#HAPU BATTLE TRIAL#
#HAPU BATTLE SERIES#

He willingly chose to use Pikachu in this battle, despite having multiple different Pokemon that would be greater matchups against the opponent he'd be facing. Now, if Ash actually went into the battle with this Soak strategy in mind, I'd have next to no qualms with this battle. The fact that I kinda saw it coming made it even funnier than it should've been. It was absolutely hilarious to see Ash use his sprinkler strategy again after so long. Would you say Ash cheated if Pikachu somehow knocked Mudsdale completely off of the battlefield and into the water?Д¤. If anything, I'd say it was Hapu's fault for picking a somewhat disadvantageous location to battle, considering her type-specialty. Yeah, it's still a bit cheap, but at least he didn't exploit features that technically aren't part of the battlefield itself (i.e. the water surrounding the arena) for this improvised Soak strategy. Unlike the sprinkler strategy, Ash utilized a natural part of the battlefield (i.e. As for the opposite side of the spectrum, think of Thunder Armor.ДЈ. That's not something you can do in the games, but the anime portrays it in a plausible-enough fashion that it makes sense to the viewers. Think of how Lance's Gyarados used Aqua Tail to get rid of Fire Spin. I've said this several times before on different threads, but I'm fine with the anime bending the rules of the game and portraying things in different ways as long as they're portrayed in a believable enough manner. Yes, Pikachu can't learn Soak, but splashing water should create a similar enough effect so that Electric-type attacks are now effective on the target Pokemon (even if it might not actually be completely turned into a Water-type Pokemon). In addition to the consistency, there's now a valid gameplay-related reason as to why splashing water onto a Ground-type made it susceptible to Electric-type attacks: Soak.

#HAPU BATTLE SERIES#

I know, the OG series was quite weird in a lot of different ways, I'm just saying that this interaction was already established a long time ago in the anime.Дў. The interaction was consistent with the sprinkler strategy that Ash used a long time ago. I was actually perfectly fine with the improvised Soak strategy for several reasons:ДЎ.

You think either SMUSUM or LGPE would've justified this with an event Pikachu (or Eevee) that knows Soak, or added Soak to Pikachu's moveset in SwSh. You'd have Normal-types deal damage to Ghost-types without Odor Sleuth or Scrappy, Steel-types be poisoned by something without Corrosion, and in M13, a Bronzor using Psychic on a Zorua without using Miracle Eye beforehand (and in the pre-SwSh games, Bronzor cannot learn Miracle Eye). The writers make up their own rules as they go along, even in a short moment's notice. And then after this battle, we've had 'SOS Rest' between Ash's battle with Hau. And the less said about Water Shuriken dealing little damage to a Fire/Dragon and Blast Burn dealing Super Effective damage to a Water/Dark, the better. We all remember 'Thunder Armor', where Swellow is powered up by a Thunderbolt instead of KOed without having Lightning Rod (which wouldn't have made him immune to Electric-type moves in Generation III).

Pikachu improvising Soak is just one of many examples. People take great notice when the anime ignores basic rules of the games. And they provided a good-enough explanation for the rather-questionable tactic Ash used. With Pikachu jumping off of Pillars and tactically using it's surroundings. The actual battle itself makes great use of the Environment. Another complaint I saw was that the Battle was just 'generic hits' which isn't true.

I see people saying Rowlet could have been used, but a Rowlet Vs a Mudsale would be the most weirdest battle ever with only god-knows terrible atrocious choreography. It doesn't matter if the battle is 1 VS 1 or 2 VS 2, quality is much more important than Quantity. It actually foreshadows the strategy Ash uses to win the Battle.

#HAPU BATTLE TRIAL#

The First Part of the Episode provides the emotional narrative of Hapu becoming Island King which makes the Trial worthy of being the 'Final Trial' and the beach scene isn't useless at all. They said the First Part of the Episode was 'An Absolute Waste' which I disagree with.

I was recently scrolling the SM109 Review Thread and see that people called the episode many things. I don't get why this battle is so hated and I'd like to know why.

Hapu battle