Least Favorite Saga

[Piplup]

Thank you, but I'm actually a girl. Just wanted to clarify that.

Sorry ^^" I think I actually wanted to check out but didn't see a Latios/Latias icon in your details (now I do see the Latias)

I'm almost wishing that I changed my vote to BW just because it does feel like a huge step-backwards for the anime and the flaws in it bothers me a lot more than the boring aspects of the Orange Islands, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to vote for a saga that I haven't seen all of the episodes for it yet.

Sadly, I think that's it's pretty obvious by now how the BW series is going to be till its end, so I wouldn't feel bad about voting it before it ended
I do hope though that BW2 will cause this series to improve at least a little
I also really want Ash to totally fail this League and get Top 16 again (hello Kanto references that this series loves so much) and then get totally depressed, eventually get over it and decide to train seriously - I'd really like that, and then maybe we'll have an Ash closer to his AG/DP-self during the second half of BW, whatever they'll do there after the League and before next gen

Though, I wonder how I would feel about the Battle Frontier saga. I haven't seen most of those episodes in years, with even a few episodes that I haven't seen yet, but I think that the main problem I would have with it would be the rushed pacing. I remember liking May's Contests and some of the Frontier Brain matches though.

I think I really liked that saga, mostly thanks to May, her Contests and other eps that focused on her... I did like some of the Frontier Brains battles too, though it was mostly Brandon that was really interesting
Some of the fillers were fun too, like they usually are in this show, despite what people may say about them

 

[Almonds]

While the Silver Conference is my fav tournament (Ash vs Gary), I'd still pick Johto as my least fav because of the sucky fillers.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Sorry ^^" I think I actually wanted to check out but didn't see a Latios/Latias icon in your details (now I do see the Latias)

It's okay. There wasn't a Latias icon before since my biography details weren't updated.

Sadly, I think that's it's pretty obvious by now how the BW series is going to be till its end, so I wouldn't feel bad about voting it before it ended
I do hope though that BW2 will cause this series to improve at least a little
I also really want Ash to totally fail this League and get Top 16 again (hello Kanto references that this series loves so much) and then get totally depressed, eventually get over it and decide to train seriously - I'd really like that, and then maybe we'll have an Ash closer to his AG/DP-self during the second half of BW, whatever they'll do there after the League and before next gen

That's true. I just automatically thought of the Orange Islands being dull when I saw the topic, instead of my issues with BW for some reason. I hope that BW2 will be able to help improve the anime as well. I certainly wouldn't mind if Ash got to the Top 16. It would be another Kanto reference and I really don't think he deserves to get a high rank in the league given the serious downgrade of his skills and the poor quality of the majority of his Gym battles. Ash really does need to reflect on why he ended up in the Top 16, which will hopefully lead him to train his Pokemon more.

I think I really liked that saga, mostly thanks to May, her Contests and other eps that focused on her... I did like some of the Frontier Brains battles too, though it was mostly Brandon that was really interesting
Some of the fillers were fun too, like they usually are in this show, despite what people may say about them

Even if it was rushed, I really enjoyed what I saw of May's Contests and some other episodes focused on her. The main Frontier Brain battles I remember liking were a tag battle with Swellow and Corphish and the one where Sceptile learned Solarbeam. AG in general had some really fun filler episodes from what I remember.

 

[Madame Pika]

The way I see it, this is only really a contest between Best Wishes and Johto. Both have good qualities amongst thier irratings bits (the odd great battle, the odd funny episode, Dento, the first attempt at a tornament with all the cast entering [Whirl Cup even if it could have been done much better], ect) but Best Wishes has far less of an excuse for sucking. It doesn't have 'this is our first attempt at a long saga' or 'we messed up on something big (GS ball) and don't want to take riskes' or 'these characters were only meant to last around 100 episodes'. Johto's long strech of dull and habbit of having characters standing around really are terrible faults though. Both can be argued as trying to copy the original series but without understanding what made Kanto so great but with Best Wishes that arguement simply makes alot more sence. Plus whilst both series have annoying characters (Iris, Nanako, Shuuti, ect.) in Best Wishes, the annoying characters simply get far more screen time.

At the end I have to go with Best Wishes. Hopefully like Johto it can redeem itself by making the writers get themselves in gear again.

 

[Caseydia]

repares self for gun shots:

After every single saga I've watched, OS is probably my least favorite. I know Best Wishes seems like a reboot but there is alot of things that BW is doing that's right comapred to before. The gymbattles is one. The Pokemon interactions were not as good back then than now. We really get to see the stories of the Pokemon in this current series. The animation and the development for the characters didn't start getting good until later on. Plus Ash was still dumb but there was alot of luck in Ash's battles but here we see Ash lose from time because of his bad mistakes. That shows character and I didn't see that until Orange Islands when he had to learn to start training and focus on what's important.

 

[Kall El]

Before I say anything, Hoenn saga was the best! Moving on..
I don't have a least favourite Saga simply because i've thouroughly enjoyed everything we've been treated too so far up until Sinnoh. I can't comment on BW because I haven't started watching that yet unfortunately,"is currently re-watching the anime in the Hoenn Saga".
If I had to pick one, it would come down to a cats whiskers between the Orange Archipelago & Sinnoh. The former because although I enjoyed it, was more pointless and pretty much a filler between Kanto and Johto. Sinnoh because I haven't really watched the entire saga, infact you know what i'll take that back, silly me! Sinnoh was actually amazing from what i've seen so far! We'll see what BW has to offer, i'm really curious as to how good that saga will be when it's developed and is in its finishing stages.

Anyways Johto, Seriously? It may have had countless and almost never-ending fillers, flaws like every saga yes! But Johto wasn't all that bad.
I always felt Johto was a fan-favourite to say the least. I'll admit, not my favourite saga at all, but not something I would hate on due to number of fillers etc
In response to someone whom i cannot remember! Ash, Misty and Brocks chemistry was as fine as shining gold! How on earth could you question that? "Gotta catch ya later" was one of the most memorable finale episodes to date with the original trio breaking up. Although it was good timing because if they stuck with them in Hoenn they would have screwed up BIG time so it was a wise move indeed!
To be fair there were many improvements in the Johto series over the previous ones eg far better gym battles and regional league.
Not to mention this was their first shot at making a 3 year saga, so give them a break! Johto was amazing, could have been much better but so could Sinnoh and all the other sagas. I guess the fillers was a drawback but was good enough to end the original series.
In this wierd strange almost comprehendable way, no Saga is the same as simple as that. I enjoyed all of them differently in their own way, and I am thouroughly looking forward to BW and whatever comes next!

 

[Lugnut]

I lost interest durring Orange Islands and that carried on to the start of Johto. I still to this day don't find OI to be that interesting...

 

[Jukain]

Johto, hands down. Just way too many bland eps. However, I will not deny that when Johto is good, it's pretty good. Kanto is at least my second least favorite, purely because I cannot stand the kiddiness anymore. (even though lately, I feel that's perhaps missing the point, it's supposed to be a wacky show, whereas later sagas were a more direct adaptation) Orange follows not too far in third least, but only because it's the most original the series ever got, but it's still very similar to Kanto. BW continues to lessen for me, but I'm uncertain if it has less tolerable than Hoenn to me, it probably has, since I would consider the disregard for continuity a more serious offense than simply slogging through uninteresting eps (which there are less of in Hoenn than Johto) and a botched villian plot. I'll have to do some soul searching for where I would place BW now, but it gives me the same sense I do for Kanto. It has some really good eps, but it has a really irritating aspect that severely weighs it down. I'll still say that BW is at least better written than Kanto, but for me, that isn't saying much.

EDIT: Yeah, I'll say that BW deserves the third least more than Orange does by now. I just regard Orange with indifference. BW, I outright hate, but like I said, it's at least slightly better written than Kanto.

 

[Freefall]

Well, personally, I had to choose between Orange, Johto and Frontier but the decision was made quickly. As a kid, I didn't have such perspectives about things and just enjoyed watching anything but after re-watching all of the series, a lot of stuff occured to me. The Orange Islands were at least short, and although I find water/island traveling features in games and series inconveniently complicated, it is somehow always refreshing in Pokemon. Gyms were interesting too. Johto was filler'd alright but Ash&co. were so... I can't really find the word for it, adorable or cute or something struggling to develop so slowly. Entertaining, at least for me. Also, there was a lot of rotation on the team and the tourney is so far my favorite.
On the other hand, the BF was a pain to watch even at the first time. At least they tried something with Sceptile but it was so far-fetched, imo the dub was awful and I couldn't stand the parallel contest arc at all either. Ugh, it was a year almost totally wasted for me.

I really don't want to go off, but let me say the poll is rather unfair with BW, since it hasn't ended yet - and a couple of other reasons but then again, you know, let's not go there.

 

[Cybersai]

On the other hand, the BF was a pain to watch even at the first time. At least they tried something with Sceptile but it was so far-fetched, imo the dub was awful and I couldn't stand the parallel contest arc at all either. Ugh, it was a year almost totally wasted for me.

Yeah, I can understand not liking a lot of the BF filler episodes, but I did think they got all the important stuff right. Most of the Frontier Brain battles were fun to watch, we got to see Grovyle and Phanpy evolve, as well as Ash bring back several of his older pokemon for matches. Brock got a few decent episodes, (the Pewter Gym ep was my favorite), we got an awesome Butch/Cassidy episode, and I did think at least half of May's Contests that saga were interesting, the only bad ones was the very first one where Squirtle beat Harley and the Brock contest due to the cheap win. The Kanto GF is also still my favorite Grand Festival due to the climax of the rivalries.

But overall its obvious Battle Frontier was severely rushed because DP was coming out. Given they had to fit 7 Brain matches, 7 contests, a Grand Festival and everything else into only 65 episodes...you got to give the writers props for that.

 

[HumanDawn]

Diamond and Pearl for giving me frequent depressions for 4 years of my life.

 

[Almonds]

Johto for too many fillers.

 

[FinalArcadia]

The entire Johto saga to me was pretty brutal. Brutally boring. It was so unmemorable, that the only episodes I really remember are the ones with gym leaders I like. At least I can remember a decent bit of the other seasons.

Best Wishes is kind of at this point as well. It had a strong start, and then became so dull that I have pretty much stopped watching it, just like I eventually did with Johto for the most part.

 

[megaevolvedmushroom]

I vote Battle Frontier, because it didn't do Kanto any justice, it was like someone's bad fanfic come to life. Also, the characters were getting way more stale than they already were.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I'm going with Diamond and Pearl: this saga just let me down way too much, in more ways than one, after all the hype it had going for it. The character chemistry was way too stiff for my tastes, the fillers showing Ash or Dawn train with their Pokemon were just too dull, I despise Brock's characterization in this saga and hate what the writers did to him...it's just too frustrating for me. As "mature" as this saga was, as good as the battles were, as good as the characters' rivalry was, everything else is just too horrifying for me. I have absolutely no desire to go back to this saga...it brings up bad memories for me.

I also disliked Battle Frontier, even in the 4Kids dub (though not nearly as much as after the takeover).

 

[death trapper]

I go with BW.

 

[Magma Bomb]

Johto, with no contest. That was when the anime started making a recycled formula out of itself with way too many dull fillers that play exactly the same everywhere.
In all fairness, up to this point the formula was always there, but the overabundance of fillers and lack of different plot points to distract from that made it much more evident in Johto than in any other saga.
By the way, the decision to keep Misty and Brock in the show and barely doing anything with them (the Whirl Cup being the sole exception in the whole fillerfest) just reinforced the idea it was always a rehash of the same. It felt like a stretch of Kanto, but without any of the good points or writing. And since Team Rocket never disbanded in the anime, there was no plot to adapt from the GSC games aside from the usual "collect badges, go to league" stuff and since there were no sideplots like contests back in the old days, you know it just screams filler.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

Diamond & Pearl.

-Too many episodes were about the same thing over and over. The ones that weren't about training or battles or rivalries were about something that's stupid.
-A lot of people say BW's gags aren't funny, and I agree, but DP's gags aren't, either (Draco Meteor Fail comes to mind).
-A lot of people also say it was *mature*, but the *maturity* just distanced the anime away from being actually fun.
-Paul was a strong trainer, but his personality was stiff.
-Team Rocket was at an all time low, both sub and dub. The anime, period, was at an all time low in both America and Japan (I don't watch it in other languages, so I'm not sure how it was in other countries).
-Brock's shafting didn't do the group any favors. The group was just two Ashs (one male, one female) being annoying, and the third wheel being shafted, as I said before.
-Contests were stale already. Plus the appeals got tiring, since most of them involved water and ice. And speaking of water…
-No Misty appearance outside of the lure that went nowhere.
-Barry's only purpose was to show off how *great* Paul was, and by the time they actually fixed him to where he was more likable, it was far too late.
-Plotholes that had no reason to exist.
-Tobias.

 

[SammyW27]

Isshu, hands down!

To be fair, the Banned 2-Parter, the Sequel Games and Gen 5's shortness complicated things...but even with those it STILL could've and should've turned out better!

Take, for example, Iris' storyline. Originally, her goal was to become a dragon master by training and evolving Axew. Then, for reasons we'll never know--I'll certainly never understand--the producers went "Eff that!" and turned Axew into Togepi 2.0 and randomly gave Iris an the World's Most Overpowered Dragonite on a golden platter. Any and all problems she had were resolved way too quickly or even off screen (WTF did they do to Emolga?! :bawl. To be fair, the dragon master angle may or may not have initially had something to do with the Tao Duo, but there's still no excuse for how Iris was handled.

And there's so much more...

- Ash being despicably stupid
- Badges being won not by skill and strategy, but by Deus Ex Machinas and really dumb luck.
- Trip has to be the Worst Rival Ever.
- Worst. League. EVER!!.
- Giving characters Pokémon that were seldom used...and part of the time they failed when they were
- Annoying running gags crammed down our *bleep* throats
- Kotetsu
- Virgil
- Dawn's guest stint.
- The World Tournament Junior Cup.
- The Dregalore Archipelago
- Having the plot bend over backwards to bring in elements from the Sequel games and even Gen 6--only to barely do a thing with them :dumb:
- Several Gen 5 elements that were underused, misused or not used at all (Chiefly how many of Isshu's Pokémon barely showed up, let alone were used properly)
- Charizard coming back to much fanfare...only to be an underused afterthought :dizzy:
- Worst Ash-tachi break up ever

There are parts of the saga I like , but by and large the producers just kept screwing up when there was NO reason they should've.

Close behind is the Battle Frontier, which was just an excuse to promote Emerald and the Gen 1 Remakes while killing time.

BTW...does DA count as its own little saga, or is it simply an extension of Isshu

And while I'm at it, I'd like to say that I liked the beginning of Johto--which STARTED well enough before the GS Ball became a red herring--and its third year (The "Master Quest" episodes) had a lot of really good moments

 

[G50]

Definitely the Orange Islands saga for me. I liked at most 7 episodes, the rest I almost never watch again. It had two great Gym episodes, the other two were good but not as good as the other two. (Since I usually prefer battles over non-battles)

I thoroughly enjoyed the Ash vs Drake episodes, and Charizard Chills. Everything else had episode themes that didn't peak my interest unfortunately.