Preview JN007: The Hoenn Region, Site of Fierce Fights! The Battle Frontier Challenge!!

[Konja7]

Do you realize how self-contradictory this sentence is in a series that's supposed to be in all regions and a continuation in the same timeline?

It sounds contradictory. That doesn't mean the writers can't do that.

I meam they can just ignore the past in a series about all regions. It isn't really impossible.


PS: In fact, the scene of the trophies in the first episode has some "non-continuity" things. How that Cleafary plush appear? Where is May's wooden Teddiursa?

 

[Pulsaro23]

It sounds contradictory. That doesn't mean the writers can't do that.

I meam they can just ignore the past in a series about all regions. It isn't really impossible.

It's isn't impossible. But that wouldn't change the fact that it would be some Best Wishes-levels of incompetent and terrible writing and a total middle finger to the older fans that they're supposedly trying to appeal to (plus it would turn the moment into a blatant bait-and-switch and render the fact that this series is a continuation of the previous ones completely meaningless). So, just because they can do it, doesn't mean they should.

PS: In fact, the scene of the trophies in the first episode has some "non-continuity" things.

Not really. The Clefairy plushie is just that: a plushie. Not really that important of an item, so I don't see why it would need some explanation. It could be something that has had since he was a kid. It could be a gift from Lillie. Or it could be something that his mother recently bought for him in between series. And May's carved Teddiursa not appearing doesn't mean that it doesn't exist anymore (for all we know his mother just placed it somewhere else; after all she did originally put Ash's Orange League trophy on top of the TV (for some reason), before presumably taking it and putting it on Ash's drawer, along with his other prizes), nor does it actually negate the fact that they've shown Ash's past trophies and badges, which basically confirm that this is in the same canon as the previous series.

 

[Konja7]

It's isn't impossible. But that wouldn't change the fact that it would be some Best Wishes-levels of incompetent and terrible writing and a total middle finger to the older fans that they're supposedly trying to appeal to (plus it would turn the moment into a blatant bait-and-switch and render the fact that this series is a continuation of the previous ones completely meaningless). So, just because they can do it, doesn't mean they should.

Yeah. And just because they shouldn't do it, doesn't mean they wouldn't do it.

Honestly, I've never believe that they are trying to appeal old fans so much. The main audience for a new season of Pokemon is usually kids (new fans).

Not really. The Clefairy plushie is just that: a plushie. Not really that important of an item, so I don't see why it would need some explanation. It could be something that has had since he was a kid. It could be a gift from Lillie. Or it could be something that his mother recently bought for him in between series. And May's carved Teddiursa not appearing doesn't mean that it doesn't exist anymore (for all we know his mother just placed it somewhere else; after all she did originally put Ash's Orange League trophy on top of the TV (for some reason), before presumably taking it and putting it on Ash's drawer, along with his other prizes), nor does it actually negate the fact that they've shown Ash's past trophies and badges, which basically confirm that this is in the same canon as the previous series.

Nobody is denying this is the same canon as the previous series.

I just want to mention that this "details" of continuity are being omitted in that scene. That's exactly the same reason why "Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden" was never mentioned in Episode 3.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Nobody is denying this is the same canon as the previous series.

At least not here.

 

[Almonds]

So, just because they can do it, doesn't mean they should.

Well, ask the anime team. They might be thinking differently than what the fandom does.

 

[Panky..]

Honestly, I've never believe that they are trying to appeal old fans so much. The main audience for a new season of Pokemon is usually kids (new fans).

Then what's the point of explicitly stating that the anime is for fans of all the series?

Well, ask the anime team. They might be thinking differently than what the fandom does.

I have a theory that they're using the first 9 episodes, even including that bait advertising, to gauge general reactions from old and new fans alike to see how they'll proceed.

Or... they're just clueless.

 

[Pulsaro23]

Yeah. And just because they shouldn't do it, doesn't mean they wouldn't do it.

...okay, I have the distinct feeling that we're gonna go in circles a lot here.

Them being physically able to do it doesn't make it better or even excuse it. Like, take crime for example (kind of extreme, I know, but roll with me here for a second) . People are fully capable of committing all kinds of disgusting . But them being able to do those things doesn't absolve them form the consequences, nor does it make them any less illegal. The same (in a less extreme way) applies to writing: they could very well contradict themselves and they are fully capable of doing it, but that wouldn't excuse the poor writing that led to said contradiction (or the contradiction itself), nor would it make it any less terrible.

Well, ask the anime team. They might be thinking differently than what the fandom does.

This goes beyond the wishes of fans. To ignore and flat out contradict the previous series after clearly establishing that this takes place in the same univers as them is either atrocious storytelling, incompetent writing or plain laziness and ignorance (or all of the above). The same goes for them not making any references to past series and episodes. If they're gonna ignore all that came before after showing us that the new series is part of the same canon as the rest of the anime, then that would mean that they're wasting an important setup and that they've been spreading clickbait and misinformation in order to generate hype and trick people into watching the anime, which is equally horrendous.

 

[Rath]

Do you realize how self-contradictory this sentence is in a series that's supposed to be in all regions and a continuation in the same timeline?

Lots of series do the whole "yeah, that stuff happened, but it's not important now" thing. It's called a soft reboot. You know, the thing that people say Best Wishes started out as before Season 2 brought back Cynthia, Dawn, and Charizard.

 

[Silktree]

Why are people pretending that the Battle Frontier is more important than Ash's Bulbasaur, which wasn't mentioned at all in the last episode? Odds are that Dawn's Piplup will be ignored (at least in the upcoming episode), too. Hopefully some episodes will appeal to older viewers (like the Pichu one, by their claim), but don't expect that to be the norm.

Chances are that it's a completely different facility, anyway. Maybe it features the Battle Maison as in ORAS.

 

[Panky..]

It's called a soft reboot. You know, the thing that people say Best Wishes started out as before Season 2 brought back Cynthia, Dawn, and Charizard.

Can't really call it a soft reboot when the previous series established the current one, not to mention the current one establish continuity right off the bat. DP to BW and XY to SM could have been considered a soft-reboot (though their intentions were apparently a full reboot) but not SM to SS/PM.

Maybe it features the Battle Maison as in ORAS.

Battle Maison is a key landmark of Kiloude City from XY... the city itself is yet to appear in the anime.

 

[Silktree]

Yes, and the Battle Frontier island was a key landmark of Hoenn that didn't appear in AG. Absolutely nothing prevents the writers from moving the Battle Maison to Hoenn when ORAS did it and they did something equivalent first. I guess they would have just called the place the Maison, though.

I don't see another "Battle Subway/Maison/Tree/Tower" episode after this one, but I guess it depends on whether the writers suddenly care about those facilities that much.

 

[Daenerys]

Do you realize how self-contradictory this sentence is in a series that's supposed to be in all regions and a continuation in the same timeline?

Idk, it doesn't sound contradictory to me because as far as I know none of the promotional material that hyped up this series claimed that we'd get references to old events every single time Ash goes back to places he has history with. So this seems like a case of some people getting their hopes up way too high and being disappointed that the writing staff is serving us more of the same bullshit as usual.

 

[Rath]

Idk, it doesn't sound contradictory to me because as far as I know none of the promotional material that hyped up this series claimed that we'd get references to old events every single time Ash goes back to places he has history with. So this seems like a case of some people getting their hopes up way too high and being disappointed that the writing staff is serving us more of the same bullshit as usual.

This. All that was promised to us is that it would feature every region.

 

[Panky..]

Yes, and the Battle Frontier island was a key landmark of Hoenn that didn't appear in AG. Absolutely nothing prevents the writers from moving the Battle Maison to Hoenn when ORAS did it and they did something equivalent first. I guess they would have just called the place the Maison, though.

I don't see another "Battle Subway/Maison/Tree/Tower" episode after this one, but I guess it depends on whether the writers suddenly care about those facilities that much.

You couldn't exactly move the Battle Frontier island everywhere for it to be the setting of an entire season. And Kiloude City doesn't have any other distinguishable landmarks so it's best to keep the Maison for it when it'll get visited.

Idk, it doesn't sound contradictory to me because as far as I know none of the promotional material that hyped up this series claimed that we'd get references to old events every single time Ash goes back to places he has history with. So this seems like a case of some people getting their hopes up way too high and being disappointed that the writing staff is serving us more of the same bullshit as usual.

Is it though? We've seen certain elements carefully placed in posters/artwork, you can't blame people for thinking out loud about potential continuity or references.

Example? Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charizard in front of Ash's house in the official poster. Don't tell me it's some random Mk2 trio of those particular Pokemon that happen to hang out outside his house... I could do the same analysis for the first nine next six episodes + SS003 as well and point it all out. Want another example? They literally showed his BF symbols in the 2nd episode, and this episode is named in relation to the BF.

Yes, they aren't outright announcing anything to avoid stuff like the XY finals backlash, instead they're providing us with tiny morsels with carefully selected regions, Pokemon, event or titles (or a combination of those) so that they can exclaim "Hey, our hands are clean, we didn't say anything specific". But the final intent is still the same, bait advertising.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Do you realize how self-contradictory this sentence is in a series that's supposed to be in all regions and a continuation in the same timeline?

That's called an easter egg, and has zero relevance to the overall series.

 

[RustyTrubbish]

Happy to see the Battle Frontier again even for just one episode and I'm excited to see if we get any flashbacks to when Ash faced the Frontier Brains but I won't get too hyped for that just yet. I'm mainly interested in seeing Go and his Scorbunny battle.

 

[BigDocFan]

If Ash does referencing winning the battle frontier, I wonder what Go's reaction would be

 

[DynamicFusion]

Staff

Screenplay: Deko Akao
Episode Director: Naoki Murata
Storyboard: Noriaki Saito
Animation Supervisors: Yuko Kato, Shun Okawa
≫赤尾でこ　村田尚樹　齋藤徳明　加藤祐子、大川駿

 

[BigDocFan]

No familiar names attached to the episode, Deko Akao's second episode after SS004

Curious to see how this turns out

 

[DynamicFusion]

Idk, it doesn't sound contradictory to me because as far as I know none of the promotional material that hyped up this series claimed that we'd get references to old events every single time Ash goes back to places he has history with. So this seems like a case of some people getting their hopes up way too high and being disappointed that the writing staff is serving us more of the same bullshit as usual.

I can understand why a person would be upset tbh. I'm sure 95% of the people here and on other platforms would prefer a Full Traditional Galar Saga over this if this World-Tour didn't include Past Characters. To be fair, the only reason people were even hyped for this was that we could see Past Pokemon and Past Characters.