Any battle you are forced to lose...that battle in Ni No Kuni is one of the big reasons why I stopped playing the game (coupled by the fact that it just wasn't very good). After repeating the battle numerous times and grinding for over an hour I finally found out that it was a forced loss scenario....
All of the "bosses" in Mass Effect 1 have been pretty garbage too, but thats mostly because the combat in general is terrible.