Controversial opinions

[Hidden Mew]

Well I doubt she has any contact with OLM or the anime director/writers. Remember her work for them ended in 2008 and she largely left the industry, I doubt she's ever going to call them on the phone about a character she played almost two decades ago. The writers very likely knew this back in 2014 since they chose not to bring her back at all then either.

While it's possible that they didn't bring May back in XY due to her voice actress' health, I'm still not sure if that was a major factor. They weren't really interested in doing much with OR/AS compared to how they promoted other remakes and I don't think that was because they couldn't get May's voice actress to reprise her role. I think that had more to do with XY lacking continuity nods and they weren't interested in giving any of the main characters Mega Evolutions, which would have been one of the best ways to promote OR/AS with or without May's appearance.

As mentioned it's already been 14 years which is nearly a decade and a half, so that's already a long amount of time they let her be. If she can't return in Journey's where the writers will bring back every single female female companion by the time it ends and it features old characters, obviously nothing in the future will. If the show goes back to 1 region again obviously May won't show up in Spain a gen she has nothing to do with. So this really is her one and only chance to appear but it looks entirely unlikely to me with the remaining eps left.

It still seems a bit too early to think that May can't appear in the remaining episodes. Assuming that a new series will start around November, Journeys has about seven months left, which would definitely be enough time for May to show up for an episode or two. Like I mentioned before, I wouldn't say it's guaranteed, but I think that there is enough time for it to potentially happen. While I agree that May's chances of appearing would be even smaller if she doesn't appear in Journeys, it wouldn't be impossible for her to show up in the next series. We don't know what the next region is called, let alone what is in it, so I don't think it's quite fair to say that she wouldn't appear in it.

Also I think the apathy a lot of people have for the AG series in general nowadays affects the lack of interest. AG is so old now most of the younger generation never watched it, and of course it never had mainstream popularity like the OS, or popularity within the fandom like DP, XY, SM. Sure the saga wasn't disliked or anything, but it's pretty much overshadowed by everything that came after it for different reasons. It's the same reason other than Drake barely anything from AG has gotten referenced in either XY or Journey's, with Steven being treated like a new character and every other saga getting the fanservice treatment in terms of characters or nostalgia eps. Both the original trio (during SM) and DP trio were reunited (in Arceus eps), SM gets full reunion eps in Alola, the XY cast got treated well, and Iris got made champion and got a good battle with Ash. Nothing from AG would ever be treated similarly.

I don't know if that would really affect the writers' decision on handling any AG in journeys. Plenty of people would have grown up with AG as their first series. I agree that the series is overshadowed by most of the following series, but it still seems to be pretty well received in general, which should count for something. To be fair, they basically needed to treat Steven like a new character. His AG appearance was pretty bad. They didn't even say he was the Hoenn Champion and was treated more like a typical COTD than the current generation's Champion. I don't think that making Steven effectively a different character was because they didn't want to throw AG fans a bone. I always thought that they just wanted to fix the mistake they made in that series by actually establishing Steven's strength as a Champion and giving him more personality.

AG kinda has the problem now that it just does the same Gym leader formula every other sagas does, but it doesn't have that mainstream evergreen appeal the OS does, and DP and XY just became huge fan favorites in the fandom. Also as I mentioned AG is also nearly 20 years old now, a large chunk of the younger generation who grew up with DP, BW or XY never saw it. I mean just by being on this forum you can see the clear indifference.

Considering that plenty of people still want to see May in Journeys, I'm not sure if the indifference take on AG based on this forums is particularly accurate. BW still seems poorly received and Iris is still arguably the least popular of the female leads, but they still gave her a big return episode. I know that Iris and BW as a whole have plenty of fans, but based on what I've seen of the online community, which admittedly still wouldn't be the most accurate insight as to how the target audience feels about the anime, BW still seems less popular compared to most of the other series. BW is more recent than AG, but I don't think that AG being that old or seemingly not being huge fan favorites would really prevent them from having more fanfare for any AG characters.

 

[Daren]

To be fair, they basically needed to treat Steven like a new character. His AG appearance was pretty bad. They didn't even say he was the Hoenn Champion and was treated more like a typical COTD than the current generation's Champion. I don't think that making Steven effectively a different character was because they didn't want to throw AG fans a bone. I always thought that they just wanted to fix the mistake they made in that series by actually establishing Steven's strength as a Champion and giving him more personality.

Actually this does remind me of something possibly hopeful for May reappearing; Steven was recast between AG and XY. He was voiced by Rintarou Nishi in AG but Kenichi Suzumura in XY--I stumbled on that a few years ago because Rintarou was in Super Sentai Dairanger, which I had been watching at the time.
Now, Rintarou wasn't retired during XY's run, having done some voice work during that period. That said of course Steven had a very small role in AG, but I think it is worth noting.

 

[Weddingbells]

TR is kinda inconsistent with how evil they are and how far they are willing to go.

For instance they didn't want to erase lily memory and made a whole speech about how memories are important to people and pokemon, but yet when Pikachu lost it's memory and thought it belonged to Jessie and james, they seemed pretty gleeful as it constantly zapped ash.

There was also that scene where they threw Bonnie from the sky when they stole the tyrunt she was bonding with, which was pretty messed up considering that honestly could of killed her

 

[Kurolegacy]

In the few episodes that Koharu has spent with Dawn and Serena, I find that she has a better dynamic and more believable friendship with them than Go who is supposed to be her childhood friend.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

In the few episodes that Koharu has spent with Dawn and Serena, I find that she has a better dynamic and more believable friendship with them than Go who is supposed to be her childhood friend.

Serena yes, Dawn no

 

[Sai]

I actually liked Dawn and Koharu's interactions in the first return but then Serena really bonded with her even better. It'll be interesting to see if Koharu mentions Serena to Dawn the next time she sees her. I much like how they didn't retread the same contest ground and allowed Dawn to be around for action oriented villain/legendary arcs. But I do hope they give her a team update next time

 

[Kurolegacy]

Serena yes, Dawn no

The instant that Koharu heard that Dawn was in trouble after Piplup was taken she chose to go with Ash and Go to Sinnoh to help her. Plus, Dawn was the original one to introduce her to Contests, something that narratively paid off when she met Serena. Even the opening acknowledges that a dynamic exists by including her in the Sinnoh shot alongside Koharu. That’s a much more believable dynamic than she has with Go whose status as her childhood friend is practically an informed attribute by how little their dynamic reflects it. You could change her status from childhood friend to his classmate and little would change.

 

[Weddingbells]

Ash needs some of his snark back. It was annoying how nanu was insulting him and all he could say was "why would you say something like that "

 

[FluffleFi]

Considering Goh was always skipping school and his overconfidence tended to isolate him, I just gotta wonder how he and Chloe even befriended each other. They dedicated an entire episode to his friendship with Horace but can't do the same for Chloe?

Also he's pretty lucky to have her as a friend, or at least that her dad's a professor. Can you imagine if, say, Iris wanted to catch every Pokemon? God only knows where she'd keep them.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Controversial opinion: I really don't like how the anime has been sticking more closely to the games when it comes to certain aspects ever since SuMo. Like how antagonist plots stick to the game's plot to a tee rather than adding in anime exclusive elements. Or how they don't add anime exclusive towns anymore. Or retcons like the eggs losing their unique patterns or needing to catch a Pokemon to get a dex entry. Even contests were treated in Serena's return to be a bit closer to the game's rather than the appeals + contest battle format. People talk about it simply being a different type of contest, but that's the point. They could have easily stuck to ths formula we were familar with while introducing it to a new audience rather than simply doing something more similar to the games without the battle rounds.

 

[Eitarou]

Considering Goh was always skipping school and his overconfidence tended to isolate him, I just gotta wonder how he and Chloe even befriended each other. They dedicated an entire episode to his friendship with Horace but can't do the same for Chloe?

Also he's pretty lucky to have her as a friend, or at least that her dad's a professor. Can you imagine if, say, Iris wanted to catch every Pokemon? God only knows where she'd keep them.

Her hair, obviously. Just stuff the Balls in there until they're needed.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Her hair, obviously. Just stuff the Balls in there until they're needed.

When it comes to girls in anime, they always come with access to hammer space.

 

[Weddingbells]

Controversial opinion: I really don't like how the anime has been sticking more closely to the games when it comes to certain aspects ever since SuMo. Like how antagonist plots stick to the game's plot to a tee rather than adding in anime exclusive elements. Or how they don't add anime exclusive towns anymore. Or retcons like the eggs losing their unique patterns or needing to catch a Pokemon to get a dex entry. Even contests were treated in Serena's return to be a bit closer to the game's rather than the appeals + contest battle format. People talk about it simply being a different type of contest, but that's the point. They could have easily stuck to ths formula we were familar with while introducing it to a new audience rather than simply doing something more similar to the games without the battle rounds.

What's worse is that these seem like honestly pointless changes. Why couldn't they keep the egg patterns or have anime exclusive towns. The contest one is the most tragic one tbh. Honestly I feel after this series, it's gonna be a long while when we see contest as a goal. That's probably why they changed it

 

[Sai]

What's worse is that these seem like honestly pointless changes. Why couldn't they keep the egg patterns or have anime exclusive towns. The contest one is the most tragic one tbh. Honestly I feel after this series, it's gonna be a long while when we see contest as a goal. That's probably why they changed it

The contests were never going to come back to the anime as a full time thing most likely. The writers probably wanted to make one contest ep this series and they tied it into a Serena cameo so it fit perfectly. As soon as Lisia was shown in the opening I knew the contests would be like hers from the games. I don't really mind since it was a one-off episode and they emphasized the idol part of it which Serena specializes in

 

[Hidden Mew]

Controversial opinion: I really don't like how the anime has been sticking more closely to the games when it comes to certain aspects ever since SuMo. Like how antagonist plots stick to the game's plot to a tee rather than adding in anime exclusive elements. Or how they don't add anime exclusive towns anymore. Or retcons like the eggs losing their unique patterns or needing to catch a Pokemon to get a dex entry. Even contests were treated in Serena's return to be a bit closer to the game's rather than the appeals + contest battle format. People talk about it simply being a different type of contest, but that's the point. They could have easily stuck to ths formula we were familar with while introducing it to a new audience rather than simply doing something more similar to the games without the battle rounds.

Honestly, I still think that the eggs losing their unique pattern is pretty minor issue. The Pokedex still provides entries on Pokemon characters haven't caught yet, but they announce when Pokemon are registered to the Pokedex, which wasn't really a thing prior to Journeys. I could understand not adding more anime exclusive towns for SM since there are only four islands in Alola. It's a lot easier to add in towns when characters are constantly traveling through a single region as opposed to a small island based region. It arguably makes sense for Journeys too since traveling through more recognizable locations from the games would make sense given the world tour setup and the anime's own 25th anniversary, but that falls a bit short when the regions outside of Kanto often feel like bland backgrounds. There is still some charm lost from the anime not doing more of its own thing more often. The anime exclusive towns generally didn't stand out, but they did help to make the regions feel bigger than often do in the games.

As much as I would have loved to see a proper Contest, I'm honestly okay with Serena doing a different type of Contest closer to what they are in the games. A big reason why I didn't like the idea of Serena using Contests as part of her Performer journey was that Contests require different skills. Being a Coordinator wouldn't really fit Serena since she would have to battle more frequently. She can battle, but that was never something she was really interested in either. It does continue the trend of the anime trying to stick closer to elements of the games, which is a bit of a mixed bag to say the least, but I think it is a more fitting path for Serena to take than to battle through regular Contests.

 

[Weddingbells]

feel like this may be heartless, but I kinda found it stupid that whenever Pikachu is about to fall to his death, instead of just quickly putting him in his PokeBall for a quick second, ash resorts to jumping off the building with him. As if both of them being dead is better than Pikachu just momentarily being in his PokeBall for literally a few seconds.

I liked when I'm the pokemon 20th anniversary movie, even when Pikachu complained, ash still new it was the right choice to put him back in his PokeBall

 

[Blob]

Controversial opinion: I really don't like how the anime has been sticking more closely to the games when it comes to certain aspects ever since SuMo. Like how antagonist plots stick to the game's plot to a tee rather than adding in anime exclusive elements. Or how they don't add anime exclusive towns anymore. Or retcons like the eggs losing their unique patterns or needing to catch a Pokemon to get a dex entry. Even contests were treated in Serena's return to be a bit closer to the game's rather than the appeals + contest battle format. People talk about it simply being a different type of contest, but that's the point. They could have easily stuck to ths formula we were familar with while introducing it to a new audience rather than simply doing something more similar to the games without the battle rounds.

I don't know if it was a mandate or what. Maybe some executive who hated SM wanted the anime to be more like the games. Could also explain why Galar is seen so little of, because there isn't much to do there but do the Gym challenge. Still doesn't explain the lack of DLC areas though.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

feel like this may be heartless, but I kinda found it stupid that whenever Pikachu is about to fall to his death, instead of just quickly putting him in his PokeBall for a quick second, ash resorts to jumping off the building with him. As if both of them being dead is better than Pikachu just momentarily being in his PokeBall for literally a few seconds.

I liked when I'm the pokemon 20th anniversary movie, even when Pikachu complained, ash still new it was the right choice to put him back in his PokeBall

THANK YOU, this happens so often and bugs me every time. It’s not even just Pikachu, he often does it with pokemon that have no issue with their pokeballs, like that time he jumped into a volcano to protect Talonflame instead of doing a quick recall.

 

[Kurolegacy]

THANK YOU, this happens so often and bugs me every time. It’s not even just Pikachu, he often does it with pokemon that have no issue with their pokeballs, like that time he jumped into a volcano to protect Talonflame instead of doing a quick recall.

The funny thing is, the one time he did attempt it way back when Metapod was being carried away by Beedrill, he failed miserably. Dude probably gets wartime flashbacks to that every time his Pokémon is in trouble and is like “I can do better than a pokeball. Ash leap go!”

 

[Sai]

Ash vs Iris in JN was the climatic battle that we didn't get in BW. Seeing Iris with Haxorus finally and Ash beating her Dragonite properly (in BW Krookodile beat it but it didn't obey Iris at the time and was rampaging out of control in the Junior Cup), was the fitting battle we should of got back in BW if Iris' character arc was written better. Also seeing him beat her at Drayden's Gym makes it obvious she should have been the 8th badge he won instead of using Roxie out of nowhere which didn't fit thematically even if they were advertising BW2.

I know a lot of people want Iris with a longer full battle against Ash, but if she doesn't battle him again before this saga ends I'm content with what we got. We saw the two Dragonite's battle each other with Iris' being naturally stronger, Dracovish take it down while her Haxorus defeated it, and Ash's final win.