Review Every Series

[SonansuMan]

Ah, the Pokèmon anime. A series where people learn and grow bonds with Pokèmon. Through the 20 years, we have been exposed to 6 regions. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos. Each have pros and cons. Rank them from best and worst, tell what you think about them, and say which one is your favorite.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Sinnoh is by far my favorite. It was the first region where he caught his first Dragon pokemon, gained two fully evolved starters and scored better than the previous. Least favorite is Kanto due to Ash releasing a majority of his fully evolve pokemon and Charizard costing him the league match by disobedience.

Ranks:
Sinnoh region in first place. Kalos in 2nd place. Hoenn in third place, Johto in 4th place, Unova in 5th and Kanto in 6th place.

 

[Keshav]

1.Kalos
2.Sinnoh
3.Hoenn
4.Kanto
5.Unova
6.Johto

 

[Aura7541]

1/1. Sinnoh/Kalos

Both arcs were very strong, albeit for different reasons. In Sinnoh, Ash was very inventive in his battle tactics and I liked how he and Dawn bounced ideas off each other. The ideological battle between him and Paul is arguably the best rival matchup in the series. In Kalos, Ash's tactics weren't as inventive, but still unorthodox and exciting to watch. The writers did a really good job establishing personalities of Ash's Kalos team. As a Digimon fan, I really like Ash-Greninja as it reminds me of Biomerge Digivolution from Tamers, my favorite season.

3. Hoenn

Also a strong arc. The reason I don't rank it as high as Sinnoh and Kalos is mainly because the arc didn't have the strengths of the arcs in which I ranked higher. Even though Pokemon contests were new at the time, I thought the writers handled them well.

4. Johto

I might have ranked Johto lower than Kanto in a past thread, but now, I think Johto is better by a smidge. It was nice to see Ash starting to develop more advanced tactics and grow out of his rookie mistakes from Kanto (and Orange League). What really dragged this arc down, though, were the excessive amount of fillers and lack of focus on Misty.

5. Kanto

It was definitely entertaining when I first watched the anime as a kid. However, I do have some major gripes with the Kanto arc, namely the pity badges. He had a good run in the Indigo League. I thought Charizard costing Ash the league was a good device for his development as it showed that he is still a rookie despite an admirable run.

6. Unova

This arc was rather bad and the only one where I find the negatives outweigh the positives. It was rather offputting seeing Ash making a lot of rookie mistakes after his steady improvements in Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. A lot of people would like to criticize the Virbank gym battle, but I thought Nimbasa was even worse. Iris's development was incredibly inconsistent. For instance, I thought the way she resolved her strained relationship with her Excadrill was well done. However, when her Dragonite wouldn't listen to her during the Junior World Cup, you would think she would use her experience with Excadrill to solve the problem. Instead, her handling of the situation was the embodiment of "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results."

 

[GeminiAngel87]

My favorite: Fav. 2 Least Fav.

1. Hoenn
2. Johto
3. Sinnoh
4. Kanto
5. Unova
6. Kalos

Saga I think is the best: 1 is awesome, 5 is okay

1. Sinnoh: best character growth for Ash
2. Hoenn: best group dynamic
3. Johto: best end to Ash and Gary's rivialy
4. Kanto: best in fun and comedy
5. Unova: funny and laid back saga
6. Kalos: best animation

 

[Gligarman]

Oooh. This is gonna be fun.

6. Johto
I don't hate this season by any means. Hell it's got one of my favorite episodes of the whole series, the Gligarman episode of course. But still, this was about the point where I initially started to lose interest in both the anime and the game simply because it just got too repetitive for my taste, at the time. Now of course I view GSC as three of the finest games in the series. The anime however I still feel was a bit weak mainly due to the sheer lack of Pokemon he caught throughout the 100+ episodes of that arc. But still, it was at the very least enjoyable.

5. Hoenn
This particular arc was pretty good and I loved that they added two characters instead of one. Once they dropped the implied love story between Ash and Misty I knew she was on her way out the door. Using the female version of the game's protagonist was a great idea. Also the Pokemon were just awesome this time around. Though I'm still disappointed that no one got Sawmpert. Still one of my personal favorites.

4. Sinnoh
While I had a few issues with Sinnoh's overall length and structure I give it a big pass since both the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl game and anime is what brought me back to the fandom, though I guess I never really left. I just hadn't been as vocal about it up to that point. It was also the first of the series that I got to see in its entirety in Japanese and I've continued it that way ever since. As for specifics it does contain my favorite battle in the series to date which is Ash and Paul's first 6 on 6 battle. Mainly because to my knowledge it's the most violent battle to date outside of the first movie. But of course my favorite aspect of this series was anytime Gligar and Gliscor did anything.

3. Kalos
I'll confess, it was hard for me to rank this season anywhere at first since I'm still in the process of powering thorugh it. I still have 70+ episodes to go but I'll be caught up relatively soon. But so far I'm VERY impressed. They seriously stepped up their game in the animation department. Every battle looks straight out of one of the movies. I've always been a fan of Shinji Miyazaki's score and it's only gotten better. Some of my favorite themes and arrangements have come from this arc. Most of all however I really like the new cast. So far there hasn't been a weak link and hopefully it will stay that way. (Citron's inventions probably should have gotten old to me by now, but they haven't!) Also I give it HUGE props for that Mega Evolution mini series. Who knows? Once I'm finally caught up I may have to rewrite this list.

2. Unova
There's a thread someone around here about unpopular Pokemon opinions. Well here's mine. I liked the Unova arc! By the time Unova started the show had been around for a decade and a half so when I saw how drastically they were trying to change up some of the show's formulas I was okay with it. I felt that by that point they had earned the right to experiment. That's not to say that every experiment was a success but I certainly didn't mind having a few episodes where Team Rocket didn't show up, the occasional attempt at a darker tone, the entirety of Episode N (or whatever the North American title for that season was called), or even the lack of any reference to previous arcs for the first half of the series. It was something different and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Also Charizard VS. Dragonite!

1. Kanto
Okay, here's where my bias comes in. Kanto wins by default in my eyes purely for the initial "wow" factor. Let's face it. Personally when it comes to an anime series based on a video game I don't think this show has any competition. I specify series because in my opinion the best video game adaptation EVER is still Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie but I'm getting off topic here. It was just like the game and it many ways it was practically a strategy guide in its own. The Kanto arc also had a very different writing style that allowed some interesting tonal shifts. Nowadays even though I think its safe to assume we all still enjoy the show it's not exactly known for delivering surprises on a regular basis. I can't say for certain if it's the best of the whole franchise but I can say that it's the arc that resonates with me because it brings back all of the great memories of when this whole Pokemon thing was brand new.

 

[SaftOchBulle]

1. Sinnoh
Great story, great battles, and a great feeling of contiunity. Overall, great.

2. Kanto
Horrible battles and lackluster story. But when I watch the Kanto episodes I don't do it for any of those things. I do it for the humor. And the humor in Kanto is amazing.

3. Kalos
Great animation, mostly good battles, and the story of the xy&z arc is great. However I don't think the battles feel quite as clever as they did pre-BW, even though many of them are very epic. And the group dynamics are pretty boring. They have walked together through the entire region and still interact with each other like they've known each other for like a week.

4. Johto & Hoenn
Hoenn probably had a better arc overall, but the lack of a rival for Ash and a pretty mediocre pokémon league make it so that I can't choose between them. And even though Johto has far too much filler at least the episodes are enjoyable. The humor and overall storytelling is very similar in Johto and Hoenn, adding to the difficulty of separating them.

6. Unova
Horrible series, despised it all.

 

[papabiceps]

Oh boy, how unpopular I'll be here.

1. Kalos
This was the series that really pulled me into the Pokemon world. I find the characters interesting and relatable, and despite Serena's lackluster goal, I have enjoyed this series far more than any other.

2. Hoenn
I liked the other series that I watched, but this was the one that I remember loving the most. May/Haruka is probably my favorite character in the Pokemon universe, and I actually did not find Max all that annoying (but certainly more annoying than I find Bonnie.) Contests were cool, but I more enjoyed the characters and their experiences than anything in this one.

3. Kanto
I know, overrated, whatever. I liked it, it was fun, and I definitely have fond memories of watching Pokemon as a child. The Pokemon Ash had were cool, perhaps not very inspired as far as writing goes, but it definitely has rewatchability for me.

4. Sinnoh
The only reason I have Sinnoh at number 4 is because I didn't feel that I had enough viewing of the other two regions to rank them higher. Sinnoh just couldn't keep me. Dawn was pretty cool and I liked her rivals, but I didn't care for the Pokemon designs, Brock was honestly pretty lame comparatively, and the badge quest just didn't catch my attention. The Ash/Paul rivalry didn't do anything for me either (I know, something must be wrong with me). I'm in no way suggesting that it's a bad series, but for me personally, I just didn't love it. Considering how much everyone on these forums seems to love Sinnoh, I'd like to watch it again and see if I'll change my mind. Wouldn't be surprised if I did.

5. Johto
Didn't watch enough of it. Definitely want to try watching the whole series, but what I did see I mostly enjoyed.

6. Unova.
Only ranked out of obligation. I didn't watch it because it didn't interest me at all. I've only seen one or two episodes minus the ones where Dawn comes around, and I did not really care for them. I actually probably should leave this unranked, as it isn't really fair to rate something you've never seen. Oh well.

Alright, lads. Come fuck me up for my wrong opinions.