After some recaps and fillers, finally Satoshi VS Dande begin, the battle to determine strongest trainer

I was a bit disappointed that only friends arrive in the stadium are Koharu and Hikari (Chloe and Dawn), was expecting a parade of old friends swarming into the stadium lol, but Team Rocket is always there for their brat boy, that’s true love.

Dande approving using all 3 powerup was as expected, that’s the only way Satoshi can stand up against Dande anyways. This should be epic I waiting to see Satoshi using all 3 in one match for a long time

I would like to congrats Satoshi and Gengar for scoring the early lead against Dande, but given past experience, I think it would mean one thing…anyways glad that it seems like Dande wouldn’t be sweeping this time

True dat.
Although I'm surprise Hikari/Dawn is there though. But Pokemon (2019) (Pokemon Journey's) showed quite bit of love to her and Iris out of all the female companions/ game characters.

Of course Hikari/Dawn was going to get more screen time. Her appearances lined up with the release of Arceus and BD/SP. Plus, her voice actress, still does work for Pokemon Co. They also made so much Piplup content on the kids channel these last two years(including the "It'll be fine" MV). As for Iris, they definitely wanted to put her champion look in the anime. Best Wishes was still a peak era(popularity wise) for Pokemon anime, and the BW/2 games had done much better than XY and Sun & Moon. Sun & Moon was still fresh in people's minds so they were gonna do callbacks regardless. I'm glad they remembered to close the Mohn story-line before they did the final stuff too.

I'm just sad that we likely won't get any appearances of Haruka/May. I still don't understand why it's so disrespectful to find a new VA.

Iris, meh.
Dawn, yes

Serena, Mallow and Lana: meh.
Lillie: yes.

i guess she the only va available at the time

Could be.

I haven't watch the episode just yet, but just the thought of Lucario going Mega and DYNAMAXING AT THE SAME TIME SOUNDS HILARIOUS. Just the thought of something like that being possible makes me laugh. Though I doubt it'll happen. It'll likely be Gengar(or even Pikachu) Gigantamax and Lucario Mega(cause only Lucario can do it anyway) and interestingly enough, Lucario and Pikachu can both utilize a Z-Move since Ash DOES own the Steel Z-Crystal. He also has 2 useless Crystals(Sol and Lycan) and 3 more that can't be used cause none of his mon know a requisite move(Rock, Grass, Fire)

I have always wanted to see one pokemon using all 3 powerup, currently the one capable is Lucario. Though Gengar already dynamax so I guess I won't be seeing it

lucario cant even dynamax in the first place?

But that can’t be done a mega evolved Pokémon can use a z move or dynamax.

Technically, Gengar has Will-O-Wisp for Fire, although it would grant a useless Attack buff since Gengar only has Special moves.

And steelium Z with Lucario and Pikachu can use.

It won't happen, because I think even though he is allowed to use each method, I don't think he is allowed to use each of them multiple times. Which would be a bummer though, since I was hoping for a rematch between gigantamax charizard and pikachu.

The match will come down to Pikachu's Z move vs Gigantamax Zard. I hated the weirdly chubby look of Gmax Pika so this is a win for me.

But doesnt the pokemon need a Z-crystal equiped before they can use a Z-move?

In the game, probably... but like... Ash holds the Z-Crystal on his watch and he can swap it with just a little pocket rummaging.

Yes we don’t know whether he has brought his Steelium Z. He has just been using Pikashunium Z through this series so far.

nah some pokemon have specific Z crystals : eg Lugarugan and mimikyu, and then u get elemental z crystals that just requires the pokemon know the move and has some training

In the Anime, the trainer is the only one that needs to have rhe Z-crystal

They never show the pokemon wearing an item in the anime, expect Mega evoltion so I just guessed they were wearing the crystal (the pokemon)

Hopefully they will focus on the Ash - Dande Fight fully and then switch to Go after the battle is done!!

At this point, I'm expecting at least a few cuts of some characters watching the fight next episode. I mean, if they can show a bunch of recurring Hoenn characters but not the main cast...

Why yes I am huffing insane amounts of copium

ikr? the second he got the first kill i just knew he is gonna lose it all lmao

would that really be bad though? Ash has never even faced an opponent with a pokemon's hidden ability, also being the second strongest doesn't sound that bad. Maybe the next time they can actually let ash truely use his best team!!! a combo of all his best oldest pokemon!!

!!!!!!!! This is his best team tho

I am waiting to see them show Reggie and Paul seeing the match which was teased in the special preview.

yaa bru, where tf is Misty and his mom

Ash's mom is watching with professor oak in pallet town, and who knows about misty, doubt we will see her given how official amourshipping is.

If Ash wins, either Goh will become the new protagonist or someone else will

everybody just wants a timeskipped Satoshi

goh? yeah, no. unless you want to watch pure catching content LMAO

Ironically, the way Go does things is the way most pokemon players play pokemon.

i also play the game. after dex the next thing players do is grind for the perfect IV's and shiny by breeding then battle online. so at the end of the day you'll need to do both; besides hunting and catching pkmn is fun but watching others do it? yeah, no. specially if their pokeball is masterball in disguise lmao

True

No even if Ash wins he will continue to be the protagonist. We may not have an official confirmation yet but, Goh will not go on to the next series with Ash.

some people think he will lose dueto being the first one to knock out a pokemon, and I don't have a problem with that!! honestly with how the next games are looking, we could see Ash going back to the old formula with a new traveling companion, heck we might even get a episode or two of him actually going to a school!! Or maybe as the second strongest he could get invited to Paldea as a guest for the students.

Or we might get like sun and moon. There was a school premise there too. There also rumours that there are 18 gym leaders in Paldea so for him to take part in the gym challenge wouldn't make sense

I have a feeling we’re gonna get more fat pikachu at the final battle, and winning.

Looks good.

As soon as judge announces the rules or only one Dainamax, Z-Move, and Mega Evolution!!
Dande be like: "Nah I want Ash/Satoshi use em all"
Satoshi/Ash be like: "Ah yesssssss."

So basically handicap vs the plot amour Dande.

Yeah this is the only time I am grateful to Dande, I too wanna see Satoshi using all 3

Same here

yep, sucks that the first episode is just gengar, but that was a cool way to do things!!

Me too

To be honest, I'm not really sure I'd call it a handicap but more like Ash finally being allowed to battle at full power. It's not like you're restricted from using a gimmick if your opponent literally has none (Ash vs. Korrina for example), and there've been several examples of a normal Pokemon going head to head and winning against Pokemon using each gimmick. If you don't have all three or even two like Cynthia, that's more on you for not going to the lengths to obtain those powers like Ash did.

To compare it to Dragon Ball Super, it's like Ash is Goku, requiring multiple transformations to reach his peak power. Meanwhile, Leon is like Jiren, mostly relying on his base strength (albeit with one power up of his own) and still achieving similar or even superior results.

To be fair the only person in the Masters 8 using Z-Moves is Satoshi/Ash

I mean, that makes sense. The Z-ring is supposed to be harder to get than a Dynamax band. They are hand carved by Kahuna's and Satoshi/Ash only got his because a Tapu stole it for him. And the trails are a tradition that aren't directly related to any league's, so completing them won't really give you any accreditation. Most trainers probably never even heard of them.

Because the writers couldn't think of a way to have him win normally lol. Excited to see how he uses the gimmicks though.

No, Ash has been fighting with handicap, now that he can use all three, he is truly at 100%. In fact, he's handicapped a little because there's still the fourth: Bond Phenomenon