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The Writers' Weaknesses

matt0044

matt0044

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The opposite of the "Writer's Strengths" thread. Title says it all so discuss away.

I'll start: Character and story development is often hit or miss. I guess they're pressed for time since each series of the Anime has to start around the time when the new generation of games come out and end when the next generation is about to begin as shown with the Sinnoh League's rushed nature. By that logic, they constantly have deadlines to meet and can't exactly write a complex plot with deep characters and stories. However, that does not mean that they can't try. It would've been better if the Anime was merely an adaptation of the games with no real advertisement intentions unless it's to write a good story and no worries if the Anime will last each generation or not.
 
I think the main problem is the climax of every saga is almost always rushed. There is no excuse for it either, since virtually every time the writers know a new game is coming out.

Another problem is treating the past characters like they don't exist once they leave the show. When DP first started, May was not mentioned AT ALL until she actually showed up. Do you know how ridiculous it was that Ash/Brock just stopped traveling with a female coordinator for 200 episodes, then met ANOTHER female coordinator, and neither of them mention they traveled with a coordinator prior? Seriously, WTF?

Best Wishes is also guilty of this, Iris and Cilan don't know anything about Ash's past or who he's traveled with. It also feels like the whole Paul rivalry never happened, since Trip is just replacing him as if nothing prior existed.
 
Most of their problems lie in the fact that this show is really formulaic. Most things follow a set of rules that either can't or won't be broken. I've taken it to be "that's just the way things are in Japan". Sadly, I don't know an anime that doesn't follow a strict guideline as to how it plays out, and I don't want to know if one does exist. Yeah, they do seem to have a really arbitrary way of determining which characters get more focused on and which ones don't. I know franchise driven shows that are a lot more random than this. As a fanfic writer, I have seen many things done with pokemon that look like Shakespeare compared to this. (then again, I've seen trash that makes this look almost decent in comparison) I would never put the fans in charge of writing it, though, that would be a humongous disaster. I suppose that's why fanfics should stay as far away from the anime as possible, though. To do what I've seen, one would have to change the entire nature of the show. I suppose to do that, they would have to have near limitless freedom, but I'm not sure how well it would do. Pokemon's main driving force is that it appeals to a wide audience, and to only target a segment of that seems like a mistake to me.
 
Also, the dialogue is pretty uninspiring in the Japanese version and the TPCi. Say what you will about 4kids but they at least knew that viewers wouldn't find such dull dialogue entertaining so they spiced it up without changing too many things in the TV series (sadly, the first few movies got off bad) with a few bad line here and there.

TPCi sticking the Japanese dialogue too much makes their own seem so awkward and dull.
 
I agree about the occasional rushing of the Final Conference. Pacing in general seems to be a stumbling block every now and again - in Shinou, we went an entire year with just one gym battle. (But it was surrounded with so much other substantial stuff that you barely even noticed, so it can be debated how much of a "weakness" that is.)

I'm guessing the writers don't want to accidentally run through a saga early and have to do another Orange Islands, just spinning their wheels until they can go someplace new again.
 
I don't get why they can't just wait until the next Generation if the current story at the time finishes a little early? If it's some bullshit exclusive to Japan, feel free to tell me.

The writers also have major issues with handling Ash's character and Pikachu's power. It's like they're desperately hoping the audience is too stupid enough to notice how stale Ash and Pikachu have gotten and to remember their past adventures.

It would've been better if Ash's story lasted through Kanto only and he wanted to just become Champion of the region (like his Dad inspired him to aim for the top or something) and Pikachu was just a Pokemon Ash caught and NOT a mascot for all of Pokemon. Plus, if Takashi Shudo has his way, he'd make the show and the changes each series work. But that's all pretty subjective.
 
I've noticed a few

Inconsistency: Type matchups and character's power and skills. Ash goes from battling fully evolved mons and legendaries to losing to newbies and starters fresh out of a lab. Come on even if pikachu has no electric moves it should still have the skills and brute strength to take out a snivy with no experience. Type matchups were pretty inconsistent before though they have stabilized somewhat. Before ghost vs normal and electric vs ground being prime offenders.

Time management: The writers seem to have some foresight issues. If Ash and co didn't take a year to get from snowpoint to sunnyshore the writers wouldn't have been so pressed for time to end the league and thus could have written a better tournament that wasn't so rushed. Plus trollbias would have no reason to exist if the league had a few more weeks to develop a more suitable finalist.

To basic: This is not a Trip joke, the show only keeps showing the matchups. It's always stuff like fire torches grass which any 6 year old can tell you. The more obscure but important matchups like dark vs bug are rarely mentioned. Also secondary types seem to be forgotten sometimes with all focus being on the primary type. Charizard is weak to water but is more weak to rock due to the flying type and that rarely gets mentioned.

Spotlight: The writers tend to take favorites to far. Dawn's piplup had way to much screen time compared to her other mons. Ash's pikachu and the starters tend to shove his other mons like Tranquill and Staraptor into obscurity.
 
I think that the writer's weakness is age and time. They think if Ash gets older and his Pokemon gets too over powered that no one would like him anymore. Bull$hit! The kids who love Pokemon will love Pokemon no matter who is selling the show.
 
I'm going to get attacked for this, but I think Team Rocket has become a huge weakness for the writers. Trying to shove them into every episode has to be a pain, and in DP, they got to the point where I wanted to erase Team Rocket from existence. Now in BW, the writers seem to have no clue what to do with them, and that seems to hurt the anime as well.
 
Please note: The thread is from 13 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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