Has Best Wishes "lost" its original series vibe?

Does Best Wishes feel like Kanto to you?

  • Yes, it feels like a modernized take on Kanto by current writing standards

    Votes: 16 21.1%

  • It used to feel like Kanto when it started, but not anymore

    Votes: 12 15.8%

  • Best Wishes never felt like Kanto to me besides a few similarities

    Votes: 48 63.2%
  • Total voters
    76
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Cybersai

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A lot of people noticed that Best Wishes felt very much like it was trying to be a throwback to Kanto. Ash was traveling with two Gym leaders again, Iris and Cilan have somewhat similar personalities to Misty/Brock, Ash got all the starters again, and it appeared like the show was faster paced, and Ash was capturing a lot of pokemon like in Kanto.

However now 45 eps in, I have to say Best Wishes feels very little like Kanto outside of the familiar dynamic, and more like a combination of what happened in AG and DP, just lacking Contests. Ash also isn't as mature this saga as he was in Hoenn or Sinnoh, but that's it.

Do you think the writers decided to abandon making Best Wishes feel like Kanto, (or god forbid, Johto?). Because its now feeling more like its own thing, rather than a throwback to 15 years ago.
 
I think the series was meant to be it's own thing from the start. As you mentioned above there are similarities to Kanto, and I do think that the writers were looking at Kanto when they figured out where the starting point for Unova should be. But other than that I think Best Wishes is meant to be a clean slate, where the writers can use everything they learnt during all the other arcs to try to create something completely new.

I don't mind Ash capturing a lot of pokemon as long as they don't do the "catch them and forget them" routine. Poor Kingler T_T
 
If that's the case, why so many similarities to Kanto?

The writers abandoned the whole female co-star thing, the Contests (or Musicals), weren't used, Iris is more similar to Misty than the other girls, and Cilan has similarities to Brock. The BW trio in general feels like a slightly alternate take of the original trio.

Ash also would have stopped capturing Pokemon when he hit 6, just like he did in DP, AG and Johto. Instead he's going overboard. Likewise he has all the starters again, something that hasn't been done in two generations.


I think the similarities to the newer regions is the battles feel more like a mix of the kind from AG or DP, and there are multiple rivals in the show like DP.
 
The third option sums up my feelings about the topic. I don't really think it was trying to be like Kanto, but improve it a bit. Iris and Cilan are getting more focus than misty and Brock did, and we see Ash switch his team out more than he ever did. It may have its similarities but at the same time it's doing its own thing.
 
It really did feel like kanto to me when it started, but now I think it's doing it's own thing. Which isn't a bad thing tbh.
 
Well I guess the show will never feel like Kanto again. Best Wishes has the closest formula to it, but the writing is still fairly different.

I guess its true then, what happened in Kanto can never be duplicated again.
 
I feel like after an episode or two it lost its "Kanto vibe". They weren't going for Kanto in the first place, just an almost reboot type thing which resembled Kanto mostly accidentally.
 
Original series vibe?

Okay, I'll admit it had some similarities to Kanto (Gym leader friends, Ash getting all three starters), but never felt totally like it. It never really had that vibe, probably because it lacks Kanto's weirdness.
And since then, it's branched off and made its own flavor which I like.
 
I never felt that BW was trying to retool OS, I just... thought of BW as trying to draw storytelling elements from all three series preceding it..
 
Aestivate said:
I never felt that BW was trying to retool OS, I just... thought of BW as trying to draw storytelling elements from all three series preceding it..
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Not really. I mean there's a very obvious abandonment of things from the last two generations. Ash isn't the mature one of the group anymore, there's no rookie female trainer, no Contests, Brock is gone, Ash's team is filled with starters, etc.

It felt like after AG started the new direction for the series, DP built upon that and went further, but then Best Wishes reset the series back to the way it was 15 years ago. Its not *exactly* like Kanto, but I don't see how anyone cannot say its more similar to it than other sagas.
 
Best Wishes never felt like original series honestly.At first it had some similarities drawing parallel with Kanto because of Ash initial mistakes he hasnt done for a long time,Iris and Cilan having some similarities with Misty and Brock in teasing Ash and taking some of chores Brock used to do along with formula of show changing from two co-stars to on main protagonist and two sidekicks.

However as time went on Unova looked less and less like original series with writers simply using everything thy learned when writing for OS,AG and DP incorporating it in current saga and on development of Iris and Cilan which while having some things in common with older traveling companions are distinct enough having their own unique qualities.

Main reason why BW doesnt have contests and Brock got replaced is probably because since 5th generation send out vibe of being more of a "fresh start"than previous ones,writers probably wanted to mirror those changes with anime explaining why they went back to status of one protagonist and two sidekicks .

Speaking of original series vibe i would lye if said how i didnt find it unique and i dont think any group will ever manage to reach that amount of chemistry and bond first trio had in my opinion.
With group of Ash,Misty and Brock while traveling together you could get feeling that they felt like close group of friends who cared for each other having great dynamic,humor and entertainment value along with maturing and getting to know each other better while having fun in traveling and exploring new regions and pokemon

Iris and Cilan are doing their job fine(in fact more than fine being my third favorite group) but in my opinion they just lack that charm and harmony which Ash original traveling companions had.


Gliscor'd said:
Well I guess the show will never feel like Kanto again. Best Wishes has the closest formula to it, but the writing is still fairly different.

I guess its true then, what happened in Kanto can never be duplicated again.
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Trying to make BW as rehash of Kanto series would completely defeat purpose and writers intention of making Unova look like something completely new and never seen before going with correlation of 5th generation message of having "new start".

If they wanted to go back to roots they could simply in that case reuse original trio which would be most appropriate candidates for it.Having BW trio turn in copy of original trio wouldnt make any sense.
 
It seems like the votes are almost evenly split, at least for the first two options.

I guess the reason its differentiating from Kanto now is the way the rivals and secondary companions are being handled.
 
Option 3 is the closest to how I feel. Honestly it never felt like Kanto to me. Feels more like they were thinking about a remake, but some wanted to do it and some didn't so they settled on this. I understand why some people view it like Kanto though, especially with the mistakes Ash makes and how he started turning his hat again.
 
Blue1225 said:
Option 3 is the closest to how I feel. Honestly it never felt like Kanto to me. Feels more like they were thinking about a remake, but some wanted to do it and some didn't so they settled on this. I understand why some people view it like Kanto though, especially with the mistakes Ash makes and how he started turning his hat again.
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I think people got that vibe because of two Gym leaders on the cast again and Ash getting all the starters again, something that we haven't had since Johto.

Before BW started, most suspected that Hilda would be the next main girl, Ash would only get one or two starters, and that Hilda would get similar treatment to May or Dawn. Imagine the surprise when they used Iris and Cilan instead.
 
Insanish Danish said:
I never got a Kanto vibe from BW, so no. I mean, there are a few similarities, but other than that it's completely different.
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Well I think this happens every series. I remember when DP first started people thought it was, "the next Kanto" as well. People compared Paul to Gary (since Ash had no rival in AG), and talked about how we had a trio again, comparing the DP trio to the original trio. Am I the only one who remembers people calling Dawn, "the new Misty" when DP first started, because Dawn seemed to have a temper at the very start and argued with Piplup? I wonder where that went? You can even use the search feature and read through those very early DP threads and see people compare Dawn to Misty all the time and act like they were similar, lol.

Iris on the other hand does have some very obvious similarities to Misty, even though she's still very different.

I feel as if Iris and Cilan in general are a mix of traits of Misty/Brock combined together, with some of their own unique characteristics thrown in.

I guess you can say Best Wishes also has a similar light hearted theme to it.
 
I loved Best Wishes until after Episode 17. It seemed to lose it's touch in fillers and such after that.
 
There wasn't much of a Kanto vibe to begin with in my opinion, but Best Wishes has certainly lost its Best Wishes vibe. What happened to 'faster paced'? I have a feeling earthquake or not, this was how things were originally planned out.

Yeah, Meowth being with the group is kind of interesting, but I want them to get to Nimbasa already so they can start getting to more interesting plots (and I don't mean just the Gym).
 
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