Do you like Cilan/Dent's role in BW?

[Musashi]

After being with the show since the very beginning, Takeshi is no longer on the show. In his place, a Sommelier named Dent is tagging around as the male sidekick of the group. He hands out advice and cooks the groups meals as well.

How do you feel about Dent? Is he too similar to Takeshi, or have the writers done a good job of making the characters different enough. Please explain why or why not.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

He is the one of good things in the BW saga. I don't see him really similar to Takeshi, except cooking skills.

 

[MizuTaipu]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

His personality is lot better than Takeshi's, that's for sure.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

He's the thing I like most about Best Wishes and hands down my favourite male travelling companions. I like that he's really passioante about a lot of things, that he cares a lot about his friends and pokémon, he's got a hint of mystery and dark side, his interactions with Ash, Bel and Cabernet were hilarious and awesome.

Every week, he's hands down the funniest and most memorable part of the episode for me.

 

[JennaJayfeather]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

YUSH YUSH YUSH YUSH YUSH. By far for me. I honestly adore his character, even more now that in almost every episode his character makes me laugh or smile. I haven't laughed or smiled since BARRY was around (and he wasn't in every episode T_T) so it's kind of a big thing to me

I still respect Brock, Tracey and Max though

 

[hamhock1]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

i love cilan so far! he's friendly outgoing energetic and quite a bit like brock! (he cooks, is highly intelligent, and pretty much towers over ash and iris....i'm not kidding cilan is really tall!)

 

[Aestivate]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

He's the thing I like most about Best Wishes and hands down my favourite male travelling companions. I like that he's really passioante about a lot of things, that he cares a lot about his friends and pokémon, he's got a hint of mystery and dark side, his interactions with Ash, Bel and Cabernet were hilarious and awesome.

Every week, he's hands down the funniest and most memorable part of the episode for me.

This, qft

Plus MamoMiya's voice acting is dreamy, Dent seriously adds a bishounen-touch to the anime, and I freaking love his personality quirks. Science Sommelier? Totally freaking DIG it, and he's interested in the same aspects of science I am! Particle physics, universe theory, dark matter, LOL. And he acts like gentleman and he twirls around and he shines his cloche and accompaning silverware. I love how he tries to rationalize everything but when it comes to Satoshi he's very idealistic coming from a cafemochashipper. Fishing Sommelier? DIG this too. Anyone who can take down Derpfish with just a fishing rod is freaking awesome to me. Even though it's mostly played for laughs, that strange dark side of him that likes curbstomping and toying with his opponents and almost throws soup on his friends is ridiculously amusing to me.

Dent is MAKING Best Wishes for me, and I basically get excited for the next episode just to see what he's going to do next.

 

[Froakie]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

I'm going to try and compose myself better here than I did with the last thread.

I don't like Dent's role in Best wishes at all. To me it seems like the writers realised they did still need a character like Brock and they almost split him in two to create both Iris and Dento. There are too many similarities that I notice when I'm ever watching Best wishes, and I just think to myself 'why can't they actually differentiate Dento from Brock?'. Dento has been shown to be a good cook, the caretaker, battle referee, voice of reason, commentating on battle strategies and more.

It doesn't help that I really do not like bishounen characters or 'pretty boy' characters in any show, which is why I dislike the majority of animes. I personally think bringing in a character like that has just made the show take a turn for the worst.

At the end of Diamond and Pearl, Brock almost left on the premise that Ash had grown up mentally and didn't need him anymore. Now in Best wishes that has almost reverted on itself, and Ash now needs people to take care of him again and explain things to him that he doesn't know.

"If it isn't broken, don't fix it" is what I think of the writers replacing Brock. There was no need to get rid of him and replace him with a character that is uncomfortably close in personality and role. I don't care if he has a different goal to Brock, that isn't really shown up much anyway.

The 'extra sides' to Dento can easily be compared to 'extra sides' of Brock, and I think Brock has much more interesting and personality filled pokemon - especially in the Diamond and Pearl saga. I know almost no-body on here shares this view with me, but it really does upset me more than it seems when people praise and praise Dento. Just because the roles are so similar but people still love Dento for it and speak negatively of Brock for it, it upsets me to read all of this talk. I know people can have their own opinions, but I still can't get over it.

To me, I don't think Dento brings anything new to the show that wasn't there before, apart from an unnecessary 'bishie-ness' which makes me dislike his character even more than I would have. People say he's a 'male sidekick done right' but I honestly don't see anything that supports this statement. He still isn't getting tonnes of focus, his pokemon are rarely seen, and he's still been given the same old role Brock was given thirteen years ago.

 

[chimera]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

So far, I think Cilan/Dento's doing a pretty good job of not being too much like Brock and is an interesting addition to the anime. However, I must say that I find him much more annoying. That's just my opinion, though.

 

[jda95]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

Dent is... interesting so far. Although I really like his character, I believed that Takeshi needed to be retired, and it surprised me that they kept bringing him back series after series. In Best Wishes, the similarities between Dent and Takeshi are pretty obvious, although as of yet we haven't really seen Dent's full character brought out yet. Takeshi had 13 years to establish himself as a character, Dent hasn't even had a whole year. I quite enjoy the "flair" he gives the show but I really hope he doesn't become a bit.... stale like Brock did.

 

[Piplup]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

As most of you know, at first I didn't like him and wasn't excited of the BW series in general... lately, I noticed how much the BW series improved and I also started to like Cilan
I still miss Brock and can't say I already like Cilan as much as I like Brock, but I'm starting to like him...
Also, I just now finished watching the first 16 BW eps in English (only watched the first 6 in English till now) and I think now I like Cilan even more... it's good to watch lots of eps in a row to get used to characters and it seems like for BW it's English > Japanese for me (which wasn't so pre-BW) so I guess that helped too... and... it made me hungry... I want to eat Cilan's potato salad!

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

Personally im satisfied with Dento(Cilan)so far getting pretty good treatment for a supporting character.His career of being pokemon connoisseur is nice addition having quite unique dream with there existing benchmarks through which his knowledge and skills can be measured,he is getting involved quite a bit in several episodes which arent focused on him contributing to plot and addition of rival Cabernet was certainly welcomed too serving as nice obstacle and push for Dento character.
Dento is well rounded character liking his arrogance and tendency to tease along with showing his caring side and admiration for Ash strategy and bonding he achieves with his pokemon.
Only problem i find with his goal is that considering he is already highly positioned connoisseur having A-class after he climbs up to S-rank there is not much more writers can do with his goal to develop him more in that aspect but as it was showed there are several other interests his character showed on which it could be expanded like fishing or interest for science so i guess lack in one area can be compensated through other fields and aspects about character being exploited more.

However i have to say i miss Brock more having many found memories of him being good character liking his notable arsenal of pokemon he gathered over the years binging nice balance to main cast making it more solid.
Writers did neglected him not giving character justice but i believe how way to fix problem doesnt lie in replacing character but fixing flaws which were caused by writers getting him back on right track.
They already had character which had potential bringing balance to group fulfilling his role as caretaker in stable way.Problem is they didnt handled him properly probably viewing his current role as "older brother" as being good enough not seeing need to give him more attention.
Some may say Cilan "has more interesting character"but in reality it all comes down to personal preference and while i admit how i find his personality more dynamic chemistry between group doesnt feel same like it was with Brock around,just like it wasnt at end of Johto either.
You could say that while i like Dento(Cilan)i miss Brock who deserved better than what he got in end in my opinion.

The 'extra sides' to Dento can easily be compared to 'extra sides' of Brock, and I think Brock has much more interesting and personality filled pokemon - especially in the Diamond and Pearl saga.

I think i have to agree,if anything DP Brock was treated better than AG one.For start his pokemon received better focus overall(especially Croagunk and to extent Happiny).His character got some pretty good focus and interacting between some characters focusing on his breeder career,he got to play some role in Team Galactic arc,won pokemon transformation contest,participated in tag battle tournament etc.

 

[Afrojisiac-19]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

I'm actually losing interest in Cilan to be quite honest...When I heard about Best Wishes for the first time and learned about Brock being permanently replaced in the show, I was totally excited about it. I wasn't crazy about Cilan's design at first either, but I got over that. Cilan has a lot of things going on for him. He's one of the Striaton Gym Leaders and now he's traveling with Ash, to make it as a Pokemon Sommelier. He's a good trainer, he's got good pokemon, he's funny, has a colorful personality, he's a good cook, good fisherman, good at keeping things clean and organized, etc...It seems like Cilan has everything under control...Better question is, what CAN'T he do?

He's shown to be so skilled at everything he does, it all comes naturally easy for him. And that's the problem. He's a Gary Stu IMO. People are so quick to label Iris as a Mary Sue just because her 'potential' flaws to some, apparently aren't directly linked or caused by her. They say Iris is a Mary Sue because no one calls her out on her shortcomings. But Cilan has more qualities of a Gary Stu in great abundance to me. Cilan hardly has any flaws, if not, no weaknesses in his character...He's like a Wonder Guard Spiritomb, nothing can affect him...There's virtually nothing standing in his way to prevent him from accomplishing his goals, and there's absolutely no signs of any internal conflict to make anyone really concerned about what happens to him....

It's those things that bother me about Cilan that make me lose interest in him more and more...He's not very relatable...And he doesn't have anything working against him, nothing to prove to anyone so that I can root for him...Those things Iris DOES have, and that's why I appreciate her more.

 

[GWrando]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

He reminds me of Tamaki from Ouran Host Club actually. But I feel they could do more with his character.

Especially over the more pointless things like "sparkles" and his "pretty boyness"(But, I never really liked Pretty Boys in real-life to be fair). But, yeah Dento's cool ^_^

Sparkles aren't always a sign of pretty boys...

Those sparkles are a manly sign of manliness, and completely not useless...

 

[GreatLiver]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

I hardly see Dento as Bishounen. He's got charlie brown eyes, which is an automatic disqualifier. I like him. He's refreshing. Don't know if I'd want to see him stick around for 3 more generations, but for now he's getting the job done definitely.

 

[Kaitou Kid]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

Sparkles aren't always a sign of pretty boys...

Those sparkles are a manly sign of manliness, and completely not useless...

BUT THOSE SPARKLES HAVE BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS!

I don't mind Dento, he's a nice change from Takeshi. I'm glad he's getting more episodes than I ever remember Takeshi having during his entire run on the series, so that's a nice big change.
I just don't understand all the fanboying... maybe its cause I just prefer Shooti more, but he's still a good character nonetheless.

 

[Sheep]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

As I'm sure people can tell from my username, I am a fan of his character. He's entertaining (as he's got quite a wide array of talents), his voice is easy on my ears, I like his outfit, and with all those different things that he has a knack for under his belt, he just gets that much more interesting. It definitely feels like the writers are trying to make up for their error with Takeshi and making sure the same doesn't happen to Dento, but I do feel like his weaknesses could be explored a bit more; right now, he seems utterly flawless (though I do love to see him do different things, being a fan and all). He can do almost anything and since his sommelier title hasn't been expanded on much since the nineteenth episode, I tend to forget what the one thing is he's best at. I don't mind seeing his talents, since it's always interesting to see a character take on a new role for a little while, but I do want to see his "un-talents" get explored a little more.

Thinking back to the Hitomoshi episode, maybe he can get an episode to himself where Satoshi and Iris try to teach him to stop being so afraid of the supernatural rather than an episode focusing on yet another one of his talents - I'd definitely pay to see that. Right now, the only two flaws I can think of for him are that he seems to be too full of himself once he's set on an idea (stubborn with an evil lightning flash for effect, Yagami Light version XD) and he's noticeably more fearful of ghosts, spirits, and so on.

I'm sure Takeshi had the smarts and talent to do almost everything Dento has done so far - it was the choice of the writers that made him do nearly nothing, though, which was a mistake they're obviously aware of by now, since they brought a new male traveling companion along who's been getting a large chunk of screentime so far in comparison to Takeshi. I do feel like he's been cheated out of screentime, but I will continue to hope Dento and Takeshi meet some day with the latter actually being written "into the situation" rather than out of it this time. Plus it seems like the two would get along well; I'm sure Dento could learn a thing or two from Takeshi and vice versa.

Though yeah, none of these are extremely big problems to me, though I would prefer to see more of his weakness/what he can't do as opposed to the opposite. As a fan, I'll gladly watch any episode with him thrown at me. I love the little English tidbits he tends to add into his sentences at times.

 

[Winterdaze]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

Dento is certainly a fun character, with enough hidden depths to keep him interesting. He's definitely not a character to be taken all that seriously, but his quirks add some spontaneity to the group and I like that. I don't really mind that he's lacking in any serious flaws, since the way I see it his role is to keep the story entertaining and make it work while Ash and Iris get all the big scenes.

His fans can be... overbearing at times though. He's not a bishounen by the way, bishounen don't develop male pattern baldness
I also don't understand the hype surrounding his gratuitous English , especially since his "It's X time!" catchphrase reminds me of The Tweenies *shudder*

 

[Cybersai]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

Now that the hype has died down, Dento is about what you would expect from a male sidekick. He's not as flawed or funny as Brock was before he became stale, but he's more interesting than Tracey or Max.

Essentially Dento serves the same role as any other male sidekick in the series. He does have his charms to make him stand out though, his interesting pokemon, potential rivalry, and we're seeing him in so many roles like fisherman, detective, etc.

Overall I don't think he's as interesting as Brock was at his best, but he's certainly a good character. Shame it took too long though to have him introduced, if only Cilan and his brothers were the first Gym leaders in DP instead or Roark.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Re: Do you like Dent's role in Best wishes?

Essentially Dento serves the same role as any other male sidekick in the series. He does have his charms to make him stand out though, his interesting pokemon, potential rivalry, and we're seeing him in so many roles like fisherman, detective, etc.

This is one of things which i like about Dento.While he does have his goal of becoming top connoisseur practicing his knowledge he showed to have several hobbies aside from it on which writers could expand,From his love for fishing even having his own lure(like Misty or Jessie has) to his interest for science and resolving mysteries.

Addition of rival Cabernet seems nice way to shake things abit too being interested to see in what direction writers are going to take this.

Overall I don't think he's as interesting as Brock was at his best, but he's certainly a good character. Shame it took too long though to have him introduced, if only Cilan and his brothers were the first Gym leaders in DP instead or Roark.

I dont know about you but personally i enjoyed in Brock more in DP than i did in AG.He got more focus on his breeding skills playing role in several events having many memorable moments which are sadly being often overlooked by some people.
I will agree how in AG he had better chemistry with main group with addition of Max helping to give more substance to it having someone similar he could relate to,but as character while shafted unfairly Brock was not bad or boring in DP at all.