Controversial opinions

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Cameron is someone who COULD have worked if he was handled better. I think Cameron could have worked and been a bit more well liked IF he was introduced a lot sooner as a noob similarly to Ash, though he was still shown to be significantly airheaded. He constantly got type matchups wrong, he got dates mixed up, places mixed up, and he was frequently late for stuff. You show him making dumb mistakes when he battles Ash before the league. You could have had a running gag of him being late and never being able to join Don George's tournaments. You still show him ALMOST missing the deadline for the Vertress Conference, but by the time Ash battles him, you see he's actually remembered some things. You don't have him make the dumb mistakes or see him only bring 5 Pokemon to the battle, and you don't make it a situation where he gets insanely lucky with an evolution. Maybe then would Ash losing to Cameron not feel as bad.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Another big problem with Cameron is that he seems to have been intended to be something of an idiot savant, as in, he's supposedly an excellent trainer but hopeless at just about everything else. The issue is that what we were shown does not reflect that at all, as Cameron doesn't even have Ash's quality of on-the-fly improvisation, and strategically he comes across as no better than any other trainer and maybe even slightly worse, since all he really does is tell his Pokemon to attack, attack, and yet more attack. Which works out for him anyway because the plot demands it. And of course, the fact that he sent out two Pokemon against opponents they were severely weak against in the same battle with not even an apparent plan to help circumvent this. About the closest Cameron ever gets to actual strategizing is when he came up with the whole "shockwaves on the forehead" thing to bypass Bianca's Escavalier's increased defenses, but that's literally the only example. I've seen some people cite his Samurott's use of her seamitars too, but I personally don't really count that because that's something that we see just about every member of the Oshawott line's species do. Even Burgundy's Dewott. So, how impressive is "teaches a samurai otter to deflect things with its natural weapon" really when apparently even someone like Burgundy can figure it out? Based on all of that, I think it's relatively safe to conclude that the deflection tactic is simply an inherent skill to Oshawotts/Dewotts/Samurotts rather than something trainers specifically train them to do.

In short, Cameron just had too much of the idiot part and not enough of the savant part, making his supposed skill level as a trainer come across as too unbelievable.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

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

I kinda like Greninja’s dub voice, but the Japanese one is serperior.
COUG.

 

[Enzo]

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

I have no idea how to explain it, but I think this voice really fits a frog. There's this slight ''croaking'' (?) that the voice actor does that just really sells it for me.

Like, if you told me to imagine a voice for a humanoid-ish frog, that's the voice I would've imagined.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I have no idea how to explain it, but I think this voice really fits a frog. There's this slight ''croaking'' (?) that the voice actor does that just really sells it for me.

Like, if you told me to imagine a voice for a humanoid-ish frog, that's the voice I would've imagined.

I get what you're saying but considering how the Anime was attempting to portray Greninja's personality as this sort of "Silent Stoic Serious Badass Super Ninja", having Greninja sound like Elmo from Sesame Street just feels all sorts of jarring in contrast to the character itself

At least that's just my feelings anyways

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

It might be the result of confirmation bias, and I don’t know if it’s the voice acting or the names, but I often feel that Japanese Pokémon names sometimes translate much better into “Pokémon cries” than English names for me. The Japanese cries sound more animalistic and something you can expect to hear from an animal with vocal cords not as developed as human ones while the English cries just sound like plain speech. I guess the fact that I personally don’t know Japanese and can’t discern words in it might be a factor.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I love Ash’s Torkoal so much. He’s such a sweetheart and I feel bad for him. I love it when he cries because it usually means that he feels bad for someone and I love a Pokemon who is an empath. Plus I just love Torkoal. Ash just did it dirty. Put some respect on Torkoal, it fought pretty good against Registeel.
Glory Day is the best Japanese ending. It’s so calming and has a great melody, message, and song.
Outside of Pokemon, movie 11’s English ending song “This is a Beautiful World” has a great message about respecting the world and those who live in it. It’s a very inspiring song and tells us to appreciate the world around us and promotes human kindness. Criminally underrated song that EVERYONE needs to listen to because this world is so, so messed up...

 

[Bismuth84]

•Max>>>>Iris, Cilan, and Bonnie.
•I don't mind the fact that the Mewtwo in M16 isn't the same as the one in M1.
•I dislike M13.
•I don't think Vic Mignogna was a good VA for Keldeo, and I thought that even before I knew about the allegations. Of course, that was the least of M15's problems...
•Journeys>BW.
•Jason Griffith was a terrible choice for Clemont's VA. In my mind, Clemont sounds (or at least, SHOULD sound) more like what he is: a nerdy (pre-)pubescent kid rather than Cilan 2.Blow. Also, I can't be the only person who thinks the emphasis should be more on the second syllable of his name (so it sounds more like the "mont" in "Vermont" or "montage"), can I?
•I don't care that it's a filler episode (and a Johto one at that), "The Fortune Hunters" has been one of my favorite episodes of the show ever since I was a kid.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Jason Griffith was a terrible choice for Clemont's VA.

Clemont was actually voiced by Mike Liscio. Jason Anthony Griffith voiced Cilan.

 

[Enzo]

Also, I can't be the only person who thinks the emphasis should be more on the second syllable of his name (so it sounds more like the "mont" in "Vermont" or "montage"), can I?

Okay, I think I can answer this one.

You see, Clemont's original japanese is Citron, which is the french word for ''lemon''. But, in order to just not call him, you know,,, ''Lemon'' in the english translation, they adapted it to ''Clemont''. I mean... Clemont,,,,? It's kinda of a mix of both ''citron'' and ''lemon''.

So I believe the reason on why it's pronounced with an emphasis on the first syllable is because lemon is pronunced like that, with an emphasis on the syllable ''le'' as opposed to the ''mon''.

(Now that I stop to think about it... could ''Clemont'' be based off ''clementine''? I mean... it's another citric fruit that sounds very familiar to it...)

 

[Insanish Danish]

•I don't care that it's a filler episode (and a Johto one at that), "The Fortune Hunters" has been one of my favorite episodes of the show ever since I was a kid.

The Fortune Hunters has the honor of quite possibly being my favorite episode in the entirety of the Pokemon anime, or at least the one that makes me laugh the most. Never gets old.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Okay, I've been holding onto this for a long time, and it's due time I let it out: I'm going to write a post in defense of Ash's Unfezant, posibly his least popular Pokemon ever, because I feel like this bird gets way too much hate when literally none of her problems are her fault. Granted, there's a lot of perfectly valid reasons to be disappointed with her (as I certainly am), but I don't think outright hatred is warranted.

First of all, there's the thing I see people cite the most that they dislike about Unfezant is her lack of a personality, with some even going as far as to claim that she's bland even by the standards of the Regional Birds, but... is she really? Because I don't think Ash's other birds are any more defined personality-wise compared to Unfezant. Most only have like a couple of personality traits (discounting determination, bravery and loyalty, which are attributes that literally all of Ash's Pokemon have or at least gain eventually): Noctowl's only real standout personality trait is that it's smart, but this was literally only ever showcased once and then never elaborated upon again, Swellow just has the aformentioned determination turned up to eleven, Staraptor is perhaps a bit goofy due to the episode he fell in love with a Staravia doll, and Talonflame was at least shown to be analytical as a Fletchling, but like with Noctowl's intelligence, this was never really elaborated upon again. And then there's Pidgeot, whose literal only trait was its loyalty, which likely only stood out as defining because this bird was lucky enough to share a saga with no less than three initially-disobedient Pokemon (Pikachu, Primeape, and most famously Charizard).

But then, what are Unfezant's personality traits? Well, much like with the other birds, Unfezant's personality is very subdued and subtle, but she does have something: as a Pidove she seemed to be kinda ditzy, but this doesn't seem to be the case anymore after she evolved. Then again, according to the Pokedex, Pidove as a species is kind of dumb and absentminded and seemingly loses that upon evolution (Unfezant is described as intelligent on at least one entry), so I'm not going to count that. However, there is more things about Unfezant that we can use to gaugue her personality: first, let's look at the episode where Scraggy hatched out of his egg. Pidove was the first to try and greet him, and her response to him headbutting her was to run away and avoid confrontation. Later, when she and the rest of Ash's Pokemon rescue Scraggy from the Galvantula swarm, Pidove looks noticeably angry and is even the first to launch an attack at the offending Bug-types. What makes this interesting is that this is at odds with Pidove's earlier behavior, as she was the only Pokemon of Ash's to not even try to engage Scraggy in a fight. Second, the episode featuring the resurrected Archen. Tranquill goes the extra mile to teach Archen how to fly, showing a great deal of patience in the process. Next, in the Meloetta arc Unfezant was one of the Pokemon who helped the eponymus Pokemon out, and she helps Pikachu protect Iris and Dragonite from Thundurus and later rescues Meloetta from a deadly fall. Finally, the episode where Ash and company help out a rookie trainer and her newly obtained Tepig. Here, Team Rocket use a couple of new extremely strong Pokemon in Frillish and Amoonguss, who proceed to badly injure Pikachu and Tepig, and when they're about to deal the finishing blow, Unfezant flies into the line of fire, using her own body as a shield (something she did without imput from Ash, mind you) and then proceeds to blast them off. Based on all of this, I think we can safely garner a personality from Unfezant, and what is is is that she's clearly protective, and maybe even a bit motherly. Unfezant has a protective and caring personality, and I think that's really sweet. Sadly, much like is the usual case with Ash's birds, this was just never elaborated on much, making Unfezant come off as blander than she really is. I wish Unfezant had been allowed to showcase her protective personality more, because the idea of one of Ash's regional birds being a sort of mother hen is pretty adorable.

Another problem people have with Unfezant is that she was honestly not very reliable in battle, and this I think is more justified because it's absolutely true: the only battle where Unfezant truly shined was in the Gym Battle against Skyla, and everywhere else she got her feathery behind kicked. However, I feel like this is more a problem with BW's inability to properly balance the rotating of Ash's roster, as there's an argument to be made that Unfezant wasn't intended to be as weak as she looked: she does put up a better fight against Roxie's Koffing (who was built up as very strong) than Boldore did and it was only after she got an unlucky Poison status that the tide of the battle shifted. Meanwhile, her poor performance against Cameron's Riolu was probably meant to be analogous to all those times Pikachu beat fully evolved Ground-types despite a type disadvantage, as Riolu was clearly intended to be to Cameron what Pikachu is to Ash. It just looks really bad because Unfezant barely got any chances to shine outside of the Skyla battle, which combined with Cameron's idiocy and incompetence just resulted in Unfezant looking weak rather than Cameron and Riolu looking strong as was intended. I will also say something in defense of Unfezant not managing to land even one hit on Riolu in that if she actually had managed to land even one attack it'd probably have made her loss look even worse; I mean, just look at the Pikachu vs Mudsdale fight which unrealistically has Pikachu survive a billion super-effective STAB nukes to the face before essentially one-shotting his opponent. Do we really want Riolu to beat Unfezant the same way? 'Cause I don't think I do: that thing already got to show off unbelievable endurance when it evolved. Surviving a bunch of super-effective attacks on top of Snivy's and Pikachu's assaults would just be overkill. Besides, I seriously doubt that Riolu was dodging Unfezant's attacks just because they would tickle. Basically, Unfezant just got screwed by the plot. Though she's not the only one: most of the Unova team was screwed over pretty badly too, just not as much as Unfezant.

TL; DR, Unfezant deserved better. Both from the writers AND from the fans.

 

[HiroHunter]

TL; DR, Unfezant deserved better. Both from the writers AND from the fans.

You could say that for the Gen 5 anime as a whole it deserved better than what it got.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

You could say that for the Gen 5 anime as a whole it deserved better than what it got.

And every series except for DP imo, especially XYZ

 

[HiroHunter]

especially XYZ

You can add JN to that as well.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Was I the only one who didn’t like the Arceus special as much as the rest of the fandom did?

 

[Bismuth84]

Clemont was actually voiced by Mike Liscio. Jason Anthony Griffith voiced Cilan.

Oh. I thought he voiced Clemont because his voice sounded similar. Still think his anime voice was bad.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Was I the only one who didn’t like the Arceus special as much as the rest of the fandom did?

If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you like it?

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you like it?

Felt repetitive to the Galactic arc/Arceus movie, no buildup, and it felt pointless. They could have at least done it in Stark Mountain. Plus the art style is a huge turnoff and I’m tired of Ash.
Tbf I haven’t watch the second part yet and I probably never will. I know people say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but I don’t want to waste 40 mins of my life watching it.
If there was more LA stuff I would watch it, but nope, this doesn’t even promote the new games right.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Felt repetitive to the Galactic arc/Arceus movie, no buildup, and it felt pointless. They could have at least done it in Stark Mountain. Plus the art style is a huge turnoff and I’m tired of Ash.
Tbf I haven’t watch the second part yet and I probably never will. I know people say “don’t judge a book by its cover” but I don’t want to waste 40 mins of my life watching it.
If there was more LA stuff I would watch it, but nope, this doesn’t even promote the new games right.

Fair enough. There was hardly any Legends Arceus promotion at all, you're right about that. Just that little snippet at the end with Rei. I'm willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best in the end, since I am a loyal fan of this anime and I won't ditch it no matter how controversial it gets. As for the artstyle, yeah, I'm not a fan of it either, but not much we can do about it right?

Edit: And also the catching game Cynthia had them partake in to demonstrate Hisuian Poke Balls.