Favorite Ash-Free Animation

[Neo Blaze]

I like Chronicles and The Legend of Thunder the best. The former because I think the idea of stories focusing on major recurring characters was a great idea. It really expands the universe more and I think there is still a lot of potential for something like Chronicles. It's been a long time since it aired and we've seen many characters come and gone since, with often little information on their current whereabouts. On that note I also liked the post-saga specials that showed a bit of what the companions were up to post-Ash. Plus interactions like Brock and Cilan and Clemont, Bonnie and Cilan which I never expected in a hundred years.

The series outside of the main anime haven't worked for me unfortunately. Generations didn't feel like something whole, and felt more like a messy mish-mash of stories. Twilight Wings was interesting visually but did very little for me as I didn't really care about the stories told. At least the finale was nice. I have to say I liked Origins best of these series. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but at least it told a consistent enough story. I really hated the Gen 6 stuff though.

 

[Almonds]

The Mega Evolution Specials are more of an extended side story of the main series on what Alain was doing. Even if Ash doesn't appear, the special episodes are still connected to Ash's journey.
Generations provided interesting perspectives from the NPCs or villains, but the artwork could get awkward and inconsistent at times.

I voted for Twilight Wings because of the beautiful storytelling and artwork revolving around the taxi.

 

[Puddle]

Twilight Wings, hands down. Galar bias aside, I thought the animation was gorgeous and the stories were sweet and touching. It was nice to see an anime based on the video game universe which tells complete stories, as opposed to only showing small snippets of a larger narrative.

As someone who doesn't watch the main anime very often anymore due to the sheer number of episodes there are to keep up with, I actually tend to prefer the spin-offs. I like being able to dip in to a standalone story without feeling as if I've missed anything. Does anyone else feel the same way?

 

[SammyW27]

Bumping in honor of Pokemon Day AND the 25th Anniversary!

 

[Galactic_V]

I realy like Raikou, Legend of Thunder, the movie itself, its story and characters. Too bad Kenta never appeared again and Marina got only cameos after that, I'd love to see them making a proper appearance.

At least Jun'ichi showed up in the Jouto League.

 

[DynamicFusion]

Man this one is a hard one, I really really liked Twilight Wings, Generations and Origins but I have to say I pick Chronicles as the best Ash-Free Animation. Mainly because I just really like the Anime over the Games (while I still like the games). Twilight Wings, Generations and Origins were based off of the games, y'know. The Anime is what introduced me to Pokemon in the first place which is why I like it more than any part of the franchise. And Chronicles gave us what we needed. Stories outside of Ash, what is going on with other Characters, Rivals, Team Rocket, Companions and etc. I really loved it.

 

[Orchid]

I'm gonna have to say Chronicles and Origins, each for different reasons.

Chronicles was honestly one of the best ideas the anime ever had IMO, to show what was going on behind the scenes while Ash was off doing his own thing in Hoenn. It's one of many reasons why AG actually felt like a direct continuation of OS rather than a whole different show (at least to me), because it gave off the sense that even though these characters aren't around anymore, they still have their own lives, and what happened in the past in the main series influenced what they're doing now. It just really got down that "even if we can't see each other we'll always still be friends" vibe that the anime loves doing so much. I know that it sort of had a spiritual successor in those specials after each series, but they just never quite felt the same to me somehow.

Origins on the other hand was just really fun to watch, and definitely an interesting new concept at the time, since Generations wouldn't be a thing for quite a while after it. It gave a whole new depth to the Gen I games and it really stuck with me for a long time, moreso than Generations ended up doing. Like some people mentioned, I think it could have been just a bit longer, but the fact that it isn't is what draws me to rewatch it so often. I wish there was more!!

 

[SammyW27]

Reviving the topic with Poketoon and Evolutions.

Also letting people vote for multiple entries now.

 

[Alola]

Chronicles was really enjoyable for me, because it was awesome to see what Ash's friends or another player character in Jimmy, were up to; it was refreshing and led to whoever was featured being fleshed out. It's a shame they stopped it, though... I thought it was going to be a recurring segment, especially as Ash's cast of friends and acquaintances has only grown larger.

 

[SammyW27]

Bumping in honor of Evolutions final episode

 

[galaticarticuno]

Twilight Wings. Enjoyed it and wish Galar had been that instead. Even wish Twilight Wings had been longer than 6 episodes.

I liked Origins and chronicles too when I watched them. It was nice seeing an competent trainer (cough Red cough).

 

[R1ke]

I loved origins when it came out, but recently twilight wings or generations are my favourites. They both flesh out places and aspects that are often sidelined have amazing animation. Evolutions is good too, but some episodes don't really add anything. It's kinda boring when it's just playing game events 1:1, but there's a few exceptions (like the Zinnia ep).

 

[P_S_B]

The Tsubomi Poketoon.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

With Evolutions over, I can safely say that I wasn't impressed much with the series and to be honest found it very disappointing outside of maybe one or two episodes (the Unova one was easily the highlight followed closely by Hoenn). Easily at the bottom of my list of non-Ash animations for sure.

Even the dub is pretty mediocre (again, Unova and Hoenn was the highlight) with many of Mortellaro's common voice direction trappings showng up. Also my least favourite of the Pokémon LA dubs so far.

I forgot to mention about Generations last time too and that's meh or rather a mixed bag of good or bad stuff.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Evolutions was a bit of a mixed bag for me. Most of the shorts had beautiful animation and there were a few solid ones, particularly with the Unova episode. But I think that there were too many that just showed off climaxes from the games without really showing what made them work. I also was hoping for it to be a bit something more with telling new stories or at least telling stories from the games in a different way.

It still wasn't bad and it certainly wasn't like Generations. Way too many shorts in Generations felt incomplete or pointless. Most of the shorts in Evolutions could have benefited from more runtime, but none of them made me feel like I wasted my time like I did with Generations. Evolutions is basically a better version of Generations, which is kind of what I wanted. I don't think I'd rank it that high. Twilight Wings is still my favorite out of the mini series, but Evolutions had its moments.

 

[SammyW27]

Bumping in honor of Hisuian Snow (which is now an option) and PokeToon being localized.

 

[SammyW27]

Now the question is if it's a one-shot, or the first in a (short) series.

Also, was a that a different animation studio???

Guess now we know the answer!

 

[CharizardFan7]

The Tsubomi Poketoon.

Really loved that one; it's my favorite of all the Poketoons. Such a sweet story, and it even features my favorite Pokemon to boot. (I even shed a few tears re-watching it recently, something I rarely do when watching Pokemon stuff.)

 

[Emelie]

Most mini-series are too short to be good. I wish one of the more interesting games like BW1, SM or PLA got something like Origins. Gen 1 games have bland stories and there is too much Charizard promotion. Their interpretation of Giovanni is also pretty weird. How I became a Pokémon card manga did a better job with giving him a backstory without excusing his actions.

I like Evolutions episode 4 "The plan" but if it was a mini series it would have been great. We don't get to see the battle between Hilda and N. His betrayal (or whatever you're supposed to call it) has no impact if she is a silent protagonist and their interactions are limited.

It's interesting that we get to see a little bit of Alder's battle with N. If that was a full episode with flashbacks to Alder's Pokémon dying (making him doubt himself thus giving N the upper hand) it could have been a good emotional episode.

My favorite episode of Pokémon Generations is episode 8. Although it's a little weird and depressing to see Team Aqua dig their own graves like that without the protagonist showing up to stop them, it is also what makes the episode unique. It almost feels like a tragedy to see Shelly try to save her beloved and her friends only to fail and presumably get killed by Kyogre in the end.

Hisuian Snow is missed potential since there were so many unresolved plots in PLA like the protagonist and Ingo getting stuck in the past. Episode 3 is probably the best one if I have to choose since it gives us some interesting backstory for Cyllene (they don't mention that she used to be a part of the security corps in the games) and has some more action with the alpha Garchomp.