If you were in charge of the Pokémon anime

If you were in charge of the Pokémon anime. What changes will you make to it.

Heres are five of my changes.

1. Let ash age so he doesn't remain ten years old for fucking eternity.

2. Change the characters every season to make sure the show doesn't become stale.

3. Make team rocket scary. They are literal jokes. They are shit compared to other villains.

4. Make sure every episode is different so that it's not the same thing over and over again.

5. Get better voice actors for ash and the crew.

1. Have Ash age (hey, he's undergoing a journey to hone his skills a'la Rocky, so you might as well have him age).

2. Actually have some formidable recurring villains rather than joke characters.

3. Have Ash win a [bleep]ing league already (I don't care if it ends the show, he still needs to achieve his goal), or at the very least actually give more concrete definitions to his goal (Misty and even Brock had far more of a defined goal than Ash does, and that's not even counting May, Dawn, Iris, or Serena.).

4. Have Misty actually resume her Water Pokémon Master goal.

5. Actually expand on Ho-Oh's connection to Ash (and no, Movie 20 doesn't count).

weedle_mchairybug said:

1. Have Ash age (hey, he's undergoing a journey to hone his skills a'la Rocky, so you might as well have him age).

2. Actually have some formidable recurring villains rather than joke characters.

3. Have Ash win a [bleep]ing league already (I don't care if it ends the show, he still needs to achieve his goal), or at the very least actually give more concrete definitions to his goal (Misty and even Brock had far more of a defined goal than Ash does, and that's not even counting May, Dawn, Iris, or Serena.).

4. Have Misty actually resume her Water Pokémon Master goal.

5. Actually expand on Ho-Oh's connection to Ash (and no, Movie 20 doesn't count).

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Also give ash villains that are always evil.

Because ash's enemies are just people that he hasn't befriended yet.

Plus have ash save the world more. Cause being the best trainer is not a heroic thing

1. I would add: Hank Hill, Squidward, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Bender, Bob Belcher and Plankton to the cast.
2. Make a crossover episode with South Park.
3. Have Giovanni converted into a character along the lines of Mr. Burns (from the Simpsons) or Carter Pewterschmidt (from Family Guy).
4. The Pokemon all talk in secret. It makes no sense that they say their names and it gets rather old after a while.
5. Make a non-canon episode where all the Pokemon fight in a free-for-all against all the Digimon.

...but seriously, my ideas are terrible.

1. Bring back Misty and Brock.
2. Have everyone age.
3. Have Ash and his team gain experience. I know they like to reset Ash's age and the levels of his Pokémon each season (since the Hoenn season), but I still believe there can be many challenges even if all of Ash's Pokémon were of high levels.
4. Bring back the classic art style. Or at the very least have it like it is in I Choose You/The Power of Us.
5. Have Ash compete in the Indigo League again. I feel it's unfinished business, he only lost against Richie because Charizard refused to listen.

Keep everything mostly the same and watch everyone riot.

Ash said:

Keep everything mostly the same and watch everyone riot.

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Uh that's not changing anything

you never said we had to make changes just what changes would we make. and there are some changes that i would make (more focus on people's story and more character development and more pokemon character development.) but see, my changes aren't changes that people will consider because everyone will be changing the same thing (ash growing older, no more ash, etc etc). At least my answer was different than everyone elses' answer.

tigertron said:

1. Bring back Misty and Brock.
2. Have everyone age.
3. Have Ash and his team gain experience. I know they like to reset Ash's age and the levels of his Pokémon each season (since the Hoenn season), but I still believe there can be many challenges even if all of Ash's Pokémon were of high levels.
4. Bring back the classic art style. Or at the very least have it like it is in I Choose You/The Power of Us.
5. Have Ash compete in the Indigo League again. I feel it's unfinished business, he only lost against Richie because Charizard refused to listen.

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1. Agreed, and after the good job they've done for Brock, I actually would want him back (had you asked me before the Kanto Reunion arc, I would not have wanted him back after the crap they did from making him not focus on his breeder goal or doing much of anything other than cooking and cleaning, and in the case of DP also not even trying to rejoin Ash, to him being turned into a womanizer). And I certainly want Misty back, especially after the writers did a massive disservice to her by throwing her into a gym despite her goal of Water Pokémon Master requiring she reach at the barest minimum the Elite 4 level (to say little about how before XY or especially the Kanto Reunion arc in SM, the Gym leaders were depicted as being JJM-level joke characters starting with AG). Even if she doesn't return, at the very least, she should be allowed to actually resume her goal of WPM by traveling.

2. Pretty much agreed there. It's one thing if this were like, say, the Simpsons where there's negative continuity abound and care more about a joke a day, but Pokémon's more like the Rocky movies, which DO ultimately require aging regarding the nature of their goals. And besides, even the writers commentary for the Orange Islands arc indicated Ash aged with the episode where Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot.

3. Also agreed there as well. Especially when, if I must be honest, the only saga where there's actual discernable growth was in Johto. DP and XY did have him getting better, sure, and even AG at least had the Battle Frontier to make up for the poor results of Hoenn, but there's little to no continuity there (heck, you could skip AG and not miss much).

4. Yeah, have to agree there. Didn't mind Misty and Brock's redesigns too much (they still pale in comparison to their original depictions, but at least they're tolerable compared to Ash's redesign), but it's better off if we get the original designs, at the very least the M20/21 designs.

5. Well, it certainly would make things full circle, I'll give you that. Not sure if that will happen, though, since they're either going to promote the new games, or just cut it short.

weedle_mchairybug said:

2. Pretty much agreed there. It's one thing if this were like, say, the Simpsons where there's negative continuity abound and care more about a joke a day, but Pokémon's more like the Rocky movies, which DO ultimately require aging regarding the nature of their goals. And besides, even the writers commentary for the Orange Islands arc indicated Ash aged with the episode where Pidgeotto evolved into Pidgeot.

3. Also agreed there as well. Especially when, if I must be honest, the only saga where there's actual discernable growth was in Johto. DP and XY did have him getting better, sure, and even AG at least had the Battle Frontier to make up for the poor results of Hoenn, but there's little to no continuity there (heck, you could skip AG and not miss much).

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Exactly. The show's creators want to make Ash relatable to children which is why they keep him very young. As you rightfully pointed out, Ash was actually aging during the earlier seasons, with references made in the episode where they return to Viridian City, the Pichu short, etc. I think the series should at least follow Ash until his 20s, then maybe they can focus on another protagonist and have Ash show up from time to time in a sort of "big brother" role.

The great thing about the Indigo League (even though I was disappointed that he didn't win) was that Ash didn't succeed even though he tried and the show really taught me as a kid not to give up. I feel that if Ash is going to keep going back to square one, then the message becomes diluted because he's not then learning from the past.

tigertron said:

Exactly. The show's creators want to make Ash relatable to children which is why they keep him very young. As you rightfully pointed out, Ash was actually aging during the earlier seasons, with references made in the episode where they return to Viridian City, the Pichu short, etc. I think the series should at least follow Ash until his 20s, then maybe they can focus on another protagonist and have Ash show up from time to time in a sort of "big brother" role.

The great thing about the Indigo League (even though I was disappointed that he didn't win) was that Ash didn't succeed even though he tried and the show really taught me as a kid not to give up. I feel that if Ash is going to keep going back to square one, then the message becomes diluted because he's not then learning from the past.

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Well, technically, the Viridian City bit was more of a dub addition, but I do agree that there were references to aging even in the Japanese version. And honestly? Most Disney protagonists, who BTW were geared towards children, didn't exactly have children as the main protagonists, but rather teenagers or even outright adults (probably the only exception I can think of are the humans in the Rescuer movies and Simba from The Lion King, regarding standard Disney films, and the latter's a lion), so that claim is utter bull.

Probably the only good things about him losing is that, in the case of Johto, Sinnoh, and Kalos, he at least is actually advancing in rank, which indicates he did grow stronger. Too bad they still have him lose in a cheap attempt to keep using him for the region, and then undo any development he had to "set him back to square one." There's a massive difference between not always being able to win and promoting the idea that you'll lose regardless of your efforts, and the show starting with AG came far closer to promoting the latter philosophy.

1.- Full reboot / New continuity, with new cast.
2.- Sequence-episodic arc nature much like the old Justice League / Unlimited show, where instead of "character of the day" drifter plots (and filler) there are sequences of "arcs" taking 2 or 3 episodes each. Gives more and better time to develop how the characters act and change.
3.- Lead character/s would be Trainers who already have some minor experience under their belt but the plot progresses as they are made to approach Training from a different angle (for example, if they are lab interns or sport athletes in training, have the general plot switch them to go to Training out there in the open).
3a.- Focus on a "core" team of two or three members per Trainer, with the others rotating across arcs or according to circumstance ("this is a mission for Aquaman!") to give all characters a chance to develop.
3b.- Ideal age for the main characters would be 12-15. Obviously they'll be growing as the series goes.
4.- Artistic style and visuals, if possible pick one and stick to it but if wanting to experiment dedicate things like raccontos, flashbacks or alternate-universe / alternate-timeline sections to have their own art style, kinda like what Teen Titans did at points. For a general starting style aim at something with well defined shapes and simplicity of color theming, something like the new Carmen Sandiego reboot or the older but still visually comfortable and easy to follow Samurai Jack.
5.- Animation-wise, far less abuse of stock ray backgrounds and smoke clouds / Kalisplosions to cover the effects of attacks. Actually show us what is happening in battle.
6.- Part-animation, part-settings mechanics wise, dispense with the script kiddy "lol, teleport / manifest rocks out of thin air for attacks" and approach elemental techniques from an Avatar: the Last Airbender mindset, including things like Pokémon of the same type but different morphologies having different motion and control requisites and "tells" to deploy attacks (eg.: a Sandslash's EQ vs a Flygon's EQ for Earth-bending).
6a.- Or, if needing some teleport-right-in techniques from the go for some types such as Psychic, approach them from a The Dragon Prince mindset, with idiomatic "spell-casting".
7.- Remove the Bulba bulba (and the Pika pi) and have actual mechanical / guttural sounds for Pokémon. For extra kicks, have the VAs bring in their pets to participate in the VAing.
8.- Redesign some Pokémon, in particular the more recent generations, to be less plastic and more naturalistic (Keldeo compared to Ponyta) and less child/moe stick figures with googly eyes and more physiologically functional (Fennekin compared to Vulpix, or Scorbunny compared to Buneaury). Have feathered / furred Pokémon have actual sections or layers of feather/fur texture instead of one flat texture.
8a.- Give the Pokémon actual muscle and bone structure when moving. In particular for the redesign of the Pokémon like Scorbunny who seem to even lack elbows.
9.- Leave the Legendaries, and Legendary battles, for the non-serial movies of the new anime, or for larger dedicated mid-season plots (so as to not have to take over a season finale that presumably follows the season's overall theme/plot).

Have Ash win a league and end the series. I would add an epilogue on which we'd see everyone has aged and as adults. There is nothing more relevant to add.

I also wish they could make the Pokémon talk.

Cause I don't like them saying their name over and over again

Personally, all I would change is how they age and probably just stick to the XY companions for the rest of time. XD I'm sorry Brock, but Misty is holding down gen 1 for me. I never really liked her all that much.

It is explained that Pokemon are able to learn to speak if they really wanted to. But it would require losing access to their signature move. Like Meowth and Pay Day.
It would be kind of weird to just be watching an episode and Pikachu is just there on his shoulder going "Oh yeah, let's stop here for a break bro" so I would keep them saying their own name.
And Venia, the anime isn't really able to change pokemon designs, so even if you did control the anime it wouldn't matter.

I would wish Ash never captures more than a full team again. His Unovan team wasn't very good because almost none got any proper screentime, as there were so many.
Make amourshipping a bigger part of the anime, since it is canon. :3
Also a competent Ash that can be funny, but also be capable in battle and life.

Just a few things actually

Decibel575 said:

Personally, all I would change is how they age and probably just stick to the XY companions for the rest of time. XD I'm sorry Brock, but Misty is holding down gen 1 for me. I never really liked her all that much.

It is explained that Pokemon are able to learn to speak if they really wanted to. But it would require losing access to their signature move. Like Meowth and Pay Day.
It would be kind of weird to just be watching an episode and Pikachu is just there on his shoulder going "Oh yeah, let's stop here for a break bro" so I would keep them saying their own name.
And Venia, the anime isn't really able to change pokemon designs, so even if you did control the anime it wouldn't matter.

I would wish Ash never captures more than a full team again. His Unovan team wasn't very good because almost none got any proper screentime, as there were so many.
Make amourshipping a bigger part of the anime, since it is canon. :3
Also a competent Ash that can be funny, but also be capable in battle and life.

Just a few things actually

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Eh, suit yourself. Personally, even if I hated Misty as much as you did, I'd at least try to make sure she's allowed to pursue her Water Pokémon Master goal when leaving Ash, not throw her into a gym to rot.

In any case, I kind of have to agree with the no more than a full team bit. I know the tagline is "gotta catch 'em all!", but even still, with nearly a thousand Pokémon right now, that's going to be tedious to do, if not downright impossible, even without taking into consideration legendaries.

Kay

Make Satoshi less like Goku and more like Red
Make the series Shonen like but not as much to keep it uncensored outside of japan
Have Satoshi get at least 50% of ALL Eeveelutions possible
Have Satoshi an Alakazam
Make Bill a support character instead of a minor
Make Pokemon Tower actually scary and cemetery like (Pokemon the origin and Pokemon adventures did it)

Entei Fan said:

Evolve Pikachu

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Entei Fan said:

Kay

Make Satoshi less like Goku and more like Red
Make the series Shonen like but not as much to keep it uncensored outside of japan
Have Satoshi get at least 50% of ALL Eeveelutions possible
Evolve Pikachu
Have Satoshi an Alakazam
Make Bill a support character instead of a minor
Make Pokemon Tower actually scary and cemetery like (Pokemon the origin and Pokemon adventures did it)

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Yeah, about Pikachu evolving, that ain't going to happen. He had two opportunities to evolve. He rejected both.

It's also mentioned in literally every series that Pikachu does not want to evolve and that he's fine the way he is. If you don't like it fine but that's part of Pikachu's character and part of Ash's and Pikachu's partnership to always respect it.

( and jesus whenever people bring up the "issue" with Ash not aging I literally just think about Detective Conan which honestly is way worst in the fact that people are barely aging in that series lmao.