Controversial opinions

[SinnohEevee]

I think a better send-off could have been sending her to learn from Wallace, who's a Water-type Master.

 

[Antiyonder]

-Pikachu should have evolved either in the first season or Johto.

I don't know. Is it really a controversial opinion when those who approve of him remaining as such are in the minority?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I don't know. Is it really a controversial opinion when those who approve of him remaining as such are in the minority?

Thanks to all the Raichu antongist epiosdes we’ve ended up with, the general public préfère Pikachu to Raichu making that opinion controversial in most settings.

Internet forums might lean more towards Raichu though.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I think she agreed to do it because deep down she wanted to be the Gym leader and have that responsibility. So sure, she was surprised to have this sprung on her and upset with the rude treatment and upset to leave her friends because she enjoyed her travels, but this also meant her sisters respected her enough to be the sole gym leader and she was proud of being a gym leader and wanted this responsibility/position. It actually was one of the better departures in that she improved a lot as a water type trainer and then was able to use that improvements gained from her travels to do something she always wanted to do and be a good gym leader, gaining the respect of her sisters. So yeah, it would have felt better if the sisters had been more respectful and asked her if she wanted to do it, but that just wasn't their personality.

That is a decent point, it's just... Now I feel like how I feel about Iris when it comes to the "improving as a Water-type Trainer" part, because like...

If they just made her travels more structured and productive in the first place, she could've made way more progress in her journeys than she canonically did, and it wouldn't even be necessary for her to become a Gym Leader to improve further.

Still, it's not the worst thing in the world, it's mainly just that I have super low sympathy for her sisters. So, the execution kind of undermines this interpretation, but thought that she'd be doing it mostly for her own sake is a bit of a comfort, rather than the thought it's just to impress vain brats like them. Like I said, I don't think she should've stayed forever anyway.

I think a better send-off could have been sending her to learn from Wallace, who's a Water-type Master.

Well, this is the original series we're talking about. The character writing wasn't quite as developed as it became later.

 

[Nicolas721]

-Ash & Paul didn't deserve to win the Tag Battle Tournament. They never acted as a team, and while I get that that wasn't the point of the arc it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Dawn winning wasn't possible due to her upcoming depression arc, but there were some things they could have done: 1) Pair Dawn with Paul and Ash with Conway, and make Ash win (through giving equal screentime to Ash and Paul would have been difficult) or 2) Make Brock and Holly the winners.
-Even if Paul had to win, they at least should've used that to double up Paul's arrogance and showing him satisfied about his triumph. But nope, he literally gives the prize to Ash. He acts like an emotionless machine most of the time, that's why I'm growing to dislike him on my DP rewatch.

-The SM series should work on relationships between pairs or small groups, most of them are forgotten after their first use. I liked the initial ones of Ash/Mallow, Ash/Kiawe and Mallow/Lillie, but they all went nowhere.
-After watching a few episodes of the Twitch marathon, I can safely say that Sarah Natochenny is a better fit for Ash than Veronica Taylor. I understand the appeal for Veronica's voice, but Ash's voice has to be something else than a 10-year-old boy's. However, I noticed that during the first Kanto episodes, Veronica's voice sounded a bit more mature than the one she did later, I prefered that tone to the one she used for most of the series.

 

[CaptainBuggles]

I actually have been thinking about the School Of Hard Knocks episode, mainly 2 things about it

1) I wish people would stop citing it as their proof that "anime levels exist and should be a big deal", especially when the rest of the episode's moral basically comes off as telling you that in anime-verse, levels and other strictly "by the book" lines of thinking have less importance.

2) I kind of wish the moral about the "right" way to be a Trainer was more... nuanced? Like it kinda was, but the episode also came off like most of the students are just rich kids who are too soft/spoiled/ignorant for a "real adventure"... and to a degree, I get that. But on the other hand, the Kanto series also tried to make Pokemon training come off as this difficult, risky thing that will even make adults quit or abandon their families over it, and it was uncommon to see average people who came off as "good" at it. Even a bunch of people who made it all the way to the League fought with a lot of unevolved Pokemon.

So from that angle, it seems like wanting to approach it more academically is actually a really sensible decision, rather than unduly risking your health and safety just because it's the "best way to learn"... Yet, a bunch of people who do it that way are still mediocre. Not to mention you're risking your Pokemon more, too. There was even an Orange Islands episode where the implication was that Charizard could die, or at the very least suffer lasting harm... That whole crisis could become a lot less serious in a controlled setting. I'm not saying that it's totally wrong to go on an adventure, just that the "adventurer" side could stand to be more careful and sensible too.

Really, that school system should've just compromised more between book smarts and real battle scenarios. Plus, it shouldn't have presented itself as so elitist, and it shouldn't have been so wrapped up in how many facts you can regurgitate. Essentially, it should be school, but less conformist and standardized.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Yes, she did travel all the way to watch her daughter

And she only do that when her daughter became an finalist, not before that.

Something that's always bothered me since the day of its premiere is how Johanna spent the whole of Dawn's Grand Festival final round match praising Zoey left and right. As if she's some sort of prodigy that can do no wrong with her similarly perfect Glameow. She no less compliments her and her Pokemon five times throughout the fight (making up a majority of her conversation) while refusing to offer any semblance of applause for Dawn (not even a cheer or a "nice job!" after causing Zoey to lose points). Instead, Dawn only gets criticism of what she's allowed Zoey to do during her performance.

I wonder why...

Spoiler

I have no doubt she loved and cared about Dawn very much, but I just didn't like her way of showing it and I never really preferred her way of interacting with Dawn. I felt similarly about Grace (Serena's mom).

True, Serena's mother was rough with her, but at least she cheered for her daughter.

Johanna's problem was that she was bland IMO. She had no personality unlike Delia, Caroline, or Lola, so maybe she seemed detached from Dawn because of how one-dimensional she was

What was so interesting about their personalities?

But you're right-you'd think Dawn would be more experienced with contest elements given she's (assumingly) lived with her mother, the top coordinator, her entire life. Yet, given how she started out, you'd think she was no more experienced than May in the beginning (if not slightly better).

It just makes you question why she didn't try to learn more from her mother, who literally teaches classes to youth learning about contests.

Why do you think she didn't learn from her mother? She was pretty good in her first contest. She know everything about contests, what she lack was practic and pokemon training, which is understandable considering she never had a pokemon before.

True. I didnt get why they gave Poipole a story arc in the first place. It wasnt needed. You could also let Necrozma appear without Poipole.

They need to showcase it, just like other pokemon.

In XY, they could go from helping mend a Pokémon’s branch back together to almost killing a girl within the span of a couple of episodes.

That's happened in every series, even in DP.

What was Luxray's personality again

Compared to what, Dent's Stunfisk?

And this newly learnt zero-training move can defend completely against a fully charged Z-Move from Mimikyu. And then the

Pokemon rarely had problems with using moves they automatically learned. True there is cases that a pokemon needs to train itself to learn and master a move, but these cases are rare. Considering how powerful Pikachu's electricty is, I have no problem with it.

It's not about whether Popplio gets to do much. It's more of like Popplio being part of the supporting cast as opposed to the main cast. Lillie is clearly the focus among Ash's classmates.

But Lilie's Vulpix is getting less focus compared to Popplio, isn't that right?

 

[Daenerys]

Regarding the School Of Hard Knocks episode, I kinda wish that the whole "bypass the Badge quest" angle of the school had been explored in-depth again when Ash competed at the Indigo League. Like, we could've at least seen Giselle again.

 

[prog rocker]

Regarding the School Of Hard Knocks episode, I kinda wish that the whole "bypass the Badge quest" angle of the school had been explored in-depth again when Ash competed at the Indigo League. Like, we could've at least seen Giselle again.

He could have also seen AJ and the other characters that he promises to meet again but never does.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Regarding the School Of Hard Knocks episode, I kinda wish that the whole "bypass the Badge quest" angle of the school had been explored in-depth again when Ash competed at the Indigo League. Like, we could've at least seen Giselle again.

She left the school, though.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Season 1 was full of characters who had ton of potential but wound up being just being one-off plot elements for a single episode. Not even many of the Gym Leaders were immune to this treatment.

 

[Daenerys]

Not even many of the Gym Leaders were immune to this treatment.

Speaking of them, I'm still salty that Ash didn't visit Sabrina when he went back to Saffron in AG. She was my fave Kanto Gym Leader since she had been practically possessed by Satan, yet apparently the writers didn't think we deserved to see what she and Haunter were up to.

 

[LazySpy]

Speaking of them, I'm still salty that Ash didn't visit Sabrina when he went back to Saffron in AG. She was my fave Kanto Gym Leader since she had been practically possessed by Satan, yet apparently the writers didn't think we deserved to see what she and Haunter were up to.

Agreed. Sabrina was the girl, I' never forget her.

 

[Alola]

Why do you think she didn't learn from her mother? She was pretty good in her first contest. She know everything about contests, what she lack was practic and pokemon training, which is understandable considering she never had a pokemon before.

If I was a 10 year old who lived with a parent who is a renowned, professional baker (and I, too, have wanted to bake since an early age), you'd best believe my baking skills will be vastly superior to other 10 year-olds on average. Dawn didn't have that aspect to her-everything about her screamed "novice" in the beginning of the saga. She was slightly better than May despite growing up with the profession.

And pretty good for her first contest is subjective. While I enjoyed watching it, there was a huge skill gap between herself and Zoey during their Second Round-aside from the advantage caused by the unintentional side effect of Buneary's Ice Beam towards the end of the fight, Dawn had her moves evaded or repelled by Zoey (who made better use of her own moves as well as Glameow's natural abilities). Glameow possession aside, and after that battle, if you told unknowing viewers that between Zoey and Dawn, one of them has a mother who is a prestigious Top Coordinator, who would you think would be the appropriate child?

 

[Nicolas721]

-Z-moves would be better received if their animation wasn't recycled every time.
-Ash-Greninja haters should use arguments like "He doesn't have personality or a deep history" instead of "It had too much screentime". There wasn't really much the writers could do with Pikachu, Talonflame or Hawlucha, and Ash needed something to keep up with Megas.
-The XY series isn't as "action-filled and shonen-like" as people describe it. Before XY093 (a.k.a. 66% of the series) there are 7-8 action episodes (excluding gym battles of course) due to the lack of an evil team. DP and BW had more by that point. XYZ has dramatic moments, yes, but it also has 10+ breather episodes and 5 episodes about Serena's quest.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

She was slightly better than May despite growing up with the profession.

In her first contest she had no problem with peformance stage, her main problem was her lack of battling skills.

And pretty good for her first contest is subjective. While I enjoyed watching it, there was a huge skill gap between herself and Zoey during their Second Round-aside from the advantage caused by the unintentional side effect of Buneary's Ice Beam towards the end of the fight, Dawn had her moves evaded or repelled by Zoey (who made better use of her own moves as well as Glameow's natural abilities). Glameow possession aside, and after that battle, if you told unknowing viewers that between Zoey and Dawn, one of them has a mother who is a prestigious Top Coordinator, who would you think would be the appropriate child?

Zoey had more experience, as she has trained for some unspecified time back then and already competed in three contests before Hikari even got her first pokemon. And even then, she only won one of these first three contests, same as Dawn,

 

[Alola]

In her first contest she had no problem with peformance stage,

In which she hesitated at first and to which her mother commented that her performance was "stiff." In my book, that puts her around the same beginning level as May (whose performance I think was more dynamic, but also had more explicit hangups unlike Dawn who played it safe).

Zoey had more experience, as she has trained for some unspecified time back then and already competed in three contests before Hikari even got her first pokemon. And even then, she only won one of these first three contests, same as Dawn,

That's true (although we don't know to what extent-exactly how far did Zoey advance in the other two Contests she lost?), but that just wheels back to my initial point that Dawn also should have been similarly experienced if not somewhat less so given her background. But I digress as we can agree to disagree instead.

 

[Juliko]

I don't know how unpopular or controversial this opinion is, but you know what? I don't care. I'm gonna come out and say it: I absolutely HATE Burgundy from the Black/White anime and still do with every fiber of my being. Not nearly as much as I do Shinji (I refuse to call him by his English name, because my best friend is named Paul and I refuse to associate that name with such an abhorrent character), but good lord is she annoying!

I cannot fathom for the life of me why people like this girl, because she's flat out terrible! In her very first episode, she tells Ash straight up that she hates his Pokemon and that he should replace them just because they don't meet her standards, and based on extremely vague and uncontrollable reasons, at that! She completely tried to force her views on him and coerce him into releasing his Pokemon, which is not only not her place to do but what Pokemon he has are none of her business. She acts like she's hot shit about everything, is an obnoxious little brat who never stops being a brat about stuff that isn't any of her business, and she NEVER gets called on her terrible behavior! Her later appearances aren't much better! I'm honestly surprised she wasn't kicked out of whatever Pokemon Connoisseur school she was attending. I mean, how would she like it if someone yelled at her and told her to replace her own Pokemon because they themselves didn't like them? Seriously, I wanted to punch her every single time she appeared or opened her mouth, she's that annoying! I don't know why Ash and the others even bother putting up with her, because I certainly wouldn't want to spend even a millisecond with a self-entitled, arrogant, self-absorbed, snobby bitch who tries to make people release THEIR pets because she herself doesn't think they meet her standards. Why do fans of the show like her again?

 

[prog rocker]

Why do fans of the show like her again?

Not sure. Did she ever get slight character development, do something amazing, or is comedy potential? Because that's the only reason people would like someone like that.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Why do fans of the show like her again?

She's hilarious.