Yep definetely the worst disguise ever, but they couldn't afford disguises. They spent all of their money on their 3 dollar hotel.
For really the first episode post the season premiere hoopla, I am mixed. My main argument is pacing and proper due.
My main issue is Rando (Which I'll dub Lando), who basically steals the script. Then, when we finally have a good observation from Brock on Dawn's irresponsibility (and Ash's to a degree) and the fact she doesn't want to camp out in the dirt (heh), Lando pops up and disrupts the wonderful character building moment. Plus, when we get to see Dawn vs. Team Rocket, Lando pops up all deus ex machina (it fits with that powerful Bullet Seed) and wrecks Carnie's Battle debut. And for the finale, Ash battles Lando, when shouldn't it be Dawn to attempt to settle the previous score?
Although, if Pikachu had lost to this Budew, that's it for me. Explanation on that in a bit.
Despite Lando's insertions into the script, he is alright, but should have shown up a few episodes later, when Dawn has the hang on things with her new friends and the re-exposition of everything (like Contests, as that is a central theme -- after all, they did it with May). Ah, well. And it is nice of Ash dealing with pre-existing Pokemon having different pre-evo/evolution (battling his knowledge of Roselia), the Joys and Jennys explained again, Ash/Brock meeting Johanna, the fact you can play both Gyms and Contests, as until then, that wasn't addressed.
It has its ups and downs.
And lastly, why are there Chimecho in the forest here? In Sinnoh, don't they hang around Mt. Coronet? Oops.
*sees DC's new avatar*
O_O
......*ahem*
You mean "Nando", also another reason not to leave the Professor's names as their Japanese form. Yeah, I agree with the comparison, though, except he seemed more like Drew would if he was older (chew on that for a while, ContestShippers!), with his attitude and all. I know most of that's coming from the dub choices, but it just seems that way. We also know that eventually Dawn is going to be facing down a Roserade, true to May's footsteps, but that's a discussion for much later...
I dunno, I think Carnivine's debut was so-so. At least he got SOMETHING, though I agree that Budew's involvement was a bit much. On the other hand, somebody had to pop in and save the novice Dawn, and Ash coming in would have probably caused some problems...*cough*... What surprised me a bit, though, was that I don't think Ash, Dawn, or Brock were all that surprised about Carnivine's appearance.
And then the final battle. Of course Ash was going to fight Nando here. After all, hadn't they made fun of Dawn's novice status enough for one episode :P ? At least Ash won the battle, which was a "you win or you're a weakling" kind of thing, granted, but once Budew evolved, well...We've seen Roselia pull off unlikely wins before thanks to Drew, so the writers could have had Roselia win out of nostalgia, or because most of the times that we see a Pokemon evolve it becomes a come-from-behind win. But nope, we get a double-level of payback courtesy of Pikachu. No complaints. At least we finally get to see Mega Drain the way it should work, as opposed to a physical bite *coughindigoplateaucough*.
I noticed that alot of people were complaining about the opening song. Now that I've seen the opening, I can comment.
Honestly, it isn't really that bad. I mean, it's not as good as the 4Kids openings (don't get me wrong, they still had the best openings). But it's not horrible.
Overall, the show seems to be getting off to a decent start. Team Rocket's theme is going to take some getting used to, but other than that, it isn't a big deal.
I noticed that alot of people were complaining about the opening song. Now that I've seen the opening, I can comment.
Honestly, it isn't really that bad. I mean, it's not as good as the 4Kids openings (don't get me wrong, they still had the best openings). But it's not horrible.
Overall, the show seems to be getting off to a decent start. Team Rocket's theme is going to take some getting used to, but other than that, it isn't a big deal.
