Pokemon Anime General Discussion

[Big Panda]

Ash caught a fucking Piopole.

[8ther]

Between this and having him losing to TR, the writers seem to be breaking traditions, here's hoping they'll go all the way with it and allow Ash to win the league.

[MightyRay]

If they wanna break traditions, maybe getting Ash to catch some pokemon types he hasn't got yet would be high on my list.

Dude should of had a steel type years ago.

[Tails spin]

On 3/22/2018 at 6:38 PM, Jiren's Only fan said:

allow Ash to win the league.

We've been down this road before. Never again will I trust the writers after what happened in Kalos. I came back to paying attention to the anime when it seemed like Ash was about to finally win it all. Then it was pulled right under him.

The only thing that I accept is that Alain was a better developed character than any of the other rivals who randomly appear and beat him in the leagues.

[Ferno]

As much as I like the direction of Sun and Moon, I really would've prefered if Ash won the league during the Kalos seasons which had much more of a badass atmosphere going on; really would've felt more triumphant imo.

[E-122-Psi]

They seem to be going for this 'Ash fails at competitions but is a total badass in everything else' premise right now. I suppose if they're stuck with that pattern every series they may as well make it part of his character. The whole point of XY's league loss was that it was a moral victory (even if that didn't stop them hyping up fans shamelessly beforehand).

I appreciate SM isn't making as big a deal of the league quest this series and primarily focusing more on character-driven stories for once. There's at least a lot to like about Ash even if he doesn't win this series.

[Waveshocker Sigma]

On 3/22/2018 at 6:38 PM, Jiren's Only fan said:

him losing to TR

Mistranslation. Ash didn't lose there and it isn't counted as a loss. Fight was interrupted and Pikachu was still just fine afterwards. Most folks know this already.

On the flip side, Ash hasn't really beaten Team Rocket that many times this series either for the same reason. Dumb Bewear.

[E-122-Psi]

10 hours ago, Waveshocker Sigma said:

Mistranslation. Ash didn't lose there and it isn't counted as a loss. Fight was interrupted and Pikachu was still just fine afterwards. Most folks know this already.

On the flip side, Ash hasn't really beaten Team Rocket that many times this series either for the same reason. Dumb Bewear.

They did faint Rowlet though, it's rare they even get damage of the hero band, let alone faint one of their Pokemon.

They've gotten progressively less inventive with Team Rocket face-offs as the show went on anyway. They had a tenure they were more competent but it didn't last (and for much of it, the writers' solution was to have Ash and co still win easily by dumb luck or fatal error instead of having them put up a good counter against a tougher villain). The other villain face offs actually aren't much better despite being flashier, even the bigger ones. No matter how long they stretch, something nearly always devolves it into a deus ex machina or a glorified one sided beatdown where "da twoips" winning was barely even an accomplishment (eg. Zygarde completely and utterly thrashing Lysandre, Ash randomly getting Pikachuinium Z against Lusamine). There's rarely much of a chemistry with the two sides these days either, TR at least had some funny banter with Ash and Misty in the Kanto series, but now they rarely bounce off each other at all. I'm actually kinda glad they dumbed down the action for SM for this reason since it was always so superficial and rarely benefitted the protagonists as characters besides making them excessively plot armoured. I mean, Serena beat down TR a billion times in XY (in fact I don't think she ever lost ANY battle) and fans still think she's a crap battler.

Bewear is basically the same crap but out open as a cop out, otherwise TR and Ash's lot often just get to do their own thing which is often much more interesting.

[Pawn]

I posted this in the Sun and Moon thread, but it belongs here too. So a new movie trailer is to debut on Japanese TV (on "Oha Suta") this coming Monday, but it will also include the reveal of a new Pokémon...

 

... which is probably Zeraora

[Big Panda]

Random question I’ve been wanting to ask (which has nothing to do with the current goings on of the anime):

In your opinion, which of these two notorious banned episodes would you say caused the most problems for the anime going forward: the Porygon episode, or the Rocket vs Plasma 2-parter?

Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons for each:

Electric Soldier Porygon

CONS:

• Put the anime on hiatus for four months, which caused...
• The planned cross-promotion between the anime and first movie to be aired completely out of sinc (the episodes where Mewtwo appeared would have aired around the movies release time, but they ended up airing months later instead).
• It also caused some episodes to air in the wrong order, including the Jynx episode, and the Girl’s Day and Children’s Day episodes which would’ve likely aired on their respective holidays in Japan.
• Porygon is banned from the anime outside of passing mentions and maybe a fleeting cameo or two, and its Gen II and IV descendants are also screwed over.

PROS:

• While historically significant, the Porygon episode, in relation to the overall anime storyline, is an unimportant one. It was still a filler episode and viewers aren’t missing anything plot-wise from its absence.
• Even if it was later than planned and sometimes out of order, every episode (as far as we know) intended to air after still did. We didn’t miss anything.
• The hiatus indirectly brought about the creation of “Pikachu’s Goodbye”, one of the most iconic episodes of the original series.

Team Rocket vs Team Plasma

CONS:

• The episodes would have concluded the Best Wishes’ series first major story arc, which had been built up for months, the conclusion of which just flat out didn’t happen (it was even de-existed in a later episode).
• Team Plasma’s planned, much earlier, anime debut never happened. They ended up having to wait until a post-league arc to finally get in on the series, much too late.
• The episode’s absence is very much noticeable, right from the get-go.

PROS:

• The show didn’t go on hiatus, in fact it put the show two weeks ahead of schedule.

 

I don’t know about you, but I’m going with Rocket vs Plasma.

(Please note this only refers to effects of the anime and its quality, not the real-life effects...in which case the award would hands down go to Porygon)

[precita]

The BW TR/TP ep obviously. As said the Porygon ep is just a filler, I've watched it online and while it's a fun ep, it's no big deal. The only bad thing is the whole Porygon line and it's evos got banned from the anime permanently, but oh well.

 

The TR/TP not only looked great, with Giovanni getting a major role....but it being skipped wound up ruining the entire BW saga in general. While a lot of BW's flaws would still be there, the skipping of this arc and then postponing Team Plasma till the end of the series in a rush pretty much screwed up a large chunk of the series. I mean the BW series wound up being even worst than Johto in a lot of respects, something I never thought would happen. And while there's no guarantee all of BW would be better, at least it had a chance.

Then again you can say the same for any saga, Misty being flanderized during Johto, Brock during DP, the Magma/Aqua arc in Hoenn...the anime is filled with some poorly handled characters or arcs in every series. I mean it's the Pokemon anime, so there's going to be disappointments.

[Big Panda]

New details on “Everyone’s Story” is being released via Oha Suta in about 4 hours.

[E-122-Psi]

On 25 April 2018 at 6:38 PM, precita said:

The BW TR/TP ep obviously. As said the Porygon ep is just a filler, I've watched it online and while it's a fun ep, it's no big deal. The only bad thing is the whole Porygon line and it's evos got banned from the anime permanently, but oh well.

 

The TR/TP not only looked great, with Giovanni getting a major role....but it being skipped wound up ruining the entire BW saga in general. While a lot of BW's flaws would still be there, the skipping of this arc and then postponing Team Plasma till the end of the series in a rush pretty much screwed up a large chunk of the series. I mean the BW series wound up being even worst than Johto in a lot of respects, something I never thought would happen. And while there's no guarantee all of BW would be better, at least it had a chance.

Then again you can say the same for any saga, Misty being flanderized during Johto, Brock during DP, the Magma/Aqua arc in Hoenn...the anime is filled with some poorly handled characters or arcs in every series. I mean it's the Pokemon anime, so there's going to be disappointments.

Part of me still has doubts that TR vs TP being banned really had drastic effect on the rest of the series. I'm not even sure the creative team would even be able to completely alter the course of the anime in such a tight deadline. Remember the TR vs TF episode? It had some key plot points but nothing that couldn't be rectified in an episode or two, otherwise it was just one kinda episodic face off against the two teams that didn't really come into play again until Team Flare's final showdown. Plasma could have easily just been in that two parter for an early taster.

 

While I do like Sun and Moon, I am wondering what the hell they are planning with the supporting cast. Only Kiawe and Lillie have really got much in terms of heavy involvement, while none of the girls have even got their secondary Pokemon yet. I get it's running at a very different pace and premise than previous series, but abiding by Gen 8's planned release date, it only has about a year (and maybe a half if lucky) left to wrap things up, and some of the main characters have barely got to do anything.

I suppose Team Rocket did get the main gimmick this series though, that's an unexpected progression.

[Big Panda]

For the first time in quite a few years, it looks like the dub’s got another banned episode on its hands:

EDIT: although I’ve seen some theorise that it’s simply been delayed because they need time to edit it (digitally recolouring Ash’s face there would be a no-brainer)

EDIT 2: I should have clarified before, the dub hasn’t actually reached this part yet, but the upcoming episode schedules have missed it out.

[Big Panda]

Yep, Bulbapedia is officially treating it as a banned episode.

[Blue Blood]

Jesus. It's not okay to ban media because they will potentially cause offense to people who aren't paying any more attention to the program than a "white character wearing black face paint". It only sounds racist if you choose to go into with a mindset that everything anything concerning skin colour has racist undertones, and paying even a lick of attention to the story should immediately dispel any concerns at all. This is a case of a character dressing up like a monkey, and monkeys have dark dark skin, so... 

This isn't racist. It's not even minguided accidental racism. I really wish that companies had the balls to say "this isn't racist/sexist/otherist" when they come under accusations sometimes.

[Big Panda]

Either way, I don’t understand what was preventing TPCi from simply repainting Ash’s face. It’s an incredibly simple edit to make in this day and age.

EDIT: now that I think about it, this episode is pure filler. They probably desmissed it as not being worth the trouble.

[Big Panda]

Next years Pokemon movie is apparently going to be called

Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution

[precita]

LOL, social media is blowing up with Misty's new design in the games particularly because of her bending pose. I don't think Misty or Brock will appear in SM again, the writers usually don't give characters more than one cameo a saga. Besides most of Misty/Brock's other game outfits never appeared in the anime so this probably won't be any different.

[8ther]

1 hour ago, precita said:

LOL, social media is blowing up with Misty's new design in the games particularly because of her bending pose. I don't think Misty or Brock will appear in SM again, the writers usually don't give characters more than one cameo a saga. Besides most of Misty/Brock's other game outfits never appeared in the anime so this probably won't be any different.

Why?

[Pawn]

26 minutes ago, Jiren (Metro) said:

Why?

I mean...

She's basically presenting.

 

[E-122-Psi]

I'm more surprised people ever thought it was subtle BEFORE this game.

I mean that's obviously based on her anime outfit, and the original game had her posing in a swim suit. If anything the chibi-ness of the new design downplays it.

[STK77]

On 6/17/2012 at 12:24 PM, -Robin- said:

 

 

Probably.

I dislike Dawn for that singular reason, but the creators push AshxDawn on us and its ridiculous 

[Tails spin]

On 7/13/2018 at 9:57 AM, Pawn said:

I mean...

She's basically presenting.

 

Those elderly gamefreak guys still giving themselves eye candy in a childrens game

[Big Panda]

The new movie is really good, apparently!