Controversial opinions

[ii kanji]

Let's face it: them being forced into every episode often led to nothing but useless padding, especially prior to DP.

I didn't mind.

Although in all seriousness, much as I hate their percentage rate of absence in SM, the series has done a really good job at making their appearances worthwhile and the characters feel whole and worth investing in again.

 

[Kurolegacy]

In the dub only.

In the anime, Pokemon are living, breathing creatures with their own needs and desires separate from those of their trainers. They are not property to be kept or released at the will of their human companions, but treated as friends. The idea that a trainer would somehow force their Pokemon to stay with them even when that Pokemon had a very good reason to part ways is simply absurd.

That doesn’t however change the fact that as a major premise of the series is collecting all of the Pokémon to the point that each game possesses a reward for doing so. And while the anime treats them as living creatures, it is a contrived notion that the writers will literally invent situations in which they have a main character release a Pokémon. The series isn’t real life, it is plotted out in the heads of a writing staff. Each Pokémon is as happy with their situation as the plot demands that they be. For them to literally just get rid of a Pokémon that it will never return is the very definition of wasting a perfectly good character especially in a serialized anime as Pokémon.

And as was stated in a later post, it’s an even bigger waste as not only did Butterfree barely get any real development but it’s abili to learn Psychic type attacks would have made it a great asset to Ash in the future. Getting rid of a character squanders all future potential because at that point, they’ just gone, the end.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

That doesn’t however change the fact that as a major premise of the series is collecting all of the Pokémon to the point that each game possesses a reward for doing so.

Seeing them, not catching them all.

The series isn’t real life, it is plotted out in the heads of a writing staff. Each Pokémon is as happy with their situation as the plot demands that they be. For them to literally just get rid of a Pokémon that it will never return is the very definition of wasting a perfectly good character especially in a serialized anime as Pokémon.

Sonetimes memorable goodbyes are better, especially compared to being unflatteringly disposed in Oak's ranch.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Seeing them, not catching them all.

Sonetimes memorable goodbyes are better, especially compared to being unflatteringly disposed in Oak's ranch.

Considering that a running theme with the Pokédex in the series is acquiring the data of the Pokémon by capturing them, it’s more the later than the former.

Also, a memorable goodbye works in a series that has an actual finite length but in a serialized series like Pokémon, it doesn’t quite work as well especially when Ash is the main character of the entire series and at least being at Oak’s lab means it can be called on at any time and, while only done on special occasions, has always felt like a fan service and a reward for watching the series when it does. You don’t get that with when you just get rid of a Pokémon and it screams of OS shortsightedness.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Considering that a running theme with the Pokédex in the series is acquiring the data of the Pokémon by capturing them, it’s more the later than the former.

That's only in the games, though. In the anime, however, it's been established and straight up shown that the Pokédexes already have the data on most of the Pokémon, with the exception of a few undiscovered Pokémon species/forms (such as Meltan and Zygarde).

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

By not "catching 'em all", the anime also gives each Pokémon a chance to develop its own personality. The regions where main characters have caught the most Pokémon, namely Kanto and Unova, have displayed how, if too many Pokémon are caught, some of them can easily get way too little character development.

Also, Pokémon are living, breathing things, so it'd be unfair for them to just be caught for the sake of completion and never be mentioned again in the anime universe.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Also, a memorable goodbye works in a series that has an actual finite length but in a serialized series like Pokémon, it doesn’t quite work as well especially when Ash is the main character of the entire series and at least being at Oak’s lab means it can be called on at any time and, while only done on special occasions, has always felt like a fan service and a reward for watching the series when it does. You don’t get that with when you just get rid of a Pokémon and it screams of OS shortsightedness.

If "the series isn’t real life, it is plotted out in the heads of a writing staff" as you said, there is no reason for them to can't return those pokémon, if they want it.

 

[Kurolegacy]

By not "catching 'em all", the anime also gives each Pokémon a chance to develop its own personality. The regions where main characters have caught the most Pokémon, namely Kanto and Unova, have displayed how, if too many Pokémon are caught, some of them can easily get way too little character development.

Also, Pokémon are living, breathing things, so it'd be unfair for them to just be caught for the sake of completion and never be mentioned again in the anime universe.

At that point, that is on the fault of the writers that they can’t figure out how to develop the Pokémon they added to the cast. Given the sheer amount of skippable content that the anime has, there’s no real excuse for how they can’t develop people and Pokémon aside from a select group each saga.

And the point isn’t in catching them all but in how just getting rid of Pokémon is both counterproductive to both the series own premise and the very prospect of character building as they’re just writing the Pokémon out of the series to never be heard from again.

If "the series isn’t real life, it is plotted out in the heads of a writing staff" as you said, there is no reason for them to can't return those pokémon, if they want it.

The thing with the writing staff is that they write these Pokémon out of the series with no intention of them returning. In the 20+ years that Pokémon has been around, not a single released Pokémon has returned. The only ones who aren’t Oaked who return are those who Ash left with another and thus could call on them should he need them.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

In the 20+ years that Pokémon has been around, not a single released Pokémon has returned.

I assume you mean permanently released, since Goodra did come back briefly. And the reason for them not returning is obvious: they were released to a place or position where they feel perfectly happy being at.

 

[Daenerys]

That whole 'gotta catch em all' motto that the dub loved to flaunt back in 1998 really did some damage didn't it? Some people still think that it's Ash's goal to catch every single Pokemon despite him not showing any initiative to actually do that for like 2 decades now, and the fact that there are over 800 Pokemon should make it clear that it's just not realistic to expect him to own every single Pokemon.

Also I don't mind it when characters release their Pokemon/send them off for training which are basically the same thing since we'll never see them again lol; I just hate some of the justifications for a few of those decisions, notably Ambipom's departure which had Ambipom do a 180 degree turn by making her suddenly care more about ping-pong (a sport that she had only just learned about in that same episode) than Contests (something she had shown interest in since AG). Like seriously wtf was that about?

 

[toastghost]

Best Wishes wasn't exactly flawless in its pacing either (Decolore Islands say hi) and the Sun & Moon characters have had plenty of development, even outside of Lillie and Lana, and I dare say they were more memorable than most of the Best Wishes characters. Best Wishes failed to utilize a ton of the potential it had, which hasn't happened even nearly as much in Sun & Moon in my honest opinion. And the heartfelt or otherwise emotional stories Sun & Moon has given has been way better than anything Best Wishes could offer.

So, in short: in my opinion, Best Wishes was hot garbage compared to Sun & Moon. How's that for a controversial opinion?

I agree with you. The characters in Best Wishes were either bland and boring, or just straight up mean. however, Black and White did have it's strong points. I thought Oshawott and Emolga were adorable, and some episodes such as when they helped a little girl stop a drought with the help of Jirachi were good. Personally, I don't understand all the hate for Sun and Moon. Characters like Lillie, Lana, Kiawe, and Mallow really get their time to shine. People seem to not like the comedic episodes. In Indigo League, some of the episodes that were praised so much were comedic. Yet any comedic episode from Sun and Moon were "bad". I guess whenever it's Gen 1, it's better than anything else.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

In Indigo League, some of the episodes that were praised so much were comedic. Yet any comedic episode from Sun and Moon were "bad". I guess whenever it's Gen 1, it's better than anything else.

The people praising comedic indigo episodes and not liking the SM slapsick probably isn’t the same bunch of people.

 

[Daenerys]

The people praising comedic indigo episodes and not liking the SM slapsick probably isn’t the same bunch of people.

While this is partially true, I don't get why some people respond to criticism of SuMo's funny moments by reminding people that Kanto had funny moments too. Like, do they not realize that Kanto's funny moments (while also slapstick on occasion) weren't as excessive as SuMo's funny moments? Because I've watched every Kanto episode at least a dozen times and I don't remember characters pulling dramatic facial expressions nearly as much as SuMo's characters do on a constant basis and even the jokes in Kanto weren't nearly as forced as some of the joke scenes in SuMo, which feel more like the writing staff are trying too hard to fill their quote of comedy moments in each episode.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I assume you mean permanently released, since Goodra did come back briefly. And the reason for them not returning is obvious: they were released to a place or position where they feel perfectly happy being at.

Goodra was released in a place where there is a human Ash could contact if he needed it which puts him in a similar place to Squirtle where he can be called on if needed.

Obviously the writers are going to have the Pokémon be happy, that’s not the issue. The issue is that they invent a plot point to get rid of the Pokémon permanently. It feels like a lazy manner of writing them off when they have no idea what to do with the Pokémon.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Something I feel that applies to both the games and at least in some degree the anime: why do some people seem to think a rival has to be a jerk to be good? I admit that some rivals are weaker than others, but them not being jerks doesn't automatically make them bad. For example, Wally in ORAS is far from being an a-hole, but still raises to be a challenging rival.

Also, in the anime's case, being a jerk didn't really work in Gary's favor. He was a jerk towards Ash for entire season 1, but he only showed off his superiority towards him in indirect ways, like by constantly taunting him, catching more Pokémon, and getting more Badges faster than him. They never battled directly until the end of the Orange Islands saga, by which time Gary had become way less jerkish. I admit that Paul pulled the jerkish anime rival concept about as perfectly as one could, but I didn't say that the concept couldn't work well. I just said that definition doesn't necessarily equal "good rival". Sawyer is a good example of a well-handled non-jerkish rival in the anime.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Guzma is the hero Alola needs but doesn't deserve

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I think the way Ash lost the Indigo League was done well. Him losing because he hadn't invested enough on training his Pokémon and solving its disobedience issue was a clear sign that he was still an inexperienced Trainer who had gotten as far as he had at that point with more luck than skill. This was a really humbling experience for him, and, combined with the "failure is not the end of the journey" lesson he received from Ritchie in the following episode, inspired him to keep trying and actually put some effort into his training.

 

[PrettySylveon]

I think the way Ash lost the Indigo League was done well. Him losing because he hadn't invested enough on training his Pokémon and solving its disobedience issue was a clear sign that he was still an inexperienced Trainer who had gotten as far as he had at that point with more luck than skill. This was a really humbling experience for him, and, combined with the "failure is not the end of the journey" lesson he received from Ritchie in the following episode, inspired him to keep trying and actually put some effort into his training.

Even thought I don’t agree entirely, I do think it’s partially Ash’s own fault he lost (it’s also the fact that Team Rocket annoyed me so much in that episode!).

Had he used another Pokémon like Kingker or Muk in lieu of Charizard, then maybe results would have been different. It’s called living and learning.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Something I feel that applies to both the games and at least in some degree the anime: why do some people seem to think a rival has to be a jerk to be good? I admit that some rivals are weaker than others, but them not being jerks doesn't automatically make them bad. For example, Wally in ORAS is far from being an a-hole, but still raises to be a challenging rival

I think it’s less because of them being jerks, and more because their jerkish personalities usually come off as a better motive to train and fight them.

The most stellar case are Blue and Silver. One needs to constantly try shoving you down to boost his own ego, while the other is desperate to prove he’s not a weakling after a bad childhood under the shadow of his father. You wanna prove that you’re just as good, you get angry at them, you wanna prove yourself.

It’s less about them being jerks, and more about them being rivals that stand out and actually make you wanna kick their asses, whilst the XY rivals spend half of their time grovelling at your feet screaming about how awesome and friendly you are and Hau doesn’t seem like a serious rival until the late game (I do agree that he got some neat development though).

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Goodra was released in a place where there is a human Ash could contact if he needed it which puts him in a similar place to Squirtle where he can be called on if needed.

That human can't help them though. His pokéball is still with Satoshi, hence why he personally had to go to bring it to the league, instead of transporting it.

The thing with the writing staff is that they write these Pokémon out of the series with no intention of them returning. In the 20+ years that Pokémon has been around, not a single released Pokémon has returned. The only ones who aren’t Oaked who return are those who Ash left with another and thus could call on them should he need them.

Which pokémon do you count as released? Both Charizard and Gliscor used to be counted as released, yet they returned. Both Lapras and Poipole were temporary captures, so it makes no sense for them to return. Pidgeot wasn't even supposed to be released, as Ash only temporarily left it, and then forgot about it for some reason. There is only Butterfree and Greninja left as true releases, and Greninja is only left to help the literal protector of Kalos, so it wouldn't be strange for its return.