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

[HiroHunter]

I don't know what this anime wants to do anymore.

 

[Gligarman]

Some quick thoughts:

- Satoshi and Co. are a very likable cast.
- Mamane rules!
- The jump rope scene was just weird.
- I’m glad there hasn’t been a Sun and Moon movie. Since the movies are almost never canon it’s better that they have their own identity and go in a separate direction.
- Faba rules!
- Wow. The show killed a Pokémon off the show and “I Choose You” showed a Pokémon corpse!
- Rowlet rules!
- Shinji Miyazaki’s score is as gorgeous as ever.
- I hope Satoshi gets back to the Island challenges soon.
- Needs more battles.
- Bewear is the best thing to ever happen on purpose.
- That Litten better be an Incineroar by the end of this show!

 

[Cookies and Creme]

It's kinda tough decision for me. After much pondering, I have to go with... no, I don't like it
For the first time ever, I have been completely mixed on a Pokemon arc. I tend to have great opinions on series like OS and XY and terrible opinions on series like Johto and BW. But for SM... I have no idea
Lets start with the positives
1. Ash didn't have a major drop in battling ability in XY. I feared that Ash would go through a DP to BW transition that tainted the BW arc, but so far Ash's battle capability have been great. His trials have been great and the battles are actually exciting
2. The slapstick grew on me a lot. For some odd reason it reminds me of savage Ash back in the OS, which makes it a lot funnier. The artstyle going with the slapstick sometimes really emphasizes it, and I feel like it fits
3. The Ultra Wormhole arc was surprisingly interesting for me. Obviously not as good as Team Flare arc, but I love it nonetheless. Hope the USUM arc continues to make it better (judging by Poipole in the recent episode)
4. The Pokemon are all great and expressive. I love Rowlet's lazy and "innocent" attitude, Litten's brave and tough nature, and Lycanroc's loyal yet sensitive personality, it goes along really well with the anime itself

However, there's still a lot that I'm mixed or just don't like about this anime
1. The design, style, and animation is something that I don't like, but don't dislike either.
2. The characters are mostly underdeveloped,. especially the male companions. Sophocles had some fluff going during his episodes, but that's it. Kiawe had some personality and potential development within the first 20 episodes, but he's been barren since then. Lana and Lillie are the only ones who had changed a lot, Lana is really caring and nice, and that's really well developed with the water trial episodes. Lillie has had major development, obviously with the Snowy arcs and the Ultra Wormhole arc, so this is more mixed
3. Mallow deserves her own reason here. I just can't stand her - she's everywhere. Like she follows/drags Ash everywhere and it gets really annoying. Heck there are times where she shouldn't be somewhere but just is (When Ash tags along with Lillie during the first egg episode). She had development, it's that she's so annoying imo that I overlook it
4. Team Rocket is something that I'm, once again, mixed upon. They are funny in some episodes, sympathetic in others, but mostly they are just useless, substanceless, and empty characters that ruin good episodes. They were bad in XY, but they are sometimes even worse in SM
5. The direction is all over the place. The original plan, or so that I heard, was that Ash's goal was to graduate. Then it was to challenge trials. Then graduation again. Then trails. Then exploration. Then Ultra Worm- it's a mess
6. This ties in to the amount of fillers SM has. Because of no set plan, I'm saying that 95% of the SM anime so far is filler. That's a lot of filler, and something that I just can't get used to.

I sadly have to say no, I don't like SM, though I feel like it has potential. The Ultra Wormhole arc certainly made me like it even more, but not enough to place it into my top half of my favorite arcs.

 

[HiroHunter]

At this point no I don't like SM and my reason is because it feels like its more focus on being funny than anything else and when it tries to be serious I don't feel anything.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

It grew on me, but saying I am fond of it. No, I like the fact that they want to try new things. They animation grew on me. I only have the feeling that they mostly waste the first 10 min of an episode and it is is solved in 5 min.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

It has its ups and downs, and unfortunately the downs have been exceptionally low

It says a lot when the comedy this series goes for at times falls flatter than a Kartana - heck Best Wishes has better comedy at points

 

[Neo Blaze]

With XY I gave up watching at around XY060 (part due to lack of time, part due to lack of interest), and here we are at SM086 and I still enjoy it a whole lot. There's episodes I care less about but that's only natural.

 

[sc190191]

Not that I haven't said this before, but for the 52 episodes I managed to get through, I really have nothing good to say about it at all, and a whole lot bad to say about it. And I'm a huge fan of every other series.

 

[Cresselia92]

So, ten months have passed since I last spoke about this saga, but my stance overall is still pretty much unchanged.

Just when I thought things were starting to become more interesting, the anime staff decided to backpedal and reverse some stuff from before the pre-Nebby arc. Namely, an (un)welcome return to the overly exaggerated gag faces, terrible pacing and an abysmal mishandling of the characters’ development. We even got a new “Nebby” in the form of Poipole, who has yet to do or get anything worthwhile aside from the one-time flashback thingy. Oh, and the characters decided to rip off the Power Rangers by dressing up in a secret room under the school (huh, what?) and to go around catching Ultra Beasts and releasing them in Ultra Space. I… still don’t see how a secret room makes any bit of sense, as there isn’t any trace of foreshadowing or anything like that, but hey! It’s cool and fun, so Wynaut?

We also got some updates teams-wise, with Ash getting Poipole – which may get released at a later point, from the looks of it – the (back then very predictable) evolution of Litten into a Torracat and Steenee into a Tsareena thanks to the power of plot. And… that’s it. In a whopping ten months, we only got two evolutions and a capture. Like, seriously? No new moves, no development for the Pokémon, no unique interactions, nothing. No, wait… we got a mostly useless Aurora Veil for Snowy, which has yet to use since its debut. Maybe we’ll be lucky and she will use it during the battle against Necrozma? Only time can tell.

But it’s not like they need extra moves and battling experience much, though, as battles are still a very rare sight in this saga, much to my great displeasure and annoyance. I’m longing for some good battles that aren’t treated like jokes as battles are my most favorite part about the Pokémon anime, but what we have got so far is still very little. Even the relatively passable match against Nanu left me mostly dissatisfied. This makes me greatly fear about the potential League and isn’t really giving me much hope about good choreographies and strategies, unless good ol’ Tomioka decides to take the lead.

*sighs* It’s official, if it wasn’t official before, but this saga simply isn’t my cup of tea. It makes me cringe to no end, which is something that not even Best Wishes managed to do. I’m now just following the plot to get a general understanding of how things are going, but other than that this saga lost me ages ago. I may pay some attention to the incoming parts involving Gladion and whatever may attract me, but this is all.

 

[HiroHunter]

So, ten months have passed since I last spoke about this saga, but my stance overall is still pretty much unchanged.

Just when I thought things were starting to become more interesting, the anime staff decided to backpedal and reverse some stuff from before the pre-Nebby arc. Namely, an (un)welcome return to the overly exaggerated gag faces, terrible pacing and an abysmal mishandling of the characters’ development. We even got a new “Nebby” in the form of Poipole, who has yet to do or get anything worthwhile aside from the one-time flashback thingy. Oh, and the characters decided to rip off the Power Rangers by dressing up in a secret room under the school (huh, what?) and to go around catching Ultra Beasts and releasing them in Ultra Space. I… still don’t see how a secret room makes any bit of sense, as there isn’t any trace of foreshadowing or anything like that, but hey! It’s cool and fun, so Wynaut?

We also got some updates teams-wise, with Ash getting Poipole – which may get released at a later point, from the looks of it – the (back then very predictable) evolution of Litten into a Torracat and Steenee into a Tsareena thanks to the power of plot. And… that’s it. In a whopping ten months, we only got two evolutions and a capture. Like, seriously? No new moves, no development for the Pokémon, no unique interactions, nothing. No, wait… we got a mostly useless Aurora Veil for Snowy, which has yet to use since its debut. Maybe we’ll be lucky and she will use it during the battle against Necrozma? Only time can tell.

But it’s not like they need extra moves and battling experience much, though, as battles are still a very rare sight in this saga, much to my great displeasure and annoyance. I’m longing for some good battles that aren’t treated like jokes as battles are my most favorite part about the Pokémon anime, but what we have got so far is still very little. Even the relatively passable match against Nanu left me mostly dissatisfied. This makes me greatly fear about the potential League and isn’t really giving me much hope about good choreographies and strategies, unless good ol’ Tomioka decides to take the lead.

*sighs* It’s official, if it wasn’t official before, but this saga simply isn’t my cup of tea. It makes me cringe to no end, which is something that not even Best Wishes managed to do. I’m now just following the plot to get a general understanding of how things are going, but other than that this saga lost me ages ago. I may pay some attention to the incoming parts involving Gladion and whatever may attract me, but this is all.

I'm on the same boat as you i'm only here for the plot outside of that I could care less about SM and once it ends i'll be glad.

 

[EscLucy]

I think that overall no I don't enjoy the anime. I think that the characters are really good and that they are trying new things out with the Pokemon school set up. However, the plot lines are very weak and they haven't done much character development. This is crucial for an anime and they have become too invested in the classroom vibe.

 

[WatcherMark]

I admit, when I first saw the art style and learned the whole show was 'Satoshi goes to school' then I facepalmed. Coming out of the excellent XY series, it seemed like a massive step back and I started to get flashbacks of the DP/BW transition. I was fully expecting Satoshi to suffer another knowledge reset while Pikachu would undergo another power drain.

Thankfully that hasn't been the case and the show and art style have both really grown on me. The cast for the most part have been a lot of fun (although I'm massively not a fan of Mao since she never does anything... ironic really she's the only one of Satoshi's friends to evolve one of her Pokmon), the setting is a nice change of pace, the battles and arcs are still good to watch, the comedy for the most part (especially Kiteruguma's antic) has been top notch and Team Rocket is actually getting shit done for once.

That's not to say the show is perfect. We get way too bogged down in fillers before anything interesting happens, and I still dislike the lack of references to anything in the past post-Original Series (continuity has never been this show's strong point to be fair) but otherwise I like it a lot more than I thought and I'm looking forward to seeing the direction this is going in.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

Certain aspects of the saga has grown on me. While I prefer the tone of XY(Z) and DP I just come to accept the anime for what it currently is. Any criticism fans have may or may not impact future sagas, but ultimately I think the people in charge of the anime are just going to do whatever they believe is the right direction. But Gen 8 isn't a thing quite yet so we have to wait and see what the anime's like when that time comes.

Talking about Ash, I said this in another thread, but I don't think his skills as a trainer regressed at all. The problem is more so his current team. Some of his pokemon are just stronger than others. Pikachu seems to remain as strong as he was in Kalos and just learned a new move recently. I'd say Lycanroc and Torracat are generally his best Alolan pokemon in terms of combat. Rowlet actually can be a decent battler when it's awake and Poipole has battled for the first time in Mina's debut episode, so I can't say much about it right now. Still no idea what his final team member will be, but Jangmo-o seems like a popular candidate for Ash's last capture.

As far as the rest of the main cast go...I don't really hate any of them. Kiawe and Lillie are the two I probably care about the most as far as Ash's current group of friends go. Kiawe I like because he has passion about the things he cares about and despite giving a serious vibe when we first met him he can be funny, sometimes unintentionally. Lillie is pretty much Serena's successor (the current pokegirl) so naturally she's going to get a lot of focus. I care about her more than most of the other characters because the remaining three don't get that much focus in comparison. I hope that by the end of the SM saga she will become a stronger trainer and maybe catch or at least obtain one more pokemon, and maybe find her calling in life like being a Pokemon Professor. As for Snowy/Shiron, I really hope that Lillie will end up evolving her into an Alolan Ninetales.

Then there is the other three...Again don't hate them, but they are far more lacking, for me anyway. Mallow, Lana and Sophocles have been shown to have potential in certain focus episodes, but sadly they do just sort of feel like they're just here for the sake of having a bigger cast. Still I do appreciate it when they do something worth while. They like Lillie are currently not much to write home about in terms of being good pokemon trainers. They can still get better before SM ends, but I'm not sure. My number one request regrading all of Ash's friends as a whole right now is that they're given more pokemon and that the pokemon they already own evolve.

For me certain episodes are either surprisingly good or just sorta mediocre. I only seen a small number of episodes I didn't like. The humor can be hit or miss, but I laughed a couple of times so that's something. The battle presentation is not gone completely, but they are definitely not as many as the previous sagas. When there are battles, not many stand out aside from Kiawe vs Brock and Ash vs Misty. The rest are just okay. I can't say there are many battles that make me say, "This is the worst thing ever!", I just wish some stood out more and were more memorable.

Overall I think the anime's not terrible, it's okay, but I do wish for more. I still enjoy watching it.

Oh yeah, one more thing, I am actually really looking forward to the next arc. It looks promising and I hope it doesn't disappoint. Okay that's all. Peace.

 

[Nicolas721]

On an episodic level, it's very good and has surpassed my expectations. The episodes have funny and heartwarming moments, and are more creative than usual in both concepts and solutions. Whether they are comedy-based or problem solution-based there's often something I find interesting. There are many mediocre ones, but they make me feel good.

But on a series level, it has loads of flaws. There's no main plot, as Ash's arc lacks a clear direction (more on that later), so if you came to SM wanting to see how Ash's journey reflected your own (like the anime's past 20 years worked), or how Ash has changed since the previous series, this is not your series. Training scenes increased since XY, but battles became rarer. The supporting protagonists are as static as their teams and only shine in specific episodes designed for them. Also, those situations or problems are very rarely explored afterwards, it you warm up to a character after its focus episode, I'm sorry, as the odds are that he/she won't do anything of note for 10+ episodes. The side plots are nothing to write home about, as they either don't have direction (Team Skull, Ash's rivalry with Gladion, Kukui's ideas about the league) or were wrapped up suddenly (Lillie´s phobia). The Ultra guardians one is probably the only one with decent pacing, but its episodes haven't reached their full potential.

Other things I want to talk about:

The Island Challenge: Well, let's split it up to see its flaws.
-Melemele: Ash had no initiation ritual, after realizing he wanted a crystal he went straight away to the trial, and everything was wrapped up in 2 episodes with a polarizing battle and a good battle. Then, no indication to where to go next at all. Ash's obtaining Tapu Koko's respect by defeating it seemed an important plot point, but it was abandoned after episode 19.
-Akala: A couple of fillers after Gladion mentioned it, the whole group goes there, and Lana does the second trial and the third trial is replaced with Kiawe development, which is something no one could have predicted. We continue with the revelation that Ash only needs to do one trial per island, and everything is wrapped up in 2 episodes with 2 controversial battles. Again, no sign of what to do next.
-Ulaula: Team Rocket headstarts the arc with their own episode where they defeat a totem, and in the last 2 seconds of the episode, Ash is shown going there for no reason. The next episode has hints that the Island Challenge is connected to the league, but it's not confirmed, so Ash's motivation is unknown. The arc's stories weren't bad, but its battles surely were with DEMs coming from everywhere. Also, there's the revelation that not all trials contain totem Pokemon or Z-crystals, making things even more unpredictable.

Backgrounds: The producers have the rule of "If an episode can happen at the school or at the beach, it will happen there" making them seem too repetitive. Some could say "I would take the school over the forest of past series, the school at least looks pretty". While that's true, at least the forests had some variations within them.
Team Rocket: In the episodes where they have cameos or interactions with the group they are wonderful. Their Pokemon have very interesting personalities, their gags are funny and the humans even act as their OS' versions sometimes. They have their problems through: lack of elements from previous series (Cassidy & Batch, bottlecaps, Jessiebelle) and...their focus episodes. Don't get me wrong, I like them, but I feel that they take themselves too seriously and thus they end up with less humour they should have.
Nebby Arc: The first 8 episodes deserve more recognition in my opinion, I consider them one of the best parts of the anime of the recent years. We get to see how plots like Lillie's insecurities, her mom's job and a mysterious creature's debut combine into a big UB crisis. Sadly, its resolution wasn't as ambitious as the rest of the arc and made many bad choices. My favorite part of SM so far, except for maybe...
Misty & Brock's return: Marvelous I cheer myself up when I remember it actually happened.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Its decent. It very well animated and has its fun and lighthearted moments. I'm not too crazy about the cast though and I miss the more action/adventure oriented feeling that past series have had compared to this one. Plus, the Island Challenge hasn't been handled that well really.

 

[EscLucy]

I forgot to add a positive about the anime though. Team Rocket character development is amazing.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I'm going to be brief and say that I mostly like the humor, characters, and gags of this series. Sure juggling attention between the members of main cast this big can be tough, but I think it's been done pretty well.

 

[CrashBash]

I can basically sum up the series in one word - unfocused.

It has a lot of good points. But it also has a lot of bad points, and it doesn't seem to really know what it wants to do at any given moment. One moment you have a super serious arc and then literally the next moment a whole bunch of random gag-filled episodes that make little sense. And that's not a bad thing, practically every other Pokemon series had this, but SM seems to be relying too heavily on random visual gags. When these take away from a series that actually has an episode revolving entirely, and shockingly realistically, on a Pokemon dying of old age, that's a problem.

The characters also feel somewhat unfocused too. In regards to Ash himself, I do like his personality. But I just can't stand his characterization. As I said in a previous thread, he appears to have become the series' resident butt-monkey, to the point where 90% of the episodes involve him getting brutally hurt (as opposed to the 30% which involve his friends getting brutally hurt...COMBINED!) and most of the time, it's so painfully forced (suddenly, random Diglett!). Speaking of his friends, I do like all but one of them, but really the only character that seems to have had any sort of development is Lillie. Lana, Mallow and Sophocles are all really nice, but they've had little to no development whatsoever....they're just, well, there. Kiawe, meanwhile, just bugs the heck out of me.

There's still plenty to like about the series, though. Many of the episodes are really good and quite deep. The interaction between the trainers and Pokemon is really nice and better than most of the other series. Team Rocket have their moments, they feel rather similar to their roles in XY and AG combined, and I like that. I just wish there was more focus overall.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

While I prefer the tone of XY(Z) and DP I just come to accept the anime for what it currently is. Any criticism fans have may or may not impact future sagas, but ultimately I think the people in charge of the anime are just going to do whatever they believe is the right direction.

Well, they changed the art style of Satoshi's face.

Spoiler

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Well, they changed the art style of Satoshi's face.

Spoiler

I am so glad they did!