Goods and Bads of Sinnoh! Please Give Your Opinion.

[RememberingGOODPokemon]

So I'm finally done with Sinnoh and with me being a huge Kanto fan (back when I was smaller) I've really been hesitant to watch the DP series. Now after watching it I have to say it might be the best series. I really enjoyed how well and balanced it was. So here are my thoughts on the goods, bads, and what you disagreed with the writers about

Good

-Team Galactic was great. Much better than Magma, Aqua, and even Team Rocket imo
-Paul was the best rival and character the series could have ever had. I'm shocked that I'm saying this but I feel Paul is a better rival than Gary.
-Dawn was a very good supporting cast figure. I felt she was much better than May and Dawn's Piplup was a good pokemon to have with Pikachu.
-Filler episodes were not as annoying as they were in the Hoenn series.
-I really liked how the Elite Four were active in DP compared to other series. Thought it was cool how Aaron and Flint challenged Cynthia.
-Liked how Chimchar's progression lead to the final battle with Paul's Electivire (spelling?)
-Barry was awesome. Great rival. Nice to have a balance of Ash's equal (Barry) and his opposite (Paul).
-The pokemon battles themselves were better to watch with the new moves, counter-shield, and that most of the attacks were not dodged in DP. lol.
-Really liked how Jessie actually won contests in DP. If was stupid knowing she was going to lose everything back in Hoenn.

If I forgot something I'll probably post a little later.

Bad

-Zoey was okay didn't really have a problem with her, but Kenny was a little annoying. Especially how he left DP. Seemed like a waste of time with him besides that he helped Dawn in an episode or two.
-Buziel seemed like he didn't win a battle after defeating Flotziel. Also disappointed how he never evolved either. Their didn't seem like they wanted the "cute" factor with Buziel so why not evolve him sooner or later?
-Cyrus's exit with going to the portal was a little much. Though Galactic was really good like I said about, the ending to Cyrus was still a little stupid.
-Team Rocket trying to steal Pikachu and other pokemon was not only old way back in Hoenn but even more so in DP. Even though I knew it was going to happen, I was really hoping the one episode where Meowth became a noodle chef, Jessie went to contests, and James on his own could have been a decent ending to something as old as Team Rocket. I feel that Team Rocket does deserve a good ending with everything they have been through, I still am getting tired of them.
-Even though I'm okay when they drop a pokemon and say good-bye mid season (Pidgeot, Squirtle, Butterfree, etc) I thought becoming a ping-pong master was a little stupid when they dropped Ambipom.
-I felt that Pikachu took a step back at the end of DP as well. Remembering the great things that Pikachu did past, it seemed like he wasn't as stong in DP overall.
*Note the bads are mainly small details compared to the goods being important parts of the plot. So even though it looks like I have more for the bad, DP was a great series.

MY DISAGREEMENTS WITH THE WRITERS

-I thought that DP was so good dropping both Dawn and Brock was a bad idea. I liked how them made Brock actually want to pursue something but with how well he helped and how him and Ash have been together since Ash's first gym battle, 32 gym battles, 7 frontier symbols, and several pokemon league victories, dropping off Brock isn't sitting well with me at this point. As for Dawn, I felt Dawn was great. After Misty left I felt that the show was a little bit behind with May and Max but it seemed to me at least that Dawn brought that right back.

-Though from what I've seen (which is only a little) I really dislike how Unova is in general. From the pokemon to the gym leaders to even the region it self. I understand that pokemon is still going strong but I'm just not liking how Unova is set up. I felt like the series after DP should have been "The Series to end all Series" lol.

-And lastly, I'm not sure about how Ash and Brock went their seperate ways. A handshake is nothing for what they went through together. I mean Butterfree got a flashback collague after 20 episodes. I feel Brock should have gotten something more.

ANYWAY PLEASE GIVE YOUR THOUGHTS! LOVE SEEING ALL THE DIFFERENT OPINIONS AND IDEAS PEOPLE HAVE ON THIS SITE!

 

[Karamazov]

I think everyone on the entire planet knows I my general feelings about DP. So I'll keep the bad to a minimum and focus on the good.

The Good
-The fillers in the last half were some of my favorite episodes in the saga. So many of them are fun and memorable!
-Ursula was an awesome rival. Her plan to fuck things up with Plusle and Minun was brilliant.
-You can see how much Dawn grew as a Trainer.
-Some of Ash's best battles are in this saga. I don't think the battles as a majority are better than every other saga, but many excellent battles took place in Sinnoh.
-Dawn had a great team of Pokemon, with interesting personalities. Same with Brock's team and Ash's Buizel, Gliscor and Gible.
-Chimchar's story was clever. I was always on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next with it.
-I really like Conway!
- Paul and Ash's rivalry was spectacular.
-Jessie actually won Ribbons, proving herself as a Coordinator.
- The Rocket break-up in mid-DP. Best TRio break-up ever.

The Bad
-The rivalry was good, but I didn't like Paul as a character
-Brock really didn't do much. Which is a shame, because he has a wonderful team.
-A few storylines were stretched out so long that they started to bore me. Chimchar's story being the prime example.
-The handling of certain Pokemon made me roll my eyes.
-The fact that Conway and Nando were underutilized.
-DP!Ash bored me as a character.

It's my least favorite saga, but in the end, it was still good and I liked it.

 

[Cybersai]

DP was good overall, but there was a lot about it that wasn't handled well.

The DP trio had the worst team chemistry of the series, although Dawn herself was alright. At this point of the series the writers were so focused on training and battling that they forgot how to write actual characters as real friends.

The good was the battles, rivalries and stories, the bad was the dullness of the trio as friends and some of the rivals.

 

[3Dchu]

Bad stuff:
- Make Team Rocket atleast SOMEWHAT competive. Not losing their personalities or their goofyness like Best Wishes! but...
- I wish they did more with Conway. Is he on a Pokémon Tech or how does he train etc.
- They fully evolved all of Ash's Pokémon not counting Pikachu and last second Gible. Why not Buizel? It was just screaming for an evolution.
- Johanna should've been a better mom.
- More in-depth on Hunter J, why she does these things etc.
- Like The Fighting Misty said, more chemestry between Dawn and Brock.
- Also, they should've given Brock more spotlight.
- Ash could've shown more personality.
- It always creeped my out how the DP Group was so extreemly friendly toward each other.
- I really, really wish they never, ever, make a trillogy again. While I did like the movies, I didn't like them as a complete storyline.

Good stuff:
- They really showed us how Ash matured and grew in his training methods.
- Paul was one of the best rivals we've ever had. The rivalry between Ash and Paul was fantastic.
- Ursula should've been Dawn's main rival, period. She was an amazing character, but she never won sadly.
- Dawn was a good character overal.
- I did like the TRio focussed episodes.
- Ash's Team.

I have a lot more good things to say, but my post would be too long.

One more thing, I wished they could've shown us an episode (still in the DP property) where the TRio get some new training and a promotion.

 

[Mikuri]

The good things:

• Dawn: she made DP for me. Seeing her losing two Contests in the performance stage and thinking she was not good enough and was tying down Ash's progress was very realistic. She struggled to get things right but she got, always working hard, training her Pokémon and developing new combinations. I loved her story and her Pokémon, especially Piplup. I also like how she supported Ash, their friendship was very nice to follow.
• The Contests: they were awesome. I prefer Contests over Gym battles and in DP the writers made me very happy. The performance stage received the attention it needed and the battles were epic. I loved the combinations, the creative techniques, and all that sparkles.
• Paul: he helped to make Ash's journey much more exciting. He was the complete opposite of Ash and this led to several interesting plotlines. I liked how he confronted Ash's views on Pokémon training and I think this clash of ideas helped their rivalry a lot. He also provided excellent battles.
• Zoey: her teacher-student rivalry with Dawn was beautiful. I liked her and I think she helped to balance things out, some people think she is bland and boring, but I loved how she would help Dawn get through difficult times. She proved that rivals can be friends and help each other.
• The villains: Team Galactic and Hunter J were great and provided really good episodes.

The bad things:

• Kenny and Nando: don't get me wrong, I liked them, but I wish they were handled better. Nando appeared regularly in the first batch of episodes but went gone mysteriously and never had the chance to battle Dawn. Kenny losing in the performance stage made me sad, I think he should have advanced to the second stage and battled Dawn once again.
• The infamous one year gap between the seventh and eighth Badges: this doesn't bother me too much because in this period we got to see Dawn getting her fifth Ribbon, the Grand Festival, Ash battling Paul at Lake Acuity, Team Galactic being defeated, among other things, but I really think Gym gaps could have been less jarring, the gap between Fantina and Byron was ridiculously short.
• Ash's Torterra and Dawn's Buneary: I liked them both but I think the turtle should have won a major battle and the bunny should have learned a fourth move.
• The rushed Grand Festival: I don't get when people say the Sinnoh League felt rushed, the writers devoted eight episodes to it while the Grand Festival received only four. Ash had four battles (Nando, Conway, Paul, and Tobias) and we also got a battle between Paul and Barry. In the Grand Festival, Kenny was sacrificed in the first round and Jessilina didn't receive the treatment she deserved. We only got to see three battles (Dawn vs. Ursula, Zoey vs. Nando, and Dawn vs. Zoey). This is what I call rushed.

 

[Cybersai]

DP is in a weird place in the series now. Its kind of sandwiched inbetween all the other series. It came long after the fad of pokemon and the nostalgia died, and it came after AG and the dub switch. Best Wishes also more or less undoes everything DP tried to do, including regressing Ash.

As much as I liked parts of DP, it probably will wind up being the most obscure series overall. Already the character of Paul seems to have been phased out and he likely won't continue to appear like Gary did. Dawn and the other coordinators also had to compete with the popularity of the AG coordinators who came before them. The DP trio doesn't stand out like all the other group dynamics of the series did.

DP will be a series fondly remembered for what it did for the anime, but in terms of the general population it sort of wound up being shoved under a rug after it ended. There's also a good chunk of the fandom who never watched DP or only watched the very beginning of it but fizzled out.

 

[Hidden Mew]

DP is in a weird place in the series now. Its kind of sandwiched inbetween all the other series. It came long after the fad of pokemon and the nostalgia died, and it came after AG and the dub switch. Best Wishes also more or less undoes everything DP tried to do, including regressing Ash.

As much as I liked parts of DP, it probably will wind up being the most obscure series overall. Already the character of Paul seems to have been phased out and he likely won't continue to appear like Gary did. Dawn and the other coordinators also had to compete with the popularity of the AG coordinators who came before them. The DP trio doesn't stand out like all the other group dynamics of the series did.

DP will be a series fondly remembered for what it did for the anime, but in terms of the general population it sort of wound up being shoved under a rug after it ended. There's also a good chunk of the fandom who never watched DP or only watched the very beginning of it but fizzled out.

I'm not sure if that would make DP obscure per say. Even with BW undoing everything DP tried to do, I don't think that takes away from the impact the series had on the fans who enjoyed it and I don't think it would really lack popularity among fans either. None of the series have been nearly as popular as the original series was, but that didn't really make any of them obscure either.

Anyway, there was a lot of good in this series:

Ash's progress as a trainer was at its peak. His Gym battles were terrific with a few of them being some of the best in the series and he had more on-screen training to help make those victories believable.
The rivalry with Paul was the most engaging rivalry out of any of the series and it was handled extremely well.
Dawn's growth as a Coordinator was also handled quite well and while she didn't change much personality wise, it still felt nice to see her progress during the course of the series.
The Chimchar storyline was another aspect of the Ash/Paul rivalry that was really engaging to watch unfold.
The group chemistry, while not amazing and could have been handled better in some aspects, was perfectly fine for what it was and I could still get a good friendship vibe from the main group.
The Contests were generally fun to watch.
Jessie actually earning her ribbons and getting to the Grand Festival, instead of being treated like a joke again like she was in AG, was wonderfully refreshing.
Team Galactic were handled a lot better than the other evil teams and actually had a satisfying conclusion.
While all of Ash's battles against Paul were good, I still think that their battle in the Sinnoh League is as close to perfection as full battle can get. It was just that satisfying to watch.

As for the bad:
Dawn's rivals, aside from Ursula, always felt lacking to me. Kenny was boring, Nando was underused and while Zoey worked as a good mentor figure for Dawn, she didn't really come off as much of a rival.
Ash's Torterra should have won a battle when he faced Volkner again instead of nearly always losing.
Buizel shouldn't have forgotten Water Pulse since I wanted one of Ash's Water Pokemon to know that move since AG. Learning the move during the awesome match against Lucario is another reason why I wanted it to stay.
Dawn's Buneary should have evolved and/or learned a fourth move and her Swinub should have had more presence before evolving so that it would be sadder when it wouldn't listen to her later on.
Ambipom shouldn't have been given away and in turn, Dawn shouldn't have received Togekiss. Ambipom actually deserved to get to the Grand Festival and Togekiss felt like a last minute addition just so that Dawn would have a full team in time for the Grand Festival.
The Grand Festival itself was very rushed. Skipping so many battles was a terrible idea, including the ones against one-shot characters. It prevented Jessie from getting a final Contest battle so that she could go down in the flame of glory and it honestly made Dawn getting into the finals unsatisfying. It was believable with her skills, but only seeing her appeal and one battle, which wasn't even a good one for her in my opinion, before getting into the finals really ruined the impact it would have had. Giving it another episode or two would have made it a better Grand Festival.

While I think that AG is probably my favorite series, this was easily the best written series with some great battles and likable characters.

 

[The One and Only RA]

The Good-

- The Battles.
- Paul as a rival.
- Ash's team.

The Bad-

- Ash suddenly became angsty at certain points. It didn't fit a ten year old guy with a happy-go-lucky attitude. Whenever Paul appeared, Ash did his teeth gnashing act and a Dolph Lundgren wince.
- Cynthia popping up frequently. I always thought her "When one life meets another something will be born" was a birds-and-bees allusion. She had a lot of dialogue which felt deep and meant absolutely nothing.
- Dawn's harsh dub voice.
- Piplup to a certain extent.

 

[Satoshi_Pikachu]

Bad:
-Hikari's rivals were rather boring and bland.
-Dodaitos/Torterra didn't get a SINGLE win after evolving.
-Ambipom leaving for the most ridiculous reason ever.
-A couple of goddamn awful fillers.

Good:
-Just about everything else. ESPECIALLY Shinji and Goukazaru.

Also, regarding your comment about Takeshi deserving a clip-show, there was a clip-show in the Japanese version. And a pretty damn good one, too. The song was perfect for the purpose and it really did a great job at wrapping up the series. The clip-show had 4 sections, one for each character and one general. Sure, it's not as good as a clip-show just for Takeshi, but I thought it was nice. Better than nothing at all.

 

[Jukain]

Ok, I'm not going to sing the praises of DP too much because I think everyone knows what I will say. The Contest arc was improved, awesome rival, awesome villians, lots of evos for Ash, the best League ever, very few fillers, and even some of the fillers are good. Now for what I'm sure you want to see. Can I bash DP? The answer is yes.

The saga starts off really similar to AG, and doesn't really kick in until Galactic finally shows up. Dawn's rivals aren't nearly as interesting as May's were. Even the one-off ones were entertaining for her. Dawn just about had nothing but blandness, except for Ursula. TR continues to be a bore except when the focus is purely on them, and the idea becomes apparent that maybe they shouldn't be villains anymore. To anyone that paid attention, this was probably already apparent, but now it was fully realized. Otherwise, though, TR was the same tired thing they always were. Then there's Brock, who might as well have a cardboard cut out lurking in the background. The only fresh thing for him was that instead of ear-pulling, we got Croagunk Poison Jabbing the daylights out of him and dragging him...somewhere. This was little more than a reskinning of the running gag. Near the end, Brock became extra over the top seemingly in an effort to redeem him in the last second. For me, it didn't work too well. It's interesting that they found another way to bring closure to him, but that it came from nowhere is unsettling. (Unless like many, you saw his catch of Happiny all along as a chance for him to get in good with Nurse Joy) The pokemon still don't get equal treatment, resulting in some of them still having little character and others being shafted for other pokemon. Particularly atrocious is Ambipom, who got offed just so they could have HG/SS promotion later. Nando, even though he was sort of an interesting idea, he was missing from most of the saga, yet he reappeared for the Grand Festival and League.

I will openly admit DP is not perfect, but I will still say it's my favorite saga and the goods far outweigh the bads. I wish I knew what happened that caused all of this to be overturned, but there's little that can be done now.

 

[Winterdaze]

DP is unique among the sagas in that it followed a very similar framework to the saga that preceded it. It's a saga of dizzying highs and torpid lows. While one of the better written sagas, in my opinion it doesn't rate as high as AG, which was more consistently entertaining.

Good
-A diverse set of Pokemon, with well defined personalities and great interactions. The series took full advantage of having plenty of time to devote to each Pokemon.
-Dawns confidence breaking arc was unexpected, something we'd never seen the likes of before.
-Well characterised Gym Leaders, who did more than just be challenged by Ash for a badge.
-Ash showed an unprecedented degree of skill and resourcefulness, building on the continual improvement that he had been showing since late Johto.
-Excellent battles, easily the best the series has ever had.
-Ash and Paul's rivalry, while flawed, was very gripping. The presence of such a cruel, callous character was a refreshing change. Hunter J was great for the same reason.
-Some of the recurring characters were hilarious, and just made any episode they appeared in. Conway and Barry in particular.
-The TRio. They developed so much in the saga, and were funnier than they've ever been before (JP only :I). Jessie improved dramatically at contests, James took charge more often, and Meowth started to seriously consider his role in the group. Also, DP117.
-The saga had a few of the best fillers the series has ever seen.

Bad
-Having a second co-ordinator arc was a risky choice, and all in all I'd have to say I was disappointed by it. Extremely dull rivals didn't help Dawn's case, and post Wallace Cup there was very little keeping me interested in her story. There was just too much focus on her mastering single combinations that weren't really all that impressive. Dawn herself just wasn't particularly interesting either.
-As a group, Ash, Dawn and Brock weren't particularly memorable. The friendship between Ash and Dawn felt far too forced and fake, and Brock was generally shafted and under-utilised (though he had his moments).
-A lot of time was wasted building up uninteresting plots that ultimately ended up going nowhere (Aipom/Ambipom, Kenny, Nando). Some interesting plots received similar treatment (Grotle/Torterra).
-Chimchar. He wore out his welcome rather quickly, becoming a glory hog that stole the spotlight from the rest of Ash's more interesting Pokemon in the second half of the saga.
-Jessie's unsatisfying conclusion to her co-ordinator arc. It was great to see her kicking ass and doing so well, so the way she was unceremoniously dumped was extremely disappointing.
-Training episodes. These thinly veiled fillers were tedious at the best of times. While interesting at first, they got stale extremely quickly.
-The saga had some of the worst fillers the series has ever seen.

Other
-Team Galactic. An unquestionable improvement over Magma/Aqua, but outside of the two parter which introduced Cyrus, they just weren't anything to write home about. For the most part, their plot was just too cheesy for something played so seriously to be enjoyable.

 

[DracoMan]

Good:

Continuity, especially with some of the strategies Our Gang developed (Counter Shield, Ice Aqua Jet, etc.). Seeing a cool move developed and repeatedly used helps it mean something.

The Ash/Paul/Chimchar dynamic. Chimchar was basically Charmander with better backstory, especially in terms of "show, don't tell" narratology. Plus, his growth tied in with the growth of the two rivals, individually as well as in relation to each other, and led to sweet karma at the end.

Hunter J. A truly terrifying villain, and one who actually dies for her misdeeds. Why couldn't Ash face more villains this competent and ruthless?

Team Galactic. They could eat TR for breakfast.

Cynthia. (Her fans need no further explanation.)

Bad:

The fact that it took Ash four friggin' years of eps to get to the Sinnoh league. That included a one-year gym drought for us viewers. And that may have helped lead to...

Tobias. Served no purpose but to curbstomp Ash and get him out of Sinnoh as quickly as possible. (As I've theorized, I think TPTB may have intended for Ash to win the league and take on the E4, but they ran out of time and had to wrap it up quickly.)

All the post-league plots that could've been explored, but weren't (the E4 challenge, Neo-Team Galactic, the Sinnoh Battle Frontier, and any possible others).

 

[megaevolvedmushroom]

Bad:
The sub plots seemed interesting at first, but were put on hold for too long, and ended anticlimactially.
Team Galactic was better than TA/TM, but still not good.
Main cast was boring and had no chemistry.
This marked the time when the "fresh start" thing got really stale.
Ash vs Paul just amounted to "Ash tries to be friendly, Paul rejects him, Ash gets all pissy".
Too much whining and melodrama (looking at you, Infernape).
Tobias.
Aipom's evolution and release.
Ash's personality was at its all time low.
The pacing and length.
Boringness. There was less filler, but it wasn't good stuff.
Rehash after rehash.
Certain matches dragged out for way too long
Torterra.
Boring rivals overall.
Brock and Team Rocket.

Good:
Ash was poweful.
Gligar/Gliscor
Dawn was at least more interesting than the other two.

...That's about it. I don't really like much about the DP series.

 

[Cybersai]

I didn't like the DP trio much, but it was really the writers fault for not making a group with actual balance. Dawn would have worked better in either her own series or if someone like Barry was in the group to play off.

I think a lot of people lost interest in Dawn earlier than they would have otherwise because the DP trio wasn't memorable as a group.

 

[Nymphia]

I think that Sinnoh is my favourite saga, what helps me.
Pros:
-Ash and Dawn relatoionship was really fantastic for the series.
-The animation of the Contest.
-The appeals were superior to AG with diference.
-The battles were very well written for the most part with some exceptions.
-Ash's team has evolved pokemon who get screentime. HG/SS promotion and 4 years to go to the league help that.
-The battle Ash vs Paul was fantastic, although I don't like Paul too well as a character.
-Team Rocket were way more interested in DP than in AG. Specially the Jessilina. And don't compare to the robotic TR of BW that the writers has needed to restore the funnier Team Rocket to the show.
-Like although it was 4 years, there's a lack of fillers. There were fillers, but there were acceptable.
-That Ash's past existed, unlike BW1 where Ash's past mentions were kept to a minimum.
-The fact that when a pokemon learn something, it isn't a filler episode and iut'0s importantt o the plot. In the oS, that wasn't true.
-Many of the rivals like Paul (mainly for his battles), Barry, Zoey and Ursula.
-Team Galactic were better than Team Aqua and Team Magma. Also, J was a good enemy although I don't like the "dies" on those episodes.
-And in generasl, that the series was consistent to the start to finish in many things.
-The big role of the Champion in that arc that was carried to the BW series. And she had good roles. Also, the fact that all the Elite 4 appeared.
-The fact that you want to see Ash's episodes in a Gym battles and Bam... Dawn's episode. Happened specially with female Gym Leaders.

The Bad:
-The DP Trio, as a Trio, doesn't exist. It's better to say DP duo + Brock.
.That Brock was really underdeveloped in that series.
-Kenny wans't interesting.
-Infernape has too much screentime in that series that needed to star in too much gym to porove himself that Ash is a good trainer and Paul isn't.
-The last two Jessilina Contest were horrible.
-Ambipom and Gliscor. The two hasn't need to be released and Cynthia could ahowcase Togekiss. Although the episode where Togekiss debut was fantastic.
-That in some epsidoes TR was useless. they shouldn't have appeared in all the episodes.
-The fact that Paul used a team with all new pokemon except Electivire. I didn't like that decision.
-And the Tobiuas battle.
-The rest of the series has more humor in it.
-The one year Gym gap was bad. Fortunately, there weren't too much fillers.

Unova is good, but Sinnoh was superior in battles, character development, training, teams,... Unova isn't comparable to that series. The only series that I could have liked more than Sinnoh is the Hoenn League series, who was a example for me of a medium-paced saga on the series and has elements that DP failed.

 

[SammyW27]

The Bad:
Team Rocket. Not just the Trio, but the whole damn organization was a joke :dead:
Brock was often a nigh-useless third wheel
After Turtwig evolves, it became a big loser (both ways)
Many of Dawn's rivals& the rushed Grand festival


The Good:
EVERTHING ELSE :-D

And I want to say that I LIKED that Ash spent the whole generation in the generation's setting, sparing us a crap filler league & the shitty writing that comes with it.

 

[Metan]

-The fact that Paul used a team with all new pokemon except Electivire. I didn't like that decision.

We saw Aggron the first time when it was still a Lairon, back in Paul vs Brandon episode IIRC, and as it is a Hoenn Pokémon and Paul went to there, I don't think he was a new one. I also believe his Drapion was his brother's property, hence why it was so strong. Now Ninjask, Froslass and Gastrodon were new ones.

I, however, get to myself thinking what if Paul used his most powerful team. Electivire, Ursaring, Torterra, Magmortar, Drapion and someone else... I think Ash would only stand a chance if he made the same thing. Who knows how many episodes they would have to reserve for such epicness, hohoho.

Back to the topic:

Pros:
-Ash and Dawn's friendship. I always liked Dawn, so it gets a bonus point.
-The battles were simply amazing. The leaders, as said by someone before, were beyond just fight-and-take-the-badge; they also had problems to solve and something to teach. And, of course, every Ash x Paul battle (and, in a special note, Zoey x Nando).
-Dawn's lack of self esteem was a good arc to watch.
-Ash's 'depression' after Ash x Paul first full battle was a good point too. I felt a sort of a sadness within me while watching him thrown on the field thinking how he failed.
-Team Galactic. I liked them and how Cyrus was apparently a good lad from everyone's eyes.
-Hunter J. Too bad she didn't get much develop about how she started to traffic Pokémons and she KABLOOIE'd. (Also, she for some reason reminds me of Michelle)
-I think that's because I started to watch DP for the first time when BW was around the 6th badge, so I didn't have to wait one week/episode, but I didn't notice the 1 year gap between the 7th and 8th badge the first time. Even so, I don't think this as a Cons.
-Croagunk. I couldn't see it standing still while staring at someone without laugh.
-I'm gonna be the demon's lawyer, but I did like Tobias. Although I'd rather prefer Ash winning that time, it's better to lose against a trainer owning two powerful legendaries than against someone else. (Besides, I consider Ash as 2 top rather than 4, as the finalist itself coudln't handle Darkrai alone, while Ash took down Darkrai AND Latios).
-Needless to say the writing was beyond awesome.

Cons:
-Brock was left behind, although it received some good focused episodes.
-I felt the Grand Festival was pretty rushed. Only four episodes don't take care of an event we were waiting since Dawn's journey start.
-Conway and Nando were undeveloped. I would like to have seen both of them more, as I found them rather interesting. Like Nando appearing after Ash's loss against Paul, back in their first full battle, and helping him with his serenity and wise words.
-Kenny. God damn you, guy. No, really.
-Torterra. You deserved more victories and glories, sir. You are awesome, nonetheless.

 

[Cybersai]

Some negatives I thought about recently:

- Gary. Having him show up again was nice, but...what was the point? Over the entire 191 episode span of DP, the writers gave him 3 measly episodes. 3 measly episodes in which he didn't even do all that much in them to begin with. Why have Gary actually return to the show with a new design and travel in the same region as Ash for the first time since Johto....and then have him not even show up? It almost seems as if Gary is doomed to barely appear in the show whatsoever, even when he's technically in it. Also would have been interesting to see Gary and Paul meet, but oh well.

- Zoey was a Mary Sue. At the very beginning of DP you thought Zoey would be interesting, but as it progressed she got more one-dimensional as this "ultimate coordinator" that could do no wrong and was better than everyone else. The Dawn/Zoey rivalry was also painfully dull leading up to a painfully dull anti-climatic conclusion. The only thing good about her was she had some nice Contest battles, but that's it.

- Kenny, Nando and Ursula are all underused and barely appeared. Again, why focus on Zoey so much and then have all the other contest rivals with little to no appearances?

- Brock was treated very badly in DP to the point where you wondered why the writers kept him another generation in the first place.

- Dawn's team was underutilized. Too much focus on Piplup, not enough focus on everyone else. Togekiss was also thrown in there at the last minute for no reason at all.

- The DP trio as a group. I guarantee that as time progresses, this will be the most forgotten group of the animes history. Even the people who don't like Iris agree that the BW trio will probably be remembered more than this one was.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Some negatives I thought about recently:

- Gary. Having him show up again was nice, but...what was the point? Over the entire 191 episode span of DP, the writers gave him 3 measly episodes. 3 measly episodes in which he didn't even do all that much in them to begin with. Why have Gary actually return to the show with a new design and travel in the same region as Ash for the first time since Johto....and then have him not even show up? It almost seems as if Gary is doomed to barely appear in the show whatsoever, even when he's technically in it. Also would have been interesting to see Gary and Paul meet, but oh well.

I really don't think that they had any plans for Gary. He was just there to encourage Ash to travel through Sinnoh, as well as provide a means for Gliscor to evolve. Just because he was traveling through the same region as Ash again doesn't mean it would have led to anything significant, especially when Gary was still doing Pokemon research and not going to be a rival for Ash. I think that the most they could have done with him would have been being more of a help in the Team Galactic finale, but I don't think it was a major loss that he ended up having a little impact in the overall series. It wasn't like they made a big deal about his return in any of the promotional information/posters for the series. Although, the idea of Gary and Paul meeting does sound pretty cool and that would have been interesting to see.

- Zoey was a Mary Sue. At the very beginning of DP you thought Zoey would be interesting, but as it progressed she got more one-dimensional as this "ultimate coordinator" that could do no wrong and was better than everyone else. The Dawn/Zoey rivalry was also painfully dull leading up to a painfully dull anti-climatic conclusion. The only thing good about her was she had some nice Contest battles, but that's it.

I still don't really get the impressive than Zoey was a Mary Sue. That would imply that she was perfect, but she wasn't. She had issues with people doing both Gym battles and Contests, which prevented her from seeing the benefit of doing both competitions, and she lost twice, even though we only saw one defeat on screen. Plus, it wasn't like she made progress without doing any work. While it was mostly off screen, as she wasn't part of the main cast, she still clearly worked on her combinations and in my opinion, actually deserved to win the Grand Festival, so I don't see how she was a Mary Sue. While the the Dawn/Zoey rivalry was dull, especially compared to Ash's rivalry with Paul, I thought that their final battle was pretty good. It wasn't nearly as good as Zoey vs. Nando and it wasn't a great conclusion to their rivalry, but I don't think it was anticlimactic. That battle, along with her match against Nando, showed that Zoey deserved to win and while Dawn's performance was good, it showed that she wasn't really ready to win Top Coordinator. While I didn't like Zoey that much as a rival, the Grand Festival did make me respect her as a Coordinator.

- Kenny, Nando and Ursula are all underused and barely appeared. Again, why focus on Zoey so much and then have all the other contest rivals with little to no appearances?

Kenny was boring and completely forgettable, despite how Dawn got her first ribbon from him. Nando was interesting, but needed to be shown more to have more of an impact. Ursula was great and I still love her appeal in the Grand Festival. Evolving during appeals, while risky, was so wonderfully refreshing and unique and her battle skills were great that I wish she could have defeated Dawn instead of Kenny. They probably wanted to focus more on Zoey for the student/mentor angle of their rivalry. It would have been nice if they introduced Ursula earlier though.

- Brock was treated very badly in DP to the point where you wondered why the writers kept him another generation in the first place.

I don't think he was treated that badly. While he didn't get a lot of focus compared to Dawn and he still faded into the background at times, I didn't think that he was treated any worse than he was during Johto. Plus, he got some pretty good focus episodes that were entertaining and be was included in the Team Galactic finale. They could have done more with him, but I don't think he was treated that badly.

- Dawn's team was underutilized. Too much focus on Piplup, not enough focus on everyone else. Togekiss was also thrown in there at the last minute for no reason at all.

I agree. While Piplup at least had some personality and a nice relationship with Dawn, I think that it overshadowed her other Pokemon. Ambipom really should have stayed instead of Togekiss. Either than or maybe have Dawn capture a Togepi and raise it into a Togekiss. It would have been nice to see a Togepi actually battle and that way, it wouldn't have felt so cheap for Dawn to get a fully evolved Pokemon right before the Grand Festival.

- The DP trio as a group. I guarantee that as time progresses, this will be the most forgotten group of the animes history. Even the people who don't like Iris agree that the BW trio will probably be remembered more than this one was.

I'm one of the people who don't like Iris and I don't agree with that statement. While I initially thought that the BW trio had better chemistry than the DP group, I realized after awhile that it wasn't chemistry that I was feeling, but rather seeing a traveling group without Brock in it after so many years. I still think that the lack of chemistry in the DP group has been overblown. While it wasn't amazing and they could have done a better job with the interactions between Dawn and Brock, everyone in the DP trio was likable and actually felt like good friends, which is a lot more than I can say for the BW trio. I still don't see how this will be the most forgotten group in the anime's history, especially with how it keeps coming up in discussions like this one.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Pros-

Team Rocket being rally Good Comedians As Usual.
Some of the captures especially Gligar And Gible.

Cons-

Some of the Pokemon Leaving Like: Cacena, Ambepom, and Gliscor.