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Controversial opinions

It wasn't just the battles the BW was lackluster with. Many potential story elements were left unused or incomplete, and I personally didn't enjoy Team Rocket getting overly serious and unamusing.

I didn't like serious Team Rocket either. The rest, though...I dunno. I honestly don't watch the show expecting incredible writing. I loved Iris and Cilan, and I liked the Pokemon and the rivals, and I found a good handful of the episodes to be fun. That was enough for me to consider BW enjoyable. I'm not saying you're wrong, I get that from a technical standpoint BW was kind of a mess; I just personally don't find things like that to impact my enjoyment of a series if I liked the characters and their interactions with each other well enough.
 
I didn't like serious Team Rocket either. The rest, though...I dunno. I honestly don't watch the show expecting incredible writing. I loved Iris and Cilan, and I liked the Pokemon and the rivals, and I found a good handful of the episodes to be fun. That was enough for me to consider BW enjoyable. I'm not saying you're wrong, I get that from a technical standpoint BW was kind of a mess; I just personally don't find things like that to impact my enjoyment of a series if I liked the characters and their interactions with each other well enough.
Good for you. Your opinion is perfectly valid and I respect it.

I personally thought the rivals were from mediocre to bad. Trip was a lackluster rival who had potential, but in the end fell flat for me; Bianca's gag of running into Ash got super annoying and old super fast; Stephan was introduced like a character of the day and then suddenly became a recurring character, plus his main Pokémon was suddenly switched from Zebstrika to Sawk for some reason; Georgia hardly did anything to help Iris grow as a character; Georgia was nothing but a butt monkey put in there for laughs and didn't endorse any development in Cilan or herself; Virgil was a perfectly okay rival, but the problem is that despite him being set up as the typical League rival who'd end up beating Ash, Ash never actually got to battle him; and Cameron was the worst of the worst: a total dumbass, who's list of idiocies I usually like to go through in detail, but now I'll just keep it short and say that he didn't deserve to beat Ash when he had less Pokémon than him, all thanks to a lucky-ass mid-battle evolution.
 
The secondary rivals and Don battle tournaments were the best part of BW. Some early/mid BW filler was good too, but all the important aspects or story stuff was a mess. And serious Team Rocket was handled so badly I don't even know why they bothered. Likewise Ash didn't have to be reset in BW to be an idiot, if they wanted to make him more lively again they could have done it without making him an idiot an entire series which made no sense after DP and then XY after that. The way I see it is that BW had a lot of potential but everything fell apart as it progressed.
 
And serious Team Rocket was handled so badly I don't even know why they bothered.
They probably tried to emulate how Team Rocket was portrayed as a more or less serious group when they first appeared. While conveniently forgetting that they were serious for only like one or two episodes. If I recall correctly, Takeshi Shudo also saw the TRio as characters who weren't necessarily evil but just had been at the wrong place at the wrong time, i.e. that they were sympathetic villains. Making them serious and thoroughly evil completely removed that charm from their characters.

Plus, Team Rocket's Unova Pokémon lacked any characteristics beyond being there just to do battles 99% of the time. Heck, Frillish and Amoonguss we're even caught off-screen, further proving that they especially were introduced as nothing more than new muscles for the TRio's teams, with no backstory whatsoever.
 
If we are talking about controversial opinion.
I think 4Kids wasn't really bad at all like many exagerate.
Actually 4Kids was way way better than TPCi.
4Kids had make some awesome openings and ending i still hear today, my favourites are jukebox songs and advance battle opening. <3
In other side i didn't like the TPCi time openings and OST's. (this isn't controversial though. xD)
 
Bianca certainly could have been handled a lot better, I don't think she was THAT ditzy in the games. And i'm pretty sure her backstory with her Dad was only touched upon in what, one episode? On top of that, despite being two prominent characters in the game, she and Cheren don't interact at all. They don't even mention each other. And why, exactly, did they use Cheren's older look but used Bianca's younger look? If they knew BW2 were gonna be a thing, why not hold off on using Bianca until the games were officially released? Its not like she was a major character in the anime.
 
Bianca certainly could have been handled a lot better, I don't think she was THAT ditzy in the games. And i'm pretty sure her backstory with her Dad was only touched upon in what, one episode? On top of that, despite being two prominent characters in the game, she and Cheren don't interact at all. They don't even mention each other. And why, exactly, did they use Cheren's older look but used Bianca's younger look? If they knew BW2 were gonna be a thing, why not hold off on using Bianca until the games were officially released? Its not like she was a major character in the anime.

Bianca is still one of my least favorite parts about BW. They took an interesting and likable rival character only to turn her into a less competent female version of Barry. And I really didn't like how they handled her issues with her father. It was presented as if the audience should feel bad that she was forced to go home, but she wasn't shown to be a good battler, didn't really have much of a connection with the main cast and the resolution was focused more on Bianca making friends rather than having the strength to travel on her own. If it wasn't for Iris, she would be my least favorite female character in the anime. I disliked anime Bianca that much and I honestly forgot just how much I hated how BW adapted her character until I rewatched it.

As for Cheren, my guess is that they didn't want to use his original design since they already had Trip filling in a more traditional rival role. Trip's motivation was pretty similar to Cheren's as well given that they both wanted to defeat Alder. I highly doubt that they knew B2/W2 was going to be a thing. I don't think that the anime staff is told about upcoming games that far in advance. They just used his older look so that they could do a bit of B2/W2 promotion. It was still strange to not have them interact or establish any kind of connection though. They basically wrote Bianca and the other rivals out of the series by the end of the Unova League, so it was too little, too late to do something with her and Cheren.
 
Was I the only one that sided with Ash back in that snowball scene in XYZ?
Honestly, Ash did have a reason to get mad. Serena's biggest showcase loss and Ash's loss to the Gym Leader (can't remember how to spell his name [I know it was the ice type leader]) are two different losses. It's one thing to suffer a loss in what amounts to a beauty pageant it's different when it comes to a loss to a Gym leader, especially a crushing loss.
 
So, I guess this thread is evolved into an arguing with controversial opinions thread? Let's give it a trial:
The Anime: Altered that Story in many ways, but kept the spirit of it intact and dare I say, did it better than what the vanilla games have done.

The Manga: Took nearly everything away from Lillie and her story. Leaving us with what is just an inferior version of both games.
Anime Lusamine isn't even abusive toward Lilie and whole thing is treated as a silly misunderstanding, with no consequences for anyone. How can you call it "kept the spirit intact." Not to mention they didn't even finished Lusamine's arc yet.
 
Was I the only one that sided with Ash back in that snowball scene in XYZ?

I sided with Ash during that scene too. While I understand that Serena was trying to empathize with Ash, comparing her Showcase losses with Ash's losing to Wulfric always bothered me. This was largely due to how Showcases never seemed that difficult, so it wouldn't be the exact same kind of experience as what Ash dealt with. He did lash out a bit too harsh back, but Serena couldn't have understood what Ash was feeling back then.
 
The Diamond & Pearl series is Brock's best saga. There, I said it. Now allow me to explain why I think so. Warning: this post is going to be long.

Brock had been claiming since his debut that he wanted to be the world's #1 Breeder, and while breeding in the anime refers to assuring that a Pokémon is happy, healthy, and well-fed, as opposed to merely mating Pokémon at a Day Care for the best offspring with the correct Nature and perfect IVs, I think showing Brock taking care of an Egg and raising the Pokémon that hatched from it with love and care was the best way to depict his line of work.

Brock was always the guy who would make the most delicious food for Pokémon that are picky eaters. He was always the one who would treat a Pokémon's injuries and cure their illnesses when a Nurse Joy wasn't in the picture. I'm not ignoring Brock's role in past sagas. However, beyond having a few episodes here and there in which he would show his talents, what impact did Brock really have?

That Egg, which Brock received after winning the Pokémon Dress-Up Contest (more on that later), allowed him to regularly show his skills. He cared for that Egg, he motivated a Nurse Joy who in turn helped to hatch that Egg, he carved out a stone to give Happiny, and from that point onward he was seen lulling her to sleep, putting her extraordinary strength to good use, and calling her out to assist him with producing natural medicine. He raised that Egg into a happy, healthy, and well-fed Chansey, and I think he showed his skills more effectively in DP than in any other series.

And how about the impact Brock had on Dawn? Like I asked before, how did Brock's wisdom impact the lives of Ash, Misty, and May? Has Ash gotten any better at cooking over the years? Nah, I don't think so. Beyond cheering for May during her Contests, how did Brock support her throughout her journey? Yeah exactly. Things change when we're talking about Dawn, who gained Mamoswine's trust back thanks in part to the first aid techniques she learned from Brock. She remembered all the instructions he taught her in Doc Brock!. This means Dawn really paid attention to what Brock said when her Pachirisu got sick, and that she values what he has done for her Pokémon, yet apparently that is insignificant compared to going shopping with May a few times. After all, people act like May and Brock are the best of friends, while Dawn and Brock are strangers who have a mutual friend. Bullshit.

About the Pokémon Dress-Up Contest, well, that was the first competition Brock won in the anime, and I think that's major for a character who had been around since episode number five. It was also in DP that we got to see Brock's battling skills shine a little during the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition, where he was paired with Holly who came to admire him at the end of that tournament. That aside, Brock's past as a Gym Leader was brought up a few times, more than what I recall in past series.

Brock had a mentee in Khoury, who became impressed with Brock's knowledge upon seeing him powdering a Berry and sprinkling it on Totodile's food. This prompted Khoury to ask his father to let him travel with Brock just so he could learn more about breeding. Again, this is depicting Brock as a competent Breeder who inspires others. And last but not least, Brock was directly involved in the Galactic finale. He had a connection with Uxie and his Croagunk had a rivalry with Saturn's Toxicroak. After years of being neglected, Brock had a part to play. It was nice seeing him in the spotlight.

I'm in no way denying that Brock was a third wheel, that was always his role on the show, and it got crystal clear in DP because Dawn was a true co-star. Still, Brock was at his best in DP. And that's that on that.
 
I genuinely prefer all the male companions we've gotten since over Brock, like Cilan, the duo of Bonnie and Clemont and Kiawe. I don't hate Brock, but he just long overstayed his welcome. I didn't think Tracey was too bad either, just the writers didn't use him well.
 
Brock really was dealt a good hand in Sinnoh, especially when it came to his Pokemon. His team may have been small but one of them had more personality than his Kanto mons combined. Chansey was a newer and better Togepi. She could actually do things other than cry and had fun a personality and gimmick with her super strength. She even got to evolve. Sudowoodo use to be a crybaby, but then it evolved and matured - becoming like an older sibling towards Chansey when she was a Happiny. And Croagunk was his best battler before Steelix could Mega Evolve. He's cool, collected, funny and developed a close bond with Brock, on the level of Ash and Pikachu. His Hoenn team was alright and had some fun personalities of their own, but I think I prefer his Sinnoh mons the most. I don't know much about Brock's Comfey since I don't think the english dub has gotten to that episode yet, but I hope its just as developed as his previous Pokemon.
 
I don't know much about Brock's Comfey since I don't think the english dub has gotten to that episode yet, but I hope its just as developed as his previous Pokemon.
It really only appeared to take care of one injured Pokémon for one scene (plus a flashback explaining how Brock got it), but didn't really get any proper time to get any characterization from beyond what one could naturally expect from its species: caring, kind, helpful, and soothing.
 
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