Controversial opinions

[Hidden Mew]

Satoshi x Gou is the worst shit, ship; I have ever seen, between main characters, in any media.

I loathe relationships where there is someone that only takes without giving.
Went so far to call it Journeys/DualProtagonistsshitting in Twitter.

And I also fail to see what is so appealing in the shillmon and the banished as a ship.

I really can't see the pairing being that bad. I can understand not liking it. That's perfectly fine, but saying it's the worst ship you've seenn in any media just seem such an excessive remark. I also still think that is a really inaccurate way to describe their relatioship. Goh doesn't just take from Ash. They both clearly support each other in their goals. Again, it's fine to not like their friendship or pairing, but I just think that's a needlessly harsh and inaccurate way to describe their relationship.

I'm not sure how Dawn could've caught an Eevee either, but perhaps obtaining it from Bebe might have worked? It would have been a nice shoutout to the games, and in Platinum at least she gives an Eevee to the player right away, so Dawn getting an Eevee earlier than usual wouldn't have contradicted the games too much. Maybe have an episode where Dawn helps Bebe with some problem and bonds with the Eevee during that time, and Bebe ultimately decides to give Eevee to Dawn after seeing them become so close, as well as because Bebe decides it might be better for Eevee to travel and grow strong as a Contest Pokemon than to stay as a sedentary pet. As for the evolution episode, maybe have Gardenia be the one to inspire it? She could have made a return for a couple of episodes, and being the Grass-type specialist she'd be the first to suggest Dawn evolve her Eevee into a Leafeon. Plus, it would be a neat opportunity to see James's Cacnea again. Not sure where this sequence of events would fit exactly, though. That said, I wouldn't make Dawn's Eevee as late of a capture as Togekiss was. Mainly because I didn't like how Togekiss was really only useful for the last leg of Dawn's Journey, so I wouldn't want the hypothetical Eevee/Leafon to have the same problem.

Oh yeah, a hypothetical Eevee definitely couldn't have been caught as late as Togekiss was, if only because it would have been not enough time to make it evolve. Plus, I never liked how Togekis wasn't at least more involved with Dawn's Contest arc. I don't think being involved in Contests would have necessarily made it better with its capture episode in mind, but it might have helped. Getting it from Bebe could have been an interesting way to tie it into Platinum. I was thinking of how she could have gotten it sometime after the Twinleaf Festival since they'd be potentially closer to the Eterna Forest where it could have evolved. Bringing back Gardenia could have been a nice way to inspire it to become Leafeon and getting to see Cacnea again definitely would have been nice. The latter is still the only reason I'd want her to appear in Journeys somehow.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Guys, please remember that these are shippers, and if any of you have been around fandoms long enough it should come as no surprise that they're shouting "OTP!" at a couple with next to no canonical interactions. Seriously, shippers of just about every fandom do this literally all the time. It's practically a professional sport for them.

Lucario and Cinderace probably would have been shipped by someone even if Journeys hadn't tried to push them as counterparts simply because they're both popular mons based on anthropomorphic animals and that concept alone is inherently interesting to a lot of people. Heck, the fact that Lucario is a canine and Cinderace a rabbit makes me sort of surprised that I haven't seen anyone do a Beastars crossover with these two yet. Another thing that helps push these two as a "couple" is also probably an extension of the AshXGoh ship.

And I also fail to see what is so appealing in the shillmon and the banished as a ship.

I'm honestly surprised just how much Cinderace x Lucario blew up lol

It's funny. You'd think Cinderace x Lopunny would've been Cinderace's most popular ship among the fandom but it seems like everyone prefers pairing Cinderace with either Lucario or Inteleon lol

(Yes. If you can Believe it, Before JN48 came along, Inteleon x Cinderace used to be the #1 biggest Cinderace ship lmao!
That pairing was fucking EVERYWHERE during SWSH's heyday
Do not ask me why cause I do not know how that ship got popular lol)

 

[nickdt]

Obviously, the best duo in Journeys is Pinsir and Heracross. Its not that hard for them to be that, considering they are the only duo.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Guys, please remember that these are shippers, and if any of you have been around fandoms long enough it should come as no surprise that they're shouting "OTP!" at a couple with next to no canonical interactions. Seriously, shippers of just about every fandom do this literally all the time. It's practically a professional sport for them.

Lucario and Cinderace probably would have been shipped by someone even if Journeys hadn't tried to push them as counterparts simply because they're both popular mons based on anthropomorphic animals and that concept alone is inherently interesting to a lot of people. Heck, the fact that Lucario is a canine and Cinderace a rabbit makes me sort of surprised that I haven't seen anyone do a Beastars crossover with these two yet. Another thing that helps push these two as a "couple" is also probably an extension of the AshXGoh ship.

I mean, even outside shipping circles I've seen people saying they have a "well done bond", which I can totally fail to comprehend.

 

[Soniman]

Technically we see Cinderace and Lucario fight every single episode in the OP for the past year so we basically have seen their bond very consistently!

 

[Unireon]

Getting out of the shipping-black-hole.....

A close bond between that shillmon and Aceburn......?

Those people are really talking about Journeys......

This is the series where relationships and dynamics don't matter at all.

 

[Sai]

Did May's pokemon have any type of dynamic with each other either? From what I remember there's nothing I can particularly recall. They were out of their balls eating food but I don't remember them ever interacting with each other much. Her team kinda felt less involved.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Did May's pokemon have any type of dynamic with each other either? From what I remember there's nothing I can particularly recall. They were out of their balls eating food but I don't remember them ever interacting with each other much. Her team kinda felt less involved.

Even so, they were the exception among many other dynamics in AG. Journeys has none.

 

[Alola]

I'm genuinely curious for examples of Clemont's growth in confidence over the Kalos saga. Aside from the early episodes where he used Bunnelby against Heliolisk and briefly forsook Chespin due to a misunderstanding, where was he consistently characterized as insecure and or timid/cowardly? To the point that it was a character trait that was developed and overcome?

I read a couple opinions here that he had a lot of growth over the saga apparently, but I didn't see any - especially after the mini-arc concluded that was his preparation to battle Ash formally.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Did May's pokemon have any type of dynamic with each other either? From what I remember there's nothing I can particularly recall. They were out of their balls eating food but I don't remember them ever interacting with each other much. Her team kinda felt less involved.

Even "eating food together" is more than anything JN does, though.

Even so, they were the exception among many other dynamics in AG. Journeys has none.

Also, this is a very valid point.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Party Dancespades is one of my most hated episodes ever. I never will go as low to death threat the writers over it, but I am pissed that Ash and Serena didn’t dance. The only thing good about that episode was Eevee evolving.

I can't say I hated this episode, but damn were they trolling us amourshippers hard with it.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

I'm genuinely curious for examples of Clemont's growth in confidence over the Kalos saga. Aside from the early episodes where he used Bunnelby against Heliolisk and briefly forsook Chespin due to a misunderstanding, where was he consistently characterized as insecure and or timid/cowardly? To the point that it was a character trait that was developed and overcome?

I read a couple opinions here that he had a lot of growth over the saga apparently, but I didn't see any - especially after the mini-arc concluded that was his preparation to battle Ash formally.

I haven't rewatched too much XY/Z in a looong time, so someone else out there for sure can give a better answer than me, but if I were to give my two cents I'd consider Clemont a relatively static character who was still very much fun and enjoyable enough for his fans without needing nearly the same level of development or character arcs that defined and changed other characters like Ash who went through noticeable changes over the course of the anime's history going from being somewhat brash, a smart aleck and cocky with potential to a better, stronger trainer who's pretty much always the nice guy. Meanwhile I can't recall too many noticeable changes with Clemont aside from I think his experiences with Ash did help him become a little more confident as a gym leader, but we don't see or know how he operated as one before meeting Ash aside from the whole "needing a certain number of badges thing before being allowed in his gym", an act he would quickly regret. All the same I liked his character anyway for one being the first travel companion friend of Ash to be the scientist/inventor type which served as a nice contrast to the more athletic physically active Ash. The guy's heart always seemed to be in the right placed based on how he likes to use science to help others human or Pokemon and not counting the inventions that blow up for comedy he's been successful at like I recall one episode of him having invented an "electric shower" for Electric Pokemon to help re-energize them when they feel exhausted. I also liked the bond and little backstory he had with Shinx that would go on to be his Luxio/Luxray. I wish I could give a better answer, but that's all I got. Anyhow I liked your question because it's very thought provoking because it's got me thinking whether or not the Pokéani absolutely needs dynamic characters that get development or if they can have some static characters as long as they deliver something to the table. I feel like that can be a topic in of it's self.

 

[Sai]

The XY cast, aside from Bonnie, was notoriously known for being underused at times. Serena in the first year of XY (remember waiting 59 episodes for her to get a goal of capture a pokemon?) with only a few episodes, and while I don't think Clemont fared too badly in the last half of XY he did take a backseat as Bonnie/Squishy and Serena's screentime increased. But he was handled fine for what he was.

The SM cast had similar problems with Lillie's arc peaking in the first year and her character barely having anything to do but get a Z ring in the next two years. It's really strange they didn't keep Lillie more prominent because she could have turned out to be one of the most developed characters if they did.

Honestly every major character in the last 4 series has been underused at some point including Iris/Cilan too. Kind of mind blowing Dawn really was the last main character to get a full series worth of constant screentime and that was over 10 years ago now.

 

[Soniman]

Honestly every major character in the last 4 series has been underused at some point including Iris/Cilan too. Kind of mind blowing Dawn really was the last main character to get a full series worth of constant screentime and that was over 10 years ago now.

I mean...like it or not Goh has had constant prominence in the show, to the point where people complain it's to much focus in comparison to Ash (not that I agree bit the fact it's a complaint to begin with kinda says a lot), he definitely earned that co-protagonist role only Dawn was afforded after all those years

 

[Sai]

I mean...like it or not Goh has had constant prominence in the show, to the point where people complain it's to much focus in comparison to Ash (not that I agree bit the fact it's a complaint to begin with kinda says a lot), he definitely earned that co-protagonist role only Dawn was afforded after all those years

True. Don't you feel they should have done similar with Serena and Lillie though? Both characters have their moments but both should have had more starring roles and consistent screentime. As mentioned compare Lillie to her game incarnation and it really feels like the anime could have made her a much more prominent character even if the SM cast remained the same as it was.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Honestly, I thought that Clemont's development was pretty noticeable. He started off as being kind of shy and timid, struggling with trying to regain his Gym. but through his interactions with Ash, he became a much more confident person. This peaked during their Gym battle, but it was shown earlier like with how he wanted to save Luxio when it was controlled by Team Rocket and his decision to train ahead of time of his battle with Ash. Even his confrontation with Xerosic at the end of the series showed that he had become a stronger and more resourceful person. The Clemont at the start of XY would not have been able to defeat Xerosic as a trainer or as a scientist.

To be fair, being associated with a couple of running gags, both his inventions blowing up and Bonnie asking random women to marry him, probably didn't help matters. The latter gag showed him as being flustered and embarrassed pretty much every time it happened. Plus, not really having a lot to do after his battle with Ash probably made him come off as static or that he didn't have much of a role. Compared to other characters that filled the Brock role, including Brock himself, I just think that Clemont had pretty solid development to make him a likable and engaging character.

 

[Sai]

Being embarrassed over your 7 year old kid sister asking a stranger to marry you doesn't have anything to do with a lack of confidence. Anyone would react that way, it was funny because Bonnie had an understandably child's view on love.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Being embarrassed over your 7 year old kid sister asking a stranger to marry you doesn't have anything to do with a lack of confidence. Anyone would react that way, it was funny because Bonnie had an understandably child's view on love.

I wasn't trying to imply that his reaction meant that he lacked confidence. I meant that being associated with two running gags could have made it more difficult for fans to notice his development.

Personally, I hated Bonnie's gag. I understand that it was supposed to be funny and she did have a child's view of love, but it was way more annoying for me. I thought it was an interesting reversal of Brock's gag and at first she was at least appealed by something about the women's personalities or roles instead of just their appearances, but then she soon just asked random women without even learning their names or seeing their faces to ask them to marry her brother. Plus, I just kind of hated that she kept doing it after Clemont told her to stop. I understand that's part of the joke and she is a little kid, but it really made it harder for me to find the joke funny. Bonnie still had some good moments throughout XY, but that gag was just annoying.

 

[Enzo]

I've been brewing this in my head for a while now, and I came up with a thesis, of sorts. I'm writing this here not because what I'm about to say about this character is controversial, but it's because it's something that starts going on a ''conspiracy theory'' territory, I have to admit lol. But consider:

What if Cameron was supossed to be an anti-Tobias?

Spoiler: for comfort

Okay, to start off: what are Tobias's most notable traits, and ironically enough, the biggest complaints surrounding this character? Well, some consider him too old to compete on the League (it's more of a minor point, because even tho the League seemingly doesn't has any sort of ''age restriction'', seeing a guy who could easily pass as an adult, if he's not one, that is, competing on something where basically every contestant was around Ash's age did left a bad taste on some people's mouths), but that he was a guy who was created squarely with the only purpose to knock Ash out, somebody we had never seen before and never saw again, whom we don't know anything about, that inexplicably has not one, but two extremely rare Pokémon, and steamrolled through an entire region with just one of them.

You see, isn't just interesting to think that, besides the fact that they ko'ed Ash off the League, Tobias and Cameron have nothing in common? What if that was on purpose? What if, as they saw the violent backslash Tobias brought, they decided to make someone up who was the complete opposite? I believe they did, and that person was (or, more specifically, supossed to be) Cameron.

There's a lot of stuff we can see in his character that is different from Tobias: he's introduced earlier than Tobias (albeit I'm aware that he only debuts literally 10 eps before the League, it's admitelly better than Tobias, who only showed up in the League), we're given some space to figure out who he is. We also see that, differently from Tobias, Cameron has a full team of ordinary Pokémon, and that he's not unbeatable in the slightest. We see him fail, make mistaskes. In a way, he's more of a character as opposed to Tobias who was basically a walking plot-device, a being that was just spawned out of nowhere to beat Ash. This, imo, is arguably the best, if not, the only thing about Cameron that I enjoyed: he felt real.

Spoiler: for comfort part 2

And not just that: taking the overall tone of the humour in BW, of excessively used gags and characters doing dumb stuff and suddendly losing braincells to make into a joke, it's not exclusive to Cameron. And given the idea that the writers were convinced that the characters being dumbed down to pathetic levels was something we all loved and found super funny, I think Cameron being dumb as a door was on purpose, because they thought people were to find him ''endearing'', ''quirky'', and ''charming'' and that everybody would fall in love with him, and hey, that's clearly what happened, am I right????

Even some paralels can be traced between Ash and Cameron, in fact. Both are young boys who dream of being the best, with an highly marketable Pokémon companion by their sides, who can be airheads and make dumb mistakes, yet ultimately mean well and try their best. Also, I think it's important to note that Ash was rebooted and regressed in Unova, so a guy who was just as of a ''noob'' as Ash was probably the best option to take him out, as opposed to say, Virgil, a clearly more experienced trainer. I personally believed they tried to ''level the field'' with by using someone that was on the same boat Ash was, in case being Cameron.

In conclusion, I think Cameron was created with the intention of being a character who was loved by the audience, so, when it inevitably the day came where he would erase Ash from the competition, we wouldn't feel that angry or upset, because it was the ''amazing and funny Cameron, the guy we all love'' who took him down. But, they failed miserably at that, and Cameron was a failure who had the absolute contrary effect on the audience, who hate him just as much, if not even more, than Tobias.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I dunno if this is an Unpopular Opinion or not but Greninja's English Dub voice is awful and unfitting imo

Probably the Worst voice for a fully evolved starter we've had in the Anime thus far

https://youtu.be/a-LgVJ77Gic