Preview Special preview for 2022

[Sai]

Where's the indication we're not?

What is the indication Gen 9 is happening? The Arceus game is being treated like a mainline pokemon game and will probably get DLC later in the years. Given how rushed the Sword/Shield games were, I would think Gamefreak would give themselves more time to work on the next games.

Galar has been treated like absolute GARBAGE. Characters take forever to appear. Pokemon are reduced to mere cameos. Locations are barely explored. Gimmicks treated like afterthoughts.

I never want to see another region suffer that abysmal treatment it got.

We're getting Galar characters appearing, what does it matter they don't appear right away? Most past series Gym leaders used to appear in only 2 or 3 episodes before never appearing again. Most rivals like Hau in SM or the XY rivals like Trevor were always treated like afterthoughts.

As for locations, back in Johto/AG/DP/Unova/XY was all those generic forests and made up towns and cities that never appeared in the games was any better? 90% of old episodes outside the Gym leader towns or some specific plot locations were in generic forests or towns. The generic location of Johto filler or a Sinnoh filler would look exactly the same for example.

That...that sounds awful.

Why would anyone want that?

It's highly unlikely for them to go back to the old Gym formula, they left it behind when they could have done it again this gen and it's been done for two gens now. I could definitely see them keeping a world tournament of Gym leaders or Elite 4 members going forward. From the sounds of your post it sounds like you want the show to go back to the old formula which the show moved on from after 2016. How is that not expecting a return to status quo?

 

[Hidden Mew]

To be fair, the gimmick of Galar like Dynamax would likely be an afterthough even in a Galar centric season. It's pretty clear writers don't like that gimmick, because it's too complicated to animate.

There are characters who also take forever to appear in previous seasons. I mean the last Gym leaders often appear near the end of the season.

I'm not sure if that's actually the case or if people are just making assumption about Dynamax. I wouldn't be shocked, but I think a bigger reason why it isn't featured more often is because you need to be in Galar to do it and they not usually in Galar for a long period of time, let alone in a place where they're in a Dynamax spot.

Of course the last Gym Leaders would often appear near the end of the series. They kind of have to when they go in order of how you battle them in the games. The problem isn't that it's taking forever for these characters to appear exactly. It's that Galar characters, especially the Gym Leaders, aren't guaranteed to show up now that the series isn't set there and Ash isn't taking part in the Galar Gym Challenge. If we were guaranteed to eventually see all of the Galar Gym Leaders like we usually are, I don't think people would be complaining about them taking so long to show up here.

What is the indication Gen 9 is happening? The Arceus game is being treated like a mainline pokemon game and will probably get DLC later in the years. Given how rushed the Sword/Shield games were, I would think Gamefreak would give themselves more time to work on the next games.

Legends Arceus is a mainline Pokemon game. I don't see why it wouldn't be considered otherwise. I don't know if Game Freak is the one who decides when new games are released. While it would be more ideal to have less crunch time, I don't see TPCI waiting over a year before getting another main series title out, especially for that sweet holiday money. Plus, releasing Legends Arceus before the next Pokemon Day makes me think that they'll have a bigger announcement than just Legends Arcues DLC. That's one of the major reasons why I could generation nine happening sooner rather than later. It's definitely not guaranteed, but I think it's at least plausible.

We're getting Galar characters appearing, what does it matter they don't appear right away? Most past series Gym leaders used to appear in only 2 or 3 episodes before never appearing again. Most rivals like Hau in SM or the XY rivals like Trevor were always treated like afterthoughts.

Like I mentioned before, the problem is that we're not guaranteed to see Galar characters and it is a shame for Ash to not battle them too. At this point, if Hop does appear, he will get the SM Hau treatment and I definitely don't want that either.

As for locations, back in Johto/AG/DP/Unova/XY was all those generic forests and made up towns and cities that never appeared in the games was any better? 90% of old episodes outside the Gym leader towns or some specific plot locations were in generic forests or towns. The generic location of Johto filler or a Sinnoh filler would look exactly the same for example.

While it's true that generic background locations have been a part of the anime from pretty much the start, I think a big difference is that there's a lack of a sense of progression. Sure, people complained about the same forests or generic towns, but Ash and his friends kept moving towards the next destination. Since Ash and Goh just go back to homebase, that sense of progression is kind of gone. That was arguably the case with SM too, but at least they fleshed out the Alola region and connected it to the theme of family and togetherness. I don't think that the generic backgrounds of past seasons necessarily mean that the different regions being used as generic backgrounds is a better option. At least the former doesn't feel like they're doing a bad job with a world tour concept.

It's highly unlikely for them to go back to the old Gym formula, they left it behind when they could have done it again this gen and it's been done for two gens now. I could definitely see them keeping a world tournament of Gym leaders or Elite 4 members going forward. From the sounds of your post it sounds like you want the show to go back to the old formula which the show moved on from after 2016. How is that not expecting a return to status quo?

I don't think it's impossible for them to go back to Gyms. It might not be likely, but I don't think that they'd be unwilling to do it again, especially when the whole issue of the formula being stale wouldn't matter for a new audience. Honestly, I don't think that Ash battling against PWC opponents forever sounds that appealing to me. The PWC seems less like a permanent replacement for Gyms and more like they wanted a different goal for Ash just to fit with the more episodic/world tour format of the series. Since the goal is to battle against Leon, who wouldn't really be relevant after this generation, I don't see it lasting more than onc. Just having a different number one Champion for Ash to battle would feel kind of a weak way to keep the PWC going too.

 

[CrystalRose21]

I'm actually surprised that Marnie and Piers will make their main series debuts in the Pokémon anime. I wonder what kind of roles they will have...

 

[Eitarou]

To be fair, the gimmick of Galar like Dynamax would likely be an afterthough even in a Galar centric season. It's pretty clear writers don't like that gimmick, because it's too complicated to animate.

There are characters who also take forever to appear in previous seasons. I mean the last Gym leaders often appear near the end of the season.

Well yeah, that's kinda the whole point of them being "last". If this was a regular series that bothered to debut characters at a normal pace, I'd be fine with Piers showing up. But this is Journeys, where we're on episode 92 and still waiting for Gym Leaders 1-3 and 6.

 

[Sai]

Well yeah, that's kinda the whole point of them being "last". If this was a regular series that bothered to debut characters at a normal pace, I'd be fine with Piers showing up. But this is Journeys, where we're on episode 92 and still waiting for Gym Leaders 1-3 and 6.

Again what difference does it make? We're going to see all of them eventually. They don't even have to appear in set order since Ash isn't battling them all. Most Gym leaders get 2 episodes of screentime, we're just seeing them debut in a different order. Bringing up episode count is irrelevant.

Also even back in XY most Mega evolutions actually never debuted in the main anime, we actually hardly saw any and the writers just shoved a lot of them into the Volcanion movie. We don't see most Gigantamax forms but most Mega evolutions were never even featured properly back in XY. To this day Mega Sableye and Lopunny have never been in episodes and took till SM to see Mega Kangaskhan. So I'm confused why you're going on about Gigantamax not getting many appearances when XY ignored the vast majority of Mega evolutions outside Charizard, Lucario and a few others.

 

[L-05308]

Cynthia with Kommo-o and Erika with Leafeon - one more and it’s a trend, could we see more characters with Pokémon they got in Masters?

Will Marnie have Morpeko in the anime? Or just stick with Grimsnarl? We see Piers with Rillaboom - I bet Toxtricity and Obstagoon will appear with him also.

For the record, while it might seem like I’m making fun of the diehard “omg Serena best PokeGirl” fans - because I am, I actually really think a Serena return being the all important Sylveon encounter for Chloe would be pretty great.

 

[ii kanji]

We’ve clearly been really good boys and girls this year to be given Yamato, Kosanji and Madonnya for Christmas I can’t even count how many years I’ve been waiting!!

 

[nickdt]

Cynthia with Kommo-o and Erika with Leafeon - one more and it’s a trend, could we see more characters with Pokémon they got in Masters?

Will Marnie have Morpeko in the anime? Or just stick with Grimsnarl? We see Piers with Rillaboom - I bet Toxtricity and Obstagoon will appear with him also.

For the record, while it might seem like I’m making fun of the diehard “omg Serena best PokeGirl” fans - because I am, I actually really think a Serena return being the all important Sylveon encounter for Chloe would be pretty great.

This also makes me wonder for a return for Brock, since he has a Tyranitar in Masters (Misty has Vaporeon, but that one is already accounted for as an Eeveelution in Journeys).

I think Marnie will have both Morpeko (Which is basically her Pikachu) and Grimmsnarl.

It makes me actually wonder if we get introduced Masters exclusive characters introduced in the anime. Especially Lear would be interesting, since he kinda resembles Hunter J.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I think Marnie will have both Morpeko (Which is basically her Pikachu) and Grimmsnarl.

I personally don't think she'll have Morpeko, given that it's already been prominently featured in Journeys.

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

I personally don't think she'll have Morpeko, given that it's already been prominently featured in Journeys.

She does have a Morpeko tho

Look at what she's holding. You can clearly see Morpeko's ears

 

[Soniman]

She does have a Morpeko tho

Look at what she's holding. You can clearly see Morpeko's earsView attachment 154093

Reminder Acerola still had Mimikyu despite TR's being a prominent character, this isn't new

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

She does have a Morpeko tho

Look at what she's holding. You can clearly see Morpeko's earsView attachment 154093

Oh. I didn't notice. Guess you're right. Wonder if it and James's Morpeko will get to interact. It'd also be nice to see her with a Grimmsnarl.

 

[Emmy]

Of course, that is assuming she isn’t holding James’ Morpeko for some reason.

 

[Sai]

I assume Marnie will be a beginning trainer just starting her journey like in the game so she can't have a role as a rival to Ash at this point. Same for Hop if he shows up. They're probably just introduced to give some characterisation to Piers and Leon. It's quite possible Marnie won't appear again after Piers ep either since any role from her from the games can't really be used in the anime.

 

[Lightning Flame Blast]

Watch as Morpeko ditches James for Marnie because she has better treats.

 

[SammyW27]

Watch as Morpeko ditches James for Marnie because she has better treats.

Which would be a MASSIVE middle finger to the TRio AND viewers

 

[CrystalRose21]

She does have a Morpeko tho

Look at what she's holding. You can clearly see Morpeko's earsView attachment 154093

You're right.

 

[ii kanji]

Which would be a MASSIVE middle finger to the TRio AND viewers

Would it though? I can’t speak for viewers, but that thing has brought nothing but grief for the TRio…

 

[Rainbow-Rain]

Honestly I don't know why James caught it in the first place

It's not like anything thing changed

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Honestly I don't know why James caught it in the first place

It's not like anything thing changed

We've only seen it once since then. Hard to say how much has changed.