Controversial opinions

[Lightning Flame Blast]

It didn’t go nowhere. It just had its climax way too early.

And we never got to find out why Mimikyu is the way it is.

I mean, being ‘jealous’ of Pikachu’s fame isn’t quite the best justification for becoming a psychotic savage whenever it lays its tummy eyes on one...

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

It didn’t go nowhere. It just had its climax way too early.

If you mean the Mega Mart battle then it’s hardly a "climax". The entire thing is unashamedly rigged in Pikachu's favour.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Not to mention Mimikyu still doesn't following Musashi's orders, even though there was an episode about that.

 

[Daenerys]

Some people are really overthinking the Ash's age debate. It's simple: Time occurs normally but none of the characters age. They have to do this otherwise Ash would be 33 by now, and they never knew how long the series would last so it was a safe bet not letting him age. They're not trying to convince us that the 1,000+ episodes of the series took place in less than a year, I'm sure many years have passed but Ash stays 10 because that fits the story they're trying to tell. Sure it's not very satisfying to fans for them to ignore continuity like that, but the writers aren't concerned about it. Any further theorizing and speculation trying to explain this phenomena is strictly headcanon.

Pretty much this. What bothers me is the fact that we're told that he's ten every once in a while by official sources, yet some people still try to deny that Ash is ten. Like, how many times do we have to be told his age before people believe it?

 

[ii kanji]

Part of that is that I'm pretty sure Musashi & Kojiro have also shrunk. They were a helluva lot taller particularly in Kanto and practically tiny in BW, since which they've regained a little height but not as much as OS.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

There's another one of XY where he reaches Jessie's eye level, can't find it.

https://archive-media-1.nyafuu.org/vp/image/1504/41/1504417617279.png

I'd actually put the image up here but the file-size is too large.

 

[ii kanji]

Thanks, that's the one. Is there any one with SM TRio as well?

I’ll have a root through my brain a little later, but there may very well not be one because the TRio have had so little to do with the twerps during SM... I know there‘ll be one with Kojiro and Suiren side by side for example, but I can’t think of a single instance right now where Satoshi shares the frame with either!

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Maybe he's not grown numerically, but definitely physiologically. There's another one of XY where he reaches Jessie's eye level, can't find it. Need one for SM as well.

This is more of an issue with different art styles of each "season". For example:

Spoiler

Same age, same show, different seasons.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

This is more of an issue with different art styles of each "season". For example:

Spoiler

View attachment 126789
View attachment 126790

Same age, same show, different seasons.

Holy shit that escalated

 

[Pulsaro23]

The Kukui vs Ash 6v6 was the worst battle of the SM saga and the only match that actually mattered was Torracat vs inciniroar

Considering that this is the same series the has given us such wonderful gems, like Mimikyu vs Pikachu, Ash vs Hapu, the Fortnite-style Battle Royale and Hau vs Ash/Decidueye vs Rowlet, I'm really curious as to why you consider this one to be the worst one.

 

[ii kanji]

Is there any one with SM TRio as well?

This is my best attempt to capture Satoshi:

and Musashi tbf towers over the kids in this.

Compare however with this:

They are significantly closer in height than Kaki was compared with Musashi (who is a little shorter) just 58 episodes prior. Maybe Kaki went through a growth spurt, although considering Satoshi hasn't aged even by 1 year in >1000 episodes it seems doubtful. The rather more disappointing but realistic explanation remains animator variation...

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Considering that this is the same series the has given us such wonderful gems, like the Fortnite-style Battle Royale

I'll be honest and say that episode was on the Okay end of the scale. It had it's big share of problems but I wasn't as appalled as I was like say, the Hapu battle.

 

[Shadao]

Some people are really overthinking the Ash's age debate. It's simple: Time occurs normally but none of the characters age. They have to do this otherwise Ash would be 33 by now, and they never knew how long the series would last so it was a safe bet not letting him age. They're not trying to convince us that the 1,000+ episodes of the series took place in less than a year, I'm sure many years have passed but Ash stays 10 because that fits the story they're trying to tell. Sure it's not very satisfying to fans for them to ignore continuity like that, but the writers aren't concerned about it. Any further theorizing and speculation trying to explain this phenomena is strictly headcanon.

One has to wonder why nobody questions how Batman still remains the same age of 30/40-ish while all the Robins and Batgirls that he tutored all grew up to be young adults...

Or if you don't want to count continuity reboots, one has to wonder why Spider-Man is still a single young adult just out of college in the 2010s if he had graduated high school during the 1960s and graduated college during the 1970s?

Pretty much this. What bothers me is the fact that we're told that he's ten every once in a while by official sources, yet some people still try to deny that Ash is ten. Like, how many times do we have to be told his age before people believe it?

Continuity Reboot. That's how you keep your protagonist in the same age for new generations without raising questions of time passage and gaining experience. If I make an anime reboot and stated that this Ash is 10 years old, people will buy it without trouble. That's why nobody questions why Spider-Man in the films always seems to get younger for every new Spider-Man series (with MCU being Spidey at his youngest yet) but will question Marvel Comics-616 Spider-Man when his age is brought up.

 

[Johtohfiller]

I'm pretty sure there is no sane in-universe explanations for Ash's age.

Poke-humans age slowly. Lots of fantasy settings do things like that.

 

[Shadao]

Honestly, the moment you put in an in-universe explanation, it will break the suspension of disbelief within the setting and just begs more questions than give answers.

That's what happened when comic books try to justify a continuity reboot with an in-universe Crisis on Infinite Earth crossover rather than just starting over with a public announcement.

 

[Acrobatic Crobat]

Part of that is that I'm pretty sure Musashi & Kojiro have also shrunk. They were a helluva lot taller particularly in Kanto and practically tiny in BW, since which they've regained a little height but not as much as OS.

Late reply and huge off-top, I know, but you just gave me a bit of a fridge brillance.
Ever thought about why ejection seats are considered a last resort in real life? That's because, contrary to what movies often show, ejection is... far from harmless. You're suddenly propelled upwards by a force of small explosive - that's gotta take a serious toll on your internal organs and skeleton, especially spine. Pilots who survived a crash by ejecting have been reported to be up to several centimeters shorter after ejection due to their spines being literally partialy flattened under their own weight - and that's from an ejection seat designed to minimise damage.
Now, think about how often TR end up blasted away in all possible directions... aaaaaaand it makes sense why they suddenly seem shorter (though you'd think it wouldn't be the only lasting damage from blasting off several times a day...)

 

[Acrobatic Crobat]

They're not exactly blasted off straight upwards. They tumble and flip a lot, usually talking the blast face front.

Which is why I noted "in all possible directions". While they're never blasted STRAIGHT upwards, they still almost always gain a rather large vertical momentum, no matter how little sense it makes from physical perspective.

Okay, to put this thread back on tracks...
I love Dawn's Piplup and don't care what everyone says about his jerkassery and selfishness. In fact, it's said self-centered personality that made me like him due to how well it contrasts with the all-loving nice guy Pikachu.
It also helps that for all of his egocentrism they still managed to give him a few episodes where you just want to hug the little guy and tell him everything will be allright - most notably "Piplup, up and away" and "Stopped in the name of love" (and yes, I consider "Stopped in the name of love" a good episode that honestly made me feel bad for Piplup. The out-of-universe justification for him not evolving due to Prinplup apparently being not cute enough was rather flimsy, but in universe they still gave him a good reasoning... at least in original version. In the dub they decided to simply repeat the whole "wants to prove his strenght without evolving" thing Pika already went through).
Overall, he was very flawed character - but those flaws is what made his antics so fun to watch.

 

[Daren]

I didn't really find Piplup annoying, either.

Though your post does remind me of a possibly controversial opinion of mine; I think Pikachu's actually kind of a jerk, at least in regards to smaller things (for larger issues he's usually nice, like saving Meowth when he's in danger). He loves zapping his best friend with minimal provocation (like when a Ditto turned into him and both fry Ash after he tries to guess which is really Pikachu), and sometimes shocks entire groups of people after one annoys him.
He was worse in Kanto/OI though.

 

[Acrobatic Crobat]

Well, Pika was... not exactly the nicest Pokemon back in early Kanto - that's pretty much a fact and not opinion. Zapping Ash (and other people) on slightest provocation, occasionally refusing to battle for flimsy reasons (an early episode - I think it was "Challenge of the Samurai" - had him simply go to sleep when Ash asked him to join the fight), showing clear disappointment that TR didn't drown after S. S. Anne sunk... That said, traveling with Ash and constantly meeting and befriending new people and Pokemon made him mellow down greatly. By the time they went to Hoenn, his jerkish traits were long gone.

 

[Daren]

Well, Pika was... not exactly the nicest Pokemon back in early Kanto - that's pretty much a fact and not opinion. Zapping Ash (and other people) on slightest provocation, occasionally refusing to battle for flimsy reasons (an early episode - I think it was "Challenge of the Samurai" - had him simply go to sleep when Ash asked him to join the fight), showing clear disappointment that TR didn't drown after S. S. Anne sunk... That said, traveling with Ash and constantly meeting and befriending new people and Pokemon made him mellow down greatly. By the time they went to Hoenn, his jerkish traits were long gone.

He got nicer over time, but he still sometimes blasts people for little reason; the Ditto incident was in late DP, for instance, or sharing a grin with Swellow when his Static knocked Ash out in Mossdeep Gym. It's a lot rarer than in the first two or three seasons, though, but still crops up enough I think it's a character trait.
If you count the Pikachu shorts it fried a bunch of Pokémon because Meowth accidentally fell on him in The Musical Squad, though I think finding the shorts of dubious canon is fair.

I'll note that I'm not complaining about this, since I think it gives him a bit more character than if he was just blandly nice all the time.