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Watching all seasons and movies from the start ? Re-watching entire Pokemon ? is it worth it

1
Posts
4
Years
Hello!
I watched the first seasons of Pokemon Anime when I was a kid, but at some point it wasn't available in Poland and I missed probably a lot of seasons (everything after Black and White). But now I kind of want to jump back in, but the amount of episodes to catch up on is scary :D

Is it worth to watch all Pokemon anime from the start? or is the quality and format just too outdated?
And if it's worth watching in its entirety, where to begin? and in what order to watch the seasons and movies?
 

pkmin3033

Guest
0
Posts
It depends on WHY you want to watch it, honestly. The humour and voice acting in the Kanto/Johto seasons is of significantly better quality than anything that follows on from it, but the Sinnoh season has easily the best and most consistent narrative and character development. If you're not bothered by an older style of animation, I'd say it's absolutely worth watching the earlier seasons. If you are, then don't. The anime is very much like the games - it hasn't really changed fundamentally. You get different visual presentation and different characters every now and then, but it's the same formula, every single time. If you've seen one season, you've seen them all. That doesn't mean they're not all worth watching in their own way (except for the Unova seasons anyway!) but that you're not going to get a massively different show between seasons.

But it's a pretty clean reboot each season after Johto, with common threads (i.e. the characters and some Pokemon making one-off appearances) linking them just enough to let you know you're watching the same series. You'll probably find some of it more enjoyable than the rest, and you could easily skip any region's seasons and pick it up at the next season without missing much. If you're interested in doing it, go back to the original series and just watch on from there. Watch a movie after you finish a season...or if you're REALLY picky about it, look up when the movies were released, and then find the episode that aired just before it, and watch the movie after that. Except movie 10-12, they're self-contained and don't have any connection to the main anime series outside of the characters...except for the first movie, which is kinda-sorta in the anime series around the eighth gym.
 

BH

Canine pokemon fan
1,041
Posts
19
Years
Yeah i watched pokemon from the DP seasions (except the last one) and later the Kanto seasion, but switched to Johto saga since Kanto episodes were kinda boring, i'm now at the second Johto season - Johto League Champions
 

Alloute

Cat Burglar
178
Posts
14
Years
I wouldn't recommend binge watching the Pokemon anime. There are just too many episodes - many of which are fillers and have the same structure as each other - and even some of the non-fillers generally follow a predictable plot outline. The Pokemon anime is just too tedious to watch all at once imo.
 
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Taemin

move.
11,205
Posts
18
Years
  • Age 36
  • USA
  • Seen Apr 2, 2024
Depends on your reasons. If you enjoy it, and really wanna see it all over again, they heck yeah it's worth it!

If you're doing it just to prove to yourself you can, then that sounds like kinda tedious. LOL

I personally just re-watch bits and pieces of the story, or maybe make it through re-watching a season... but, there's so many that I trail off easily myself.

If you wanna see it, then you might as well at least skim to the parts you wanna see the most.
 

CidHazard

just a miserable pile of secrets
582
Posts
7
Years
I mean that's like 1000+ episodes, I like the pokemon anime as much as anybody. But I don't think It's worth watching the old stuff if you don't really want to.
 

Aquacorde

⟡ dig down, dig down ⟡
12,498
Posts
19
Years
I keep telling myself that I'll watch it all through someday lol but it's so true that as much as you love the anime... it can get real tedious. I honestly would never go through in full chronological order. I pick one season and watch through that. Maybe an entire region. I'll see it all at some point that way, and I won't feel like I'm slogging through just for the sake of doing it. No point doing it if it's not enjoyable! You'll lose your love for the anime real quick that way.
 
21
Posts
6
Years
  • Age 22
  • UK
  • Seen Dec 2, 2020
If you were really dedicated then I guess you could go for 3-4 episodes a day, which would take less than a year to catch up? But obviously that's a lot of time. Maybe just filter through filler episodes and watch those where major events take place, with a few filler sprinkled here and there along the way? Since every region is basically a soft reboot then it really isn't worth it just for the sake of it, especially since a new arc is starting in a few weeks.

I'd say do it for the experience and keep it with major episodes and/or ones you haven't seen yet. I've seen all of them but it took years of idle watching on tv and online and that was way back when there was only around 400-500 episodes. Now they've broken the 1000s it'll take even longer :/
 
11,780
Posts
20
Years
  • Age 36
  • Seen Feb 9, 2024
You know I've thought about starting from the very beginning just for the hell of it. Yeah it's going to feel like it takes forever but sometimes that's the joy of it right there.
 
125
Posts
9
Years
  • Age 37
  • Seen Oct 9, 2023
Honestly, it depends on what your viewing tastes are. That is, if you enjoy episodic, slice-of-life-ish anime such as Pokemon, then you'll probably like it. I'm actually watching it from the start (I'm on episode 74, just watched the First Movie, too, that comes after episode 67 or so). It's been pretty fun so far. But, I'm not strictly binge-watching. When I feel like it, I watch some episodes. Sometimes I just watch one per weeks. Sometimes months pass by without me watching one. But so far, I find it fun enough to keep watching it. I definitely enjoy the humours, the fights, and honestly I watch it for the fun interactions between the characters and for the characters themselves since I cherish them a lot. I like the self-contained little stories each chapters has with characters-of-the-day appearing and stuff like that. Sometimes Team Rocket appearing literally every episode can get tiring: because some of these episode just didn't need Team Rocket at all, yet they include them to do some 1-minute shit for no reason. Team Rocket are very funny, though. But I'd have done it so that they appeared every three episodes.

So, basically, it depends on if you want it or not. You can always do it like me and watch at a random pace so that it doesn't tire you out. Try out some of the first episodes to get a hang of how the anime is and if you'll like it.
 
13,600
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Dec 11, 2023
As someone who has,for the most part, done this i recommend taking it a season or series at a time. I did all of kanto in one sitting along with orange league, then johto in a sitting a bit after that. I did start hoenn then but mostly stopped because i didnt have a means to watch it then, haha.

It was a few years later when i got a chance but then i did the remainder of hoenn and then sinnoh. or rather second half bc i did the first half while it was on hulu and, thankfully, the episodes were still fresh in my mind. Which is part of why i suggest a series at a time and stop in between series so you dont burn yourself in the middle of one (though it wasnt the case with me).

Granted, like people said depends on your dedication on watching every episode. For me i didnt have to watch best wishes and most of xyz because i did that while they were airing. Itll be different for you though.

Either way if you do it good luck!!
 

tigertron

Pokémon Master
228
Posts
8
Years
The first few seasons are dated, but they haven't aged badly. In fact, I still find them way more enjoyable than the later seasons. The Indigo League season will forever hold a special place in my heart because it was my first anime experience. Why not try downloading the Pokémon TV app? it's free so you don't have to spend a lot of money.
 

hirokimura

Miltank's Fanboy Number One
150
Posts
6
Years
You could learn to play guitar, to draw, to make photo manipulation, or anything that could be sold for money by staying away from this 1000+ episodes of filler content.
 
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