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Live Blogs The Great Walk to Masterhood: "Gotta Ketch'um": The Story of Ash
Kaoz2014-04-26 11:17:24

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Intro/Set-up/Explanation

So... Pokémon. About a year ago before Black and White 2 hit the States, I decided I had absolutely nothing better to do than marathon through the anime. Results were mixed, Kanto was a fun nostalgia rush, Johto was filler hell and I didn't remember that. As I was one of those kids who dropped the show when they dropped Misty, Hoenn onward was all new to me.

It was all going fine till Best Wishes Episode 1... but I digress. Long story short as I went through the show, I took notes, made comments, and had a fanmade timeline going, because yeah Comic-Book Time is one thing I get that, but did the narrator have to definitively say that he was still 10? When the audience can clearly see on his desk mementos Ash has gotten on his journey? Still, that's a rant for a later time.

Warnings, The follow posts will continue Enjoyment, Outrage, Swearing, and (worst of all) Personal Opinions and Fan Theories (The Horror!) If any poor soul is prepared to go on I just have one question: Are you a boy... or a girl... Welcome to the World of Pokémon off to Pallet we go. Here's what you're in for.

Ash Ketchum Current Overall Trainer Stats for All Regions (up through Unova) 1—799

Evolutions count as seperate pokemon, assuming they evolved after capture. 69/647 out of 649 that Ash has caught/seen +3 Kalos Pokémon (Gogoat, Helioptile, Noivern) missing porygon2 and porygon-z

{pikachu, butterfree, pidgeot, bulbasaur, charizard, squirtle, kingler, primeape, muk, haunter, tauros {x30}, lapras, snorlax, bayleef, quilava, totodile, heracross, noctowl, donphan, larvitar, swellow, sceptile, corphish, torkoal, glaile, ambipom, staraptor, infernape,torterra, buizel, gliscor, gible, unfezant, oshawatt, pignite, snivy, scraggy, leavanny, palpitoad, boldore, krookidile} -1 if you only count aipom and not ambipom which I do, add +2 if you count the raticate and beedrill he had for like half an episode if that which I obviously do not.

  1. times ash should have died= 26
  2. of battles/badges ash won on technicality or cheating= 6/4
  3. of battles/badges ash won fair and square= 206/47 (battles involving Team Rocket are not counted)
  4. of battles lost= 52 (battles that are interrupted or uncompleted or that end in a tie are not counted)
  5. times ash saved world= 11-15 (depending on the exact definition of world peril/Ash saving it)
ash dick moments= 5 (2 in Kanto, 1 in OI, 1 in Johto, 1 in BF)

Total eps that are "bad" filler and can be cut: 251/800

Total eps that are IMO opinion terrible enough to be non-canon: 5

Level of Canonicity each movie has from high to low, 1st [] definite canon, 2nd pretty much canon, 3rd circumstantial evidence in canon, 4th nothing says it can't be canon, 5th incompatible with canon:

[8,1,10],[4,2,13],[3,7,5,11,6,16],[9,12,15],[14]

Personal Enjoyment Rankings for the movies 1st [] must watch, 2nd good, 3rd poor but watchable, 4th terrible:

[9,8,3,1],[13,5,14,2,11],[12,16,15,10,4],[7,6]

(Posted July 19, 2013)


{Originally Penned Aug 1, 2012}

How this guide/time-line/dissertation/rant thingy/WTFIDK/huge block of text is organized...

1st is an abridged episode guide with all (bad) filler episodes skipped and about where the movies fit in the time-line placed accordingly, for any future viewers.

2nd is the actual time-line of Ash's journey with accompanying episode # and brief summary of what happens, followed by any personal thoughts I had/have when I watched it (note filler episodes are included in this.)

3rd Character-specific bios/rants, 4th Ash's trainer stats for the region, 5th Any final thoughts on eps,movies, whatever I didn't go over yet... I hope at least one person is interested enough to read this, so it doesn't feel like I wasted my time for nothing... Anyway enjoy.


(Added July 19, 2013) Next up... "How we got the Band together in the first place, so we could have a reunion movie later" Episodes 1-5

Comments

Greener223224 Since: Dec, 1969
Oct 10th 2013 at 8:03:19 PM
Honestly, if you need three big exceptions that all take multiple episodes, you really shouldn't be saying this generation is good. I also notice you fail to mention how stupid and contrived the Kamen Rider parody is, or how it takes an in-universe Memetic Badass and turns him into an Idiot Hero.

And what do you mean, "Ash is at the top of his game in the 15th movie"? All he did was stalk Keldeo. He didn't try to fight at all.
Kaoz Since: Dec, 1969
Oct 11th 2013 at 7:01:48 PM
Point of order, grasping at straws with the Kamen Rider thing I'll admit that, but I wanted to at least say something positive, the exceptions thing was a joke as I sincrely do hate Best Wishes except for like... 6 episodes-ish and I meant the 14th movie(s) with Victini and the dragons. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
Greener223224 Since: Dec, 1969
Oct 12th 2013 at 10:12:52 AM
Ah. And actually, that is unjustified hate for associating a reference with the rest of the generation.
CaellachTigerEye Since: Dec, 1969
Aug 1st 2014 at 2:58:40 AM
I guess not everyone likes the Striaton Triplets, because I'm fine with them and so I don't dislike the episode (even if I think the 4-move thing is utterly contrived for the anime).

With Skyla, I don't have as much a problem as some other people do with her - she's not a completely hateable character to me, it's just that the idea is so bloody silly, which is why Volkner works better. It's like the writers wanted to go back to Kanto so much in terms of storytelling and arcs, without realising that not everything from Season One was good. That's why there's over 20 episodes between Gyms (similar to nearly episodes between Fuschia and Cinnebar in Season 1), or Skyla being like Erika in being bratty/immature given her job.

This is actually why I liked Clemont's arc from early XY so much - like Skyla, he wanted more free time from the Gym to do something he loves, but unlike her not only is his solution far less ridiculous, it's handled so much bloody better overall (which also helps Clem grow as a character and in likeability). Both people are well-meaning (which is what the writers are going for), both make mistakes which they're meant to be called on, but Clemont's is handled much better overall.

That said, I actually thought the battles with Skyla were structured reasonably well overall. Not the best, but better than some (especially that travesty with Elesa - talk about a total waste of potential!)
DonaldthePotholer Since: Dec, 1969
Dec 20th 2014 at 10:31:01 PM
Personally, I would've had Cilan v Skyla end in a tie. This would dumbfound Skyla, ("Inconceivable!") and open her up to a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from Cilan. Granted, it would likely have prevented Ash's Gym Battle from happening until after the Clubsplosion, but we may have seen some Character Development as a result... yeah...

Regarding [up], maybe the BW writers were industry-standard hacks who only saw that "X was successful, so we should copy X"; whereas the XY crew are Promoted Fanboys (and girls) whose fan-views give them some insight as to "what works here and now."
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