SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion

[precita]

Battling was not interesting when plot-o-meter was the whole point of the battle

You refering to the contest point bar? There was only a small handful of contests that bar didn't make sense, for the rest of them they barely showed it or it was believeable.

Either way it was still battling. May and Dawn simply have the most (and best) battles of all the female leads in the anime so far. The fact that Japan is almost 89 episodes into XY already and Serena has only had like 3 battles (outside of Team Rocket) in her entire run says enough.

 

[Yveltal]

I dunno, I just watched the episode where Serena won her first Princess key, and they just kind of sailed through that episode. The crisis wasn't really heavy enough, they spent too much time talking about the competition and not enough time fleshing out the way Serena processes that "oh shit, it's happening again" moment. Even for an episode that was supposed to be about getting by with help from her friends, I kind of wish they had a stronger moment where she regained her resolve after a horrific flashback. They really should have broken that up into two episodes if they wanted to flesh out the Tripokalon universe and still show how it affects Serena.

Also, May was only ever tormented according to Harvey, she was way too aloof for that to ever be a direct point of character development.

 

[Norne]

You refering to the contest point bar? There was only a small handful of contests that bar didn't make sense, for the rest of them they barely showed it or it was believeable.

Either way it was still battling. May and Dawn simply have the most (and best) battles of all the female leads in the anime so far. The fact that Japan is almost 89 episodes into XY already and Serena has only had like 3 battles (outside of Team Rocket) in her entire run says enough.

I beg to differ, some of Iris battles where decent enough to overshadow dawn and may, namely excadrill post rebond and dragonite as he started to warm up to her, the one vs Krokodile was both a crowning moment of badass for both dragonite and Krokodile despite it being the moment of glory for Ash.

 

[precita]

I beg to differ, some of Iris battles where decent enough to overshadow dawn and may, namely excadrill post rebond and dragonite as he started to warm up to her, the one vs Krokodile was both a crowning moment of badass for both dragonite and Krokodile despite it being the moment of glory for Ash.

Well yeah Iris had a few good battles too, but still not many outside the tournaments. I wish they would bring those tournaments back for XY too, but it doesn't seem like they will.

Also, May was only ever tormented according to Harvey, she was way too aloof for that to ever be a direct point of character development.

May was literally the focus of all the character development in Hoenn, especially with her rivals.

 

[mertyville]

Is it just me or did Dawn lose all the battles she should have won and won the ones she didn't deserve to win?

 

[LightningLord2]

Dawn is just a character thrown in to be so outrageously unlikable that it makes Ash look good in comparison. What you should look out for is the moments a person wins with an appeal concept which was deemed a terrible idea in an earlier episode.

Why can't we give the female character a chance to be tough trainers as well? All the females are being pushed into doing stupid contest shit. Instead of doing contest-like crap, we should have Serena collect badges as well.

 

[Cresselia~~]

Dawn is just a character thrown in to be so outrageously unlikable that it makes Ash look good in comparison. What you should look out for is the moments a person wins with an appeal concept which was deemed a terrible idea in an earlier episode.

Why can't we give the female character a chance to be tough trainers as well? All the females are being pushed into doing stupid contest shit. Instead of doing contest-like crap, we should have Serena collect badges as well.

I think it might be because the Japanese people hated Misty.
She's the most hated and least liked female Pokemon character of all times (in Japan).
Iris is another one that they disliked.

On the other hand, Serena is the most popular among them.

 

[Norne]

Dawn was famous... For the wrong reasons if I recall.

 

[Cresselia~~]

Dawn was famous... For the wrong reasons if I recall.

Well... at least perverts liked her pink skirt and the way she throws the Pokeball.

 

[Karxrida]

Yeah, let's not.

 

[precita]

Why can't we give the female character a chance to be tough trainers as well? All the females are being pushed into doing stupid contest shit. Instead of doing contest-like crap, we should have Serena collect badges as well.

What do you expect them to do with female characters? They either do Contests or essentially do nothing outside the odd episode and act as foils to argue with Ash (Misty and Iris). They're never going to have a girl do the Gym quest because they don't want to show every Gym battle twice. Can you imagine how boring it would be for Ash to beat the Gym leader and then watch the girl do the same thing in the next episode?

I mean after 5 female leads what do you expect? Misty's role diminished in Johto when the writers realized she had nothing to do in the anime anymore, and Contests were brand new in the games at the time when Ruby/Sapphire came out. There's literally nothing else for the writers to give the female character to do.

 

[mertyville]

A female rival would be much better from whom we would see the parts of her adventure (some episodes with no ash in it wouldn't hurt) and maybe show some of her gym battles and skip some of Ash instead.
But I guess japanese viewers don't care about interesting female characters but rather more of a waifu kind one or bitchy one without much character development.
Serena is probobly the only exception, because shipping and stuff. I wonder how many people actually care about her real struggles in a contest rather than will she tell Ash that she loves him.

 

[precita]

During BW they could have made Hilda a rival for Ash since Iris was the travel companion but they chose to ignore the BW heroines entirely. I always did wish Ash got a strong female rival but the ones he did have were usually used as comic relief and treated as jokes like Casey from Johto or Bianca in BW.

Also Serena's character is largely based off the idol craze going on in Japan lately. Many anime also have a female character who is an "unrequited waifu" to the male lead, where she's too shy to tell him she likes him and just tags along. Its likely why Serena's crush is such a huge part of her character because that's her role on the show.

I don't really care about shipping much especially in Pokemon where we know it'll go nowhere, but Serena's crush is played for humor purposes so I don't mind it.

 

[LightningLord2]

I just counted through the number of female trainers to participate in Pokémon League Conferences - there's eight in total, of something over fifty characters in total. Also, the male characters do get a fair share of opportunities to show their gym battling skills:

-Gary's infamous ten badge display
-Paul beating Roark on-screen and defeating Maylene.

Feel free to mention other examples if I missed any.

 

[Roseguardin]

I just counted through the number of female trainers to participate in Pokémon League Conferences - there's eight in total, of something over fifty characters in total. Also, the male characters do get a fair share of opportunities to show their gym battling skills:

-Gary's infamous ten badge display
-Paul beating Roark on-screen and defeating Maylene.


Feel free to mention other examples if I missed any.

Barry showing off at random occasions against other trainers, I vaguely recall a Mothim being involved at one point.

 

[precita]

Dawn also battled Maylene, Cilan battled Skyla, Iris battled both Drayden and Claire, and May battled Wattson's assistant.

But those are all one-off things. If they had to show all 8 Gym leaders beaten twice it would be overkill. That's why if one of Ash's companions do battle Gym leaders its just a one-off thing. And they always lose because they're not going to show Ash's friends win a badge obviously.

 

[Yveltal]

If they did away with Ash, they could feasibly have a female lead that cares about badges and competition. The problem is already having a character that focuses on being the best, so it's left up to the side character to have a goal at being the best at some distraction. Which, really, isn't fair.

 

[precita]

If they did away with Ash, they could feasibly have a female lead that cares about badges and competition. The problem is already having a character that focuses on being the best, so it's left up to the side character to have a goal at being the best at some distraction. Which, really, isn't fair.

I always liked the idea of a series with a female lead who does Gyms and having two male sidekicks. That will probably never happen though.

The problem also is the games never really had any other major sidequests outside of Contests. Stuff like the Battle Frontier falls under regular battling so of course Ash does that too. Other than that there was what...Pokeathlon from HGSS? They never really had a good sidequest to promote on the level of Contests in the anime.

 

[Pikachu315111]

So anyone want to discuss the newest anime news?

Hide

Things Revealed:
1. New season of the anime will be called "XY & Z".
2. It'll come along with the Act 4 of the Mega Evolution special, possibly connecting both series together. This may also mean Alain will meet Ash & co. (though no signs of Mairin).
3. Plot will involve Zygarde (and its new formes) and Team Flare (including Lysandre, Xerosic, and the female scientists). Bonnie looks to befriend one of the Zygarde Cores.
4. Ash's Frogadier evolves into Greninja. Ash's Greninja is special as it slightly resembles aspects of its trainer and also wields water blades which it stores in a water sheath strapped to its back.
5. Ash's Noibat evolves into Noivern.
6. A Mega Sceptile is seen in the background. Current speculation is that its Ash's (though Ash doesn't look to be wearing a Key Stone on him).
7. In the background Anistar City's Sundial can be seen. With its connection to Mega Evolution it may have an important role in the plot.

Out of all this info the only real opinion I have is on the Mega Sceptile. If it is Ash's I'm kind of disappointed it isn't Mega Charizard Y as I would have liked to see a Mega Charizard battle between Ash and Alain. However I can understand why, Ash already has a Fire/Flying, and if I were to pick a second choice it would be Sceptile (though Ash also has a Glalie and Heracross, not to mention a Gible, Bulbasaur, and currently away Squirtle. Oh, and a Pidgeot he promised to go back for...).

 

[Brytmonlee]

4. Ash's Frogadier evolves into Greninja. Ash's Greninja is special as it slightly resembles aspects of its trainer and also wields water blades which it stores in a water sheath strapped to its back.

It will be interesting to see how Serena's Pancham will interact with Greninga, seeing as though it is a Dark type and Pancham evolve around Dark types. And how Serena would react to having Pancham's cuteness "messed up" before a Showcase.

 

[Norne]

Jotaro bear is love, Jotaro bear is life, so screw pancham cuteness.

 

[mertyville]

would be hilarious of the next game is called Pokemon XY & Z...that would piss a lot of fans off.

 

[Antihaxxer]

It s probably Shooty Mega Sceptile. He has a rivalry with Frogadier

 

[LightningLord2]

I always liked the idea of a series with a female lead who does Gyms and having two male sidekicks. That will probably never happen though.

The problem also is the games never really had any other major sidequests outside of Contests. Stuff like the Battle Frontier falls under regular battling so of course Ash does that too. Other than that there was what...Pokeathlon from HGSS? They never really had a good sidequest to promote on the level of Contests in the anime.

The Anime occasionally (almost all the time) forgets that the Elite 4 exists, too.

 

[Fluke]

So watching the Genesect vs. Mewtwo movie. It's official that Mewtwo is unique. Unlike some other legendaries, Mewtwo is unique. The only Mewtwo in existence.

And yet he still doesn't recognize Satoshi, the one kid that was supposed to have thought him to respect and love Pokemon. I'm rustled.

I mean I understand Satoshi not recognizing Mewtwo since Mewtwo erased their memory in the first movie but why doesn't Mewtwo recognize Satoshi? Technically this is the 3rd time they meet. Or at least 2nd if we don't count the Mewtwo returns movie.