Best / Worst Moves in the Pokémon Anime

[Cresselia92]

We all know the gist about Pokémon themselves: they are peculiar creatures which are able to use unique powers, ranging from breathing fire to summoning water to bending things with their minds.

In both the games and the anime, each move has a determined strength and a different animation to distinguish a weak Thunder Shock from an almighty Thunder, for example.

As such, here you can discuss what could be the best or the worst moves as shown in the anime, both in terms of visual appeal and in terms of overall strength.

I’ll kickstart the discussion with some of my favorite moves.

• Dragon Rage (BW)

This is one of the moves that got the most changes in the anime, first starting as a Twister-like move in OS, before being turned into a red stream of draconian fire, after which it turned into the latest blue dragon-shaped blast. I like the last version the most, due to its more unique look and awesome-looking dragon shape. It also looks like a strong move, even when used by young Pokémon, like Iris’s Axew.

• Dragon Rush (BW)

I was already fine with the blue tackle from DP, but the updated version from BW is even better. Similarly with Dragon Rage, I love when the Pokémon is cloaked in a dragon-shaped aura, which is one of the coolest things I have seen related to Iris’s Dragonite and later Cynthia’s Garchomp. It also looks incredibly strong even if Charizard apparently shrugged it off.

• Fire Pledge (BW)

Before it was eventually buffed in XY, this move was relatively weak and largely unused in the BW games. However, it’s undeniable how cool and powerful it looks in the anime, with the fire pillars moving toward the opponents before engulfing them with a single blast of fire. I wonder how its water and grass counterparts would have looked like…

And now for the other side of the coin…

• Quick Attack (XY)

I’m not exactly a fan of the XY version, where the Pokémon is essentially surrounded by a white aura (as if we didn’t have enough glowing assaults already) before charging the opponent at increased speed. It looks a bit… unoriginal, in my opinion. It seems just a glowing version of Acrobatics to me.

Personally, I feel that in the beginning it was closer to its game counterpart, as the Pokémon began running and disappearing and reappearing constantly, symbolizing the fact that it’s so fast that even the eye can barely follow it. I was relatively fine with the white-trail version from AG/DP/BW as well, since it was unique enough, as the animation style wasn’t shared with other moves.

• Iron Tail (BW)

I’m a bit more torn on this move, actually. From one side, I understand the logic of showing the tail turned into steel and slamming it into the opponent. From the other side, though, it looks a bit too weird. During the animation, it looks a bit too CGI-like, making it look a bit too tridimensional. Also, the description of the move says that the tail becomes steel hard, not made of steel.

I wouldn’t have minded if they simply showed some metallic glow before the opponent is attacked, if they really wanted to reference steel.

• Aurora Beam (BW)

Urgh. I simply dislike this change. While I understand why the beam has been changed with a green hue, since green is the “standard” color of some auroras, I still preferred the rainbow-colored ray. Not only it was closer to the color of the more classical rainbow auroras, but it also was much closer to its games’ counterpart, which has always been depicted with multiple colors. It was better-looking, in my opinion.

There are many more moves which I love or I don’t like too much, but I’ll start with these for now.

The battlefield is all yours now, people.

 

[Alola]

I really liked how the moves Fire Spin and Whirlpool were enhanced in the anime. Normally weak moves, despite great names and animations, the anime turned them into powerful attacks on par with Flamethrower and other high level moves. I particularly liked the animation for Whirlpool and was really happy whenever Dawn's Piplup used it, because it looked like a huge colony drop of water being thrown at the opponent. It was also fascinating how it was utilized in different ways, from being a vehicle for Piplup to ride on to being a makeshift arena for two Pokemon to battle in.

With each generation, I assume Game Freak will make them similar in power to their anime counterparts. Yet, I'm disappointed each time.

Even though I never use the moves in the core series games, I definitely use in the Mystery Dungeon series because the moves have decent power (especially if you strengthen them).

 

[Johtohfiller]

I dunno if "best" is the right way to describe it but Psychic seems ridiculously overpowered in the anime. There doesn't seem to be any way to avoid or block it.

 

[Diamond & Pearl]

A wrong move the anime has made is that the move Iron Tail has been looking wrong after BW (again)...

Another wrong move the anime has made is that the move Dark Pulse, which used to look dope, doesn't have those rings anymore.

Leaf Tornado looks cool.

Dark Void looks ghastly.

 

[EscLucy]

I agree with Johtohfiller about Psychic and Confusion - you really cannot beat it. Also, sometimes the anime has recharge for Hyper Beam and sometimes it doesn't - quite a big inconsistency. Also, Giga Impact has no recharge time whatsoever e.g. Valerie's Sylveon.

 

[Almonds]

Gotta love the draconic Steel Wing when Ash had Charizard use it.

 

[Matleo]

Leech seed was good done in gen VI with the grass trainer gym badge.
Maybe to Frenzly Plant like? if you look at the battle with greninja and m.sceptile
In the past also very well done.

Rage - weird done in the past with Charmander, in the anime was better then in the games actually

Circle Throw, Volt switch and Dragon Tail were used always in a not strategical purpose and theswitching effect was not well used when it comes to gyms and league.

Shadow snek could have been better.

Splash is weak, the anime wont change that.

Teleport was better in the anime then in the games, they could buff that in the games

Weather moves are good done from time to time, but realy rare seen as also the abilities

Avalanch - the way that it was done in the past was not that good, hoped for something like a surf made of snow, or snow falling masively on the target and bringing it down... it looked too much like rock slide.

Substitute - done well, but why not used more? especially on Delphox and pokemon who would need it?

Sand Tomb wasdone nice in the past but could be better.

Forest Curse - the way it was done was cool , why not in gym or league battle ??? would be cool to see a pokemon that starts to become green of moss or look like it becomes wood.

Destiny Bond was nice done but only once if I remember good.

Disable also good but once.

Lick is always fun to watch

Omnious wind, but could be better

Counter and Mirror Coat very good done

Metal Burst, could be shown better and more

Frenzly Plant was always a good one but the other similar moves also were good.

Sound moves are really good animated but would like to see soundproof and throat chop interactions soon,

the diffrent move combos were very good done, especially hypnosis and dream eater.
and those in diamond and pearl.
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How many moves didn't we get in the anime till now?(this is maybe for a seperate Thread)

a proper Outrage with a fairy type oponent would be cool, could imagine Incineroar attacking a fairy type and trainer not knowing that fairies are immune to it.

Curse? Soak?
Grudge?(would be interesting)

was the move "Powder" shown? that one I wuld like to see done right in the anime.

 

[IncineROAR]

Psychic and Confusion. In the anime they are depicted as some sort of disabling moves that allow for the attacker to seemingly control the target Pokemon as opposed to being an attack move.

Also, Thunder, Thunderbolt, Thundershock, and Discharge all don't have any sort of uniqueness to them in my view. I hate Electro Ball, but at least it's distinguishable if I were watching the undubbed anime straight from Japan.