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Anime & Manga General Discussion

tbh it makes sense for Pikachu to do that. He's consistently among the smallest cast members, doubly so in cases where Ash's whole regional team evolves, so him hitching rides on others helps make things less awkward for communication.

Plus, Pikachu gets a better view of the landscape.

I also theorize he might have gotten this habit from being raised with a Kangaskhan family, since he consistently rode on the mama Kangaskhan's pouch.
 
Yeah, he is very rarely smaller than other Pokemon. They are either bigger or his size, and I just love that he climbs on people and let them pet him. It's adorable. Besides, it may also be an sort of ''defensive tactic'' (?), like he goes up on people so they don't step on him or something like that.
 
I'd guess it ties into how Pikachu doesn't really get character arcs outside small "beat this opponent" ones since the OS ended.

Yeah, that always felt a little upsetting, to be honest. Like, Pikachu is mostly judged for his strength, battling capability, and inconsistency with said strength, and...we never really get to focus on him as a character??? Like the OS series really showed Pikachu's growth-from being kind of a coward to being brave and determined, as well as being more friendly and nicer to humans-and Pikachu was treated as his own character in DP with different relationships with the other pokemon that like...just dropped after BW? Like, I'm always dying to see more of these small moments between Pikachu and his teammates-or even other pokemon!-(#ThankAlola) because after DP, there wasn't really much interpretation of his character...?

Like, I'm not really liking Journeys Pikachu right now. I felt a bit iffy about Pikachu throughout the first part of Journeys, but then we got to the infamous Episode 30 and that just...I swear, that episode almost straight up insulted Ash and Pikachu's relationship(and Pikachu's character) like what??? Remember in OS when Chikorita was jealous of Pikachu and just always treated him coldly because of it? Pikachu actually really tried hard to be Chikorita's friend, but was just brushed off-yeah. Ash has his own problems(both in that episode and the series as a whole) but anytime Pikachu shows up on screen I don't feel excited anymore cause the only thing it'll do is battling or show of its friendship with Ash-and have it annoyingly be pointed out by someone in the show, yeah we know they have a strong bond you don't need to point it out every few seconds!-and just like...what happened to the pokemon interactions? This anime is still called "Pokemon" right? Or is it now called "Marketingmon"?

tbh it makes sense for Pikachu to do that. He's consistently among the smallest cast members, doubly so in cases where Ash's whole regional team evolves, so him hitching rides on others helps make things less awkward for communication.
Like this team?
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tt5R2za.gif
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Dear god, I just realized four out of five of those other pokemon have a type disadvantage to Pikachu. :LOL: (Srsly tho the more I talk/think about it the cuter it gets)
 
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Yeah, that always felt a little upsetting, to be honest. Like, Pikachu is mostly judged for his strength, battling capability, and inconsistency with said strength, and...we never really get to focus on him as a character??? Like the OS series really showed Pikachu's growth-from being kind of a coward to being brave and determined, as well as being more friendly and nicer to humans-and Pikachu was treated as his own character in DP with different relationships with the other pokemon that like...just dropped after BW?
I think he suffered from "ran out of story arc" syndrome when the show got extended. Kanto had him going through that development; his arc pretty much ended when he defeated Dragonite as a conclusion showing how far he'd come from the borderline coward...and they haven't really known what to do with him since except for battles and cute scenes.
 
This is like, super random, but does anyone else notice how Pikachu always seems to be sitting/standing/held by/on top of someone? Like, is that his love language or something?







EVEN THE POKEMON HOLD HIM.





LIKE THESE AREN'T EVEN AN EIGHTH OF THEM.
You forget these
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Safe to say EVERY companion has carried Pikachu at one point I think
 
I'd guess it ties into how Pikachu doesn't really get character arcs outside small "beat this opponent" ones since the OS ended.
I'd kill to see them give Pikachu an entirely new arc but based around something different.

In fact, Journeys could have even been the perfect chance to have given him one what with the whole G-Max thing. They could have shown him having problems with it (struggling to battle and be used to it leaving Ash greatly concerned), him worrying and feeling as if it will only become a burden for both Ash and his team costing him wins but after being given the decision on whether he wants to keep it or not (in say, an arc based on the Island of Armor) he learns to gradually get used to it before slowly and steadily getting much better with it, ready for when they face off against Leon.

But no... no, that's what they chose to do.

Instead they think OOC moments and episodes about Marshtomps stuck in the ground is more important and that the Dynamax mechanic might as well not even be a thing.

I've got other ideas for Pikachu character arcs but I'll explain them some other time.
 
Torterra was used at the Sunyshore Gym, though. It's just that it was made the fall guy. Just like in literally every battle it participated in after evolving, with the SOLE exception of beating Candice's Sneasel as a Grotle. But that's it. Torterra literally didn't win any other battles besides that one after it evolved...

Why must you do this to my favorite Sinnoh Starter, anime. Why :(
JUSTICE TO TORTERRA

He was Ash’s third strongest Pokemon on that team but faced amazing opponents
 
In fact, Journeys could have even been the perfect chance to have given him one what with the whole G-Max thing. They could have shown him having problems with it (struggling to battle and be used to it leaving Ash greatly concerned), him worrying and feeling as if it will only become a burden for both Ash and his team costing him wins but after being given the decision on whether he wants to keep it or not (in say, an arc based on the Island of Armor) he learns to gradually get used to it before slowly and steadily getting much better with it, ready for when they face off against Leon.

Heck, Pikachu had so much potential character arcs even before then. Remember how in XY people had this general wondering of "maybe Pikachu would get jealous of Greninja" or something like that? Well, something small I noticed during that region was that anytime Pikachu lost a battle, he always seemed to be rather upset. Like, yeah, I know, he lost, its okay to be upset, but the way they draw Pikachu specifically looking so sad or melancholy after a battle made me wonder if maybe Pikachu had felt some guilt of letting Ash down.

After all, Pikachu had been in like four leagues at that point, many gym battles, have fought legendary pokemon, and it led me to believe that maybe Pikachu had high expectations of himself in XY. What if there was a small character arc-nothing too major-where Pikachu starts to get a little down after losing a few battles here and there, and Ash tries to figure out what's wrong; since to him and everybody else, Pikachu didn't seem to be losing that much and was winning far more. But to Pikachu, the few losses meant a lot because of the high expectations he held for himself. Then Ash would strengthen his friendship with Pikachu in a way that isn't the cop-out of "Pikachu gets controlled or is in danger and Ash saves him" thing that happens a lot in XY(and basically other series as well) AND we get to see a character arc for Pikachu.
 
I try to think positively about Journeys, and I don't feel that way of thinking is forced. I like it just fine as it is. And it's also something that, in a year's time, will probably be a very good setting for the anime to celebrate its 25-year run.
 
I try to think positively about Journeys, and I don't feel that way of thinking is forced. I like it just fine as it is. And it's also something that, in a year's time, will probably be a very good setting for the anime to celebrate its 25-year run.

Maybe. Is it too soon to start wondering what the 30th Anniversary is going to be like?

(On a side note, you changed your avatar and as such, I didn't realize you were FinnishPokéFan92 until now...well, nice new avatar! :notworthy: :LOL:)
 
Maybe. Is it too soon to start wondering what the 30th Anniversary is going to be like?

(On a side note, you changed your avatar and as such, I didn't realize you were FinnishPokéFan92 until now...well, nice new avatar! :notworthy: :LOL:)
(Thanks! It's the same one I used when I first joined the site! I made a status post about the avatar change on my user page.)
 
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I've been thinking a lot about how much I would love to see even just TEN SECONDS of Ash's pokemon interacting with one another. This is starting to keep me awake at night. This. Utter. Lack. Of. Interaction.
What even happened to the super small moments like this?
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