Review New series: Initial thoughts

[P_S_B]

Because half of the anime is currently being used to advertise Pokemon Go.

One of the biggest mistakes the executives in charge of the anime have ever made.

 

[Daenerys]

Seriously why are they hardly even bothering to promote Galar and its Pokemon? Gou has a Scorbunny, but Ash's team is all Kanto right now. So far we've only been in Galar for 4 episodes. We've also only seen 4 Galarian Pokemon. We haven't even seen Sobble and Grookey 20 episodes in.

I mean only 16 episodes have even aired so far and Ash and Go have spent 25% of their time in Galar - which is more time than they've spent in any other region other than Kanto - and you think this is bad?

This isn't a Shield and Sword centric series in the 1st place so you shouldn't expect Galar pandering to be a big thing anyways, but damn even as things stand Galar pandering has still been happening 25% of the time so why can't y'all take that W?

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

I mean only 16 episodes have even aired so far and Ash and Go have spent 25% of their time in Galar - which is more time than they've spent in any other region other than Kanto - and you think this is bad?

This isn't a Shield and Sword centric series in the 1st place so you shouldn't expect Galar pandering to be a big thing anyways, but damn even as things stand Galar pandering has still been happening 25% of the time so why can't y'all take that W?

That’s not the point. The point is what is this anime for? Gen 8 or Go? It’s obviously where the money lies for the company right about now. Despite Go fading as a fad in some countries, it is still going strong in others. Even the Rotom Phones in the new anime shout sayings like “Great” or “Excellent” when catching Pokémon, like it’s still advertising LGPE, when that was Gen 7 and Kanto, Misty and Brock and even jigglypuff were shown in SM. One said it best when he said “When we finally have a console Pokémon game, the company has turned focus towards Mobile games.” Those who wished for a Console Pokémon game have won, but at what cost? TPCi clearly said that Pokémon is a handheld first and foremost. And that’s regardless to the Switch I suppose.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I mean only 16 episodes have even aired so far and Ash and Go have spent 25% of their time in Galar - which is more time than they've spent in any other region other than Kanto - and you think this is bad?

This isn't a Shield and Sword centric series in the 1st place so you shouldn't expect Galar pandering to be a big thing anyways, but damn even as things stand Galar pandering has still been happening 25% of the time so why can't y'all take that W?

I think that part of the problem is that Galar doesn't have a lot of presence within the main cast. I think that Scorbunny is still the only Galar Pokemon within the main cast and all of Ash's captures so far have been Kanto Pokemon. It isn't really Galar pandering when people understandably want to see more of the newest region and generation of Pokemon either. They have gone there a few times already and Ash's goal is to battle against Leon, so it isn't like Galar has had no presence here, but I can understand why people would want more. It might have been less of an issue if Ash caught one or two Galar Pokemon by now. A lot of people also understandably want to see Grookey and/or Sobble have some role in the anime. I like Scrobunny a lot, but I don't want it to be the only Galar starter within the main cast either.

Because half of the anime is currently being used to advertise Pokemon Go.

I keep hearing that being thrown around, but aside from Gou being able to capture Pokemon seemingly without battling them and I guess the Raid Battle with Lugia, how is the new series advertising Pokemon Go?

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

I keep hearing that being thrown around, but aside from Gou being able to capture Pokemon seemingly without battling them and I guess the Raid Battle with Lugia, how is the new series advertising Pokemon Go?

It isn’t just Go it’s advertising, but also LGPE, when that was released as part of Gen 7 and in 2018. Also the Rotom Phones would say ‘nice’, ‘great’ and ‘excellent’ whenever they catch a Pokémon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets tiresome very quickly before long.

 

[VetProf]

I keep hearing that being thrown around, but aside from Gou being able to capture Pokemon seemingly without battling them and I guess the Raid Battle with Lugia, how is the new series advertising Pokemon Go?

Gou's battle-less captures make up for most of his progress towards his goal so far. This wouldn't really matter that much if he was simply a side character that popped up every now and then, but keep in mind that he's one of the two main characters in this series. That, coupled with his Rotom Phone's obnoxious "Nice, Great, Excellent!!!" almost every single time he catches something, makes it pretty hard to just ignore the blatant Pokemon Go references. Yes, Gou does participate in some proper battles every now and then, but it's pretty obvious that his entire character is supposed to be a walking Pokemon Go ad. Will his character develop beyond that in the future? I hope so.

Also, we've got 2 Raid Battles so far (Lugia and Golurk), so it seems like they're gonna be a recurring thing throughout the series, especially once we're introduced to Max Raid Battles (yes, it's technically a SWSH feature, but it's still inspired from the Raid Battles from Pokemon Go). Personally, I actually enjoy the implementation of Raid Battles into the anime, but again, it's an obvious Pokemon Go reference.

 

[Hidden Mew]

It isn’t just Go it’s advertising, but also LGPE, when that was released as part of Gen 7 and in 2018. Also the Rotom Phones would say ‘nice’, ‘great’ and ‘excellent’ whenever they catch a Pokémon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets tiresome very quickly before long.

I don't really see how they're promoting Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, especially when they barely did anything to promote it during SM.

Gou's battle-less captures make up for most of his progress towards his goal so far. This wouldn't really matter that much if he was simply a side character that popped up every now and then, but keep in mind that he's one of the two main characters in this series. That, coupled with his Rotom Phone's obnoxious "Nice, Great, Excellent!!!" almost every single time he catches something, makes it pretty hard to just ignore the blatant Pokemon Go references. Yes, Gou does participate in some proper battles every now and then, but it's pretty obvious that his entire character is supposed to be a walking Pokemon Go ad. Will his character develop beyond that in the future? I hope so.

Also, we've got 2 Raid Battles so far (Lugia and Golurk), so it seems like they're gonna be a recurring thing throughout the series, especially once we're introduced to Max Raid Battles (yes, it's technically a SWSH feature, but it's still inspired from the Raid Battles from Pokemon Go). Personally, I actually enjoy the implementation of Raid Battles into the anime, but again, it's an obvious Pokemon Go reference.

I'm not really sure if Gou's battle-less captures or the Rotom Phone are enough to claim that the series is promoting Pokemon Go. They are nods to the game at least, but I don't know if I could see Gou capturing Pokemon the same way for the entire series. It wouldn't be a stretch when he's already caught a bunch of Pokemon without battling them, but I would hope that they're going somewhere with it beyond reminding people about Pokemon Go or using the capture mechanic from the game to justify why Gou has captured a bunch of Pokemon within a relatively short amount of time. The Raid Battles are more of a solid connection to Go though. Max Raid Battles are from Sword/Shield, but I agree that they are clearly inspired from Go's Raid Battle.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

I don't really see how they're promoting Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, especially when they barely did anything to promote it during SM.



I'm not really sure if Gou's battle-less captures or the Rotom Phone are enough to claim that the series is promoting Pokemon Go. They are nods to the game at least, but I don't know if I could see Gou capturing Pokemon the same way for the entire series. It wouldn't be a stretch when he's already caught a bunch of Pokemon without battling them, but I would hope that they're going somewhere with it beyond reminding people about Pokemon Go or using the capture mechanic from the game to justify why Gou has captured a bunch of Pokemon within a relatively short amount of time. The Raid Battles are more of a solid connection to Go though. Max Raid Battles are from Sword/Shield, but I agree that they are clearly inspired from Go's Raid Battle.

It wouldn’t be a problem if this anime was made to promote LGPE if they gave Gou an Eevee instead of a Scorbunny. Perhaps that was their original intention before Sword and Shield was shoved in at the last second. They should have delayed SWSH and have the anime based on Go/LGPE to fill in the gap. I tbh have no idea of how these business practices works in TPCi work.

 

[Daenerys]

That’s not the point. The point is what is this anime for? Gen 8 or Go? It’s obviously where the money lies for the company right about now. Despite Go fading as a fad in some countries, it is still going strong in others. Even the Rotom Phones in the new anime shout sayings like “Great” or “Excellent” when catching Pokémon, like it’s still advertising LGPE, when that was Gen 7 and Kanto, Misty and Brock and even jigglypuff were shown in SM. One said it best when he said “When we finally have a console Pokémon game, the company has turned focus towards Mobile games.” Those who wished for a Console Pokémon game have won, but at what cost? TPCi clearly said that Pokémon is a handheld first and foremost. And that’s regardless to the Switch I suppose.

This series seems to be a combination of a lot of promo efforts, specifically promo for Pokemon GO but I'm also seeing some hints at Pokemon Masters influence and Shield and Sword references thrown in there every few episodes.

Like I said before, 4 out of 16 episodes aired so far focusing on Galar is pretty good considering that this series could just as easily pander to all the old regions instead; at least the production team are giving Galar some exposure, meanwhile I'm still sitting here waiting for the Kalos return episode...

 

[Daren]

Like I said before, 4 out of 16 episodes aired so far focusing on Galar is pretty good considering that this series could just as easily pander to all the old regions instead; at least the production team are giving Galar some exposure, meanwhile I'm still sitting here waiting for the Kalos return episode...

Honestly, I was pretty sure either Alola or Kalos was going to be part of the most recent batch of announced episodes until they came out. I can understand them wanting the most recent series' to come last but I was expecting them to have been announced by now.

 

[Hidden Mew]

It wouldn’t be a problem if this anime was made to promote LGPE if they gave Gou an Eevee instead of a Scorbunny. Perhaps that was their original intention before Sword and Shield was shoved in at the last second. They should have delayed SWSH and have the anime based on Go/LGPE to fill in the gap. I tbh have no idea of how these business practices works in TPCi work.

No, that wouldn't have made sense either for a number of reasons. This is a big reason why I have a hard time believing that the new series is based on Pokemon Go when it usually comes off as either an excuse to complain about Game Freak/TPCI or a way to use a popular mobile app as a convenient scapegoat about the anime.

Honestly, I was pretty sure either Alola or Kalos was going to be part of the most recent batch of announced episodes until they came out. I can understand them wanting the most recent series' to come last but I was expecting them to have been announced by now.

I can understand why they haven't gone back to Alola yet. It still pretty recent. I think that they'd want to give it more time so that fans would miss it more and thus be more excited for whenever Ash and Gou get there. I'm a bit surprised that they haven't made a Kalos episode yet. I could see them going to Kalos sometime within this year, but it might be longer before they do anything with Alola. It depends on what they'd want to do with Alola and if they'll actually have some of the characters reappear or find some way to somehow avoid Ash's Alola family and team completely.

 

[Daren]

It depends on what they'd want to do with Alola and if they'll actually have some of the characters reappear or find some way to somehow avoid Ash's Alola family and team completely.

Part of me thinks they wouldn't have evolved Torracat if they weren't planning to have the Alola Team reappear, but odder things have happened.

 

[Sobble Bubble-O-Seven]

I think that part of the problem is that Galar doesn't have a lot of presence within the main cast. I think that Scorbunny is still the only Galar Pokemon within the main cast and all of Ash's captures so far have been Kanto Pokemon. It isn't really Galar pandering when people understandably want to see more of the newest region and generation of Pokemon either. They have gone there a few times already and Ash's goal is to battle against Leon, so it isn't like Galar has had no presence here, but I can understand why people would want more. It might have been less of an issue if Ash caught one or two Galar Pokemon by now. A lot of people also understandably want to see Grookey and/or Sobble have some role in the anime. I like Scrobunny a lot, but I don't want it to be the only Galar starter within the main cast either.



I keep hearing that being thrown around, but aside from Gou being able to capture Pokemon seemingly without battling them and I guess the Raid Battle with Lugia, how is the new series advertising Pokemon Go?

The part in bold is my biggest problem. Scorbunny's great and all, but I wish the writers would give Grookey and Sobble a chance to shine. We'll be going on 20 episodes without seeing those two. At this rate, it'll be 30, possibly more. If you ask me, it's ridiculous. I know they'll definitely appear at some point, but they should've appeared by now. They should've appeared closer to the start in all honesty.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I keep hearing that being thrown around, but aside from Gou being able to capture Pokemon seemingly without battling them and I guess the Raid Battle with Lugia, how is the new series advertising Pokemon Go?

Well, it isn’t primarily advertising GO (or any other games), but there is a lot of Pokémon Go promotion in there...
1. The new protagonist is literally called Go,
2. The entire Go catching system has been adapted for him.
3. Raid battles (not even the max raid variety from SwSh).
4. Go's Rotom Pokedex being a basically 1:1 adaptation regarding comments of the Pokémon Go pokedex.

It does appear rather prominent when the series isn’t doing a good job of promoting anything else (not even Galar, the most recent region).

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

No, that wouldn't have made sense either for a number of reasons. This is a big reason why I have a hard time believing that the new series is based on Pokemon Go when it usually comes off as either an excuse to complain about Game Freak/TPCI or a way to use a popular mobile app as a convenient scapegoat.

Honestly, you would try and refuse to accept the facts when it’s obviously standing there in front of your face. Pokémon isn’t called the highest grossing media franchise for taking out good features from the games that actually work for the series, not to mention... the Pokémon from SWSH. Yes SWSH is in the anime, but only about 20% of the time, but most of Go/LGPE takes up 50%. I’m only looking at this in a business perspective, not an anime fan’s perspective.

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

Where are you pulling these revenue percentages from? Either you provide a credible source or it's a fallacy.

So far we’ve only seen 4 episodes of Galar, and most of the anime takes place in Kanto with Gou’s catching mechanics being similar to Pokémon Go. Also, Gou has a Scwovet so that makes 2 Galar Pokémon. So I suppose this would make Galar with SWSH 40%, Kanto with Go/LGPE 50% and 10% the other regions at this point, but of course so far they haven’t planned it all out properly thus far, all we’ve seen and heard are nostalgia pandering and filler for the most part. And the dub for the new series is not showcased or advertised yet, instead could be for April or May, which is later than other Pokémon series, or it could’ve ended.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I find this screenshot a ridiculously accurate representation of the series so far...

*Gou aggressively shouting Let’s Go!* in the background*

 

[Grass Type Gardenia]

I find this screenshot a ridiculously accurate representation of the series so far...View attachment 131630
*Gou aggressively shouting Let’s Go!* in the background*

Go go let’s go let’s go... YES!!! We are aware that this anime is to promote Go/LGPE on top of SWSH, can we please have a breather for just one minute?

I think this anime is going to be a duo cast series first and foremost, the girl character is as much of a side character as the institute professor. There is always the eating ‘two is company but there’s a crowd’. That didn’t stop the previous animator studios that worked on the series in the past though, and despite this making the character development easy, I just see it as no excuse for improvement.

 

[Gligarman]

I'm enjoying the show quite a bit so far. I really like the idea of seeing Pokemon from all of the different generations. Visually it definitely feels like we have an aesthetic more similar to the previous shows like XY/XYZ with the simplified designs from Sun and Moon. It's a fun show and I hope it gets even better from here.

 

[Deadman]

In short: I didn't expect much from it and that's what I got. It's a "meh" show you can watch as you got time but I'm barely excited about the next and following Episodes.
Back when there still was a prediction threat I had a couple of crazy ideas and hopes but I pretty much knew "that ain't gonna happen". Though at least when I heard PM2019 is meant to please new and old fans I really had high hopes for a lot of past characters reappearing, but we all know how that turned out. I really can't fathom what they were trying to archive by showing all the trinkets of Ash's previous journey but to never even mention anything beyond Kanto past (and possibly Johto) during the show.
Still, it's not all that bad. I can still find some enjoyment in watching the show though prolly more the nostalgia factor than actual points for the Episodes. I just don't feel like I need to watch it regularly, just get a couple of episodes in if you have nothing better on mind or when you just need to kill time while you wait for something you REALLY look forward to.