Pokemon Journeys: Thoughts So Far

[Cinnabar]

I am only on episode 30 as of right now, so this will likely be expanded in the near future.

Pros

- The region is great, and I really like the story thus far.
- I appreciate the animation style this time around, it's just as good if not slightly better than Sun and Moon.
- I totally dig the new characters.

Cons

- I dislike the way Goh catches every single wild Pokemon he sees, otherwise he's a good character.

 

[Lucifer Angel]

I've only watched the show on Netflix and have followed it here and there. I think that it's been okay so far but can be better Goh is annoying to me is goal to catch Mew is interesting. Yet I've grown tired of seeing him catching like pokemon in every episode so easily by just throwing a Pokeball at all that he sees. A lack of a female traveling companion still upsets me sure you have Chloe but she doesn't really appear all that much. The battles are lackluster and just seem like they only really spam the same move over and over again. Not really a fan of the whole GigaMax aspect either.

 

[swiftgallade46]

I like it so far. I actually quite enjoy Goh as a character since his goals of catching every Pokémon are similar to my own when playing through a Pokémon game. I wish Chloe was more of a main-character, though.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I haven't finished the recent set of Netflix episodes yet, but I wanted to get some more thoughts out before I watch the last two episodes later this week. Generally speaking, I don't think too much has changed in terms of my pros and cons for the series from watching the first twelve episodes. The world tour aspect is becoming worse over time and it was already handled pretty poorly from the start. Aside from Kanto and arguably Galar, they don't really spend enough time to flesh out a new setting. Too much of the series takes place in Kanto for what is supposed to have a world tour gimmick. When they go to other regions, the settings are too bland or not fleshed out enough to make them more distinct.

I'm also not really feeling the World Championship at the moment. People have been hyped for this goal since it was first introduced, but right now, it feels kind of lackluster to me. The concept itself is pretty neat and it does fit with the world tour gimmick for this series since Ash can potentially battle any other participating trainer wherever he goes, but the execution leaves something to be desired. It definitely doesn't help that he has battled just one-shot characters thus far and almost all of them have been one-on-one battles. Despite the tournament being on a grander scale, the battles thus far feel more like glorified regular battles rather than something major. It kind of reminds me a bit of the Club Battle tournaments from BW in the sense that winning one-on-one battles isn't really that huge or a solid indication of a trainer's strength. At least Gym Leaders are generally considered stronger than regular trainers and most of those matches consist of three-on-three battles instead.

It might not help that the ranking system doesn't seem that clear to me thus far. Ash can climb the ranks by beating stronger trainers, but there isn't a clear beginning, middle and end like there is with the Gym badge quest. I know that Ash wants to battle Leon and he has to get to the Master Class for that, but it's hard for me to see how winning these mostly unimpressive battles thus far really increase his rankings. Maybe it just reminds me too much of Contest appeal point scores in which the numbers just feel arbitrary. To be fair, it does sound like it gets better or at least more interesting with later opponents. Ash battling Korrina and Bea sounds a lot cooler than battling one-shot characters with mostly Kanto Pokemon. It also helps that they confirmed that the Galar Gym Leaders would appear in the anime at some point, so at least they hopefully won't be ignored. But in terms of first impressions, the World Championship goal feels pretty weak to me. A part of me genuinely wonders if it was put on such a high pedestal from the start primarily because it was different and sounded impressive as opposed to being engaging or good.

I adored the Riolu capture episode. I know that people have been upset with how much screentime Riolu has gotten over the rest of Ash's current team. I definitely understand that, but as someone who has wanted Ash to catch a Riolu for over a decade, the fact that it finally happened still makes me so happy. It was handled so wonderfully too with Ash effectively being chosen by Riolu, how sad he was when he thought that Riolu wasn't calling out for him after all and Riolu recognizing Ash at last by his aura. Both the Dragonite and Gengar capture episodes were solid too, but the Riolu episode just warms my heart. I will fully admit that I'm completely biased about this though, which could also affect how much I view Riolu's amount of screentime down the line.

I really like Goh. He is still without a doubt one of the highlights of Journeys for me. He has solid chemistry with Ash and I adore his relationship with Raboot. While Scorbunny evolving so fast still felt strange even knowing that they're building up to Gigantamax Cinderace, I liked how it was handled. Raboot learned Ember, but it became more distant from Goh after evolving and that was slowly building up to a confrontation. Admittedly, I kind of wish that part of the reason Raboot was ignoring Goh was because of how he yelled at it when it was still trying to learn Ember. It wasn't unforgivable or anything like that given that Ash and effectively the show called him out for it right away, but I thought that contributed to Raboot becoming an edgy teenager. But it isn't a huge deal breaker when Goh blamed himself for Raboot not being happy instead of believing that it was just a phase, so I assume he still felt guilt over what he said or at least thought he was the problem instead of thinking it was all on Raboot.

Plus, Goh clearly cares deeply about Raboot. Goh saying "So it still smiles after all" when he saw Raboot smiling for the first time shattered my heart into pieces. Even though I knew that they would be reunited, Goh crying out for Raboot as the train was leaving was still emotional and was a nice mirror to Scorbunny trying to find Goh at the beginning of the series. Goh hugging Raboot and taking a picture with it was so adorable. I already liked Goh and his relationship with Raboot from the start, but this episode solified it even more. I think that they have one of the strongest connections between a trainer and their first Pokemon within the anime too. The whole concept of Raboot just being more moody instead of straight up disobedient felt petty refreshing too. It still listened to Goh, aside from a couple of instances where it just attacked on its own, but was more silent, barely reacted to Goh and made it seem like there was more distance between them. It also felt natural given Raboot's entire design and behavior in the games screams edgy and angsty teenager. It says a lot that I was looking forward to this episode about as much as the Riolu episode too. I can still understand the issues with Goh to a degree and I agree with some of them, but the more I see of Journeys, the more I don't understand the amount of hate Goh gets. Based on what I've seen thus far, he's a perfectly fine and likable character who does truly care about Pokemon.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Too much of the series takes place in Kanto for what is supposed to have a world tour gimmick. When they go to other regions, the settings are too bland or not fleshed out enough to make them more distinct.

Probably why the Alola episode ended up feeling like such a big breath of fresh air outside of it being one episode (curse this self-contained crap). The first Galar episode is ESPECIALLY guilty as charged for this since it didn't look any different than "Generic Nameless Town/City #8403".

I'm also not really feeling the World Championship at the moment.

They really need to bring more folks like Korrina and Bea on board. We're gonna see the Galar gym leaders of course but heck, bring other characters/gym leaders/rivals (stretching on thin ice with this one) that Ash knows on board (Kiawe for example, this would be so dang perfect for him) because if not then I can see this getting old so quickly since you know that Ash will win and you know that the COTD doesn't stand fifty ghosts of a chance of winning.

 

[Hidden Mew]

They really need to bring more folks like Korrina and Bea on board. We're gonna see the Galar gym leaders of course but heck, bring other characters/gym leaders/rivals (stretching on thin ice with this one) that Ash knows on board (Kiawe for example, this would be so dang perfect for him) because if not then I can see this getting old so quickly since you know that Ash will win and you know that the COTD doesn't stand fifty ghosts of a chance of winning.

I don't know if Kiawe would really work for the World Championship. He's a strong recognizable trainer, so he would definitely be an improvement over one shot characters, but unless he has more Pokemon, I don't think he'd provide a noteworthy challenge to Ash. Although, part of the issue is that we saw them having so many one-on-one sparring matches during SM that I don't know if having another longer battle would do much for me. They really should be using more established characters not only because it would create more tension for these battles, but it would also make Ash's accomplishments stand out more. Am I really supposed to believe that Ash is closer to battling Leon because he defeated a stand-in for Lt. Surge, a Meganium and a Tauros from two different one shot trainers? Beating more established characters like Gym Leaders would be more noteworthy both in and out of universe. The audience and characters would be able to recognize Korria and Bea as strong trainers much more so than random trainers who exist just to give Ash's ranking a quick boost. Not to mention it would potentially make use of the world tour gimmick if Ash was battling against more recognizable fan favorite characters.

This also makes the notion that Ash can't go back to regular Gym challenges stranger to me when two out of his three PWC matches I've seen are more akin to battles Ash would have with random trainers in filler episodes more than anything else. They weren't in filler episodes, but they just felt too tacked on and not really the main focus like the first battle was, so it's harder for me to see this tournament as such a huge deal when most of the battles aren't treated as such. I assume that does improve over time and maybe I'll be more into it if/when they rely more on established characters as opposed making more one shot characters, but I also really feel like this concept has been really overhyped by fans.

 

[Daren]

This also makes the notion that Ash can't go back to regular Gym challenges stranger to me when two out of his three PWC matches I've seen are more akin to battles Ash would have with random trainers in filler episodes more than anything else. They weren't in filler episodes, but they just felt too tacked on and not really the main focus like the first battle was, so it's harder for me to see this tournament as such a huge deal when most of the battles aren't treated as such. I assume that does improve over time and maybe I'll be more into it if/when they rely more on established characters as opposed making more one shot characters, but I also really feel like this concept has been really overhyped by fans.

I think the concern about the PWC ruining gym challenges is about the higher rounds; it would be unlikely to see Ash get into the Masters class for his Leon rematch without at the very least defeating an Elite Four member, at which point it gets pretty hard to buy him losing to an early game Gym Leader after how absurdly powerful Elite Four members have been portrayed as in the show.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think the concern about the PWC ruining gym challenges is about the higher rounds; it would be unlikely to see Ash get into the Masters class for his Leon rematch without at the very least defeating an Elite Four member, at which point it gets pretty hard to buy him losing to an early game Gym Leader after how absurdly powerful Elite Four members have been portrayed as in the show.

I can understand that. While we don't know too many trainers in the Master Class, they did show Lance and Raihan, who at least within the games is considered powerful enough to become a Champion of a different region, so Ash would ideally need to defeat really strong trainers by the time he gets to Ultra and Master Ranks. However, I don't think that is that much of an issue in the grand scheme of things. They really haven't had a problem with Ash making huge accomplishments in one series and then scaling it back down in the next. I still say that the Battle Frontier victory is his biggest accomplishment thus far, but Ash was struggling against Gym Leaders right from the start in DP. It wouldn't necessarily mean that Ash's skills would regress. They didn't really do that in SM despite Ash being the Kalos League runner up and I think Ash was at his best in DP despite how often he'd lose. I think that they'd just have to scale things back down and/or established the new Gym Leaders as pretty powerful trainers in their own right.

Besides that, I think that they'll reach a point where they'll have to do it. I can't really see Ash and Goh staying research fellows forever or Ash taking part in the PWC past this generation. It is hard to say for sure when Journeys has been unpredictable in a lot of ways and I'm not sure where the main series is going to go for next year. D/P are still pretty likely, but I'm not sure how that would impact the anime. I just don't see this being such a huge game changer right now to where Ash could never do regular Gym battles again, especially when his first few PWC matches were not impressive in the slightest in my opinion.

 

[Daren]

I can understand that. While we don't know too many trainers in the Master Class, they did show Lance and Raihan, who at least within the games is considered powerful enough to become a Champion of a different region, so Ash would ideally need to defeat really strong trainers by the time he gets to Ultra and Master Ranks. However, I don't think that is that much of an issue in the grand scheme of things. They really haven't had a problem with Ash making huge accomplishments in one series and then scaling it back down in the next. I still say that the Battle Frontier victory is his biggest accomplishment thus far, but Ash was struggling against Gym Leaders right from the start in DP. It wouldn't necessarily mean that Ash's skills would regress. They didn't really do that in SM despite Ash being the Kalos League runner up and I think Ash was at his best in DP despite how often he'd lose. I think that they'd just have to scale things back down and/or established the new Gym Leaders as pretty powerful trainers in their own right.

I think the PWC is a bit different than the BF; it's not just Ash having some big win then losing to gym leaders and random trainers (we got that since Johto) but Ash's actual goal going down a notch from "challenging the world champion" to "just try to win another regional tournament".

It's honestly not hard to argue that winning the Battle Frontier is better than winning a regional league (Tobias was vastly stronger than any other league winner we've seen but outside that I honestly think Ash could have won every time from Hoenn onward with his reserves), but that's mostly out of universe talk--I suspect if asked in an interview the staff would insist Alola is Ash's best accomplishment to date. After the big win exploded onto the news and even got a Forbes article they're not going to want to do anything to undercut the Alola league--the show seems to be using the internet to build hype now, even admitting that Pikachu's backstory was put into an episode to go viral.
(Relatedly I think we'll be able to guess the outcome of the PWC a bit ahead of time by how the marketing around it goes--there were some pretty huge signals from the advertising and interviews around Alola that he'd win. Kalos was very baity but I don't think they had interviews commenting on how he'd never won but this time there are no super strong random trainers and a big content to guess the winner).

However the PWC, by it's very nature, is "better" than a regional league and it's impossible to deny entering a normal one after wouldn't be Ash lowering his ambitions, regardless of what happens in the PWC. If he wins he comes across as competing way below his standards, but if he loses it comes across as giving up.
If some other region turns out to have a tougher league than the world championship than it makes the PWC look like a big joke.

None of that means there definitely won't be a gen 9 badge quest, though. It'll just feel very awkward.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think the PWC is a bit different than the BF; it's not just Ash having some big win then losing to gym leaders and random trainers (we got that since Johto) but Ash's actual goal going down a notch from "challenging the world champion" to "just try to win another regional tournament".

It's honestly not hard to argue that winning the Battle Frontier is better than winning a regional league (Tobias was vastly stronger than any other league winner we've seen but outside that I honestly think Ash could have won every time from Hoenn onward with his reserves), but that's mostly out of universe talk--I suspect if asked in an interview the staff would insist Alola is Ash's best accomplishment to date. After the big win exploded onto the news and even got a Forbes article they're not going to want to do anything to undercut the Alola league--the show seems to be using the internet to build hype now, even admitting that Pikachu's backstory was put into an episode to go viral.
(Relatedly I think we'll be able to guess the outcome of the PWC a bit ahead of time by how the marketing around it goes--there were some pretty huge signals from the advertising and interviews around Alola that he'd win. Kalos was very baity but I don't think they had interviews commenting on how he'd never won but this time there are no super strong random trainers and a big content to guess the winner).

They would definitely insist that the Alola League victory is Ash's biggest accomplishment to date. I think that the director of the anime mentioned that he's more laid back now because of the Alola League, which still seems like a stretch to me considering Ash's personality doesn't seem drastically different in Journeys than it was in SM. They probably didn't want to undersell the Alola League by going back to a straight forward Gym quest right afterwards, I just don't think it's a huge accomplishment for a ton of reasons, but I can't really blame them for not wanting to present it like that. It would be especially strange to do it after there was so much excitement for Ash winning a region League.

However the PWC, by it's very nature, is "better" than a regional league and it's impossible to deny entering a normal one after wouldn't be Ash lowering his ambitions, regardless of what happens in the PWC. If he wins he comes across as competing way below his standards, but if he loses it comes across as giving up.
If some other region turns out to have a tougher league than the world championship than it makes the PWC look like a big joke.

I'm still not sure how much better the PWC is compared to a regional league. It's on a much grander scale, but if the majority of Ash's battles are against one-shot characters and are one-on-one matches, at least until he gets to Ultra or Master Ranks, that does feel like a step down from Gym battles in a way. I don't know if entering a normal one would necessarily mean that Ash is lowering his ambitions. He wants to battle Leon, but he loves battles in general and wanting to battle other strong trainers in a different region would still fit with Ash's personality regardless of the outcome of the PWC. I'm less concerned about the PWC possibly looking like a big joke when it already feels overrated or overhyped by fans to me. This is still just the first few matches, but Ash defeating a Meganium or a Tauros that would be considered random trainer battles in any other series and then treating it as if it is a big deal because they're all in the PWC just doesn't work for me.

None of that means there definitely won't be a gen 9 badge quest, though. It'll just feel very awkward.

Maybe I'm just too used to the notion of the anime just giving Ash a fresh start with each series, so it doesn't come off as potentially awkward to me. That could change depending on how the PWC and I'd want to be more into this goal since the concept itself is still pretty neat, but I just don't see it as a huge deal that changes everything right now.

 

[Daren]

I think that the director of the anime mentioned that he's more laid back now because of the Alola League, which still seems like a stretch to me considering Ash's personality doesn't seem drastically different in Journeys than it was in SM.

I'm gonna be honest; I think he came up with that on the spot to have an answer to the somewhat odd "he's smiling more" comment from the interviewer. It even ended with "maybe...?" after all.

I'm still not sure how much better the PWC is compared to a regional league. It's on a much grander scale, but if the majority of Ash's battles are against one-shot characters and are one-on-one matches, at least until he gets to Ultra or Master Ranks, that does feel like a step down from Gym battles in a way. I don't know if entering a normal one would necessarily mean that Ash is lowering his ambitions. He wants to battle Leon, but he loves battles in general and wanting to battle other strong trainers in a different region would still fit with Ash's personality regardless of the outcome of the PWC. I'm less concerned about the PWC possibly looking like a big joke when it already feels overrated or overhyped by fans to me. This is still just the first few matches, but Ash defeating a Meganium or a Tauros that would be considered random trainer battles in any other series and then treating it as if it is a big deal because they're all in the PWC just doesn't work for me.

It's not what Ash has done so far in the PWC--we've only really seen Gym leader level trainers at Ash's current spot depending on how you want to count Bea (since in Sword she's functionally an Elite Four match)--but we know that the top ranks have Lance and Leon in them, and it would be strange if there are no other Elite Four or Champions up there as well.
Realistically, Ash has to beat at least one to get into the Masters himself, or is at least beating people strong enough to keep Elite Four/Champions out of the Master-class.

Now it's possible for them to get Ash into the PWC Master-class without him facing any Elite Four or Champs then lose to Leon in the first round or something, but it would feel overly convenient.
Plus, I really have to wonder why they'd bother introducing a world championship then desperately avoid making it feel like a world championship when there would be others ways to have an all-regions tournament without setting up expectations like that.

 

[Emmy]

In regards to the PWC, I won't deny I was one of the people super excited for it when it was first revealed as I love a well executed tournament arc in anime but the PWC...just wasn't it captain.

It really needed to be the main focus of the plot as soon as it was introduced but the writers wanted to have their cake and eat it as well and now Gou's "gotta catch 'em all" goal and the Lab Assistant sub-plots are all competing for screentime and it's hurting them all.

There also needs to be actual stakes involved in the PWC. Losing needs to have serious consequences - no regaining your Rank by grinding offscreen. Alternatively a time limit to get into the Top 16 could have been used but we all know how iffy this franchise has been with handling time. >_>

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think part of the problem with the PWC is the setup itself. Ash being able to potentially increase his rank wherever he goes does allow it to blend in with his job as a Research Fellow, but that's a double edge sword too. There is no buildup to these matches. Some of them are random encounters and that just isn't a good way to make the tournament compelling or make it feel like a huge deal. That's one reason why it does feel like a step down from Gyms in a way. Despite the PWC being on a bigger scale, there was always a clearer sense of progression with Ash going towards each new Gym and a Gym battle was always treated as a big deal. We'd often get an episode or two devoted to Ash getting a new badge. While the Island Challenge felt more like an afterthought during the course of SM, even that at least showed Ash slowly improving with his Pokemon through every Grand Trial. Not every Gym battle was great of course, but they generally had more weight behind them than any of the PWC matches I've seen thus far.

Being the main focus from the start could have helped, but I'm not sure if that is as major of an issue as just the way the tournament is designed. I assume that Korrina and Bea are the only established characters that Ash has battled in the PWC thus far. If that is the case, then I think that's a much bigger problem that prevents the PWC from being such a huge deal like fans have made it out to be. It's just hard to make Ash battling against random one shot trainers compelling or impressive, especially if he is able to increase his rank off-screen too.

 

[Rocket Messiah]

Only one thought: not enough Rockets

We need Pokémon ASAP, is like Jessie and James forgot that Pokémon are for something more than fighting. TRio always threated his Pokémon as friends.

I hate this.

 

[Gengarzilla]

The thing I really appreciate about Goh is how he deconstructs the "Gotta catch 'em all" tagline that this franchise carried around from time immemorial. 40 episodes in and it's clear than many people are already tired of his whole shtick. It's actually what I expected when the character and that goal were revealed; I thought from the very start that we'd learn how impractical it really is to try catching every Pokémon in the anime.

Goh reminds me of Paul in that sense. High end competitive battles, with things like optimal natures, stringent EV training, desired IVs, the nearly irrelevant effects of friendship, the pursuit of certain rare moves, and the release/trade of any Pokémon that doesn't measure up to your requirements perfectly... Even if you're a genuinely nice person in real life, doing this stuff in the anime is gonna make you look like an amoral prick. Ash would be hard pressed to not give me a bloody nose if he saw how much Lileep I released in Platinum for not having the right IVs.

Similarly, Goh's goal cannot translate very well into the anime either. Pokémon in this canon aren't just jumbles of data that you record in your Pokédex and then leave in stasis within a technologically advanced storage system. Each one of the nearly 900 (!) species are living, breathing creatures just like you and me. Each one is an investment that you need some way to provide for. Imagine if the games required us to feed and look after every last individual Pokémon that exists in our save files?

Even ignoring the caveat of "many Legendary Pokémon should not be captured because it borks the ecosystem", the sheer number of species and the commitments that come with them makes his aim easily the most unfeasible one of any main character so far. I'd say it's both a strength and weakness for Goh as a character; I like that he reveals how ridiculous it is, but I totally get why he's not very liked for it.

To rank the series in general, I'd say it's a step down from Sun and Moon at the moment. This is a terrible shame because I gave Journeys a fair chance at the start and enjoyed a lot of the earlier episodes too, but I can't ignore the dip in overall writing quality as of late (incidentally, a concerning number of episodes I find questionable were episodes that had heavy focus on Ash's Riolu). Of course I want this to improve since we're only approximately a fifth of the way through an average series. It's just that I'm not banking my hopes on it.

 

[DynamicFusion]

Sun & Moon's Ending with the Kukui Battle really felt like Diamond & Pearl in the sense that it felt like a end to a Chapter of Ash's Story. This feels like Best Wishes in the sense they are trying to refresh the show without having Ash fully rebooted though he has made some errors like using Thunderbolt on Two or Three Ground Types already and I'd also argue that he is far from his best considering how objectively poor the recent "losing streak" arc was.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Gotta catch 'em all

I always felt the complaints stemming from it about the anime ("Why doesn’t Ash catch everything!") absurd. And Go just reinforces to me why things shouldn’t be done that way.

 

[KrspaceT]

I've said it before but Journeys feels like an idea that could be really good....a polishing or two down the line. There is a lot that can be improved on what I feel is an already solid concept of the PWC and Goh's catch quest. As it stands it feels like Goh's catch quest is probably the more polished of the two.

...As a battle fan that irks me.

 

[DynamicFusion]

It's so dumb how this series has been mediocre when the concept of traveling every Pokemon Region is SOOOOOO MUCH EASIER TO WRITE than other things! Heck, the Pokemon School concept from SM would have been way harder to write and they did 10x better with that than this. This is why this series has been frustrating to me.

 

[Galactic_V]

I'd expect PM 2019 to be very nostalgia-heavy, while also trying something different at the same time. I don't think it's bad, for me it's winned over SM already, but there's a bunch of stuff I don't like in this series.

Starting at the point that it's not really nostalgia-heavy (not how I expected anyway). I mean, why Satoshi's forbidden to use his older Pokemon (or has been, so far)... It would be the perfect opportunity for him to do so now. Older characters are showing up rarely too. All companions except for SM have been ignored so far. Etc...