Controversial opinions

[Daenerys]

Honestly, I think they should have bumped up Snorlax's capture to season one instead of waiting till season two.

Either that or kept Muk on Ash's team after the power plant episode, although I guess that the writers were more enthralled by the idea of Muk remaining a gag Pokemon with Prof. Oak. They could've brought Krabby back by mid-Kanto to fill the void on Ash's team as well instead of just waiting until the Indigo league, but nooooooo. Man looking back, Kanto sure was a mess.

 

[Shadao]

As @FinnishPokéFan92 pointed out, Goodra was a special and unique case, since it was a Pokémon that, despite being released back into the wild, was still under the slight supervision of a human and, thus, had a way of returning (with help form said human). As such, this is a case of Goodra being the exception, not the rule. The only one that could return in a feasible way would be Butterfree, due to the species' migration patterns or something like that. The rest, however, are stuck in a particular location within a certain region with no way of contacting Ash (or viceversa) and don't have any way of knowing where Ash is for certain. And, again, you claim that they could contradict it, but, the fact of the matter still remains that they haven't done it and that there's no reason to believe that they will.

Ash's Lapras briefly reunited with Ash in Lapras of Luxury. How convenient that encounter was considering there was no attempt on either side to find each other. A hundred to one chance. And Lapras doesn't even need to fly. In a world where a Bewear can travel from Hawaii to Japan with its own brute strength, any of Ash's Pokémon can return and no one will ask questions. This is a fictional world after all where contrivances are more frequent than you realize.

And with something like Ash-Greninja, well there is incentive to bring him back for marketing and nostalgia purpose.

From what I've just seen of this "Suede's Pokémon Journey Videos", his videos apparently focused on the Indigo League and Orange league sagas. You know, the first two season of the Pokémon anime? A type of anime that, up to that point, hasn't been done before? I'm sure that the trope "Early Installment Weirdness" more than applies to the first ever season of a show made in the late 90s (which, funnily enough, the Pokémon anime has its own section regarding this, with most of the examples listed being from the OG series), since the showrunners were trying to find their footing and figure out what kind of show they wanted to make. Later seasons and series, however, have managed to tell some coherent, consistent and logical (for reference, go watch the DP anime, since that one (excluding some of the fillers) probably has one of the best overall stories in the anime's history). And when I say logical, I don't mean emotionless rationality that follows and imitates the rules of the real world to a T, but that it follows the preestablished in-universe rules and that the actions of the characters match with the way they've been portrayed throughout the series.

After Best Wishes and Sun & Moon, I've given up on preestablished in-universe rules. The series is ultimately molded by whatever the new director wants the story to be, and coincidences are frequent even in modern series. Ash going from experienced to newbie between DP and BW? Serena being a childhood friend of Ash via retcon and just happened to be watching TV when Ash does his heroics? Ash wanting to go to school in Alola and not wear fingerless gloves? They are all made to serve the story and marketing the showrunners want. Suede's videos only tell me that this was always the case.

Ah yes, the good-ol' bulletproof, impossible-to-refute (and mindless) "this is intended for children" argument. Whatever shall I do about it?

You do realize that there are TV show and animated show that, despite being intended for children, were/are able to tell stories that follow a well organized narative structure without having to resort some kind of BS forced way in order to keep the story going, right? The original Teen Titans, Gravity Falls, Samurai Jack, the original Ben 10 and its sequels, Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated, the DCAU, many of the Transformers cartoons, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it's quote-unquote predecessor, Star Wars: Clone Wars etc. All of these shows, despite attempting to appeal to the younger demographic, were able to tell some incredible, outstanding and sometimes emotional stories, they were able to tell these stories in a coherent manner that matched the way their fictional worlds and their characters were portrayed and, thanks to all that, managed to appeal to a wider audience than just children and some continue to be remembered and beloved by many people of all ages even to this day. Heck, even My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (of all cartoons) managed to accomplish all of that, so what's stopping Pokémon?

Yes, Pokémon is under the control of a group of writers and, if they felt like it, they could very well write some of the weirdest and most nonsensical stories ever conceived while also breaking all of the lore, characters and rationality that they previously established regarding that world. But if they were to do that, than it would show and an inability to writer a proper story. And to hypothetically brush such a problem aside by saying that it's nothing more than a fictional world? It just shows your complete disinterest regarding storytelling and writing and makes me question why you even brought the subject up, if you don't care about it.

In regards to Pokémon, yes. That is the case. It's what the people behind the series have said, and thus expectations have to take into consideration of those statements. Especially regarding things that older fans care about. Children can enjoy stories with heavier topics like the concept of death or the effects of abusive relationship, but they don't question a lot of continuity errors that hardcore fans do (like Ash still being ten years old). And quite frankly, there's a lot of fans who would overlook a continuity flaw if it means bringing back an old favorite into the spotlight.

I've been here watching the anime for a long time, and many decisions and choices I've seen being made were "pandering to the audience or fans" first, then worry about how we got here. That's how Dawn ended up in Unova. That's why Misty and Brock got their reunion with Ash in Alola. And thus, if the writers chose to, even Pokémon released can come back to Ash and this time permanently stay with him in Oak's Lab. Makes as much sense as comic books (like Bucky Barnes being alive after decades of him being "dead").

 

[game3524]

Either that or kept Muk on Ash's team after the power plant episode, although I guess that the writers were more enthralled by the idea of Muk remaining a gag Pokemon with Prof. Oak. They could've brought Krabby back by mid-Kanto to fill the void on Ash's team as well instead of just waiting until the Indigo league, but nooooooo. Man looking back, Kanto sure was a mess.

Yeah, they could have kept Muk. But they made him into a gag pokemon. I don't think Krabby works as well given Squirtle was on the team.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Ash definitely needed a sixth Pokemon for his team during Kanto. Krabby probably wouldn't have worked when he already had Squirtle, although I don't think that Squirtle got that much attention compared to the other starters. Muk would have been an interesting choice, but maybe since Ash caught it fully evolved, they didn't see much of a reason to keep it on the team. It might have stuck around if Ash caught it as a Grimer instead. Keeping Primate or catching Snorlax during season one as opposed to season two might have been the best possible options for Ash's sixth Kanto Pokemon.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Ash's Lapras briefly reunited with Ash in Lapras of Luxury. How convenient that encounter was considering there was no attempt on either side to find each other.

Not that hard to believe, considering that Ash meeting Lapras' family and him releasing it so it could be with them happened in the Orange Islands, a place that's established to be very close to Kanto (with them even sharing the same ocean/sea). And guess what other region is right next-door to Kanto (hint: it's the one Ash was visiting at the time of that episode).

And besides, Lapras didn't return as an active party member like Goodra did and Lapras wasn't (somewhat) under the care of another human character, so the latter's situation is still different and unique from this one.

In a world where a Bewear can travel from Hawaii to Japan with its own brute strength, any of Ash's Pokémon can return and no one will ask questions.

An overexaggerated hyperbolic running gag doesn't prove anything, especially since none of Ash's Pokémon are anywhere near similar to Bewear.

This is a fictional world after all where contrivances are more frequent than you realize.

And I can assure you, from personal experience, that whenever plot inconsistencies and contrivances do happen in fictional media, a lot of people would not only notice them, but also be turned off by them, to the point that even stuff like a certain number one sci-fi franchise could end up losing a lot. It being a fictional world doesn't make that magically go away and is a very poor (not to mention tiring) excuse.

After Best Wishes and Sun & Moon, I've given up on preestablished in-universe rules.

Did they actually break any of the preestablished in-universe rules during those series? They were definitely inconsistent with some of the characters' preestablished... well, character and they did have some less than stellar stories (with the former generally being considered the worst by a majority of fans), but other than that, I haven't really seen something to contradict any of the anime's established universal rules.

The series is ultimately molded by whatever the new director wants the story to be, and coincidences are frequent even in modern series.

Wait... we're talking coincidences or contrivances? Because those are two different things. A contrivance is something that's generally used in order to keep the plot moving, even if it makes the plot feels artificial and/or unbelievable. Meanwhile, a coincidence is a series of events/circumstances that are remarkably similar without having a strong connection. And the latter is far more believable than the former when it comes to writing, since coincidences do happen in real life (like, for example, you and one of your friends happening to simultaneously and unknowingly visit the same place and meeting each other there or two people you know separately getting the same haircut within moments of each other or you happening to see one of your friends or their relatives on TV).

Ash going from experienced to newbie between DP and BW? Serena being a childhood friend of Ash via retcon and just happened to be watching TV when Ash does his heroics? Ash wanting to go to school in Alola and not wear fingerless gloves?

While yes, the first one is most definitely an inconsistency (regarding Ash's character), the latter two aren't any kind of inconsistency.

We've barely seen anything regarding Ash's childhood, so it's not that hard to believe that he's met Serena during that time. And how old was he back then? Around 5 or something? Not hard to believe that he's forgotten about her either, since, form his point of view, it wasn't that incredible of a meeting. And, again, seeing someone that you once met on TV isn't that unbelievable of a coincidence.

As for Ash wanting to attend school, was he ever shown to hate doing it? He's definitely been show to be bad at stuff regarding school, even before he enrolled in the Alolan one, but, from what I remember, he didn't have any problems participating in school-related activates (like the Pokémon Summer Camp in XY or the Pokémon Summer Academy in DP or Candice's Trainers' School in DP), so no inconsistency there. And since when has Ash been shown to have an undeniable fondness of fingerless gloves?

Suede's videos only tell me that this was always the case.

Again, Suede's videos are based one very outdated material. DP and AG, for example, were pretty consistent with the series that came before. And, again, none of the series have broken any of the preestablished rule. If anything, they generally happen to expand on some of them.

In regards to Pokémon, yes. That is the case. It's what the people behind the series have said

...Citation needed? Seriously, outside of that interview that was linked by someone during the recent SM vs XY ratings debate, where someone working on the anime said that ratings don't affect the anime or its staff, I don't remember them stating that they don't care about writing consistent or coherent stories. Maybe they did (though I do find it hard to believe that they did), but I certainly haven't seen anything proving that.

And quite frankly, there's a lot of fans who would overlook a continuity flaw if it means bringing back an old favorite into the spotlight.

Good on them if they can ignore a writing issue. But, quite frankly, people being able to overlook problems in media doesn't change the fact that they are still problems. You can ignore the fact that your room is on fire all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it is on fire or the fact that it is a problem.

Also, while there may be a lot of fans "who would overlook a continuity flaw", there's also a lot who wouldn't. Like, for example, in Dawn's case (since you bring her up later in your post), a lot of people didn't like her sudden change in personality or the fact that there wasn't a reasonable explanation as to why she was in Unova.

Makes as much sense as comic books (like Bucky Barnes being alive after decades of him being "dead").

A) That's a completely different fictional universe, with a completely different set of universal laws. Most superheroes comics (specifically those from DC and Marvel) generally have it as an established rule that dead characters can be resurrected and these comics even have specific locations/objects/beings that have the ability to bring the fallen back to life (like the Lazarus Pits or the White Lanterns).
B) While Bucky was believed to be dead (both in-universe and in the real world), there wasn't any evidence to show that he really was dead, since no body or info regarding Bucky's death was ever found. And they even explain in the following issues of that comic series how he survived all this time.

 

[Shadao]

Not that hard to believe, considering that Ash meeting Lapras' family and him releasing it so it could be with them happened in the Orange Islands, a place that's established to be very close to Kanto (with them even sharing the same ocean/sea). And guess what other region is right next-door to Kanto (hint: it's the one Ash was visiting at the time of that episode).

And besides, Lapras didn't return as an active party member like Goodra did and Lapras wasn't (somewhat) under the care of another human character, so the latter's situation is still different and unique from this one.

An overexaggerated hyperbolic running gag doesn't prove anything, especially since none of Ash's Pokémon are anywhere near similar to Bewear.

While yes, the first one is most definitely an inconsistency (regarding Ash's character), the latter two aren't any kind of inconsistency.

We've barely seen anything regarding Ash's childhood, so it's not that hard to believe that he's met Serena during that time. And how old was he back then? Around 5 or something? Not hard to believe that he's forgotten about her either, since, form his point of view, it wasn't that incredible of a meeting. And, again, seeing someone that you once met on TV isn't that unbelievable of a coincidence.

As for Ash wanting to attend school, was he ever shown to hate doing it? He's definitely been show to be bad at stuff regarding school, even before he enrolled in the Alolan one, but, from what I remember, he didn't have any problems participating in school-related activates (like the Pokémon Summer Camp in XY or the Pokémon Summer Academy in DP or Candice's Trainers' School in DP), so no inconsistency there. And since when has Ash been shown to have an undeniable fondness of fingerless gloves?

"Not hard to believe" is the same as justifying a coincidence contrivance. Once the plot decrees that it happened, everyone tries to justify it in-universe and out. I don't need to make excuses for the inclusion of Serena being in Ash's backstory. I recognize it as a retcon (like many other things in Pokémon) but I don't make a big fuss about Serena's past connection to Ash that others have.

Thank you for proving my point.

And I can assure you, from personal experience, that whenever plot inconsistencies and contrivances do happen in fictional media, a lot of people would not only notice them, but also be turned off by them, to the point that even stuff like a certain number one sci-fi franchise could end up losing a lot. It being a fictional world doesn't make that magically go away and is a very poor (not to mention tiring) excuse.

Good on them if they can ignore a writing issue. But, quite frankly, people being able to overlook problems in media doesn't change the fact that they are still problems. You can ignore the fact that your room is on fire all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that it is on fire or the fact that it is a problem.

Also, while there may be a lot of fans "who would overlook a continuity flaw", there's also a lot who wouldn't. Like, for example, in Dawn's case (since you bring her up later in your post), a lot of people didn't like her sudden change in personality or the fact that there wasn't a reasonable explanation as to why she was in Unova.

And does that stop a writer from doing so? We're not talking about fan reaction, we are talking about the likelihood of a released Pokémon returning to Ash's team. If they wish to, they will and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

Again, Suede's videos are based one very outdated material. DP and AG, for example, were pretty consistent with the series that came before. And, again, none of the series have broken any of the preestablished rule. If anything, they generally happen to expand on some of them.

Preestablished rules like Ash's Water-Type Pokémon never evolving? Or always having a full team? Or never catching more than seven Pokémon? Or always traveling and not staying in one place? Or catching a Mythical Pokémon? Or maybe the "reliable" never winning the Pokémon League? I've seen plenty of these "rules" being broken over time.

...Citation needed? Seriously, outside of that interview that was linked by someone during the recent SM vs XY ratings debate, where someone working on the anime said that ratings don't affect the anime or its staff, I don't remember them stating that they don't care about writing consistent or coherent stories. Maybe they did (though I do find it hard to believe that they did), but I certainly haven't seen anything proving that.

This one:

Producer: The actual scene differed from the screenplay, after all.

Yajima: That is true (laugh). The scene had her riding on the escalator for a bit, and then she ran back up and kissed him. Naturally, the escalator will take her down again, right? So while she's kissing him, she'll be pulled away. That's the scene that I wanted to make.

Producer: Kids are the main target audience, after all, so among the things we can't do, this series is definitely on the edge.

And they admit they had to keep in mind of that audience when making their stories. Not fans, but kids.

A) That's a completely different fictional universe, with a completely different set of universal laws. Most superheroes comics (specifically those from DC and Marvel) generally have it as an established rule that dead characters can be resurrected and these comics even have specific locations/objects/beings that have the ability to bring the fallen back to life (like the Lazarus Pits or the White Lanterns).
B) While Bucky was believed to be dead (both in-universe and in the real world), there wasn't any evidence to show that he really was dead, since no body or info regarding Bucky's death was ever found. And they even explain in the following issues of that comic series how he survived all this time.

I remember the old quote of comic book deaths:

“Nobody stays dead in comics apart from Bucky Barnes, Uncle Ben and Jason Todd.”

And Bucky Barnes was only revived because a writer wanted to bring him back in his own fan fiction. Everyone else was willingly to let him stay dead. And that is the universal law of all fiction: If the writer wants to, it will happen. Laws and continuity mean nothing to a writer who wants to bring their story to the public. Pokémon is no stranger to that (Looking at Pokémon Adventures...).

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Really? Because the first sentence on that page pretty much explains what a released Pokémon is: "Released Pokémon are Pokémon that have been caught by a Pokémon Trainer, but are sent back into the wild". Basically, if a Pokémon was released back into their natural habitat or was let go by the original trainer and isn't under the care of another Pokémon Trainer, then that counts as a Released Pokémon (hence the name).

That page also claims that Goodra is a released pokémon, which contradict the Finnishpokefan's point about "there is a human, so it's not released" and the same wiki's "Ash Ketchum" page...

Didn't you read what I said? Charizard and Gliscor didn't count as released because they were just left under someone's else's care. Just like Primeape, technically. Pidgeot and Greninja were straight out released back into the wild, not left with someone else.

I still fail to see the supposed importance of human existence. Zygarde cores have human-like intelligence and ability to communicate with humans, why does they matter less?

But the term "Released Pokémon" isn't even a term made-up by the fandom. Releasing a Pokémon is an actual in-game mechanic and is sometimes used as a plot point within the anime.

Yes and no. There is an actual "releasing pokémon into wild" mechanic, which we see best in Chimchar's case. Most of other "releases" are made-up by fandom.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

That page also claims that Goodra is a released pokémon, which contradict the Finnishpokefan's point about "there is a human, so it's not released" and the same wiki's "Ash Ketchum" page...

...If you please payed attention, I also said that Goodra is a special case where it's not technically under anyone's care, but still has access to a human who can contact Ash and send it over to him if need be.

 

[Pulsaro23]

"Not hard to believe" is the same as justifying a coincidence contrivance. Once the plot decrees that it happened, everyone tries to justify it in-universe and out. I don't need to make excuses for the inclusion of Serena being in Ash's backstory. I recognize it as a retcon (like many other things in Pokémon) but I don't make a big fuss about Serena's past connection to Ash that others have.

Thank you for proving my point.

Okay, either I'm doing a very terrible job of getting my point across or you're just ignoring it. If it's the former, than allow me to be as straightforward as I can be. My point isn't that the writers are physically incapable to make up some contrived way in order to have something happen. My point is that they shouldn't do it, since it would drag the story down and create inconsistencies and incoherencies, as well as possibly break the established universal rules of that fictional world. If a new plot point, event or circumstance arises or is revealed, yet the writer of said plot point/event/circumstance is able to make it so that it doesn't alter any of the past events of the story, nor does it require some contrived explanation that doesn't make sense within that universe, than the writer has not only managed to writer a sequence that keeps the story going, but he's also managed to do it in a way that is coherent and doesn't break the overall narrative and, instead, improves/builds upon it. If the writer does the opposite, however,... well, you end up with a pile of burning trash like Star Wars: The Last Jedi or Game of Thrones season 8, that manages to create an untangleable mess that insults and disregards all that came before it and anger most, if not all of the people watching it. And I don't know about you, but, personally, I'd much rather have the former be the norm rather than live in a world where a hypothetical story such as this one would be considered a masterpiece.

Also, the whole "Serena met Ash when they were young" isn't a retcon! According to the Oxford Dictionary, to retcon means to "revise (an aspect of a fictional work) retrospectively, typically by introducing a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events", with the noun version of retcon meaning "a piece of new information that imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, typically used to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency". The idea of Serena having met Ash when they were little kids doesn't "imposes a different interpretation on previously described events", nor is it used to "account for an inconsistency", since we've barely seen anything regarding Ash's childhood prior to his journey, so him knowing someone who would later happen to be his companion doesn't contradict anything at all, thus not being an inconsistency! The writers made it happen without changing or affecting any of the previously established information or events! And someone claiming that such a small detail somehow altered the previous overall story in a major way doesn't change that.

Double also, a coincidence isn't a contrivance. I'm not denying that some contrivances could be terribly done coincidences, but not all coincidences are a contrivance. Those two words aren't interchangeable, nor are they even synonyms to begin with. An apple is a fruit, but a fruit isn't necessarily an apple. The same goes here.

And does that stop a writer from doing so? We're not talking about fan reaction, we are talking about the likelihood of a released Pokémon returning to Ash's team. If they wish to, they will and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

And I wasn't talking about fan reactions either, I was talking about writing (at least up until you decided to bring this subject up). The reason I even talked about fan reactions was to counter your claim that people wouldn't care about inconsistencies or plot contrivances in a story, which isn't true. People are more than capable to identify inconsistencies in a story. Weather or not they'll still enjoy that story, despite its flaws, is whole other subject and depends entirely on the person's tastes and how enjoyable they found that particular story to be.

Preestablished rules like Ash's Water-Type Pokémon never evolving? Or always having a full team? Or never catching more than seven Pokémon? Or always traveling and not staying in one place? Or catching a Mythical Pokémon? Or maybe the "reliable" never winning the Pokémon League? I've seen plenty of these "rules" being broken over time.

We seem to be having a misunderstanding over what preestablished universal rules are. When I use that phrase, I mean stuff like the physics and the in-universe logic and rationality and the narrative flow of that story/world and character consistency. All of the things that you mention are, at best, patterns that have been observed by the fandom (which may or may not be intentional) and actions that fully depend on the characters' choices and wishes/desires. Ash's Water-type Pokémon are more than capable of evolving and them doing so isn't impossible and them choosing, not being ready or not being strong enough not to evolve isn't an unheard of, so some of them evolving contradicts nothing. Same goes for people not having full teams (as it was the case with characters such as Iris, Cilan, Serena and others) or them catching more than seven Pokémon (though being able to have more than six active Pokémon in a party has been established to not be possible and that rule hasn't been contradicted) or staying in one location instead of constantly journeying through a region (since we've seen it with numerous COTD) or catching Mythicals (which we've seen characters like Tobias being able to do so) or being unable to win a league (since Ash actually won one (remember the Orange League)). Again, none of the things you mentioned are preestablished rules, nor do they break any or contradict the characters' personality and way of thinking.

This one:

Producer: The actual scene differed from the screenplay, after all.

Yajima: That is true (laugh). The scene had her riding on the escalator for a bit, and then she ran back up and kissed him. Naturally, the escalator will take her down again, right? So while she's kissing him, she'll be pulled away. That's the scene that I wanted to make.

Producer: Kids are the main target audience, after all, so among the things we can't do, this series is definitely on the edge.

And they admit they had to keep in mind of that audience when making their stories. Not fans, but kids.

I think you've missed the point of my argument. I never claimed that Pokémon isn't aimed at kids. I said that it being aimed at kids wouldn't excuse narative inconsistencies or story contradictions, especially since other TV shows aimed at a younger audience are still able to tell a coherent story without coming up with some kind of BS in order to justify it. Batman: The Animated Series, for example, was a series that was also aimed at children, with Bruce Timm even confirming that, and, yet, despite the network censors and their fear of "scarring" children, he and his crew were still able to have some of the most outstanding and impactful Batman stories ever made (and, in the case of at least one episode, he was thankful for that, as it managed to make the episode and story far more impactful). So, again, it being aimed at kids doesn't prove that the anime's writers don't care about the quality of their story, nor does it prove that they're willing or aspiring to have the most incoherent mess they could come up with.

As for your comic book arguments, I'm too tired to talk about it (not to mention that I've never read the Pokémon Adventures manga, so I have no experience regarding it and the way it tells its stories (not that it would matter, since that's a completely different universe with a different set of rules)), but I'll say that I find this notion that universal laws and continuity mean nothing and/or should mean nothing in fiction to be disrespectful and insulting to the many pieces of fiction and media that required actual thought and work be put into them in order to deliver an outstanding plot without having to resort to such unskilful methods of storytelling.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Out of all of the AG Gym battles I've rewatched, I honestly think that the one against Norman was the worst one. I think it's more common for the Lisa and Tate battle to be labeled as the worst Gym battle and I can see why. Team Rocket pretty much took up the focus during the first half of the episode, so there was less time to actually focus on the battle. The whole Thunder Armor is a pretty blatant and infamous deus ex machina. Despite all that, I think that the battle against Norman was worse. They spent a lot of time hyping up that rematch. Max said in nearly every episode how strong his father was and they even had an entire city full of rabid Norman fans. The match was just too rushed and poorly paced for it to live up to all of that hype. I haven't gotten to the last AG Gym battle yet, so that might turn out to be worse, but I'm pretty sure that the match against Norman will still end up being my least favorite Gym battle in AG.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

...If you please payed attention, I also said that Goodra is a special case where it's not technically under anyone's care, but still has access to a human who can contact Ash and send it over to him if need be.

He can't send it over to him (its pokéball is still with Ash), otherwise they wouldn't travel there to just bring it to the league.
Are you saying that Greninja, despite of its powers, can't simply access some human, like Professor Sycamore, or Clemont?
And why does an access to human matter when we're talking about released pokémon? Paul released Chimchar in front of humans, not in some wild area.
And how many people truly believe that Primeape isn't released and just doing some kind of training? No one should believe that Ambipom is still belong to Dawn.

 

[Greninjaman]

Primeape may as well be moved to the released section of Ash's page on Bulbapedia. It has not been seen since that episode and there's no reason at this point to bring it back. The only people who would know about Primeape are those who were there for the Kanto Saga.

 

[Galactic_V]

Out of all of the AG Gym battles I've rewatched, I honestly think that the one against Norman was the worst one. I think it's more common for the Lisa and Tate battle to be labeled as the worst Gym battle and I can see why. Team Rocket pretty much took up the focus during the first half of the episode, so there was less time to actually focus on the battle. The whole Thunder Armor is a pretty blatant and infamous deus ex machina. Despite all that, I think that the battle against Norman was worse. They spent a lot of time hyping up that rematch. Max said in nearly every episode how strong his father was and they even had an entire city full of rabid Norman fans. The match was just too rushed and poorly paced for it to live up to all of that hype. I haven't gotten to the last AG Gym battle yet, so that might turn out to be worse, but I'm pretty sure that the match against Norman will still end up being my least favorite Gym battle in AG.

I also rewatched this same match a few days ago. For me it's good on its own will. I particularly enjoy the part where it seems Jupitile is going down and Masato rises all stoked, to then Kekking after falls he's all disappointed and sad. The battle seem believeable and there's no one-hit knockout like the another one I'm about to point out: Satoshi vs Nagi.

It's also a good battle and I really like Nagi, but two of the knockouts seemed cheap. First Juptile is able to win against Chirutalis using mostly grass-type moves (while also sustaining a few hits). Then the Oosubame vs Oosubame one, in which Satoshi's lands only one hit and wins the battle (A Wing Attack, lol). Not mentioning his surviving lots of attacks (one being Hyper Beam...).

 

[Shadao]

Okay, either I'm doing a very terrible job of getting my point across or you're just ignoring it. If it's the former, than allow me to be as straightforward as I can be. My point isn't that the writers are physically incapable to make up some contrived way in order to have something happen. My point is that they shouldn't do it, since it would drag the story down and create inconsistencies and incoherencies, as well as possibly break the established universal rules of that fictional world. If a new plot point, event or circumstance arises or is revealed, yet the writer of said plot point/event/circumstance is able to make it so that it doesn't alter any of the past events of the story, nor does it require some contrived explanation that doesn't make sense within that universe, than the writer has not only managed to writer a sequence that keeps the story going, but he's also managed to do it in a way that is coherent and doesn't break the overall narrative and, instead, improves/builds upon it. If the writer does the opposite, however,... well, you end up with a pile of burning trash like Star Wars: The Last Jedi or Game of Thrones season 8, that manages to create an untangleable mess that insults and disregards all that came before it and anger most, if not all of the people watching it. And I don't know about you, but, personally, I'd much rather have the former be the norm rather than live in a world where a hypothetical story such as this one would be considered a masterpiece.

Oh you were referring to "should." That's makes more sense. Heh, I would agree with you on your opinion but I've been through a lot of stories in media like TVs, Internet, Films, Anime, Comic Books, Real Life, etc. for a long time. And honestly, anything considered contrived or ridiculous for some viewers is not out of the question for me. I've given up on the "should have" a long time. I think the last time I've seriously thought of "should have" is back in December 2017.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Primeape may as well be moved to the released section of Ash's page on Bulbapedia. It has not been seen since that episode and there's no reason at this point to bring it back. The only people who would know about Primeape are those who were there for the Kanto Saga.

No it shouldn't since it's not been released back into the wild. To "given away" section maybe, but not "released".

 

[Greninjaman]

No it shouldn't since it's not been released back into the wild. To "given away" section maybe, but not "released".

But it hasn’t appeared since then. I guess given away makes more sense.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

But it hasn’t appeared since then. I guess given away makes more sense.

I think Primeape just is an exception amongst the Pokémon left for training in the sense that it has never come back.

 

[Greninjaman]

I think Primeape just is an exception amongst the Pokémon left for training in the sense that it has never come back.

True, I only remember primeape due to frequent visits to that page.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

No it shouldn't since it's not been released back into the wild. To "given away" section maybe, but not "released".

Then maybe we should add Greninja to there as well, since he's "given away" to Z.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Then maybe we should add Greninja to there as well, since he's "given away" to Z.

It wasn't given to a person. That's a huge difference.