Controversial opinions

[Huikyeong]

I'll be honest, while I thought Chimmy was better with Ash and it worked better with Ash, I don't think it's a bad reflection on Paul's character. Like I said in my post regarding him, he has a tough love type of training. Paul explained many times to chimchar what was expected of it and why he caught it but it just didn't perform the way he wanted, even though it had sooo many opportunities do redeem itself. It's like, you have an employee at your restaurant who has potential but they aren't performing as they should and they were given soo many opportunities to fix the problem and they don't and you let them go. This is basically what was happening there, y'know?

As for the Kanto thing it was more than "pyramid king beat my brother and now I'm mad". It was more "my brother has hopped from league to league and has won many gym badges, and frontier symbols. He loses one battle, ONE BATTLE, and he stops battling like if it were nothing. he did nothing to fix the problem and I am not ok with that" Paul isn't a jerk because his brother lost, he is obsessed with power because his brother was a quitter and ran away after defeat. He wants to find HIS inner strength that doesn't involve looking up to anyone.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

It's just a fact that they wasted Cheren. He would've made an interesting companion. However, in my opinion, I think they should really improve Bianca's character and her development before making her Ash's travelling companion.

Bianca deserved a better treatment than what she got in the anime. That gag of her always running into Ash and sending him into a body of water got really old really fast. From some point on, a simple flood of apologies just isn't enough to make up for a repeated mistake, and Bianca passed that point quite early on.

-I don't think Paul is a "abusive" trainer at all. Yes he trains his Pokemon harshly but I think the word some might be looking for is "tough love". He trains his men using tough love. Like how a drill sergeant trains their troops, they care about you but they aren't gonna hold your hand and they will yell at you but that's only to motivate you to do your best. Plus his training was giving him some serious results and to be honest I wish the way Ash battled was challenged as well. Just me

You're actually not the only one whom I've heard saying something like that, and I can see what you mean. The whole thing between Ash and Paul was the fact that Ash didn't like Paul's training methods, but they kept proving their effectiveness when Paul pretty much curbstomped Ash time and time again. It was a battle of ideologies. Ash was a really mature Trainer at this point, having been through 3+ regions, and had a lot of experience under his belt. The rivalry with Paul was really a test for Ash to show if he could live up to all the experience he had gathered in his previous journeys. The D&P series wasn't as much of a growth story for Ash as much as it was a test for him and his skills and beliefs in Pokémon training.

And also note that when Ash finally beat Paul, we didn't see Paul wanting to change his ways of training or regretting what he had done to his Pokémon. He merely came to respect Ash's training methods and was forced to admit that Ash had succeeded in making his team strong, in particular having been able to unlock the true potential in the very Pokémon he himself had released and determined worthless. The two's rivalry ended in a moment of mutual respect, not any sort of forced changes in their methods of handling Pokémon. And you've really gotta commend the anime staff for that.

 

[Huikyeong]

It's nice to see I am not the only one who feels that way. While it may not be an objective opinion it's just how I felt haha

Thank goodness for this thread. It's weird to find out that most of the characters I like are factually bad so it makes liking and defending them weird ;p (except, Paul. Everyone likes him so there's one)

 

[EscLucy]

It's nice to see I am not the only one who feels that way. While it may not be an objective opinion it's just how I felt haha

Thank goodness for this thread. It's weird to find out that most of the characters I like are factually bad so it makes liking and defending them weird ;p (except, Paul. Everyone likes him so there's one)

I really like Paul actually. He is my favourite rival and he had a good character development. If I was in the Pokemon world, I wouldn't train my Pokemon like his but I would have a mix between Paul and Ash. I really do respect him and he sounded cool and dominant so that's why I liked him when I was younger. Probably says a lot about my taste in guys haha

 

[Huikyeong]

I would definitely train my Pokemon like Paul does. Has an interesting battle style

 

[HiroHunter]

Paul is someone I would had liked if he didn't act like a off-putting jerk.

 

[EscLucy]

Paul is someone I would had liked if he didn't act like a off-putting jerk.

I think they were trying to go for "off-putting jerk" like Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and I think they were very successful and Paul does have a sizeable fanbase.

 

[SinnohEevee]

I think they were trying to go for "off-putting jerk" like Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and I think they were very successful and Paul does have a sizeable fanbase.

Paul was also the anime's version of Silver, your meanest rival in the games (fitting that they made him Giovanni's son).

 

[Huikyeong]

Plus him being a jerk was totally justifiable. And his reasons made me want to root for him.

 

[HiroHunter]

Plus him being a jerk was totally justifiable. And his reasons made me want to root for him.

I don't really get his reasons, but maybe that me only liking jerks when their funny.

 

[Huikyeong]

I prefer Raichu to Pikachu. Raichu is much cuter but at the same time underappreciated.

 

[EscLucy]

I prefer Raichu to Pikachu. Raichu is much cuter but at the same time underappreciated.

Whilst, you may be right that Raichu is cuter in the anime, you have to recognise how many people who hate change will be angry and also Ash and Pikachu is a marketing USP - it wouldn't be the same if it was Ash and Raichu - it would ruin the whole story in my opinion.

 

[Alola]

Whenever Ash & friends seem like they haven't faced a substantial hardship in a while or are walking a bit too long on the morally high road, sometimes I want them to be shocked by a Thunderbolt or two in the same vein as Team Rocket. When Pikachu had memory loss in Hoenn is a shocking example.

 

[Huikyeong]

i don't like gary oak much as a rival and a character (well except in DP when he was assistant). all he did was pretty much taunt ash and in the most childish ways. it got a little annoying after a while. i guess if you are the grandson of a well respected research scientist...

 

[EscLucy]

i don't like gary oak much as a rival and a character (well except in DP when he was assistant). all he did was pretty much taunt ash and in the most childish ways. it got a little annoying after a while. i guess if you are the grandson of a well respected research scientist...

I didn't mind it. He taunted but he was an actually good battler and he allowed the viewers to see the different sides of Ash e.g. the confident side in gyms or battles and the childish side when getting taunted by Gary. I quite enjoyed it but Iris taunted Ash and it was too repetitive as Iris was in nearly every BW episode, Gary just turned up from time to time so I didn't mind.

 

[Almonds]

they wasted Cheren.

I initially liked Cheren's appearance as a gym leader, but was disappointed to learn that he didn't have a larger role in the anime. He was heavily involved in the Team Plasma plot in the games, and Cheren was introduced in Episode N so why the heck not bring him along the adventure. Typical Best Wishes being typical and wasting/not using perfectly good characters that are in the games, and then choosing to go with their original characters, which turned out to be badly executed ideas.

Personal wish list of replacement:

Trip (main rival position) -> Hilda. Or whoever is recognizable from the games.
Cilan (male companion) -> Cheren (I could see him somewhat being like Souji from M20). Mind, I liked Cilan, but only because I liked his voice actor's performance (Miyano Mamoru's presentation of Cilan was pure awesome)
Iris (female companion) -> Iris (just use her game personality where she's a lot nicer to other people)
Cameron (second main rival position) -> Nate, Rosa, Hugh. Oh god, choosing any of these three would have been way, way better.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I feel enough of Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket. I would gladly take the games' player characters replaced with Ash and the organization in the respective regions for a more dynamic animé. Yes, I like Ash's personalities in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Kalos but still it wouldn't beat the new main characters imo.

Ash has become an icon over these last two decades. He's the face of the Pokémon anime. Even some official anime staff members have made the same suggestion previously, but... Well, you can see how that has turned out. One does not simply get rid of an icon.

Actually, at the end of the original series, there was debate whether to get rid of Misty or Team Rocket. The anime staff knew that both of these choices would cause loud opinions, but eventually came to decide that getting rid of Misty was the lesser of the two bads.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

They should have given a chance to Gold, Brendan, Calem, Sun and all the others.

We seriously need an Origins/Generations-style short series for Pokémon Adventures. It would more than deserve it.

 

[HiroHunter]

I'm going to guess i'm the only person here that hates pokemon origins.

 

[SinnohEevee]

I can see Ash doing the same thing over and over for 50 more years.

And I agree about the manga. We should have a Pokémon Special animated series. Kasuka tries to show everything from the games.

About Origins, Red there is a Gary Stu.

Adventures Red >>> Origins/games Red.