Arriving In Style! (554)

[Willow's Tara]

It was an okay episode I guess, I did find the Brock/James scenes funny, does James even know Brock is a breeder? He sounds surprised about him knowing this stuff.

Coco seems a bit well alot stuck up, that woman wearing the glasses and short black hair reminded me of an actress or two with that style, I seen such characters in TV dressed exactly that way, oddly they seem to all almost have the same personality or similar.

Dawn's Appeal was the only one I actually liked, the others were meh and okay.

[Bubblewrap]

^ I don't even think TR realised Brock was in a Gym Leader's family until the episode in Battle Frontier. I still don't think they know he was a Gym Leader anyway, so I doubt he knows he's a breeder.

Anyway, good episode! Some of it did get a little tiresome, but there was some funny scenes such as from James.

7/10

[wind21]

Wow, some tough recent reviews for this episode. I really like this episode, of course, since I think enough of it to stop my back episode reviews for this summer right here.

The Pokestylist competition is the last of the 3 side competitions our heroes get involved in. The first was the Pokemon Dress up competition, won by Brock, and the second was the Tag Battle Tournament won by Ash and Paul. So, fittingly, the Pokestylist competition is won by Dawn. What I think this episode does really well is show some great moments for everyone. In terms of storyline importance, Dawn experiences a few moments of doubt again as she tries to come up with a design that she likes for the competition. She wants one that "feels" right to her, that's really her style, which is really a difficult thing for anyone to do at times. B/c, as Ash says when he takes a look at the pile of designs Dawn has discarded, many of them look great (I'll take his word for that), and he's worried Dawn may not have a design ready for tomorrow as the night is wittling away. I think it's really easy in the world today, well particulary in school (that's all the experience I really have), to get so focused on succeeding and getting done with things that it's easy to lose any sense of identity about why you're doing what you're doing. Sometimes, it can't be helped; time just runs out on you, and you have to make things work with what you have. But this Pokestylist competition is very important to Dawn, much more than it is for Ash, since the crabby old lady did say Pokestylists and Coordinators are really one and the same, so she holds out on just coming up with a design just to come up with a design. She wants to feel confident she understands what are the most important qualities of a coordinator. On the flip side, though, she risks not having anything ready for the competition, and that really would be the worst case scenario for her confidence. But she has just won the Wallace Cup, and so this is an important time for her to solidify what she learned when she won that contest: the important thing, is to show off her pokemon. And, fortunately and wonderfully, she does figure it out and have a design ready. But I wonder how long it took her; Brock mentions to James that he spent the night working on the accessories (I think this means both Ash's and Dawn's), and wow, if he means the whole night, then that must have been scary and stressful for Dawn. In real life, all students get into a position like this one at one time or another, staying up all night to finish something, and so what Dawn faces in this episode is something really relatable.

It's interesting that it's easier for Dawn to be more honest about her fears with Brock than with Ash, and I think it goes to the differences in how they treat her. Ash believes Dawn is good at what she does, and he encourages her, regardless of whether she's really right or not (like at the contest where Dawn had Ampibom go for a bigger and flashier swift, Ash thought it was a good idea while Brock said with a sad smile that it was a bit much). Of course, the bad part about that, is that when Dawn is trying to perfect her technique as a coordinator, Ash probably isn't the right person to be her critic. This goes vice versa, too, for Dawn watching Ash's battling style. But, Ash is so experienced now, that often times he really does know what he's doing, so Dawn's cheering seems right on. I do think you can see a little of Ash recognizing the difference b/w Dawn and Brock, though, at the league, where Ash doesn't let Dawn know what his strategies are and what pokemon he's going to use. He wants her to be entertained. The serious talks, about what's on Ash's mind and what pokemon he wants to use, are done with Brock. Well, I think, as well as I can judge from raw episodes and what what translated at one pt over in the pearlshipping thread.

So...what else to say....Well, I definitely like the crabby lady judge, who believes that simplicity and letting the pokemon's true nature shine are lacking in many of the pokestylists today. Unfortunately, I've been rather dissapointed with how many of the adults I've met tend to be like the glamorous pokestylist who is Dawn's rival in this episode. Well, that's one reason I watch this show, to see the world a little how I wish it would be like. Oh well.

One last thing for each of the twerps and their pokemon:
Ash's appeal is funny, especially b/c Pikachu has a legitimate reason to be embarrassed. Even so, Ash manages to instill enough confidence in it to perform the appeal.

To Croagunk's amusement, Brock slumps over when Paris does not recognize him from being a semi-finalist at the Tag Battle tournament. The thing is, I think Brock spent more time out of comission for this than he does when Croagunk poison jabs him. Oh yeah, and at the end of the episode after Dawn has won, Brock rushes on stage to let Paris know he designed the accessories.

Dawn's dress is really pretty. I like this one better than the one she wears for the Grand Festival. I'm not sure if the writers meant to do this on purpose, but it's amusing to see Dawn wearing decent clothing while Ash is the one wearing something a little short.

And finally, the funniest scene to me was the one where Buneary hugs Pikachu just when Piplup was about to hug Buneary. You know, I really liked Piplup in this episode, and to me there's one scene where it's easy to see how much Dawn has grown by the way Piplup and Dawn are separated. This is right before Dawn is about to step on stage and has that sort of scary smirk on her face, while Piplup is back with Ash in the background. Almost all of Dawn's lack of confidence scenes have been with Piplup, and considering Piplup had to Bubblebeam Dawn at the Wallace Cup to get her to perform, the fact that Dawn finds the confidence in herself to step on stage w/o Piplup being needing to encourage her shows that Dawn has really found her confidence for good, now. She knows she can be a good coordinator.

[Lance The Champ]

An overall good episode....The scenes from James were indeed funny

[G50]

This episode was ok... It was cool to see Lopunny for the 1st time. It was cool to see Buneary win the Styling Contest, she looked cute in her little outfit. It was absolutely hilarious when Ash and Pikachu dressed up like cavemen for their styling appeal. Interesting how Buneary won with her Ice Beam move. Buneary looked so cute with the Tiara on her head, it goes so well with her outfit.

43/100

[Bulba the Great!]

Brock and James' Bromance was great. I wish it had lasted.

[Angel~]

A cute episode, although it was really like a Contest one because of the appeals. It's no doubt these fashion shows are equivalent to them. Dawn could become either one tbh. Cocoa is really pretty, love her.