What would you consider to be the writer's strengths?

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Madame Pika

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Whilst most of us complain about this show (including myself), I was wondering where you feel they do particularly well. Any particular areas.

Rivalries is the first one to come to mind for me. I know they've had plenty of dry bland ones but the good rivals tend to be pretty cool and have some of the best interaction in the show whilst showing the characters as cool as characters.

Secondly, there are the amasingly nonsensical episodes that are instantly memorable.

Also, starting in Advanced there's added focus on female characters showing the writer's strength in writing a large variety in girly girls.

I'm sure though that there are many others though.
 
Well, I think the writers have developed themselves a lot and learned from their past mistakes. I like how they are trying new plots and plot twists, instead of having the usual pattern that they had a decade ago. They also create really likeable and memorable characters. I rarely get bored when watching the new episodes, because the characters are so great.
Also, the humor is really great. Pokémon isn't THE funniest anime in my opinion, but it still manages to make me laugh a lot.
 
I'll just go down the line and list what I think each writer does best.

Atsuhiro Tomioka - Has done a great job constructing long story arcs as the series constructor. Also tends to foreshadow things more than the older series did. i mostly love how he's made the Rockets relevant again (in DP and BW) instead of just plot fodder with no real character arc of their own.

Junki Takegami - his main strength is Rocketshipping of course. (And Musashi episodes.) :crush: Has also vastly improved his battle writing. Before any non Rocket episode was usual crap, but now he's found a good balance of fun battles.

Yukiyoshi Oohashi - Writes really good Rocket episodes. He has the BW Rockets be a good balance of seriousness and humor.

Shinzo Fujita - Has been doing a great job with plot heavy episodes. I also think he's done a great job of writing badass Rocket scenes.

Shoji Yonemura - Writes the craziest, silliest, you'd swear he was on drugs, (Evil Togepi says hello) type episodes.

Hideki Sonoda - Manages to make the movies entertaining every year.

Overall, I feel the writers have been doing a really good job with battles. There's a lot more thought and game mechanics put into them. In the older series I never really cared much about the battles, but they've been much more entertaining as the years have gone by.
 
Madame Pika said:
Rivalries is the first one to come to mind for me. I know they've had plenty of dry bland ones but the good rivals tend to be pretty cool and have some of the best interaction in the show whilst showing the characters as cool as characters.
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I agree. When it came to giving Ash a challenge with rivals they really played it hard. Gary Oak just got on your nerves and so did Paul. This latest one with his snivy (sorry servine now) has me waiting to see if Ash will ever beat him! I hope so....gosh he looks so weak right now....
 
The one thing I've noticed moreso in DP and BW is that they're doing a much better job making even the COTD's memorable. The characters we have now in BW all have very distinct personalities, and when they appear on screen we know what to expect (Bel, Kenyan, Cabernet, Langley, etc). At first, I was apprehensive with so many characters that stand out so early on in the series, let alone interacting together in the tournament, but the writers have done a fabulous job with it.

The other thing is that I'm so glad they realized that the Rockets don't have to be in every episode. Before BW, it was just "eh, what are they going to do now :/" to "OMG WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO NOW". As much as I love the Rockets, I soooo much prefer it this way.
 
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I don't think they have strengths. Yes they sometimes pull awesome things, but they've never really replicated or constantly maintained them.
 
I wouldn't say there is one particular thing that they are best at, but they have improved over the years in many different things. If I have to be technical, then a lot of their attention has always been on the gym and league battles, and it is plain most of their effort goes into them most of the time. When Contests came along, they took that effort and put it in there, too. From there, they gradually started putting more effort into the pokemon and story arcs, and even started making more interesting fillers. I still feel like this trend continues, especially since they changed so much this time around. It only lacks the pokemon characterization that was all over DP. I might be asking too much on that, since they evidently decided to take a different route this saga. Battling remains their primary focus when it's important, though. They do, at times, make up an interesting situation out of randomness.
 
About the only thing I can say is that somehow they kept people watching the same show for over a decade (even if you stopped watching the show at some point, you eventually came back to it), and we're all adults now.

When I first started watching the show in 1998/1999, I could have never imagined that I would still be watching it over a decade later with some interest. That has to go for something.
 
From DP onward, I think the writers have been really good about not having as many cookie cutter "character-of-the-day" type plots. Instead, they have mini-arcs and training episodes to help pad each region out.

And with BW, the writers have finally figured out how to make me care about Satoshi's traveling companions. Satoshi, Iris, and Dent all have great chemistry and I'm glad to see that the writers have figured out that having them stand on the sidelines in 95% of the episodes just wasn't working. I can't wait to see how those two progress as the series continues.
 
One of the writer's strengths is annoying us. =P
In all seriousness, they've improved at COTDs.
 
One of writer positive sides is becoming better in treating character stories properly defining their goals better as well adding more substance to story through inclusion of rivals or exploring more on back story behind it.This can be noticed with way Cilan and Iris story are for example being played out currently.

They also got better in treatment of group pokemon with their personalities coming out on surface more being given more screen time as well correcting some of previous flaws reducing on number of fillers through various mini arcs like DP did which advanced story in one or another way.
Though in some areas they got kinda worse in my view with anime losing on humor and chemistry within group which older series used to have as well some things becoming too predictable.Although BW is imo step up from DP in that aspect.

Dogasu said:
And with BW, the writers have finally figured out how to make me care about Satoshi's traveling companions. Satoshi, Iris, and Dent all have great chemistry and I'm glad to see that the writers have figured out that having them stand on the sidelines in 95% of the episodes just wasn't working. I can't wait to see how those two progress as the series continues.
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I wouldnt say other Ash traveling companions stood on sidelines 95%of time either being frankly exaggeration.Original trio had great chemistry and although sidekicks didnt received enough being poorly treated in some aspects they still got some great and quality development adding to overall enjoyment in my opinion seeming relevant to anime plot serving purpose of being Ash coaches and mentors.

AG group functioned pretty good too with May and Max definitely contributing to quality interaction among characters though poor treatment of some things in some character stories was its downside.DP group in terms of chemistry wasnt enjoyable to me like others were though on positive side writers became more coherent and better in treatment of overall plot of anime series.

Each traveling group in reality had its up and downs making me care for them.And while i respect your opinion i respectfully dont agree with it.
 
Gliscor'd said:
About the only thing I can say is that somehow they kept people watching the same show for over a decade (even if you stopped watching the show at some point, you eventually came back to it), and we're all adults now.

When I first started watching the show in 1998/1999, I could have never imagined that I would still be watching it over a decade later with some interest. That has to go for something.
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I don't like admitting it but there something in this. Sure, you've made it sound a bit like pokemon anime = drugs, which I don't believe to be the case. It is however true that their ability to keep our interest is amasing. I particually enjoy how the method to do that has changed so much over the years.
 
The writing has changed so much over the years. The writers were great in the early days for adding lots of funny moments. Ash was a much funnier character back then. The humor was awesome for a kids show, I used to laugh so much.

AG was welcomed because it gave us contests and a more important role for the female.

The writing improved a lot in DP, but the new aspects they introduced, left the old ones neglected. A lot of the comedy was lost and they failed to integrate Dawn to the level they did, without discluding Brock.

There's definite improvement in BW. I like that they're giving each character their own rival this time round. It really makes Iris and Dent's characters more interesting. As people have already mentioned, the COTDs have more thought put into them too. They are attempting humor much more than DP, the balance between serious and stupid is restoring. People bitch about Iris not being involved enough, but we've already seen that the writers can't balance a dynamic of three, if Iris was to get as much screen time as Dawn did. That's not a negative thing. I think they're realizing their faults and going back to basics, with a trio, much like the original three.
At the same time, that was heavily flawed and Misty and Brock did deserve more importance. That's why I'm glad that Iris and Dent have their own rivals, it shows that they're improving the co-stars roles, whilst still following the 'old school' dynamics.
 
Dogasu said:
And with BW, the writers have finally figured out how to make me care about Satoshi's traveling companions. Satoshi, Iris, and Dent all have great chemistry and I'm glad to see that the writers have figured out that having them stand on the sidelines in 95% of the episodes just wasn't working. I can't wait to see how those two progress as the series continues.
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In other words the writers finally figured out how to do decent chemistry among the main cast again. For the first time it doesn't feel like one character is being left out, like Brock in DP or to a lesser extent Max in AG...let's not forget Misty in Johto or Tracey in Orange.

This is the first time all 3 characters are getting good spotlight, although Ash of course gets the most.

This is considered a strength because they have learned from past mistakes in terms of group handling.
 
Gliscor'd said:
In other words the writers finally figured out how to do decent chemistry among the main cast again. For the first time it doesn't feel like one character is being left out, like Brock in DP or to a lesser extent Max in AG...let's not forget Misty in Johto or Tracey in Orange.

This is the first time all 3 characters are getting good spotlight, although Ash of course gets the most.

This is considered a strength because they have learned from past mistakes in terms of group handling.
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While i agree with most if things you said im not sure from where you get idea how Misty was character "who was left out most in Johto"when its clearly obvious how Brock received even smaller amount of focus in that saga seeming even less important to storyline.Misty at least got Whirl Cup arc,battled more and had overall more focus and interacting with various characters like Sakura,Egan,Dorian etc forming some rivalries and good dynamic in group with Brock being in background during Johto the most unfortunately being the case in almost every region he was in.
 
No. If I was, then the show would be better. But these people don't read the crap and care about what I think. Maybe it's for the best. Everyone can't always get what they want.
 
The writers strength right now seems to be giving Team Rocket a story.
 
I think they're strength is keeping us interested especially if we've been watching since the beginning. Some things may be really similar to older episodes but at least its fresh and not boring. Admittedly I did lose interest during the AG saga since I didn't like May and Max. I started watching DP after that and got back into it instantly. Now the only time I miss an episode is if I have to go somewhere early Saturday morning or if I over sleep because 9 am is too early :D
 
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