Pokemon Journeys: Masters 8 Tournament

My View on Ash vs Leon the Finals

Another chapter that is not related to my story! Yay! (Ok please don't kill me)

As a beginning writer who is writing about the Masters 8 Tournament, I believe I should comment on this battle. The supposedly most important battle in the 25 years of Pokemon anime history. The supposedly most important battle for our Pallet Town Kantonian, Alola Champion Ash Ketchum. How did it perform? Do you like it? Do I like it? Let's talk about it!

Ash vs Leon is the final Pokemon World Championships battle in the Pokemon Journeys Series, a series that features a lot of character, pokemon, and region returns. It features your boy, the Alola Champion, Ash Ketchum, vs the undefeated Galar and World Champion, Leon. Whoever wins this 6v6 battle will become the World Monarch for this year, proving that he would be the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world! In this series, Ash has a dream to defeat Leon, and to do so, he has beaten up a bunch of other competitive trainers, including Galar Gym Leaders Bea and Raihan, Hoenn Champion Steven, and even Sinnoh Champion Cynthia. This final match gives him the potential chance to achieve this goal.

Ash battles with his Dragonite, Sirfetch'd, Z-move and G-Max Pikachu, G-max Gengar, Mega Lucario, and Dracovish. Leon dukes it out with his Dragapult, Inteleon, G-max Cinderace, Mr. Rime, Rilaboom, and G-max Charizard. So, how did the match turn out?

This ultimate battle started in episode 129 and ended in episode 132, a four-episode-long battle that was similar to Ash vs Kukui back in Sun and Moon. But it really started in episode 128, where Leon's full team was revealed. Revealing the final boss's full team early was something that was never seen before, and if you ask me, I don't like Leon's team.

First of all, where is Aegislash? The Galar game is literally called Sword and Shield, so if the anime wants to promote this game through the anime, why doesn't Leon have an Aegislash, a literal sword and shield? Why would it have no chance to battle Ash's Sirfetch'd, who also yields a sword and a shield? That would have been epic. Missed Opportunity x 1!

Second, where is Urshifu? I know it's owned by the two Project Mew Chasers, but it should have been Leon's pokemon. In the games, Leon was once the previous Monarch, Mustard's student. Where is he in the anime? Gone! Where is Urshifu, the pokemon which would evolve from the Kubfu given by Mustard? Gone! What about Leon's backstory? Gone whatsoever. The only thing we know about Leon's past was that he grew up with Professor Sonia, got a Charmander, got recognized by Chairman Rose, and then was undefeated for more than 100 matches. I do not understand why he is not receiving the Alain treatment of having a complete backstory. If he is the final obstacle that Ash has to go through, then he needs the build-up to show to us his strength completely. I have talked about this before, so Missed Opportunity x 2!

Third, where is Eternatus? If he is not used by Leon, why would Goh give him this pokemon the day before the final battle starts? What is the point of showing this pokemon to us the audience again? Just to catch our eyeballs in the preview? I thought that's what they are up to! My opinion is that, either Leon uses Eternatus, or that scene of Goh giving Leon Eternatus should not even exist in the first place. Missed Opportunity x 3! (After watching the final episode, I was kind of convinced that it is here to G-max both sides of pokemon, which is good, but I am not sure if the cliffhanger is necessary)

If you ask me, the ideal Leon's team would be G-Max Leonzard, G-Max Broken Monkey, Sword and Shield, Ghost Dragon, The Ice Clown, and Urshifu / Eternatus (either one). I would say Urshifu would be a better choice because Eternatus is too dangerous to the audience in the Stadium since it broke the audience protection net earlier. Urshifu's existence also implied that Leon has at least finally completed Mustard's challenge in the Towers of the Two Fists. It is also calm and collected, a champion trait Leon has.