Controversial opinions

[HiroHunter]

Not only Journeys is badly written, there are times when it is also terribly animated.

Lazy, stingy, careless, incompetent; that's the staff this series.

I couldn't care less about today's episode.
Even the person doing the react got bored halfway and stopped watching.

Who was reacting to the ep?

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Oh another thing to mention


If they're going to regulate the big Pokemon to being Battle Bots, they could AT LEAST give us some decent fight scenes right?

But they can't even do that competently

Look at Gengar who's a jobber

Look at Sirfetch'd who hasn't won a battle since Evolution

Look at Inteleon who learns new moves completely OFFSCREEN

Look at Cinderace in today's episode who was called out but had his shit completely skipped over

Good ARCEUS! They can't even do the bare minimum?!

 

[HiroHunter]

Oh another thing to mention


If they're going to regulate the big Pokemon to being Battle Bots, they could AT LEAST give us some decent fight scenes right?

But they can't even do that competently

Look at Gengar who's a jobber

Look at Sirfetch'd who hasn't won a battle since Evolution

Look at Inteleon who learns new moves completely OFFSCREEN

Look at Cinderace in today's episode who was called out but had his shit completely skipped over

Good ARCEUS! They can't even do the bare minimum?! View attachment 154770

JN is like a Master of none it keeps showing all of these things it has but failed to do any of them to even a passable level.

 

[R1ke]

It sucks that we're at a point where Dragonite/Gengar/etc just showing up is something we 'celebrate'

 

[HiroHunter]

It sucks that we're at a point where Dragonite/Gengar/etc just showing up is something we 'celebrate'

How much you want bet that the next time Gengar shows up its going to be getting kicked while its down. No real reason for it happening and no one going to talk about it in the show, its just in the background getting kicked while its down.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

It sucks that we're at a point where Dragonite/Gengar/etc just showing up is something we 'celebrate'

It's.....depressing to say the very least. I never thought they could screw up main character Pokemon focus worse than BW did with all of Ash's "extra" catches, but somehow they pulled it off. So.....congrats for being some of the worst writers imaginable I guess?

(Here's a controversial opinion for all of ya though: if the people who write this show are gonna suck this bad at their jobs, they should just hire all of us fans to write the show instead. We know what the other fans want to see.)

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I don’t like how they make Ash do stupid things in battles, especially in XY (vs Alain) and SM (basically the whole Alola League)
And most of time when he makes these mistakes he ends up winning. In Kalos Alain saw through his mistakes which meant Ash couldn’t get away with them.

 

[Unireon]

I actually don't like when Satoshi does stupid things both in and out of battles.

Truly hate how across the years he has become a ditz, or even worse a moron.

But Journeys is the worst with its 'he is forgetful but there is Gou to make him remember'.

 

[Soniman]

Here's a controversial opinion for all of ya though: if the people who write this show are gonna suck this bad at their jobs, they should just hire all of us fans to write the show instead. We know what the other fans want to see.

Yall crack me up. This show isn't made for jaded 20 somethings who are unsatisfied at every writing descion they make its for children who like Pokémon, has been for 25 years and will continue to be so. This isn't a excuse to deflect criticism it's simply a fact

 

[Daren]

Yall crack me up. This show isn't made for jaded 20 somethings who are unsatisfied at every writing descion they make its for children who like Pokémon, has been for 25 years and will continue to be so. This isn't a excuse to deflect criticism it's simply a fact

Honestly I'd say the series where they started bringing a ton of old characters back is one where "it's aimed at children" starts to lose a lot of it's strength.

Not that I agree with the idea of calling in fans to write it because that often ends...poorly.

Edit: I mean, obviously the show has a rating to maintain but things like the lack of Pokémon interaction or rushed evolutions aren't connected to that.

 

[HiroHunter]

Yall crack me up. This show isn't made for jaded 20 somethings who are unsatisfied at every writing descion they make its for children who like Pokémon, has been for 25 years and will continue to be so. This isn't a excuse to deflect criticism it's simply a fact

Saying its made for children or the like isn't a defense and doesn't excuse it from having poor writing.

 

[Soniman]

Saying its made for children or the like isn't a defense and doesn't excuse it from having poor writing.

It's almost like I, quite literally, said it wasn't an excuse in original post word for word

 

[Hidden Mew]

(Here's a controversial opinion for all of ya though: if the people who write this show are gonna suck this bad at their jobs, they should just hire all of us fans to write the show instead. We know what the other fans want to see.)

That is rather ridiculous. I understand being upset and annoyed at Journeys. I also think the backlash can get excessive, especially when it gets to a point where people don't feel comfortable disagreeing with these opinions and we sadly passed that point ages ago, but to think so highly of yourself as a fan that you think you can do a better job than professional writers is just eye rolling to me. I'm not saying that the writers are on this pedestal or can't make bad/questionable decision. They absolutely can and that has been the case from the beginning of the anime. I am saying that thinking that fans can do a better job than people who do this for a living sounds like a huge ego boost than anything else to me.

It's especially ridiculous to claim that we kow what other fans want to see. Pokemon is such a huge franchise that it's virtually impossible to cater to everyone. This is arguably more apparent with the video games, but it's the same with the anime too. None of the anime series have been universally praised or beloved. The fanbase isn't a hive mind, so of course people are going to have different opinions. Not everyone hates Journeys with a passion either. Some fans want different things, so you can't really find a way to appeal to everyone.

Honestly I'd say the series where they started bringing a ton of old characters back is one where "it's aimed at children" starts to lose a lot of it's strength.

I don't know about that myself. Yeah, these returning characters would have more weight for long time fans than for new kids watching the show, but I still don't think that they're writing the anime with long term fans in mind. Otherwise, I think that the anime in general would have much different tone and Ash probably would have been replaced decades ago.

 

[Daren]

I don't know about that myself. Yeah, these returning characters would have more weight for long time fans than for new kids watching the show, but I still don't think that they're writing the anime with long term fans in mind. Otherwise, I think that the anime in general would have much different tone and Ash probably would have been replaced decades ago.

I don't think they're specifically writing the whole series for older fans, but JN in particular (and at times the older series) do things intended to get attention from them. Especially at this juncture where old viewers could be parents now watching it with their own children.
Like Butch and Cassidy coming back soon. That hit Trending on Japanese twitter after the trailer dropped, which which I suspect is gonna be seen as "mission accomplished" for the marketing team.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

Yeah...no offense to the fans but sharing ideas here is very different from writing for a show. Not disagreeing with the argument that the writing is poor this series (I think most people here would agree to the point that it could be considered controversial otherwise), but there is a technical aspect to television writing that goes beyond planning and sharing story beats.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don't think they're specifically writing the whole series for older fans, but JN in particular (and at times the older series) do things intended to get attention from them. Especially at this juncture where old viewers could be parents now watching it with their own children.
Like Butch and Cassidy coming back soon. That hit Trending on Japanese twitter after the trailer dropped, which which I suspect is gonna be seen as "mission accomplished" for the marketing team.

I see that as throwing a bone at older fans more so than anything else, but wanting to attract attention through social media has been kind of a goal for them from the start of Journeys if that comment about Pikachu's backstory as a Pichu was any indication. Still, the series comes off as ultimately being aimed at kids. It's a huge reason why each series has been largely stand alone since they get new audience every few years.

 

[ii kanji]

I really doubt that many or maybe even any of the individual creators are ‘bad’ or even ‘lazy’ at their jobs. I suspect there are some political shenanigans going on within the production which are resulting the crap quality of finished product. There’s a definite vibe this series of ‘the right hand knoweth not what the left hand doeth’. Maybe it’s money, or scheduling issues, or corporate interference, or some high level personal conflict (any of these +/- covid of course). This all feels bad in a much bigger way that being able to blame any one individual or even group of individuals.

 

[Daren]

I really doubt that many or maybe even any of the individual creators are ‘bad’ or even ‘lazy’ at their jobs. I suspect there are some political shenanigans going on within the production which are resulting the crap quality of finished product. There’s a definite vibe this series of ‘the right hand knoweth not what the left hand doeth’. Maybe it’s money, or scheduling issues, or corporate interference, or some high level personal conflict (any of these +/- covid of course). This all feels bad in a much bigger way that being able to blame any one individual or even group of individuals.

In general Pokémon as a franchise has a ton of money involved--we're talking absurd amounts of money, which means lots of people wanting to get involved to make sure everything goes the way they want.
Exactly how much is gonna vary but the show is one of the most visible forms of advertising for the franchise so my money is on a ton of cooks in that kitchen--from TPCI, from the station, maybe from GameFreak. We already know Takeshi Shudo had issues with interference during the original series and I imagine it's gotten worse over time rather than better.

Combine that with covid throwing everything into chaos.

 

[Sai]

To be fair Ash's Pokémon have been appearing a lot more frequently for the last number of months than in the first year. Dragonite was just used in the Magnemite ep, Ash showed off his full team to Bea, Gengar had the Allister 2-parter, Dracovish showed up in Project Mew eps, etc. Of course it's still not ideal and the writers don't focus on character interaction between his team at all. I suppose it was a conscious decision from the staff for some reason.

In terms of battles his team is not handled much differently than usual. In SM Poipole did nothing till it was released and came back, Melmetal was only there at the tail end of the series. In XY Goodra only lasted 10 eps on the cast and just got ties in the league. Noviern never got a Gym battle and just ties in the league. In BW half his extra captures did very little. In AG Torkoal and Glalie were only around a short time before being dumped. Johto got rid of Heracross early and it and Phanpy never got Gym battles. Etc.

The lack of battles or usage for some pokemon on Ash's team has happened every series. The writers have never cared about giving all pokemon equal screentime.

 

[R1ke]

I really doubt that many or maybe even any of the individual creators are ‘bad’ or even ‘lazy’ at their jobs. I suspect there are some political shenanigans going on within the production which are resulting the crap quality of finished product. There’s a definite vibe this series of ‘the right hand knoweth not what the left hand doeth’. Maybe it’s money, or scheduling issues, or corporate interference, or some high level personal conflict (any of these +/- covid of course). This all feels bad in a much bigger way that being able to blame any one individual or even group of individuals.

Finally this gets me as well. I’m tired of seeing people point fingers at one person, like they’re responsible for all the problems. It happens a lot, in hollywood as well. Actors being blamed for bad movies, directors taking the fall for the studio, or even the genre/film series getting a bad rep even though there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with it. This harassment can really get outta hand, with the internet forming hate campaigns against the targeted person and affecting their life. There’s a lot of examples of this that I won’t go into here. It’s nowhere near as bad here thankfully.

There’s a lot of factors, both internal and external that contribute to the final product. And unless you’ve worked in the industry, you don’t know what they’re going through. Criticise the product, not the people behind it. Stop looking for that one person who’s responsible for all the problems. They don’t exist.