My Big Problem with the Pokémon Anime - An Essay and a Rant

[Vengeful Ghost]

The anime without Ash would actually be something worth watching once. It would actually be different for one thing.

This argument assumes that different means better. I can point to the Dark Age of Comic Books to show how that is easily not the case. Execution is the deciding factor, not the mere concept.

You admitted you don't like how he's handled as a character, so why keep it that way?

I don't like him either, but it's not going to stop me from indulging in sadism (Alola). Not to mention, this argument runs off the same assumptions that characters are fixed and not able to be changed by different writers or different interpretations. I can easily point back to American superhero comics for plenty of examples for characters who had years of terrible runs (Spider-Man, Silk, the X-Men) and still returned to their former glory or grew beyond it.

Next time come up with an argument.

Your entire argument on filler runs under (faulty) premise that filler is a matter of character and not a matter of plot. While they are often intertwined, you can have a plot with a flat character. Your premise would render Sherlock Holmes, A Tale of Two Cities, and numerous other works as empty works. It would render superhero comics who are notorious for their adherence to a status quo (X-Men) as filler. That is certainly not the case.

 

[mehmeh1]

This didn't age well

 

[Adelon]

Given that Go seems to be somewhat of a scrappy I'm beginning to think replacing Ash in Unova might have been a bad idea ... Oh, what if the writers had replaced Ash with ... CAMERON!?

Actually, that might not have been a bad thing necessarily, Ash's dumb mistakes were horribly out of character but would be more believable on a person who is established from the start to be a noob.

 

[RileyXY1]

I think that all of the points here are extremely outdated.

 

[Greninjaman]

I think that all of the points here are extremely outdated.

Yeah seeing as Ash has now won a league.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

Ash winning the league was unsatisfying to me because Sun and Moon Ash may as well been a reboot

 

[Greninjaman]

Ash winning the league was unsatisfying to me because Sun and Moon Ash may as well been a reboot

How would it be a reboot?

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

@Greninjaman I said SM may as well been a reboot not that it was. It isn't. None of his experience from previous series mattered within the context of Sun and Moon barring Misty and Brock's what? three episodes. So since he didn't use anything from his failures they felt pointless. It's makes the win hollow. His win didn't undo his losses because his losses meant nothing to his win.

 

[Charcoatl]

None of his experience from previous series mattered within the context of Sun and Moon

Not that his experience played a big role in the previous series either.

 

[Greninjaman]

@Greninjaman I said SM may as well been a reboot not that it was. It isn't. None of his experience from previous series mattered within the context of Sun and Moon barring Misty and Brock's what? three episodes. So since he didn't use anything from his failures they felt pointless. It's makes the win hollow. His win didn't undo his losses because his losses meant nothing to his win.

I see. My bad.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

@Charcoatl I disagree while not overtly, as a trainer and a a person who he was in Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh was based on who he was beforehand. Watching the first four leagues back to back he was clearly "stronger" each time. There was a metanarritive I was really into that more or less got destroyed.

 

[Adelon]

@Charcoatl I disagree while not overtly, as a trainer and a a person who he was in Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh was based on who he was beforehand. Watching the first four leagues back to back he was clearly "stronger" each time. There was a meta-narrative I was really into that more or less got destroyed.

As a university student who has recently finished an English major this is the first time I seen that word being used in the context of Pokemon.

I've chosen to see the BW anime as non-canon (although Dawn's reappearance and that little arc with Ash's Charizard does make this a bit hard).

 

[Hidden Mew]

I've chosen to see the BW anime as non-canon (although Dawn's reappearance and that little arc with Ash's Charizard does make this a bit hard).

There's also the issue of BW leading right into XY with Ash already being familiar with Alexa. Not to mention the first shot of Ash's room shows some items he got during the previous series. Regardless of how anyone feels about BW, it's as canon as every other series.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

@Adelon Seems like the most appropriate word for the situation.

"There's also the issue of BW leading right into XY with Ash already being familiar with Alexa. Not to mention the first shot of Ash's room shows some items he got during the previous series. Regardless of how anyone feels about BW, it's as canon as every other series." Unfortunately. Best Wishes was crucial point that lead to my lack of satisfaction with the win. Regardless of whether of not you agree that making Ash less competent to make him more entertaining was effective it did lower the overall consistency.

Looking back on it now. Seeing him get a negative character arc which explains how he got less competent would have been cool and would gave more significance to the rockstar action hero he was in XY.