Lucario VS Renamon

Hm, well this is an interesting matchup. As far as I've seen it, when this episode was first announced the base was split into three groups. There was the group who were hyped because its a matchup that was heavily requested and one of the more popular episode ideas. There was the group who hated it becoming a reality because they thought it was Pokemon VS Digimon 2 and/or both combatants were being heavily limited in this fight and then there was the camp I was in which was... just didn't care. It was a DB like any other as far as I could tell so I didn't make a big fuss about it. As for the conditions of the fight, it was a good way to analyze a Pokemon VS Digimon fight by enacting the 'No outside help rule' and while both combatants actually can evolve further another stage on their own, I doubt it would've made a difference.  Onto the review!

Analysis

Now because this episode deals with no specific individual of the species, the background for Lucario is naturally a bit slim. However, ti does manage to keep the rundown interesting and even manages to make a good joke abut the reality of getting your own movie. After that Lucario's analysis progresses more akin to the ones in Lara VS Nate but was still able to keep it interesting due to Wiz and Boomstick listing off moves/techniques rather than feats of what Lucario had accomplished. It also gives an informative rundown on aura and how Lucario can use it in varying ways. Also I loved the Goku reference though it's bound to piss some fanboys off due to Goku VS Superman. The feats section is also pretty informative with detailing the speed needed for FTE capabilities (9,000 mph which is more than 11 times the speed of sound. I guess Lucario is also faster than Sonic, sorry still salty about that) as well as Magmar's body temperature, also great foreshadowing to Mcgruff the Crime Dog VS Smokey the Bear. Now notably this rundown does use the calc omission trap but its more subtle so that you won't realize it and accomplishes this via giving other statistics while omitting the one that truly matters and as such I won't deduct points for it.

Renamon's analysis progresses much like Lucario's with a slimmed down background (justifiably) before moving onto techniques and feats. It offers an interesting piece of trivia on how Renamon was based on a Kitsune and uses this as a means to justify her "ghost fire". It does give an enlightening statistic on how much PSI it would take to crack 8 inches of blue ice (and because of the different size/volume, this is not contradictory to Sub-Zero VS Glacius. It also tries to fool the audience by using the calc omission trap via the air slashing through concrete feat but we never find out how powerful this is. Also that ending joke was great. Not unexpected but still pretty great.

However, one problem I do have with the analysis is that because they are slimmed down, half of the information you get is already covered in the previews and as shown by the run time (the SA version is a mere 13 minutes long), the episode as a whole feels a bit more like filler. By the time the analysis are done there' s approximately 3 and half minutes left in the episode. I give the analysis a 6.5 out of 10.

Animation

Now I'm not too familiar with Aquila's animations. I started to lose interest in One Minute Melee and as such I only really recall her doing Mega Man VS Astro Boy (as a replacement after Mali had quit) and as of recent the Noel VS Aigis DBX which while good could've been improved upon. As such I didn't really know what to expect for this animation.

Well one nitpick I have with this animation is that despite both being acknowledged to speak English, only Renamon has dialogue. Lucario just kinda growls and while I could accept it for Hulk VS Doomsday, that was because Doomsday really did just growl as opposed to being an intelligent creature like Lucario.

The fight itself is actually surprisingly fast-paced with both combatant's moving faster than the eye could see at one point. Renamon gets off a few good combos and Lucario counters accordingly and I did not expect him to use Aura Storm in the animation considering it wasn't covered in the analysis (not that its a bad thing). 

Notably this is one of the few animations where both combatants use their most powerful attacks right from the start which I think fits into the combatants personalities. Typically the animation leaves the most powerful attacks for last to amp up the drama. For example the last fight had Zero having the upper hand but we knew the fight wasn't over because Metal Sonic had still not transformed into Metal Overlord and the fight before that also used this in regards to Binary. This does not take away from the drama though as Renamon successfully impales Lucario with Diamond Storm... only to have Lucario power through it like a boss before executing a killer combo finishing by impalng Renamon's throat with Bone Rush and frankly the whole sequence is awesome. I give this animation an 8 out 10.

Conclusion

The conclusion has a very reasonable outcome justifying the advantages each combatant had. It highlights that Renamon held the speed advantage due to being more experienced and using it more consistently. It also makes note of Lucario's advantages using Aura, allowing him to easily detect Renamon, and having a superior arsenal. Finally it makes note of Lucario's ability to increase it's stats and points out its absolutely massive strength advantage being able to hit with about 50,000 PSI more than Renamon can. Although I wasn't impressed with Boomstick reusing a pun from a past battle (H2Owned, Lucariowned). The conclusion gets a 7.5/10 bringing the total to 22 out of 30 or 73%.