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Which was the best series?

Which series was the best?

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SinnohEevee

SinnohEevee

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Which series do you think was the best and why (excluding Sun and Moon because it's still running).

I personally am unsure between DP and XY.
 
OS for me.

It's in no way a perfect series (I really don't think any Pokémon series is, to be honest) but I think it had the best mixture of everything I personally enjoy about the show. There was humor, a bit of seriousness without being overwrought, interesting characters (Pokémon included), good battles...I feel like this is one of the series where I can pick different episodes depending on what I'm in the mood to see and I can get exactly what I'm looking for.

AG is my very close second. OS and AG are the two series that I can watch over and over again without getting tired of them. The other sagas don't have that kind of mileage for me.
 
DP the evil plan of Team Galactic was great and was built up throughout the whole series, the rival Paul was really good not only did he challenge Ash in battles but he also challenged his philosophy of training Pokemon, Dawn's growth arc was great allowing us to see how she kept failing and then worked her way up to participating in the grand festival, the battles were also great having the trainer use strategies while at the same time having the battles looked good.
 
I've got to say DP, but XY is a very close second to me. I've really enjoyed both series, and I have watched almost all episodes. I have only avoided a few unimpressive fillers.

What I liked the most about DP was its extremely addictive plot. While it has its flaws, like every other series, I also feel that the plot was well structured and we got to see the development of all members of the cast. We got to see how Ash and Dawn trained their Pokémon and how they worked and trained hard in new strategies, which made me appreciate their eventual victories and successes even more. It was really nice for me to see them grow and become stronger.

First of all, I really liked how Ash had grown into a competent and strong Trainer, but who still wasn't at his best. The strategies he created, like the spin and the Counter Shield, were proof of his growth as a capable Pokémon Trainer, and I would have been really pleased if he had won the Sinnoh League. Heck, he needed to be taken down by a Trainer with Legendary Pokémon, for crying out loud! Many people felt that the loss was cheap, but I still found him losing to a freaking Latios really impressive.

Another thing that I appreciated was Paul. I really loved him as a rival, who managed to keep Ash in his toes and who forced the Kanto trainer to actually train hard to become even better. He really gave a drive to Ash, which is something that only Gary had accomplished to do.

Dawn as well is a high point for me, even if back at the day I wasn't exactly into Contests. What I appreciated the most was that her goal was put essentially on the same level of importance as Ash. We got to see how this beginner Coordinator managed to overcome her struggles, like her losing streak, and how her skills improved steadily throughout all the series. She wasn't a slouch in terms of battling either, even though her dazzling Contests were still her forte.

The only one who got the short end of the stick was Brock, and I wish they did more for him, but aside of that the storytelling was top notch.

I also appreciated the many game plots translated into anime form. The Team Galactic plot was much better handled that the Team Magma and Aqua one, but I still feel the writers could have worked a bit more in the finale.

Another good point is that DP had plenty of continuity nods, like Gary appearing, Brandon coming back, Misty's lure and many reserves appearing at the League (which is one of the best Leagues to date). It may be something minor for some people, but I personally really appreciated that, since it meant actual progress in the overall plot of the Pokémon anime.

I loved DP so much that I became more interested in the Japanese version and started to follow it.

So yeah, DP will forever have a spot in my heart as one of the best series of the anime.
 
It's Advanced Generation for me. People have called it a middle-ground, or an average series, but I think it has the perfect balance of the pre-SM formula blended well. It retains the comedic aspects that make OS so loveable despite the all the technical hang-ups of said series but it adds the initial mature depth to the action and development of the storyline which shows the series coming into its own pace. It takes the contests introduced in the Ruby and Sapphire games and adds its own creative flair to them which really makes the co-ordinator position come into its own and enhance the development of the main female character, May. Even though Ash doesn't have a main rival this series, it doesn't drain the quality as much as I fear it would, and the use of the Battle Frontier as a post-League arc was a great expansion of the series.

It's the goldilocks series - "just right".
 
I voted for XY, but for me it would probably be a tie between it and DP. I chose XY simply because I adored every single character on the main cast, whereas I couldn't stand Dawn and lost my interest in Brock at that point. Aside from that, both series were great in terms of interesting battles with cool strategies, very well executed plots, mostly cool rivals (Zoey and Paul will always be the best for me), enjoyable Pokemon, great side goals (especially in Serena's case) and overall very enjoyable and memorable experiences.

Honorable mention goes to AG, which I liked very much. I feel like Ash's personality was the best here (a good mixture of funny and serious), for the first time it felt like nearly all Pokemon were treated equally (with Ash's bird actually getting to battle quite often) and the traveling companion's Pokemon showed off more of their personality, the introduction of the female having a side goal was nice, I enjoyed May and Max as characters and Brock was decent, and the battles started getting much more interesting and creative.
 
DP and XY are tied, but I'd have to choose XY.

When I was a kid, I always thought Dawn was kind of a girl-Ash because of her and Piplup (how they met and Piplup's refusal to evolve, which was really weird to me but I understand why now) and as a result I watched it less.

But what I like about DP is that Dawn is a main character alongside Ash, I feel like that should have stuck around for the other girls too.

Also, although the XY league's ending was garbage, the random edgy trainer with legendary Pokemon winning the league in DP is even more unlikable.
 
OS is my favourite series since it was the first one I've watched and I still enjoy re-watching the series. I enjoy the humour, Team Rocket, and Ash and his pokemon team and his traveling partners Brock and Misty. I also thought some of the OS episode titles were clever such as The School of Hard Knocks, A Chansey Operation, and To Master the Onixpected.
 
Mine is DP becuase I grew up watching it, and it was my introduction to Pokemon. I never found the same charm in any other series. XY was a tad too serious and OS often caused me to rage at the TV (specially when Ash lost at the league unfairly).

DP also had the best rival: Paul. And I also liked how they had Ash and Paul have Pokemon of the same evolution family to mark his progress.
 
DP did almost everything right IMO. XY is fairly close behind, most of my complaints about it fall into the "things DP did better" category.

DP > XY > AG=Johto > Kanto/Orange >>>>>>>>>> BW

Yep, I like Johto more than Kanto, deal with it.

I'm not sure where to put SM, but if the action doesn't pick up I can see it being my second least favorite.
 
OS. No doubt. Especially Indigo League which is best season ever for me. I enjoy every single character in OS, its humour, the way adventures are shown are simply perfect. Of course, I always enjoy AG- it's just nice to watch, besides with DP.
1.OS ( without Master Quest)
2. AG ( without Battle Frontier)
3.DP
4.MasterQuest
5.Battle Frontier
6. BW
7. XY
Something like that.
 
DP for me, without doubt. It was the high of Ash's career as a trainer. His team was one of his strongest and you saw him train and improve. Ash wasn't a total joke, he FINALLY seemed like they were letting him be the experienced trainer you'd think she should be by now. And the rivalry with Paul is iconic; the first trainer Ash couldn't beat no matter how hard he tried and actually served as motivation, moreso than Gary, who was more a rival just because he was annoying and thought he was all that; Paul was a foil in that he was Ash's opposite, which really helped their interactions.

Dawn was a nice companion. She was kinda sassy and girly and did contests like May, which I actually wasn't too fond of, but I like that she had a goal in mind and knew what she wanted to do. Even if she failed at times, she strived to learn what worked for her, so I enjoyed her.

Brock wasn't as focused upon but I did like that he reached a conclusion as well, wanting to become a doctor. It was so nice to see him move on from just wanting to be a good breeder to actually deviate a bit from his original goal and upgrade to something better. I liked seeing them not let his character just stay in a perpetual vague loop of "the best Pokemon breeder" especially since Pokemon Doctor fits him more in the first place (though, we all pretty much understand why it was under the breeder category since trainer classes weren't as extensive in Gen I). But it was overall, a good series of growth for everyone~


XY is close because it was a HUGE upgrade from BW, but I couldn't stand Serena at all, so I might say OS beats it just barely.
 
I personally would go for OS:

- Best chemistry between the main group. Ash, Misty and Brock/Tracey had chemistry and all got proper screen time. For example, in AG and especially DP, Brock got shafted.

- Humour, especially in Kanto.

- The battles are original. Sometimes random or fast, but they're original. People often praise DP's battles, even OS fans get mad at me when I say DP's battles weren't that good. But they were almost all the same. They all followed this pattern: Ash and opponent fight until both have only one Pokemon left, Ash has trouble with a game mechanic, Brock explains the game mechanic to Dawn, Ash finds a way to get around it and wins. Of course not every single battle was like that, but the majority of them were. At least OS battles had some tension and originality, they were all different and weren't overly game-like. 'Aim for the horn' in Ash's Pikachu vs. Blaine's Rhydon might've been weird, but at least it was original.

- Good fillers that I actually enjoy and even rewatch. Yes, also in Johto.

- Creativity and originality. Post-OS-sagas follow the games very closely and allow little originality. However, OS has lots of things that aren't in the games, like the Orange Islands, the Whirl Cup and much more.

- Emotion that, in my opinion, later sagas mostly lack. Of course we can mention the extreme case when Ash releases Butterfree. But also Misty's relief when she thought Ash died in the Pokemon Tower, when Ash released Lapras, the first and second movie, but also the interactions between Ash and Bayleef, like when Bayleef got mad at Ash for being a meanie and ran away to that old lady.

- And my personal bias also counts. Misty, PokeShipping, OS background music, Ash's Bayleef...
 
My favorite series is without a doubt DP.


I just loved Dawn as a character, both in terms of personality and character development. While not everyone sees it this way, personality-wise; I found her to be one of the most unique characters on the show, as well as in media in general. I loved how her rougher side was portrayed as prominently as her more feminine side; you have the side of her that resembles a typical shonen hero, for example - stubborn, headstrong, confident to a fault, dense at times, somewhat impulsive...as well as the side of her that's just more refined in general and feminine - her love for shopping, fashion, her semi-obsession over hair, her grace, etc. Perhaps it's just my lack of exposure to TV shows talking here, but it's just such a rarity to come across characters that have just the right amount of rough-around-the-edges and refinement in entertainment; they either tilt to one side or another - which is why I love Dawn's portrayal in the anime so much. It just makes her more realistic and less archetypical, y'know? Speaking of realism, her character development is, IMO, one of the most realistic ones portrayed in the anime. The change in her personality wasn't obvious, as it was meant to be subtle - which is the way most personal developments take place in real life, anyway. That's not to say that she didn't change at all, however; the two appeal losses she went through at the start obviously affected her initial over-confidence greatly - as evident by her "depression arc". To add salt to the wound, there were also other things happening at the time that seemed as if they nipped away at her confidence bit-by-bit: capturing Pachirisu with much difficulty before it proceeded to fall sick in her care, her losing to Maylene (despite the whole point of the battle being to help Maylene regain her confidence), Ambipom leaving her team for Ping-pong, Johanna scolding her for crying to her about her own problems, just to name a few. It was, at that point, up to herself to overcome her own inner struggles brought on by these adversities; she had no "true", demeaning rivals that held her back (which so many complain about when it comes to her character arc); because the only "true" rival that held her back was, in reality, herself - she was her own obstacle that she, herself, had to overcome. We then see her slowly regain her confidence as the series progresses, and, in the process, evolve into a much more down-to-earth person than she was in the beginning. But even then, a multitude of other trials and adversities were still thrown her way: Mamoswine's disobedience, Ursula's attitude towards her, being forced to come face-to-face with her childhood phobia (and dreaded nickname), as well as making sure she holds up her end of the promise with Zoey to meet and come face-to-face at the Grand Festival. The constant in-flow of personal trials that came her way even as her development "drew to close" just makes her character arc all the more realistic and relatable for me, as it shows that she is still growing as a person even after her arc "ended".


Putting Dawn aside, we also have Ash's rivalry with Paul as another long-running arc of the series. Firstly, I'm just going to cut straight to the point and say that I'm not really a fan of Paul's character. I could see how he'd be a breath of fresh air in a kid's show filled with 90% of nice, goody-two-shoes, but compared to other anime out there, I see him as a rather overused trope, and is thus not all that unique of a character. Putting the characterization aside, however, I'm appreciative of the way his development was handled; it was subtle, just like Dawn's, and I especially loved how the writers strayed away from the obvious "jerk turned nice" path when it comes to his development. His growth as a character didn't merely involve him going from "being mean to his Pokemon (and people) to caring for them in the end", but rather, it involved him going from being completely disregardful of other training methods that differed from his own (Ash's in this case) to him forcedly having to learn to acknowledge them being as valid as his, whilst taking a page or two out of them (him thanking Electivire in the end as evidence of this growth) in order to benefit his own Pokemon more than he ever would had he stuck to nothing but his own training methods; which is a much more original and interesting path of development. The best part is that this development doesn't just apply to Paul; it extends to Ash as well - he, too, had to learn to suppress his own stubbornness and take a page out of Paul's book in order to maximize his own Pokemon's prowess. It was a development that went both ways; meaning that it doesn't give out the impression that one character's development is dependent on another "changing" him just for the sake of telling a narrative (which so many character arcs that involve the "mean guy - nice guy" dynamic are guilty of), which I really appreciate.


Now, while I did accuse Paul's character of being unoriginal, the rivalry between him and Ash was anything but. Their rivalry was unique - there was true grey morality weaved into it, which extends far beyond the whole "two trainers butting heads just to see who's better" dynamic. The grey morality of their rivalry is actually an extension of both of their development - because they each had to learn from the other in order to reach their highest potential and rise above the other, and therefore, none of them was truly "right" or "wrong". They each had something the other lacked, and they each had to admit to that if they ever wish to rise above the other. This rivalry was not about "right vs wrong" or "strong vs weak"; it was a rivalry about respect and mutuality. Something much more deep than I would have expected from a kid's show, of all things, to churn up.


Apart from the two aforementioned long-running arcs, I also felt that Ash's badge quest was handled the best here. Every gym battle in this series seemed to have something exciting to offer; each of them managed to keep me entertained throughout (the battle against Maylene and Fantina especially, though admittedly, Crasher Wake's I felt was a little lackluster compared to the rest, but it was still decent). The battles in DP were fantastic and very satisfying in general, mainly because they mostly involved actual strategy on Ash's (or, in general, everyone's) part, but also because "cheap" or "as*-pullish" moments were mostly kept to a minimum. Which, in turn, ties into another plus for Ash's badge quest this season - the abundance of training episodes that show Ash's (and Dawn's) progress along the way, making their eventual wins all the more satisfying as we see their hard work pay off. The Pokemon on the cast, more-so than in other regions, were entertaining as well, as most of them were each shown to have their own unique quirks and traits that distinguishes them from the rest of the cast.


The cast of recurring characters we got in this series were also all fun and memorable in their own right (though I'll admit Dawn's rivals were a little bland bar Ursula) - Barry, Conway, Ursula, the various gym leaders (which all got about 4 episodes each), Lyra etc. all served as great entertainment throughout their time on the show. Then you also have the Team Galactic arc, which I felt was one of the better-handled evil teams adapted into the anime. While some may have felt that the trio chemistry in this series was lacking, it all boils down to personal taste in the end. Personally, I found the DP trio to be more "family-like" than all the others. As for why I think so, well...I can't really come up with any hard evidence (such as interactions, humorous lines, etc.) to show how I came to that conclusion, as it is very much more-so a vague, general vibe they gave me. To me, they just seem to come off more as a tightly-knit community than a traveling group of friends; it's just more of a feeling I felt while observing their actions on screen (be it when they eat together, prepare for a meal together, coach each other, walk together, etc.). Though I know this is all very subjective, and I can understand why some would find their interactions to be lacking (Dawn and Brock especially).


...wow. That came out way longer than I was expecting it to, lol. But I suppose this essay of mine reflects how passionately I feel about the DP series :) It's my all-time favorite saga.
 
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DP and XY are far above the rest, imo. What's most important for me in a saga is a likeable and interesting main cast, a solid depiction of the evil team, rivals, good animation quality, and plenty of battles of high caliber. DP and XY are the only sagas that are good in all of those areas.
 
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