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Controversial opinions

I think Ash catching fully evolved backfired and it isn't a surprise to me although a bunch of other fans that I've seen on Twitter and YT seem to have surprised Pikachu face expressions. I can't believe some people thought it would be a good idea for Ash to catch Dragonite and Gengar when they were bound to be treated badly as we've seen in the past few months. Sure them winning a battle here and there is good but they suffer from lack of attention outside of battles and to me they seem almost like gachat Pokemon.
 
I think Ash catching fully evolved backfired and it isn't a surprise to me although a bunch of other fans that I've seen on Twitter and YT seem to have surprised Pikachu face expressions. I can't believe some people thought it would be a good idea for Ash to catch Dragonite and Gengar when they were bound to be treated badly as we've seen in the past few months. Sure them winning a battle here and there is good but they suffer from lack of attention outside of battles and to me they seem almost like gachat Pokemon.

What bugs me the most is how Riolu is getting all this attention. Not that it was unexpected but because a lot of people said that maybe the writers wouldn't shill Riolu so much but in the end it's just business as usual again and Riolu's become a thorn in my side.

When I saw the new episode preview I just smirked because at least Riolu is looking like he's in a pinch.
 
I'll admit this now, the way they've been handling Ash's team for Journeys feels like they've taken a giant step back after Sun & Moon. The way each and every member of Ash's Alola team each got their time to shine (excluding the final trial which to be fair to Ash and Pikachu was a total cockup of an episode anyway) was truly wonderful but here it really feels like we've stepped back into XY territory (except without Pikachu getting kicked to the side but even I don't think the recent episode it got has done the poor mouse much favours) since both Gengar and Dragonite as of now feel like they're just there to be character props, getting to show their personalities sometimes but otherwise constantly being hidden away (extremely alarming in Gengar's case because after the battle with Korrina it really hasn't done much of anything for these past few months) and I can't say much about Farfetch'd since it's still a new addition.

Huh, it's funny that I once said that Sakuragi and the assistants felt like props but yet it feels like they've been doing much more than both Gengar and Dragonite combined. How the tables have turned.
 
I'm not losing sleep over the gatcha anymore. I'm certainly not a fan of it, but I think TRio's characterization is strong enough in this series that they are still really entertaining even without their own Pokemon. Their scenes, especially the secret base ones, have been some of my favorite in the whole series so far, and now that Morpeko has been added to the mix they're bound to get even better.

I would like them to catch their own Pokemon (or better yet, use reserves), but I'd be lying if I said the gatcha was ruining them. Their bonds with their Pokemon have always been sweet, but there are plenty of other great aspects of their characters that are still fully intact, if not better than ever.
 
I'm not sure if this is a controversial opinion as I've seen other fans expressing similar ones, but I kind of lost interest in the anime after watching the first episode of Black and White, where the narrator says that Ash is ten years old. Ash was at least eleven in the original series, because in "Pikachu and Pichu" he organized a party to celebrate the day he first met Pikachu. I can't take the idea of a ten-year-old Ash seriously because there's no way he could have travelled through four (now seven) regions in a single year.

The writers seem to have a bit of a dilemma on their hands. They don't want Ash to age, but they don't want to reboot the show and abandon the continuity either, so they've settled on a weird middle ground instead. What bothers me the most is that they keep feeling the need to tell us outright that Ash is ten. Couldn't they just say he's a kid called Ash from Pallet Town and leave it at that, leaving viewers to make up their own minds about how old he is?

Even prior to Black and White, I only watched the anime sporadically because it wasn't often on TV where I live, but I was invested in the show and Ash seemed like a real person who developed as time went on. I was a bit put off by the new voice actors in the few Diamond and Pearl episodes I saw, but I don't think this alone would have killed off my interest in the show because the cast improved dramatically over time. (I watched movies 9-12 back-to-back recently, and it's interesting to hear how Sarah Natochenny got better with each one. She's brilliant now.)

Am I being too harsh on a show that's aimed at children? I've watched a handful of episodes from the later seasons and I've always enjoyed them, even if none of them gripped me enough to make me want to commit to watching a whole season. I'm glad that the show is still going strong. Most recently, I watched the first episode of Journeys because I wanted to see Pikachu's origin story.

I still enjoy the movies, too, which I always watch when I can because they're not a big time commitment like the episodes are. I try to forget about continuity when I watch the movies and treat them as standalone stories, which is going to be easier now that they're set in an alternative timeline.
 
So my controversial opinion is...

Being a big TRio's fan, I actually like Gachat.
Now, this will be quite a long explanation, so beware ;)

First of all, I freaking loved Kiteruguma&Nuikoguma, Mimikkyu and Hidoide in SM and how well developed the bond between them and Rockets was. I was sad to see them go. And I doubted any gen 8 Pokemon Musashi and Kojiro would catch in the new anime could top it for me. Especially after I actually saw what the gen 8 Pokemon looked like - I was quite disappointed and didn't feel like any of them felt like Rocket Pokemon. And with Rockets' 40% appearance (which is scandalous), we really wouldn't have time for giving enough attention to their Pokemon. Their bond with them would never be able to top SM Pokemon.

Musashi, Kojiro, Nyasu and Sonansu are totally lovable, cute and charming on their own. As much as I loved SM, I gotta admit I quite missed seeing more interactions just between the 4 of them, and I think that PM really makes them shine in many eps. I'm really grateful for that and I love it <3 So thanks to Gachat, we can have that again!

And of course, Gachat provides a lot of variety in their battles. It's always interesting to see what Pokemon they'd get each time and thanks to Gachat, they can get some really cool Pokemon they wouldn't be allowed to have otherwise.

That's why I think that Gachat was the best idea for this series ;)
 
There's a reason why people despise the gacha machine. This thing makes it so that Team Rocket can't bond with any Pokemon that spawn from it. Seeing them form bonds with their Pokemon was always nice. With the gacha machine, we don't get that and as a result, it makes it hard for viewers to have any good feelings with the Pokemon that appear from that mechanism unless it's their favorite that pops out and even then, I'd argue that it's hard to get excited over personal favorites coming out of the gacha. I'm not gonna sit here all day and persuade you to think the gacha machine is the worst thing ever, but I will say that whoever came up with that idea should be ashamed because I do feel that it's the worst aspect of Journeys, and this is coming from someone who's been highly critical of Gou. You would think that I'd think Gou is the worst aspect of this anime, but no. I see good in him, I really do. The gacha machine on the other hand? Not so much. It deserves the negative criticism.
 
I only said my opinion and this is the controversial opinions thread, so...

Their bond with their Pokemon is a big part of them as characters, but I just don't think it's the core of their personalities, it's merely one aspect, one more proof to show they can love and be empathethic.
 
I’m actually happy that the Journeys dub isn’t going with British accents for the Galar characters but that’s probably because I’m still suffering funny Vietnam like flashbacks to how utterly terrible Ni no Kuni’s (the film on Netflix, not any of the game’s) dub was with the British accents.

Like seriously, some of the accents from the actors in that wretched film are near straight up comical.
 
I’m actually happy that the Journeys dub isn’t going with British accents for the Galar characters but that’s probably because I’m still suffering funny Vietnam like flashbacks to how utterly terrible Ni no Kuni’s (the film on Netflix, not any of the game’s) dub was with the British accents.

Like seriously, some of the accents from the actors in that wretched film are near straight up comical.
I just thought how Leon would sound with a British accent.
 
Yeah there's nothing more grating on the ears than British accents being fudged by Americans. JCC's James (whatever that monstrosity is supposed to sound like) is bad enough...

Am American screwing up an accent from any East and Southeast Asian nation would like to have a word with you. Seriously, hearing an American try to speak in a Chinese accent hurts.
 
Yeah there's nothing more grating on the ears than British accents being fudged by Americans. JCC's James (whatever that monstrosity is supposed to sound like) is bad enough...
Indeed. Thinking about it gives me nightmare flashbacks to Mey-Rin in Black Butler. For some reason Monica Rial thought that a British maid ought to sound like a strangled cat. :sick:
 
I like anime Iris, she's my favourite character. I like that she's a nature girl, her look (hair an outfit), and that she's mature and puts Ash in his place (the 'condescending ' part that some people complain about).
I do agree that the writing for her on the show was bad though.
 
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Been a while since I last watched BW, but I thought Iris' thing was that she was as immature, if not more so, than Ash was. She just used Ash's own immaturity/eccentricities to distract from her own flaws because he was an easy target.

I wish Ash took the bait more. It's no fun having one character poke fun at another only for that character to let it roll off them like it's nothing. I maintain to this day that Ash was the odd one out in that trio and never seemed to gel with Iris and Cilan the way he did with other companions. Like they couldn't find the right balance between hyperactive kid who occasionally does dumb crap and experienced trainer who can give out sage advice.
 
Hey guys, just a reminder that this is the controversial opinions thread - a place where people should feel comfortable expressing their controversial/unpopular opinions. It's not a space to tell others their point is 'wrong' or 'deserves the criticism.' There's a time and place to debate with each other as fans, and the controversial opinions thread is not that time nor place. Please remember to be respectful of those who are using this thread for its intended purpose.

Appreciate your understanding in keeping the pokeani forum a comfortable place for fans to express themselves :enzap:
 
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