Anipoke stuff

[TheGoldenToon]

Wow Gen 9's been announced, that also means a new series for the anime will come soon too. yay I guess... I mean I hate being negative because I feel like I'm just contributing to something terrible, but having not liked Pokemon Journeys very much I can't help but have a certain level of skepticism, I mean sure it isn't the worst thing ever, but I hesitate to call it good. Since back when this series premiered back in 2019 I've had many stressful moments here: Fans arguing about Goh, the Anime & Manga section not being as fun as when I first joined back in July 2018 when the Sun & Moon anime was still ongoing. A lot of the progress I made being able to socialize and share opinions have been almost reversed now as I feel sharing them especially the negative ones will just create more arguments, people hating me and I also fear being mistaken for being toxic just for saying certain things. I also feel I can no longer share my hopes for Gen 9 (the anime not the games) because I feel like I'll just get shut down and I have no counter arguments to defend my point because I'm dumb and usually non-confrontational. Honestly I don't even know why I get worked up over this series, I haven't watched it in ages, I'm going to try to return soon with JN106 A New Show! Rocket-dan's Covert Kingdom Radio!! if only because it's a Team Rocket episode and they have been severely underused in this series and this image alone made me want to give the episode a shot.

Spoiler: I like Jessie's Wobbuffet.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

Might as well vent some more. Okay, I get it, I read all the reasons some fans prefer the PWC over the Gym Challenge, I heard their reasons, I respect their opinions, but FFS I'm not impressed with the PWC and its handling and I strongly want the Gym Challenge back in the next series. And speaking of gyms, seriously, I cannot believe we haven't seen Milo, Nessa or Kabu yet. And what about the Galarian Meowth and Perrserker, I want to see TR Meowth react and interact with at least the former. I honestly do not care if this is a multi-regional series, Galar still needs more love than this! Yeah, I'm not making many points, I'm mostly just complaining by this point because sadly I've lost my ability to care. It's frustrating because I know the show could do better than this, I think the anime's even done great things before like the Sinnoh League, the Team Flare Arc or episodes revolving around the subject of death; hell, even JN032 was pretty good which shows even this series can pump out a good episode sometimes! But okay, yeah sure when people like me want a show they genuinely like and/or care about do better they're wrong or "it's kids show", whatever, as if the target demographic for the show excuses a shows quality or lack there of.

This is what kids shows are capable of.

Spoiler: I nearly cried rewatching just this scene.

Just so we are all clear though, it's okay to like Journeys, I don't like this series, but I do not hate anybody who actually likes it, I'm just sharing my opinions because I've kept a lot of them hidden deep in me for too long.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

Okay, deep breaths. inhale exhale

If I sounded a bit angry before I apologize. Sometimes I may read something on this forums that set me off. Not sure how many people actually care but whatever. I just hope I don't come across as that much of an angry ranting lunatic.

 

[LazySpy]

Okay, deep breaths. inhale exhale

If I sounded a bit angry before I apologize. Sometimes I may read something on this forums that set me off. Not sure how many people actually care but whatever. I just hope I don't come across as that much of an angry ranting lunatic.

You didn't

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Broadcasting Wobbuffet is everything.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

So I've finally seen JN106 and I liked it. I know, me liking a Journey's episode? Seems unheard of, but in all seriousness this one was quite enjoyable for me, not the best episode, but far from terrible. First I'll quickly say it was somewhat of a shame that it couldn't air on the TRio's anniversary of their debut episode (in Japan) EP002, but hey even getting an episode focusing on them when this series neglected them a lot is an Arceus send in of itself. Now for the episode, I think what worked is it gave me a vibe very reminiscent of the Rocket's Sun & Moon days last gen which many would consider their best time in the anime. I was saying to myself the moment James pulled out that bad, "Please be bottle caps...err, crowns because we don't have enough if any continuity nods with the Rockets in this series.", and then lo and behold, the man pulled out a bunch of them and then also there's the Premier Ball that references his Pokeball collection from SM. Jessie was fun much like in SM093, it made perfect sense she memorize the scripts on the fly as she inspires to be an actress. Morpeko sadly still hasn't changed, but Meowth and Wobbuffet's presence was good of course; and their Rotom phone continues to be the best at sass. Also...Brock made a cameo! Wow no one saw that coming so points for keeping him hidden before the episode aired, I'm genuinely glad I didn't spoil the episode for myself, and also hi Allister. Kinda a shame that Cursola's debut was relegated to a cameo, but hey it this is still Journeys we're talking about so hey, what can you do. The breaking of the fourth wall and chewing out the narrator was great. Lastly correct me if I'm wrong, but did they do a Normalium Z pose at one point in the episode. Overall the staff behind this episode did good, shows you sometimes even shows you don't like have potential to make an episode you can like. So does this mean I'm officially back to watching Journeys? Well I'm not making any promises but anything can happen, so we'll see, however I will finally go ahead and actually watch the 4 part Arceus special since I actually heard good things about that, or I will as soon as a find a way to actually watch them...or they get dubbed maybe...

 

[Nicolas721]

Journeys hits the stride from time to time. My recommendations for people that aren't sure about watching it would be (they're mostly fillers since that's where the series shines best):

-JN019: A maybe old-fashioned but great and funny TR story.
-JN023: Pokemon being Pokemon and getting into trouble with themselves in a nice plot. It has a weak beginning, sadly.
-JN024: TR has an unexpected connection with the twerps! And there's some hard drama added later.
-JN032: What happens when you revisit a nostalgic memory?
-JN037: Alola, social anxiety!
-JN047: Kanto/AG crazy competitions finally return.
-JN057: Extremely cute and very relatable for geeky adults.
-JN066: A very well-done adventure that explores Flabebe's powers.
-JN102: What if raids were actually about planning and collaboration?

 

[TheGoldenToon]

JN111: Mohn and Lilie, Snowfield Reunion

Translation from Dephender Airs May 20th

forums.bulbagarden.net

Okay Journeys, you got my attention again.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

So I finally seen JN111, and I liked it. Too lazy to do a review.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

I wasn't even going to post about this at first but . Back to Anipoke blog.

Can someone please explain why some people in this world like to make others believe in things they have no evidence of like I don't know just to provide an example: Journeys continuing with just Scarlet/Violet and Paldea stuff being thrown in, despite the series not even being announced yet. Can't you just taste the passive aggressiveness in what I'm tying? Look, I'm not saying that it can't happen, but when people claim that to be the case with no proof yet they're so insistent it will happen anyway it makes me wonder where does this come from. To hell with it, I guess people on the forums now are psychic, can see into the future and can just tell what the Gen 9 anime's going to before any announcements or confirmations. /s <shoulder shrug>

Meanwhile more stuff on the newest games Scarlet and Violet has been shown and I know I already talked about this, but I still don't feel much of anything, like I don't really know what's up. It's not that I think the games look bad, again may be it's just burn out from games in general like I said on the last post of my other blog. I just can't get super excited for them yet. I'm not even sure when or if I'll buy them, I mean I have a Switch so the console's no problem, I'm just not certain yet. I guess unsurprisingly the one thing I'm looking forward to seeing more of is the new Pokemon, I'd say I like most of what's been shown on that end so far and I will still definitely enjoy watching Let's plays of the games on Youtube, I myself on the other hand just feel this "Yeah, cool, meh." feeling with the games themselves, and it's just such a weird feeling like I'd hate feeling like this, and I even feel kinda bad feeling this way too, but I just can't help it for some reason.

 

[Nicolas721]

But we are psychics, just look at the predictions I made on my signature.

I can sympatize with your feelings on the games, as the artstyle (specially on the humans) looks uglier than SWSH and the school setting makes it feel very childish. However, I think they deserve a chance just for the open world style.