was apologizing to what she said to Ash when she found out he does gym battles lol looked so confused

[rowly]

you know what would be absolutely ironic and unexpected? (and implausible)
if ash won the contest xD

then he would have the same number of ribbons as dawn hahaha

[TogeticTheRuler]

I didnt really like the episode compared to the original, not in a weeaboo way though.

They didn't play the themes in the background for the dub like they did in the original. This made the episode feel a bit more enjoyable to watch with more feeling in it. But it was replaced by some boring barely hearable instrumental.

The themes were a bit emphasis on the appeals, because I got to say, they were really sucky and inferior to the past appeals. I wish they could have just did a lyricless version of the themes D:

[pi-pikachu1_1]

I didnt really like the episode compared to the original, not in a weeaboo way though.

They didn't play the themes in the background for the dub like they did in the original. This made the episode feel a bit more enjoyable to watch with more feeling in it. But it was replaced by some boring barely hearable instrumental.

The themes were a bit emphasis on the appeals, because I got to say, they were really sucky and inferior to the past appeals. I wish they could have just did a lyricless version of the themes D:

Ehh, get used to it and suck it up. :/ There will never be a moment when a JP theme song will be played, maybe an instrumental version, but not the actual thing. This episode was crappy both original and dub... nothing happens. The real Wallace Cup starts next episode.

[Faerie]

This was an OK episode. It had more high points than low points, but not by a lot. While I enjoyed it, there were some problems going on that could have been easily avoided. First, the good bits.

I liked how Nozomi has actually been changing a little bit as a character since we last saw her. She still acts pretty much the same, but her comment on how she realized that there were things to learn from both Contests and battles was a change. I'm glad that she isn't going to be a totally static character. In Hoenn, Shuu was a good character that developed over time. Since Nozomi is more flexible than he is, I would assume that she's going to change more than he did.

It was awesome to see Haruka's wartortle in this episiode. And that has nothing to do with the fact that Wartortle is my favorite starter in any evolution stage. It was kind of interesting how it had gotten more mature after it evolved. I bet Haruka has been using it in contests more often to increase its confidence.

The whole "confidence" thing brings us to Hikari, who still has none. I understand that this is the kind of character she is, but just two episodes earlier she decided that she would be more confident and focus on her pokemon. Now she's behaving exactly the same as she did in the other contests. Either her annoyingness selfishness lack of self-confidence is so ingrained into her personality that she can't get rid of it, or she just forgot. Either way, way to remember to develop your characters, writers.

This isn't really a high or low point, but Mikuri's fame seems to be getting to his head. He's acting really weird and ditzy compared to the previous episode. And that posing isn't helping.

There are one or two other things I want to point out too. I was surprised that the dubbers didn't get rid of the weird poke-script on the fans' signs. They normally don't keep it there, if I remember correctly. Also, the Sakura and Tomo cameo was extraordinarily random.

As a summary, I was not impressed, but it wasn't bad either. I just hope the next episode delivers a little more than this one.

[Pseudo-Legendary]

LOL i laughed at Paul's part ''what does he think he's doing?''.

[Endoplasmic Reticulum]

Whatever happened to the judges giving scores? I miss that...

[Walcott]

I liked this episode...like, A LOT. I think it was mainly because of May being back for a few episodes. Her contests outfit is really cool, and a lot better then Dawn's. It was nice to see Ash, May, Dawn, and Zoey all be in a Contest. I wish that Ash would participate in them more often :\

[CyberCubed]

May and Dawn seriously have the best interaction in these episodes.

May's line while she was brushing Dawn's hair, "No need to worry, Dawn, especially with pretty hair" was my favorite line of the episode.

I also liked how May winked at Dawn followed by their "ok's."

Whatever happened to the judges giving scores? I miss that...

Yeah, I wish they'd do that again too. The last time they gave scores was the Hoenn Grand Festival. Neither the Battle Frontier nor the D/P Contests do that.