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Review New series: Initial thoughts

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So the first two episodes of the new series have aired, I thought I would create this thread so we can discuss our initial thoughts on the series

Well its certainly off to an enjoyable start, the animation is superb, we've had a wide variety of Pokemon show up
 
We are just two episodes in, I'd reserve my judgement till 10 episodes are over and (if needed) maybe even till the First Year is over.

Probably best, and I'll admit my own judgement is waiting on battle. I'm a battle fan, less a SoL fan. I'm also a tad worried about the potential swing to more episodic versus semi-serialized.
 
Probably best, and I'll admit my own judgement is waiting on battle. I'm a battle fan, less a SoL fan. I'm also a tad worried about the potential swing to more episodic versus semi-serialized.
I think the first proper battle is in episode 5. I don't know when we'll get a Gym Battle, definitely not in the First 30 Episodes with the way they are going. As for the fact that this series will be more self-contained and episodic, I feel like all of Pokemon's Series had an overarching plot minus the First Year of Sun & Moon.
 
It's kind of slow, and I'm not interested in most of the future eps so far. But the second episode was nice and the new characters seem fun. I'm more engrossed with the series now than I was with XY and SM in their early days.

I think I'll wait it out until more episodes are released, so I can binge watch/skip the boring episodes. Pokemon's not a good series to watch weekly.
 
Don't think much of it so far. I know it's only the beginning, but since I wasn't exactly entertained by the first episodes, it makes me question whether I should even give this series a chance.
 
The most recent episode, the opening and the upcoming episode titles & descriptions made me realize that I'm not really looking forward to:
  • Ultra Guardians-like missions one after another.
  • Legendaries randomly appearing and everyone wanting to kill battle them.
  • Vague and under-the-radar continuity bait.
  • Ash having vague goals or postponing them because a Patrat appeared at the lab.
  • A mistreatment of recurring characters or a total lack of them.
But who knows, it may surprise me like SM did
It had loads of flaws but it was much better than what I expected
, so I'll watch episodes from time to time.
 
Still way to early to make overall judgments, but we were told this series was intended to appeal to both old and new fans alike, and it seems to me that their idea of appealing to older fans is to have a vaguely similar storyline to something that has occurred before, without the same characters or Pokemon. To me, that is just recycling a plot and is passing off laziness as some kind of favor. We have had recycled plots before, and are bound to have more, but if that is their idea of appealing to older fans, I think they are missing the boat. It is the characters (humans & Pokemon) that made events memorable & nostalgic, and if they really want to appeal to older fans, its the characters that older fans care about (and NOT just the ones from Gen 1). Some on here seem to act like seeing a Pokemon of the same species that we have seen before is somehow nostalgic to a particular individual (such as seeing any Piplup should satisfy those who liked Dawn's Piplup), but just like people, Pokemon are individuals with very specific and personal traits, it would be like saying Renji is a male, human, professors assistant, those who like Tracey should be satisfied, or Koharu is a girl, human, that goes to school, those who like Lillie should be satisfied. On top of that, we have seen lots of individual Pokemon before that happen to be the same species as a Pokemon that was important in the past, it isn't new or a big deal.

Edit: An oversimplified way I thought of to summarize:
new characters doing new things = exciting
old characters doing new things = really exciting
old characters doing old things = usually unnecessary (can watch the original content)
new characters doing old things = lack of creativity, kind of feels like a middle finger from the creators

The one thing I don't think is too early to judge is that the titles are fairly frustrating (although this isn't entirely new, it seems like it is becoming more frequent). No it isn't direct bait & switch, it isn't wrong or evil (its just marketing), but they aren't so dense that they don't think certain elements are going to make people think certain ways, it is certainly intentional. Its going to become a "boy who cried wolf" type thing, because eventually we're going to see something potentially exciting in a title and just be like "well it won't be that Pokemon" or "it won't relate to that event", etc.
 
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It's too difficult to really gauge how I feel this early in, but there are a couple of things that I have decided I do like and are keeping me to the series so far. I like the relationship between Go and Ash, there characters really mix well together to create some crazy, fun antics. The animation is also superb, and I like how despite being in Kanto, there is a decent variety of Pokemon being used by trainers.
 
I think Satoshi needs some kind of goal and motivation because it seems so vague now. How many leagues do you have to win in order to become a champion? Will Satoshi compete in Galar at all and what will happen if he wins? If he ends up not competing in Galar how will he ever become a champion?

How will helping the new professor further his goals? He has helped out random Pokémon and people in basically every filler episode so why does he need to be told by a professor where to go? Why does the professor send Satoshi to different countries all the time instead of asking other professors or trainers in that region? Is it because of Satoshi's past experiences since he has traveled around the world? :unsure:

Gou's backstory seems interesting and it's good that it's foreshadowed ahead of time unlike Mallow's sad backstory that came out of nowhere. Has he been bullied in the past? Was he bullied for his attitude or because of his feminine looks?

I also wonder what is the point with Koharu, does she even add anything to the show? If going on a journey and skipping school has such serious consequences why are kids even allowed to do it in the first place? It kind of affects the whole worldbuilding of the Pokémon world since going on a Pokémon adventure when you turn ten has been normalized since Gen 1. What is Koharu studying that seems so important to her? Does she have a dream?

The question is if Gou doesn't actually try to catch all Pokémon and Satoshi doesn't have a well-defined goal, how will they prevent the anime from being repetitive and make the characters feel developed?
 
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I think Satoshi needs some kind of goal and motivation because it seems so vague now. How many leagues do you have to win in order to become a champion? Will Satoshi compete in Galar at all and what will happen if he wins? If he ends up not competing in Galar how will he ever become a champion?

How will helping the new professor further his goals? He has helped out random Pokémon and people in basically every filler episode so why does he need to be told by a professor where to go? Why does the professor send Satoshi to different countries all the time instead of asking other professors or trainers in that region? Is it because of Satoshi's past experiences since he has traveled around the world? :unsure:

Gou's backstory seems interesting and it's good that it's foreshadowed ahead of time unlike Mallow's sad backstory that came out of nowhere. Has he been bullied in the past? Was he bullied for his attitude or because of his feminine looks?

I also wonder what is the point with Koharu, does she even add anything to the show? If going on a journey and skipping school has such serious consequences why are kids even allowed to do it in the first place? It kind of affects the whole worldbuilding of the Pokémon world since going on a Pokémon adventure when you turn ten has been normalized since Gen 1. What is Koharu studying that seems so important to her? Does she have a dream?

The question is if Gou doesn't actually try to catch all Pokémon and Satoshi doesn't have a well-defined goal, how will they prevent the anime from being repetitive and make the characters feel developed?
You made a good point about Koharu actually. To me judging by the First Three Episodes, this series feels like in the Modern World with Pokemon unlike other Series which purely felt like humans in a World of Pokemon.
 
Koharu's lack of interest in Pokemon feels a lot more natural than May's, which was just tacked on and quickly forgotten. Clearly, not everyone goes on a Pokemon journey, which is something they could explore. My hunch is that she dislikes how her father cares more about his work than her.

The question is if Gou doesn't actually try to catch all Pokémon and Satoshi doesn't have a well-defined goal, how will they prevent the anime from being repetitive and make the characters feel developed?
Go does want to catch all Pokemon (according to his profile), but he hasn't realized it yet. I think that Ash will have a proper goal, but it won't be a badge quest (which quite frankly, wouldn't develop him at all).

, Pokemon are individuals with very specific and personal traits
True, but some Pokemon seem to only have one personality as far as the writers are concerned. Look at Verity's Piplup compared to Dawn's.
 
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