Review New series: Initial thoughts

[Daenerys]

I don't think that the Koharu situation will improve just because of one episode. My main gripe about how she's been handled (other than her small screentime allowance) is that she's billed as a supporting character like her dad rather than a main cast member like Ash and Go. So while it's cool that SS011 will be focusing on Koharu, I don't believe for a second that her character status on the show will improve my leaps and bounds. That is, I don't think she's going to join Ash and Go on their adventures anytime soon regardless of what development she might get in that episode.

Call me cynical or whatever but that's how I see things going.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Not why would anyone hate Gou's pokédex voice. It isn't robotic enough? Not a fan of stereotypical over-the-top idol voices?

 

[Dahara]

Not why would anyone hate Gou's pokédex voice. It isn't robotic enough? Not a fan of stereotypical over-the-top idol voices?

It does sound like the voice over actress is trying to be as moe as possible. But it feels out of place for what is merely a scripted encyclopedia entry. It rings false, like an app for lonely otaku to simulate the girlfriend experience.

Someone complained earlier about the Rotomdex being chipper, the difference there was that Rotom was talking directly to the user as it moved around and answered their questions and technically is a living being. It makes much more sense for those entries to be conversational in tone as opposed to here, where no such interaction takes place or at best very little of it is shown.

 

[Kurolegacy]

It does sound like the voice over actress is trying to be as moe as possible. But it feels out of place for what is merely a scripted encyclopedia entry. It rings false, like an app for lonely otaku to simulate the girlfriend experience.

Someone complained earlier about the Rotomdex being chipper, the difference there was that Rotom was talking directly to the user as it moved around and answered their questions and technically is a living being. It makes much more sense for those entries to be conversational in tone as opposed to here, where no such interaction takes place or at best very little of it is shown.

Really doesn’t make Rotomdex any less annoying especially in any moment that he wasn’t serving as a Pokédex. Heck, even going back to the games, I’ve never been a fan of the Rotomdex as it just came across as too childish and impractical. The Pokédex has always been essentially a pocket encyclopedia which goes along with the theme of monsters that can fit in your pocket. Who was asking for an oversized tablet that’s alive? And that’s not even getting into how annoying the anime made it along with it’s antics. I’m personally glad that we’ve gone back to a more traditional Pokédex with the Rotomphone.

 

[Insanish Danish]

I would take ANY of the "annoying" characters (Piplup, Oshawott, Rotomdex, whoever) over the new dex. Maybe it would be fine if it wasn't so annoyingly loud, but :/

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

It does sound like the voice over actress is trying to be as moe as possible. But it feels out of place for what is merely a scripted encyclopedia entry. It rings false, like an app for lonely otaku to simulate the girlfriend experience.

Well, Gou is kinda lonely, and sort of otaku-ish...
Not sure why that makes it rings false, it seems more realistic for a highly advanced and personalized mini-computer to have that kind of voice.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

I'm starting to question this series honestly. Its nice to see Ash and Gou travel around the world since the Sun and Moon series kind of lacked the adventure aspect, but the series is quickly becoming "Oh, I wonder what Pokemon Gou will catch today, then never use after this episode." He doesn't even have to battle them. Like why did they decide to do a series with more elements from Pokemon Go than Pokemon Sword and Shield? Like why are we not following Gou through the Gym Challenge while Ash mentors him?

 

[KyseL]

I've seen some people refer to this series as Pokémon GO: The anime, but honestly, I don't really get it. Aside from the bug catching episode, Go's catchathon frequently takes no more than a couple minutes off an episode if it's not outright done in the background or off-screen. The main story for each episode is still pretty much standard episodic Pokémon, which is what I actually find dull.

Not to mention that the region hopping thing, at least personally, makes the world somehow feel smaller and more disconnected, which is a shame after Sun & Moon which, whether you liked it as a show or not, I think we all can agree had some of the best world building in the anime.

 

[Emelie]

I think Gou's goal could have been more fun if the episodes in which Gou catches Pokémon only focused on that. Now his goal feels like an afterthought and like there is no connection between the COTD and Gou's goal.

Imagine if Gou had a specific Pokémon that he wanted to catch. Satoshi and Gou has to wake up early in the morning and prepare all the necessary equipment (the right kind of Pokeball, potions and maybe some item that will be important to the plot). Then they have to venture through some harsh terrain and battle wild Pokémon together until they finally find the strong/rare/shiny Pokémon they were looking for. Build up some suspence.

Then something happens that will make Gou struggle. Maybe he isn't strong enough to catch this Pokémon and has to make some tough choices. Maybe it becomes some kind of moral conflict. Does he risk Scorbunny's health or does he let the super rare shiny Pokémon flee?

Or maybe he needs to capture this Pokémon to help the COTD. Maybe all the water in the town has been poisoned and Gou has to catch Suicune or Milotic to save everybody but can't and has an internal conflict because he realizes that he is not as great as he thought he was.

Or maybe Gou has a jerk rival who is better than him and also wants the Pokémon. Or maybe the rival is Satoshi and they get into a conflict which developes their relationship because they have to work together?

Or maybe Gou never reaches the Pokémon because he fell off a cliff and broke his leg and this is where Koharu gets her chance to shine. She noticed that Gou hasn't come back and goes looking for him because she is worried. This would show that even if she thinks that he is a nerd and doesn't support his goal, she still cares about him deep down because he is her childhood friend.

 

[LazySpy]

Not to mention that the region hopping thing, at least personally, makes the world somehow feel smaller and more disconnected,

Yeah. Hit it right there. Region hoping is incredibly dull and redundant...

However... Hoo boi...

which is a shame after Sun & Moon which, whether you liked it as a show or not, I think we all can agree had some of the best world building in the anime.

Could you tell me which parts of the Sun and Moon worldbuilding were really any good?

I mean... We have a school to which a foreigner has gotten to with ease, set on an island inhabitated by thousands and visited by tourists all the goddamn time. Yet... That foreigner and five other kids are the only ones actually attending it, in spite of the fact it was apparently attented by currently world-famous baseball player and an Officer Jenny...

We have the Paradise Resort, a place supposedly flooded with people being visited by Ultra Guardians, people who protect Alola from the Ultra Beasts, and yet no one acknowledges them at all...?

We have an island which was attacked by an alien Pokemon species, yet the only ones trying to fight back against them are a speciall task force made up of children, supervised by a zookeeper...

We have an island visited by thousands of tourists, and yet there is very little recognition of cultular diffirences...

... Which is admittebly why I liked Young Kiawe had a Farm or whenever a character confused an Alolan form with a Kantonian one and there was some recognition of diffirence between them, but bear with me, such instances are rare and booked in between nonsensicall comedic fillers that don't do much with anything...

We have a guy who is a world famous baseball player win some 'Pro League'... He is apparently a walking baseball perfection, and yet, the show never really bothers to explain what do regular, everyday people think of him... I get it that he's a throwaway, irrelevant character but goddamit, surelly this degree of talent would have inspired at least one child, wouldn't it? Well, where is it? Like I already once said, why couldn't they add more characters to the Pokemon school, and have one of them be some kind of sport oriented and passionate person...?

I could go on, but overall, I wouldn't say that Sun and Moon had amazing worldbuilding, better than most Pokemon for sure, but quite nothing like, say... One Punch Man, Tiger&Bunny, Evangelion or the like.

I think Gou's goal could have been more fun if the episodes in which Gou catches Pokémon only focused on that. Now his goal feels like an afterthought and like there is no connection between the COTD and Gou's goal.

Imagine if Gou had a specific Pokémon that he wanted to catch. Satoshi and Gou has to wake up early in the morning and prepare all the necessary equipment (the right kind of Pokeball, potions and maybe some item that will be important to the plot). Then they have to venture through some harsh terrain and battle wild Pokémon together until they finally find the strong/rare/shiny Pokémon they were looking for. Build up some suspence.

Then something happens that will make Gou struggle. Maybe he isn't strong enough to catch this Pokémon and has to make some tough choices. Maybe it becomes some kind of moral conflict. Does he risk Scorbunny's health or does he let the super rare shiny Pokémon flee?

Or maybe he needs to capture this Pokémon to help the COTD. Maybe all the water in the town has been poisoned and Gou has to catch Suicune or Milotic to save everybody but can't and has an internal conflict because he realizes that he is not as great as he thought he was.

Or maybe Gou has a jerk rival who is better than him and also wants the Pokémon. Or maybe the rival is Satoshi and they get into a conflict which developes their relationship because they have to work together?

Or maybe Gou never reaches the Pokémon because he fell off a cliff and broke his leg and this is where Koharu gets her chance to shine. She noticed that Gou hasn't come back and goes looking for him because she is worried. This would show that even if she thinks that he is a nerd and doesn't support his goal, she still cares about him deep down because he is her childhood friend.

... OLM should totally hire you.

 

[Daenerys]

I've seen some people refer to this series as Pokémon GO: The anime, but honestly, I don't really get it. Aside from the bug catching episode, Go's catchathon frequently takes no more than a couple minutes off an episode if it's not outright done in the background or off-screen. The main story for each episode is still pretty much standard episodic Pokémon, which is what I actually find dull.

I definitely agree that many fans have exaggerated the amount of screentime that Go has received. Not only is his screentime not as excessive as some people claim it is, but some people have even begun nitpicking very minor things (like Go catching the wrong Tentacool) and made it a bigger deal than it should be - someone literally called Go a 'psychopath' for doing that in the latest episode thread and as someone who suffers from mental illness, it really ticks me off that people can be so blasé about using words like that especially when they're not even used in the right context.

The only thing that annoys me about Go's handling is that he catches Pokemon too easily but since it's meant to tie into the Pokemon Go mobile game, at least it makes sense.

 

[Sweet Veil]

It does sound like the voice over actress is trying to be as moe as possible. But it feels out of place for what is merely a scripted encyclopedia entry. It rings false, like an app for lonely otaku to simulate the girlfriend experience.

Someone complained earlier about the Rotomdex being chipper, the difference there was that Rotom was talking directly to the user as it moved around and answered their questions and technically is a living being. It makes much more sense for those entries to be conversational in tone as opposed to here, where no such interaction takes place or at best very little of it is shown.

Yes.

I personally vastly prefer Rotomdex over Rotom Smartphone, Rotom was lovable and had quite a few cute scenes. I thought he would turn out annoying but ended up being really charming. He also kept Satoshi and the other characters from being exposition machines, he would scan a Pokémon that was old so Satoshi didn’t need to. I think Go’s is voiced by a foreigner if I recall? It sounds horrid, like a literal human idol character rather than a robotic piece of equipment. I wouldn’t be so irritated if it was so ridiculous loud and constantly screaming Pokémon Go capture turns out all the time. At least filter it because it’s painful to listen too :/

 

[Shadowlarvitar]

I think Gou's goal could have been more fun if the episodes in which Gou catches Pokémon only focused on that. Now his goal feels like an afterthought and like there is no connection between the COTD and Gou's goal.

Imagine if Gou had a specific Pokémon that he wanted to catch. Satoshi and Gou has to wake up early in the morning and prepare all the necessary equipment (the right kind of Pokeball, potions and maybe some item that will be important to the plot). Then they have to venture through some harsh terrain and battle wild Pokémon together until they finally find the strong/rare/shiny Pokémon they were looking for. Build up some suspence.

Then something happens that will make Gou struggle. Maybe he isn't strong enough to catch this Pokémon and has to make some tough choices. Maybe it becomes some kind of moral conflict. Does he risk Scorbunny's health or does he let the super rare shiny Pokémon flee?

Or maybe he needs to capture this Pokémon to help the COTD. Maybe all the water in the town has been poisoned and Gou has to catch Suicune or Milotic to save everybody but can't and has an internal conflict because he realizes that he is not as great as he thought he was.

Or maybe Gou has a jerk rival who is better than him and also wants the Pokémon. Or maybe the rival is Satoshi and they get into a conflict which developes their relationship because they have to work together?

Or maybe Gou never reaches the Pokémon because he fell off a cliff and broke his leg and this is where Koharu gets her chance to shine. She noticed that Gou hasn't come back and goes looking for him because she is worried. This would show that even if she thinks that he is a nerd and doesn't support his goal, she still cares about him deep down because he is her childhood friend.

I'll do you one better.
No Go at all, the anime would instantly be 10 times more enjoyable as *gasp* Ash and the TRio actually get screentime! And Go doesn't hog it with his pointless captures

 

[Almonds]

I think Gou's goal could have been more fun if the episodes in which Gou catches Pokémon only focused on that. Now his goal feels like an afterthought and like there is no connection between the COTD and Gou's goal.

Imagine if Gou had a specific Pokémon that he wanted to catch. Satoshi and Gou has to wake up early in the morning and prepare all the necessary equipment (the right kind of Pokeball, potions and maybe some item that will be important to the plot). Then they have to venture through some harsh terrain and battle wild Pokémon together until they finally find the strong/rare/shiny Pokémon they were looking for. Build up some suspence.

Then something happens that will make Gou struggle. Maybe he isn't strong enough to catch this Pokémon and has to make some tough choices. Maybe it becomes some kind of moral conflict. Does he risk Scorbunny's health or does he let the super rare shiny Pokémon flee?

Or maybe he needs to capture this Pokémon to help the COTD. Maybe all the water in the town has been poisoned and Gou has to catch Suicune or Milotic to save everybody but can't and has an internal conflict because he realizes that he is not as great as he thought he was.

Or maybe Gou has a jerk rival who is better than him and also wants the Pokémon. Or maybe the rival is Satoshi and they get into a conflict which developes their relationship because they have to work together?

Or maybe Gou never reaches the Pokémon because he fell off a cliff and broke his leg and this is where Koharu gets her chance to shine. She noticed that Gou hasn't come back and goes looking for him because she is worried. This would show that even if she thinks that he is a nerd and doesn't support his goal, she still cares about him deep down because he is her childhood friend.

It reminds me of that time Team Rocket tried to go after a rumored shiny Metagross somewhere in the rocky mountains. That was a pretty good episode.

 

[KyseL]

Could you tell me which parts of the Sun and Moon worldbuilding were really any good?

I mean... We have a school to which a foreigner has gotten to with ease, set on an island inhabitated by thousands and visited by tourists all the goddamn time. Yet... That foreigner and five other kids are the only ones actually attending it, in spite of the fact it was apparently attented by currently world-famous baseball player and an Officer Jenny...

We have the Paradise Resort, a place supposedly flooded with people being visited by Ultra Guardians, people who protect Alola from the Ultra Beasts, and yet no one acknowledges them at all...?

We have an island which was attacked by an alien Pokemon species, yet the only ones trying to fight back against them are a speciall task force made up of children, supervised by a zookeeper...

We have an island visited by thousands of tourists, and yet there is very little recognition of cultular diffirences...

... Which is admittebly why I liked Young Kiawe had a Farm or whenever a character confused an Alolan form with a Kantonian one and there was some recognition of diffirence between them, but bear with me, such instances are rare and booked in between nonsensicall comedic fillers that don't do much with anything...

We have a guy who is a world famous baseball player win some 'Pro League'... He is apparently a walking baseball perfection, and yet, the show never really bothers to explain what do regular, everyday people think of him... I get it that he's a throwaway, irrelevant character but goddamit, surelly this degree of talent would have inspired at least one child, wouldn't it? Well, where is it? Like I already once said, why couldn't they add more characters to the Pokemon school, and have one of them be some kind of sport oriented and passionate person...?

I could go on, but overall, I wouldn't say that Sun and Moon had amazing worldbuilding, better than most Pokemon for sure, but quite nothing like, say... One Punch Man, Tiger&Bunny, Evangelion or the like.

I mean, yeah, I was comparing it to the other Pokémon series. And by good world building I didn't mean that the setting was realistic, but rather that it felt lived in and that at the very least most non-major characters didn't exist in a vacuum isolated from each other. Nonetheless, Pokémon is still pretty much a fantasy story with a very different type of society, one which doesn't really make any sense when looked through real world logic, so I don't really expect it to have the same or even similar cultural workarounds as the ones we have here.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

I think Gou's goal could have been more fun if the episodes in which Gou catches Pokémon only focused on that. Now his goal feels like an afterthought and like there is no connection between the COTD and Gou's goal.

I really, really, REALLY doubt that..,

 

[J Bouken]

After nine episodes, this series continues to flat-line. The upcoming Koharu and Lance/Leon episodes might spark some life into it, but if I'm not feeling it after nine episodes, then it's probably not going to be for me.

Even if I adjust my expectations, and not compare it other seasons of Pokemon due to how different it is, it's still lacking. Good episodic shows tend to be low on intrigue (due to no over-arching story or character arcs) but compensate with entertaining characters who you want to see every week. This is where PM2019 starts having problems, because I find none of its characters to be entertaining.

I'm aware "entertaining" is entirely subjective, so hopefully I can articulate this well-enough. To me, characters become entertaining by making decisions when faced with difficult problems.

Let's look at Gou. I had a good first impression of him because you could identify his weaknesses, and he had a particular world-view that differed from the norm, so you got an idea of the conflicts he could be involved in. I had a feeling he could be a character who would suffer and have to make decisions under pressure.

So far, though, that impression has been wide of the mark. Gou captures Pokemon with ease. There's never a dilemma or decision he has to make besides "which one should I capture?", so the captures don't show me anything about his character.

To highlight why this is an issue, I want to compare it to how Ash used to catch Pokemon. When Ash captured a Pokemon, he either had to:

• Work hard to earn that Pokemon's trust
• Work hard to defeat that Pokemon in battle
• Decide if he still wants to catch that Pokemon if it has lingering attachments e.g. family

How Ash tackled these problem showed us who he is really is as a character:

• Wanting to gain a Pokemon's trust showed us the depth of care Ash had for them
• Defeating them in battles showed us the depth of Ash's determination for overcoming difficult problems
• Deciding NOT to catch them showed us Ash could put the needs of others before his own, which was a sign of his maturity

We can apply this to Ash's gym battles as well.

Now, how many challenges or problems has Gou faced so far? I count two: capturing Scorbunny and the battle he had against Houji. The Scorbunny case showed us Gou has the capacity to care for an individual Pokemon he feels some kinship with, which is great. The battle against Houji, though, was problematic because Gou's response to defeat was to run away, and as yet there hasn't been a resolution to that. The episode portrayed him having some kind of epiphany about battling (that it could actually be fun or interesting) but didn't act on that epiphany, or address what Gou was going to do about it in the future. It's left hanging there with no real sign it's going to be addressed anytime soon, or even continue to be a part of his character.

That uncertainty aside, a lot of these early episodes aren't challenging Gou enough. They're not presenting him with any problems.

It's even worse for Ash. Ash has been entirely passive in this series, because it has yet to give him any problem to solve. He's had no captures to make or rivals to contend with. His one battle against another trainer was nothing for him.

So the only two members of the cast end up flat. Their characters aren't extreme enough to turn a mundane scenario into something absurd, and the scenarios aren't absurd enough to force them into more creative or eccentric decisions. The end result is a show that just isn't very compelling to watch on a weekly basis.

 

[JFrombaugh]

I'm still waiting to see what the writers do with Koharu, as I agree 100% with everybody else who has said that the lack of a PokeGirl-Ash dynamic so far is a major downer for this new series.

But right now, IMHO, it's not looking good at all. As disjointed & cheesy as the Sun & Moon anime was at times, I did enjoy how tightly written the character stuff was in many episodes, the interactions with Ash's classmates was where it really shined, and I admit it, even some of the filler stuff at the school was kind of amusing.

This new series on the other hand has a constant layer of malaise to it, where Ash & Go are just wandering aimlessly from region to region, while Go tries to catch as many Pokémon as he can for Professor Sakuraji. It feels kind of like they're trying to combine a Pokémon Go sales pitch with an attempt to return to the form of the original series (where Ash did care more about "catching 'em all" than building a perfect team to take on the Gym Leaders)...and failing miserably.

But even if they do manage to prove me wrong & turn this series around after another 20, 30, 40 episodes...I still think it would've been better if they had done a Sword & Shield anime instead. Despite the issues I have with Galar's sports-y theme, I think it would've fit the anime very well. They could've easily made Hop & Gloria travelling companions who are also entering the Galar League along with Ash, with Bede & Marnie being introduced as Rivals later on, and now that the games are out, I definitely think they could've gotten away with bucking the whole "at least one travelling companion has to be a Gym Leader" trend because the Gym Leaders in Galar can't really join Ash on his journey, they've got challengers to face at their Stadiums. Hop is a lot like Go personality-wise, and Gloria could've been like Koharu, a childhood friend of Hop who assists Sonia with research or something like that, is the quiet one compared to the boys, etc.

 

[Kurolegacy]

So after 9 episodes I’m just left wondering who was the one who wished on the monkey’s paw that we’d see more captures and traveling again?

 

[UxieLover1994]

When you do an anime series, you should have a strong core to keep interest. Pokémon GO would be very hard to adapt as an anime series because it lacks a story mode, and (as of January 2020) is mainly about catching Pokémon, developing gym badges, and clearing stops from Team GO Rocket. This shows what happens if you try to adapt a plotless app instead of the newest games, as well as exploit older episodes with bait-and-switch fillers to improve ratings.

Given the writers' refusal to acknowledge the past except when trying to bait in worn-out older fans, Masters would be just as hard to adapt.