It's also the first time she was IN the grand festival. In hoenn and Kanto she was kind of a joke regarding contests whereas in sinnoh she not only gets herself a ribbon, but also five of them. Enough to qualify for the Grand Festival
I really miss contests and still do; can't believe it's been over a decade since the concept was last used. Showcases were an decent substitute, but nothing beats the real thing imo.
Same I didn’t like showcases that much because there is no battling involved and they were introduced late in the series. To me contests are far superior and more developed.
There were no battles in showcases which made it boring for me since what we love about Pokemon is battles, and I also would've loved to see male performers they'd be really interesting.
While the showcases gave Serena the character development she needed, I really thought she would do better in a contest setting. I would love to see a spin-off or a Journeys arc of Serena competing in the Hoenn contests. Make Ash’s and Serena’s reunion happen Pokemon!!
@@Ruffgi It was actually full on confirmed. Remember that evil Togepi episode, well it was a girl and attracted Piplup (it's also where we figure out Jessie's Yanmega was a girl). Not to mention it's liking to Meloetta (yes I know Meloetta's genderless but she definitely leans toword the feminine side.)
For me, Pokemon contests are so better than performances. They had some battles where trainers and their Pokemon use abilities and combo moves and turn them into weapons, while the performances in Kalos were basically dancing and showing off for people's impressions.
@@decoral The contest in the games is not the same as in the anime. If you are really generous, you can argue that anime Stage 1 is an elaboration of the game's Contest, but the Battle Stage is entirely original and yet is the de facto centerpiece in the anime (notice how almost all the footage in above video is of the Battle Stage rather than the Appeal Stage). In keeping the Performance at the center rather than a much-sidelined appetizer, one can argue that it's actually the Showcases that embody the spirit of the contest more thoroughly.
I think that was the point of them, some people liked the contests when they showed off the moves of the pokemon, so showcases show dancing and things like that without battles, if people like contest more they can watch contests, but showcases are there for people who don’t want the battling aspect
Imagine if Dawn never released Ambipom and instead used it in the Grand Festival Finals. It would also be the perfect conclusion to its character arc. Having her win with it(and Piplup of course) would also be neat.
Honestly I still don't get why Ambipom was released. The writers did a genius thing by bringing Aipom along with Ash to Sinnoh to show off it's new evolution plus it did well in and loved contests. I just don't get why it was released for freaking Ping Pong. At that point you might as well have just kept her at Oak's.
@@castform7 yeah and it was replaced by a quilava and Togekiss for Hgss promotion.Togekiss I thought was fine as it was also showing off it’s new evolution but quilava? That was just stupid especially as ash bringing his back for the league was enough.
@@garchompgamer1874 Yeah, they could have made him lose to Nando instead(as Nando didn't even appear in the Wallace Cup) forshadowing their battle in the Sinnoh League, and then have Nando lose to Dawn.
@@garchompgamer1874 In my canon, this background character (Kyle) is bisexual, aims to catch every Pokémon in Kalos region, and is portrayed by Joe Serafini with his hair being blonde instead.
From Battle Frontier onwards the anime creators really stepped up in making the contests cool. May had less plot armour wins and in DP the combination moves and battles were animated really well.
Yup. If anything, the contests progressively got better as time went by; being able to observe the natural evolution of contests from the beginning of AG all the way to the end of DP is just such an joy, especially if you liked them as well.
Honestly a lot of things originating from AG got progressively better like villain arcs for example. I like the slow but noticeable and gradual evolution contests had.
The writers clearly learned from mistakes they made with May. Some of May's early contest performances wouldn't have made it through to the second round if she didn't have plot armour. Skitty's failed Blizzard and being forced to resort to juggling comes to mind. Plus, I actually have to side with Harley in the Hoenn Grand Festival when the audience was chanting her name and he, very understandably, pointed out; "They're cheering for her and she wasn't even the winner? There's no justice!" Granted, there are some situations where that would be justified. For example, if May went toe to toe with Wallace, who was not only a top coordinator but also a league champion, then I'd totally get it if people were chanting her name after she lost. You'd need to be a VERY good coordinator to give Wallace a run for his money. But they did it after she beat Drew, who is a great coordinator but nowhere near Wallace, Robert or Soledad's level. Heck, Robert bodied Drew without any effort in the very next round. The writers never went easy on Dawn. They smacked her hard during her performance slump, so all of her victories felt earned. Losing in the first round of 2 contests in a row made it clear that there was no plot armour involved. One of the best moments is when Dawn and Maylene have a heart to heart and Dawn opens up with something that she'd probably never admitted to anybody before, not even her Pokemon. "I tell everybody I'm recharging my batteries. But to be totally honest, sometimes I feel I'm just not cut out for contests." This is why Dawn is my favourite of Ash's friends. She had to fight her way up without any special treatment or even any instinctive talent. Despite being the daughter of a coordinator, Dawn wasn't anything special in terms of natural ability. She succeeded through sheer determination and hard work which is an important lesson for anybody. Even if you aren't born with talent, you can still develop an exceptional level of skill if you put your mind to it.
Number 1 is why May's return is my absolute favourite even though she isn't my favourite character. It was fun fanservice but it also worked really well for the plot helping Dawn and being a torch passing moment. Absolutely masterful.
I loved the Dress for Jess Success episode. Not only did Mamoswine learn the ins and outs of controlling it's temper, but we also saw how capable James is at contests. His first contest and he wins
I miss contests man. I always felt like Ash's gym battles had most of the "action" but May/Dawn's contests had a lot of cool moments too. My favorite moment will always be that Sandstorm+Scary face combo from Ursula at the Grand Festival. So badass
I didn’t know whether to root for May and Blaziken or Ash and Sceptile and May and Ash fought! Also, Ash and May having Sceptile use Leaf Blade to split the medal in half as their battle ended in a tie was really nice.
Pokémon: Let’s split the ribbon, because it’s a wholesome thing we can both remember! If Contests were in the Real World: Yeah no that thing doesn’t have any value if it’s split like that.
Ursula was most definitely an attempt to replicate Harley for sure, but the problem was that her presence was comparatively limited while Harley was a major rival through and through. Imo, they should have made her Lila's daughter so that she could have legit reasons for wanting to take down Dawn other than just for shits and giggles.
@@karisu4598 I actually just read a fan theory with a fair amount of evidence behind it that suggested that exact thing. It would have given both a lot more presence.
Only episode I think was missing from the list was the episode just before the Sinnoh grand festival finale which was the one where zoey and nando duel each other in the semi finals and what an epic spectacle it was with incredible animation and two expert coordinators really showcasing they’re skills in the most beautiful way
Jessie's Jessilina character was one of my favorites. Sad proof that she, as well as James, can be successful in anything other than Team Rocket. And Harley was that petty b**** that super entertaining.
Another great DP Contest episode was “Dressed for Jess Success” where Jessie gets sick so James takes place in the Contest for her. His appeal round performance was incredible and very unique and the noodles he made look delicious. The final battle between him and Dawn was amazing as well. It was so shocking to see Carnivine use Vine Whip to catch the Ice Shard just before Mamoswine could eat it to obtain his power up. The ending of the episode was funny too when Jessie feels better after earning the Ribbon but is mad at James for getting more applause than she usually does.😂
Contests were great & implemented very well in the anime. It was a great way to shake up battles while giving the female companions a story & more than gym battles/a vague goal like becoming a water or dragon master
The contest battles were so much fun and I really miss them. I thought for sure Dawn vs Zoey at the Grand Festival would be #1, but yeah the final battle with the Wallace cup was fantastic
I think people would fight for screen time, honestly. Let's say, if May was given more time on the Screen instead of Serena, there will be blood trails behind the pokemon anime production. Also, May's japanese voice actor retired, I don't know if she'll come back.
Kinda wish she won that tho since everyone got to beat their main rival. Ash beat Gary, Paul, trip, Sawyer, and gladion, and may beat drew, so it was only fair dawn should have beaten zoe
I felt very bad that Dawn reached the finals........it would have been better if the other finalist would have been Nando or someone else...I didn't want her to reach finals at all
I'm glad someone cares about the contests in the show. They were my favorite part but I feel like most people don't care about them. So this was nice to see.
that’s what’s so stupid about it because dragonite wasn’t even listening to iris and still beat dawn. dawn: a very experienced battler iris: has a dragonite that didn’t listen to her, used to have an excadrill that wouldn’t do anything, and has an axew that doesn’t battle i’m not hating on iris i really like her as a character but she should not have beaten dawn at that time. when she got dragonite trust would have been a better time imo
Coordinator is by far the most interesting Pokemon profession after being a regular trainer. The knowledge of the coordinator and the mastery the pokemon must have over their moves in order to constantly innovate and use them in new ways is astounding. And the way that creativity can be passed back and forth from contests to battles and back again, enhancing both, is what really makes it shine. A trainer who does both contests and battles could be a real jack of all trades, with both the knowledge and the flexibility to bring out the best of any Pokemon.
Just like ash should have won the Kalos league. Zoe's basically the sinnoh Alain if u think about it. They were friendly rivals to our heroes, they've battled multiple times, never won, and lost at a place where our hero should have rightfully won: the finals of their main goal for the series
This episode is full on nostalgia~ May VS Dawn in the contest arena has always been the best. What a way to culminate a lot of arcs developing over the series to start of a new one, top with mixing up an awesome finale episode of the Wallace Cup! I still hope with my heart of hearts that we can get Serena to meet up with these two now that she too has ended her screentime to be a PKMN Coordinator.
I'm really disappointed that Zoey vs Nando wasn't here. That will always be my favorite contest battle!!! Even Dawn said that the battle was the best she has ever seen
I think that A Dress For Jess Success is one of my favorite contest episodes just because we got to see James compete in a contest (dressed as Jessie's contest alias of course) and actually win the whole thing. 💯
Can we just admit that Diamond and Pearl is propably the best Pokemon series that there is? Everything just feels right without problems.... - Good Evil team - Funny Team Rocket - Best side characters - Best rivalries - MeMoriable Pokemons - Good league and grand festivsl - Companions
Better than XY imo - Contests > Bootleg showcases - Alan is the only good rival - Serena has trash rivals (unless you count Jessie) - Sinnoh league > Kalos league - Master class is rushed garbage - The rest I think were debatable
@@jedidude6358 OK, I don't know where to start unraveling this tripe. First, Showcases and Contests both originate from the game's PokeContest minigame, a minigame which apparently many players did not finish. In the Contests, the part best resembling the minigame, Stage 1 is relegated to being an appetizer that receives little attention. In the Showcase, the performance is left as the center stage. So you tell me which better resembles the original. As for Serena's rivals ... I suppose what you mean in concrete terms is that you want rivals that can sometimes beat Serena without a clear mistake on her team's part. It has been argued that they are going for a different kind of challenge for Serena (a more mental one rather than one of technique). That aside however, more critically is that due to the different nature of the contest, there's much less room to plausibly depict such a rival for Serena. The core of anime PokeContests is a fight. Fights allow for a lot of arbitrarinism in determing results. You can turn a fight around by being lucky, or by coming up with one inspired tactic, or by fiddling the health bar to score the intended winner's attacks more favorably. A performance places much more emphasis on overall strength and less on suprise or incidental factors. If you lose a performance while making no mistakes, it's because the other person has superior skills and / or superior ability to understand what the audience wants. You can't turn an advantage like that around by incorporating one good move into your performance. And you certainly cannot last minute ad-lib a performance by inserting a trick that wasn't even mastered before you enter the stage. Dawn can suddenly have her Pokemon master an oxymoronic Flame-Ice combo on the battlefield (it's actually still pretty bull, but audiences have been trained to accept such things), but if she tries to suddenly change a performance to incorporate an un-mastered Flame-Ice combo it will collapse the performance altogether. The Showcases actually show this in action. As we approach the finals, you might notice that Shana and Jessie both try to give their Pokemon more active roles because they belatedly realize that's how you get points in the Showcases. But ultimately, they are still catching up to someone (Serena) who got this part on the first try. So they cannot fully get rid of their relative weakness and while their performances are stronger compared to the past, they can't match up to Serena and they are defeated when they bump into her. Serena, in turn, cannot beat Aria because she didn't realize until it was too late that you can get yet more points by delivering a "sunnier" performance. And even if she realized what Palerno was trying to hint at the moment they met, in those few days she's not going to be able to just turn her whole mindset around and make an output that can outshine Aria.
@@kosomolsk I think most of your points can be summed up with "the point still stands" -Contests are still better executed in the anime than showcases. -Rival doesn't always mean it's going to be about battling. Rivalries can even happen in miss universe competitions in one way or another. The problem with Serena's rivals is that they were simply just...there. Unlike May and Dawn's where they were given at least some personality and development. And I doubt that the writers can't do anything to Serena's rivals despite the limited room showcases has. Most of its limits aren't factors why Serena's rivals fell bland and/or soulless as characters and especially considering if they're supposed to be "rivals" in the first place. -By a narrative perspective, Master class is still rushed as hell. It's pretty underwhelming how it only lasts 2 episodes and the event is already finished. The rivals (except Jessie, but only because she's also a rival to May and Dawn) weren't given much development and spotlight either since most of the part is pretty much just a montage. Aria is literally just a wall of a character with little build up and no depth whatsoever. And the way Serena lost was not because of her broken wrist but because of Aria's plot armor or maybe her popularity in Kalos, even when Serena had a more beautiful performance than Aria if you look at it.
@@jedidude6358 I'll start with the bottom one. One feature of the Showcases is that though you may personally feel one or another performance is more beautiful or more to your taste, the Win factor is objectively buried into the performances such that you can see it. In Aria's case, they decided her winning reason is that she's able to make other people happy rather than just be happy when dancing and hope people follow along. And they did actually incorporate this rather abstract difference into Aria's performance. Regardless of whether you liked Serena's performance more, Aria's performance was more forceful and assertive, both in the steps and strides she used and the employment of blue light as the primary color, which I think is a reasonable way to visually incorporate this idea into her performance (they then quickly started moving her presentation to the finish before people can make too many other comparisons). Overall, I think of this as a better solution than to deliberately write a second-rate performance for the heroine and assign a first-rate one to the champion. It's OK if you think Serena's was more beautiful (I do too, and I got the feeling most of the budget went there). as long as you see Aria's winning reason too. For Contests, for the other hand, while there are some good first-stage presentations too, many times even *after* hearing the supposed explanation (by the judges), I'm left with a "Am I supposed to think that was good?" or "I can't believe Dawn lost to this!" feeling, a feeling I did not get when seeing the Showcases. You can tell why Serena won, but the others don't, you know, suck. Except for the fashion show and to a lesser extent Shana's extensive use of a smokescreen in XY60, but I think they concentrated on driving home the point that if not for the unfortunate ribbon under Fennekin foot, Serena would have taken that one. As for character development, first, for Aria. She's the Queen. Basically she's not so much Serena's rival as someone above her station. I won't say she's as high in the stratosphere as DP's Wallace, but she's a lot closer to that than being Serena's "Zoey". For her rivals, thanks for being the first person I met to actually define what they mean when they say things like "Her rivals aren't that great". I wouldn't say they completely don't develop, you can actually see them changing their performances, and that's not just a superficial change in *tactics* , the changed performances also reflect a change in mental attitude (and the original performance indicates their original mental attitude). But if you didn't see Aria's win reason, you probably missed that too. Second, XY doesn't repeat the tactic of deliberately making sucky characters, have them remove the suckiness and call that "growth". Mistakes are made and corrected for, but mistakes that probably shouldn't have been made the first time are avoided. So Serena gets off her first attack properly the first time, unlike May who cannot even target-designate properly and yells "Mushroom" for "Ember". Similarly, her rivals basically start off with good personalities, unlike the likes of Harry, Ursula or to a lesser extent Zoey and Drew. If you start off with a decent personality there's less room to make big, visible corrections, is there? I think this is a deliberate design choice. In the lead-up to the Master Class, Serena's last rival was an Almaria, which is probably closest to the kind of rival you want to see. She is technically proficient and has a bad attitude. I suspect a rejected variant had her coming out sooner, perhaps even being nasty to Serena in XY60. And then later they'll show us her 'horrible past' where she underwent very tough training (you can kind of see hints of this even though she showed up only for one chapter). And then she'll "change" to accepting Serena. Ultimately a "grossly flawed" rival wasn't what they wanted to show (again) this time, and there is what I said about overtaking in my previous post, so she's relegated to being rolled over by Serena in a single pass.
Do a Top 10 Episodes where Ash Bonds with one of his Pokemon more... Such as "Cutting the Ties that Bind", "Charizard Chills", and "Turning Over a New Bayleef."
Jessie winning a contest was pretty big for me as she always was a mandatory loser - like how Team Rocket always lose against Pikachu - in AG that seeing Team Rocket actually winning in something is pretty significant at that time.
What I did for love is a great episode. May vs Brock was good. Plus seeing Brock on stage was fun and lead to great interactions like Lillian being the one to pull him away from Joy
Sweet video! My favorite Pokemon Contest episode was the one with Nando vs Zoey. Their contest battle was so fun, beautiful, and very epic! Though I was mad/sad that Nando lost, but I still love the episode and the battle overall. Hey, Nando made it farther in the Grand Festival than the Sinnoh League, which I'm glad for. ( I still mad they had Nando battle Ash FIRST! Of course Ash HAD to win the First Round DX ) Sorry ^^; Nando is just my favorite Sinnoh character in Pokemon. I'm really hoping he makes a return, and gets a little more screentime than last time. Just my hope.
3:19 Why'd you have to remind me. This is legitimately the worst release in the anime on so many different levels. Why did she leave for ping pong man. Well at least her last performance was something special.
Always found Dawn's contest journey to be more intetesting and compelling than May's. Not sure if that's a hot take or not, but most people I came across likes May more and I didn't understand why
It probably helps that Dawn's contests involved more planning and strategy, not to mention that the animation for the contest scenes were updated as well.
Your #10 was my number 1. It is that it was so good to see those 2 episodes. Harley and team Rocket teaming up and the way they tried to get rid of Ash, Brock, and Max so May would be alone was epic. It made the series so exciting that it made it feel like a "novela".
i love harley because he is one of the few rivals that gets someone to trust him, intentionally gives them bad advice, embarrassed them on may occasions especially when he dresses up as her, helps team rocket, and even is a contestshipper 10/10 character
I literally just realized why I’m such a big Roleplay fan compared to Combat in TTRPGS, and it’s Contests and the Pokemon Showcase. Contest battles were pretty good, yeah, but I loved the Performances more than anything. They are GORGEOUS and inspiring! Maybe not the core of the franchise, but I’ve wanted a game or anime dedicated to such displays, more than I want another League to face.
Dressed for Jess Success was the greatest contest imho. The johto guys were lame but this was team rocket at their best. James and Meowth made an amazing duo.
Great video. I have a lot of nostalgia for the Wallace Cup arc since I watched it week by week as it aired 9 AM Saturday mornings on Cartoon Network. I’m pretty happy you put it as #1.
Excellent first place choice. Strategy With a Smile is so cathartic after seeing Dawn's losing streak and the fact that she beat May, a coordinator who canonically has more natural talent than her since she never lost in any appeal round, never mind 2 in a row, makes it even more satisfying. It shows that hard work and determination can overcome raw talent which is a very important lesson to teach to both children and adults. It's also great storytelling for May to use Glaceon in the final round. If she'd used Blaziken, Beautifly or Venusaur, Dawn wouldn't have stood a chance but since Glaceon was newly evolved and facing Piplup, Dawn's most experienced Pokemon, it balanced out the power scaling. And to add extra dimension to May's choice of Pokemon, this was Glaceon's first contest since evolving. May didn't use it at any other point in the Wallace Cup and saving it for the final round was a great way of giving the audience something they would have never seen if they watched her previous contests. She wasn't going easy on Dawn. She was putting on a show, just as any good coordinator would.
My favorite Contest episode is “Battling the Generation Gap”. That final stage between Dawn and Lila was intense and I wasn’t sure if Dawn would win due to Ambipom being affected by Cute Charm and being put to sleep with Sing. Those girls really powered through though and managed to take the W.
I just really miss May. Throw me a bone and give the girl another cameo like when she appeared in Diamond and Pearl. Or just her own series altogether. She, Drew, Harley, and Soledad are solid enough of characters that they could build a show on that group.
This is really random and is impossible to happen: I wish in Serena's return we got to see her compete in a contest vs Drew. I would love to see those 2 characters interact
3:18 Honestly, Ambipom would have had so much more to offer if she wasn’t written off from the show, plus Ambipom and Dawn had a really close bond with each other, as well as Ash, seeing that Ash did have Ambipom back when she was Aipom moments before she evolved, I hope maybe one day they can reunite in the anime, even if it isn’t on screen.
Fun Fact: In the manga, the male Protagonists of Ruby and Sapphire was actually in Contest Ethusiast Instead of a battler, he's basically the Male verson of a Poke Girl
Nice list! i think one day i'll say my full top 10 but to me number 1 would be Ash vs May or May beating Drew! Both had such great battling with the elements found in the usual contests but had different importance in their own ways just like how you mentioned in your video!
One of my favourite contest episodes is 'Dawn of a Royal Day' as even tho Dawn isn't in the contest and we're getting to see someone else take her place, Dawn takes on Zoey's role as a mentor in the final moments, showing how much she's grown as a trainer and as a person. Plus all the antics that the princess and Dawn get up too are hilarious to me
The contests were not only a nice change of pace, but a chance to give the writers a way to inject some creativity into the anime imo. There were times I liked the contests more then some of Ash’s gym battles, especially in Diamond and Pearl.
HEY I got an idea TOP 10/5 ASH’S RIVALS OR ALL OF ASHS RIVALS REVIEWED IN 10 WORDS OR LESS THIS CAN ALSO BE ALL OF POKÉMON IN GENERAL LIKE INCLUDING COMPANIONS RIVALS LIKE ZOEY FOR EXAMPLE
"Stage, ON!"
Pog innit !!!!
Second
Anddddd here comes showpro bitches😩
Remember this (Say I if you love Zac
Stage On!
I think people forget that Jessie reached semi finals in sinnoh grand festival :)
Yea lol
It's also the first time she was IN the grand festival. In hoenn and Kanto she was kind of a joke regarding contests whereas in sinnoh she not only gets herself a ribbon, but also five of them. Enough to qualify for the Grand Festival
Are you telling me Jessie reached a semi final before ash did??!!
El Jordinio well technically she only 3 ribbons herself, (James won one for her, and she was gifted her last ribbon by the winner of that contest)
@@ryankim7116 yes 😂
I really miss contests and still do; can't believe it's been over a decade since the concept was last used. Showcases were an decent substitute, but nothing beats the real thing imo.
I haven't seen XY so I don't know how the showcases work, do the participants battle?
Same I didn’t like showcases that much because there is no battling involved and they were introduced late in the series. To me contests are far superior and more developed.
There were no battles in showcases which made it boring for me since what we love about Pokemon is battles, and I also would've loved to see male performers they'd be really interesting.
Nando v Zoye, Dawn v Zoey, Ursula were best contest battles
While the showcases gave Serena the character development she needed, I really thought she would do better in a contest setting. I would love to see a spin-off or a Journeys arc of Serena competing in the Hoenn contests. Make Ash’s and Serena’s reunion happen Pokemon!!
i physically need a spin off about may drew and harley in johto to survive
Not Johto but there's a fanfic called Contest Capital that acts as a sequel with May, Drew, and Harley competing in the Wallace Cup
@@snowlily3930 where now????
@@snowlily3930 Really!? Nice!
DP contests were the best tho
@@whereisezraa5825ofc the Dp contests will be better cause it had to be upgraded at some point
I love how dawn's Piplup is so funny at the other times but then gets Extra serious when he's doing the Contest Performance with dawn XD
How do you know it’s a “He”?
@@pistincup352 it's a he, it's pretty much implied during the DP journey
@@Ruffgi It was actually full on confirmed. Remember that evil Togepi episode, well it was a girl and attracted Piplup (it's also where we figure out Jessie's Yanmega was a girl). Not to mention it's liking to Meloetta (yes I know Meloetta's genderless but she definitely leans toword the feminine side.)
@@castform7 oh yeah, you're right. I don't know how I have forgotten that episode
@@pistincup352 stop with this "did you jus assumed someone's gender bullshit"
For me, Pokemon contests are so better than performances. They had some battles where trainers and their Pokemon use abilities and combo moves and turn them into weapons, while the performances in Kalos were basically dancing and showing off for people's impressions.
I blame the 'Idol culture' that's taking over in Asia right now.
Doesn't help that unlike performances, you actually can partake in a contest in the games.
@@decoral The contest in the games is not the same as in the anime. If you are really generous, you can argue that anime Stage 1 is an elaboration of the game's Contest, but the Battle Stage is entirely original and yet is the de facto centerpiece in the anime (notice how almost all the footage in above video is of the Battle Stage rather than the Appeal Stage).
In keeping the Performance at the center rather than a much-sidelined appetizer, one can argue that it's actually the Showcases that embody the spirit of the contest more thoroughly.
Like who are even counting performances..? lol
I think that was the point of them, some people liked the contests when they showed off the moves of the pokemon, so showcases show dancing and things like that without battles, if people like contest more they can watch contests, but showcases are there for people who don’t want the battling aspect
Imagine if Dawn never released Ambipom and instead used it in the Grand Festival Finals. It would also be the perfect conclusion to its character arc. Having her win with it(and Piplup of course) would also be neat.
Zoey: You and Aipom are destined for the Grand Festival Finals, Dawn.
Ambipom upon discovering Ping Pong: *peace out guy disappearing*
@@MrChillaxin2010 The funniest part would be her using her tail to peace out.
Honestly I still don't get why Ambipom was released. The writers did a genius thing by bringing Aipom along with Ash to Sinnoh to show off it's new evolution plus it did well in and loved contests. I just don't get why it was released for freaking Ping Pong. At that point you might as well have just kept her at Oak's.
@@castform7 yeah and it was replaced by a quilava and Togekiss for Hgss promotion.Togekiss I thought was fine as it was also showing off it’s new evolution but quilava? That was just stupid especially as ash bringing his back for the league was enough.
@@willyp1347 I agree ... but at the same time I'm glad that Dawn got an strong starter from another region.
The Wallace Cup Arc were my favorite episodes in Diamond and Pearl. Especially seeing Ash competing.🎀
I hate how he lost to a background character
@@garchompgamer1874 yeah I'd have been more satisfied if he lost in the semifinals or something
@@garchompgamer1874 Yeah, they could have made him lose to Nando instead(as Nando didn't even appear in the Wallace Cup) forshadowing their battle in the Sinnoh League, and then have Nando lose to Dawn.
@@garchompgamer1874 In my canon, this background character (Kyle) is bisexual, aims to catch every Pokémon in Kalos region, and is portrayed by Joe Serafini with his hair being blonde instead.
i like the scene where paul sees ash competing and says something like “what does he think he’s doing???”
From Battle Frontier onwards the anime creators really stepped up in making the contests cool. May had less plot armour wins and in DP the combination moves and battles were animated really well.
Yup. If anything, the contests progressively got better as time went by; being able to observe the natural evolution of contests from the beginning of AG all the way to the end of DP is just such an joy, especially if you liked them as well.
Honestly a lot of things originating from AG got progressively better like villain arcs for example. I like the slow but noticeable and gradual evolution contests had.
i agree. i do like the foreshadow of emphasis on combos when mag uses a fire and water attack like tucker did
DP, Dawn, Zoey, Nando really rocked
The writers clearly learned from mistakes they made with May. Some of May's early contest performances wouldn't have made it through to the second round if she didn't have plot armour. Skitty's failed Blizzard and being forced to resort to juggling comes to mind. Plus, I actually have to side with Harley in the Hoenn Grand Festival when the audience was chanting her name and he, very understandably, pointed out;
"They're cheering for her and she wasn't even the winner? There's no justice!"
Granted, there are some situations where that would be justified. For example, if May went toe to toe with Wallace, who was not only a top coordinator but also a league champion, then I'd totally get it if people were chanting her name after she lost. You'd need to be a VERY good coordinator to give Wallace a run for his money. But they did it after she beat Drew, who is a great coordinator but nowhere near Wallace, Robert or Soledad's level. Heck, Robert bodied Drew without any effort in the very next round.
The writers never went easy on Dawn. They smacked her hard during her performance slump, so all of her victories felt earned. Losing in the first round of 2 contests in a row made it clear that there was no plot armour involved. One of the best moments is when Dawn and Maylene have a heart to heart and Dawn opens up with something that she'd probably never admitted to anybody before, not even her Pokemon.
"I tell everybody I'm recharging my batteries. But to be totally honest, sometimes I feel I'm just not cut out for contests."
This is why Dawn is my favourite of Ash's friends. She had to fight her way up without any special treatment or even any instinctive talent. Despite being the daughter of a coordinator, Dawn wasn't anything special in terms of natural ability. She succeeded through sheer determination and hard work which is an important lesson for anybody. Even if you aren't born with talent, you can still develop an exceptional level of skill if you put your mind to it.
Number 1 is why May's return is my absolute favourite even though she isn't my favourite character. It was fun fanservice but it also worked really well for the plot helping Dawn and being a torch passing moment. Absolutely masterful.
Kind of wish it happened a bit more often.
How could someone Not Like May Smh
@@RajeshKK72 ikr when will she come back she hasn’t appeared in 13 years 😭
@@wagoeswa2245 and her japanese voice actor just retired
May really helped Dawn (she lost😂, Dawn won)
I loved the Dress for Jess Success episode. Not only did Mamoswine learn the ins and outs of controlling it's temper, but we also saw how capable James is at contests. His first contest and he wins
Honnorable mentions: Grand festival Nando vs Zoey.
That battle was fucking amazing
IKR. It's was amazing to watch. Especially at end. I'll never forget seeing Zoey's Leafeon with those majestic wings from Mismagius' Psywave.
Same that was an amazing battle as well!
I'll say. Her leafeon was literally soaring to new heights with those light wings it got during the fight
You are a dombuldor
Nando v Zoey, Dawn v May, May v Zoey, Dawn v Zoey, Ursula were badass🔥
I miss contests man. I always felt like Ash's gym battles had most of the "action" but May/Dawn's contests had a lot of cool moments too. My favorite moment will always be that Sandstorm+Scary face combo from Ursula at the Grand Festival. So badass
I didn’t know whether to root for May and Blaziken or Ash and Sceptile and May and Ash fought! Also, Ash and May having Sceptile use Leaf Blade to split the medal in half as their battle ended in a tie was really nice.
Pokémon: Let’s split the ribbon, because it’s a wholesome thing we can both remember!
If Contests were in the Real World: Yeah no that thing doesn’t have any value if it’s split like that.
@@pranavr4017 it wasn't an official contest anyway
Ursula: Hey, Harley, can I copy your homework?
Harley: Yeah, sure, just don't make it obvious that you copied.
If this show was a live-action CW adaptation, I'd give Ursula a sexual assault backstory to set her apart from Harley.
Ursula was most definitely an attempt to replicate Harley for sure, but the problem was that her presence was comparatively limited while Harley was a major rival through and through. Imo, they should have made her Lila's daughter so that she could have legit reasons for wanting to take down Dawn other than just for shits and giggles.
@@karisu4598 I actually just read a fan theory with a fair amount of evidence behind it that suggested that exact thing. It would have given both a lot more presence.
@@MrChillaxin2010 Cool, glad that someone also agrees. Mind linking to me about said theory?
@@karisu4598 Adrianna/Ageoftrades posted it to her Twitter. You can find it there. Tried posting the link here, but it didn’t work
I absolutely fucking love when you put Dawn's theme song when she or her pokemon show up.
oh yes same
That's absolutely my point to mention
Only episode I think was missing from the list was the episode just before the Sinnoh grand festival finale which was the one where zoey and nando duel each other in the semi finals and what an epic spectacle it was with incredible animation and two expert coordinators really showcasing they’re skills in the most beautiful way
That and May vs Grace
Man, I miss contests😭awesome video bro!
Contests were GOATED 🥲
This channel is actually living on. Amazing
Yes
Here’s an idea, rank every year Pokémon theme song from worst to best (English versions)
THATS AN AMAZING IDEA
@@keichi5930 thanks
Master Quest, Advanced Challenge, Original Theme are goated🐐
Animated ginger did that
Do it, do it, do it!!
Jessie's Jessilina character was one of my favorites. Sad proof that she, as well as James, can be successful in anything other than Team Rocket. And Harley was that petty b**** that super entertaining.
Imagine if James went to compete with Ash in the pokemon league. Like Jessie did with Dawn.
Contests are still something that I have a lot of nostalgic for, and a big part of why Dawn and May had such excellent character arcs.
indeed Dawn and may stands out in character development
Another great DP Contest episode was “Dressed for Jess Success” where Jessie gets sick so James takes place in the Contest for her. His appeal round performance was incredible and very unique and the noodles he made look delicious. The final battle between him and Dawn was amazing as well. It was so shocking to see Carnivine use Vine Whip to catch the Ice Shard just before Mamoswine could eat it to obtain his power up. The ending of the episode was funny too when Jessie feels better after earning the Ribbon but is mad at James for getting more applause than she usually does.😂
Contests were great & implemented very well in the anime. It was a great way to shake up battles while giving the female companions a story & more than gym battles/a vague goal like becoming a water or dragon master
Not to mention it cut down on the filler episodes.
The contest battles were so much fun and I really miss them. I thought for sure Dawn vs Zoey at the Grand Festival would be #1, but yeah the final battle with the Wallace cup was fantastic
Noo, Dawn v Zoey or Zoey v Nando are the best
@@whereisezraa5825 why do you hate may so much lol
Zoey vs Nando was also really an awesome battle!
Yesss...it was better than Dawn vs Zoey battle
And Zoey vs May
I spent more time doing the contests than the main story when I first played Diamond, not gonna lie.
Me did most of the times
Yess! Me too. Same happened with Heartgold and Soulsilver with pokeathlon, damn, times were good
That was me to but in Ruby and Sapphire instead
@@TheSupremeKing27 That was a long time ago
same tho
Contests were one of my absolute favorite things in the Advanced Generation and Diamond & Pearl Anime. This video was awesome!
Hope we get a Wallace Cup style arc (or something similar) in Journeys where May, Dawn and Serena all meet.
It will be an epic episode but the writer's won't do that
The writers are dummies
I think people would fight for screen time, honestly. Let's say, if May was given more time on the Screen instead of Serena, there will be blood trails behind the pokemon anime production.
Also, May's japanese voice actor retired, I don't know if she'll come back.
Seeing dawn make it into the finals reminded me ash never made it past top 8 and then oh top 4 niiicccee
Kinda wish she won that tho since everyone got to beat their main rival. Ash beat Gary, Paul, trip, Sawyer, and gladion, and may beat drew, so it was only fair dawn should have beaten zoe
I felt very bad that Dawn reached the finals........it would have been better if the other finalist would have been Nando or someone else...I didn't want her to reach finals at all
I'm glad someone cares about the contests in the show. They were my favorite part but I feel like most people don't care about them. So this was nice to see.
Dragonite was filled with plot armor in the dawn vs iris fight. Dude got frozen from head to toe by a 4x effective move and just broke out
that’s what’s so stupid about it because dragonite wasn’t even listening to iris and still beat dawn.
dawn: a very experienced battler
iris: has a dragonite that didn’t listen to her, used to have an excadrill that wouldn’t do anything, and has an axew that doesn’t battle
i’m not hating on iris i really like her as a character but she should not have beaten dawn at that time. when she got dragonite trust would have been a better time imo
Happy to see your channel is safe and I hope to it stays like that...I love your videos Zac!
Glad to see the best Pokemon reviewer back with a bang😎😎
Coordinator is by far the most interesting Pokemon profession after being a regular trainer. The knowledge of the coordinator and the mastery the pokemon must have over their moves in order to constantly innovate and use them in new ways is astounding. And the way that creativity can be passed back and forth from contests to battles and back again, enhancing both, is what really makes it shine. A trainer who does both contests and battles could be a real jack of all trades, with both the knowledge and the flexibility to bring out the best of any Pokemon.
I agree. Dawn should've won the Grand Festival.
Just like ash should have won the Kalos league. Zoe's basically the sinnoh Alain if u think about it. They were friendly rivals to our heroes, they've battled multiple times, never won, and lost at a place where our hero should have rightfully won: the finals of their main goal for the series
@@eljordinio7647 Ash actually should've won the Sinnoh league, it was the best league with the best rival and he had every chance.
@@andy_t6349 yeah he can win the sinnoh if they didnt add tobias
This episode is full on nostalgia~ May VS Dawn in the contest arena has always been the best. What a way to culminate a lot of arcs developing over the series to start of a new one, top with mixing up an awesome finale episode of the Wallace Cup!
I still hope with my heart of hearts that we can get Serena to meet up with these two now that she too has ended her screentime to be a PKMN Coordinator.
I'm really disappointed that Zoey vs Nando wasn't here. That will always be my favorite contest battle!!! Even Dawn said that the battle was the best she has ever seen
But it was on Grand festival.
Yes but I'm mad at it. Mainly cause they put more focus on Nando vs Zoey, instead of the dawn vs Jessie battle.
@@dylanshadowstar9779 i agree. i think both battles deserved equal focus
8:29 "Don't worry May stan's" didn't have to call us out like that😂
Zac - And the Jessie love continues.
Those words... is it possible to use them together in a sentence like that??
I never thought "love Jessie" would come out of Zac's mouth unless "I don't" was said right before it.
It's like a double rainbow. You'll probably only see it once but it's more magical when you do.
James is my personal favourite
@@carsonkbelt17 mine too
I think that A Dress For Jess Success is one of my favorite contest episodes just because we got to see James compete in a contest (dressed as Jessie's contest alias of course) and actually win the whole thing. 💯
2:21 I like 2 think that May suffered some losses in the preliminary rounds in Johto like Dawn did, since she mentioned that she’d lost in Johto b4
Can we just admit that Diamond and Pearl is propably the best Pokemon series that there is? Everything just feels right without problems....
- Good Evil team
- Funny Team Rocket
- Best side characters
- Best rivalries
- MeMoriable Pokemons
- Good league and grand festivsl
- Companions
The only main problem it has that gen three doesn't, it has much more filler. Since it's stretched over four seasons.
Better than XY imo
- Contests > Bootleg showcases
- Alan is the only good rival
- Serena has trash rivals (unless you count Jessie)
- Sinnoh league > Kalos league
- Master class is rushed garbage
- The rest I think were debatable
@@jedidude6358 OK, I don't know where to start unraveling this tripe. First, Showcases and Contests both originate from the game's PokeContest minigame, a minigame which apparently many players did not finish. In the Contests, the part best resembling the minigame, Stage 1 is relegated to being an appetizer that receives little attention. In the Showcase, the performance is left as the center stage. So you tell me which better resembles the original.
As for Serena's rivals ... I suppose what you mean in concrete terms is that you want rivals that can sometimes beat Serena without a clear mistake on her team's part. It has been argued that they are going for a different kind of challenge for Serena (a more mental one rather than one of technique). That aside however, more critically is that due to the different nature of the contest, there's much less room to plausibly depict such a rival for Serena.
The core of anime PokeContests is a fight. Fights allow for a lot of arbitrarinism in determing results. You can turn a fight around by being lucky, or by coming up with one inspired tactic, or by fiddling the health bar to score the intended winner's attacks more favorably.
A performance places much more emphasis on overall strength and less on suprise or incidental factors. If you lose a performance while making no mistakes, it's because the other person has superior skills and / or superior ability to understand what the audience wants. You can't turn an advantage like that around by incorporating one good move into your performance. And you certainly cannot last minute ad-lib a performance by inserting a trick that wasn't even mastered before you enter the stage. Dawn can suddenly have her Pokemon master an oxymoronic Flame-Ice combo on the battlefield (it's actually still pretty bull, but audiences have been trained to accept such things), but if she tries to suddenly change a performance to incorporate an un-mastered Flame-Ice combo it will collapse the performance altogether.
The Showcases actually show this in action. As we approach the finals, you might notice that Shana and Jessie both try to give their Pokemon more active roles because they belatedly realize that's how you get points in the Showcases. But ultimately, they are still catching up to someone (Serena) who got this part on the first try. So they cannot fully get rid of their relative weakness and while their performances are stronger compared to the past, they can't match up to Serena and they are defeated when they bump into her. Serena, in turn, cannot beat Aria because she didn't realize until it was too late that you can get yet more points by delivering a "sunnier" performance. And even if she realized what Palerno was trying to hint at the moment they met, in those few days she's not going to be able to just turn her whole mindset around and make an output that can outshine Aria.
@@kosomolsk I think most of your points can be summed up with "the point still stands"
-Contests are still better executed in the anime than showcases.
-Rival doesn't always mean it's going to be about battling. Rivalries can even happen in miss universe competitions in one way or another. The problem with Serena's rivals is that they were simply just...there. Unlike May and Dawn's where they were given at least some personality and development. And I doubt that the writers can't do anything to Serena's rivals despite the limited room showcases has. Most of its limits aren't factors why Serena's rivals fell bland and/or soulless as characters and especially considering if they're supposed to be "rivals" in the first place.
-By a narrative perspective, Master class is still rushed as hell. It's pretty underwhelming how it only lasts 2 episodes and the event is already finished. The rivals (except Jessie, but only because she's also a rival to May and Dawn) weren't given much development and spotlight either since most of the part is pretty much just a montage. Aria is literally just a wall of a character with little build up and no depth whatsoever. And the way Serena lost was not because of her broken wrist but because of Aria's plot armor or maybe her popularity in Kalos, even when Serena had a more beautiful performance than Aria if you look at it.
@@jedidude6358 I'll start with the bottom one. One feature of the Showcases is that though you may personally feel one or another performance is more beautiful or more to your taste, the Win factor is objectively buried into the performances such that you can see it. In Aria's case, they decided her winning reason is that she's able to make other people happy rather than just be happy when dancing and hope people follow along.
And they did actually incorporate this rather abstract difference into Aria's performance. Regardless of whether you liked Serena's performance more, Aria's performance was more forceful and assertive, both in the steps and strides she used and the employment of blue light as the primary color, which I think is a reasonable way to visually incorporate this idea into her performance (they then quickly started moving her presentation to the finish before people can make too many other comparisons).
Overall, I think of this as a better solution than to deliberately write a second-rate performance for the heroine and assign a first-rate one to the champion. It's OK if you think Serena's was more beautiful (I do too, and I got the feeling most of the budget went there). as long as you see Aria's winning reason too.
For Contests, for the other hand, while there are some good first-stage presentations too, many times even *after* hearing the supposed explanation (by the judges), I'm left with a "Am I supposed to think that was good?" or "I can't believe Dawn lost to this!" feeling, a feeling I did not get when seeing the Showcases. You can tell why Serena won, but the others don't, you know, suck. Except for the fashion show and to a lesser extent Shana's extensive use of a smokescreen in XY60, but I think they concentrated on driving home the point that if not for the unfortunate ribbon under Fennekin foot, Serena would have taken that one.
As for character development, first, for Aria. She's the Queen. Basically she's not so much Serena's rival as someone above her station. I won't say she's as high in the stratosphere as DP's Wallace, but she's a lot closer to that than being Serena's "Zoey".
For her rivals, thanks for being the first person I met to actually define what they mean when they say things like "Her rivals aren't that great".
I wouldn't say they completely don't develop, you can actually see them changing their performances, and that's not just a superficial change in *tactics* , the changed performances also reflect a change in mental attitude (and the original performance indicates their original mental attitude). But if you didn't see Aria's win reason, you probably missed that too.
Second, XY doesn't repeat the tactic of deliberately making sucky characters, have them remove the suckiness and call that "growth". Mistakes are made and corrected for, but mistakes that probably shouldn't have been made the first time are avoided. So Serena gets off her first attack properly the first time, unlike May who cannot even target-designate properly and yells "Mushroom" for "Ember". Similarly, her rivals basically start off with good personalities, unlike the likes of Harry, Ursula or to a lesser extent Zoey and Drew. If you start off with a decent personality there's less room to make big, visible corrections, is there?
I think this is a deliberate design choice. In the lead-up to the Master Class, Serena's last rival was an Almaria, which is probably closest to the kind of rival you want to see. She is technically proficient and has a bad attitude. I suspect a rejected variant had her coming out sooner, perhaps even being nasty to Serena in XY60. And then later they'll show us her 'horrible past' where she underwent very tough training (you can kind of see hints of this even though she showed up only for one chapter). And then she'll "change" to accepting Serena.
Ultimately a "grossly flawed" rival wasn't what they wanted to show (again) this time, and there is what I said about overtaking in my previous post, so she's relegated to being rolled over by Serena in a single pass.
Do a Top 10 Episodes where Ash Bonds with one of his Pokemon more...
Such as "Cutting the Ties that Bind", "Charizard Chills", and "Turning Over a New Bayleef."
Loved seeing May’s squirtle hit Jesse/Harley’s Banette with normal type moves
I knew it dawn vs may will be no.1 XD
My fav. Contest episode
Jessie winning a contest was pretty big for me as she always was a mandatory loser - like how Team Rocket always lose against Pikachu - in AG that seeing Team Rocket actually winning in something is pretty significant at that time.
What I did for love is a great episode. May vs Brock was good. Plus seeing Brock on stage was fun and lead to great interactions like Lillian being the one to pull him away from Joy
That one dislike is because that one person actually liked that Iris VS Dawn “Thing” you said at the end of the video
8
Sweet video! My favorite Pokemon Contest episode was the one with Nando vs Zoey. Their contest battle was so fun, beautiful, and very epic! Though I was mad/sad that Nando lost, but I still love the episode and the battle overall. Hey, Nando made it farther in the Grand Festival than the Sinnoh League, which I'm glad for. ( I still mad they had Nando battle Ash FIRST! Of course Ash HAD to win the First Round DX )
Sorry ^^; Nando is just my favorite Sinnoh character in Pokemon. I'm really hoping he makes a return, and gets a little more screentime than last time. Just my hope.
One of my favorites had to be the episode where May got her first win against the Medicham trainer that had just defeated Drew.
The beautifly final attack was awesome
3:19 Why'd you have to remind me. This is legitimately the worst release in the anime on so many different levels. Why did she leave for ping pong man. Well at least her last performance was something special.
James disguise as Jessie and winning costest by defeating Dawn was pretty cool too..
Thank you because the contest episodes are severely under appreciated
like who are they to unappreciate the masterpiece ?
One of the most memorable episodes from dawn was the cursola battle.
Always found Dawn's contest journey to be more intetesting and compelling than May's. Not sure if that's a hot take or not, but most people I came across likes May more and I didn't understand why
I agree with you. I've always liked Dawn more than May.
It probably helps that Dawn's contests involved more planning and strategy, not to mention that the animation for the contest scenes were updated as well.
I wouldn’t say that’s a hot take Dawn’s journey had more of a story behind it, also helps that contests in DP were way better than in AG.
Didn't May not have a set goal until like 25% into AG. Dawn at least knew what she wanted from the start.
@@joelss22 Yup, that's the key difference between them, and thanks to that their respective contest arcs have completely different perspectives.
4:11 DID EEVEE JUST USE SHADOWBALL? *Checks moveset throughout the years* EEVEES ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO LEARN SHADOWBALL?
May's beautifly vs Grace's Medicham is also great! One of the best battle in contest.
Your #10 was my number 1. It is that it was so good to see those 2 episodes. Harley and team Rocket teaming up and the way they tried to get rid of Ash, Brock, and Max so May would be alone was epic. It made the series so exciting that it made it feel like a "novela".
This schedule is better for eastern viewers like me
So please keep this schedule
We can never forget may vs drew. That was contest battle gold!
It was so satisfying to see may beat drew there
i love harley because he is one of the few rivals that gets someone to trust him, intentionally gives them bad advice, embarrassed them on may occasions especially when he dresses up as her, helps team rocket, and even is a contestshipper 10/10 character
yess finally some love for harley ya love to see it
Gross.
I still hold to the idea of a Pokémon contest game it’d give a chance to flex visuals and battle animations
I literally just realized why I’m such a big Roleplay fan compared to Combat in TTRPGS, and it’s Contests and the Pokemon Showcase. Contest battles were pretty good, yeah, but I loved the Performances more than anything. They are GORGEOUS and inspiring! Maybe not the core of the franchise, but I’ve wanted a game or anime dedicated to such displays, more than I want another League to face.
I always loved Contests and making each region's specific Pokemon treats 😍😄
"Strategy with a Smile!" and "A Grand Fight for Winning!" will always be my absolute favorite Pokemon Contest episodes.
"greninlucarizard"... Doesn't sound overrated at all 😂
Character assassination of Ambipom. 👍👍👍😂😂😂
i remember when he said it at the DP review
@@angelicaph483 Yup. I do too
Ambipom vs Delcatty was Ambipom’s only good battle under Dawn’s care before it was released
I think people forget that Jessi reached the top 4 of sinnoh grandfestival :)
Dressed for Jess Success was the greatest contest imho. The johto guys were lame but this was team rocket at their best. James and Meowth made an amazing duo.
Great video. I have a lot of nostalgia for the Wallace Cup arc since I watched it week by week as it aired 9 AM Saturday mornings on Cartoon Network. I’m pretty happy you put it as #1.
Zoey by far has always impressed me. Nando even ended up being pretty amazing. I loved dawn as well!
You should do "10 Best Pokémon Filler episodes!" It would be so cool!!
Yeah, most filler ain't that great
my favorite contest episode is Zoey vs Dawn
Nobody Cares
@@janek8682 whatever you loser
I love this channel so much lol ur my fav UA-camr
Edit: u make my day every time u upload
Now that we know Serena is doing contests in Hoenn, it would be epic to see her in a contest battle against May or Dawn
Excellent first place choice. Strategy With a Smile is so cathartic after seeing Dawn's losing streak and the fact that she beat May, a coordinator who canonically has more natural talent than her since she never lost in any appeal round, never mind 2 in a row, makes it even more satisfying. It shows that hard work and determination can overcome raw talent which is a very important lesson to teach to both children and adults.
It's also great storytelling for May to use Glaceon in the final round. If she'd used Blaziken, Beautifly or Venusaur, Dawn wouldn't have stood a chance but since Glaceon was newly evolved and facing Piplup, Dawn's most experienced Pokemon, it balanced out the power scaling. And to add extra dimension to May's choice of Pokemon, this was Glaceon's first contest since evolving. May didn't use it at any other point in the Wallace Cup and saving it for the final round was a great way of giving the audience something they would have never seen if they watched her previous contests. She wasn't going easy on Dawn. She was putting on a show, just as any good coordinator would.
My favorite Contest episode is “Battling the Generation Gap”. That final stage between Dawn and Lila was intense and I wasn’t sure if Dawn would win due to Ambipom being affected by Cute Charm and being put to sleep with Sing. Those girls really powered through though and managed to take the W.
Alternative title: Zac saying DP and AD contests for 9 minutes straight.
How would that change anything?
Ash should do more contests!!
Nice list Zac. Great to see the channel’s still alive.
Always waiting for your video..Love from 🇮🇳
I'm happy that my top three favorite contest made the top three on this list
I just really miss May. Throw me a bone and give the girl another cameo like when she appeared in Diamond and Pearl. Or just her own series altogether. She, Drew, Harley, and Soledad are solid enough of characters that they could build a show on that group.
This is really random and is impossible to happen: I wish in Serena's return we got to see her compete in a contest vs Drew. I would love to see those 2 characters interact
the battle between zoey and dawn is one of the most epic in the anime. Fight me.
3:18 Honestly, Ambipom would have had so much more to offer if she wasn’t written off from the show, plus Ambipom and Dawn had a really close bond with each other, as well as Ash, seeing that Ash did have Ambipom back when she was Aipom moments before she evolved, I hope maybe one day they can reunite in the anime, even if it isn’t on screen.
Who wants Pokemon contests to come back
Fun Fact:
In the manga, the male Protagonists of Ruby and Sapphire was actually in Contest Ethusiast Instead of a battler, he's basically the Male verson of a Poke Girl
Nice list! i think one day i'll say my full top 10 but to me number 1 would be Ash vs May or May beating Drew! Both had such great battling with the elements found in the usual contests but had different importance in their own ways just like how you mentioned in your video!
Can I say that number 11 should be Zoey vs Nando. That battle was awesome!
Congrats on 200k
So,that dude's favourite Pokémons are greninja, lucario and charizard 😂
@Mayank Singh what?
@Mayank Singh oh that Ben
@Mayank Singh give a link, I haven't watched it
One of my favourite contest episodes is 'Dawn of a Royal Day' as even tho Dawn isn't in the contest and we're getting to see someone else take her place, Dawn takes on Zoey's role as a mentor in the final moments, showing how much she's grown as a trainer and as a person. Plus all the antics that the princess and Dawn get up too are hilarious to me
Ursula was such an amazing contest battler. I wish she went further in the grand festival.
The contests were not only a nice change of pace, but a chance to give the writers a way to inject some creativity into the anime imo. There were times I liked the contests more then some of Ash’s gym battles, especially in Diamond and Pearl.
Battling the generation gap and once more with reeling were basically my favorites and not surprise that you picked them as well
HEY I got an idea
TOP 10/5 ASH’S RIVALS
OR
ALL OF ASHS RIVALS REVIEWED IN 10 WORDS OR LESS
THIS CAN ALSO BE ALL OF POKÉMON IN GENERAL LIKE INCLUDING COMPANIONS RIVALS LIKE ZOEY FOR EXAMPLE
AAAAND we learned May’s Eevee evolved into Glaceon ❤