Media Essays: Ash vs. Alain: How Good Was It?

Hoo boy, this'll be a fun one to cover. It's about that time everyone, time I talk about one of the most controversial battles in the entire Pokémon anime.

Any Pokémon fan worth their salt will know what I'm talking about and likely feel old wounds opening up again as I talk about this battle. That battle...is Ash vs. Alain.

I can already hear a million Pokémon fans screaming yet again "ASH WAS ROBBED! ASH SHOULD HAVE WON!" just from hearing me bring this battle up again. For those who don't know about it, this battle took place in the finals of the Kalos League from the Pokémon X and Y era of the anime. X and Y is VERY fondly remembered by many with much praise going to its stronger focus on story and character development, the absolutely gorgeous animation that has never been topped in the anime since, the not-so-subtle hints of romance between Ash and Serena and for having the best villain arc in all of Pokémon. What's NOT so fondly remembered about this series is the controversial finale to the Kalos League. Not only did Ash end up losing YET AGAIN, but the fandom just felt cheated in the end because the series was clearly setting Ash up to win and hyping it up to the max and the Japanese title for Part 2 "Kalos League Victory! Satoshi's Ultimate Match!!" outright implied that Ash was going to win...but he didn't, so the title was a flat out lie. Then again, the title could've been referring to Alain but still, that title was just flat-out clickbait and the writers knew it. The backlash to this fight was so enormous that many fans speculate that's why Ash ended up winning the Alola League in the next series and then won the World Coronation Series in Journeys. I can honestly believe that. I mean when you have backlash THIS massive, you better do something to make the fans happy to make up for it!

But it's been a few years since that battle happened, so now we can look back on it with the benefit of hindsight and look at it from a critical perspective, let's see how this battle actually was. Controversy aside, was it an actual good battle? Or was Ash losing not the only thing that sucked about it? Let's dive in...

Part 1: Off To An Even Start

To give some context for this battle, Alain is one of Ash's rivals of the X and Y series and unlike other rivals Ash has had throughout the series, Ash is yet to actually win a battle against him. He even has a better track record against Paul before they fought in the Sinnoh League! So already, the stakes feel big going into this one. This is Ash going up against a guy he's never defeated before and Alain is a trainer who already has an impressive track record considering the feats he's pulled off with his Mega Charizard X. This isn't like Swayer or Tierno, this is an opponent that Ash can't afford to underestimate.

The battle begins on a rocky arena with a stream of water going through the centre. Ash begins with Pikachu and Alain begins with Tyranitar. This is a big deal because up until this point, Alain had ploughed his way through the Kalos League using ONLY Charizard and Metagross, so this is even the viewer's first time seeing him use any Pokémon other than those two. Needless to say, this guy isn't messing around with his team. A Mega Evolving Charizard and TWO Psuedo-Legendries? He's pretty stacked! And yet despite starting off big with Tyranitar, Ash surprisingly gets the first win here with his Pikachu. What's even more incredible is that Pikachu wins pretty soundly with Tyranitar barely being able to land a hit. Considering this is the same Pikachu that beat a Regice and fought a Latios to a draw, it really is no surprise that he can handle a psuedo-legendary like Tyranitar. I do like how creative this portion of the battle gets with how Pikachu uses Iron Tail to clear up the Sandstorm and then uses Thunderbolt on Tyranitar while it's soaked with water to do more damage and the moment where both Pokémon use their tails to send Stone Edge flying to one another. The only problem is that Pikachu beat Tyranitar a little too easily in my eyes. Given this is Alain we're talking about, a fight with his Pokémon shouldn't be so one-sided. Then again, he only ever uses Charizard and Metagross so it's clear his other Pokémon didn't get enough training. Maybe if Alain gave his Tyranitar anywhere near the same amount of attention he gave his Charizard and wasn't so reliant on it all the time, it would've beaten Pikachu? Hmm? Just saying. =P

Anyhow, next up is Weavile vs. Noivern. Three guesses how well that goes considering Noivern's double Ice weakness and the fact Ash's Noiven has a terrible move set. =P Bet you wish you taught your Noivern a Fire-type move, don't you Ash? To Noivern's credit, it does hold its own very well and gets some good hits here and there, but Weavile ultimately takes the win. Paul is looking at Alain's Weavile and wishing his was anywhere near as good as Alain's. XD As a Noivern fan, I really hate how dirty the poor mon was done in this League. It didn't score a single win throughout, it just tied or lost. A Pokémon as awesome as Noivern deserves so much better than this.

We do get a pretty sweet moment where Hawlucha comes out of its ball and comforts Noivern. You see, the two have a somewhat brotherly relationship with Hawlucha having often looked after Noivern back when it was just a Noibat. You can practically imagine Hawlucha just saying here "Don't worry bro, I'll avenge your loss!" Pretty cool and pretty sweet both at once, I love it. ^^ Also Hawlucha is THE perfect mon to face Weavile next because Weavile has a double Fighting weakness. Big shocker, it ends up winning with a super-effective Flying Press attack. Curiously enough though, Hawlucha starts glowing red and seems to be steaming at one point in the fight and there's just no explanation as to what that was or why it was happening. So what was that all about? Anyway, Alain sends out Bisharp next...which confuses me because he has a Metagross. Surely common sense would tell him to use a Psychic-type to take on Hawlucha? Also Alain has like three Pokémon that are double weak to Fighting-types. If he didn't have Charizard, Metagross and Unfezant, then Korrina would've cooked his ass hard. XD Anyway, Bisharp proves to be tricky thanks to knowing Thunder Wave to paralyze Hawlucha. As if, Hawlucha still gives it its all but unfortunately misses with High Jump Kick and...

...well crap, Bisharp knows Guillotine. It's a move that one-hit KOs the opponent when it lands. Needless to say, Alain REALLY isn't messing around! So as a result, Hawlucha is down and the odds are evened again with both sides down two Pokémon each. On another note, thanks to the release of Scarlet and Violet, one really has to wonder how cool it would be to see Alain with a Kingambit. ;) Anyway, Alain has a moment where he gushes about how he's having fun for the first time in ages and how Ash is making this an enjoyable battle before sending out his next Pokémon...which is Unfezant. Come on Alain, of all the awesome bird Pokémon out there, you picked the most boring one? I can't fathom why ANYONE would pick a boring Pokémon like Unfezant when there are literally dozens of better choices out there. Even a Pidgeot would've been more exciting to watch! Anyway, Ash picks Talonflame as his next Pokémon and what follows is a pretty awesome air-to-air battle between the two birds as they swoop over the arena, trade heavy blows with one another...

...and then it ends in a tie. Lame. =P Seriously, what is it with this league and limply concluding battles with a tie? They did it twice with Ash vs. Sawyer, now they've done it again here. This just feels like they're rushing the battle a little if you ask me. If this had been a three-parter, then we wouldn't have needed this forced-as-hell tie to hurry things along.

Now both sides are down three Pokémon, the arena changes into a Grass field and Ash sends Pikachu back out while Alain sends out Metagross. On the one hand, Metagross is Alain's second strongest Pokémon so this is a tough match-up for Ash. On the other hand, Ash's Pikachu has a VERY good track record against Metagross, so it's more even than it may seem. And indeed it is as unlike when Pikachu faced Tyranitar earlier, Metagross IS able to land some hits on Pikachu and it's not a comically one-sided match. Heck, it looks as if Metagross is on top for most of the match until Pikachu stuns it with Electro Ball and then jumps on top of it so it can't attack and finishes it off with Thunderbolt and Iron Tail. Yet again, a Metagross falls to Ash's Pikachu. I always found this move very confusing from a writing stand point. You see, the League was hyping Alain's Charizard and Metagross to be his MVPs of his team for they were the ONLY Pokémon he used to win all his matches up until this point. And yet when Alain uses his Metagross here, it goes down to a mere Pikachu and doesn't score a single victory over any of Ash's Pokémon? That's...lame if I can be honest. Why hype up Alain's Metagross so much and then have it get taken out without scoring a single win? Even Alain's Weavile and Bisharp, Pokémon we've NEVER seen him use before were able to score wins, so why was Metagross denied that honour? I might be a tad biased because Metagross is one of my favourite Pokémon, but even putting aside my love of Metagross for a second, I still can't fathom the logic behind this. You make it sound like Metagross is Alain's second strongest Pokémon and then DON'T have it beat any of Ash's Pokémon? Just...what sense does that make? It'd be like if we had Ash vs. Leon and the League spent a lot of time hyping up Leon's Rillaboom and portraying it as formidable only to have it lose without beating any of Ash's Pokémon, it's just dumb writing in my eyes. Had I done this battle, I would've made it so Alain's Metagross beat Hawlucha instead of Bisharp and Talonflame would've beaten Unfezant instead of tying with it so Alain could've then used Metagross to beat Talonflame. At least then his Metagross would've gotten some time to shine instead of looking as weak as it did here.

The episode ends with Alain sending out his overpowered Charizard next to fight and Pikachu lands two good hits on it with Quick Attack and Thunderbolt back-to-back. As things stand for now, Ash has three Pokémon left while Alain has two, but Pikachu has taken damage from Metagross while Alain's Charizard and Bisharp are mostly fighting fit. On the other hand, Ash's Goodra and Greninja haven't seen battle yet, so it still looks pretty even. Also this match-up seems VERY ironic in hindsight when you consider how Ash vs. Leon ended with Pikachu vs. Charizard. Guess we could consider this unintentional foreshadowing for how Ash's time in the anime would end...

And that was Part 1 of this epic showdown. It was a great start to the battle...but it's so clear that this needed to be a three-parter rather than a two-parter. Some of the matches are a bit rushed like Pikachu vs. Tyranitar and Talonflame vs. Unfezant, the latter ending in a tie was especially egregious in how rushed it felt and Alain's Metagross was done extremely dirty despite being hyped up as his second ace after Charizard. But the battles we got were well animated and had some creative choreography in places, very dynamic angles and shots and the stakes make this match feel huge considering Ash and Alain's history together. It's not perfect, but it is a solid start to the Kalos League Final and I like how Ash is given the slight lead here to show he's gotten much stronger since the last few times he and Alain have thought but Alain is still clearly no pushover as we see Pokémon in his team other than Charizard scoring wins like Weavile and Bisharp.

And now we get to Part 2...

Part 2: The Controversial Ending

Part 2 opens up with Pikachu vs. Charizard. And sadly, like some of the other matches in this battle, it's a pretty rushed one. I mean Pikachu gets defeated before we even get the theme song! What annoys me about this is that Pikachu lands some super-effective Thunderbolts on Charizard yet Charizard barely seems fazed and keeps going. There's making a Pokémon look strong and then there's just taking the mickey. This is taking the mickey, plain and simple. Then again, Alain's Charizard is the same hack Pokémon that somehow defeated Malva's Mega Evolved Houndoom with a Fire attack despite it having the Flash Fire ability so Fire moves shouldn't work on Mega Houndoom so of course Pikachu barely even wounds it. And some fans wonder why we're so damn sick of Charizard and the constant shilling it gets in recent years...

Anyhow, Pikachu gets taken out by a mighty Dragon Claw from Charizard. If Metagross hadn't worn Pikachu out so much, I guarantee this match would've been much closer. Ash sends out Goodra next while Alain withdraws Charizard and sends out Bisharp. Given Ash's Goodra has the worst move pool of any Pokémon he owns (seriously, Dragon Pulse and Ice Beam are fine but what idiot has a Goodra that knows Bide and has Rain Dance but no Water attacks to make use of it?) and Bisharp has that deadly Guillotine attack, it's no surprise that Bisharp wins this one. Poor Goodra, it returned to Ash's team after some time away and like his Noivern, it failed to score a single win in the Kalos League, only able to tie with Sawyer's Slurpuff and lose to Alain's Bisharp. What is it with Ash's Dragon-types having the worst luck in the Kalos League while all his other Pokémon get their time to shine? Ash really should've saved Goodra for Alain's Charizard instead of fighting Bisharp with it. Imagine how tricky it could've been for Charizard with Rain Dance weakening its Fire attacks and if it Mega Evolved, it'd end up being weak to Goodra's Dragon Pulse? Then again, Alain's Charizard is an overpowered beast so it'd somehow have still been able to curbstomp Goodra even with those disadvantages.

So Ash is down to Greninja and after yet another rushed battle, it defeats Bisharp, bringing Alain down to his last Pokémon. As I said, this battle should've been three parts instead of two because so many of these battles feel so rushed. Anyway, the final battle is here, Charizard vs. Greninja, but it's not just a battle between those two. Nope, it's a battle between their super-powered forms: Mega Charizard X and Ash Greninja. Every fan watching this knew it was going to end this way and the stakes feel even bigger when you consider that Ash Greninja has never beaten Mega Charizard X before. But times are different for this is Ash Greninja with the Bond Phenomenon fully in sync and the form stronger than ever before, thus this battle won't be like their previous encounters.

The battle begins with the two fighting in their base forms first and Greninja starts off strong by landing the first hit on Charizard, though Ash VERY confusingly tells Greninja to use Cut when Water Shuriken would've been the better move to use, especially since it was still raining at the time so Charizard could've taken a rain-boosted Water Shuriken and really taken some damage. The rain stops after this and then Greninja and Charizard go into their super forms. It's Mega Charizard X vs. Ash Greninja for the finale, and they succeed in making it feel epic and like a proper finisher for the battle! Seriously, this gets really exciting and dynamic to watch and both forms look so cool in action. What isn't cool is Alain's terrible battle style though. You see, his Charizard knows Thunder Punch, which gives it type-coverage against Greninja, and yet he keeps commanding Mega Charizard to use Dragon Claw or Flamethrower mostly. Just...why?! He literally only tells it to use Thunder Punch ONCE throughout the entire match, and it doesn't even connect because Greninja blocks it with Water Shuriken! Not that it matters anyway because we get a big clash of Water Shuriken and Blast Burn. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

...Greninja takes the fall. Ash yet again loses a League and Alain remains undefeated by him. And that readers is why this match was so controversial. The series was setting Ash up to win, practically HYPING him up to win...and they chickened out at the last minute and made him lose again. It's no wonder that fans were ticked as all hell with this outcome.

Now for me, I didn't see the X and Y series at the time it aired, so I wasn't around at the time this match was being hyped up. I went into this battle already knowing that Ash lost, so I didn't have that same disappointment that everybody else had at the time it aired. Instead, I went in and came out of it seeing WHY everyone was so mad about this outcome. So what do I think to it? Well...I hate it too. Not only is there ZERO reason for Ash to lose here, but they didn't make him lose convincingly. If you watch the battle with Greninja and Charizard, Greninja is CLEARLY on top throughout most of the fight. He's landing most of the hits and Charizard has already taken damage from Pikachu earlier, so therefore Charizard should've been damaged enough for Greninja to take down. And yet because Alain's Charizard is so annoyingly overpowered, it just somehow keeps taking hits and keeps going whereas anytime it lands a hit on its opponents, that seems to do more damage for some reason. And you're seriously expecting me to believe that Blast Burn was enough to finish Greninja off despite Fire attacks not being very effective against Water-types? That was dumb. If Greninja was to realistically lose this fight, then Charizard should've hit it numerous times with Thunder Punch as that would've believably weakened it enough to be defeated. It's not the fact Ash lost that's the problem here, it's that he lost so unbelievably. He didn't lose because Alain was the better opponent, he lost because of Plot Armour, and a VERY blatant example of it no less. The writers should've made his defeat more believable instead of Alain's Charizard just being overpowered and invincible. That was such a lame way to make it win overall.

But hey, something good came out of this at least. As I mentioned, the backlash to this moment was SO enormous that it led to Ash winning the Alola League in the next series and then winning again in Pokémon Journeys by defeating Leon and becoming the next reigning World Monarch. And people say complaining doesn't get you anywhere. XD To think all it took was Ash losing in such a big way to finally get the writers to knock it off with his losing streak and to let him win for once...

Conclusion

Ash vs. Alain is a very controversial battle in the Pokémon anime, and for good reason. Ash lost despite the fact he shouldn't have, but that's neither here nor there. Ignoring the controversial ending, how was the battle overall? Honestly...not that great compared to other battles I've reviewed. Now don't get me wrong, it does have a lot of epic moments and the gorgeous animation makes it look very cool to watch. The problem is that it's so rushed in places! As I said, this should've been a three-parter to allow some of these matches more time to breathe. But mostly, I hate how Alain only won in the end because of the writers turning on his god mode rather than making him look actually strong or skilled. Seriously, you notice how he only wins this match because his Bisharp just happens to know Guillotine, a move that knocks opponents out in one hit? If his Bisharp didn't know Guillotine, he would've lost, plain and simple. It just felt like the writers relied too much on convenience in order for him to win and his Charizard just being overpowered in a pathetic attempt to make him look strong doesn't help. I agree with the fandom, Ash should've won this match and that's an objective fact of life. There was no reason for him to lose here and it's just forever a black mark on what is otherwise a solid season of the anime. If Alain beat Ash more convincingly and the battle wasn't so rushed, then it could've been great. As is, when it comes to six-on-six battles in the X and Y series, I honestly think that Ash vs. Sawyer was a better battle. Maybe I'll cover that some day now I mention it...

And that's it for this essay. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to comment your thoughts down below. Do you think this is a great battle. Do you think it sucks? I'd love to hear all about it.

Join me again tomorrow as I celebrate The Lion King's 30th anniversary by recapping its history. See you then media fans!