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Controversial opinions

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 really don't think many people consider XY the gold standard for the anime, at least not that I've seen, in fact I really think the majority of people say DP is.

I'm really curious about your comparison between DP and SM. To me, the only similarity between the two is its a series based on Pokemon with a main character called Satoshi who has a Pikachu. Otherwise I feel the two series are nearly opposite ends of the spectrum (well really that SM isn't in the same class as any of the other series for a long, long list of reasons). Do you see the two as similar or you just happen to like the two of them the most?
 
XY was highly praised during its run and it wasn't uncommon to see people say that it was their favorite Pokemon series. I don't know if that has drastically changed since XY ended, but when people talk about the best Pokemon anime series, I'm pretty sure both DP and XY come up the most as responses.

I like XY, but I can definitely understand why people would say its overrated. There are a lot of good things about the series, but there were just a few too many problems I had with it for me to really get as excited about it as other fans, Ash's Kalos team, Serena's Showcase journey and Alain were some of the biggest noticeable problems that really pushed XY further down for me.
 
I know i'll never understand why people thought anything would happen between Ash and Serena. The guy hasn't shown any interest in girls since the 1st season. And i'm not an expert on romance but is it normal to carry such deep feelings for a boy you haven't seen or probably even thought about for what was probably two years? And then keep those feelings when he doesn't even remember you? The first time she saw him again was on TV when he jumped off Prism Tower to rescue Pikachu. I can't remember it but I don't think she even had any context for why he was doing that. If I saw someone I haven't seen in two(or one) years, I don't think my first response would be to leave home and chase after them.
 
XY was highly praised during its run and it wasn't uncommon to see people say that it was their favorite Pokemon series. I don't know if that has drastically changed since XY ended, but when people talk about the best Pokemon anime series, I'm pretty sure both DP and XY come up the most as responses.

I like XY, but I can definitely understand why people would say its overrated. There are a lot of good things about the series, but there were just a few too many problems I had with it for me to really get as excited about it as other fans, Ash's Kalos team, Serena's Showcase journey and Alain were some of the biggest noticeable problems that really pushed XY further down for me.

The XY series was the series that brought an end to the Speed Stripes backgrounds used in battles in favor for actual backgrounds and a moving camera. Consequently, the battles all feel fresh and new. It also came after the largely controversial Black and White (Best Wishes) series which tried to reboot Ash back to his "original" personality. And considering that XY Ash is the polar opposite of BW Ash, it's not surprising to see people flock to the XY series after the bad reception with Best Wishes.

I know i'll never understand why people thought anything would happen between Ash and Serena. The guy hasn't shown any interest in girls since the 1st season. And i'm not an expert on romance but is it normal to carry such deep feelings for a boy you haven't seen or probably even thought about for what was probably two years? And then keep those feelings when he doesn't even remember you? The first time she saw him again was on TV when he jumped off Prism Tower to rescue Pikachu. I can't remember it but I don't think she even had any context for why he was doing that. If I saw someone I haven't seen in two(or one) years, I don't think my first response would be to leave home and chase after them.

The reason is rather simple. It's the first time since Misty that the main girl shows a crush on Ash. And it's not even something that can be dismissed as an English dub invention. It's far more explicit in the Japanese original. And after years of Ash being platonic friends with May, Dawn and Iris with the shipping fandom only having, at best, ambiguous hints that may or may not be romantic, this new development is rather unknown territory for everyone.

Surely the safest story route for Serena, if she is going to leave by series' end, is not have a romantic crush on Ash. That's why he's platonic with the other girls. And that made a few people curious. At least for me. How far can they go with this crush? Is there a payoff to all of this?

Ironically, Serena's crush is one of the few things in XY that lives up to (and exceeded) the hype. I don't think anyone was expecting the kiss, even among Amourshippers.
 
I really don't think many people consider XY the gold standard for the anime, at least not that I've seen, in fact I really think the majority of people say DP is.

I'm really curious about your comparison between DP and SM. To me, the only similarity between the two is its a series based on Pokemon with a main character called Satoshi who has a Pikachu. Otherwise I feel the two series are nearly opposite ends of the spectrum (well really that SM isn't in the same class as any of the other series for a long, long list of reasons). Do you see the two as similar or you just happen to like the two of them the most?

When talking about DP and SM, I’m not comparing the two, I just think that they’re the two best series.
 
I don't really care if XY is overrated or not. I remember myself being really excited for the series most of the time and I had many inspiration toward the franchise at the time, such as buying a 3DS and the games along with. I loved many things about the series and it was the time I enjoyed the most when I felt, I mean really, hyped for XYZ series once the Japanese opening got me to that point. The problems such as character development or rushed whatever have been the problem of the show since the day 1. None significantly makes XY worse than any other series in that regard. Losing the league doesn't make the series any worse than anything before it either, since this is literally the same in any other one before XY anyway. I wonder how fair it is to criticise XY series in "perfection" basis when none series is close to be the perfect one.
 
I don't think anyone expected XY to be perfect. Nothing can be perfect. I just don't think that other series having similar problems or how none of the other series are perfection themselves negates or downplays the problems XY have. To be clear, I don't think that XY is a bad series by any means. It does have good points and I can see why it received so much hype during its run for a few reasons. I just think that the problems I had with it prevented XY from living up to the hype
 
I think on of my gripes about XY are the Pokemon. I won't say the other seasons had them all perfectly fleshed out and this might just be my lack of knowledge since I don't really care for the XY series, but I just feel like many of them just didn't get that much time to sow themselves off.

Serena- Pancham stayed feisty and had a rivalry with Chespin, but other than that had nothing else. Sylveon was shy as an Eevee but that was quickly forgotten once it evolved, I don't even thing she and Bunnelby interacted anymore after that. I can't even begin to tell what Braixen's personality was like.

Clemont- Bunnelby was pretty interesting at the start since no one in the group had ever had the regional critter. Down-to-earth, with cute interactions with Sylveon back when she was an Eevee and even managed to put up a good fight against Pikachu. But other than that didn't get too too much. What was Luxray's personality again? Seems like it just got all stern and serious. Dedenne might've been helpful for Bonnie but for the most part it was just there for cuteness. At least we didn't have to go through a ton of episodes of it going missing.

Ash- Hawlucha was flashy and boisterous with a passion for battling, and got a sort of parental bond with Noivern. Sadly Noivern itself had lackluster development. It had like, what, four or five battles through the whole series, with none of them being gym matches? Goodra, as many will say, was very rushed for no real reason other than to get its arc done. And then it was gone for most of the series and god only knows if we'll ever see it again. Talonflame was brave and willing to put its life on the line, so I can give it that. Pikachu was the same as ever. And again, with my lack of knowledge, I don't know too much about Greninja but i'm sure it got just as much development as the likes of Charizard, Sceptile or Infernape since it was Ash's Kalos powerhouse.
 
I think on of my gripes about XY are the Pokemon. I won't say the other seasons had them all perfectly fleshed out and this might just be my lack of knowledge since I don't really care for the XY series, but I just feel like many of them just didn't get that much time to sow themselves off.

Serena- Pancham stayed feisty and had a rivalry with Chespin, but other than that had nothing else. Sylveon was shy as an Eevee but that was quickly forgotten once it evolved, I don't even thing she and Bunnelby interacted anymore after that. I can't even begin to tell what Braixen's personality was like.

Clemont- Bunnelby was pretty interesting at the start since no one in the group had ever had the regional critter. Down-to-earth, with cute interactions with Sylveon back when she was an Eevee and even managed to put up a good fight against Pikachu. But other than that didn't get too too much. What was Luxray's personality again? Seems like it just got all stern and serious. Dedenne might've been helpful for Bonnie but for the most part it was just there for cuteness. At least we didn't have to go through a ton of episodes of it going missing.

Ash- Hawlucha was flashy and boisterous with a passion for battling, and got a sort of parental bond with Noivern. Sadly Noivern itself had lackluster development. It had like, what, four or five battles through the whole series, with none of them being gym matches? Goodra, as many will say, was very rushed for no real reason other than to get its arc done. And then it was gone for most of the series and god only knows if we'll ever see it again. Talonflame was brave and willing to put its life on the line, so I can give it that. Pikachu was the same as ever. And again, with my lack of knowledge, I don't know too much about Greninja but i'm sure it got just as much development as the likes of Charizard, Sceptile or Infernape since it was Ash's Kalos powerhouse.

Even as you're trying to say how much the personalities are lacking you have quite a bit to say about the personalities, which I think kind of disproves your whole point. Every series has really missed out on some Pokemon's personalities and development, but I really think that was one of XY's strong points. I think it helps to pay attention to the background too, because they threw in a lot of minor interactions that really showed a lot of personalities, along with a lot of interaction between Pokemon. In XY it was much more subtle and way less in your face than SM, plus the personalities were more varied and complicated, rather than as simplified as they are in SM (but I will admit, just like you said about XY, I may have a lack of knowledge about SM since I hate it). And even with the size of the group, pretty much every Pokemon at least had some level of relationship with one another, with quite a few strong relationships that went across trainer lines (both people and Pokemon).

Bunnelby and Sylveon do interact quite a bit after the evolution, Sylveon is still somewhat shy, but I feel they did a really good job of progressing that slowly and showing improvement, the issue wasn't just gone immediately like you say. Sylveon was able to mature and be very caring, even though she remained somewhat shy. Bunnelby actually got quite a ton of development for a non-Ash Pokemon and had a really interesting personality. Chespin and Pancham did get focus on their rivalry, but they had quite a lot of other quirks and focus points as well. I do agree Luxray got a little less development after evolving, but again I think Luxray still got quite a few background scenes that showed off some points of its personality. Even if Goodra was rushed, it actually still had quite of bit of personality. Honestly, I think Hawlucha was one of the most fun personalities we have ever gotten, and was much more complex than just the bravado and battling passion. I actually think Greninja got simplified a bit after evolution, I preferred the Froakie and Frogadier personalities, but still I think it had a good personality.

Anyway, one thing I think harms a lot of people's opinions of the XY series as a whole is that XYZ is what they saw last. I agree that XYZ was a let down from XY, I think mostly because it had to be rushed. It was still good, but not as good as XY. Having seen XY now very recently, it has helped remind me just how great the series was. Like @Rockapheller was saying, I think at the end of 2015 (end of XY) was the best I felt about the series and Pokemon in general in a very long time. I don't want to speak for others too much, but I just wonder if some people forget just how good XY had been up to that point because all they remember is XYZ either being a bit too rushed, or are just sore about the league, etc. I actually was reading the old reviews on here from before I used this site after I watched XY episodes, and the general mood of them seemed extremely positive compared to reviews I have been involved in. So yes, XYZ got a little stale, but the series as a whole was still quite good, and I think its important to not forget just how good XY was.
 
With
Lana’s recent capture of Eevee
I feel like Ash won’t be catching anything else in S&M.

What we’ve seen of his team is what we get from here on out and for the league he’ll probabrly bring back one of his Kanto Pokemon.
Sorry Greninja, Kanto chums only.
 
I actually didn't have a problem with how Team Skull were going about acquiring Nagisa. Yes, they shouldn't have been pulling on it (comically mind you), but who are Ash & Co. to dictate who is allowed to catch wild Pokemon and who isn't? I guarantee not every Pokemon is initially "comfortable" being caught by, or even given to, our heroes and other Trainers, so this was pretty jarring for me. Especially when Nagisa causes similar discomfort to other Pokemon that it meets (it freaking Tackles them!).

I think they could have written that confrontation better.
 
There has been a lot of salt going around on the internet for Lana being the one to catch Eevee instead of Ash. It's like the Kalos League all over again: people are so hyped up for something happening, and when things don't go as they expected, they turn salty and start launching angry insults at the show.

Even my personal reaction to this went the same way as it did for the Kalos League. At first, I was hyped up to the max, and when things went differently than expected, I was initially in a mixed mood, but after processing everything a little, I accepted it and moved on. That's my philosophy in life: I like to move on and leave bad feelings behind me. Makes it a bit harder for me to properly learn some important life lessons, though, but that's not the point here. Let's face it: Lana hasn't had any team changes in almost 100 episodes. It was a high time for her to get a new team member.

So yeah. I don't mind Lana getting the catch instead of Ash. Not at all.
 
Despite not following the Japanese version, even I've heard of the backlash. I can understand it to a degree since Ash really needs more Pokemon and I assumed that he would get Eevee just so he could have both of the special starters on his team, especially if they are planning on showing a new Eeveelution.

That being said, I do think some of the reactions I've seen are pretty extreme. The show didn't promise Ash would get Eevee. Fans just made that assumption. It was a reasonable assumption, but an assumption nonetheless. Plus, all of the female characters in the cast only have one Pokemon on them and Lana hasn't had much focus lately, so this seems like a way to do something about that. If one of the other cast members would catch Eevee, I would have bet money on Lillie capturing it. She seems to be the most popular character in the cast, primarily due to her video game counterpart, and she seems to be treated as the main female lead of the series. Still, Lana could use more focus and I'm sure that the reasoning behind giving her Eevee makes sense.

Besides that, after watching the Eevee shorts, I just wanted Eevee to have friends, be happy and not be lonely anymore, so this works in that regard. There's also the bonus of Eevee playing with Popplio. I've seen images of the two of them together and it is adorable, so that's great.
 
While I wanted Ash to catch my favourite Pokémon, i wasnt expecting anything. This fandom likes to hype itself for nothing and get false hopes.
 
While I wanted Ash to catch my favourite Pokémon, i wasnt expecting anything. This fandom likes to hype itself for nothing and get false hopes.

Like what I did, then I laughed at my despair for... being wrong. (The worse tragedy out of Lana catching that Eevee.) Then laugh at the despair of the immature children/ man children would refuse to bow their heads and get over it!
 
Am I the only one who hates every Pokémon that Ash had in recent years (5th gen onwards)?

I mean Iiked Rowlet in the past and I now hate it, I liked Oshawott in the past but the anime make me hate it, I liked Greninja but now is meh to me. And Torracat, Lycanroc, Pignite,Snivy,Scraggy,Krokkodile,

The same thing happens with Team Rocket but in reverse now Bewear , Mimmikyu and Marearnie are my favourtes , and my favourie 5th gen mon is Yammask (Although i dont like Inkay and Gourgeist they were awful).
 
I don’t mind what the anime did with the Ultra Beasts, as most of them aren’t inherently evil. I looked them up and saw how they were created, and they were based on the idea of invasive species. The thing about invasive species is that they aren’t evil on their own, but the situations they create by their existence can be problematic. Therefore, most of the Ultra Beasts are just confused and unfamiliar with the world of Pokémon, and the anime can treat them more lightly, as they aren’t intending to cause harm.

The only two Ultra Beasts that are evil are Nihilego, which is based off of a parasite, and Guzzlord, who will do literally anything in order to get his next meal, even if that means destroying towns and reducing the landscape to a wasteland. Because of this, the anime has taken Nihilego really seriously, and it’s looking like the same’s going to happen with Guzzlord.
 
I don’t mind what the anime did with the Ultra Beasts, as most of them aren’t inherently evil. I looked them up and saw how they were created, and they were based on the idea of invasive species. The thing about invasive species is that they aren’t evil on their own, but the situations they create by their existence can be problematic. Therefore, most of the Ultra Beasts are just confused and unfamiliar with the world of Pokémon, and the anime can treat them more lightly, as they aren’t intending to cause harm.

The only two Ultra Beasts that are evil are Nihilego, which is based off of a parasite, and Guzzlord, who will do literally anything in order to get his next meal, even if that means destroying towns and reducing the landscape to a wasteland. Because of this, the anime has taken Nihilego really seriously, and it’s looking like the same’s going to happen with Guzzlord.
Well said. I've seen a ton of people complaining about the anime "not handling Ultra Beasts properly" or "not making them as threatening as they're supposed to be", or something like that. But I've never had such a huge issue with it. I've gotten used to it by now and I'm perfectly comfortable with for the reasons listed in the above post.

I'm also glad that Guzzlord, of all the Ultra Beasts at the very least, gets to be shown off in its natural environment.
 
I don’t mind what the anime did with the Ultra Beasts, as most of them aren’t inherently evil. I looked them up and saw how they were created, and they were based on the idea of invasive species. The thing about invasive species is that they aren’t evil on their own, but the situations they create by their existence can be problematic. Therefore, most of the Ultra Beasts are just confused and unfamiliar with the world of Pokémon, and the anime can treat them more lightly, as they aren’t intending to cause harm.

The only two Ultra Beasts that are evil are Nihilego, which is based off of a parasite, and Guzzlord, who will do literally anything in order to get his next meal, even if that means destroying towns and reducing the landscape to a wasteland. Because of this, the anime has taken Nihilego really seriously, and it’s looking like the same’s going to happen with Guzzlord.

All of that! The Beasts themselves are NOT your generic alien species that want to kill everyone for potato reasons, they are powerful pokemon that are in an alien world and react exactly as you would expect one to react in that situation. (Walk a mile in there shoes, you would act exactly as they would.)
They are still a problem for those around, but the beast HAS no ill intentions outside of the lives they are use too.
As for your two exceptions.
Nihilego, unlike the other beasts, are not even sentient and act on instinct, they cannot be reasoned with. Guzzlord would act like a puppy if they go with a comedic route... but that is where the comedy ends, their biology is built around eating everything and their world is a hell hole even for them.
 
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Despite not following the Japanese version, even I've heard of the backlash. I can understand it to a degree since Ash really needs more Pokemon and I assumed that he would get Eevee just so he could have both of the special starters on his team, especially if they are planning on showing a new Eeveelution.

That being said, I do think some of the reactions I've seen are pretty extreme. The show didn't promise Ash would get Eevee. Fans just made that assumption. It was a reasonable assumption, but an assumption nonetheless. Plus, all of the female characters in the cast only have one Pokemon on them and Lana hasn't had much focus lately, so this seems like a way to do something about that. If one of the other cast members would catch Eevee, I would have bet money on Lillie capturing it. She seems to be the most popular character in the cast, primarily due to her video game counterpart, and she seems to be treated as the main female lead of the series. Still, Lana could use more focus and I'm sure that the reasoning behind giving her Eevee makes sense.

Besides that, after watching the Eevee shorts, I just wanted Eevee to have friends, be happy and not be lonely anymore, so this works in that regard. There's also the bonus of Eevee playing with Popplio. I've seen images of the two of them together and it is adorable, so that's great.

Honestly, I had doubts that Eevee would go to Ash. I always felt that should Ash ever get an Eevee, it would be foreshadowed to evolve into Espeon to match with Gary's Umbreon. Based on the shaggy hair and the fact that Partner Eevee doesn't evolve at all, it feels a bit off for this Eevee to go to Ash. It feels more like a classroom pet than anything else. Not to mention Ash always get Pokémon introduced in the current Gen rather than previous Gen (and if he does get a previous Gen Pokémon, expect it to evolve into the current Gen Pokémon).

Of course, I wasn't paying attention to the hype since I had doubts that the Alola League would even have a proper build up to begin with.
 
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