Pokémon anime

Budget out of fucking nowhere.◊

Damn Serena got hot.

She went from a 10/10 to an 18/10 :P

For some reason, the idea of Mairin misguided sounds better to me than brainwashing. I mean, she already has good ties with Lysandre, and sure seems like the one to be swindled into his mission, just like how Alain appears to be.

In other news, crisis averted! The battle of the sexes was called off, and all the wars have been ceased. However, with all good things comes a price...

Nini's coming back! NOOOOOOOO!!!

Does it really matter if Serena/Shauna lost or not? I'm not really seeing the issue here...

x4

You say that like she hasn't always been attractive. Though honestly I preferred her with long hair.

Well, we were afraid there'd be really sexist undertones if the girls lost.

Like?

Like the stereotypical "Ooh, girls smell, and they suck at battles because they're girls!"

While I wouldn't necessarily label it sexist, it is notable that Ash has never really had a serious female rival. Closest we got was Bianca.

Serena and Shauna aren't battlers tho right?

Yeah, and look what happened to her.

Yes, but that could be a "reason" as to why they don't battle.

So instead of Ash and Tierno just simply being better battlers, its just "Lol, girlz suck"

.....yea, that's grasping at straws just a tad.

Serena looks really good in next weeks preview. She almost looks like a teenager in some shots, I think the writers forgot how old she was supposed to be. They did the same thing with May and Dawn making them look more like teenagers than 10 year olds, but I think its XY's improved animation that makes it even more noticeable with Serena.

Its kind of funny that with the exception of Iris, the female leads got progressively more girly and feminine as the show progressed. I guess it shows the change in anime and how tomboyish girls from the 90's were largely phased out for more girly idol type girls who look pretty.

edited 2nd Oct '15 12:30:39 AM by precita

The girly-ness is probably there to entice girls to watch the show and have as wide a demographic as possible.

Yes, the fact that the girl is generally meant as an Audience Surrogate for the female viewers (and Japan has a markedly less feminist angle than in the West) means that these girls have proven popular in Japan; ironically, Misty/Kasumi might be one of the less popular female protagonists the series has has, in Japan that is (though I blame that in part to her rather bizarre characterisation in the original versions) while in the West she is still held up (this might be in part because the fanbases elsewhere have a longer memory...)

Not that I'm complaining, personally - I've never been a massive fan of the Tsundere archetype to begin with, even as a child in the 90s, and Real Women Never Wear Dresses is in full-effect if we disdain Serena just because she's the most traditionally-feminine heroine we've gotten (criticising her slower development is another matter though)... That said, on the flipside I rather wish Japan were more willing to give females the capability to be better, at least some times, than their male counterparts in action-based series; it's especially galling since unlike other shows which rely on strengthening of one's body (where one could argue that men have a natural advantage), we're talking about a series in which monster battles are the norm - I'd like to have a female rival who beats Ash now and then, and/or one who wins the League. The fact that the Champions, like Cynthia and Diantha are on another level altogether isn't bad, but on the flipside they are treated as an ideal at times more than a person (less-so in the games where their characters are more flawed) and don't get to be as interesting as some of their male counterparts (whereas Alder was allowed to be flawed, as a man, the women Champions are more saintly... Madonna-Whore Complex, where have you been hiding all this time?!)

True dat. I had a response set up where if someone berated me for that "Serena is hot" comment for "She's 10!", my response would be: "Why don't you tell the writers that? They seem to forget that all the time."

Sadly this can be said for a lot of anime nowadays.

Whatever the case, I'm glad it didn't happen.

Are you sure the writers forgot? I think they're oversexualizing her BECAUSE she's ten.

edited 2nd Oct '15 6:49:29 AM by bubblesishot46853

I think Values Dissonance is in play due to Japan's age of consent being lower than other countries.

To be honest none of the characters ever looked like 10 year olds, not even in Kanto. Also Ash from about Hoenn onward always looked more like a teenager too. If you didn't know all the characters were 10 in canon you would assume they were around 14-15 or so.

I mean this was first really noticeable with May, who had actual noticeable and large breasts for a 10 year old. That's literally the first thing everyone noticed about her when she was introduced. Dawn did not look 10 either, with her frame, legs, and emphasis on her hips and skirt.

Its weird, the writers seem to treat Bonnie and Max like they're 10 year olds (rather than the 7-8 year olds they're supposed to be), and treat the main cast like they're teenagers. Of course Brock, Tracey and Cilan were always older to begin with too.

It's definitely something that bothers me about this anime in particular. Largely because the whole thing could have been solved by making everyone age over the series.

Well...technically in Pokemon, 10 years old you're considered a legal adult; you can leave home and raise Pokemon and even get a licence to do so.

Yeah, Ash should have been 11 in Johto, 12 in AG, 13 in DP, and 14-15 in XY.

Also May and Serena didn't care about going on a pokemon journey, so it would have made sense for them to stay home even after they turned 10 because they didn't care about traveling till they met Ash. May and Serena being older than 10 would have worked well especially if Ash aged. As for Dawn its a different story because she wanted to be a trainer and go on a journey right from the start.

It also makes little sense because the writers/animators always dress up the girls in various suggestive outfits/dresses/swimsuits/costumes that make them look older too.

Caellach: Well, in the West, First Installment Wins primarily because of the high audience turnover. i.e. Each generation has its own fanbase what barely blends into the next one, let alone throughout the series; Misty's generation was just the one being at the original bounce with May suffering due to A: immediately suceeding the Anime's first Dork Age that was Johto and B: being from the game Dork Age that was Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. Serena's own slow start was partly echoing the former (Unova) and partly because her Naïve Newcomer status was underutilized.

As for the ages of the characters themselves, I think it's a Japanese thing. I remember my first encounter with it was back in Final Fantasy IV where the mage twins, Palom and Porom, were five where I was expecting 7-9. Keep in mind that these twins are skilled enough to be in the party for 2 dungeons.

Perhaps it's just that Age Is Relative in Japan; though why they make characters seem older than they actually are given their increased lifespan I have no clue.

Does it really matter if Serena/Shauna lost or not? I'm not really seeing the issue here...

I think the point of the battle was to get Eevee's self confidence up. Which makes sense, since that shy little fluffball would no doubt have stage fright despite its excellent potential as a performer (remember May's Bulbasaur?).