Pokemon Anime vs. Manga (PokeSpe, DPA, anything)

[matt0044]

As the title implies, what's your honest stance on this comparison? I'd get into mine but I'm far more curious in hearing the thoughts of you guys here. Compare the Anime to PokeSpe, DPA and/or any other Manga in terms of characters, stories and so forth. I'd post this in the Manga/Comics section but it's pretty much...

Be detailed, be honest, be mature and blah blah blah. You can disagree with each other so long as it doesn't get out of hand.

And... GO!

 

[XeroNos]

I never knew how to read Manga or even to touch them. I only watched the anime so i will vote for it too

 

[matt0044]

I never knew how to read Manga or even to touch them.

Um, then why are you posting here? Not to be rude but I want to hear from those who read Pokemon Manga and the Anime for more concrete thoughts on this subject.

 

[Aquacorde]

They're entirely different canons. That's about the whole of it. The anime was made to adapt the world of the games into the mainstream. PokéSpe was made to explore the game world. DPA was made for Hareta and the Galactic storyline. MPJ was made to show the Pokémon world in a rather different way. The anime is simplistic in its approach most of the time, while PokéSpe takes a more serious turn pretty quickly. The anime brought motion, light, colour, and proper sound to the game world while PokéSupe brought more interesting themes, deeper characters, and heavy plots.

It's hard to compare and contrast them for me. In my mind they're completely separate from one another. I don't get plotlines mixed up or identical-looking characters swapped in my mind. The canons are so, so different that they're like another thing entirely. It's not like Star Wars, where practically everything in the Expanded Universe is part of the same overarching story. Pokémon's got the alternate universe thing going on. And it's wonderful that the Pokémon world is this expansive in this way. People would get tired of it quickly if it went the Star Wars route.

I don't know if this is what you were really looking for, but that's my general impression of the topic. ^^;

 

[matt0044]

I don't know if this is what you were really looking for, but that's my general impression of the topic. ^^;

I want to know which you personally think is better and what you may think about this ongoing debate as a whole. I mean, duh.

Is PokeSpe, DPA or MPJ better than the Pokemon Anime to you or vice versa? What are they're pros and cons? Be detailed in your though.

 

[Aquacorde]

I want to know which you personally think is better and what you may think about this ongoing debate as a whole. I mean, duh.

Is PokeSpe, DPA or MPJ better than the Pokemon Anime to you or vice versa? What are they're pros and cons? Be detailed in your though.

Excuse your attitude, sir, I just gave you a thought-out detailed impression of how I viewed the subject. You want a rephrased version? Okay. There is not one that is better. There are aspects of each that are interesting, and aspects of each that could be improved upon. I love them all, and have no particular favourite. Part of it is that they are so different from one another that it makes them hard to compare. It's like comparing apples to oranges, as the old saying goes.

I notice you haven't given your views on the subject as an example of how we all should be interpreting your thoughts. Care to share?

 

[matt0044]

I notice you haven't given your views on the subject as an example of how we all should be interpreting your thoughts. Care to share?

Okay. I'll start with this. Pokemon Manga Authors seem to have more ambition when it comes to storytelling and adapting Pokemon games. The Anime, on the other hand, seems to stifle its potential for great storytelling. While PokeSpe and DPA aren't perfect, they give off a vibe that the Author really gave a damn about telling a story the best he/she could. The Anime, at least nowadays, gives off this vibe that because it's for kids, it can be a mediocre as it wants so long as it advertises the franchise. This is disheartening since they're a lot they can do in adapting the games and I feel like if they wanted to, the writers could tell a damn good storyline. Takashi Shudo had the right idea.

And that's just for starters.

 

[Aquacorde]

I would agree with that. The anime writers seem to think they can get away with mild changes to the standard CotD/mild threat/resolution story and I don't think they should be encouraging that model. The amount of storytelling you can do in a 22-minute episode is amazing. It's all well and good to have a decent set of characters to follow along on a new little adventure every week, but eventually episodes blend together and are watched out of habit rather than enjoyment. Progression being slowly worked into a hundred or so episodes should leave characters in a fairly different place than where they began. I see this all the time in long-running children's book series, why not in Pokémon?

I do take issue with what the writers are doing with Pokémon. The development and overarching story arcs in BW are very flat compared with DP. But I certainly wouldn't want it to start copying the style of any of the manga. Look to the manga for inspiration and storytelling guidelines, certainly, but I wouldn't like it to go as dark as PokeSpe or as silly as MPJ.

 

[XeroNos]

I would agree with that. The anime writers seem to think they can get away with mild changes to the standard CotD/mild threat/resolution story and I don't think they should be encouraging that model. The amount of storytelling you can do in a 22-minute episode is amazing. It's all well and good to have a decent set of characters to follow along on a new little adventure every week, but eventually episodes blend together and are watched out of habit rather than enjoyment. Progression being slowly worked into a hundred or so episodes should leave characters in a fairly different place than where they began. I see this all the time in long-running children's book series, why not in Pokémon?

I do take issue with what the writers are doing with Pokémon. The development and overarching story arcs in BW are very flat compared with DP. But I certainly wouldn't want it to start copying the style of any of the manga. Look to the manga for inspiration and storytelling guidelines, certainly, but I wouldn't like it to go as dark as PokeSpe or as silly as MPJ.

In that case I agree with Anna regarding that Anime perpective...

 

[matt0044]

But I certainly wouldn't want it to start copying the style of any of the manga. Look to the manga for inspiration and storytelling guidelines, certainly, but I wouldn't like it to go as dark as PokeSpe or as silly as MPJ.

Well, of course not exactly like the PokeSpe but I still feel they could do so much more with what they have.

And though long running kids series can get this problem, Pokemon is about journeys and comes off as a continuing storyline (what little substance there may be) so the stagnation is a lot worse because it actually feels like the writers are holding back.

 

[Aquacorde]

That is certainly the case. After the comparatively astonishing DP arc, we're just getting a blandness in Unova. Just because it's a children's show does not mean it should be excused from decent storytelling.