SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion

Next up in Pokemon Horizons, starting October 31, we head to Blueberry Academy for a training arc.

Lacey and Drayton will be making their anime debut!

I'd imagine also Crispin and Amarys, if you're going to show two members of the BB League might as well show off all four.

There's also Cyrano and Briar. Now Briar will likely be the reason why they go to Blueberry Academy, they had called her to ask a question about using Pagogo's power to get rid of the Laquium but she was busy with her book at the moment so would call them back when she had the time. So she'll probably tell them to visit her in Blueberry Academy where they could also get some training. Cyrano is a toss-up as him appearing would just be for a cameo.

Now the real question is, what about Carmine and Kieran? Carmine had made an appearance but it was more just a cameo as focus than shifted to Briar, though she said she was a student of Briar's. If they want to set up the Kieran story as a side plot this would be the time to do it. I can see them making the "current" BB League having Drayton the Champion and Carmine being the 4th EF member before Crispin; Kieran would also be part of the League Club though be is Teal Mask-self. Kieran will befriend the Rising Volt Tacklers, likely start looking up to Roy specifically. Before the end of the BB arc they'd go to Kitikami, probably cause the Countryside Harvest Festival is occurring again and Kieran would of course invite them, where a truncated version of the Teal Mask story will play out. In the end, Ogerpon will want to join up with the Rising Volt Tacklers, and in the final episode of the BB arc, as the Rising Volt Tacklers leave (with Ogerpon now part of the crew), we'd get the scene of an angry Kieran swearing he'll become stronger. Then we'll put that all to the side for the main plot to advance until an evitable return to Blueberry Academy would reveal a shake up had happened with the League Club...
 
The anime advertising 2-year old Scarlet/Violet DLC over the upcoming Z-A game is crazy. I know it's getting a short 3-parter about it at Lumiose but nothing for the game characters or other new Mega's.

Blueberry academy arc should of happened last year or something, lol. This has got to be the first time the anime advertised something so late.
 
The anime advertising 2-year old Scarlet/Violet DLC over the upcoming Z-A game is crazy. I know it's getting a short 3-parter about it at Lumiose but nothing for the game characters or other new Mega's.

Blueberry academy arc should of happened last year or something, lol. This has got to be the first time the anime advertised something so late.
I'm still making my way through Horizons right now but isn't the show already a very long-winded advertisement for The Indigo Disk? It's not like further advertisement changes much.

Plus the crew semi-randomly visited Galar early on. That seems like a late advertisement right there.
 
The anime advertising 2-year old Scarlet/Violet DLC over the upcoming Z-A game is crazy. I know it's getting a short 3-parter about it at Lumiose but nothing for the game characters or other new Mega's.

Blueberry academy arc should of happened last year or something, lol. This has got to be the first time the anime advertised something so late.

But you see Pokemon Company requiring the writers to actually include locations, characters, and plot points from the games when they would be most prevalent would be getting in the way of the writers trying to smoosh the story they created into the Pokemon setting... I mean the writer's "vision".
 
Usually the anime tends to ignore post-game stuff, with Emerald's Battle Frontier being the only exception. For example:

- The Sevii Islands from FR/LG never really appeared in the anime, at least for Ash. I think the Richie special with Moltres was set there though for 1 ep.

- Sinnoh/Johto's Battle Frontier never appeared in the anime. Only Palmer (Barry's father) got an episode because he was in the DP games before Platinum. The rest of those Frontier Brains never got anime appearances in DP.

- The BW2 tournament thing in the games was never featured in any of the BW anime seasons, with all the old Gym leaders coming back.

- In the XY anime, the Looker/Emma plot was never used. I guess that's why Emma is appearing now.

- In SM, of course they basically ignored the whole Ultra Recon thing an alternate dimension stuff, or the Battle Tree, and all that other stuff back then.

- In JN, the two guys with the big hair (forgot their names) from Sword/Shield's post game never appeared.


Honestly the only big exception was Emerald's Battle Frontier, which they used in AG because Hoenn ended in 2005 and they needed to do something to fill 1 year till the DP games came out. It worked well since it gave Ash his biggest challenge at the time, and they were able to give May a second region of Contests (something Dawn or Serena didn't get), since they had extra time for that gen.
 
Usually the anime tends to ignore post-game stuff, with Emerald's Battle Frontier being the only exception. For example:

- The Sevii Islands from FR/LG never really appeared in the anime, at least for Ash. I think the Richie special with Moltres was set there though for 1 ep.

- Sinnoh/Johto's Battle Frontier never appeared in the anime. Only Palmer (Barry's father) got an episode because he was in the DP games before Platinum. The rest of those Frontier Brains never got anime appearances in DP.

- The BW2 tournament thing in the games was never featured in any of the BW anime seasons, with all the old Gym leaders coming back.

- In the XY anime, the Looker/Emma plot was never used. I guess that's why Emma is appearing now.

- In SM, of course they basically ignored the whole Ultra Recon thing an alternate dimension stuff, or the Battle Tree, and all that other stuff back then.

- In JN, the two guys with the big hair (forgot their names) from Sword/Shield's post game never appeared.


Honestly the only big exception was Emerald's Battle Frontier, which they used in AG because Hoenn ended in 2005 and they needed to do something to fill 1 year till the DP games came out. It worked well since it gave Ash his biggest challenge at the time, and they were able to give May a second region of Contests (something Dawn or Serena didn't get), since they had extra time for that gen.
More pertinent to this latest announcement is how Journeys didn't even have the Isle of Armor and its Crown Tundra adaptation was pretty pathetic (No Galar birds, Calyrex or Peony, not even as one-offs)
 
The latest episode as of this post has something pretty notable occur: a guest appearance of notable character who appeared in the previous anime series!

Though we've had Nurse Joys (though at this point I wouldn't be surprised if they would be considered the go-to generic "Pokemon Center nurse" archetype somewhat canon in most Pokemon-related media), Steven Stone himself appears via a flashback on what Friede been doing since his disappearance.

Now, being an important character from the core game series and thus has plenty of media counterparts, as far as I can know/can tell it could still be considered up-in-the-air whether Horizons is in canon with the previous anime series. Though, an important note here is that Steven looks no different then when he last appeared in the previous anime series, thus if Horizons is in canon to it then it can't be more than say a couple of years apart from where the previous anime series ended.
 
All three starters of a generation are now fully evolved in the main cast!

Yeah, didn't think about that. I think that deserves a bit of a deeper look:

GEN I/KANTO: :bulbasaur::charizard::squirtle:
* Ash got all 3 Starters.
* Only Charizard fully evolved, Bulbasaur & Squirtle never evolved.
* Bulbasaur was the only one given a reason why it doesn't want to evolve; it just prefers to be a Bulbasaur.
* Squirtle was never given a reason (or even an episode implying it could evolved & rejected it), however it could be inferred it has done so because its the leader of the Squirtle Squad and has a rivalry with a Wartortle firefighting brigade.

GEN II/JOHTO: :bayleef::quilava::totodile:
* Ash got all 3 Starters.
* Bayleef evolved to midstage and stopped with no reason given. It could be possible that, due to Bayleef having a crush on Ash and it greets him by tackling him to the ground, its choosing not to evolve to the even bigger Meganium so it doesn't completely crush him.
* Quilava took till the end of SINNOH to evolve. As a Cyndaquil it was very laidback, Bulbapedia described it as the "baby" of the Johto group, so its evolution was more treated as it growing up as it became more active as a Quilava; sadly by then its time in the spotlight was over so why it only got to midstage.
* Totodile just is. It never got an episode about it able to evolve & rejecting it. But unlike Squirtle where you can infer a reason, for Totodile there's nothing. Totodile is a fun-loving Pokemon that loves to dance, and I think because of that the reason it didn't evolve is for a meta reason: Totodile dancing is cute, Croconaw dancing would look strange (I could even see Bayleef evolving made them realize how the characteristics they gave the Starters didn't translate over well to their evolutions so, while too late for Bayleef, they can at least keep the other two from evolving).

GEN III/HOENN: :sceptile::blaziken::marshtomp:
* Ash only got Sceptile and was the first of the Hoenn Starters to fully evolve. Makes sense, Ash is battling with it more often than the other Starters with their trainer.
* May got Blaziken. As a Coordinator May is Pokemon Contest focused, and while there's battling in Contests and I'm sure in the anime's world the Pokemon gains experience doing performances, because Contests is less about raw power they were able to take their time evolving Torchic all the way to Blaziken which didn't happen until the end of the Battle Frontier arc (after May's arc during that season was done). It evolving to Blaziken more felt like a final sendoff gift for May as she later left to compete in Johto Pokemon Contests.
* BROCK WHY! Brock got Marshtomp and no reason given why it didn't go all the way to Swampert. Now, as a Breeder, Brock didn't battle that often so I guess you could say that could have stumped Marshtomp's growth. However, because it was more a support Pokemon than battler, it was used more often for comic relief. As a Mudkip it was sort of a "straight man" to the groups shenanigans and as a Marshtomp noted to have picked up Brock's flirtatious quirk (though aside the one example Bulbapedia gave on its page I can't think of it doing that often, at least not as much as Brock).

GEN IV/SINNOH: :torterra::infernape::piplup:
* Ash got Torterra and Infernape.
* Dawn got Piplup and it got an entire episode around it not evolving, Dawn even being given an Everstone for Piplup. Piplup wanted to stay the way it was because its happy the way things are as long as its with Dawn. However I also have a feeling there was a meta reason: Piplup became a SUPER popular Pokemon, so being just as much as a commercial product decided it was best to keep Dawn's Piplup as it was (and this isn't going to be the last time this is likely a reason); luckily they had also given Kenny a Prinplup (which later evolved to an Empoleon) and Barry an Empoleon; said two trainers Pokemon also appearing in that episode and was part of Team Rocket's scheme to capture the entire Piplup evolutionary family.

GEN V/UNOVA: :snivy::pignite::oshawott:
* Ash got all 3 starters.
* Pignite is the only one to evolve but only to its midstage, no reason given to why it stopped there. Especially confusing as Tepig evolving to Pignite was an important moment for it: Tepig had abandonment issues because its previous trainer thought it was weak. Because of this Tepig kept pushing itself during battles wanting to prove its worth to Ash. When facing its old trainer who had an Emboar, upon realizing that Ash and the other Pokemon cared about it and not its strength, it evolved to Pignite. In addition later on when Ash got Charizard back, Pignite looked up to it as a role model. You could maybe say its old trainer using an Emboar maybe made Pignite decide to stay as it was, but I feel that's a bit of a stretch. Maybe the writers, who had decided not to evolve Snivy nor Oshawott, thought it would look even further out-of-place if it had fully evolved. Luckily they had shown Bianca had a Pignite so it fully evolved to an Emboar by the Pokemon League.
* So, remember when I said they likely didn't want to evolve Piplup becuase it got super popular? Yeah, same thing happened to Snivy almost immediately and eventually later Oshawott also got to that elevasion of popularity. In-show, a reason for Snivy to not evolve may have been because it sorta had a rivalry with Trip's Servine (which later evolved to Serperior; and since he showed off those it was easy to keep Ash's Snivy as is); though they only met & battled once and Snivy never battled Serperior so if this was a reason it looked to maybe be a dropped plot point; otherwise Snivy never got an episode about it able to evolve & rejecting it.
* Oshawott too never got an episode about it able to evolve & rejecting it, though it did get a more definitive episode against its evolution WAY later in the Unova arc. Note throughout the series a few Dewott did appear, notably Burgundy had one. And Cameron was revealed to have a Samurott so Ash faced one in the League (though Oshawott never got to battle it). During the Decolore Islands arc, as if by now it wasn't clear Oshawott wasn't evolving, they visit Scalchop Island just in time for the annual Scalchop King competition. On the island they met a a rival trainer & his Dewott named Ceaser and Oshawott fell in love with the reigning Scalchop Queen, an Oshawott named Osharina. Though Oshawott would win and become Scalchop King, Osharina was in love with Ceaser so heartbroken it gave up the title (don't worry, later on the boat to the next island Oshawott fell in love with a Minccino; Ash & co. laughing at the quick turnaround). Still, there was a bit of "a pre-evolution can't beat its evolution" theme so with Oshawott winning it showed it didn't need to evolve.

GEN VI/KALOS: :chespin::delphox:*:greninja:
* Ash only had Greninja, Serena got Delphox, and Clemont got Chespin.
* Chespin never got an episode about it able to evolve & rejecting it. Since Clemont filled the "experienced mentor" role like Brock & Cilan before him, him and his Pokemon were regulated to support roles most of the time. While Chespin battled, of the Kalos Starters the group had it was more there for comic relief, being hyperactive to a fault and gluttenous. It had one conflict with a character-of-the-day Quilladin that fell in love with Serena's Eevee, but that was more about protecting its friend and Serena's Panchem was equally protective. It also had interactions with a Chesnaught though the episode was more about helping the character-of-the-day with restoring a forest that became an arid wasteland.
* So you may have noticed an asterick next to Serena's Delphox. That's because, while it's now a Delphox, during the Kalos arc it didn't evolve past being a Braixen. Braixen had become a popular Pokemon, at least more popular than Delphox, so there's that meta reason. Another meta reason could be Serena's rival Aria also had a Braixen that later evolved to a Delphox, so keeping it one stage behind created a greater challenge for Serena and Fennekin/Braixen to overcome. Otherwise after the Kalos arc the next time we saw Serena was in Journeys and Braixen had already evolved into a Delphox.

GEN VII/ALOLA: :rowlet::incineroar::primarina:
* Ash had both Rowlet and Incineroar, Lana had Primarina.
* Guess which Pokemon became popular? That's right, Rowlet. Not to mention Alola arc was an entirely different anime compared to previous arcs, becoming more of a school slice-of-life thus there were less battles and more hijinx adventures. In addition Rowlet was a lazy Pokemon (a joke with it being an owl Pokemon in a sunny region) which preferred to nap than battle, Ash often having to yell it to wake up when he sent it in. It would eventually develop a rivalry with Hau's Dartrix which would later evolve into a Decidueye, but that's not why it chose not to evolve. Instead it sorta decided not to evolve by becoming attached to an Everstone which it keeps in its gizzard so that it can use the move Seed Bomb. COMEDY.

GEN VIII/GALAR: :grookey::cinderace::inteleon:
* Goh got all 3 Starters; though initially Grookey spent some time as a Team Rocket Pokemon.
* Grookey was more of comedy relief Pokemon and it's character development mostly ended once it left Team Rocket to join Goh's team. It had one episode where it helped a Thwackey which was part of a pack of Thwackey and Grookey led by a Rillaboom. By the end of the episode, though Goh gave it the choice of joining the pack, Grookey decided to stay with Goh. Though It never got an episode about it able to evolve & rejecting it, it can maybe be inferred it was much like Dawn's Piplup and liked how things are with Goh so sees no reason to evolve.
 
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