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Controversial opinions

Mr. Mime needs screentime and training.
A part of me hopes that Ash only used Mr. Mime in the Battle Frontier episode because the writers really didn't want Ash to use any of his older reserves or catch new Pokemon so early on in the series, and thus have no intention of actually making Mr. Mime a permanent member of Ash's party. If Ash ends up with a set team of six by the end of this series (i.e. if he doesn't catch extra Pokemon or use his older reserves), I'm gonna be disappointed if Mr. Mime takes up one of his party slots that could've been given to a new Pokemon instead.

Another part of me thinks that Mr. Mime is an unironically cool addition to Ash's team after seeing how it battled in the Battle Frontier episode. It'd feel like kind of a waste if the writers showcased Mr. Mime's battling skills for only one episode and then ignored it for the rest of the series. I dunno, I just feel very conflicted regarding Mr. Mime technically being a member of Ash's party right now. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what the writers plan to do with Mimey in future episodes.
 
A part of me hopes that Ash only used Mr. Mime in the Battle Frontier episode because the writers really didn't want Ash to use any of his older reserves or catch new Pokemon so early on in the series, and thus have no intention of actually making Mr. Mime a permanent member of Ash's party. If Ash ends up with a set team of six by the end of this series (i.e. if he doesn't catch extra Pokemon or use his older reserves), I'm gonna be disappointed if Mr. Mime takes up one of his party slots that could've been given to a new Pokemon instead.

Another part of me thinks that Mr. Mime is an unironically cool addition to Ash's team after seeing how it battled in the Battle Frontier episode. It'd feel like kind of a waste if the writers showcased Mr. Mime's battling skills for only one episode and then ignored it for the rest of the series. I dunno, I just feel very conflicted regarding Mr. Mime technically being a member of Ash's party right now. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what the writers plan to do with Mimey in future episodes.
I don't mind Mr. Mime being one of Ash's team members. It clearly displayed a lot of potential in the Battle Frontier episode, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.
 
This current series is reminding me why I personally liked that they had less COTD in Sun & Moon and more reoccurring ones. I liked the ones in today's episode and would not mind seeing them again. Also since I'm under the assumption we'll never see him again, I wish that Houji character from SS007 was a reoccurring rival; points for them actually subverting expectations by making it appear he'd be jerk from the previews only for the actual episode to show he's actually a pretty nice guy and a good sport.
 
Some running gags introduced in season 1 could actually be seen as filler stuff most of the time, which the writers simply used to make episodes fit the designated runtime. But fortunately, some of these running gags were also brought to a satisfying conclusion later on in the anime.

Jigglypuff is probably the most notable example I'll mention. Most of its appearances didn't contribute to the episode plot in any even remotely meaningful way. If anything, some of its appearances even outright halted the plot to add absolutely nothing before it just left. My guess is that Jigglypuff's sole appearance in Hoenn was an attempt at retiring the character, since Jigglypuff finally found someone who could listen to its song without falling asleep. However, I think the Sun & Moon series did a better job at providing a conclusion to Jigglypuff. By having Jigglypuff be put to sleep and get drawn on by another Pokémon made it finally realize what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a lullaby. That felt like a satisfying conclusion for it IMO.

Psyduck was another gag that felt really forced. It joined Misty's party despite her not wanting it, and yet, she never considered releasing it or leaving it home, instead just complaining about or even outright abusing it at every opportunity. And the one time she was offered a chance to get rid of it at the Fuchsia Gym, she refused it, only to go back to being mean to Psyduck the moment they had left the place. And in Bye, Bye Psyduck, Misty thought her Psyduck had evolved and was crushed when she learned the Golduck she had met was just a wild one. But instead of being used to develop Misty's relationship with Psyduck, this episode only served as yet another huge Psyduck gag. As Suede pointed out in his review of Bye, Bye Psyduck, there was so much that could have been done with the episode. Maybe Psyduck did actually evolve, or maybe it evolved later but resented Misty for only liking it now that it evolved. That could have provided a big deal of character development for both Misty and her relationship with Psyduck. But nope. Instead, they kept the unhealthy relationship alive for the sake of the gag. It wasn't until Sun & Moon where Misty was finally shown to genuinely love and care for Psyduck, showing that this gag had finally been concluded.

Togepi was another one of Misty's Pokémon that wasn't handled all that well a lot of the time. There are many instances in the original series where Togepi just randomly wanders off to either lead the main characters to a plot element or provide unnecessary, boring padding. Sure Togepi had its Metronome, but that was only used occasionally, like Psyduck's headaches, and not at all as much as the other stuff. The Advanced Generation gave Togepi an outright two-parter to finally mature and retire from the show, bringing this Pokémon's mostly eventless character arc to a satisfying conclusion.
 
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I think that's why Snivy gets hammered on so much. Trip was a newbie that beat Ash repeatedly; it looks less like a fluke when it keeps happening, and even after finally beating him Ash got knocked out of the League by Cameron after falling a place (arguably two places since he would have been second place in Sinnoh if it wasn't for the seeding putting him against Tobias before the finals).

For comparison, Pikachu tying with a Magikarp in early DP was awkward and people joked for a bit, but Ash's league performance made up for that and his shaky W/L record in that series, so aside from complaining about how dumb Tobias was D/P Ash is generally viewed well.

And of course other moments like Nimbasa Gym where his usual traits of arrogance was dialed up to 11.

Bring up him using an untrained Krabby in the Indigo League all you (not you Daren) want, but he still had two other Pokémon ready for use rather than just bringing Krabby alone.*

If that Snivy bit was a single moment with Ash's performance or the writing later in the season being constantly then yes it would be petty harp on it.

Case is point for example, what was at stake with that season's rivalry beyond proving he was stronger?

With Paul it's proving that his methods produce better results.

With Gary it was proving that a person with a late start could outdo a more privileged trainer who started better (got up on time and with a Pokémon more apt to follow commands).

Edit:
*Yeah even if you could make the argument that Ash is that dense:

- He tends to have a sense of morals even if not perfect. Bringing 1-2 Pokémon to an official 3 on 3 I'm pretty sure is a violation of the rules.

- No reason why the referee or Gym Leader couldn't or shouldn't have called the match due to rule breaking and disgraceful performance.
 
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Ash is mostly competent in battling this season because the writers want to use his battles to justify Gou capturing strong Pokemons without him improving himself at battling.

I literally don't know how anyone could tie Ash's 'competence' to Go's character in any way shape or form. Ash does his own thing and Gou does his thing and their goals don't clash with each other. Also none of Go's Pokemon are even that tough other than Golurk, so I dunno why you're making it sound like Go has a collection of EV trained Pokemon or ubers or whatever the flavor of the moment is on Smogon.
 
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I literally don't know how anyone could tie Ash's 'competence' to Go's character in any way shape or form. Ash does his own thing and Gou does his thing and their goals don't clash with each other so I'm screaming at this forced connection.
I think you just answered your own question there. The fact that Ash and Gou's goals "don't clash" means that the writers have an excuse to have each character focus on their own respective goal with as little overlap as possible. In other words, Ash will be the one doing most of the battling, while Gou will be the one doing most of the catching. "Why waste 3 minutes of screentime on Gou properly battling and capturing a Pokemon, when we can just let him get a battle-less capture in 30 seconds and spend the other 2-and-a-half minutes on Ash battling?" I think that's the logic that they're going with here. Of course, this premise is inherently flawed because catching Pokemon almost always involves battling them, but that's besides the point.

Do I like this direction that the writers are potentially going with? Nope. But I can at least see the reasoning behind it.
 
I think you just answered your own question there. The fact that Ash and Gou's goals "don't clash" means that the writers have an excuse to have each character focus on their own respective goal with as little overlap as possible. In other words, Ash will be the one doing most of the battling, while Gou will be the one doing most of the catching. "Why waste 3 minutes of screentime on Gou properly battling and capturing a Pokemon, when we can just let him get a battle-less capture in 30 seconds and spend the other 2-and-a-half minutes on Ash battling?" I think that's the logic that they're going with here. Of course, this premise is inherently flawed because catching Pokemon almost always involves battling them, but that's besides the point.

Do I like this direction that the writers are potentially going with? Nope. But I can at least see the reasoning behind it.

Then why is this such a problem for some viewers? Go and Ash having different goals seems like a good thing; it means that they won't step on each others toes that often. Ash can battle like his fans want him to while Go collects Pokemon. I would think that if they actually shared a goal, it would be the worst possible scenario since then the writing staff would struggle to find a way to balance out their screentime.
 
Then why is this such a problem for some viewers? Go and Ash having different goals seems like a good thing; it means that they won't step on each others toes that often. Ash can battle like his fans want him to while Go collects Pokemon. I would think that if they actually shared a goal, it would be the worst possible scenario since then the writing staff would struggle to find a way to balance out their screentime.
People are not fans of Pokemon changing into collectibles from my experience, and the main character not having do to anything but chuck a ball in most cases.

Ash’s goal is inherently more dynamic and entertaining, while Go’s goal is a bit more passive in nature and has been made annoying since the writers have removed every single bit of struggle from it.
 
Then why is this such a problem for some viewers? Go and Ash having different goals seems like a good thing; it means that they won't step on each others toes that often. Ash can battle like his fans want him to while Go collects Pokemon. I would think that if they actually shared a goal, it would be the worst possible scenario since then the writing staff would struggle to find a way to balance out their screentime.
I’d say that the problem that people have with things is that, while on paper a goal of catching all the Pokémon may seem cool, the execution has been pretty lackluster honestly. Not only does their way of using the Pokémon Go mechanic fall contrary to what we’ve been told for 22+ years but it’s not really all that visually interesting. It basically will play like ‘random scene of Ash and Go doing whatever when suddenly a random Pokémon wanders out. Cue Go throwing a pokeball and catching it and the episode just moving on not even acknowledging it or treating it as remotely important’. On top of that, because of how they execute his goal, beyond just these scenes, he doesn’t feel like he’s given all that much to do in any given episode to separate him from previous companions since he doesn’t really battle, doesn’t train his Pokémon and aside from Scorbunny, we don’t really get much of a sense of his Pokémon’s personalities since they rarely express themselves beyond being moving background.

The Cubone episode was certainly a move in the right direction, but they really could use more like that rather than less.
 
I don't really understand why they chose to give Grant an Onix in the anime. That's pretty much one of the most generic Pokémon for a Rock-type Gym Leader to have. Not very imaginative, is what I'm saying.
I think people complained at the time, too.
Edit: Oops I got him confused with Roark. My bad. :oops:
 
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I don't really understand why they chose to give Grant an Onix in the anime. That's pretty much one of the most generic Pokémon for a Rock-type Gym Leader to have. Not very imaginative, is what I'm saying.

I know right? It's ridiculous that they couldn't give him an Amaura like he had in the games all because the writer of the Amaura episode screwed up by deciding to make the Pokemon completely dependant on cold temperatures in the show.
 
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