Chit-Chat: Watch out for Ghosts...

[Hikamaru]

209

I remember when PokeRaps sometimes listed the wrong Pokemon's name with the wrong picture.

 

[pkmin3033]

210

There goes...Alakazam!

 

[Meadow]

211.

What was your favorite opening?

Yeah, forgot to mention the background music as well. Like the one during Pikachu vs Mega Lucario. : D

Was that literally the only one that didn't get subbed?

Oooh, regarding Pikachu vs Mega Lucario, are you referring to this music?

As for my favorite openings, that's a tough one! I'm gonna stuff a bunch of links in the spoiler tag below, haha. (I love all of the XY openings, but I didn't include any of them here since they're apparently harder to find. xD) How about you? Which openings are your favorite? :D

Spoiler:

Be an Arrow! 2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5QUugz5a8c

Battle Frontier (JP)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdLZfxBD0jI

Advance Adventure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKKDmX_M_E

Challenger!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmSn6HdVI_E

Ah, and to answer your last question: not exactly! The original series hasn't been completely subbed either. And Diamond & Pearl is mostly subbed, but they're missing a good chunk of the earlier episodes. However, Advanced Generation still has by far the least subbed episodes... by an overwhelming margin. <__<

200

The XY anime started off with so much promise but turned out to be unable to live up to those promises, and the SM anime...well, it's just as bad as it looks, really. When I went back to watch BW again after it finished I liked the tournament arcs though...makes me wonder if I'd like White/White 2 if I played them again now.

Oops, I didn't realize you had posted #200! Congrats on becoming a Super Ghost. :D Time to cleanse all of the normal ghosts now, hehe.

Anyway, as strange as I might sound by saying this, I actually thought the BW series felt like the most promising one when it first started, even more so than XY. Now, I'm aware that resetting Ash to amateur-level was a terrible idea, and it did certainly detract from the show, but everything else seemed like a breath of fresh air. (At least for a while, anyway.)

For the first time, the writers had set their eyes on taking a more "plot-heavy" approach with the anime, rather than the usual passive nature of fillers. Early on, almost every single BW episode built up to something bigger in the long run. Instead of having a repetitive battle against Team Rocket every episode, the writers instead had Team Rocket completing various tasks involving the Meteonite. Indeed, it costed them their goofy personalities, but more importantly, it was actually suspenseful. This was totally unprecedented in the Pokémon anime, and there was no way we could predict what would happen next. We actually had a full-scale war between Team Plasma and Team Rocket as early as episode 23, and it was supposed to get even more exciting from there... except, real life disasters happened, and on top of that, there was later too much executive meddling to promote B2W2 content, and by that point, the writers couldn't salvage their original intentions for the show anymore, so... they completely stopped caring about it. And that makes me sad. ;___;

But I'm totally with you about the tournament arcs! Honestly, that was a great way to pass the time between plot-relevant episodes, and it's too bad XY scrapped the idea. I mean, I get that BW was poorly received, but it sorta feels like the writers couldn't distinguish between what they actually got right or wrong in BW, so they undid practically everything they attempted with that series. =/

 

[pkmin3033]

212

Oops, I didn't realize you had posted #200! Congrats on becoming a Super Ghost. :D Time to cleanse all of the normal ghosts now, hehe.

I didn't realise that warranted an emblem; thank you! :3

I think the biggest problem with the BW anime is that it couldn't work the same way the games did. I mean, they could reset it, but they couldn't reboot it. The tiresome filler, poor character development (which I felt they handled well in DPPt with the inclusion of Dawn, but dropped significantly with Cilan and Iris, neither of which had any development or even personality to begin with, making the show about a thrice-reset Ash only) and abysmal pacing were all really prominent, even if they made some significant changes and had slightly more story-related material to work with.

I think a lot of long-running anime suffer from that problem - there just isn't enough material to justify the number of episodes. If you cut out the filler and stick to Team Plasma/Rocket episodes, Gym Battles, Tournaments, and episodes where Pokemon develop new moves/evolve, you'd have a pretty good anime in all probability. But with all the meaningless padding with Character of the Day episodes on top of that, and a lack of a noteworthy central protagonist outside of Ash...yeah, it's not hard to see why BW was so poorly received.

I've always felt like Pokemon has squandered its potential more than a little, especially in recent years in the games. I just cannot get behind the NPC-driven plots, even though the material is pretty good. The problem is that you have absolutely no part in it and the games have always been about your journey, so you're practically excluded from the world because you can explore it from your own perspective...it's almost like a sandbox game attitude.

 

[LilyGardy]

#213

I've not watched the anime properly for a long time now but I vaguely remember Ash winning Gym Badges on a technicality (Such as against Sabrina) or them just being given to him for some reason, his close friendship and understanding with Pikachu and unusually for a children's cartoon he crossdressed...a lot.

 

[pkmin3033]

214

I think Ash has only ever crossdressed three times...as "Ashley" to sneak into Celadon Gym, one time in the DPPt season in a maid outfit because reasons, and once in BW for some reason. If you want a prime example of cross-dressing in Pokemon, James would be your man for that...

 

[HyperMorian]

215.

I'm still amused with the scene where he fondled his "Watmels" in front of Misty.

 

[pkmin3033]

216

I wish they'd fully dubbed that, it would have been amazing. The anime got so much crap past the radar back in those days, but I guess giving James inflatable breasts was two points too far. xD

 

[LilyGardy]

217.

I think in the BW anime Ash crossdressed when he and his friends were facing some Lady Trainers. One had a Lilligant.

I have seen the scene with Jame's Melons though and vaguely remember him cross dressing to get into Celadon Gym which resembled a Vileplume if I remember correctly. :)

 

[pkmin3033]

218

"Please don't stare at me like that I'm a very shy little girl!"
...the original dub was filled with so many fantastic moments. I miss that humour something awful.

 

[LilyGardy]

#219

Looking at some old anime clips Pikachu was a lot rounder in the early anime episodes than he is now.

Also shouldn't Ash's Pikachu be Level 100 by now?

 

[pkmin3033]

220

Yeah, Ash's Pikachu has gotten steadily slimmer as the years have gone by. Personally I preferred it when it was a chubby, cute little mouse...kinda like a yellow Dedenne.

And now it looks like this:

Spoiler:

 

[Meadow]

221.

Also shouldn't Ash's Pikachu be Level 100 by now?

Not until Ash becomes a Pokémon Master! xD The level of a Pokémon is probably just as ambiguous as what it truly means to be a Pokémon Master, hehe.

I didn't realise that warranted an emblem; thank you! :3

I think the biggest problem with the BW anime is that it couldn't work the same way the games did. I mean, they could reset it, but they couldn't reboot it. The tiresome filler, poor character development (which I felt they handled well in DPPt with the inclusion of Dawn, but dropped significantly with Cilan and Iris, neither of which had any development or even personality to begin with, making the show about a thrice-reset Ash only) and abysmal pacing were all really prominent, even if they made some significant changes and had slightly more story-related material to work with.

I think a lot of long-running anime suffer from that problem - there just isn't enough material to justify the number of episodes. If you cut out the filler and stick to Team Plasma/Rocket episodes, Gym Battles, Tournaments, and episodes where Pokemon develop new moves/evolve, you'd have a pretty good anime in all probability. But with all the meaningless padding with Character of the Day episodes on top of that, and a lack of a noteworthy central protagonist outside of Ash...yeah, it's not hard to see why BW was so poorly received.

I've always felt like Pokemon has squandered its potential more than a little, especially in recent years in the games. I just cannot get behind the NPC-driven plots, even though the material is pretty good. The problem is that you have absolutely no part in it and the games have always been about your journey, so you're practically excluded from the world because you can explore it from your own perspective...it's almost like a sandbox game attitude.

No problem! ;D

And yup, I actually do agree with a lot of the flaws you brought up here. However, with regards to the lack of character development, that's something we normally wouldn't realize until much later on in the show, so I'd say it shouldn't have affected how promising the show felt when it first started. If anything, the development seems more like a promise that the writers failed to keep. (I'm sure the writers had at least planned on developing Iris throughout the show, because she was already set up with believable character flaws that were intended to be grown out of, such as her backstory with Excadrill.) I still do think that the BW series began with massive potential, but sadly, it didn't live up to what it could have been. =/

It's pretty weird, but all of my regrets for Best Wishes are a major reason why I actually feel so attached to this series. One would normally think it should be the other way around, haha. (But I do honestly think it was a cute series, at least! xD)

And now it looks like this:

Spoiler:

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. I almost flippin' died when I opened that spoiler tag, ahahahaha. xD CANNOT UNSEE.

Man, that reminds me how awful the debut trailer of the S/M anime looked... Thank goodness that throughout most of the actual S/M anime, Ash and Pikachu look nowhere near as ridiculous as they did in those few clips that the trailer presented. o__o

(What were they even thinking when they selected scenes for that trailer? xD It's almost like they intentionally threw in the worst possible clips just for the laughs, haha.)

 

[Hikamaru]

222

Hey congrats on that emblem Zeria :3

Also, what does everyone think of Marshadow and the (supposed) non-existence of Brock and Misty in Movie 20?

 

[pkmin3033]

223

No problem! ;D

And yup, I actually do agree with a lot of the flaws you brought up here. However, with regards to the lack of character development, that's something we normally wouldn't realize until much later on in the show, so I'd say it shouldn't have affected how promising the show felt when it first started. If anything, the development seems more like a promise that the writers failed to keep. (I'm sure the writers had at least planned on developing Iris throughout the show, because she was already set up with believable character flaws that were intended to be grown out of, such as her backstory with Excadrill.) I still do think that the BW series began with massive potential, but sadly, it didn't live up to what it could have been. =/

It's pretty weird, but all of my regrets for Best Wishes are a major reason why I actually feel so attached to this series. One would normally think it should be the other way around, haha. (But I do honestly think it was a cute series, at least! xD)

Well...when looking at the role Iris had in the games - especially B2W2 - I agree with you, but otherwise...I think that lack of development was obvious right from the start. But then, I might just be too critical - I mean, Dawn took a while to meet up with Ash, and right from the start she was presented as a major protagonist, of equal (if not greater at times; her Contest struggles were far more intense than May's) importance as Ash. She was amazingly consistent in that, and that was the thing I loved the most about the DPPt anime: it wasn't just Ash's journey, it was Dawn's too.

I think Iris' lack of development is only a failed promise if you look at her role in the games. I mean, they could have done so much with her, based on those. I would have loved to have seen her actually beat Ash at the Unova League and go on to become the Champion as she was in B2W2. Watching her Gym battles to get there wouldn't have been repetetive or dull; some of DPPt's more interesting episodes came from watching Paul battle, and he was a recurring rival and not someone who was in every episode. Unova also had more than 8 Gyms, so she could have done some that Ash didn't...and having that disparity in their skill level (like, say she couldn't beat Drayden, so she had to battle Marlon for her 8th badge instead) would have made both of them much more interesting characters, and made the Gym battles themselves more exciting to watch.

Having Iris as a travelling companion but also a rival would have been amazing and probably made BW one of my favourite seasons. Hell, even just having her as a surprise Gym Leader later would have been better than just leaving her to rot with that ambiguous "Dragon Master" role painfully reminiscent of Misty and her general lack of direction as a character. Why not both, even? Have Ash unable to beat Drayden, so he beats Iris, but THEN have Iris demolish him in the Unova League? I realise that wouldn't sit well with the fans - it never does when Ash loses - but it would have been great to watch I think, if they'd done it right. The problem with Ash's losses is that they're never done right; he loses to random insert characters. If he lost to Iris...I think that wouldn't have stung quite as much. Like when Dawn lost to Zoey. Sure it sucked, but Zoey was always there, always one step ahead, and it the battle was presented in such a way that it didn't feel like such a total defeat. An Ash/Iris dynamic like that would have been even better, because Iris would have been sharing the spotlight.

tl;dr Iris should have been more like Dawn. xD

Hey congrats on that emblem Zeria :3

Also, what does everyone think of Marshadow and the (supposed) non-existence of Brock and Misty in Movie 20?

Ta~

I haven't actually watched the trailer yet, but I think it a bit weird to include a seventh gen secret Legendary in what looks to be a rehashed origin story...

 

[LilyGardy]

#224

I do like the current games slim Pikachu but the round yellow mouse in the early anime was incredibly adorable.

Not too fussed about Marshadow in truth as cute as it is as I've never been one to use legendaries anyway.

I'd rather hear news of when we are getting Gardevoirite in Gen 7. (All Mega Stones should already be in the game.) I want to take my Shiny Gardevoir to get the Super Battle Medal but there is still no news of Gardevoirite. :(

 

[Hikamaru]

225

I always have a bad feeling towards the current Pokemon anime writing staff, because it seems all they care about are pulling off nothing but reboots which do not work out with the audience at all.

 

[pkmin3033]

226

Well, that's what happens when you start running out of ideas...or are associated in any way with Nintendo. xD

 

[Hikamaru]

227

I now have a headcanon that Alola's Island Trials were designed because Game Freak ran out of ideas for Gyms, along with wanting to put nature in the spotlight.

 

[pkmin3033]

228

That is probably very close to what happened, because Alolan Trials ARE essentially Gyms with a new coat of paint; they're hardly the innovation that a lot of people seem to think they are. Do puzzle, beat boss. That's it.