Controversial opinions

[KenzeyEevee]

Trip was a bad written rival. He lost at all the tournaments except the Junior cup. His league battle was weak as hell.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Trip was a bad written rival. He lost at all the tournaments except the Junior cup. His league battle was weak as hell.

They seemed to be trying to recreate the Paul route and failed miserably at it.

What annoys me the most about Trip is that we never got to see his league team in action. We saw that badass Tranquill, a Frillish with a tricky battle style and a Vanillite that seemed promising, yet none of those ever battled Ash again.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

Trip was a bad written rival. He lost at all the tournaments except the Junior cup. His league battle was weak as hell.

We need a unanimous opinions thread.

 

[Nicolas721]

We need a unanimous opinions thread.

There's no such thing as an unanimous opinion. But a popular opinions thread does exist.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Tbh PM focuses much on Pikachu, whats up with that? It already got 3 episodes and we are 35 episodes far.

The only difference between XY and SM is the mentalities of those series. From serious to humor or visa versa doesnt work that well.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The only difference between XY and SM is the mentalities of those series. From serious to humor or visa versa doesnt work that well.

I don't really think that XY is that serious. I think that fans get that impression mainly from the Ash-Greninja plot and especially the Team Flare arc, but I don't think that the series as a whole is more serious than what we normally get from the anime. SM is more light hearted and has comedy, but I wouldn't say that it's a full on comedic series either. I think that was initial impression a lot of fans got and that just stuck around.

 

[Galactic_V]

XY looks like the average shounen anime style-wise, and sometimes tone-wise, while SM resembles way more the average slice-of-life, kodomo style. So because of the style XY does give a more mature impression even if it's still not supposed to be that serious.

To tell the truth one of the reasons I skipped most of SM (watching the first 15 episodes or so just to stop and going back only for the league) is because of that.

And since I said it, my unpopular opinion: BW is much much better than SM.

 

[Daren]

I don't really think that XY is that serious. I think that fans get that impression mainly from the Ash-Greninja plot and especially the Team Flare arc, but I don't think that the series as a whole is more serious than what we normally get from the anime. SM is more light hearted and has comedy, but I wouldn't say that it's a full on comedic series either. I think that was initial impression a lot of fans got and that just stuck around.

I've noticed XY mostly seems to be remembered for XYZ in particular.
People talk about it being serious but we got the mirror universe, a whole episode Tom and Jerry pastiche, Clemont's failed inventions running gag, and a number of comedic reaction shots.
(DP is sort of similar; it had some really zany episodes but people mostly talk about Paul and sometimes claim it was super dark).

 

[Hidden Mew]

I've noticed XY mostly seems to be remembered for XYZ in particular.
People talk about it being serious but we got the mirror universe, a whole episode Tom and Jerry pastiche, Clemont's failed inventions running gag, and a number of comedic reaction shots.
(DP is sort of similar; it had some really zany episodes but people mostly talk about Paul and sometimes claim it was super dark).

I'm not too surprised when XY ended with the Kalos League, Team Flare arc and the direct aftermath back to back. There wasn't much breathing room, so I think that would create a different lasting impression for XY. It still isn't accurate since XY could be silly and light hearted too, but it isn't a huge shock that XY is mostly remembered for its last few arcs.

I can kind of see why people would claim that DP was super dark. Chimchar was physically/emotionally abused, Cyrus seemingly died unless his new universe had food, water and air and Hunter J straight up died in a huge explosion. But those were moments rather than a huge part of the series.

 

[jbmasta]

I can kind of see why people would claim that DP was super dark. Chimchar was physically/emotionally abused, Cyrus seemingly died unless his new universe had food, water and air and Hunter J straight up died in a huge explosion. But those were moments rather than a huge part of the series.

Paul and his harsh training methods was pretty brutal for what we'd seen so far in the anime. Yes, characters had straight up abandoned their pokemon in harsh ways, like Damian leaving Charmander in the rain, but that was a Character of the Day as opposed to a main rival. Paul's attitude was a consistent source of conflict between himself and Ash, with even Nurse Joy calling him out on it, and was a major part of his character arc (not unlike Silver in GSC/HSSS).

The DP movies also had higher stakes, at least the Creation Trio trilogy. Rise of Darkrai nearly resulted in the cast dying when Alamos Town was isolated in another dimension while Palkia and Dialga clashed, Giratina and the Sky Warrior threatened the balance of the world due to Zero's reckless treatment of the Reverse World (with a herd of Mamoswine needing Regigigas to help them keep the glacier from getting near a town) and Jewel of Life almost saw Ash and his friends written out of history due to the time travel shenanigans Back to the Future style.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

So I was rewatching reviews on Youtube and, I realized I like the core anime more than Origins...

I know this has been talked about before and I shouldn't even care since not every fan of Red or Pokemon Origins fits into this category, but it often times seems like people use both as an excuse way too often to dump on Ash, like we get it, he's messed up before, he's been stubborn, he's been immature, he lost leagues (which is irreverent now even if Alola's league wasn't the best), lost other battles that he probably shouldn't have lost, but guess what? I don't want my characters to be perfect and win all the time. God, I mean even superheroes have a human side to them or else they wouldn't be as popular with the masses as they are. I just feel like people define Ash by his flaws and losses far too often forgetting or outright ignoring his positive traits like his compassion, his strong sense of justice against many criminal and terrorist using Pokemon for their own selfish gain, his self-sacrificing nature, his influence on other trainers like May and Dawn. But, oh yeah whatever, he's such a terrible character, let's burn him at the stake. /S

Like, aren't there characters in the a lot of things often times just as flawed? Btw this isn't a jab at Red or Origins, I still enjoyed it for what it was.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

So I was rewatching reviews on Youtube and, I realized I like the core anime more than Origins...

I know this has been talked about before and I shouldn't even care since not every fan of Red or Pokemon Origins fits into this category, but it often times seems like people use both as an excuse way too often to dump on Ash, like we get it, he's messed up before, he's been stubborn, he's been immature, he lost leagues (which is irreverent now even if Alola's league wasn't the best), lost other battles that he probably shouldn't have lost, but guess what? I don't want my characters to be perfect and win all the time. God, I mean even superheroes have a human side to them or else they wouldn't be as popular with the masses as they are. I just feel like people define Ash by his flaws and losses far too often forgetting or outright ignoring his positive traits like his compassion, his strong sense of justice against many criminal and terrorist using Pokemon for their own selfish gain, his self-sacrificing nature, his influence on other trainers like May and Dawn. But, oh yeah whatever, he's such a terrible character, let's burn him at the stake. /S

Like, aren't there characters in the a lot of things often times just as flawed? Btw this isn't a jab at Red or Origins, I still enjoyed it for what it was.

These points are made worse by the fact that we see Origins Red commit much of the same mistakes Ash did. Not knowing how to battle well or handle his pokemon at first, relying too much on a single pokemon, often disregarding type matchups... that’s never brought up.

The reason he advanced so much in 4 episodes is because the plot circumstances compelled him to, not because Red himself is considerably more talented than Ash. Swap their roles and not much will change.

 

[Greninjaman]

but guess what? I don't want my characters to be perfect and win all the time.

A flawed character is absolutely better than a perfect one. If a character wins every battle they do, it gets boring. Why are there people who want a perfect character? Who would want to watch someone win every fight? It would become predictable.

 

[Rockapheller]

A flawed character is absolutely better than a perfect one. If a character wins every battle they do, it gets boring. Why are there people who want a perfect character? Who would want to watch someone win every fight? It would become predictable.

I don't know. People loved Goku even before DBZ.

 

[Greninjaman]

I don't know. People loved Goku even before DBZ.

But did Goku win every fight he was a part of?

 

[prog rocker]

But did Goku win every fight he was a part of?

No, he didn't.

 

[Greninjaman]

I'm sure any show where the characters do battle would get boring if the protagonists won every battle they took part in.

 

[Daren]

I actually have a bit of an effort post it'll take time to write up about the Ash/Red thing. I'll edit it in here later or post it seperately if there's a post before then.
I'll just note that as much as I think some people are too harsh on Ash I think there are some very valid criticisms about how he's written.

But did Goku win every fight he was a part of?

Pre-Raditz Goku actually lost quite a few fights:
*Yamcha defeated him in their first fight.
*He lost to Jackie Chun in the world tournament.
*General Blue defeated him in both their fights and Goku only got saved by outside help (a mouse the first time, then Arale the second time).
*Tao Pai Pai absolutely crushed him in their first fight.
*Tenshinhan defeated him in the next world tournament.
*Tambourine defeated him in their first fight.
*Mr. Popo and Kami both wrecked him.
Two of those were when Goku was weakened in some way, for the sake of disclosure. (Yamcha and Tambourine).
However, that's ignoring some non-fighting failures.

 

[Emmy]

I'm sure any show where the characters do battle would get boring if the protagonists won every battle they took part in.

It can and has been done. As with all things in fiction, the devil is in the details.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Neither Team Rocket nor Satoshi and Pikachu are irreplaceable as people believe.