Impact of the Diamond & Pearl series: The top five characteristics that made the Diam

[BulbaBot]

Impact of the Diamond & Pearl series: The top five characteristics that made the Diamond ...

While most of us are soaking our brains into the Best Wishes series, there is definitely a lot to reflect on its predecessor, the Diamond and Pearl series, and how its variability improved the series as a whole.

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[Kutomba]

Re: Impact of the Diamond & Pearl series: The top five characteristics that made the

That was excellent. I hate hearing about how DP sucked, because it didn't.

 

[Necrozma]

Re: Impact of the Diamond & Pearl series: The top five characteristics that made the

Fully agree with every single world from that article, nice job man!

In my opinion, I think DP was the best saga of all current ones. We'll see if BW manages to top that.

 

[J J M]

Re: Impact of the Diamond & Pearl series: The top five characteristics that made the

Actually, Chimchar's Blaze in DP081 was not the official debut. It used it before, albeit a rather ordinary one, in the gym battle against Roark.

 

[Cybersai]

Re: Impact of the Diamond & Pearl series: The top five characteristics that made the

Nice article. Yet way too much Dawn fanboyism.

Dawn's role in the show wasn't revolutionary, it was merely expanding the same role May had in the previous series. Dawn might have had 5 rivals, but not a single one of them, aside from Zoey I suppose, was handled properly. Nando shouldn't even count as a rival for Dawn, she never battled him in any Contest. Kenny was beaten in his first appearance and then he fails out of the Grand Festival. Ursula was a great character, but as a rival she was sadly a punching bag. The Dawn/Zoey rivalry was never particularly engaging, and I feel the whole mentor thing was mundane. In fact, you can honestly say Dawn had no struggles against any of her rivals at all. Even Zoey was viewed as a teacher than a rival.

For the most part, it feels Dawn's personality remained almost exactly the same throughout the entire show. If you were to watch DP1 and DP191 side by side, Dawn's personality is exactly the same in both. She went through tons of skill in Contests, but none in terms of character growth.

Of course there were things that were handled well about Dawn, mainly her initial losing streak, but acting like her character was revolutionary when she was not only the second coordinator of the show, but also felt like a female take on Ash 90% of the time, it not. Lastly the DP trio could have used some actual group chemistry.

 

[rockersk08]

Re: Impact of the Diamond & Pearl series: The top five characteristics that made the

Time for my responses.

Like I said, every viewer will have a different opinion about Dawn.

Not to make things personal, but calling me out on "Dawn fanboyism" was quite harsh, if at all, because I don't see myself as a Dawn preacher that makes her the queen of Ash's female traveling companions. While I do follow the Pokémon series fairly well, I can't commit my full time to analyzing every critical aspect. I did have a lot more to say about Dawn because I did follow the series. I did not blindly declare that Dawn was the be all end all female character. Sure, if I had a lot more time, I could go into analyzing all of Ash's female traveling companions.

One of the points I did make was how Dawn naturally learned from Ash, since they did travel together. I didn't overly analyze Dawn's personality, but that doesn't solely prove character development The fact that she did make mistakes and took actions to improve herself flies as character development for me, but perhaps not for everyone. However, I don't view Dawn as a female Ash as she is still her own character and puts her own spin on things. I don't want to expand too much, since otherwise I would need to write another analysis piece, but Dawn's participation did bring more to the table than either Misty or May.

You did make good points on how Dawn's rivalries were not as developed as they should be, but that doesn't fully discredit them as rivalries. They also don't have to be fully competitive-driven, but having someone to match up to is just as valid. Nando could have been expanded since Dawn did lose her first battle to him, not to mention have been a more interesting character. Kenny also needed light of day, but he did defeat Dawn in DP123, so it wasn't a full sweep. I did forget about Ursula, but Dawn did have to work to beat her, not to mention the general distaste when Ursula personally attacked Dawn by her bad childhood memory.

Again, there can't be a denial that Dawn and Zoey's rivalry didn't exist, since even Candice acknowledged them as rivals. While Dawn did not overly struggle against Zoey, she did have to put her full effort to match up, which still passes as a rivalry. As long as two people can bring out the best effort from each other, the rivalry is satisfied. As it shows, Zoey was just a touch better.

The revolutionary term is open to interpretation, but remember that the number one topic I discussed was a plot-driven focus. The rivalries functioned as one drive for Ash and Dawn, and the overall plot line was mostly centered on them.

Responding to J-J-M, I actually did remember that Chimchar used Blaze then. I was trying to specify the first time the super Blaze was seen by the viewers, not as a memory. I'll remember to be more specific next time though!

Whether your opinion on my piece is positive or negative, I'm happy that at least I got some response and hope to hear more. As long as readers are willing to submit constructive feedback, I'm happy to address them. If I write a future analysis, I'll make sure to utilize this experience.