One year of XY anime!

October 17th marked one year, 46 regular episodes, two Mega Evolution specials, and one movie all set in Kalos! So let's take a quick look back on what's happened so far. Do you remember your expectations for the series coming out of BW? Has it matched or surpassed those? What specific moments or episodes stand out to you from the last year?

XY is starting to get better now. There was a massive dry spell between the first and second gym, but after that passed, it is starting to meet my expectations again. I just hope Ash starts to get noticed more by people who saw him on TV.

I love the way they are setting up the arcs now. It is much better than random fillers. It still has a strong potential to become my favorite generation.

What I like most about XY is Clemont and Bonnie and they're adorable.

But in terms of the series in general its fairly average. Its really just following the same formula from AG just without Contest episodes. Ash has only one starter again, no big main rival, Serena has a slow start, we have an underage sibling on the cast, etc.

I've watched only a small handful of the Kalos episodes, and this was coming off a hiatus from the anime I've had since the Icirrus Gym episode of the Best Wishes series, which was just so terrible and that's kinda sad considering I'm a fan of the 5th Gen, that its resident anime was just so badly constructed.

I think I am starting to like this series and maybe I might watch more episodes since they are airing first-run where I am at the moment.

The one thing I want to see happen to Ash in coming episodes is the ability to use Mega Evolution since he has a lot of his older Pokemon who are capable of it (to be specific Charizard, Heracross, Sceptile, Glalie, even Pidgeot should he ever come back for it) so to see him not use Megas would disappoint me badly. Also, no rushed league please writers.

My expectations for XY were very low after I felt BW bombed, so I guess there's that. Then I saw the first two episodes as a preview for the series and I bought into the hype.

So far, it's been all I asked for: better than BW so far. My only main issues were Serena's painful lack of focus episodes and the XY incarnation of the TRio. Other than that, I like Ash as a better trainer and his sidekicks. Now that Serena is presumably going to be getting more focus, the fanbase that thought Serena is nothing but background fodder and shipping bait can breathe a collective sigh of relief. It only took her a year...

The mega-evo special was okay. I mean we've only had one, but I think Alan is drier than a piece of burnt toast. Mairin is awesome though; she reminds me a lot of OS Ash.

I wish Ash , Serena & Clemont could have more funnier & dynamic Chemistry !!!
well ,At least Its better then the nightmare called BW Series.

I miss times like this--

Famon said:

I wish Ash , Serena & Clemont could have more funnier & dynamic Chemistry !!!

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But what were your expectations for them? Did you expect them to have more dynamic group chemistry than what you think they currently have?

The dynamics are fine. Better than the DP trio where Brock was just wallpaper and it was just Ash and Dawn interacting all the time.

Serena herself isn't too interesting but Clemont/Bonnie make up for it.

Wobbu said:

But what were your expectations for them? Did you expect them to have more dynamic group chemistry than what you think they currently have?

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That Pic should have been enough to explain But however

With Clemont : Typical Guy Friendship ! Sometime close while sometime biker over silly thing.
Basically like 2 same aged Boys with different opinion.
Clemont believe everything can be solve by science While Ash believe you need gut & practice overcome every obstacle.
So It cause them to have silly argument because Clemont want to solve problem Scientifically while Ash tries to do something unorthodox.

With Serena : A more real & Closer childhood friendship . Like Mio & Ritsu (K-on)
Where Serena is polite to everyone but shows a Sassy side toward Ash because he is her close childhood friend.
As a childhood friend , I expect Serena to be intimate with Ash from the start because she already knows Ash.
But god know Why , Writer turn her into One of those Annoying Shoujo Heroin with ''Notice me Senpai'' attitude.
47 episode and she still like a ''New Girl'' to Ash !

Honestly Ash , Serena & Clemont act more like a Classmet or Colleague then friends . They act so FORMAL Toward each other that They doesn't seem like a close group of 10 year Kids .

Serena and Ash are not close childhood friends. This has never been the case. They met at a camp once and he helped her out. He barely remembered her. They spent maybe a week together considering the length of summer camps in PokéAni. Probably less, since their first meeting was implied to be when Ash found her in the woods. Their dynamic so far has been portrayed exactly as I would expect from that background- Serena has a crush on this guy she remembers from long ago; Ash doesn't remember her. She is slowly learning who he has become and developing herself along the way. She is becoming comfortable with him now as closer friends, as well as with Clemont and Bonnie. Once she is comfortable, she begins to show the sillier and more sassy side to her that we saw at the very beginning in her interactions with Grace.

Having watched this anime on and off since it came to this country, I've learned that it's best not to enter a new show with any specific expectations and just evaluate things as they come. My only real hope for XY, especially coming off of Best Wishes, was that it'd be good. And in the first year, I've found XY more enjoyable than its immediate predecessor but nothing has especially stood out to me as anything I'm really interested in investing into.

The main problem I've had with this series is that what's going on, while it's all been handled competently enough, doesn't strike me as all that interesting. Satoshi feels like he's just going through the motions, without anything new to differentiate his journey this time around. No new rivals, no outstanding Pokémon, and no real themes to his quest. The Mega Evolution stuff might have been intriguing, but since none of it has involved the main characters so far, it just comes and goes with the occasional episode or the specials and is thus hard for me to care about. Serena spent most of the year out of focus and has only just started coming into the spotlight, so time will tell just how the writers treat that journey. Citron and Eureka are entertaining, more so than Satoshi or Serena are, but neither feel as if they're being built to anything. Whereas I found BW frustrating, XY hasn't made much of an impression on me at all (which is a shame, because I really loved the first ten or so episodes).

Of course this is only the first year, and we'll be watching this series for two or three more. There will be five more Gyms (including one where Satoshi faces Citron) and a Pokémon League. Satoshi also has to catch at least two more Pokémon, and has also intended to compete in the Battle Chateau. Serena has a goal, complete with two recurring characters in Elle and Sana, and a new Pokémon to bond with. There will be more episodes to focus on Citron and Eureka. There will be new Mega Evolution specials. And the Rocket trio will always be there. There are other recurring characters (Sanpei, Carne, etc.) who will probably be making future appearances. XY has introduced a lot of things it's indicated that it will build on, and I hope the writers will take the rest of the show in an interesting direction.

As far as episodes that've stood out to me, there have been five especially:

XY006 - still XY's best Gym battle, the training scenes were fun, and it brought the main quartet together in a very entertaining way.
Mega Evolution, Act I - I didn't care for the actual episode, but I like the novelty of pursuing another storyline away from the main anime.
XY037 - I love "alternate universe" stories, so I was always going to like this episode. The series' best filler episode so far.
XY040 - this episode was the start of a nice turnaround for Serena. It's too bad that it took so long to get here, but I'm interested to see where the writers take this.
XY044 - not the series' greatest Gym battle, but it's the first one where all of Satoshi's competing Pokémon get to beat an opponent and it's not everyday one of Satoshi's Gym strategies fails from the beginning. Plus, he got to beat a Mega Lucario.

Since I've only discerned XY based on comments of the series, I can't speak for myself regarding my views of the series.

That being said, the things I really hope they do for the remainder of XY is:

A. Make sure, whether it's an actual return to the main cast or even just a guest reappearance (an actual reappearance, not simply a rerecorded flashback like in BW), Misty actually does continue with her goal and isn't kept cooped up at Cerulean Gym due to her sisters' incompetence. BW really blew it regarding that aspect, especially considering the World Conference from B2W2, so they definitely need to redeem themselves of both that and their rather shoddy manner in which they removed Misty in the first place. She needs well-deserved closure even if she doesn't return to the main cast, especially when being cooped up at a gym with more than a few hints at not wanting to be a GL is not even close to actual closure.

B. Ash actually regains Top 4 at the very least, if not gains Top 2 or, heck, even winning the league and proceeding to fight the Elite 4 of Kalos. Considering how they butchered Ash's chances at the League, having Ash regain Top 4 at least would more than redeem the show.

B.2. Also, if they ever end up hinting that Ash actually may win the league in any significant manner, similar to how DP exposed that Ash has to win against the Elite 4 to win the league, they should make sure to not waste any time whatsoever to make sure they actually have Ash win that goal and not do a last minute bait and switch because they wasted so much time they couldn't have him win before the holiday season with the release of the next Gen games.

C. Actually treat Team Flare well, especially when they basically had Plasma turn out to be a disaster in BW.

I doubt May will make a reappearance, though. KAORI basically retired from voice acting, so unless they really manage to convince her to return, May's reappearance chances, even with Alpha Ruby and Omega Sapphire on the horizon, are extremely slim.

BW was still a much better series more so then DP, the reason why XY is doing so good is because it comes after BW. I really do hope this time Ash makes it to the top 2 in the Kalos League, because him making to the top 4 in sinnoh wasn't really all that great and i really hope he make it to the top 2 this time around.

Piks said:

BW was still a much better series more so then DP, the reason why XY is doing so good is because it comes after BW. I really do hope this time Ash makes it to the top 2 in the Kalos League, because him making to the top 4 in sinnoh wasn't really all that great and i really hope he make it to the top 2 this time around.

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At least DP's final ranking was better than AG's final ranking, especially when AG for some reason couldn't even let Ash advance beyond Johto's ranking.

And BTW, BW's ranking was even worse than DP's, which is a huge problem especially considering the fact that he basically mangled his goal as a result. The point of increasing ranks is to prove he's getting better.

That being said, I do agree XY should have Ash get Top 2 if not champion. At least then it would more than make up for the disaster that was the Unova League.