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King Frosty

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I'm curious if they'll consider giving it a dual-audio track like they did with the Mewtwo remake (though I've read even that release has issues with the subtitles being based on the dub and not the original Japanese, and most of the music was still changed on the JP audio), since this is also the first time it's premiering on Netflix and not after a season is over like what happened with the previous series. I'm personally happy about this either way, Pokémon anime is primarily a mindless and stress-free thing for me that I don't mind just having it dubbed (outside of times I have to listen to bizarre casting like Lillie's dub voice lol).

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1 hour ago, Zaysho said:

I'm curious if they'll consider giving it a dual-audio track like they did with the Mewtwo remake (though I've read even that release has issues with the subtitles being based on the dub and not the original Japanese, and most of the music was still changed on the JP audio), since this is also the first time it's premiering on Netflix and not after a season is over like what happened with the previous series. I'm personally happy about this either way, Pokémon anime is primarily a mindless and stress-free thing for me that I don't mind just having it dubbed (outside of times I have to listen to bizarre casting like Lillie's dub voice lol).

The dubisms that MSBE’s subtitles had boiled down to a mixture of wanting to sneak in iconic lines from the original dub that dub fans would be attached to, and censorship (Mewtwo asking if he was created by nature rather than God, Raymond’s “OH MY GOD” being unsubbed).

This series wouldn’t have the former problem with potential a Japanese sub track since it’s not a remake of an existing dub, not to mention the dub scripts usually tend to remain as faithful as possible these days.

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1 hour ago, Zaysho said:

I'm curious if they'll consider giving it a dual-audio track like they did with the Mewtwo remake (though I've read even that release has issues with the subtitles being based on the dub and not the original Japanese, and most of the music was still changed on the JP audio), since this is also the first time it's premiering on Netflix and not after a season is over like what happened with the previous series. I'm personally happy about this either way, Pokémon anime is primarily a mindless and stress-free thing for me that I don't mind just having it dubbed (outside of times I have to listen to bizarre casting like Lillie's dub voice lol).

Glad I'm not the only who felt her voice was weird. 

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Yeah, Lillie's voice was... Kinda odd. I don't think it's a bad voice, it just doesn't really fit her IMO.

On the subject of voice actors:

We got Ray Chase as the Professor! He plays Noctis in Final Fantasy XV. Xeno Robinson plays Goh, and he plays Hawks in My Hero Academia (meaning both his JP and ENG actors are from MHA, hehe).

I'm really hyped for this show! I'm considering watching the sub first though, just to catch up so I can avoid spoilers.

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I really dig Goh's dub voice. About how I expected it to sound.

I am amused at how Ray Chase is congratulating Sarah for continuing to play Ash in this new series. That's like congratulating the sun for rising. I think she's pretty much staying put unless she decides to quit.

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Meanwhile, the UK is still screwed over. Not only do we get it later, but also not in batch additions and not on Netflix.

I did watch and enjoy the first few episodes of this subbed, so I'm expecting good things for the rest of it.

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So how come the dubs keep changing the bgm, anyway? :( That's really disappointing. I remember when the movies kept the original soundtracks.

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22 hours ago, Mega said:

So how come the dubs keep changing the bgm, anyway? :( That's really disappointing. I remember when the movies kept the original soundtracks.

I don't know, maybe it's to be consistent with how 4kids did it?

Even then, TPCi would still need to licence the Japanese music for international dubs so I guess it was cheaper to just make a separate ost that can be used outside of Japan.

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5 hours ago, BlueSpeedsterYT said:

I don't know, maybe it's to be consistent with how 4kids did it?

TPCi kept the Japanese soundtrack throughout mid-DP all the way up to the end of BW, and kept the soundtracks to movies 9 through 16. Even 4kids themselves used parts of the Japanese soundtrack from Kanto to mid-Johto, and kept the entire soundtracks to movies 4 through 8.

Any semblance of consistency flew out the window quite a long time ago.

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13 hours ago, Big Panda said:

TPCi kept the Japanese soundtrack throughout mid-DP all the way up to the end of BW, and kept the soundtracks to movies 9 through 16. Even 4kids themselves used parts of the Japanese soundtrack from Kanto to mid-Johto, and kept the entire soundtracks to movies 4 through 8.

Any semblance of consistency flew out the window quite a long time ago.

Oh, didn't actually know about that. Thanks for making me be more dumb.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Journeys just premiered in Canada, so it's information time! First, opening:

Pretty nice, IMO, but kinda short.

Secondly, VA/name confirmation! Professor Cerise's daughter will be called Chloe and Cherami Leigh will be playing her! (You might know her from various projects, including as Minako/Sailor Venus in the Viz dub of Sailor Moon, Natsumi Hinata in Sgt. Frog, Biyomon/Himekawa in the Digimon Adventure tri. films, and even Kris in Pokemon Masters!)

Also, from the credits (as well as gleaned from previous information), we've learned that this particular season will utilize both the classic NY talent pool as well as LA VAs, greatly increasing the potential casting options and even bringing voices who've since moved to LA back on to the show. (For instance, Megan Hollingshead, original dub voice of Nurse Joy among other roles in earlier seasons, has been confirmed by the credits as an additional voice!)

Last but not least, it seems like the little eyecatch games from the Japanese show will remain as-is in Journeys:

Super excited to watch this next month. 

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On 5/9/2020 at 9:02 PM, Disk Warrior CC14 said:

Journeys just premiered in Canada, so it's information time! First, opening:

Pretty nice, IMO, but kinda short.

Secondly, VA/name confirmation! Professor Cerise's daughter will be called Chloe and Cherami Leigh will be playing her! (You might know her from various projects, including as Minako/Sailor Venus in the Viz dub of Sailor Moon, Natsumi Hinata in Sgt. Frog, Biyomon/Himekawa in the Digimon Adventure tri. films, and even Kris in Pokemon Masters!)

Intro was ok. For the VA however I was kind of surprised that the same actress who voices Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail, and various One Piece characters in the Funimation dub, has a major voice role in the Pokemon anime, voicing Chloe. Also for the UK fans, the first 4 episodes will air on POP in the UK as a "sneak peak" on May 25th, with the full series airing on said channel later on in the year.

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In other news, this year’s movie has officially been delayed, to the surprise of nobody.

New release TBC.

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Oooh, this means we might be able to have Rachel Lillis or Veronica Taylor doing voices, too! I'd love to have Megan back as Joy and Jenny, but considering PUSA seems to have little care about voice actors being able to reprise their roles, I'm sure it won't happen.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well this was an unexpected yet pleasant surprise. A Pokemon short done in the style of classic Looney Tunes.

Hope we get to see more stuff like this. Now why do I have the want for a Cuphead/Bendy and the Ink Machine/Pokemon crossover game?

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  • 11 months later...

So I’ve been continuing my binge of the Pokemon anime series. I’ve been on the Black & White season for a while now. What’s the usual opinion regarding that arc?


For me I personally like it. I certainly enjoy the more serious tone of team rocket, and the bigger presence they have here. The battles are certainly more engaging, and I don’t mind Ash’s slight redesign here. It feels like a combination of his original and sun and moon look, which is what I wish they’d have kept. As for Ash’s sidekicks here...well Cilan grew on me, he’s fine enough, but Iris...yeah she’s a bit annoying. I honestly overall think I’m enjoying this a bit more than diamond and pearl, which honestly felt a bit bloated with filler. Ash getting all his badges seems to be going much faster compared to that arc. (Where I’m at, he just got his 6th) One criticism I got however is how the locations Ash travels to here don’t feel all that visually different from past locations? Like some of these areas I thought were based on dense city hustle and bustle places like New York City, but they visually look just like any other city from previous regions. It’s a small criticism I guess, but nonetheless, it kinda disappoints me a little. I’m just waiting for the main arc from the actual game with N to start up now.

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Black and White is unique in that it dealt with the League faster than any other series, so while their finales usually are the League, Black and White instead fits in two extra stories or arcs after it. As for the general opinion, it aligns with your thoughts except for many seeing it as a step down overall from Diamond and Pearl. I think many people just wrote it off after Pikachu lost to a just-starting-out trainer, which - let's be honest - had a reason clearly shown in the episode.

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As @DarkRula said, it feels like a lot of people quickly wrote off B/W due to the changes it made to the established formula. Ash made some surprisingly dumb moves starting out after being super-competent in the previous series, they made Team Rocket more serious, Pikachu lost to a beginner Pokemon, and of course, it was the first time the characters were ever redesigned. While I can admit the changes were off-putting at times, the series quickly got its bearings and was every bit as good as the previous ones--and IMO, the best it had been in years. The anime had been spinning its wheels for a loooong time by this point. Johto was a bland continuation of the original series, and while Hoenn gave us some shakeups with May and Max, Diamond and Pearl went back to feeling like the same old thing. Old characters had basically had their personalities wrung dry by that point, and new characters were fairly bland and uninteresting (I will die on the hill that Dawn was basically a bland rehash of May). Black and White was brave enough to really shake things up, and a lot of people didn't like that, but I think it was absolutely refreshing. 

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Okay so watching the genesect movie now. Ok THERES the New York City influence lol. Shame we didn’t get stuff like this in the main anime, but I’ll take it lol.

 

N’s arc kinda surprised me with how fast it was. I mean it was pretty cool, but yeah 

17 hours ago, PC the Hedgehog said:

Old characters had basically had their personalities wrung dry by that point, and new characters were fairly bland and uninteresting (I will die on the hill that Dawn was basically a bland rehash of May). Black and White was brave enough to really shake things up, and a lot of people didn't like that, but I think it was absolutely refreshing. 

Yeah, Dawn wasn’t anything special (tho it was cool to see her return for a bit), and Brock was really starting to just be there “ just cuz“. While I didn’t like Iris (she’s gotten better, but still overall meh) I certainly appreciate the balls they had to totally change up shit and put me out of my comfort zone initially with all its changes to the formula.

also, Oshawott and Piplups rivalry? Fucking amazing. One of the best things about BW for me lol

 

edit: So the cruise ship arc so far is...something. Interesting how Team Rocket is back to their old self already...I guess

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Iirc, they had to shift around a lot of stuff with Team Rocket and Team Plasma fairly early on. Initially there was supposed to be a large rivalry between the two teams, but the episode starting that rivalry was cancelled/banned/re-edited after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, thus forcing them to remove that whole arc.

That's why the only time Team Plasma show up is the N arc.

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I'm not a huge fan of the anime, but I've watched tons of it over the years. What I like about BW over XY and SM is that the most recent series seem to be about Ash and his band of cheerleaders. In all of the series up to and including BW, there's friction amongst the protagonists. They all get along, but they clash too and not just because the plot necessitates it for whatever particular story they're telling in a specific episode. Particularly in the earlier episodes, the there was more to the stories than just making new friends at whatever festival they happened to comes across. Sometimes they met characters who were just a bit more morally grey. In BW and SM (I've not watched Journeys yet), it feels like the protagonists just exist compliment each other on how amazing they are. Every time they struggle or falter, it feels artificial. Pokémon as a brand has become really sanitised in recent years, with the anime being no exception. XY has the best animation of the series by miles, but the stories and characters are dreadful. It's so sickly sweet (a phrase I also use to describe the games from Gen 5/6 onwards tbh).

BW definitely felt unoriginal, Ash regressed to rookie trainer and making Team Rocket more serious was certainly an idea... but I enjoyed it. The group of protagonists was quite enjoyable. I kind of wish that they'd just do away with Ash and Team Rocket to some extent now though. Or if they told stories about a different group of characters that would sometimes cross paths with Ash. That could be nice. 

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I can appreciate BW for being the first true attempt to break trends and make the story writing more flexible. The formula was fun in early days but was getting increasingly lethargic and stale and needed moderation with some change ups. BW was VERY rough around the edges in this regard, you could tell the writers weren't used to new directions, but it did set off something that was for the better.

XY always felt like just a return to the old formula for me, but with a bigger budget and things even blander and worn down than before. Almost anything that wasn't a hyped up main arc was pretty rigid, it was sign they just HAD to switch things up again.

SM was....chaotic, but I kinda loved it for that. It arguably had even less direction than BW but they were really shooting for lots of fun ideas and I felt they were landing better in terms of a more spontaneous character driven approach that I felt XY was near void of. Things were a bit TOO laid back sometimes, but I felt the interactions and personalities were more natural and fun here. I also liked how all the Pokemon felt like characters in this series, even the higher tier or evolved ones that usually get dumbed down stayed out their balls and kept their playful quirks and interactions. Even without the big victory I kinda preferred this series' league setup as well, with everyone getting a final hurrah.

I haven't seen as much of Journeys but it feels more....amorphous. Like it's taking advantage of the opened floodgates but it lacks the same character to it that SM and even BW offered. A shame because it looks like they're going for way more callbacks in this series with old characters returning and Ash no longer stuck in the gym quest formula.

11 hours ago, KHCast said:

Yeah, Dawn wasn’t anything special (tho it was cool to see her return for a bit), and Brock was really starting to just be there “ just cuz“. While I didn’t like Iris (she’s gotten better, but still overall meh) I certainly appreciate the balls they had to totally change up shit and put me out of my comfort zone initially with all its changes to the formula.

also, Oshawott and Piplups rivalry? Fucking amazing. One of the best things about BW for me lol

 

edit: So the cruise ship arc so far is...something. Interesting how Team Rocket is back to their old self already...I guess

I kinda liked the bit with James finding catharsis in trying a goofy disguise again after so long. XD

Team Rocket stay a sort of happy balance of comical but still a bit competent and challenging for a while. By about halfway into XY they're just back to very generic repetitive schemes that even the weaker protagonists can defeat easily, but lacking the same funny self aware back and forths they had in the earlier days that made it tolerable (XY Ash is just not sarcastic at all so just doesn't mesh with them). SM at least slowly revives that life back into them, while also using them more sparingly so they don't run stale again. They never quite become competent main threats ever again though.

I feel like the supporting protagonists sorta went opposite ways in the later series. The female companions regressed and became more passive and underplayed, but the male companions nearly always got increasingly more screentime than Brock. Kiawe in particular almost feels like the role Brock was SUPPOSED to be fully realised, a friendly rival/mentor type with a large dash of comic relief, with his trainer experience not being an informed attribute.

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I'll admit this is probably the only place I've seen that praises BW and heavily dislikes XY (and to a lesser extent DP) it's very funny to see considering how different it is in places like Twitter and Serebii.

Unfortunately I still side the majority on this one in that I think BW flaws far outweigh it's successes I don't hate it necessarily but I'm someone who thinks DP nearly did everything better besides filler and possibly group dynamics, but while BW has better group synergy I prefer the characters as individuals far more than their BW counterparts (Dawn is great btw). Battles relied less on strategy, rivals were bad (as in I like them all as characters but they all get shafted so badly besides Stephan), TR was more serious but loss all personality, League was trash, N arc is a complete butchering of the game plot, Cilan and Iris have poorly written development or in the case of Ash, none at all.

DP may be formulaic but it's the absolute best execution of that formula established since the original series. BW shakes everything up but it all falls apart so easily when you start looking at it deeper for me, SM is pretty much what BW tried to do but actually pulled off successfully which is why it's still very loved despite being so different. XY also isn't perfect but I think it has a good cast an manages to follow through on plot points and character arcs a lot more consistently (it's villian arc is far more engaging than the corresponding games ever tried to be) while also having good battles and visuals on top of it.

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You guys weren’t kidding when you guys said X and Y was a back to basics series, just started it and the theme song is the original one haha. This should be interesting 

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