For a series set in "all the regions" we sure seem to be spending a lot of time in Kanto, don't we?

[Nicolas721]

It's actually 60% if you count upcoming episodes...I agree that this is not what they promised and that an SM 2.0 where every adventure takes place on your local city makes the series very monotonous. Everything is becoming so tied to Kanto that in future episodes they'll have no option but to keep having episodes about it. Also, I do not get why the Gengar or Dragonite stuff has to happen now or why the Bug Catching episode couldn't take place in Johto as a reference to the games. Another thing that bugs me is precisely Ash's Kanto mons, he obtaining a Riolu would be fanservice-y but I'll take it as long as it adds region variety to his team.

However, from a production standpoint, it probably comes from saving costs by using similar backgrounds, and they are probably used to design the episodes the SM way of characters and subplots coming first and Pokemon coming second.

 

[Venomaid]

I get that people expected more out of the world tour aspect but people need to stop pretending that we were promised anything specifically. All we knew from the start was that this series would take place in different regions and that part is tehnically true. Seems like some people just got their hopes up and thought we'd see Ash on a plane to every single region in every episode.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I get that people expected more out of the world tour aspect but people need to stop pretending that we were promised anything specifically. All we knew from the start was that this series would take place in different regions and that part is tehnically true. Seems like some people just got their hopes up and thought we'd see Ash on a plane to every single region in every episode.

I don't think people said that we were promised anything specifically. It's just that the world tour aspect feels lacking due to how a good portion of the series thus far is still set within Kanto. I don't think that fans thought we'd see Ash on a plane every episode. I think that fans wanted them to spend more time in a single region as opposed to just hopping around them, which I think is pretty reasonable all things considered.

 

[SammyW27]

To add insult to injury (which seems to be happening a lot in this saga), they're not doing much with it...

The Battle Frontier episode didn't have a Frontier Brain, was its own setting, and could've been just another tournament in a filler town.
The Ho-Oh episode did nothing with Ecrutek City and felt like a Johto filler from back in the day.
The Dragonite Island could've been in any region.
The Ice Race episode could've taken place anywhere where it was cold.

Watch them not run into a single Alola character when they go there, despite being a small region with a large cast, and watch the Kalos episode feel like just another filler that could happen anywhere...

Sure, we have over 120 episodes to go, but the way things have been going do NOT give me a good feeling about them...

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

The Kanto pandering has gotten extremely annoying. We've spent far more time in Kanto than any other region. We haven't even been to Kalos or Alola yet, though Alola might be a while since we just spent 3 years there.

I still think the series should have mainly just focused on Galar.

 

[Daren]

I get that people expected more out of the world tour aspect but people need to stop pretending that we were promised anything specifically. All we knew from the start was that this series would take place in different regions and that part is tehnically true.

They didn't promise anything, but I think when you refer to a marketing campaign as "technically true" that's a bad sign.

 

[Islander Princess]

Personally, I wasn't expecting to see a different region every single episode. But I also wasn't expecting to see Kanto (and generic Kanto at that) a majority of the time either. It's true that the show didn't promise anything explicitly, but when you're advertising the show as a tour of all the regions with the goal of appealing to fans of all different ages, it's not unrealistic to expect a little more variety.

 

[Daenerys]

I get that people expected more out of the world tour aspect but people need to stop pretending that we were promised anything specifically. All we knew from the start was that this series would take place in different regions and that part is tehnically true. Seems like some people just got their hopes up and thought we'd see Ash on a plane to every single region in every episode.

This. There was a mention in the first synopsis blurb about how this series would show different regions, and that was really the gist of what was promoted in the two months leading to the premiere of this saga and they didn't lie since Ash has visited Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Galar so far in this saga. These constant '7.8/10 too much Kanto' complaints are sad to read because they perpetuate the wrong impression that some people (i.e. mostly people who are like 20+ years old and on social media) had about the purpose of this saga. It's like a merry-go-round of fan expectations turned into misinformation.

 

[VetProf]

This. There was a mention in the first synopsis blurb about how this series would show different regions, and that was really the gist of what was promoted in the two months leading to the premiere of this saga and they didn't lie since Ash has visited Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Galar so far in this saga. These constant '7.8/10 too much Kanto' complaints are annoying because they perpetuate the wrong impression that some people (i.e. mostly people who are like 20+ years old and on social media) had about the purpose of this saga. It's like a merry-go-round of fan expectations turned into misinformation.

Here's a statement.

"The new anime series will showcase all of the previous regions."

Here's two ways to interpret it.

"The new anime series will feature all of the previous regions fairly equally, without focusing on any one region in particular."

"The new anime series will mostly take place in Kanto, with the other regions being showcased sporadically."

Both interpretations are technically consistent with the original statement, but drastically different in execution. Now, kindly take a look at all of the promo material that were released prior to the anime's airing and tell me which interpretation seems more reasonable. Personally, I didn't see as much Kanto pandering in the advertisements compared to the actual product, but maybe that's just me. As someone else already said above,

They didn't promise anything, but I think when you refer to a marketing campaign as "technically true" that's a bad sign.

 

[Islander Princess]

It's like a merry-go-round of fan expectations turned into misinformation.

I feel like this more so relates to people's hopes/expectations that old characters or Pokemon would appear, and not so much getting to see a fair amount of all the regions. I never really saw anyone spreading "misinformation" in terms of the regions themselves.

It's been stated quite a few times already, but when you look at the poster for this series, there wasn't really any reason to believe that a majority of the series (at least so far) would take place in Kanto. In the case of these first 20 episodes, I would call that promotional poster pretty misleading. Could that change over time? Of course it can...we're not even a quarter of the way through this series. But so far, it doesn't hold up.

 

[Pink-Butterfree]

I get that people expected more out of the world tour aspect but people need to stop pretending that we were promised anything specifically. All we knew from the start was that this series would take place in different regions and that part is tehnically true. Seems like some people just got their hopes up and thought we'd see Ash on a plane to every single region in every episode.

I do think it's a situation that was mostly caused by ridiculously high expectations from our fandom more than misleading information from the showrunners.

 

[Daenerys]

I feel like this more so relates to people's hopes/expectations that old characters or Pokemon would appear, and not so much getting to see a fair amount of all the regions. I never really saw anyone spreading "misinformation" in terms of the regions themselves.

At least we can agree that folks had high hopes from the beginning, but this kinda goes back to what I said about unreasonably high expectations leading to some fans becoming misinformed and spreading rumors; for example I lurk on Tumblr and Youtube and I remember all the excitement when this series was first announced, and how some people were getting way ahead of themselves by claiming that we'd see the return of all kinds of old characters... based on just the first summary and poster for the series.

But as I've said before in various threads, most of the 'too much Kanto' folks - whom I put in the same category as the 'we need more continuity!!1!' crowd - need to take responsibility for their expectations instead of always blaming the writers for every so-called promise that isn't fulfilled.

 

[Daren]

You have been quite insulting to the other members here more than once over this. Why are you so defensive of this series?

But as I've said before in various threads, most of the 'too much Kanto' folks - whom I put in the same category as the 'we need more continuity!!1!' crowd - need to take responsibility for their expectations instead of always blaming the writers for every so-called promise that isn't fulfilled.

This would be a decent point if the advertising hadn't been so misleading for this series.
Like a poster full of Pokémon that have specific associations with the show's past, and the ones we've seen so far are just new ones.
Or the promotional image for the Ho-oh episode.

This situation is less so 'false marketing' and more like pettiness from a very entitled part of the fandom that is never satisfied with what we get.

You're acting like this series has been giving the fans what they want only for them to demand more, as opposed to the reality of it consistently putting out the bare minimum.

 

[Hidden Mew]

While I do remember people hoping for older characters to return, most people also recognized that was hoping for too much given how the anime generally handles continuity. Fans still might have been disappointed with that, especially with having promotional artwork for Pokemon like Piplup, Croagunk and Ho-Oh, but that probably wouldn't have been a major issue if more people felt like they were capitalizing more on the world tour aspect of the series. Wanting them to spend more time in a single region is a much more reasonable hope by comparison and was more plausible based on the admittedly little promotional information we got prior to the series' premiere.

 

[Panky..]

At least we can agree that folks had high hopes from the beginning, but this kinda goes back to what I said about unreasonably high expectations leading to some fans becoming misinformed and spreading rumors; for example I lurk on Tumblr and Youtube and I remember all the excitement when this series was first announced, and how some people were getting way ahead of themselves by claiming that we'd see the return of all kinds of old characters... based on just the first summary and poster for the series.

But as I've said before in various threads, most of the 'too much Kanto' folks - whom I put in the same category as the 'we need more continuity!!1!' crowd - need to take responsibility for their expectations instead of always blaming the writers for every so-called promise that isn't fulfilled.

I'm about tired of seeing you make these types of posts filled with false information (at this point, I think you're doing it on purpose to troll or bait) so I'll just leave an old post of mine in response to your "unreasonably high expectations" and "misinformed" since I don't want to type it all over. Even if people had high expectations, it wasn't wrong of them to do so given how the series is supposed to be structured with the "all regions" theme, and all the stuff/hints the staff themselves dropped and failed to deliver upon. If you can't be bothered with reading the stuff that people post about these issues then don't go around misinterpreting their words and generalizing everyone under one banner, all the while throwing insults at them and matrix dodging anyone who dismantles your words (because that's what you do almost every time, and it's very unhealthy behavior).

Can you blame people for expecting continuity when they drop titles like Fushigisou, Isn't it Mysterious?, The Hoenn Region, Site of Fierce Fights! The Battle Frontier Challenge!!, The Promise We Made that Day! The Houou Legend of the Johto Region!! etc.? Or when they publish promotional artworks like the one involving the Ho-oh and Ash holding the Rainbow wing but the actual episode having none of that, or even using the Piplup-Croagunk duo instead of any other Sinnoh Pokemon? Or when we're given summaries like the one that literally tease a battle similar to the original Vermillion Gym, only this time we they try to conveniently have Surge absent for it. Or when we have episodes that blatantly come off as poorly made clones of what they're based on with none of the substance? Or the fact that this series is supposed to be revisiting regions where continuity would feel the most organic, instead of jumping between anime original locations?

Maybe if the writing staff (and to a lesser extent, you) actually put some thought into it, writing in continuity wouldn't even be that hard or a problem. There wouldn't even be a factor of "appeasing" and "pandering" that you like to claim so often, it would be in fact be quite natural to assimilate it and would be proper storytelling on their part (this was never a problem pre-BW, I don't see why it would suddenly be a problem now especially for a series that's supposed to be revisiting past regions). It could start with something as simple as rotation of Ash's reserves and seeing some of his older Pokemon hanging out at Sakuragi park. Or maybe actually have Surge in SS018's battle instead of going out of their way to write in a CotD who'll pretty much disappear after said episode. They're definitely aware of the want for continuity but seemingly go out of their way to pervert those wants like in the examples I mentioned above, which at this point feels like they're giving fans the middle finger.

Oh but sure, do sympathize with the writing staff for just doing their fantastic job of nostalgia bait-and-switching, they're doing absolutely nothing wrong. The ones who expect stuff are totally the problem because they're "greedy and entitled". By the way, you didn't answer my earlier question.

This situation is less so 'false marketing' and more like pettiness from a very entitled part of the fandom that is never satisfied with what we get.

Oh yes... people expecting a better quality product and an improvement to the anime as a whole for the audience, and not defending lazy or rude staff/management decisions, are totally petty and entitled. You've gone and done it again, insulting people and throwing around snarky gifs/images/taunts instead of actually presenting proper counter arguments.

 

[Pulsaro23]

@The Archer Okay, I seriously have to ask this: Why are you so fixated on vehemently defending this series? It can't be just because you like it. No, what you're doing goes beyond liking something. You're constantly coming up with excuses for the show's issues (or, worse, acting like the series has no issues), you're constantly blaming fans for expecting something, constantly bashing them and making them out to be some unreasonable, highly entitled douches who're asking for the moon and the sky. But the show isn't perfection personified, nor are its issues nothing but some minor nitpicks. And you can't blame the fans for having any kind of expectation when it's the writers themselves who created those expectations. Nobody forced them to have an episode set in the Vermilion Gym, which would obviously lead to people expecting the Gym's trademark Gym Leader to appear. Nobody pressured them in to saying in interviews that the show is for both new and old fans alike, thus creating the idea that we'd get more concrete references to the past and maybe even see past characters return. Nobody held a gun to their heads and told them to make a piece of artwork featuring Ash watching Ho-oh while holding one of its Rainbow Wings, making it seem like he would actually have some meaningful interactions with it that would affect Ash's character moving forward. Nobody strong-armed them into making knock-off of Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden, to the point of even giving it a similar title. None of these expectations came out of thin air, the anime's staff deliberately produced material that would excite the fans and raise their expectations, and then failed to deliver on those promises. What, now we can't even think about promotional material that they themselves released? We should all turn our brains off and accept anything that has the word "Pokémon" written on it? Well, I'm sorry that I can't just be a mindless Disnoid-style consumer that always enjoys product, then gets excited for next product. I'm sorry that I, and other who don't constantly praise this series, have perfectly reasonable expectations and would like the series, its story and its characters to be better written and be of better quality. I'm sorry that we're not all part of a single hive mind that thinks alike and constantly praises this show no matter what.

Which, speaking off, I'm curious, but would you react the same way if the opposite was happening? If people would constantly praise the series to unreasonable levels? Or would that be perfectly A-Okay wit it, since they're not stifling others' enjoyment of the series and they're just spreading positivity? Is that actually the problem: that you think that us criticizing the series is the same as us telling you that you're not allowed to like it? 'Cause that's not what me or anyone else that I've seen has been doing. Nobody is telling you that you can't like the current series. You can like it however much you want, you have the right to like Pokémon 2019 and nobody but yourself can change that or force you to hate it. But, just as you're allowed to like something and praise it, we are allowed to dislike that same something and criticize it. The current series isn't flawless, it isn't perfect, far from it. And some of us have some problems with the series' issues (especially since previous series prove that this one could do better). Nobody attacked you or anyone else who liked this series, nobody called you names or threw smudge at you and blamed you for the series' problems, nobody based their posts on the idea that you personally are the problem, we usually don't lump all of you new series defenders together and turn you into this evil bogeyman that should be hated and despised, nor do we usually respond just to posts that agree with our views and conveniently ignore what the opposition has to say and act like the people defending the show have no arguments and that it's all just them being entitled. Why not do the same as well? Instead of always trying to put your opposition down and building this false narrative that they're some kind of unhinged lunatics that you can't reason with, why not have a discussion with them, why not attack their points and their arguments instead of going after them personally? Why not have a discussion with them and see if there might be some validity to our claims? Wouldn't that be better than just calling everyone you disagree with wrong, irresponsible, entitled or unsatisfiable?

 

[Rath]

At least we can agree that folks had high hopes from the beginning, but this kinda goes back to what I said about unreasonably high expectations leading to some fans becoming misinformed and spreading rumors; for example I lurk on Tumblr and Youtube and I remember all the excitement when this series was first announced, and how some people were getting way ahead of themselves by claiming that we'd see the return of all kinds of old characters... based on just the first summary and poster for the series.

But as I've said before in various threads, most of the 'too much Kanto' folks - whom I put in the same category as the 'we need more continuity!!1!' crowd - need to take responsibility for their expectations instead of always blaming the writers for every so-called promise that isn't fulfilled.

This situation is less so 'false marketing' and more like pettiness from a very entitled part of the fandom that is never satisfied with what we get.

When they announced that they're doing an "all regions" anime instead of a Sword & Shield anime, it was completely reasonable to expect them to actually deliver on their promise. So far, there is almost nothing that couldn't have been set in Galar without changing much.

Fans are not at fault for having expectations. It's the job of the producers and writers to live up to those expectations, the fans shouldn't have to stop having expectations.

 

[Islander Princess]

This situation is less so 'false marketing' and more like pettiness from a very entitled part of the fandom that is never satisfied with what we get.

This is applicable to every series, though. There are always going to be people who aren't satisfied with what they're getting. But most of the criticism of this series that I have seen so far has been perfectly fair.

I'm generally pretty positive with the anime, but something with this series just isn't clicking with me so far. That's not to say this is true for everyone, and I've seen this series get a fair amount of love as well. But a lot of the criticism I've seen so far is over the same points, including the lack of regional focus, and I think that's valid.

For me, I think one of the main problems is it just feels dull. The different regions are so vast, and have so many interesting aspects to them that the writers could take advantage of. So far, they've taken a very safe, generic route. I do think this series has some great pieces to it, but there's also a lot that they can improve on. Spreading the focus more evenly throughout the regions and making them more unique is, to me, one of the biggest areas for improvement that could really improve the series as a whole.

 

[Johtohfiller]

Kanto favoritism strikes again. I don't like it but I'm not surprised that given the opportunity to spam Kanto, they're spamming Kanto.

Give Ash a Galar Pokemon already. It'll be completely ridiculous if he spends the whole series with only Kanto mons.

 

[kantoskies]

It's similar to what I've said about this series before regarding continuity and callbacks- the show fails as a fresh, exciting new adventure (though admittedly it's getting somewhat better at that) but it also fails as a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The same can be said about this- we have another central location like in Sun&Moon but we don't get any of the charm like we did in that series. Satoshi, Kukui, the classmates, the Pokemon, and Burnet all felt like a family, and the recurring cast of characters in Melemele gave the series a fresh vibe. It also really helped showcase the Alola region's unique culture and atmosphere.

But in Pocket Monsters 2019 we don't really get that. Satoshi and Gou have a fun dynamic, but that's it. Sakuragi labs doesn't feel like his home, and we aren't getting a feel for Kanto's "unique" culture (not to mention it's the one region that 100% doesn't need it). But what we are getting is the feeling of repetition and restlessness we would get in Sun&Moon.

The series is failing to be a fun travelling show because we are not doing very much traveling (and there's not really a sense of progression) but it fails as a slice-of-life show since we aren't getting the kind of in-depth focus like Sun&Moon had on its setting.