Pokemon Diamond and Pearl: It Wasn't a Failure?!

[Charicific]

I've been reading comments online and all comments about the D/P saga were negative. Why on Earth....Diamond and Pearl wasn't bad was it? It was like one of the most interesting and progressive saga! I know that it is an opinion but most likely, people criticize such series because it doesn't include their favorite girl companion. I say this isn't fair at all! Dawn was also great, The whole series was epic, Coolest Pokemons. And lets not forget the most interesting legendaries and the strongest. You know, Dialga Palkia and Arceus.
They were Unique! The whole series included the best of characters and Pokemons. Dawn, Brock, Barry, Paul, Piplup, Infernape...etc. So Why are people criticizing in such negative manner. Just because there isnt May or Misty doesn't mean u have the right to put it that way. In fact, Sinnoh was the series where Ash was actually at his best. So please, Elaborate and tell your feelings toward D/P. Give me logical characters why it was bad. NOT BY MISTY'S OR MAY'S DEPARTURE! You must be objective! And for those who like it, Also elaborate...thanks..

 

[psyanic]

This was probably one of the most favorite series. I really thought Ash should have won the league, but then his adventures would probably stop. His Pokemon were probably his strongest out of all of them, even though they all had a bland personality. The only Pokemon with an actual story was Infernape, all the way down from Chimchar. Also, Ash wasn't exactly a complete idiot in battling this series. He actually trained in different manners, and he even came up with quite a few strategies that I thought were really creative and spectacular, such as Counter-Shield and Buizel's Ice Aqua Jet.

Paul was my favorite rival because he was a complete polar opposite to Ash. He wasn't always ahead, but he was strong and he always got to irritating Ash whenever they met. His treatment towards Pokemon was awesome, not that I support animal abuse, but it gave a real twist into the Pokemon world.

I don't see how people could hate Dawn! She was unique and should have won the Grand Festival too, that would probably give her a better reason to depart from Ash. She had slightly more character development too. She even gave Ash a lot of battle strategies. They got a long quite well, even though they bickered a bit, but that made the departure even harder for both of them. I liked their departure a lot better than May's. Misty's had the same emphasis, I mean who wouldn't cry when you realized you can't travel anymore? That's like not swimming for Misty. With May, she just kind of rejected Ash's further mentoring, realizing that Ash can't help her, especially when Ash can't help himself.

The villains had more sinister tricks. There was Hunter J, with her Medusa-gun. Her Pokemon were strong and always gave trouble. Team Galactic was also more prominent, especially with the rivalry between Brock's Croagunk and Saturn's Toxicroak. Too bad Cyrus just kind of disappeared, never to be heard again.

I guess some people could hate it was because that Brock was just plain and there. He didn't even keep his Mama Brock role. The writers were done with him before the series started, and I'm disappointed in that. And his flirtatious gag was long dead. They should have given Brock more episodes, like him doing more breeder acts or enter into beauty contests or whatever they were.

There were also quite a bit of plot holes, not like they weren't there in other series. But the animation got a lot better. I didn't like Ash's dub voice, it sounded like a cross between puberty and sick, but those are interchangeable. Maybe some people didn't like it because there were so many legendaries? You have to admit, they gave a huge wave introducing more and more legendaries by each generation. I mean Arceus, the God Pokemon? It's a deer with some weird wires around its hind-quarters.

But overall, I really can't say I hate it. I loved it.

 

[Raizhu]

Personally, DP was my favorite series. I don't take enough participation in anime discussion to be sure why it gets so much hate, though I have seen many comments about Dawn and Piplup being annoying.

 

[Charicific]

This was probably one of the most favorite series. I really thought Ash should have won the league, but then his adventures would probably stop. His Pokemon were probably his strongest out of all of them, even though they all had a bland personality. The only Pokemon with an actual story was Infernape, all the way down from Chimchar. Also, Ash wasn't exactly a complete idiot in battling this series. He actually trained in different manners, and he even came up with quite a few strategies that I thought were really creative and spectacular, such as Counter-Shield and Buizel's Ice Aqua Jet.

Paul was my favorite rival because he was a complete polar opposite to Ash. He wasn't always ahead, but he was strong and he always got to irritating Ash whenever they met. His treatment towards Pokemon was awesome, not that I support animal abuse, but it gave a real twist into the Pokemon world.

I don't see how people could hate Dawn! She was unique and should have won the Grand Festival too, that would probably give her a better reason to depart from Ash. She had slightly more character development too. She even gave Ash a lot of battle strategies. They got a long quite well, even though they bickered a bit, but that made the departure even harder for both of them. I liked their departure a lot better than May's. Misty's had the same emphasis, I mean who wouldn't cry when you realized you can't travel anymore? That's like not swimming for Misty. With May, she just kind of rejected Ash's further mentoring, realizing that Ash can't help her, especially when Ash can't help himself.

The villains had more sinister tricks. There was Hunter J, with her Medusa-gun. Her Pokemon were strong and always gave trouble. Team Galactic was also more prominent, especially with the rivalry between Brock's Croagunk and Saturn's Toxicroak. Too bad Cyrus just kind of disappeared, never to be heard again.

I guess some people could hate it was because that Brock was just plain and there. He didn't even keep his Mama Brock role. The writers were done with him before the series started, and I'm disappointed in that. And his flirtatious gag was long dead. They should have given Brock more episodes, like him doing more breeder acts or enter into beauty contests or whatever they were.

There were also quite a bit of plot holes, not like they weren't there in other series. But the animation got a lot better. I didn't like Ash's dub voice, it sounded like a cross between puberty and sick, but those are interchangeable. Maybe some people didn't like it because there were so many legendaries? You have to admit, they gave a huge wave introducing more and more legendaries by each generation. I mean Arceus, the God Pokemon? It's a deer with some weird wires around its hind-quarters.

But overall, I really can't say I hate it. I loved it.

Thats is just exactly what I think!! All of it! You saved effort for me thanks. Ash's character, Dawn's company, all that was great, I don't know if u really hate the presence of many legendaries in the series. I personally loved them. They were Unique and cool, Darkrai, Dialga, Palkia, Arceus (I don't love Arceus as much as Dilaga though..) Infernape was Like my favorite pokemon. It was Charizard at first but when I saw Infernape I just couldn't choose between their Awesomeness. Team Galactic was much more better than the bland Team Aqua and Magma. I gotta say, D/P was somehow a climactic series...I LOVE IT

 

[Perriechu]

I'm only going to give the reasons why I didn't like it.

Firstly, the contests. They were awful. During the advanced saga, I loved them. But they turned awful for me. \:

Secondly, most of the series was full of filler. From the 7th Badge to the 8th badge was terrible, I don't remember the exact number but I'm sure that about 50-55 episodes were mostly filler. Plus Dawn annoyed the hell out of me.

I can see that you're a DP fanboy so it's pointless trying to get our points across. But yeah, my reasons why DP was bad.

 

[Charicific]

I'm only going to give the reasons why I didn't like it.

Firstly, the contests. They were awful. During the advanced saga, I loved them. But they turned awful for me. \:

Secondly, most of the series was full of filler. From the 7th Badge to the 8th badge was terrible, I don't remember the exact number but I'm sure that about 50-55 episodes were mostly filler. Plus Dawn annoyed the hell out of me.

I can see that you're a DP fanboy so it's pointless trying to get our points across. But yeah, my reasons why DP was bad.

Good to see another point of view...but...how did dawn annoy you? She was an innocent kind hearted companion.

 

[Mew~]

Well honestly, I don't see why you seem to think every comment you've seen said the DP series was bad, most regulars in this section seem to have enjoyed it if you ask me, including other forums. Though there are always the original series fanboys with their nostalgic glasses glued on.

They were Unique! The whole series included the best of characters and Pokemons. Dawn, Brock, Barry, Paul, Piplup, Infernape...etc. So Why are people criticizing in such negative manner. Just because there isnt May or Misty doesn't mean u have the right to put it that way. In fact, Sinnoh was the series where Ash was actually at his best. So please, Elaborate and tell your feelings toward D/P. Give me logical characters why it was bad. NOT BY MISTY'S OR MAY'S DEPARTURE! You must be objective! And for those who like it, Also elaborate...thanks..

I can understand some points by other people on the DP series, but opinions like these are just people who miss misty, nuff said. You should just take into account some of the more reasonable reviews, not the first series was the best, dawn sucks.

Firstly, the contests. They were awful. During the advanced saga, I loved them. But they turned awful for me. \:

Why did you think they turned awful? It's not enough to just say you didn't like them, give a reason at least, did you not like the change? Or did they just get a little repetitive?

Plus Dawn annoyed the hell out of me.

Why?

I can see that you're a DP fanboy so it's pointless trying to get our points across. But yeah, my reasons why DP was bad.

That's quite an unfair statement to be honest, he opened this thread up to discuss why people thought the series was bad, not to go on about how he loved the DP series.

I need my sleep, I'll edit this post with a full review on my thoughts of DP tommorow. :)

 

[Perriechu]

Well honestly, I don't see why you seem to think every comment you've seen said the DP series was bad, most regulars in this section seem to have enjoyed it if you ask me, including other forums. Though there are always the original series fanboys with their nostalgic glasses glued on.


I can understand some points by other people on the DP series, but opinions like these are just people who miss misty, nuff said. You should just take into account some of the more reasonable reviews, not the first series was the best, dawn sucks.


Why did you think they turned awful? It's not enough to just say you didn't like them, give a reason at least, did you not like the change? Or did they just get a little repetitive?


Why?


That's quite an unfair statement to be honest, he opened this thread up to discuss why people thought the series was bad, not to go on about how he loved the DP series.

I need my sleep, I'll edit this post with a full review on my thoughts of DP tommorow. :)

let the flaming begin?

I just didn't like them... In the advanced saga they were a nice little niche to have, but once DP came around they just became boring. Zoey wasn't an interesting rival and neither was Nando? (Is that his name?) Kenny was just... v__v

Do I really have to give an explanation of why I didn't like her? I just didn't like her character very much. I'm not gonna go all nostalgic and scream about how good May and Misty were, because I'm not.

I've seen these types of threads before. Usually they turn out to be someone trying to force us to like whatever the thread is about. In this case it's DP. Hopefully it won't happen.

 

[Charicific]

let the flaming begin?

I just didn't like them... In the advanced saga they were a nice little niche to have, but once DP came around they just became boring. Zoey wasn't an interesting rival and neither was Nando? (Is that his name?) Kenny was just... v__v

Do I really have to give an explanation of why I didn't like her? I just didn't like her character very much. I'm not gonna go all nostalgic and scream about how good May and Misty were, because I'm not.

I've seen these types of threads before. Usually they turn out to be someone trying to force us to like whatever the thread is about. In this case it's DP. Hopefully it won't happen.

Just so that you know, I never had the will to force someone to love D/P, All I asked is why did u hate it and why love it. I asked for logical reasons to hate it and objective i f possible. Anyway, kinda appreciated for your reply...but I still believe they are rather personal:\

 

[Spikey-Eared Pichu]

Honestly, worst season, IMO. A lot of the episodes were utterly pointless and less than satisfying as far as plot (My god the damn evil Togepi episode, SHOOT ME NOW). The contests just didn't seem as fun anymore. Don't get me wrong, some were great, but others bored me to tears. Also, the Grand Festival was utterly terrible. I mean, really? The combinations were disappointing :/ None of the match-ups were interesting in the least and seeing Dawn's same old Pokemon just killed it for me. The Sinnoh Tournament was also a particular failure to me. It was too short and the final match was just pathetic. Really, Ash? You get shot down without even taking down half of his team? You suck.

Didn't like the season. And don't get me started on Galactic, ughhhhh.

 

[Rayce]

Okay I watched very few episodes and they were all near the beginning of the series so you might say I didn't get to see the best part but that's just the thing. If those episodes didn't impress me what's the point of watching another episode?
Okay lets get on with this, first off the pokemon themselves seemed like they were trying to hard. They were strong and in your face to try to gimic you into wanting to see Arceus and Dialgia and Palkia. Why do these pokemon GODS just appear out of nowhere? There was no point to it and only seemed like it would send you on a spiraling down hill from there.
Okay let us talk about Dawn. What I saw of Dawn was absolutely the most pathetic thing that's ever come to pokemon training since fishermen with all magikarps. Every good move I saw was piplups idea... That's just sad. Not to mention that Dawn did things like think bide is amazing. I've heard pretty good consensus that seedot stinks because bide isn't good. Okay I'm not completely stuck on May and Misty but lets use them for our comparison. Misty was accomplished, talented and strongwilled, while Dawn was bumbling, incompetent and scared of her own shadow. May was a quick learner, a little quirky and was well focused to her goals. Dawn had a hard time figuring things out, rather bland(you may say otherwise but that kind of character is a rather boring) and had no passion and needed piplup to get her going again every episode almost. Heck I felt like Ash's sidekick was piplup most of the time.
The rival was a total jerk that ate starly for breakfast and punched baby pokemon for fun. Ash has had just about no improvement of character since the first season and that Pikachu should be able to take on Arceus himself at this point, and Brock stopped trying to do anything new and decided to do the same things to try to appease the nostalgia fans.

WOW. That was long, sorry about that

 

[2Cool4Mewtwo]

I've watched halfway through this saga, but 90% them bored me to tears. After about 5th episode or so, rest of them were just needless and boring fillers. Maybe I was just growing up... but I felt like it was step down from AG.

 

[The Power of Pika]

I love DP myself. I liked the process of slow build up in character development and story it put forth. However this probably wasn't to everyones taste.

I notice alot of anime with this type of approach don't really appeal to everyone because people either can't sit through slow progress and thus find it boring which results in them not watching anymore or people have trouble following and thus the plot goes over their head.

DP was very different to previous sagas in that way that sets in apart.

I personally loved it. I'm making extra effort to get everyone of them on DVD.

I tend to like shows that follow in that formula however so it's no surprise I love how DP went. I've watched it multiple times just to see if there's things I missed. A episode that maybe considered a filler might have something continue on inthe next episode or something I didn't think was important ends up being important in the long run.

One thing for certain this was the first show that made me actually cry in happiness at the end of Dawn's grand festival. not because she lost but because of how much she had grown emotionally. I watch mainly dub and I know some aren't keen on team rocket but personally I still managed to work out what they were going on about and even grow attached to them aswell.=P

Australia's free to air is still going through the final few episodes. I have no idea how I'm going to be when Ash loses but all I know is I'm loving to death the improvement he's learnt and all the skills he combining together to at least do well against people.

For me it isn't about whether they've won or lost. It's about how they've grown and changed emotionally and as individuals.

Though I can understand this probably isn't for everyone and so I just choose to ignore the hate personally. Aslong as I enjoy it personally then that's all that matters to me. Everyone has different opinions.

 

[Mew~]

let the flaming begin?

Oh dear, let's not go that far.

I've seen these types of threads before. Usually they turn out to be someone trying to force us to like whatever the thread is about. In this case it's DP. Hopefully it won't happen.

I think the OP already addressed that he didn't want to do anything like that. Though I can understand your point, I wouldn't exactly specify this post, because he stated he wanted to why know people hated it, not shoving down peoples ears how good it was.

Misty was accomplished, talented and strongwilled, while Dawn was bumbling, incompetent and scared of her own shadow. May was a quick learner, a little quirky and was well focused to her goals.

I think that statement of Dawn should be for May, I mean, may didn't really even like Pokémon when Ash met her, and your comparing Dawn from what you've seen, which seems to be a very small amount of episodes, so even if May seemed to get change, doesn't matter in your argument. Also, even if Misty was talented, Dawn and May were just beginning trainers so yeah... I'ma also point out Dawn won against May in the wallace cup, which was when Dawn was pretty much only halfway through her journey through sinnoh at that point and May was more accomplished and experienced. But thats just a fact you should consider.


Okay then, I'll be posting my views on the Sinnoh series.
First of all, I guess we'll start with Dawn, as she was the first character introduced in the first episode. She seemed quite different from May, although they both started out as beginning trainers, Dawn has a pretty different background, her mother was a previous grand festival winner, and she already set out her goal to win it, including really enjoying Pokémon. Her relationship with Ash and Brock was quite stale, though there were always those funny moments, like when she and Brock started dancing, which Brock dressed up and holding those maracas, to divert the Psyduck - which really made me laugh, and I always found it cute when she dressed up as a cheerleader to cheer Ash on in his Gym matches. I wasn't exactly happy with how she was handled in the grand festival to be honest, although it was great she got to the final, I didn't like how she lost to Zoey, since she lost to her in her very first contest, so that wasn't handled well at all.

To be honest the amounts of fillers were a big flaw in the series as a lot of people have mentioned. But it wasn't really anything new to be honest, I mean if you endured all of Johto and Hoenn's episodes, then I don't see what would have been the problem with Sinnoh's episodes, I even enjoyed a lot of fillers "Where no Togepi Has Gone Before" is one of my most favourite episodes.

I've already gone over many of the other aspects of Sinnoh in many other threads so I think I'll just stop here for now and maybe check around a few other threads, like the rivalry between Ash and Paul n' all that other jazz.

 

[pineco-a-go-go]

For me it isn't about whether they've won or lost. It's about how they've grown and changed emotionally and as individuals.

Though I can understand this probably isn't for everyone and so I just choose to ignore the hate personally. Aslong as I enjoy it personally then that's all that matters to me. Everyone has different opinions.

I can't agree with you more. I'm not picking on any single person because it comes from a lot of people, but many posters confuse not getting what they wanted with bad writing. For example, "This show is stupid and predictable now. Ash keeps using Pikachu. He should have left Pikachu behind when he started this season and replaced him with Tauros! Now the show is practically unwatchable." Of course, I'm using an exaggerated example, but the idea is the same. The show doesn't suck because Tauros isn't around, but rather the poster making the statement just didn't get what they wanted.

Even though nobody would say the statement in my example, it's not any different from saying that the show sucked because Ash didn't miraculously sweep Tobias and win the Sinnoh Tournament, or Ash should have had more wins against Paul, or Dawn should have been better at training to start. (Hint on that last one, it's called relatable characters. Which is more relatable to a kid watching the show: A kid with high expectations who can't seem to get it right and gets down on herself, or a kid who has natural talent and wins often?)

So you're absolutely right about that last statement. It's better to just ignore these people. If they think the show sucks so bad, they probably won't be watching it much longer. And no one should be looking for validation of their opinions here.

To be honest the amounts of fillers were a big flaw in the series as a lot of people have mentioned. But it wasn't really anything new to be honest, I mean if you endured all of Johto and Hoenn's episodes, then I don't see what would have been the problem with Sinnoh's episodes, I even enjoyed a lot of fillers "Where no Togepi Has Gone Before" is one of my most favourite episodes.

Fillers? The show has had fillers since the very beginning. If the show was just captures, evolutions, and gym battles, the seasons would be a typical American season of 13 - 26 episodes long. It's an Anime. People just need to get used to it. Nothing happened in the Clefairy Episode, and that was the 6th episode of the series.

And anyone who thinks the evil Togepi episode was pointless filler should consider the following: 1) It was funny, and 2) Stuff happened. Compared to an old Orange Islands episode called "A Way Off Day Off," the evil Togepi episode might as well have been Ash's final battle against Brandon. In the aforementioned episode, Ash and co find an island, play beach volleyball, team rocket shows up and are immediately blasted off with a thunderbolt, and beach volleyball resumes. The end. I'd add more that happened, but nothing did happen. No wild pokemon with a problem, none of Ash's pokemon wandered off and had to be rescued...nothing. Spread that across a half hour and sit through three commercial breaks waiting for something to happen and tell me again that the evil Togepi episode was bad. And anyone who thinks it is that bad needs to stop watching the show now. 'Way Off' was the last episode I watched for about 5 years.

 

[Mew~]

Fillers? The show has had fillers since the very beginning. If the show was just captures, evolutions, and gym battles, the seasons would be a typical American season of 13 - 26 episodes long. It's an Anime. People just need to get used to it. Nothing happened in the Clefairy Episode, and that was the 6th episode of the series.

And anyone who thinks the evil Togepi episode was pointless filler should consider the following: 1) It was funny, and 2) Stuff happened. Compared to an old Orange Islands episode called "A Way Off Day Off," the evil Togepi episode might as well have been Ash's final battle against Brandon. In the aforementioned episode, Ash and co find an island, play beach volleyball, team rocket shows up and are immediately blasted off with a thunderbolt, and beach volleyball resumes. The end. I'd add more that happened, but nothing did happen. No wild pokemon with a problem, none of Ash's pokemon wandered off and had to be rescued...nothing. Spread that across a half hour and sit through three commercial breaks waiting for something to happen and tell me again that the evil Togepi episode was bad. And anyone who thinks it is that bad needs to stop watching the show now. 'Way Off' was the last episode I watched for about 5 years.

Gosh, are you sure you read my reply or just skimmed it? It seems as if you've saying I'm wrong when in fact your repeating everything I already said... Firstly, I already said the show had many fillers, and Sinnoh wasn't anything new.

But it wasn't really anything new to be honest, I mean if you endured all of Johto and Hoenn's episodes, then I don't see what would have been the problem with Sinnoh's episodes,

Also, I didn't you the word pointless filler one in my post. And also;

I even enjoyed a lot of fillers "Where no Togepi Has Gone Before" is one of my most favourite episodes.

You must have misread of something, because I said it was one my favourite episodes. :\

 

[TheBowsinator]

Uh....Well to post my opinion, i think that Pokemon D/P Series had an epic theme song the first time i watched the first episode (i think i was...10? now im 13 i dont remember) which got me like, oh god i have to watch this...

To prepare for the series i watched every episode of Johto, all seasons, in 2 weeks (ouch...) and i thought it was amazing. Hoen i saw "live" blah blah

Going on to DP, considering i was in the age of viewers aimed for, i think i'll give my perspective...

Brock seems only a little Dumbed Down, but i was glad he was in it, and by far is my 2nd favorite character in the anime. (the first is the brendan guy that appears in the movies at the very beggining :3)

Dawn was an interesting character, and really had some strong development as a character, and unlike May, she new what she wanted to be in the very beginning, a Pokemon Contest Champion. Watching here do here "no need to worry" and running in fear was allways hilarious for some reason (my sense of humor is uh...messed up) and it was pretty sad when she had to leave Ash imo

The rival was a total jerk that ate starly for breakfast and punched baby pokemon for fun

Uh....heck no! The rival is a character with SIGNIFICANT character growth, and he is my 3rd favorite character from all the anime. He is very smart, cares to evolve his pokemon quickly, trains them hard (though i prefer light training) and respects his elders! (most of them...) Though he can be harsh, it is so he wont be weak like his older brother as he puts it, and by the end of the anime, he is just that, strong, actually kind to ash, and did really good in the battle vs Ash. But he HAD to lose because Ash wanted revenge, so he got it! Oh, and i hope he comes in for B / W series at the league...though im just looking way too far in the future now...

The Filler episodes were a small problem, but many of them were to feature a pokemon in an episode so people might want to catch them in the game. (Tangrowth...uh yeah i did that....)
But a main thing, there were many episodes that were, "Oh hes evil, oh wait, hes not evil hes trying to protect the forest" which were a bit cliche

Final Thoughts

I think personally that Hoen is the best region for the anime, than Gold / Silver, than Kanto, than D/P. But thats like saying,

I like my DS more than my Wii, which i like more than my Gamecube, which i like more than my Gameboy.

Its true, but all of them are just so awesome, but in the end one of them is better than the other, and saying D/P is the worst of the four isn't saying it sucks, but saying the other ones were better, but D/P was still awesome in its own rights.

 

[Charicific]

If u ask me ppl, I think that Dawn as a character was better than May( MY OPINION). So it isn't a fact. But in the first episode I saw Dawn in, she knew what she was doing, she knows the usage and basics of pokemon, she knows her goal. You can't expect her to do everything right from the first trial so saying that she was a failure wont help. She did a great job in the Grand Festival, better than May, and she even won over May. Of course I am not saying ppl said that but just in case. About the fillers, I believe that without them the show is just straight forward. The anime won't just be right if all episodes revolved around GYM Battles and so on. As "Pineco-a-go-go" stated, the show would range from 10-20 episodes maybe. Doesn't seem logical. I think people who don't appreciate fillers just don't know how to watch. As Poster 13 and 14 stated, fillers are just as fun. They can be very hilarious. I admire many of these episodes as they add me some relief from the suspense that was going on.
The rival was epic. Really tough, in fact, it gave a logical reason for Ash to lose to him. Unlike a jerk like Trip, Who just started a whole new experience. Losing to him was illogical. So D/P like other series is good in its own ways....

 

[Guy]

I actually found the DP Saga to be one of the best and most progressive. Did it have its down falls? Yes, plenty of them. However, it had a lot of highlights that were never used before in past series that made Ash's journey through Sinnoh all the more worthwhile.

Before I cover what I disliked about the DP Saga, I'll probably mention what I saw as highlights that made me enjoy it more. Probably the largest highlight was the rivalry between Ash and Paul. I know some of you have probably seen me mention that before too. Gary and Ash had a childish rivalry while Paul and Ash had very different views, opinions, and tactics in how they raised their Pokémon. They also brought out the best in each other. This is where I saw the best in Ash. We never saw him training to use new strategies before. Ice Aqua Jet, the Countershield, his spinning idea he took from Dawn early on, those were all very impressive on his part. The writers made Ash seem more like a growing trainer than ever before in my opinion. Then it came to a close with the Sinnoh League; one of the best Leagues we've ever had I might add, but mostly the anticipation everyone was looking for ─ the final battle between Ash and Paul. Ash also got farther than he ever did before and did very well in the face of two Legendary Pokémon. Plus, the bringing back of his older Pokémon was a satisfying bonus. Next to the Ash and Paul rivalry and Ash showing maturity, the show also did a decent job with giving Ash one of the best teams he's ever had. Basically the show offered more of a plot and focus throughout the series than just collecting badges and going off to the "Region" League.

In addition to that, when it came to the Gym Leaders and even the Elite Four, we got to know more about them. Each one of them, mainly the Gym Leaders, were given more than one episode of air time. So we got to know more about them before Ash won his badge and moved on.

As for its downfalls, I think the most noticeable was the amount of fillers it had. I mean, we had a lot. If I recall correctly, wasn't there a time when we went through almost a whole year without a new gym badge? Next to that, Team Rocket was just plain horrible in my opinion. They added little comedy as far as I see it, and their attempts to steal Pokémon was just a waste. I was glad when Black and White decided to change their focus, I only wish they had kept it up and not reverted them back to their old ways. :\ Other than that, they did do sort of poorly with the Pokémons' personalities. They started off well, but then they just got a little too wrapped up with other things in the show. For instance, Turtwig started off as one of Ash's power houses, but as it evolved, the writers made it weak. It never won a single match as a Torterra, and I'm not counting anything against Team Rocket. These were the only real issues I had with the season as a whole though.

Oh wait! Let's not forget Brock. Tsk, what a waste. He was ignored terribly throughout the entire DP Saga; barely given any sort of screen time or significance. Honestly, his Happiny seemed more useful than he did.

As far as Contests went, I've always been a fan of them since the Advanced Generation with May. I actually liked the contests in this series, mostly for its wide use of appeals. However, the focus became so much on appeals, that sometimes the battles got the shorter end of the rope. Another issue was the rivals. They weren't really as great as Drew, Harley, or even Soledad, who was only around for a few episodes at the end of the Kanto Grand Festival. Other than that though, I thought the contests were fine. I felt as though the Grand Festival was a bit too short though. It could have done with one more episode, and in my opinion, Dawn deserved that win. I know they would never give a main character a win, but honestly given how everything went, Dawn deserved it.

On the comment about how May and Dawn started out, Dawn knowing what she wanted, I actually found it rather nice May went in with the dislike of Pokémon. She learned something new about herself, she found an interest in Pokémon, and grew. I felt as though I found more growth in May as a coordinator than I did with Dawn in my opinion. And again, the better rivals in the Advanced Generation did help. And while I thought in the case of the Wallace Cup that May should have been victorious, I know why the writers gave Dawn the win.

Before I continue to make this longer, I'm just going to stop here. This is pretty much how I felt about the DP Season though. Overall, I enjoyed it and thought it was one of the better series. It had its downfalls, but it didn't fail in my opinion.

 

[Charicific]

I actually found the DP Saga to be one of the best and most progressive. Did it have its down falls? Yes, plenty of them. However, it had a lot of highlights that were never used before in past series that made Ash's journey through Sinnoh all the more worthwhile.

Before I cover what I disliked about the DP Saga, I'll probably mention what I saw as highlights that made me enjoy it more. Probably the largest highlight was the rivalry between Ash and Paul. I know some of you have probably seen me mention that before too. Gary and Ash had a childish rivalry while Paul and Ash had very different views, opinions, and tactics in how they raised their Pokémon. They also brought out the best in each other. This is where I saw the best in Ash. We never saw him training to use new strategies before. Ice Aqua Jet, the Countershield, his spinning idea he took from Dawn early on, those were all very impressive on his part. The writers made Ash seem more like a growing trainer than ever before in my opinion. Then it came to a close with the Sinnoh League; one of the best Leagues we've ever had I might add, but mostly the anticipation everyone was looking for ─ the final battle between Ash and Paul. Ash also got farther than he ever did before and did very well in the face of two Legendary Pokémon. Plus, the bringing back of his older Pokémon was a satisfying bonus. Next to the Ash and Paul rivalry and Ash showing maturity, the show also did a decent job with giving Ash one of the best teams he's ever had. Basically the show offered more of a plot and focus throughout the series than just collecting badges and going off to the "Region" League.

In addition to that, when it came to the Gym Leaders and even the Elite Four, we got to know more about them. Each one of them, mainly the Gym Leaders, were given more than one episode of air time. So we got to know more about them before Ash won his badge and moved on.

As for its downfalls, I think the most noticeable was the amount of fillers it had. I mean, we had a lot. If I recall correctly, wasn't there a time when we went through almost a whole year without a new gym badge? Next to that, Team Rocket was just plain horrible in my opinion. They added little comedy as far as I see it, and their attempts to steal Pokémon was just a waste. I was glad when Black and White decided to change their focus, I only wish they had kept it up and not reverted them back to their old ways. :\ Other than that, they did do sort of poorly with the Pokémons' personalities. They started off well, but then they just got a little too wrapped up with other things in the show. For instance, Turtwig started off as one of Ash's power houses, but as it evolved, the writers made it weak. It never won a single match as a Torterra, and I'm not counting anything against Team Rocket. These were the only real issues I had with the season as a whole though.

Oh wait! Let's not forget Brock. Tsk, what a waste. He was ignored terribly throughout the entire DP Saga; barely given any sort of screen time or significance. Honestly, his Happiny seemed more useful than he did.

As far as Contests went, I've always been a fan of them since the Advanced Generation with May. I actually liked the contests in this series, mostly for its wide use of appeals. However, the focus became so much on appeals, that sometimes the battles got the shorter end of the rope. Another issue was the rivals. They weren't really as great as Drew, Harley, or even Soledad, who was only around for a few episodes at the end of the Kanto Grand Festival. Other than that though, I thought the contests were fine. I felt as though the Grand Festival was a bit too short though. It could have done with one more episode, and in my opinion, Dawn deserved that win. I know they would never give a main character a win, but honestly given how everything went, Dawn deserved it.

On the comment about how May and Dawn started out, Dawn knowing what she wanted, I actually found it rather nice May went in with the dislike of Pokémon. She learned something new about herself, she found an interest in Pokémon, and grew. I felt as though I found more growth in May as a coordinator than I did with Dawn in my opinion. And again, the better rivals in the Advanced Generation did help. And while I thought in the case of the Wallace Cup that May should have been victorious, I know why the writers gave Dawn the win.

Before I continue to make this longer, I'm just going to stop here. This is pretty much how I felt about the DP Season though. Overall, I enjoyed it and thought it was one of the better series. It had its downfalls, but it didn't fail in my opinion.

What you said made a good point. i do agree with you about Brock being dumped. He was doing nothing...not totally but not as he was before. Still I loved the poison jab he always got. About Team Rocket...Well I do Like their Stupidity somehow but I still understand the way you look at it. As You said, D/P had flaws but C'mon..Didn't other Series have that much of flaws too? That's what I am currently trying to imply..thnx for your wonderful reply.:)