It's been exactly one year: What are your thoughts on Sun & Moon animé so far?

[Rockapheller]

It's been exactly one year: What are your thoughts on Sun & Moon animé so far? What are your expectations/wishes for the future of the series?

 

[Lillie]

I think it's pretty decent. I find all of the characters to be pretty interesting and the character interactions have been pretty entertaining as well so far.

I'm also loving Lillie's character development arc as well.

I also like how the school and island trials changed things up a bit from the past series and is it's own thing.

 

[Rockapheller]

I think it's pretty decent. I find all of the characters to be pretty interesting and the character interactions have been pretty entertaining as well so far.

I'm also loving Lillie's character development arc as well.

I also like how the school and island trials changed things up a bit from the past series and is it's own thing.

Not all the characters, actually. Sophocle has never been an interesting character in the cast, and although Kiawe was something in the early animé, now he acts like a burden. Nothing is much different with other companions except Lillie. But I gotta say that Lillie has a deeper personal developement than all of Ash's travelling companions in the history, probably. The producers wanted to do similar thing with Serena but they ended up having a character with not much different than others because they followed a pattern that they had ever since.

 

[HiroHunter]

At first I hated this, but now I find it ok the only characters I care about in the main cast are Ash and Lillie.

 

[SonansuMan]

At first, I wasn't exactly happy with Sun and Moon-- the animation felt sloppy, most of the characters felt like rehashes of previous ones (I'm looking at you Sophocles), and it over relied on gags too much. Eventually, I slowly started to get used to it and almost consider almost as good as the XY series, even if it also had it's only issues. The characters feel so much more expressive and entertaining you can essentially make an episode just out of using funny faces in this format. Every character is pretty likable so far, and have had a good share of limelight in the series (some more than others), and they're all enjoyable in their own ways. The only things I wish that could improve is the pacing and the consistency of TR appearances.

OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10

 

[Gengarzilla]

Coming off of what I considered to be a complete trainwreck in XYZ, the mostly lighter tone and greater emphasis on slapstick was something which I welcomed. I feel like SM strikes a good balance between the cringeworthy BW and high-octane XY, both going a bit far into one of the scale's two extremes near their conclusions if you ask me.

Quoting Goldilocks and the Three Bears, BW is "too cold", XY is "too hot", SM is "just right".

 

[Matleo]

hope they will do it like Johto, more fillers with UBs and others+ proper league and gyms(trials) at some point.

Gladion needs a Zoroark and Shedinja in his team, Ash needs Incineroar and Decidueye, Lycanroc Dusk, Pikachu, Golisopod and Komo-o

 

[BigDocFan]

Despite a few doubts to begin with, Sun and Moon is certainly proving to be an exciting series

 

[ii kanji]

Can a whole year really have passed?! My God, time flies.

I feel very positive about the series so far. It's the first one which is more character than plot-driven, and I like that. The lighthearted tone and feeling that "anything could happen this week!" (not as much as Kanto, but far more than most other sagas) keeps me coming back. Although I was sceptical of such an large cast, actually I am invested in every one of the principal characters, which helps makes the now unfolding story feel much more personal to me.

Rocket Corner:
Finally their personalities and relationship with each other/the world are really back into play! The Kiteruguma thing has been fun but it's also too easily used to keep them out of the way. I wish they'd be more involved so they could show up (meaningfully) more often. For them, and the series as a whole, I suspect the best is yet to come.

 

[Cresselia92]

Well, well, well… time to say once again what I think about this saga, uh? Then brace yourselves, because I’ll be your beloved upstream user and point out the dirty and the ugly of this tropical saga.

This is an extremely long criticism, so I’ll put the various points under spoiler tags.

Spoiler: Controversial Artstyle (not animation!)

Still can’t really get used to it, but it looks like the latest episodes have now slightly sharper lines, which is something I appreciate. Can’t consider the overall style on-par with XY and the likes, but it’s definitely a bit better compared to the initial episodes.

It may be because the saga is taking a more serious tone now, or because the animators are starting to get used to it and flesh it out, but it’s a very welcome change for me.

Anyway, this is an extremely subjective matter, so it’s fine if other people disagree.

Spoiler: Pokémon or Charlie Chaplin?

This is another quite subjective topic, so I’ll start with the more objective point.

Now, people compare this saga with XY, mainly because they both are two different extremes of the same show. On the one side, you have the action-packed and serious XY, while on the other side you have the more lighthearted and comedic SM. They are just like the day and the night (no pun intended), and I bet pretty much everyone agrees on this specific point.

If I were to give a review six months ago, I would have teared this saga apart, because of one single reason: surplus of slapstick.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of comedy, and I find stuff like “Courage: The Cowardly Dog” and Charlie Chaplin hilarious, but for Pokémon… I feel they tried way too much to appear funny.

Some people may think that this could be a sort of “compensation” for getting an overly “edgy” saga earlier, but two wrongs don’t make one right. Too much focus and too little focus on the same thing are equally bad.

But I have mentioned earlier a “six months ago”. Why did I say that?

This is because I feel that the series is being more balanced now. There is still heavy focus on comedy, but it’s now evened out by the more serious and emotional tone of the current arc. Right now, compared to the beginning, I feel like the anime has finally reached a relatively good balance between comedy and seriousness, which is a big plus for me. Even the slapstick has been toned down a lot, which is an even bigger plus.

I want to laugh. I want to cry. I want to be shocked. Basically, let me experience a wider range of emotions, rather than making me always groan by being silly and “funny” all the time.

Spoiler: Extremely Uneven Pacing

This is one of the most glaring issues of this saga. First, they take a whopping 26 episodes to take Ash to his second Trial (skipping the remaining Melemele quest and the other Akala subquests in the process, mind you), then they rush the heck of Akala by slapping an Alolan Marowak to Kiawe, a Z-Crystal to Lana, and an evolution and a couple of Z-Crystals to Ash in the span of 7 episodes.

Oh, and then there a little two-episodes break to Kanto, before hurriedly returning back to Melemele (as if we didn’t see enough of that island already).

I mean, seriously? They essentially force people to watch random activities for a annoyingly big amount of episodes, before putting the Speed Boost during the more relevant (and much more interesting) plot episodes? Couldn’t they have moved some of those fillers to Akala instead?

I’m glad that Nebby has arrived and that it has triggered the whole Aether arc, but I feel like they are once again going way too fast, barely giving time to the many characters (not named Lillie) to develop properly. Going too fast was one of the main complaints during both the Team Plasma’s and Team Flare’s arcs, so I’m really baffled that they making the same mistake again.

People say that XY had an horrible pacing, but I feel that SM’s one is even worse in this regard, giving way too much time to pointless fillers and way too little time to the episodes that actually advance the plot.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have been that bad if they actually spread those episodes out a bit better, but it seems to be their weak point. First in BW and XY, now in SM.

Spoiler: Spotty Character Development

I can’t stop saying this, but having so many characters is a big mistake, in my opinion. Sophocles and Mallow are still very underdeveloped and bland, Lana has done very little since mastering the Waterium Z, and Kiawe… well, he got the better end of the stick, since he caught a Pokémon and got to face Brock, but as a character he is somewhat messy as well.

Sure, they may have distinctive personalities, but in terms of character development they all are quite behind, and an overall lack of concrete direction is their biggest problem. I’m not saying that they need a longtime goal to show progress – even if that would help a lot – but they still need something to be going for them, in order to show that they are growing as people. Personality alone isn’t enough, as showcased by Cilan and Clemont, to an extent.

Lillie, on the other hand, is getting some nice development, but I feel that even this isn’t handled too well. I mean, I find it really weird that she got over her phobia so quickly after remembering her past. I think it would have been better if the process was more gradual even after recovering her memories, by having her being more and more at ease around Pokémon, but not so suddenly.

It’s pretty much clear that she is the most developed and fleshed out member of the group, surpassing even the titular hero Ash.

…But what about their Pokémon?

This is the Pokémon anime, and yet I feel like the Pokémon themselves have taken a backseat: the lazy Rowlet is still lazy, Litten got over its grief way too quickly and has been demoted to training pal (which could foreshadow its potential evolution, but it definitely needs more than that if that’s the case), Popplio has mastered a Z-Move ages ago, Vulpix is still mainly a therapy pet, Togedemaru is still mainly a rolling lamp, Steenee has done little since evolving, Charjabug has won a race (yay?), and Turtonator and Marowak… were they rivals or something?

Team Rocket’s Pokémon aren’t much better, as Mareanie needs something more to its character than a simple “poisonous crush”. Mimikyu doesn’t look like it has progressed much with its relationship with Jessie, despite the whole sheet episode. And to think that the Luxury Ball should make it easier to befriend the Pokémon.

Oh, and Wobbuffet and Bewear? Still gag Pokémon, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Sure, they may all have colorful personalities like their Trainers, but once again personality alone takes you that far. We saw already how Pokémon like Emolga and Chespin stagnated because of their lack of overall development and screen time, which ultimately ended up being detrimental to their characters as a whole despite having plenty of personality.

Recently, all of the cast Pokémon are suffering the same fate, with Lycanroc being the only one getting some consistent development. Reminds me a lot Greninja, in a sense… in fact, he looks like the screen-hogger of this saga. But hey, people like dogs and wolves, right?

Spoiler: Island (Un)Challenge and Other Battles

Now, this… this is definitely the worst thing about this saga. Battling as a whole and the challenge were one of the most relevant aspects of the SM games, and yet in the anime they are treated like nothing more than a simple afterthought. Heck, the characters that are supposed to be Captains either are missing (like poor Ilima) or they have nothing to do with the whole challenge (Lana, Mallow, Sophocles and Kiawe).

The Kahunas have both decent showing by this saga’s standards, but their battles are quite lackluster, in comparison to other similar important battles (namely, the Gym battles from past series). Only the BW battles could be considered less impressive than these trials, and this says a lot.

And what about the Totem Pokémon, who have all be turned into 2 vs 2 for whatever reason, essentially eliminating the very thing that made them unique? Gumshoos was decent at best, Wishiwashi would have been cooler if Lana handled the thing by herself and Lurantis was inexplicably rooted to the floor.

Only the match against Totem Raticate could be considered good, which is… disappointing. Here hoping that the match against Kommo-O will be better, but I’m somewhat skeptical, after seeing the other Totems.

Now, regarding the other battles… the only ones that truly stick to my mind are the matches versus Brock and Misty, the battle between Turtonator and Marowak, and Totem Raticate. Aside of those, the battles have been mostly sparse and lackluster, if not average at best.

This is clearly the worst flaw of this saga, and as a huge fan of battles this is a very big letdown for me. It’s really a pity, because the more fluid animation can do wonders when used on them.

So, my main points are these:

• The artstyle is a hit-or-miss, but it’s been hitting a bit more often in recent episodes.

• The tone of the saga is another hit-or-miss, but even this is better. The reduced slapstick and better balance between comedy and seriousness certainly help.

• The pacing is a mess. More than 30 episodes dedicated on the tutorial island Melemele and only 7 episodes on the more varied Akala is atrocious.

• Waaay too much energy spent on character portrayals when it should also be spent on character development. This applies to both Pokémon and humans alike.

• The Island Challenge and battling aspect are a trainwreck. Skipping important characters and events is a red flag for me. It doesn’t help that even most of the other battles are average at best.

As such, considering all this stuff, I’m giving a 6 out of 10 to this saga, mainly because the style and tone are a bit better now, and things are starting to become more interesting.

 

[Rockapheller]

This is because I feel that the series is being more balanced now. There is still heavy focus on comedy, but it’s now evened out by the more serious and emotional tone of the current arc. Right now, compared to the beginning, I feel like the anime has finally reached a relatively good balance between comedy and seriousness, which is a big plus for me. Even the slapstick has been toned down a lot, which is an even bigger plus.

I agree with most parts of your post, as a fan who was disappointed BIG TIME in the early saga. Since the gym battles of Brock and Misty, everything got in another track and things go rather better now. But my biggest concern about it is that the UB saga will last a bit more, let's say 10 episodes if we're lucky, and it will get back to how everything used to be. I can't imagine the animé plotting with UB's for two years. But you know, what would be beyond amazing? After UB episodes, Lille and Ash decide to travel, and actually have trial battles for the league with the same tone the anime has right now. I mean, what is truly the point of watching Ash and his friends jumping on a rope with other Pokémon for the whole first part of an episode?

 

[Johtohfiller]

I wasn't a big fan for the first almost-year due to the shift away from adventures and battles. I've been enjoying it a lot more since the Kanto eps, I'm hoping they don't go back to a heavy slice of life focus.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I like SM. I think it's a pretty fun series. I like how happy and upbeat Ash is nearly all the time. It hasn't really become annoying or overboard like what I think they were going for with him in BW. It kind of makes him more endearing and likable in a way to me since he genuinely seems to enjoy being in Alola. It also helps that he his skills as a trainer haven't become significantly worse. His Grand Trials, especially his first one, showed some pretty nice skills on his part.

I like most of the new main characters. Lillie has had the most development thus far, Kiawe tends to have the best focus episodes and even Lana started to shine a bit more with her focused episodes starting in the Akala Island arc. Mallow is okay, but she's kind of dull with not standing out much. She had a nice friendship with Lillie at the beginning of the series, but that seemed to have been downplayed, at least based on what I've seen thus far. Sophocles is easily the most boring new character of the group. People have often called him Clemont 2.0 and other such terms, but I don't really understand that. They're both Electric type trainers who like science/inventions, but Clemont wasn't nearly as one note as Sophocles is. Even when Clemont didn't do much for the last year or so of XY, he still had more personality and was able to bounce off other characters. Professor Kukui is pretty nice and I like his relationship with Ash. It's kind of refreshing to see a different dynamic between Ash and the newest Professor. He's basically the father Ash never had, which is kind of cute.

Even though I'm not thrilled with all of the new characters, I do like the group chemistry between Ash and his classmates. There are moments where they'll help each other or try to solve a problem together, which does convey a nice sense of friendship. It feels like they are a group of friends during those moments, which is always nice in my book.

I actually really do like the humor in this series. It can be pretty sudden and strange, especially for a Pokemon series, but the over the top facial expressions/reactions usually make me laugh. They've also done a better job with running gags like Mareanie attacking James and Bewear carrying the trio off than I would have expected. The latter being pretty hilarious at times. Although. I do hope that they'll stop having Ash's Rowlet sleep all the time. That can be cute and funny, but it also seems like a serious problem if it can't fly up a small hill to grab one berry right in front of its face.

While staying in one location is also strange for Pokemon series, I kind of like how we get to see the Pokemon out of their Pokeballs more often as a result. It helps to give them more presence and potentially flesh out their personalities if they're always running around Professor Kukui's place.

I don't really mind the school location. This was, and probably still is, a major issue fans have with it since traveling around is not only a key aspect of the anime, but of the franchise in general. I still remember thinking that the school was just going to be a temporary aspect of the series and Ash would travel later on with some of his friends, but that clearly didn't happen. I think it works as a backdrop for the series, but it can be kind of weird when they make it out to be such a big deal when we don't really get the impression that they're learning a lot or at least anything more than they couldn't learn by going out on a journey.

I still think my major problem with the series is the lack of focus in relation to Ash's goal. At the beginning of the series, I thought that Island Trial would be Ash's goal and they'd basically be treated as they are in the games, but that didn't happen either. They kind of treat the Trials as an obligation that they're forced to do, especially if the Akala Island arc is any indication. Not to mention Ash rarely brings up the Trials unless he suddenly wakes up one morning wanting a new Z-Crystal. It's extremely weird after he's been eager to get to the next Gym right away since the original series. This kind of ties into a pacing issue since despite the length of time between Ash's first and second Grand Trials, they burned through the Akala Trials within five episodes. I don't think nothing important happened between those Grand Trials, but the lack of focus was really noticeable there. The Trials didn't even come up again until Ash first met Gladion.

It's hard to tell what Ash's goal for his Alola journey is. He still wants to be the best like no one ever was, but without a clear goal and something akin to Gym badges to help give his journey a sense of progression, it feels like there's no clear endgame goal for his Alola journey. At least part of that is do to being used to how the anime has always been structured, but it does seem like there's a focus problem here as well. I don't know if the recent episodes featuring the Aether Foundation helps with that.

I can usually understand most of the complaints about the series and I agree with at least some of them, but in spite of all that, it's still entertaining to watch new episodes every week. It's a light hearted series with some surprisingly good moments thus far. It's a solid fun series despite some of the problems I have with it.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Less battles then BW,I dont get the order of the trials: they are skipping Ula Ula Island now? And only Lillie gets devolpment...while there are other good characters too...and Ash? Well for the first time he doesnt have a goal. Even in BW he had one
And they cant make show another year I think...

 

[GuyWhoTellsTruth]

I like it, for the most part: it has a good balance of comedy and seriousness to me, especially how it has handled Ash so far, who has finally found a nice medium between being serious but also comedic when needed. Lana, Lillie, as well as Kiawe are fairly interesting as well as fleshed out well, too.

I hate the dub of it, though, so don't think I enjoy everything about Sun/Moon, and I must admit I find TR's redesigns to look worse than previous designs, in addition to Mallow being one of the most useless characters along with Sophocles in this entire Series, so there are some problems.

 

[Islander Princess]

I'm still thoroughly enjoying SM. I agree with everyone who has said the tone of the series feels just right: a good mix of funny and lighthearted with some more serious or tense moments. The past 2 series really seemed to suffer in this department (BW too silly, XY too serious) and I think SM has struck a very nice balance between the two. I'm actually enjoying the current arc because while it is a bit darker, there's still humor intermixed in places, and the series wasn't trying too hard before it to be dark or edgy.

The dynamics between the classmates is something that I really enjoyed at the start of the series that I'm still enjoying now. I know a lot of people were concerned about the number of characters in the beginning, including myself, but I think the writers have done a nice job with it so far. Each character feels unique and has relatable qualities that the writers have done a good job portraying. While I would like to see a bit more out of certain characters (most notably Sophocles and Mallow) I still really like them as characters and find them all quite likeable. I also like that we've gotten to see and learn a lot more about their families.

On a similar note, the lore and culture of Alola have really been stressed, which I love. I find Alola to be a really unique and fun region, and I'm glad the anime has played up the importance of Pokémon and nature to the people of Alola, as well as the overall more relaxed and easygoing tropical vibe.

Team Rocket has also been super fun this series. They haven't been utilized great over the past few series, but SM has been treating them very well. I'm no longer annoyed when they show up. The spaced out episodes, situations other than trying to kidnap Pikachu, and the addition of Bewear have made them a really interesting aspect of SM.

One of my only complaints about the series is how sloppy the portrayal of the Island Challenge has been. Full disclosure: I do not like watching battles, I do not like battle-centric or even battle-heavy episodes. Despite this, I really liked the trials in the games and was excited to see them in the anime. Unfortunately, I don't think the anime has done the best job of showing off the uniqueness of the trials and the overall presentation has been sloppy. I don't understand or like the fact that trial captains were not used. I understand Kiawe, Mallow, Lana, and Sophocles are attending the Pokémon School, but the anime's never shied away from OCs before, so why not just have fill-in captains who serve as their mentors? If there are no trial captains in the anime, why do those 4 wear the trial captain symbols? The trial captains in the game were really cool and interesting characters, and I think the anime could've done a lot with them. I may be ridiculously bored with gym battles, but over the years, the anime has significantly improved the characterization, portrayal, and role of gym leaders and made that aspect much more enjoyable. The trial captains could've been the height of that, but they weren't even included, and that still burns me pretty bad. Also, I just find it odd how the order of the trials has really been thrown to the wayside. I enjoyed seeing Lana get to do a trial, but it was weird that Ash didn't do it as well. How can he be so determined to complete the Island Challenge and not actually do all of the trials? It doesn't make sense.

I am, however, still holding out hope for appearances from some of my favorite game characters, including Hau, Guzma, and Plumeria. I've been disappointed that they have yet to appear either, but maybe the introduction of USUM will change that. I won't overthink it until the whole thing becomes final.

But honestly, that's really the only thing I haven't been thrilled with in SM over the past year (I'm not counting the missing game characters since they could still show up). Otherwise, I've genuinely enjoyed watching it and get excited for new episodes every week (in both Japanese and the dub). It's the first time in many years that I've really enjoyed watching the show and found it highly entertaining.

 

[Fan of Jarrus]

Satoshi looks like Luffy with that awful grin.

Not into the current amimation.

 

[Henry's Journey]

Yes, I really like it, way better than BW and XY/XY&Z, SM is a nice balance between light hearted and serious.

 

[HiroHunter]

I liked how XY/XYZ did things, but right now SM is starting to find its footing only time will tell if they can keep it or not.

 

[Rajas20]

There should honestly be a MEH option in the voting tbh. While I like SM more than I dislike it, there are some recurring frustrations at times and it really hinders me from fully enjoying the series.

The latest example imo was episode 50, the first 8 minutes was totally uncalled for imo, the whole jump rope thing was just so meh. Was it animated brilliantly? Yeah ofc but what was the point of it. I really don't care that much to see Lillie playing with everyone's Pokemon and much less for Ash doing the jump ropes beforehand. The tonal shift was too much as well, we went from that happy go lucky preschool nonsense to the part we all want, the serious UB plot but why must both these things be in one episode?

Secondly, why does Ash NEVER HAVE Litten and Lycanroc on him? They were in school this time for once but yet they were not there to battle? Rowlet is always fucking sleeping as well, Ash has four Pokemon but only Pikachu gets a quick beat down. Ash can use Z Moves and so can Gladion but neither use them to fight Nihilego? It's so bloody frustrating to see Ash go from someone who personally trains all his Pokemon to one who leaves them to train by themselves. Total 180 shift in character.

At this point one can easily argue this was the least he actually cared about his dream or even his Pokemon with respect to bonding/strength in the longest time.