>>50818773Unforgivable. I watched this episode not long ago. You know the worst thing about it? A LOT! Let me rage.
The fight 2 episodes prior to this was a full on 20 minute brilliant match. There was ZERO filler in it. Watched Ash's Bulbasaur beat a Beedrill and Scyther with smarts and tenacity. Then saw the rival trainer throw out her ace which was funnily enough a Bellsprout and turn the tables on Ash. Then Ash reveals his Muk in a match for the first time and perfectly counters the Bellsprout for the win. The episode was smart, well animated, choreographed and was purely focused on the match. It was hands down THE BEST FIGHT IN THE SERIES UP TO THAT POINT! And it was with a nobody trainer in the 4th and last preliminaries match. Ash fucking made it! He was going to the proper tournament brackets!
Introduce Ritchie. He's fine. He's just an Ash clone, but an Ash clone from Ash's early days. And then after an episode of shoving him in last minute with a bunch of team rocket shenanigans UH OH Ash and him have to face each other in the first bracket match! Half assed method to quickly build tension.
So what happens next episode when they fight? 3/4's - THREE FUCKING QUARTERS of the episode is dealing with team rocket stealing Pikachu again, and Ash has to battle Team Rocket, while barely making it late to his match. He almost got disqualified for not showing up on time. And then we get BARELY 5 MINUTES OF MEASILY TIME for Ash to battle. AND IT SUCKS! Its a lot of still frames. Almost no animation, and shit choreography. Oh, and Ash's pokemon are all half strength from fighting Team Rocket minutes before hand so them getting KO'd feels cheap! Then you do the Charizard bullshit on top of it.
It wasn't a gut wrench to see Ash lose. It was EVERYTHING leading up to it that made it absolutely infuriating. Icing on the cake (or salt in the wound) we see Ritchie lose quick and easy like a bitch next episode after a minute or 2.
