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Pokémon Sword and Shield anime speculation thread

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After the comical Sun and Moon, I hope Sword and Shield are more serious. Idk if it's because Galar is another European based region (at least it looks to be), or the logo colors, but I'm getting XY vibes from the look of everything.

It seems gyms are back which is good. Since Sun and Moon basically shat all over the Island Challenge, maybe things will be better once they go back to the status quo.

I feel we might get the female protagonist back as a companion. This girl looks cute, and I can see her on the main cast. But who knows after they didn't add Selene for Sun and Moon when she also looked perfectly suitable.

As for the starters, Sobble screams Ash capture to me. I reminds me a lot of Froakie. Scorbunny looks the the "female capture" to me, but I could also see Grookey going to a girl if Ash doesn't get it. I can't imagine Scorbunny with Ash tbh. Either way, I hope this is another region where Ash does not get all of the starters. 2 is fine, but 1 is best. My favorite teams for him have been the ones where he only get one starter.
 
I also want the adventure to come back, and I also want them to spend more time in the cities of Galar. They look big and filled with places to visit, it would be frustrating for them to only spend 2-3 episodes in each one, I'd like to see 7 episodes or even more.

Scorbunny is the perfect shonen starter, because of its fired up attitude and football theme, I can see it easily going to Ash unless a companion is sport-themed. However, Grockey feels like Turtwig and Rowlet and it seems to be physical oriented, so it could go to him as well.

I predict the Honedge line maybe involved in this game and anime
Solrock and Lunatone haven't even appeared in SM....
 
I hope we have the male player character help Ash.
Why not both?
Honestly though, I am hoping for the inversion of usual "Ash's companions are male gym leader and female PC with interest in other form of Pokemon training that battles", with his companions this time being a female GL and male PC taking part in this generation's equivalent of contests.
 
I think Ash will look rather mature in the male protagonist's outfit, maybe even more mature than XY.

Not sure if this sounds like an improvement or not, but usually Ash's clothes are inspired by the male protagonist's, but they're not 100% copies (Sun & Moon being the obvious exception). And if the anime finally goes back to the way it was always supposed to be, I'm sure they're gonna do this again.
 
Things I expect and want.

Keeping the SM animation and art style. Keeping the sense of world building from SM since it did a pretty good job at that. Giving members of the main cast much to work with while cutting it to around two friends.

Keeping the goof ball Ash from SM since that one was pretty good and is a bit more believable, plus it would work even better in a UK setting. (Throw in some of Power of Us Ash and make him a support for the other two cast members.) Since we are not going to a region like Alola, bring in better quality of battles.

Making a return of the traveling formula BUT make it interesting this time since it was done so much that it became old. (In other words, cut Team Rocket out from the episodes unless they are needed. Cut the COTD out and make the characters they meet more frequent... like in SM.)

SM brought in a lot of good things I want to see kept in the next anime and I want to see it evolve using the things brought in because of that series.
 
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Here's my speculation for Sword and Shield's anime:

  • The cartoon-like art style will be toned down from Sun and Moon, but not back to pre-SM standards. I can imagine something along the lines of the most recent movie.
  • Satoshi will get back to travelling, with one female and one male companion. No younger siblings. Naturally, he'll only take Pikachu.
  • Feel free to scoff at the idea, but I genuinely think Team Rocket will be gone at this point. It feels now like Sun and Moon is getting ready to write them out by making their appearances more and more sparse. I can imagine some new comedy characters from the new villainous team will take their place similar to the Skull trio (but who will only be recurring rather than appearing every episode).
  • Satoshi will get all three starters, but will switch around his team again similar to BW (but hopefully executed much better than that series).
 
I suspect that the female P.C will be a companion, but as I highly doubt that Ash would travel with both P.C's someone would fill the Brock/Clemont role. The female P.C will probably attract more shipping interest than Iris and the Alola girls, but if she'll be able to compete with Misty, May, Dawn, and Serena's popularity is unknown.

Traveling will be back, and if a Mega Stone/Z-Move thing is in play Ash having it or not will depend on what it is. A specific mon thing like the Mega stones will probably not, something more generic like Z-Moves will be.

A rival will be attempted in fuller force, akin to Paul, Gary, and Trip. How successful is unknown.
 
Wow so excited about this region!!! I do imagine traveling will return, and that makes me ecstatic. Just seeing that soccer stadium I think it would be really cool if Ash's female traveling companion's goal is sports-related (of course somehow including Pokemon too - but I'm sure the game has got that figured out or they wouldn't have the stadium in it). That would be a cool way to mix it up and have an active goal for a companion.

I'm just so happy looking at that map and all the potential for really interesting adventures and exploration, traveling, etc.

I really would give anything for Ash's rival to be a girl this time (and be better than him). I'm not confident they would ever do that, but its worth hoping for.

I do get the feeling Ash will get fire-chespin, but it is hard to say until we know about their evolutions, the companions, and what the series will be like. The starters are the only thing that doesn't stand out to me as amazing about this release, they aren't bad or anything, I just don't have an overwhelming favorite so I guess I don't care who gets what.

Oh also I do think it would be cool if we get some Gen 8 Pokemon appear in the Gen 7 anime this time, I always like when that happens. I think its possible in this series considering all the Pokemon we have seen from all over.
 
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In the immortal words of Mike Goldberg: HERE. WE. GO.

Looks like Sun and Moon will end in the SummerFall. I won't miss that crapshoot one bit when it's gone.

I'm with @Hidden Mew on this one. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gym Battles return here and I hope it does too. It's time for Ash to battle again for the League!!
 
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I don't think that SM will end in the summer. We don't know when Sword/Shield will come out, but they said it was late this year, so it will probably be around November or possibly December. They'll have to keep SM going until a week or two before the new series begins. Depending on when Sword/Shield come out, SM could actually last longer than most fans would have expected.
 
In the immortal words of Mike Goldberg: HERE. WE. GO.

Looks like Sun and Moon will end in the Summer. I won't miss that crapshoot one bit when it's gone.

I'm with @Hidden Mew on this one. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gym Battles return here and I hope it does too. It's time for Ash to battle again for the League!!
Why would the SM anime end in the summer?
 
Nearest I can tell is a reflection on how Arc-V in Yu Gi Oh had a gap between it and Vrains, but pretty sure for all the issues we can say that OLM is not having the issues Gallop is recently.
 
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