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

[femtrooper]

It's because the original episodes were the first ones we ever saw. They bring back happy childhood memories. They are like comfort food or something. Watching them is an amazing feeling.

And yeah, I was soooooooooo into the games that whenever Ash got to a town that I was in it was soooooooo cool!!!

New voice actors = lamesauce. I'd rather watch it in Japanese.

Misty was also pure win. Also, when I watched it, I was a kid like Ash...now Ash should be around my age...and he's not. Another factor for me.

It's always fun to watch characters that are your own age, because you can relate! When I was 10, Ash was 10! Then I was 11, then 12, then 13, etc... Ash stayed the same and I grew up...but not really because I am still a Pokemon Master and I love the Anime!

 

[Tomackze]

It's a combination of people growing up and Pokemon staying the same... that causes many to think it has changed

 

[Mew~]

Loads of people just claim that people of Nostalgia, and just like everyone else has already mentioned, they've grown out of the anime and claim that the Animes gone crap "Kanto and johto was the best" xD

 

[2nd-Thanatos]

I have too main reasons to dislike it.

1st, It's almost the same all the time. All the battles seens to be very scripted, and almost all of the time they use the same attacks with different effects. But I'm tired of the characters beign so childish and dumb. How many years have passed since Ash started his journey? It's ok that he doesn't go to school at all, but please, he should be a little smarter xDD

2- After you play the games and specially if you read the manga, the anime looks incredibly "poor". The own creator of Pokemon said that the Manga is the way he imagined the world.
The only thing the Anime refrain from the games/manga are the characters (and sometimes, their personalities are totally screwed) and the Pokemon. Everything else is like another planet.

 

[Sho7gun]

People believe anime has lost its traditional values over the years.
Obviously this is down to your own opinion but I believe anime has tried too hard to aim at an audience that is too wide. Of Course anime can be used in Anything but there is a certain feel, a grainy-ness if you will, that needs to be maintained if the anime is going to remain interesting.

Bleach & Naruto are good examples of animes that I have bored me to neglect recently.

Bleach is amazing until the end of Soul Society & it should have stopped there.
Naruto has some pretty dark moments in series 1......but even though the dark nature of it is amplified in Shippuden......Naruto is about a Loud little punk ninja who eventually realises what it is to be responsible for ones self......Shippuden kinda turned it into an AutoBiography which made me lose interest.

I guess personally I prefer the shorter, sweeter animes!
The decline of anime may have something to do with the way things are strung out to make more money these days!
Recent recommendations from me are: (AGE)

Afro Samurai (Rated 18)
Death Note (Rated 16)

 

[Deathshot]

When they got rid of the adultish stuff from the anime and the English voice actors it kinda killed it for me. I mean I never watched it in Japanese because I actually liked the voice acting for Ash from Season 1 to Johto. I stopped watching around that time cause of course I got older and couldn't wake up at 10o'clock in the mourning on Saturday anymore because well... You know its impossible for teenagers to do that. But I watched an episode about 2 years back and see that Ash got rid of his hat which gave me such a fit. He cherished that Hat and everything just for him to throw it away like it was nothing. Guess the hat is only one of those things he just threw away. I mean truly I wanted to see Brock come back from staying with that Doctor and he did. Misty, I demanded back as well and she came back. I mean don't get me wrong Dawn is pretty cool but Ash still owns Misty that bike. I mean its just hard to watch something that has changed since you watched it and liked it to find out the changes just changed it from what it originally was.

 

[Amore]

I can see where you're coming from...but I started with Gen III anime infrequently, then got into it properly in Gen IV....and I must say that contest lady is horrifically irritating and OTT!!!!. Seriously, I hate her.....I want to watch the Grand Festival final because it features Gallade and Togekiss, whom I both love....but I can't stand her, so I won't.....it's really irritating.


So whilst I'm not against contents, she's dragged the anime downhill all by herself...although....stupid losses for Pikachu also drag it down. for example, in Best Wishes...

Spoiler:

Pikachu loses to a newly-obtained Tsutjara! I mean, wtf?!?!
Even if it apparently can't use electricity...(where've we seen that before....), one Iron Tail or Quick Attack should be able to finish that thing off...and whilst that wouldn't happen in the anime, they should've still made it an easy win for Pikachu.

 

[shadowmoon]

when i was little, i loved the anime. for me, things went down hill around the end of the jhoto saga. i really liked all the different jokes they put into it. the anime right now seems way too serious and the same events happen all the time
ex
ash obtains pokemon, he battles gyms, the rival beats him up until the end of the arc where he finally win against the rival.
sorry, but it just seems so cliche.
i loved misty, until they took her out, and brock is also gone from the series too.

also, ash doesn't grow up! yes, his personality has changed to be more mature (but i liked it when he was all rash *flashback to when the mankey stole his hat*)

for me personally, i wish to see more of the characters from the games/manga
ex
silver, gold, crys(not lyra), blue(the girl), diamond, ruby...

what's with all the girls that travel with ash do contests??!
i know it is only 2 (may and dawn), but that is still alot. i wish that ash had a female travelling companion that also competed in gyms.

sorry for the rant. after i read to manga, the anime seemed to go down hill)

 

[RainbowWing]

If you mean worldwide, then of course not! Pokemon is POPULAR in japan (no, duh >.<)
But if your talking about the English dub then... yeah.

I guarantee everyone stopped watching the anime when Veronica Taylor stopped voicing Ash, and when dawn started talking... (IDK who voices her)

It would make sense no one would make a HUGE deal about this because A LOT of Pokemon was an anime. (makes sense though :P)

 

[Vernikova]

No one else is going to do this I guess.

1st, It's almost the same all the time. All the battles seens to be very scripted, and almost all of the time they use the same attacks with different effects.

They are scripted. And since the animé now seems to want to restrict itself to four moves per Pokémon just like in the games they would end up using the same attacks.

But I'm tired of the characters beign so childish and dumb.

They're ten. Why wouldn't they act childish?

2- After you play the games and specially if you read the manga, the anime looks incredibly "poor". The own creator of Pokemon said that the Manga is the way he imagined the world.

He said that over a decade ago. It's sad that people still use this to try and support their arguments still.

The only thing the Anime refrain from the games/manga are the characters (and sometimes, their personalities are totally screwed) and the Pokemon. Everything else is like another planet.

Why does the animé need to follow Pokémon Special? They're are plenty more Pokémon manga out there.

Obviously this is down to your own opinion but I believe anime has tried too hard to aim at an audience that is too wide.

It's aimed at children. Older people just choose to watch and whine about it.

When they got rid of the adultish stuff from the anime

There weren't that many in the first place to be honest.

Ash still owns Misty that bike

Misty got her bike back in "Gotta Catch Ya later!".

the anime right now seems way too serious and the same events happen all the tim

It's weird how some people say it's too serious and others say it's too childish. I don't know. It's kind of weird.

ash obtains pokemon, he battles gyms, the rival beats him up until the end of the arc where he finally win against the rival.
sorry, but it just seems so cliche.

A major problem is that the games still have the same formula as well. Too bad really.

for me personally, i wish to see more of the characters from the games/manga
ex
silver, gold, crys(not lyra), blue(the girl), diamond, ruby...

The animé already includes a lot of the most important characters from the games. Why add the extras?

Also, the animé isn't based on Pokémon Special. If you want to read about them read it.

I guarantee everyone stopped watching the anime when Veronica Taylor stopped voicing Ash, and when dawn started talking...

I thought everyone stopped watching when Misty left?

 

[serabeth]

On a kind of sidenote, if you continue to watch the episodes with the PUSA voices, they eventually grow on you. Some of the voice actors noticeably improve (looking at Meowth here), and others you just get used to...I mean, when I first heard the new voices, they grated on me. Yet there were still some episodes I wanted to see, so I skipped ahead a lot to get to them. Eventually, the voices weren't so bad, and some even seemed to improve.

When I first heard Meowth's new voice...It was terrible for the final half of the Battle Frontier arc. Horrible. I couldn't listen to it without cringing. But if you compare his voice in a battle frontier episode to one halfway through the diamond and pearl arc...MAJOR difference.

Even Ash's voice gets a lot better!

The only voice actor I would say will never match his former greatness is the voice of James. His voice was just brilliant in the original series, and currently it's just okay.

I agree with a previous commenter that many anime shows start out amazing then keep going on and start to lose steam. I have not watched any Shippuden episodes, so I can't comment on Naruto, but I completely agree that the Soul Society arc of Bleach was amazing, and after that it got very boring very fast.

And I also, like someone else said above, would love to see pokemon games follow a completely different path. Not just new pokemon, not just a slightly different nefarious plot, not just different elite four and champions, but a completely different story.

Oh, and...Were there really that many jokes for teens/adults, even in the original series? Off the top of my head, I can remember one, where Team Rocket sees a giant Dragonite and James says something like, "So size really does matter." There may have been a few more jokes in addition to that one, but for the most part, I think it's always just been aimed at kids.

 

[mervyn797]

So whilst I'm not against contents, she's dragged the anime downhill all by herself...although....stupid losses for Pikachu also drag it down. for example, in Best Wishes...

Spoiler:

Pikachu loses to a newly-obtained Tsutjara! I mean, wtf?!?!
Even if it apparently can't use electricity...(where've we seen that before....), one Iron Tail or Quick Attack should be able to finish that thing off...and whilst that wouldn't happen in the anime, they should've still made it an easy win for Pikachu.

Spoiler:

[jq]I don't really know why, but Pikachu tends to experience a level reset at the start of every region. ._.
And it is not that Pikachu didn't use any non-electric moves at all. He did use moves like Quick Attack and Iron Tail but that did not result in a victory for Pikachu against Tsutaja. Pikachu seemed to be a lot weaker because of Zekrom's thunderbolt. [/jq]
[jq]I guess that is because Pokemon is full of uncertainties. Nothing can be taken for granted.
And the concept of "levels" which we have in the games also doesn't seem to be applicable in the Anime. :/ [/jq]

The only voice actor I would say will never match his former greatness is the voice of James. His voice was just brilliant in the original series, and currently it's just okay.

Agreed.

I agree with a previous commenter that many anime shows start out amazing then keep going on and start to lose steam. I have not watched any Shippuden episodes, so I can't comment on Naruto, but I completely agree that the Soul Society arc of Bleach was amazing, and after that it got very boring very fast.

It is true for many, not just Bleach. Maybe the makers just get too overconfident when the Anime starts off well. :\

 

[countryemo]

Well I think kanto was pretty good
--
Johto was meh to me, I watched very little
--
When it got to hoenn I tried to watch Every Single Epasode when it was on. I loved that series, and the epicness contunied on with battle fronteir
--
Sinnoh is when I thought that the anime was getting riducless, not because of the voice or many others people keep saying.
It just didnt really feel good to me? xD. Some episodes did, I enjoyed parts, like johto.
--
Even if I havent watch the english yet, I think that Best Wishies is increbily amazing so far, I cant wait for more! ^.^
---

Honestly I still loved to watch even though the voices changed and they got rid of misty. I think it scool how they did that. Its new so why not new voices? :P
Didnt make me cringe /ok maybe Mirage Mastermind did

 

[Hourglasshero]

i don't think that the anime has gone downhill... It certainly has its flaws(tends to repeat itself) but i love it all the way! I watched it on TV from episode 1 and i am not retarded or anything because i love it! I mean the Best Wishes Episodes are like WOW! so many things happen in so little time! MIJUMARU FTW!

 

[Emonga]

My boyfriend and I still like the Anime. In fact I get up every Saturday morning at 6:00 AM just to watch it. And the voice don't bug me becuase after you watch the show for awhile you don't really care any more about it becuase you get used to it. At least I did anyway.

 

[2nd-Thanatos]

They are scripted. And since the animé now seems to want to restrict itself to four moves per Pokémon just like in the games they would end up using the same attacks.

What I meant to say is that it's always the same effects, the same attacks done the same way. If you compare to the manga (or any manga out there) you can see that even when characters do the same attack, things change. The opponents react diferent, the animation may be diferent, the angle will be different. How mnay times during Ash's battle against the 7th Sinnoh Leader did we see the same scenes repeated? That is kinda pathetic in XXI century.

As for the script, how many times didn't we seen the same sequence? X pokemon is fighting against Y, but Y is stronger. Ash cheers him up by saying he can do it, X evolves and beat Y.

They're ten. Why wouldn't they act childish?

Because not only 10 year olds are acting dumb. Officers, Gym Leaders, villains... Not to talk about Team Rocket. Now they are just annoying.

He said that over a decade ago. It's sad that people still use this to try and support their arguments still.

I can't see why it's sad. Sorry, but what really is kinda sad is that you're taking this almost personaly just to defend an anime.
By the way, the point of that sentence is, with the Pokemon Universe you can write many, many stories. Not only Pokemon Special, not Golden Boys, or whatever. There are TONS of possibilities, and I'm pretty sure the story could be much better without changing it's main target (kids).

Why does the animé need to follow Pokémon Special? They're are plenty more Pokémon manga out there.

Of course. And aren't they all better than the anime?

 

[Vernikova]

What I meant to say is that it's always the same effects, the same attacks done the same way. If you compare to the manga (or any manga out there) you can see that even when characters do the same attack, things change. The opponents react diferent, the animation may be diferent, the angle will be different. How mnay times during Ash's battle against the 7th Sinnoh Leader did we see the same scenes repeated? That is kinda pathetic in XXI century.

As for the script, how many times didn't we seen the same sequence? X pokemon is fighting against Y, but Y is stronger. Ash cheers him up by saying he can do it, X evolves and beat Y.

So you're talking about the animation? That's a result of the **** budget that show has. It's ugly to look at but it's been there since the beginning.

Because not only 10 year olds are acting dumb. Officers, Gym Leaders, villains... Not to talk about Team Rocket. Now they are just annoying.

What do you mean by dumb? Like, not being able to see the obvious and stuff?

I can't see why it's sad. Sorry, but what really is kinda sad is that you're taking this almost personaly just to defend an anime.

Don't half-ass it. I must be sad or not sad at all. Am I taking it personally or not? You must decide sir.

Anyway, it's sad because he said that over over a decade ago and it's very weird to use it in a discussion today.

By the way, the point of that sentence is, with the Pokemon Universe you can write many, many stories. Not only Pokemon Special, not Golden Boys, or whatever. There are TONS of possibilities, and I'm pretty sure the story could be much better without changing it's main target (kids).

Of course. It's too bad that the animé tries to stick closer to the games these days and not try and take more creative liberties.

Of course. And aren't they all better than the anime?

Some are and some aren't. It depends sir.

 

[2nd-Thanatos]

So you're talking about the animation? That's a result of the **** budget that show has. It's ugly to look at but it's been there since the beginning.

Well, I don't know. Pokémon is supposed to be very popular at Japan. And if the show is popular, it would be logic to have at least a decent budget. Again I say: I don't know.

What do you mean by dumb? Like, not being able to see the obvious and stuff?

Yeah. Ironically, there is no evolution in Pokemon. Characters still act the same way they did during the 1st season. I know Ash is supposed to never grow up, but even Coyote knew ACME's stuff wouldn't work xD

How many episodes have Pokemon? 650, moreless? And how many times did Team Rocket tried to steal Pikachu with the same stupid traps, and Pikachu escaped the same way? Even kids know Team Rocket will never win. There is not even a little surprise element. You easily can guess what will happen next. Like the example I said above about how the battles are.

Don't half-ass it. I must be sad or not sad at all. Am I taking it personally or not? You must decide sir.

Even through your last post looked quite "straight", I hope you're not taking it personally. What would be REALLY sad is to argue and get angry with someone just because we have different points of view. Points of view about Pokémon, by the way xD

Anyway, it's sad because he said that over over a decade ago and it's very weird to use it in a discussion today.

You're right. But, think about it. If you create a universe with elements that drastically change the way of life (in this case, Pokémons)... Which world is the closest to how things really would've been? The Animé, or the Manga? If you ask me, the Manga wins this.

Of course. It's too bad that the animé tries to stick closer to the games these days and not try and take more creative liberties.

Can you tell me your opinion about this? I mean, if the games change their formula to something completely different (Pokemon Journey and all, but done in a different way or with different elements)... Would if affect the show? The result would be good or bad?

 

[Vernikova]

Well, I don't know. Pokémon is supposed to be very popular at Japan. And if the show is popular, it would be logic to have at least a decent budget. Again I say: I don't know.

It is popular. I don't know why it has a **** budget though.

Yeah. Ironically, there is no evolution in Pokemon. Characters still act the same way they did during the 1st season. I know Ash is supposed to never grow up, but even Coyote knew ACME's stuff wouldn't work xD

Well, that would refer to the main characters since the other characters don't appear often outside of their region.

How many episodes have Pokemon? 650, moreless? And how many times did Team Rocket tried to steal Pikachu with the same stupid traps, and Pikachu escaped the same way? Even kids know Team Rocket will never win. There is not even a little surprise element. You easily can guess what will happen next. Like the example I said above about how the battles are.

They act more "serious" in the new saga. Of course, it runs on a formula which is pretty bad for a show running this long.

Even through your last post looked quite "straight", I hope you're not taking it personally. What would be REALLY sad is to argue and get angry with someone just because we have different points of view. Points of view about Pokémon, by the way xD

No one takes it personally. They shouldn't since it's a kids television show. I think it's because my lack of smiley usage.

You're right. But, think about it. If you create a universe with elements that drastically change the way of life (in this case, Pokémons)... Which world is the closest to how things really would've been? The Animé, or the Manga? If you ask me, the Manga wins this.

They're both pretty unrealistic anyway. The fact that children are able to fight and defeat crime syndicates is silly within itself. Military presencce isn't shown too much so I don't know.

Can you tell me your opinion about this? I mean, if the games change their formula to something completely different (Pokemon Journey and all, but done in a different way or with different elements)... Would if affect the show? The result would be good or bad?

it should affect the show. The show promotes the games so anything the games have the show will try to advertise. That's why there are seemingly no Pokémon Contests in the new region because there are no Pokémon Contests in the new games. Whether or not it would come out good would depend first on the games and then on the writers.

 

[Ersatz]

I was one of those people that didn't really like the new seasons as they came along. But just recently, especially with Best Wishes, I've been finding that it's not that bad as I thought. If I looked at it separately, it has it's own charm that I enjoy just as much as I did with the original season of the series. I'm enjoying the latest season as it is; some little bits do bother me but it's still good.