Pokémon anime

So it occurs to me that in the Pokemon world, the Leagues are a major spectator sport. Huge revenues from ticket sales, concessions, TV contracts, and of course gambling are what pay for the Pokemon Centers, the Gyms, and support trainers.

I expect the Pokemon world's economy is significantly different on account of all the Pokemon that can be used as free labor, alternate power sources, transportation, etc.

I'm surprised some of the trainers haven't got flak from Serious Business fans for losing matches, especially ones that bet big money on them.

These animators have out done themselves.

Holy shit, Canipa of The Canipa Effect on youtube needs to see this....

Yo that shit was fucking glorious.

Its like Ufotable inflitrated OLM or something.

They already did one back in April.

Well, from what we've seen thus far Pokemon battles (and the secondary activities) are conducted like Tennis Tourneys at the lowest level; the games imply the next level up is handled similar to Boxing, but there's no evidence of that as yet. Regardless, it's the people at that upper level that most would be familiar with. Ash is probably knocking on that door right now.

That being said, if I was the scheduler, I would've put Ash & Sawyer's semifinal first so that the Japanese market would be able to stream it live in primetime. (Tokyo is 7 hours ahead of Pairs in Summer, 8 in Winter.)

You know, You could get very rich in the games by the time you get to the Elite Four... just like rookie professional athletes.

Man.

Why did it take 20 years (I've long since lost count of how long this series has been around) and 6 (soon to be 7) seasons for the anime to be like this.

We've talked about Shudo's intentions before (how he wanted it to be a family show, how he thought Ash was a boring hero and didn't care for him, and how Misty was supposed to be a Faux Action Girl, and Team Rocket were more interesting in his book, how he had a end planned, but one that could never actually happen in series, and how it seems he didn't even like Pokemon) and how the series really shouldn't have kept Ash around as long as it did, etc, etc.

Those are all arguments we've had before. I feel like we've finally really created the Pokemon anime. I feel like this is what the anime should have been if not for the agendas of other people.

The funny thing is...I'm still hardly watching it, even though it feels like the series has somewhat achieved it's full potential (it's even trying to use the evil team plot after mostly ignoring it in previous series, or failing to do it well, or screwing it up when they did try). Pokemon is finally being what it always could of been, and most people don't care due to still thinking Ash is a boring Idiot Hero who has badges handed to him.

Most of DP's battles still hold up animation wise. XY is just above and beyond everything prior animation/battle wise though so its hard to compare.

But yeah, i wish we had this animation like 10 years ago. AG was the switch over to digital animation for the first time, and then DP looked better for the most part...but it took until XY for the animation to really improve greatly.

I think the switch to digital was mid-Johto, with the Elekid and second Victreebel episode.

Obviously the economy of the Pokemon world is more similar to that of the Avatar world than our own. The economic implications of being able to manipulate forces of nature are huge. Only the transportation sector would require fossil fuels, and extracting and refining minerals would be vastly easier. To that end, the Pokemon League's primary economic function is to encourage people to go out and capture Pokemon. While only a few are able to make a living as trainers, washed-out trainers can still make a living off their Pokemon.

Holy shit. They're really hyping the league. Imagine if the shit like Cameron or Tobias happened after an epic fight like that?

Well Ash is in the finals this time and facing someone he's been at least on-par with throughout XY&Z; even if he loses, he sure as hell isn't going to make it easy for Alain.

Alan is essentially the successor to Paul or Gary, and became Ash's main rival in XY. The thing is I don't think Alan was originally planned to be in the league, the writers probably just made this last minute change of plans when they realized they had no particular strong rival for Ash in this series and his only recurring rivals were Shota and Tierno.

When XY first started it felt very similar to Hoenn where Ash had no rival for the longest time and Tierno was treated more like a friend than a real rival. Shota didn't even appear until halfway into XY, and Alan even later.

Maybe the Anime should have finally made the game's Male Protagonist a character for once. Calem probably could've been a rival.

And yet, Alain was tied in with Lysandre in Mega Evolution #2. So he and Ash would've had to have had some sort of conflict prior to the confrontation with Lysandre if the writers were to use a plot with Team Flare (which they did).

This battle between Ash and Alain had to be put somewhere. If it wasn't going to be in the League, then it would be in the Team Flare climax itself. At least if Alain loses here, he could be The Cavalry for the battle against Lysandre having processed his Heel Realization off-stage. If Alain wins... narrative flow would dictate the same as if he and Ash never battled at all: putting a(nother) battle in the Team Flare climax to show Ash's philosophy as the correct one of the two.

The events of "XY&Z" are best analyzed as a cohesive whole with the rest of the X&Y saga, as well as the series as a whole. Individual comparisons to otherwise seemingly similar events miss the mark by a bit.

I agree that Ash never had a strong rival in the series; in fact, I had Sanpei pegged as Ash's primary rival as of late Season 18.

But, yeah, if you're going to bring someone in, you might as well bring in the guy that you've been doing the side stories with.

edited 29th Jul '16 10:01:58 AM by DonaldthePotholer

In terms of strength Alan is probably the strongest rival Ash has had. Alan is way above both Paul and Gary, and in the league he steamrolled everything with his Charizard and only his Metagross fainted in his match with Louis. In the specials he's battled legendary pokemon and Malva of the Elite 4. Also aside from maybe Tobias, Alan is also stronger than all the previous league rivals Ash lost to.

I believe that tumblr user Rohanite has stumbled upon how Ash will win not the Semifinals, as they incorrectly predicted, but rather the Finals.

I'd like to add that the chief drama there would involve Ash staying conscious for a 10-count to claim the walkover.

I mean, it just wouldn't be right to have some mon other than Pikachu be the one to win the Title for Ash in some way or other.

Doubtful. We know Pikachu will fight against Tyranitar in the first half of the match on the mountain battlefield from the PokéFan scans, while the upcoming events preview ends with a scene of a battered Pikachu firing off an Electro Ball in the grass battlefield from the second half where Ash Greninja vs Mega Charizard also takes place. While it's theorethically possible that Pikachu will end things off, considering he will seemingly fight more than one opponent and that we have already seen Ash Greninja's giant orange shuriken, I find it hard to believe the latter won't be the finishing move of the battle and that Pikachu will instead put on a great performance but fall to one of Alan's last Pokémon if not Charizard himself. It's not like Pikachu has been the last Pokémon Ash has used in every single league.

Although Ash's league win is critical , Greninja vs Mega Charizard is what they've been hyping, and Greninja is a popular mon as well.

Plus if hell really has frozen over and I need to learn the best recipes to start grilling hats, and Ash is going to win and get phased out, then Pikachu is probably going with him so they'd have to start getting the audience used to it not being the day saver.

The final battle of the league is definitely going to be Greninja Vs. Mega Charizard since that's what its all leading to and its Alan's only hyped Pokemon.

Think of it like the Charizard Vs. Blaziken final battle in the Johto league, where Blaziken was the new hyped up Hoenn Pokemon at the time and Ash had to use Charizard to fight it. Of course Ash lost the Johto league, but here it might be different since Alan isn't a last-minute league rival.

Maybe it'll be Greninja AND Pikachu.

My prediction was that Greninja and Charizard Double KO and that Ash is the winner by virtue of Pikachu still being active.

Remember, Pikachu was not Ash's last Pokemon in every run, but he was Ash's last Pokemon in both of his wins.

EDIT: I did find one sceario which would justify an Alain win. Effectively, he could take Ash's medicine for his affliction or he could take Lysandre's.

Also, that screenshot with Lysandre and Ash gives me Palpatine and Luke vibes...

edited 30th Jul '16 4:11:06 PM by DonaldthePotholer

I was thinking that Pikachu was gonna be the one to bring down Mega Charizard after Greninja weakens it. Generally speaking, its one Ash's "star" Pokemon the season who gets the spotlight before his last match of the tournament.

Not always. Pikachu didn't even fight vs Gary (even though it and Ash pointed out it could probably wreck Blastoise easily) because Ash wanted to use some reserves instead. And against Paul, it got knocked out 2nd to last and it came down to Infernape.