Fighting Ire With Fire! (631)

[Bubblewrap]

I wonder who they will have voice Infernape in the english dub when this episode appears this summer?

Um, presumably who has voiced the other Infernape in the show, but I don't think (?) I'm allowed to discuss the names of the voices, but I assume the same man who does Monferno!

Anyway, I can't wait for the episode! Fortunately it'll air later on in the day for me, but then I have no way of being able to watch it.
I saw the Japanese one, and it was a great episode. I loved it when they were all trapped inside the balls.

[the1stpkmnfan]

This was a pretty awesome episode! Nice to see Barry has collected all 8 badges now, and seeing more talk of the Sinnoh League, and apparently the Grand Festival. Glad that the GF will be held at Lake Valor. Awesome place is awesome. Can't wait to at least see Jessie catch up. :P

At the Pokemon Center, Brock's opening flirt comment "Heart Center" was hilarious. He did wonderful this time hahaha.

Surprised to see Paul again, and Barry talking to him was pretty interesting, and glad to see some more Paul character by saying the Sunyshore Gym was the worst. Well, that's Paul though.

Now we got a battle by Ash and Barry, Empoleon vs Monferno. Looked like Monferno was doing good, but poor Monferno getting blasted through the sky by that Hydro Cannon.

Then of course, Team Rocket would show up. But during this part, when they were caught in pink spheres, Brock asked Happiny to break it, but it just got them rolling around. That was hilarious, like they were a bowling ball. haha.

Then we see Monferno coming back, who activated it's Blaze again, intesne I say. Just going beast mode again. But I was surprised to see Paul helping out for once, with Electabuzz's Protect. Then it got more intesne when Ash stopped Monferno by capturing him in his arms. Reminding Monferno that they promised to get strong together, was pretty touching. Then came the time, Monferno evolved. Epic moment!

Man, such a pretty great episode. The commercials made it worth it. Can't wait till we get to Sunyshore!

[Dattebayo]

This episode is just plain awesome. Now that Monferno evolved, this makes him the strongest Pokemon in Ash's Sinnoh team. Still, i wonder why Paul said Volkner is so weak? I guess Paul must've really overtrain, or should I say abuse, his Pokemon. Perhaps it'll foreshadow Volkner's low self-esteem after his battle with Paul just like Maylene. This is starting to make me wish he lose the Sinnoh League.

[Torpoleon]

This was an awesome episode. It is probably my new favorite for Season 13: Pokemon Diamond & Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors! Seeing both Barry & Paul was very cool. Nice to see that both of Ash's Main Rivals have acquired all 8 Sinnoh Region Badges, thus granting them a spot in the Sinnoh League. I liked how Team Rocket tried to use their heads for once, but they didn't anticipate Paul, Paul's Electabuzz & Ash's Monferno intervening. I love how Monferno evolved so now Ash, Barry & Paul have one of the Final Form Sinnoh Region Starter Pokemon- Infernape, Empoleon & Torterra respectively. I find it odd how as a Chimchar, Infernape saw Elekid become the Electabuzz it currently is and when Chimchar became a Monferno, Electabuzz saw that it had evolved and now Electabuzz saw Monferno evolve into Infernape.
10/10

[SmartD]

It's a great episode! Monferno evolves into Infernape in this episode and showed its power. And Paul helped out a little bit. Now that Ash has another powerful Pokemon on his team, things will get very interesting.

[WaterDragon trainer]

This episode was great. I like when Happiny made the ball spin with Brock in it. It was awesome that Ash now has an Infernape.

[Swampert_trainer]

Since they didn't mention evolution or Infernape in the dub title, seeing Monferno evolve was a nice little surprise (I saw it coming, but not as blatantly as I would if the title was "Blast Evolution! Infernape!"

So Barry has 8 badges, which is funny since the last time we saw him he only had 6. Paul and Barry finally meet, but Paul wasn't all that inerested. Team Rocket wearing one of their old disguises was very nice. Electabuzz saving Pikachu and the other Pokemon was pretty cool too. Good episode.

9/10

[ash_forever]

Can you tell we why people keep complaining about such pointless things like the BGM when this episode was definitely one of THE BEST Sinnoh episodes EVER? I was (and still am) so thrilled by this WONDERFUL, and GREAT episode that I forgot everything around me. (I didn't even care about the important World Cup match. How did it end?)

Again , I can't stress how great this episode was. It's undoubtedly been the best of this season so far and probably one of the greatest Sinnoh episodes in general.

Wow, where shall I begin to analyze it?

First of all, we got an awe-inspiring title, not such a playful childish one.
Then we got a well thought out battle between Barry and that guy. I liked it very much, especially because the writers apparently had the courage to showcase a POWERFUL, impressive Empoleon and didn't just come up with one of those dull standard battles where both trainer's Pokemon are more or less on the same level and it just depends on the trainer's cleverness(or coincidence) to win the battle. Pokemon is also about impression and demonstration of sheer power (see, guess who...of course, my beloved Angel Cynthia)!

Furthermore, we saw Paul again and I can't help saying that I admire ,or at least like, that guy more and more! He's got so many features which I would have as well if I were a trainer (except for his unfriendliness and coolness).
The more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm also reaching the conviction that Paul as a character (and even more as a trainer)is at least as good as Ash. That biased, one-sided support for Ash only which is obviously pretty common among fans must stop. Instead, we should show great respect for Paul, just as he deserves it. If it wasn't for Paul's help and comments about Infernape after defeating Team Rocket, this episode would still be great, but not half as great as it was in the end!
*me is becoming a Paul-fan*

Last but not least we had an awesome evolution being embedded in a great and epic Blaze-out-of-control action sequence. With Infernape, Ash finally has a Pokemon that certainly belongs to my all-time favorites. If I were trainer, the fire monkey would definitely be an indispensable part of my team!


THIS WEEK'S EPISODE showed how Pokemon should ALWAYS be.
It was mature, profound and epic!
Once and for all, the writers have proven themselves capable of producing something that is not pointless or childish. Pokemon doesn't have to be a kids' show as it appears to be in some filler episodes. On the contrary, Pokemon CAN indeed be great!
So, from now on I'll raise my expectations even higher, as I have no doubt anymore that if they want to, they writers "can do it" (to use a favorite quote of Ash)
I dare say that we need more Paul in Pokemon! If the Anime was influenced by Paul's philosophy and centered around him only a little bit more, I'm sure that I would never have ANY reason to complain.
Dear writers, from now on we no longer want those cheap episodes. We want Pokemon 2.0 (great term, isn't it) and this episode, together with several others, for example Ash's full battle against Paul or the Galactic finale showed what Pokemon 2.0 has to look like!


I rarely give so many points but, believe it or not, this episode deserves

8 /9 out of 10 points

[Shego]

Sweet episode. Barry duels some random trainer. Ash and the gang encounters Paul again. Barry finally meet his idol. Ash and Barry duels but interuptted by Team Rocket. Paul helps out a little bit but Monferno activate Blaze. Ash's love for pokemon enable to calm him down resulting evolve into his final form, Infernape. It was sweet that Infernape save everyone. Ash has been very grateful like always. But the rivalry between Ash,Paul,and Barry continues.

[MrDoomBringer]

I liked this episode!
Infernape evolving was awesome, can't wait for the next evolution!

[ZangooseLord]

This episode was awesome, but there are two things in particular that blew my mind:

1) I could have sworn that Monferno decapitated somebody when it used Flame Wheel on TR's balloon. Seriously, it looked like Monferno just took someone's head off in that scene.

2) The kind of abuse that Ash takes in this show as a whole is simply absurd. There have been numerous instances where he has fallen at least 100 feet from the sky, and when he lands, he shakes it off like he just tripped over his shoelaces or something. This episode is a perfect example of that kind of logic. He had been hit by Flame Wheel three times, I think, and that final time, he even gets surrounded by a ring of fire from Monferno. And somehow... when all is said and done... he's perfectly fine; not even a scratch on him. WHAT KIND OF SENSE DOES THAT MAKE?!? I mean, for crying out loud, in real life, he would've f***ing died from severe burns to his entire body, and yet, even his damn clothes come out just fine! I know this is supposed to be a cartoon, but would it kill the animators to show a little realism every now and then?!

Okay, rant over. Bottom line, this episode was cool (Infernape ftw!), albeit COMPLETELY illogical concerning Ash's "burns."

[raz1337]

I had been waiting for this episode the last few weeks. I saw Blast Evolution! Infernape! subbed a few weeks ago, so it was pretty cool seeing it subbed then dubbed. There is quite a difference. I'd say I liked the English version due to it being in my native language, but watching the subbed version felt more touching during the evolution scenes.

It's so cute watching the non-spoiled people speculate about Sunyshore.

[Dax]

A very underwhelming evolution for Ash's best Sinnoh Pokemon.

[Shneak]

I didn't expect this episode to be good, but I was wrong. I liked it a lot. Character development for the league. Barry shows up and finally meets Paul. Paul saved Pikachu/Piplup/Empoleon with emotion. And we have Infernape now.

I don't understand why Paul insulted Ash at the beginning when he said Barry should battle Ash because they were on the same level, and then he says he wants to fight Ash in a 6-on-6 in the league at the end. Change of heart much?

[skodin]

This episode is refresshing after a lot of contest episodes

It was great, it had a good evolution, the characters changed, etc., my only complaint is that barry and ash didn't finish their battle

[Cobalt_Latios]

A very underwhelming evolution for Ash's best Sinnoh Pokemon.

I had watched the evolution scene in Japanese, then in English... the only thing that I found that made the original better (dialogue doesn't count when you don't understand anything), was the music choice. That's about it.

Otherwise, I don't mind it.

Then again, compared to what we had before, yes it makes sense that this would be underwhelming. It's still better than Grotle to Torterra though... IMO at least.

C_L

[poizonsting]

What's with the title? Isn't is supposed to be 'Playing Ire With Fire'? Anyway, the monkey evolved. When TR caught Ash and his friends in capsules, Paul was staring at them like a dumbass for 5 mins and he was like "OH" and "AH"

[raz1337]

They just haven't gotten around to fixing the title. Take a look on the front page, everyone's time is being consumed by CoroCoro and the 2ch pamphlet.

[Umbreon9]

BarryBarryBarryBarry!

Hey, remember the last time we saw Barry?
"It doesn't matter how many badges you have!"
And listen to this:
"I have all 8 Gym Badges and Ash only has 7. He just isn't the same level as us."(Or something)

Also, Hydro Cannon made Gible blast off, and now Monferno!
Thought it was funny when Barry said "I'll fine you for dodging that!" :O I should have said that to Candice's Froslass! LOL Also when he said "When did he get here" when Paul was sitting there the whole time. xD Awesome Barry stuff, and I LOOOOOOOVE Infernape!!!!!! <3 Infernape+Barry= OMG :O Chimchar is my FAVORITE Sinnoh starter EVER! And Infernape is just awesome.
And by the way, Barry had a hard time beating the electric gym. He has Empoleon. Paul said it was easy. He had Torterra. O.o Nothing weird about that.

[Candy-Sama]

Yay, Infernape in English! Except they pronounced it In-FER-nape and I always pronounced it IN-fer-nape (I haven't watched Movie 10). Ah well... I'll get used to it.

In the scene where Protects fails, Team Rocket's Machine falls and Paul goes "NO!", I laughed. Because deeeeep inside he will feel sad if Electabuzz gets squished. Aww. I love it when grouchy characters do something nice then get all embarassed. Heheheheh.