Controversial opinions

[Audino1008]

Alright, after a long time here's my controversial opinion about something in the Anime : Grookey was a mistake, Goh simply refuses to tame his stupid monkey and that thing just keep causing trouble for everyone, they can put that thing inside of a microwave, eat him afterwards and I wouldn't mind something like that.

Wow what a controversial opinion, you better be careful because a lot of people are gonna disagree with you since Goh's Grookey is such a beloved icon on this site and nobody else but you hates him here.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Personally, I just wanted Greninja to learn a Dark type move and turning Cut into Night Slash seemed like the most natural move change they could have gone with. I honestly kept forgetting that Greninja was part Dark type during XY since it didn't have any Dark type moves.

 

[HiroHunter]

I was gonna say this in another thread but I figured it could be potentially be controversial enough to fit here better instead:

I believe that, at least up until this moment, Grookey is simply the most useless Pokémon that has ever made into the main cast. Point blank peridod.

It has been there for over 40 eps and is yet to do anything. It's not cute (I do understand that this point is heavily subjective, but most people tend to agree), it's not strong or competent on anything it does, has not used a move up until this point, it doesn't have any arcs, it doesn't impacts any other's arcs for that matter, especially Goh's. Seriously: has Grookey ever helped Goh out in any aspect? I mean, the only thing it helped was to prove Goh's incompetence as a trainer. And to top it all off, it's not even funny in it's gag.

Like... damn. I don't even know what to say. I'm dead serious: even Togepi and Sandy did more than it.

This isn't really controversial. I mean from this thread alone kinda show that Grookey is very much hated.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I’m not a fan of the excessive flashbacks we are getting. It seems like we are getting one every episode and I don’t like how they are there to generate hype plus the JN Artstyle ruins the flashbacks.
I used to like continuity, but all this poorly done continuity in JN is making me hate it.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I’m not a fan of the excessive flashbacks we are getting. It seems like we are getting one every episode and I don’t like how they are there to generate hype plus the JN Artstyle ruins the flashbacks.
I used to like continuity, but all this poorly done continuity in JN is making me hate it.

I mean, I like flashbacks, but I hear ya. Not a fan of the artstyle of Journeys either. It's better than the SM artstyle was, particularly in the case of Ash, but that's not saying very much considering SM Ash was the worst looking Ash ever. Overall, both series were a massive downgrade in terms of animation after the gorgeous XY series. (To be fair to the SM series, though, I did like the backgrounds of Alola, they were very pretty, as well as the Pokemon themselves and some of the move animations. But as for most of the human characters, with some exceptions, blech!)

 

[HiroHunter]

I’m not a fan of the excessive flashbacks we are getting. It seems like we are getting one every episode and I don’t like how they are there to generate hype plus the JN Artstyle ruins the flashbacks.
I used to like continuity, but all this poorly done continuity in JN is making me hate it.

Theirs a flashback every episode? Why?

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Also, if the reason why it never got it was due to "it wouldn't fit the Hero vibe", then Sirfetch'd, a mon that is literal knight, having free access to it suddenly got very funny.

To be fair, unlike Greninja, Sirfetch'd is clearly not the ace of the Journeys team. Plus when it was originally caught it had a much more roguelike personality that somewhat evoked a ronin. Also, as @Ryker101 mentioned a while back, its habit of challenging unsuspecting passerby trainers and Pokemon who crossed its bridge functions more or less like a kid-friendly version of blade testing.

Besides, it's very likely that Sirfetch'd will replace Night Slash with Meteor Assault eventually, since that's its species' signature move and it has yet to even learn a proper Fighting-type move anyway, and between Night Slash and Brutal Swing, I think the latter would be better to keep: shield throws are just way too cool and it gives Sirfetch'd a ranged combat option, so honestly Brutal Swing is the more versatile and visually interesting Dark-type move.

 

[Sai]

Theirs a flashback every episode? Why?

There's not a flashback every episode. Even ones with returning characters like Drake did not get a flashback. I have no idea where this is coming from.

 

[Rockapheller]

Replacing Brock is one of the best decisions to be made in the anime history. I cannot truly imagine myself bearing with Brock's crush gag for another decade and half.

 

[Sai]

Replacing Brock is one of the best decisions to be made in the anime history. I cannot truly imagine myself bearing with Brock's crush gag for another decade and half.

I don't think anyone would deny by the end of DP it was long since time for Brock to go. He had 600+ episodes of screentime and his agency was wearing thin every passing series.

 

[Hidden Mew]

While I think that Brock got better focus episodes in AG and especially DP, I do think that it was ultimately a good decision to replace him after DP. Croagunk made his gag funny again for me, but it was still overused and it probably would have become more stale again if they gave him a different Pokemo to take on Croagunk's role. Brock going off to become a Pokemon Doctor was really the most fitting reason for him to leave the cast, especially when he was often treating injured Pokemon throughout DP.

Besides all that, I think that being able to replace all of Ash's traveling companions with each series helped to make the anime feel more fresh since they were able to experiment with more characters and group dynamics.

 

[Alola]

Sadly, I feel like Brock's replacements weren't much better. I don't know if this is controversial, but the male character "who knows everything/is more intelligent than the party" trope bores me, so much. It started to become quite egregious for Brock the more they traveled, because he was with Ash and Misty/May/Max/Dawn nearly all the time - how was it he knew so much more than they did, or more about the new character's home regions and their Pokémon? You can handwave it with "well, he's a Pokémon Breeder so of course he would know about different species and their moves." But standard Pokémon Trainers also have that expectation as well; they too raise, encounter, & substantially interact with Pokémon. As far as exposition, they can spread that between the cast or allow CoTD to partake in it more.

I also feel like it doesn't allow much growth for said characters because they're already so well adjusted and knowledgeable; pssh, they don't need to consult things like high-tech encyclopedia's put together by renowned regional Professors. It's one of the reasons I dislike Cilan because he was unchanged by the end of his saga as he had nowhere else to go development-wise; Clemont too wasn't much better in that regard.

I would much like a party who experience novel things together, who each react to whatever the phenomena is in their own way.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

In terms of Brock's replacements, I actually liked Clemont. He was an enjoyable cast member and I loved watching him grow as the time for his gym battle with Ash approached. Unfortunately they did very little with him after the gym battle.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Clemont is definitely the best Brock replacement so far. He actually had more of a character arc as he became much more confident over the course of XY. He didn't get much to do after the Gym battle, but I was generally okay with that since that was the highlight of his storyline. Plus, he still got some nice moments, like his role in the Tam Flare arc.

Cilan on the other hand really hasn't aged well. While I still think he's generally likable, there was really no where to go with his character. His goal wasn't particularly interesting and it was eventually turned into a running gag. Given how he left to go to a random fishing contest, it was clear that the writers didn't have any plans for Cilan. I still think that Iris is the worst out of the BW characters, but I can understand why people might find Cilan more annoying or frustrating by comparison.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Cilan on the other hand really hasn't aged well. While I still think he's generally likable, there was really no where to go with his character. His goal wasn't particularly interesting and it was eventually turned into a running gag. Given how he left to go to a random fishing contest, it was clear that the writers didn't have any plans for Cilan. I still think that Iris is the worst out of the BW characters, but I can understand why people might find Cilan more annoying or frustrating by comparison.

Cilan felt like the writers’ dump bin for every random thing they wanted to be part of the plot and didn’t want to develop much.

Cooking? Detective work? Fishing? Pokemon counseling? Acting? Battling advice? Trains? Cilan’s got you covered. Wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out he was an astronaut too.

 

[Blob]

I liked Brock the most and I wish he had stayed on instead of Dent head replacing him.

 

[FelipePR]

Personally, I just wanted Greninja to learn a Dark type move and turning Cut into Night Slash seemed like the most natural move change they could have gone with. I honestly kept forgetting that Greninja was part Dark type during XY since it didn't have any Dark type moves.

Yes, who knew that greninja would become an HM slave? lol

 

[nickdt]

It's especially weird considering that Cinderace evolved so soon in the first place was because of Marketing.

They plaster Cinderace on all kinds of Merchandise, paired alongside Lucario, is the by far the biggest Mascot of Gen 8.
It's practically the Greninja of Galar ffs! (Even right down to having the same Hidden Ability)

I have a theory that the writers originally had way bigger plans for Cinder but for whatever reason, these plans were scrapped. A small part of me wonders if the change in directors had anything to do with it

I think Inteleon being more popular than Man in Bunny Suit in Japan threw a spanner in the works.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Yes, who knew that greninja would become an HM slave? lol

Well, if the Bidoof short proved anything it's that HM Mules are awesome

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I think Inteleon being more popular than Man in Bunny Suit in Japan threw a spanner in the works.

That would be believable if not for the fact that Man in Lizard Suit wasn't also fucked in the screentime department

Also Primarina being more popular than Incineroar in Japan didn't stop Incineroar from having an Arc in the Anime