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News Pokémon Journeys Replaces Its Series Director

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In the Credits for the Latest Pokémon Journeys Episode that aired in Japan, Jun Owada (大和田淳) from Studio Luna was listed as the Series Director which means he replaces Maki Kodaira who served as Series Director for Pokémon Journeys until now. The Series Director is the one usually in charge of the Anime Production, the one who (along with the Head Writer) pitches ideas, storylines, plotlines and makes sure that the Anime Production is going on Schedule. This is first time that OLM has replaced the Series Director half-way into a Series. For Example, Noriko Suto served as Series Director for the entirety of BW, while Tetsuo Yajima served as Series Director for the entirety of XY/XY&Z and Daiki Tomiyasu served as Series Director for the entirety of Sun & Moon. Do not be surprised if you see the Show changing directions in its tone & story after this key & unusual replacement.

Here are some episodes directed by Jun Owada - Category:Episodes directed by Jun Owada - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Jun Owada was also Assistant Director to Tetsuo Yajima for Everyone's Story & the Koko Movie


Source:
View: https://twitter.com/poke_sirena/status/1361586524022730752


This was also confirmed by Adamant on Serebii.
 
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Would this really lead to a different direction in terms of handling of the series though? Considering that the world tour and PWC plot are already in full swing I don't think that a new director could cause a drastic shift in the story telling of the series now that we're over a year into things.
 
Would this really lead to a different direction in terms of handling of the series though? Considering that the world tour and PWC plot are already in full swing I don't think that a new director could cause a drastic shift in the story telling of the series now that we're over a year into things.


Probably not.

The only change I can think of is maybe more Chloe focus. If I remember correctly, Kodaira was big on focusing on Ash/Go, which is why Chloe didn't get much early on.
 
Would this really lead to a different direction in terms of handling of the series though? Considering that the world tour and PWC plot are already in full swing I don't think that a new director could cause a drastic shift in the story telling of the series now that we're over a year into things.

Certainly, they couldn't change the outline and layout of everything of course but they can certainly give us more battles, Chloe Focus and Develop Goh much better. The Outline & Story of the Series will largely be the same, they could just write it better and execute it properly.

Since, Jun Owada was also Assistant Director for the Power of Us & the Koko Movie, he might have had some experience working with Yajima, that could help him as well.
 
Certainly, they couldn't change the outline and layout of everything of course but they can certainly give us more battles, Chloe Focus and Develop Goh much better. The Outline & Story of the Series will largely be the same, they could just write it better and execute it properly.

Since, Jun Owada was also Assistant Director for the Power of Us & the Koko Movie, he might have had some experience working with Yajima, that could help him as well.

Since I'm a beer geek I'll do a comparison to beer - you can brew a beer with the same malts and hops but use a different variety of yeast and end up with a very different-tasting final product.

Or more generally, same ingredients but different chef.

This series has been hovering in "okay but could be better in some obvious ways" territory for me so hopefully this is a change for the better.

Please let the new director break the Gachat.
 
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Oh that's too bad I didn't mind the old director that much. The only staff member that I don't like is that Fujisaku fellow but even he's not that bad.
 
I feel that it's pretty sad that she left since we don't know if it was an amicable terms or not. And considering the pandemic, I'm REALLY sorry for her if she got fired, since everything is way less stable rn. And we are probably never know about it, that's some confidential stuff.

But I do want to have hope that this new director could salvage Journeys. I get that the layout of the series won't change much (at least probably), but I do want him to see the potential this series has and actually deliver it to us.
 
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This is textbook desperation from a company trying to save the anime. Unfortunately, it's too late. Journeys won't recover from this. The best they can do is ride the ship, then make a new series and pretend like the last 3 years didn't exist.
 
This is textbook desperation from a company trying to save the anime. Unfortunately, it's too late. Journeys won't recover from this. The best they can do is ride the ship, then make a new series and pretend like the last 3 years didn't exist.
I mean...no? We really have no idea what the context is behind her departure. For all we know it could have been covid related or something else personal.
 
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I mean...no? We really have no idea what the context is behind his departure. For all we know it could have been covid related or something else personal.
Maybe, but as a counter-argument, because we don't know the reason behind the departure illustrates the plausibility of the anime underperforming. Of course, i'll reserve my judgement (completely) until the series is over.
 
Maybe, but as a counter-argument, because we don't know the reason behind the departure illustrates the plausibility of the anime underperforming.
Not really. There are plenty of potential reasons not to announce the story behind her departure, especially if it was a particularly personal choice.
 
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Not really. There are plenty of potential reasons not to announce the story behind his departure, especially if it was a particularly personal choice.

Just as a follow up: has this ever happened before? Has the showrunner of the anime ever been replaced during the series? Or is this the first?
 
Just as a follow up: has this ever happened before? Has the showrunner of the anime ever been replaced during the series? Or is this the first?
This is the first time a Series Director has been replaced in the middle of the show since Advanced Generation.

Also Maki Kodaira is a Women. She was the Pokémon Anime’s First Female Director.
 
Is this good or bad?
Depends. If this leads to Journeys becoming a Top-Tier Series then yes, which it may otherwise its pointless.

Kodaira didn’t do any Public Interviews during her tenure like other Series Directors did. Even in Journeys Interviews, it was mostly Executive Director Tomiyasu & Character Designer Yasuda doing the Magazine Interviews instead of her. So I wonder if she was given less of a role or she herself stepped back. She herself might have resigned from the post out of doubt.
 
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