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How Can the Anime Improve?

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We all know that no anime is by any means perfect and by default, the pokemon anime isn't perfect either. While it has its strengths, it also has its weaknesses and ways it can improve or strive to become better. So, what are those things exactly?

Personally, one major problem I've noticed is that many characters aren't properly developed. Even those that people may argue are developed, have problems that make them the opposite. What I mean, is that the characters aren't fully thought out before they're brought to the cast. When you have such a vast and creative world like pokemon, the main focus of the writers should be developing characters and telling their story according to how their character is built. But you can't do that unless you know absolutely everything there is to know about your character, or there's going to be some problems. For instance, Mallow from Sun and Moon.

We can all agree that the episode regarding her backstory was very bittersweet, but it had no buildup or foreshadowing. This implies that the relationship between Mallow and her mother was something that was not planned and that has a bad affect on the anime as a whole. In order to make a well developed character, you should try to know everything there is about that character first and establish the most important parts of their character to their audience.

A lot of the anime has the characters written around the plot, not the other way around, which is a glaring problem that the series has had since the beginning-even when it wasn't as prominent back then, as the narrative had just started out, but it was still present. Even Ash, Team Rocket, and Pikachu have this problem, as many fans have already noticed throughout the series.

That being said, I feel like the reason a lot of characters feel like many parts about them were entirely unplanned is due to the fact that there is so many writers on the series, and while this can be a good thing-providing different viewpoints on certain characters-it feels as if it isn't really a joint effort-the writers don't communicate-so some episodes have the characters act OOC or have some information revealed that contradicts something previously or doesn't make sense; while in other episodes they feel bland, or, even in other episodes where they are at the peak of their character and most well written: it's all very disorganized. It's because of this that proper characterization is a big issue on the anime's part, which they can improve on by having the writers work together-specifically on planning out the CHARACTERS and not introducing anything late which makes it feel jarring and sudden.

That was rather long-my apologies-so now I want to know your thoughts! What is a way the anime can improve from its weaknesses? What are its strengths that they should focus on? What are the weaknesses, anyway? How can the anime improve?
 
An improvement would be that no Pokemon goes too long without any screen time. Since the cast always includes the trainer and their assortment of Pokemon, its unlikely that absolutely everyone can get equals amount of screen time or focus episodes, but that doesn't mean Pokemon like Palpitoad and Dracovish should be so heavily neglected. Hell, just showing them playing in the background could work some, cause at least then people'll know they're there. Instead of, you know, making it seem like Ash forgets about what Pokemon he has on him.

Then there's all the filler. Sure some of them are fine, but others are just plain boring and pointless. If they wanna show off new Pokemon and such then fine, but how about those episodes also be used develop the Pokemon of the main cast? Let them interact and bounce off each other. Do Lucario and Dragonite get along? Who knows! What about Cinderace and Gengar? With Sobble being such a cry-baby and Dragonite being so affectionate, you'd think those two would be seen together a lot but nope. If Goh can get his own solo episodes, I don't see why we can't get some solely focused on the Pokemon of the group, seeing how they get along and such. Something like 'The Island of the Giant Pokemon' back in OS.
 
one thing i think the "modern era" of the pokemon anime can improve on is thoroughly planning and plotting the entire storyline and knowing its direction!! dp did this flawlessly: nothing felt like it happened "just because" and lots of little things played perfectly into the many storylines of the series, like team galactic, the 190 episode ash vs paul story....... it was really fun to get invested in sinnohs story because it made sense. compare this to things that just...... randomly happen and/or retconned because the writers changed their minds on something due to not knowing where the story should go. the best example of this i can think of off the top of my head is serenas goal, or more specifically the buildup to it. ignoring the obvious "serena did nothing for 60 episodes" point, i remember in that pokevision episode that aria was described as some famous pokevisioner (youtuber?? lol) but then out of NOWHERE shes kalos queen 20+ episodes later!! its almost an admission of the writers saying that they had no idea what to do with serena so they frantically made something up almost a year into the series, and its jarring to see the story switch at the blink of an eye. compare this with brock in dp, where he also found a new goal, but hints of him wanting to be a pokemon doctor were sprinkled everywhere....... almost like the writers knew he would become a pokemon doctor at the very end. having the stories be well written is fun because at the end of the series you can point at your screen and say "i knew dawn would face zoey at the finals of the grand festival because they said they wanted to see each other in the finals in episode 11!!"

also i feel like this one will be mentioned a lot but i really wanna see more interactions between trainers and their pokemon but also the pokemon interacting with each other. the main cast's pokemon are characters too!! ever since xy i feel like this part of the anime has slowly gone away?? sun and moon was a breath of much needed fresh air with this and we need more of that. a pokemon with a lot of character in my mind is mays blaziken as a torchic: like her, it started off clueless and terrible at battles but seeing it grow alongside may and getting over its amateur abilities to battle better was cool!! its like torchic had its own character arc. i dont remember clearly, but didnt ashs lycanroc have its own character arc with learning how to control its rage whenever its fur got dirty?? and infernape with blaze?? i want more of that!! i'll say it again for those in the back but the pokemon should be treated just as importantly as the main characters...... because they ARE main characters!!
 
fire whoever is constructing the current series and giving it its direction

and some writers for incompetency
This is over-the-top and completely non-constructive. Also the series already changed directors and things remained pretty much the same.
 
This is over-the-top and completely non-constructive. Also the series already changed directors and things remained pretty much the same.
I agree with this. Journeys does definitely seem more problematic than usual, but there are overall problems in the anime that have always been present. Journeys isn't the only offender when it comes to bad writing.
 
As @skiittylalis put in, I do agree 100% that the anime should be more planned from the beginning.

(kinda long so hold you horses, divided into spoiler boxes to better reading)
In addition to what she said, let's take a look at DP, which to this day, even nearly 15 years later, is still considered by a very large part of the fandom to be the best Pokemon series:

You can tell that the writing team took their time to think stuff through. It's highly evident. From Aipom being captured at super late AG and then have an arc dedicated to being traded to Dawn in the following series, to Ash learning about Sinnoh through Gary, to his rivalry with Paul having an extensive buildup, to Dawn's story as an second protagonist and her meeting with Zoey at the finals of the Grand Festival which was foreshadowed all the way back at episode 11 (!), to Hunter J, to Team Galatic, to Brock deciding to become an Pokemon Doctor, man, this sure was a series with an overall satisfying payoff, wasn't it?

And it's pretty telling when the two arguably most controversial and hated moments of that entire series were clearly not planned from the beginning: Ambipom's departure and Ash losing to Tobias. When it gets to the point where the series with more thought put into it is an fan favorite even decades after it's ending, and the most hated aspects of it were a few rushed, last minute decisions, you can tell you are on to something.
And it doesn't ends here: Have you ever noticed that nearly everything the fandom collectively hates/dislikes and debates over to this day, are things that were clearly not really planned and were added with not too much care or were overall rushed, or with poor development? No, seriously:

Cameron and everything surrounding him, Trip in the same aspect, BW pretty much as a whole, Serena's arc, Goodra, Noivern, Ash losing to Alain in Kalos, Mallow's arc, Sandy, and now we are seeing it again with Journeys and Goh's development, the PWC, and etc.

See a patern here?

This is what they should do, and frankly, should've been doing ever since DP ended: Planning. It's not gonna kill to plan things ahead. I get that they are held back by the higher ups and not everything is up to the writers themselves, but I mean, why can't these higher ups just see that a satisfying series is done with clear planning, plotting and direction? And it doesn't ends here: GOT's season 8, Joss Whedon's Justice League, and a bunch of ther media that is not even kid's anime proves that planning and sticking to the story is important, and that they fail 99% of the time when they don't, proven by those that I just listed.
 
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  • I echo the sentiment about planning: To add another negative example, Kukui. I'm sure the writers knew he was the champion in the games since Mid 2016 but only settled on that idea until 50 episodes in. And the questions surrounding why did he used a secret identity and why is he considered champion status went unsolved.
  • Less overreliance on Team Rocket for conflict: It has gotten better in recent series, but this problem still keeps reappearing nowadays.
  • Less status quo and more experimentation: Most times the series enters a cool arc, it gets rushed so we can return to the usual fillers as quickly as possible. Examples are plenty, but one I'm sure you didn't think first is how Episode N was replaced by Decolore Islands. The series would be more interesting if the arcs were given time to breathe and to have better buildup. Also, more permanent or semi-permanent changes should be introduced, like Clemont leaving for more time.
  • More secondary characters and side stories: If people have already written long essays about characters who appear in 10 episodes maximum, imagine the potential if characters like Sawyer had appeared more of if we could see stories with them as the protagonist. Of course, this has to go hand to hand with Point 1 so no character feels shoehorned in.
 
So in general, a couple of things (some that PM 2019 has introduced, but also some things I think it has done well, and I would like to see carried forward):

1. More experimentation (which BW+ has done well with, but is always something to see, the new "2-in-1" episodes being a good example of this).

2. This was also a thing since OI, but easier to see in BW+ but more character episodes in general, even though I do get that Pokemon...needs to show the Pokemon (though they are also characters). XY+ decided to "individualize" character episodes, and that works sometimes, but it's nice when multiple characters receive attention in the same episode too. PM 2019 has a pattern of going 1 character/different character/1-different character/Pokemon, which is fine, but should mix that up.

3.Go against the grain a little. This past episode (kind of) shows off an idea that Pokemon generally hasn't/wouldn't promote, but sometimes, can make sense, and we could use more of that.

4. Pokemon screentime. PM 2019 has been a rollercoaster here, but generally, and I don't draw, so I don't know how difficult this is, but we should be seeing more of the characters' Pokemon on a somewhat consistent basis (though that isn't to say we need that all the time).

5. Team Rocket. Team Rocket in PM 2019 has also been on a rollercoaster (but has been trending up in 2021) but as someone else mentioned, while we do need the TRio conflict episodes, we should also see them outside of that more often, similar to what BW/SM was doing.
 
Answering the thread's question in the most simplistic way possible: Yes. Anything can improve in my opinion, even things that are considered to be really good.

I haven't been keeping up with PM 2019, thus I don't really know what they're doing wrong and what can be improved, but something I'd say for the franchise as a whole is to break certain long-time status-quo such as the mystery regarding the Pokemon Master title, who's Satoshi's father, do more with Sakaki and the rest of the Rocket-dan, etc...
 
I think saying that the (anime) franchise as a whole has issues that lead to all the problems we see in each iterations can be a bit misleading, especially considering pretty much every series struggles with very specific issues that are really damaging to each one. For example pacing can't be considered an anime-wide issue, since it was a major problem in DP, XY and maybe SM, but definitely not in BW. This applies to a lot of this series' iterations, like repetitiveness not being an issue in SM and JN, for example. I'm not saying there isn't a common factor between the anime's issues, but that it can't be easily tracked down until we successfully identify what each series' problems actually are.
 
I think the anime needs a good rival for Ash that really pushes him not only physically but mentally and philosophically. The last rival that I think came close to this was Paul and that rivalry still had some sloppy moments. A new rival should also be able to make Ash develop as a character and as a trainer by making him take a good look at himself and making him think of what he's doing that works and what doesn't. For instance Ash's strength lies with his ability to connect with his pokemon and form strong bonds with them but those bonds of friendship alone don't win him battles he doesn't live in the care bears universe. One of Ash's weaknesses is that he lives life by the seat of his pants and generally lacks preparation when facing a strong opponent. A good rival could be such a strong opponent that Ash would have to do things like try to get intel on a gym leader or league opponent before battling them, seek out people to teach his pokemon moves to cover their weaknesses instead of bumping into them by chance or try to teach those moves to his pokemon himself, seek out to catch specific pokemon or types of pokemon to help with a weakness of his current team. A large part of the reason I find Ash boring these days is there isn't anyone to challenge him on that level his drive and motivation to become better is much less than it used to be and thus he's become stagnant as a character.
 
I'm going to add something here that I didn't put in my first post, but I think one thing the anime needs to do better that hasn't been mentioned yet is world-building. What I mean by world-building is creating a sense of realism by making the world come to life through simple details or events. For instance, in Sun and Moon, Ash has visited each one of his classmate's houses and has seen how each of their lives differ from one another. Especially in the case of Kiawe, he got to see with the audience how different Kiawe's life is and how it impacts other people on the island. Even Kiawe's family's tradition of praying before eating is an example of world-building. The anime has actually done it well before, but they need to continue to do that as it makes the world all the more engaging. Plus, it allows there to be more variety of filler episodes instead of rough rehashes of old ones, or ones that just copy one small part of a previous episode. The more world-building done, the more opportunity their is for arcs, story-lines, and even interesting filler episodes. Think about how many episodes we've gotten about Kiawe's farm or Dawn's hometown. All of those offered bits of world-building and even more character building as well.
 
I don't think planning is an issue in this anime, it's the undercommitment. You can clearly see a lot of good ideas in this series. Such as:
  • Delving into Pikachu's origins
  • A character who wants to catch em all
  • Traveling the world
  • Revisiting the Ho-oh legend
  • Legendary Raid Battles
  • Mewtwo questioning Goh's motivations
  • Revisiting past places and characters
  • The FREAKING PWC!
There's soo much that they could do with literal decades worth of material to draw from, but they rarely do. When they do draw from this wellspring, they just give us barely anything. There's no excuse for it, it's pure laziness and/or Game Freak just wants us to keep coming back for more by implying something cool will happen without ever doing really cool things (at least not doing them often enough).
 
I don't think planning is an issue in this anime, it's the undercommitment. You can clearly see a lot of good ideas in this series. Such as:
  • Delving into Pikachu's origins
  • A character who wants to catch em all
  • Traveling the world
  • Revisiting the Ho-oh legend
  • Legendary Raid Battles
  • Mewtwo questioning Goh's motivations
  • Revisiting past places and characters
  • The FREAKING PWC!
There's soo much that they could do with literal decades worth of material to draw from, but they rarely do. When they do draw from this wellspring, they just give us barely anything. There's no excuse for it, it's pure laziness and/or Game Freak just wants us to keep coming back for more by implying something cool will happen without ever doing really cool things (at least not doing them often enough).
Game Freak? Since when do they run the anime?
 
Compared to other anime, it doesnt have enough drama. This is something I miss. Your lie in April (excellent anime) knows how to combine music and emotion. Cant pokemon do that? Pokemon feels always the same when it comes to emotions. Problem==>speech==>problem solved=happy end
 
Compared to other anime, it doesnt have enough drama. This is something I miss. Your lie in April (excellent anime) knows how to combine music and emotion. Cant pokemon do that? Pokemon feels always the same when it comes to emotions. Problem==>speech==>problem solved=happy end

Honestly, this was one of the reasons why it was hard to relate to other fans when they consider certain moments of the anime to be "emotional" and "heart-breaking" because I have such high standards as to what would make me truly upset. The last time an anime made me cry was when I watched A Silent Voice. A Silent Voice. Thus, the reason why I never really felt all that sad for Alain in the Flare arc. I guess some moments in SM made me upset, but it still just didn't make me feel as much as it did to other fans.

That being said, it IS still for kids, so with that considered, if the older audience actually agrees something is sad or genuinely upsetting, then it's more than likely going to be extremely upsetting for the target audience. I think you may be exaggerating a tad with the speeches=happy endings though...

What would really help with making an emotional moment are a few factors. The situation, the voice acting, how much impact the scene has(so pacing), and musical composition. I think there are more, but those feel like the big ones. In the movie, A Silent Voice, the entire thing revolved around bullying, which is already a sympathetic subject for people and that in itself drew people in. The voice acting...if a voice actor actually CRIES when voice acting, you'll be able to tell, their lines are also important...and it also depends on how much emotion is put into the performance. The impact of the scene also depends on the reactions and situation as well. For instance, if a character just finds out something groundbreaking and earth-shattering, the show might convey this by making everything stop and focus on that one character, or they might "slow time down" to put the audience in the show. As for the musical composition, it depends on how it's played out. Lighter or mellow sounding instruments may have a more likely tendency to make people cry or feel in the mood of the scene; but at the same time, you can't use music for every single scene-if you use too much, the emotion won't feel fleshed out.

The lines and execution, the pacing, the score...these are all things that need good, solid writing to do, and since pokemon itself has mostly put marketing first, I doubt they'll try to do something like this or put this much effort into making something emotional. Granted, you cannot, I repeat, you cannot make something emotional just for the sake of it-it'll just fall flat. The dramatic moments pokemon already has are honestly somewhat decently done when you consider their target audience-I myself am rather young, but it's just from having watched more emotional-inducing anime before pokemon that I feel this way.
 
Please note: The thread is from 3 years ago.
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