There is literally zero redeeming factors to the alola league

[lonerlotad]

Alolan league is more watchable than Unova League because I am enjoying and caring for other battles than Ash. I just want the feeling of rooting for characters like Lilli, Jessie, Acerola, and Mallow whether they win or lose. They may not be the best fighter but I'm proud of them as a trainer since they joined and made it to Top 16.

 

[JinksChow]

That's true but that also goes shows that Pokemon's Rating from 2013-2016 declined, but less than most other anime. Sazae-San declined 6.6%, Chibi Maruko-Chan declined 4.9%, Crayon Shin-Chan had a 3% decline, Doraemon had a 2.4% decline, Detective Conan had a 1% decline, Pokemon had the least decline along with One Piece with a 0.9% decline. Sumo didn't lose that much TV viewership from XY&Z as most people tend to think, It actually gained more from XY&Z and almost equally matched the start of the XY Series. Compare that during the transition to BW-XY. I agree that TV Ratings don't matter that much but people who enjoy the show while watching it on TV are the casuals and the Anime's main target audience, heck to make Pokemon Family-Friendly was why they moved it to Sundays in the first place, but I agree it doesn't really matter that much if merchandise sells well.

While I agree with most of what you said, basically all Pokemon series jump in viewership ratings at the start of a new series. If you use the link I gave in my original post and scrolled back to previous series, we can see that the only series that never did so was AG, since, let's face it, nothing can really come close to the viewership of the OS series, even if we're comparing to the relatively lackluster Johto part of the series.

Being family friendly has never been a problem for Pokemon, it's always been family friendly; the problem here is Pokemon becoming a slice-of-life/comedy series, Japanese families would rather watch Chibi Maruko-Chan and Sazae-San to get their fix of that genre, which just so happen to be airing in the exact same timeslot as the Pokemon SM anime.

With Fairy Tail Final Season ending in October, TVTokyo basically only has Boruto as its action/adventure anime. Since we now have the Yokai Watch reboot covering the slice-of-life/comedy genre, I really hope Pokemon can go back to its previous style or at least give a moderate mix of the two styles. That way, Pokemon can stay in its current timeslot and still offer something different to Chibi Maruko-Chan/Sazae-San, which might make it slightly more competitive in terms of viewership ratings.

 

[UxieLover1994]

Even after seeing some of the worst battles in the anime history, it's too early to judge this one when we've not gotten to the finals. We know Ash won't win because of the status quo, but there's an offset chance his battle with Guzma (and maybe Gladion/Kiawe) will make up for all this disappointment.

Hopefully the Galar league will improve where Alola failed

Sinnoh was when the writers are willing to pull Gary Stus out. Unova was when idiots can win through sheer dumb luck. Kalos was when simple logic gets turned upside down. And Alola is where birds can cheat at leagues by using what I call "SOS Rest". What's Galar going to have?

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Kalos was when simple logic gets turned upside down.

In what way was the logic turned upside down in Kalos? Because Alain winning, although annoying isn’t a breach of logic.

 

[BigDocFan]

Kalos league was great with help from the animation, i loved the way the camera seemed mobile, battles were great with perfect writing

 

[Kurolegacy]

Alolan league is more watchable than Unova League because I am enjoying and caring for other battles than Ash. I just want the feeling of rooting for characters like Lilli, Jessie, Acerola, and Mallow whether they win or lose. They may not be the best fighter but I'm proud of them as a trainer since they joined and made it to Top 16.

I feel like that would mean more had the qualifiers not been a battle royal where we flat out saw people teaming up to win and not instantly dropped whoever survived into the top 16. At that point, it doesn’t feel like something to be proud of since, unlike in past leagues where you’re on your own and have to advance via battling another opponent, they didn’t really earn their spot with their own skills as a trainer.

 

[UxieLover1994]

In what way was the logic turned upside down in Kalos? Because Alain winning, although annoying isn’t a breach of logic.

Fire beats water?

Even when the anime keeps regular track of keeping type match-ups in place, they can go against the games at times. Like Ghost affecting Normal (and vise versa), Poison affecting Steel. Fans went basilic because a Fire/Dragon Mega Charizard X should not have taken 1/8th damage from a Water-type move, and a Water/Dark Greninja should not have taken 4x damage from a Fire-type move.

It's violation of common sense by the writers to insure Ash will continue his journey until the sun becomes a red giant, even when the only people still watching would be toddlers.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Fire beats water?

Even when the anime keeps regular track of keeping type match-ups in place, they can go against the games at times. Like Ghost affecting Normal (and vise versa), Poison affecting Steel. Fans went basilic because a Fire/Dragon Mega Charizard X should not have taken 1/8th damage from a Water-type move, and a Water/Dark Greninja should not have taken 4x damage from a Fire-type move.

It's violation of common sense by the writers to insure Ash will continue his journey until the sun becomes a red giant, even when the only people still watching would be toddlers.

Type advantages being subverted isn’t an XY exclusive problem, and nowhere it is said that Charizard was doubly resistant, and Greninja was doubly weak to Charizard's moves. And please don’t say it 'looks' like it is because Charizard's just powerful. It’s not dealing SE damage. And if you insist on bringing in the games, a Mega Charizard X can easily defeat Ash-Greninja in competitive.

You might be disappointed by the battle but it doesn’t turn 'logic upside down'.

 

[UxieLover1994]

Type advantages being subverted isn’t an XY exclusive problem, and nowhere it is said that Charizard was doubly resistant, and Greninja was doubly weak to Charizard's moves. And please don’t say it 'looks' like it is because Charizard's just powerful. It’s not dealing SE damage. And if you insist on bringing in the games, a Mega Charizard X can easily defeat Ash-Greninja in competitive.

You might be disappointed by the battle but it doesn’t turn 'logic upside down'.

The point of the original post was that all leagues from Sinnoh onwards had an issue that fans took note of and complained. The logic part in the post has been crossed out. And I would think the mods should delete this whole forum because it's too premature to call it "irredeemable".

 

[Silktree]

I haven't watched it, but it seems like an okay tournament arc that happens to be a bit longer than the standard leagues due to all the characters. But as a measure of Ash's progress, it's clear that isn't the focus and it would be odd for Ash to win now when it matters the least. Who cares about him losing to Kukui again?

Before you argue that viewership ratings have steadily been dropping in Japan due to declining birthrates, each episode actually has a detailed rating separating viewership into age demographics. If you check those, SM has had lower viewership ratings among kids (4-12) and teens (13-19) when compared to XY/XYZ for most episodes.

I am not sure what you meant here. Lower ratings among kids and teens could support declining birth rates, except it's unlikely that the population has changed much in 3 years. Chances are that Japanese kids are more interested in other shows, although I am not sure what they are exactly. GeGeGe no Kitaro seems to have taken Yokai Watch's place, so there's that.

 

[JinksChow]

I haven't watched it, but it seems like an okay tournament arc that happens to be a bit longer than the standard leagues due to all the characters. But as a measure of Ash's progress, it's clear that isn't the focus and it would be odd for Ash to win now when it matters the least. Who cares about him losing to Kukui again?


I am not sure what you meant here. Lower ratings among kids and teens could support declining birth rates, except it's unlikely that the population has changed much in 3 years. Chances are that Japanese kids are more interested in other shows, although I am not sure what they are exactly. GeGeGe no Kitaro seems to have taken Yokai Watch's place, so there's that.

When people bring up declining birthrates as an argument, what they are trying to do is say that because kids and teens make up an ever-shrinking percentage of Japanese population, even if the same percentage of kids and teens are watching the anime, overall viewership ratings would decline. As such, declining viewership ratings for Pokemon is normal when going from series to series.

As such, I added that part of the argument to show people that there are ratings specifically among kids and teens that show the percentage of kids and teens watching the Pokemon SM anime. So right now, a lower proportion of kids and teens in Japan are watching the Pokemon SM anime when compared to the previous series, which would make that argument moot.

What you said about the population not changing much within 3 years make total sense, I just felt the need to address that particular argument, as there are people who love to use 'declining birthrates' as an excuse for Pokemon's declining viewership ratings. That excuse only works when you compare ratings from the OS and maybe AG series to ratings nowadays.

Gegege no Kitaro is a pretty popular family-friendly anime franchise in Japan that's been around since the 60's, so I'm not surprised it's doing well with its comeback. Not to mention the Gegege no Kitaro anime is actually pretty good.

 

[Silktree]

When people bring up declining birthrates as an argument, what they are trying to do is say that because kids and teens make up an ever-shrinking percentage of Japanese population, even if the same percentage of kids and teens are watching the anime, overall viewership ratings would decline. As such, declining viewership ratings for Pokemon is normal when going from series to series.

As such, I added that part of the argument to show people that there are ratings specifically among kids and teens that show the percentage of kids and teens watching the Pokemon SM anime. So right now, a lower proportion of kids and teens in Japan are watching the Pokemon SM anime when compared to the previous series, which would make that argument moot.

I thought you meant that every SM episode has statistics splitting the viewership by age, which would make it harder to judge the percentage of viewers among all kids alone. Either way, it's clear that fewer kids/teens are watching now than before, which is interesting even if merchandise sales are somehow not affected by it.

 

[Daenerys]

Unpopular opinion, but I don't see the Kalos league as being better than the Alola league overall. The Kalos league had higher stakes and more intense battles sure but the pacing was awful, like the complete opposite of this league competition. The participants at the Alola league are much more interesting to me than the guys at the Kalos league too.

 

[Henry Suarez]

The Alola League is better than the Unova League so far, it has potential to take down the Kanto League and the Hoenn League but unless Ash wins in some spectacular final battle against Gladion (and a great battle against Guzma as well) I don't think it'll surpass Johto, Sinnoh and Kalos Leagues.

About the ratings, what does that have to do with the Alola League having "zero redeeming factors"? besides SM is suffering in viewership clearly because of the STUPID, IDIOTIC decision to pit it against Chibi Maruko or Sazae-san I don't know which.

I'm sure SM would still be top 10 almost every week if it stayed on Thursdays at 7 pm, I hope the Galar will return to this schedule but it seems unlikely ._.

 

[JinksChow]

About the ratings, what does that have to do with the Alola League having "zero redeeming factors"? besides SM is suffering in viewership clearly because of the STUPID, IDIOTIC decision to pit it against Chibi Maruko or Sazae-san I don't know which.

I'm sure SM would still be top 10 almost every week if it stayed on Thursdays at 7 pm, I hope the Galar will return to this schedule but it seems unlikely ._.

It's both. Basically, TVTokyo is pitting Pokemon/Boruto against Chibi Maruko-Chan/Sazae-San. To the surprise of no one, that hasn't worked out.

Given that the floor for entering top 10 nowadays is often low-to-mid 2%, there is no doubt that the Pokemon SM anime would consistently get a spot in the top 10 if it were in a better timeslot.

Heck, Pokemon doesn't even need to go back to Thursdays at 7pm, there is a very good timeslot on TVTokyo that I can guarantee would be a much better fit for the Pokemon anime.

The Yokai Watch reboot currently airs on TVTokyo every Friday at 6.30pm. This is a prime spot for Japanese TV, yet the show couldn't even break into the top 10 anime with this advantage on its side. At this point, it's clear that Yokai Watch has exhausted all of its potential; so in my opinion, TVTokyo should swap the timeslots of Pokemon and Yokai Watch to salvage the viewership ratings of Pokemon. Yokai Watch is much more family friendly than Pokemon anyways, so it fits the motif of Sunday family friendly anime hour, or whatever TVTokyo gave as an excuse to move Pokemon to Sundays.

 

[QuietDragon]

I haven't watched it, but it seems like an okay tournament arc that happens to be a bit longer than the standard leagues due to all the characters. But as a measure of Ash's progress, it's clear that isn't the focus and it would be odd for Ash to win now when it matters the least. Who cares about him losing to Kukui again?


I am not sure what you meant here. Lower ratings among kids and teens could support declining birth rates, except it's unlikely that the population has changed much in 3 years. Chances are that Japanese kids are more interested in other shows, although I am not sure what they are exactly. GeGeGe no Kitaro seems to have taken Yokai Watch's place, so there's that.

Don’t forget the new timeslot is up against Chibi Maruko-chan on a rival channel.

Chibi Maruko-chan is a funny (rather cynical, in the old incarnation) show based on the childhood memories of a woman who lived in the Showa era—as the original stories (which get reanimated now and again, those redone episodes get a lot of hype before airing, even in the modern incarnation which is mostly anime originals) are based on her memories of the era, it has more truth to it than any slice of life show, it’s nostalgic for the older generations who lived in that era and it’s warm and relatable to kids of the modern era for the timeless aspects of childhood.

In short, it’s up against another beast of a show that’s been airing consistently for two decades, but has three generations appeal, in a country with a lot of elders.

This doesn’t mean Pokemon isn’t still popular with little kids, too, though, but comparing viewership when up against Maru-chan is like... comparing anything fairly modern like Ben 10 wih the popularity of Mickey Mouse or Batman (it’s just unfair!).

Pokemon is still popular enough to parody and be recognized (Fruits Basket [2019]’s reboot got its in-series Pokemon parody, Mogeta, updated to resemble Pokemon in its Sun & Moon style even more!).

Spoiler

(The manga equivalents didn’t resemble Ash and Misty this much, nor was the art style this young and round, it was just Mogeta looked more like a pink, skinny Pikachu...)

 

[KrspaceT]

Rating talks aside, I'd agree I am not really getting into this league much, and frankly the best fight so far seems to have been Guzma v Illima. I mean the worst has managed to basically infuriate near everyone, even those who don't hate SM.

....I certainly found it a terrible joke, a legit DUDE NOT FUNNY moment.

Pretty sure if fan anger was a Saiyan form, it basically bumped the anime fandom into Super Angry 2.

For the games right now to have an equiv, we'd probably need Masuda leaks that have him mock older and or western games and possibly games like Breath of the Wild, Mario O, and the like.

...Yeah, that bad.

 

[L-05308]

The Alola league is fun. The whole cast is getting a chance to shine and a lot of the battles are really intense.

 

[mehmeh1]

It's both. Basically, TVTokyo is pitting Pokemon/Boruto against Chibi Maruko-Chan/Sazae-San. To the surprise of no one, that hasn't worked out.

Given that the floor for entering top 10 nowadays is often low-to-mid 2%, there is no doubt that the Pokemon SM anime would consistently get a spot in the top 10 if it were in a better timeslot.

Heck, Pokemon doesn't even need to go back to Thursdays at 7pm, there is a very good timeslot on TVTokyo that I can guarantee would be a much better fit for the Pokemon anime.

The Yokai Watch reboot currently airs on TVTokyo every Friday at 6.30pm. This is a prime spot for Japanese TV, yet the show couldn't even break into the top 10 anime with this advantage on its side. At this point, it's clear that Yokai Watch has exhausted all of its potential; so in my opinion, TVTokyo should swap the timeslots of Pokemon and Yokai Watch to salvage the viewership ratings of Pokemon. Yokai Watch is much more family friendly than Pokemon anyways, so it fits the motif of Sunday family friendly anime hour, or whatever TVTokyo gave as an excuse to move Pokemon to Sundays.

I think the timeslot was done more to be able to air episodes with less breaks, the only break we've had since the change was in new year, not even the movie caused a break.