Ranking Each Episode of the Pokemon XYZ Team Flare Arc from Good to Great

Image Credit: ShoPro / The Pokemon Company

The Team Flare arc of Pokemon XYZ is considered to be one of the best arcs in the entirety of the anime alongside the Alola League arc and some others. It cumulated all the story arcs of XYZ in an amazing way. So to celebrate the upcoming fourth anniversary of Pokemon XYZ and also to hype up the upcoming darkest day arc, we have decided to rank all the episodes of the Team Flare arc. So that being said, let's now dive into the ranking.

This ranking is based on our opinion. It was a tough one as all of the episodes of this arc are really good. But before getting into the ranking, we are going to nitpick some things about the arc as nothing is perfect. In this arc there are multiple instances where any character is about to get hurt and suddenly another character appears at the last moment to same them. It was repeated so many times that it felt a bit repetitive. So now let's get to our ranking of this amazing arc.

5.Coming Apart at the Dreams! (XYZ40)

Image Credit: ShoPro / The Pokemon Company

Though this episode is quite good, it still feels squished in-between the beginning and the end. This episode strengthens the connection between Mega Evolution Specials and the anime even more. The episode completely breaks down Alain from the inside as shouts "What was I fighting for?". The head Director of Pokémon XY and XYZ Tetsuo Yajima even said in an interview that Alain was meant to be a character who turned to the dark side to save the ones he loved. This goes to show that Alain was more than just a rival.

Another interesting part was how they handled Serena. Exactly 132 episodes ago, she saw Ash on TV helping Garchomp and was inspired. This time, Serena took the charge of saving Chespie. In the earlier parts of XY, she was shown to be bit dependent when it came to doing something risky. It really goes to show how she had matured as a character.

4.Forming a More Perfect Union! (XYZ43)

Image Credit: ShoPro / The Pokemon Company

Here we are, the end of the Team Flare arc. Right of the gate, there is a nitpick about the episode. Some events are repeated quite a lot of times. Specially when Ash and Alain was heading to save Chespie each and every gym leader were getting attacked by the vines and their last words were "Don't look back". Though it was a great line, it was repeated way too many times.

Other than that the episode was quite good. It held up the theme of not giving up very well like all the episodes of the arc. This also helped changed Z2's mindset towards humans and finally help them defeat Lysander. Most of the times introducing an OP character just to defeat the main villain is not a good idea as it devaluates the contribution of other characters. But it was handled very well here as the unending spirit of the other characters was the key to making Zygarde take their side and overpower Lysander.


3.Rocking Kalos Defenses! (XYZ42)

 

Image Credit: ShoPro / The Pokemon Company

This has to be the most hyped episode of the Team Flare arc as it brings together all the gym leaders for the first time in the Pokémon anime. It felt like a Pokémon version of the Avengers. This episode did a great job of building up hype for the end. Another nice touch of this episode was Z2. There are many scenes in this episode where the camera zooms in to Z2 as Z2 starts to rediscover humans and learn to trust them again. A really solid episode holding the theme of the arc in a great way.

2.A Towering Takeover! (XYZ39)

 

Image Credit: ShoPro / The Pokemon Company

The writers did a tremendous job to make the event as terrifying as possible. In most movies and shows even in earlier Pokémon movies and episodes, the viewers are only shown the sufferings of the main characters. The struggles of normal people are hardly shown onscreen. But this episode did a great job in showing people of Lumiose suffer because of the vines. When Lysander broadcasted his plans on Television, we could see people from gym leaders to normal farmers listen to the broadcast confused and frightened.

Another interesting part of the episode was how it handled the characters. The writers nicely showed how everyone played their roles during that massive disaster. League contestants helped civilians which was a small yet very important touch. As it is the responsibility of the strongest trainers of a region. When the grunt make Ash go unconscious, Pikachu desperately try to wake his trainer up and protect him from the grunt's Pokémon even though he was about to get unconscious too. Alain stood there silently letting everything happen as he broke down on the inside regretting and questioning his actions.


1.The Right Hero for the Right Job! (XYZ41)

 

Image Credit: ShoPro / The Pokemon Company

This episode demostrated the determination of our heroes and how far they were willing to go to save the world. Team Rocket also gets to join the action in this episode as they reveal thier identity and help Serena and the gang rescue Chespie. The two strongest trainers of the region, Ash and Alain battle Lysander. Even though Lysander easily takes down many of their Pokémons, our heroes don't give up.

Notice how Ash's words during the battle contrast Lysander's view on humanity. Ash is the one who has faith in humanity and Lysander is the one who used to have faith in humanity. Notice the word 'used to' there. It's because Lysander lost his faith and gave up on humanity whereas Ash is the one who didn't give up on humanity again connecting back to Ash's character trait of 'Never giving up until the end'. Also in a way Lysander is what Ash would become if he gave up on humanity.

But the two biggest highlight of this episode comes from Clemont and Bonnie. Bonnie rescues Squishy by singing the ending theme and the way that scene was structured was marvelous. Finally we see Clemont sacrifice his loyal robot, Clembot to save the people and the Pokémon which again connects back to the second episode of XY where Clemont was inspired by Ash's dedication to help people and Pokémon. Clemont's inventions blew up most of the times during the series but it didn't this time. Clemont always wanted to invent things for the betterment of mankind and this time by sacrificing his loyal friend he was able to do it. It was a nice closure to Clemont's journey. The episode ends with things starting to turn around for our heroes.

So there you go. This was our ranking of all of the episodes of the Team Flare arc. Let us know your ranking in the comments section down below, also if you want us to rank the darkest day arc after it ends. Till then stay safe.