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Review SM133: Bird Battle! Brave Bird VS God Bird!!

The way they seem to think is way different from the way we as a fanbase think. I wouldn't say that they are highly arrogant or anything but they are satisfied with the script unless if the Director pushes and tells them to make changes.

I didn't say that they should think the way fans do (which could be argued that they're already doing that, since a decent amount of people like/love the current series). That's basically impossible considering how big the fandom is and the fact that everyone has different tastes. What I'm saying is that the writers of this series (or, at the very least, some of them) should realize that the stories they've written are very flawed, incoherent and sometimes a complete mess and that they, just like any other writer, should actually learn from their mistakes and actually improve their storytelling. To ignore flaws within a script, to disregard consistency or logic or even common sense, to not have any interest regarding the quality of the script, to toss aside character development, to do all that is to denounce good story writing. And if you disregard the quality of the writing of your story and refuse to improve yourself, than what's the point of writing that story?

And when I said "since that would make them seem like they are either disinterested in their own story or highly arrogant", that wasn't in reference to Fujisaku or any of the writers of the current series, but rather I was talking about the hypothetical writer in my example (who's actually based on a certain writer/director of a certain 2018 sci-fi movie from a certain famous space-opera franchise, who, either due arrogance and pride, idiocy and incompetence or just pressure from his higher-ups (the latter being the most unlikely, based on his... very rational and level-headed(*) responses on Twitter), decided that it was a good idea to go with the first draft of his script, while making very few revisions).

(*) I'm being sarcastic when saying that (if you couldn't tell).
The thing is the Pokemon Anime doesn't need to have a good script, we complain now but we'll still watch next week and the next coming weeks, because Pokemon has already impacted us in an earlier age so we are just attached to it.

First of all, if the anime is trying to tell a story, then the writers should actually strive to make it as good as they can. Otherwise, it just show a lack of care. And if you don't care, then what even is the point of writing something? If you, as a writer, decide that writing an entertaining, engaging and satisfying story that also makes sense and is logical within your fictional universe is too hard or would require too much effort and, instead, you decide to write a half-arsed story that insults your audience's intelect because it's easier and you couldn't be bothered to put some effort into it, than what is the point of you writing that story in the first place, if you can't be bothered to give it your all?

And second of all, that's a huge assumption that just you've made right there. One that, from what I've seen around the internet, isn't actually true. Based on the comment sections of PokéTubers or Reddit users that review the current Pokémon series that I watch, a decent amount of their fans say the they have given up on the SM series and, if they actually feel the need to stay up to date with the anime for whatever reason, they'll just watch/read their reviews instead. And, personally, if the Sword and Shield series (or whatever they decide to call it) ends up being more of this, then I'm gonna drop the anime as well.
The Pokemon Anime doesn't have anything like that, in fact it is being treated and always has been treated like the Laughingstock of the Franchise and exists just to promote the games and introduce people to Pokemon.

"Laughingstock of the Franchise" according to whom?

Game Freak and TPC? That can't be right, since not only do they love to make references to it in their games (to the point where they made a Pokémon game based on the OG series and two remakes of said game), but they also designed exclusive Pokémon forms for the anime in order to accommodate the story they were telling.

The crew working on the anime? Well, if that was the case, then they wouldn't give a damn about it and they wouldn't put any effort into making it. But, based on the series that they've released, it doesn't seem to be the case. The DP and XY series have what are considered by many to be the best stories in the anime's history, the OG and AG series, despite having a lot of hiccups due to being the early instalments of the anime, gradually got better as time went on and had a lot great and memorable moments and all of the series had a more or less memorable, fun and/or well-developed cast of characters (though, in some cases, some of them were definitely better developed than others), unforgettable moments, wonderful art styles, amazing animation... They're definitely doing they're best to make an appealing Pokémon anime, which wouldn't be the case if they didn't care and considered their work to be nothing more than a laughing stock.

The fanbase? Well, outside of BW and SM, I've generally heard nothing but praise regarding the Pokémon anime, be it due to its quality, nostalgia or some other reasons. And even in the case of the those two, there are a number of people who have expressed that have enjoyed them or are starting to find some level of enjoyment in them, so the fandom, as a whole, doesn't necessarily consider it a laughing stock.

And what if the anime is there to promote the games? Doesn't it have it's own story as well (and while, yes, it is generally inspired by or based on the one from the games, it's still it's own version of that story)? And if it's trying to tell a story, then wouldn't it be better if the story was also consistent and well-written?
Do you see regularly trailers for the SwSh Anime as you see for other animes which have a trailer 5-6 Months before they air?

I have no idea how many trailers other anime (since I'm not that big of an expert when it comes to them) and, frankly, it doesn't even matter. The supposed presence of popularity or lack of it shouldn't dictate a show's quality. In fact, it should be the other way around, with the quality of something influencing its popularity.
Tell a casual Pokemon Fan that you watch the Anime and their typical response would be "What you still watch that crap?", "Ash sucks lol"...

And where do you think these notions came from? Is it because some people love to mindlessly hate because it's the rad thing to do (which, granted, could be the case for a small percentage of the people who say those things)? Or is it because the crew working on the anime have created some horrendously written seasons, like the Best Wishes series and the current Sun and Moon series (series that are infamous for regressing Ash's character and development to a point where he's arguably a worse trainer than when he started his journey), which have led to the idea that the anime and its characters have significantly dropped in quality?
 
I didn't say that they should think the way fans do (which could be argued that they're already doing that, since a decent amount of people like/love the current series). That's basically impossible considering how big the fandom is and the fact that everyone has different tastes. What I'm saying is that the writers of this series (or, at the very least, some of them) should realize that the stories they've written are very flawed, incoherent and sometimes a complete mess and that they, just like any other writer, should actually learn from their mistakes and actually improve their storytelling. To ignore flaws within a script, to disregard consistency or logic or even common sense, to not have any interest regarding the quality of the script, to toss aside character development, to do all that is to denounce good story writing. And if you disregard the quality of the writing of your story and refuse to improve yourself, than what's the point of writing that story?

And when I said "since that would make them seem like they are either disinterested in their own story or highly arrogant", that wasn't in reference to Fujisaku or any of the writers of the current series, but rather I was talking about the hypothetical writer in my example (who's actually based on a certain writer/director of a certain 2018 sci-fi movie from a certain famous space-opera franchise, who, either due arrogance and pride, idiocy and incompetence or just pressure from his higher-ups (the latter being the most unlikely, based on his... very rational and level-headed(*) responses on Twitter), decided that it was a good idea to go with the first draft of his script, while making very few revisions).

(*) I'm being sarcastic when saying that (if you couldn't tell).


First of all, if the anime is trying to tell a story, then the writers should actually strive to make it as good as they can. Otherwise, it just show a lack of care. And if you don't care, then what even is the point of writing something? If you, as a writer, decide that writing an entertaining, engaging and satisfying story that also makes sense and is logical within your fictional universe is too hard or would require too much effort and, instead, you decide to write a half-arsed story that insults your audience's intelect because it's easier and you couldn't be bothered to put some effort into it, than what is the point of you writing that story in the first place, if you can't be bothered to give it your all?

And second of all, that's a huge assumption that just you've made right there. One that, from what I've seen around the internet, isn't actually true. Based on the comment sections of PokéTubers or Reddit users that review the current Pokémon series that I watch, a decent amount of their fans say the they have given up on the SM series and, if they actually feel the need to stay up to date with the anime for whatever reason, they'll just watch/read their reviews instead. And, personally, if the Sword and Shield series (or whatever they decide to call it) ends up being more of this, then I'm gonna drop the anime as well.


"Laughingstock of the Franchise" according to whom?

Game Freak and TPC? That can't be right, since not only do they love to make references to it in their games (to the point where they made a Pokémon game based on the OG series and two remakes of said game), but they also designed exclusive Pokémon forms for the anime in order to accommodate the story they were telling.

The crew working on the anime? Well, if that was the case, then they wouldn't give a damn about it and they wouldn't put any effort into making it. But, based on the series that they've released, it doesn't seem to be the case. The DP and XY series have what are considered by many to be the best stories in the anime's history, the OG and AG series, despite having a lot of hiccups due to being the early instalments of the anime, gradually got better as time went on and had a lot great and memorable moments and all of the series had a more or less memorable, fun and/or well-developed cast of characters (though, in some cases, some of them were definitely better developed than others), unforgettable moments, wonderful art styles, amazing animation... They're definitely doing they're best to make an appealing Pokémon anime, which wouldn't be the case if they didn't care and considered their work to be nothing more than a laughing stock.

The fanbase? Well, outside of BW and SM, I've generally heard nothing but praise regarding the Pokémon anime, be it due to its quality, nostalgia or some other reasons. And even in the case of the those two, there are a number of people who have expressed that have enjoyed them or are starting to find some level of enjoyment in them, so the fandom, as a whole, doesn't necessarily consider it a laughing stock.

And what if the anime is there to promote the games? Doesn't it have it's own story as well (and while, yes, it is generally inspired by or based on the one from the games, it's still it's own version of that story)? And if it's trying to tell a story, then wouldn't it be better if the story was also consistent and well-written?


I have no idea how many trailers other anime (since I'm not that big of an expert when it comes to them) and, frankly, it doesn't even matter. The supposed presence of popularity or lack of it shouldn't dictate a show's quality. In fact, it should be the other way around, with the quality of something influencing its popularity.


And where do you think these notions came from? Is it because some people love to mindlessly hate because it's the rad thing to do (which, granted, could be the case for a small percentage of the people who say those things)? Or is it because the crew working on the anime have created some horrendously written seasons, like the Best Wishes series and the current Sun and Moon series (series that are infamous for regressing Ash's character and development to a point where he's arguably a worse trainer than when he started his journey), which have led to the idea that the anime and its characters have significantly dropped in quality?


Ash's character did NOT regress in Sun & Moon. I have no idea where this notion arises from. He's exactly like he is in every series bar BW where he actually did regress.
 
Ash's character did NOT regress in Sun & Moon. I have no idea where this notion arises from. He's exactly like he is in every series bar BW where he actually did regress.

Simple: He's doing a very poor job as a trainer, with Rowlet, Poipole and Meltan being clear indications of that, and the hyperbolic focus on his failures regarding school work (unless it somehow involves battling, which they rarely do) as well as the fact that he keeps winning important battles via Deus Ex Machinas certainly don't help.
 
Simple: He's doing a very poor job as a trainer, with Rowlet, Poipole and Meltan being clear indications of that, and the hyperbolic focus on his failures regarding school work (unless it somehow involves battling, which they rarely do) as well as the fact that he keeps winning important battles via Deus Ex Machinas certainly don't help.


It's Ash. Every series has shown him being terrible at anything related to academics. This has been consistent with him since the original series.
 
It's Ash. Every series has shown him being terrible at anything related to academics. This has been consistent with him since the original series.

And I guess developing him as a character and showing him getting better at school stuff would be unreasonable and straight up impossible now, isn't it?
 
And I guess developing him as a character and showing him getting better at school stuff would be unreasonable and straight up impossible now, isn't it?


Ash hasn't had character development since the OS. Since then, he's been meant to be seen as a Mickey Mouse-esque mascot character. This is so obvious that TPC themselves stated it over a decade ago.

1518231745481.png


And it's not like the school stuff is even relevant anyway. The characters are barely even at school. The focus is on the characters themselves and the plot, not the school.

I don't know why people still misinterpret this as one long-running story when it's clearly six separate self-contained shows. Hence why they're called series.
 
Ash hasn't had character development since the OS. Since then, he's been meant to be seen as a Mickey Mouse-esque mascot character. This is so obvious that TPC themselves stated it over a decade ago.

1518231745481.png


And it's not like the school stuff is even relevant anyway. The characters are barely even at school. The focus is on the characters themselves and the plot, not the school.

I don't know why people still misinterpret this as one long-running story when it's clearly six separate self-contained shows. Hence why they're called series.

A) The fact that Ash hasn't had any kind of real character progression since the series he was introduced in just further justifies the "Ash sucks" argument, by making him be a terrible, static character and protagonist. Also, considering that they've done a lot of things differently in the SM series, what exactly was stopping the writers to actually try and give him some much needed development?
B) Ash being a pop culture icon and a mascot has nothing to do with his character development. After all, characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker are pop culture icons and mascots of the Star Wars franchise and, despite that, they still received some character development throughout the years, including even in the newer movies (and while it was horrendously done, that's besides the point; the point is that they actually received character development). And even in the case of Mickey Mouse, I remember watching some movies in which he received some development as well. Not to mention that Ash's age and his character development are two separate and unrelated things.
C) If they decided to have the SM series have a school setting (no matter how relevant it is), then wouldn't it have been better if they took advantage of it and did something, anything with it instead of doing absolutely nothing more than using it for gags and jokes that drag Ash's character down?

EDIT: Tought you could sneak this past me, did you?

I don't know why people still misinterpret this as one long-running story when it's clearly six separate self-contained shows. Hence why they're called series.

Apparently someone never watched the OG, AG and DP series, which had clear references and call-backs to the previous series that showed that each series was a continuation of Ash's journey. Not to mention that, if they are really supposed to be "separate self-contained shows", then why are they making references to previous series, hmm? I guess nothing screams "separate" or "self-contained" like having returning companions and references and easter eggs to past adventures, now, does it?

And that's on top the fact that one could interpret each series as a different season of the same show, considering that we tend to have the same protagonist, the same old comic relief villain trio (and, in some cases, even the same companion), and all the references, call-backs and easter eggs to the previous series.
 
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I always considered Satoshi more as a Bart Simpson\Stewie Griffin than a Mickey. It's explicit that time passes in all those shows but characters don't age, a floating timeline, per see.
 
I actually really liked this episode, it seemed to me that everybody has been coherent with the character build up to now.

Anime battles are not like game battles, in anime they use a whole set of different techiniques so it is acceptable that a starter Pokémon beats its evolution. Pokémon understands human language, so if Rowlet keeps the everstone after Ash told him that he could not evolve with it, I think that he does not want to evolve (and it is ok, everyone should be able to be himself or herself).

The fake out part was a little odd but the "narcolepsy" is Rowlet's main distinctive feature so it is not so out of the blue that the writers put it in a battle. In my opinion I would not make that a case of bad ethic for the young viewers, I think this anime does not have so many layers. Ash and his friends are not the only kids Age 10 around, their Pokémon are kids too (maybe younger) ad they do kids things!

Also, in the first episodes Rowlet showed some "ninja abilities" (I remember the battle against totem Gumshoos and/or Hala/Lillie's Butler) so I liked that it used this strenght in its most important battle so far. He won several battles in this series so I am not surprised that he could win again!

I was sorry for Hau which is a charachter that I appreciated both in anime and games, I would delete the fake out part where he believed he won if I could.

I discovered this part of the forum last week looking for spoilers about this battle, I have been waiting for it for several weeks. I am not an anime hardcore watcher, I used to look for a certain episode to watch how some Pokémon has been portrayed on screen, but I really loved this SM series which I followed since the beginning. This series is so different respect to the other episodes I watched in the past and made (makes) me laugh a lot.

I have read a lot of criticism about this episode and Ash's Rowlet, which is my favorite thing in Pokémon after Misty's Psyduck, so I wanted to give my opposite opinion to the other viewers in a civil way. I understood your criticism and probably the authors could have wrote some things differently, but I think this is a good episode anyway. English is not my first language so I hope I managed to express myself properly!
 
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I've been watching Pokemon since the very first episode and I've been around here for many years but, guys, something "revolutionary" happened and I couldn't even believe it myself :LOL:
After all those years of watching the English episodes (and refusing to watch the Japanese ones), I recently decided to finally switch over to the Japanese episodes (Yes, it finally happened!!)
And man, am I glad for that decision! The Japanese episodes are so much more fun to watch and you can really feel the love and care that is put into the episodes by the writers: Music that actually fits the scenes and creates a great atmosphere, no sloppy or even censored translations and a nice intro at the beginning and preview at the end! So ...here I am again!

As for the episode itself:
I liked it very much! Sure, I can see why some of you are unhappy with the way Ash won because it was such a close call. On the other hand, the judges reversing their initial decision was some unprecedented and I liked how the writers are still able to come up with something completely new after so many episodes. And although I already knew Ash would win in the end, I've got to admit I was pretty stunned at first and wasn't sure what was going on. But these are the moments the show absoluty needs more frequently!
As for the "Decidueye landed more hits than Rowlet"-argument: Well, actually most of their attacks neutralized each other and if I'm not mistaken, Decidueye only landed one Leaf Blade more than Rowlet. So, I'd say Rowlet's final Brave Bird can be considered a classic lucky punch.

Also, did you notice the irony? It was Hau's grandfather of all people who was responsible that his grandson didn't win in the end. I felt sorry for Hau but I also think he showed greatness when he accepted his grandfather's decision (which was just fair after all!) and didn't blame him for anything.

Finally we had Mamane vs. Kaki: I liked how Mamane has become a more confident battler and the battle itself promises to be an exciting one. Still, I'll be rooting for Kaki :p

Now that we're in the middle of the league, SM is finally getting the great episodes it was lacking at the beginning!
 
I've been watching Pokemon since the very first episode and I've been around here for many years but, guys, something "revolutionary" happened and I couldn't even believe it myself :LOL:
After all those years of watching the English episodes (and refusing to watch the Japanese ones), I recently decided to finally switch over to the Japanese episodes (Yes, it finally happened!!)
And man, am I glad for that decision! The Japanese episodes are so much more fun to watch and you can really feel the love and care that is put into the episodes by the writers: Music that actually fits the scenes and creates a great atmosphere, no sloppy or even censored translations and a nice intro at the beginning and preview at the end! So ...here I am again!
Welcome to the club! :D
Now that we're in the middle of the league, SM is finally getting the great episodes it was lacking at the beginning!
While we certainly have great episodes ahead, a little warning: the first episode of the finals was revealed a couple days ago, and it's written by the same guy who wrote this episode.
 
Remember the "Popplio Defense Squad" that people created to protect Popplio from unwarranted hate?

This episode and this discussion have made me want to create a "Hau Defense Squad". He deserved better than this...
Can't believe Hau lost to some idiot who didn't even bring a full team to the league

...boy, that sure sounds familiar, doesn't it?
 
Can't believe Hau lost to some idiot who didn't even bring a full team to the league

...boy, that sure sounds familiar, doesn't it?
That's not the issue. The issue is that Ash went to this battle without a strategy, with a Pokémon that really didn't have anything to prove against an opponent it had already beaten in their previous battle (instead of a Pokémon with a clear type advantage, no less) and, worst of all, was subjected to its running gag in the middle of a serious battle, while poor Hau had had only one pre-League appearance and got fake-outed into believing he had won for a full minute.
 
That's not the issue. The issue is that Ash went to this battle without a strategy, with a Pokémon that really didn't have anything to prove against an opponent it had already beaten in their previous battle (instead of a Pokémon with a clear type advantage, no less) and, worst of all, was subjected to its running gag in the middle of a serious battle, while poor Hau had had only one pre-League appearance and got fake-outed into believing he had won for a full minute.

But...Rowlet DID have a type advantage.
 
Please note: The thread is from 5 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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