Which episodes/arcs of Best Wishes would you consider highlights?

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applecheekedgoon

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This is mostly selfish fishing for episode recs, but I'm pretty curious what people think about the current anime series. I'm just getting back into the Pokemon fandom and really want to see what I can of this series, but I'd like to get caught up without spending my entire break marathoning ~200 episodes. What, in your opinion, are the can't-miss parts of Best Wishes?
 
The first episodes up until Scare at the Litwick Mansion! are some of my favorites, and I think BW is most fun at this point. Team Rocket's Subway and Meloetta plots were very fun to watch.

Which characters would you say are your favorites? We could recommend some episodes based around what you like.
 
So far I've stopped at the 4th episode of Season 2, but here are my picks:

My favourite arc so far is the Donamite/Clubsplosion Battle Tournament Arc (including the Mistralton Tower set-up episode), from episodes 69 to 73. Seeing the reaction about the Junior Cup here (though I don't know about the League), I think it's safe to state it's at least the most well-paced tournament of the series, and I think, the most enjoyable as well. I felt that the battles were generally very good and only a few of them were in any way rushed. Plus, the screentime was used much more efficiently for meaningful interactions, training and battles, when compared to the first Don Battle/Club Battle (which happened in the episodes 39-42), for example.

The string of the final episodes from BW Season 1, 78 to 84, is also a high point of the series, IMO.
 
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If I had to pick my 5 favorite BW episodes, they'd have to be the following.

- Here Comes The Trubbish Squad: I just love the atmosphere of this episode, its something different that I can't quite put my finger on. I love the Pokemon interactions, as well as BW making me love my least favorite pokemon out of all 649.
- Sewaddle & Burgh In Pinwheel Forest!: The animation in this episode is perhaps the best in the entire series, that alone makes it one to remember. Sewaddle was also quite a character.
- Emolga And the New Volt Switch!: This episode was just a blast to watch, with introducing us to the personality of the ICONIC Emolga as well as her rivalry with the no-bullshit Snivy. One of the best episodes I've seen in Pokemon, the interactions between them all was just fabulous.
- Scare At The Litwick Mansion!: Again the animation was on point, and I loved the interactions between Ash and co, and the TRio. It was the perfect mixture of Dark humor and the anime we love, I felt it pushed boundaries that the anime really hasn't ever pushed before.
- Iris! Return to The Village of Dragons!: One of my most recent favorites. I just loved the whole setting of the Village of Dragons and it really made me respect Iris more with how she used her Pokemon to work together and show what her true calling is. The animation was also beautiful.

All in all, I loved pretty much every episode of BW. It's easily my favorite saga thus far, and I can't wait to see what the remainder of it has in store.
 
The Sawk vs. Throh smack-down at the end of the Donamite.

THIS is how Pokemon Battling is done.
 
Watch the 2-parter with Giovanni and the Genie legends. Other than that watch the 3 tournaments if you want.

Besides that, BW pretty much hovers around being decent to nothing special. You have to like Iris and Cilan to enjoy the fillers because other than that the fillers are exactly the same as all the ones from past arcs.
 
Dawn and Piplup's return. Sure many people didn't like her or her return calling it a waste of space and a disgrace to her character, but I loved the breath of fresh air she brought to the cast.
 
Junior Cup episodes are my favorite episodes. I can see Trip's more development and very great battle, although he lost toward Alder but it was the most precious episode through the series
 
Don't know actually, due to the fact that in this saga I enjoy the fillers alot more than the battle episodes.
 
I always thought the Nyasu arc was pretty amazing. It was so unprecedented and original, I was surprised the producers didn't do that before.

As for episodes, the Wishing Bell Festival 'cause Dent crossdressing, Kamitsure and Homika's Gym Battle episodes, and Adeku's debut.
 
Unlike past series, most of the BW episodes are interconnected. You really can't miss one episode without skipping out on something else. Out of respect of you not watching anything from the BW series yet, I think it's easier to tell you which episodes to downright skip.

- Saving Darmanitan from the Bell
- The Lost World of Gothitelle!
- Emolga and the New Volt Switch (nothing important happens here)
- Scare at the Litwick Mansion
- The Dragon Master's Path (all you need to know of this episode is that Iris's Axew learns a new move)
- Cottonee in Love
- A UFO for Elgyem
- Where Did You Go, Audino?
- Archeops in the Modern World
- A Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition
- A Maractus Musical
- The Four Seasons of Sawsbuck
- Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita
- The Lonely Deino
- The Mighty Accelguard to the Rescue
- A Call for Brotherly Love (questionable; Cilan's brother returns here)
- Baffling the Bouffalant
- The two A Restoration Confrontation episodes (again, questionable, as this is one of TRio's more important BW storylines)
- Clash of the Connoisseurs and Crisis at Ferroseed Research! (even though Cilan and Iris's rivals, respectively, appear here, these episodes are not really relevant to the main storyline)
- An Epic Defense Force
- Expedition to Onix Island (even though Dawn appears here, it's filler)
- The Mystery of the Missing Cubchoo (same as above)
- Unrest at the Nursery
- BW098
- BW099
 
The Unova League was best for the rivals (excluding Trip), and the TR two parters, and of the latter, I will exclude the Tirtouga plot as that one is bland. True, when BW began, it had a lot of potential, but I can no longer recommend it because that potential went nowhere. The first two gyms actually featured advanced tactics being used against Ash, but Ash himself isn't as impressive since the only way they can make him interesting is to go outside the box. These are the only merits I will give it.
 
The early episodes for sure.
Also, I'm quite partial to the to the Don Tournaments. The only thing missing is Bryce Howard ending episodes with "Tune in the next time for the next exciting epsiode of POKE-BALL!". Likewise, I kinda like Dawn's pre-WTJC episodes, if just because she was immune to whatever's in the air that makes people in Isshu act stupid.
 
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Hmm, if you want to get back into the fandom, BW is not the best series for it. There are good and bad episodes, but most of the series can be summed up with the following word: Meh.

I did like the Nyasu arc, but the rest are just random fillers. Scare at the Litwick Mansion! was a good one, and I also liked Here Comes the Trubbish Squad, although neither of those are a must-watch. I also liked the gym battle against Elesa, that one was hilarious XD The essentials are the tournaments and gym battles, but to be honest, most of the moments I like and remember the most from BW are from fillers.
 
Agreed with the Throh vs. Sawk thing, that was such a good battle! And I'm also currently really enjoying the Dawn/Meloetta arc as well. I liked how they referenced Brock :) I believe that Dragonite is going to make an appearance in the next episode I watch too, so I'm looking forward to seeing that since I've heard so much about it.
 
I personally enjoyed BW051 Lost at the Stamp Rally! quite a bit (and not because of the subway masters). Cilan's train and stamp-fanboyisms were really amusing, and most likely the writers poking fun at the obsessive nature of the Pokemon fanbase. XD It was also cool to see some references to Japan, namely the stamp rally itself.

I'm a Georgia fan, so of course BW036 is a favorite of mine. I would also really recommend the Junior Cup Arc as it has a funny "sideshow" with her and Burgundy, as well as Cynthia, Alder, and so forth...

If you like Dawn or the "vacation" type arcs, definitely look into the Cynthia/Dawn arc and the Iwark Island episode in particular.

Still, as far as something that will be remembered after BW is over, I think BW054 takes the cake. Never before has any character--much less a fatherly figure--fished out the level of introspection from Ash and co. like Alder in that episode. I posted a more detailed analysis of this earlier in the year, but overall, yeah - it was just interesting to see him make Ash look at his journey as a whole and why he was doing it instead of just pulling the love all Pokemon!1!!1 card.
 
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- Ash and Zekrom
- The Subway Masters two-parter
- Roxie's gym battle two-parter
- Ash VS Trip at the League

That's pretty much it
 
 
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