Favorite Pokemon season

[empoleon dynamite]

Original probably, mainly due to its fast pace, added with the fact I prefer the dub music over the original Japanese pieces. There where a lot of witty moments back then too (“you sound smarter with your mouth shut!”) and I feel the anime eventually lost this type of humour and started taking itself too seriously. The later series eventually became less creative, to a point you think they’d try replacing the cast every now and again in a similar style to the Pokémon Adventures Manga.

Runner up has to be the Advanced Generation. I feel visuals and character designs where in their prime at this point. I think DP looks too sharp and blocky, and some of the characters have awkward poses from time to time. I really can’t stand Sarah Notochenny’s Ash either. I don’t really like the large gaps between episodes either, and I don’t thing the writers handled a lot of the main Character’s Pokémon well. Dawn started off with a team with no personality, although Mamoswine and Piplup have fixed this somewhat. Ash’s Gliscor was also handled badly, and there’s no point in me even mentioning Brock’s Pokémon -_- Don’t get me wrong, I’m looking forward to the league and GF, but I just preferred Advanced Gen.

 

[Hellion]

Is it weird not to have a favourite?

No, all the series had strong and weak points, they all had memorable episodes and great pokemon... To me, the writing has been getting better as the series progress, the pacing is better and the characters, both human and pokemon, are more fleshed out and have gotten more interesting... The gym leaders are getting more focus instead of just being emotionless battling machines. Contests and both May and Dawn are a huge improvement to the show (i.e. they're actually doing something) and in Dawn's case, her relationship with Ash is probably the best that he's had with a female companion cause they actually support each other, help each other and inspire each other (gym battle against Roark and Fantina being prime examples)... But although I tend to prefer the new regiond (AG and DP), the original series still had some of my favourite pokemon (Charizard, Snorlax, Lapras, Totodile, Cyndaquil, Muk) and while the writing was meh, there was still some of the funnier episodes there. (Although the capture of Gible and Evil Togepi will always be my favourite episodes) So no, it's not weird, actually, it's very healthy not to hate certain seasons of the anime for trivial reasons like " My favourite character isn't there anymore, the anime must die and any newcomer to the cast is an awful character"

 

[Hestia]

Kanto. Kanto for me was always the funniest and the most "special" plus it has the added nostalgia factor. BUT they all have their qualities and faults and theres a lot i like about the others too.
I guess im just a content fan.

 

[Charmander330]

original hands down, i mean come on now, Kanto, Orange Islands, AND Johto, theres no beating that

 

[Ashfangirl22]

I liked the Orange Islands the best really. It was very orginal. Though I do like Dimond and Pearl next.

 

[Johto Trainer]

Definitely ORIGINAL! Since Johto is my favorite region, then of course, but Kanto is amazing! Plus, I really don't like contests. The originals also had Misty, my favorite main Female chracter (Especially since she uses water types!). But I loved the AG series!

I don't really like Sinnoh....

 

[hhhhdmt]

each season has its high points and low points. I will write about it a bit later when i get the time, i gotta go now, will be back to this thread after a few hours.

 

[hhhhdmt]

Like i said before, each season has things about it which are positive and negative. I'll try to break it down.

Kanto
Positives of kanto:

-ash, misty and brock were the best trio. They had great chemistry and poked fun at each other often, Kanto was simply hillarious, the funniest of all seasons IMO. In later seasons like Hoenn for eg, the series began to take itself too seriously. This wasnt true for Kanto.
- Kanto pokemon have the best designs. While there were a few ugly pokemon, truth is most of the pokemon were cool/cute and looked orignal.
- Kanto had great backsstories like Brock taking care of his siblings after flint ran away, Misty's rivalry with her sisters, especially about James's past and his growlithe, and mewoths past in hollywood, how it learned to talk etc
- Kanto had some great battles like ash vs blaine, vs lt surge, ash vs mandy when Krabby evolved.
-Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charizard- need i say more. Plus ash caught some other good pokemon like Kingler, Muk and Tauros. Butterfree was memorable too- i was sad to see it go though
- Team Rocket were actually threatning
- Gary's rivalry with ash, even if they didnt battle, everytime ash thought he was doing well, he was reminded that Gary was doind even better.
-Great episodes like Bulbasaur's mysterious garden, ash winning a race with rapidash, etc
- Very interesting gym leaders for the most part
- Brock's status as a breeder was actually discussed in kanto

Negatives of Kanto:

- A bit too short, only about 80 episodes
-Releasing Primape and Pidgeot were two of the worst things the writers ever did
-ash only winning four out of 8 badges
- Ash losing to Ritchie, not exactly fair since team rocket made him late. Plus if he had to lose, couldnt they have made him lose to someone stronger?

Orange Islands
Positives of orange islands:

- Completely orignal and unpreidctable since it didnt follow the games
- Showed a different way to win gym badges other then battling, i enjoyed the episode with ash vs danny and ash vs cissy
- Ash's Charizard finally listening to him
- Bulbasaur and Squirtle becoming stronger, especially squirtle since it learned hydopump
- Ash winning the league, finally beating a strong trainer in drake
- Dragonite, who was a mystery until then, finally being revealed
- Ash catching Snorlax which has now become one of his powerhouses
- Using Tauros for the first time
- First double battle in the anime

Negatives of orange islands:

-Brock leaving, missed him throughout the orange islands
- Misty's Psyduck should have evolved
- Dragonite knowing like 10 moves in one battle
- Truth is, Orange islands was done very well and the writers made very few mistakes here

Johto
Positives of Johto:

-Ash's first evolved grass type, bayleef
-Ash getting his first strong bug type, heracross, and his first ground type, Phanphy
-Ash winning all of his gym badges, unlike Kanto
-Misty's poliwag evolving, finally with her getting a Politoed
- Misty catching her Corsola
-The entire whirl cup, especially the battles misty was in, and kingler returning for ash
-Ash finally defeating Gary in one of the best battles we've ever seen
-Snorlax being used in its first gym battle
-Ash improving and finishing in the top 8

Negatives:

- Charizard's burning ambition- yes i know charizard can be called upon any time and it has come back several times and i am glad about that, but this episode was horrible. For some reason ash couldnt fly properly on charizard where as he had done so in atleast two episodes before. Terrible episode
-Only one evolution throughout Johto for ash, should have been atleast another evolution
-Ash's loss to harrison, since when is using a noctowl against a steelix a good idea?
- Togepi shouldnt have been a baby anymore, it should have done more and possibly evolved by then

Hoenn
Positives of hoenn:

-Ash;s swellow being used in alot of battles, unlike Pidgeotto and Noctowl
-Ash getting his first ice type since Lapras was released
-Ash getting Sceptile
-Juan was one of the best gym leaders ever to appear in the anime, ash vs juan was a fantastiv battle
-Some terrefic battles in the league
- Brock's pokemon getting more screentime then they had in the past seasons

Negatives of Hoenn:

- The new groups chemistry wasnt the same, May was ok, Max was truly annoying
- Crybaby Torkoal, one of my least favourite of Ash's pokemon
- Not as funny as it used to be
- Ash still finishing in the top 8 instead of top 4
- No real rival for ash, unlike Johto and Sinnoh
- Boring gym leaders except for Juan

Battle frontier
Positives of battle frontier:

- Kanto starters reuniting at the end- yes i said it. Plus a bunch of ash's older pokemon returning like Snorlax, Heracross and Tauros
- Fantastic battles, like Sceptile vs Claydol, ash vs brandon, chari vs articuno
-Phanphy done right, evolving it was an excellent move on the writers part
-ash winning the battle frontier

Negatives of battle frontier:

-Kingler, Johto starters and Noctowl being ignored. They should have gotten battles. Corpish was used against two frontier brains, kingler should have been used against one and corpish the other
- Not alot of references to Kanto
- Max again annoying the hell out of me

Sinnoh
Positives of Sinnoh:

- Ash vs Paul rivalry, brilliant move on the writers part
- Ash getting his first strong fighting type since primeape was given away(infernape)
-Ash getting his first dragon type
- Ash's Buizel learning ice punch
- Good amount of screentime for each pokemon
- Even though i dont like grotle, its loss of speed after evolution makes things intersting
- Some good flashbacks, especially the one with butterfree, brings back older memories

Negatives of sinnoh:

-Too long, should have wrapped up the whole thing in 160 or so episodes
- Gliscor leaving
- Predictable since it follows the games so much
-Repititive, didnt swellow and startor evolve in the same way? Didnt pikachu already defeat lt surge riachu, yet it battles another one in dp
- Horrible designs of many pokemon, although there are some new pokemon who are cool, whoever came up with Bibarel needs to be fired
-Ampibom being given away
- Brock not getting enough devolopment, apart from the nuzleaf episode.

 

[Lysandre]

The Original Series by far. Unlike some (although none who have commented) who are likely voting having only experienced one or the other I have followed all three. There is no doubt in my mind.

 

[Sombra29]

I loved Hoenn,that gen had most of my favorite pokemanz,and it felt so fresh and good after the repetitive crap that was jotho...Kanto and OI were the very start so I cant be too harsh at them...

But,Sinnoh,up until this point,beats them all in everything,and by everything,I mean characters,story,developement,animation and battles. We got good antagonist,pokemon with personality,loads and loads of character developement and almost no Jotho-type TR fillers,thanks to the extensive stuff adapted from the games and the abundance of arcs...The gym leaders are very interesting stand-alone characters,unlike others ...(*EJEM*"Oh look at me I am a ninja I am so much of a cheating bastard woooo")

Plus,the chimchar plot is like,the best thing EVER

Know what?Instead of debating some post before, I´ll just quote someone from the Serebii forums and call it a day.

Hardcore fans realise why Sinnoh is the best.

PS: Btw,I like Bibarel desing,is different,puffy and cute.

 

[Andyman]

The Original Series easily.

Ash, Misty, and Brock had a certain dynamic that has not since been replicated. They made it constantly entertaining with their interactions and the first two seasons hardly had any filler. Plus, this was before Team Rocket started failing at life.

Advanced Generation had Max - who was pretty worthless, imo - and most episodes used the exact same formula which got incredibly stale. Ash had no rival whatsoever and there were a lot of things missing. Though there were a few great episodes, those were few and far between. I stopped watching regularly after the infamous "Golden Armor" battle, probably out of boredom.

I haven't watched much of the DP arc, though I just watched the most recent episode of the English dub and am still wondering what the hell that was. If all DP series episodes are like that... I have no idea what to think. Plus, the voice acting is bad... I should probably watch them in Japanese if I can. Would probably be to my benefit since I'm in Japanese 102...
So I really don't have an opinion, but what I've seen was... sad, really.

Original Series wins since there's not much to compare it to. Kanto and Orange Islands were consistently entertaining and Johto had a bunch of awesome stuff, though those were few after its midpoint (when Chikorita unfortunately evolved).

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Original series(Kanto,Orange and Johto):
Those were definitely my favorite series.They were entertaining to watch providing some different things in form of different style of writing,having many unique arcs not sticking with games so close like its case now in DP.Like whole St.Anne thing fom Kanto,different kind of gyms in OI,Whirl Cup(it wasnt from games),one of the best leagues(Johto Silver conference),etc.Nevrtheless back than we had original trio who in my opinion had the best chemistry,providing more comedy and character interaction between them working best as group.Of cours big merits go to Misty for this aswell,with her great personality making this show more entertaining in my opinion,and while she didnt do as much like May or Dawn did,she still give big contribution to this show in other areas(aside from battling),and some of battles she had were very impressive and good.
As for her goal of becoming water pokemon master,sure it wasnt expanded enough,mainly due to writers unexperience at that time.They didnt started to take more active approach toward it,until Johto and during that time they didnt know how to handle some things properly like theyre doing now),resulting in not doing enough with this subject.

Talking about Johto,when we exclude some not so great things the whole saga as it was wasnt horrible to me,like its case with some other people.To everyones shock i actually liked this region too.

Advanced Generation:
I wouldnt be honest if i said how i was amased by this part of pokemon series.The fact how Misty was replaced,without any build up and without receiving proper concusion all of a sudden when said character still has lot of untapped potential never being used,wasnt exactly good thing in my opinion.It caused dissapointment from my part.Another fact,how writers left her story unfinished,cementing her at gym(better term would be putting her back to square one) not allowing much further development or making further progress toward her goal(of becoming best with said type) doesnt help the case either.

However when i put aside some unfavorable things did in this region,advanced generation was good.It brough something new in form of May introducing new feature(contests) in this show,resulting in whole arc being interesting along with her brother Max(trying concept of more than 3 characters in group) who despite not having pokemon was a good character.Another positive thing was that writing has improved since Johto in some segements like handling groups pokemon better,having less fillers etc.
All in all while it wasnt the best region in my opinion,it was pretty good.

Diamond and Pearl:
Well this saga so far was the most unpredictable,that cant be denyed.Quality of writing was satisfying,providing many great things in pokemon anime.Like Summer school arc,Wallace Cup(which brought May for copuple of episodes),gym leaders being properly introduced,whole E4 being showcased for first time etc.
On the top of that Ash Sinnoh team has been good with muscle being added to it in form of Infernape and Torterra.

 

[Trevenant]

I don't generally like commenting on these polls, but it's interesting to see how many people still really prefer the Indigo League over the newer series despite many of the complaints I've seen about the originals (too many released Pokes, not enough evolutions, Ash not earning gym badges, etcetera.)

I mean, the Indigo League will always have a special place in my heart - always! - but it's just not my favorite. The show has come too far for me to say that it's the best and I think that's a good thing. There's nothing wrong with a show getting better and I can't help but think that credit needs to be given where credit is due. You may not like the new characters but the way things (in terms of characters and Pokemon and the like) is way better, in my opinion.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

There's nothing wrong with a show getting better and I can't help but think that credit needs to be given where credit is due.

Absolutely,improvements in this show deserves credit to be given with many things being handled better in writing departemnt.

But its needed to take into account how many people prefered older seasons despite its imperfections for various reasons(im in that group too).They liked different style of writing and formula this show followed being more humor oriented,they liked dynamics and chemistry between original trio through first 5 seasons,finding characters more interesting(like Misty finding her better than other girls),they liked how this show wasnt following games so much like its case(in these days you dont see whle sagas coming out from only writers imagination or anime made arcs like St.Anne,gym leaders who doesnt battle,Whirl Cup etc)now adding more to this anime unpredictabillity not expecting what to happen,etc.

Some people could argue how its "nostalgia",but thats not the case with everyone.People who prefer original series simply finded them better,enjoying more in them.

Also on the top of that some people find this show becoming worse,after original series.

 

[hhhhdmt]

absolutely correct. The writers have improved in many areas and they deserve credit for that but the anime has also declined in terms of chemistry between the group, humour and unpredictability. The anime is still good but follows the games too much, making it predictable.

but they undoubtedly deserve credit for giving the pokemon more screentime and more onscreen devolopment and training.

 

[GameCodeTrainer]

I like the Original Series, Diamond and Pearl, and Advanced Generation.
I haven't really seen that much of Advanced Generation, that's why I numbered it last. The Original Series was just fun and exciting to watch, Diamond and Pearl, right now, rocks

 

[Andyman]

The original series was the first one, after all - and that was back when it was fresh and the episodes didn't blend into each other. The Orange and Johto gym battles were spectacular and Ash actually did earn them despite it coming down to sheer luck or impulse most of the time.

The writing may be better, but as has been said, the chemistry just isn't there anymore, plus the formula has gotten stale. Team Rocket is nowhere near what they once were - they're annoying and overdone now. Plus they use lame disguises too often, yet the twerps don't see right through them. It's pathetic.

Like I said, the Original Series was the first to captivate me and still does. AG didn't do much for me, since it was so lackluster in so many departments. DP doesn't really interest me, especially given DP142 being so incredibly strange...

 

[Hellion]

they liked how this show wasnt following games so much like its case(in these days you dont see whle sagas coming out from only writers imagination or anime made arcs like St.Anne,gym leaders who doesnt battle,Whirl Cup etc)now adding more to this anime unpredictabillity not expecting what to happen,etc.

You mean arcs like the Hearthome tag team competition, the Twinleaf festival, the Cosplay contest, pokeringer competition, Pokemon summer school with the Pokemon triathlon... Sinnoh has as much non-game content as the other sagas if not more... Plus, the galactic arc was portrayed diffrently in the games than in the anime, they changed it a lot.

Wow, is there somebody who really wants to go back to the days where Ash didn't battle for his badges ? I mean really ? Thing is, while it is predictable Ash wins the badge in the end, there hasn't be one saga (except for the Orange Islands) where Ash hasn't had to rechallenge a gym leader at least on one occasion, so it's not so predictable. Plus, I'll take actually seeing a good battle, even if the outcome is predictable, over the uber boring gym battles of Kanto (except the Blaine one, both of them rocked, and the Surge one).

Anyway if you don't believe me, here's a quote that might convince you

Diamond and Pearl:
Well this saga so far was the most unpredictable.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Sinnoh has as much non-game content as the other sagas if not more...

To some people quality is what matters over quantity,and while newer regions has their share of anime only things,its undeniable that older seasons were sticking less with games.

Like Oi,which was so far only region not coming from games at all,providing diferent concept introducin unique gyms and gym leaders which had different rules of how aquiring badges compared to usual route of battling for badge,aswell providing two subplots with Misty being involved with two gl(Danny and Rudy).Not to mention to most people fillers,and league itself were unpredictable liking this change of routine.

Wow, is there somebody who really wants to go back to the days where Ash didn't battle for his badges ? I mean really ? Thing is, while it is predictable Ash wins the badge in the end, there hasn't be one saga (except for the Orange Islands) where Ash hasn't had to rechallenge a gym leader at least on one occasion, so it's not so predictable.

People have different tastes and there is nothing wrong with them prefering older seasoins over new ones.
True most of gym bages in Kanto Ash won under unusual circumstances but thats exactly why people liked this.

Plus, I'll take actually seeing a good battle, even if the outcome is predictable, over the uber boring gym battles of Kanto (except the Blaine one, both of them rocked, and the Surge one).

Whether someone will find something "boring" or "interesting" is matter of subjective opinion.
Many people finded those battles for badge interesting,like whole issue with Sabrina turning main characters into dolls,with group having to work out to find way,saving gym from gire in Ericas case etc.

If you disnt liked something,doesnt mean how others share same views on this.

 

[Duckgon Z]

I say this every time, but I don't really have one. I think they've all got the same amount of episodes or factors that I like/don't care for, and I've never been bored enough to check up on that 100%.

Is it weird not to have a favourite?

No, I'm pretty much in that same boat.

Kanto had the best actual main trio interactions and felt like actual friends rather than a group of individuals, the interesting non game episodes were alright, and stuff like Sabrina was cool. But most of the gym battles sucked, Ash sucked, his Pokemon sucked training wise (which is why I go whatever when I see them come back at the end of a saga), and Richie...fuck Richie.

OI was pretty short, but I enjoyed its take on gym battles (Oh fun fact, double battles originated in OI), I liked seeing Charizard obey Ash and him catching Snorlax, the Orange League was pretty fun, and Tracey was new. But then Tracey was bleh overall, it was short which sucked, and Lapras was an even worse water type than Totodile. I mean in its only battle, it tied with Gengar...yay.

Johto had some cool Pokemon like Noctowl, Cyndaquil and Bayleef were alright, and Master Quest was pretty good. And of course the fillers were terrible, pandering to an aging fanbase with the Kanto guys STILL being there (I'm so glad they don't do THAT anymore), TR didn't do shit until the end, and the devolution of Misty and Brock.

Hoenn's Pokemon were cool as well, the fillers (for the most part) were ok, and I liked May and her rivals. But Max annoyed the hell out of me, Brock was even more useless, Ash had no rivals, May's actual contests battles, well like 30% of them were just plain stupid, DEM, all that jazz. And some of Ash's gym battles weren't all that good like Brawly, Wattson, and let's not forget Tate and Liza and Pikachu being in all of them. Oh, and Kyogre vs Groudon was CRAP.

Battle Frontier was alright, Pokemon were alright especially Sceptile, fillers were ok (not good, but C minus ok), and most of the Frontier battles were pretty good. But that May contest with Squirtle and Banette, just...no, Bonsly was annoying, Sceptile got 30 episodes of screen time (and I'm even counting the one's he wasn't even IN!), having to see Bulbasuar and Squirtle again (I just don't care for them, sorry), and Pikachu vs Regice, DEM to the highest.

And finally, Sinnoh has been pretty good. The gym battles are all pretty good, the mini-arcs are awesome, seeing the E4 is cool, I like most of Dawn and Brock's Pokemon, and most of Ash's Pokemon are cool. Oh, Barry, Ursula, Paul, and Conway...BEST RIVALS EVAR! But some of the fillers are still dumb, Dawn's contest arc (while the battles are better than May's), most of her rivals are not compelling and interesting television (I WANT DRAMA and RIVALRY save the friendly friend stuff for the GF), Brock still sucks, they STILL can't handle 6 Pokemon correctly for Ash, Gliscor, while funny, was horribly showcased in battle with its one win. And Galactic appeared too little during the beginning, and too much during the end.

That's basically everything that makes all the seasons basically equal in my book.