Best on screen departure

[Buneary and Pikachu]

Of all the pokemon departures shown on screen, which one has saddened you the most

 

[ii kanji]

Dokucale, obviously ;-)

 

[Cybersai]

For TR, a toss-up between Arbok/Weezing and Dustox.

For Ash, probably Butterfree, given they made such a big deal out if it with that huge ending montage. Charizard got a great send-off too, but given it returns constantly, it kind of takes off that impact.

 

[Buneary and Pikachu]

A poll has been added by the way

 

[Hassel]

Kasumi's Tattu and Starmie, of course! Totally broke my heart! :'(

Dokucale.

 

[dman_dustin]

That Evoked the Most Emotion:

For Team Rocket- I think it's a tie between Chimecho and Dustox. Chimecho was practically dying (not really) so yeah it evoked a lot of emotion from me when I first saw it, it was nicely done. I'm not sure if I felt the same way when it was dubbed but when I first saw Dustox being released it was a pretty emotional episode.

For Ash- I'm not sure I can't remember how I felt when I first saw Ash releasing Butterfree, but when I saw Ash releasing Lapras I did get all teary eyed (since I couldn't see it for a very long time).

As for the best storyline of them all I'd probably choose Jessie's Dustox. I mean I think that was one of the only Pokemon that didn't want to leave it's trainer but Jessie pushed away and crushed its Poke ball. I think Lapras comes second (in terms of not wanting to leave) but it wasn't as obvious as Dustox.

 

[Cybersai]

Why include Haunter and Larvitar on the list? They were never really Ash's Pokemon. That's like listing Jigglypuff.

 

[Musashi]

I think everyone knows which one I chose, so I'll just say that it's funny how one of the Pokemon everyone was begging the writers to get rid of is the one that seems to have caused the biggest emotional reaction.

 

[dman_dustin]

Why include Haunter and Larvitar on the list? They were never really Ash's Pokemon. That's like listing Jigglypuff.

Larvitar makes a little more sense than Haunter, after all Ash was taking care of it and it was in more episodes. Not that it had the best departure anyway.

 

[Zephy]

I chose Ash's Butterfree but it only won by a hair. Runner-up is James's Chimecho.

 

[J J M]

I would have to say Butterfree. Its departure was unbelievably emotional and none of the other releases ever made me that sad.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Well, almost all of them have made me cry somehow. XD Ash releasing Butterfree, Misty releasing Togetic, Jessie releasing Dustox, James releasing Chimecho...these get to me every time. If I had to pick just one, though, I'd go with Ash releasing Butterfree, which I personally thought was just done really well, however sad it was.

 

[Duckgon Z]

I choose Butterfree, but Dustox and Chimecho comes in second. For me, Butterfree had the most impact because I was so young and it made me pretty sad watching it the first time around. With Dustox and Chimecho, even though they both were sad, I was older and better prepared to deal with it.

 

[Demonic Aura]

Why include Haunter and Larvitar on the list? They were never really Ash's Pokemon. That's like listing Jigglypuff.

In my opinion, the same should be said about the Glory Blaze episode. I mean, it was kind of expected, seeing the attitude Paul has toward his Pokemon. Why place it on here?

I do recall seeing Ash and Butterfree, and that made me tear a little. Though James's Chimecho was a pretty powerful episode, I voted for Bye Bye Butterfree.

 

[Lil Brother]

Charizard gets me every time. Even though Charizard came back many times, the first of those returns being shortly after in Movie 3. I also kinda liked Squirtle's departure, mainly because they acknowledged his relationship with Bulbasaur. Such a sweet moment.

Togetic's leaving Misty was somewhat heart-breaking and surprisingly trippy, I'm rather fond of it.

The exits for Arbok/Weezing, Chimecho, Cacnea, and Dustox were all rather touching. To counterbalance that, Victreebel falling in love with the other Victreebel and hopping off into the distance going "AAAAAH AAAAAAAH AAAAAAAH AAAAAAH" wins the award for funniest departure ever on any TV show that I can think of up the top of my head.

And even though Chimchar's release wasn't really a departure for us the audience, it's still one of my all-time favorite Pokémon moments.

In conclusion... I have no clue which is my favorite. XD

 

[Evil Raichu]

I had a hard time deciding between Butterfree and Arbok/Weezing.

I remember the first time I saw the Butterfree episode, it came on at 7AM and like, every kid on the bus to school that morning (which came by right after pokemon was over) was crying. Extra sadness because somebody was saying that in the Japanese version, Butterfree die after mating and Ash knew that he would never see Butterfree again. I never found out if that was true.

I picked Arbok/Weezing because it was most emotional for me. They were TR pokemon, they had probably been on the show longer than any other pokemon before departing, and...yeah. It was just a tear-jerker.

 

[Lil Brother]

I remember the first time I saw the Butterfree episode, it came on at 7AM and like, every kid on the bus to school that morning (which came by right after pokemon was over) was crying. Extra sadness because somebody was saying that in the Japanese version, Butterfree die after mating and Ash knew that he would never see Butterfree again. I never found out if that was true.

Oh, it's not. That's the most annoying, widespread Pokémon rumor ever. I curse the person who started that thing. XP

 

[PKMN_Veteran]

Butterfree's departure was probably the best departure IMO since it was Ash's first Pokémon. It's kind of hard to recall the events of that episode but I remember wanting to cry at the moment Butterfree left with the pink Butterfree. This was probably one of the biggest emotionally-moving moments in the anime.
Another departure that got me recently was Dustox's. It gave a good background on Jessie's life and having her smash Dustox's Poké Ball was quite symbolic of Jessie's desire for Dustox to have a relationship, since Jessie gave up on her childhood crush for her dreams.

 

[Mooites]

Butterfree, definitely. Everytime I watch that episode, I cry. It was touching, well done, and the first release, so it was original.

Ash seemed really upset with Charizard, more so than most other releases, but otherwise it was just another "Bye Bye"

I was cheering over Togetic's departure, so in that sense, its the best

 

[Yamato-san]

I gotta give props to Chiriin. I mean, the way of getting rid of thing was quite a load of bullshit (though, I guess a lot of these departures are when you really think about it), but I can't help but love how emotional Kojirou gets over the whole thing (also, for dub-viewers, this was the episode that proved that James's new voice could actually act worth crap, unlike Eric Stuart). Plus, there was a montage... with "Smile" no less. Not bad for a character that barely did anything.

A close second would be Shinji's Hikozaru. Hikozaru's transfer from Shinji to Satoshi in general seemed to have quite a bit of tension surrounding it which I really enjoyed. I particularly liked the end of the second episode of the Tag Battle, where Shinji just abandons the poor thing and the episode ends with Satoshi reaching his hand out to it (enjoyed the mellow BGM accompanying it too). Arbok and Matadogas would probably be third, though more for Rocket Dan's valiant efforts to stop Ryuu than the actual departure of Pokemon that've been around since episode 2.