Controversial opinions

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Man, it's been ages since I was on this thread...

I feel that Juan got kind of screwed over in the anime. For all intents and purposes, he's just Wallace with a different skin and name. Like Wallace, he's a Coordinator and even uses the exact same team as Wallace. This could probably be the result of then deciding to swap out Wallace as Ash's last Hoenn League Gym Leader to promote Emerald, but it still ended up robbing Juan if his own team and identity in the anime, in my opinion.

 

[FluffleFi]

Not the first time the anime's ruined a character, just look at Alder. I love the guy in-game, but his anime appearance is just bad; Firstly they made his signature Pokemon Bouffalant, where in all his other appearances its his Volcarona. Its what his deceased partner is as well, another aspect of his character i'm pretty sure the anime never talked about. Also they decided to make him a flirt cause Oshawott wasn't enough and the anime staff refuses to get rid of this trope. He had his moments like when he stopped a Gigalith with his bare-hands, I just hate that every other Champion get to show off and be bad-ass but Alder's treated as a joke a lot of the time. I don't mind that Iris managed to beat him off-screen, but I wish he could show up and have his character redeemed in some way, like how Steven got a chance to shine.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Man, it's been ages since I was on this thread...

I feel that Juan got kind of screwed over in the anime. For all intents and purposes, he's just Wallace with a different skin and name. Like Wallace, he's a Coordinator and even uses the exact same team as Wallace. This could probably be the result of then deciding to swap out Wallace as Ash's last Hoenn League Gym Leader to promote Emerald, but it still ended up robbing Juan if his own team and identity in the anime, in my opinion.

To be fair, the games hardly bother to make him stand out either.

 

[jjliang]

Gardevoir's voice these days (ie. Concordia's/Diantha's/Kimia's (M19, shiny)/Kublocke's) sounds way too angry. Why can't they have a Gardevoir (in this case, Horace's) sound like a Gardevoir for once? (don't even get me started on the Gardevoir from AG109...)

 

[Alola]

To be fair, the games hardly bother to make him stand out either.

Juan will always stand out to me as the Gym Leader who infamously chose to enjoy his harem of Gym Trainers inside closed doors while his city and its people were under catastrophic attack by two ancient eldritch beings; didn't lift a finger or even utter a "thank you."

What the anime did with him was a step up from his original incarnation, in my opinion.

 

[prog rocker]

Juan will always stand out to me as the Gym Leader who infamously chose to enjoy his harem of Gym Trainers inside closed doors while his city and its people were under catastrophic attack by two ancient eldritch beings; didn't lift a finger or even utter a "thank you."

What the anime did with him was a step up from his original incarnation, in my opinion.

...And this is what happens when you overlook the plot hole you caused by moving around characters.

I have nothing against Wallace, but I feel his focus should have been elsewhere, or at least done in a way that didn't cause Juan to be unintentionally unsympathetic (how come I never noticed this before?)

 

[Weddingbells]

This might be unpopular, but a school concept in the pokemon world isn't bad idea in itself. Its just that the few times the anime depicted it, it was abysmal execution. Like tbh, the SM school is hardly one. Considering the we only saw one teacher, 2 staff, few students outside the group, and the lessons they taught were random. Like molding clay?????

How do you even graduate in this school? Ash just ups and leave by the end of the series. But the others still attend minus lillie

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

This might be unpopular, but a school concept in the pokemon world isn't bad idea in itself. Its just that the few times the anime depicted it, it was abysmal execution. Like tbh, the SM school is hardly one. Considering the we only saw one teacher, 2 staff, few students outside the group, and the lessons they taught were random. Like molding clay?????

How do you even graduate in this school? Ash just ups and leave by the end of the series. But the others still attend minus lillie

The most realistic execution of a school concept in the anime was probably Pokémon Tech way back in season 1. Though, as realistic as it may have been, I still didn't like the episode for several reasons, one of which being very unlikable characters.

 

[Rockapheller]

I like Tracey more than Brock.
BW series is better than the Johto saga.

 

[Weddingbells]

I like Tracey more than Brock.
BW series is better than the Johto saga.

Now that's unpopular

 

[Emmy]

I like Tracey more than Brock.

I'll back you on this point.

 

[jjliang]

May is pretty much a reverse Mr. Hooper.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

This may be a bit nitpicky, but I've come to realize that how did Lillie and Lusamine immediately recognize Gladion's Zoroark as Mohn's Zoroark when they first saw it? Seems like any other Zoroark to me. If it was supposed to be a dramatic reveal, at least give it some distinct feature that makes it distinguishable.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

This may be a bit nitpicky, but I've come to realize that how did Lillie and Lusamine immediately recognize Gladion's Zoroark as Mohn's Zoroark when they first saw it? Seems like any other Zoroark to me. If it was supposed to be a dramatic reveal, at least give it some distinct feature that makes it distinguishable.

He did tell Lusamine that he was going to look for it. I think the circumstantial evidence of Gladion suddenly acquiring such a rare Pokemon would lead anyone to the assumption that it was Mohn's, even if it wasn't. I guess the Dusk Ball and/or moveset could have been giveaways too.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

This may be a bit nitpicky, but I've come to realize that how did Lillie and Lusamine immediately recognize Gladion's Zoroark as Mohn's Zoroark when they first saw it? Seems like any other Zoroark to me. If it was supposed to be a dramatic reveal, at least give it some distinct feature that makes it distinguishable.

Zoroark is a rare pokemon and there was already one in the family, so it shouldn’t be hard to put two and two together.

 

[BeautifulEevee]

I can't say SM is my favorite Saga for the things I have already mentioned. There are emotional episodes outside of this Saga, really. While people here keep saying it's an underrated/overhated Saga, what I usually see is a Saga which gets too much praise.

Also, I hate the cartoonish "turn at the camera and smile"-like expression Pikachu had at the end of JN030.

 

[Sai]

At the time I was disappointed anime Lusamine wasn't crazy or evil like her game counterpart, but now I actually don't mind the animes take on her. Yeah it doesn't touch on the child abuse angle from the games but the animes take on her is equally valid.

 

[Weddingbells]

I can't say SM is my favorite Saga for the things I have already mentioned. There are emotional episodes outside of this Saga, really. While people here keep saying it's an underrated/overhated Saga, what I usually see is a Saga which gets too much praise.

Also, I hate the cartoonish "turn at the camera and smile"-like expression Pikachu had at the end of JN030.

On Twitter it's pretty much praised. On here it's not exactly hated, but receives quite the amount of criticism. Honestly outside of here in general, SM is well liked

I think some of the emotional moments in SM are over hyped. Like the whole mallow mom and the Lillie "I hate you" speech doesn't hit as hard. Especially when ash is the one that saves her due to being the MC

 

[Sai]

Mallow's ep is really well done. If you told me 10 years ago the writers would make an ep where one of the main characters parents pass away from cancer or some other illness and the last thing a kid said to them was they hate them and regret it for years later is pretty deep and unexpected.

 

[jjliang]

The fact that in Japan, they actually either retire or even kill off characters should their actors leave the show and still be alive, but not if the actor dies, where in that case, they are simply just recast, as opposed to how in the West, they actually either recast, retire, or even kill off characters if their actors either leave the show and still be alive or die in real life. Killing off characters if their actors die in real life is usually more common in Western-produced movies or TV shows.