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Do you have any unpopular opinions about the anime?

I used to hate team rocket,now I don't mind them.
I just wish they'd be cut down to an appearance every 3 or 4 episodes
 
My new unpopular opinion:

I find Shudo Takeshi being overrated. Although I appreciate all his effort in trying to make Pokemon Anime into a show that is more meaningful than just a marketing tool, but I find his work is just mediocre, or maybe below-average. As a head screen-writer and series constructor, also being a novel author about a fictional work set in a non-Real-Life universe, I found his story-writing and storytelling, also his overall creativity is just unattractive.

-- As I read through Shudo Takeshi's blog, I found that he put too much unnecessary themes into the overall series construction of Pokemon Anime. Family problems, abused children, the questioning of existence of this world, the "evilness" of adults, the dream of children's youth, and the eventual road of children which must be walked to become the "evil" adult. I'm not saying random things I imagined in my head, these are all mentioned in his blog entries.
-- His way of story-writing unfortunately doesn't suits to the episodic nature of this show. Pokemon Anime construction is not the sole effort of Shudo Takeshi, but it is the combined effort of many directors more superior than him and several different screen-writers. With this acknowledgement in mind, isn't it natural to think of another story structure that is more appropriate to this media structure where that can continue indefinitely, but not set to have a definite ending right at the very beginning?
-- Not only the problem of unnecessary themes, but unfortunately his storytelling doesn't convey the themes to the audience. Those so-called "themes" are more like a gimmick to today's episode, rather than being the main focus fundamental to the story construction, and unfortunately it is not something that links to the progression of overall story and development of characters.
-- Characterization is also quite a problem. He made not only Ash Ketchum's, but also many other characters (including Misty, Brock, TRio, and also many CotD) to have bullied or abused background. I do not understand at all what is the point and benefit in doing so, especially when IMO such background setting only add a superficial layer of angst and "darkness" to the characters, rather than adding any usefulness to the development of character.
-- World-building is another problem. When Pokemon World is not Real-Life, it is just awkward to insert so many Real-Life related settings and explanation (Not in the Anime, but all are explained in the Pokemon The Animation novel), additionally make it more "darker" than it was. Although I admitted that even in the old RGB game there were many RL-related mentions in pokedex entries and geographic locations, but how one adapt it is another issue.
For example, the original Sailormoon manga by Takeuchi Naoko mentioned that the story is set in Japan. But does that means the old anime adaption done in the 90s made the story more Real-Life Japan than it was? Although I admit there was more slapsticks and more comedies and more childish than its original work, but not more "realistic" than it was. The anime adaption is still the magical girl battle romance like it was in the original manga.
-- I think he didn't have good communication with his superior director. This is not about the Pokemon Anime, but it is more about Shudo Takeshi being an employee working in a company.
As I read through his blog, there were many times he wrote that he felt extremely depressed when his planned scenario was rejected and need a complete rewrite. Yeah I understand it is super annoying when all your creative hard works which you spend several weeks in writing them out are brushed off by the employer with a line "This is not good" and then just throw them all to the dustbin and ask you to rework it as soon as possible because of deadline, and I sympathize his feeling on such issues. But in order to prevent this kind of happenings occurs often, isn't it necessary to always consult and communicate with your superior staff until you have a basic understanding of what is in their mind? Being one of the staff that works on a large project, one should understand you are not the only one taking responsibilities, and you are not the one taking full responsibility. Unfortunately Shudo Takeshi seems like doesn't understand the phrase "Take it easy".

Through, like I said before, I still appreciate his effort in trying to make Pokemon Anime more meaningful than it supposed to be, and taking it more seriously than any of the staffs including his superior directors. But it is just that in retrospect, the quality of the end product is quite questionable. Especially if supposedly Shudo Takeshi was the sole person taking full control in the series construction of Pokemon Anime, I really doubt it will become worse than some journey fanfic in FF.net.
 
Noivern's dub voice is so hilarious to listen to. It honestly sounds like he's about to vomit any minute. He's voiced by the same person who narrates some Star Wars books and trust me if you ignore the voice acting part he's a pretty damn good narrator. Still Noivern's English voice is a hoot.
 
A show about going to school is a terrible idea and sounds really boring and just plain awful.

Is this unpopular? The biggest thing I have always loved about the show is the adventure, the traveling, the camping out, and the camaraderie of a SMALL group (don't mind a lot of people making a decent amount of appearances, but 6 main characters, as shy as I am it makes me cringe just thinking about it).

I mean really, I don't think I'm going to even watch SM until I can see it confirmed that the school crap stops and an adventure actually happens. I think I would have been a lot less sad about the end of XYZ, but since I have no confidence the next series will be entertaining it made it all the more sad. And such a potentially cool region to travel too.
 
A show about going to school is a terrible idea and sounds really boring and just plain awful.

Is this unpopular? The biggest thing I have always loved about the show is the adventure, the traveling, the camping out, and the camaraderie of a SMALL group (don't mind a lot of people making a decent amount of appearances, but 6 main characters, as shy as I am it makes me cringe just thinking about it).

I mean really, I don't think I'm going to even watch SM until I can see it confirmed that the school crap stops and an adventure actually happens. I think I would have been a lot less sad about the end of XYZ, but since I have no confidence the next series will be entertaining it made it all the more sad. And such a potentially cool region to travel too.

From what I understand, the school setting doesn't really prevent Ash from going on adventures. He is taking part in the Island Trial, which is basically the Alola version of Gym battles. He's already done the first Trial and is going to be taking part in the first Grand Trial, so he isn't just hitting the books and taking tests on Pokemon or something like that. He's going to have to travel to different islands for the other Trials and Grand Trials. It wouldn't make much sense for him to keep going back to the school while doing the trials. That would be a bit counterproductive for the Island Trial if he has to backtrack all the time.

I'm still amazed people really think that the school setting is going to be the whole series. That really doesn't make any sense for so many reasons. Why would they take Pokemon, a series that has always been about going on a journey in both the show and the games, and make it a slice of life school series where no adventures happen? Why would they make promoting the Sun/Moon games more difficult if Ash always has to go back to Professor Kukui's place before the next school day? Judging a series like this when you apparently hasn't seen it also rubs me the wrong way. I can understand not liking the basic premise and being iffy on the large cast, but it's pretty harsh to be this judgemental over a series you haven't even seen yet. You make it sound like Ash is never going to get off the first island, which is just ridiculous. You don't need confirmation that the school setting is just temporary to know that isn't true.
 
Through, like I said before, I still appreciate his effort in trying to make Pokemon Anime more meaningful than it supposed to be, and taking it more seriously than any of the staffs including his superior directors. But it is just that in retrospect, the quality of the end product is quite questionable. Especially if supposedly Shudo Takeshi was the sole person taking full control in the series construction of Pokemon Anime, I really doubt it will become worse than some journey fanfic in FF.net.
The last sentence is unclear, since I am not sure it is what you really wanted to say. If you mean that his ideas can be equated with a fanfic... I'd like to read those fanfics.

Anyway, most fans are ignorant about Shudo's ideas that were never actually executed. So your opinion isn't really unpopular, which is to say that I don't think he is overrated.

I do have some criticism about Shudo: I haven't seen any evidence of a plan to end Ash's story on a satisfying note, or give Misty or Brock interesting challenges of their own.
 
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The last sentence is unclear, since I am not sure it is what you really wanted to say. If you mean that his ideas can be equated with a fanfic... I'd like to read those fanfics.

Anyway, most fans are ignorant about Shudo's ideas that were never actually executed. So your opinion isn't really unpopular, which is to say that I don't think he is overrated.

I do have some criticism about Shudo: I haven't seen any evidence of a plan to end Ash's story on a satisfying note, or give Misty or Brock interesting challenges of their own.

Sorry if my sentence was unclear. I am a Pokemon fanfic writer, and I also read a bit of journey fic. Hence that's why in retrospect, Shudo Takeshi's Pokemon Anime scripts and world-building felt really like a mediocre journey fic written by beginner writers I often encountered in FF.net, which is full of beginner mistakes and unattractive tropes. Though, it is understandable, because back at that time he was indeed a beginner towards Pokemon franchise. So as a writer, he was not that much different from those amateur beginner fanfic writers. (As a side note, my virgin work that was also a journey fic style story was Mary-Sueish in the same level as Shudo's AniPoke story)

In regarding to provide an ending to Ash's story, although within his blog he did mentioned he made the AniPoke script with the mindset of it will end eventually, but he never explicitly discussed how is that ending. The closest explanation is probably this, but still it is not explaining any story plot, only an rough image of the themes of the entire story, and the direction of the ending.
But that is something getting me worried. Provided if that was the ending direction Shudo was trying to head towards to, that will means Ash will very much possibly be a forever failure in league challenge. Well in fact, Shudo already mentioned he was sucked in writing battles, so very possibly he didn't value the Pokemon League at all as that is something battle-centered. I think also somewhere within his blog he alluded a non-battle-related ending.

IMO, because most fans are ignorant about Shudo's ideas that were never actually executed, that's why fans overrated him because they judge him and his work according to what had happened on-screen which were already filtered and censored by his superior directors and many other third-parties. Fans don't see the unfiltered ideas he had in his mind, where that is the thing I was not feeling comfortable about.
 
The First Movie is the Worst Movie

This seems like a pretty consistent opinion in this thread, but I don't agree at all. It's one of my favorites. The sequel to it (Mewtwo Returns), on the other hand, wasn't anything spectacular...I was a little disappointed with it (not sure what I expected), and the story's plot seemed rushed and forced at points, but it was still enjoyable, and brought a little more to the continuing story.

The worst Pokemon movie has got to be Hoopa and the Clash of Ages. Is that an unpopular opinion?

The entire thing was a mess. I wanted to like it, but it seemed like the acting was worse than usual, and Hoopa was too powerful, with little explanation as to why--- in a way that seemed to water-down the individual strengths of the other legendaries that it casually kept pulling from other dimensions, and seeming to "invalidate" some of their characteristics while sort of tossing them aside. It just tried too hard to be "bigger and better" than everything before it, and failed at doing that. I've never said this about a Pokemon movie before, but I lost interest halfway through, and that makes me sad.
 
(As a side note, my virgin work that was also a journey fic style story was Mary-Sueish in the same level as Shudo's AniPoke story)
In what sense is Shudo's story Mary-Sueish? As you said yourself, he didn't set up Ash to be a superior trainer. If anything, Ash's characterization in late AG, DP and especially XY had Mary-Sueish tendencies. That is Tomioka's doing, for better or worse.

The closest explanation is probably this, but still it is not explaining any story plot, only an rough image of the themes of the entire story, and the direction of the ending.
You should translate the gist of that if you don't mind (for a separate thread).

IMO, because most fans are ignorant about Shudo's ideas that were never actually executed, that's why fans overrated him because they judge him and his work according to what had happened on-screen which were already filtered and censored by his superior directors and many other third-parties.
Okay, but if we're talking about battling, how is the original series overrated? It is largely agreed that DP and XY have the best battles. Characterization and themes are another story...

Shudo was an eccentric with a unique perspective, which to me makes him the most interesting writer the show has seen. I can agree that the show would not have worked had he been left to his own devices, but the minority of fans who know a bit about Shudo are simply curious about how he envisioned the Pokemon world and Ash's place in it.

And everyone knows that the third movie is the best one by far.
 
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I'm still amazed people really think that the school setting is going to be the whole series. That really doesn't make any sense for so many reasons. Why would they take Pokemon, a series that has always been about going on a journey in both the show and the games, and make it a slice of life school series where no adventures happen? Why would they make promoting the Sun/Moon games more difficult if Ash always has to go back to Professor Kukui's place before the next school day? Judging a series like this when you apparently hasn't seen it also rubs me the wrong way. I can understand not liking the basic premise and being iffy on the large cast, but it's pretty harsh to be this judgemental over a series you haven't even seen yet. You make it sound like Ash is never going to get off the first island, which is just ridiculous. You don't need confirmation that the school setting is just temporary to know that isn't true.

I don't really assume that the whole series is going to be school, I have just become increasingly pessimistic about it because of how long it seems to have lasted as school. I didn't enjoy the sneak peak episodes at all, but otherwise I haven't watched as I only watch the dub. Trust me, I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's why I can't understand why they have done it even for a dozen episodes. I saw people mention that the school setting is something that kids can better identify with Ash, but I just can't help but think that when you are forced to do the same mundane thing every day (whether its work or school) you would probably rather not watch a show with a similar premise.

Even in DP and XY the summer camp episodes really bothered me to some extent (although I enjoyed several of the episodes content) because of the curfew and rule type stuff. And I feel like when I was a kid and watching Pokemon (sadly I'm really not anymore) I really liked the freedom aspect of it and the ability for the cast to be responsible and travel to all these amazing places and meet all these amazing Pokemon and people. It was the sort of thing I wished I would be able to do rather than having to attend school everyday, which is why I enjoyed watching the show so much.

Anyway, as you say about judging the series and being judgmental, notice I put it in the "unpopular opinions about the anime" thread and not in a serious thread discussing SM anime, and also said it at a time when I really was upset XY ended. I'm certainly not trying to offend anyone, I'm just pessimistic about it, especially considering this time last year I was really hoping (whether reasonable or not) that XY would last 4 years. As weird as it sounds, the reason I typed that so negatively is because I wanted assurance that adventure would start. I've been checking the reviews just hoping, but it just seems to have lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, which if its a three year series could wind up being a decent portion of the series.

Anyway, hopefully the adventure will start soon. I still don't think I'm going to start catching up in SM until I am sure that there is a light at the end of the school tunnel, even if I know it is extremely unlikely that there isn't. Trust me, I've thought I was going to hate stuff before and been dead wrong, I can admit that, and I hope I am because I would like to continue to enjoy my favorite show. But what's a forum without overreactions? (that's a joke, btw)
 
I don't really assume that the whole series is going to be school, I have just become increasingly pessimistic about it because of how long it seems to have lasted as school. I didn't enjoy the sneak peak episodes at all, but otherwise I haven't watched as I only watch the dub. Trust me, I know it doesn't make any sense, but that's why I can't understand why they have done it even for a dozen episodes. I saw people mention that the school setting is something that kids can better identify with Ash, but I just can't help but think that when you are forced to do the same mundane thing every day (whether its work or school) you would probably rather not watch a show with a similar premise.

Even in DP and XY the summer camp episodes really bothered me to some extent (although I enjoyed several of the episodes content) because of the curfew and rule type stuff. And I feel like when I was a kid and watching Pokemon (sadly I'm really not anymore) I really liked the freedom aspect of it and the ability for the cast to be responsible and travel to all these amazing places and meet all these amazing Pokemon and people. It was the sort of thing I wished I would be able to do rather than having to attend school everyday, which is why I enjoyed watching the show so much.

I don't think it's strange to just watch the dub. I still hear about most major events from the Japanese version given that I'm on the Internet talking about Pokemon, but I still primarily follow the dub too. I forgot that you have mentioned that before, so I just assumed you were judging the series without seeing anything from it. That was my mistake and I apologize for making that assumption. I can understand not liking the general idea of Ash staying in one place for a significant length of time when you enjoy the series for seeing the characters explore different areas and such. While I haven't seen it for myself beyond the sneak peak, I don't think that the episodes are about Ash going to school. I've heard people complaining that the school setting isn't used enough oddly enough. It sounds more like a gimmick to get people interested in/talking about the anime rather than something the series is going to deal with for the long haul.

sc190191 said:
Anyway, as you say about judging the series and being judgmental, notice I put it in the "unpopular opinions about the anime" thread and not in a serious thread discussing SM anime, and also said it at a time when I really was upset XY ended. I'm certainly not trying to offend anyone, I'm just pessimistic about it, especially considering this time last year I was really hoping (whether reasonable or not) that XY would last 4 years. As weird as it sounds, the reason I typed that so negatively is because I wanted assurance that adventure would start. I've been checking the reviews just hoping, but it just seems to have lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, which if its a three year series could wind up being a decent portion of the series.

I know that this is a thread about unpopular opinions, but I'm not sure how unpopular that really is. SM seems to have generally positive reactions after its premiere, but I don't think that disliking the series or being judgmental about it is all that unpopular per say either, especially when the series is still pretty early on in its run. I can understand wishing that XY would last four years. Wanting a show that you really enjoy to last longer is not unreasonable. Even if SM is another three year series, I can't imagine that they'll use the school setting for that long. At most, it would be there while Ash is staying on the first island and then he graduates before continuing with his other Trials. I don't really see much of a point of him going through the Trials and backtracking to the school all the time.

sc190191 said:
Anyway, hopefully the adventure will start soon. I still don't think I'm going to start catching up in SM until I am sure that there is a light at the end of the school tunnel, even if I know it is extremely unlikely that there isn't. Trust me, I've thought I was going to hate stuff before and been dead wrong, I can admit that, and I hope I am because I would like to continue to enjoy my favorite show. But what's a forum without overreactions? (that's a joke, btw)

The adventure has already started though. Even though Ash is going to school, he's still having adventures, making new friends, having battles and capturing Pokemon. The school setting doesn't really change all that much in that regard. It may not be the kind of adventure that you'd want from Pokemon and I can understand that, but Ash's adventures in the Alola region have already started.
 
Not sure if this opinion is unpopular or not just yet but I'm perfectly fine with the new animation style. I really like the emphasis on 2D visuals and how the simplified character designs allow for more fluid animation. Also even though I like Team Rocket I'm okay with them not appearing in every episode.
 
In what sense is Shudo's story Mary-Sueish? As you said yourself, he didn't set up Ash to be a superior trainer. If anything, Ash's characterization in late AG, DP and especially XY had Mary-Sueish tendencies. That is Tomioka's doing, for better or worse.


You should translate the gist of that if you don't mind (for a separate thread).


Okay, but if we're talking about battling, how is the original series overrated? It is largely agreed that DP and XY have the best battles. Characterization and themes are another story...

Shudo was an eccentric with a unique perspective, which to me makes him the most interesting writer the show has seen. I can agree that the show would not have worked had he been left to his own devices, but the minority of fans who know a bit about Shudo are simply curious about how he envisioned the Pokemon world and Ash's place in it.

And everyone knows that the third movie is the best one by far.
Guess my understanding of the word "Mary Sue" is completely different from what normal people thought that word means. For me, that is one technical terminology specifically used in fanfic community to label a badly designed character, where its definition also branch out towards overall literature sector as well. But for most ordinary people that don't understand its background, they just simply deemed it a derogatory word or possibly a swear word for the overpowered character.
It is hectic to explain it in full, so please just refer it to this post of mine. Just to mention in advance, to me and in my personal understanding, "Mary Sue" has no direct relation with one's overpowered combat ability nor the overdone battle performance, and it is by no means a swear word nor a derogatory term (though I agree its meaning is negative).


But whatever the meaning one deemed it to be, IMO, I still think Shudo Takeshi's character design and characterization in OS AniPoke is rather crude. Such as generic hot-headed boy with flaming dream, cynical rival, old man professor, etc. And then surreal plotline, character all act on impulse, everyone had a "dark" background, etc. Which in retrospect it was something I can't expected from a professional writer that had done so many other screen-writing before he wrote AniPoke.

Please note, I used the adjective "crude" instead of any other, because despite overall background settings and character profiles in OS AniPoke is really unrefined full of amateurish unskillfulness, nonetheless it is not unworkable. But it really need an overhaul in the fine details to make the story sounds more plausible, as it lacks realistic believability. I'm not completely negating his work, but it was just his work felt quite uncomfortable in retrospect.

To explain it in a more simpler sense, I think Shudo's AniPoke scripts and ideas sounds more like a crack fic than being an ordinary adventure fantasy fiction to be taken seriously.
Though, possibly, because it was cracked, that's why it sells well.


P.S. It will take me some time to translate this blog. But surely I'll do, because I want the fandom to have a better understanding of what Shudo had in his mind about the possible ending and direction of AniPoke back at that time.
 
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Actual unpopular opinion here: Satoshi wasn't at the peak of his likability in DP or the XY series. He was at the peak of likability during the third movie. A large amount of people will probably agree that Mii was a pretty well-developed antagonist with depth, which I agree with as well, but not a lot of people appreciate how well our protagonist was used and integrated into a serious plot instead of just being a token shounen protagonist fighting to save the world.

  • Personal stakes are directly involved for Satoshi in the main conflict, and because of it, he received a lot of great scenes/dialogue that weren't related to his lust for Pokemon battles, something you'd only see early in the series' life but struck home more in this movie.
  • OS Satoshi actually solos the film's main legendary with one of his all-stars instead of standing around being a prop, and does a pretty good job of it despite M03 Entei being an overpowered illusion. He doesn't do really much of the same in any of the other movies. He became a legendary slayer from Battle Frontier onto DP, but here Entei was willing to fight to the death and OS era Satoshi's battling while riding on Lizardon, pretty much honoring the fact that it came back to save his life by putting that life on the line to fight alongside his old friend, making it plenty more badass in comparison to his later fights with legends. And he was trying to convince Entei to do the right thing through words at the same time. This is, in my opinion, cinematically one of the best fights Satoshi has had in the Pokemon anime. Also the closest the anime's gotten to an animated Pocket Monsters Special manga fight (if lack for a better Pokemon-related example), that is, closer to what makes an action anime exciting and engaging.
  • Plenty of his mannerisms and contribution to dialogue in this movie struck me as mature, capable, and level-headed. Remember when he figured out how to break through the crystal walls and kept it from resealing long enough to get the entire crew into the tower? Even small moments like that. If this had been Satoshi as we currently know him, he would need the brains of his group to figure something like that out, instead of using his own, unless it was during battle.

The Rocket Gang trio were at their best in this movie too, I always love it when they're not only being comedic but also genuinely one of the good guys, and this was one of the many points of the series that make me wish they just permanently turn already.
 
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Gary Oak should have stayed on as his rival forever. Lance should have gotten eaten by a Dragonite. It's only fair.
 
I'm not exactly certain how unpopular this opinion is, but... XY stopped being such an enjoyable series once Ash got his seventh badge. XY&Z was much weaker, the culmination of its Flare arc might have been a great spectacle, but it shouldn't have superseded the Kalos League as the big finale and writer's focus. I expected better treatment of the league conference after Unova's mess and deeply hope they don't reprise this format for a future series.
 
This one is definitely unpopular, but in my opinion, Serena was the weakest female companion in the show. I don't necessarily dislike her as a character, but I just found her to be very bland and one-sided without much of a personality. I never really connected with her on an emotional level with the exception of her breaking down after her first showcase and after her defeat for Kalos Queen. Other than that, I felt like she was just kind of...there.
 
Please note: The thread is from 10 months ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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