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Controversial opinions

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I think the disobedience arc Ash's Charizard had was completely unnecessary, made Charizard look really bad, took way too long to resolve, and I've never 100% forgiven Charizard for it. Getting rid of it was one of my favorite things about the I Choose You movie.

If they really wanted to do it, they should've made it look more like Ash's fault instead of Charizard just being irrationally arrogant, childish, and stubborn. They should've specifically shown us what mistakes Ash made that Charizard was upset about, and had Ash formally acknowledge them and apologize. Ash shouldn't have been criticized for it so much, and Charizard shouldn't have gotten off scot-free for purposely ruining Ash's chances of a better spot in the Indigo League, because Pokemon in the anime are clearly smart enough to be capable of reason. I don't care that Ash didn't train enough. I don't care that he was "bad" at it and got undeserved badges. I don't care that Charizard might somehow count as a "trade" even though Damian got nothing. Ash was still exceptionally kind and self-sacrificing towards his Pokemon, and he still helped save Charizard's life as a Charmander. There's just no good excuse for Charizard's actions, and they were smoothed over far too easily.

Even "Charizard Chills" was underwhelming, because it was touching... but basically one big, contrived coincidence. Even the Trainer responsible for getting Charizard dangerously frozen comes off like nothing but a plot device, because he doesn't even try to help or face real consequences for his reckless battling call from what I remember. Getting through to your Pokemon shouldn't have to be completely reliant on saving them from death. Someone should've helped Ash come up with a formal plan to get through to Charizard without having to rely on a completely coincidental bonding experience... especially because more realistically, that experience should've definitely been a little traumatic.

Also, as a tangential controversial opinion: I'm glad Ash's Charizard never became a Mega. It doesn't deserve that much power and hype after all that poorly-justified crap it pulled.
 
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CaptainBuggles said:
Someone should've helped Ash come up with a formal plan to get through to Charizard
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Exactly why? Does 'someone' have an obligation to help Ash out of Charizard's situation? Why should someone else fix Ash's issues for him? He thinks he’s a capable enough trainer, so he should tackle his Pokemon's issues himself,

Ash had plenty of time to work on a disobedient Charizard, But was like "Oh nvm". It was his fault which led to his loss in the Pokemon league.
CaptainBuggles said:
If they really wanted to do it, they should've made it look more like Ash's fault instead of Charizard just being irrationally arrogant, childish, and stubborn.
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Charizard being disobedient for such a long time was definitely shown to be Ash's fault. He made no effort to regain Charizard's respect even after the old lady in Paras episode told him the issue.
CaptainBuggles said:
I don't care that Ash didn't train enough. I don't care that he was "bad" at it and got undeserved badges.
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CaptainBuggles said:
Ash was still exceptionally kind and self-sacrificing towards his Pokemon, and he still helped save Charizard's life as a Charmander.
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Being an overly kind and self-sacrificing trainer does not mean his Pokemon will never face any doubts or issues about him. His personality does not give him a pass from not training his Pokemon enough.

Ash did not spend enough time with Charizard and it was partly his fault that Charizard didn’t obey him at the league.
 
PkmnTrainerV said:
Exactly why? Does 'someone' have an obligation to help Ash out of Charizard's situation? Why should someone else fix Ash's issues for him? He thinks he’s a capable enough trainer, so he should tackle his Pokemon's issues himself,

Ash had plenty of time to work on a disobedient Charizard, But was like "Oh nvm". It was his fault which led to his loss in the Pokemon league.
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I never said "fix Ash's issues for him". I only said "help". No teacher should be someone who does all the work for you. Even with better advice and guidance, it would preferably still mostly be up to Ash.

Also, from what I remember, no one gave him much of anything specific to go on outside of needing to get Charmeleon to respect him again because Charmeleon's skill surpassed his... Which is pretty vague. He's a 10-year-old rookie trying to tame one of Kanto's strongest Fire-types. Even if you give someone all the time in the world, they aren't going to be able to fix something if they never learn how. Especially because Charizard would often rather attack him than actually listen, and Ash clearly didn't know how to handle that. (But the attacks I'm not so bothered about, since I know it's only meant as slapstick)

You could imply that the solution to your skill being surpassed is possibly to train enough to impress Charizard again, but how would Ash know that for sure? It makes sense that Ash would mistakenly think he just needed to be patient, given that he's fundamentally kind and trusting, but also rather naive. I do agree that Ash not being proactive was a huge flaw, but I fully believe he still deserved more help with that flaw.

I also feel like part of it was less Ash's laziness and perhaps more of an unspoken fear. A lot of his OS behavior came off as a sort of combined inferiority/superiority complex... Basically, using grand statements and bravado to cover up insecurities and real issues, meaning he he may have been avoiding full effort because he secretly lacked faith in himself, even though he'd never admit it. Still, I fully admit this particular opinion may be a huge reach that relies on a lot of implication and can definitely be countered. I just find it hard to believe that someone as driven and energetic as Ash would avoid something so important out of mere "laziness" or "apathy"

Even if he does it completely "alone", there has to be someone who gave him the knowledge required to do it in the first place. And given how Ash is, the most believable way for him to get the advice and knowledge he needs would be to actually talk to someone, rather than traditional studying. Plus, some of the main points of the whole show are friendship and kindness, and neither of those things are always about "obligation". But I do believe that morally speaking, Charizard trying his best in the Conference would be the right thing to do. Ash isn't ever some lone wolf who doesn't need anyone, even if his bouts of arrogance in Gen 1 were irritating.

After all, it would make just as much sense for Ash to learn not to be arrogant in the process of realizing he needs help sometimes and doesn't know everything, rather than having to suffer an embarrassing and rather anticlimactic loss.

I'm not even saying he should've been able to use his obedient Charizard to win the whole thing, because I think that would still be going too far. I just think that whatever place he ended up getting, he should've gotten there through all of his Pokemon trying their absolute best and simply being overcome by a superior opponent.
 
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Rockapheller said:
I agree with this except Orange Islands season being my favourite and Kalos is right after. What is your favourite episode in Johto saga?
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"The Superhero Secret" (Mysterious Superhero! Gligerman Appears!!) I saw it years after it broadcast but I just loved how they paid homage to tokusatsu shows like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. Now Gliscor's one of my favorite Pokemon to use in the game too.
 
-I think most of the good stories the anime has had aren't that good at the end of the day. For every good story, there is a show or anime out there who did it better and in much less time, making the anime very hard to recommend.

-Team Rocket being grating on DP was not the dub's fault,that's just the way they were written in that series. They're always smiling, and both their scheming scenes and battle scenes are much longer than before. I'm five episodes in and I'm already tired of them. I've previously watched some AG episodes and they weren't like that.
 
- While it has some things going for it, OS is overrated

- XY is just average at best, but XYZ was pretty decent

- BW Ash has a better personality than XY Ash while the latter is a better trainer

- I wasn't upset when Ash lost the Kalos League

- I like SM and BW aside from Da!, but Da! had a handful of decent episodes

- I like Under The Alolan Sun and all 3 BW dub openings

- I prefer the Japanese Opening Battle Frontier and Advance Adventure, over Spurt!

- Pokémon Johto is a better opening than Pokémon Theme

- While she still isn't as good as Veronica Taylor by any means,
Sarah Natochenny is pretty decent as Ash in her own right from mid DP-onward.

- Carter Cathcart and Michele Knotz are still awful as Team Rocket and Professor Oak.

- Max isn't as bad as others claim he is.

- Aside from a few moments like Ash discovering he has Aura and eventually bonding with Lucario,
M08 is the weakest AG movie.

- I enjoyed M16 and didn't mind another Mewtwo being in the film.
 
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Blaziken and Greninja are overrated, but I like Charizard and Lucario. Call me whatever you want, that's how I feel.

Oh, and just to agree with the previous post: I too liked the Best Wishes Mewtwo and actually found its female voice enjoyable.
 
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I hate Lucario. A lot. I really don’t see the appeal. It just tries it’s hardest to emulate Charizard or Mewtwo to be 'cool'. Charizard, Greninja and (recently) Lycanroc play the role of being th 'cool one' much better.

Even though Greninja went overboard with shoving itself down our faces, I can atleast see it’s appeal. And I prefer Bond Phenomenon as depicted in the anime to all the 'cool' Lucario shenanigans.
Ash's Charizard was iconic and I kind of understand why it is shoved down our faces, but still, it had no business being in Unova. It should've been called in Kalos instead, and Mega Evolved to its Y form.

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I liked Alain as a character and believe that his win against Ash was fully deserved. He could've been better at some places, for example, namedropping the league in the ME Specials and showing some interest in it, and giving prior appearances to more team members of his instead of just Charizard (for example, a shot of Mairin playing with Pawniard and Tranquil or something).

His one shot-ing opponents with Charizard made some amount of sense since he trained harder than Ash ever did. Greninja losing to Mega Charizard X made sense since Greninja trained nowhere near as often as Alain and his Charizard.

He trained really hard and his work paid off at the league. He was not a complete Gary Stu as he had character faults (being manipulated by Lysandre easily).

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I wish we could get more Mega Evolution Specials with Mairin finally getting a Mega Pokemon of her own.
 
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