Do you prefer BW or SM?

[Enzito]

BW and SM are two series that are generally hated in the fandom, in part mostly because they come after two beloved series and many complain that Ash felt like he had a "regression" in his character, right now I'm still on BW for my anipoke binge, but I haven't that much of SM so I can't come up with my own opinion yet. So I was wondering if you prefer either of the two with pros and cons for each.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don't really recall people saying Ash regressed in SM. He never felt like he had regressed or his battle skills were significantly weaker than before. I also don't think that SM is that hated, or at least not as much as BW. It isn't rare for people to still complain about the artstyle of SM, but a lot of that backlash cooled down by the end of its first year. Even before the Alola League, SM was pretty well received. Perhaps not as much as XY was, but I don't think it was that unpopular or that divisive among the fanbase. You could easily find people enjoying new episodes here pretty frequently, which is more than I could say for BW and Journeys for that matter.

Personally, I think that BW is much worse. While I think that fans exaggerate Ash's regression in that series, it's still there with some infamously terrible moments for him battling wise. All of the battles in the series could have been amazing and it wouldn't have mattered after Pikachu lost to an untrained Snivy. The writing was just really weak for most, if not all of the characters. Iris is by far my least favorite companion character with a terrible storyline and Cilan, while I think was more likeable, was also written poorly. There were some good battles in the series, but it definitely felt like a step down after DP. Ash's team was really lackluster and giving him more Pokemon than usual definitely backfired given how bland and unmemorable most of them were. The pacing was really too fast for the series' own good to the point where they devoted a whole arc just for traveling back to Kanto together. It also has by far the weakest group farewell episode out of all of the series. There are good aspects to BW. It's still my least favorite series, but it still was enjoyable to rewatch a few years ago and I think BW Ash was better than fans tend to give him credit for despite those infamously bad moments.

SM felt much more solid by comparison to me. I can understand not liking the art style, but I thought it was fine myself. Losing the traveling aspect was pretty rough. We still got to see most of the major areas of Alola and I don't think that they could have stretched out traveling through Alola for three years without a shorter cast and a lot more anime exclusive islands, but that was something I missed. Ash not having a clear goal was also really bizarre after being focused on getting to the next Gym for decades. I liked most of the SM cast, but Lillie and Kiawe were the best ones for me. I thought that they had the best focused episodes and the more engaging storylines. Although, Sophocles did get better focused episodes as the series progressed. I like Lana, but always felt like she was overrated and Mallow would have been forgettable without her emotional reunion with her mother. Professor Kukui was great, giving Ash a fresh new dynamic by having him become the father he never had. While living on Melemele Island did limit how much we could see of the rest of the region, it helped to give their eventual match at the end of the series more emotional weight.

I've never been a fan of how they handled Lusamine or the whole Nebby storyline for that matter. SM Lillie was always different from her video game counterpart and it felt like they were trying too hard to make SM Lillie fit that role with that arc. I also wish that they had handled Team Skull differently, especially giving Guzma more appearances prior to the Alola League. The Alola League itself was a mixed bag. There were good battles and I liked seeing everyone being so happy for Ash after he won, but it was a Pokemon League set on easy mode. Everyone could enter and Team Rocket made it through the battle royal round by doing nothing. Aside from Ash, Gladion, Guzma and maybe Kiawe, none of the other trainers could have made it through a regular Pokemon League. It was still great for Ash to get a major victory for the first time in ages, but I just wish that they handled the Alola League differently to make it feel more like a League set on easy. Hau really also could have been replaced with just an anime original character given how he was handled. Ash leaving at the end was still really emotional since Alola really became his second home with Kukui and Burnet being his Alola family. SM may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it always felt more solid than BW did for me.

 

[Daren]

I also don't think that SM is that hated, or at least not as much as BW. It isn't rare for people to still complain about the artstyle of SM, but a lot of that backlash cooled down by the end of its first year. Even before the Alola League, SM was pretty well received. Perhaps not as much as XY was, but I don't think it was that unpopular or that divisive among the fanbase.

It seems fairly popular here, but I recall seeing it get a lot of flack even later on while browsing reddit and twitter; it would get bashed in sort of drive by complaints in a way I didn't see even with B/W. Ash's portrayal in particular was hated and I recall some degree of assuming that his league ranking would drop again.
Twitter in particular sometimes came across like there was a gang war between the Sun/Moon and XY fanbases. It reminded me of the Pokémon vs Digimon fighting in the late 90s.

 

[Poke Trey]

SM no contest.

 

[c la fet]

Lana isn't overrated

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Sun and Moon.

It's a series that gradually won me over even with the big changes whereas Black and White started off on the wrong spot and despite attempting to climb back up, went into instant freefall mode by the end of the series.

 

[Koganium]

I've rewatched the first 22 seasons and I would genuinely agree the SM was better by a long shot. Aside from the change in art style, Ash's whole journey in Alola felt like a breath of fresh air compared to BW. I'm not saying that I completely dislike BW but I didn't love it until the arc with Reshiram. Ash trying to beat the Nimbasa Gym with just Palpitoad was not the best idea. Ash's Alolan League victory had me hyped after his many league losses.

 

[Hidden Mew]

It seems fairly popular here, but I recall seeing it get a lot of flack even later on while browsing reddit and twitter; it would get bashed in sort of drive by complaints in a way I didn't see even with B/W. Ash's portrayal in particular was hated and I recall some degree of assuming that his league ranking would drop again.
Twitter in particular sometimes came across like there was a gang war between the Sun/Moon and XY fanbases. It reminded me of the Pokémon vs Digimon fighting in the late 90s.

I don't go to reddit, but I lurk around Twitter and I recall seeing some XY vs. SM arguments there during the series' run. Maybe I didn't see a lot of it, but it felt like it didn't happen as much as it did after SM's first year. I could be mistaken since I only saw bits of how the Twitter anime community was like.

Lana isn't overrated

I disagree. Lana was praised a lot during SM, many fans considering her the best female lead out of the girls, and I just did not see the appeal. She isn't a terrible character and I liked most of her focused episodes, but I always felt like she was overhyped, at least based on what I remember of her reception during the series's run.

 

[c la fet]

I disagree. Lana was praised a lot during SM, many fans considering her the best female lead out of the girls, and I just did not see the appeal. She isn't a terrible character and I liked most of her focused episodes, but I always felt like she was overhyped, at least based on what I remember of her reception during the series's run.

Please watch this video

The only female leads who are under Lana are Iris, who is a generally disliked character, Mallow, who didn't receive a lot of attention/focus during SM and Chloe, who has the almost same amount of votes as Lana even though, when the poll was made, her story was not even finished.
During the series run there were not many fans who considered her the best, yes there were some, it's true but they were not numerous. The only « internet celebrity » I remember who considered her the best female character was thejolteonmaster and she isn't that big compared to other fans. I remember a tweet that received a lot of likes and attention that showed a picture of Ash/Lillie/Kiawe and said they should have been the main group instead of Ash/Kiawe/Lillie/Lana/Mallow/Sophocles.
And in the beginning of the series, people said she was boring and/or a copy of past pokémon girls. After she got her Eevee, there was a lot of hate directed at her for a certain amount of time.
Besides, Lillie was always more respected and popular than her, not only in terms of « deep character analysis » but also in terms of pure popularity : she had way more fanarts, more aureliashipping content made by fans in comparison to blueangelshipping (and there was a video about every Ash x main girl ship that got a lot of views where the youtuber called blueangelshipping "trashshipping"), and she always ranked way higher than Lana on popularity polls.

Even if there was effectively a part of the fanbase that really liked Lana's character and, for another part of them, thought she was the best doesn't mean she was an overrated character in the grand scheme of things. She doesn't even have a crazy fandom or something like this, and today that popularity kind of faded away. The amount of popularity she had, she actually deserved it because her character was entertaining. People had the right to love that even if you don't see the appeal.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Please watch this video

The only female leads who are under Lana are Iris, who is a generally disliked character, Mallow, who didn't receive a lot of attention/focus during SM and Chloe, who has the almost same amount of votes as Lana even though, when the poll was made, her story was not even finished.

I'm not going to watch a video to understand yours or anyone else's post. It's always been a bit of a pet peeve of mind when people post videos as a way to explain their point instead of saying it themselves, so that just annoyed me a bit. I was talking about how Lana was treated on this site during SM's run, not the Japanese fanbase or this poll made early into Journeys' run.

During the series run there were not many fans who considered her the best, yes there were some, it's true but they were not numerous. The only « internet celebrity » I remember who considered her the best female character was thejolteonmaster and she isn't that big compared to other fans. I remember a tweet that received a lot of likes and attention that showed a picture of Ash/Lillie/Kiawe and said they should have been the main group instead of Ash/Kiawe/Lillie/Lana/Mallow/Sophocles.
And in the beginning of the series, people said she was boring and/or a copy of past pokémon girls. After she got her Eevee, there was a lot of hate directed at her for a certain amount of time.

Again, I'm not talking about how she was received by Internet celebrities or big YouTube channels. I was talking about how Lana was received here. There was a decent amount of praise for Lana and more than a few people considered her to be the best female lead in SM at the time. I don't recall people calling her boring or a copy past of previous female leads though. People hated that she got Eevee, but that cooled down after awhile. Despite Sandy doing pretty much nothing, I don't think that necessarily had a huge impact on how fans felt about Lana in the long term.

Besides, Lillie was always more respected and popular than her, not only in terms of « deep character analysis » but also in terms of pure popularity : she had way more fanarts, more aureliashipping content made by fans in comparison to blueangelshipping (and there was a video about every Ash x main girl ship that got a lot of views where the youtuber called blueangelshipping "trashshipping"), and she always ranked way higher than Lana on popularity polls.

Lillie had more attention by comparison, but it always felt hard for me to determine if SM Lillie herself was really that popular or if it was because of video game Lillie. SM Lillie still had more of a storyline than Lana did, but Lillie was a huge fan favorite from the games, so I think at least a god chuck of that fanart and character anaylsis would be due to her video game counterpart more so than SM Lillie. Not that SM Lillie dosn't have fanart or character discussion either, but that I always felt that her video game counterpart had a stronger following by comparison.

Even if there was effectively a part of the fanbase that really liked Lana's character and, for another part of them, thought she was the best doesn't mean she was an overrated character in the grand scheme of things. She doesn't even have a crazy fandom or something like this, and today that popularity kind of faded away. The amount of popularity she had, she actually deserved it because her character was entertaining. People had the right to love that even if you don't see the appeal.

First of all, I never said that people don't have the right to love Lana. Don't put words in my mouth. Saying that I dislike a character or that I find them overrated doesn't mean that no one else is allowed to like them. I don't see the appeal in other characters like Iris, but I don't say that people aren't allowed to like them either just because I don't. More than a few times, I mentioned that I didn't see the appeal of Lana or found her to be overrated/overhyped by fans here during SM's run and people got on my case about it. Lana isn't going to be considered one of the most popular female leads of the anime's whole history, but it was not uncommon to see people treat her as the best SM girl during the series' run, at least on this site.

If you or anyone else like Lana and thought her character was entertaining, then that's great. Saying that I think she was overrated doesn't mean that no one else is allowed to see the appeal or like her character. All I wanted to do was to bring up issues I had with SM and Lana was one of them. She isn't the worst SM character since both Mallow and Sophocles exist, but I just didn't really like Lana's personality or her antics. She had some good focused episodes and decent chemistry with the cast, but I just thought that fans here overhyped Lana based on what I remember.

 

[-PokemonBattleFanatic-]

None of the above

 

[SammyW27]

SM by a country mile!

 

[c la fet]

I'm not going to watch a video to understand yours or anyone else's post. It's always been a bit of a pet peeve of mind when people post videos as a way to explain their point instead of saying it themselves, so that just annoyed me a bit. I was talking about how Lana was treated on this site during SM's run, not the Japanese fanbase or this poll made early into Journeys' run.


Again, I'm not talking about how she was received by Internet celebrities or big YouTube channels. I was talking about how Lana was received here. There was a decent amount of praise for Lana and more than a few people considered her to be the best female lead in SM at the time. I don't recall people calling her boring or a copy past of previous female leads though. People hated that she got Eevee, but that cooled down after awhile. Despite Sandy doing pretty much nothing, I don't think that necessarily had a huge impact on how fans felt about Lana in the long term.


Lillie had more attention by comparison, but it always felt hard for me to determine if SM Lillie herself was really that popular or if it was because of video game Lillie. SM Lillie still had more of a storyline than Lana did, but Lillie was a huge fan favorite from the games, so I think at least a god chuck of that fanart and character anaylsis would be due to her video game counterpart more so than SM Lillie. Not that SM Lillie dosn't have fanart or character discussion either, but that I always felt that her video game counterpart had a stronger following by comparison.


First of all, I never said that people don't have the right to love Lana. Don't put words in my mouth. Saying that I dislike a character or that I find them overrated doesn't mean that no one else is allowed to like them. I don't see the appeal in other characters like Iris, but I don't say that people aren't allowed to like them either just because I don't. More than a few times, I mentioned that I didn't see the appeal of Lana or found her to be overrated/overhyped by fans here during SM's run and people got on my case about it. Lana isn't going to be considered one of the most popular female leads of the anime's whole history, but it was not uncommon to see people treat her as the best SM girl during the series' run, at least on this site.

If you or anyone else like Lana and thought her character was entertaining, then that's great. Saying that I think she was overrated doesn't mean that no one else is allowed to see the appeal or like her character. All I wanted to do was to bring up issues I had with SM and Lana was one of them. She isn't the worst SM character since both Mallow and Sophocles exist, but I just didn't really like Lana's personality or her antics. She had some good focused episodes and decent chemistry with the cast, but I just thought that fans here overhyped Lana based on what I remember.

But you can't ignore parts of the fandom and then claim she's overhyped or overrated when the parts of the fandom you ignore are very much real and big, it's not just big youtubers and celebrities, it's also their communities and other social media users, one website doesn't define the entire anipoke community. Besides you don't need to watch the vid you just have to see the results of the poll, and I tried to make a short summary. If you think a japanese Journeys poll is irrevelant, in an english SM poll from 2017, Lana received 1353 votes while Mallow received 2304 and Lillie got 2925.
Because you saw a bunch of fans saying things that you disagreed with doesn't mean Lana was an overrated character, she was a divisive character and that's what I showed (well, tried at least). And yes she was called boring, bland etc ... And I agree with you on the fact the Nagisa thing didn't really matter in the long run but I feel like this sentence kinda summarizes Lana's popularity : She may have received praise her and there/hate here and there but ultimately it didn't matter, in the end she didn't receive enough focus to stay on top of people's minds and hearts and as a result, yes she's got some popularity, she's above Iris, Mallow and at the same level as Chloe but that's it. I don't think a part of the fanbase prefering her "base" character over Lillie's base character (how they were in the beginning of the series, like the first impression people had and why they rooted for one over the other during SM) makes her overhyped.

Lillie wasn't beloved because of the games, one of the major things used to criticize her was that she was apparently inferior to her games counterpart while her fanbase loved her for what she was (different from her game counterpart). It's just normal that her video games counterpart had more following, she was made before the other, she received tons of merch, she's considered one of the best characters in the video games... That doesn't mean the anime Lillie is left out or that Lana had the same popularity, Lillie is way higher in the anime popularity polls. (And with journeys she temporarily outshined her game counterpart in terms of popularity)
I didn't mean to put words in your mouth. When you said that you always thought she was overrated because you disagreed with the praise she received I thought it was too subjective because in the grand scheme of things this part of the fanbase was not big and not all of it considered her the best, some of them were just happy to see her getting development when she got a focus episode because she was their favorite.
During SM, I had the same impression with Mallow because some fans were claiming that she was the best, the one with the most potential and she was the one who deserved the main girl treatment and not the «boring» Lillie or Lana. But I don't find her overhyped or overrated because in the end, even if these fans were very vocal, they weren't the majority and people generally prefered Lillie anyway, it just means she had some exaggerating fans.
Lana was not overrated or underrated during SM's run, her reception was constantly fluctuating, making it a mixed bag.

 

[skynerel]

Both are the biggest waste of potential in the anime. However, I couldn’t keep watching SM because it felt like a completely different show, whereas BW is familiar, but they made way too many dumb decisions. I still prefer BW though.

 

[ZekromMahDad]

SM instantly and easily

 

[Max1996]

Between SM and BW, it's the former, no contest, given the absence of something that can very easily be explained with one word: Cameron

 

[KatrinaSForest]

It makes me so sad that my two favorite regions have the two most hated anime seasons centered around them.

For me, BW has a slight edge. I really love that they made Team Rocket actually smart for once, and I know she gets a lot of hate, but Iris is my favorite of Ash's traveling companions outside Brock and Misty. I just think BW had a more dramatic ending, and that's usually what sticks out to me moreso than the individual epsiodes. (Ash and Pikachu weren't able to overpower Colress's machine with the sheer power of their bond like they always do, which made it an actual threat.) Could the series have been better? Of course it could. Especially if they didn't have to do a 180 in the middle of everything due to the earthquakes. But for what they had to work with, in comparison to SM, I think they did all right. And I'll say it--I liked Ash's battle with Elesa. He was doing exactly what players did in the games because the only electric/flying type before that was Zapdos. If you didn't read a guide ahead of time, Emolga would genuinely take you by surprise, and it was awesome. This is the boy who tried to punch Mewtwo, got in a Metapod hardening contest, and wanted to know if he "did something wrong" when he sent Caterpie against Pidgeotto. He might have grown into a Pokémon Master eventually, but he was no battle genius at the start, and he's more interesting when he messes up. Especially in such a relatable way.

My issues with SM: A lot of this might come down to character preference, but I hated the way they made Lusamine into a clueless, overbearing, but ultimately "good" mom. And the way Team Skull more or less didn't exist until almost the very end. Guzma's arc was pretty good*, but it was so short and could have been much more interesting if he and Kukui actually had a rivalry going for the whole series. SM also had a lot more of Ash being the SUPER SPECIAL CHOSEN ONE, which I've been over since the second Pokémon movie.

I'm really curious to watch the anime in Japanese at some point, because I struggled with Lillie's English voice. Everything feels so over the top that even though logically, I should really feel for Lillie and what she's been through, the voice acting always takes it from drama to melodrama for me.

*I'm still salty about the fact that when Ash does something clever and unexpected, he's being strategic, but somehow when Guzma does something similar (like opening with Throat Chop on Primarina instead of First Impression), he's being a jerk.

 

[Hidden Mew]

But you can't ignore parts of the fandom and then claim she's overhyped or overrated when the parts of the fandom you ignore are very much real and big, it's not just big youtubers and celebrities, it's also their communities and other social media users, one website doesn't define the entire anipoke community. Besides you don't need to watch the vid you just have to see the results of the poll, and I tried to make a short summary. If you think a japanese Journeys poll is irrevelant, in an english SM poll from 2017, Lana received 1353 votes while Mallow received 2304 and Lillie got 2925.

I'm not really ignoring those parts of the fandom or at least I don't really see it that way. My point was about how Lana was received on this site because that was my actual experience with talking to other people about the character. One website doesn't define the entire community, but neither does this Japanese poll or big YouTubers. I never claimed that this website is a perfect reflection of the fanbase either. It clearly isn't when SM had a more rough reception on sites like Serebii.

I know that you gave a short summary of the video, but when you started your response to my points by saying "Please watch this video," it just immediately rubbed me the wrong way. I don't think that the poll is irrelevant just because it's for the Japanese fans during Journeys' run. It's irrelevant because I'm talking about what I experienced talking about Lana throughout most of SM's run here. Same with the English poll. Like I mentioned before, I'm not saying these parts of the fanbase don't matter or that this site defines the entire Pokemon anime community. I'm saying that because of my experiences with talking about Lana on this site, she felt pretty overhyped/overrated among the SM cast.

Because you saw a bunch of fans saying things that you disagreed with doesn't mean Lana was an overrated character, she was a divisive character and that's what I showed (well, tried at least). And yes she was called boring, bland etc ... And I agree with you on the fact the Nagisa thing didn't really matter in the long run but I feel like this sentence kinda summarizes Lana's popularity : She may have received praise her and there/hate here and there but ultimately it didn't matter, in the end she didn't receive enough focus to stay on top of people's minds and hearts and as a result, yes she's got some popularity, she's above Iris, Mallow and at the same level as Chloe but that's it. I don't think a part of the fanbase prefering her "base" character over Lillie's base character (how they were in the beginning of the series, like the first impression people had and why they rooted for one over the other during SM) makes her overhyped.

While I understand your point a bit better here, I don't think Lana would be considered a divisive character exactly either. Iris is definitely a divisive character since you have a lot of people who like her on one side and a lot of people who dislike her on the other side. There isn't a lot of in-between for her. I wouldn't really describe the reception towards Lana anything like that. Honestly, aside from myself, I don't recall too many people who didn't care for Lana on this site over the course of SM. If anything, it felt more like an unpopular opinion to not care for her, at least at the time. And it wasn't just preferring Lillie at the beginning of SM. Even pretty late into the series, I'd see comments about how Lana was the best girl in SM. This was definitely more than just something that happened in the first year of SM.

Lillie wasn't beloved because of the games, one of the major things used to criticize her was that she was apparently inferior to her games counterpart while her fanbase loved her for what she was (different from her game counterpart). It's just normal that her video games counterpart had more following, she was made before the other, she received tons of merch, she's considered one of the best characters in the video games... That doesn't mean the anime Lillie is left out or that Lana had the same popularity, Lillie is way higher in the anime popularity polls. (And with journeys she temporarily outshined her game counterpart in terms of popularity)

I never said that SM Lillie doesn't have any following, but just that I always thought that her video game counterpart was more popular and that would have made it harder for me to tell how popular SM Lillie really is when that would have affected anime popularity polls pretty easily.

I didn't mean to put words in your mouth. When you said that you always thought she was overrated because you disagreed with the praise she received I thought it was too subjective because in the grand scheme of things this part of the fanbase was not big and not all of it considered her the best, some of them were just happy to see her getting development when she got a focus episode because she was their favorite.
During SM, I had the same impression with Mallow because some fans were claiming that she was the best, the one with the most potential and she was the one who deserved the main girl treatment and not the «boring» Lillie or Lana. But I don't find her overhyped or overrated because in the end, even if these fans were very vocal, they weren't the majority and people generally prefered Lillie anyway, it just means she had some exaggerating fans.
Lana was not overrated or underrated during SM's run, her reception was constantly fluctuating, making it a mixed bag.

I was talking about how Lana was overrated among fans here over the course of the series. Lana isn't hugely popular if we rank her among the various main characters throughout the different series, but I was specifically talking about SM. Admittedly, I should have clarified that I think she was overrated compared with the other SM girls, so that was my mistake. It could have been a case similar to yours with this being some really vocal fans getting on my case about it, but I recall it happening enough time to make it one of my issues with SM, so I'm not entirely sure about that. Aside from catching Sandy, I don't recall reception during SM's fluctuating that much either, at least from what I remember.

 

[Insanish Danish]

I'm a BW defender for life (I'll always love the Ash/Iris/Cilan trio and all their rivals), but overall I do love SM more. SM was just such an absolute joy to watch and quickly became my second favorite part of the series after Kanto. I loved all of Ash's friends and their group dynamic so much - while the size of the group did have the unfortunate drawback of these characters not being as developed as they could have been, they were all still very lovable and I greatly enjoyed watching each and every one of them. The series itself also had so much heart - it was such a silly, zany ride, and at the same time had some of the most heart-wrenching and heartwarming moments the anime has ever seen. That's not even getting into how much I loved Team Rocket this series, their relationship with Bewear, Ash's relationship with Kukui and Burnet, the relationships between Ash's friends and their families...really, I could keep going lol, but I won't. I just love SM so much, it's really important to me <3

 

[c la fet]

I'm not really ignoring those parts of the fandom or at least I don't really see it that way. My point was about how Lana was received on this site because that was my actual experience with talking to other people about the character. One website doesn't define the entire community, but neither does this Japanese poll or big YouTubers. I never claimed that this website is a perfect reflection of the fanbase either. It clearly isn't when SM had a more rough reception on sites like Serebii.

I know that you gave a short summary of the video, but when you started your response to my points by saying "Please watch this video," it just immediately rubbed me the wrong way. I don't think that the poll is irrelevant just because it's for the Japanese fans during Journeys' run. It's irrelevant because I'm talking about what I experienced talking about Lana throughout most of SM's run here. Same with the English poll. Like I mentioned before, I'm not saying these parts of the fanbase don't matter or that this site defines the entire Pokemon anime community. I'm saying that because of my experiences with talking about Lana on this site, she felt pretty overhyped/overrated among the SM cast.


While I understand your point a bit better here, I don't think Lana would be considered a divisive character exactly either. Iris is definitely a divisive character since you have a lot of people who like her on one side and a lot of people who dislike her on the other side. There isn't a lot of in-between for her. I wouldn't really describe the reception towards Lana anything like that. Honestly, aside from myself, I don't recall too many people who didn't care for Lana on this site over the course of SM. If anything, it felt more like an unpopular opinion to not care for her, at least at the time. And it wasn't just preferring Lillie at the beginning of SM. Even pretty late into the series, I'd see comments about how Lana was the best girl in SM. This was definitely more than just something that happened in the first year of SM.


I never said that SM Lillie doesn't have any following, but just that I always thought that her video game counterpart was more popular and that would have made it harder for me to tell how popular SM Lillie really is when that would have affected anime popularity polls pretty easily.


I was talking about how Lana was overrated among fans here over the course of the series. Lana isn't hugely popular if we rank her among the various main characters throughout the different series, but I was specifically talking about SM. Admittedly, I should have clarified that I think she was overrated compared with the other SM girls, so that was my mistake. It could have been a case similar to yours with this being some really vocal fans getting on my case about it, but I recall it happening enough time to make it one of my issues with SM, so I'm not entirely sure about that. Aside from catching Sandy, I don't recall reception during SM's fluctuating that much either, at least from what I remember.

Big youtubers and their communities, polls that received thousands of votes and posts that received a lot of attention on social media are not the entire community but they're more representative than just one website imo.

You said Lana is overrated. Then that it's because of your experience on this website. And I'm saying she's not overrated. And then because of what happened on other websites.
That means she had overrating fans on this website and that she was not overrated in general. I don't think our opinions contradict each other at the end of the day.

A short summary of Lana's popularity, my sources being Youtube, Reddit, Twitter : in the beginning she was received rather badly much like Sophocles. Then after her first focus episodes the reception was more positive. After that, she and a part of the cast were stagnating and it was a mixed bag. After she caught Nagisa she got a huge amount of hate directed at her. After that people calmed down and it became what it is today, with her small fandom and the rest not hating her or loving her.
From the japanese polls I've seen she seemed to have received positive reception but not as positive as Lillie.
But in other parts of the world it could be very different based on the reception of the SM series.

And about aniLillie's popularity, I don't really have factual evidence of the games not interfering with her popularity however there's something I remembered that you could find intereting, based on a Korean poll that received 1009 votes (which isn't a lot sadly). The question was "who is your favorite Pokémon character from the video games" for each generation and interestingly, Brock wasn't in the Kanto top 10, and neither did Jessie or James even though they appeared in Pokémon Yellow. That could mean people don't really think of the anime when the question is specifically about the games and maybe, we could assume the same thing for the anime (to a certain extent).