At least one of Michael Bay's Transformers movies have grossed over a billion dollars worldwide, and they're all still terrible examples of filmmaking by any objective standard. I'm not going to argue over Kasumi's strengths (or lack thereof) as a character again here when we have other threads for that kind of thing, but I am going to make the point that popularity doesn't automatically equal quality.
Except it's not just her popularity, she was also extremely well received of a character, and popularity does have a bit of a role in terms of quality (after all, no way people would be popular if they didn't have anything good about them, especially if their flaws are apparent). And it's not like Transformers, as this is dealing with a specific character, especially one who was very well received, actually has fan conventions dedicated to her.
On that same note, I also dispute the idea that the OS was indisputably the best series. If Best Wishes can be slammed for things like lackluster rivalries and rivals, horrible battles, sloppily executed storylines, irritating characters, an overabundance of filler, poorly-handed Pokémon teams, obligatory cameos from past characters that don't mean anything, awful treatment of the regional villain team, and a bad Pokémon League, I don't see why the same can't apply for the original series. All of those flaws are present there (in every series, really; but I'd argue these are more of a problem in OS than in AG/DP), as well. There are a lot of fun, standout episodes throughout the OS, and I get that there are people who see something in Kasumi and Takeshi that I never will understand, but as an entire series the original Pocket Monsters is incredibly flawed.
I can't comment much on the Original series as I only sat through Kanto in its entirety, but I will tell you this much, at least the Gym Leaders actually WERE treated like they were a serious threat (Misty's sisters aside, anyways) in the Original Series, even if literally half of the Kanto badges were just handed to Ash instead of truly earned. In some cases they actually improved the Gym Leaders' personality. Take Whitney and Claire, for example: Whitney was a huge crybaby whenever she loses and even nearly forgot to give the player a badge, yet in the Anime, they made her into a character that Ash actually had some difficulty against, actually losing to her the first time around, not to mention graceful regarding losing. And even Game Whitney at least intended to give out the badge anyways due to a fair win, in the games, Claire was an exceptionally arrogant jerk who claimed herself to be the Dragon Pokémon Master despite her own cousin, Lance, being superior to her, and then when the player beat her, she forced the player to find the Dragon Fang in the Dragon cavern out of spite for the player beating her. The anime toned down her arrogance and I think she actually didn't put Ash through such a daunting task like that for beating her before giving him the badge (though please correct me if I'm wrong there). Not to mention, I'm not even sure how Johto even had that much filler in there. They still did stuff, many of which did directly relate to their goals, and besides which, at least Ash actually got a rank increase compared to Kanto, not to mention a far more honorable win that wasn't due to Team Rocket stealing his victory and forcing him to nearly miss the match. And Johto does improve significantly by making sure Ash didn't simply have badges handed to him. And as far as obligatory cameos, when exactly did the Original Series have meaningless obligatory cameos (especially when the obligatory cameos being referenced here were to former main characters, and the Original Series was obviously before they decided to swap girls on a regular basis)? Most of Ash's team doesn't even return anyways besides Ash's Kanto Starters in Johto and beyond. At this point, only Pidgeot got something even resembling a cameo (a flashback before the Falkner battle), and at least Ash had an excuse regarding not visiting Pidgeot that time, as Oak basically had him sent over to Johto just after he got back from the Orange Islands with the GS Ball, unlike in AG, where even though he didn't have anything to do at the time and despite being around the area Pidgeot was left at, he didn't say hi to it at all, they don't even show it. As far as rivalries, they did give Ash an actual rivalry with Gary Oak by fighting him in Johto, and that even culminated in one of the more awesome events of the Silver Conference where Ash finally beat Gary, and while Ritchie did come across as too perfect and a clone of Ash, not to mention winning a match only because the referees were bad, even that at least had more heart than some of the stuff in BW. And BTW, the Original series actually had two Pokémon Leagues (three if one counts the Orange Islands as a league), and while the Indigo League was indeed somewhat bad in its conclusion (Ash ranking Top 16 for something that wasn't even his fault, or Ritchie's), the Orange League and especially the Silver Conference definitely weren't bad at all, and the fact that there were actually more than one league present in the Original Series makes up for one bad league, unlike in subsequent series where there is only one league per series, and in the case of BW, that basically tarnishes it. The only way the Original series can compare in badness to BW is if not only the Indigo League, but the Orange League and especially the Silver Conference all bombed. And anyways, at least the irritating characters weren't major characters like rivals [whether recurring rivals or even league rivals] or main characters, so it's still not as bad as BW. And BTW, Team Rocket actually wasn't treated that badly in the Original Series. In fact, Cassidy and Butch were initially created to be a darker version of Jessie and James when they were becoming more comic relief than true villains, plus at least they actually proved themselves to be genuine threats most times in the original series. And frankly, the Kanto League wasn't that badly handled, and even Johto's team did fairly decently compared to AG's team and especially BW's team.
And quite frankly, compared to AG, BW, XY, and even DP (probably the only one of the post original series shows that was actually decent, even if low-rated), the original series was indeed the best (and by "Original Series", I'm meaning Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto altogether, not just Kanto). Not saying it's perfect, as really, nothing truly is, but it was certainly better than the other shows, as at least the original series actually had heart and tried to do a good story. It's not clear if his Kanto team's the best or if his Sinnoh team is the best, but they definitely ranked high regardless.
But back to Best Wishes (and I'll preface this by saying that I speak only for myself here, and it's only my opinion):
To be honest, it's been off the air long enough that I'm past the point where I feel strongly about BW one way or the other. I'm still no fan of it, but I can appreciate it's better aspects now than I could before. If nothing else, there are a lot of good ideas at play. BW introduces fun recurring characters (Langley, Cabernet, Bel, Kenyan, etc.), at least makes the effort to do something new with Team Rocket, and places more importance on establishing the dynamics of its central cast than its predecessor series did. As badly-handled as Dent become, at least he was never a total nonentity in the group like Takeshi in DP. I don't have an issue with Iris - I'm pretty neutral towards her, really - and, if nothing else, I found her friendship with Satoshi charming enough. The episode where the two go touring around Raimon City is one of my favorite episodes of the entire anime franchise. And like Kanto/Orange Islands, BW really did have some standout individual episodes that I'll probably be going back to in the future (e.g. Lizardon's return episode, another one of my all-time favorites).
My biggest issue with BW is how it introduces a lot of interesting concepts, but fails to execute these in almost every area. Diamond & Pearl is not a perfect series by any stretch, but I honestly think it nailed this part the best: properly setting up its long-term storylines, developing them over the course of the series, and actually having them pay off an a mostly satisfactory way. The arc with the Lake Trio, Hunter J, and Team Galactic is a perfect example of this, and its why Galaxy is about the only regional villain team story in the anime that ends in something other than keen disappointment and a yearning for what could have been. BW on the other hand sets up stories, doesn't so much develop them as it does hit the same beats over and over, and then either unceremoniously drops them or ends them in a way that's not only disappointing, but often inconsistent with what came before.
On a final note, am I the only one who finds that BW hate is pretty overstated? It's obviously not everyone's favorite part of the anime franchise, but you don't really have to look far to find people who enjoyed it.
It's kinda hard to overstate the BW hate when there are a lot of genuine problems with that series (honestly, do you really think Ash being depicted as such an idiot he would fail to recognize a non-disguised human from an Axew was even necessary, or losing to a guy who clearly was just starting out when his Pikachu even without his electrical abilities is still skilled and experienced enough to knock his Snivy on its butt effortlessly?). Again, there are more bad things in that series than good (and frankly, the only things actually good about the series are Iris being allowed to actually pursue her own journey instead of being forced into a gym upon departure, and Charizard's return).
I won't say that OS was the best series,but I don't agree that BW was even a DECENT series.After watching the whole thing,I understand.OS was the First series,so there was something to back up the stupid activities that Ash did.And I dont think that there was any Cameos that dont mean anything(its impossible from "past" characters so leave it).And there was a very small number of annoying characters(including Gary).PS had many funny episodes,alot more than BW(I really didn't find many funny episodes in BW).If Ash lost to a new trainer,who just got his first Pokemon in OS,it would have been acceptable.But losing to a new trainer with Pikachu WHO was already trained before in 4 regions(but I dont know why Pikachu gets his level-reset type thing everytime).I agree Ash had a bad team in OS,but BW was worse.Ash at least had a Charizard and Pidgeot(did he have snorlax by that time?Don't remember).BW?Huh.Not a single fully-evolved Pokemon except Unfeazant.I think even Gary is better than Trip.And Camron?Can you say anything about that?A STUPID kid.Nothing else to say.I can write all of his stupidities.
Agreed on all fronts. It's one thing if Ash was starting out the same time as Trip on his journey. It's quite another to have him lose to Trip despite being significantly more experienced than him. And yeah, in the overall Original Series, Ash had Snorlax, but not during Kanto (he got him in the Orange Islands). And yeah, in Kanto, Ash was a complete rookie so he at least had an excuse for his stupidity. Not BW, though, where he definitely should have known better. And while Gary was a bit smug, at least he actually had an excuse of being Ash's rival as well as being an overconfident rookie himself. Probably the only real flaw with Kanto was that half of his badges he never actually won in battle but were just handed to him, but in all honestly, even with that, at least the Gym Leaders actually were depicted as actual challenges, especially to a rookie like Ash and his then-Kanto team. And also agreed regarding the Original Series having meaningless obligatory cameos or lack thereof. How can they have meaningless obligatory cameos if they haven't even permanently replaced an established main character yet? And besides, even Tracey actually did have some relevance in his cameos due to working at Professor Oak's lab. BW had replaced three girls by that point, plus Brock for the final time, and in the context of that series and Dawn's character, her cameo actually WAS pointless, especially when Unova doesn't even have contests at all.
Flaws,are present in every series,I agree(I can't argue about that).OS was the first series,so flaws will be present.But during BW,after 15 years,so many flaws is NOT acceptable.And for Brock and Misty,I think they are a little overrated(but not that much).They were very good as partners and might have just died without em(the first Episode explains,misty pulled Ash up from the river,or he would have just died there).
I really wouldn't say Misty was overrated, really. She actually did prove to be a very good, decently done character, which is more than can be said about her replacements (especially considering the writers, as Hidaka put it, put their physical appearance over actual character, meaning they came across as being the same kind of annoying Hina stereotype as the screaming Fiorello Fangirls from Princess vs. Princess, which is another reason for my immense loyalty to Misty as she never behaved like them at all). And even Brock, prior to their making him into a cheap womanizing one-bit gag anyways, actually did have some decent elements to him, enough to actually be redeemable to the audiences at least. But yeah, Ash definitely would have died on his first day if it weren't for Misty, certainly. And besides, at least Kanto had it being the first series as an excuse, and even Johto, for it's long arcs, at least had it being the first time it actually did something like this for more than a year as an excuse for this. Not BW, though, where they clearly should know better (not even a reboot considering they already did that with AG and technically DP).
Team Rocket?They just ruined them.Yes,they could make them more serious.But they overdid it.There was no fun in the BW Team Rocket.Even XY Team Rocket is better(They now have a near-balanced Smartness and humor).They still could have made BW A LOT better if they had just used Team Rocket better,They could have made them do serious work with humor.And for the fun characters you named,I can't recognize a single one of em.I found Bianca pretty funny.But thats it.Dawns pointless return just made it worse.May return was even reasonable cause it was a Contest.There are no contests in Unova and thus Dawn really has nothing to do with Unova.(Btw,who is Lizardon?)
Yeah, agreed with Team Rocket's treatment in BW, as they had far worse treatment than even AG and DP (and let me be frank, making them pathetic characters who don't even qualify as genuine threats is a very bad move when they are supposed to be the antagonists), not to mention some of their plans (like the Meowth double agent arc) made even Metal Gear's infamously needless plot twists have some sense (and let me make clear, Metal Gear's plot twists generally never made any sense, such as Liquid Snake planning for Solid Snake to unlock REX and unwittingly activate it despite pretty obviously trying to kill him earlier with the Hind D, all for the sake of the plot twist that he disguised himself as Master Miller and presumably had the real one murdered offscreen), meaning their plans made absolutely no sense at all.
And agree with you regarding Dawn, her return was completely pointless. I didn't really like May's return nor did I think that she should have gotten a reappearance in DP, but at least she actually had an excuse due to there being contests in the region, not to mention the Wallace Cup actually had its ribbon apply in multiple regions, which further solidified her reasons for coming. Dawn's cameo seemed like it was just for the heck of it, even though she's supposed to be doing contests in either Hoenn or Kanto (I don't know if she already completed contests in Hoenn during that time). And Lizardon is the Japanese name for Charizard.
BW hate,In my opinion is not overstated,but thats me.DP was a very good series Imo,Ash had a very good team(probably his best),could have reached the finals in the league(but he couldn't because of our favorite Tobias)and DP didn't have anything like the Decolore Island.Team Galactic wasn't bad at all,they were EVIL,just what a EVIL team has to be.And they were pretty successful in their goal.Hunter J is not my favorite part.
In all fairness, Team Rocket even in the original series was actually pretty evil (like in Mewtwo Returns, the Raikou Legend of Thunder Special, Dr. Namba, and the like, not to mention all of that shebang), and while they didn't get the chance to remake the world and warp reality like Team Galactic did, make no mistake, Team Rocket would not have been above doing something like this if they so desired, especially Giovanni. And they did capture a Rayquaza at one point in AG, as well.
Other than that, yeah, DP did have some very good things in it, like all the stuff you mentioned there (I wouldn't necessarily call DP his "best" team, though. It's tied between them and Ash's Kanto team, largely because it was Ash's Kanto team that actually beat Brandon in AG), especially the fact that unlike AG before it or BW afterwards, he actually does increase in rank (and to be honest, I think they only inserted Tobias because the writers procrastinated too much in DP and thus didn't have time to actually have Ash win thanks to Gen V literally just being out of the door for release by the holidays, especially when there was a lot of heavy foreshadowing that Ash would at the very least challenge the Elite 4 in Sinnoh). Other than that, though, it still wasn't that good of a series. Better than AG, certainly, better than BW as well, but I really wouldn't consider it that good.
