Which is better: DP or BW?

[Hidden Mew]

Honestly looking back, the reason why DP's rivals stood out was simply because there was so many of them. But again, only a few of them were actually interesting, and on top of that some of them barely appeared.

As much as I liked Conway and Ursula, they're only in a small handful of episodes. As much as I liked Barry, we don't see him until 100 episodes into DP. Kenny/Nando were non-existent for 85% of DP.

I don't think that's why the DP rivals stood out. The main rivals with Ash/Paul and Dawn/Zoey actually meant something and they drove the protagonists to become stronger, although in different ways. Paul was Ash's polar opposite and their rivalry was part of the series' storyline. None of the rivals in BW are nearly as important or compelling. Though, I wasn't expecting another rivalry like the one with Paul in BW before anyway, but most of the rivalries are either dull or nonexistent. While I still don't think Zoey was that much of an interesting character or a good rival, there was significance for both her and Dawn's characters to be involved in this rivalry and there was actual purpose to their rivalry. That's honestly a lot more than I can say about the rivalries in BW. Ash's rivalry with Trip is nonexistent, although it was never that great to begin with, and there's really no point in giving either Cilan or Iris a rival if it doesn't help motivate them or bring about character development.

I don't think it even matters that Barry didn't come int until 100 episodes into DP since he still felt more like a rival than most of the characters in BW do and unlike Bianca, he actually can be funny and a strong trainer at the same time. Aside from Barry, the other rivals who rarely appeared were more like wasted potential than anything else, but at this point, I think I would take wasted potential rivals over ones that never had potential due to the setup of the series and characterizations. As much as I enjoy Burgundy and Georgia, they really don't work as rivals given how their interactions with Cilan and Iris are and that there's no tension whenever they do face each other. Cilan is nice to Burgundy, although he's pretty nice to everyone, and outclasses her by a long shot, while Burgundy acts as the underdog character. Georgia and Iris just bicker with each other and we're either suppose to see it as funny or want to cheer for Iris to eventually defeat her, both of which don't work for me at all.

As for a potential filler saga, I do hope that it can help improve on BW. I don't think it could be better than or just as good as DP at this point, for me at least, but it certainly can just get better with the battle quality and giving characters, both human and Pokemon, actual/lasting development.

 

[Mikuri]

Come to think of it, with Unova ending probably in the Fall, does anyone think the potential filler arc will be better than BW so far? Even though its part of the same gen, there has been a difference between each arc to the next. Especially if Plasma return.

I really hope it will be, but I will not let my hopes too high because BW has proved to be an expert in disappoint me.

I can see the battles improving, since Ash is slowly becoming less stupid. Perhaps the rotation of Pokémon will be better, and I will begin to care about Unfezant and Leavanny. Unfortunately, I don't see Trip being abandoned in the League. The writers have led Gary to Johto and Drew and Harley to Kanto, I don't think they will leave Trip behind, and make a new main rival for Ash would give more work.
I also think that Georgia will be present to throw some truths in Iris' face; Iris will pretend that she heard and then will do that traditional speech by saying that she will train hard to become a Dragon Master, and in the end she will use Excadrill instead of Axew. Burgundy will also appear and will continue to try to irritate Cilan, and maybe the writers do something with her besides humiliate her every time she appears, I'm hoping that she will become a B-class Connaisseuse and will finally win a battle.
I don't expect anything different from Team Rocket, they will continue without a trace of personality and with all those plans that lead nowhere. I believe this is the last series for them, so I really hope the writers give them a decent end. I really want to hear Jessie saying that she will train to become a Top Coordinator again. James could go back to Kanto and open a daycare center, he took good care of Chimecho and Mime Jr., so I think it suits him. Meowth could invest in his career of negotiator, from villain to Officer Jenny's assistant.

 

[Cinderfella]

This will never be a hard question for me because when DP was airing every Thursday I would rush home after class to catch the new episodes, especially if I saw from the preview from the week before it had something to do with Paul, Ursula, a Gym Battle, Conway, an interesting contest, and/or a cameo from old characters.

For me, DP had story, better character interactions, better dialogue. Was it a perfect saga, fuck no. Which saga was? There was still a lot that could have been touched upon, like more backstory for Ursula and Conway, interesting factors for Zoey and Kenny, Ambipom's sudden release, Piplup just being there, and Torterra's battle record in the League.... What this saga didn't lack in, was in usually being realistic and dare I say it...GOOD. Even the tournaments were better and that's saying something. And Team Rocket, for me, was much more epic this saga than any other. Their humor was on point and Jessie winning contests was a breath of fresh air, even if her GF battle wasn't justified.

I do enjoy Cilan, Snivy, and Iris(when she's off the battle field and doing something funny/productive), Georgia, Bel, Burgundy, and to a lesser extent now Kenyan, as well as Pignite, and Oshhy. Emolga's cute, the animation is sometimes nice, but otherwise, that's about it. The Gym Battles are poor excuses for evolutions. Once I can understand, but three fucking times? Talk about Overkill. But, if there's one thing that I can say that can give us a huge difference in the seasons which I'm sure I can speak for the majority of the fanbase when I say this:

-In DP: the main rival was Paulure Awesome

-In BW: The main rival is Trip: Pure and Utter Shit

That's not me being a hater, that's me being honest, so yeah there ya go.

 

[Caseydia]

The reason I like DP more than BW is because of how the writing was compared to now. You could tell how much work they putted into each of the episodes including most of the fillers. They were funny and they brought some good development for each of the characters. BW is a little too kiddish for me. DP was the type of series that teens adluts and kids could watch and not get bored. I know Ash wasn't as funny but he was just as entertaining as he was in AG. I don't like how they had to dumb him down in oder to be funny though. You can still write funny material but can also keep the main character's maturity as well.

 

[Chiplet]

The reason I like DP more than BW is because of how the writing was compared to now. You could tell how much work they putted into each of the episodes including most of the fillers.

Okey... About that... No, just no. DP had some of the most horrible fillers of all time, they seriously bored me to tears, and was never able catch my attention. I'll never approve of the DP-fillers, they were just... awful. But obviously it's a matter of what kind of episodes you like in general.

BW is a little too kiddish for me. DP was the type of series that teens adluts and kids could watch and not get bored.

Hm. Naaah... The only thing that I actually enjoyed in DP was Ash and his story, so I'll agree with you in saying that it was always fun to watch Ash and the episodes that were centered around him, with Barry, Paul and Conway, but everything else was extremely boring to me. I just couldn't bring myself to care for anything else, which is a real shame.

Ironically I was thinking the pretty much the opposite of everything you stated, so therefore I just had to say that, ehe. ^^''

 

[Cybersai]

The Spiritomb filler and the Evil Togepi ep are examples of great DP fillers. Also that early Mismagius ep that had Ash and Dawn battling in their dreams was another good one.

Steamboat Willies is a funny ep with all the Pokemon out of their balls.

There were some DP fillers that were very good like these. You just gotta look for them.

 

[Chiplet]

The Mismagius filler was good, yes. But the rest of the episodes you mentioned never were very good in my opinions, especially not Steamboat Willies. Ugh.

But I did enjoy the Drifting Snorunt episode, though.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

The Mismagius filler was good, yes. But the rest of the episodes you mentioned never were very good in my opinions, especially not Steamboat Willies. Ugh.

But I did enjoy the Drifting Snorunt episode, though.

And BW filler is better? The BW filler has some of the stupidest plot elements ever.

 

[Chiplet]

The Mismagius filler was good, yes. But the rest of the episodes you mentioned never were very good in my opinions, especially not Steamboat Willies. Ugh.

But I did enjoy the Drifting Snorunt episode, though.

And BW filler is better? The BW filler has some of the stupidest plot elements ever.

I prefer the BW fillers, yes. And I don't really care that much about the plots, as long as an episodes manage to somewhat entertain me I'll be alright with it. I only want it to be amusing, and not to bore me to tears. The BW fillers have both Iris and Cilan, that seldom fail to entertain me, and they always have in one way or another succeed to make a BW filler amusing, at least for me. So, yes. I've found most of the BW fillers to be far more interesting than the DP ones, but we all don't think the same, now do we?

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

@Chiplet

Photography, little kids, a pagants sure real entertaining. What was the latest filler Axew gets kidnapped. That episode was boring as hell it took 9 fucking minutes for the plot to start the fight scene was inoherent oh wait that wasn't filler because we got an evo but it was so dull that I'd call it a filler. Bottom line I'd rather be bored than annoyed at how incredibly stupid the premises are.

 

[Chiplet]

@Chiplet

Photography, little kids, pagants sure real entertaining. What was the latest filler Axew gets kidnapped. That episode was boring as hell it took 9 fucking minutes for the plot to start the fight scene was inoherent oh wait that wasn't filler because we got an evo but it was so dull that I'd call it a filler. Bottom line I'd rather be bored than annoyed at how incredibly stupid the premises are.

I never said that all of BW fillers were better than the DP ones. Of course DP had a few great fillers too, but BW takes the prize in my opinion, and that's just it. And I'd rather be annoyed than bored when watching an episode, at least then it would've caught my attention and maybe I wouldn't have missed out on the whole thing. Not that BW episodes annoyed me, though.

And no, I enjoyed that episode. It brought up an entertaining and well-deserved battle for both Swadloon and Emolga, as well as showcasing some real bromance between Scraggy and Axew. And I also enjoyed the big battle with all of the Durants, since it forced Ash and Iris to actually try and cooperate in the battle in order to beat them all. I've never liked the Leavanny evolution, but I don't also remember saying that I did like it.
If you want me to bring up some dull episodes from DP that were not really fillers but so boring that I would've considered them as fillers anyway, alright. Remove every single episode without the leading role being played by Ash, his pokémon, or being starred with one of his rivals. I loved characters as Paul, Barry, and Conway. All three of them were exceptional rivals, but Conway and Paul were both the best among the bests. Ursula was also a great character, so episodes with her were also entertaining, but the rest of the rivals/characters did never really appeal to me, so an episode without the persons I just mentioned them was kinda dull, in my opinion.
I assume you in one way or another feels the same way about BW, so it's all just a matter of very different opinions. We both have very different views on what's annoying and entertaining.

 

[sweet insanity]

To me, I prefer DP. As much as I love BW, it just doesn't stand out to me as having the same fun factor. DP had so many likeable characters, and most of them were actually fun to like. Hikari had some ups and downs, but was generally a good travelling companion. Iris, on the other hand, is pretty dull to me. First - why is she even here? She just joined Satoshi for barely any reason at all. She doesn't actually serve much purpose, and her only aspiring goal is to become a 'dragon master'. This is much like Kasumi's goal of being a 'water master'. But, as Satoshi has demonstrated - a Pokémon Master seemingly involves more than collecting badges and such. Iris seems left out in terms of character and development. Hikari and Haruka both participated in contests, but Iris doesn't do any of these. DP was better in this way, as Hikari's contests help keep things moving while we were waiting for Satoshi's next gym battle.

However, BW makes up for this by changing the pace. But, there are some positives and negatives to this. Although it doesn't get so dull easily when the pacing is fast, a lot of things are missed out. Plasma Dan is one of my major concerns for the future of the series. The writers may have decided to leave them out until later on, as they may have another plot when BW2 comes out. But, it they had put them in to follow the course of the games, the series might appeal to more people. With the only bad guys Rocket Dan, who are now dull, boring and appear very little, Satoshi and co. need some sort of threat. A real threat.

While some people may argue that DP introduced the Ginga Dan late in the series, there are many missed opportunities that come from not introducing them sooner. The speeches, a rivalry with N, the ferris wheel thing in Nimbasa City, the thing in Cold Storage, and the Dragonspiral Tower thing would all have made better, more exciting episodes than perhaps some of the fillers.

The rival is another let down in BW. Shooti may have been an interesting rival if only his entrance wasn't overshadowed by Shinji. Shinji was, to me, the perfect rival. He was tough, and he had his own way of doing things. The two were polar opposites, and Shinji infuriated Ash because for once, he wasn't going to listen and give in to his nice-and-kind-to-everyone ways. Shooti is a big letdown after the amount of development put into DP's rivals.

I'll probably write more later, but so far that is why I think that DP is better than BW.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

BW takes the Pokemon concept and does not jack shit with it. The rival is basic the trio is basic the gym battles are there. Sure they give the supporting cast rivals but that doesn't do much for me. The only real improvement is giving Ash more pokemon but that is negated by the fact that their moveset with a few exceptions leave a lot to be desired. It is just so boring and old it just makes the whole thing look pointless

 

[Caseydia]

The reason I like DP more than BW is because of how the writing was compared to now. You could tell how much work they putted into each of the episodes including most of the fillers.

Okey... About that... No, just no. DP had some of the most horrible fillers of all time, they seriously bored me to tears, and was never able catch my attention. I'll never approve of the DP-fillers, they were just... awful. But obviously it's a matter of what kind of episodes you like in general.

BW is a little too kiddish for me. DP was the type of series that teens adluts and kids could watch and not get bored.

Hm. Naaah... The only thing that I actually enjoyed in DP was Ash and his story, so I'll agree with you in saying that it was always fun to watch Ash and the episodes that were centered around him, with Barry, Paul and Conway, but everything else was extremely boring to me. I just couldn't bring myself to care for anything else, which is a real shame.

Ironically I was thinking the pretty much the opposite of everything you stated, so therefore I just had to say that, ehe. ^^''

What's up with you? I wasn't trying to be cruel or anything. I just saying that the series was more entertaining in my view. Some people like DP's fillers. And I even hear some people enjoyed Johto fillers. It depends on how well you think they are. But most of DP was more exciting and more mature than BW.

 

[Chiplet]

The reason I like DP more than BW is because of how the writing was compared to now. You could tell how much work they putted into each of the episodes including most of the fillers.

Okey... About that... No, just no. DP had some of the most horrible fillers of all time, they seriously bored me to tears, and was never able catch my attention. I'll never approve of the DP-fillers, they were just... awful. But obviously it's a matter of what kind of episodes you like in general.

BW is a little too kiddish for me. DP was the type of series that teens adluts and kids could watch and not get bored.

Hm. Naaah... The only thing that I actually enjoyed in DP was Ash and his story, so I'll agree with you in saying that it was always fun to watch Ash and the episodes that were centered around him, with Barry, Paul and Conway, but everything else was extremely boring to me. I just couldn't bring myself to care for anything else, which is a real shame.

Ironically I was thinking the pretty much the opposite of everything you stated, so therefore I just had to say that, ehe. ^^''

What's up with you? I wasn't trying to be cruel or anything. I just saying that the series was more entertaining in my view.

Ehum... what? I never said that you were cruel, what in the world makes you think that? All I did was stating my opinion, which was the exact opposite of yours, that's all.

Some people like DP's fillers. And I even hear some people enjoyed Johto fillers. It depends on how well you think they are. But most of DP was more exciting and more mature than BW.

Of course. All series have some good fillers, it's like I said a matter of what kind of episodes you prefer to watch in general. And no, I certainly do not agree with you DP fillers being more mature and exciting, but that's your opinion.

 

[Caseydia]

Fine then whatever.

Let me get back to the topic at hand. DP was very well written. I liked that the characters had more rivals than before. They were all somewhat interesting in their own way. Although some didn't get better development than some others, I still enjoyed them. I also liked how Paul's and Ash's rival played out but I don't like how Dawn's and Zoey's was. They should have had Ursula come in much earlier. That way Dawn could have took some beatings from her instead of Jessie and Zoey all the time.

 

[Mareepy]

Best Wishes seriously need improvements.

The series had go on for one year and Iris achieved nothing. As for Dawn, she already had a few ribbons on hand by this time.

Team Rocket did not actually succeed in anything while being serious. They just have jet packs instead of blasting off. And Cabernet is the one who blasted off (well, thought I liked her blasting off)

Pokemon characteristic Development ----- Extremely lack of it. In DP, every Pokemon have their own characteristic and their background story. Every Pokemon have their way of battling, following their own beats and habit. (Like the 'I bite anything Gible') The only one that showed characteristic by now is Snivy, Pignite, Oshawott and Emolga.

Snivy's characteristic is so fantastic but the writers just didn't give any back story to it. Look, if she abandon her trainer, then why she hated Tepig/Pignite's ex-trainer? If you want me to give a reason, I'll take Snivy's reaction on her debut episode when she saw Ash's protecting his Pokemon from knocking on the tree. She kinda admire Ash when she saw this, so is this what her ex-trainer lack of? Or her ex-trainer is someone like Suwama? We don't know anything yet.

Pignite (Tepig by that time) shows that he is afraid of losing in battles, he is afraid that if he lost, Ash will abandon him like Suwama did. I really like the way Snivy encourage him, I really hope they develop some romance between them

Oshawott... I guess flirting is a type of personality? Or his way of showing confidence and then suddenly lost his confidence when he saw his opponent?.... Why is he acting like this?... Who knows, and I somewhat don't care.... He had more interaction with Tepig, but it is shown that he does not care about Tepig's feeling, he even sleeps in the court. Is he cold-blooded?

Emolga's personality is portrayed in a good way. Too lazy to look for food made up her attract abusing personality. She doesn't like to battle just because she is too lazy to. She stands her right to abuse attract even Snivy doesn't like and they fight over it.

 

[Cybersai]

I think BW2 will be a major turn around for Best Wishes. Already the upcoming events sound like they're far better than anything in BW1.

 

[HumanDawn]

I think it just proves that we're in the middle of this saga. Didn't somebody that works with the English dub say that BW was a 3 year saga? It's true that a little more than a year and a half passed, but that's counting the weeks with no episodes.

 

[CrackFox]

Definitely BW for me. Not as action packed, which suits me just fine. Iris and Cilan are great additions and even though he has replaced Brock, I don't feel any reluctance to like Cilan. I'm glad that Ash is the focus again and that everyone else is there, mainly for morale and to help Ash along on his journey. I would like to see more from Iris but I'm glad she doesn't steal the screen like Dawn's contests did. In my opinion, better characters, better music, nicer looking region, better Pokemon
(especially the starters) and Ash has even managed to find his sense of humor again. The only big change that I don't like is how TR have changed, compared to DP that's a bad thing, although compared to every other region it is too. A few other little touches that sets them apart in my opinion, much nicer Professor, faster pacing, rivals for all main characters and more captures. Plus, it only seems to be getting better with the news of BW2.