History FridgeBrilliance / PokemonAnime

* "Mimey" calling quits on a fight with a Mightyena in [=SS007=] before it even begins is a crystal clear case that he's well-aware of type advantages and realizes that he, a "Psychic/Fairy"-type, going up a pure "Dark"-type, is just a one-sided beating just ''waiting'' to happen, one "Mimey" does ''not'' want if he can avoid it.

* The fact that he catches his starter Pokemon, throws a curve Pokeball, catches most of his Pokemon by simply throwing Pokeballs at them, and transfers most of the Pokemon he catches to an institute suggest he was inspired by the Player Character in ''VideoGame/PokemonGo''.

* A viewer noted that Ash's battles in Alola League avenged ALL his previous tournament losses:

* The Team Rocket trio have managed to stay employed to Team Rocket despite their perpetual state of mediocrity at best and utter failure at worst. There are several plausible reasons for this if you think about it: One is that in their persistent stalking of Ash, who is a WeirdnessMagnet, they've inadvertently become instrumental in stopping rival criminal teams and saving the world ''several times over''. This in turn helps Team Rocket's overall bottom line in the long run. If Giovanni has realized this, it makes sense to just keep the trio around as a form of insurance.

* The Team Rocket trio have managed to stay employed to Team Rocket despite their perpetual state of mediocrity at best and utter failure at worst. There are several plausible reasons for this if you think about it: One is that in their persistent stalking of Ash, who is a WeirdnessMagnet, they've inadvertently become instrumental in stopping rival criminal teams and saving the world ''several times over''. This in turn helps Team Rocket's overall bottom line in the long run. If Giovanni has realized this, it makes sense to just keep the trio around as a form of insurance. This becomes partially confirmed when at the end of ''Diamond & Pearl'' the trio manage to convince Giovanni that they've shut down Team Galactic (although in reality they only played a minor part) and then later proceed to also take credit for stopping Team Plasma and Team Flare.

* The Team Rocket trio have managed to stay employed to Team Rocket despite their perpetual state of mediocrity at best and utter failure at worst. There are several plausible reasons for this if you think about it: One is that in their persistent stalking of Ash, who is a WeirdnessMagnet, they've inadvertently become instrumental in stopping rival criminal teams and saving the world ''several times over''. This in turn helps Team Rocket's overall bottom line in the long run. If Giovanni has realized this, it makes sense to just keep the trio around as a form of insurance. This is partially confirmed when at the end of ''Diamond & Pearl'' the trio manage to convince Giovanni that they've shut down Team Galactic (although in reality they only played a minor part).

** Additionally, supplemental materials to the first movie revealed that Jessie is the daughter of a highly ranked Team Rocket agent who was the first person to record audio evidence of Mew, before ultimately going MIA. This audio recording was the reason Team Rocket was able to find Mew's DNA to create Mewtwo in the first place. If Giovanni knows this about Jessie, he could simply be allowing her to remain on the team out of unspoken honor to her mother, regardless of Jessie's terrible track record.

* The Team Rocket trio have managed to stay employed to Team Rocket despite their perpetual state of mediocrity at best and utter failure at worst. There are several plausible reasons for this if you think about it: One is that in their persistent stalking of Ash, who is a WeirdnessMagnet, they've inadvertently become instrumental in stopping rival criminal teams and saving the world ''several times over''. This in turn helps Team Rocket's overall bottom line in the long run. If Giovanni has realized this, it makes sense to just keep the trio around as a form of insurance. This is partially confirmed when at the end of ''Diamond & Pearl'' Team Rocket manage to convince Giovanni that they've shut down Team Galactic (although in reality they only played a minor part).

* The Team Rocket trio have managed to stay employed to Team Rocket despite their perpetual state of mediocrity at best and utter failure at worst. There are several plausible reasons for this if you think about it: One that ends up basically confirmed in-universe by the end of the ''Diamond & Pearl'' series, is that in their persistent stalking of Ash, who is a WeirdnessMagnet, they've inadvertently become instrumental in stopping rival criminal teams and saving the world ''several times over''. This in turn helps Team Rocket's overall bottom line in the long run. If Giovanni has realized this, it makes sense to just keep the trio around as a form of insurance.

** Additionally, supplemental materials revealed that Jessie is the daughter of a highly ranked Team Rocket agent who was the first person to record audio evidence of Mew, before ultimately going MIA. This audio recording was the reason Team Rocket was able to create Mewtwo in the first place. If Giovanni knows this about Jessie, he could simply be allowing her to remain on the team out of unspoken honor to her mother regardless of her terrible track record.

* The Team Rocket trio have managed to stay employed to Team Rocket despite their perpetual state of mediocrity at best and utter failure at worst. There are several plausible reasons for this if you think about it: One that ends up basically confirmed in-universe by the end of the ''Diamond & Pearl'' series, is that in their persistent stalking of Ash, who is a WeirdnessMagnet, they've inadvertently become instrumental in stopping rival criminal teams and saving the world ''several times over''. This in turn helps Team Rocket's overall bottom line in the long run. If Giovanni has realized this, it makes sense to just keep them on the team as a form of insurance.

* The Team Rocket trio have managed to stay employed to Team Rocket despite their perpetual state of mediocrity at best and utter failure at worst. There are several plausible reasons for this if you think about it: One that ends up basically confirmed in-universe by the end of the ''Diamond & Pearl'' series, is that in their persistent stalking of Ash, who is a WeirdnessMagnet, they've inadvertently become instrumental in stopping rival criminal teams and saving the world ''several times over'', which in turn helps Team Rocket's overall bottom line in the long run. If Giovanni has realized this, it makes sense to just keep them on the team as a form of insurance.

** To punctuate this, in Kalos they sparsely seem to be deprived of the finer things, [[WickedCultured conversing in fancy restaurants and attending high etiquette dance parties]]. Episodes such as the summer camp arc show them having part time jobs, by this point they're so competent at it they get multiple raises in salary.

* In Sun and Moon, Mimikyu softening up to Jessie rather quickly make sense once one recall how it was captured with a ''Luxury Ball''. Those are designed to make the captured pokemon in them friendlier much faster than any other ball. So she swiped the Luxury Ball, which belonged to James, and it went right in. Keep in mind, Mimikyu just want to be loved. Maybe it was just waiting for the right Ball to be caught with.
** Additionally, Jessie wasn't able to catch it after multiple tries with regular Poké Balls.

* In Sun and Moon, Mimikyu softening up to Jessie rather quickly make sense once one recall how it was captured with a ''luxury ball''. Those are designed to make the captured pokemon in them friendlier much faster than any other ball.

* The reason Ash is kinda..."not all there" and forgetful in later parts of the series? (Besides him being, at least initially, a traditional IdiotHero.) It's because he's been through so many {{Flatline Plotline}}s. When your heart stops, your brain is deprived of oxygen because of the lack of blood flow...and when that happens, brain cells (which are real oxygen and energy hogs) die off ''rapidly'', and aren't regenerated.

* Shaymin's bond with Mallow is succinctly close and obedient despite being a wild mythical Pokemon. The earlier Mallow focused episode where she quarrels with her father brings to attention that she is insecure over lack of appreciation or approval. Her parting words with her mother's spirit fittingly are them expressing their appreciation for each other. What more fitting Pokemon to show compassion to Mallow than Shaymin, the Gratitude Pokemon?

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* Nurse Joy's name suits her when you realize that her name in Japanese (joi) literally means 'woman doctor'.
* There are many examples on this page of Pokémon with illegal move sets that may have been HandWaved by ''Bulbasaur... the Ambassador!'', in which Ash's Bulbasaur learns Dig in a life threatening situation.
* [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Tobias_(Sinnoh) This guy]] won the Lily of the Valley Conference using multiple legendary Pokémon, when the last time someone caught a legendary [[Anime/{{Pokemon 2000}} it almost caused the end of the world]][[note]]though to be honest, they've never really been consistent with how "legendary" the legendaries are.[[/note]]. But then I realized: in the games, don't players usually use the [[OlympusMons legendaries]] they caught to beat the Elite Four [[NintendoHard relatively]] easily? The entire fiasco could be a TakeThat to those sort of players!
** From a less cynical standpoint, the battle is one of the final events that convinces Ash to continue training and head to Unova. People familiar with the plot of ''Pokémon Black and White'' may notice that you are expected to catch one of the headliner legendaries and use it in battle to resolve the plot. Combine this with the mandatory legendary battles in RSE and DPP, and earlier legendary-training characters like Brandon and Noland (ever notice that he uses one of the legendaries that was causing problems in 2000?), and the plot seems to be moving away from the message of the second movie and arguing that responsible and respectful use of legendaries isn't reprehensible. Nobody seems to have a problem with Tobias, after all, and the Heatran user wasn't even brought up. - Tropers/FalconPain
*** Well, I imagine it depends on ''which'' legendaries one is capturing. Darkrai, Articuno, etc. probably have multiple members of their species (in the Japanese version of ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'', there's a sequence with ''many'' Latios & Latias), and the legendary birds in the Orange Islands are established as special cases. Catching certain ones -- such as [[{{God}} Arceus]] -- is insane (or at least keeping them permanently), but when there are many members such as the Regi trio (Brandon's), having their power under a responsible trainer doesn't seem morally questionable (and despite how people feel about him, Tobias didn't seem like a bad sort). We'll have to see where this goes in the future, though. - Tropers/CaellachTigerEye
** This troper had a bit of fridge brilliance regarding the character's choice of dub name (and may possibly imply something about his origins). He's called Tobias, which doesn't sound like the name of a legendary-wielding champion. But it turns out that "Tobias" is also the name of a biblical figure in Hebrew religion -- this Tobias went on a journey, guided and protected by the archangel Raphael. And, get this -- one of Raphael's patronages is ''nightmares.'' - Tropers/DominusTemporis
** It may be a reference to The Battle Tower. As you rack up wins, the game does whatever it can to stop you, including using Legendary Pokémon. Now that Ash is getting better and better, the writers are doing whatever they can to stop him, like giving his opponents Legendary Pokémon. - Tropers/FatPat
* Why did that recurring Jigglypuff [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome suddenly disappear for]][[TheBusCameBack over a decade of real time and several Ash regions in anime time]] after the first Advanced season? Could just be that the joke was getting old... or it could be that time corresponds to the first time in the game where there are Pokémon ''naturally immune to sleep'', thanks to the abilities Insomnia and Vital Spirit? Jigglypuff's whole purpose for traveling was to find someone who would listen to her song without dozing off, so she probably found some Pokémon with those abilities and sang for them full-time. - Tropers/Stardf29
** True, but some ''on-screen'' resolution for a long-running recurring character would've been nice. It looked like Jigglypuff was going to stay with a Whismur, but the Whismur fell asleep anyway.
** Whatever the reason, as of ''Sun & Moon'', Jigglypuff [[TheBusCameBack has returned]]...and she's ''still'' looking for someone who would listen to her singing.
* Why are Pikachu's electric attacks so much stronger than just about every other Electric Pokémon, including Pokémon far larger than him? In the very first episode, Pikachu discharged a massive Thunder Shock in the rain while being struck by lightning. Is it possible that the experience super-charged him?

* In the movie ''Anime/PokemonDestinyDeoxys'', when the purple Deoxys (the primary one) makes its 'voice' heard, it sounds deep, and seemingly masculine. When the green Deoxys (the Deoxys the primary one is searching for) speaks, its voice is higher, and seemingly feminine. The two Deoxys were in a meteor together at the beginning of the movie. Is it possible that the Deoxys were a seed of life that came from another world, and sent to Earth (or at least, in hopes of finding a planet) to preserve their race? It seems to me that they could be a sort of Adam and Eve archetype.
** Or for FridgeHorror, an [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Adam and Lilith]] archetype.
* Mewtwo. It was supposedly cloned from Mew, except it obviously isn't a Mew. The other clones obviously are the same as the originals, but it isn't. Why? The researchers spliced the Mew DNA with human DNA. It's why Mewtwo looks so much more human, and why it has a voice (admittedly via psychic). It's part human and part Pokémon, which is why it also thinks of itself as a trainer. That's why it's so screwed up.
** This has some basis in the ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' manga, where Mewtwo was cloned using some of the cells in [[spoiler:Blaine's arm.]]
* Ash not taking any of his previous Pokémon (sans mascot Pikachu) for his Hoenn adventure may seem like a pointless way to have him catch new Pokémon. But considering that players couldn't trade their Pokémon from the first two generations of games to their copies of Ruby and Sapphire, it wouldn't be fair for Ash to do what players couldn't. It seems this logic is broken when Ash doesn't bring over his old Pokémon to Sinnoh, when players were able to bring their GBA Pokémon into the DS games. But, when you consider the fact that access to GBA Pokémon is restricted until players beat the League and get the National Dex, and that Ash uses his old Pokémon for the Sinnoh League tournament, Ash is in a way still emulating when players have access to old Pokémon.
** To add to that last point, Ash usually gets a Pokédex upgrade from the local professor of a new region once he gets there. He already ''has'' the National Dex!
* When I first saw a Japanese preview for ''Arceus and the Jewel of Life'', I was extremely surprised to see the voice actor they chose for the eponymous {{Olympus Mon|s}}: Akihiro Miwa. The voice fit perfectly, but as for everything else... in hindsight and after research, he may have been the aptest choice possible for the role. He has many traits in common with Arceus: [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld more age than appearances suggest]], [[DragQueen ambiguous gender]], golden highlights, high popularity among the other characters despite holding strong beliefs and having some JerkAss tendencies, [[NukeEm first-hand experience with "judgment" raining down upon a city]]... - Tropers/FalconPain
** On a related subject, Arceus's dub voice. A lot of people say it doesn't fit him, and in several ways, it probably doesn't. But rather than discussing that aspect, let's discuss how, when asked who ''should'' have voiced him, a lot of people immediately suggest someone like Creator/DanGreen. The fact is, despite his many roles, Dan has only voiced two legendaries to date. The first (replacing Phillip Bartlett from the first movie) was a man-made clone of an existing Pokémon that doesn't speak telepathically and sounds far cuter. The second was an illusion created by the Unown, based upon a little girl's memories, and the creature they emulated merely roars. The logical conclusion is apt, not only for the show, but also for the fanbase. Dan Green is not what legendary Pokémon sound like. Dan Green is [[TheCoconutEffect what humans think legendary Pokémon]] ''[[TheCoconutEffect should]]'' [[TheCoconutEffect sound like]]. - Tropers/FalconPain
*** You just gave this troper a FridgeBrilliance moment as well. Both of these Pokémon specifically were created by the human mind. Mewtwo by Team Rocket, who probably wanted the voice to sound more like the way he speaks in the sequel, and Entei by Molly Hale, who was reminded as her father, plus Entei would sound like that as far as humans would like it to be.
*** I don't know what you mean by "wanted the voice to sound more like the way he speaks" (such as if the "he" in what I quoted was Dan Green or Mewtwo), but that ''is'' the voice Mewtwo projects psychically. If Creator/DanGreen (or Philip Bartlett's Majestic Voice Mode) is how humans think Legendaries should sound, and Mewtwo was created by/raised by humans, maybe that's how ''Mewtwo'' thinks Legendaries should sound. -Tropers/JET73L
* I'm still not sure how I should be reacting to this one, but it clicked after seeing the entry for Brock on the LovableSexManiac page... I never really thought twice about that -- it was business as usual, after the third episode he was in -- but now that I've looked back over the Indigo League, it makes a strange amount of sense. What was Brock's motivation during that saga? To be the world's best Pokémon ''breeder''.

* In the episode "Purrloin: Sweet or Sneaky?", the titular Pokémon [[UnsettlingGenderReveal Dropped a Bridget]] on TR's Meowth and Ash's Oshawott. I get why Meowth might be fooled, since he's from Kanto, but what's Oshawott's excuse? ''He's'' Unovan. -Tropers/GamerFromJump
** Me again. I always wondered if Team Rocket ever really ''thought'' about the implications of stealing other people's Pokémon. The way I see it, there are two possible outcomes: 1) Every Pokémon, the moment it's released, demands to see its Trainer, and opens up on them when they refuse; 2) Pokémon morality states that "he who holds the ball, makes the rules", which is kinda disturbing.
** Purrloin don't have visible gender differences, so Oshawott wouldn't be able to tell.
** -Tropers/{{Kitch}} here. Actually, Meowth had another Pokémon trick him just eight episodes prior. One would think he would've been a touch squirrelly about that so soon.
* Just a silly little thing, but in 'Beheeyem, Duosion, and the Dream Thief' the PowerTrio's reactions to Officer Jenny's entrance make a lot of sense. Iris waves her arms around, Cilan stays (mostly) still, but apologizes profusely, and Ash bows several times in quick succession. It struck me as odd at first, since you often see everybody bow when they apologize for something, but that was in any one of the Japan-based regions, and Unova is based on New York. Unovans wouldn't bow when apologizing, but Ash -- from Kanto, as we all recall -- would and does.
* It would seem random that Ash would catch a Palpitoad. However, the Tympole family it belongs to are considered [[{{Expy}} expies]] of the Poliwag family. So by extension, Palpitoad is an expy of Poliwhirl, which happens to be Satoshi Tajiri's favorite Pokémon and a Pokémon that Red (Ash's ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' counterpart) had.
** It's also rumored that Krokorok was meant to be captured during the cancelled two part Rocket vs Plasma episode, so it was likely a last minute replacement for Krokorok (which would explain the lack of use as it never was supposed to be captured). As to another reason for Palpitoad specifically, it is likely that Cilan capturing Stunfisk was already set and it was easier to fit in a Palpitoad capture there than the only other ground-type (Golett/Golurk) that was not tied to another character (with Ash and Krokorok, Iris and Excadrill, and Cilan and Stunfisk).
* I always wondered why Pikachu never seems to grow in power, until I read this very page and realized something. Pikachu can't get any more powerful, because he can't evolve. Because he never evolved, he never learned better moves, and never got the stat boost becoming a Raichu would give him. Because of his/Ash's lack of foresight in his third (?) gym battle, Pikachu can be defeated by many lower level Pokémon (for example, Cress' Panpour, a ''water'' type, early on in ''Best Wishes'') and is probably lucky to have ever defeated anything better than him.
** Yeah, no. While it's true that Pikachu didn't recieve the stat boosts an evolution would grant him, Raichu doesn't learn any new attacks. It only learns attacks in the Pikachu stage, which is how it beat Surge's Raichu in the first place. If he'd evolved it right then, it would have been stuck without most of the moves that make it versatile and would have been even worse. Pikachu, and even Raichu, are [[GlassCannon glass cannons]]; lots of power but they can't take much in return, and nothing can change that.
*** Actually as the anime shows, evolving WOULD let Pikachu learn new moves. TMs and HMs don't exist so any moves Pokemon can learn from them, as we saw in Hoenn when learning to use Iron Tail, need to be taught. Some TM moves that Raichu can learn but Pikachu can't include such as Hyper Beam which Brock himself even stated. At the same time he could still learn more moves as a Pikachu by being taught the same way.
** There's another way to look at it. A big thing to remember about the Pokémon in the anime is that they aren't just pieces of data in a video game, they're living beings. One way to look at Pokémon training in the anime is that it's something similar to how people train for martial arts matches in real life. They have to train constantly to keep getting stronger or remember moves. If they don't keep training, they lose their edge and power and have start over from square one. That could explain how Pikachu seems to lose strength between each season; to keep things fair in each new region and to not completely destroy new trainers in a region Ash and Pikachu travel to, they take time off from training so Pikachu loses enough strength that he can plausibly be beaten by the Pokémon new trainers have. While Pikachu will still have the knowledge on how to fight well, he isn't as strong or in shape as he was before, so his general fighting ability will seem to decrease. If Ash seems to make stupid decisions in battles or move selection, it could be a self-imposed challenge for him, to see if he can still win the battle or go around the region with a certain moveset. He gets a bigger challenge, and his opponents, if they are new trainers, get a decent chance of winning. Of course, if Ash and Pikachu didn't take any time off between regions, this theory falls flat, since Pikachu hasn't stopped training long enough to be plausibly defeated by mostly inexperienced Pokémon without sheer dumb luck.
* In ''Best Wishes'', Team Rocket start off as promoted elite agents wearing black versions of their usual attire and taking orders directly from Giovanni, who was now wearing a black military-stile uniform. As of episode 25, Giovanni became too busy to oversee their missions, so they demoted themselves and switched back to their familiar white uniforms. Who are they working for now? Dr. Zager, a guy in a ''white'' lab coat. It fits the ''Black and White'' theme!
* Here's a subtle one -- Tepig's WellDoneSonGuy tendencies [[spoiler:prior to his evolution]]. While it's understandable that he has low self-esteem after an abandonment by a previous trainer, having it so bad that even Lenora points out he tries ''really'' hard for Ash stands out (and he's upset when he ties with a Vanillite, even though he battled well). Then comes the episode where we finally meet his former trainer -- who, as it turns out, claimed to have left Tepig behind because he felt it would be better for a weak Pokémon to not be forced to battle (hint: he's lying). Suddenly it makes sense -- while Ash would never ditch a Pokémon friend even if they had a losing streak, Tepig ''does not believe such a thing exists''. It takes confronting his trainer on the truth to invigorate his self-esteem.
* In the episode, "Crossing the Battle Line", Jessie remarks that one grab of Lucario would break Meowth. She's right. Lucario is a Fighting-type, which is super-effective on Normal-types like Meowth.

* The StrawmanHasAPoint page mentions Paul as curbstomping Ash all the time and generally being a skilled trainer despite being a massive prick. However, think about it. Paul is the Pokémon world version of the StopHavingFunGuys section of the fandom that only care about breeding the [[{{Ubermensch}} ubermon]] for competitive play. They may not care about the story or what some consider fun[[note]]they must find constantly hatching eggs for a perfect nature and such fun if they keep doing it. Ah well. To each their own.[[/note]], but that doesn't mean they're not good at the games. It's just that, unlike Paul, they don't abuse living creatures and are thus not nearly as jerkish (though, some can get annoying at times).
** The problem with the [=StopHavingFunGuys/Paul=] comparison is that trying to achieve ideal stats in Pokémon outside of hacking the game usually results in a massive eugenics program that neglects potentially dozens or hundreds of living creatures in-universe. Abuse and neglect are both problems.

* In "All For The Love of Meloetta", we see Meloetta sing a calming song, soothing the fight out of two Pokémon. In the "Rise of Darkrai" movie though, they had Oracion, which did something similar. Perhaps Meloetta is where they got the song from?
* As of B/W episode 98, we've seen [[spoiler:Pignite]] get mad at Oshawott for stealing his food at least twice -- and it's shaping up to be a real BerserkButton. This makes sense, since, when we were introduced to [[spoiler:Pignite as a Tepig,]] he was ''unable'' to eat and more than half-starved. Taking food from a Pokemon that's learned to value it that much is a really, really bad idea.
* Back in early B/W, when Ash first met Burgundy, she makes the suggestion for him to get rid of his Sewaddle (at the time) for a different one that has the ability Chlorophyll. I didn't think of it at the time (given she makes another one for him to swap out his whole team), but when I indulged in older anime episodes, one of the main strategies that Ash uses that often is speed. For a quick reminder, Chlorophyll ''raises speed'' in sunlight, so maybe Burgundy was on to something.
* A lot of complaints have been made about how Ash's Unova team is "weaker" than his teams from other regions. However, he's been using more Pokemon than usual (ten instead of his usual six), so it would be logical that he wouldn't be able to raise his Pokemon as much in the same amount of time.
** Previously it was more beneficial to train small numbers of Pokemon; three or four would become over leveled and defeat anything barring a really bad type disadvantage. In Unova, returns drastically reduce when levels are equal but increase by just as much when they are lower, encouraging you to use a wider variety of monsters for multiple scenarios.
** Also, consider what changed in Black and White; Ash was not sending his Unovan Pokemon to Professor Oak, but instead Professor Juniper. Oak's lab is a wide open space filled with other Pokemon willing and able to battle with Ash's extra Pokemon, while Juniper doesn't have the same space. At the same time, Oak studies Human-Pokemon interactions, while Juniper studies Pokemon Origins (Like where Klink come from). Pokemon at Oak's lab self-train, or are possibly even trained by Oak himself in observing trainer dynamics sort of like a daycare, which is why Pokemon come back from Oak's lab with new moves (Sceptile with Leaf Storm, Herracross with Sleep Talk, and Noctowl with Extrasensory, Sky Attack, and Air Slash to name but three) KrspaceT
** May also add Fridge Brilliance to why Team Rocket's smaller rosters tend to remain NotSoHarmless against the twerps for [[CantCatchUp longer than their larger ones]]. Their Hoenn team for example quickly proved fairly useless, with only long running members getting some palpable effective moments, their Kalos team however, proved a threat and managed to keep up with Ash's team for a palpable amount of time, likely because Jessie and James could devote all their time to training just Inkay and Gourgeist (even if this caused another handicap of being outnumbered frequently). Incidentally the two Pokemon to have the most phenomenal displays of power are [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Meowth and Wobbuffet]], who have been with them nearly the whole series.
** This statement also holds true considering his Kalos team. This time around, Ash only caught 5 Pokemon, adding in Pikachu, that's only enough to fill the max party size. But that also means that he has more time to spend with each of them, by the end of season, all of his Pokemon that are able to evolve got to their highest level and his team managed to get him to 2nd place, his highest placing in any league tournament. Taken a step further with the existence of Ash-Greninja.
* Why is Ash's Charizard so disobedient to him when only traded Pokémon don't listen to their trainers if they're too strong? Well, Ash's Charizard didn't originally belong to him -- it belonged to another Trainer before he abandoned it!

*** GameplayAndStorySegregation is at play here, because the method of getting Pokémon to respect and obey you is to earn it. Because the early Pokémon games don't have complex AI behavior, gym badges are used to make your Pokémon obey because they represent your victories over tough gym leaders and thus worthy to follow. But in the anime, the Pokémon are allowed to have more complex personality and will disobey or even abandon their own trainers if they consider them to be either incompetent or abusive.

* Binge watching through the original series again, I picked up on some Fridge Brilliance about why so many of Ash's Pokémon remain in their primary or secondary stages when training them up for evolution should be no difficult task, and at this point should have been commonplace for someone whose Pokémon have been through as much as Ash's have. The first Pokémon that evolved under Ash's control was Caterpie, who evolved twice into Butterfree within a few days or so after he caught it; so it's understandable that Ash associated his first Pokémon far more with the Butterfree he kept with him than the Caterpie he initially caught it as. But what was the next Pokémon of Ash's that evolved? Charmander. Ash witnessed first-hand Charmander evolving into Charmeleon, and later into Charizard, and completely stopped listening to him. Not only that, but Charmander had never expressed an interest in evolving; it just did so. Noting this, it's understandable that Ash wouldn't want to go out of his way to evolve any of his other Pokémon that didn't directly express an interest in evolving; he risks them not being as loyal to him when they evolve, and doesn't want to force them to evolve in order to become stronger, because he saw first-hand what a Pokémon evolving for the purpose of strength can do to the Pokémon's nature. Sweet Charmander turned into the borderline BloodKnight Charizard out of his obsession with his own power. However, because he truly loves his Pokémon, he would never STOP them from evolving, either. He just wouldn't intentionally force it because he loves them the way they are.
* In Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown, the Entei, being associated with the Unown, leaves a trail of ice crystals. Seems pretty insignificant, right? But, of course, Entei is a fire mon. This may be a subtle way to make Pokemaniacs in the audience feel something eery and unusual about this creature.
* The infamous "dodge" move in the anime. Only it's not really a move. It's the equivalent to an attack missing in the game. Looking at the bigger and flashier moves, like Hydro Pump and Fire Blast, you notice they have low accuracy. The Pokémon sees the move coming, and dodges it, so the attack misses. The same thing happens in the anime.
* Why did Pikachu not win against Trip in his first battle when he used his physical attacks if only his electric attacks were blocked by Zekrom? Because he exhausted himself when tried to use his electric attacks.
* Froakie being able to see through Team Rocket's disguises might make sense when you take into account that his final evolution is a thief (well, ninja, but considering the FighterMageThief dynamic he has with the other starters). It takes a thief to know a thief.

* What was Clemont doing between getting kicked out of his gym and meeting Ash? Why, going to find a Pokemon that could use Ground moves like Bunnelby so he would have an advantage against the Clembot.
** Apparently [[https://filb.de/anime/xy/088 exploring the Lumiose City subway system]]
* The episode "A Chansey Operation" may seem a little weird to American audiences. When there's no Pokémon center around for miles, they take Pikachu to a human hospital and there's only one doctor on staff. In Japan where the show is made, hospitals aren't open 24 hours or on weekends and usually have a limited number of staff later in the day.
* A lot of people have complained about Ash's chosen team to fight Tobias; Heracross, Torkoal, Gible, Sceptile, Swellow and Pikachu, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Heracross was the best Pokemon possible to fight Darkrai (a fact people generally admit when criticizing Ash) due to typing and sleep talk, and Gible had Rock Smash, plus a attack in Draco Meteor that even Tobias admitted could have knocked out Darkrai if it hit. The other four Pokemon, however, had fought legends in the past; Torkoal battled Registeel, Swellow had fought Deoxys, Sceptile fought the same Deoxyss and Regirock, and Pikachu had defeated Regiice. Ash actually had a decent plan in mind; particularly with several of the other logical choices being unavailable (Charizard wasn't around for this arc, Snorlax would have been a poor choice for rather obvious reasons and Infernape was utterly beaten down from battling Paul).
** Similarly to this, the team Ash used against Cameron is often criticized, but with all the information Ash had it was a good lineup. Ash only knew about Riolu, Samurott, and Ferrothorn at the time, and the team Ash brought with him (Boldore, Oshawott, Pignite, Pikachu, Unfeazant, and Snivy) had Pokemon who could counter those Pokemon in theory. Meanwhile Krookodile, who is generally accepted as Ash's strongest Unova mon, would have been weak to all three of those known Pokemon
* Harrison who defeated Ash in Johto lost the next round and wasn't able to use Blaziken in it because he was wounded and not fully recovered after fighting Charizard. Then it occured to me, after facing Three of Gary's Pokemon (Two which he had a disadvantage against) in a row including his Strongest one and Starter Blastoise perhaps Charizard when facing Blaziken [[WorfHadTheFlu hadn't recovered from fighting them either]]. If he was at 100 percent, Ash may have been able to beat Harrison.
** While we're on the subject, this might also be a factor in explaining him being defeated by Entei in the third movie. It's not unreasonable to suspect he might have been tired from presumably flying as fast as he could for several hours.

* During the Sinnoh League, each of Ash's four rivals is defeated in an ironic way.
** Nando mainly uses Bug-type Pokémon on his team, training a Kricketune, Armaldo and Kricketot. His Kricketune is defeated by another Bug-type, Ash's Heracross.
** Conway's preferred battle tactic is to devise elaborate strategies beforehand. Ash defeats him with a combination of luck (Gible finally perfecting Draco Meteor) and last-minute improvisation (Gible trapping Shuckle in its mouth and biting Dusknoir's hand to nullify Shadow Punch).
** Barry idolizes and admires Paul greatly. Despite [[TheDeterminator trying very hard]] and even making use of clever strategies such as having Skarmory set up Stealth Rock and taking advantage of Empoleon's Torrent, a far cry from [[AttackAttackAttack his usual battle style,]] he suffers a CurbStompBattle at Paul's hands, 3-0.
** Paul only uses the strongest Pokémon and rejects any that don't live up to his high standards. The Chimchar that he put through TrainingFromHell, threw out for supposedly being "weak", and was subsequently adopted and raised by Ash, the Trainer he derided for treating Pokémon as friends rather than tools, ultimately proved victorious over his perfectly-trained Electivire.
* A possible explanation for why all of Ash's Fire-type starters have a similar backstory of being abandoned by a cruel Trainer: Fire-type Pokémon are known for being [[GlassCannon fast and powerful attackers,]] or in other words, something that Trainers like Damian look at and think "instant death machine". But when it doesn't turn out to be [[MagikarpPower the super strong Pokémon they want right off the bat,]] they don't have the patience to train it to its full potential, and throw it away.
* How were Paul and his Chimchar able to climb down the cliff when he and Ash were blown off of it in "Different Strokes For Different Blokes"? They were using the Rock Climb HM move, which Chimchar (and all the other Sinnoh starters) can learn, and it can be used to travel down the rocky cliffs as well as up them.
* At first, I thought Brock hatching a Happiny was related to his goal of being a breeder (hatching eggs). But, in reality, it was foreshadowing his change in goals to become a doctor, since Happiny evolves into the pokemon often seen in a pokemon center.
* There have been complaints (at least from Bulbagarden) about how Korrina's Mega-Lucario vs (Ash's) Pikachu have been utterly one-sided. The thing is, Pikachu was against a Pokémon that is essentially the closest thing you'll have to a legendary: Mega-Lucario is on Smogon's Uber-tier list. Even the non-mega version is not much of a slouch if you actually played the games - this troper had Korrina's Lucario sweep his team the first time around. If anything, this make more sense that Lucario was featured in an earlier movie - maybe Lucario is a special type of Pokemon; the anime version of a semi/pseudo-legendary species.
* Of why Clemont's invention always explode when he's supposed to be a genius inventor. Well, this is RealityEnsues played for lighthearted hilarity. Given that Clemont probably came up with the inventions with only 30 second notice, and given that most of his invention do work - if briefly - before exploding, his problem is the lack of testing the invention and making sure the invention is fail-safe.
* In XY008, Ash's Pikachu is blinded by an ink shot from James' Inkay, but Ash and Pikachu still battle Team Rocket with no trouble. Ash gives Pikachu commands about how and where to move and attack, and Pikachu delivers perfectly. Not only is this moment awesome in and of itself, it also makes sense in hindsight. Several times over the course of the anime, Ash has been in situations where his Pokémon either can't see their opponents or where it would not have been wise for them to do so. Each time, Ash told them to simply listen for their opponents or sense their movements and react at just the right moment. This could mean that part of the reason Ash and Pikachu did so well when Pikachu was fighting blind, aside from their deep bond and mutual trust, was because Ash has had to do things like this before.
* This entry from the character pages on the Pokémon themselves gave me a moment:
-->Out-of-Character Moment: The line is said to spread joy and promote peace yet can be bred to know Nasty Plot, which is described as "[stimulating the] brain by thinking bad thoughts".
** Which line's entry was this in? ''Togepi's''. Hence, the evil Togepi from [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/DP142 DP142]]. --Tropers/{{SpiriTsunami}}
* The Animé-styled cries can induce FridgeLogic once one realizes that the World of Pokémon is implied to be multilingual (due to the {{Dub Name Change}}s of the Pokémon themselves). However, in [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire]], the Pokémon of two important [=NPCs=] uses said Animé-styled cries in an interesting way - instead of repeating their species name, they instead, repeat their ''nicknames''. In other words, the actual in-universe PokemonSpeak is ''not'' their species name, but what everyone else calls them.
** One interesting thing that this troper noticed is regarding Onix's cry. It has always sounded like a regular roaring sound, but after watching a few episodes in Japanese where Onix appeared, this troper realized that Onix is actually saying its Japanese name, "Iwark."

* Why was Cilan Ash's designated Gym Leader friend to accompany him in Unova? In Black and White, Cilan is your opponent if you picked Oshawott as your starter and Oshawott was Ash's first Unova starter.
* It might seem that the female companions getting so incredibly [[ThePreciousPreciousCar pissed off about Ash destroying their bikes]] might be a little ridiculous, especially with the insistence that they travel with Ash until he pays them back... but then you remember how much money a bicycle costs in-game.
* So, throughout this wiki, it's commonly stated that after the seizure incident, Porygon and its evolutions were banned from appearing in the show, and that this was a case of {{Misblamed}} because Pikachu was the one whose attacks actually caused the flashes that resulted in the seizure. It's further assumed that Pikachu's popularity was what kept him from being written out himself and that Porygon was merely a scapegoat to take Pikachu's place. However, it seems more likely that the thinking was that Porygon, whose name was in the title of the episode and who hadn't appeared before then, would be more of a reminder of the incident to viewers than Pikachu, who had been part of the show from the beginning and thus wasn't as closely linked to that particular episode. It was more of an attempt to avert TooSoon than actually blaming the fictional character for the real-world problem caused by the animators. (Though, it's still somewhat puzzling that it's still considered TooSoon so many years later...)
* Harley is May's rival with the strongest grudge against her, ironically mostly for incredibly petty or contrived reasons. He has a Banette, a Pokémon said to have been brought to life by a grudge. Its pre-evolution Shuppet feeds off of negative emotions -- including grudges, which it specifically seeks out.
* Clemont's Bunnelby knowing Wild Charge seemed pointless at first, but it actually is a call back. Several gym leaders used non-specialty types with the moves the type is known to have, like Sabrina with Venomoth and Volkner with Ambipom.
** Wild Charge is also explicitly used to counter Ash's strategy of letting Bunnelby catch Pikachu's Iron Tail and following up with a point-blank Electro Ball, which Clemont saw during their first battle against each other. Choosing Wild Charge for this purpose makes sense, as all of Bunnelby's other attacking moves (Dig, Double Slap, and Mud Shot) required the use of its ears.
* When watching Serena's flashback where Ash sings "Pain, pain go away" to the tune of "Rain, rain go away" you might just realise that ''that's the song that plays when you use the healing machine at a Pokemon Center!''
* At first glance, Ash releasing every Pokémon he's ever caught makes him look like a lousy trainer, but remember the saying ''"If you love someone, set them free"''. By releasing his Pokémon after catching them, he's showing how far he's come from the boy who gloated about enslaving a Pidgey way back in episode 1. Even Pikachu was almost released, but chose to stay by Ash's side.
** And since many of his released Pokémon have gone on to become pack leaders, he's basically got connections with several groups of wild Pokémon. Maybe, in his own unique way, Ash has become a true Pokémon master through friendship and coexistence.
* Ash's Pikachu has slimmed down since season 1 because he is always walking outside of his ball.
* Drake from the Orange Islands uses Onix, Gengar, and Dragonite, all major Pokémon of the Kanto Elite Four. The only Elite Four member he doesn't use Pokemon from is Lore....Prima, who appeared in the Orange Islands arc.
* During the last episode of BW, Oak was shown to have all base form regional starter birds. While Pidgey and to an extent Hoothoot could be explained due to new trainers, Ash's Swellow, Staraptor, and Unfezant are the only known members of their species to be around Oak's lab. Heck, perhaps that is what Unfezant had been doing since Ash swapped her out for Charizard?
* Remember that baby Nidoqueen from ''Mewtwo Returns''? [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Celebi_Egg_glitch Seems Mewtwo must've become a true master of the Celebi Egg glitch by the time our heroes reunited with him.]]
* In ''Best Wishes'', after Meowth reveals himself as TheMole after faking a HeelFaceTurn, Ash, rather than getting angry, just smugly laments the past while travelling with him was fun, infuriating Meowth. This retort makes even more sense keeping in mind during most of that time, Meowth was ''even more'' the heroes' ButtMonkey than before (eg. the Dream Thief episode, where they continuously attack him to keep him awake) and unlike the norm, couldn't even antagonise them back to keep up the facade. Even worse the plan failed so it was all for nothing. What sounds like a goody goody hand wave was Ash essentially gloating that, in whatever situation Meowth cooks up, he still makes him his punching bag.
** Add to that, in trying to suck up to the heroes and prove his loyalty, [[PragmaticVillainy Meowth ended up helping with a lot of the heroes' dilemmas]], even ones unrelated to his cause (he didn't really ''have'' to help the wild Scrafty or Mandibuzz with their problems). Ironically through all his efforts he did a lot more good than harm.
** Of course, Ash being Ash, he was probably being ''completely sincere''. Of course Meowth is going to be angry, it's not just that they failed to steal Pokémon, Ash's takeaway from the experience is the good times they had together, not the faked friendship or betrayal.
* Meowth seems to have become ''slightly'' more battle competent, since ''Best Wishes'', he could dodge or pick himself up from attacks better and the rare times he fights in ''XY'' he's been getting in {{Curbstomp Cushion}}s, even against Pikachu. In a late Diamond and Pearl episode beforehand, Meowth, [[ThePowerOfLove in a fit of rare emotion]], fury swiped and defeated ''five Pokemon at once'' (some such as Ash's Pokemon were top fighters). While he inevitably lost the rush and reverted back to normal, he still likely gained some palpable experience from such a win, improving his battle level slightly. Similarly he defeated several Purloin of Team Plasma in another isolated second wind in ''Best Wishes'', explaining his second small power boost in ''XY''.
* Tying with that, the heroes almost always use a combination of Pokemon attacks to blast off Team Rocket in ''XY''. This seems like standard flashy overkill at first, but in keeping with Team Rocket's increased competence, a standard attack may not work anymore. Not to mention their tendency to bring out Wobbuffet to Counter more moderate attacks.
* While ''Best Wishes'' made the trio more competent as villains, most of their [[TeamRocketWins long term victories]] that actually earned Giovanni's approval tied in with their usual RedemptionPromotion, eg. stopping rival Team Plasma in an EnemyMine with Ash, saving BrainwashedAndCrazy Giovanni from destroying Unova, handing him Pokemon they earned through legitimate circumstances rather than stealing. Even Meowth's HeelFaceMole plot only got so far because he was genuinely helpful to the heroes and did good deeds. It only makes sense that after that, they decide to just go back to doing things their own way, where they do well in benevolent circumstances anyway, something ''XY'' has stayed consistent with.

* Looking at the [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Iris%27s_Dragonite Dragonite]] that Iris caught near the end of season 15. I noticed that it doesn't know its species [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Hyper_Beam_(move) ultimate attack]], and at first I was confused as to why. Then I discovered that its species doesn't learn that attack until level 75 in [[Videogame/PokemonBlackandWhite the Unova games]]. So that got me to thinking, what if the reason it hasn't learned its ultimate attack is because it just evolved from Dragonair? That also explains why it hasn't learned [[UnstoppableRage Outrage]] either.
* Paul. While it's hard to deny that he's a {{Jerkass}}, the episode of DP in which he fights Brandon explains a lot. Wears safari gear, similar hairstyles, prone to dropping TheReasonYouSuck speeches, cold demeanor, insistence on only using the strongest Mons available... He's trying to be Brandon, but doesn't have the maturity to realise that it isn't all about power.
* After the Kalos finals, Ash's friends comforting him telling him that the loss isn't that bad is no doubt callous, then you realize that [[InnocentlyInsensitive they are probably thinking that Ash only had just taken part in his first or second tournament and is telling him not to be a sore loser.]] If Ash ever told them that this is his 6th league loss in a row, his friends will no doubt be singing a different tune.
** Not a Betrayal Fic or a 'you suck because you can't win' speech of course: contrary to what stupid fanfictions will say real people do not turn on you on such drops of the hats. No, they'd probably be congratulating him on how far he went.
* The reason Articuno did not appear in the ''XY'' anime like Moltres and Zapdos is because of what starter Pokemon triggers Articuno in the games: Chespin. Clemont isn't the anime protagonist, nor is he based on the game protagonist, so he does not trigger the event.
** Alternatively, the episodes featuring Moltres and Zapdos have one thing in common: a Flying-type Pokémon in Ash's team evolves into its final form (Fletchinder for the Moltres episode and Noibat for the Zapdos episode). The only unevolved Flying-type in Ash's team now is Hawlucha...which has no evolved forms at all.

* Korrina's subplot in XY seems like just something to introduce Mega Evolution, giving a side character, at best, an arc about working as one with their Pokemon and needing to have two viewpoints come together as one. What exactly is it that Ash and Greninja are forced to do 60 plus episodes later? It was pretty much hinting at it the whole time!
** In fact, a lot of things in early XY could be missed but have a huge impact with Ash and Greninja: Froakie choosing Ash, Ash and Froakie doing the same training exercises together, Ash continually blaming only himself for any loss he suffers, and Ramos' words about not rushing ahead or you'll miss the important things. All of them actually come back to bite Ash in the butt during the Ash-Greninja arc.
* Serena is noted for surviving the entire ''XY'' anime [[InvincibleIncompetent without a proper defeat]], despite being the least experienced of the female trainers throughout the anime, focusing more on her bonds with her Pokemon than level grinding (her standard battle strategy was spamming "Dodge!" and her Pokemon's best attacks in hope of a OneHitKO). This links to [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY her representing game series]], which introduced Pokemon-Amie, which through bonding and feeding your Pokemon, can boost their performance in battle, with far greater chance of them scoring critical hits and dodging attacks.
* Serena is the only female travelling companion with confirmed feelings for Ash rather than implied. Kalos is based on France, a country known for being romantic. See the connection.
* At first glance, it seems like Serena just does the same routine for her performances over and over again. However, it's actually an evolution of her performance each time, with each performance growing more and more elaborate with similar but different combinations and techniques used, like it's evolving with her character as well. Especially highlighted by the fact that her final performance uses a blooming flower, as though she's reached the ultimate stage of her own evolution and bloomed as a trainer and person.
* Hala's team in the anime. Both of his Pokemon had Dark-type moves, while Hariyama blocked Iron Tail much the same way Tyson's Hariyama blocked Swellow's Peck. Subtle and unspoken, but it is a nice showing of how Hala has trained to deal with type disadvantage without him catching a M.C's Pokemon in them.
* Mimikyu takes an Iron Tail, which would normally be super effective, without taking damage. This might look weird, until you remember Mimikyu's ability, Disguise, lets it shrug off a free hit.
* Ash being on the receiving end of a plethora of AmusingInjuries in Alola. A normal person would probably be in the hospital after going through the punishment he experiences, but compared what Ash has experienced [[IronButtMonkey in the past]], which include turning to stone, being brainwashed and possessed, nearly dying from using all of his aura, dropping to his doom from great heights, and, most recently, sharing the pain his Greninja feels after it turns into Ash-Greninja, being electrocuted, frozen, and burned on a daily basis is like a slap on the wrist. The kid's had nearly two decades worth of experience to make him [[MadeOfIron resilient enough to withstand virtually anything.]]
* Meowth is the one who first came up with the Boss Fantasies showing a very silly Giovanni using Pokemon for strange things a tool would be better suited for. What did Giovanni do when a talking Meowth joined Team Rocket? He made him his ''personal waiter'', at least until he proved disastrous at it. That experience has clearly left an impression.
** Giovanni used a talking Pokemon as a glorified waiter. Maybe those {{Imagine Spot}}s aren't as crazy as they seem...

* Team Rocket managing to get the Darkinium Z: in the process of the episode they managed to incapacitate the assist Pokemon and defeat the Totem Pokemon while showing they do care for Meowth. In a sense, they completed a trial a la the Poni Island Trial.
* During the baseball episode in the Sun and Moon season, Ash brandishes his ''metal'' bat with a flourish that is nearly identical to the way Pikachu swings his tail around when he's about to use Iron Tail. It's instantly apparent that he really put the finishing touches on Pikachu's technique with that particular attack. His excellent batting skill also definitely underscores why Iron Tail quickly became one of Pikachu's new signature attacks in the anime once Ash taught him how to master it.
* The fact that we don't see any of Ash's other Pokemon from the other regions when he comes back to Kanto (outside of a possible cameo appearance from his Corphish and Tododile) for a school trip. The whole point of the class going to Professor Oak's lab was for them to primarily see Pokemon from that specific region. If Professor Oak were to let out all of the Pokemon Ash caught from the Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos regions, they'd all flock towards him once they heard he was back and Ash would have to introduce all of his Pokemon to his classmates, thus defeating the entire purpose of the trip.
** It is worth noting that in the first episode that showed how Professor Oak's ranch worked, Showdown at the Po-Ke Corral, has him choose what Pokemon he lets out of their balls at any time. Given the callbacks this fact could likely be in play. As to why Totodile and Corphish are out.... well neither is all that ''obedient'' and neither Oak nor Bulbasaur can get them out from deep in a lake.
* Meta example in the Japanese dub. Despite sharing many-to-all of the similarities to [[Anime/KillLaKill Ragyo Kiryuin]] in the games, Lusamine isn't voiced by Creator/RomiPark, instead having a ''much'' softer and more motherly voice. The reason? Lusamine's anime incarnation received a massive AdaptationalHeroism.
* Gary's starter was hidden for a lengthy length of time, however there was a slight hint as to who it was early on the series. After all, what episode did Gary first appear in after the first episode but the ''Squirtle'' episode.
* Why does 'the Masked Royal' have Incineroar in the anime? Simple, in the games the guy has the stronger starter to you and Ash's first Alolan Pokemon was Rowlet, the ''grass'' starter.
* Throughout ''Sun and Moon'' Giovanni and Matori seem to be inspecting on the Team Rocket trio's progress far more often than usual. Their previous trip to Kalos was actually [[VillainForgotToLevelGrind their most stagnant]], only capturing one Pokemon per trainer at the start of the series . The trio had got back into their usual obsessive rut with the twerps, and eventually got surpassed by them so badly that they even acknowledged it and [[KnowWhenToFoldEm lied low for the final points of the mission]](though they managed to keep in Giovanni's good books by defeating rival organisation Team Flare "single handedly"). It would make sense that next time round, the trio are made sure to keep up a more consistent pace instead of wasting time against Pikachu.

* Nanu not giving Ash a Dark Z-crystal because the dark-type didn't suit him was a bit of an odd statement and more than a little trolly, given that he knew Lycanroc knew Bite (at least at the start of the match, it is unknown if learning Counter removed Bite) and that Ash had an Torracat, which evolves into a Dark-type. Ash also having a Scraggy, Krookodile, and Greninja is a bit of a counter to this. However despite their typings, all of them (and Ash's Pokemon in general) do not know Dark moves and what ones did know them (Torterra, Krookodile, probably Lycanroc) forgot them. Either Nanu was one of the first characters in ages to look Ash up as he was before the current series and noted this, or he's a better reader of people than many give him credit for. It just happened to have the bonus of trolling on top of it.
* Ash was the ChosenOne in Anime/Pokemon2000 and the ChosenOne in resurrecting the ancient bond phenomenon through [[FusionDance Ash-Greninja]], it isn't farfetch'd (no pun intended) that he could turn his Electrium-Z into a Pikashunium-Z.
** Adding on to that, where did Ash get his Electrium-Z? Not from Sophocles like in the games, but from Tapu Koko itself! There’s likely mystical origins behind this specific Z-Crystal.
* It seems weird that Ash only has a crush on Giselle and possibly Serena and yet has none towards the other female companions he had along the way. However, there is an answer and its related to Serena. Ash and Serena are childhood friends and whatever amount of interaction he had with her must have a huge impact on him. Ash may have liked Giselle because she was pretty but when he now sees how rude and condescending she is, he doesn't like it because that is not how Serena would act. His ObliviousToLove isn't that. Its just that he has very high standards now. He's only interested in girls if they could match Serena's level.
** When one notes the female companions he had before Serena you see two Tsunderes (which Ash may just not find appealing), and two he pretty much mentored. Given how Oak and Delia interact (assuming that Oak isn't Ash's father), Ash may associate such a role with 'no romance allowed'. If Oak and Delia are his parents, he may just not want to emulate that behavior.
** Notably a lot of Pokeshipping moments, Ash x Misty, occurred after Misty started to calm down and be less Tsundere post Togepi. I.E, closer to the nice girlness of Serena, sans any mentor/student tangles.
* Alain's team, as the boss set the farthest Ash has ever gone, has a team fittingly set up of previous challenges before his Charizard.
** Tyranitar is the evolved form of Pupitar, a Pokemon used by Ritchie who defeated Ash in Kanto.
** Weavile is one of Paul's main Pokemon, a trainer who gave him hell in Sinnoh.
** Bisharp is one of dragon buster Georgia's Pokemon, a trainer who his companion Iris never truly defeated (battles all being ties or 'Dragonite's victory') and whom Ash only beat thanks to the ground (at least in her eyes).

* Why is Tapu Fini a Psychopomp, despite never really being depicted as such in any other medium? The Ruins of Hope the Pokemon resides in are known as 'the place life ends its journey' and the attribute was likely taken from there.

* Why exactly did Dawn's Buneary have a crush on Pikachu? Well, since the two are in the same egg group, [[InterspeciesRomance they can breed]]. Made even better by the fact that Buneary was confirmed to be female in the dub.

* Why doesn’t Iris have many Dragon type Pokémon in her party (and why is she having issues in getting Axew to evolve and for Dragonite to obey her)??? Simple, because Lance said it best on FR/LG about Dragon types: “They're hard to catch and raise, but their powers are superior!.”
* How come Ash rarely responds to Iris when she calls him a kid? Simple. It’s because Ash knows that he has much more experience than Iris does as a trainer ,and he has accomplished way too much to allow any petty teasing from anybody to bother him. He probably doesn’t sees her teasing as something to get worked up over, as he would only snark back on the rare occasions in which he gets annoyed. It also helps that Iris has shown many times that she sees Ash as a well-skilled, competent trainer deserving of respect and acknowledgment for his accomplishments ([[HypocriticalHeartwarming she would even stick up for him on occasions when others insult him]]). Ash would also only get upset when others would take a jab at his training skills, as this was what Cilan did when Ash battled him (there’s also the snobby jerk in the episode “Crowning the Scalchop King”).
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