SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I refuse to let this thread die.

Anyway, what hopes did you have for XY when it started, and how did they turn out?
 
Anyway, what hopes did you have for XY when it started, and how did they turn out?
I have to say, I didn't have high hopes for this season, what with how shit BW was, imo. But I was pleasantly surprised and shocked by how the series has changed. The battles look spectacular, I LIKE Clemont, Bonnie, and especially Serena a lot! (Fuck you Cilan and Iris. :P) The writers are coming out of their comfort zones and making some darker and well-written content, like the Espurr and Malamar episodes (Yikes). There's even a small fraction of romance thrown in, and Bonnie is funny af with the "Marry my brother" bit, best one so far! (Sorry Brock) All in all, I really like XY, and I can't wait to watch more! My only complaint is that the series is actually moving fast through one of the longest parts of the game, it's new for Pokemon but not unexpected with how long BW was. Also, Serena is kinda on the backburner atm, she needs more story imo.
 
I just don't like the fact Ash has never won the Pokemon League in any region. He worked so hard to earn all 8 badges, and it was really gay how he lost to a guy using Darkrai and Latios in the Sinnoh League. ;-; Plus, it always seems that Pikachu resets to Level 1 whenever Ash goes to another region; Pikachu manages to lose to the weakest Pokemon in the anime and you'd think it'd already be at Level 100 by now, smh.
 

Eduardo2013

Banned deucer.
Paul is easily the best rival Ash had even more so than Gary the fact that they were complete opposite and the chimchar that joined them together. It was amazing how each of their battles really put themselves to the edge. I would be surprised to ever see another rival like Paul. The Sinnoh arc is easily the best in my opinion, then jhoto comes in second.
 
I tried watching the first episode of Black and White only to stop early on for one reason. No, not the narrator saying Ash is still ten. It's when Team Rocket try to steal Pikachu (for the 4,294,967,296* time, no less). Ash demands to know who is attempting to steal Pikachu. Seriously? They've chased you over Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. You think he would have caught on.
Now, a different story:
I'm currently working on getting the Gold Trainer Card in Y since it is actually very easy to do (I'm currently working on seeing all the Pokémon in the Kalos Dex then on to the Battle Maison!). While doing this, I'm watching old episodes on Netflix. The first one I pick is one I owned on VHS and watched a lot: "The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémopolis". I'm at the part where the giant Alakazam fights the giant Gengar and I noticed something. It made my jaw drop and also made me wonder how I didn't notice it as a kid. At one point, when the Alakazam attacks, the sound is identical to the sound the DeLorean makes as it travels through time in the Back to the Future series. The reason this shocks me is that Back to the Future is my favorite movie of all time and it has been that since before I ever heard of Pokémon. I've probably seen those movies as many times as Team Rocket has blasted off. I have no clue how this avoided my attention for over a decade.
Apparently, this isn't the only time this sound was used:



*Bonus points to whoever catches the significance of that number in Pokémon!!!
 
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Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
From what I've read about, Team Flare hasn't shown up despite them appearing twice in the games by this point. WTF writers?
 

Eduardo2013

Banned deucer.
So I was watching the unova league today and what a joke they made of it. They used a terrible battling format of 3v3 and the way the battling was going is just unbearable. Rival is about lose so let's make him win by evolving riolu that's just terrible writing in my opinion. Overall unova's anime seasons were the weakest. The only thing I enjoyed about it was the flashbacks to his old pokemon and the islands after the league, other than that it was terrible writing.
 

cant say

twitch.tv/jakecantsay
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So I was watching the unova league today and what a joke they made of it. They used a terrible battling format of 3v3 and the way the battling was going is just unbearable. Rival is about lose so let's make him win by evolving riolu that's just terrible writing in my opinion. Overall unova's anime seasons were the weakest. The only thing I enjoyed about it was the flashbacks to his old pokemon and the islands after the league, other than that it was terrible writing.
Hmmm I'm not sure, I kinda liked the Unova series. At least this time there was a reason Pikachu couldn't win it's first fight (Zekrom) instead of Ash just becoming brain dead all of a sudden. I definitely liked how Team Rocket weren't doing their regular 'steal Pikachu' thing every episode and actually looked a little organised in their plans. I actually really enjoyed the few episodes that Meowth spent with them before meeting up with Team Rocket at the Battle Subway. I think the Pokemon Cast were my favourites out of any series, Axew got a few laughs out of me and how can you not love Emolga!? You also got to travel back around Unova again to see the extra areas that BW2 brought before entering the league (better than other seasons filler episodes between gym 8 and the league). I really enjoyed the Meloetta arc as well. I think what they did with the league was alright too, they at least showcased Riolu/Lucario well which was about the same time kids would be starting up their BW2, and Riolu is an early game 'mon there so I can imagine tonnes of kids catching one just because of the anime. I haven't seen much after Ash got his Charizard back but up to that point I've been pretty satisfied with the Unova series
 

Eduardo2013

Banned deucer.
Hmmm I'm not sure, I kinda liked the Unova series. At least this time there was a reason Pikachu couldn't win it's first fight (Zekrom) instead of Ash just becoming brain dead all of a sudden. I definitely liked how Team Rocket weren't doing their regular 'steal Pikachu' thing every episode and actually looked a little organised in their plans. I actually really enjoyed the few episodes that Meowth spent with them before meeting up with Team Rocket at the Battle Subway. I think the Pokemon Cast were my favourites out of any series, Axew got a few laughs out of me and how can you not love Emolga!? You also got to travel back around Unova again to see the extra areas that BW2 brought before entering the league (better than other seasons filler episodes between gym 8 and the league). I really enjoyed the Meloetta arc as well. I think what they did with the league was alright too, they at least showcased Riolu/Lucario well which was about the same time kids would be starting up their BW2, and Riolu is an early game 'mon there so I can imagine tonnes of kids catching one just because of the anime. I haven't seen much after Ash got his Charizard back but up to that point I've been pretty satisfied with the Unova series
Yea the arc with meloetta was nice and the 3 genies I do admit that was amazing writing but that was team rockets plan, team plasma didn't do much for me in this series compared to what team galactic brought in the Sinnoh arc. Also having dawn return for a little while was pretty cool but when you think about how dawn was her own character and she had her own goals in Sinnoh it gave more creativity in developing her character. With Iris and Cilan I feel for the most part they were just there to accompany ash and not really contribute anything story wise.
 

cant say

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Yea the arc with meloetta was nice and the 3 genies I do admit that was amazing writing but that was team rockets plan, team plasma didn't do much for me in this series compared to what team galactic brought in the Sinnoh arc. Also having dawn return for a little while was pretty cool but when you think about how dawn was her own character and she had her own goals in Sinnoh it gave more creativity in developing her character. With Iris and Cilan I feel for the most part they were just there to accompany ash and not really contribute anything story wise.
Yeah but I guess that's sorta what happens with Ash's sidekicks though, it's not really fair to compare them to the likes of Brock, Misty etc coz they were around for longer so they actually got a chance to develop. The only reason it feels like May/Dawn feel developed as characters is because they've had cameos since their main series where we find out what they did since then. I'm sure Cilan and Iris will pop up sometime and a whole bunch of stuff will have happened to them. But really, we're asking for character development of sidekicks to a main character who resets every time he reaches a new land. Not going to happen I'm afraid :(
 
In my opinion, I do not think there's a "Level" system in the anime. It's probably more of the Pokémon's experience instead of level. For instance, it's practically impossible for a Level 100 Pikachu to lose to a Level 5 Snivy.

Apperantly, the "anime world" seems to be different than the "game world". Yeah, Ash's Pikachu seems to lose to newb Pokés. This is one of the reasons why I speculate that the anime doesn't use a level-system at all, and more of experience.

As you see, it's sometimes natural that experienced people get beaten up by newbies. I also think that a Pokemon having its level reset wouldn't make any sense.
 
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Yeah, the degree to which the anime adheres to the games varies from episode to episode. I still remember when, all the way back in the first series (I'm very much an "anime genwunner") Pikachu could suddenly fry Onix with his Thunderbolt because the sprinklers had been switched on...

Also, Vader_the_White I know it's a really late response but the number you posted is the number of possible spot patterns on a Spinda...
 
Yeah, the degree to which the anime adheres to the games varies from episode to episode. I still remember when, all the way back in the first series (I'm very much an "anime genwunner") Pikachu could suddenly fry Onix with his Thunderbolt because the sprinklers had been switched on...
Well, that does resemble the Generation V move Soak, which changes the target's type to pure Water.

Also, Vader_the_White I know it's a really late response but the number you posted is the number of possible spot patterns on a Spinda...
Here's one internet. Don't spend it all in one place.
 

Hulavuta

keeps the varmints on the run
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I tried watching the first episode of Black and White only to stop early on for one reason. No, not the narrator saying Ash is still ten. It's when Team Rocket try to steal Pikachu (for the 4,294,967,296* time, no less). Ash demands to know who is attempting to steal Pikachu. Seriously? They've chased you over Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. You think he would have caught on.
I think it's important here to make the distinction of why this is such a terrible thing. It actually isn't because the disguise is so obvious and we're outraged that Ash could fall for something so silly. Some people have a hard time letting this one go, but the Pokemon anime is a kid's cartoon. Cartoons always have little gags like the obvious disguise, just look at stuff like Spongebob or Tom and Jerry where the disguise is literally just a mustache or some lipstick and paper mache. Even shows that did have a focus on a strong plot did this once in a while and were funny, Avatar for example (Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third anyone?). It's dramatic irony, that's the joke, and it has been proven in other shows that it can be genuinely funny.

The real complaint here, which you did mention, is that the gag is just so overused. People have mentioned that the writers did cut down on this in the Unova series, but yeah, for the most part this was a once-an-episode deal. It wasn't so much the actual gag we hate, it was just the tedium. It's just predictable. Every single time you watch an episode, you know there is going to be that few minutes of Team Rocket having some scheme to steal Pikachu and you just wanna hurry up and get it out of the way so you can actually see what's new about the episode. Honestly, it ruins an episode that would otherwise, despite being simple, actually be genuinely interesting to me if they didn't try to shoehorn in Team Rocket.

It's no surprise that most people's favorite episodes either do not contain Team Rocket or are episodes where Team Rocket does something new and interesting. It's actually quite a shame because Team Rocket as a trio actually has a great dynamic going on, one that is unfortunately made boring by formulaic writing and copypasta encounters with Ash and company (plus whoever the characters of the day happen to be).
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
I think it's important here to make the distinction of why this is such a terrible thing. It actually isn't because the disguise is so obvious and we're outraged that Ash could fall for something so silly. Some people have a hard time letting this one go, but the Pokemon anime is a kid's cartoon. Cartoons always have little gags like the obvious disguise, just look at stuff like Spongebob or Tom and Jerry where the disguise is literally just a mustache or some lipstick and paper mache. Even shows that did have a focus on a strong plot did this once in a while and were funny, Avatar for example (Bonzu Pippinpaddleopsicopolis the Third anyone?). It's dramatic irony, that's the joke, and it has been proven in other shows that it can be genuinely funny.

The real complaint here, which you did mention, is that the gag is just so overused. People have mentioned that the writers did cut down on this in the Unova series, but yeah, for the most part this was a once-an-episode deal. It wasn't so much the actual gag we hate, it was just the tedium. It's just predictable. Every single time you watch an episode, you know there is going to be that few minutes of Team Rocket having some scheme to steal Pikachu and you just wanna hurry up and get it out of the way so you can actually see what's new about the episode. Honestly, it ruins an episode that would otherwise, despite being simple, actually be genuinely interesting to me if they didn't try to shoehorn in Team Rocket.

It's no surprise that most people's favorite episodes either do not contain Team Rocket or are episodes where Team Rocket does something new and interesting. It's actually quite a shame because Team Rocket as a trio actually has a great dynamic going on, one that is unfortunately made boring by formulaic writing and copypasta encounters with Ash and company (plus whoever the characters of the day happen to be).
What makes this even worse is that TR are surprisingly developed and complex characters that could easily carry the show if the writers wanted to. Meowth taught himself how to talk to impress someone he loved. James is a rich kid that ran away from home and is actually a really nice guy. Jessie came from a impovorished background (can't remember anything else about her lol but you get what I'm saying). They all also have legitimate skills that would make them tons of money and "going straight" would be pretty easy if they jut gave up on Pikachu.

It's honestly quite sad to see these interesting characters wasted on such a mediocre and repetitive show. If someone told me that they got their own spin off I would watch it in a heartbeat.
 
But levels have been mentioned in the series (such as when Pidgey evolves in "The School of Hard-Knocks).
Interesting point, yes. But I'm probably thinking it could probably have both/either a "level" and/or "experience" system, or something different, I guess. I likely have seen other experienced trainers losing to rookies.

I tried watching the first episode of Black and White only to stop early on for one reason. No, not the narrator saying Ash is still ten. It's when Team Rocket try to steal Pikachu (for the 4,294,967,296* time, no less). Ash demands to know who is attempting to steal Pikachu. Seriously? They've chased you over Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. You think he would have caught on.
Agreed. It's annoying to see the same thing over and over again in 99% of the Pokemon episodes. The battles mostly involve Team Rocket, making the anime... slightly boring. While Pokemon is a kids' show, the concept of having Team Rocket chase down Ash's Pikachu is a lame, overused plot. Hehe, it's funny that Team Rocket never gave up and chased Ash's Pikachu for a million of times now.

Yes, I also disagree on Team Rocket stalking on Ash 'n Co. everyday. Again, good point you have there. :)
 

cant say

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Probably double team, in the anime speed =/= evasion (being able to dodge hits). If it keeps double team then Ash could hax his way to victory haha
 
And Froakie already have one :)

The worst spam thing was Quick Attack in early Hoenn : Pikachu, Treecko, Taillow SPAM QUICK ATTACK
 

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