Ash... I don't think he deserves to win any league (Grass-type Pokemon, go tackle that flame-wheel. Pikachu, go zap that Pokemon that's not only immune to electricity, but gets powered up by it).
Agreed on Paul whole-heartedly, though you should have mentioned how Dawn and Piplup were handled too.
Yeah, Team Galactic only came in 10 episodes (not counting Saturn's 30-second cameo that was Team Galactic's reveal), and while most of those episodes WERE epic and alot better than Aqua/Magma, there were still problems that kept it from being fully enjoyable:
- The members themselves were poorly developed and showcased. When compared to the mangas and even the original games, they should be shown as a little more than just villains who are standing in the heroes' way.
- There was little to no build-up for each event featuring Team Galactic; they just show up and start doing evil shit. They oughta have been more mysterious than that, and more episodes should have been dedicated to building up to the big events.
- The blowing up of Iron Island was poorly handled, especially the characters' reactions. James cries like a pussy and it makes his Pokemon learn a new technique to save them? WTF? And if they're so concerned about getting blown up, why not just jump off the island and into the ocean? Mars even suggested it! That'd be alot safer than just sitting around and cowering!
- That god-damn ending. Saturn's Toxicroak is defeated with one hit, Cyrus randomly decides he wants a world to himself rather than to change the world and jumps into nothingness, poor Mars is left shaken and Saturn does nothing to stop Cyrus even though he's always been shown as devoted to him, Charon literatelly vanishes into thin air with no explanation, there's no big final battle with anyone or anything, Cynthia does nothing except say that the Lake Spirits bonded with Ash and co. because "they love Pokemon so much" (GAG!), and Team Rocket obnoxiously take credit for the victory against Team Galactic even though they only supported Looker, a police officer in helping out. LAME.
- Lastly, once again, the fact stands that it was just 10 episodes. 10 episodes out of a 291 episode saga. That is just a slap in the face to Team Galactic no matter which way you look at it.
@Manwiththe Plan I totally agree with you about the ending. It was so rushed, like the writers wanted to be done with it as soon as possible.
And you are right about Dawn and Piplup. While I was glad that they were giving the female character something to do like they did with May, I feel there was too much emphasis on the cute appeal. The only reason that Piplup didn't evolve was because the writers thought that its evolutions were too ugly. And yet they give the girl a freakin' Mamoswine. What? Her rivals were kind of bland too, except for Ursula. Kenny was so whiny, and Zoey was just there. However I'll give Dawn this, she got to the finals on her first try. Something even Ash hasn't managed to do.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the Diamond and Pearl Saga. I just feel that there was a lot more they could have done with the DP saga, but they fell short. Paul was a PRIME character for Character Development. But they didn't which is a shame, I actually kind of liked his character and would've liked him even better if they let him grow. Team Galactic could have had SO much more involvement. I enjoyed their role in the games and would've loved to have seen it shown on the anime. Dawn could have had better rivals and less screen time. The writers could've used some of the episodes to develop Brock as well.
Let's just hope the Best Wishes Saga will be handled better.
The forced fanservice at every friggin' opportunity really killed Dawn's character for me. Dawn was plenty cute on her own, we did not need to have it contanstly whored out. Not to mention that, as much as she grew as a trainer, she stayed a static character through the entire storyline. Again, a wasted chance for Character Development. She was no May, that's for sure.
Ursula was OK, but she wasn't all that good either. She only showed up three times (the second time being a rip-off of Harley's first appearance), lost each and every time she faced Dawn, and never really evovled beyond being The Libby (though she was MUCH better at this than Jessie, who was Dawn's worst rival, hands down).
Zoey stopped doing stuff early on and stayed inactive for a long time, that's true, though her awesome showing (and winning) at the Grand Festival made up for it to me. Kenny, sadly, never got that kind of redemption.
I don't know how much good Character Development Paul could've gotten seeing as he's essentially a Silver rip-off, but there HAD to be something better than the so-called "development" he got in the end. And I didn't really care whether or not Brock got Character Development, I just wanted him gone.
The Best Wishes Saga is already handled better. In fact, IMHO, it's the first actually good saga since the original Kanto one.
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Diamond and Pearl: Missed Opportunities
Diamond and Pearl is a saga that I felt had a lot going for it but failed on a lot of aspects.
Paul- Yes we all know how big of a Karma Houdini he was. He was a Drill Sergeant Nasty that went overboard with Chimchar. I think that his brother should have gave him a verbal slap to the face at some point in the anime. The writers really could have expanded on his relationship with his brother instead of giving him such a flimsy excuse. Plus they made his conversion to a nicer person unrealistic. However, in terms of rivalry he was still pretty good for the fact that he forced Ash to come up with strategies as well actually battled him on more than one occasion. He did what a rival was supposed to do; he pushed Ash. Granted he was a complete Jerk Ass in doing so.
The Team Galactic Plot- The writers have a track record of failing miserably with villain plots (Team Magma/Team Aqua). Only about 10 episodes of appearances? Fail. Why didn't we have a battle between Barry and Jupiter? Perfect time for Character Development for him. There was so much they could have done with this plot. It would have cut down on some of the filler of this saga. However the 10 episodes were, for the most part epic. The planned bombing of Iron Island was unique and unexpected. Hunter J being involved with capturing the pixies was sheer brilliance.
Tobias- Nothing but a plot device to keep Ash from winning a league. You know, you would think that a person with a legendary Pokemon blasting his way through all the gyms would have gotten some mention. I don't think that there was anything that could help make Tobias' presence in the league less cringe-worthy other than just not having him.
There was a lot of potential to be had in this saga, but it just fell short. So much the writers could have done to make it a truly great season. So for the Tl;Dr version