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How would you view the sun and moon series in terms of quality

I have several problems with the Sun & Moon anime series.

First I want to talk about the structure of the series. I'll confess that I was genuinely surprised when they announced that Ash would be attending school in Alola rather than traveling as he always do. However, I was willing to give it a chance. We've seen how Ash behaves in school during both the Diamond & Pearl series and the XY series, and I thought it could work. I was thinking we would see them learning about Pokémon and doing activities that would help them interact with Pokémon, but I was wrong. The Pokémon School is just a place to return to after a day of doing mundane stuff.

At the Pokémon School, Ash and his classmates don't have to go out and study the behavior of a wild Pokémon and present data about it afterwards, like Ash, Dawn, Brock, and Angie did at Professor Rowan's Pokémon Summer Academy. All they ever do is go visiting places and participating in activities that are more recreational than educational. A visit to Akala Island for a treasure hunt? Really? They traveled all the way to Kanto and instead of having the students do a seminar on the differences between Alolan and Kantonian Pokémon, all they did was watching Pokémon Mega Evolve at Gyms? Not to mention the amount of episode blurbs starting with "Ash and his friends have a day off of school" or something. The school is just a background and at this point I miss the generic forests from previous series.

On the importance of battles now, while I am certainly not one of those that can only find joy in an episode if Ash is battling someone, I think SM should have more battles. Like it or not, battles are a core aspect of this franchise and we've been told several times now about their benefits. Like how they help Trainers meet new people and Pokémon, and to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of a particular species, and how they are fun and exciting and will teach a person to be a good sport about losing and to treat others respectfully regardless of the outcome.

While past series have featured battle tournaments (even Best Wishes), SM focuses on sport-oriented competitions. I don't really have a problem with competitions lacking battles (DP had a lot of those), but SM has ignored battle competitions in favor of really lame tournaments. We have a large cast and it would be nice to see them facing each other in battles, but we're stuck with things like the Pokémon Pancake Race.

Another thing that bothers me is all the goofiness and the fact they don't give the appropriate tone to situations that would require a more serious approach. I know SM is a light-hearted show, but they can do better than having Faba go from kidnapping Lillie in an episode to attending Kukui's wedding in another.

I really wish this series had played out differently. The writers completely ruined the island challenge and this is a feature we're unlikely to see in future games. We instead have all this Ultra Guardians stuff, which is simply ridiculous in my opinion, and the writers changed the formula so much this series they don't even know how to produce Pokémon episodes anymore. Aside from this Power Rangers bullshit going on, now Lillie, Mallow, and Lana even have a magical girl sequence. I know SM makes references to other anime, but I don't think the writers should be paying homage to other Japanese productions when they don't get their own shit right.
 
Before I go more in-depth, I can't believe (unless I completely missed it) that this is the first time the quoted was mentioned. Easily and number 1 my least favorite thing about the series, the stupid Ultra Guardians

We instead have all this Ultra Guardians stuff, which is simply ridiculous in my opinion, and the writers changed the formula so much this series they don't even know how to produce Pokémon episodes anymore. Aside from this Power Rangers bullshit going on,

Anyway, despite that, that was actually my favorite arc thus far. This is actually the first series I've seen since the original series, so I can't compare to anything in between. I actually stumbled upon it while watching someone who was streaming original series episodes every so often, and then they would follow it up with a SM episode. I didn't pay the SM eps much attention at first, but I slowly got drawn in, and started to like them.

But, whomever used the term "mixed-bag" is pretty close to my feelings about it. As I mentioned, I thought the arc with Bebenom was the best so far, and was my favorite, and there's been some good eps in each arc. I loved the Mooland-Nyabby mini-saga, especially its conclusion, made me tear up I have to admit. And then subsequently, after all that was invested in it, it feels like we barely see it in battle, aside from the wrestling episodes of course. I realize Pikachu's the star, but it's unfortunate.

Also I realize a series going into the triple digits for episodes is going to have some filler, some good, some bad, but it feels like they lean on the Poke-sports crutch too much. The first time or two they did it was cool, but I'm already wondering what the next sport will be.

Ash's design was a little off-putting at first, but I'm used to it now. I love the music, especially the opening themes.

I thought the change-up from traveler to schoolboy was interesting, and actually one of the things that drew me in. It doesn't seem like it's something they can try again for an entire series, but I've enjoyed it, hopefully as a one-off.
 
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Absolutely mint. I honestly thought the anime was a lost cause until a Redditor posted the Ultra Legends trailer in a Pokemon sub, and to my surprise it looked really fun and fresh. So I gave the Sun and Moon anime a chance and I was not disappointed.
 
I thought it was good (just finished watching season 20-21) but I don't really care as much for the Ultra Guardians dealing with so many ultra beasts and everything like that, but it's still alright.

I decided that since I just finished the latest season to me, then I should go back to the beginner and start properly by watching every episode before Sun & Moon that I haven't seen.
 
Ash's face is definitely drawn differently now than the early SM episodes. It seems like they tweaked it a little to make him look better. He really did look bad in the earliest SM eps from late 2016-mid 2017.
 
We instead have all this Ultra Guardians stuff, which is simply ridiculous in my opinion, and the writers changed the formula so much this series they don't even know how to produce Pokémon episodes anymore. Aside from this Power Rangers bullshit going on, now Lillie, Mallow, and Lana even have a magical girl sequence. I know SM makes references to other anime, but I don't think the writers should be paying homage to other Japanese productions when they don't get their own shit right.
Good God the Ultra Guardians was probably among my least favorite things in Sun and Moon (which is saying something considering I did not like this saga). Did Pokemon seriously need a Power Rangers parody that actually became a recurring plotline throughout an arc? Not only does it take any seriousness that could be had for the presence of the Ultra Beasts away but the very prospect of it is completely ridiculous. The Ultra Beasts were unknown creatures that were viewed as potentially dangerous and rather than having specialists or some kind of pseudo-military unit designed to deal with this, they send in a bunch of school students because they were successful one time in dealing with an Ultra Beast which is ridiculous even by Pokemon standards. Plus, there's something lost when it goes from coming across such a thing by chance and getting involved vs them being sent out Power Rangers style every time one showed up. I mean, just compare their involvement with Nihilego to the rest of the Ultra Beasts sans Guzzlord. It just doesn't compare in quality.
 
I still don't understand why people keep saying that the Ultra Guardians are a Power Rangers ripoff/parody. I'm not too surprised that the comparison comes up in a way, but the similarities are pretty surface level from what I can tell. I don't think it's really a parody when they aren't really saying anything about a Power Ranger like concept. They just have a lighter tone compared to what I remember of Power Rangers. I don't think having a lighter tone dealing with the Ultra Beasts is bad either. Aside from Nihilego and Guzzlord, the Ultra Beasts weren't really dangerous. They were mostly presented as confused in this new world and wanted to go home.

I can understand why people wouldn't like the Ultra Guardians. I don't think having everyone help out against the Ultra Beasts really works when Ash, Kiawe and Gladion's Pokemon did the most work in defeating Nihilego. Not to mention there were a couple of episodes where the group looked incompetent, mainly with spending hours just throwing Ultra Balls and watching two Ultra Beasts show off. I just don't think that there's enough to dismiss it as simply a Power Rangers ripoff/parody.
 
I still don't understand why people keep saying that the Ultra Guardians are a Power Rangers ripoff/parody. I'm not too surprised that the comparison comes up in a way, but the similarities are pretty surface level from what I can tell. I don't think it's really a parody when they aren't really saying anything about a Power Ranger like concept. They just have a lighter tone compared to what I remember of Power Rangers. I don't think having a lighter tone dealing with the Ultra Beasts is bad either. Aside from Nihilego and Guzzlord, the Ultra Beasts weren't really dangerous. They were mostly presented as confused in this new world and wanted to go home.

I can understand why people wouldn't like the Ultra Guardians. I don't think having everyone help out against the Ultra Beasts really works when Ash, Kiawe and Gladion's Pokemon did the most work in defeating Nihilego. Not to mention there were a couple of episodes where the group looked incompetent, mainly with spending hours just throwing Ultra Balls and watching two Ultra Beasts show off. I just don't think that there's enough to dismiss it as simply a Power Rangers ripoff/parody.
Just going off of say Mighty Morphing Power Rangers alone you have:

Group of a bunch of kids that are gathered to act as a task force of defenders
Hidden base under the school=Command Center
Clefable= Alpha 5
Lusamine= Zordon
Group "transform" into colorful multicolored outfits in order to take on threat
Ride Pokemon that each individually has=zords
"Sixth Ranger" Who is added to the team later and has a different but comparable outfit to the others
Threat basically a one-off thing with plot only becoming more intense/serious for multi-parters

There are far too many comparisons to ignore that this is an obvious parody of Power Rangers/Sentai based heroes that they were going for here. Just because they play it straight within the confines of their plot doesn't make it any less of a parody since a parody doesn't always mean that it's comically based, but rather that it's based on another existing product. As for the prospect of them being light-hearted, while they weren't malicious in nature, something that is basically a powerful creature who has been dropped in an unknown territory and is confused is still a dangerous situation and should have been treated with more tact than some of the down right ridiculous scenarios we were given. The ultra guarding plotline is basically wasting a perfectly good story for the sake of more light heart and slapstick when they could do that literally anywhere else in the saga and it's neither the time nor the place.
 
Just going off of say Mighty Morphing Power Rangers alone you have:

Group of a bunch of kids that are gathered to act as a task force of defenders
Hidden base under the school=Command Center
Clefable= Alpha 5
Lusamine= Zordon
Group "transform" into colorful multicolored outfits in order to take on threat
Ride Pokemon that each individually has=zords
"Sixth Ranger" Who is added to the team later and has a different but comparable outfit to the others
Threat basically a one-off thing with plot only becoming more intense/serious for multi-parters

Honestly, some of those still feel like stretches to me. The hidden base being their command center and transforming into mulitcolored outfits make sense, although their transformation sequences still make me think more of magical girl transformation sequences than anything from Power Rangers that I've seen. But Clefable as their Alpha 5 and Lusamine being their Zordon doesn't make sense to me. Does Clefable even do anything other than point at the screen? Alpha 5 was the comedy relief from what I remember, but he still had a presence in the show. Despite Lillie's connection to Clefable being so important during the climax of the Nebby arc, it hasn't really done anything. Zordon was also the Power Rangers' guide and mentor, not just the person who told them what the situation was like Lusamine is. At the very least, I remember that they painted Zordon as more of a wise figure guiding the group, which is not what Lusamine is doing at all.

The Ride Pokemon being their Zords is also a pretty big stretch. I can at least understand coming to that conclusion more so than the comparison with Clefable and Lusamine, but they're treated more like fellow Pokemon partners rather than robots.

Kurolegacy said:
There are far too many comparisons to ignore that this is an obvious parody of Power Rangers/Sentai based heroes that they were going for here. Just because they play it straight within the confines of their plot doesn't make it any less of a parody since a parody doesn't always mean that it's comically based, but rather that it's based on another existing product. As for the prospect of them being light-hearted, while they weren't malicious in nature, something that is basically a powerful creature who has been dropped in an unknown territory and is confused is still a dangerous situation and should have been treated with more tact than some of the down right ridiculous scenarios we were given. The ultra guarding plotline is basically wasting a perfectly good story for the sake of more light heart and slapstick when they could do that literally anywhere else in the saga and it's neither the time nor the place.

The comparisons still seem pretty much just surface level based to me. Some of them make sense or I can at least understand why the comparison is being made, but it just seems like a bit much to write it all off as a Power Rangers/Sentai parody. That is a fair point in regards to how a parody doesn't always have to be comically based though. While I agree that a powerful creature being thrown into a different world is still a potentially dangerous situation, I haven't been really bothered by how they handled the other Ultra Beast for the most part. They still recognize how serious the situation is and act accordingly in order to help the Ultra Beasts and other Pokemon.
 
It's cute so far I enjoy the animation, as its incredibly fluid, however as for the actual story its honestly not my thing too much slice of life for me and not enough "action"
 
The Pokemon interactions are easily the highlight of the series, but the humans are some of the most boring they've ever been

Mostly because there's too many of them on screen at the same time and there's dozens of episodes where characters are there but literally do absolutely nothing

Sophocles and the other girls suffer the worst from that, sadly


Very disappointing overall, and the high points only happen once ever 15-20 episodes, and that's not a good thing
 
I can only hope that the writers learn from this saga of what works and what doesn’t going forward. I don’t think it’s quite a good idea to use a main region as a time to experiment though since, at that point, should it prove to not work out, they pretty much locked in for better or worse.
 
We're 115 (or 114 outside of Japan) episodes into SM, and around eight months away from the SwSh series. The anime has become a major snark bait among those above the age of 8 in the nearly three years that passed since the infamous Kalos League, and chances are, SM did nothing to fix the damage.

Someone who's spent 19 "years" going through leagues decides to attend a school. Ideal if you're going to be a mentor towards new trainers. Ash attends as a student instead of a mentor, implying he's forgotten all his lessons on being a trainer, which happened before in Best Wishes. Sure, his past achievements are sometimes brought up, but the writers missed the opportunity to let Ash be a mentor figure to the other students.

I know Lusamine become a more sympathetic anti-villain and Faba an even bigger dick in USUM, but their role in the anime makes no sense at all with the games' portrayal of them. Lusamine went mad with grief over Mohn's disappearance in the games, causing her to become the Motherbeast or obsessed with destroying Necrozma. Here, it looked like Mohn would be adapted out entirely until recently. Since the anime runs on black-and-white morality, it figures they made Lusamine a loving, but somewhat neglectful mother in exchange for Faba being "Anime Colress 2.0".

The Ultra Guardians were no doubt the biggest middle finger to Aether's morally ambiguous portrayal in the games, where the Employees attacked you in sadist glee during the raid on Aether Paradise, and one even defected to Team Rainbow Rocket. Not only are they're portrayed as the big good of the series (especially in light of high-profile cases of real life animal rights groups harassing farmers and storming restaurants), Ash even joins them. The whole sub-plot could've been handled nicer if Looker and Nanu were the ones to send them off. Except that it's unlikely Ash (and the current audience) would know who Looker is, despite being one of the most recurring named characters in the games. Mainly because Looker hasn't appeared since Best Wishes, and the anime's continuity depends on the writters.

If you ask me, the Ultra Guardians remind me more of the 1990s Sesame Street sketch "Super Morphin Mega Monsters", which is as corny as you can imagine (all they did was reason with the problem of the day).

I have other issues regarding SM, but the list would be too long, so I decided to list the ones I'm really annoyed with.
 
Please note: The thread is from 5 years ago.
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