Turn Back the Clock

[Palamon]

Turn back the clock, and look at the older Pokémon series. How do you feel the anime was back then compared to how it is now?

 

[Lusamine]

For the dub, at the very least, the writing was a lot better. Say what you will about 4Kids, but they handled the original Pokemon dub very well, with a much stronger voice cast and generally better writing. There is very little slapstick humour to be had in the newer series, and to be honest it's a lot poorer for it, it feels very formulaic now - although that might just be because of its age - and what little character development there is to be had in the show gets undone by season's end...this makes exceptional arcs like Sinnoh very bittersweet. The movies have been a mixed bag, though.

That said, the animation has improved, as you might expect.

 

[Taemin]

The dub was handled better, yes, but also the writing for the show overall I feel is handled better nowadays. To me, what I saw of XYZ (which I do plan to finish), was way more interesting than most other Pokemon series have ever been to me before. I haven't dabbled in the newest series yet. Soon.

I just feel like the anime, though I was really into it when I was a kid, was not as good as back then as it is now. The hype as a whole back then was wild, because of the show, the cards, and the games all taking over the world at once; but the writing for just the TV series was.. not anything super special. It was just fun. I think X so far has been the most interesting! Save for some battles focusing around Ash, Gary, and Paul over a few older series.

 

[jjc927]

I liked that the first season was just fun and didn't take itself too seriously. The quality wasn't high and it was definitely corny, but we got a lot of little funny memorable moments and a few great battles mixed in along with character development. The writing was good aside from a few really weird lines and the voice talent was great after the first few episodes. The original theme song is just so catchy and did the best at getting the viewer pumped up for the show too where later themes are good to mediocre. The more recent seasons seem to take itself too seriously focusing more on the battles and less on developing the characters and the voice acting just doesn't sound right, but the animation quality got much better. I do like the added arcs since Johto with the other sectors of Team Rocket and Team Magma/Aqua etc because they add drama inbetween the fillers and the gym and competition episodes though. I like that Sun and Moon is going back to being more fun and less serious (so far anyway), even if the animation has more of a basic feel.

 

[Sektor]

While they might be a bit dated, they are still fun to watch occasionally. I think that each series had it's own charms. The Johto series kind of blended together and was perhaps the most forgettable.

 

[Taemin]

While they might be a bit dated, they are still fun to watch occasionally. I think that each series had it's own charms. The Johto series kind of blended together and was perhaps the most forgettable.

Yeees. Even though I was like.. 10 at the time, Johto's anime literally lost my interest. It was kind of sloppy. Another example of the older series not always being the best. Some of the newer writing is way better, I'm sorry Johto anime nostalgia, I love you, but you are not the greatest.

This thread is reminding me that I wanna start Sun and Moon and see how that one turns out. I'm kind of iffy about it, but I don't wanna judge until I see it for myself. hhhnnn

 

[Piks]

I think the Johto anime was really great, while it wasn't perfect it still had a whole lot of the Original series charm behind it, the newer pokemon animes are ok but they lack a whole lot of the original series magic and the pokemon anime went to crap after Johto ended. The first season will always be the very best year's of the Pokemon anime.

 

[Hands]

I think the Johto anime was really great, while it wasn't perfect it still had a whole lot of the Original series charm behind it, the newer pokemon animes are ok but they lack a whole lot of the original series magic and the pokemon anime went to crap after Johto ended. The first season will always be the very best year's of the Pokemon anime.

yeah I felt the RSE-XY stuff was really bad. XY was pretty ok in places, especially the climax with Zygarde.

 

[Piks]

yeah I felt the RSE-XY stuff was really bad. XY was pretty ok in places, especially the climax with Zygarde.

The Team Flare arc was the only good part of the XYZ anime, the rest of the series was poorly handled and i mean the Pokemon League, it was way too overrush and could have been handled much better.

 

[Aquacorde]

honestly the old like, pre-AG stuff is THE ABSOLUTE BEST to sit around and make fun of because it's hilarious and ridiculous. I mean I talk shit about all of it tbh but those especially are fun to like, gather people who grew up on it and be like "lmfao what even was this"

I def agree that the writing overall has gotten a lot better and it feels more cohesive than you know, the episodic "problem of the week" style; there's actual story and whatnot. And better music for the most part? Sure some of it was iconic as hell but the sound design has gotten so much better. (keep in mind i dont watch the dub of anything post-DP lol)

 

[doglover44]

I cant seem to remember how well the Orange Isles episodes were.

 

[jjc927]

The Orange Islands episodes were good. There were less fillers because it was shorter and the different types of gym battles were interesting. Ash's battle against Drake to win the Orange League was great. Tracey is underrated to me, but Brock was missed.