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Pokemon Scarlet and Violet anime (MODS' UPDATE 23/08/2022)

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Also it seems like the professors are exclusive to which version you buy as are whatever past or future thing you're aligned with. The anime usually doesn't favor one version over the other so I can't see Ash aligned with one faction versus the other
 
I don't want the name of new season is pokemon scarlet and violet as I wanted this season's name is pokemon shield and sword but the name is pokemon 2019
 
It seems to me that this region has space-time anomalies so they use them for battles. You never know what will happen during a battle and if your pokemon will rejuvenate or evolve.
 
Here is what I speculated on Ash's Team.
So far I think Ash would catch Fuecoco and Lechonk. I decided to add Pawni to The female protagonist's team. If it has an evolution, I do not think that Pawni will evolve.
 
Even if there isn't a storyline in the Gen 9 games, who's to say the anime can't just come up with its own? I mean, the PWC is something completely unique to the anime, and the only really strong similirity it has to Galar's Gym Challenge is Leon being the endgame goal, so Scarlet and Violet being devoid of a story (something that in and of itself seems pretty unlikely to me tbh) isn't really that much of a problem, imo.

Sure. So, what is that story?

It is easy to assume that Ash will remain on the Pokémon anime forever no matter what because of "traditions"...

But the appeal of Ash comes from him growing as trainer. Becoming better than he was before. And within the age bracket of 10 (since there's more adventures waiting for him as an adult). Thus, we have to ask ourselves... what can Ash do when he becomes the World Champion? Imagine how this would affect his world, being the Champion of all Champions. Will he find any new challenges? Will he find something new about Pokémon worth pursuing?

Part of the reason why I'm okay with retiring Ash after Journeys is that it's better than Ash going back to same old, same old Gym Battles and Leagues. What's there to look for in Ash winning the Spain League? He already won the League, and he fought the greatest of champions in the world in Journeys. Why must he go through this again? He's far more interesting when his goals are less defined by whatever the games want him to do, and he gets Pokémon that are not just marketing ploys for Galar promotion. He feels like a real trainer now.

If all of that is going away in favor of a more market-based SV anime adaptation, you might as well remove Ash. Ash is not a simple anime avatar for the audience that he started at the beginning. He's an old role model and someone to look up to like a big brother or little brother, with newcomers being the real avatars for audiences to enter the world of Pokémon.
 
Sure. So, what is that story?

It is easy to assume that Ash will remain on the Pokémon anime forever no matter what because of "traditions"...

But the appeal of Ash comes from him growing as trainer. Becoming better than he was before. And within the age bracket of 10 (since there's more adventures waiting for him as an adult). Thus, we have to ask ourselves... what can Ash do when he becomes the World Champion? Imagine how this would affect his world, being the Champion of all Champions. Will he find any new challenges? Will he find something new about Pokémon worth pursuing?
Honestly, I'm still not convinced that he'll win the World Championship. It could go either way still, but I'm really not confident on Ash winning or that people would be that upset if he does lose to Leon.

Part of the reason why I'm okay with retiring Ash after Journeys is that it's better than Ash going back to same old, same old Gym Battles and Leagues. What's there to look for in Ash winning the Spain League? He already won the League, and he fought the greatest of champions in the world in Journeys. Why must he go through this again? He's far more interesting when his goals are less defined by whatever the games want him to do, and he gets Pokémon that are not just marketing ploys for Galar promotion. He feels like a real trainer now.
I really disagree that Ash feels like a real trainer now or that he's more interesting in Journeys. Ash's team is one of the problems I have with Journeys. It isn't just the lack of Galar representation, although that is a part of it, but the lack of screentime and development for most of his Pokemon too. His team doesn't feel inherently better than a more traditional Galar team would just because it's different. I like Journeys Ash, but despite getting to the Master Class full of Champion trainers, I also wouldn't say that he's at his peak in this series. His battle skills aren't bad by any means, but compared to DP and to a degree XY, I don't think he comes off as particularly noteworthy. Although, I think that my issues with Ash's team and the PWC as a whole probably play a role in that.

As much as I like Ash becoming the Alola League Champion, I'd be really disappointed if that was the out of universe reason for the writers to not have Ash do Gym battles. The Alola League was effectively set on easy mode with only a handful of other trainers who were actually battle active. You could argue that the battle with Professor Kukui negates this issue since that was an impressive battle, but I'd still say that winning the Alola League itself was not impressive or means that he couldn't/shouldn't enter other Leagues. Honestly, getting to see a proper Gym quest again would be a potential step up from the PWC in my opinion.
 
Honestly, I'm still not convinced that he'll win the World Championship. It could go either way still, but I'm really not confident on Ash winning or that people would be that upset if he does lose to Leon.


I really disagree that Ash feels like a real trainer now or that he's more interesting in Journeys. Ash's team is one of the problems I have with Journeys. It isn't just the lack of Galar representation, although that is a part of it, but the lack of screentime and development for most of his Pokemon too. His team doesn't feel inherently better than a more traditional Galar team would just because it's different. I like Journeys Ash, but despite getting to the Master Class full of Champion trainers, I also wouldn't say that he's at his peak in this series. His battle skills aren't bad by any means, but compared to DP and to a degree XY, I don't think he comes off as particularly noteworthy. Although, I think that my issues with Ash's team and the PWC as a whole probably play a role in that.

As much as I like Ash becoming the Alola League Champion, I'd be really disappointed if that was the out of universe reason for the writers to not have Ash do Gym battles. The Alola League was effectively set on easy mode with only a handful of other trainers who were actually battle active. You could argue that the battle with Professor Kukui negates this issue since that was an impressive battle, but I'd still say that winning the Alola League itself was not impressive or means that he couldn't/shouldn't enter other Leagues. Honestly, getting to see a proper Gym quest again would be a potential step up from the PWC in my opinion.

Winning the World Championship is not simply about fan service. It's rather putting Ash into a place he's never been used to before. And Leon honestly best summed it up by opening his insecurities as a undefeated champion. He's worried of finding no challenges left, no problems he can't solve. Oh, and he has to live up to audience expectations as this undefeated champion and representative.

Now that is a dilemma for Ash... and it's something that asks difficult questions that make for interesting conflicts. What would Ash do after he reached the top of the World Championship? Losing would be an easy choice. You don't have to defend your crown and worry every day and night that there is no more challenges left.

As for the Gym Battles, the reason I'm not so keen is the fact that Ash is facing Champions in battle. The best of the best. To see Ash be part of this group alone is impressive and diminish any impact of Ash getting badges in future regions. Perhaps I'm influenced by how Journeys didn't go back to Gym collecting after Alola, but I feel that Ash has nothing to prove by competing in Gyms for the audience. He needs a new kind of journey, just like how the Pokémon main games need a new kind of forumla to keep things fresh and innovative.
 
Winning the World Championship is not simply about fan service. It's rather putting Ash into a place he's never been used to before. And Leon honestly best summed it up by opening his insecurities as a undefeated champion. He's worried of finding no challenges left, no problems he can't solve. Oh, and he has to live up to audience expectations as this undefeated champion and representative.

Now that is a dilemma for Ash... and it's something that asks difficult questions that make for interesting conflicts. What would Ash do after he reached the top of the World Championship? Losing would be an easy choice. You don't have to defend your crown and worry every day and night that there is no more challenges left.
Even if Ash wins, I'm not really sure if they'd focus on conflicts like that. I agree that the idea of not having any challenges left or the struggles of living up to the audience's expectations are interesting, but I can't really picture Ash dealing with that. At least Leon is an adult and has been in the spotlight for quite some time as a result.

As for the Gym Battles, the reason I'm not so keen is the fact that Ash is facing Champions in battle. The best of the best. To see Ash be part of this group alone is impressive and diminish any impact of Ash getting badges in future regions. Perhaps I'm influenced by how Journeys didn't go back to Gym collecting after Alola, but I feel that Ash has nothing to prove by competing in Gyms for the audience. He needs a new kind of journey, just like how the Pokémon main games need a new kind of forumla to keep things fresh and innovative.
On one hand, I understand that since Ash getting to a tournament of Champions sounds impressive and it would be a big deal both in and out of universe. But on the other hand, since I don't think the journey to get to the Master Class was satisfying, I don't think his team is particularly good and the PWC has always felt overhyped to me from the start, I don't really see it as such a huge game changer, or at least it doesn't feel like one to me. Since roughly half of the PWC was Ash battling against random nobodies in one-on-one battles both on and off screen, it's really hard to make getting to the Master Class feel all that impressive, even with the improvements they made from the Hyper Class and onward.

I'm not against the idea of Ash having a new kind of journey, but at the same time, I think that the writers would benefit from having a goal with more clear structure. Based on how they've handled anime only goals both in this and previous series, they need to rely on the games to adapt goals with better structure. Plus, I'd rather not see more new Pokemon, characters and locations being ignored in favor of a different kind of journey. They could another character take up the Gym challenge instead, which wouldn't be bad, but I think it would be strange for Ash to not want to take part in them too. It always felt really out of character for Ash to not have any interest in exploring a new region with new Pokemon and trainers to battle, especially after he battled Bea. Honestly, I never really had a huge problems with the Gym format and I don't think that Journeys not using the Galar Gym Challenge necessarily means anything in regards to Ash doing Gyms in the future. It isn't a guarantee by any means, but I don't think that it would be that unlikely or that impossible for Ash to battle for Gym badges at least.
 
As for the Gym Battles, the reason I'm not so keen is the fact that Ash is facing Champions in battle. The best of the best. To see Ash be part of this group alone is impressive and diminish any impact of Ash getting badges in future regions. Perhaps I'm influenced by how Journeys didn't go back to Gym collecting after Alola, but I feel that Ash has nothing to prove by competing in Gyms for the audience. He needs a new kind of journey, just like how the Pokémon main games need a new kind of forumla to keep things fresh and innovative.
Exactly. You can't just have Ash compete against the literal best of the best in the world and then simply revert back to gyms again (or whatever they'll have in Gen 9, if not Gyms again then something similar I'm sure.) Ash is just......just too strong for that now. I mean, in theory, he could just do the same old "start fresh with nobody but Pikachu and try to effectively handicap myself" thing again for the upteenth time, but even Pikachu is way too strong for Gym Battles at this point anymore. (Unless people seriously want Pikachu's power to be "reset" again, which I don't think anyone does.)
 
Let's not forget, this is the same anime that only recently had a reporter say the most notable thing about Ash Ketchem was that he was Cerise's lab assistant...despite him being a Champion taking part in the PWC which is all about Pokémon battles. :bulbaFacepalm:

I would not be at all surprised if Ash returns to a Gym Challenge if the writers really wanted him to. It is well within Ash's character to bench his old team and start again fresh even after having bested great challenges - he did it in Johto after winning the Orange League and again in Sinnoh after overcoming the Battle Frontier. The writers have definitely shown in this season that they can downplay or even ignore Ash's past achievements if it is inconvenient to Ash's perceived status as the underdog. Plus you have the nightmare of explaining why all future Champions weren't in the PWC during Journeys so the show is likely going to have to sidestep that aspect of continuity.

As for arguments like "Ash and Pikachu themselves are too strong now", I would counter with the idea that a rising tide raises all ships, namely that you could easily recycle Sw/Sh's gimmick of the Gym Leaders in the S/V anime all being Elite Four Level so that even Pikachu won't just steamroll the competition.
 
Let's not forget, this is the same anime that only recently had a reporter say the most notable thing about Ash Ketchem was that he was Cerise's lab assistant...despite him being a Champion taking part in the PWC which is all about Pokémon battles. :bulbaFacepalm:

I would not be at all surprised if Ash returns to a Gym Challenge if the writers really wanted him to. It is well within Ash's character to bench his old team and start again fresh even after having bested great challenges - he did it in Johto after winning the Orange League and again in Sinnoh after overcoming the Battle Frontier. The writers have definitely shown in this season that they can downplay or even ignore Ash's past achievements if it is inconvenient to Ash's perceived status as the underdog. Plus you have the nightmare of explaining why all future Champions weren't in the PWC during Journeys so the show is likely going to have to sidestep that aspect of continuity.

As for arguments like "Ash and Pikachu themselves are too strong now", I would counter with the idea that a rising tide raises all ships, namely that you could easily recycle Sw/Sh's gimmick of the Gym Leaders in the S/V anime all being Elite Four Level so that even Pikachu won't just steamroll the competition.
We could also assume that Ash will not win the PWC for having won in the Alola League before, it would not be the first time that happens and simply return with Gym Challenge or do something similar! :unsure:
 
Exactly. You can't just have Ash compete against the literal best of the best in the world and then simply revert back to gyms again (or whatever they'll have in Gen 9, if not Gyms again then something similar I'm sure.) Ash is just......just too strong for that now. I mean, in theory, he could just do the same old "start fresh with nobody but Pikachu and try to effectively handicap myself" thing again for the upteenth time, but even Pikachu is way too strong for Gym Battles at this point anymore. (Unless people seriously want Pikachu's power to be "reset" again, which I don't think anyone does.)
The idea that even Pikachu is too strong for Gyms is kind of weird to me. Not just because of how they've "reset" Pikachu before, but also because despite having so much experience, Pikachu has never been one with the best endurance. As for Ash himself, saying that he's too good or too strong for Gyms now kind of overhypes him a bit. Like I mentioned before, even though he's in a tournament of Champions, I wouldn't say that Ash's battle skills are at their peak in this series or that his current team is one of his best either. He does still have some good battles that showcases his skills, but I'd still argue that it doesn't stand out compared to other series. Considering that they didn't even mention Ash being the Alola League Champion until about seventy episodes into Journeys' run, I don't think that the results of the PWC are going to play a huge role as to what he'll do in the next series.
 
Even if Ash wins, I'm not really sure if they'd focus on conflicts like that. I agree that the idea of not having any challenges left or the struggles of living up to the audience's expectations are interesting, but I can't really picture Ash dealing with that. At least Leon is an adult and has been in the spotlight for quite some time as a result.

Leon told Ash this is what it's like to be Champion. And he's been that since he was a child. As Goh once observed, he and Ash are more alike than anyone else. And thus, Ash will have to deal with it. He's already dealing with the latter when he hears the audience of Alola chanting "CHAMPION! CHAMPION!" and Kukui telling him he's not simply a Champion but a representative of Alola. That was a powerful moment that remind us of why we follow Ash, no matter the circumstances.

On one hand, I understand that since Ash getting to a tournament of Champions sounds impressive and it would be a big deal both in and out of universe. But on the other hand, since I don't think the journey to get to the Master Class was satisfying, I don't think his team is particularly good and the PWC has always felt overhyped to me from the start, I don't really see it as such a huge game changer, or at least it doesn't feel like one to me. Since roughly half of the PWC was Ash battling against random nobodies in one-on-one battles both on and off screen, it's really hard to make getting to the Master Class feel all that impressive, even with the improvements they made from the Hyper Class and onward.
That would make sense had the Master 8 been composed of Champions, Gym Leaders, and Elite Four members. That would have been impressive but not a big game changer for Ash even if it means facing Leon. But when the Master 8 is composed of 7 Regional Champions and one rival that Ash hasn't beaten? Oh, now this is where the fun begins.

I'm not against the idea of Ash having a new kind of journey, but at the same time, I think that the writers would benefit from having a goal with more clear structure. Based on how they've handled anime only goals both in this and previous series, they need to rely on the games to adapt goals with better structure. Plus, I'd rather not see more new Pokemon, characters and locations being ignored in favor of a different kind of journey. They could another character take up the Gym challenge instead, which wouldn't be bad, but I think it would be strange for Ash to not want to take part in them too. It always felt really out of character for Ash to not have any interest in exploring a new region with new Pokemon and trainers to battle, especially after he battled Bea. Honestly, I never really had a huge problems with the Gym format and I don't think that Journeys not using the Galar Gym Challenge necessarily means anything in regards to Ash doing Gyms in the future. It isn't a guarantee by any means, but I don't think that it would be that unlikely or that impossible for Ash to battle for Gym badges at least.

The problem with Gym Battles is that the concept as a whole has been getting old and stale, to the point where SM and PLA opted for the Totem Pokémon styled matches instead, with PLA emphasizing on trainer participation. Even Sword and Shield, despite bringing back Gyms, changed things up by not having an Elite Four system, instead opting for a tournament style randomness to spice things up for the Pokémon League finale.

And I believe this is why the anime team choose not to give Ash a Galar Gym quest. Pokémon is realizing that Gyms, while a classic staple in Pokémon, should not be the only way to become a Pokémon Master. And given that Scarlett and Violet is heavily emphasizing on non-linear style of gameplay, to the point where the so-called "Gym" places can be done in any order, that's exciting. I want it to be different from the Gyms so that Ash has a reason to partake in these challenges without feeling same old, same old.

Let's not forget, this is the same anime that only recently had a reporter say the most notable thing about Ash Ketchem was that he was Cerise's lab assistant...despite him being a Champion taking part in the PWC which is all about Pokémon battles. :bulbaFacepalm:
That's one reporter at the lab. Another reporter mentions that Ash is a rising star in the PWC, getting fans and observers like Wallace and apparently Paul based on the previews. Not to mention that nearly every time Ash goes to Alola, his status as Champion is constantly mentioned. Yeah, it was stupid of a reporter to not know that Ash Ketchum is Alola Champion and a rising star in PWC... but then again, there are a lot of ignorant reporters in real life and when you pile all the reports on Ash in the news, he's actually quite famous as a battler with a lot of fans and rivals.

I would not be at all surprised if Ash returns to a Gym Challenge if the writers really wanted him to. It is well within Ash's character to bench his old team and start again fresh even after having bested great challenges - he did it in Johto after winning the Orange League and again in Sinnoh after overcoming the Battle Frontier. The writers have definitely shown in this season that they can downplay or even ignore Ash's past achievements if it is inconvenient to Ash's perceived status as the underdog. Plus you have the nightmare of explaining why all future Champions weren't in the PWC during Journeys so the show is likely going to have to sidestep that aspect of continuity.
They can but lately, they've been doing the opposite. And I feel it's because they realize that this is not a good formula to run on after the disaster that was BW. Ash is better received when he's a formidable fighter and even if XY and SM somewhat give Ash a reset, they are quick to reestablish that Ash still has the battle skills to be legendaries. And in this age of social media and internet, you can't just simply ignore Ash's past achievements as hard as you try, which is why I believe that Journeys has been embracing Ash's past rather than running away from it.

As for arguments like "Ash and Pikachu themselves are too strong now", I would counter with the idea that a rising tide raises all ships, namely that you could easily recycle Sw/Sh's gimmick of the Gym Leaders in the S/V anime all being Elite Four Level so that even Pikachu won't just steamroll the competition.
As long as it's something new and exciting, something that Ash has never done, that would be acceptable to continue. This is why I want Ash to win the PWC because it forces him and the anime team to figure out new stories and challenges in the future rather than relying on the old. That is worth investment to follow Ash rather than asking him to retire because of some misconception about "Winning the League = End of the Show".
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Team Rocket was phased out of the villain role since really, they don't offer a challenge to Ash anymore.

Back when Ash was a newbie and still learning the ropes with more experienced trainers like Misty an Brock, Team Rocket were a genuine threat that had a great dynamic with the trio. Not too strong for Ash to overcome but strong enough to actually make Ash put effort into battle.

Now? Half the time, he doesn't even realize that Team Rocket is there and when he does interact with them, he simply tells Pikachu to blast them into the sky without missing a beat.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Team Rocket was phased out of the villain role since really, they don't offer a challenge to Ash anymore.

Back when Ash was a newbie and still learning the ropes with more experienced trainers like Misty an Brock, Team Rocket were a genuine threat that had a great dynamic with the trio. Not too strong for Ash to overcome but strong enough to actually make Ash put effort into battle.

Now? Half the time, he doesn't even realize that Team Rocket is there and when he does interact with them, he simply tells Pikachu to blast them into the sky without missing a beat.
I concur. They no longer represent a threat, as you said, and plus, they're barely even characters anymore. Wouldn't shock me in the least if this is the TRio's swan song as members of Team Rocket. Time for them to move on with their lives.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Team Rocket was phased out of the villain role since really, they don't offer a challenge to Ash anymore.

Back when Ash was a newbie and still learning the ropes with more experienced trainers like Misty an Brock, Team Rocket were a genuine threat that had a great dynamic with the trio. Not too strong for Ash to overcome but strong enough to actually make Ash put effort into battle.

Now? Half the time, he doesn't even realize that Team Rocket is there and when he does interact with them, he simply tells Pikachu to blast them into the sky without missing a beat.
Let’s be real, TRio hasn’t been any kind of threat to Ash since the first time he met them in Viridian City. That was the only time they posed a threat. After that, they were just mild inconveniences. Hell, he beat them with a fresh caught Caterpie.
 
Let’s be real, TRio hasn’t been any kind of threat to Ash since the first time he met them in Viridian City. That was the only time they posed a threat. After that, they were just mild inconveniences. Hell, he beat them with a fresh caught Caterpie.
To be fair, that example did happen right after Ekans and Koffing beat the ostensibly stronger Pikachu and Pidgeotto. It was a very blatant case of plot convenience to give Caterpie a shining moment.

In fact, in early Kanto Team Rocket could actually be legitimately threatening to the protagonists, but even then that threat was wildly fluctuating and inconsistent, and mainly for the sake of giving an underpowered character a boost. Other similar examples include TR stomping the Kanto Eeveelutions so that Mikey's Eevee could hitch a ride on the "NFE supremacy" train that the Original Series loved to showcase over and over; or Pikachu, Squirtle, and Starmie all losing to the very same Arbok and Weezing they'd beaten dozens of times effortlessly in the past so that the borrowed Ponyta could show off its literal firepower (granted, Misty's Starmie was generally useless, but the other two don't have much of an excuse).
 
The thing about Team Rocket in Kanto is that they weren't particularly threatening, they did at least make Ash, Misty, and Brock work for their victories. What works in their favor was that the heroes weren't perfect as trainers and people. I mean, Ash in his early days was a newbie trainer that didn't have fully evolved Pokémon for the majority of his journey (with exception of Butterfree, Primeape and Charizard, but Butterfree wasn't really that strong and the latter two were disobedient Pokémon), Misty was hot-tempered who is more like Ash than she likes to admit, and Brock tended to be the Worf who gets beaten (or got incapacitated by ladies to be useful), so the heroes and the villains were often evenly matched with heroes getting a slight advantage over Team Rocket on the grounds they're the good guys who always win.

This dynamic allowed Team Rocket to almost pull off successful schemes like stealing everyone's Pokémon at the League, nearly compromising Ash's qualification to the Indigo League, knocking out Giant and then use his Hitmonlee to get to the finals, etc.

But then, Ash starts to mature and become a better trainer. Eventually, Misty leaves the group while new friends like May, Max, Dawn, etc. start joining in the group dynamic. These changes in the hero group faction essentially cemented the TRio becoming waste of space. Ash wasn't slightly better than them, he was leagues better than them. What used to be reasonable challenges turn into nuisances that barely offer anything to Ash's new Pokémon. The problem with the TRio is that as villains, they can't really succeed in their goal of capturing Pikachu while Ash could theoretically win the Pokémon League despite beliefs at the time (and eventually that came to pass in the Alola League). Thus, we see Ash slowly but surely climbing the ranks of the Pokémon League from Top 16 to Top 8 to Top 4 to Finals to Victory over the course of 22 years plus 3. But Team Rocket, they only had success in smaller competitions and even then, they cannot win the important ones as Ash's friends like Serena, Dawn, and May all have a stake to win those competitions.

Thus, they have been in a decline spiral ever since writers realized they don't have to put Team Rocket in every episode. It says something that the last time they ever encountered Ash was the episode where they learned that Butch and Cassidy retired as Team Rocket members. They work better as radio hosts giving wacky commentaries than antagonists that Ash barely recognizes anymore.
 
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