Triple Leaders, Team Threats! (664)

[SnugNBouncy]

Yeah, Pikachu LOST! Not only is it an electric type, but it just tied with a Latios at the end of a previous saga. It should not lose to a water type.

hah! agreed. thats a little bit pathetic for ash's pumped up pikachu...

[CupidKirby]

It's also because Ash going with a speedy electric type was something Cress was prepared for, as a lot of beginning trainers have probably tried the same thing. And, no offense or anything, but Pikachu being an electric type doesn't matter much if he doesn't even land a single hit. But yeah, Cress's speedy attacks did impress.

Honestly Pansage may have actually pulled out the weakest gym battle out of the three.

Loved the episode too, by the way. I'm glad Ash wasn't completely reset as you can see by his strategizing here that he does know what he's doing. I am a bit sad at Pikachu's one-sided loss, and the fact that this was the only real interesting gym battle so far, but I can't complain.

[jammiedodger]

How do you know for sure that Panpour is weaker? It only had a type disadvantage. Just because someone has a Pokemon doesn't automatically make it weaker than Pikachu.

I'm basing this off several factors:

Pikachu has been in the show for 600-odd episodes.

Earlier on it was "super-charged" not only making it stronger, but also allowing it to hold its own against Pokémon with a resistance to its electricity.

It has battled MANY opponent's, some of them rare and sometimes legendary.

The same Pikachu that managed to tie with a Latios; a legendary Pokémon who had no type disadvantage to it.

We are actually given reasons to see how strong Pikachu is or should be, while we can only guess how long Panpour has been battling putting its strength into doubt. If it were battling against a fairly low-level Grass or Electric type, it winning would be more believable, but not against a Pokémon of Pikachu's strength and calibre.


Beating a basic, unevolved Pokémon with a type disadvantage should be the LEAST of what Pikachu is capable of by now. It's not like I'm claiming shenanigans on a difficult battle where Pikachu could actually lose, but a battle where it had CLEAR advantage.

I don't see how I'm being unreasonable here, though people's responses would suggest I am.

[Umbreon9]

I'm basing this off several factors:

Pikachu has been in the show for 600-odd episodes.

Earlier on it was "super-charged" not only making it stronger, but also allowing it to hold its own against Pokémon with a resistance to its electricity.

It has battled MANY opponent's, some of them rare and sometimes legendary.

The same Pikachu that managed to tie with a Latios; a legendary Pokémon who had no type disadvantage to it.

We are actually given reasons to see how strong Pikachu is or should be, while we can only guess how long Panpour has been battling putting its strength into doubt. If it were battling against a fairly low-level Grass or Electric type, it winning would be more believable, but not against a Pokémon of Pikachu's strength and calibre.


Beating a basic, unevolved Pokémon with a type disadvantage should be the LEAST of what Pikachu is capable of by now. It's not like I'm claiming shenanigans on a difficult battle where Pikachu could actually lose, but a battle where it had CLEAR advantage.

I don't see how I'm being unreasonable here, though people's responses would suggest I am.

It's not that you're being unreasonable, it's that you're thinking logically. You can't think about Pokemon logically because it doesn't make any sense anyway.

I know that Pikachu has been trained like crazy, and that he's supposed to be amazing in battle, but his power can't keep going up and up. Imagine you trained a Pikachu in, say, Pokemon Yellow, and then you somehow managed to bring it through all the regions. By the time you get to Unova, your Pikachu is a really high level. So you get to the first Gym Leaders. Here's where the problem is. You face them, and KO ALL of them in 1 hit. Then you travel on to the next leader. 1 hit. Then you eventually make it to the Elite Four-- piece of cake. You just beat the entire game like it was nothing with your Pikachu. If this really happened in the anime, it would be boring! Think about it.
Ash: Pikachu, Thundabolt!
Pikachu: PIIIIIIIIIIKAAAAAAA!!!!
Ash: I just beat Zekrom! :3 Imma CATCH ITTT!
*Beats up everything with Pikachu and Zekrom*
Iris: ...um... (I can't call him a kid...) Uh...
Cilan: ..........I guess I'll..... go.
THE END



This is why Pikachu couldn't beat Panpour.

[BurningSociety12345543210]

I'm basing this off several factors:

Pikachu has been in the show for 600-odd episodes.

Earlier on it was "super-charged" not only making it stronger, but also allowing it to hold its own against Pokémon with a resistance to its electricity.

It has battled MANY opponent's, some of them rare and sometimes legendary.

The same Pikachu that managed to tie with a Latios; a legendary Pokémon who had no type disadvantage to it.

We are actually given reasons to see how strong Pikachu is or should be, while we can only guess how long Panpour has been battling putting its strength into doubt. If it were battling against a fairly low-level Grass or Electric type, it winning would be more believable, but not against a Pokémon of Pikachu's strength and calibre.


Beating a basic, unevolved Pokémon with a type disadvantage should be the LEAST of what Pikachu is capable of by now. It's not like I'm claiming shenanigans on a difficult battle where Pikachu could actually lose, but a battle where it had CLEAR advantage.

I don't see how I'm being unreasonable here, though people's responses would suggest I am.

I wouldn't say you're being unreasonable, but like someone else said, Corn is older than Ash, so he probably had Panpour a lot longer.

Maybe if he evolved it into Simipour, it could beat Zekrom.

hah! agreed. thats a little bit pathetic for ash's pumped up pikachu...

Aw come on....Tepig and Oshawott needed to win and that means Pikachu has to lose. There's no other way.
------------------

The gym battle was ok, except for the Oshawott vs Pansage one which looked like comic relief. I liked the Tepig vs Pansear battle more than the other two, mostly because Panpour looked like it was enjoying using scratch on Pikachu WAY too much, and Pikachu should have at least damaged Panpour with Thunderbolt or Volt Tackle before losing to the monkey IMO. 7/10

[TheBattleFrontierAsh1]

Ash did the same thing I did in this episode and that's loosing to cress's panpour man Did I hate that monkey.

[BurningSociety12345543210]

Ash did the same thing I did in this episode and that's loosing to cress's panpour man Did I hate that monkey.

Really? I was able to beat Panpour with my Tepig. You just have to train Tepig until it learns Flame Charge and spam it against Lillipup. You should be fast enough to outspeed Panpour.

Or....you could use Pansage.....

[Aquarelle]

Even though I don't really like the anime anymore, I watched the dub of this episode over a year ago mainly because I wanted to know how to pronounce Cilan's name. I was really impressed by Cress and Panpour - I figured that Ash was going to lose to him after beating Chili, but I didn't think Pikachu would get totally owned like that. I also liked how the Striaton leaders were portrayed - the were *so* fabulous!

[ForgottenPearl]

I'm usually not very into the gym battle episodes because I can't stop telling Ash what I think he should do. Like I wanted him to have Pikachu zap Panpour's water gun since water conducts electricity and, in theory, would travel to the little monkey. But nope. And poor Pidove - no chance to shine.

On the more positive side, it's nice to meet Cilan, whose all poetic and such. I liked all the gym leaders, rational but adding some flair to their commands. And, maybe I'm just imagining things, but when Tepig went in for its final tackle, his voice, going "Tepig, Tepig, Tepig..." kinda synced with the music.

Oh, and kinda irrelevant, but I had pork with a side of broccoli for dinner after watching this. Made me think of Tepig and Pansage. ^_^ Yeah, I'm kinda weird.

[G50]

After re-watching this episode a 2nd time, wow Tepig was so fired up before/during/after the battle. He just loves it. Panpour really looked as if no Electric Pokemon at all was going to defeat him, not even Pikachu obviously.

[wobbanut]

Woo-hooooo, the debut of Cilan! Before his episodes came to the U.S., I was really reluctant to accept him as part of the twerp group because I'm such a big Brock fan, but Cilan has won me over a great deal. I may not like him as much as Brock, but Cilan is just plain fun to watch, especially when he gets excited over things.

It's odd that of all the regions Ash has been in, this is the third time he hasn't faced a rock gym right off the bat (fourth if you count the Battle Frontier). Just Cissy in the Orange Islands and Faulkner in Johto weren't rock-type gym leaders. It feels like he faces a rock gym first EVERY region, doesn't it?

8/10

[TurtwigFan1]

Cilan, Chili and Cress are so darn fabulous~ I love them. Cilan is totally a fun character. The one thing that irked me was Pikachu, who a few episodes earlier took down a Latios, was knocked out by a Panpour. I know Pikachu always gets a "reset" but it's really unrealistic. A great episode though, the battles were fun to watch! The Leaders' cheerleaders were a nice addition.

[Dwail8023]

It's been a long time since there's been a great episode, and may I just say the beginning of BW really delivered as it always did. Mamoru Miyano was incredible as Dent, Rica Matsumoto as Satoshi, etc.

For the dub, I expected the worst. That's right: Bill Rogers as Cilan (who, FYI, I was expecting to use his DP Brock voice for). Luckily enough TPCi pulled a 360 and actually cared not to cast him here. Instead, we have Jason Griffith, a a VA from 4Kids. I am not a fan of his (not a hater either). He's OK at the role, though definitely not the best for it IMHO. Sarah Natochenny's Ash regresses at times to her late DP voice, which isn't a good thing for her. It's poor in this episode. One of the cheerleaders sounds like Dawn, and it's painful on the ears "me neither!" Iris dub voice, meanwhile, is better than usual here for Stevens. Good episode for her.

Sub: 80/100
Dub: 65/100 (Standout: Eli James' Chili)

[BurningSociety12345543210]

Nothing special about this episode other than Cilan's first appearence. An ordinary old gym battle. Tepig VS Pansear was probably the best part.

[Caseydia]

Even though I don't really like the anime anymore, I watched the dub of this episode over a year ago mainly because I wanted to know how to pronounce Cilan's name. I was really impressed by Cress and Panpour - I figured that Ash was going to lose to him after beating Chili, but I didn't think Pikachu would get totally owned like that. I also liked how the Striaton leaders were portrayed - the were *so* fabulous!

This is why I wanted Cress to be the one to travel with Ash. Cilan did nothing but arrogantly parade around because of the whole type thing. I would have also rather Chili as well seeing as though he needed some confidence from losing so much afterwards. Seeing trainers struggle to get better is more interesting than those who don't.

[Super-Staff]

Enjoyed this episode. Glad that Cilan joined the group and I liked the battles, for the most part.