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Controversial opinions

I'm not really seeing why Dawn would be expected to pick up Johanna's skills just because they're related. And she's not alone in her ineptitude: for instance, Serena sucked at Rhyhorn racing initially despite her mom's mastery of the sport.
Serena hated Rhyhorn racing, so that makes sense. Plus, even though she clearly hated it, and didn't recognize her own skills, she was shown at multiple times having a lot more skills that she even realized she had from her upbringing. She also didn't really get a long with her mom that well, and when they were apart she was able to appreciate the lessons she learned and apply them, and was actually fairly good at Rhyhorn racing even without additional practice, just from remembering her past lessons.

The point isn't that Dawn was expected to pick up Johanna's skills, just that she had an amazing opportunity others didn't have, which makes her not really an underdog. Because she always wanted to be a top coordinator and lived with one her whole life, she had an advantage very few others had. It just makes you question why she didn't try to learn more from her mother, who literally teaches classes to youth learning about contests. Again, as I have said before, some people have trouble learning from their parents, but Dawn was shown during the series to be able to learn from her mother and got along with her better than Serena did to Grace, so why she learned so little in her first 10 years of life, when she already had this goal for at least several of them, is what I am questioning. But my whole point isn't "shame on Dawn for not learning from your mom" its just that I don't feel like she can be considered an underdog considering the opportunities she had that she (apparently) didn't really take advantage of.
 
Er, are you implying that he purposely held back at the Sinnoh League? Because I don't see why he wouldn't have used his best Pokemon there when it was such a crucial competition.
I wouldn't say Paul was holding back, but his style isn't really to dominate with absolute strength. He tries to set up and lead his opponent into traps, but Ash being Ash used his 'off-the-wall' strategies and manged to counter right back. Heck, Ash would have lost if Infernape's Blaze hadn't of activated; he was poisoned and i'm pretty sure he had three other Pokemon to fight through before Electivire was sent out.
 
Serena hated Rhyhorn racing, so that makes sense. Plus, even though she clearly hated it, and didn't recognize her own skills, she was shown at multiple times having a lot more skills that she even realized she had from her upbringing. She also didn't really get a long with her mom that well, and when they were apart she was able to appreciate the lessons she learned and apply them, and was actually fairly good at Rhyhorn racing even without additional practice, just from remembering her past lessons.

The point isn't that Dawn was expected to pick up Johanna's skills, just that she had an amazing opportunity others didn't have, which makes her not really an underdog. Because she always wanted to be a top coordinator and lived with one her whole life, she had an advantage very few others had. It just makes you question why she didn't try to learn more from her mother, who literally teaches classes to youth learning about contests. Again, as I have said before, some people have trouble learning from their parents, but Dawn was shown during the series to be able to learn from her mother and got along with her better than Serena did to Grace, so why she learned so little in her first 10 years of life, when she already had this goal for at least several of them, is what I am questioning. But my whole point isn't "shame on Dawn for not learning from your mom" its just that I don't feel like she can be considered an underdog considering the opportunities she had that she (apparently) didn't really take advantage of.
Perhaps it was her overconfident attitude that got in the way?
 
Expecting good writing from PokéAni is expecting too much. Kids are dumb and don't care about it (especially the younger ones), so there's no need for it.

I think that's a bit harsh. While I don't think that kids are actively looking for good writing when it comes to what they like to watch, that doesn't mean that they're dumb. They just want to watch something that they like, but kids also know when they don't like something. They aren't just mindless machines that will eat up anything you put in front of them.

Plus, the Pokemon anime does have good writing. It's obviously not perfect and writing quality is subjective anyway, but I do think that there are plenty of instances throughout all of the various series, including BW and SM, where the writing is good. Just because the anime is a toyetic series designed to promote the newest games/merchandise so kids will go buy the stuff doesn't mean that it can't have good writing. I do think that there is an issue of people well outside the target demographic expecting the anime to fit their tastes and the same can apply to the video games for that matter, but I don't think that means the writing in the Pokemon anime is automatically bad.
 
I think that's a bit harsh. While I don't think that kids are actively looking for good writing when it comes to what they like to watch, that doesn't mean that they're dumb. They just want to watch something that they like, but kids also know when they don't like something. They aren't just mindless machines that will eat up anything you put in front of them.

Plus, the Pokemon anime does have good writing. It's obviously not perfect and writing quality is subjective anyway, but I do think that there are plenty of instances throughout all of the various series, including BW and SM, where the writing is good. Just because the anime is a toyetic series designed to promote the newest games/merchandise so kids will go buy the stuff doesn't mean that it can't have good writing. I do think that there is an issue of people well outside the target demographic expecting the anime to fit their tastes and the same can apply to the video games for that matter, but I don't think that means the writing in the Pokemon anime is automatically bad.
Should insulting kids here be banned? I have read nasty stuff about their intelligence.
 
Game Lillie is far more enjoyable than Anime Lillie. Mallow is even annoying as her game version. Anime Solp has actually more developpement than Game Solp. Kiawe and Lana are the same as their game versions.
 
How come items aren't featured more often? I can understand using ones such as potions or Burn Heals during battles would ruin the pace and come off as cheating, but what about the rest? We most always see the aforementioned potions, berries, evolution stones and Pokeballs. But what about ones such as Mystic Water, the Life Orb or hell, the Light Ball? Items are pretty dang important in the games, especially the ones that have t be gotten through BP. You'd think the anime would try and teach kids how to really use them. THinking about it, I think it would have been pretty cool if Paul had used a few. He seems like the kind of guy who'd seek them out.
 
How come items aren't featured more often? I can understand using ones such as potions or Burn Heals during battles would ruin the pace and come off as cheating, but what about the rest? We most always see the aforementioned potions, berries, evolution stones and Pokeballs. But what about ones such as Mystic Water, the Life Orb or hell, the Light Ball? Items are pretty dang important in the games, especially the ones that have t be gotten through BP. You'd think the anime would try and teach kids how to really use them. THinking about it, I think it would have been pretty cool if Paul had used a few. He seems like the kind of guy who'd seek them out.
I think they don't use them because it would be difficult to actually show the item being held in a high action battle, but I totally agree it would be cool to see more items. They did come up with creative ways to "hold" mega stones, so a lot of held items could be made into necklaces or other attachments. I always thought a silk scarf (or even Gen II a pink bow) would look really cute on an Eevee. I think a lot of them would look strange though, like assault vest for example. I always wondered about light ball, it seems big to me, it would take some creativity to have Pikachu hold that and still look normal and be able to move around well in battle. As for Paul, I always thought it would have been interesting to show him using something like a toxic orb, since his Ursaring had guts, it would have been another one of those more questionable styles that would have gotten the audience to consider if that's a strategy they really want to use.
 
I think they don't use them because it would be difficult to actually show the item being held in a high action battle, but I totally agree it would be cool to see more items. They did come up with creative ways to "hold" mega stones, so a lot of held items could be made into necklaces or other attachments. I always thought a silk scarf (or even Gen II a pink bow) would look really cute on an Eevee. I think a lot of them would look strange though, like assault vest for example. I always wondered about light ball, it seems big to me, it would take some creativity to have Pikachu hold that and still look normal and be able to move around well in battle. As for Paul, I always thought it would have been interesting to show him using something like a toxic orb, since his Ursaring had guts, it would have been another one of those more questionable styles that would have gotten the audience to consider if that's a strategy they really want to use.
That, plus some items are hard to explain logically in the show. For example, what could be a proper explanation for Silk Scarf to increase normal-type moves of the holder in a regular battle? Some items could easily use the excuse "a mystical energy that helps Pokémon reach to its best" but not all of them can go with it.
 
Fine points, but its not like they HAVE to explain how they all work. THis series has been gone on for 20 years and yet we still don't really know how Pokeball works, where evolution stones came from or how TMs/HMs are made. But I do understand why; it'd probably be more of a hassle to try and animate all those items sticking to Pokemon and how would some like Ditto even hold them?
 
I don’t know how unpopular this opinion is, but I consider XY to be worse then S&M and DP for a couple of reasons: (Warning: essay ahead)

As the series progressed, Ash went from being the mix of goofy and serious that we know and love him for to becoming a generic shonen protagonist that had none of his sillier traits except his love for food.

The entire idea of Pokémon showcases. I really hate beauty pageants, so showcases- which are essentially Pokémon beauty pageants- being added to the show made me want to die inside. The fact that showcases are both anime-exclusive and female only just really rubs me the wrong way, and the fact that it’s basically just Appeal Round: The Competition made it a little boring to me. At least contests had battles after the initial appeal round to spice things up and make it livelier. And it’s not like performance battles aren’t a thing, because when Serena battles Aria, she specifically mentions that it’s a performance battle, which begs the question; if performance battles are a thing, why aren’t they a part of showcases?

Next we have Team Rocket, who struggled with their character throughout the show. In the past, they were the comic relief for most of the series, acting as villains but having amusing personalities while carrying out their plans. They also had a softer side, as well as a loose code of ethics that they managed to follow. Even as they got more annoying as the series progressed, they managed to be somewhat tolerable. In B&W, while their personalities changed drastically, their character was still consistent throughout the series. In XY, they could go from helping mend a Pokémon’s branch back together to almost killing a girl within the span of a couple of episodes. Honestly, Team Rocket was at their lowest in XY.

Then there’s the issue of Noivern, who was a clusterfuck from beginning to end. First off, his egg was just found in the middle of nowhere, without any explanation of why it was there or how it was abandoned. He got only 3 focus episodes and didn’t develop that much as a Pokémon or show a lot of personality. His evolution was also completely undeserved, as he didn’t have enough character buildup, like Goodra, or wasn’t around long enough, like Braixen or Greninja, and his personality completely disappeared after he evolved. He’s easily one of Ash’s most forgettable Pokémon in the entire series.

Another issue are Ash’s four rivals, who were all pretty bad in their own ways aside from Sawyer. Let’s look at each rival individually:
Sawyer is the best rival, as he was the first rival that had a Teacher-Student relationship with Ash, and it was interesting to see him learn from Ash and then surpass him after a while so that Ash then had to play catch-up to Sawyer. He was pretty good, and I have no real issues with him.
Tierno was also decent, but his issues were that he didn’t have a Mega Stone, and besides his love for dancing, his personality was pretty bland for the most part.
Trevor was fucking awful, and top 3 worst rivals in the series. He got almost no spotlight, his entire personality revolved around taking pictures, he had barely any battles with Ash, and to add insult to injury, his battle at the League was almost entirely glossed over and his MEGA-EVOLVED CHARIZARD died in one hit.
Then there’s Alain. Alain, while not the worst rival in the series, is the most despised, for some very good reasons. He wasn’t introduced to Ash until the final season of the series, and had a Charizard that was OP for no reason. Then, he beat Ash in one of the most BS plot armor situations I’ve ever seen. He was the complete personification of a Gary Stu, and I hated his existence.

Lastly, there’s Serena. While she had some amazing sides to her, there were some other sides that were terrible. A large part of her personality revolved around her crush on Ash, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t so one-sided, due to Ash being one of the most love-blind people I’ve ever seen. She’s also the worst of Ash’s companions when it comes to battling, where she would’ve lost to Team Rocket once if it wasn’t for the help of Bonnie, who was a better battler then Serena.

Now, I will say that XY does have positives, like how the battles are the best in the series, Serena has a great character arc, the main cast’s personality bounces off each other extremely well, Goodra’s entire arc, the Team Flate arc, and Bonnie every time she’s on screen. However, I still think that there major issues with the series that kept me from fully enjoying it, and I’m honestly confused why everyone calls it the best series of the anime.

Edit: Something I’d also like to mention is that people complained about Ash using Torracat’s Flame Charge over and over again against Incineroar, citing that there wasn’t any strategy. That is an entirely fair criticism to make. HOWEVER, when almost the exact same situation happened in XY with Fletchling, people just completely ignore it. Let’s take a look at the similarities:
The base forms of a fire type evolve into their mid forms, they battle against their fully evolved forms, they both learn to use Flame Charge, they both evolve in a ball of fire, and BOTH Ashes spam Flame Charge. Do you know what the only difference is? In XY, Ash somehow fucking wins the battle. In S&M, Ash uses this strategy against Incineroar because he assumed it would work like the last time he used the strategy, and it fails miserably, as it should.

Listen, I realize that I’m ripping XY a new one right now, but I’m tired of people saying that the series is the gold standard for the anime when XY has such glaring flaws and, at least in my opinion, DP and S&M are much better.
 
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I don’t know how unpopular this opinion is, but I consider XY to be worse then S&M for a couple of reasons: (Warning: essay ahead)

As the series progressed, Ash went from being the mix of goofy and serious that we know and love him for to becoming a generic shonen protagonist that had none of his sillier traits except his love for food.

The entire idea of Pokémon showcases. I really hate beauty pageants, so showcases- which are essentially Pokémon beauty pageants- being added to the show made me want to die inside. The fact that showcases are both anime-exclusive and female only just really rubs me the wrong way, and the fact that it’s basically just Appeal Round: The Competition made it a little boring to me. At least contests had battles after the initial appeal round to spice things up and make it livelier. And it’s not like performance battles aren’t a thing, because when Serena battles Aria, she specifically mentions that it’s a performance battle, which begs the question; if performance battles are a thing, why aren’t they a part of showcases?

Next we have Team Rocket, who struggled with their character throughout the show. In the past, they were the comic relief for most of the series, acting as villains but having amusing personalities while carrying out their plans. They also had a softer side, as well as a loose code of ethics that they managed to follow. Even as they got more annoying as the series progressed, they managed to be somewhat tolerable. In B&W, while their personalities changed drastically, their character was still consistent throughout the series. In XY, they could go from helping mend a Pokémon’s branch back together to almost killing a girl within the span of a couple of episodes. Honestly, Team Rocket was at their lowest in XY.

Then there’s the issue of Noivern, who was a clusterfuck from beginning to end. First off, his egg was just found in the middle of nowhere, without any explanation of why it was there or how it was abandoned. He got only 3 focus episodes and didn’t develop that much as a Pokémon or show a lot of personality. His evolution was also completely undeserved, as he didn’t have enough character buildup, like Goodra, or wasn’t around long enough, like Braixen or Greninja, and his personality completely disappeared after he evolved. He’s easily one of Ash’s most forgettable Pokémon in the entire series.

Another issue are Ash’s four rivals, who were all pretty bad in their own ways aside from Sawyer. Let’s look at each rival individually:
Sawyer is the best rival, as he was the first rival that had a Teacher-Student relationship with Ash, and it was interesting to see him learn from Ash and then surpass him after a while so that Ash then had to play catch-up to Sawyer. He was pretty good, and I have no real issues with him.
Tierno was also decent, but his issues were that he didn’t have a Mega Stone, and besides his love for dancing, his personality was pretty bland for the most part.
Trevor was fucking awful, and top 3 worst rivals in the series. He got almost no spotlight, his entire personality revolved around taking pictures, he had barely any battles with Ash, and to add insult to injury, his battle at the League was almost entirely glossed over and his MEGA-EVOLVED CHARIZARD died in one hit.
Then there’s Alain. Alain, while not the worst rival in the series, is the most despised, for some very good reasons. He wasn’t introduced to Ash until the final season of the series, and had a Charizard that was OP for no reason. Then, he beat Ash in one of the most BS plot armor situations I’ve ever seen. He was the complete personification of a Gary Stu, and I hated his existence.

Lastly, there’s Serena. While she had some amazing sides to her, there were some other sides that were terrible. A large part of her personality revolved around her crush on Ash, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t so one-sided, due to Ash being one of the most love-blind people I’ve ever seen. She’s also the worst of Ash’s companions when it comes to battling, where she would’ve lost to Team Rocket once if it wasn’t for the help of Bonnie, who was a better battler then Serena.

Now, I will say that XY does have positives, like how the battles are the best in the series, Serena has a great character arc, the main cast’s personality bounces off each other extremely well, Goodra’s entire arc, the Team Flate arc, and Bonnie every time she’s on screen. However, I still think that there major issues with the series that kept me from fully enjoying it, and I’m honestly confused why everyone calls it the best series of the anime.

Edit: Something I’d also like to mention is that people complained about Ash using Torracat’s Flame Charge over and over again against Incineroar, citing that there wasn’t any strategy. That is an entirely fair criticism to make. HOWEVER, when almost the exact same situation happened in XY with Fletchling, people just completely ignore it. Let’s take a look at the similarities:
The base forms of a fire type evolve into their mid forms, they battle against their fully evolved forms, they both learn to use Flame Charge, they both evolve in a ball of fire, and BOTH Ashes spam Flame Charge. Do you know what the only difference is? In XY, Ash somehow fucking wins the battle. In S&M, Ash uses this strategy against Incineroar because he assumed it would work, just like the last time he used the strategy, and it fails miserably, as it should.

Listen, I realize that I’m ripping XY a new one right now, but I’m tired of people saying that the series is the gold standard for the anime when XY has such glaring flaws and, at least in my opinion, DP and S&M are much better.

I personally think the title of Ash's most 'forgettable' Pokemon would go to Palpitoad. Noibat at least had some personality when it was introduced; it was a crybaby had rely on others to get by, but I know where you're coming from. It was introduced pretty late and barely had any screen time to make its personality stronger. It had no Gym Battles and was really on ever used in battles against Alain and Sawyer. And honestly, I don't really think it should have tied with Alain's Salamence. I much prefer Scraggy over Noivern.

As for Alain himself, I wouldn't call him a gary stu. He was skilled but he had his flaws, such as being manipulated by Lysandre. His Charziard, though? Yeah, it was OP. Battling other Mega Pokemon one-on-one I can see, but taking a hit from Primal Groudon? When most of the big legendaries in the anime are buil up to be these godly beasts that shouldn't be challenged, I don't think you should be taking those hits so well, especially when its a super effective hit from said legend's signature move.
 
After thinking about it while watching this week’s episode of S&M, I’ve realized that Ash and Lillie has the potential to be much better then Ash and Serena. This is because with Serena, she spent the wlentire series with a one-sided crush on Ash that never goes anywhere until the final episode due to how extremely dense he is. Meanwhile, Ash and Lillie are forming closer bonds much more naturally, and it’s developing on both sides rather then just purely from the girl. Also, I could see actually see Lillie going to Kanto with Ash due to her not having any real obligations that make her have to stay in Alola, at least not right now.
 
Sawyer is the best rival, as he was the first rival that had a Teacher-Student relationship with Ash, and it was interesting to see him learn from Ash and then surpass him after a while so that Ash then had to play catch-up to Sawyer. He was pretty good, and I have no real issues with him.

Disagreed with your entire post and especially this. Sawyer was god damn annoying.
 
The entire idea of Pokémon showcases. I really hate beauty pageants, so showcases- which are essentially Pokémon beauty pageants- being added to the show made me want to die inside. The fact that showcases are both anime-exclusive and female only just really rubs me the wrong way, and the fact that it’s basically just Appeal Round: The Competition made it a little boring to me. At least contests had battles after the initial appeal round to spice things up and make it livelier. And it’s not like performance battles aren’t a thing, because when Serena battles Aria, she specifically mentions that it’s a performance battle, which begs the question; if performance battles are a thing, why aren’t they a part of showcases?

My guess is that they didn't want performance battles as a part of the Pokemon Showcase because that would make the competition look even more like the poor man's Contest. Showcases were already watered down Contest appeals, so throwing in a battle portion would have made people wonder why they didn't just bring back Contests even more. A battle portion could have made Showcases more interesting, but at the same time, they would have been better off bringing back Contests instead of relying on Showcases.

OniCornwalis said:
Next we have Team Rocket, who struggled with their character throughout the show. In the past, they were the comic relief for most of the series, acting as villains but having amusing personalities while carrying out their plans. They also had a softer side, as well as a loose code of ethics that they managed to follow. Even as they got more annoying as the series progressed, they managed to be somewhat tolerable. In B&W, while their personalities changed drastically, their character was still consistent throughout the series. In XY, they could go from helping mend a Pokémon’s branch back together to almost killing a girl within the span of a couple of episodes. Honestly, Team Rocket was at their lowest in XY.

I wouldn't say that their characters were consistent during BW. There were times where they would go back and fourth between their comedy relief personalities to their stoic Team Rocket grunt personalities. A few examples were James capturing Yamask, the Litwick episode and the whole Meowth traveling with Ash's group mini arc. Not to mention they basically reverted back to their comedy relief role/personalities during the last arc of the series. I don't know if I'd say that Team Rocket were at their lowest during XY, but I definitely wouldn't say that they were consistent in BW.

OniCornwalis said:
Then there’s the issue of Noivern, who was a clusterfuck from beginning to end. First off, his egg was just found in the middle of nowhere, without any explanation of why it was there or how it was abandoned. He got only 3 focus episodes and didn’t develop that much as a Pokémon or show a lot of personality. His evolution was also completely undeserved, as he didn’t have enough character buildup, like Goodra, or wasn’t around long enough, like Braixen or Greninja, and his personality completely disappeared after he evolved. He’s easily one of Ash’s most forgettable Pokémon in the entire series.

I'm not sure if Goodra had enough character buildup for its evolutions. They rushed through Goodra's development too. There was slightly more of a point for Ash to get Goodra that fast for his Gym battle with Clemont and to save its home, but I'd say it was still undeserved like with Noivern. People often complain about Greninja taking up the spotlight and while I can understand those complaints, both Goodra and Noivern are by far the biggest problems I have with Ash's Kalos team. That and the fact that he had an empty slot for most of the series for no good reason. I wouldn't say that its one of his most forgettable Pokemon. I kept having to remind myself that some of Ash's reserve Pokemon exist during BW, but I never got to that point with Noivern. It was handled completely poorly though.

OniCornwalis said:
Another issue are Ash’s four rivals, who were all pretty bad in their own ways aside from Sawyer. Let’s look at each rival individually:
Sawyer is the best rival, as he was the first rival that had a Teacher-Student relationship with Ash, and it was interesting to see him learn from Ash and then surpass him after a while so that Ash then had to play catch-up to Sawyer. He was pretty good, and I have no real issues with him.
Tierno was also decent, but his issues were that he didn’t have a Mega Stone, and besides his love for dancing, his personality was pretty bland for the most part.
Trevor was fucking awful, and top 3 worst rivals in the series. He got almost no spotlight, his entire personality revolved around taking pictures, he had barely any battles with Ash, and to add insult to injury, his battle at the League was almost entirely glossed over and his MEGA-EVOLVED CHARIZARD died in one hit.
Then there’s Alain. Alain, while not the worst rival in the series, is the most despised, for some very good reasons. He wasn’t introduced to Ash until the final season of the series, and had a Charizard that was OP for no reason. Then, he beat Ash in one of the most BS plot armor situations I’ve ever seen. He was the complete personification of a Gary Stu, and I hated his existence.

I'm not sure if Trevor could be considered one of Ash's rivals. They only battled once and that was to calm down Trevor's Charmeleon. They seemed to be going for more of a connection between Clemont and Trevor at least during the Summer Camp arc, but that didn't really go anywhere. He appeared in the Kalos League, but there was no indication he had badges before and it was only so Mega Charizard X could crush Mega Charizard Y. He was just bland and forgettable. At least Tierno always came off as energetic and his dancing gimmick made him memorable. Plus, I give the anime credit for giving him a team that actually made sense with his goal, which is more than I can say for the X/Y games.

As for Alain, I liked him at first, but he just became so overpowered by the time he appeared in XY proper. Going head to head with Legendary Pokemon and defeating ten Mega Pokemon in a row was so overkill. They had to make him a challenge for Ash, but they just went too far. He's basically as overpowered as Tobias was, but without the in-universe justification to make it understandable at least for me. I can buy that Legendary Pokemon are all extremely powerful in the anime, but a Mega Charizard X doesn't have that same kind of explanation. I don't know if I hate him that much. I like his friendship with Ash and how much cares about Marin, but he is definitely one of my least favorite rivals at least.

OniCornwalis said:
Lastly, there’s Serena. While she had some amazing sides to her, there were some other sides that were terrible. A large part of her personality revolved around her crush on Ash, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t so one-sided, due to Ash being one of the most love-blind people I’ve ever seen. She’s also the worst of Ash’s companions when it comes to battling, where she would’ve lost to Team Rocket once if it wasn’t for the help of Bonnie, who was a better battler then Serena.

Honestly, I never quite understood the complaints people had about Serena's battling skills. Prior to SM, she showed the least interest in battling compared to all of the other female traveling companions, but I didn't think that in itself was a problem. Battling is a big part of the franchise, but I don't think that having a main character who isn't interested in battling is necessarily a bad thing. Granted, there are still some issues that can be taken from this, like Serena going into Contests as a way to practice for Showcases despite how the two goals require drastically different skills, including actually being good in battle, and not having any female character actively into battling can be problematic, especially when the only competition the main female lead took part in was basically a glorified popularity contest. Still, Serena didn't really want to battle, so her lack of skills doesn't seem like that big of a problem.

OniCornwalis said:
Edit: Something I’d also like to mention is that people complained about Ash using Torracat’s Flame Charge over and over again against Incineroar, citing that there wasn’t any strategy. That is an entirely fair criticism to make. HOWEVER, when almost the exact same situation happened in XY with Fletchling, people just completely ignore it. Let’s take a look at the similarities:
The base forms of a fire type evolve into their mid forms, they battle against their fully evolved forms, they both learn to use Flame Charge, they both evolve in a ball of fire, and BOTH Ashes spam Flame Charge. Do you know what the only difference is? In XY, Ash somehow fucking wins the battle. In S&M, Ash uses this strategy against Incineroar because he assumed it would work like the last time he used the strategy, and it fails miserably, as it should.

Listen, I realize that I’m ripping XY a new one right now, but I’m tired of people saying that the series is the gold standard for the anime when XY has such glaring flaws and, at least in my opinion, DP and S&M are much better.

I'm not sure if I'm thinking of a different battle than the one you're referring to, but the first instance of Ash spamming Flame Charge like that that I can think of is his Gym battle against Valerie. He kept using Flame Charge so that once the effects of Trick Room wore off, Fletchinder could be even faster than before and win the battle. I could be forgetting another instance where he just spammed Flame Charge like that though.
 
My guess is that they didn't want performance battles as a part of the Pokemon Showcase because that would make the competition look even more like the poor man's Contest. Showcases were already watered down Contest appeals, so throwing in a battle portion would have made people wonder why they didn't just bring back Contests even more. A battle portion could have made Showcases more interesting, but at the same time, they would have been better off bringing back Contests instead of relying on Showcases.



I wouldn't say that their characters were consistent during BW. There were times where they would go back and fourth between their comedy relief personalities to their stoic Team Rocket grunt personalities. A few examples were James capturing Yamask, the Litwick episode and the whole Meowth traveling with Ash's group mini arc. Not to mention they basically reverted back to their comedy relief role/personalities during the last arc of the series. I don't know if I'd say that Team Rocket were at their lowest during XY, but I definitely wouldn't say that they were consistent in BW.



I'm not sure if Goodra had enough character buildup for its evolutions. They rushed through Goodra's development too. There was slightly more of a point for Ash to get Goodra that fast for his Gym battle with Clemont and to save its home, but I'd say it was still undeserved like with Noivern. People often complain about Greninja taking up the spotlight and while I can understand those complaints, both Goodra and Noivern are by far the biggest problems I have with Ash's Kalos team. That and the fact that he had an empty slot for most of the series for no good reason. I wouldn't say that its one of his most forgettable Pokemon. I kept having to remind myself that some of Ash's reserve Pokemon exist during BW, but I never got to that point with Noivern. It was handled completely poorly though.



I'm not sure if Trevor could be considered one of Ash's rivals. They only battled once and that was to calm down Trevor's Charmeleon. They seemed to be going for more of a connection between Clemont and Trevor at least during the Summer Camp arc, but that didn't really go anywhere. He appeared in the Kalos League, but there was no indication he had badges before and it was only so Mega Charizard X could crush Mega Charizard Y. He was just bland and forgettable. At least Tierno always came off as energetic and his dancing gimmick made him memorable. Plus, I give the anime credit for giving him a team that actually made sense with his goal, which is more than I can say for the X/Y games.

As for Alain, I liked him at first, but he just became so overpowered by the time he appeared in XY proper. Going head to head with Legendary Pokemon and defeating ten Mega Pokemon in a row was so overkill. They had to make him a challenge for Ash, but they just went too far. He's basically as overpowered as Tobias was, but without the in-universe justification to make it understandable at least for me. I can buy that Legendary Pokemon are all extremely powerful in the anime, but a Mega Charizard X doesn't have that same kind of explanation. I don't know if I hate him that much. I like his friendship with Ash and how much cares about Marin, but he is definitely one of my least favorite rivals at least.



Honestly, I never quite understood the complaints people had about Serena's battling skills. Prior to SM, she showed the least interest in battling compared to all of the other female traveling companions, but I didn't think that in itself was a problem. Battling is a big part of the franchise, but I don't think that having a main character who isn't interested in battling is necessarily a bad thing. Granted, there are still some issues that can be taken from this, like Serena going into Contests as a way to practice for Showcases despite how the two goals require drastically different skills, including actually being good in battle, and not having any female character actively into battling can be problematic, especially when the only competition the main female lead took part in was basically a glorified popularity contest. Still, Serena didn't really want to battle, so her lack of skills doesn't seem like that big of a problem.



I'm not sure if I'm thinking of a different battle than the one you're referring to, but the first instance of Ash spamming Flame Charge like that that I can think of is his Gym battle against Valerie. He kept using Flame Charge so that once the effects of Trick Room wore off, Fletchinder could be even faster than before and win the battle. I could be forgetting another instance where he just spammed Flame Charge like that though.

For Team Rocket in BW, Meowth traveled with the group as a way to gain their trust and carry out their plan, so I wouldn’t exactly call that being inconsistent, as he knew what he was doing the entire time. I can agree with your other points on TR though, as I’ll admit that I haven’t watched much of BW due to the quality drop.

With performance battles, they could’ve done something like having them only occur during the Master Class or specific showcases or something like that, just to spice things up.

In regards to Serena’s battling skills, I wouldn’t have minded except for the fact that it seems like she can’t defend herself fully when alone, as shown in episode 56 where she almost lost to TR. The fact that she had to rely on Bonnie, someone who isn’t even a trainer, in order to beat them showed that she couldn’t perform basic battling, something every trainer should be able to do regardless of their career path.

For Fletchling, I’m talking about episode 35, Battles in The Sky, where Fletchling evolved into Fletchinder.
 
I definitely don't think that XY was as good as most folks hyped it to be. I guess it's due to how most fans thought that the battles in XY were amazing and how battling isn't my main focus when I watch the show. I prefer character interactions overall, but XY's cast was my least favorite cast at the time, so XY was like my personal Hell on Earth.
 
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