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Controversial opinions

I started to rewatch the first SM season and I still think that they handled the first Trail and Grand Trial pretty well. The regular Trial was probably trying a bit too hard to be like a Gym battle, but I thought it worked out okay. The Grand Trial in particular was pretty solid, especially for Ash only having two Pokemon at the time. I'm not surprised that they basically gave up on regular Trials halfway through the Island Challenge though. It also amazes me to see Rowlet in those early episodes. They didn't go overboard with its sleeping gag yet and it came off as a pretty decent battler, so I wish they had kept that up with it throughout SM.
 
Here's an opinion I have. It might largely popular, but the anime should have never adapted elements of Pokemon Go. I don't enjoy watching Gou effortlessly catch Pokemon without battling them, along with his phone going "Great!".

On that subject, I don't like how PM2019 so far has just become "Oh, I wonder what Pokemon Gou will capture today!" It has taken the joy out of capture episodes. They used to mean something. They used to mean we have a new member on the main cast to watch grow and develop. A new cast member to root for. Now it just feels meaningless cause Gou just catches them effortlessly and willy nilly, and chances are we aren't gonna be seeing 98% of his captures much.
 
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Why did they give up on regular trials anyway?

I think part of it was due to how they didn't want Ash to get Z-Crystals that he couldn't use with his Pokemon. That made sense from a marketing perspective, but it did limit what kind of regular Trials he could do if most of the Z-Crystals received during those Trials didn't fit with his Pokemon team. It also could have been due to how they wanted all of Ash's friends to get Z-Crystals. They possibly didn't want to limit regular Trials to just part of the Island Challenge because otherwise, only Ash and Kiawe would have had Z-Rings and Z-Crystals.
 
I think part of it was due to how they didn't want Ash to get Z-Crystals that he couldn't use with his Pokemon. That made sense from a marketing perspective, but it did limit what kind of regular Trials he could do if most of the Z-Crystals received during those Trials didn't fit with his Pokemon team. It also could have been due to how they wanted all of Ash's friends to get Z-Crystals. They possibly didn't want to limit regular Trials to just part of the Island Challenge because otherwise, only Ash and Kiawe would have had Z-Rings and Z-Crystals.
I see. They could have still done the trials and not have Ash get that Z-Crystal.
 
I see. They could have still done the trials and not have Ash get that Z-Crystal.

I don't know if there would have been much of a point though. The Z-Crystals are kind of akin to badges, at least in the games, so getting a battle without a direct reward beyond experience probably would have felt kind of moot or pointless.
 
What I like better regarding the new series is to have a crew that is not originated from the games. It gives the oppurtunity of being more original on characterisations. Ash and Gou have a unique chemistry with each other compared to Ash's past companions (especially with male ones).
 
Here's an opinion I have. It might largely popular, but the anime should have never adapted elements of Pokemon Go. I don't enjoy watching Gou effortlessly catch Pokemon without battling them, along with his phone going "Great!".

On that subject, I don't like how PM2019 so far has just become "Oh, I wonder what Pokemon Gou will capture today!" It has taken the joy out of capture episodes. They used to mean something. They used to mean we have a new member on the main cast to watch grow and develop. A new cast member to root for. Now it just feels meaningless cause Gou just catches them effortlessly and willy nilly, and chances are we aren't gonna be seeing 98% of his captures much.

This is why adapting game mechanics directly is a bad idea. I hope they figure out ways to make catching Pokemon a challenge for him, including *gasp* battling Pokemon to catch them.
 
Here's an opinion I have. It might largely popular, but the anime should have never adapted elements of Pokemon Go. I don't enjoy watching Gou effortlessly catch Pokemon without battling them, along with his phone going "Great!".

On that subject, I don't like how PM2019 so far has just become "Oh, I wonder what Pokemon Gou will capture today!" It has taken the joy out of capture episodes. They used to mean something. They used to mean we have a new member on the main cast to watch grow and develop. A new cast member to root for. Now it just feels meaningless cause Gou just catches them effortlessly and willy nilly, and chances are we aren't gonna be seeing 98% of his captures much.

You’re saying this after the last three episodes?

Well, to be fair, the series could easily return to that sort of format. I hope Episode 14 and 15 prove otherwise, though.
 
What I like better regarding the new series is to have a crew that is not originated from the games. It gives the oppurtunity of being more original on characterisations. Ash and Gou have a unique chemistry with each other compared to Ash's past companions (especially with male ones).
To be fair, it’s not as though the past companions had their personalities lifted from the game 1:1 anyway.
 
To be fair, it’s not as though the past companions had their personalities lifted from the game 1:1 anyway.
True, but if you think about which personalities "fit" the games and which don't, only Misty, Brock, Max, Iris, Go and Koharu come to mind as being tailored for the anime. There are lots of NPCs that adore the player character (like certain anime companions, even if their game counterparts weren't quite the same) and/or are happy-go-lucky.
 
Please forgive me for letting my anger get the best of me here, but I can hold it no longer.

God nobody's ever gonna let that ****ing Snivy battle go are they? It gets so tiresome hearing about it. Ash loses once to a new trainer that got lucky thanks to Pikachu's lightning giving out because of Zekrom and suddenly every loss he has from that day forward is compared to that. Ash can lose if it's justified, i.e. losing to another Champion like Leon (who, shocker:eek:) has a rep for being unbeatable, omg it's almost like it makes perfect sense doesn't it? The answer is yes it does. There was not a single sign in this episode that Ash regressed. Ash lost because he battled an older and more experienced Pokemon Champion. God Almighty...

Also I agree with pretty much everything this guy said:


EDIT: Sorry, some of this post was initially going to go to the recent episode review thread, but whatever, I don't care, I put it here instead.
 
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Please forgive me for letting my anger get the best of me here, but I can hold it no longer.

God nobody's ever gonna let that ****ing Snivy battle go are they? It gets so tiresome hearing about it. Ash loses once to a new trainer that got lucky thanks to Pikachu's lightning giving out because of Zekrom and suddenly every loss he has from that day forward is compared to that. Ash can lose if it's justified, i.e. losing to another Champion like Leon (who, shocker:eek:) has a rep for being unbeatable, omg it's almost like it makes perfect sense doesn't it? The answer is yes it does. There was not a single sign in this episode that Ash regressed. Ash lost because he battled an older and more experienced Pokemon Champion. God Almighty...

Also I agree with pretty much everything this guy said:


EDIT: Sorry, some of this post was initially going to go to the recent episode review thread, but whatever, I don't care, I put it here instead.

+ he also lost because of inexperience with D/G Max which surprise surprise, Leon is very familiar with due to it being his home region gimmick.

These people who still bring the Snivy context in are nothing more than trolls, memers and generic haters who aren't worth anything in life at all, much less giving a damn about.
 
Ash losing to Leon was actually very reasonable. Ash might be a Champion and defeated a Champion level trainer like Professor Kukui, but Leon is known for his unbeatable reputation. If you're the writers, and this is only the 2nd episode for Leon, you're gonna want to make him seem unbeatable. It was perfectly reasonable.
 
Wouldn't it be bad writing for Ash to defeat Leon in their first battle anyway? Some people might have liked that, but it wouldn't have made any sense. Not only because Ash isn't used to battling with a Gigantamax Pikachu, but Leon is hyped up as an unbeatable champion in the games and I assume in these past two episodes as well. It isn't really a good idea to hype up a character's strength and then have the main character defeat them so early in the episode. Ash is the Alola League Champion, but that doesn't mean he can instantly go toe to toe with every other region Champion, especially when he currently has two or three Pokemon on him, depending on how fans want to treat the whole Mr. Mime issue, and the writers seem uninterested in letting him use any reserves.

I think that it would have been more boring for Ash to win right away for a number of reasons. Losing to Leon gives him at least something to work on too, which has been a major complaint for a lot of people too.
 
Please forgive me for letting my anger get the best of me here, but I can hold it no longer.

God nobody's ever gonna let that ****ing Snivy battle go are they? It gets so tiresome hearing about it. Ash loses once to a new trainer that got lucky thanks to Pikachu's lightning giving out because of Zekrom and suddenly every loss he has from that day forward is compared to that. Ash can lose if it's justified, i.e. losing to another Champion like Leon (who, shocker:eek:) has a rep for being unbeatable, omg it's almost like it makes perfect sense doesn't it? The answer is yes it does. There was not a single sign in this episode that Ash regressed. Ash lost because he battled an older and more experienced Pokemon Champion. God Almighty...

Also I agree with pretty much everything this guy said:


EDIT: Sorry, some of this post was initially going to go to the recent episode review thread, but whatever, I don't care, I put it here instead.

While the Snivy battle was certainly a fluke, I think the writers really messed up with their battles beyond that. Their first battle you can say doesn’t count due to outside influences but that they had Ash lose to Trip at every turn until the league despite Ash being an experienced trainer and Trip a rookie was just bad writing at it’s finest. It’s was but a symptom of some of the junk that plagued BW throughout its run and I think that’s just a small part of the bigger picture as to why people won’t just let it go.
 
For what it's worth, Raihan's League Card notes that he's already strong enough to be a Champion of another Region if he wished to take on a different League. But he refuses and stays in Galar because beating his rival Leon is more important to him.

Thus we have an inference that Leon is superior to most other Champions in the games and the anime just took that to its logical conclusion with both the Lance vs Leon and Ash vs Leon fights.

I see no problem with it personally.
 
Not only because Ash isn't used to battling with a Gigantamax Pikachu, but Leon is hyped up as an unbeatable champion in the games and I assume in these past two episodes as well.
It seems in the anime Leon is officially the most powerful trainer in the world--if anything he's even more hyped up than in the games.

I think that it would have been more boring for Ash to win right away for a number of reasons. Losing to Leon gives him at least something to work on too, which has been a major complaint for a lot of people too.
Precisely. If Ash beat Leon now...where could the show go with him? Ash is the best in the world? What could they do at that point, reveal that he's actually an alien from a planet of super powerful Pokémon trainers--so powerful he'd be considered weak by their standards--as told to him by his long lost brother?

While the Snivy battle was certainly a fluke, I think the writers really messed up with their battles beyond that. Their first battle you can say doesn’t count due to outside influences but that they had Ash lose to Trip at every turn until the league despite Ash being an experienced trainer and Trip a rookie was just bad writing at it’s finest. It’s was but a symptom of some of the junk that plagued BW throughout its run and I think that’s just a small part of the bigger picture as to why people won’t just let it go.
I think that's why Snivy gets hammered on so much. Trip was a newbie that beat Ash repeatedly; it looks less like a fluke when it keeps happening, and even after finally beating him Ash got knocked out of the League by Cameron after falling a place (arguably two places since he would have been second place in Sinnoh if it wasn't for the seeding putting him against Tobias before the finals).

For comparison, Pikachu tying with a Magikarp in early DP was awkward and people joked for a bit, but Ash's league performance made up for that and his shaky W/L record in that series, so aside from complaining about how dumb Tobias was D/P Ash is generally viewed well.
 
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