Pokémon anime

@Black Yakusu 94: In fairness I could argue the same about Armourshipping and almost anything about Clemont and Bonnie perking up in the conversation. Team Rocket are about as relevant as any of them most of the time. But yeah maybe I should expand my choice of topic more.

Is it bad I just thought Red was another name for Ash originally? That he had a Pikachu in G/S/C didn't help.

edited 6th Aug '16 3:53:04 PM by Psi001

I think the thing that would make the fandom EXPLODE would be if Ash won the League... and got a kiss from Serena.

I don't think the writers would go that far with Serena, maybe a quick hug at the most. All the Pokeshippers would cry or be enraged, I imagine. Not that it really matters, I'm sure the writers don't care what online shippers think.

Think about canon ships in other popular stuff like Harry Potter, Naruto, Avatar/Korra, Dragonball, etc....or any other long running series. No matter what ship happens, shippers of the other female character always go crazy and rant on online forums for all eternity.

Not the only one, I honestly thought they were the same person at first.

I thought that Psi was trying to compare Team Flare's interactions with Team Rocket to the interactions that the other evil teams had with TR.

And speaking of Team Flare, the images from Thursday's episode + the recently released preview summaries = The Nostalgia Critic's review of Kazaam. Specifically, the first "bad touch" skit. Recorded for posterity in this compilation. EDIT: And if Ash did age and Serena was 10... item 4 in that compilations would have to be on standby.

edited 6th Aug '16 5:26:29 PM by DonaldthePotholer

Sort of though it wasn't just that. It was that Team Flare had more character to them (or at least potential character) than just being the super evil and competent team TR weren't, even discounting said interactions. Galactic and Plasma were infamously diluted of their sympathetic motives from the games (as well as most of their comical Punch Clock Villainy, likely because TR already provided that in spades) just to be a sinister opposite (which was redundant for Plasma since TR were sinister in BW).

Flare are deconstructed as not only does Lysandre seem more Affably Evil than in the games but even their contrast to TR is deconstructed by them underestimating them more than is wise.

edited 6th Aug '16 5:30:22 PM by Psi001

Sidebar: Given the Milestone for both the Franchise this year and the Anime the next, EDIT: plus all the changes to the Strictly Formula that Pokémon Sun and Moon is promising, if the Anime still features Ash, I'd like them to give it the title of "Pokemon 2-0''.

edited 6th Aug '16 5:53:58 PM by DonaldthePotholer

@precita True, but the flipside is that not resolving the matter is an even bigger letdown. I'd rather be on the losing side of the shipping wars than have the series end with No Romantic Resolution.

As we approach the finals of the Kalos League, I would like to share this.

Even though Splatfests are now over in Splatoon (until they make the sequel), the spirit of the grand festival still lives on. Who do you choose for this upcoming match? Team Alain? Or Team Ash?

edited 7th Aug '16 12:46:00 AM by Shadao

Team Ash, hands down.

Mythbuster: Agree on wanting to avoid No Romantic Resolution, but I would be okay with a Maybe Ever After. (The Trope does imply significant buildup.)

Shadoo: I'm not sure I would've posted that until October. *curses the 3 month translation delay* *sighs as he realizes that in the past it was a lot worse*

On that note, given that Universal will be distributing the Detective Pikachu film Internationally, Appropriate Hype Music.

On that note, and as for which side I'm on, in case you didn't know, well, here's a video I'm hoping will be relevant for not the next dub episode but the one after that, lack of a perfect season notwithstanding.^note Ash's record in this campaign to that point is more similar to Florida State's failed 1998 Championship bid than the successful 1993 one. Still, although Ash's box score wasn't as close in the end, the 4th quarter narrative of the eventual MVP (Charlie Ward/Greninja) staging a failed comeback still works. As does the winner of that game losing their next match paving the way for the loser's comeback and (hopefully in Ash's case) First Title.

edited 7th Aug '16 6:14:35 AM by DonaldthePotholer

Okay, looks like Kalos is going to have a much better resolution than the Sinnoh or Unova Leagues. Glad that we'll actually be getting a fight against a well-liked character.

Well its also the first league that didn't introduce a last-minute character just for Ash to lose to.

Every single character Ash lost to in a league was always introduced in either the first ep of the league or a little bit before that, so you knew they were only there to be plot devices and not actual characters. Richie, Harrison, Tyson and Tobias all appeared in the first episode of their leagues, and then Cameron a little bit before.

Alan for the most part is the successor to Gary or Paul as Ash's main rival in XY. Only difference was he was introduced in specials first instead of the main series like Gary/Paul were, so we had no clue he would even be Ash's rival in the league until recently.

Alain's desire to go into the league was admittedly rushed in however.

Considering he wants to become the strongest trainer with a Mega Evolution-capable Pokemon, it's kind of expected. There's four trainers there, counting him, that are participating and have Mega-capable or Mega-like Pokemon with them.

Its pretty funny that Alan collected all 8 badges in like 2 weeks. Alan just flew on his Charizard to all 8 Gyms and apparently beat them all quickly for the badge.

Unlike Ash who treks along the region on foot and takes forever to get to the next Gym because of all his various adventures or whatever else happens in the show, while any other trainer can use a flying pokemon and just immediately zoom to the next Gym for a battle.

Travelling at the Speed of Plot is the fastest way of getting all the badges in time for a League. It's also associated with Take Your Time, a schedule that always guarantees our heroes to relax and detour without the fear of missing the League.

That said, there has to be a significant timeskip between XY&Z29 and 30 due to where each takes place.

Don't forget that Ash travels at his own pace, do adventuring, side tracking, helping people, etc. Alain has none of that.

Also don't forget his reason for being in the league for the first place, fighting Ash.

Well, I wouldn't put it like that...

Also Alain already had a team trained up (or at least he had Charizard, anyway) while Ash came to Kalos with only Pikachu and had to catch and train his new team.

Dang. XY really makes waves.

What really bothers me about these youtube XY "review" videos popping up, is they're mostly from a bunch of people who haven't watched the anime since they were kids (probably somewhere in mid-Johto or so), and now that they're watching XY they act like they're suddenly shocked the anime has some development, good battles, or character development in it....yet this is true throughout almost the entire run of the anime.

When you people making misinformed comments like, "Ash is actually evolving his pokemon for once" as if that hasn't already been happening in AG and DP over the last decade, or "Alan is the most focused on rival in the series" because they didn't watch DP and don't know about Paul, or say things like, "Serena gets the most amount of screentime for a main girl in the series," which is also not true because May and Dawn were the two most focused on female leads of the series, etc.

I mean I like the fact that so many casuals are watching XY, but a lot of the things they're acting so shocked or surprised about has already been the norm in the anime for over a decade. As someone who has followed the anime consistently and seen every saga, this really bothers me.

edited 8th Aug '16 11:36:22 AM by precita

Except that they haven't been the norm; at least the consistent norm. Sure, there have been great battles along the way, and May and Dawn had solid arcs, but there was a lot of mediocrity between Orange and Kalos. Heck, even the 1st year of Kalos wasn't that much to write home about.

• "Best Wishes" had a good storyline,^note where they were allowed to carry it, but the characters largely fell flat.
• AG & DP had good characters, and the latter had Best Rivalry, but there was a load of Filler to slog through to get to the juicy bits and the major plot points were either rushed or treated poorly.
• Johto had the worst both ways: little character and little plot until the Silver Conference.

Once "X & Y" got going in Season 18 (after its Slow Start in Season 17, (Re)Establishing Character Moments notwithstanding,) it's been the best mix... in I dare say the entire series: Good overall plot, Great Main Party, and, heck, even Best Team Rocket.

• Could Ash's rivalries have been handled better? Sure. But he's had more than in Hoenn and they're at least on par with Unova.
• Could Team Flare have been worked in earlier? You bet. There's no reason why Alaina and Mable shouldn't have been at the Power Plant and the Frost Cavern respectively instead of Team Rocket.^note Again, the factory episode was so good, I give Rocket a pass there.
• Even though they're Best Team Rocket, are the still overexposed? Absolutely. You could have Team Flare, generic poachers, and misunderstood Pokemon in about half of the episodes and you wouldn't really miss anything.
• Could the Pokemon Performances have started earlier? ... Probably not, but Serena still shouldn't have been Out of Focus for the middle quarters of Season 17.

The point is: Were there better Rivals? A more solid Deuteragonist? Definitely. But when one or both were present, the main story was still average at best. Kalos might not be the best at any one aspect... okay, it does have Best Rocket; but it also has everything at least "good" or better; it's the first season where nothing is bad.^note The Rival situation is merely "average." It's also the first season where the highlights outweigh the flaws since Kanto, and there's been quite a bit of second guessing that season this past year or two.

Seasons 18 & 19 don't have many individual points brighter than their predecessors, but they are brighter as a whole package.

I do agree, though, that a review of each of the sagas would do their reviews a world of good. Maybe The Fine Brothers can work something out... once we get their reactions that is.

That's generally because the tail-end of every saga has an upswing in quality because that's when the filler stops and the writers focus to finish all the key plots of every saga.

The last 30 episodes of Johto were quite entertaining and good, compared to most of early/mid Johto which was a filler mess. The end of AG was literally consistent important episodes from the Hoenn league all throughout Battle Frontier. The last segment of DP focused heavily on the Ash/Paul rivalry, Dawn's last few Contests, the Galactic/J, finale, etc.

If you look at the last 30ish episodes of any saga, there's a huge upswing in quality. I still remember to this day how hyped people were back when AG and DP were heading to their final episodes too, because back then everything we were getting at that time was something new or exciting. Ash had a new major accomplishment (winning the Battle Frontier or beating Paul), and May/Dawn's arcs came to their conclusion, etc.