Review New series: Initial thoughts

[Silktree]

I don't like it when characters are showered with praise, be it by Game Freak, OLM or the fans. A Champion doesn't need to be said to be undefeated time and time again; we can infer that they must be at least close to being undefeated to have made it to the top and maintained their status. This episode is basically about "yep, undefeated!", but hopefully Ash will get something out of it (not a desire to utilize Dynamax, but rather a way to become a giant slayer).

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm just happy that we're getting Leon in the anime a lot sooner than expected. I really liked him and I didn't think he'd show up this early in the series. Hopefully this will help give Ash some kind of goal or motivation for this series even when he isn't in Galar.

 

[Daren]

Hmmm...
So Leon's appearing soon, we've been introduced to a World Championship tournament, and new DLC for SWSh reveals a former champion running a dojo who trained Leon, the current champion.

They might not do anything with this but it does seem awfully coincidental and I can't see them not showing off the new areas.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

It's likely this new series will also be about Ash and the Champions. With Ash now Champion of Alola, he would have to now face off against Lance, Steven, Cynthia, Alder, Diantha and Leon in some World Championship Tournament. Having Leon being the greatest and strongest Champion of them all.

The Crown Tundra could give us that update for this feature, since Garchomp will be unlocked in the expansion. Perhaps also showing us where Cynthia's house is, as she is an archaeologist and would be interested in the ruins within that area of Galar.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Don't even worry about it. People just take Pokemon way too seriously these days . I don't see Scorbunny hitting Ash any different than when Charizard burned him many times (or when Pikachu shocked Ash). There was one episode with Ash getting angry when Bayleef kept tackling him, but at least Bayleef meant well and her tackles were meant to be affectionate unlike Charizard who kept on attacking Ash maliciously. Most of the people complaining about the slapstick are adults, and we forget that we aren't even the target deomgraphic for this show anyway.

While I think some fans have legitimate reasons to dislike Iris, I do think that fans try to make her out to be worse than she is (this is the reason why she has her own page in the toxic fandoms and hatedoms wiki). When I binge watched Best Wishes last year, I just found the catchphrase eyeroll-enducing at worst. I mean I only had a problem with her calling Ash a kid sometimes (I felt it was justified sometimes because Ash really was idiotic, especially with the infamous Elesa battle), but it was hilarious when she called other characters like Georgia and Trip kids because at least she didn't come off as a hypocrite with them (since those two were way more assholish/immature than Iris was). My brother doesn't like Iris that much either because he's not fond of her wild child antics, but even he doesn't care about what she does or says to Ash because he doesn't take Pokemon too seriously.

Oh, but of course. Fans being passionate about the anime is the problem. How could I be soooo blind. Clearly people have a problem with the Scorbunny gag, not because it's stupid and annoying and starting to get old pretty fast and drags the characters down... no, it's the fact that fans take the anime to seriously. After all, the Scorbunny attacking Ash for no reason or for very shallow ones is just the same as all of the other "Pokémon attacks X" gags that we've seen before, right? Never mind all of the two+ pages of posts where myself and others have gone into detail explaining why the gag doesn't work and why it's not the same as the other previous similar gags... no, it's just the same as Pikachu or Charizard or Bayleef or Turtwig or Gible or James' Pokémon or some other Pokémon that had a similar gag. And the same goes for Iris, right? It's not like there are legitimate reasons for why people consider her a terrible character and why they don't like her (like her being a hypocrite that rarely gets called out or her being given free stuff without working that hard for it or her being considered great and amazing by other characters without earning it)... no, it's clearly all because of this "toxic" mentality that fans have. How dare fans be passionate about something they loved and have grown up with? How dare they criticize the anime and the direction it's going? How dare they point out the flaws and explain why they are bad? Clearly they should just not think about anime, they should just consume the anime and get excited about the next anime.

Sarcastic paragraph aside, I find the "It's intended for children" excuse that's being used for a lot of poorly-made media to be getting really boring. Like, ignoring the fact that the people working on the anime said that the show is intended for both old and new fans (which means that the older fans are part of the target audience as well), why is it that it being for kids means that it's okay? Why is it that something being intended for children means that its flaws are suddenly excusable and can't be criticized? Are kids noting but dumb idiots that don't deserve anything of quality and that show that cater to them should be nothing but trash (not saying that Pokémon or the current series are trash; just talking about it in general)? Do kids not deserve good shows that have great stories and consistent characters and stelar animation and good humour that ridicules the characters?

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

SS001 was literally advertised as a "Pikachu backstory", I doubt new fans would find any connection to him.

Ah yes, Pikachu, the pokémon that's known for especially popular amongst older fans, and not popular in current target audience.

You must be very naive or ignorant if you don't think those particular details aren't intentionally placed to spark up discussions and hype the episodes especially among older fans

Or, maybe, you're in denial. Why would they care about older fans?

They themselves admitted back during the pre-SS001 week that they're using the "Pikachu backstory" advertising to build up hype and get old fans to watch.

Nope.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Ah yes, Pikachu, the pokémon that's known for especially popular amongst older fans, and not popular in current target audience.

Pikachu, as a species, is indeed very popular (not to mention the mascot of the Pokémon franchise). However, Ash's Pikachu is a particular Pikachu and the particular one that generally older fans of the anime were interested in his backstory the most. Some of the newer fans might also have some interest Pikachu and his past, sure, but the older fans are the ones who are more interested and more invested in this Pikachu and its past.

Or, maybe, you're in denial. Why would they care about older fans?

Well, let's see... there's an entire episode whose premise and title are very, very, VERY similar to Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden, an episode that has Battle Frontier in the name and features it as well (something that hasn't been seen in the anime or the games in about 10 years), an entire episode dedicated to Ash's Pikachu's backstory, a couple of popular Pokémon heavily associated with certain series and main characters appear on the poster for this series... oh, right, almost forgot about them stating that the series is intended form both new and old fans. Yup, there's definitely no sign of them trying to attract the attention of the older fans by (re)introducing stuff that they are more likely to recognize and remember. Nope, nada, zero proof at all.

As for why they would care about the older fans... who the hell would be stupid enough to turn they're backs on/ignore/let go of the people who supported the franchise for so long, who helped it become the phenomenon that it is today and who want the best for it and are willing to continue to support it, even when it's at its worst (outside of knuckleheads like the ones working at Lucasfilm, that is)?

Nope.

... Just... gonna leave these two posts here... for no reason:

They don’t exactly mention clickbait, but expected the episode to go "viral" because it’s the backstory of Ash's Pikachu.

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/DogasusBackpack/status/1190906860552851457

Something going "viral" usually means abnormally widespread attention to the level of crazes.
The inference can be made pretty easily when you could replace Ash's Pikachu with any other Pikachu and the episode would be the same. It fails to address any of the issues specific to Pikachu's backstory, or has anything distinctive. I’d have assumed it to be a glorified Pikachu short if we hadn’t been told that it’s Ash's Pichu beforehand.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

... Just... gonna leave these two posts here... for no reason:

Thanks for showing how unfounded is Panky's "older fans" lie?

Some of the newer fans might also have some interest Pikachu and his past, sure, but the older fans are the ones who are more interested and more invested in this Pikachu and its past.

Nope. If anything, they're the ones who complain about screentime he gets.

Well, let's see... there's an entire episode whose premise and title are very, very, VERY similar to Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden, an episode that has Battle Frontier in the name and features it as well (something that hasn't been seen in the anime or the games in about 10 years), an entire episode dedicated to Ash's Pikachu's backstory, a couple of popular Pokémon heavily associated with certain series and main characters appear on the poster for this series... oh, right, almost forgot about them stating that the series is intended form both new and old fans. Yup, there's definitely no sign of them trying to attract the attention of the older fans by (re)introducing stuff that they are more likely to recognize and remember. Nope, nada, zero proof at all.

Well, let's see...if they were really want to attract the older fans, they would actually bring back those old characters and pokémon, no? There is no reason for them to not return them if they want. Unless you believe that they're hating older fans?

As for why they would care about the older fans... who the hell would be stupid enough to turn they're backs on/ignore/let go of the people who supported the franchise for so long, who helped it become the phenomenon that it is today and who want the best for it and are willing to continue to support it, even when it's at its worst (outside of knuckleheads like the ones working at Lucasfilm, that is)?

How many anime related merchandise do you actually bought?

Something going "viral" usually means abnormally widespread attention to the level of crazes. The inference can be made pretty easily when you could replace Ash's Pikachu with any other Pikachu and the episode would be the same. It fails to address any of the issues specific to Pikachu's backstory, or has anything distinctive. I’d have assumed it to be a glorified Pikachu short if we hadn’t been told that it’s Ash's Pichu beforehand.

Assumption: They advertized it as Pikachu's backstory, so it can go viral and older fans would watch it to learn more about Pikachu, their favorite pokémon.
Truth: They wanted the episode to be popular, go viral and popularize Gou, so people who didn't watch it then hear about it, and decide to watch the second episode out of curiousity for this guy called Gou, who wants to catch Mew.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Sarcastic paragraph aside, I find the "It's intended for children" excuse that's being used for a lot of poorly-made media to be getting really boring. Like, ignoring the fact that the people working on the anime said that the show is intended for both old and new fans (which means that the older fans are part of the target audience as well), why is it that it being for kids means that it's okay? Why is it that something being intended for children means that its flaws are suddenly excusable and can't be criticized? Are kids noting but dumb idiots that don't deserve anything of quality and that show that cater to them should be nothing but trash (not saying that Pokémon or the current series are trash; just talking about it in general)? Do kids not deserve good shows that have great stories and consistent characters and stelar animation and good humour that ridicules the characters?

These excuses are ridiculous. Children are not stupid.

 

[Panky..]

Ah yes, Pikachu, the pokémon that's known for especially popular amongst older fans, and not popular in current target audience.

Uh huh? Except, there was no point in the "backstory" aspect if it were just any Pikachu in general. Remember, Pikachu itself became a series mascot thanks to the anime, Ash's Pikachu namely speaking. New fans wouldn't get anything out of the "backstory".

Or, maybe, you're in denial. Why would they care about older fans?

I don't know, maybe because they're also a part of the fanbase, who are mostly the buyers of the merch and tend to introduce their children to the franchise? Maybe because it doesn't harm the franchise in any way? Maybe because of the older fans, they are where they are now?

Nope.

That's all you can say here...?

Thanks for showing how unfounded is Panky's "older fans" lie?

What lie? I pretty much commented what they themselves said, just in a less PR friendly manner. I won't bother looking for the exact article or interview link since it's long lost in some of the speculation threads (the new and old fans one), especially not for you and my reasoning for the latter is at the end of this post.

Nope. If anything, they're the ones who complain about screentime he gets.

I don't recall anyone complaining about Pikachu's screentime? Way to go with making weird assumptions.

Well, let's see...if they were really want to attract the older fans, they would actually bring back those old characters and pokémon, no? There is no reason for them to not return them if they want. Unless you believe that they're hating older fans?

There's no reason for them to not return either. I don't know if they're outright hating older fans, but I'm pretty sure they're using nostalgia as a bait and switch. Just look at the fake "Ho-oh" summary for SS009. Or the Piplup and Croagunk clones for SS008. Or the pointless usage of "Battle Frontier" for SS007. I could go on and on.

How many anime related merchandise do you actually bought?

A lot, both in the past and even now. Again, way to go with assuming that old fans aren't invested in the franchise when most of the revenue came from them.

Assumption: They advertized it as Pikachu's backstory, so it can go viral and older fans would watch it to learn more about Pikachu, their favorite pokémon.
Truth: They wanted the episode to be popular, go viral and popularize Gou, so people who didn't watch it then hear about it, and decide to watch the second episode out of curiousity for this guy called Gou, who wants to catch Mew.

And you think this bait advertisement is completely fine? Then that makes you a company/corporate apologist.

I've noticed your posts are very selective and dismiss everything that people say in counter to your arguments (especially in argument chains between you and @Pulsaro23) if you can't find a response to those parts, in a similar vein to two other people who I've called out for doing the same before (who've probably blocked/ignored me).
If you're not going to take other people's arguments as a whole into account and only selectively respond to parts of it to formulate your own counter, much less take them seriously, then don't bother responding to me again. You'll just be wasting yours as well as my time.

These excuses are ridiculous. Children are not stupid.

That's exactly what Pulsaro said, saying "it's a children's show" doesn't excuse the poor quality of it or lack of effort put int ito. If that were the case then we 80s/90s kids wouldn't have all the awesome shows like Tom and Jerry, Top Cat, Arthur, Dexter's Lab .etc.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Thanks for showing how unfounded is Panky's "older fans" lie?

I have no idea how you got that from what I posted. Maybe it's because they don't actually mention it directly, despite it being the implication? "Or, maybe, you're in denial" and blinded by your love for this new series, since you act like they never actually said that the series is for older and newer fans or that they're pulling this shady kind of advertising to generate hype?

Nope. If anything, they're the ones who complain about screentime he gets.

Really, now? So we're just gonna ignore all of those videos and posts and articles discussing what Pikachu's backstory could be and whether he had a previous trainer before Ash and who that might be because some people don't like the fact that it's overexposed? And, I'm really curious, where are these people that complain about it having too much screen time? Not saying that they don't exist, but I don't remember seeing any around here or on YouTube (which makes me believe that they're not that huge in terms of numbers).

Well, let's see...if they were really want to attract the older fans, they would actually bring back those old characters and pokémon, no? There is no reason for them to not return them if they want. Unless you believe that they're hating older fans?

I don't know. If I were to guess? It's probably because they're trying to appeal to older fans without introducing too much elements from the past (either because they don't know how to incorporate them or because they turned the series into an episodic one and they're afraid that people won't understand them or because they're just plain clueless and don't actually know what the older fans want, all of which are equally terrible reasons), leading to them trying to have their proverbial cake and eating it too. Either that or they're just really incompetent at writing stories that are consistent with the rest of the anime (which, considering most of the episodes in this series, is also pretty likely).

How many anime related merchandise do you actually bought?

Me, personally? Not as much as I'd like to. But I'd like to make it clear that that's not because I don't want to buy them, it's 'cause Pokémon merchandise in general is pretty scare in my country. But whenever I find something, be it in a store or online, I do try to buy it as soon as I can. Though whenever I order them online, they take months to be delivered (for example, I bought a Charizard plushie to add to my collection all the way back in November and it still hasn't come). However, just because I can't buy merchandise that often, it doesn't mean that other people don't buy it as well (as @Panky..'s post above proves).

Assumption: They advertized it as Pikachu's backstory, so it can go viral and older fans would watch it to learn more about Pikachu, their favorite pokémon.
Truth: They wanted the episode to be popular, go viral and popularize Gou, so people who didn't watch it then hear about it, and decide to watch the second episode out of curiousity for this guy called Gou, who wants to catch Mew.

What the... how did... I... how the hell is it an assumption that they advertised the first episode of this series as Pikachu's backstory or that they did it so that it would go viral?! In those tweets I quoted, it says right there that the first episode is the "untold secret origin of Pikachu" (not just any Pikachu mind you, Ash's Pikachu)! It says in the tweet below that they did so because "the idea is to use Pikachu's popularity to make Episode 1 go viral"! The thing you call just an "assumption" is entirely based on what they themselves have said in interviews! It's not something we came up with out of nowhere!! If their intention was to introduce Go and popularize him, why the hell did they advertise it as Pikachu's kriffing backstory, which has nothing to do with Go?!?! I really can't fathom how someone would be okay with such sleazy types of advertising, much less defend it!

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Uh huh? Except, there was no point in the "backstory" aspect if it were just any Pikachu in general. Remember, Pikachu itself became a series mascot thanks to the anime, Ash's Pikachu namely speaking. New fans wouldn't get anything out of the "backstory".

What does this non sequitur had to do with anything?

I don't know, maybe because they're also a part of the fanbase, who are mostly the buyers of the merch and tend to introduce their children to the franchise? Maybe because it doesn't harm the franchise in any way? Maybe because of the older fans, they are where they are now?

You're changing the subject. "Care" we were talking about is basically tricking older fans into watching a TV episode. An episode they already uploaded into Youtube.

That's all you can say here...?

That's the only answer I can give to an outright lie.

What lie?

"They admitted to be tricking older fans into watching that episode" lie.

I pretty much commented what they themselves said, just in a less PR friendly manner.

Even if it's true (which isn't) you outright claimed that they admitted it. Which is an outright lie.

I won't bother looking for the exact article or interview link since it's long lost in some of the speculation threads (the new and old fans one), especially not for you and my reasoning for the latter is at the end of this post.

Maybe because no such article actually exist?

I don't recall anyone complaining about Pikachu's screentime? Way to go with making weird assumptions.

Really?

There's no reason for them to not return either.

Why are you saying...the exact same thing I said...to me...as an answer?

I don't know if they're outright hating older fans, but I'm pretty sure they're using nostalgia as a bait and switch.

Why though? There is no reason for them to do something like that, and you still didn't give me any credible reason to believe something non-sensical like that.

Just look at the fake "Ho-oh" summary for SS009. Or the Piplup and Croagunk clones for SS008. Or the pointless usage of "Battle Frontier" for SS007.

Hoenn BF is a tournament based on the game, there is no relation to Kanto BF.
They actually returned the original voice actors of Croagunk and Piplup, so there is an actually genuine reason to see it as a nostalgia based episode.
We didn't even watch Ho-oh, so there is no reason yet to criticize it for lack of nostalgia.

Again, way to go with assuming that old fans aren't invested in the franchise when most of the revenue came from them.

I...really doubt that.

And you think this bait advertisement is completely fine?

Yes? It is only bait if you actually believe your own conspiracy theory.

Then that makes you a company/corporate apologist.

Which company? OLM? TV Tokyo? I believe I criticized them enough in the past to be called as such.

I've noticed your posts are very selective and dismiss everything that people say in counter to your arguments (especially in argument chains between you and @Pulsaro23) if you can't find a response to those parts, in a similar vein to two other people who I've called out for doing the same before

I answered everything other than obvious non sequitur and outrught falsehoods.

If you're not going to take other people's arguments as a whole into account and only selectively respond to parts of it to formulate your own counter, much less take them seriously, then don't bother responding to me again. You'll just be wasting yours as well as my time.

Not sure what you're referring here.

I have no idea how you got that from what I posted.

I actually read what they said? That's how I got that from what you posted.

Maybe it's because they don't actually mention it directly, despite it being the implication?

Even if it's true (which isn't) Panky outright claimed that they admitted it. Which isn't case if they didn't state it directly.

"Or, maybe, you're in denial" and blinded by your love for this new series, since you act like they never actually said that the series is for older and newer fans or that they're pulling this shady kind of advertising to generate hype?

Facts are facts, they never admitted anything like tricking older fans. Whole older and newer fans thing is nothing new, they always say stuff like that. PM 2019 is still primarily a show aimed at children. There is nothing shady about that.

Really, now? So we're just gonna ignore all of those videos and posts and articles discussing what Pikachu's backstory could be and whether he had a previous trainer before Ash and who that might be because some people don't like the fact that it's overexposed?

Not sure why a bunch of Youtubers trying to get ad money proves that older fans care more about Pikachu, compared to the younger ones or target audience.

And, I'm really curious, where are these people that complain about it having too much screen time? Not saying that they don't exist, but I don't remember seeing any around here or on YouTube (which makes me believe that they're not that huge in terms of numbers).

In this forum? And at Serebii forums? They...complain...constatly...Really, how can, how could you don't know or seen them? Just looks at preview and review threads of everytime Pikachu took the spotlight.

However, just because I can't buy merchandise that often, it doesn't mean that other people don't buy it as well (as @Panky..'s post above proves).

Panky's post doesn't prove anything. Non-target audience is still economically less important compared to the target audience.

What the... how did... I... how the hell is it an assumption that they advertised the first episode of this series as Pikachu's backstory or that they did it so that it would go viral?!

Bacause it contradicts what's actually said there?

In those tweets I quoted, it says right there that the first episode is the "untold secret origin of Pikachu" (not just any Pikachu mind you, Ash's Pikachu)!

Yes, obviously, it's the Pikachu that target audience of this show cares most about.

It says in the tweet below that they did so because "the idea is to use Pikachu's popularity to make Episode 1 go viral"!

Still no word on those "older fans" you all claimed.

The thing you call just an "assumption" is entirely based on what they themselves have said in interviews!

Nope! It's written right there.

It's not something we came up with out of nowhere!!

It is something you want to believe.

If their intention was to introduce Go and popularize him, why the hell did they advertise it as Pikachu's kriffing backstory, which has nothing to do with Go?!?! I really can't fathom how someone would be okay with such sleazy types of advertising, much less defend it

They outright said there that they want the first episode went "viral" so people who didn't watch it gets interested and decide to watch the second episode. It was always their primary goal to make people interested in Gou. That's why they actually ended the first episode in a cliffhanger based on Gou.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

I... won't even bother responding to that. ^

I got a headache from just looking at the format of the comment itself and I don't want my comment to end up looking similar to yours, it's downright disgusting.

Maybe structure it properly and I'll take you seriously, until then it's dismissed. It's unnecessarily lengthy and fragmented.

Your posts are very selective and dismiss everything that people say in counter to your arguments if you can't find a response to those parts, in a similar vein to two other people who I've called out for doing the same before. If you're not going to take other people's arguments as a whole into account and only selectively respond to parts of it to formulate your own counter, much less take them seriously, then don't bother responding to me again. You'll just be wasting yours as well as my time.
How ironic.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Ooookay, it's time to realize that I'm talking to a brick wall and stop bothering with you. You basically did what Panky already accused you of doing: took certain parts of our posts and just said "Nope!" to them, both literally and figuratively (and before you respond with a "How ironic.", I didn't break your entire paragraphs apart into only one sentence, I actually read and listened to your points and explained my reasoning behind them). Apparently the forums are full of people complaining about Pikachu getting too much attention, even though I haven't seen them. Apparently people talking about Pikachu's backstory doesn't prove that they're interested in the little mouse, yet people who just got into the franchise and barely know these characters are more invested in them and more curious about their past. Apparently, it's completely fine for them to market an entire episode as something, yet spend half of the episode focusing on something entirely different and it's not sleazy at all. Apparently this is all just a crazy conspiracy, based completely on lies and you're the only one who can see the facts (which, tangent, but I really find it funny how you continuously accused me of believing myself to be indisputably right whenever I brought out objectivity (despite me saying again and again that objectivity doesn't equal completely right), yet you're pulling this exact thing that you accused me of here; if that isn't the definition of hypocrisy, I don't know what is) and it's not based on us piecing together what they themselves said.Do you provide any evidence for all that? Do you go into detail as to why you believe to be right? No, of course not! Why would you do that? Instead, what you do is quote one sentence from my and Panky's posts and just deny them in a shorter sentence, because short man good and long man bad I guess. You just made an extremely long post that gives the illusion of depth, but actually lacks any substance. A long post where, instead of listening to what we have to say, you continue to push the idea that you're completely right and we are 100% wrong.

Really, after three super long discussions with you, you'd think I'd realize that you're very stubborn (and that's coming from someone who tends to be pretty stubborn) and that having a debate with you won't go anywhere. After putting words into my mouth and building strawmen, after labelling videos the provide some interesting commentaries on the subject we're talking as hate-crime without watching them, after ignoring some of my points in order to boost your own, after straight up admitting that you throw words at us without caring about they're actual meaning, after labelling some of my legitimate points as logic fallacies, after accusing others of being my puppet accounts just because they share some of my views, after all that you'd think I'd have realized by now just how similar you are to all of the other bad media apologists I've dealt with and I would realize that you're just not worth it anymore. But don't worry, I've learned my lesson this time.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Ooookay, it's time to realize that I'm talking to a brick wall and stop bothering with you. You basically did what Panky already accused you of doing: took certain parts of our posts and just said "Nope!" to them, both literally and figuratively (and before you respond with a "How ironic.", I didn't break your entire paragraphs apart into only one sentence, I actually read and listened to your points and explained my reasoning behind them).

I'm soooo sorry for taking my time to answer your and Panky's points, apparently short and clear answer to your points are more unreadable than wall of texts...

Do you provide any evidence for all that

I have evidence that Panky's often repeated claim that they admitted of tricking older fans into watching the Pikachu episode is not true, which is enough.

 

[Neo Blaze]

Can we please stop complaining about each other's posting styles? It's getting tiresome. If you're so incredibly bothered by how someone chooses to formulate their arguments or posts, consider using the ignore button instead of snarkily complaining about it in a thread focused on the Pokémon anime. It is unnecessary and most of all, off-topic.

That is all. Now please go back to actually discussing the topic here.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Okay, back to topic:

Koharu needs more focus and screentime ASAP. There is a certain lack of female presence in this series, which is totally unacceptable.
I actually expect Team Rocket to return to their regular once-in-episode appearances, this series is too Time Bokan-ish for them to not doing something like that. Or they wouldn't give them that Gacha Mecha.
More actual references to the past characters and events instead of reused plots.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The lack of a female presence in this series is honestly still so confusing to me. I understand that they wanted to make Gou the standout character of the series, but I don't understand why they thought that they didn't need a female character in the traveling group. Granted, Pokemon can be kind of hit or miss with its female characters and I don't think that any of the SM female cast members were anything to write home about, but the idea that the female character of the group was considered something that they could potentially remove for the series is quite depressing for me and it might sting more for me as a woman too.

 

[Daenerys]

I didn't want to add more wood to the fire since I realize that criticizing certain characters can lead to arguments but what the heck, I do think that Koharu's role is weird and out of character of the writing staff. The reason being that this whole time certain comments from the anime staff (as well as my own judgments from viewing the series for so long) had led me to believe that having at least one girl in the cast per saga as 'eye candy' (Masamitsu Hidaka's words not mine so please don't get offended) was a necessary evil and I accepted it because it's such a minor thing and if you ignore Mr. Hidaka's comment and focus on the positives that each female cast member brings to the show, you can learn to appreciate each female cast member...

But Koharu is like the anti-pokegirl. I know that she was booked as a supporting character instead of a main pokegirl, but that part itself is so weird. I mean why demote her like that? What's wrong with the usual 3-person cast model that was used before in most previous sagas? How does only having Ash and Go in the main cast while Koharu kinda dawdles in the background for a few seconds in most episodes do any good? Was there a new study that the producers conducted that revealed that kids don't want girls in the main cast? Idk what's happening but I'm genuinely stumped when it comes to Koharu. :s

 

[Dahara]

What makes Koharu especially unlikable is that her only real traits are being Go's childhood friend and the anti-fun police. She's always rolling her eyes at the stupid boys for being passionate about something and pursuing it, instead she thinks they should just study math and science for 10 year olds like good students.

But the problem there is that Pokemon isn't a slice of life show set in a normal Japanese school (Pokemon school obviously is different), with all those everyday concerns and pressures. So she really doesn't fit into the structure of the show whatsoever, having little interest in Pokemon-related things. It would have made more sense if her father forced her to go on adventures with the duo so she could broaden her horizons and have an actual character arc where she starts to see the value of Pokemon as both friends and partners that aid in careers. She wouldn't even need to be in every episode if the themes of that week's show were better suited for the rivalry between the duo.