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The Direction you wish the Series went?

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Srebak

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After getting criticized by someone at "Do you have any Pokemon Anime headcanons?" I decided to start this thread in response.

Like the title says, what direction do you wish the series went? By which i mean, what do you wish writers had done for the show but ultimately didn't happen or the very least look unlikely to happen?

Here are a few Examples:

  1. Ash and Co. did gain a new travelling companion in the Johto.
  2. An Evil Team being found in the Johto region (It just doesn't feel fair for Ash to encounter new Evil Teams while travelling with May and Max, Dawn and Iris and Cilan)
  3. Ash knowing fully well about love but is too proud to admit that
  4. Trip and Iris finally getting Karma for all the times they insulted Ash
  5. Ash actually having romantic feelings for Misty or any of the other girls who supposedly had a thing for him, but is too proud to admit that
  6. Ash finally introducing an old Pokemon Powerhouse to his opponents in Unova
 
Okay I'll join in. But how far back are we going as to what direction he series could have gone?

Since I don't have time for an answer, I'll start with Orange Islands.

1. A water competition that Misty could have been involved in back then.
2. Johto- Left the old Pokemon back and everyone catch only Johto ones. Togepig was more involved in battles as well as other things.
3. Max was atleast given a Pokemon before he was thrown off. Brock was thrown off in BF.(It's not like he did much anyway)
4. Maybe have useda new boy for the DP group. Probably barry since he was a joke rival anyhow. Give them good chemisrty and less fillers in between the eigth gym and the league.
5. Made Ash league go first then Dawn's second. I don't know why it's always first and so short and sloppy.
6. They could have left Pikachu alone and made Trip more advanced in experienced. Drop the bird Pokemon which barely got any development and give him Sandile earlier.
7. Replaced Emonga and Excadrill with a Deino and a disobedient Druddigon.(sorry Iris fans) Give Iris a Dragonair instead of a dragonite right away.
8. Give Cilan a mini competition of his own. All that personality should be better used.
9. Having Ash won alteast two leagues by now.
10. When the end of the series comes, I hope everyone is shown grown up with their own childrena about to start their journey and that's when the show could be put to rest. Probably will never happen but wishing always feels good.
 
1; Kept Misty and Brock. MAYBE giving them an occasional break no longer than Orange Islands was.
2; lookin' at the dub, let 4Kids continue their work for the sake of keeping good scripters and great VAs. (most Pokemon cries were not too shabby either)
3; Avoided changing a lot of stuff in BW. (TR's not funny, CotD's are increasingly weird and quirky, Ash is...yeah you get the point)
4; More jaw dropping nature inspiration and more profound morals and philosophy please!
 
This is something that I find difficult to say since it only involves my opinion, and I don't know if my opinion would've helped matters. I wouldn't have made the series so goofy, but that's exactly what caused Pokemon to be so popular in the first place, so I have no right to speak against it. Looking back, I find it odd that the very reason I got into Pokemon was an ep featuring one of the faults of the original saga: that being Bulbasaur refusing to evolve. That wasn't the reason I liked it, though. I was intrigued by the creatures that grow to be more powerful. So, here's what I would do for certain: better character development. This is what causes the series to suffer the most. There's little stringing it together. It's either this or cut the pretense and just do a random comedy.
 
Dawn winning the Grand Festival: (Without using Togekiss) Since it was probably the end of contests in the show, I don't see why it couldn't have ended in triumph for the main coordinator who we had been following for over 170 episodes. What's so special about Zoey?

Ash defeating at least four of Tobias' Pokemon: It was extremely disappointing to see Ash get curbstomped by Tobias after watching all the other amazing battles of the Sinnoh League. I would've been able to cope with Ash's loss far better if he went down with more of a fight.

Different back story for Iris and Excadrill: This is what I thought had happened before the reveal - Not too long after Iris had received Axew and set off on her journey, she was attacked by a wild Excadrill. She tried to fend it off using Axew, but he was no match and got badly hurt. In desperation, Iris threw a Pokeball at Excadrill and was lucky enough to catch it without inflicting any damage. (As can happen in the games) But since Iris didn't offer any challenge for Excadrill in battle, he had no respect for her abilities and refused to obey. Iris also became too frightened to use Axew in battle, fearing he might get injured again.
 
1. Keep Japanese writing and cultural references and lessen the naughty stuff.
2. Cut the Johto fillers by 50% and replace with character developing episodes and Rocket-dan stuff.
3. Rehash that awful Aqua/Magma-dan finale.
4. Make the animation more fluid.
 
I'm not here to debate, I'm here to state my opinion so I did. Oh yeah, and I too would have done more character development, which wouldn't be too difficult if they weren't switched out too often. Maybe for the Pokemon, I'd make sure that there were enough episodes focused on each of them that gave them relatively equal roles :). Not like, have Ash catch extras and send em' off to Oak until the league (poor Krabby/Kingler XD)
 
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Well I liked the fact that the writers brought forth May and had her co-star alongside Ash. It was a nice change of events for the show.

I would have changed Team Rocket though, much earlier. I know them chasing after Pikachu is supposed to be an on-going thing, but jeez, there's an end for everything.
Correct me if I'm wrong though, I haven't been keeping up with B/W, but I heard they changed quite a bit, but they're still trying to capture Pikachu, am I right? Or did they stop their whole shenanigans?
 
I would have:
-more development for characters in general in Johto. There would be more focus on Brock breeding career. Misty would be given rival(maybe Marina from Orange Islands)and participate in more water based events serving as benchmarks for advancing goal, than just Whirl Cup). And Jessi, James and Meowth would be given better and more engaging role than just serving as punching bags which is sent flying away by Pikachu in every episode.

- in Hoenn May would still join group, but i would keep Misty without Max joining in which would ultimately lead to much more entertaining Hoenn than we got chance to follow.
I believe Hoenn had perfect set up which allowed to try out concept of two female companions in same cast since writers tried out group of four. We would have two boys(Ash and Brock) to balance things out, while May and Misty would serve as counter balance having potential to produce unique chemistry among group. It would also please many fans at that time with Misty being developed more having lot of untapped potential about water master dream left.

-Brock would be given more focus in DP, with screen time of Dawn and Ash being cut down a bit to allow that other characters shine more, and exaggerated amount of episodes which offered nothing but practicing for appeals would have been utilized for something more productive. Sinnoh would also last 3 years, with Johto filler arc being made featuring return of May to give coverage on her performance as coordinator in Johto, and Misty which would enter Whirl Cup for second time.

-in general there would be payed more attention to older characters being reused at some point and making the significant for future storyline, while being developed themselves more too instead of leaving them forgotten and abandoned like they never existed in first place.

Catalepsy said:
[
The show would have been over a long time ago if the writers never replaced those two. -_-
Click to expand...

Judging by demand for their return, it gives out impression how anime would be more popular than it was without them. Plenty shows don't change cast keeping characters and taking them in new directions and they are more successful than pokemon.

I always thought Misty and May on same cast would have worked great. I know for fact many would rather prefer her instead of Max in cast.
 
In order to keep this thread going, i'm changing the rules a bit here. From now on, if you can, try to explain why you wish the series went a certain way.

I'll give it a shot

1. I wanted Ash and Co. to get a new travelling companion in Johto because i still stand by my "Talking Persian" idea. You might say that he'd be redundant with TR's Meowth and all, but i personally see him serving as the antithesis of TR's Meowth, Ash's main adviser and Pikachu's staunch protector when Ash isn't around. If done right, this could have worked.

2. I wanted a new Evil Team to be found in Johto because it just didn't seem fair that Ash encountered new Evil Teams while traveling with May and Max, Dawn and, most likely Iris and Cilan, but not while traveling with Misty. The most we got in the original series was much grander Team Rocket plans, that's it, and since Jessie, James and Meowth actually are apart of Team Rocket, it didn't make since for them to be opposing any of that. Personally, I still stand by my idea of Johto having a secret organization that is dedicated to ridding the Earth of all Pokemon, it'd be nice change of pace from Team Rocket's attempts to use them for evil purposes.

3. Ash knowing fully well about love would, at the very least, speak volumes for his ability to comprehend the way things work in the world. Having him be oblivious to love just makes him seem downright stupid at times and not in a funny way. I liked the way the OS handled things: Ash did understand love, if only to degree, and was at least able to recognize Romance when it was obvious enough

4. I just really need to see Iris and Trip finally getting the karma they deserve for insulting Ash. He's been to four regions already, four, and Iris and Trip have yet to be shown outside of Unova. Every time i hear the word "Boonie" or "Kid" I just think they're both asking for it.

5. I'm just a firm believer in Pokeshipping and i really do believe there was something there between Ash and Misty.

6. I'd just love to see the look on Trip's face when he sees Charizard, Bayleaf, Sceptile, Donphan, Torterra, Infernape or Starraptor, Ash probably wouldn't seem so weak then. Also, i'd love to see the look on Iris' face when she sees Ash's Gible or his Glalie.
 
Mostly I want to see Ash finally win a league tournament. Sinnoh would've been perfect, since TPTB seemed to be building to that throughout DP. Afterwards, Ash could go on the next journey with a new trainer out to collect badges, with Ash as the mentor instead of the perpetual student. TPTB should've done this for Unova as a follow-up to him winning in Sinnoh; plus, it would've tied in perfectly with the idea of Unova not having Pokemon from other regions, thus giving Ash a "foreign exchange" opportunity to go with his mentoring. This way, Ash would've had to grow up in ways not currently possible with someone older and wiser than him looking over his shoulder. It's time for him to be the big brother instead of having the big brother.
 
I kind of wish they had replaced the main character after every region so it could be more like the games, but over the years I've gotten so used to watching Satoshi/Ash's adventures and I wouldn't like it if he were replaced now. However, if this had been done from the very beginning, perhaps we would've had a much more interesting anime.

Apart from that, I really like the way the anime goes, and what I would change are really just nitpicks or general annoyances such as the ridiculous deus ex machina wins from Hoenn, bland characters, and stuff like that, but I don't think any of these would affect the direction of the series.

A small thing I would absolutely adore is a scene in which Trip sees all of Ash's powerhouses. It would be so awesome to see his shocked face. Or better, yet, have Charizard burn his face for comic relief.
 
1. I wanted ash and brock get a new traveling companion that replaces misty.

2. I wanted dp to have good chemistry brock with ash & dawn.

3. ash defeating tobias it was disappointing for me to see ash lose. Ash should've called charizard to be for the semi finals that we he can defeat tobias.

4. I wanted in unova brock still travels with ash and he gets development to stop fall in loving with girls.

5. I wanted ash to remember his training in skills in unova. it was disappointing for me to see ash forgets his training skills.

6. ash defeating paul in the final trainer battle. ash should've figure out to defeat paul ash's monferno should've defeat paul's electabuzz.

7. Paul's weavile gets the first win in the final trainer battle for once. It was getting annoying that paul's weavile kept on losing.

8. Paul's Honchkrow gets defeated by ash's grotle it was disappointing for me to see paul's honchkrow kept on defeating ash's grotle pokeringer doesn't count as the pokemon trainer battle though.

9. ash shouldn't scan the pokemon that he already scanned. Best wishes should've have the female pokemon trainer companion of ash's co to scan that she hasn't scan it was disappointing to see ash using his pokedex that he already scanned. the writers should make female pokemon trainer companion to be be interested of being some trainer class instead of being an coordinator

10. Dawn winning the grand festival it is annoying for me to see another coordinator to lose again. I think dawn's ambipom will have an chance to get dawn to win.
 
=> I wanted Pokémon to end soon after Satoshi had won the Kanto League. So, maybe we could have seen in a episode, what is Satoshi's path after this :p ( training like "Red" in the game, visiting another region, teaching or nothing....). And of course, the future of Rocket-Dan, Takeshi the breeder (not doctor >.<) , Kasumi, Shigeru....
And maybe, create Pokémon V2 with another hero =] (lol)
But now, Pokémon have about 748 ep + HoSo + movies o_O . (Pokémon must be one of the animes with a lot of episodes Oo ( Doraemon (1780 ep), Shin Chan (828 ep) ...) It even beat One Piece, Detective Conan lol),
Something impossible to watch for those who want to :/ (you need to find all the episodes and it must be difficult) . So people don't watch Kanto-Johto even Hoenn :p . Let's just start form DP (192 ep) + BW( 92 ep)
I Just wanted the end !!!!! :'(
 
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There's one particular direction I wish the series would go, that could help improve it actually.

  1. Replace Ash with a different protagonist each generation, and possibly have an older Ash mentor the new hero in some episodes, I know Ash is an important part of the series, but he's been used to the point where he's been juiced out of every possible character aspect, giving the anime a new protagonist will help keep the series fresh for newer viewers, and newer fans, when keeping the same old characters for so long just causes people to lose interest in the series more. You can only do so much with one character, and this is what has happened to Ash is that he's been used up for everything you can possibly do to him.
  2. Have each generation contain an ongoing plot, a climax, and a conclusion to that plot, rather than copy and paste storylines and simply limiting it to the hero getting Gym badges and entering the league, while all other game plot lines such as the villain team are limited to a bare minimum, if not at all (I'm looking at you Team Plasma), for instance, the hero is searching for his father, while running into obstacles such as the Gym Leaders and the villain team, and look into ways of overcoming those obstacles to reach his goal. Multi-part episodes can play a huge part in the series, often progressing detailed stories that can go on for a while, rather than the anime's usual formula of formulatic filler episode after filler episode, with an occasional two part episode here and there. And when you have a good and interesting story, you can bring in viewers to support the story, and keep them wondering what will happen next.
  3. Give both the human and Pokemon characters interesting personalities, to make the characters and storyline both engaging and memorable, the anime's main problem is that the characters have rather bland personalities, and many of them are easily forgettable, what's more is that the human characters always have more personality than the Pokemon characters, and the Pokemon are simply there, and tend to be used as soulless battle machines, when you give both human and Pokemon characters interesting personalities, you also get interesting and memorable characters that you will never forget.
  4. Villains that actually pose a threat to the heroes, such as a villain who wants to rid the world of Pokemon in order for humans to solve their own problems without the use of Pokemon, or one or more talking Pokemon who despises humanities use of Pokemon, and wants to overthrow and enslave humanity. When all we see in the anime is the same two Team Rocket members and Meowth, who anymore, are basically a trio of borderline harmless joke villains, and no other bad guys are to be seen, you know the series is in trouble. The anime needs more villains, and definitely more serious ones, better yet, why not a rotating cast of villains that changes each episode or so, such as Team *insert noun here* in one episode, and have another villain in the next episode, and sometimes have two villains team up and have them interact (and sometimes argue) with each other.
  5. Add interesting plot twists that can build up and have the viewers guessing, and foreshadow future events and comings, such as the heroes love interest being the daughter of the main villain for example. Unexpected events can also work as well, surprising the viewer of any given event that can progress the plot more, or just keep the viewers paying attention.
 
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My turn~

-Dawn winning the Grand Festival. That would have been really nice, and it bummed me out a lot how she lost...

-Ash to bring back some of his older pokemon, not only for leagues, but on a regular basis.

-Ash not to forget all of his skills. Come on, when Dawn came back, she used one of his methods that he came up with in the battle with Cilan. She had to remind him about that awesome defensive shield. It is sad to see him not use it anymore.

-Ash to have a decent rival. Hey, I like the rivals and all, but I hate how rude and annoying they all are. They all think that they are better, and Trip, he's lost in the first rounds of all the tournaments he and Ash were in....if he's so good, shouldn't he get at least a little further through it? Yeah, but I really don't like Trip that much....this is his first time as a Pokemon trainer, and Ash has been to so many different regions. Yet, Trip acts like he can tell Ash how to battle...so annoying ugh...

-Old people to come back! I loved it how the writers brought back Dawn, and I really liked it when they brought back May in DP. It'd be nice to bring back some other people too~

I think that's about it....

Some things that I like is:
-The current pace of the series right now. Best Wishes started back in September 2010? I think..? and it's going by a lot faster than DP where the same Team Rocket blast offs kept occurring.

-I watch the older episodes everyday on TV. It's in Advanced Generation right now, and I really like how strong Ash's Swellow is. Around that time is when Ash started really connecting with his Pokemon, and he believed in his Swellow so much. It took so many direct hits with Thunderbolt and still continued. I want more of his Pokemon like that C:

Yupp~~
 
Here are couple of more:
1:)I would stop with repetitive rinse and repeat cycle of Ash starting out gym quest, falling short from winning league starting all over again, with not much progression being made in long term in such way(aside from moving to higher place at league tournament). Instead i would take him forward going on bigger and better things doing build up on previously constructed storyline.

Pokemon master dream as whole is still relatively vague, but what we know is how it means becoming strongest trainer in world, with champion league being explained from Lucian as only one step which brigs you closer toward that title. So its not like there doesn't exist room to go forward with main protagonist after winning league, it just happens that writers hesitate to do such thing and try out something different.

Personally i wish writers have him win league for a change, challenge E4 and battle champion.Afterwards he could try out more challenging and harder quest than gyms are(similar to how BF was or World Cup recently),going forward with already molded and experienced trainer learning new things, adapting to new battling styles and growing until he becomes good enough to go on some sort of league for masters becoming eventually one of best. Which would ultimately imo be more exciting than reset and dumping down at start of every new generation.Similar how they did with Tyson for example in Beyblade with his quest not ending after becoming world champion.
I would also do more with Ash past and characterization having him grow more in emotional sense, introduce his father(which could be actual master) building up subplot around that etc.

Yeah i know some are sick of same protagonist, but to me Ash earned his place in this show wishing that he stays until very end(there is no limit on how much you can do with story). It also makes Pokemon stand out compared to Digimon and similar stuff because its continuity based anime following journey of one hero.

2.)I wish characters aged a little bit. Not by large extent, but having Ash and others age by 2 to 3 years would keep them in line of still being relatable to younger audience, while also making progress and development they went through more believable. It would also help move Ash and other character stories forward, allowing to do more significant development with window of opportunities being open to take someone in new directions,have him deal with more refined struggles etc.not limiting writers options.
 
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Let's see:

-I wished that both the game girls as well as the game guys were present in the anime. Like from the Pokemon specials. Guys like Brenda and Lucas got some strange cameos while Leaf and Yellow recieved no love at all. I rather them than traveling gymleaders anyday. One, because for some reason, the writers are afraid of making girls powerful and able battle trainers yet we have coordinators to make everything all cutesy girly. Why can't grls be trainers too on the show? And who said Ash was the only one who needed to collect badges? Maybe it would be nice to see more than just him beating a gymleader her/his own way.

-Plus who said that Gold/Jimmy, Ruby/Brendan and the others couldn't be on the show as well as Ash? I know he's the star but share the damn spotlight! It's better than having someone(Brock) doing little or close to nothing.
 
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