Review New series: Initial thoughts

[Daren]

I didn't want to add more wood to the fire since I realize that criticizing certain characters can lead to arguments but what the heck, I do think that Koharu's role is weird and out of character of the writing staff. The reason being that this whole time certain comments from the anime staff (as well as my own judgments from viewing the series for so long) had led me to believe that having at least one girl in the cast per saga as 'eye candy' (Masamitsu Hidaka's words not mine so please don't get offended) was a necessary evil and I accepted it because it's such a minor thing and if you ignore Mr. Hidaka's comment and focus on the positives that each female cast member brings to the show, you can learn to appreciate each female cast member...

But Koharu is like the anti-pokegirl. I know that she was booked as a supporting character instead of a main pokegirl, but that part itself is so weird. I mean why demote her like that? What's wrong with the usual 3-person cast model that was used before in most previous sagas? How does only having Ash and Go in the main cast while Koharu kinda dawdles in the background for a few seconds in most episodes do any good? Was there a new study that the producers conducted that revealed that kids don't want girls in the main cast? Idk what's happening but I'm genuinely stumped when it comes to Koharu. :s

They seem to really want Gou to become popular judging by the comment on wanting to avoid making him annoying and trying to get his first episode to go viral with the "Pikachu backstory" thing, so maybe they're worried a third companion would take time from him? That might even be why the TRio has limited screen time so far.

That's just a random guess, because I can't figure out any other reason Koharu or another girl isn't traveling with them (yet).

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

What makes Koharu especially unlikable is that her only real traits are being Go's childhood friend and the anti-fun police. She's always rolling her eyes at the stupid boys for being passionate about something and pursuing it, instead she thinks they should just study math and science for 10 year olds like good students.

Eh, she only became angry with them before because in PM002 Gou was late for their meeting (and then acting like it was unimportant to him) and then in PM003 they laughed at her misfortune. She was simply depressed in other times.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think another reason why the whole issue with Koharu bothers me is because both XY and SM actually had multiple female leads. I had my problems with both Serena and Bonnie and like I mentioned before, I don't think that any of the SM female leads were anything to write home about. I still think that Lana in particular is quite overrated. However, I still liked that they had more female characters within the main cast. That helped to make them feel more distinct from each other personality wise and they didn't have to try to use one girl to appeal to the entire female demographic. Going from three female leads to zero is pretty sad. It's especially depressing if they really think that the notion of the female lead was expendable or something that didn't matter. Not to mention it wouldn't really make sense marketing wise or with how the female leads tend to be the most popular out of their respective casts.

It's also strange in that they could have easily fixed this by just making Gou into a girl. They still could have had a brand new character stand out alongside Ash, but still appeal to girls by making Gou into a female character instead. They'd probably want to make Gou's personality a bit different if he was a girl instead, but that would have been a better option than just acting like girls don't need any kind of representation in the newest Pokemon series, especially when the franchise in general is usually gender neutral rather focused on appealing just to boys.

 

[Islander Princess]

I too would like to see more out of Koharu. I am excited that she does have an episode that seems to be focused on her coming up, but with the way this series has been so far, I am nervous about how it will be executed.

I didn't mind the two male leads at first, but as we begin to progress through the beginning of the show, it's starting to feel weird. I'm not really understanding why Koharu hasn't been incorporated more thus far. I think she would really add something to Ash and Gou's dynamic, which, although I do like it, does sometimes get a little annoying or overdone. Koharu could temper it nicely.

I'd like to think that she exists for a reason, and that she may eventually play a bigger role. If not, then I don't really get it.

 

[P_S_B]

It baffles me that anyone thought having zero female representation in most of the early episodes was acceptable when they're supposedly wanting to broaden their audience. Alienating 50% of the population is a pretty massive flaw towards that. If I'm not misremembering Misaki in episode 8 is the first time a female has even had a prominent role in an episode this series since Koharu in episode 1. I mean there is Jessie, but even then she only appeared in one other episode and she's not exactly supposed to be an audience surrogate to begin with.

They've said Pocket Monsters 2019 is for everyone, yet there are no callbacks to older series for the old fans nor a prominent female cast member for the girl viewers. If it really is supposed to be 'for everyone' they're doing a bloody awful job of it thus far. The only thing they're succeeding at is the episodic thing, much to the show's detriment.

 

[Almonds]

They made Koharu a student attending school. Unless they chose to make Ash's adventures restricted to afternoon activities, Koharu won't be able to join seeing how she's a diligent student who wouldn't want to miss school. They would have to include weekend adventueres for her (but her characterization might make her do homework or reading on the weekends instead of joining on pokemon fun), focus some episodes at her school, include a school break period, or make her graduate early, drop out of school, or retcon her completey so she's not a student. Unless there's a change in writing or story direction, Koharu's occupation as a student isn't going to help much on joining Ash and Gou.

 

[SinnohBoi]

I'm done with this series. In retrospect: Sun and Moon wasn't all that bad when compared to this new series. However, it's becoming abundantly clear that The Pokemon Company does not care about a quality anime anymore. In many ways, Pokemon 2019 reminds me of the TPCI dub right after 4kids lost the license. You can see the downgrade almost immediately, but you sort of hope that it gets better. Eventually, it might. But that won't be for another 10 or so years.

 

[Shadowlarvitar]

They seem to really want Gou to become popular judging by the comment on wanting to avoid making him annoying and trying to get his first episode to go viral with the "Pikachu backstory" thing, so maybe they're worried a third companion would take time from him? That might even be why the TRio has limited screen time so far.

That's just a random guess, because I can't figure out any other reason Koharu or another girl isn't traveling with them (yet).

And in doing so it had the opposite effect, they should know better....
Never has a character been as annoying or hogged as much screentime as Go has. He's the worst part of this series, and the worst character ever

 

[Hidden Mew]

They made Koharu a student attending school. Unless they chose to make Ash's adventures restricted to afternoon activities, Koharu won't be able to join seeing how she's a diligent student who wouldn't want to miss school. They would have to include weekend adventueres for her (but her characterization might make her do homework or reading on the weekends instead of joining on pokemon fun), focus some episodes at her school, include a school break period, or make her graduate early, drop out of school, or retcon her completey so she's not a student. Unless there's a change in writing or story direction, Koharu's occupation as a student isn't going to help much on joining Ash and Gou.

I think it would be easy for her to eventually just choose to go on a journey instead of going to school. That's basically what most characters do in this series and just keeping her as the diligent student who doesn't want to miss school wouldn't really fit with Pokemon either. She's featured so heavily in the opening theme, so I'm hoping that means that they'll eventually do something more with Koharu.

I'm done with this series. In retrospect: Sun and Moon wasn't all that bad when compared to this new series. However, it's becoming abundantly clear that The Pokemon Company does not care about a quality anime anymore. In many ways, Pokemon 2019 reminds me of the TPCI dub right after 4kids lost the license. You can see the downgrade almost immediately, but you sort of hope that it gets better. Eventually, it might. But that won't be for another 10 or so years.

I don't know how much involvement The Pokemon Company has with making the anime and I'm sure that this series won't last for ten years either.

 

[Daren]

I think it would be easy for her to eventually just choose to go on a journey instead of going to school. That's basically what most characters do in this series and just keeping her as the diligent student who doesn't want to miss school wouldn't really fit with Pokemon either. She's featured so heavily in the opening theme, so I'm hoping that means that they'll eventually do something more with Koharu.

I'd like to think so, but I recall that the Japanese opening for the Battle Frontier showed a scene of Ash and the others with Pidgeot, who remained absent.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'd like to think so, but I recall that the Japanese opening for the Battle Frontier showed a scene of Ash and the others with Pidgeot, who remained absent.

That is true. Anime openings aren't known for being completely accurate, but since Koharu is featured for more than one scene, hopefully that does mean that they'll eventually do something with her.

 

[Insanish Danish]

I don't think I've voiced my opinions on this series yet, have I? In any case, I'm...not really a fan. I don't think it's 100% awful, but so far this is probably the least invested I've EVER been in the Pokemon anime. I like Gou and Scorbunny, and I like Gou's relationship with Ash, but it's honestly not enough to keep my interest. And Koharu is cute enough, I guess, but she just seems so damn pointless thus far. I know it's still very early on and for all I know I'll start liking it eventually, but as of now I'm not impressed. It's so disappointing because I honestly found the region-hopping concept to be so intriguing, but they're not doing as much with it as they could. Shame.

(Also the new Pokedex is the most obnoxious thing this show has ever introduced omg please make it stop)

 

[Kitasuki]

(Also the new Pokedex is the most obnoxious thing this show has ever introduced omg please make it stop)

I. Hate. It. So. Much. It. Is. Impossible. To. Put. It. Into. Words.

 

[BigDocFan]

One thing I'm liking about the new series is that so far, both character of the days appear to have 2 Pokemon whereas Sun and Moon, most trainers rarely had more then 1 Pokemon on their party

 

[Lucifer Angel]

While I know some of the others here already have voiced their opinions upon Koharu. I for one would have to agree with them the lack of a female traveling companion is also confusing to me. I find this to be upsetting as I enjoy watching to see what the female character's goals are and how she will interact with Ash and company. If they really wanted to they could give Koharu an episode here and there focusing on just her as she experiences her own adventures at first before having her join up with Ash and Go later on.

 

[BigDocFan]

While I know some of the others here already have voiced their opinions upon Koharu. I for one would have to agree with them the lack of a female traveling companion is also confusing to me. I find this to be upsetting as I enjoy watching to see what the female character's goals are and how she will interact with Ash and company. If they really wanted to they could give Koharu an episode here and there focusing on just her as she experiences her own adventures at first before having her join up with Ash and Go later on.

With SS011 being a focus episode for Koharu, I'm hoping she might start joining Ash and Go

 

[P_S_B]

With SS011 being a focus episode for Koharu, I'm hoping she might start joining Ash and Go

So am I, however the summary for SS012 referring to "Ash and Go" and "the two of them" doesn't bode well. I'm sure she will start following them eventually given the opening, but I'm not sure one focus episode is going to do it just yet.

 

[BigDocFan]

So am I, however the summary for SS012 referring to "Ash and Go" and "the two of them" doesn't bode well. I'm sure she will start following them eventually given the opening, but I'm not sure one focus episode is going to do it just yet.

Agreed, might take a bit of time, maybe a few more adventures before Koharu decides to join them and even then, she might not join them full time

 

[Lucifer Angel]

Sadly it doesn't bode well for Koharu as some people have pointed out already.

 

[Kurolegacy]

(Also the new Pokedex is the most obnoxious thing this show has ever introduced omg please make it stop)

I don’t know about that. Personally, I’ll take that over that annoying Rotomdex from SuMo. He and Samson Oak are 2 characters I wanted to punt into the nearest volcano.