Why, exactly, do many people think the anime has gone downhill?

[serabeth]

I never really watched the episodes when I was younger, but I did play the games. Since then, I have been watching the episodes starting from 1 (skipping a few "filler" episodes here and there, but watching most of them).

I'm not done yet, but I'm pretty far -- I'm towards the beginning of the Diamond and Pearl part of Ash's journey. He has his first badge in that region, but not the second yet.

At any rate, while pokemon is not the best animated series I've ever watched in my life, and while it certainly has its flaws (it can get a bit repetitive), and while in my opinion, certain seasons were better than others, I don't really see how it has gone downhill. I don't think it's really changed much at all, to be honest.

Probably my favorite arc was Ash's adventures in the Orange Islands. I don't know why I liked it so much -- I like Brock better than Tracy, and the Orange Islands didn't follow the games. Then again, maybe that's why I did like it so much -- because it was different, the gym leaders weren't always looking for hardcore let's keep throwing our pokemon out one-by-one battles, and it was fun and interesting. I also really liked Lapras.

But has it really changed all that much? I always see people going on and on about how the original series was amazing, and how everything after Johto kind of sucked. I liked the original series, too, but there were certainly plenty of repetitive and filler episodes there, too. Team Rocket still did the same old jokes, and everything was pretty much as it is where I am in the series now.

Although speaking of Team Rocket's repetitiveness, most of my favorite episodes involve them teaming up with the "twerps," or being placed in a situation where they all get split up, or when Meowth and Pikachu go off and have adventures together. I think if Team Rocket was always doing something different like that, then those episodes wouldn't be as much fun as they were.

So yeah, ending this wall of text, if you believe the anime has gone downhill, what are your reasons for this?

 

[WonderGirl]

I think because we have grown up a lot, and so we think that they are boring now.

 

[serabeth]

^ That would definitely make sense. Because as far as I can tell, the episodes are all about the same, quality-wise. It could be watching episodes later in life, if you don't feel the same excitement that you did when you were a little kid, it seems like they've gotten worse, when in reality, you've just grown out of them.

 

[ShadowYashi]

I don't think its gone downhill. I honestly like the new series and I don't mind the older seasons either, infact the only thing I'd honestly complain about is Ash and Pikachu, but I don't really find anything wrong with the newer series. I guess it just depends on the people, cause I'm all for change. I mean after all If you watch the same thing over and over again it gets old.

So when they started to switch the region girls, I was happy, it was different and new and I like when they make cameo's. Misty, May and Dawn leaving don't really bother me but knowing that Paul won't be returning is a bit of a downer XDD He's honestly my favorite rival of Ash and then there's Gary.

 

[Spinor]

People grow up. People leave stop enjoying things from their childhood because those things evolve during the same time people evolve from childhood and realize how they're older, and therefore only prefer the memories from their younger years.

Unfortunately, I've been sticking to the Pokemon anime and Loving it since season 1, and I will always like everything new that goes to it. You can say I am the Peter Pan of Pokemon. If I weren't, I'd probably be more active in the ROM Hacking or OC forum than here.

 

[institutions]

I guess I think it has gone downhill for many reasons.
Keep in mind these are my personal opinions and they'll most likely be stupid to some of you :P

-Ash's and Pikachu's personalities have changed. I liked Ash when he was naive and didn't know everything in the world.
-There are way too many Pokemon i'm used to being able to name all the original 151, not 493, or even 600 something.
-I hate the idea of Pokemon contests and the female protagonist always taking part in them.
-Way too many filler episodes. Sure, there were fillers in the first seasons, but they were all appropriately placed and on the way to towns. They never spent 3 or more episodes traveling to a non-important town just so Dawn could lose a contest.
-Way too many recurring characters for my taste.
-Pikachu isn't a cute little fatty anymore.

There's a lot more, I just don't want to type all of them D:

 

[PearlShipper4Life]

I know many people wanted Ash and Pikachu to keep there personalitys from series one, but if that happened than Ash would never grow as a character. I honestly don't know why some want him to stay the same he was in that series, Ash just can't win. Some people are happy he matured, others aren't oh wells. I also think some fans of there favorite characters think it went down cuz they left *Cough Misty fan boys Cough* However, I don't, I think its gotten so much better in Best Wishes, I look forward to more episodes. Heck, I loved series one and Orange Islands and Advanced and D/P.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I don't think the show has gone downhill at all. Maybe it's because of certain traits the Pokemon anime has that a lot of people are turning away from it (such as pre-Isshu Team Rocket's lame puns/rhymes).

 

[Vernikova]

They've always had these lame puns and rhymes though.

 

[Shadow Sneak Sableye]

I think the anime has had highs and lows. sure it could be a lot better, but it's not completely terrible.

 

[serabeth]

So it seems like most people (at least of those that have posted so far) think it really hasn't gotten all that worse over time, but they've either grown up, or it's just gotten old.

Institution had a few good points, but I had been thinking about one of them before. There's the fact that after Misty, Ash's two female companions have been coordinators. I at first had been annoyed with that, too, but then I thought how boring it would be if they had the exact same goals as Ash. Think about it -- we'd have to watch every single gym match twice. And how would they handle it if one of the two kept losing, and the other was ready to move on to the next town, but the one that was losing wanted to stay and train?

Also, I kind of like contests as a break from the constant gym battles and/or filler episodes. I haven't seen very many of Dawn's yet at the point I'm at in the series, but some of May's contest battles were pretty exciting, and it wasn't always clear who would win. I like the idea that dodging attacks or using moves that aren't always effective, but are good combinations (like Glameow's Shadow Claw against a normal type) that look attractive can get points as well as by being strong.

I suppose his female companions could've had other pokemon goals, but unless it was something involving some kind of competition, they might end up falling into the background sort of like Brock.

Misty is probably my favorite of the girls personality-wise, but I didn't really dislike May. I thought she was a pretty realistic character, and I got excited to watch her compete. I got nervous right along with her, and cringed those times she fell on stage.

With Dawn....not so much. She doesn't seem to have much personality at all, to be honest. Maybe I need to get further into the series, but she hasn't made an impression on me yet at all. I didn't cringe when her Pachirisu slipped during her second contest like I did whenever one of May's pokemon messed up.

So maybe some people think it's gone downhill partially due to the personality quality of Ash's female companions going down? I don't know -- that's just a personal opinion. Maybe a lot of people like Dawn, or maybe she grows more into a character in later episodes.

 

[Vernikova]

Actually, one of the reasons people think the show has gone down hill is because the females' personality. A bunch of people miss the exciting personality Misty had as well as the interaction she had with Ash and Brock. They use the argument that May and Dawn both lack in personality and are inferior to Misty as a result. Of course, not all Misty fans believe this like Pearlshipper wants you to think but it's just a reason that they use.

 

[zoo3891]

Well the first factor is nostalgia, when we were kids (or teens) we remembered the great first episodes. Secondley the first seasons had some actual episodes that didn't follow the games like the orange islands like you said, and some episodes didn't even follow the gym leader storyline, like the episode that got banned because of guns. Most people also hate the new voice acting, i agree especially with this. And even worse which will make people complain more is that brock is leaving. Of course there are some episodes in the new generation i liked, like the one where rocket split up and we saw shiny metagross. The thing about the newer ones is that most of them suck, and fans of the older ones see one episode and say "@$#! this i'm never watching this again!!!".

 

[mervyn797]

I always felt that teens were never a part of the target audience of the Anime. The fact that we have grown up makes a little sense as well. Other than that I think that the repetitive nature of the show is also blamed for the lack of interest in the Anime. Filler episodes often have no thrill or suspense involved in them. Team Rocket keep repeating their old jokes and aren't really amusing. Several other factors pointed out by others who posted in this thread are also quite true.

I'm pretty sure that the writers know this very well and are trying to make up for it in the Best Wishes series. Expectations are really high for BW.

 

[Vernikova]

I always felt that teens were never a part of the target audience of the Anime. The fact that we have grown up makes a little sense as well.

That is because it isn't aimed at teens. They throw in a reference or two for people that have been viewing for a while but that's really it. It's mainly nostalgic teens that come on and whine about the animé anyway.

 

[serabeth]

Actually, one of the reasons people think the show has gone down hill is because the females' personality. A bunch of people miss the exciting personality Misty had as well as the interaction she had with Ash and Brock. They use the argument that May and Dawn both lack in personality and are inferior to Misty as a result.

Hmm....Now that I think about it, remember that really emotional sequence of cutscenes with sad music going on in the background when Misty finally split from the group? May didn't get that...It was just she and her little brother on a boat, and Ash and Brock waving good-bye to them.

I just remember that Misty good-bye scene really well because it made me cry a little just from how emotional it was :P.

But then again, you can't expect him to connect with every random girl he meets, right? Maybe he did have more of a connection with Misty, but I think it's just not realistic for him to have a deep connection with every girl he meets. And less arguing with May and Dawn doesn't necessarily mean (although it may in this case) less connection...It could just be that he'd matured a bit.

I'm pretty sure that the writers know this very well and are trying to make up for it in the Best Wishes series. Expectations are really high for BW.

If what you say is true, that makes me very happy :P.

 

[Vernikova]

Hmm....Now that I think about it, remember that really emotional sequence of cutscenes with sad music going on in the background when Misty finally split from the group? May didn't get that...It was just she and her little brother on a boat, and Ash and Brock waving good-bye to them.

I just remember that Misty good-bye scene really well because it made me cry a little just from how emotional it was :P.

But then again, you can't expect him to connect with every random girl he meets, right? Maybe he did have more of a connection with Misty, but I think it's just not realistic for him to have a deep connection with every girl he meets. And less arguing with May and Dawn doesn't necessarily mean (although it may in this case) less connection...It could just be that he'd matured a bit.

It was probably because she ad been traveling with Ash and Brock longer than May and Max did. Don't look too much into it since it probably doesn't mean all that much really.

If what you say is true, that makes me very happy :P.

It's an opinion.

 

[Planetes.]

Well I'm guessing its for one of two reasons.

1-When we were all little kids, and weren't pokemon masters, our game sort of kept the same pace with the anime and it was cool to see ash go to all the places you went. Now we can beat the game in 1-3 days while Ash is still stuck in the starting town.
2-Ash's additude got really annoying and the support characters personality went downhill.

 

[cyan.]

In my opinion, I think the reason why is because when they were smaller, they loved Pokemon. As they got older, a few things changed, and people just didn't like it.

Personally, I love the Diamond and Pearl seris, and I'm excited for the Isshu arc.

 

[Pumpkin Fields]

I don't think the quality has changed much at all. Pokemon, as a series, never seems to progress, which is fine with me. Aside from a revolving door of new and old characters/Pokemon, the series remains unchanged season after season.
I'll admit that I miss Misty, but that's all you're getting out of me.