Review JN053: Catch the Legend!? Find the Guardian of Water - Suicune!!

[Hidden Mew]

I'm afraid you're missing my point here, but maybe I didn't make it clear enough. It's not about one friend saving another friend (Only a fool would complain about that, I guess). It's about the massively flawed concept of Go in general. Let me explain:
Look at Ash's former companions, most notably Brock, Misty, May, Dawn and Serena. Look at how much time was spent on their character development. Look at all their emotions and struggles to get where they are now. And now compare them to Go, a guy who's been around for only 50 episodes. A guy who already seems to know everything and seems to be good at everything. A guy who's violating all the core principles of the show that everybody has followed so far (e.g. properly battle a Pokemon and don't just throw Pokeballs at it, treat it like a companion and not just as a souvenir etc.) And as "reward" he's now even been given a legendary Pokemon ... after only 50 episodes! Wouldn't you agree that, especially when compared to the companions I mentioned before, Go's story seems forced, lacks plausibility and is thus starting to devalue our precious show?

Not really. I certainly don't think Goh's story is devaluing the previous series or storylines from other companions at least. It might be a bit too soon to give Goh a Legendary Pokemon, but with the events of the episode in mind, I think it worked. I don't think Goh is good at everything either and while he is pretty knowledgeable about Pokemon, saying that he knows everything might be a bit of an exaggeration too.

Let me ask you a question that, admittedly, is meant to be provocative: What's the difference between Go and those hunters in the episode? Both catch as many Pokemon as they can get and while the hunters might even have a reason for doing so (evil though those reason might be), Go still hasn't come up with a plausible explanation for having to catch them all. Being obsessed about catching Mew doesn't necessarily mean you need to catch all the other Pokemon as well. He could just leave them alone and solely concentrate on looking for Mew. Also, both the hunters and Go lock their Pokemon away. While the former are using cages made of steel, Go is basically locking them away in a huge "cage" of glass (Sakuragi Park) and doesn't really seem to care for most of them anymore. So, apart from being the friendly version of a Pokemon poacher in disguise, I can't see what Go could possibly contribute to the show.

It truly baffles me whenever people try to paint Goh as a villain. The difference between Goh and the hunters here is painfully clear. Goh cares about Pokemon and isn't interested in capturing Pokemon to sell for a profit like hunters would. While I agree that the whole notion that Goh is working his way back to Mew doesn't make much sense, it definitely doesn't put him on the level of people hurting Pokemon with traps like these hunters were doing. Seeing the lab park as a huge cage of glass where Goh locks his Pokemon away is ridiculous. As much as people complain about how most of his Pokemon are just stuck there, it isn't a prison. It's more along the lines of a Pokemon preserve than anything else given that they're taken care of. Granted, we don't see Goh interacting with most of them, but I think that's more on how the writers have been focused more on quantity than quality when it comes of the characterization of Goh's Pokemon. Even after his first catching spree with those Bug Pokemon, Goh was happily playing with them, so he does care about them.

If you really think that Goh is just a friendly version of a Pokemon poacher in disguise, then I think that's just such a needlessly harsh and quite frankly inaccurate take on his character. I can understand just not liking him and his goal, but he isn't a villain in the making or anything like that. There's no need to paint him in such a negative light when you just don't like him.

And there is another, more subtle (and I'd also say a more "evil") aspect about Go: You might not agree, but I'm telling you that in a subtle yet recognizable way, the writers have been trying to force Ash to take the back seat more and more since they introduced Go. It started with more and more episodes being centred around Go. The next step was that Ash has turned into an ordinary character in many episodes who wasn't even allowed to contribute anything of relevance to the plot. And now we've reached the point where Ash seems to be an ordinary trainers who even needs to be protected be Go while his Pokemon are hardly allowed to do anything. Sorry, for the harsh words, but this behavior of Go reminds me of a parasite that the writers use to slowly but surely drive Ash out of his role as the main protagonist.

Yeah, that's just such a huge conclusion to jump to from Goh wanting to protect his friend. It would already be a tough sell just because of how I took the scene as a clear sign of how much Goh cares about Ash, but describing him as a parasite, along with the whole friendly version of a Pokemon poacher, really is ridiculous. This is also one reason why I don't really think that the screentime issue is that big of a deal when people just tend to make extreme over the top exaggerations about it.

I'd say there's a big difference between Ash getting a Melmetal (which I'd call a mythical or pseudo-legendary Pokemon) and Go getting the legendary Suicune: Ash had been working and struggling hard for over 20 years until he finally got such a Pokemon, while it took Go only 50 episodes (a ridiculous number compared to Ash) to get a real legendary. However, catching a legendary should be a reward for a life as a Pokemon trainer who's been working hard for many years. Since the introduction of Go, however, Pokemon seem to have become prizes in a lottery that anyone can get. I guess there's no need to further explain why this is not only completely unfair and forced but also lacks any plausibility. In my eyes, it's just another result of "parasite Go" doing his destructive work.

Mythical Pokemon are still Legendary Pokemon and Ash's experience had nothing to do with why he captured it. I'm not surprised fans bring that up to justify it out of universe, but given that he didn't battle it and it wasn't the result of his experience from different regions, it feels pretty irrelevant in-universe to me. While Goh getting a Legendary Pokemon at this point of Journeys is a bit early, I also feel like fans are making a big deal about Legendary Pokemon in general. I can understand that when capturing them is a big deal and they're special Pokemon too, but it's kind of hard for me to get that upset over it when there are so many Legendary Pokemon at this point. Even with Goh not being the most experienced trainer around, I don't think a main character catching a Legendary is such a sacrilege concept, especially given the context of this episode. If he was bonding with a much bigger Legendary Pokemon, like Diagla or Reshiram, then that might have been harder to pull off, but for a relatively smaller Legendary Pokemon like Suicune, I think it was fine, especially when he doesn't have it on standby all the time to render any future tension moot. Calling him parasite Goh is just ridiculous.

 

[90'sPokéfan]

He even left a slot open because he had to catch something to deal with poison-types

Did he realy needed this open slot? (I think he should until we get a new explanation, or an old explanation is brought back.)

Because in the episode he caught Cubone, he had at least 6 Pokémon on hand (and used 6 on-screen), and when he caught Cubone (at least number 7 on-hand), Goh had no problems to call him outside of its pokéball.

Was this an error, are there new (old) rules in play. It's something I do wonder since this episode.

 

[Eitarou]

It's probably just an error.

It's not like that rule gets brought up that often anyway.

 

[Greninjaman]

Maybe it only applies to trainers?

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Not really. I certainly don't think Goh's story is devaluing the previous series or storylines from other companions at least. (...) I don't think Goh is good at everything either and while he is pretty knowledgeable about Pokemon, saying that he knows everything might be a bit of an exaggeration too.

But I'm afraid you haven't given any reason why you don't agree with me. There we had all those former companions of Ash who had to work hard in order to actually reach their goals and, as a consequence, deserved what they achieved. And here we have Go who hardly has to lift a finger in order to get what he wants. No struggles, no hard work, and (almost) no character development over a longer period of time. Ash's former companions were genuine if you know what I mean, while Go just appears to be a robot who gets everything for free.

Seeing the lab park as a huge cage of glass where Goh locks his Pokemon away is ridiculous. As much as people complain about how most of his Pokemon are just stuck there, it isn't a prison. It's more along the lines of a Pokemon preserve than anything else given that they're taken care of.

What else is it then other than an admittedly quite nicely-looking prison/cage ? Those Pokemon could be free. They could be living in their respective homes and their natural surroundings (forests, rivers, mountains etc.) Instead they're doomed to a life behind glass, just because Go "needs" them as souvernirs for a goal that doesn't make sense.

If you really think that Goh is just a friendly version of a Pokemon poacher in disguise, then I think that's just such a needlessly harsh and quite frankly inaccurate take on his characte

As I said in the original post, my question was meant to be provocative. Still, I'm convinced there's some truth in my analogy. Sure, Go doesn't treat Pokemon in the same detestable way as those crooks do, but I hope you can see what I'm alluding to. Go catches tons of Pokemon and most of them are forgotten and locked away in the park, while instead they could and should be free. One of the core principles of Pokemon has always been that if you catch a Pokemon, you've got responsibility. It should become your companion and you should love and treat it respectively. I wonder how Go could be capable of treating all his Pokemon the way Ash does when all he seems to be interested is creating his own huge "zoo".

This is also one reason why I don't really think that the screentime issue is that big of a deal when people just tend to make extreme over the top exaggerations about it.

I agree with you some comments might be exaggerated (and I'm not excluding myself either). But what do those exaggerations actually show? They show there are some things going wrong, like for example Go's extensive screentime, and people are seriously bothered by those developments. That's why they need to be addressed even when it gets emotional sometimes because people are passionate about their show.

Yeah, that's just such a huge conclusion to jump to from Goh wanting to protect his friend. It would already be a tough sell just because of how I took the scene as a clear sign of how much Goh cares about Ash,

Let's think about it this way: Before Journeys there wasn't that kind of bad story writing that, among other things, turned Ash into a passive, ordinary observer who needs to be protected by the show's new main protagonist, Go. Before Journeys, Ash had always been the hero saving others. Now, however, the writers seem to love Go more than anything else and thus need to promote him at all costs. It clearly appears to me they wouldn't even shy away from sacrificing Ash for the sake of Go and this really upsets me (and many other fans)

Calling him parasite Goh is just ridiculous.

Definition of a parasite by the CDC: A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food from or at the expense of its host.
Sure, Go is not feeding on Ash literally but I do hope I made it clear that this was used as a metaphor! And I still think the analogy is quite fitting. Since Go first entered they stage, Ash's role and importance has been greatly reduced with him being even reduced to a side character in some episodes while Go's influence is increasing continuously. So yes, you can argue that Go is living "at the expense of his host" which makes this quite a good image.

Mythical Pokemon are still Legendary Pokemon and Ash's experience had nothing to do with why he captured it. I'm not surprised fans bring that up to justify it out of universe, but given that he didn't battle it and it wasn't the result of his experience from different regions

There's more to it than just experience. It's the question whether or not somebody actually deserves a legendary Pokemon. For somebody who's be around for only 50 episodes the answer is "no" in my eyes. But someone like Ash who's been a Pokemon trainer for so many years and thus has the necessary maturity clearly deserves those special Pokemon.
It's just like the black belt in karate. If anyone could have it, you would devalue its meaning. Only those who have trained hard and proven themselves worthy deserve such a special reward.

 

[Eitarou]

Maybe it only applies to trainers?

Which Goh is.

 

[Greninjaman]

Which Goh is.

But he's not training them for a competition like Ash is.

 

[Eitarou]

But he's not training them for a competition like Ash is.

A Trainer is a Trainer, regardless of their goal.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Wow, this sure is an intense thread



I'm afraid you're missing my point here, but maybe I didn't make it clear enough. It's not about one friend saving another friend (Only a fool would complain about that, I guess). It's about the massively flawed concept of Go in general. Let me explain:
Look at Ash's former companions, most notably Brock, Misty, May, Dawn and Serena. Look at how much time was spent on their character development. Look at all their emotions and struggles to get where they are now. And now compare them to Go, a guy who's been around for only 50 episodes. A guy who already seems to know everything and seems to be good at everything. A guy who's violating all the core principles of the show that everybody has followed so far (e.g. properly battle a Pokemon and don't just throw Pokeballs at it, treat it like a companion and not just as a souvenir etc.) And as "reward" he's now even been given a legendary Pokemon ... after only 50 episodes! Wouldn't you agree that, especially when compared to the companions I mentioned before, Go's story seems forced, lacks plausibility and is thus starting to devalue our precious show?

Let me ask you a question that, admittedly, is meant to be provocative: What's the difference between Go and those hunters in the episode? Both catch as many Pokemon as they can get and while the hunters might even have a reason for doing so (evil though those reason might be), Go still hasn't come up with a plausible explanation for having to catch them all. Being obsessed about catching Mew doesn't necessarily mean you need to catch all the other Pokemon as well. He could just leave them alone and solely concentrate on looking for Mew. Also, both the hunters and Go lock their Pokemon away. While the former are using cages made of steel, Go is basically locking them away in a huge "cage" of glass (Sakuragi Park) and doesn't really seem to care for most of them anymore. So, apart from being the friendly version of a Pokemon poacher in disguise, I can't see what Go could possibly contribute to the show.

And there is another, more subtle (and I'd also say a more "evil") aspect about Go: You might not agree, but I'm telling you that in a subtle yet recognizable way, the writers have been trying to force Ash to take the back seat more and more since they introduced Go. It started with more and more episodes being centred around Go. The next step was that Ash has turned into an ordinary character in many episodes who wasn't even allowed to contribute anything of relevance to the plot. And now we've reached the point where Ash seems to be an ordinary trainers who even needs to be protected be Go while his Pokemon are hardly allowed to do anything. Sorry, for the harsh words, but this behavior of Go reminds me of a parasite that the writers use to slowly but surely drive Ash out of his role as the main protagonist.


I'd say there's a big difference between Ash getting a Melmetal (which I'd call a mythical or pseudo-legendary Pokemon) and Go getting the legendary Suicune: Ash had been working and struggling hard for over 20 years until he finally got such a Pokemon, while it took Go only 50 episodes (a ridiculous number compared to Ash) to get a real legendary. However, catching a legendary should be a reward for a life as a Pokemon trainer who's been working hard for many years. Since the introduction of Go, however, Pokemon seem to have become prizes in a lottery that anyone can get. I guess there's no need to further explain why this is not only completely unfair and forced but also lacks any plausibility. In my eyes, it's just another result of "parasite Go" doing his destructive work.


Well, Pokemon is a show that has impacted the lives of many fans very much. So, I can understand why fans are taking it seriously. (If they didn't, what else would this thread and discussions in general be other than a big waste of time in the first place ?)


Very well said. Thank you!

Relevant to you mentioning the comparison between Go and the hunters but it seems even go (and by association the writers) are aware of the similarities

View: https://twitter.com/Arkeus88/status/1355495605540413440?s=20

It’s just a shame that they bring up such self-awareness within the character but it’s rendered kinda moot because it’s not of use for character development and this goes nowhere.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Relevant to you mentioning the comparison between Go and the hunters but it seems even go (and by association the writers) are aware of the similarities

View: https://twitter.com/Arkeus88/status/1355495605540413440?s=20

It’s just a shame that they bring up such self-awareness within the character but it’s rendered kinda moot because it’s not of use for character development and this goes nowhere.

So my comparison between Go and the hunters wasn't that off in the first place

 

[Hidden Mew]

Relevant to you mentioning the comparison between Go and the hunters but it seems even go (and by association the writers) are aware of the similarities

View: https://twitter.com/Arkeus88/status/1355495605540413440?s=20

It’s just a shame that they bring up such self-awareness within the character but it’s rendered kinda moot because it’s not of use for character development and this goes nowhere.

I don't think that was the intent behind that line. I thought that Goh was referring to how just saying that he wasn't a Pokemon Hunter wouldn't mean anything to make Suicune trust him. It was already upset over being captured and was still injured, so it wouldn't just believe him automatically by saying that he isn't with the Pokemon Hunters.

Taking it as a self-awareness moment doesn't make sense when Goh is not like a Pokemon Hunter. Catching Pokemon and having them live comfortably at a research lab is not on the same level as hunters dragging Pokemon away with nets and literally kicking them while they're down. No matter how people feel about the lab park, it is not like a cage and Goh does care about Pokemon. This isn't the first time people compared Goh with hunters, but I've never understood it. It just makes me think we're watching completely different shows if that is your main takeaway of Goh's character.

 

[R1ke]

Relevant to you mentioning the comparison between Go and the hunters but it seems even go (and by association the writers) are aware of the similarities

View: https://twitter.com/Arkeus88/status/1355495605540413440?s=20

It’s just a shame that they bring up such self-awareness within the character but it’s rendered kinda moot because it’s not of use for character development and this goes nowhere.

Dude. I’m pretty sure he’s just saying that anyone looks good when comparing themselves to hunters, so it’s a bit of a redundant comparison to make. The bar is already so low with them. Not some kind of ‘self aware’ shakespearean-esque monologue where he’s reflecting on his similarities with the villain.

Chill it’s not that deep.

 

[Enzo]

Well. I was right. It's the Pokemon Civil War in the fandom. looooolll

Y'all think we can make it to page 20 by Sunday night?

 

[Silktree]

It's all about actually deserving a legendary Pokemon. I remember countless episodes where Ash helped or helaed mythical or legendary Pokemon, yet none of those Pokemon considered Ash worthy of being their trainer.
But because it's "Saint Go" we're talking about, everything is different.

I honestly don't remember that outside of the movies and SM. Did Ash have a meaningful interaction with a legendary/mythical in any of the pre-SM series (not counting Mewtwo Returns)? He helped some of them, but he wasn't alone (the lake trio come to mind). He only got to see Ho-Oh and Suicune from afar.

Dawn's and Serena's contest took place every one in a while, so it didn't matter if Ash took the back seat for one or two episode. That was a welcome change back then.
But look at how at least every second episode is solely dedicated to Go now. It even looks like next week's episode will once again focus on him (and Sobble) alone. The same mess once again.

While the first 40 episodes did favor Go, if you look at the batch starting from the 41st episode, only this one and the next are Go-centric (while Ash has two Farfetch'd development episodes in his favor). You could argue that Go got more out of the eating competition, but I could counter that with Ash getting more out of the fossil episode.

And let's put it out there: It's far easier for Go to catch the POTD than it is for Ash to battle a notable trainer, if for no other reason that good battles require more resources. Ash is still getting the typical amount of battles and development.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I don't think that was the intent behind that line. I thought that Goh was referring to how just saying that he wasn't a Pokemon Hunter wouldn't mean anything to make Suicune trust him. It was already upset over being captured and was still injured, so it wouldn't just believe him automatically by saying that he isn't with the Pokemon Hunters.

Taking it as a self-awareness moment doesn't make sense when Goh is not like a Pokemon Hunter. Catching Pokemon and having them live comfortably at a research lab is not on the same level as hunters dragging Pokemon away with nets and literally kicking them while they're down. No matter how people feel about the lab park, it is not like a cage and Goh does care about Pokemon. This isn't the first time people compared Goh with hunters, but I've never understood it. It just makes me think we're watching completely different shows if that is your main takeaway of Goh's character.

While I’m not saying that he’s anywhere near as bad as the hunters, there is something to be said about the way that the writers have executed Go’s style of catching Pokémon within the series. Does he care for them? Yes. But he is one who just goes around catching Pokémon left, right and center for no other reason than checking a box with the manner of capture most of the time being some of the most soulless we’ve seen in this series without even considering the Pokémon’s feelings in the matter when it comes to capturing them (and before anyone mentions him releasing Dugtrio last episode or giving Suicune a choice here, it kinda undermines the prospect of thinking about the Pokémon’s feeling when you make that call after you’ve caught them for your dex entry rather than before, especially since at that point, you already have your “prize”). One thing I can praise here is, for the first time in the series a Pokémon has had a realistic reaction towards capture though even that was more so thanks to the hunters as opposed to the prospect of some random kid coming in disrupting its life and capturing it.

As cold as I may sound towards Go, I don’t hate the character. What I do hate though is the execution that the writers have done with Go which results in less than enthusiasm when it comes to these kinds of situations. Everything about how they’ve literally styled him after Go feels like a contradiction of the anime’s 20+ year establishment with no actual explanation as to why these things work for him but haven’t prior to him showing up. It feels more like he would work better as the protagonist of either a spin-off or a Pokémon Go anime where established concepts of the anime have no bearings.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Well. I was right. It's the Pokemon Civil War in the fandom. looooolll

Y'all think we can make it to page 20 by Sunday night?

View attachment 139444

I know you’re not the only one doing it, but respectfully can we please stop overreacting to this thread? Just engage in the conversation. We don’t need someone pointing out what page we’re on every other post.

It’s really just harmless disagreements for the most part. But if anyone feels a post is going too far, please just report it instead of making comments like this.

 

[Hidden Mew]

While I’m not saying that he’s anywhere near as bad as the hunters, there is something to be said about the way that the writers have executed Go’s style of catching Pokémon within the series. Does he care for them? Yes. But he is one who just goes around catching Pokémon left, right and center for no other reason than checking a box with the manner of capture most of the time being some of the most soulless we’ve seen in this series without even considering the Pokémon’s feelings in the matter when it comes to capturing them (and before anyone mentions him releasing Dugtrio last episode or giving Suicune a choice here, it kinda undermines the prospect of thinking about the Pokémon’s feeling when you make that call after you’ve caught them for your dex entry rather than before, especially since at that point, you already have your “prize”). One thing I can praise here is, for the first time in the series a Pokémon has had a realistic reaction towards capture though even that was more so thanks to the hunters as opposed to the prospect of some random kid coming in disrupting its life and capturing it.

I think that's just too harsh of a way to look at Goh's capture method. It especially doesn't work in the context of this episode since Goh wasn't capturing Suicune for the dex entry. He wanted to get it away from the hunters as fast as possible and suffering from the poison made it more of an emergency. I can understand not liking that setup, but using it to say that Goh giving Suicune the choice to leave doesn't mean anything because he already got his prize just feels so mean spirited. People seem so set on making Goh look out to be this villain in the making when everything I've seen thus far has nothing to really back it up. He's not a saint, but he clearly cares about his Pokemon, so comparing him to hunters and especially trying to twist a line into saying that he's realizing that he is similar to a Pokemon Hunter feels so disingenuous to me.

As cold as I may sound towards Go, I don’t hate the character. What I do hate though is the execution that the writers have done with Go which results in less than enthusiasm when it comes to these kinds of situations. Everything about how they’ve literally styled him after Go feels like a contradiction of the anime’s 20+ year establishment with no actual explanation as to why these things work for him but haven’t prior to him showing up. It feels more like he would work better as the protagonist of either a spin-off or a Pokémon Go anime where established concepts of the anime have no bearings.

Maybe I'm just too used to playing Pokemon Go to really be upset over this issue. Even within the main series games, I often just avoid battling Pokemon when catching them by a certain point. Even with the anime's years of rules in mind, Goh being able to capture Pokemon that easily just does not make me nearly as upset as it does with other people.

 

[VetProf]

Then, they used all the powers of storytelling to justify the catch - and even secure the catch. And part of this involved degrading Ash's ability and experience of actually handling the crisis. Goh seemed to battle the Poachers a lot better than Ash for some reason, and they never even let Ash use many of his other Pokemon. It was all intentional by the writers - the episode was about Goh more than him.

In other words: This episode was Goh Propaganda through and through by the writers. In fact, I bet the writers knew that the catch of a legendary by Goh would be quite controversial - So they had to build a story that tried to weaken the blow and make the case for why he deserves to catch one. Given many of the comments here, such propaganda was quite effective, wasn't it?

While I do agree that "nerfing" Ash for the sake of giving Gou a bit more of the spotlight was a bad idea, calling the entire plot of the episode "propaganda" is definitely a bit too much. Hypothetically speaking, even if Ash was the one to have a focus episode involving a legendary Pokemon capture, they'd probably still devote most of the episode towards building up the bond between Ash and the legendary, so I'm not sure why you're complaining that the writers are trying to "justify and secure" Gou capturing Suicune when the alternative is that they just... don't. Like, imagine if the entire conflict was immediately resolved by Gou capturing Suicune, who immediately becomes 100% obedient to Gou the moment it was captured.

Sure, in an ideal world, the conflict in this episode would've been resolved without the need for Suicune to be captured by Gou, but if Suicune's capture really was inevitable (possibly because of decisions from the higher ups), then I think the writers did a good job of making it palatable.

What's the difference between Go and those hunters in the episode?

One of them continuously polluted an entire lake (and by extension, the ecosystem around it) just to weaken and capture a legendary Pokemon. The other one helped to heal the legendary Pokemon after it was poisoned and weakened, and once it fully recovered, gave it the option to be free so that it can continue purifying lakes all over the world. Try guessing who Suicune chose to stay with.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I think that's just too harsh of a way to look at Goh's capture method. It especially doesn't work in the context of this episode since Goh wasn't capturing Suicune for the dex entry. He wanted to get it away from the hunters as fast as possible and suffering from the poison made it more of an emergency. I can understand not liking that setup, but using it to say that Goh giving Suicune the choice to leave doesn't mean anything because he already got his prize just feels so mean spirited. People seem so set on making Goh look out to be this villain in the making when everything I've seen thus far has nothing to really back it up. He's not a saint, but he clearly cares about his Pokemon, so comparing him to hunters and especially trying to twist a line into saying that he's realizing that he is similar to a Pokemon Hunter feels so disingenuous to me.



Maybe I'm just too used to playing Pokemon Go to really be upset over this issue. Even within the main series games, I often just avoid battling Pokemon when catching them by a certain point. Even with the anime's years of rules in mind, Goh being able to capture Pokemon that easily just does not make me nearly as upset as it does with other people.

I’d say that a problem that I have with the way they present Go’s catching style, his first thought is ‘catch the Pokémon’ in really any given situation as if it’s a one size fits all approach as opposed to thinking about if he should. And it certainly doesn’t help that the majority of the Pokémon Go catches are basically just turned into nothing more than props at Sakuragi Park. The quantity over quality approach along with the fact that the writers give Go nothing to do with his Pokémon sans give them an appearance once in a blue moon as the equivalent of a tool to work in a specific situation just leaves me cold. Pokémon were always treated as companions and characters within their respective series but with Go, they’re basically just another box to be checked. They’re obviously not going to make him out to be any kind of villain as a main character but their use of Go just leaves me cold.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I’d say that a problem that I have with the way they present Go’s catching style, his first thought is ‘catch the Pokémon’ in really any given situation as if it’s a one size fits all approach as opposed to thinking about if he should. And it certainly doesn’t help that the majority of the Pokémon Go catches are basically just turned into nothing more than props at Sakuragi Park. The quantity over quality approach along with the fact that the writers give Go nothing to do with his Pokémon sans give them an appearance once in a blue moon as the equivalent of a tool to work in a specific situation just leaves me cold. Pokémon were always treated as companions and characters within their respective series but with Go, they’re basically just another box to be checked. They’re obviously not going to make him out to be any kind of villain as a main character but their use of Go just leaves me cold.

I can understand not liking the execution behind Goh, but I still don't think the way he uses his Pokemon is akin to using them as tools. Nothing about him has really given off that impression to me, even in the earlier episodes where he first started his catching spree. While a lot of the common complaints about Goh do boil down to his execution rather than his personality, I've also seen people still try to claim that he is a villain or no different from a Pokemon poacher for a long time, which seems really at odds with his actual personality as well with the notion that the problem people have with him is the execution if they try to paint him as a villain. I think that a lot of the negative reactions to Goh are so over the top that it is harder for me to understand it to a point.