Quote From: SunainI absolutely hated this episode in many ways. First, and mainly because Pikachu lost like it was a level 1 Pokemon fighting a level 100 legendary Pokemon. It didn't even get a hit off. That really pisses me off. I know the anime doesn't follow the games but it really shouldn't matter in this case as Pikachu has way more experience than Hiyappu. Pikachu just defeated a Latios in its last major battle, yet it looses to the first gym's Pokemon? There is absolutely NO excuse for the writers of the series to do this as it serves no purpose but show how flawed the anime is. Pikachu according to the latest event download is Level 50, where as Corn's Hiyappu is only Level 14 in the games.
I agree with all of this. This is the reason I stopped watching the anime (and only follow it through summaries and screenshots, mainly for the Ash-kun factor ;) )- it's an infinite time loop. Whatever happened last season is bound to happen again, with different Pokemon in a different battle, in the next season. This "time loop" is the reason Pikachu suddenly gets a power degrade at the start of every season. Also because "Pikachu would be too strong if they didn't change it and that makes the battles boring". While this is a fine episode if you started watching the series at Best Wishes and shows us Ash is not as invincible as he seems, longtime fans, like us, find this annoying. If you wanna show us Ash is mortal, Nintendo, make POKABU lose to Baoppu! That makes more sense, as Ash only caught it last episode.
Also, my crystal ball is saying Mijumaru is competing to be this season's Piplup with Kibago (from the looks of the screenshots). And WTH happened to Mamepato? Ash caught it in BW002, used it in one battle against Koromori and we NEVER SAW IT AGAIN! (Not like Mamepato's important in the long run anyway, because we all know it'll end up Oak'd like everyone else. That, and I don't think it's gonna be Bulbasaur/Charizard/Squirtle/Sceptile/Swellow material. At best, this thing will be another Staraptor)