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After seeing how much damage Pikachu could give and take in his battle against Cinderace and Charizard, Pikachu taking out both Cradily and Mega Metagross was like a preview of how strong Pikachu has become. It also showed how smart Cynthia was, because she was the only one who mange to take out Pikachu, and it was because of Spiritomb's Destiny Bond.
I have one point about Leon's Cinderace. I think Leon was legitimately expecting the battle to end with Cinderace taking down Pikachu, and wanted to use the big flashy G-Max Fireball for all the fans, defeating Pikachu and keeping Charizard in the back to tease Ash. However, that didn't come to fruition, and when Cinderace went down, we cut to Leon sweating, showing genuine fear. He toyed around too much with Ash, and was now forced to bring out his Charizard in a final do-or-die battle.
Here’s how I would personally rank each battle: 1. Leon vs Alain: 5/10 2. Lance vs Diantha: 8/10 3. Iris vs Cynthia: 9/10 4. Ash vs Steven: 8/10 5. Leon vs Diantha: 2/10 6. Ash vs Cynthia: 9.5/10 7. Ash vs Leon 10/10 Overall I’d rank the Masters 8 Tournament a solid 8-8.5/10. Congrats Ash Ketchum, World Champion.
@@hugoguerin6897 No problem man. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I’m also glad I’m not alone in enjoying it either. But at the same time I’m totally alright with some people not liking it.
Pikachu vs charizard had it all It is old school It is their first partner It accumulates the journey since the 90s And the best part? It perfectly portrays what a regional champion ace fight should be. Tierlist and all
One thing I don't see many people talking about or at least not in the video, is the simbolic weight that Charizard as a pokemon has for Ash. He couldn't advance in his first tournament bc his Charizard wouldn't obey him, so having him overcoming one feels very much like the end of a gigantic journey. He is really going far beyond the trainer he one was. I really like the choice of a Charizard for a final foe for thar reason.
Ash's Greninja in the Kalos League: loses Alain's Charizard: You underestimate my power! Also Alain's Charizard: clapped by Leon's Charizard Ash's Greninja: *I love the smell of karma in the morning* As much as Team Rocket loves to go after his Pikachu, Ash is lucky to have them as his cheerleaders. Because no matter where he goes, there they are, following him and supporting him at the leagues. They are fully aware of just how special that Pikachu is
Just a shame that some other Plot Armored Trainer knocked Alain out of the tournament in the first battle of the first round instead of Ash. But I'll take what was given to us...begrudgingly.
There's only a few more cameos I'd have liked to see: 1) Sabrina and Haunter watching Ash's Gengar 2) Casey and the Beedril Ash caught for her 3) The Frontier Brains, especially if it meant Lucy and Brock interacted again
Ash vs Paul especially because as you mentioned, Ash took the lead but Leon weakened all of Ash’s Pokémon, but also Leon adopting the counter shield strategy just like Paul did. It juxtaposes nicely to the similarities of Ash vs Gary to Ash vs Cynthia.
I didn't. The reason it worked in Alola was purely because of the themes and how that battle was structured. Ash already became Alola Champion, the battle gave Torracat the spotlight to beat his rival, Tapu Koko shows up to bring Ash and Pikachu to their full potential and gives them a second use of Z-Moves because Tapu Koko himself wanted to go all-out and have Ash use his 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt. Ash vs. Leon tried to copy that, and not only did it feel lazy, but it didn't work like they expected. Ash hadn't become World Champion yet, we were being teased with Mega Lucario vs. Gmax Charizard and we didn't even get that, Eternatus shows up to conveniently give both Leon and Ash another Dynamax and nobody is talking about why, and Pikachu gets supercharged via the power of friendship. So yeah, no. Copying off of a previous finale that already was epic just makes the second finale look like a cop-out.
I mean, Iris being the only competitor Ash interacts with is understandable, because she was one of his traveling companions. Not to mention they're both young. So naturally, she'd be the one he's most comfortable with. And I'm guessing Alain didn't really want to interact with Ash because he was too focused on keeping his eye on the prize aka beating Leon...didn't help that he'd be up against Leon in the first match. But yeah, that Alain vs Leon match was a disgrace. I would've much preferred Ash vs Alain or even Steven vs Alain since Steven and Alain have such a deep connection as shown in the Mega Evolution specials, and the battle would've showed once and for all which of the Mega users is the strongest. Still, that Leon vs Ash battle and the way they chose to do it was absolutely perfect. Especially when you consider the fact Ash was knocked out of the Indigo League because his Charizard refused to listen to him against Ritchie's Pikachu, that Pikachu's Japanese name is Leon, and now Ash is using his Pikachu to defeat a Charizard owned by someone named Leon.
I get that Alain would be focused on winning, but I doubt that would stop him from at least starting a small conversation with Ash. After all, literally the only reason he entered the Kalos League was because he wanted to battle Ash again. He would not have cared otherwise.
@@esteban8471 when Alain learned bout Leon he knew that he was more worth beating than Ash which is why they havent interacted that much, Alain even said that it was his dream to battle against Leon’s Charizard & surpass it.
Ash saved the world along with all these people, the fuck do you mean Iris is the only one he'd be comfortable with? That's just a poor excuse for the arc wasting half it's potential.
@@infamousplayer8772 yes but Iris just like the other companions supported Ash in all his journeys not just evil team arcs, just because Ash helped the other champions to save their home regions doesnt mean that they are already close friends of his
Fun facts about masters 8: 1. All masters 8 have at least one pseudo-legendary pokemon. Leon: Dragapult Cynthia: Garchomp, Kommo-o Steven: Metagross Lance: Dragonite, Hydreigon Diantha: Goodra Alain: Tyranitar, Metagross Iris: Dragonite Ash: Dragonite, Larvitar, Gible, Goodra (While Larvitar and Gible don't evolve, also Larvitar isn’t his official mon) 2. Aside from Iris, all masters 8 have at least one of the three gimmicks. Leon: G-Max (Charizard, Cinderace, Rillaboom) Cynthia: Mega (Garchomp), Dynamax (Togekiss) Steven: Mega (Metagross) Lance: Dynamax (Gyarados, Dragonite) Diantha: Mega (Gardevoir) Alain: Mega (Charizard X) Ash: Mega (Lucario), Exclusive Z-move (Pikachu), G-Max (Gengar, Pikachu) While Iris doesn’t have one of the three gimmicks, she has a special ability to communicate with dragon-type pokemon. 3. All masters 8 members are “champions” of a region or conference. Leon: Champion of Galar region. Cynthia: Champion of Sinnoh region. Steven: Champion of Hoenn region. Lance: Champion of Kanto/Johto region. Diantha: Champion of Kalos region. Alain: Champion of Lumiose Conference. Iris: Champion of Unova region. Ash: Champion of Alola region. 4. Ash had fought at least once with other masters 8 members except for Lance.
ash also has a garchomp from Alola, it wasn't technically his (it belonged to Aether foundation) but if you count larvitar, then you should count garchomp
@@anurodhpathak9725 it is the best tournament but it is saddening how theres a possibility that this is the end of ash's journey and I dont know how to take it
@@ianmarco1375 prob not since his title won’t last long until another strong trainer that will challenge him. Since he is the strongest trainer and is #1. He might be as a side character or a mentor if they continue having ash in the future series. I find it hard to believe that this is the final for ash. But who knows.
@@iiiisssssaaaaaacccccc yea I think so too. He wont be the main anymore but he will have cameo like Prof Oak. Unless we get a timeskip (which is unlikely) and someone takes the title from Ash and he goes exploring again
In my Opinion both Leon and Ash had their advantages for the final fight. For Ash :Leon allowed him to use all his mechanics and knew Ash would use journeys team and for Leon : Ash didn't used his Veterans.
@@etherios5673 if leon were to actually use eternatus before properly training it it might have freaked out again and probably would have leveled the city
Well Most of ashs journeys team is allready the best he could bring. Lucario is his best fighting type (i love infernape but steel is so good) Gengar is on of his few ghosts and overall veeery good Dragonite is a pseudo legendary The only 2 id change would be dracovish for greninja and sirfetchd for infernape But they worked out fine. I would have loved to see infernape and greninja cause they are sooo big to ash (greninja cause of battle bond and infernape due to its tie to paul and him being on of ashs fiercefulls Rivals of all of them) But still, his team is close to best he could do.
@@etherios5673 Leon may have tamed eternatus to some extent but he didn't fully gain control of it. Besides the writers wouldn't just pull another Tobias on us after the backlash their actions with the recaps and breaks got
I really liked this tournament, I think it’s already a better format then other “leagues” because it’s all people you know and are strong instead of some random rival being set up just to beat up ash, and I loved seeing all the matchups.
I think that’s what makes it a waste of a tournament. Why was it even necessary? It just meant that he could challenge them outside and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
@@pn2294 it would’ve made much less narrative sense for ash to just go around challenging the other champions. This was an incremental crescendo showing Ash’s growth.
@@pn2294 how does that make sense in your mind? Think of it like the Olympics. You’re already a world class athlete. Of course you could randomly challenge other athletes to compete, but that’s not really how it goes. You do what what you need to do to qualify and compete on the world stage. That doesn’t mean qualifiers are meaningless, people still watch those games and get hype over them.
"It's so cute, it's the best of all." Hearing that line and seeing the original team sent me back to when I was about 6 or 7 years old. There were tears in my eyes. Then a certain set of notes began playing (if you know, you definitely know). Nostalgia hit freaking HARD.
Still doesn't explain why his Charizard basically got OHKO'd by a single Dragon Pulse. No, Air Slash barely connected. There's no way it did so much damage to him when it practically grazed him.
This Tournament victory is Ashs greatest achievement. He defeated Steven, Cynthia and Leon. Pikachu was a beast defeating Mega Metagross and leons Charizard.
@@eljordinio7647 I don’t know if it’s just me though, but I kind of feel like Mega Metagross went down a little too easy, because when you think about it, it only took a single 10,000,000 Volt thunderbolt and an iron tail. Most of the battle was spent dodging Pikachu’s attacks because Metagross is literally a walking super computer.
@@iancunn99 That wasn't just some 10,000,000 volt Thunderbolt an an iron tail. That was a Champion's ace's 10,000,000 thunderbolt and iron tail. I know that Mega Metagross is also a Champion's ace but at this point, it's actually fitting that a Champion's ace took down another Champion's ace
I feel like what most people are ignoring is that Alain was not done as dirty as we thought he was. At first glance, yes it looks that way, but we have to remember one factor: Rilaboom. Rilaboom was a beast in its battles with Diantha and Ash, it took them both 3 to 5 Pokemon to defeat it. How many did it take Alain? 2. Yes I can agree that Alain was done dirty, but after seeing how much trouble Ash and Diantha had with Rilaboom, I feel like Alain came out on top in that factor
I loved how the Internet Broke when Ash won the Championship. It's also fitting that it Aired just a Week before the World Cup. The Cameos of all of Ash's Pokemon and the first OP of the Pokemon Anime brought a lot of emotion.
Jessie and James are like Ashs Side Parents cause they always root for him IN PERSON in his biggest challenges. That's why I love them They're bad guys but not bad guys. You know.
Agree. They've become like..found family of sorts, frenemies? Like James and Jessie looked like the cool and weird aunt/uncle that cheered for ash. I'm happy we get to see them (openly) root for Ash here, and as you said they've always root for him in his biggest challenges in person.
And besides, it's not like they can do any Team Rocket shenanigans like try to steal Pokemon when there are champions nearby, and possibly hundreds of trainers would be willing to fight watching the battle.
To me, Leons team is an actual beast to go up against. Cinderace is meant specifically to screw with Pikachu, Inteleon could avoid anything Ash threw at it and hit no matter what and hit HARD with its possible Sniper ability, and Mr Rime does exactly what Tierno does; by having it use its fluid and swift movements to become an unpredictable beast. Dragapult was a hard hitter that could sit by the sidelines while its children did most of the damage, thus avoiding as much contact as possible, as well as screwing up Ashs strategies by constantly switching his Mons out with Dragon Tail. Charizard is of course his ace and his strongest Mon. But Rillaboom, a lot of people dont seem to get it. Rillaboom is used by Leon often as his cleanup crew, finishing off or sweeping anything that survived his earlier onslaughts with Acrobatics and Drum Beating, which was likely used to give Boom an edge when using Acro. His team was built specifically to screw, or "toy," with Ash and have Boom pick off the rest of Ashs team one by one until it finally went down. His team is very functional and incredibly malleable for anyone Leon may go up against, and even if the opponent has all 3 gimmicks compared to his own 1, he can still find a way to decimate them somehow
Let's be honest, Rillaboom is Leon's true ace. Charizard's the Pokemon that everybody associates with Leon but Rillaboom is even more lethal. It's much faster than it looks, can hit like a truck and doesn't have any 4× weaknesses. And on top of all that, nobody would be expecting Rillaboom to be the real threat since they'd be so focussed on Charizard. If Rillaboom had Grassy Surge, defeating several of Diantha's Pokemon back to back wouldn't be totally unbelievable. Since it doesn't have that ability, the writers exaggerated Rillaboom's strength to an insultingly ridiculous degree but if it was constantly healing on top of all of its other assets, it's not completely out of the question that it could sweep 3 or 4 Champion level Pokemon. Once Grassy Surge wore off, Rillaboom would be more vulnerable but considering its speed and power, it could have already battered the opposing team before that happened.
@varux4983 Yeah I think this review's one big issue is ignoring the fact that Leon is meant to be the actual best in the world who hasn't lost since his first battle as an actual child. That should show just how good he is.
Michael Rosen describes the Masters Tournament Leon Vs Alain: I don’t like it very much Lance VS Diantha: I can say it’s ok yeah ok Iris VS Cynthia: Fantastic Ash VS Steven: That was uh, a bit rich but okay Leon VS Diantha: She looked like she had never seen anything quite so horrible in all her life Ash VS Cynthia: *clicks* Noice Ash VS Leon: And everything was lovely once again. Wonderful
I liked Lance vs Diantha because it was actually believable for her team to outmaneuver Lance. Aurorus's Ice/rock typing is usually hot garbage but given Lance runs flying/dragon it makes sense for her to have the upper hand, same goes for her fairy type ace
The battle wasn't terrible, especially compared to literally all the other battles (except Iris vs. Cynthia), but what was even the point? If I had to match these two with different Trainers, I'd have Diantha instead battle Steven (because XY and ORAS) and let Lance get a rematch against Leon to parallel their first battle in the series. But that would make way too much sense and actually make for good writing, which is what the staff is incapable of with their limited members and presumably time. The animators for XY gave us the amazing Team Flare arc on a limited time schedule and the Team Flare arc still was amazing.
@@GhostGuy99 I do think Steven vs Diantha would be great, especially because they came together to stop Team Flare in the anime. The matchups were definitely the weakest part of the tourney
@@TechnoArpan personally, if they somehow got greninja back for this tournament, I'd have kept the first round matchups the same, except swap Steven and Alain's opponents to Leon and Ash respectively Otherwise, have ash face Lance instead, have Alain face Diantha and let Steven face Leon
Pikachu after all these years has become a legend himself.and can solo every other Pokemon if he isn't nerfed every season. Also Alain saying Mega evolve is a such a beautiful dialogue everytime i hear it
I'm a little mixed with the pikachu vs steven's metagross battle bc although I can see how it felt cheap, it played out the same way as Pikachu's battle against Alain's metagross. In both battles metagross dodged all of pikachu's attacks while slapping pikachu around. Then pikachu lands a powerful electric attack and finishes metagross with iron tail. The only difference is that in xyz pikachu used electoball plus thunderbolt and in Journeys he used the z move.
In the leon Alain fight it was so disappointing to see chesnaught fight his way through a gmax rillaboom. Just to get ko'd by a single attack. Chesnaught legit looked cool in that fight. And the way malamar moved was pretty cool too. I know it's only because they had to establish that rillaboom was busted and they wanted Alain to get beaten 2-0. But it did feel super cheap
Literally the Chestnaught vs Rilaboom part was the only good thing about that battle. At least there it looked like they were evenly matched and both sides had some pretty good strats
Bro, what an amazing review! This was a great look back at the entire tournament and with so many mixed feelings with various episodes, the recaps that ended up being worth it and its highs and lows, this was one of ur most interesting reviews. I loved it. Also, I dig the new little editing changes you made such as updating ur moving background. 👌🏽
My thoughts Leon vs. Alain: Felt like a slap to the face. Diantha vs. Lance: Dull. Too much like a game battle. Champion Cynthia vs. Iris: Fairly decent Ash vs. Steven Stone: Dull until Cradilly came out. Leon vs. Diantha: WTF was that... Ash vs. Champion Cynthia: Pretty solid battle. Ash vs. Leon: Amazing and delivered the most satisfying conclusion imaginable.
D vs L, I vs C, and A vs. C were all good. Also, why are you specifically referring to just Cynthia as a Champion? Everyone except Alain is one. Also, Ash beating Alain now wouldn't change anything in the past. Get over it.
Cant speak for OP, but literary everyone except Ash, Cynthia, and Leon acted like subpar trainers. All of them had their Mons taken down in the most underwhelming ways and had little to no strategy you would expect trainers of their caliber to have. Does Stevens Mega Metagross fainting to half of Pikachu's Z move, plus one iron tail seem like the same Trainer and Pokemon that fought Primal Kyogre AND Groudon _at the same time?_ Does Alain's Mega Charizard who _also fought those same legendaries, _plus defeated 50% Zygarde AND Ash-Greninja_ looked like the type of Pokemon that would.go down to another Charizard's mere Flamethrower? The problem isn't the result, it's the writing and believability of it, don't defend blatantly bad writing.
The reason I figured that she didn't mega evolve Garchomp was because even though Mega Garchomp would be stronger, it would be slower, and it was already worn out from fighting Sirfetch'd. Not to mention, it had no Ground type moves to capitalize off Lucario's weakness as a Steel type, it only had Dragon type moves, which are weak against Steel types. Against a fresh Lucario that would mega evolve into a stronger and faster form, mega evolving Garchomp would hinder her than help. So she Dynamaxed her Togekiss to weaken it 1st.
But she barely weakend it with dynamax togekiss. Mega Lucario only got hit by one max airstream. And in the anime stats don't matter so mega garchomp won't be slower.
For me, I'd say: Leon vs. Lance (to parallel their first battle) Steven vs. Diantha (XY vs. ORAS) Iris vs. Cynthia can stay. Ash vs. Alain (because Ash has never beaten Alain, and because what's the point of even bringing him back otherwise?) As for the second round...well I'm a firm believer that Steven would have the advantage over Diantha since two of the Pokémon she used in the tournament were weak to Steel.
9:15 I would have loved if Static Popped or Electroweb slowing Metagross down to a slower Metagross leading to a 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt vs Meteor Mash clash
As for Ash Vs. Steven, Z moves CANNOT miss because the accuracy is 101, I think in the anime it's based off your bond. Therefore Pikachu's Z-moves definitely won't miss. Also in Ash vs. Cynthia a recap specifically mentioned that if she didn't D-max Togekiss and went for something else things would've turned out worse for her. Although I get wanting to see Egg-mon vs. Egg-mon in mega, it wasn't optimal for her to do so that fight. A detail I REALLY liked. Also sorry to break it to you, but crazy feats included, Alain IS the weakest of the Masters 8.
@@ludwig-alice In-game Z moves have 101% accuracy, in anime some boys couldn't even use a Z-move properly in an episode until their bond was sufficient. It was the alola racing episode, they made the premise that Z-moves react different based on your bond VERY clear. Also Pikachu dodging Z-moves? I believe affection mechanics can even dodge swift and the like, so there you go.
The weakest member...who swept the entire Kalos League, took on multiple Mega Pokémon back-to-back, took on Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, took on Zygarde, and two-shot Ash's Greninja who could fight on par with him prior to mastering Ash-Greninja.
They should've done an arc when ash and goh return to kalos to destroy the evil vines once and for all. Then ash could use greninja in the tournament and have a battle against alain. And they should definitely brought back other pokemon from the lab to.
@@eljordinio7647 yeah, with the little context given, dragapult simply took out Hawlucha, got rocked by Tyrantrum then somehow Rillaboom is able clean up the remaining fresh members of Diantha's team despite previously only requiring a couple hits from Alain's Chestnaught(while Rilla was gigantimaxed to boot) and Base Charizard to go night night. Yet somehow taking a fire blast head-on after battling 3 mons from a fellow champion's goodra is nothing but a slight tickle all of a sudden. Leon fed it a bowl of rare candies between matches lol
@@eljordinio7647 ??? Oh you guys are being overworked and pretty much abused but it's inexcusable that you made a good arc that just isn't up to my standards
@@zarif1217 two amazing battles isn't enough to constitute this arc as top tier. At this point I'm beyond forgiving when it comes to lackluster results. This is supposed to be one of the biggest arcs in history and besides two battles most of this arc was far from satisfying. The first round matchups were ones no one cares about or wanted, most of the battles were underwhelming, if not bad, they did one battle mostly offscreen which was still disrespectful, and they interrupted the flow of the arc so many times. No one cares about recaps or the worthless character that is Chloe and her equally useless Eevee
@@eljordinio7647 i never said anything about the arc being the best arc ever. i just said it was solid and youre being a baby saying that its "true, theyre being overworked and abused but its inexcusable how they handled this arc" like what
The final fight between Pikachu and Charizard just made me say "Screw in-game stats. Ash's Pikachu is built different, and there will never be another like it"
I figured Cynthia went with dynamax over mega evolution was because Sirfetch'd did more damage to Garchomp than she expected. So she was worried that Mega Lucario would easily defeat Mega Garchomp because of that. So she dynamaxed Togekiss to weaken Lucario more
Your most definitely right if you look at this is a competitive stand point ash’s sirfetch’d did major damage and since mega garchomp would of gotten it speed stat lower making it slower than Lucario she really couldn’t really take that risk plus she wanted to end the match quickly as a precaution just in case of what Lucario could of done if she have mega evolve
Dynamaxed max airstream 2 shots mega lucari which let me remind you has very trash defensive stats in the 70’s. But plot armour had to kick in ofcourse. Even if we let mega lucario somehow tank 3 max airstreams, Garchomp’s attack would have taken it out easily. But lucario has no health bar that figjt because plot
@@Momo-zi7sp honestly we talking plot armor Leon full fucking matches to the finals were just fucking plot armor after plot armor even in dieantha match rilliaboom shouldn’t have swept her team so can’t really nail ash with that when Leon did it more
@@crimsonflareumbreon1290 base stats hardly matter in the anime these days. Reversal would have still taken mega garchomp out given the damage Lucario took
8:07 Not only will they probably change Garchomp’s voice(which they didn’t change until Journeys) and the music, but Iris English VA got replaced for the Masters tournament.
I was a bit annoyed too that Cinderace didn't continue to capitalize on Libero x3 I was honestly expecting Pikachu and Charizard to draw, with Cinderace in the back. And Eternatus showing up to recharge their Dyna Bands did seem out of left field, as if they were doing everything to help Ash win. But still, an epic moment for Ash and I'm proud of him x3
I guess they did it to make us believe he had no chance. I agree that Pikachu vs cinderace felt rushed. But because Leon still had two Pokémon we had a whole week of suspense and not knowing how it would all work out in the end.
@@jonjoh6634 besides cinderace isn't that bulky so as long as ash timed his moves correctly he could take it out. Plus cinderace didn't go with max quake so it was over fast
I wanted this masters 8 tournament matchups Round 1 (3v3 ) Leon vs Steven Iris vs Lance Cynthia vs Dinatha Ash vs Alain Semi finals (6v6 ) Leon vs Iris Ash vs Cynthia Finals ( 6v6 ) Ash vs Leon
How the heck would Cynthia's Garchomp fair against Diantha's Gardevoir without any steel or poison type moves? She'd b blasted down in one shot by moonblast
@@eljordinio7647Garchomp is the not only Pokémon Cynthia has, also she is the most feared one in games because how strong and unpredictable she is, leon swoosh diantha Pokémon team
@@badrinathps9025 garchomp is still her most iconic Pokemon When people think of Cynthia, it's garchomp who comes to mind and how difficult she is to beat. Especially in BDSP where she has a berry specifically to stop u OHKOing her with an ice move and poison jab to deal with any fairy types u might try to use
@@eljordinio7647she has roserade alsp if we count lucario too they both are tanks, also if she was to fight diantha maybe as unpredictable she would replace togekiss, gastrodon to lucario..
@@badrinathps9025 you don't fight a champion and their ace and think not to use your own at some point Even at a type disadvantage, Cynthia could easily have garchomp learn iron tail or poison jab to deal with Gardevoir
Let us all also give thanks to the referee and commentator to spice things up from introduction to final impact. Ash v. Leon, was nothing less than amazing AND easily the best battle ever. Showing all gimmicks, full power, extra strength, second wind, more strength, more power, bonus gimmick, third wind, extra extra bonus strength/power, gun powder, chili spices, grit, determination and graphics, to show who is the best that ever was. Anime was SICK!! LFG guys! So emotional lol
I feel like the tournament should have gone like a round robin were all the participants battle eachother in single battles, with the winner being the one who has the most points. We could have gotten all the matchups we wanted plus the finale against Leon
About the Z Move thing on 100,000,000 bolts... Z moves cannot be dodged, even in the anime. This is consistent. It will only stop until it hits, and the damage depends on how long the contact time is from the execution of the attack and the time it landed
In term of match up, I think the current one is good enough Fighting Steven make Ash has to go through Rank 3 2 1 in order, It's also reflected the OP song Ash VS Lance is fine, But he just beat Raihan and Drasna back to back, He doesn't need to beat another Dragon Specialist Ash VS Diantha is kinda similiar to Ash VS Steven, But Diantha has a reputation of being the weakest champion in the game(Even her anime ranking is the lowest among other adult champions), Make her lost to Ash in the first round just make her look like a disposible character Ash VS Alain is kinda pointless if Ash isn't gonna fight him with Greninja anyway, and Leon VS Alain to show who is the strongest Charizard is way better, Though I would at least have Leon using Gigantamax Charizard there
I agree. Without the Kalos team rematching Alain is just hollow vindication over fan saltiness over the kalos league like... Almost a decade later now? Yeesh. Ignoring the cold passage of time irl, if he fought Alain here the ppl asking for it would then just start complaining he wasn't using his Kalos mon then. I agree, fighting Diantha would've made her just seem like fodder given everyone's notions of her before she beat Lance. Its good to have a wildcard matchup like their battle was, cause the intrigue is that 50/50, the audience at large doesnt have a unanimous desire to see one win over the other and we get to see characters we hadn't see interact do so. But yes, Ash going against Steven was the obvious "Run through the top 3" and as far as emotional connection goes, Ash has expressed a desire for this battle and iirc Steven helped out against Zygarde? They likely met each other during that again if the Hoenn encounter wasn't enough for ppl (i didn't watch that arc admittedly)
Despite my gripes with it, this tournament is truly fantastic and the finale was very very good and made up for a lot of its shortcomings. But don’t worry, I’ll rewrite it one day lmao.
@@GhostGuy99 I don't blame u. Here's how I would do things For the first round I'd keep iris vs Cynthia as it is but everything else would have to change Make Steven the fodder for Leon instead but make it a close battle If Alain isn't going to face ash again (which they honestly should have), then make him face Diantha. They at least have some connection due to Kalos and since Alain did beat Malva, it's possible he defeated the rest of the elite 4 as well so he should definitely be on even footing with Diantha, especially since they are literally next to each other in the rankings. Alain would still lose but hopefully he puts up a close fight and we can see some mega on mega action. If Mega Charizard X had steel wing and even used dragon claw to counter or deflect moonblast, that would really put Diantha on her toes As for Ash, that leaves him facing Lance. They have had some history in both the OG and Advanced series so people could definitely get behind this. It's also symbolic considering Lance is champion of Kanto, Ash's home so having ash defeat his own champ would be HUGE!!! Plus they did have a promotional image that hinted a battle between Ash and Lance and as much as I wanted an Ash vs Alain rematch, I could have gotten behind it As for Leon vs Diantha, I'd actually show the whole battle but also have Diantha be on equal footing with Leon. Rilaboom would have to be eliminated earlier and I'd have at least have four, if not five of Leon's Pokemon taken out
Bro I’m still crying from seeing all of ash’s teams in the final battle, I grew up watching gen 1 but my first games were gen 4 so seeing that team had me messed up
im gonna point it out since I’m not seeing it anywhere but theres a neat detail when metagross dodges 10m v tbolt. The colors of the beams that metagross dodges are the same color of the m8 competitors that had lost the round. Purple (Alain) Pink (Iris) and Red (Lance) Additionally the beam that is used to stop LUSTER CANNON! is blue (Ash). Still doesn’t redeem how goofy ash v steven was 💀
Aggron faints via Burn damage, Gengar gets taken out very quickly, Pikachu uses aimbot to hit a Hyper Evasion Mega Metagross... And the cherry on top was that a few episodes prior, when Paul helped train Ash, Paul sent out a Metagross against Gengar and led many (or probably just me) to believe that the highlight of Ash vs. Steven would be Gengar vs. Metagross. And it didn't even look like it would when the battle finally happened.
Z-moves in the games can't miss, and most of the time they one-shot. Plus the fact metagross is alr injured, it would've killed. Anime-wise, z-moves are based on bonds
I've noticed in journey's caters a lot to game fans. And let's be real, seeing ash against like the second most popular champion as his first match was a perfect move. Steven Stone was the best champion we had until Cynthia came around, seeing the match between him and ash was easily one of the coolest things they could have done
I didn't realise Steven was that popular. And yeah it was interesting to see ash face him but, idk it's hard to get invested in a fight between these two when they barely interacted at all. Even during Steven's return in XY I mean if they weren't gonna give us ash vs Alain (like they should have) they could have at least had ash battle Lance instead while Alain faced Diantha. Then let Steven be fodder for Leon instead
If I had to rate this Arc out of 10 I would rate it 8/10. Why?? Because although the arc started off slow and bad (rip Alain) and there were some iffy battles ( Leon vs Diantha) the majority were pretty good with battles like Ash vs Cynthia, Diantha vs Lance and Iris vs Cynthia. All Pokémon used showed that they deserved to be there the same as their Trainers. The cameos were a nice addition for long time fans and new alike. Also, learning Cynthia’s backstory with her Garchomp was a great addition. The best part of this arc was the final battle between Ash and Leon with everything being just short of perfection. BUT the final clash of Pikachu and Charizard was PERFECTION. The only thing that really holds this whole arc back we’re probably the recap episodes but they were necessary for the Anime team to stall for time whilst making the new episodes. Other than that, this is definitely an overall great arc that not only gave great fan service, but FINALLY gave our boy Ash his greatest achievement (not disputing his Alola league win). Well done Ash!
The final match up with Charizard is very symbolic, Charizard was pretty much the big boss ash couldn't overcome, when he used one it became the reason he lost, and when he went up against one he couldn't pull through and after going through a lot he faced up against the best trainer in the world that's using the same pokémon that led ash to alot of problem, and when Pikachu beat leon's Charizard, it felt so legendary and you can't help but get emotional
One thing I noticed about Ash’s battles in the masters 8 is that in each of the battles he is always down to his last Pokémon which has to deal with the last 2 Pokémon the other trainer has. In the Steven battle, Pikachu was the last one and had to fight cradilly and mega metagross. In the Cynthia battle Lucario was Ash’s last Pokémon and it had to battle through togekiss and Garchomp. Then in the Leon Battle, Pikachu had to take on both cinderace and Charizard since he was the only one left
The writers should have scrapped the Goh's Shiny Voltorb episode & instead used it for the introduction/interaction of all the Masters 8 participants. Then we would have had a full episode that wouldn't rush the battle between Alain & Leon.
Loved the video! I realised the other day that in the opening it shows Gigantimax Charizard facing Lucario which doesn't happen in the anime. I quite like that it meant it didn't spoil G-Max Charizard vs Pikachu, but it's also weird because it's unlike anime openings to depict something that just...doesn't happen lol
Best Tournament Arc after the Alola League. Excluding Alan and Diantha, the battles were well written and full of development for the Trainers; I especially loved Ash's battles, which almost feel as different endings for his past character arcs through Hoenn and Sinnoh - and nice payoffs to JN112 and JN114.
hard disagree Zach is on Alain but sack bad this dude acts like Alain a bad ass we watch Steven stone in xyz toy around with alains charzaird tank a blast burn like it was nothing. ash got shafted in Kalos form the writters witch they brought back the black and white writters to write the Kalos leauge. Leon was way over Alain lvl same for Steven and diantha
Alola league is a fucking joke Ash doesnt have a full team the whole region except one match AFTER the league concluded. The final being 3v3 is a bad joke. The first round being a br was a very cool thing, worked out well But a final of a regional league being 3v3 while sinnoh league was 6v6 in every battle Stop with anything than 6v6 in fucking tournaments....
I have the theory that part of the reason why most of the other battles that Leon had were so quick were not only to portray him as the strong champion that he is but also to keep most of his team as a mystery for the battle against Ash. And they were all insanely powerful. With pokemon like Rillaboom being pretty much like a second ace and all the others being extremely powerful as well. 20:29 Also I think those are Rose and Oleana together.
I think one of the biggest missed opportunities here was Ash not using his other pokemon strength wouldn’t be an issue since it was established that Ash’s pokemon kept training in Oak’s place so they would be plenty strong
Fun fact. The episode where Diantha fought Lance was suppose to released EXACTLY 25 years after the lighthouse episode in the first season. Which also featured a massive Dragonite.
This man. This man is immposible to describe. A little kid with big ambitions. Went from the laughing stock that had incredible luck to the most on the moment strategical person to ever exist. This man is officialy the strongest trainer. In the pokemon anime if not the 3rd strongest trainer in the pokemon cannon multiverse. The top 2 being the og champion and the og douchbag. To be in the same league as red and blue is insane. Ash has finally shown that he is a pokemon master. I am so proud of our boy. From a rookie that couldn't win a fight if it wasn't for he's life. To a true pokemon master that showed no fear in front of the strongest person in the world. He has finally done it.
Man that last Ash vs Leon ep was the best pokemon ep ever it got all the main component from the pervious series,the battle with Ash pikachu and Leon Charzird is spectacular and the part where all of Ash pervious pokemon even the one he don't have anymore expect for Haunther appeared to Cheer pikachu on is the is the cherry on the cake
3:57 Well, Lucario was trained by Greninja, and we could've had a cool scene where it looks like Greninja is guiding Lucario's moves. It wouldn't be too farfetch'd (Kamon!), since we saw Greninja every time Lucario did the Aura Sphere boost.
Because the staff absolutely HATES the XY anime and thought that Diantha didn't deserve a proper battle episode. Seriously, even if they couldn't squeeze in a separate episode for Ash and Cynthia bonding, did they really have to waste everyone's time with that Gossifleur side plot?
The writers would never spend their time to develop a proper full battle that Ash didn't participate, this battle of leon vs diantha should have 2 episodes
@@videos43334dhdjj774h But it was only half of an episode. Why? Because they hated XY and tried to undermine it. Having a limited staff was no excuse. Sure, maybe that's why the animation wasn't good, but even one person can save a bad story. They had God knows how many, and didn't bother making the Masters 8 actually good after years of buildup.
The thing with Leon v. Diantha, if you thought Alain’s treatment was bad, imagine the writers having Leon sweep through not 3 but all 6 of her Pokémon in a 20 minute span. The outrage would be unending. So they have no choice but to do most of it off screen. Even with that, it’s still stupid just how OP they make Rilaboom taking out almost her whole team. This is a legit champion and the writers showing her being treated like a child by Leon makes no sense and is awful writing. It would make sense if Diantha was able to take out at least 4 of Leon’s mons.
Infernape VS Electivire is still the best 1v1 imo, but I am biased as hell since Infernape’s my favorite Pokémon and I was incredibly invested in his rivalry with Electivire. Still, Pikachu VS Charizard is a really close second
19:18 Goh had 2 leave bc they were going 2 an island where they think that mew is there, and theres some "short dry season" and imposible to explore when it's in the rainy season. Did you watch it at all?
Ash versus Leon had a lot of cool pictures and shots in it but the one where Cynthia knocks out irises Pokémon and just stands there as a Hydro pump literally goes past her and almost hits her in the face as she stands still and it hits the wall knocking the opposing Pokémon out and she didn’t even move. The only thing they did with her hair and her trenchcoat that was bad ass, and. Cold af 🥶🥶🥶
I actually did the numbers for all the episodes of the PWC (minus the recaps since you didn't rate them) and the overall rating comes out to 7.5. This puts Galar right in the middle of the league rankings (if you include the Battle Frontier). 9. Unova 8. Kanto 7. Hoenn 6. Battle Frontier 5. Galar 4. Johto 3. Alola 2. Kalos 1. Sinnoh
They should really consider a time skip, in which Ash lives up as the Strongest Champion, mature when he needs to be, and still be playful. And story that allows him to be a mentor to younger generation. That me hoping, but not expecting
it’s crazy how Pikachu took down 6 Pokemon in 3 Battles 2 of which were Aces and only losing once because of Destiny Bond while Charizard only took down 3 Pokemon 2 were Aces and none of which were Ash’s and he lost to Pikachu
Pikachu was so unstoppable that it took destiny bond to take him out. Smart play on Cynthia's part cos imagine if Pikachu actually swept through her team on his own
This arc truly felt like the dream fanfictiony Pokemon Anime Champion Tournament you would expect... iffff Journeys wasn't being Journeys for so much of it... Like yeah, this Tournament had some AMAZING moments, and felt like such a satisfying potential conclusion for our boy... but I really do wish some of those misfires weren't made. The first round being so... empty feeling in its matchups, Ash not using older mons (his more "bs" wins would be so much more believable just with this), and that Alain disrespect was p a i n. I also wish they did a bit more with his companions. Like it was nice to see them... and I especially love BEST GIRL Dawn being the one to be there in-person... but idk. Feel like they could've done a bit more to make it feel grander and more natural. Otherwise, it was a fun and satisfying ride. Minus the break hell... (Again... oh Journeys.)
I’m happy for Leon. He got what he most wanted in the world; to have a champion time. As for ash, meh still ain’t the very best in my opinion. It’s like saying a tree can beat a flamethrower, cause some guy whacked a tree with a flamethrower. obviously flamethrowers gonna fall apart while a tree can still live and replace a few branches. but if you actually use a flamethrower the correct way, you’d be leaving asunder not just one, but a forest load before that thing is spent.
Ash vs Steven was a great battle IMO, but they should have made pikachu's static hit metagross. that would have made it better. Other than that, the tournament was great. But i would have added a pre round before the official beggining to make ash vs alain/diantha
Better yet, have Pikachu fence Metagross in above the field with electrowebs all over the place and either use quick attack in tandem with them like slingshots to hit Metagross Or bounce thunderbolt off the web walls to hit Metagross that way and throw its predictions off so it can't dodge
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Hey Zac, if you could change the brackets for the Master’s 8 Tournament who would you switch and why???
Time for ash pokemon rankings
Lmao really? When got plot armor and godchu how can you lose?
Can you do the most honorable moments of all Ashs' pokemon?
@@ratulmahmud2962 yep
After seeing how much damage Pikachu could give and take in his battle against Cinderace and Charizard, Pikachu taking out both Cradily and Mega Metagross was like a preview of how strong Pikachu has become. It also showed how smart Cynthia was, because she was the only one who mange to take out Pikachu, and it was because of Spiritomb's Destiny Bond.
She understood that Pikachu was the biggest threat that could tear threw her roster, so she made sure to force Ash to beat her with his other Pokemon.
Pikachu easily would have lost against Garchomp even without Cynthia used mega evolution
@@videos43334dhdjj774h Pikachu beats Garchomp easy.
@@boyd23100 nah, but he would've done far more damage if cynthia didn't take him out early
@@cringelover6919 pikachu beats garchomp easy.
I have one point about Leon's Cinderace. I think Leon was legitimately expecting the battle to end with Cinderace taking down Pikachu, and wanted to use the big flashy G-Max Fireball for all the fans, defeating Pikachu and keeping Charizard in the back to tease Ash. However, that didn't come to fruition, and when Cinderace went down, we cut to Leon sweating, showing genuine fear. He toyed around too much with Ash, and was now forced to bring out his Charizard in a final do-or-die battle.
@@justinokeke2027 did you not read the comment.
@@justinokeke2027 you literally said nope in the reply section which means your disagreeing with him not my fault you didn’t make anything sense.
@@justinokeke2027 I’m not salty I’m just using logic lmao you think I’m salty🤣
I always thought about this. I think at this point Leon was too much into the spectacle, and forget his own strategy for a hot second.
@@justinokeke2027 can’t you can’t take an opinion
Here’s how I would personally rank each battle:
1. Leon vs Alain: 5/10
2. Lance vs Diantha: 8/10
3. Iris vs Cynthia: 9/10
4. Ash vs Steven: 8/10
5. Leon vs Diantha: 2/10
6. Ash vs Cynthia: 9.5/10
7. Ash vs Leon 10/10
Overall I’d rank the Masters 8 Tournament a solid 8-8.5/10. Congrats Ash Ketchum, World Champion.
Ash vs Steven is a 6.5, Alain vs leon is a 4
I'd give ash vs Steven a 5/10
I’m feeling less alone to like Ash vs Steven! Thanks man!
Paul might be happy when Ash uses his Gengar to battle Steven's Metagross.
@@hugoguerin6897 No problem man. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and I’m also glad I’m not alone in enjoying it either. But at the same time I’m totally alright with some people not liking it.
Ash REALLY had the odds piled against him. He had to face the 3rd, 2nd and 1st strongest trainer. But that just made his win MUCH more better
Well he won his battle against Steven just cuz of plot armor so it’s not like this is the best tournament arc or anything
Agreed
@@charles2183 that was a bad match I agree
@@charles2183 How? He had used one of most powerful z moves to win.
@@charles2183 Hopefully the same won't go for the Scarlet and Violet anime in three years. 🙄
Ash should’ve battled Alain first. Steven should’ve battled Leon first to show how strong he really is.
I agree too
Exactly
Yeah, pathetic ShoPro company. 😒😒😒😒😒
Or at least have ash face Lance and Alain face Diantha for some other meaningful battles
Agree
Pikachu vs charizard had it all
It is old school
It is their first partner
It accumulates the journey since the 90s
And the best part?
It perfectly portrays what a regional champion ace fight should be. Tierlist and all
Not to mention, the 2 mascots of the franchise and yes, old school and no gimmicks made it better.
And the final clash was between Thunderbolt and Fire Blast, moves that debut in gen 1.
Best clash in the whole tournament
The wanted from the beginning to make Pikachu ash his strongest pokemon
And the two most iconic pokemons
That final Pikachu vs Charizard battle is Gamefreak's marketing team's nuttiest dream
Honest I would have liked it more if Pikachu used like some sort of new movie to end the battle and the flash back happened
@@nathalie5254 Pika Papow would've gone hard
One thing I don't see many people talking about or at least not in the video, is the simbolic weight that Charizard as a pokemon has for Ash. He couldn't advance in his first tournament bc his Charizard wouldn't obey him, so having him overcoming one feels very much like the end of a gigantic journey. He is really going far beyond the trainer he one was. I really like the choice of a Charizard for a final foe for thar reason.
It's also a big deal since the last time ash faced a powerful Charizard, he came up short. This time he overcame the odds of this powerful dragon
It’s also funny how Ash’s charizard is disqualified against a pikachu
20:00 no one is gonna talk about Ethan’s cameo? I just find it cool they gave a game character a quick cameo in this.
He appeared in anime and His name is jimmy in anime
Also battled ash. Ash defeated him
Ash's Greninja in the Kalos League: loses
Alain's Charizard: You underestimate my power!
Also Alain's Charizard: clapped by Leon's Charizard
Ash's Greninja: *I love the smell of karma in the morning*
As much as Team Rocket loves to go after his Pikachu, Ash is lucky to have them as his cheerleaders. Because no matter where he goes, there they are, following him and supporting him at the leagues. They are fully aware of just how special that Pikachu is
Me: would be better if Greninja was the one to take down Alain's Charizard, especially in a better fashion than this
Well after this tournament EVERYONE is going to be fully aware of how powerful Pikachu is.
Trevor would also be happy. He was swept by alain xd.
Just a shame that some other Plot Armored Trainer knocked Alain out of the tournament in the first battle of the first round instead of Ash.
But I'll take what was given to us...begrudgingly.
That's how you know Jessie and James are good people just misguided in their lives.
There's only a few more cameos I'd have liked to see:
1) Sabrina and Haunter watching Ash's Gengar
2) Casey and the Beedril Ash caught for her
3) The Frontier Brains, especially if it meant Lucy and Brock interacted again
Actually yeah, where WERE the Frontier Brains during this whole season, holy crap lol.
@@MagillanicaLouM we didn’t even see Brandon or Scott. That really made me sad.
no Gary either
The Leon vs Ash fight is a visual masterpiece. You can see the animators went all in with that one
It was even cleaner than XY but that's probably just me
@@eljordinio7647Nah it ain't just you man. For one moment, the animation surpassed XY
Yeah I like the animations that Pikachu came with.
I like how Ash vs Leon took vibes from the Ash vs Kukui and Ash vs Paul and wrapped it up with a role reversal of Ash vs Ritchie
Ash vs Paul especially because as you mentioned, Ash took the lead but Leon weakened all of Ash’s Pokémon, but also Leon adopting the counter shield strategy just like Paul did.
It juxtaposes nicely to the similarities of Ash vs Gary to Ash vs Cynthia.
@@Condor-gb1xp
The final fight between charizard and pikachu is pretty similar to infernape vs electivire.
I didn't.
The reason it worked in Alola was purely because of the themes and how that battle was structured. Ash already became Alola Champion, the battle gave Torracat the spotlight to beat his rival, Tapu Koko shows up to bring Ash and Pikachu to their full potential and gives them a second use of Z-Moves because Tapu Koko himself wanted to go all-out and have Ash use his 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt.
Ash vs. Leon tried to copy that, and not only did it feel lazy, but it didn't work like they expected.
Ash hadn't become World Champion yet, we were being teased with Mega Lucario vs. Gmax Charizard and we didn't even get that, Eternatus shows up to conveniently give both Leon and Ash another Dynamax and nobody is talking about why, and Pikachu gets supercharged via the power of friendship.
So yeah, no. Copying off of a previous finale that already was epic just makes the second finale look like a cop-out.
@@GhostGuy99L opinion
I mean, Iris being the only competitor Ash interacts with is understandable, because she was one of his traveling companions. Not to mention they're both young. So naturally, she'd be the one he's most comfortable with. And I'm guessing Alain didn't really want to interact with Ash because he was too focused on keeping his eye on the prize aka beating Leon...didn't help that he'd be up against Leon in the first match. But yeah, that Alain vs Leon match was a disgrace. I would've much preferred Ash vs Alain or even Steven vs Alain since Steven and Alain have such a deep connection as shown in the Mega Evolution specials, and the battle would've showed once and for all which of the Mega users is the strongest.
Still, that Leon vs Ash battle and the way they chose to do it was absolutely perfect. Especially when you consider the fact Ash was knocked out of the Indigo League because his Charizard refused to listen to him against Ritchie's Pikachu, that Pikachu's Japanese name is Leon, and now Ash is using his Pikachu to defeat a Charizard owned by someone named Leon.
I get that Alain would be focused on winning, but I doubt that would stop him from at least starting a small conversation with Ash. After all, literally the only reason he entered the Kalos League was because he wanted to battle Ash again. He would not have cared otherwise.
@@esteban8471 when Alain learned bout Leon he knew that he was more worth beating than Ash which is why they havent interacted that much, Alain even said that it was his dream to battle against Leon’s Charizard & surpass it.
Ash saved the world along with all these people, the fuck do you mean Iris is the only one he'd be comfortable with? That's just a poor excuse for the arc wasting half it's potential.
@@infamousplayer8772 yes but Iris just like the other companions supported Ash in all his journeys not just evil team arcs, just because Ash helped the other champions to save their home regions doesnt mean that they are already close friends of his
@@infamousplayer8772 agreed
Fun facts about masters 8:
1. All masters 8 have at least one pseudo-legendary pokemon.
Leon: Dragapult
Cynthia: Garchomp, Kommo-o
Steven: Metagross
Lance: Dragonite, Hydreigon
Diantha: Goodra
Alain: Tyranitar, Metagross
Iris: Dragonite
Ash: Dragonite, Larvitar, Gible, Goodra (While Larvitar and Gible don't evolve, also Larvitar isn’t his official mon)
2. Aside from Iris, all masters 8 have at least one of the three gimmicks.
Leon: G-Max (Charizard, Cinderace, Rillaboom)
Cynthia: Mega (Garchomp), Dynamax (Togekiss)
Steven: Mega (Metagross)
Lance: Dynamax (Gyarados, Dragonite)
Diantha: Mega (Gardevoir)
Alain: Mega (Charizard X)
Ash: Mega (Lucario), Exclusive Z-move (Pikachu), G-Max (Gengar, Pikachu)
While Iris doesn’t have one of the three gimmicks, she has a special ability to communicate with dragon-type pokemon.
3. All masters 8 members are “champions” of a region or conference.
Leon: Champion of Galar region.
Cynthia: Champion of Sinnoh region.
Steven: Champion of Hoenn region.
Lance: Champion of Kanto/Johto region.
Diantha: Champion of Kalos region.
Alain: Champion of Lumiose Conference.
Iris: Champion of Unova region.
Ash: Champion of Alola region.
4. Ash had fought at least once with other masters 8 members except for Lance.
Gible doesn't really count for ash unless it's fully evolved
Ash never officially caught Larvitar.
Ash fought Steven before???
ash also has a garchomp from Alola, it wasn't technically his (it belonged to Aether foundation) but if you count larvitar, then you should count garchomp
Lance has 3 dragonites tho
This is easily Ash’s greatest victory and greatest achievement by a long shot
As far as only trainer battles go, this would be anyone's greatest victory. I mean, to be World Champion....come on!
@@anurodhpathak9725 it is the best tournament but it is saddening how theres a possibility that this is the end of ash's journey and I dont know how to take it
Definitely
@@ianmarco1375 prob not since his title won’t last long until another strong trainer that will challenge him. Since he is the strongest trainer and is #1. He might be as a side character or a mentor if they continue having ash in the future series. I find it hard to believe that this is the final for ash. But who knows.
@@iiiisssssaaaaaacccccc yea I think so too. He wont be the main anymore but he will have cameo like Prof Oak. Unless we get a timeskip (which is unlikely) and someone takes the title from Ash and he goes exploring again
In my Opinion both Leon and Ash had their advantages for the final fight. For Ash :Leon allowed him to use all his mechanics and knew Ash would use journeys team and for Leon : Ash didn't used his Veterans.
To be fair Leon doesnt use Eternatus to rip Ash a new one either.
@@etherios5673 if leon were to actually use eternatus before properly training it it might have freaked out again and probably would have leveled the city
Without plot taking out ciderace Ash would have straight up lost the match even if Pikachu defeated Charizard even with all his gimics
Well
Most of ashs journeys team is allready the best he could bring.
Lucario is his best fighting type (i love infernape but steel is so good)
Gengar is on of his few ghosts and overall veeery good
Dragonite is a pseudo legendary
The only 2 id change would be dracovish for greninja and sirfetchd for infernape
But they worked out fine. I would have loved to see infernape and greninja cause they are sooo big to ash (greninja cause of battle bond and infernape due to its tie to paul and him being on of ashs fiercefulls Rivals of all of them)
But still, his team is close to best he could do.
@@etherios5673 Leon may have tamed eternatus to some extent but he didn't fully gain control of it. Besides the writers wouldn't just pull another Tobias on us after the backlash their actions with the recaps and breaks got
I really liked this tournament,
I think it’s already a better format then other “leagues” because it’s all people you know and are strong instead of some random rival being set up just to beat up ash, and I loved seeing all the matchups.
I think that’s what makes it a waste of a tournament. Why was it even necessary?
It just meant that he could challenge them outside and it wouldn’t have made a difference.
@@pn2294 it would’ve made much less narrative sense for ash to just go around challenging the other champions. This was an incremental crescendo showing Ash’s growth.
That concept was executed a lot better in the Alola League if you ask me.
@@mariuslovesbacon it means that all the episodes prior to the Masters 8 were completely pointless.
@@pn2294 how does that make sense in your mind? Think of it like the Olympics. You’re already a world class athlete. Of course you could randomly challenge other athletes to compete, but that’s not really how it goes. You do what what you need to do to qualify and compete on the world stage. That doesn’t mean qualifiers are meaningless, people still watch those games and get hype over them.
"It's so cute, it's the best of all."
Hearing that line and seeing the original team sent me back to when I was about 6 or 7 years old. There were tears in my eyes. Then a certain set of notes began playing (if you know, you definitely know). Nostalgia hit freaking HARD.
It gave me a Ratatouille moment also.
Alain said he will start from the ground like Ash does everytime at the end of XYZ
That's why he got new pokemons like Chesnaught and Malamar
Still doesn't explain why his Charizard basically got OHKO'd by a single Dragon Pulse.
No, Air Slash barely connected. There's no way it did so much damage to him when it practically grazed him.
@@GhostGuy99 That's plot armor tho
The writers decided to finish Masters 8 championship, Leon vs Alain, Hop introduction all in one single episode
@@rajmohan9921 what is this the Kalos league?
@@eljordinio7647 kinda 😔
Rushed but good animation
@@rajmohan9921 and this was rushed, and a bad battle barring the first part
This Tournament victory is Ashs greatest achievement. He defeated Steven, Cynthia and Leon. Pikachu was a beast defeating Mega Metagross and leons Charizard.
Yup
@@eljordinio7647 I don’t know if it’s just me though, but I kind of feel like Mega Metagross went down a little too easy, because when you think about it, it only took a single 10,000,000 Volt thunderbolt and an iron tail. Most of the battle was spent dodging Pikachu’s attacks because Metagross is literally a walking super computer.
@@iancunn99 or floating super computer
@@iancunn99 That wasn't just some 10,000,000 volt Thunderbolt an an iron tail. That was a Champion's ace's 10,000,000 thunderbolt and iron tail. I know that Mega Metagross is also a Champion's ace but at this point, it's actually fitting that a Champion's ace took down another Champion's ace
Alain wasn’t being cold he was just incredibly focused
Still he could have said hello
Or at least gave a smirk
I feel like what most people are ignoring is that Alain was not done as dirty as we thought he was. At first glance, yes it looks that way, but we have to remember one factor: Rilaboom. Rilaboom was a beast in its battles with Diantha and Ash, it took them both 3 to 5 Pokemon to defeat it. How many did it take Alain? 2. Yes I can agree that Alain was done dirty, but after seeing how much trouble Ash and Diantha had with Rilaboom, I feel like Alain came out on top in that factor
The fact remains that Alain barely made a dent in Leon with only one of three pokemon being taken out. We didn't even see Leon's third Pokemon
Alain defeated rilaboom easily cuz Ash has no Pokemon in his journey's team that can match his MCX apart from Pikachu and add that zard type advantage
Mega Charizard X is Dragon type and dragon resist electric so Ash's Pikachu's attacks on Alain's MCX Wouldn't be super effective@@kaerftats666
I loved how the Internet Broke when Ash won the Championship. It's also fitting that it Aired just a Week before the World Cup. The Cameos of all of Ash's Pokemon and the first OP of the Pokemon Anime brought a lot of emotion.
Jessie and James are like Ashs Side Parents cause they always root for him IN PERSON in his biggest challenges. That's why I love them
They're bad guys but not bad guys. You know.
Agree. They've become like..found family of sorts, frenemies? Like James and Jessie looked like the cool and weird aunt/uncle that cheered for ash. I'm happy we get to see them (openly) root for Ash here, and as you said they've always root for him in his biggest challenges in person.
And besides, it's not like they can do any Team Rocket shenanigans like try to steal Pokemon when there are champions nearby, and possibly hundreds of trainers would be willing to fight watching the battle.
To me, Leons team is an actual beast to go up against. Cinderace is meant specifically to screw with Pikachu, Inteleon could avoid anything Ash threw at it and hit no matter what and hit HARD with its possible Sniper ability, and Mr Rime does exactly what Tierno does; by having it use its fluid and swift movements to become an unpredictable beast. Dragapult was a hard hitter that could sit by the sidelines while its children did most of the damage, thus avoiding as much contact as possible, as well as screwing up Ashs strategies by constantly switching his Mons out with Dragon Tail. Charizard is of course his ace and his strongest Mon. But Rillaboom, a lot of people dont seem to get it. Rillaboom is used by Leon often as his cleanup crew, finishing off or sweeping anything that survived his earlier onslaughts with Acrobatics and Drum Beating, which was likely used to give Boom an edge when using Acro. His team was built specifically to screw, or "toy," with Ash and have Boom pick off the rest of Ashs team one by one until it finally went down. His team is very functional and incredibly malleable for anyone Leon may go up against, and even if the opponent has all 3 gimmicks compared to his own 1, he can still find a way to decimate them somehow
Leons team was fordmidable, mad they messed up cinderace though
Let's be honest, Rillaboom is Leon's true ace. Charizard's the Pokemon that everybody associates with Leon but Rillaboom is even more lethal. It's much faster than it looks, can hit like a truck and doesn't have any 4× weaknesses. And on top of all that, nobody would be expecting Rillaboom to be the real threat since they'd be so focussed on Charizard.
If Rillaboom had Grassy Surge, defeating several of Diantha's Pokemon back to back wouldn't be totally unbelievable. Since it doesn't have that ability, the writers exaggerated Rillaboom's strength to an insultingly ridiculous degree but if it was constantly healing on top of all of its other assets, it's not completely out of the question that it could sweep 3 or 4 Champion level Pokemon. Once Grassy Surge wore off, Rillaboom would be more vulnerable but considering its speed and power, it could have already battered the opposing team before that happened.
@varux4983 Yeah I think this review's one big issue is ignoring the fact that Leon is meant to be the actual best in the world who hasn't lost since his first battle as an actual child. That should show just how good he is.
Lucario Vs Garchomp was like an old fashion boxing match
Michael Rosen describes the Masters Tournament
Leon Vs Alain: I don’t like it very much
Lance VS Diantha: I can say it’s ok yeah ok
Iris VS Cynthia: Fantastic
Ash VS Steven: That was uh, a bit rich but okay
Leon VS Diantha: She looked like she had never seen anything quite so horrible in all her life
Ash VS Cynthia: *clicks* Noice
Ash VS Leon: And everything was lovely once again. Wonderful
I liked Lance vs Diantha because it was actually believable for her team to outmaneuver Lance. Aurorus's Ice/rock typing is usually hot garbage but given Lance runs flying/dragon it makes sense for her to have the upper hand, same goes for her fairy type ace
The battle wasn't terrible, especially compared to literally all the other battles (except Iris vs. Cynthia), but what was even the point?
If I had to match these two with different Trainers, I'd have Diantha instead battle Steven (because XY and ORAS) and let Lance get a rematch against Leon to parallel their first battle in the series.
But that would make way too much sense and actually make for good writing, which is what the staff is incapable of with their limited members and presumably time.
The animators for XY gave us the amazing Team Flare arc on a limited time schedule and the Team Flare arc still was amazing.
Definitely better than Leon vs Alain but it could have used more choreography. Neither side did much dodging at all
@@GhostGuy99 I do think Steven vs Diantha would be great, especially because they came together to stop Team Flare in the anime. The matchups were definitely the weakest part of the tourney
@@TechnoArpan personally, if they somehow got greninja back for this tournament, I'd have kept the first round matchups the same, except swap Steven and Alain's opponents to Leon and Ash respectively
Otherwise, have ash face Lance instead, have Alain face Diantha and let Steven face Leon
@@eljordinio7647 don't make my guy Steven be a cannon fodder please 😢
Pikachu after all these years has become a legend himself.and can solo every other Pokemon if he isn't nerfed every season. Also Alain saying Mega evolve is a such a beautiful dialogue everytime i hear it
Snivy has entered the chat
@@No.1GodzillaGlazerLv5 Snivy which can use a move which is learned at Lv15, OHKO a Lv100+ Pikachu.
Pikachu has taken down legendaries. It's a legend just for being the strongest Pikachu who ever lived.
@@No.1GodzillaGlazerthat plot bruh
I'm a little mixed with the pikachu vs steven's metagross battle bc although I can see how it felt cheap, it played out the same way as Pikachu's battle against Alain's metagross. In both battles metagross dodged all of pikachu's attacks while slapping pikachu around. Then pikachu lands a powerful electric attack and finishes metagross with iron tail. The only difference is that in xyz pikachu used electoball plus thunderbolt and in Journeys he used the z move.
The Z move kind of made sense since it cannot miss.
@@etherios5673 and yet Metagross didn't take full blast of it
Besides we've seen Z moves dodged before
@@etherios5673 z moves did miss before in anime
Thats why both battle suck. The best metagross fight was the one with tyson
@@ludwig-alice sometimes they do miss
In the leon Alain fight it was so disappointing to see chesnaught fight his way through a gmax rillaboom. Just to get ko'd by a single attack.
Chesnaught legit looked cool in that fight. And the way malamar moved was pretty cool too. I know it's only because they had to establish that rillaboom was busted and they wanted Alain to get beaten 2-0. But it did feel super cheap
Literally the Chestnaught vs Rilaboom part was the only good thing about that battle. At least there it looked like they were evenly matched and both sides had some pretty good strats
Rillaboom stomps chesnaught bro in every way
Bro, what an amazing review! This was a great look back at the entire tournament and with so many mixed feelings with various episodes, the recaps that ended up being worth it and its highs and lows, this was one of ur most interesting reviews. I loved it. Also, I dig the new little editing changes you made such as updating ur moving background. 👌🏽
Man i had tears in my eyes as soon as I saw butterfree and pigeoto
PIDGEOTTO, NOT PIGEOTO! YOU LEFT OFF 2 LETTERS!
@@Amelia4111 hahahaha I'm sorry.
@@Amelia4111 seriously, lighten up
My thoughts
Leon vs. Alain: Felt like a slap to the face.
Diantha vs. Lance: Dull. Too much like a game battle.
Champion Cynthia vs. Iris: Fairly decent
Ash vs. Steven Stone: Dull until Cradilly came out.
Leon vs. Diantha: WTF was that...
Ash vs. Champion Cynthia: Pretty solid battle.
Ash vs. Leon: Amazing and delivered the most satisfying conclusion imaginable.
My thoughts exactly
D vs L, I vs C, and A vs. C were all good. Also, why are you specifically referring to just Cynthia as a Champion? Everyone except Alain is one.
Also, Ash beating Alain now wouldn't change anything in the past. Get over it.
@@wikiuser92 doesn't mean Alain should be deemed as inferior since he is still in the masters eight
@@eljordinio7647 I'm not considering him an inferior. His match was just a result of unfortunate circumstances behind the scenes.
Cant speak for OP, but literary everyone except Ash, Cynthia, and Leon acted like subpar trainers. All of them had their Mons taken down in the most underwhelming ways and had little to no strategy you would expect trainers of their caliber to have. Does Stevens Mega Metagross fainting to half of Pikachu's Z move, plus one iron tail seem like the same Trainer and Pokemon that fought Primal Kyogre AND Groudon _at the same time?_ Does Alain's Mega Charizard who _also fought those same legendaries, _plus defeated 50% Zygarde AND Ash-Greninja_ looked like the type of Pokemon that would.go down to another Charizard's mere Flamethrower?
The problem isn't the result, it's the writing and believability of it, don't defend blatantly bad writing.
Zack:”I can’t wait to see what they have in store for our boy”
Me: who’s gonna tell him
The reason I figured that she didn't mega evolve Garchomp was because even though Mega Garchomp would be stronger, it would be slower, and it was already worn out from fighting Sirfetch'd. Not to mention, it had no Ground type moves to capitalize off Lucario's weakness as a Steel type, it only had Dragon type moves, which are weak against Steel types. Against a fresh Lucario that would mega evolve into a stronger and faster form, mega evolving Garchomp would hinder her than help. So she Dynamaxed her Togekiss to weaken it 1st.
But she barely weakend it with dynamax togekiss. Mega Lucario only got hit by one max airstream. And in the anime stats don't matter so mega garchomp won't be slower.
lucario literally went on it’s knees ,if that’s “barely weakened” to you then your stupid
Come on, speed stats hardly matter in the anime
@@eljordinio7647 except torterra
@@eljordinio7647 Speed matters. Speed wins many fights in the anime. Dodging, weaving.
24:10 that nod that greninja gave was cold
If I were to decide the first round matchups, here's what I would want
Leon vs Steven
Alain vs Diantha
Iris vs Cynthia
Ash vs Lance
For me, I'd say:
Leon vs. Lance (to parallel their first battle)
Steven vs. Diantha (XY vs. ORAS)
Iris vs. Cynthia can stay.
Ash vs. Alain (because Ash has never beaten Alain, and because what's the point of even bringing him back otherwise?)
As for the second round...well I'm a firm believer that Steven would have the advantage over Diantha since two of the Pokémon she used in the tournament were weak to Steel.
Leon Vs Lance, Cynthia Vs Iris, Alain Vs Steven, and Ash Vs Diantha
@@GhostGuy99idk about Leon vs Lance
We know Leon's going to win that so it's pointless making Lance lose his chance to redeem himself
9:15
I would have loved if Static Popped or Electroweb slowing Metagross down to a slower Metagross leading to a 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt vs Meteor Mash clash
As for Ash Vs. Steven, Z moves CANNOT miss because the accuracy is 101, I think in the anime it's based off your bond. Therefore Pikachu's Z-moves definitely won't miss. Also in Ash vs. Cynthia a recap specifically mentioned that if she didn't D-max Togekiss and went for something else things would've turned out worse for her. Although I get wanting to see Egg-mon vs. Egg-mon in mega, it wasn't optimal for her to do so that fight. A detail I REALLY liked. Also sorry to break it to you, but crazy feats included, Alain IS the weakest of the Masters 8.
Z moves can miss. Pikachu himself has dodged a few already. Its also not based on bond or anything
@@ludwig-alice In-game Z moves have 101% accuracy, in anime some boys couldn't even use a Z-move properly in an episode until their bond was sufficient. It was the alola racing episode, they made the premise that Z-moves react different based on your bond VERY clear. Also Pikachu dodging Z-moves? I believe affection mechanics can even dodge swift and the like, so there you go.
The weakest member...who swept the entire Kalos League, took on multiple Mega Pokémon back-to-back, took on Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, took on Zygarde, and two-shot Ash's Greninja who could fight on par with him prior to mastering Ash-Greninja.
@@GhostGuy99 Unironically, yes.
@@GhostGuy99 Still Camper to other master 8 champion He still Weakest member......
They should've done an arc when ash and goh return to kalos to destroy the evil vines once and for all. Then ash could use greninja in the tournament and have a battle against alain. And they should definitely brought back other pokemon from the lab to.
Copium?
Definitely
I feel that Leon vs Diantha was made more reasonable knowing that Dragapult did most of the dirty work while Rillaboom simply cleaned up
Still that is Ash vs Tobias 2.0.
We don't even know since we didn't even get to see half of it
@@eljordinio7647 yeah, with the little context given, dragapult simply took out Hawlucha, got rocked by Tyrantrum then somehow Rillaboom is able clean up the remaining fresh members of Diantha's team despite previously only requiring a couple hits from Alain's Chestnaught(while Rilla was gigantimaxed to boot) and Base Charizard to go night night. Yet somehow taking a fire blast head-on after battling 3 mons from a fellow champion's goodra is nothing but a slight tickle all of a sudden. Leon fed it a bowl of rare candies between matches lol
No it wasn't.
It's unfortunate about the conditions that were put on the staff but i'm glad they were able to pull through at the end.
True, tho how they handled most of the arc prior to ash vs Cynthia was still inexcusable
@@eljordinio7647 ???
Oh you guys are being overworked and pretty much abused but it's inexcusable that you made a good arc that just isn't up to my standards
@@zarif1217 two amazing battles isn't enough to constitute this arc as top tier. At this point I'm beyond forgiving when it comes to lackluster results. This is supposed to be one of the biggest arcs in history and besides two battles most of this arc was far from satisfying. The first round matchups were ones no one cares about or wanted, most of the battles were underwhelming, if not bad, they did one battle mostly offscreen which was still disrespectful, and they interrupted the flow of the arc so many times. No one cares about recaps or the worthless character that is Chloe and her equally useless Eevee
Short staff or not, this tournament was just...bad. Not terrible, but certainly not a good one in my opinion.
@@eljordinio7647 i never said anything about the arc being the best arc ever. i just said it was solid and youre being a baby saying that its "true, theyre being overworked and abused but its inexcusable how they handled this arc" like what
The final fight between Pikachu and Charizard just made me say "Screw in-game stats. Ash's Pikachu is built different, and there will never be another like it"
Captain Pikachu :
If you exclude Mega Lucario, Ash used three max moves and a z move, while Leon used four max moves, making it pretty even without Lucario
I figured Cynthia went with dynamax over mega evolution was because Sirfetch'd did more damage to Garchomp than she expected. So she was worried that Mega Lucario would easily defeat Mega Garchomp because of that. So she dynamaxed Togekiss to weaken Lucario more
Your most definitely right if you look at this is a competitive stand point ash’s sirfetch’d did major damage and since mega garchomp would of gotten it speed stat lower making it slower than Lucario she really couldn’t really take that risk plus she wanted to end the match quickly as a precaution just in case of what Lucario could of done if she have mega evolve
Dynamaxed max airstream 2 shots mega lucari which let me remind you has very trash defensive stats in the 70’s. But plot armour had to kick in ofcourse. Even if we let mega lucario somehow tank 3 max airstreams, Garchomp’s attack would have taken it out easily. But lucario has no health bar that figjt because plot
@@Momo-zi7sp honestly we talking plot armor Leon full fucking matches to the finals were just fucking plot armor after plot armor even in dieantha match rilliaboom shouldn’t have swept her team so can’t really nail ash with that when Leon did it more
Some use that was since Lucario took Togekiss out relatively quickly and Garchomp wasn't at her best
@@crimsonflareumbreon1290 base stats hardly matter in the anime these days. Reversal would have still taken mega garchomp out given the damage Lucario took
Greninja cameo in Cynthia match was epic
Wish he got one during the Leon match when Lucario's aura kicked in
8:07 Not only will they probably change Garchomp’s voice(which they didn’t change until Journeys) and the music, but Iris English VA got replaced for the Masters tournament.
I noticed that
I still don't get what that was all about
Leon has the most fast forward applause I’ve ever seen
I was a bit annoyed too that Cinderace didn't continue to capitalize on Libero x3 I was honestly expecting Pikachu and Charizard to draw, with Cinderace in the back. And Eternatus showing up to recharge their Dyna Bands did seem out of left field, as if they were doing everything to help Ash win.
But still, an epic moment for Ash and I'm proud of him x3
I guess they did it to make us believe he had no chance. I agree that Pikachu vs cinderace felt rushed. But because Leon still had two Pokémon we had a whole week of suspense and not knowing how it would all work out in the end.
Well, Pikachu did take out motor drive Electivire with an electric move, so I wouldn't rely on libero too much.
@@jonjoh6634 besides cinderace isn't that bulky so as long as ash timed his moves correctly he could take it out. Plus cinderace didn't go with max quake so it was over fast
I wanted this masters 8 tournament matchups
Round 1 (3v3 )
Leon vs Steven
Iris vs Lance
Cynthia vs Dinatha
Ash vs Alain
Semi finals (6v6 )
Leon vs Iris
Ash vs Cynthia
Finals ( 6v6 )
Ash vs Leon
How the heck would Cynthia's Garchomp fair against Diantha's Gardevoir without any steel or poison type moves?
She'd b blasted down in one shot by moonblast
@@eljordinio7647Garchomp is the not only Pokémon Cynthia has, also she is the most feared one in games because how strong and unpredictable she is, leon swoosh diantha Pokémon team
@@badrinathps9025 garchomp is still her most iconic Pokemon
When people think of Cynthia, it's garchomp who comes to mind and how difficult she is to beat. Especially in BDSP where she has a berry specifically to stop u OHKOing her with an ice move and poison jab to deal with any fairy types u might try to use
@@eljordinio7647she has roserade alsp if we count lucario too they both are tanks, also if she was to fight diantha maybe as unpredictable she would replace togekiss, gastrodon to lucario..
@@badrinathps9025 you don't fight a champion and their ace and think not to use your own at some point
Even at a type disadvantage, Cynthia could easily have garchomp learn iron tail or poison jab to deal with Gardevoir
Let us all also give thanks to the referee and commentator to spice things up from introduction to final impact. Ash v. Leon, was nothing less than amazing AND easily the best battle ever. Showing all gimmicks, full power, extra strength, second wind, more strength, more power, bonus gimmick, third wind, extra extra bonus strength/power, gun powder, chili spices, grit, determination and graphics, to show who is the best that ever was. Anime was SICK!! LFG guys! So emotional lol
Agreed there. Plus the animation in the final clash was god tier and what we deserved in this series from the beginning
@@eljordinio7647 that’s straight FACTS!!
I feel like the tournament should have gone like a round robin were all the participants battle eachother in single battles, with the winner being the one who has the most points.
We could have gotten all the matchups we wanted plus the finale against Leon
About the Z Move thing on 100,000,000 bolts...
Z moves cannot be dodged, even in the anime. This is consistent. It will only stop until it hits, and the damage depends on how long the contact time is from the execution of the attack and the time it landed
Pikachu dodged kiawai’s inferno overdrive in a battle royale
Actually we've seen Z moves dodged before
they can be dodged in the anime. Its just very hard to do so as a lot of them are AOE
In term of match up, I think the current one is good enough
Fighting Steven make Ash has to go through Rank 3 2 1 in order, It's also reflected the OP song
Ash VS Lance is fine, But he just beat Raihan and Drasna back to back, He doesn't need to beat another Dragon Specialist
Ash VS Diantha is kinda similiar to Ash VS Steven, But Diantha has a reputation of being the weakest champion in the game(Even her anime ranking is the lowest among other adult champions), Make her lost to Ash in the first round just make her look like a disposible character
Ash VS Alain is kinda pointless if Ash isn't gonna fight him with Greninja anyway, and Leon VS Alain to show who is the strongest Charizard is way better, Though I would at least have Leon using Gigantamax Charizard there
I agree. Without the Kalos team rematching Alain is just hollow vindication over fan saltiness over the kalos league like... Almost a decade later now? Yeesh. Ignoring the cold passage of time irl, if he fought Alain here the ppl asking for it would then just start complaining he wasn't using his Kalos mon then.
I agree, fighting Diantha would've made her just seem like fodder given everyone's notions of her before she beat Lance. Its good to have a wildcard matchup like their battle was, cause the intrigue is that 50/50, the audience at large doesnt have a unanimous desire to see one win over the other and we get to see characters we hadn't see interact do so. But yes, Ash going against Steven was the obvious "Run through the top 3" and as far as emotional connection goes, Ash has expressed a desire for this battle and iirc Steven helped out against Zygarde? They likely met each other during that again if the Hoenn encounter wasn't enough for ppl (i didn't watch that arc admittedly)
@@MagillanicaLouM Yeah, steven was a part of the team flare arc. Him and Diantha worked together during that
Still, ash vs lance makes waaaay more sense than ash vs Steven. Lance and Ash never battled but they did have quite the history
Despite my gripes with it, this tournament is truly fantastic and the finale was very very good and made up for a lot of its shortcomings. But don’t worry, I’ll rewrite it one day lmao.
Please do, because this tournament is just painful to revisit and review for me.
@@GhostGuy99 I don't blame u. Here's how I would do things
For the first round I'd keep iris vs Cynthia as it is but everything else would have to change
Make Steven the fodder for Leon instead but make it a close battle
If Alain isn't going to face ash again (which they honestly should have), then make him face Diantha. They at least have some connection due to Kalos and since Alain did beat Malva, it's possible he defeated the rest of the elite 4 as well so he should definitely be on even footing with Diantha, especially since they are literally next to each other in the rankings. Alain would still lose but hopefully he puts up a close fight and we can see some mega on mega action. If Mega Charizard X had steel wing and even used dragon claw to counter or deflect moonblast, that would really put Diantha on her toes
As for Ash, that leaves him facing Lance. They have had some history in both the OG and Advanced series so people could definitely get behind this. It's also symbolic considering Lance is champion of Kanto, Ash's home so having ash defeat his own champ would be HUGE!!! Plus they did have a promotional image that hinted a battle between Ash and Lance and as much as I wanted an Ash vs Alain rematch, I could have gotten behind it
As for Leon vs Diantha, I'd actually show the whole battle but also have Diantha be on equal footing with Leon. Rilaboom would have to be eliminated earlier and I'd have at least have four, if not five of Leon's Pokemon taken out
Bro I’m still crying from seeing all of ash’s teams in the final battle, I grew up watching gen 1 but my first games were gen 4 so seeing that team had me messed up
I would love to see a rematch between Ash and Leon where they both use all gimmicks
Course Charizard would use two of them
Leon lacks 2. He can only Dyna.
im gonna point it out since I’m not seeing it anywhere but theres a neat detail when metagross dodges 10m v tbolt. The colors of the beams that metagross dodges are the same color of the m8 competitors that had lost the round. Purple (Alain) Pink (Iris) and Red (Lance) Additionally the beam that is used to stop LUSTER CANNON! is blue (Ash). Still doesn’t redeem how goofy ash v steven was 💀
Aggron faints via Burn damage, Gengar gets taken out very quickly, Pikachu uses aimbot to hit a Hyper Evasion Mega Metagross...
And the cherry on top was that a few episodes prior, when Paul helped train Ash, Paul sent out a Metagross against Gengar and led many (or probably just me) to believe that the highlight of Ash vs. Steven would be Gengar vs. Metagross. And it didn't even look like it would when the battle finally happened.
Z-moves in the games can't miss, and most of the time they one-shot. Plus the fact metagross is alr injured, it would've killed.
Anime-wise, z-moves are based on bonds
@@GhostGuy99 this just sounds like the regular Pokémon gameplay
@@f2pkx463 Fair...
Cool detail
Them playing the OG theme song during the end of Ash vs Leon is just so beautiful and nostalgic, really makes it feel like Ash's resolution
I've noticed in journey's caters a lot to game fans. And let's be real, seeing ash against like the second most popular champion as his first match was a perfect move. Steven Stone was the best champion we had until Cynthia came around, seeing the match between him and ash was easily one of the coolest things they could have done
I didn't realise Steven was that popular. And yeah it was interesting to see ash face him but, idk it's hard to get invested in a fight between these two when they barely interacted at all. Even during Steven's return in XY
I mean if they weren't gonna give us ash vs Alain (like they should have) they could have at least had ash battle Lance instead while Alain faced Diantha.
Then let Steven be fodder for Leon instead
If I had to rate this Arc out of 10 I would rate it 8/10. Why?? Because although the arc started off slow and bad (rip Alain) and there were some iffy battles ( Leon vs Diantha) the majority were pretty good with battles like Ash vs Cynthia, Diantha vs Lance and Iris vs Cynthia. All Pokémon used showed that they deserved to be there the same as their Trainers. The cameos were a nice addition for long time fans and new alike. Also, learning Cynthia’s backstory with her Garchomp was a great addition. The best part of this arc was the final battle between Ash and Leon with everything being just short of perfection. BUT the final clash of Pikachu and Charizard was PERFECTION. The only thing that really holds this whole arc back we’re probably the recap episodes but they were necessary for the Anime team to stall for time whilst making the new episodes. Other than that, this is definitely an overall great arc that not only gave great fan service, but FINALLY gave our boy Ash his greatest achievement (not disputing his Alola league win).
Well done Ash!
17:39 I never expected to hear these words from Zac about team rocket lmao
25:18-25:29 that hit deep. *very* deep. I actually teared up from that.
They way you said it was just perfect
The final match up with Charizard is very symbolic, Charizard was pretty much the big boss ash couldn't overcome, when he used one it became the reason he lost, and when he went up against one he couldn't pull through and after going through a lot he faced up against the best trainer in the world that's using the same pokémon that led ash to alot of problem, and when Pikachu beat leon's Charizard, it felt so legendary and you can't help but get emotional
One thing I noticed about Ash’s battles in the masters 8 is that in each of the battles he is always down to his last Pokémon which has to deal with the last 2 Pokémon the other trainer has. In the Steven battle, Pikachu was the last one and had to fight cradilly and mega metagross. In the Cynthia battle Lucario was Ash’s last Pokémon and it had to battle through togekiss and Garchomp. Then in the Leon Battle, Pikachu had to take on both cinderace and Charizard since he was the only one left
Little did we know at the time that this would be the last league Ash would ever compete in...
24:03 NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THIS?!
The writers should have scrapped the Goh's Shiny Voltorb episode & instead used it for the introduction/interaction of all the Masters 8 participants. Then we would have had a full episode that wouldn't rush the battle between Alain & Leon.
Agreed
Loved the video! I realised the other day that in the opening it shows Gigantimax Charizard facing Lucario which doesn't happen in the anime. I quite like that it meant it didn't spoil G-Max Charizard vs Pikachu, but it's also weird because it's unlike anime openings to depict something that just...doesn't happen lol
well some people dont include pokemon as an anime, so I guess this is why???😂😂😂😂😂
@@swift3520 lmao maybe
Crazy how JN132 saved the entire tournament from being a disaster
Best Tournament Arc after the Alola League.
Excluding Alan and Diantha, the battles were well written and full of development for the Trainers; I especially loved Ash's battles, which almost feel as different endings for his past character arcs through Hoenn and Sinnoh - and nice payoffs to JN112 and JN114.
Leon sweeps Alain and Diantha literally just The UK Invade France from old times
@@franzsumangil1549 He didn't mean in terms of continuity
@UCsyDgd8c8vCHDXvola4zDYw Bro… he means in general not in continuity
hard disagree Zach is on Alain but sack bad this dude acts like Alain a bad ass we watch Steven stone in xyz toy around with alains charzaird tank a blast burn like it was nothing. ash got shafted in Kalos form the writters witch they brought back the black and white writters to write the Kalos leauge. Leon was way over Alain lvl same for Steven and diantha
Alola league is a fucking joke
Ash doesnt have a full team the whole region except one match AFTER the league concluded.
The final being 3v3 is a bad joke.
The first round being a br was a very cool thing, worked out well
But a final of a regional league being 3v3 while sinnoh league was 6v6 in every battle
Stop with anything than 6v6 in fucking tournaments....
I have the theory that part of the reason why most of the other battles that Leon had were so quick were not only to portray him as the strong champion that he is but also to keep most of his team as a mystery for the battle against Ash. And they were all insanely powerful. With pokemon like Rillaboom being pretty much like a second ace and all the others being extremely powerful as well.
20:29 Also I think those are Rose and Oleana together.
yeah i mean he humiliated alain who got alot of hate for winning the kalos league yet diantha was still considered stronger
@@Ncholasbloom still, Alain didn't deserve that humiliation. Especially since HE didn't humiliate ash in the Kalos league
I think one of the biggest missed opportunities here was Ash not using his other pokemon
strength wouldn’t be an issue since it was established that Ash’s pokemon kept training in Oak’s place so they would be plenty strong
Fun fact. The episode where Diantha fought Lance was suppose to released EXACTLY 25 years after the lighthouse episode in the first season. Which also featured a massive Dragonite.
Nice insight
This man. This man is immposible to describe. A little kid with big ambitions. Went from the laughing stock that had incredible luck to the most on the moment strategical person to ever exist. This man is officialy the strongest trainer. In the pokemon anime if not the 3rd strongest trainer in the pokemon cannon multiverse. The top 2 being the og champion and the og douchbag. To be in the same league as red and blue is insane.
Ash has finally shown that he is a pokemon master. I am so proud of our boy. From a rookie that couldn't win a fight if it wasn't for he's life. To a true pokemon master that showed no fear in front of the strongest person in the world. He has finally done it.
Man that last Ash vs Leon ep was the best pokemon ep ever it got all the main component from the pervious series,the battle with Ash pikachu and Leon Charzird is spectacular and the part where all of Ash pervious pokemon even the one he don't have anymore expect for Haunther appeared to Cheer pikachu on is the is the cherry on the cake
3:57
Well, Lucario was trained by Greninja, and we could've had a cool scene where it looks like Greninja is guiding Lucario's moves. It wouldn't be too farfetch'd (Kamon!), since we saw Greninja every time Lucario did the Aura Sphere boost.
I thoroughly enjoyed the entire tournament. My only complaint was that we didn't get to see the full fight between Leon and dyantha
Because the staff absolutely HATES the XY anime and thought that Diantha didn't deserve a proper battle episode.
Seriously, even if they couldn't squeeze in a separate episode for Ash and Cynthia bonding, did they really have to waste everyone's time with that Gossifleur side plot?
The writers would never spend their time to develop a proper full battle that Ash didn't participate, this battle of leon vs diantha should have 2 episodes
@@videos43334dhdjj774h But it was only half of an episode.
Why? Because they hated XY and tried to undermine it.
Having a limited staff was no excuse. Sure, maybe that's why the animation wasn't good, but even one person can save a bad story.
They had God knows how many, and didn't bother making the Masters 8 actually good after years of buildup.
@@videos43334dhdjj774h which is stupid since it's between two regional champions
The thing with Leon v. Diantha, if you thought Alain’s treatment was bad, imagine the writers having Leon sweep through not 3 but all 6 of her Pokémon in a 20 minute span. The outrage would be unending. So they have no choice but to do most of it off screen. Even with that, it’s still stupid just how OP they make Rilaboom taking out almost her whole team. This is a legit champion and the writers showing her being treated like a child by Leon makes no sense and is awful writing. It would make sense if Diantha was able to take out at least 4 of Leon’s mons.
Leon the Destroyer of Character Legacy Champion
Infernape VS Electivire is still the best 1v1 imo, but I am biased as hell since Infernape’s my favorite Pokémon and I was incredibly invested in his rivalry with Electivire. Still, Pikachu VS Charizard is a really close second
19:18 Goh had 2 leave bc they were going 2 an island where they think that mew is there, and theres some "short dry season" and imposible to explore when it's in the rainy season. Did you watch it at all?
Ash versus Leon had a lot of cool pictures and shots in it but the one where Cynthia knocks out irises Pokémon and just stands there as a Hydro pump literally goes past her and almost hits her in the face as she stands still and it hits the wall knocking the opposing Pokémon out and she didn’t even move. The only thing they did with her hair and her trenchcoat that was bad ass, and. Cold af 🥶🥶🥶
“(Goes on and on about how awesome the end was)”
“I give this a ‘good’ 😂
I actually did the numbers for all the episodes of the PWC (minus the recaps since you didn't rate them) and the overall rating comes out to 7.5.
This puts Galar right in the middle of the league rankings (if you include the Battle Frontier).
9. Unova
8. Kanto
7. Hoenn
6. Battle Frontier
5. Galar
4. Johto
3. Alola
2. Kalos
1. Sinnoh
They should really consider a time skip, in which Ash lives up as the Strongest Champion, mature when he needs to be, and still be playful. And story that allows him to be a mentor to younger generation. That me hoping, but not expecting
Iris vs Cynthia was definitely the best battle in round 1.
I agree
8:07 Hey now, they retained the Japanese voice for her Garchomp. I'm like, 95% sure it'll stay the same for the dub. The music, though...
it’s crazy how Pikachu took down 6 Pokemon in 3 Battles 2 of which were Aces and only losing once because of Destiny Bond while Charizard only took down 3 Pokemon 2 were Aces and none of which were Ash’s and he lost to Pikachu
Pikachu was so unstoppable that it took destiny bond to take him out. Smart play on Cynthia's part cos imagine if Pikachu actually swept through her team on his own
Fun fact that I learnt from a YT Short the other day, Ash vs Cynthia is the only anime battle to feature a move of each typing.
This arc truly felt like the dream fanfictiony Pokemon Anime Champion Tournament you would expect... iffff Journeys wasn't being Journeys for so much of it...
Like yeah, this Tournament had some AMAZING moments, and felt like such a satisfying potential conclusion for our boy... but I really do wish some of those misfires weren't made.
The first round being so... empty feeling in its matchups, Ash not using older mons (his more "bs" wins would be so much more believable just with this), and that Alain disrespect was p a i n. I also wish they did a bit more with his companions. Like it was nice to see them... and I especially love BEST GIRL Dawn being the one to be there in-person... but idk. Feel like they could've done a bit more to make it feel grander and more natural. Otherwise, it was a fun and satisfying ride. Minus the break hell... (Again... oh Journeys.)
5:54 What do you mean. The strategies were amazing
I’m happy for Leon. He got what he most wanted in the world; to have a champion time.
As for ash, meh still ain’t the very best in my opinion. It’s like saying a tree can beat a flamethrower, cause some guy whacked a tree with a flamethrower. obviously flamethrowers gonna fall apart while a tree can still live and replace a few branches. but if you actually use a flamethrower the correct way, you’d be leaving asunder not just one, but a forest load before that thing is spent.
Where did you find the pokemon champion ship news preview theme?
Ash vs Steven was a great battle IMO, but they should have made pikachu's static hit metagross. that would have made it better.
Other than that, the tournament was great. But i would have added a pre round before the official beggining to make ash vs alain/diantha
@GiftLumioseTrainerZac @lumiosetrainerzach
Better yet, have Pikachu fence Metagross in above the field with electrowebs all over the place and either use quick attack in tandem with them like slingshots to hit Metagross
Or bounce thunderbolt off the web walls to hit Metagross that way and throw its predictions off so it can't dodge
8:43 Bro really said queens 💀
I was hyped for Ash vs Cynthia battle was my favorite throughout the masters 8 tournament
Even more than Ash vs Leon?
Yeah I was on the edge of my seat
Nice! Was waiting for this one!
It has both insane as disappointing moments!!! But overall 🔥🔥🔥