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Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this gen?

Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

Technically this is still "Season 2." There is just a new tagline: "Episode N" underneath the title.

But if one really wants to make an assessment of BW084-BW108, I can agree that most of the episodes were lackluster.
- BW085 and BW086: Set to reintroduce Cynthia and Dawn. Meloetta becomes slightly more prominent.
- BW087 and BW088: Filler
- BW089: Iris catches her Dragonite. It was a horribly written episode that hardly justified Iris obtaining this pokemon. Iris somehow had the ability to read Dragonite's heart just by touching it, which was complete bs. It also felt that Iris's relationship with Dragonite was conditional on the grounds that it was part Dragon-type. Had it been some other type of pokemon that was in the power plant, Iris might not have even given two craps about its wellbeing.
- BW090-BW093: WTJC. Like most of the tournaments in this series, the battles were poorly handled. The first two rounds were almost complete montage battles. Iris vs. Georgia/Dawn were terrible; Iris uses a pokemon that she does not even train to get pass the rounds. Dragonite obeying and disobeying Iris becomes very inconsistent in between the rounds. Trip uses a Serperior to win over every pokemon despite having type disadvantages, and dodges all of their attacks. Dawn leaves at end of BW093, and Cameron debuts. Perhaps the only shining moment of this entire arc was Ash's Krokorok evolving into a Krookodile. Dawn got a measly sendoff at the end of BW093, which also coincided with the debut of Cameron, who would later become one of Ash's main rivals.
- BW094: Cameron's true "debut" episode mixed with a horribly rushed gym battle that never did any favors for Marlon.
- BW095: Filler
- BW096-BW097: If this was stretched to three episodes and we got to see more of Giovanni and TRio battling, this could have been a decent resolution arc. It's a shame that most of the main characters sat on the sidelines. The Kami trio felt shoehorned in at the end. Meloetta leaves the group with a COTD.
- BW098-BW099: Filler.
- BW100-101: The writers' last attempt at giving Iris some closure included yet more fabrications as the story moved along. This included a very rushed gym battle that hardly reflected Iris's growth as a trainer (Excadrill learned a long range attack almost on his own, and Dragonite was already a powerhouse to begin with). The only good part about this arc was that Iris actually used all of her pokemon to calm Hydreigon down in BW100.
- BW102: Virgil debuts. Nothing special about this episode other than all of the current Eeveelutions being featured at once.
- BW103-104: First and second rounds of Unova league. Ash and Trip's rivalry was resolved here. Ash's victory over Trip was undeserved. We saw a few montage rival battles. Bianca gets eliminated by Cameron, and we only got to see two of her pokemon used.
- BW105: Filler. Pointless filler.
- BW106: Ash vs. Stephan. Possibly the best episode in Season 2 yet. It was a decent battle, Ash's reserves were used here, and the battles didn't appear to be lopsided at all.
- BW107-BW108: Ash vs. Cameron. This battle was horribly executed. Cameron did not bring six pokemon with him to the tournament, and Ash won over Cameron due to complete type advantages. The battle slightly got better once Snivy got sent out and fought Riolu on near even footing. The battle result was predictable, and it wasn't fun watching Pikachu and Riolu spam their long distance attacks. The rivals in the Unova League didn't leave a strong impression on me to care whether they won or lost.
 
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Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

I agree with this whole hardily. I sort of fell out of love with the series thanks to this season of repeated disappointments. Maybe Episode N will fix this (still didn't watch the first episode)
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

I agree with this whole hardily. I sort of fell out of love with the series thanks to this season of repeated disappointments. Maybe Episode N will fix this (still didn't watch the first episode)

To be fair the warning signs of BW not living up to potential started with the 4th Gym episode, with Ash being out of character in his fight with Elesa. The gen was still early back then so we had "high hopes" for the future because we didn't actually know how the rest of the saga would play out yet. But looking back at it now...yeah.

Johto gets a lot of dislike because of the bad fillers, but its actually BW's plot episodes that's screwing over this series. The fillers themselves are actually decent.
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

I'll reply your post because I disagree with some of your statements.

Best Wishes were split into three parts, "Season 1," then, "Season 2," and now, "Episode N." Since Season 2 just recently ended, anyone else find that to be the weakest portion so far? Episode N is part of Season 2, although I find understandable why doesn't appear to be Season 2

In retrospect I feel like this is when people truly felt that Best Wishes went downhill: Well, I see

- Dawn's cameo felt pointless and added nothing really. Dawn could have come back for something more interesting for her token cameo. Dawn's cameo was bad written only because the way that the PWT was handled. Until the PWT the cameo was fine.Also, Ash didn't know that Cyndaquil evolved (and the fans that watch dubs didn't see Quilava yet); this is a change of her team after all. At least, it isn't like May that the fans overhyped the team only because the Wallace Cup cameo.

- The Junior Cup was awful, and consisted of nothing more than Trip glorification and Dragonite glorification, but at least Ash took it down with his Krok. Making Trip up to be such a threat when his role in the league was minor was ridiculous. The reason why the PWT Junior Cup weas bad is who was ignored in it. Change Dawn for Bianca, give Bianca an Ice-type and give her fighting Dragonite. The PWT was a tournament meant to show Iris, Trip and a way, Ash.

- Dragonite itself was mishandled. Dragonite was better each episode that the dragon gets screentime. Dragonoite has a lot of developement about Iris. And remember that Dragonite serves two purposes in the show: being a marketing plush, and more important, showcase that in the games Iris is Champion.

- Kotetsu was probably the worst handled rival in the entire saga, which is mind blowing when you think about it. Virgil is handdled worse than Kotetsu. At least, we saw Kotetsu battling three times on-screen. Compare that with Virgil.

- The Marlon Gym battle was forgettable. In Best Wishes, unlike Diamond & Pearl, the Gym battles where Ash isn't getting any badge are really short and simple. And they use 2 and not 3 pokemon unless Ash will also battle but it will be way shorter than Ash's battle itself. The purpose of the episode was Ash having chemistry with Kotetsu AND showcase Meloetta one more time until the Team Rocket arc.

- Virgil and his Eevees were COMPLETELY pointless. The Eevee team has a purpose: selling merch. And we know that Eevee merchandise won't stop because this year the Pikachu short is going to be about Eevee. And remember, the Pikachu short exist only for the purpose of marketing.

- The Unova league itself is almost entirely agreed upon to be the worst league of the entire series. Exist two problems: that the Unova League was a complete dissapointment (I need to agree) and that the fans expectations were abnormally high after the Sinnoh League. The reason why I don't think the Sinnoih League was god written is because that the Darkrai battle could make unbelievable thaty Ash will lose to a normal trainer.

- A lot of the fillers from around that time weren't memorable.
Fillers... in Best Wishes. I thought that they were rare. the only episodes that are fillers are the Detective Cilan episode and the Tag battle team episode and the last one was interesting. The rest aof the episode aren't fillers although the plot could scream filler.


I can't help but think that "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest of this saga, and the worst portion of the anime in a long time. Thankfully episode N looks a hell of a lot better. The good part of the Episode N is that we don't know where we are going. And we're seeing Team Plasma at least.
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

Honestly, I agree with TeddiUrsa. It was shortly after the Elesa gym battle that my own interest in Best Wishes began to wane, though I can't remember why exactly - in fact, as I write this, I'm struggling to recall a single damned thing that actually happened between Nimbasa City and the start of BW2, other than the really obvious (ie: the Donamite and the gym battles/evolutions). So, I cannot say that BW2 represented a significant step down for me, because, by that point, my expectations weren't massively high anyway (that, and I only actually caught about 5% of the episodes). :p
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

Just looking at this thread and the other thread makes it clear that pretty much everyone agrees that the Ash vs Stephan battle in the Unova League was the best out of everything - be it the league arc, or Season 2 up till now. Probably THE ONLY decent episode that was worth watching. It shows how much Season 2, especially the league, overall had been very poorly written.
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

I couldn't agree more. BWS2 is easily my least favorite part of the BW series so far. Especially the Unova League. -_-

I actually surprisingly liked BWS1, but the BW2 saga was just frustrating to watch. The only part I did like about it was Operation Tempest and Dawn's return, along with Stephan vs. Ash in the League. Yep.

Though I do think BWS1 started to get worse when Ash went to get his Pokemon in the Nimbasa City Gym Battle (aka start of BW: Rival Destinies, but it wasn't until BWS2 that I was actually sorely disappointed with the writing- though the battle against Roxie was just terribly written for BWS1).

I'm liking the Episode N arc from what I've seen of it's first episode, but only time will tell. :sweatlol:
 
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Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

meh...

only the league was pretty weak but that was it. Little boring yes, but not as boring as DP-second half...
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

It was the worst thing I've seen on TV since Viva Laughlin.
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

It was Ok, Could have been a little bit better and a few better episodes.
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

Oh boy, where do I begin... I totally agree that BWS2 was when the Unova series went down the crapper. So much rushed battles and wasted opportunities, with most of the Junior Cup and Unova League being a shocking letdown. I really hoped the writers would have learned from their mistakes in the Junior Cup, but they then go on and make an even crappier Unova League.

Apart from Stephan and possibly Bianca, the rivals were a bit lackluster too. I was pleased as punch to see Trip go out so early in the Unova League after his cocky attitude back in the Junior Cup but looking back on it now I think their battle lacked something. It also made the attempts to make him look like a legit threat back in the Junior Cup feel like a total waste of screentime that could have easily been replaced by footage of paint drying. We also got fucked over in terms of league rivals too, with the thick-as-a-brick Cameron and the almost nonexistant Virgil. Come on, the Sinnoh League had none of that shit and it still went pretty well apart from one certain trainer.

It seems like this series just can't survive without a character to hate and Cameron filled in that role shockingly well. He pulls an Iris on us by bringing out a Hydreigon out of nowhere, and I still can't believe that he was allowed to bring 5 Pokemon to a Full 6v6 battle. I'm pretty sure there would be some rule against that. The worst part for me is the fact that he could have missed that league had Ash not helped him out twice. Gah...

Aside from Ash/Iris in the Junior Cup and Ash/Stephan in the Unova League, the battles weren't really that good or memorable either. Iris and Trip pretty much steamrolled their way through type disadvantages in the Junior Cup and the amount of barely seen battles there was just too much. The Unova League performed a bit better in that aspect though.

Outside of those two tournaments, things still don't look too pretty. The general pacing was a bit too quick for me and the battles aren't really memorable. Marlon's debut and only battling appearance so far was lackluster (and I'm sure it came to the dissapointment of many fangirls), the conclusion to Iris's story was "too little, too late", Dawn's return was pretty much pointless, and a filler in the middle of a fucking league?! Are you shitting me? Honestly, the only other good parts were Meloetta and TR. It was pretty much the cherry on top of the shit sundae. (Yeah, I think I got that from the Angry Video Game Nerd. It looks like we're all quoting him here.)

I think that things could have been improved if Ash was still in his badge journey at this point mainly so they would have had something to do rather than bumming around in Cynthia's villa for 13 episodes. The overall pacing of the series could have been slowed down a bit too.

Episode N and Charizard's upcoming return are the last chances the writers have of reviving this series. If they fuck these up too then I'm through with the anime till Gen VI...
 
Re: Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this

Like others I started to lose interest way before Best Wishes 2 began, and here's why:

-Why in the world were the writers giving evolutions in all the wrong places at the wrong times? It was unbearable to watch Ash win his gym battles through evolution of pokemon with little personality, yet Oshawott and Snivy get the shaft. By Best Wishes 2 you think this would be improved, but no. Not even decent battles for the two, that's what pissed me off the most.

-Rival development were sad before and after BW2. Georgia and Burgundy really didn't get the credit they deserved. I seriously don't know why the writers decided to abandon the idea of "underdog" rivalries like May and Drew and Ash and Paul, but since this was their first attempt, I will gladly say I'm just thankful for them giving side main characters rivals. Trip is just irrelevant so that tournament win is long forgotten for me, especially since I think he is one of the most emotionless characters I have ever seen. I will go on to say that Stephan won me over with providing a decent league battle, so I'm very thankful for him. Bianca getting robbed in the League also pissed me off to smitherines!

-Dawn's cameo was sadly pointless. If the writers wanted to go the creative route, they could've mentioned May or Dawn's rivals(at least Ursula, she's the one who had REAL unfinished business with Dawn). I also wanted more screentime for Buneary and Pachirisu because they can be adorably hilarious. But sadly no, Dawn appeared more-so as a prop. They actually should show the next Wallace Cup as a Pokemon special(with some rivals we know) to make up for this. Dawn was treated like crap.

-The League...what League? It came and went, granted Ash did deserve that position for how he performed all saga, but Cameron and Virgil were two characters that were just...not..fun..to..watch.

It's sad to see Cameron and Virgil do so much higher. The least they could've done was had Ash get overconfident against Bel and have her beat him and have Kenyan win the whole thing. Burgundy and Georgia should have been Cameron and Virgil's substitutes. Granted, they each may have suffered another loss, but at least their entertaining.

Virgil pissed me off because he was around strictly because of promotion and I felt I was losing brain cells whenever I came on screen.

I actually thought May making an appearance saying she switched over to gyms out of nowhere and winning the Unova League herself would have been better writing. I really pray that Generation 6 isn't THAT bad. No more evolutions in gym battles, no more mishandling of rivals, no more boring rivals with no emotion, no more extra captures.
Please, Best Wishes been there, tried that, and failed epicly.

I actually thought it'd be a neat idea for Ash to mention Gible to Iris. Then, thinking about the way the writers handled this saga, I feared he might actually let her keep it and that it wasn't so crazy to believe it.

See what Best Wishes does to people...
 
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