Short and To The Punch (627)

[jolteonjak]

I'm curious what the guy was saying as Ash and Buizel were first punching the waterfall. Whatever he said, he punched it, and there was quite the reaction from Ash (and Buizel I think). This was a pretty good episode. I'd like to see episodes like this where they work on learning/prefecting the move rather than "pulling the move out of its butt."

I have to say, the animation quality has been pretty good lately (aside from the stupid Pikachu error of last week's episode).

[dman_dustin]

I think rain dance would be a complete waste of a move. Yes there is swift swim, but so? That's all it would be used for, just to activate it's ability. It's not like they've shown that water attacks get a boost in the rain.

And I really can't see why the rain was cheap. Is there anything they can do so it's not cheap? Seriously with Maylene the clouds were out in the beginning of the episode. And in this one the clouds appeared before they officially battled. So what, they have to show the clouds at the end of one episode, and it rains through the whole next episode, but Ash doesn't use Buizel till the end for it not to be cheap. What would be cheap is if the clouds formed quickly while they were battling but in both cases that never happened.

[Kazuki Mirai]

From what I seen, Abilities are just your typical deus ex machinas to turn the battle to the main character's favor. Though they don't always work.

But yeah, fun episode. Piplup being hit by Draco Meteor AGAIN. And Gible trying to eat the platform. Not to mention Team Rocket getting blasted off by nature itself before they even do their own motto. My lord, are they getting better writers for this?

[An00bis]

I expected Mr. Mime to have used defensive moves, but it was too offensive for my taste. It's trainer must have trained it using different methods :/

I would have liked even Protect over Double Team.

I have a feeling is going to rain a lot at the league...>_>

The Pokemon League's happening in the middle of Hurricane Season, kthx.

The Pokemon doesn't actually dance.....does it?

Nope. We saw Rain Dance during the Riolu Special. They shoot a large ball of energy into the sky which forms clouds and starts the rain.

I'm curious what the guy was saying as Ash and Buizel were first punching the waterfall. Whatever he said, he punched it, and there was quite the reaction from Ash (and Buizel I think).

This is just a guess but the Training Session might have had to do with the speed of the punch. When the man punched the waterfall he punched so fast the water didn't break. When Ash and Buizel tried they kept breaking the water until the attempt right before the break. When Buizel punched at the waterfall he didn't break the water. When he pulled back he had a bit of ice on his arm.

I think rain dance would be a complete waste of a move. Yes there is swift swim, but so? That's all it would be used for, just to activate it's ability. It's not like they've shown that water attacks get a boost in the rain.

It could be used as a Support Move for other members of the Team. Grotle's Synthesis would heal better during the rain. If Pikachu re-learned Thunder it'd also have 100% accuracy during the rain. The only real downside of all of it is that it would really screw over Monferno since it suffers a loss of power in the rain.

... but really I'd like Pikachu to learn Rain Dance over Buizel. Buizel already learned two moves in Sinnoh and Pikachu hasn't learned anything.

[dman_dustin]

While it could be because I missed that specific part and was spoiled about it, I really didn't find the Piplup abuse to be funny in this episode, it just didn't seem as funny as the other times.

Perhaps they should give it a rest for the moment. Although a draco meteor that hovers and follows Piplup would be funny.

[ashds]

Although a draco meteor that hovers and follows Piplup would be funny.

I can see that now

Dawn: It's a homing DM

[cyberduelistzane]

once again seeing piplup getting hit by draco meteor is still funny i love how they are incorportating that as a running gag until gible masters it

[STICKTOPIA]

-Omg it was just great seeing Buizel out after such a long time!!!!
-I'm glad that it finally got a win! It's been much too long!
With Ice Punch, it's gonna get some good wins under its belt. I'm also glad it didn't pull a Gliscor.
-TR should have just stayed where they were(idiots).
-I wonder if it'll take until the GF for Gible to master Draco Meteor.
-Piplup getting hit by Draco Meteor is just uneccessary IMO.

[Yuppirox]

-TR should have just stayed where they were(idiots).

iirc, it was mostly Meowth's fault. He jumped ahead, ignoring Jessie and James' warnings. :/

-Piplup getting hit by Draco Meteor is just uneccessary IMO.

I thought it was pretty funny. And at least Dawn finally started to care after not seeming to pay attention to Piplup's abuse in the last few episodes.

Anyway, I'm really starting to love Tomioka-san's style of writing nowadays. No wonder he's the main writer of the show.. Also, the animation for this episode was amazing. And Ash was so calm and cool most of the episode.. x3

..the ending 'animation' freaked me out. Wasn't expecting that at ALL. :O

[Ludi-Cola]

Anoobis brings up some good points. Rain Dance could be a v. effective strategy for some of Ash's team and I for one would like to see him utilize weather effects, learning which ones are helpful and which ones are not (I could picture a scientist COTD demonstrating Rain Dance for Buizel/Pika, Sunny Day for Grotle/Monferno, Sandstorm for Gible)
I'm enjoying seeing a greater amount of training based eps and think Ice Punch will serve Buizel well in the Grand Festa-- er Sinnoh League. Tbh if I could pick just one move for Ash's team to learn I'd want his Pikachu to learn Feint and shove in Paul's Protect-spamming face.

[Magical Needle Smash]

A great episode, I thought. I liked Kijuurou's character quirk of abbreviating everything; it's pretty amusing to hear a sentence cut down to three syllables. Even better was when the Rockets (including Soonansu) ripped it off. Speaking of which, Nyaasu being so adamant the entire episode about sticking to the plan (not springing their attack until after the battle, when the target's worn out), then cracking right before the pivotal moment and running in recklessly was hilarious.

It did seem a little cheap to have the second battle start out as a move-for-move copy of the first, but excellent music made up for it, and the reset of the battle was pretty great. Also, the little fist bump between Satoshi and Buizel after their victory was perfect.

[Locormus]

The writers like to make Ash's team weaker as time goes on.

All of Sinnoh's evolution, and his pokemon learning new attacks is making Ash's team weaker? That's new

I don't think that the rain was Dem.. because come on, Grotle's been spamming Synthesis during sunny weather for quite some time.. it has only rained twice out of all the times that Buizel fought. So it isn't dem or anything.

I'm a bit curious though. With Gible's ability also being weather induced and stuff.. well.. I'll just have to wait to see that

[V Faction]

Every time there's a down pour, Buizel transforms into the legendary Super Rainin'. He moves super fast, flies through the air (with Aqua Jet), fires off water blasts, and... I dunno, turns gold or something cheesy like that.

[Juputoru]

-Man, lookit that CGI water. You know, back in MY day, they actually animated the water normally, so it fit in with the rest of the animation! How crazy is that?
-Take note of how prominently shown Piplup is here...and how Ash is training Gible's Draco Meteor. I WONDER HOW THIS WILL TURN OUT.
-I just realized something. Draco Meteor isn't failing because Gible sucks; it's failing because it's just TOO ATTRACTED to Piplup! How else do you explain the fact that it only EVER falls on Piplup? Yeah, I thought so.
-The land shark falls in water! Is Gible still sharky enough to swim?! Well, it won't swim at all while it has that big rock in its mouth.
-Buizel's...buoy...looks really damned weird when it's inflated.
-Suddenly, a dude with a Mr. Mime jumps out of the waterfall!
-It seems like the guy's giving the twerps weird nicknames? (Satopika, Satobui, Hikapocha, and...I dunno what he said for brock)
-Come on guy, less blabbering, more battling!
-FINALLY.
-Considering how generic psychic moves work in the anime, it's amazing that ANYTHING can win against any Pokemon that knows Confusion or Psychic.
-Oh no, a punching attack. How dramatic and unexpected of a Pokemon with big hands. Ash is done for.
-Blah blah COTD has Ash come with him to train Ice Punch and crap blah blah blah
-As bland as this is, I do appreciate it when the writers show Ash actually, you know, TRAINING Pokemon.
-And much MUCH later, at night...Ash conveniently gets an idea from two scenes from his training.
-CHALLENGER! Haven't heard that in a while!
-Punching leaves naturally leads to punches that freeze things. It's science.
-Can the animators reuse those 4 seconds of "leaf floating towards Buizel" footage any harder?
-It's morning, it's stormy, and Satobui Ash is ready for a rematch!
-Oh look, that prominent storm gave Buizel THUNDER ARMOR super rain speed. How convenient.
-Rain, two Pokemon hitting each other at the same time, with both standing when the dust clears(but the audience knows one will fall)...could this get any more stereotypically dramatic?
-Ash wins, and gives Buizel a victory fistbump!
-Oak's Lecture topic: Charmeleon, as illustrated by the ancient-looking(especially in contrast with the episode we just saw. Or in comparison to the newly animated Charmelon from this lecture, as a matter of fact!) animaton from early Kanto.

[Ash-kid]

Well I think it's great that Ash's Buizel has learned Ice Punch, unlike Ash's Snorlax (knew it alone without learning it with Ash).
Buizel's strategy in the second battle was very impressive. Ash finally knew how to exploit the resources in the nature. This time it was the rain.

[Ciccone]

All of Sinnoh's evolution, and his pokemon learning new attacks is making Ash's team weaker? That's new

Weaker in the sense that they would give his Pokemon a move that doesn't do any damage.

[HoennMaster]

The Pokemon doesn't actually dance.....does it?

I hope your joking. Rain Dance has been seen a bunch of times in the show.

It could be used as a Support Move for other members of the Team. Grotle's Synthesis would heal better during the rain.

Actually, Synthesis does not work well in the rain. It works best in sunlight.

[MidnightMelody]

It was funny when the bolt of lighting hit TR instead of Pika's volt tackle or thunder

[Ciccone]

I hope your joking. Rain Dance has been seen a bunch of times in the show.

I've only seen Alakazam use it in Advanced Challenge. One time in my experience is still not enough for me to be sure whether the Pokemon has to actually physically dance.

[Magical Needle Smash]

For Gundam fans, there are some amusing parallels with G Gundam in this episode. Kijuurou telling Buizel that it needs to attain a clear and serene state of mind such as a polished mirror and still water (meikyoushisui), just as Schwarz instructed Domon. The training scene at night was also not unlike Domon's at that time. Even the choice of words in the title is similar to the Shining Finger speech.