Exploud and Clear! (342)

[Wing]

Why do I get the feeling they changed it from Gai to Guy for no good reason? >_>

Anyway, I've been waiting for this episode for a good long while (Even before the Dub title for it was released) and my waiting paid off big time. Exploud was cool, and Grovyle was just everything I expected it to be, and so much more. Grovyle looked totally awesome when it used Leaf Blade. Like poetry in motion.

Anyway. Since the cornerstone of any good review is balancing what you liked with what you didn't like, there are two things the irked me. The first is that they kept the old Grovyle's voice. (I was REALLY pulling for him getting a deeper voice. Ah well. I was wrong on Zangoose, and I'm wrong on this. >_>) The second is that the episode ended without the battle reaching a climax. Those kinds of episodes are good IN MODERATION. But this is what, the 2nd one this season? The last one was in Zigzag Zangoose, and that wasn't really a long time ago.

But oh well. All in all this was a great episode. Sadly, we're probably not gonna see Grovyle get another good battle until Ash vs. Norman. (Which is what, a month from now?)

Anyway. 9.5/10. This easily would've been a 10 if they had just made Grovyle's voice a bit deeper. But I'll adjust easily.

[Geki]

This episode was AWESOME. Seeing Grovyle VS Exploud in battle, was undescribable. I hope Grovyle continues to be this tough and cool.

[MidnightScott]

I'm watching it right now and its broing (I recorded it)
They need to stop having so many episodes where u have to wait for a gym battle...Can't wait until the Kyogre VS. Groudon Episode, it will be sweet!

-Scott-

[Yamato-san]

I saw the Japanese version a couple of weeks ago. I would say "finally saw" because I'd been anticipating this episode ever since it was announced in Japan, but considering I managed to see it before the dub's premiere, I won't XP

Anyway, what to say about this ep that hasn't been said already? Forgive me for sounding bias, but just for being the episode where Juptle evolved should be enough to give it a 10/10. Hell, you could make this episode seem like a typical Joutoish filler in which they help another woman Takeshi falls for with her Pokemon problems, Juptle evolves during another typical Rocket fight at the end of the episode, and this would still be good. But instead of doing that, they made this episode even better and more special for the situation by doing the opposite of what I just said. Kimori evolves into Juptle very early on in the episode, and in the heat of a rather intense non-Rocket battle. A weekly filler character's there, sure, but they made the character actually seem a bit interesting compared to others (and personally, I was surprised how masculine Gai sounded when I first saw the Japanese version. And here I was thinking he'd be another wuss). And even Rocket Dan get some uniqueness points for having personal conflicts about attempting to snatch the Pokemon of the week, as well as getting offed before they had a chance to say their motto XD. I would agree that the battle at the end cutting off irked me as well, but that aside, I'd say this was overall one of the best episodes ever.

[Sasuke]

Overall I liked this episode. Grovyle and Exploud were cool. The battles were good. The only downside was Groyvle's voice. I expected it deeper and more powerful. What I got was some sort of weird voice. Exploud's voice was awsome though.

[Heracross]

Well, I slept through the first half, so I don't have any comment about that part of the dub. I was very dissappointed with what I did see though. The only music I heard which they kept the same was when Juputoru and Bakuongu start fighting by the waterfall. I guess last week's ep got my hopes up by keeping so much of the original score. Whoever is in charge of the music over at 4Kids really needs some ritalin because s/he was all over the place. With the exception of the one I mentioned above, I don't think a single piece played for more than seven seconds before going on to another one.>_<

Music aside, this episode was awesome. A great way to intoduce Juputoru by having it evolve in that battle. I really liked how they animated the battle as well, the thick black lines really helped accentuate the intensity and tension of it.

Although it didn't do much in this episode, I thought Heigani was great. I don't know how it sounded in the dub, but it was absolutely hilarious when it was talking to Kimori. "Hei Hei Hei!" XD As for Juputoru's dub voice, it was alright. It wasn't bad, but it didn't really seem to fit him that well.

[Space Skitty]

I thought this was a good episode. The battle was intense and Corphish was hilarious! XD My only complaint is Grovyle's voice. It sounded... odd... O.o; I think Grovyle should've had a cooler more firmer voice. Exploud's voice was great, though.

[meggirl63]

This was an ok episode.........

[Medea]

Agreed! This episode was alright. However, I was happy to see Treecko evolve into Grovyle.

[Psychic Venusaur]

It was funny when they said Guy's (Gai's) name. Seemed sort of like they were being rude.

I like how the Carvahna on the Rocket bazooka was a Sharpedo later on.

I thought this episode was really cool. I agree about the thick lines. It worked especially good with Ursaring a while back.

The battles were cool. Exploud was cool. I enjoyed this ep. a lot. I', o.k. with Grovyle's voice, but I hope Ash's Swellow in the future sounds different from Vito's, since it sounded very similar to Grovyle.

In the past four episodes, the new characters have all had new voices. I commend 4Kids for that.

9/10, I loved it.

[Destiny Bond]

Good episode. Grovyle's voice sort of took me by surprise but I can get used to it. In fact, I think it really fits it. I just thought that the Pound attack looks more like a Vine Whip/Slam attack but I guess everything can't go the way I see it. I really enjoyed Leaf Blade as well. Exploud looks really awesome too and I love its violent nature.

Oh, and I loved it when Ash interrupted Team Rocket and decided to blast them off right away with Exploud. Finally, Ash is doing things the "right way."

[Kamex]

I don't know what is it with you guys. If you read all the posts before this one, probably more than half of them said they didn't like Grovyle's dub voice. I liked it last time, and I like it now. It seems to be perfect for it IMO, and I myself have fun using it. I guess I'm the first one here to like it that much. :/

Anyway, this episode had esspecially nice animation, as previously mentioned, and that's always a good thing. The thick lines made each attack that much more powerful.

Once again, Ash interupted Team Rocket's motto. As always, that was funny.

Corphish's mouth in the beginning of the episode wasn't moving at all, I believe, yet Corphish was talking quite a bit. Ah well, it's not like it's a big deal, and it happened before. But this time it was more than usual.

Meowth's fantasy was more interesting this time, for some reason. It was longer and more detailed. And when Giovanni was talking in Meowth's voice, it faded back to reality, showing Meowth still talking, lol.

Of all the few times 4Kids changed a character's name for the dub, this might have been one of the better times, since 'Gai' sounds so much like the English word 'guy', but whatever. I'd better not complain about them keeping a name for the dub.

This was a cool episode, I'll give it a 9/10.

[cold_katanagirl]

Was the dude's name Gai or Guy? I hate either name.... Especially Guy. Who the hell names their kid "Guy"? That name... Annoys me now. -_-

Uh... So Groyvle finally evolved, dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun. Uh, yeah it was a good episode. I've missed a lot of them so it was nice to see something.

But, why the heck did they cut out the battle at the end? I'm getting tired of them doing that... -_-

[ParselTongue]

Grovyle looked great, his voice seemed odd to me also. Best part of the show was Corphish falling on Ash's head. One thing I loved was ash calling team Rockets motto old and blasting them off instantly.

[≈*Virulent Tsunami*≈]

Wow! This was a pretty good episode. Grovyle's voice bugged me at first, but I got used to it. I liked Exploud drinking out of a waterfall, that was funny. TR did some funny faces here, especially when Meowth mentioned Loudred. The animation was tons better than the Ursaring one, that was just utterly terrible. Exploud's voice was excellent. Grovyle looked quite cool, as well. Gai was a better filler character than the other recent ones, as there was some history behind him. Whismur was cute^^.

Overall rating:
9.8 out of 10!!!
Definitely one of the better Evolution episodes. Hope the later ones will be this good.

SC~ out

[Kamex]

The animation was tons better than the Ursaring one, that was just utterly terrible.

It wasn't that bad... :/

Anyway, I forgot to say that they should have had a flashback of Charizard, concerning Loudred's/Exploud's disobediance. Or at least they should have mentioned it. Funny, it took Ash a heck of a lot longer to re-bond with Charizard than it took Gai to do so with his Pokemon. I guess that's because Gai saved Exploud out of caring for it a lot sooner than Ash did to Charizard (Gai pushed Exploud out of the way of James' cork-canon/Ash warmed Charizard up in "Charizard Chills!", after it froze from Tad's Poliwrath's Ice beam, not to mention Ash's Primeape, and how it was saved).

Also, I think lately James' voice has been getting a bit closer to his normal old ways. It wasn't as silly, especially during the motto. But it was very subtle, so maybe I was imagining things out of my hopes and dreams. :/

Edit: Max: It was a joke, please don't hurt me! (lol)

[jolteonjak]

Why is Ash so dumb?

They start glowing (Loudred and Treecko). "Uhhh...what's going on?"

Come on! His Pokemon evolved before you'd think you tell by now. His stupidity is what's getting old.

Other than that, yay for the evolution finally. Though it totally gives away who Ash will use in Norman's gym battle.

[pokemon_trainer_matt]

i missed the episode but i saw it thanx to serebii on the picture thing, i hope grovyle evolves into a sceptile

[Pokemon Fan]

Why is Ash so dumb?

They start glowing (Loudred and Treecko). "Uhhh...what's going on?"

Come on! His Pokemon evolved before you'd think you tell by now. His stupidity is what's getting old.

The other trainer didn't seem to realize it either at first. Pokemon glow when performing certain attacks, and sometimes when powering up as well, so it's reasonable it would be confusing at times. Still, I agree it is a bit tiring having them act like they have no clue at all what is happening. I much prefer the times they've said things like "is it evolving?" or "I think it's evolving."

they kept the old Grovyle's voice. (I was REALLY pulling for him getting a deeper voice. Ah well. I was wrong on Zangoose, and I'm wrong on this.

I thought it was fairly different (and better) than the old Grovyle voice. And really, a low voice wouldn't suit the lithe Grovyle (it really didn't suit Zangoose).

As much as I would have liked a more animalistic call like Charizard or what Grovyle's Japanese voice is like (I haven't heard it personally), Ash's Grovyle's strikes me as a "good" dub voice as it retained personality.

Exploud's voice on the other hand... it was so annoyingly repetitive, had virutally no emotion and its tone varied very little.

On another note, I'd like it if they'd have Grovyle start using Slam. The attack is basically identical to Pound but more powerful and it'd be nice to see Grovyle advance in that way. But then again attacks don't exactly have power levels in the anime like in the games.

[wobbanut]

I liked this episode a lot. It was definitely an improvement over last week's disappointing episode (I saw the Gulpin episode a second time and I'm still underwhelmed). It was great to see Treecko evolve, and I bet a lot of his bad attitude at the beginning stemmed from the previous episode. It made for interesting viewing.

The best part of all, though, had to be the last act. As much as I love Team Rocket's motto, Ash's interruption and Team Rocket's reaction were just plain hilarious. I liked James wondering if he meant they're getting old or the motto is. LOL The motto's certainly not old to me.

Edited to correct myself, I just watched the episode again yesterday.

[Amber]

Yay! it is about time! Treecko evolved! Yahoo! this was one of the best episodes I have ever seen!

[Geodude]

[img135]http://www.geoscreens.com/ash/ag66hitbycorphish.jpg[/img135]

[img135]http://www.geoscreens.com/ash/ag66falling.jpg[/img135]

[img135]http://www.geoscreens.com/ash/ag66hitbycorphishagain.jpg[/img135]

It had a lot of funny expressions, too.

[Torkoal Stu]

It had a lot of funny expressions, too.

lol! that is one of the funnest pic ever!

EDIT FROM DOGASU: There's no need to quote all the pictures that you did. It just makes it annoying for all those dial-up users.

[Pinky the Mew]

You know what bugged me was that Ash didn't bother to mention any of his own pokemon. And thier disobeidient problems(Primape/Charizard). He IS the most experienced trainer there (not counting Brock). He acted as if this was a new learning experience. Pretty stupid and frustrating to me.

[Puffs]

True, Ash could've mentioned all his disobedient pokemon. Charmeleon/Charizard, Primeape, Haunter, Snorlax, Totodile. I though Grovyle was using Vine Whip when it used Pound.