#xy031

[wild-battlebond]

TAMAGAWA EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[soveryanon]

Satoshi: Something again? Citron: What did [Rucario] feel this time...? Serena: Danger? Citron: Well... *glancing at Satoshi*

This moment was actually a little strange: the first time, Corni was the one to react to Rukario's behaviour (but Satoshi reacted as well immediately after). And here, well... it's nothing and casual, but at the same time, there was... something in Citron's behaviour that gave the impression Satoshi had reacted in a way the others wouldn't have - as if Citron was assuming Satoshi knew something they didn't. I am definitely not saying that this is a proof Satoshi's hadou is back and that he was the only one (together with Corni) to feel something in Rukario, but... I am keeping note of this in case there is something else around Satoshi in the arc :x (Reminder that (even though he is an animator, not a scenarist) Tamagawa was the Animation Director in DP071 and...

well.)

[soveryanon]

Once again, what a treat Corni and Rukario are! Lots of moments with them looking at each other, doing things together, perfectly trusting each other. Corni was quick to notice Rukario’s behaviour in the mountain and didn’t once put his intuition in question. She carried the bag for the whole episode this time around (it was Rukario’s turn in XY030); in the same vein, their battle was a combination of autonomy and commands. Corni isn’t expecting Rukario to constantly wait for her orders, and she is able to rebound on his initiatives to add a few other attacks in the same movement. Rukario’s self-control was also visible when he was able to immediately stop his offensive when Concombre called an end to the battle. So, they are totally together and trusting each other: the Rukarionite wasn’t an empty trophy, but definitely a natural acknowledgement of what they already were.

Eureka brought things back to Pokémon (asking Pikachu (instead of Satoshi) to protect them in the cave) and put Pokémon-related things into perspective: seeing an Erikiteru evolve into an Elezard with a stone prompted her to ask Citron about his from the Gym, and then Satoshi about Pikachu evolving (so, “Pikachu doesn’t want to evolve” speech for the first time in XY!). She is definitely quick to think, and quite knowledgeable for a kid! Citron’s inventions seem to be more and more reliable (I think we are seeing more of them to avoid having him use his Pokémon too often before the Gym Battle against Satoshi?) and he was the least enthusiastic and most cautious during Corni’s battle, immediately able to foresee when Rukario would be in trouble. So, good at analyzing battles; the prospect of his match against Satoshi seems more and more appealing to me.

As for him, Satoshi graciously (for once) stepped back to let Corni exploit nearly all of the focus, and it worked perfectly fine. There is definitely a ground of shared values between them. They don’t interact much, but their reactions, stances and behaviours still link them strongly: Satoshi also was quick to notice Rukario’s intuitions, and he perfectly understood Corni and Rukario’s need to keep battling until the end. On the one hand, you had Serena who didn’t get a grasp of the situation and didn’t decipher the atmosphere, and on the other hand, Satoshi who was able to completely trust Corni and was firm on letting her carry on with the battle as she wished (“No. This is her battle, we can’t interfere. Right, Corni, you're not going to give up?”); at the end, Corni still managed to outshine him in terms of willpower (“Satoshi, you don’t understand. We won’t lose!”).

It was indeed their personal battle. Corni has shown that she really appreciates being part of the XY group, and seems to really value their friendship; the picture burning was a shock but also something that momentarily cut her ties with them (it wasn’t a choice, but the picture burning when Corni was heading straight for Rukario… showed that Rukario was the one who mattered). Except for the cheering, Corni had to be alone with Rukario to win. And in the end, the balance was restored (she'll get a reprint of the picture).

She will definitely be a tough opponent in the Gym Match, all the more given how Pikachu will again get destroyed next week. It’s possible that Luchabull is supposed to be Satoshi’s trump card against her but… somehow, Pikachu being defeated at least twice is calling for a revenge and it wouldn’t sound like Satoshi to imagine he wouldn’t use Pikachu in this particular case. There will be a need of training and, maybe, of communication between Satoshi and Pikachu to survive against Corni and Rukario – PikaSato moments have had a tendency to be a little unilateral during XY (Satoshi saving Pikachu / Pikachu being grateful; or just functional in general), so I am hoping they will go back to actually communicating and elaborating a counter-attack together.

In summary: Corni rules, her relationship with Rukario is natural and so strong that it has the potential to make Satoshi train on his own with Pikachu… and that is really really good, XY really needed a character like her!

[noodlerama]

XY031 - Swiggity Swag Korrina Has it in the Bag

Another really good episode in the ongoing Korrina Arc, we got some fucking fantastic animation, a really good battle, and plenty cool stuff that's set up for the next episode. Korrina is great in this episode, especially during the battle with Blaziken.

All the good things I said about her last week stil ring true now, she just has so many quirks and enjoyable traits (like when she faked out the gang by pretending to be disappointed and then suddenly bursted out in elation) that im glad she's sticking around. On top of that im really liking how she seems to be holding the bond with her new friends in high regard already, considering that scene where her group picture burns up was so emotionally done (got me a bit to), she already feels like one of the "family" and that's great, traveling companions should form decent camaraderie with the ones they're traveling without and be a stranger along for the ride. Another endearing trait about her is how despite the setbacks during the battle she never really worried about potential loss and still stuck it out with Lucario towards the end fully believing in him. Speaking of which, an interesting thing to note with her and Lucario is that, while the two seem to be a great team, Lucario often takes it upon himself to initiate commands without Korrina's input, it's kind of done in a way I havent really seen before. Like, Lucario is more then willing to listen to a commands he's given, but will also be just as willing to use moves on his own as well. I have feeling this is a major reason to why Lucario goes apeshit when he first achieves his Mega Form and im sure it will be brought up in a later episode, as Clemont makes note of it here.

Ash's relationship with Korrina is also rather interesting to me, as he seems to understand the importance of a one on one battle (and how important this particular one is to Korrina) with no interruptions, seeing as how he physically stopped Serena from interfering and told Korrina to keep pressing on. I hope they keep building on this so the eventual Gym Match will be all the more poignant. Serena didnt do much but provide shipping bait because I guess that's all she can really do while Korrina completely outshines her, but I do love the ongoing thing where she's scared of a lot of stuff while Bonnie is usually more curious and intrigued, this girl is tough as nails, no wonder she feels like she has to take care of her brother.

As for the battle? It was frigging awesome! Here we get to see the animator's talents come to light as there were a ton of awesome shots and just great movement and animation all around, my only issue with it is an issue I have with a lot of the battles is that they should last a tad bit longer, but that's a minor nitpick of an otherwise enjoyable bout.

Great episode all round, I look forward to seeing how Korrina is going to deal with her out-of-control Mega Lucario.

[pikajue]

Ash telling Serena and Bonnie if they're afraid, they can walk behind him and he'll protect them. Real smooth, Ketchum...real smooth.

[tseichi]

I laughed so hard xD

[undercityrezident]

Awesome! They used the reflection cave music!

[soveryanon]

Tamagawa >:D