Pokémon Journeys: The Series / YMMV

For YMMV tropes relating to Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master, see here.

Alternative Character Interpretation:
- In past series, Dawn was very focused on Contests and constantly looked for what could help her performance in those in all the different activities she did. Here, she isn't that concerned about her Contest performance in any of her appearances, wanting to just have a good time and enjoy the journey more than anything else, seemingly ready to accept whatever result she'll get. Is she truly confident that she'll win the next Grand Festival and doesn't see a point in sweating about it now? Is it a sign she's fully overcome her nerves and reached a more relaxed state where she's reached a sort of peace with the outcome no matter what it is. Or has she become a Stepford Smiler because of her past futility while other characters her age like Ash and Iris^note have gotten over the hump, causing her to diligently try to look very happy with her current life when she's really not?
- Because they do not have time to interact, one of the most discussed topics is whether Serena finally managed to get over her crush on Ash, or if she is still in love with him.
- Did Cynthia actually struggle against Iris in the Masters Tournament? While most of the dialogue suggests that their battle came down to the wire, some key factors in the episode's presentation calls this into question, such as Iris relying on a lucky One-Hit Kill to beat Gastrodon, Cynthia's unfazed demeanor all throughout the battle, and Garchomp's lack of visible damage by the end. Her battle with Ash in the next round only raises even more questions thanks to The Reveal that Cynthia was planning to retire from battling, with the implication being that she's grown tired of the lack of genuinely challenging opponents, which would include Iris. As Cynthia is a polite Nice Girl and has personal connections with Iris, it's possible to interpret her actions as simply courtesy to a friend, despite not truly being thrilled with the battle deep down.
- Cynthia did not use her most powerful option of Mega-Evolving her Garchomp, instead opting to Dynamax her Togekiss in her battle against Ash with the confidence that Garchomp in base form could defeat Ash's Mega-Evolved Lucario if that failed. Was she simply trying to throw Ash off with such a surprising move and make him stumble in his commands to win without using her last Pokemon? Was she trying to prove a point that she could win without going to her most obvious power-up? Or was she simply panicking as the momentum of the battle was shifting in Ash's favor and wanted to stop that momentum as soon as possible? The series does not give an absolute answer why, though Diantha believed that even though Togekiss did not defeat Lucario, it did enough damage that it was very possible for Garchomp to still prevail, and while it didn't and likely proved the decision to be a mistake, Lucario falling to the ground and having to get back up after defeating it to confirm the win shows that whatever the reason why, Cynthia's strategy was nearly not a miscalculation.
- Considering how much the series stressed early on that Leon found being Champion unfulfilling after holding the title for so long, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that Leon threw the fight with Ash, or at least wasn’t giving his 100%. For starters, Leon lets Ash use a Mega Evolution, a Z-Move, and a Gigantamax rather than having to pick just one power-up, on the basis he wants to face Ash at full power, yet Leon doesn’t offer the same luxury to himself. Furthermore, when Eternus recharges their Dynamax, Leon has his Cinderace use a Fire-Type Max move rather than a Ground-Type attack against Pikachu which would deal super effective damage and make Cinderace immune to Electric-Type attacks (like Leon had Cinderace do at the start of the battle). Finally during the final clash Leon commands Charizard to use Fire Blast up close when it would be more advantageous to attack the weakened Pikachu from the distance, as if Leon no longer cared if he lost and was willing to leave it to fate. With all this in mind, Leon shouting “it’s Champion time!” before the final clash comes across less as a Badass Boast and more like Leon Passing the Torch to Ash.
  - Alternately it might have been that Leon wasn't quite throwing the fight, but was specifically making it harder for himself out of a desire to get a greater challenge. Some of his move errors were less about him trying to lose, but getting into the heat of things much like Ash had in many other battles prior, with Leon's motivations being more about giving himself and his team a greater challenge and a more entertaining battle for those watching than trying to outright lose.
Anti-Climax Boss: A fair few of Ash's World Coronation Series opponents get this reaction. As the series has Ash taking on some of the world's greatest trainers, the length and scope of their battles often can't live up to the hype set by their titles. Examples include Iris^note, Bea^note, Drasna^note, and Steven^note, each of which mark enormous achievements in Ash's career, yet don't feel any more difficult or prestigious than his Gym battles from previous series.
Ass Pull:
- The entire concept of Mega Island is seen by many fans as completely ridiculous due to how it contradicts established lore about Mega Stones being rare and hidden within special, secret locations, only to reveal there's an entire island filled with every possible one. On top of this, the particular way Lucario wins its Mega Stone is given quite a bit of flak, as all Lucario needs to do to gain the Lucarionite is simply... jump over its opponent rather than defeat or even battle it.
- Iris being revealed to have reached the Masters Eight before Ash, ranking as number 7 overall, raised a few eyebrows considering Ash entered the Ultra Class before her, and it was established that Ultra Class battles were booked ahead of time by the league sponsors. Considering Ash won all of his battles successively and only needed to win 4 times to reach rank 9, it raises many questions about how the matches are scheduled.
- JN121 ranks Ash's experience to be 2/5 which many fans don't agree with. While it is near-unanimously agreed upon that he would be less experienced than the other regional champions (sans Iris), Ash's experience isn't considered by many to be that low as he has shown to have grown over the course of all his journeys. Many would accuse the writers of trying to make the other champions seem much more stronger than him by making Ash appear a lot weaker.
- Grookey learning Wood Hammer out of nowhere in the Project Mew finale rarely sits well with fans due to how it had never battled once prior to that moment and done almost nothing but cause trouble, making the whole situation seem like an extremely shoehorned attempt at last-minute Character Development.
Base-Breaking Character: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise.
Broken Base: See here.
Catharsis Factor:
- After decades of Ash being underestimated and his achievements downplayed in and out of universe, there is a genuine feeling of satisfaction listening to a stadium cheering Ash on with the call CHAMPION!, CHAMPION!, CHAMPION!.
- While many fans still bitter about the Kalos League would have preferred to see Ash defeat him, Alain's first round defeat at the hands of Leon drew some catharsis from some segments of fans who never forgave Alain for defeating Ash in the Kalos League finals and his general undefeated streak and took a specific level of joy at seeing him defeated in a way similar to Trevor.
  - In another way, for the same fans who were bitter about the Kalos League finals, Ash's match versus Steven Stone ending with Ash's victory, could be seen as this since Steven is one of the only people that Alain could not defeat in the Mega Evolution specials.
- After 12 years of absence in the series, Paul's return confirms that he really has changed for the better, offering to help train Ash for his Masters 8 conference and giving a heartfelt apology to Infernape for his past mistreatment of him.
- Ash defeating Cynthia in the next round. Not only does this more than make up for Ash infamously losing the Sinnoh League to Tobias (as Cynthia is still likely much stronger than Tobias, even with his legendaries), but due to Cynthia being infamously seen by everyone as the single, hardest Champion fight from the main games, this really cements just how far Ash has come over the years. While this victory would quickly be overshadowed by Ash then going on to win the final match against Leon, this one win alone has officially redeemed every failure and black mark in his history as a trainer.
  - Many consider Ash beating Cynthia as even more satisfying than his victory over Leon, mainly because Cynthia has long been established as the one to beat throughout the anime's run, and the match itself being on and off teased since her introduction over 15 years ago. For many, they saw the match as the real climax the anime had been building up to for so long; anything else was just the cherry on top.
- 25 years ago, Ash swore he would be the very best, like no one ever was. 25 years later, he managed to take down Leon in the most difficult battle of his career which will no doubt go down in history as his single-greatest crowning achievement. But with his trusted Pikachu by his side, he finally brought down the undefeatable, and his goal To Be a Master has been achieved. He is no longer Ash Ketchum, a kid from Pallet Town; he is Ash Ketchum: World Coronation Series Monarch! Truly, he has become the very best, like no one ever was.
Epileptic Trees: During the Project Mew Arc, a theory that lingered in discussions about them was the idea of their reveal as secret villains. This mostly stemmed from the tendency in the only groups to be interested in Legendary Pokemon being evil teams in previous anime series and movies, a question about what tasks like capturing all the Regis and going after the legendary birds has to do with Mew, and a general tendency among some fans to dislike Goh and anything to do with him. This would ultimately be jossed as Project Mew was shown to be on the up and up without nefarious purposes by series end.
Fan-Disliked Explanation: "Legend? Go! Friends? Go!" and "Serving Up the Flute Cup" establish that Delia's housekeeper Mr. Mime was actually one of Ash's Pokémon the entire time was viewed rather poorly by fans. While there are some supplementary materials listing it as one of his Pokémon dating back to Diamond & Pearl, it was never hinted within the series itself as being under Ash's ownership up to this point and was generally assumed by people unaware of this that "Mimey" either stayed a wild Mr. Mime or was caught by Delia offscreen. With the retroactive knowledge this was Ash's final series as the main character, many people feel Mimey was only established to be one of Ash's Pokémon so the writers could claim Ash has owned at least one Pokémon of every type, without actually committing to giving him a Psychic-type Pokémon or Fairy-type Pokémon.
Fanon Discontinuity: Given the controversy behind Dawn's lack of new accomplishments, many of her fans refuse to accept her apparent stagnation as a trainer and insist she's won a Grand Festival until absolutely proven otherwise. Since she's never actually shown competing in a Contest onscreen, these fans often assume her continued Coordinator training is simply her working to become a "Contest Master" in the same way Ash vaguely trains to be a Pokémon Master.
Fanfic Fuel: With the series' tendency to introduce massive new developments for past characters, but minimal detail as to how those developments actually unfolded, they quickly become easy pickings for fans to fill in the blanks. Some of the most noteworthy ones include:
- Iris's journey to becoming Champion of Unova, which is only touched in very broad terms in canon. Fans often take it upon themselves to decide when Iris first became interested in the Pokémon League and what trials she overcame to win it.
- Paul, who Took a Level in Kindness and was offered to become the Gym Leader of an undisclosed Gym. It's clear that a lot has happened to him since the events of Diamond and Pearl, but exceedingly little is properly addressed in canon, particularly the results of his rematch with Brandon that served as one of his main motivations in his home series.
- May, who hasn't appeared since the Wallace Cup and is only shown in a brief cameo from JN132, seemingly having become a Contest idol alongside Serena and Lisia. As she's had both the longest absence and the most vague return, speculation is endless on what she's been up to and how she met her fellow idol peers.
Growing the Beard: Journeys started with less initial backlash than its predecessor series, but the first slate of episodes of the series were seen as flawed for several reasons: too much focus on Goh over Ash and Chloe, no clear direction beyond Goh's own goals for the series, implementation of several mechanics and features from Pokémon GO (such as GO-style Gyms, captures and Raid Battles) and the premise of a world tour series suffering from a lack of continuity. As the series continued these problems were corrected: Ash had a set goal in competing in the World Coronation Series, Chloe got more screentime and had more involvement in Ash and Goh’s travels, the world tour aspect was better utilized with more direct references to past series and character returns, while the elements of Pokémon Go were minimized (with the return of traditional Gym designs, phasing out of Raid Battles, and Goh's captures gaining more traditional battle and befriending captures among their number, albeit with the debut of the much disliked change to GO-style eggs instead of the unique egg designs of previous series). While the series is still highly debated in quality, as is common with any Pokémon series, it's generally perceived to have improved over time.
Hilarious in Hindsight: When images for the special to celebrate the upcoming Legends: Arceus came out, many people were speculating that Ash, Dawn, and Goh would end up going back in time based on the outfits they were wearing and the ancient Poké Balls. While inaccurate for that special, that's basically the case for the actual protagonists of the game.
I Knew It!:
- After Chloe and Eevee started to meet different trainers that each have a different eeveelution, many predicted that Serena would be the Sylveon trainer. One day before the Sylveon episode, JN105, it was revealed that Serena was in fact the final eevelution trainer.
- In a related situation, most people predicted that unlike the other returning characters, Serena would be wearing a new outfit. Lo and behold, she did.
- After Ash scored a victory against Leon fans speculated that the character would be retired. It was confirmed as such on December 16, 2022, and that two new protagonists would take over the reigns of the anime following a final eleven episode miniseries. Additionally, many speculated that the anime would have its first female lead rather than a supporting character.
- Similarly, the use of "Mezase Pokemon Master" as a Theme Music Power-Up led to mass speculation that the English dub would substitute it with Jason Paige's "Pokémon Theme", which was eventually proven correct once it aired.
It's Short, So It Sucks!: Some of Ash's battles for the World Coronation Series get this reaction due to how short they were. A few of the 1v1s in particular only last for about a minute.
- Leon's battles against Alain and Diantha in the Masters 8 tournament have especially been hit with this. Leon vs Alain, the opening battle of the tournament, ended up being only the second half of the introductory episode, resulting in Alain's Mega Charizard X, previously shown to be a fearsome powerhouse capable of taking down 10 mega evolved Pokemon one after the other in XY, being effectively one-shot by Leon's Charizard in its base state. Leon's 6v6 battle against Diantha in the semi-finals also faired poorly, with most of the episode being spent on interactions between Ash and Cynthia and a pair of random children, leading to Leon beating 4 out of 6 of Diantha's Pokemon off-screen, with the climax of the battle being fairly short. Not only did all this have the result of making Alain and Diantha look shockingly underwhelming for master class trainers, most viewers were left feeling that the writers treated them like an afterthought, also disappointing fans of Leon who wanted to see more serious and in depth battles that demonstrated his skills as a trainer.^note
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: A lot of viewers find it repetitive how Chloe is yet another prominent female character with an Eevee, citing predecessors like May, Serena, and Lana. Many found it a wasted opportunity to not have Yamper as her main Pokemon to distinguish herself and due to already having backstory and chemistry.
Just Here for Godzilla:
- Many fans tune into the series specifically for episodes that are set to feature a old character returning, with some specific moments including Ho-Oh, Lance, Korrina, Chuck, Mewtwo, Butch and Cassidy, and any returning companions. Doubly so for Serena's reappearance, with staff likely knowing her popularity and leaving her out of previews for Episode 105, only for the info to leak anyway and kick up a storm through Pokémon fansites and social media.
- Due to Chloe's initially underutilized status, continuing after her increased focus after Eevee's debut, episodes that focus on Chloe draw in a specific amount of interest to episodes that otherwise would be considered 'filler'. This is helped by several of Chloe's episodes, such as the the aforementioned Serena return episode and the Glaceon episode Breaking the Ice! being among the most beloved Journeys episodes.
- In the marketing Ash and Goh are presented with equal focus and focus on either of their goals is given a similar level of promotion. In practice however Ash-focused episodes generate a larger amount of interest from the fandom, with more interest given to Ash battles in the World Coronation Series than Goh's Project Mew missions or major capture episodes.
Mis-blamed:
- A common criticism of the series is that it never featured an episode or arc where Ash and all of his former companions gathered together, which fans had long expected to happen before the end of Ash's tenure which concluded with this series and some even called out the staff for not having a celebration among them after Ash won the PWC, as a scene like that been had been requested for decades at that point. The thing is, some reasons prevent this that are out of the control of the producers. First off, May is unavailable due to health issues with her voice actress so doing that to its full potential is impossible, and second, the voice actors have all become expensive after their tenures on Pokemon, meaning the budget of an episode wouldn't allow it even if May was usable and that isn't even something the producers can raise on a whim, being dependent on sponsors and advertisers currently supporting the show.
- Episode 111, The Homecoming Crown!, is often blamed for the Troubled Production of the Masters' Tournament that caused the first round to have shoddy animation and the later rounds to have a lot of delays, due to the episode's movie-like production values that many believe is the best in the series, and many think the resources dedicated to that meant not enough of them could go to the tournament that was expected to be the greatest in the series. However, while it likely did get more time for its production than the average episode, the real reason production almost collapsed afterward was that OLM had to ramp up production of Ninjala, and because of a company-wide staff shortage, this left only a skeleton-crew to produce that battle-heavy tournament, and they just were not able to produce the quality expected without taking significantly more time than usual, leading to the contentious first round and the delay of the second and third rounds as a response. That would have happened no matter what was done with episode 111. Perhaps one of the first round battles would have looked better had they spent less time on episode 111, but the production was going to be messed up either way.
Narm:
- In JN122, Ash and Cynthia bond over raising Lucario and Garchomp respectively from Eggs. Fans consider this a rather hamfisted attempt to build the two up as a foil for one another, given how common of a occurrence this is among trainers, with there far more significant similarities that could be drawn between the two trainers.
- In the Project Mew finale, the infamous scene of Gary splashing Groudon with a bottle of water is supposed to be a legitimate badass moment, but given the enormous scope of Groudon's powers it just comes across as ridiculous, even moreso as Gary's main contribution to the plot.
Never Live It Down:
- Detractors of Goh generally hold to a few select periods of the series where Goh takes up a larger balance of the show's focus than Ash and hold it as an ongoing criticism of the series and of Goh specifically, specifically to the status of "stealing Ash's spotlight". The first period of the show considered a Slow-Paced Beginning (see below) is one such moment, while another is the period of time in the mid thirties to somewhere in the fifties of episode where Ash's World Coronation Series goal is either in the background or played for comedy, Ash has a visible lack of roster changes while Goh captures not just many more Pokémon but several ones that the fans had hoped Ash would obtain (such as Aerodactyl, Flygon, and Grookey) while many of Ash's own Pokémon are also out of focus, the montage of several offscreen Ash battles while Goh's captures are rarely offscreen◊, and Goh's goals and interests directed the pace of the series significantly more than Ash's. While both of these stretches eventually remedied themselves, many detractors tend to see these periods as their definitive reference for the series, often citing the fact that many of these problems still exist out of them, just as lesser levels, to further their criticisms.
- When discussing the relevance of Chloe, critics tend to focus on the forty-odd episodes before Eevee's capture than afterwards where her focus has been more frequent.
No Yay: in JN072 Meowth develops a crush on Chloe and attempts to propose to her at one point. Even if one is unbothered by the Interspecies Romance on display (as it wouldn’t be the first time Meowth fell for a human), Chloe is canonically 10-years old and every prior series portrayed Meowth as the equivalent of a human adult…
One-Scene Wonder:
- Serena's return in JN105. The focus on the episode was actually on Chloe and was advertised as such, with Serena returning as a supporting character to support Chloe's first stage performance. There was very minimal advertisement for Serena's return, but when information got leaked a few days prior to the episode's airing, it broke the entire internet and lot of people ended up chiming in just to see her interact with Ash again, said interaction being only around 1 minute long. Hype Backlash like in the past during the XY era was avoided thanks to the very minimal advertisement of her return, and said advertisement coming in with a brief summary that telegraphed to the audience there would be not enough screentime for her and Ash to interact anyway, which allowed the audience to keep their expectations low. Despite this, her return is still regarded as one of the best companion returns of the Journeys series.
- Any cameo with May is also seen as very welcoming, due to the fact that her seiyuu KAORI has retired because of her health issues and the company had not made any attempt to recast her. May first shows up in a flashback cameo in JN105 and also gets briefly referenced by Serena as the "Dancing Princess of Hoenn", a nickname she earned in previous series. May would later make her first physical returns since Diamond and Pearl during JN132, alongside her brother Max as well as Serena, showing that the two girls have already bonded with each other as fellow Coordinators and that the two are aware that they both have traveled with Ash before.
Pandering to the Base: In this series, Ash catches a Dragonite, a Gengar and a Riolu -> Lucario (all highly-requested Pokémon for him to catch), Ash and Goh travel across all regions, Ash obtains and uses multiple power mechanics (Dynamax, Z-Moves, and Mega Evolutions), Ash ends up recognized as in the same bracket as Champions and one of the eight strongest trainers in the world, and many old faces are brought back, including some who haven't made appearances in over a decade Ash even reobtains one of his released Pokémon, Pidgeot, on a permanent basis at the end of the series. Tropes Are Not Bad is in effect for several of these choices.
Replacement Scrappy:
- Team Rocket having specific Pokémon with their own unique personalities that they battle Ash and the gang with has been replaced by the Rocket Prize Master, which just gives them random Pokémon with little to no personality that get discarded at the end of the episode.
- While her increased prominence in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon was generally well received, over time a number of fans of Butch and Cassidy have gradually soured on Matori, accusing her of having basically usurped their roles as a fellow Team Rocket member serving as a rival character for Jessie and James, while being perceived to be less fun and her dynamic with the Trio feeling less personal compared to the long standing animosity between Jessie and Cassidy in particular. This sentiment really took off in the wake of Butch and Cassidy's return episode, where it was revealed that they had quit Team Rocket some time after Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl and gotten honest jobs, and had even seemingly parted ways with one another. This change of direction ended up being poorly received by a great many of Butch and Cassidy's fans, especially after such a long absence from the anime, and led to many wishing they could have simply filled Matori's role in episode 24 and the Darkrai and Cresselia two parter instead.
Ships That Pass in the Night: Ash x Chloe, also known as BloomBoltshipping, exists as a small but visible part of the fandom despite their general minimal interactions and some Word of God that implies that Chloe x Goh is the intended ship. Atop of Ash's Launcher of a Thousand Ships status that means he will, without fail, be shipped with pretty much any anime character who is vaguely around either his age or what fans assume his age should be (and many who are older), many who ship the pairing find potential in contrasting Chloe's reserved nature and Ash's outgoing one.
Shocking Moments:
- Ash's first three captures in Journeys: Dragonite, Gengar, and Riolu. The former two get this for being fully evolved from the start, while the latter two were highly requested Pokémon for him to catch for years. The later capture of Galarian Farfetch'd was a surprise to fans for different reasons: Farfetch'd was only advertised ahead of time as a minor feature of an episode focusing on Leon and Raihan, and viewership found the capture a pleasant surprise.
- Ash and Goh already facing off against the main villains of their respective games and winning at the earliest episode possible. Rose and Oleana introduced themselves as villains in "Sword and Shield: From Here to Eternatus" and lost in "Sword and Shield...The Legends Awaken." Usually, the main villain arcs would be concluded near the end of the series or left in a cliffhanger. Here? All done before the 50th episode.
- Goh capturing an Uber Legendary in Eternatus. This has not been done in the series by any character. Same with Suicune.
- Ash defeats a Champion in the form of Iris caught the fanbase off guard as Champions have traditionally been shown as basically untouchable by Ash or those at his level. For those who might have dismissed this due to Iris's status as a former companion, Ash would later defeat an Elite Four member in the form of Drasna who have also been historically been treated similarly to Champions when it comes to untouchability (just a bit less so).
- With new information coming out, the upcoming Scarlet/Violet adaptation having two new protagonists and this series marking the supposedly final one following Ash Ketchum has been a shock for many given Ash has been the face of the Pokemon anime for 25 years.
Signature Series Arc: The Masters Eight Tournament, not just for being the Grand Finale of Ash's goal to be the World's Best Warrior, but also (for better or worse) embodying much of the controversy behind Journeys and the World Coronation Series, with no two fans able to agree on the quality of all the matches that led up to Ash and Leon's final showdown.
Slow-Paced Beginning:
- This is a criticism usually levied at the initial stretch of Journeys series episodes, particularly the ones making up the first batch uploaded on Netflix. The first six episodes effectively make up a Character Development arc for new companion and coprotagonist Goh, with Ash relegated in a more supporting role for its duration down to not having a clear goal for himself. The following episodes were dedicated to a first taste of the region-hopping series premise that were mostly seen as unremarkable, while giving little idea of what the show intended to do with its premise and cast, not helped by how the show didn't seem to want to embrace continuity in spite of going back to known locations beyond small nods. After the two-part episode introducing Leon, however, things got much better as Ash obtained his own goal in taking part in the World Coronation Series (a global tournament to crown the implicit strongest trainer in the world), alongside making him more involved in the plot with several new captures and major battles, alongside allowing for more old character returns (such as Korrina) and continuity while delving deeper into Goh's backstory and further development, with the common sentiment being that the show improves from that point on.
- This is a general issue that the series has in regards to its main three characters: the series took quite a while to introduce the long term goals for Ash, Chloe, and Goh. While Ash learned of the World Coronation Series in episode 12, resolved to join it in the 13th, and had his first battle in the 18th (already a long time for the character), Chloe did not get her Eevee plotline until the 49th episode and Goh's Project Mew goal did not get introduced until the 68th episode. Many fans note these goals could have been introduced much earlier to the benefit of all three characters, as the defined goal for the former two and the latter getting a more structured goal were all seen as positive developments fans had greatly desired since far earlier in the series than their debut.
Tear Jerker:
- In a manner very reminiscent of Pokémon 3, a city is kept under perpetual darkness for days on end. It turns out this is due to five Unown who were granting the wishes of a little girl whose Cleffa had "returned to the stars", and in the end she learns to let go once the Unown share with her all the beautiful memories she had with Cleffa.
- Iris's loss against Cynthia. It just goes to show that while on stage trainers accept their defeat with grace, deep down they feel so much frustration and disappointment that their best was not enough. Viewers found it difficult to not feel sad when she cried in the end, especially since the battle was this close.
The Scrappy: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- While Journeys incorporating elements from Pokémon GO has been somewhat controversial (especially in regards to how Goh is handled), the fact that Eggs were changed from having unique designs to being only the generic colors and shades seen in Go (and to a degree, the main series games) was one of the worst-received results of this by a part of the fanbase as the variation in egg colorations was one of the better received elements of the anime over the games that had been consistent for more than two decades before Journeys.
- On a more minor note, fans of the original series tend to dislike the redesigns to the Vermilion and Celadon Gyms, in particular Celadon's new gym basically looking like a regular building as opposed to the original gym being modeled after Gloom. ^note While the new designs were probably meant to fit in with the more "Modern" aesthetic of the Pokémon world in more recent series of the anime, some older fans miss the more exaggerated and cartoonish architecture from the original series, believing it gave the world more visual personality than how its locations are currently depicted. Kanto in general seems to be derived more from FireRed and LeafGreen much like Pokémon Origins, despite the designs and characteristics established in the first season of the anime.
- Fans of Pokémon Contests were less than pleased with their return in Serena's comeback episode, in which they were overhauled to more closely resemble Contests from the games: they're now split up into ranks from Normal to Master, lack a battle round, and are determined by audience votes rather than official judges, with the previous judges and hosts nowhere to be seen^note. Fans cite the show's original depiction of Contests as an improvement over the games that fits better into the anime's world, while the changes in Journeys feel too much like a corporate mandate to market the games and draw too many similarities to Pokémon Showcases from the XY series, which are divisive in their own right for a number of reasons.
- All flashbacks involving Greninja retconned the existence of the Ash-Greninja Forme, which didn't sit very well with Greninja's fans at all. It became even worse when Pokémon Scarlet and Violet got released, as dataminers found out that Greninja with the Battle Bond ability doesn't change forms at all (and it's strengthened Water Shuriken effect got also removed), leading to fans blaming Journeys for retconning Ash-Greninja.
They Copied It, So It Sucks!: Even ignoring the contentious nature of how the episode handled Butch and Cassidy's characters, episode 95 earned a mixed at best reception from Team Rocket fans, with many feeling it to essentially be a weaker retread of Noodles Roamin' Off (Another episode focused on the Rocket Trio potentially going their separate ways and considering leading honest lives outside of Team Rocket), which is generally regarded as one of the best Team Rocket episodes in the entire history of the anime.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: See here.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: See here.
Unexpected Character: Journeys quickly made this one of its staples, becoming well-known for bringing in many unexpected characters.
- Ash's first capture being a Dragonite came out of left field for most fans for several reasons. Not only did it mark the first time since Gligar that Ash has caught a Pokémon not native to the current generation as part of his main team, it was also his first capture of a fully-evolved Pokémon since Noctowl, and a pseudo-legendary to boot. Getting such a Pokémon as his first series capture instead of a starter or a regional bird was something few predicted.
- Korrina and her Lucario. Of all of Ash's friends who people had been expecting to return, she certainly wasn't high on the list, as while her arc had its fans, she was still ultimately a minor character in the XY series compared to Ash's companions and rivals. Additionally, Mega Evolution had been removed from Sword and Shield, making her and Mega Lucario's return an even bigger surprise.
- Very few people expected Ash to catch Galarian Farfetch'd, especially right after Riolu, another pure Fighting-type. What also played into the surprise was many people feeling that the marketing around this time was leading up to Ash eventually catching a Sobble, who ended up being caught by Goh in the episode after Ash's Galarian Farfetch'd capture. Basically, the captures happened in the exact opposite of what people were expecting.
- The 2021 New Years trailer surprised people by revealing an appearance of Wikstrom, the Steel-type master of the Kalos Elite Four, as an opponent for Ash. This was not a highly expected character due to Wikstrom never having appeared properly in the series beyond a very brief cameo in the opening segment of Pokémon: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction, not to mention being a fairly minor character from X and Y that didn't get particular focus during or after Generation VI.
- Gary Oak and Iris's confirmed reappearances in the third opening. Despite Gary's iconic status, it had been more than a decade since he'd appeared outside of non-speaking cameos. Iris's appearance came even further out of left field, as most fans expected the XY companions would be the next to reappear, especially since Journeys up to this point had only featured returning characters and callbacks from the original series, XY, and Sun and Moon (the exception being Matori, who's appeared in every series since her debut anyway).
- Ash's capture of Dracovish took many by surprise, not just because Ash never caught a Fossil Pokémon before or already had a Dragon-type on his team, but also because said Pokémon is just a really unconventional choice for Ash, in general.
- A special preview airing on Christmas Eve 2021 revealed that Butch and Cassidy would be returning to the show. This one especially caught fans off guard since while Butch and Cassidy were well liked characters many wanted to see again, they hadn't appeared in the show at all since the Diamond and Pearl series, their role as recurring Team Rocket characters and rivals to Jessie and James seemed to have been supplanted by Matori since her debut at the end of Diamond and Pearl. Add onto the fact that Journeys hadn't featured any returning characters that originated in the anime aside from a brief appearance of Paul in a single still from a flashback and an even briefer acknowledgement of Tracey in an imagine spot, fans thought it unlikely that Butch and Cassidy would ever return.
- JN094 saw the return of Erika after an absence of 24/25 years. This is significant because outside of very special circumstances, or unless they’re one of Ash's companions, Gym Leaders do not usually come back after Ash defeats them.
- Saturn, Mars and Jupiter of Team Galactic were revealed to be appearing in the Pokémon Legends: Arceus focused mini-series released on Amazon Prime a week before the first episodes release. It's notably surprising because the main series had already aired a 2-parter featuring a premise that vaguely recalled the Team Galactic arc without actually featuring any Team Galactic characters, so them showing up in a special dedicated to a game set in the distant past, where as far as we currently know Team Galactic aren't going to have any presence beyond a few characters' ancestors appearing in the story, feels entirely out of left field for many.
- On a related note to the Team Galactic members, Brock appearing in that same mini-series. Fans aren't so much surprised to see him show up in Journeys; given his Breakout Character status, it was largely expected by everyone, especially when he'd already appeared in a flashback. But nobody saw his return being in an arc based on Legends: Arceus coming, or for the Diamond and Pearl trio to have all of its members reunite at once, as the only groups to have that status prior were the ones from the original series.
- Given that she made no appearance whatsoever in Pokémon the Series: XY and most elements of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were not adapted for the anime besides the Primal forms and Mega Rayquaza along with Steven's return and a brief Hoenn mention, no one expected Lisia to make her anime debut in this season as the fourth opening revealed.
- Paul returning was an even bigger surprise, as outside of a flashback cameo in JN068, he'd been absent from the anime since the end of Diamond and Pearl. Despite being a highly popular character, and the fact that Butch and Cassidy had technically set precedent for anime original characters to return, they had a significant advantage of both being from the original series and lending themselves more easily to the episodic plots Journeys favors (as opposed to the very story-heavy Paul). As such, he was arguably the biggest shock to come out of the fourth opening.
- A scan in March 2022 revealed that Drasna, the Dragon-type specialist of the Kalos Elite Four, would be battling Ash in an upcoming World Championships battle. This was even more surprising than Wikstrom, as Drasna had been Adapted Out entirely from the XY series, not even getting a cameo like the former had. Additionally, many fans had speculated that Ash would battle Wikstrom himself, due to him already having a focus episode in Journeys, or that Ash might battle Drake of the Hoenn Elite Four, a fellow Dragon-type specialist that Ash had fought many years ago and briefly met again in a Project Mew episode.
- Serena's return in JN105 was intended to be unexpected, as advance marketing for the episode had carefully avoided showing or mentioning her. Her presence ended up leaking a couple of days in advance anyway.^note
- Alain's return had absolutely zero foreshadowing or build-up from any trailers, making his reveal to be ranked 6th in the Masters Eight a big surprise to many.
- The cast who were among the ones watching Lance and Diantha's battle not only included Sawyer and the trio of Trevor, Tierno, and Shauna, but Ritchie and the long obscure Johto based trio of Jimmy, Marina, and Jackson/Vincent (depending on if you are watching the main series or the Legend of Thunder) as well. In particular, despite staring in The Legend of Thunder and having a lookalike show up at the start of a movie, this is the first time Jimmy's ever appeared in the main series anime after twenty years.
- When Iris and Cynthia's match starts in JN117, there are a few cameo appearances with Georgia, Bianca, Stephan, Trip, and former Unova Champion Alder, none of whom have appeared since the Best Wishes series, along with Trip being an unpopular character with the fans.
- Episode 136 ends with the biggest shocker of a return...Ash's Butterfree, who hasn't been seen outside of flashbacks since it was released 25 years ago!
Values Dissonance: Many western fans were baffled by the general lack of physical contact between Ash and Iris while the former was comforting her after her loss to Cynthia. Japan is a touch-sensitive culture far less prone to hugging and embracing, especially between genders, than the west is.

YMMV / Pokémon Journeys: The Series

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