Pokémon anime

Catching up to the anime at the moment. Just finished ep 65. Man, the protags' pokemon sure are evolving quickly.

Tierno's impressed that Goodra withstood Charge Beam and Focus Blast? Seriously? Goodra's a special tank, and dragons resist electricity...

Ep 66: That professor is absolutely disgusting. Glad he was completely crushed by Citron/Clemont.

Ep 67: That was one of the best battles in the anime to date, I think.

edited 15th Apr '15 9:35:06 AM by HanabiraKage

I haven't watched the anime for a while, has the XY series been any good? From what i've seen it seems like it's at least better than Best Wishes. (But let's face it, anything better than Best Wishes.

There are definitely some good episodes in XY.

XY is pretty good and Clemont/Bonnie are great characters. It does lack the strength of some previous sagas as there's no major rival for Ash like Paul, no villains so far like Hunter J or Galactic, and Serena takes a good year into the series to actually do anything.

The battles have gotten really impressive though due to the improvement in animation, so there's that. Its an enjoyable series, but your enjoyment on it probably stems on how much you liked previous sagas.

Its very similar to the AG series if you want the closest comparison.

I'm just disappointed they didn't keep Team Rocket avoiding getting blown up, but apparently Japanese fans hated it.

I thought it was cool to see them get away sometimes. They should just alternate, so that having them get blasted off becomes special.

I think that Team Rocket themselves should just alternate with other villains (or, just as often, None,) so that having them on becomes something special.

edited 15th Apr '15 7:08:26 PM by DonaldthePotholer

Or just use them less... The problem is that in Japan their personalities are very much enjoyed, but for us in the Western world it's become an Overused Running Gag and their presence reeks of The Artifact; you can't really win. BW also arguably went too far in the opposite direction - while I don't see eye-to-eye with Dogasu from Dogasu's Backback about how fun as characters they are, he did he have a point when he said that they lost pretty much all their personality suddenly in BW.

It's also a fact that they have big fans on the production team, who prevented them being permanently Put on a Bus after the Meloetta arc in BW because they liked them too much. Whereas personally I'd much prefer they either reduce their screentime or write them out completely - I don't even care if they do the Heel–Face Turn they should have performed years ago or not, I just want less of them and more of the protagonists and story-of-the-week... At the least, they aren't so grating in the original Japanese version, with less bad puns and more bearable voice acting.

edited 15th Apr '15 7:12:43 PM by CaellachTigerEye

The last two (XY066-067) in Lumiose City don't have Team Rocket factor into the plot at all.

I actually consider Meowth to be more annoying in the Japanese version. His dub voice actually helps the jokes he makes more bearable.

edited 15th Apr '15 9:01:30 PM by Ghostninja109

So there was a preview for the new ending (live stream so if you missed it you won't be seeing it till tomorrow) with several group shots of the main cast and TR's Pokemon which included Gourgeist, Noibat, and Eevee. Goodra did not appear. The last scene was of Ash's Pokemon together in a group (though Fletchinder is being blocked by a star decoration) before being joined by the rest.

http://s210.photobucket.com/user/ej92_2007/media/Noibat.png.html Noibat was among Ash's Pokemon

edited 15th Apr '15 9:20:02 PM by WorldTurtle2

Finally saw the gym battle against Raimos, the cool old Grass Gym Leader.

He definitely has the strongest Weepinbell ever. Being able to keep up with and take down Flechinder, who should've been beyond fast thanks to Flame Charge abuse, is no joke.

Frogadier vs Gogoat was also awesome. But of course it would be! Gogoat is Gogodly! Yeah, Frogadier was awesome, too, but Gogoat, man!

I just thought of something funny: Team Rocket have two Pokemon (Meowth and Wobbuffet) from past gens that stay on with them (though Seviper did remain through DP). Meanwhile Ash only has Pikachu, of course if Ash were to have a second recurring Pokemon it would risk limiting what he could get in the following generations.

That said IF Ash did get a second recurring pokemon I'd say it'd have to be a Fighting Type. Why? Because while Pikachu and Meowth have the Classic Cat & Mouse Routine, the Fighting Type and Wobbufett would have the Puncher & Punching Bag Routine.

edited 15th Apr '15 11:00:22 PM by WorldTurtle2

Oh, boy. Replacement Scrappy status coming up in 3, 2, 1...

Seriously, Ash already has two Flying types this Gen - one is part Fire-type, the other part Fighting-type; why are the writers giving him another? It just feels pointless and unvaried; out of all the options for team-building, too... Why has he yet to receive a Grass-type, anyway?

I just don't get it anymore.

Yeah I can see the Replacement Scrappy status, but I'm going to try and look on the possible upsides till then. Like if Ash does catch Noibat (we'll know by episode 76 judging by the broadcast data), this means for the first time the Flying Type won't be the "Regional Bird". That's kind of cool if you think about it… that is IF Ash is catching Noibat. It'll be joining the main cast at the very least.

Also yeah curious what's happening with the Grass Type. Will it be Phantump or Skiddo or none at all? With Goodra leaving this does open up another spot on Ash's Team. Whatever he's catching I'm giving it till the end of the year/after the movie. We'll know something by then I think.

edited 16th Apr '15 2:49:14 PM by WorldTurtle2

Pokemon XY 69 Preview

There is a human character, an old man living at the swamp. It is possible Ash might leave Goodra in his care for the time being.

I mean, I'm not exactly mad Goodra is leaving, but it begs the question of why? This early too? Come on.

What if the Noibat Ash catches is later traded to Serena? I find it a little strange giving Ash yet another part flying type. It would make sense if he later trades it for something Serena catches. Supposedly Noibat discovers performances, and decides it wants to take part in them, while Serena's Pokemon decides it wants to battle.

Well, I know this was used in DP rather than AG, but I wouldn't mind giving Ash a Noibat if a trade would happen down the line.

On another note, all these hints are pointing out to Goodra leaving. It's quite sad. I didn't want to believe anything based on little rumors like these, but the closer we get to that particular episode, the more likely it seems to happen.

edited 16th Apr '15 8:42:51 AM by KrisiChiki

I want to believe you're right, but since trading is rarely ever done with the protagonists of this show I don't want to get my hopes and have them dashed... Sometimes it's easier to prepare oneself for disappointment lest you be delighted later on, than to be readied for satisfaction and then having it crushed.

Must confess, I find it odd that the region with - thus far - the tiniest index of new Pokemon families (and individuals unconnected to older families) is seemingly going to give Ash a larger number of new Mons than he got in Hoenn - it was the 3rd-largest region to date (in that regard), yet it's not only the one in which he got only 5 others besides Pikachu, but one of them was a single-stager and only one was a 3-stager... I guess the writers were finding their feet at the time (and wanted to avoid the pitfalls of "Releasing"), but I'm still kinda baffled that they didn't give Ash a Numel instead of a Torkoal; mind, I do like Torkoal a fair bit, but he is also a Satellite Character who received little screen-time (even Glalie received more Character Development in the span of less than 30 episodes! More importance/prominence, too.) Maybe I'm just bitter since Hoenn is one of my favoured regions and I even liked the Villain Teams back in Gen. III when they're plans were kind of dumb in execution (I was an adolescent starting to appreciate moral greyness which Team Rocket lacked, can you blame me?), but it definitely burns that the Gen IV and VI anime series seem to be working around the 6-Mon limit when they have smaller indexes (DP did it double by having Ash with Aipom until the trade, and then Gliscor being Put on a Bus much later to make room for Gible) while Hoenn's potential was squandered. Pitiful.

I still wish that Ash and/or Serena would eventually get Meowstic, especially given that the two genders are perfectly tailored for their respective ambitions; nobody says they can't get them later on, though (at least, starting with Espurr). Plus, I have to commend the writers for the decision (revealed in the OP) to have Olympia use the two Meowstic genders in a double-battle - even though it veers dangerously close to the battle with Liza & Tate from the games (7th Gym battle, 2-on-2, potential Deus ex Machina resolution), it also has enormous capacity for a cleverly-constructed and exciting battle since the Meowstic can augment one another and prove a challenge for Ash. I just hope that they consider leaving Pikachu (who has won 3 battles for Ash already) out of it, and Frogadier would definitely work a treat since his Dark-typing would push Olympia to use non-Psychic moves to do damage... Who can say? I'm really looking forward to the battle though - since the Gyms in Kalos haven't (despite some parallels) followed from Hoenn too closely, this is one case I'm definitely more optimistic about.

Gods-SPEED!

This does mess with my idea of Fletchinder (and future Elemental Birds) playing double duty and thus allowing for more diversity on the team. If Ash does catch Noibat it'll be the Flying Type, while Fletchinder is the Fire Type, and Goodra (because I want to believe he'll come back for the League like Gliscor did) will be the Dragon Type (this way I can still differentiate them and avoid feeling like Goodra has been replaced).

It will really bug me if Ash doesn't get a Grass Type now since they've given him individual Water, Fire, and Flying Types. Sure they don't have to always give him the same Types every series, but there is just going to be this Grass shape hole on his Kalos Team.

That said I'd love to see Noibat (then a Noivern) enter a Double Battle with a returned Goodra in the future. They'll be the Mountain Dragon Bros. of Kalos!

edited 16th Apr '15 2:55:13 PM by WorldTurtle2

I agree that Ash getting Noivern is a bit of a downer, for reasons already mentioned. Personally, I'd rather he have the Eevee. It could evolve into Espeon to cover his vacancy in the Psychic type, cover the Gen 2 Mythology Gag, and serve as a counterpart to Gary's Umbreeon. Granted, I could see Eevee going to Clemont instead; either as a parallel for Bonnie vs either Poochyena or Ralts for Max or Clemont could keep it and evolve it to a Jolteon.

Just don't give Eevee to Serena. Or to Jessie. James... maybe...

Given that both genders of Meowstic already appeared in the same episode, (the one with the feuding brothers,) having both aspects appear again under Olympia's command would make Ash and Serena getting them highly improbable. The Double vs Olympia would go well in showing the complementary talents of the two aspects (and prove to be the core of the challenge for Ash in that battle). Besides, the obvious Ship Tease aspect could be covered by bringing in Cosplay Pikachu.

The presence of Eevee in the Ending confuses me since there is no sign of it in any of the promotional material for the Pikachu Short, but there is a Torchic… though maybe it is merely exclusive to the film?

Also Endings tend to go on for several months the last Ending had been going since October 16th to April 9th (so well over 5 months), so maybe the Eevee will be caught after the film?

edited 16th Apr '15 8:04:34 PM by WorldTurtle2

So... how about Hoopa And The Clash of Ages? This seems to be one of the most interesting Pokemon movies in recent memory, for me at least.

In the most recent trailer Ash is seen riding Lugia while flanked by Latio, Latias, and Rayquaza. It would be awesome if that was the Lugia from the 2000 Movie. I'd give similar sentiment to the Eon Duo if it wasn't for the fact Latio is dead.

It'd be nice for Ho-oh to finally show up.

New episodes posted on Serebii

May 21st: XY073 - We Will Have a Battle at the Fashion Show! Bagon VS Spritzee!!

The group has arrived in Laverre City! However, the Gym Leader of the Laverre Gym, Valerie, is going to participate in a fashion show and won't be able to battle Ash.

Also going by the picture for 73 Ash meets Shota (the Treeko Kid).

May 28th: XY074 - Laverre Gym Match! The Beautiful Fairy Trap!! Challenge the Laverre Gym! A battle against two Fairy types! Sylveon uses Disarming Voice! Fletchinder gets locked up in Spritzee's move "Trick Room", which prevents it from utilizing the speed it specializes in!

The pace just picked up quite a bit compared to AG where the timeframe between the 5th (AG 70) and 6th Gyms (AG 85) was much wider. On the other hand the quicker pace might mean we'll be getting a post-league filler arc.

edited 17th Apr '15 9:15:22 AM by WorldTurtle2

Huh... Well, that figures. Seems that the writers don't want to try for a consistent pace, because suddenly after the 19-episode gaps between the 1st and 2nd, and then the 2nd and 3rd, of the Gyms in Kalos we cut down to 14 episodes, then 9 and now 7. At this rate the 7th Gym will be the episode right before movie 18 airs.

I suppose that they might be planning for a post-League arc involving Team Flare, which I sincerely hope they put at least some measure of effort into unlike the way Team Plasma were turned Arc Villain; or failing that, at least make the arc following that something more substantial than the blasted Decolore Islands, because if every series suddenly ends on one of those I honestly will have to consider dropping the show - there's substandard storytelling, and then there's ending on a whimper rather than bang (at least OS, AG and DP ended with some nice story arcs and impressive battles each time. Do that, and I'll honestly forgive this series next to anything - XY has a strength in that it's rather good by this show's regular standards (as in, an Action-Adventure Slice of Life styled series), and I mostly have no issue with it.

That said, another reason for the pacing might be because they need to arrange it so that when next year's movie comes, it's not caught smack-bang in the middle of a major arc. At the rate they're going it will be around XY124-128 when that movie comes, and I daresay they want to give us a solid Tournament Arc before then - remember how the Evergrande Conference felt a bit rushed because it came right before a three-parter with Misty, which was right before Movie 8 (which was right before the 2-part story with Noland, the first Frontier Brain. At least you can't say that the pacing feels rushed - it's Filler between in all, so it works out.

Also note that aspects of Kalos are still untouched, especially in South Kalos - even if the sequel/remake, Pokemon X2Y2/Pokemon Z doesn't introduce more landscape the way Black 2/White 2 did, there's still terrain to look at, places to explore/return to like the Battle Chateau and the towns down there, etc. I've had little reason to quell my overall optimistic feelings about this series; but then, the fact that the story started in Lumiose City was already a strong way to set off.

Gods-SPEED!