[Spoilers] Pokemon Anime Remake

[Rad Dudesman]

Slapstick nature doesn't work when the bulk of your fan base happens to be much older than the 10 year old target audience. I also think the more serious nature of the previous series is what captivated people into wanting to watch it each and every week(including their 10 year old target audience and not to mention having far more battling than SM has had so far). Battling is the core of the game and having more of it, not less is what would make the series better than what it is. An example of what I mean is that people prefer the 2003-2006 Teen Titans over the current Teen Titans GO. 2003 version had a far more serious nature(with comedy mixed in) while TTG is basically a mesh of Teen Titans with Looney Tunes. 2003 version appealed to all audiences while TTG can only appeal to a handful of kids while turning off anyone who knows better off onto other programs.

When it comes to Pokemon BW, it gets more shaft than what it deserves. I mean sure they botched the series in more ways than one but the crux of the series revolved around battling. Sun and Moon revolves around a freaking Pokemon School. How is that an improvement?

It doesn't evolve around the school. They're barely ever at the shcool.

And older fans aren't intended to be watching this anime. A staff member has literally stated this in an interview.

http://www.pokebeach.com/2008/07/se...with-masamitsu-hidaka-many-interesting-points

Going back to my first interview, I did not mention that he stated the show was cyclical because it could be the audience is constantly replaced (since children get older and leave, and new children come in), so they are allowed to get away with having the same repetitive goal. So, the show would probably continue the same way collect badges, travel through different regions, never age.

The plan is for kids to watch one series, then outgrow the show and get replaced by younger fans. XY's "success" with older fans was a complete accident, something they never intended. They don't want older fans watching this show.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

It doesn't evolve around the school. They're barely ever at the shcool.

And older fans aren't intended to be watching this anime. A staff member has literally stated this in an interview.

http://www.pokebeach.com/2008/07/se...with-masamitsu-hidaka-many-interesting-points

Going back to my first interview, I did not mention that he stated the show was cyclical because it could be the audience is constantly replaced (since children get older and leave, and new children come in), so they are allowed to get away with having the same repetitive goal. So, the show would probably continue the same way collect badges, travel through different regions, never age.

The plan is for kids to watch one series, then outgrow the show and get replaced by younger fans. XY's "success" with older fans was a complete accident, something they never intended. They don't want older fans watching this show.

Quite frankly, if that was their intention, they clearly failed, since they're getting far less in terms of ratings than even Best Wishes and XY, let alone DP, AG, and the original series. Here's how it goes: If they are going to do things based on replacing younger viewers, they'd need to make sure that, at the very least, they maintain good ratings and not let them slide down, and since Sun and Moon as of right now is actually performing very badly in terms of ratings, it's pretty obvious that they failed it. Had I been in Hidaka's shoes, or heck, even TCPi's shoes, and I saw how badly the ratings were going, I'd pull the plug, realizing that if we're getting far less ratings than before, that means we aren't replacing the older fans, and thus, we failed, and cannot let the show continue since doing so would be a drain on finances. I'd know this because plenty of other film and TV production studios have done this sort of thing before, like the 2010 Winnie the Pooh film, or Heroes, or West Wing, or stuff like that. Besides, considering Masamitsu Hidaka in that same interview made it clear he created May and Dawn specifically to be sexual fanservice, I'm not even sure how that would be geared towards younger audiences, as the age group he's referring to wouldn't have even hit puberty yet (and pretty much sounds wrong either way considering that they're... you know, 10 years old.).

At this point, a remake will probably be the ONLY thing that sparks interest in Pokemon again even among younger viewers, let alone get back older viewers.

 

[Rad Dudesman]

Ratings are unreliable these days, with less and less people watching live and instead recording, streaming, or pirating shows.

What TPC really cares about are merchandise and game sales. As long as those are selling, then it reflects well on the anime, since those are the things it's advertising.

The only thing that can stop this anime is if people stop buying Pokemon games and merchandise.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Ratings are unreliable these days, with less and less people watching live and instead recording, streaming, or pirating shows.

What TPC really cares about are merchandise and game sales. As long as those are selling, then it reflects well on the anime, since those are the things it's advertising.

The only thing that can stop this anime is if people stop buying Pokemon games and merchandise.

Yeah, sorry, but not buying it at all. Other than maybe YouTube and official site streaming, Japan doesn't have that kind of capabilities you're referring to, and even regarding online viewership, Pokemon's (or at least XY's) been doing very poorly among the Japanese as a whole, at least, that's what Poke245 indicated here: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showpost.php?p=8499819&postcount=22 CidHazard indicated that that's mostly because piracy's illegal in Japan, but I'm not entirely sure about that. Not to mention Irregular Maverick Z indicated that Japan doesn't even have a streaming service like Netflix due to Hulu bombing in Japan. Either way, I can name plenty of shows that managed to get very high ratings in SPITE of online viewership, recording, or piracy, like the three mainline NCIS series, Dragon Ball Super, Doraemon, Shaun the Sheep, Blue Bloods, heck, even Scorpion. If they can do it despite the CBS All Access App/CBS online viewership or even airing very late at night (heck, the non-CBS shows that are in Japan doing that as well), Pokemon most certainly can as well.

And besides, XY at least had a drought regarding merchandising sales going by what Irregular Maverck Z said:

https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=8556080#post8556080

I suspect the only reason why Pokemon's still selling somewhat well is because of it being the 20th Anniversary.

And he also indicated that even if we were to go by DVR recordings (since apparently, Japan doesn't count them), Pokemon wasn't doing too hot either: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=8551713#post8551713

 

[Rad Dudesman]

Yeah, sorry, but not buying it at all. Other than maybe YouTube and official site streaming, Japan doesn't have that kind of capabilities you're referring to, and even regarding online viewership, Pokemon's (or at least XY's) been doing very poorly among the Japanese as a whole, at least, that's what Poke245 indicated here: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showpost.php?p=8499819&postcount=22 CidHazard indicated that that's mostly because piracy's illegal in Japan, but I'm not entirely sure about that. Not to mention Irregular Maverick Z indicated that Japan doesn't even have a streaming service like Netflix due to Hulu bombing in Japan. Either way, I can name plenty of shows that managed to get very high ratings in SPITE of online viewership, recording, or piracy, like the three mainline NCIS series, Dragon Ball Super, Doraemon, Shaun the Sheep, Blue Bloods, heck, even Scorpion. If they can do it despite the CBS All Access App/CBS online viewership or even airing very late at night (heck, the non-CBS shows that are in Japan doing that as well), Pokemon most certainly can as well.

And besides, XY at least had a drought regarding merchandising sales going by what Irregular Maverck Z said:

https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=8556080#post8556080

I suspect the only reason why Pokemon's still selling somewhat well is because of it being the 20th Anniversary.

And he also indicated that even if we were to go by DVR recordings (since apparently, Japan doesn't count them), Pokemon wasn't doing too hot either: https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?p=8551713#post8551713

Well then that probably is why Sun/Moon seems to be the beginning of massive retooling for the anime. We'll have to see what Gen 8 brings to the table before we can know for sure, but the Sun/Moon series seems to be very much be being treated as a "new beginning" for the anime.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Well then that probably is why Sun/Moon seems to be the beginning of massive retooling for the anime. We'll have to see what Gen 8 brings to the table before we can know for sure, but the Sun/Moon series seems to be very much be being treated as a "new beginning" for the anime.

Yeah, we'll see (though personally, they really should bring back the League for Generation 8. After the really stupid decision to have Ash lose Kalos despite it being confirmed that there isn't a Pokemon League in Generation 7, they really need to have that league so Ash can fully redeem himself. Had I been the writers, I'd have Ash win Kalos precisely BECAUSE there's zero point for him to lose this time as there's no new league for Generation 7).

 

[Rad Dudesman]

We still don't know what the anime is going to do regarding the newly formed Alola League.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

We still don't know what the anime is going to do regarding the newly formed Alola League.

Honestly, if they were going to do something about the formation of the Alola League, they would have announced it by now. We're actually halfway through the whole trial captains stuff and all of that, and there's narely a peep on that league creation bit. In prior series, they usually make clear that Ash will challenge the league, if not the very second he arrives in the region, then at the very least just prior to challenging the first gym leader (or someone in a similar position).

 

[jjc927]

Slapstick nature doesn't work when the bulk of your fan base happens to be much older than the 10 year old target audience. I also think the more serious nature of the previous series is what captivated people into wanting to watch it each and every week(including their 10 year old target audience and not to mention having far more battling than SM has had so far). Battling is the core of the game and having more of it, not less is what would make the series better than what it is. An example of what I mean is that people prefer the 2003-2006 Teen Titans over the current Teen Titans GO. 2003 version had a far more serious nature(with comedy mixed in) while TTG is basically a mesh of Teen Titans with Looney Tunes. 2003 version appealed to all audiences while TTG can only appeal to a handful of kids while turning off anyone who knows better off onto other programs.

When it comes to Pokemon BW, it gets more shaft than what it deserves. I mean sure they botched the series in more ways than one but the crux of the series revolved around battling. Sun and Moon revolves around a freaking Pokemon School. How is that an improvement?

The older audience watching is not the intended audience. The only cartoons intended for adults are what's on Fox's Sunday night lineup and Adult Swim. The producers throw in a reference or two from time to time for older fans watching, but Pokémon is made for children, specifically boys. XY had some great battles and more of a story line going on, but it had a slow and dull feel in my opinion. And the school is barely featured in Sun and Moon other than being used as a setting for all of the classmates to interact and to set up whatever is happening in the episode or the character/Pokémon being focused on. The open house episode was the only one that took place mostly in the school. I don't think Sun and Moon is better than anything before BW (which I hated), but it's not bad for what it is.