Why do you think the writers didn't have Ash explore the Sevii Islands?

[Cybersai]

Instead of putting the Battle Frontier in Kanto, it probably would have made more sense to see the Frontier Brains on the Sevii Islands, that way Ash could have explored a new region and do the Brains at the same time.

After all, wasn't the whole point of the Battle Frontier arc to somehow advertise both FR/LG and Emerald at the same time? They had Emerald's Brains with the Kanto region, so in a sense it was to advertise two games at once.

I actually would have liked to see Ash meet Moltres on Mt. Ember, go to the TR HQ on Island 5, and maybe see Lorelei on Island 4.

But I guess what's in the past is done with, so the Sevii Islands were never visited in the anime.

 

[Weedle Mchairybug]

Instead of putting the Battle Frontier in Kanto, it probably would have made more sense to see the Frontier Brains on the Sevii Islands, that way Ash could have explored a new region and do the Brains at the same time.

After all, wasn't the whole point of the Battle Frontier arc to somehow advertise both FR/LG and Emerald at the same time? They had Emerald's Brains with the Kanto region, so in a sense it was to advertise two games at once.

I actually would have liked to see Ash meet Moltres on Mt. Ember, go to the TR HQ on Island 5, and maybe see Lorelei on Island 4.

But I guess what's in the past is done with, so the Sevii Islands were never visited in the anime.

Actually, they were visited in the Anime. Ritchie visited One Island, remember (not to mention found Moltres)?

Actually, I thought it would have been a heckuva lot more logical to, you know, place the Battle Frontier in the same place as they placed it in the games. It would give May a really good reason to be with Ash for the season (instead of, you know, placing her in a region that she doesn't even belong in by advertizements sake, like Kanto and just flat out screwing over Leaf, for instance.). Plus, instead of Squirtle, why not make use of the fact that Emerald is giving out Johto starters in regards to completing the Hoenn Dex and just give her a Chikorita or Totodile? They can also add in Pokemon contests onto the island as well as the facilities (I mean, if they could add in Contests in Kanto despite not even being a focus in FR/LG...).

 

[Jesse GS the II]

My guess is they just thought it was too similar to the Orange Islands.

But yeah, I agree that putting the Houen Battle Frontier in, y'know, Houen would have been more beneficial. What's the point of returning to Kanto if you're barely going to take advantage of the locations? Aside from the Nibi City Gym episode, they might as well have not even been there.

 

[Cybersai]

But yeah, I agree that putting the Houen Battle Frontier in, y'know, Houen would have been more beneficial. What's the point of returning to Kanto if you're barely going to take advantage of the locations? Aside from the Nibi City Gym episode, they might as well have not even been there.

Well we did re-visit a few memorable locations:

- Viridian Gym. We find out Agatha takes it over from Giovanni.

- Pewter Gym. One of the best eps of that arc cause of the awesome tag battle with Donphan/Steelix Vs. Aggron/Charizard.

- Mt. Moon. Nothing special, but we see the Clefairy and the Moon Stone again.

- Cycling road. Only during the last 2 minutes of an episode though, so whatever.

- Indigo Plateau. The Kanto Grand Festival took place there, and Ash even says, "I remember when I battled here, but now its May's turn."


And that's about it. Yeah they didn't take advantage of it, I guess it was the writers way of purposely making fun of the nostalgia people have in the fandom or something. lol.

 

[Pokemaster Justin]

Or the writers suck? Ever think of that one?

 

[pharaohyami5000]

The Battle Frontier would have been more memorable if Ash (no, the writers) thought of re-challenging a few Gym Leaders (ex. Sabrina in Saffron, or have Janine, daughter of Koga, appear). Sadly, they didn't do that and instead they delivered some OK episodes besides the BF battles, Contest Battles, their final places, and some other episodes I cannot say at this point.

We only saw the Sevii Islands from that PKM Chronicle episode featuring Richie. Even then, it was bland for my liking. Why Ash did not go there, or have the Battle Frontier and Contests located there, I have no idea. It may have been a small arc, but it should have displayed it more original. I cannot say it's because of the upcoming DP games and anime that were the cause of this.

 

[Cybersai]

You know come to think of it, maybe the reasons no old characters re-appeared is because the last time they did it back in Johto, most people were indifferent?

They brought back Suzie, Aya, Duplica, Todd, and Richie all in Johto, and it honestly felt like most of the fandom didn't care. That was the first time they ever brought back older filler characters, and when Johto was airing people had little to no interest in their re-appearances.

Its quite possible the reason they didn't do it again is because the writers remembered nobody cared when those old characters re-appeared in Johto.

I wonder if that was the reason.

 

[pharaohyami5000]

Well... Johto series itself was unattractive during its appearances thanks to the boring filler episodes they displayed and the only good episodes there were the Gym battles, the Silver Conference, and maybe the Whirlpool Cup mainly. It turned many viewers off, unsure how many viewers still watched it since the beginning towards the end of Johto and the beginning of Hoenn.

If only those older characters you mentioned, Scott85 (preferably Duplica, Todd, and Richie since I can see them having more to their stories than what was shown to us), have a continuation of their journey, we could have seen more of them. Sadly it's only a few appearances of them, then the writers forget about them. Other than the game characters, I honestly cannot see how they can think of new anime characters to reveal for only an episode or more.

I guess if it's because the anime wants to be different compared to the game and manga counterparts, then... I just don't see why they continue screwing up the anime a lot of times in terms of entertaining the viewers.

 

[Cybersai]

It might also be likely that the writers feel the current generation of kids weren't around when the original series was airing, so there's no reason to bring back some filler characters most people don't even remember or weren't there for.

I notice with each region there is a cut-off point of the previous sagas filler characters, (only exceptions being the Magikarp Salesman, Butch/Cassidy and a few others) because its a new arc.

Solana did re-appear in DP during the Ranger eps which was odd, since I didn't think the old Pokemon Ranger would appear again. But other than that no filler characters from pre-DP have re-appeared.

I guess the longer the show goes on, the less likely it is to see non-main characters from the past. Its getting to the point where I think only the characters in the "High Touch" opening can still make appearances, in addition to Giovanni/Butch/Cassidy and the Magikarp salesman.

 

[pharaohyami5000]

Yeah, but it really blows to see that these characters who had reappearances for another episode or so have no plans of another comeback. Seems the GS Ball isn't the only forgotten thing around and it really pains me to say this again.

Sevii Islands would have been great to reintroduce Bill once more like the games and manga did, but anime had to do things their way. Jeez, the nerve of them. I would like the Sevii Islands to be in Ash's travels and also wouldn't mind if they do it differently, such as having the Battle Frontier/Contests take place there like we wanted.

Speaking of old characters, the only characters I would really appreciate to appear are Jimmy and Marina. With these Marina cameos during 1/4 of DP so far, those writers better get them in. I see no reason not to include them during the last quarter of the DP series. Even these Johto starters, plus Pichu, are coming back so what are they waiting for? Another decade of the same old (bleep)?!

One more thing I would like to see in anime are the characters from PKM Colosseum. The main character there seems interesting enough and would like to see how he and Ash interact.

 

[JB88]

I can only say why they didn't do the Sevii Islands is because of compensation. And it works both ways. No Orange Islands in the games, so give Generation III remake of Kanto the Sevii Islands. Now, if they included anything that happened at the Sevii Islands at Orange, that would've been good. And I mean include Bill at Orange. But again this shows that wherever this anime goes is unpredictable.

 

[Luxio2k8]

I think it has to do that it would be like the Orange Islands all over again. Plus, I don't think the writers could make the storyline of the Sevii Islands last longer than under 20 episodes since there are only 7 (9 when to count the two Nintendo event islands).

Still, re-visiting Kanto for the Battle Frointer was a let down since they hardly revisited old locations or characters. The funny thing is that Sinnoh has been very continuity heavy (compare to the past sagas).