Should Ash's, Iris' and Cilan's Pokemon be shown training on-screen more often?

[HumanDawn]

A good number of people here constantly complain that the group isn't getting much on-screen training in this saga. Is there really a desperate need for this? I mean, we all know that the group constantly trains with each other's Pokemon off-screen. Why is it that people make such a big deal because X Pokemon got stronger and learned a new move off-screen? There are those that consider it to be shoddy writing that the Pokemon use new moves that weren't mastered on-screen.

Well, is it really that important? We know they train with each other, so why should they treat us like toddlers showing the Pokemon constantly repeating the same move over and over again till they master it? I'm not saying that it's a bad thing. Learning a new move on-screen could be done well by not making it drag on too much. The writers expect that the audience believes the increasing strength and increasing variety of moves the Pokemon are learning through the off-screen training. Heck, there are Battle Clubs in this region with advanced machinery that helps maximize the strength of a Pokemon. We don't need to see them train his Pokemon there when we know they already do off-screen.

I personally think that most mastered moves should be mastered off-screen since it comes out as a surprise to the viewer. I don't find much excitement in battles when I already know the Pokemon's movepool. Seeing it come out makes me think of what it could have possibly learned to bring something new to the battle instead of some move we've already seen. I just don't think that it's a good idea to waste a few minutes of a episode when those few minutes could have been used to do something more productive.

 

[IcyNinjaX]

If they show training all the time, then It will most likely being boring and repetitive. I would say, give little screen time to them training and later on they do something else. But I agree on you on this sentence...

I personally think that most mastered moves should be mastered off-screen since it comes out as a surprise to the viewer. I don't find much excitement in battles when I already know the Pokemon's movepool. Seeing it come out makes me think of what it could have possibly learned to bring something new to the battle instead of some move we've already seen. I just don't think that it's a good idea to waste a few minutes of a episode when those few minutes could have been used to do something more productive.

 

[Jukain]

For me, it's not the matter that training is being done off-screen, it's that the pokes don't seem to be getting more powerful from it. Many of the pokes are virtually the same as when we first saw them, and if they evoed, then they've been the same since that evo. True, I know that this is a problem that has existed in the anime since it's beginning, and that sagas that did pay more attention to the pokes are no better in this instance. I guess seeing them more did give more of a sense we could see them grow, but even for the pokes they are paying attention to this saga, they aren't as impressive as I would expect them to be. If they actually showed the pokes being believably more powerful, then this whole off-screen matter could perhaps be handwaved. (or maybe I'm not seeing it) The real misstep here, though, is stuff like Palpitoad and Emolga, where character development happened off-screen. You don't do that.

 

[Ambipom666]

When it comes to moves, showing every 'mon learning every move during training might grow boring, but I do think it's important we see more training. Sometimes a Pokemon learning a move right on the spot is done pretty poorly, like Axew and Outrage. Don't get me wrong, such Deus Ex Machinas will always be a part of the show, but it can at least not be outrageous.

One aspect of DP I really enjoyed was the training episodes. We got to actually see the training and for me seeing the Pokémon advance like this best conveys the feeling of the Pokémon getting stronger. Like Samurott said, a lot of the Pokémon don't really seem to have gotten too much stronger, although Ash already has 7 badges. Look at the episode where Ash trains the Cottonee/Monmen. Aside from Scraggy, Iris' Axew and I guess Oshawott, have we seen Ash or anyone train any of their Pokémon as much as that at all? Ash's whole team still feels like a bunch of weaklings of me, which is not a good feeling with the league looming ahead...

 

[투 애니원]

The training they've done on-screen so far have been terrible. Just look at Sunfisk vs Swadloon, the aiming training or whatever its called etc. The only ones that have been decent were Axew vs Scraggy.

 

[Dr. Buni]

Training on-screen would be good, but it would turn out to be very boring to watch after a time.
I don't care much about this.

 

[Bouffalant Herdier]

Yes, definitely. I'm just not getting the feeling that anyone or their Pokemon are improving as the series progresses. Even an entire episode taken up by training could be entertaining if done well, (I quite enjoyed the Oshawott lost scalchop episode, for example) and I really don't like it when a Pokemon learns a new move off-screen. (Unless it's one of Ash's reserve Pokemon) I want to feel like I've seen every step of the characters' adventure, not that I missed an episode.

 

[WildGamer]

DP had a couple episodes where it would open up with some training (that lasted about a minute or 2) before something would happen that would lead into the actual plot of the episode. That way we knew progress was being made and skills were being improved, but it didn't take over the whole episode. I wouldn't mind seeing more of that in BW.

There were also full training episodes, but i didn't really mind them so I wouldn't be adverse to their addition either.

 

[Demelza]

Honestly? It really does depend for me which Pokémon it is. A lot of the time for Ash a bond between him and a Pokémon is built through their training, such as with Oshawott for example, a whole episode was built around teaching it use Aqua Jet while keeping its eyes open underwater, so gave us a decent episode and helped show us the bond between Ash and Oshawott growing. When training is done off screen you end up missing out on that, and I think a lot of the time for Iris and Cilan's Pokémon it would be better to show us them training more often, so we could at least see a bond between them. Axew and Pansage can likely be excused from my last comment as they both get a lot of screen time as it is, but it wouldn't hurt to see Iris and Cilan's other Pokémon in training now and then.

I don't so much mind a Pokémon learning a new move off screen, I just don't like missing out on time which could be spent developing the bond between Pokémon and trainer. More episodes just need to be made that are fun, but still revolve around training. Oshawott's lost scalchop episode is the perfect example of training episodes done well proving they can be done if the writers put their minds to it. xD

 

[Ashfangirl22]

Not all the time, it'd be nice to see some of it though. Like I would have loved to seen it at the Don Tournament, how Ash improved some of his Pokemon for his gyms and it'd be nice to see him get even closer to his newer Pokemon. D/P and AG and Kanto Pokemon you saw that, hopefully you'll see that in Best Wishes 2.

 

[ShadowStriatonTriad]

To be honest, I really prefer the actual story over the battles/training. Pokemon has always been battle-based and watching constant training and battles over many years got old. I would prefer to see more backstory to each character, maybe some more criminal action/highlighting on Team Rocket and Team Plasma, some more romance. I also want to see Satoshi evolve more of his Pokemon while Cilan and Iris catch more. Seeing Axew every episode is annoying. Can she at least evolve it into Fraxture?

 

[CrackFox]

I'm fine with what we see. Depends on what you enjoy about Pokemon. The battling/training has never been top of the list for me.

 

[SammyW27]

In moderation. As others have said, it would probably get old quick (it's part of why people don't like DP). Though I'd like it if they showed training at appropriate times and didn't over do it.

BW could certinaly benefit from a little more training time., Surely I'm not the only one tired of random move learning and deus ex machinca evolutions saving the day (I know, it was a problem in previous series. But here it seems more blatant)

 

[IcyNinjaX]

To be honest, I really prefer the actual story over the battles/training. Pokemon has always been battle-based and watching constant training and battles over many years got old. I would prefer to see more backstory to each character, maybe some more criminal action/highlighting on Team Rocket and Team Plasma, some more romance. I also want to see Satoshi evolve more of his Pokemon while Cilan and Iris catch more. Seeing Axew every episode is annoying. Can she at least evolve it into Fraxture?

Axew barely does anything in a Pokemon battle, so the odds of Axew to evolve is slim.
Instead of sitting around, Iris needs to train Axew, just as Ash did in the past with his Pokemon. If they want to accomplish Dragon Rage (something like that), I would suggest practicing over and over or look for someone who is an expertise in Dragon Pokemon and help Axew with Dragon Rage.

As for Romance, It CAN happen, but It will really throw off the purpose of Pokemon. Maybe in the future? But now, not yet.
That's why we have Pokemon Pairings (Shipping)

 

[Catspring]

I don't like watching Pokemon train. It gets boring pretty fast. In moderation, it'd be fine, as it is necessary to develop Pokemon's strength. Put too much in and people will get bored and change the channel.

 

[Midorikawa]

A little training is good, but not much. Most of the focus of training has been on Axew, Scraggy, Tepig, and Oshawott. Since BW doesn't over power baby pokemon like AG and DP, so Scraggy and Axew are understandable. Snivy hasn't learned a single new move since her first appearance, and is often with Ash. Cilan's pokemon in general get little screen time, and ever since Excadrill made up with Iris it's had little screen time as well. Overall I would like some training with pokemon that haven't gotten much, especially side character pokemon.

 

[Catspring]

A little training is good, but not much. Most of the focus of training has been on Axew, Scraggy, Tepig, and Oshawott. Since BW doesn't over power baby pokemon like AG and DP, so Scraggy and Axew are understandable. Snivy hasn't learned a single new move since her first appearance, and is often with Ash. Cilan's pokemon in general get little screen time, and ever since Excadrill made up with Iris it's had little screen time as well. Overall I would like some training with pokemon that haven't gotten much, especially side character pokemon.

The thing is, side Pokemon (in my opinion) aren't as important as main cast Pokemon. Iris and Cilan don't have any substantial mission where training their Pokemon would be necessary. Cilan wants to be a Connoisseur, judging the compatibility between trainers and their Pokemon, so his don't really have to be a strong level. Not that he should ignore them completely, I just don't think he should get too much focus. Iris wants to be a Dragon master, but we don't know how to achieve that goal and besides she only has one Dragon-type. I would like to see more of Iris's Pokemon; I think they have good personalities - Axew is a baby, Emolga is a gluttonous, manipulative cutie, and Excadrill is stubborn and hates losing. I think Ash should train some of his lesser used Pokemon, such as Palpitoad, Boldore, and Leavanny, for a chance for them to develop their personalities more.

 

[Midorikawa]

A little training is good, but not much. Most of the focus of training has been on Axew, Scraggy, Tepig, and Oshawott. Since BW doesn't over power baby pokemon like AG and DP, so Scraggy and Axew are understandable. Snivy hasn't learned a single new move since her first appearance, and is often with Ash. Cilan's pokemon in general get little screen time, and ever since Excadrill made up with Iris it's had little screen time as well. Overall I would like some training with pokemon that haven't gotten much, especially side character pokemon.

The thing is, side Pokemon (in my opinion) aren't as important as main cast Pokemon. Iris and Cilan don't have any substantial mission where training their Pokemon would be necessary. Cilan wants to be a Connoisseur, judging the compatibility between trainers and their Pokemon, so his don't really have to be a strong level. Not that he should ignore them completely, I just don't think he should get too much focus. Iris wants to be a Dragon master, but we don't know how to achieve that goal and besides she only has one Dragon-type. I would like to see more of Iris's Pokemon; I think they have good personalities - Axew is a baby, Emolga is a gluttonous, manipulative cutie, and Excadrill is stubborn and hates losing. I think Ash should train some of his lesser used Pokemon, such as Palpitoad, Boldore, and Leavanny, for a chance for them to develop their personalities more.

It would be nice to see Ash's lesser pokemon as well. You brought up Iris' pokemon personalities, but except for dwebble, Cilan's haven't had much personality development. I'd really like to see palpitoad and stunkfish together, because in their debut episode they were said to be friends.

 

[Cybersai]

Since BW doesn't over power baby pokemon like AG and DP, so Scraggy and Axew are understandable.

Which were those, two pokemon?

 

[Midorikawa]

Since BW doesn't over power baby pokemon like AG and DP, so Scraggy and Axew are understandable.

Which were those, two pokemon?

In AG and DP when a pokemon hatched it was on equal level with pokemon like piplup and pikachu. May's eevee and Dawn's cyndaquil are some of the best examples of this. Scraggy and Axew on the other hand started out being portrayed weak because they were newly hatched.