How do you feel about Pikachu's development throughout the series so far?

[Poliwhirl42]

The recent Rocket two-parter really got me thinking about this, after seeing Pikachu's role in the second part. Do you think he's at a very high level by now (even though "levels" don't generally occur in the anime, I don't think...)? Or do you think the writers sort of "reset" him each new regional arc and make him weaker in each first episode. Judging by that Trip battle with Snivy, I'm a little turned off by this. I thought by now Pikachu would be extremely skilled and its electric attacks would be much stronger than they obviously had in Kanto. But now, watching that two-parter and seeing its Electro-Ball increase like that...

The writers really seem to go back and forth with Pikachu, huh? I mean, think about it. It's lost pathetically to Pokemon it should've beaten at first glance, yet in the scene in the first movie, when Ash battles the trainer with the Golem, the Golem falls to the ground with one Thunderbolt.

What do you think?

 

[Cybersai]

Pikachu goes from taking down legendaries to losing to random Level 5 Pokemon in each saga.

You can't really say Pikachu goes through development. It just wins or loses based on the writers whims.

 

[Master Cyrus]

Ash traded in for a new Pikachu at the end of AG and DP. Then after DP Ash himself was traded in for a new model.

 

[hhhhdmt]

I am very disappointed when it comes to Pikachu learning new attacks. It could potentially learn something like Light Screen (especially given how light and fragile it is), Magnet Rise and Signal Beam. Instead they gave it electroball. So yes, i do think it has been handled poorly in terms of the king of moves it has learned.

 

[Karpi]

Pikachu's story was done a long time ago. It ended when Togepi left the main cast at the very latest. Even then, "caring after Togepi" was the only time it showed its individuality for a long time before that.

 

[Chiss]

Ash's Pikachu is a boring character that never grows, but since Ash is the same way you barely even notice it. At least I don't.

 

[Satoshi_Pikachu]

Well, Pikachu doesn't really have any development anymore. I think the last development he got was in a DP episode. I think the English name is Pika vs Goliath or something. But that was a kind of remake of the episode against Lt. Surge, so can it really count for much?

But it's Pokémon, where almost no characters get development. In a way, it sucks, but if I minded too much I would've stopped watching a loooong time ago.

 

[Hurricane Kishore]

Disappointed

 

[Jukain]

Pikachu represents one of the best examples of the problems associated to keeping a character going for a long amount of time. There's nothing more to do with him, all the development he could have was already done in the original saga. As such, he has become like a character in a newspaper comic strip. A single gimmick that is repeated over and over. Many have criticized it for the matter that Pika is not interesting anymore. I, for one, liked seeing Pika be the experienced and mature one by the time DP rolled around. True, we don't often get to see him overcome some flaw, other than the writers like to toss a coin on whether he can win or lose. To me, he has long since played out, especially since evolving is out of the question. That's okay, though, since the focus should go elsewhere, but they won't do that either.

 

[Hurricane Kishore]

Now , Pikachu doesn't any development .
He only need to redeem himself !
If only Anime Stuff were smart enough to know this.