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What's your opinion on the XY/XYZ saga?

I don't remember saying any of those were really good at any point in time. I mean, I kinda liked what I saw while I was watching them (or the episodes I managed to stick around for), but similarly to XY I never really felt they were particularly great.
I see no people before who prefers SM and XY to all regions from AG to BW.
 
Okay, peeps! Enough with the uncalled jabs toward other users just because they happen to like what you don’t like or vice versa.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions about elements of the anime and should feel free to express what they think about them, without being targeted for having a different opinion nor targeting others.

As such, don’t use this thread to bash XY/XYZ fans, Serena fans, AmourShippers or anything in-between. If you want to criticize XY/XYZ, that’s fine, but no attacks toward other users nor the fan base.

Thank you, and carry on.
 
I see no people before who prefers SM and XY to all regions from AG to BW.
Really? I always felt AG - DP to be kinda mediocre overall, at least structurally. OS too, but too a lesser degree while also being really charming. BW I applaud for trying new things, but they were handled poorly (imo), plus, I was REALLY annoyed by Dent. XY was the most polished of the bunch, and offered great battle sakuga, but my biggest gripe was that it followed the filler formula to a T like 90% of the time, and that a lot of the new things they were trying, either didn't get a proper resolution and/or were mostly fan service (Ash-Greninja, Serena).
 
People have been claiming the anime has gone downhill since Johto, or even Orange Islands for the people who disliked Tracey. Every saga has people who like or dislike it, there's no overall general opinion because people like different things. It's almost like people forget the anime has never been universally praised after the original Kanto arc, and even Kanto itself has obvious problems (like Ash not getting Gyms fairly, too many releases, etc)
 
I see no people before who prefers SM and XY to all regions from AG to BW.

First of all, I happen to favor SM and XY over those two gens. But second, here's the problem I have right now. If the primary concern is being criticized for liking Sun and Moon more than Kalos or any other region then why wouldn't anyone expect criticism for a thread called "Pokemon XY/XYZ ruined the anime community?" That's a very broad statement that essentially undermines everyone who's complacent in where the fandom is now. If someone didn't like it that's fine. That's just an opinion. But to say that the anime community is ruined, that's just asking for backlash.

Point is, the community is not ruined, not everyone favors the same series, and anyone that would criticize you that heavily for favoring any of these shows is not worth the time of day.
 
Am I the only one to find the XY(&Z) battles to be rather poor? Other than the fancy 3D camera (which I wasn't really fond of), it was just a brainless power measure. Now, the cunning DP battles are what battles should be, not the arcade battles of XY(&Z). Even Satoshi vs. Lychee I find to better than any battle in XY(&Z).

I always felt AG - DP to be kinda mediocre overall, at least structurally.

What do you even mean by 'structure'?
 
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Am I the only one to find the XY(&Z) battles to be rather poor? Other than the fancy 3D camera (which I wasn't really fond of), it was just a brainless power measure. Now, the cunning DP battles are what battles should be, not the arcade battles of XY(&Z). Even Satoshi vs. Lychee I find to better than any battle in XY(&Z).

Depends on the battle, but most XY Gyms were pretty good and focused on some strategy. There wasn't much like countershield or whatever, but it didn't matter. They're easily better battles overall than anything from the bulk of the sagas before, not even counting the animation changes.
 
The XY/XYZ anime improved on a lot of things that the Kalos games missed out on. They gave Diantha a bigger role, they gave Team Flare and Lysandre a motive and a backstory as to how they feel towards humanity in general, and they gave Korrina a special arc to explore the difficulties of mastering Mega Evolution and what it means to balance new power you can't control. They gave Serena plenty of options to explore before she decided on Showcases. I enjoyed the battle animations and the overall chemistry of the four major characters. Everyone had their respective arc and time to shine, and I felt that it was balanced pretty well. There are disappointments of course (the league, no doubt) but overall, it was a good ride. The popularity of the show did result in fans going overboard and I'm guilty of being one of those overenthusiastic fans (mostly because of Steven Stone coming back in style). Still, I wouldn't say that the show ruined the community. It just attracted too much attention.
 
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Am I the only one to find the XY(&Z) battles to be rather poor? Other than the fancy 3D camera (which I wasn't really fond of), it was just a brainless power measure. Now, the cunning DP battles are what battles should be, not the arcade battles of XY(&Z). Even Satoshi vs. Lychee I find to better than any battle in XY(&Z).

XY's battles reminded me a lot of DP's although Alan's battling was a bit too brute force for my liking.
 
XYZ has some of the best battles in the series because they were entertaining as hell to watch. But I like the Sun and Moon battles because I prefer the emphasis on fluid hand-drawn animation. Also because there are less of them they have a bigger impact.
 
As much as I initially liked XY/XYZ I feel kinda the same, but for different reasons.

It feels like in the eyes of many XY is free of criticism just because it brought more edgy action, more shipping, and more "hype" moments, which is pretty much the recipe for a teen's poorly written fanfic. It's just hard to have a proper discussion about XY because it's pretty common for fans (not all) to solely like it on the basis of how "hype" it was, how old or competent Ash felt, Serena's crush for Ash, etc., all without acknowledging, that even the things they liked might have had problems too.

I thought that was the case during the series' run, but not so much after XY was over. I can recall a few discussions where people were able to talk about what they like and didn't like about XY. There are people who like the series for all the hype it had, but it isn't uncommon to see people say that it was overhyped. I liked XY and even I think it didn't live up to its hype in quite a few areas.

KyseL said:
Honestly, I'm also upset because it feels I'm not allowed to publicly enjoy my favorite series (SM) without being made fun of in one way or another, just because of how different it is from all the previous series and SPECIALLY how different it is from XY/XYZ. And it's not like I'm not willing to admit SM is flawed too, it definitely has pacing issues among other stuff.

I am so sorry if you have been made fun of for liking SM. After the toxic mess that this site became during BW, I hoped that people wouldn't be afraid of talking about a series that they like here. I thought the atmosphere here wasn't that toxic since SM seems more mixed than outright hated. The negativity might be a bit more intense now that a new generation has been announced and people are eager/hopeful for the next series, but I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable to talk about their favorite series or feel like they can't do so without being made fun of. That is something that I've experienced multiple times online and in person and I truly don't want other people to deal with that. This obviously applies to everyone, but if you ever feel like you're being made fun of, please report it so the staff can look into the matter.

The XY/XYZ anime improved on a lot of things that the Kalos games missed out on. They gave Diantha a bigger role, they gave Team Flare and Lysandre a motive and a backstory as to how they feel towards humanity in general, and they gave Korrina a special arc to explore the difficulties of mastering Mega Evolution and what it means to balance new power you can't control. They gave Serena plenty of options to explore before she decided on Showcases. I enjoyed the battle animations and the overall chemistry of the four major characters. Everyone had their respective arc and time to shine, and I felt that it was balanced pretty well. There are disappointments of course (the league, no doubt) but overall, it was a good ride. The popularity of the show did result in fans going overboard and I'm guilty of being one of those overenthusiastic fans (mostly because of Steven Stone coming back in style). Still, I wouldn't call the show ruined. It just attracted too much attention.

Aside from the point about Serena, I agree. Pokevision and the Pokepuff baking contest were just eventually used for Showcases rather than being different goal options. While I do have a fair share of problems with XY, I liked how they handled Team Flare for the most part, most of the battles were good and the four main characters got a chance to shine throughout the series. One of the reasons why I liked the Team Flare arc so much was because everyone helped saving the day instead of just being up to Ash. I do think that XY is a bit on the overhyped side at least, but I can see why it got so much attention.
 
Really? I always felt AG - DP to be kinda mediocre overall, at least structurally. OS too, but too a lesser degree while also being really charming. BW I applaud for trying new things, but they were handled poorly (imo), plus, I was REALLY annoyed by Dent. XY was the most polished of the bunch, and offered great battle sakuga, but my biggest gripe was that it followed the filler formula to a T like 90% of the time, and that a lot of the new things they were trying, either didn't get a proper resolution and/or were mostly fan service (Ash-Greninja, Serena).
So basically prior to SM, you didn't really like the Pokemon anime at all? That's kind of what I always assumed from reading your stuff, but its just a bit surprising to hear spelled out. I don't want to insult you personally, because I have no problem with you being here and I really like seeing a huge variety of opinions even when they are the stark opposite of my own, but it seems a tad hypocritical to complain about people who have adored the anime for its entire existence being upset about the changes the current series has brought when you basically never even liked it before. You know I even felt myself feeling that way, where I thought it was frustrating to have so many people who only like SM and not prior series bashing the series' I love so much, but if we all love Pokemon we should be able to get a long and discuss these things without treating each other poorly. We all just need to take a deep breathe and realize for everyone that loves something there will be someone who hates it and vice versa, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

The thing I don't understand is how everyone focuses sooooo much on the "edgy" part of XY, when there was sooooo much more interesting and fun stuff going on in the series. I think people tend to remember certain parts, and then those parts get talked about over and over again, and then they feel like thats all that happened. Also XYZ being a little less balanced is most recently in many people's memories. I would just say to people that like Pokemon anime go back and watch some fillers from the first two years of XY (well there were still some good ones in XYZ, just fewer) and you will see it is still a fun and lovable a series like the others, interactions between the group are a lot of fun, and there are a lot of really good fillers. If XY was as serious as people say we wouldn't have Bonnie, or Hawlucha, or Clemont's inventions, trio starting their long walk back towards being funny again, plus the interactions between Pokemon in the series was stellar. So yeah, the hype people are into hype, they probably didn't even watch all the episodes anyway, so there is no reason to let their opinions bother you or change your opinion about the franchise. It would be nice if people stopped characterizing those of us who like XY all as hype people though, because that is getting really really really old.
 
So basically prior to SM, you didn't really like the Pokemon anime at all?
I liked it, I just don't think it was really good. Not necessarily bad, either, but it had a lot of problems. Honestly I used to watch Pokémon religiously while the OS - first half of AG was airing, I genuinely loved it, but it kinda died down a bit as the show kept on going and repeating the same stuff but with slightly different backgrounds and characters over and over. I would go back to Pokémon occasionally and I never really hated it, but it definitely wasn't as fulfilling as it was before (I legit thought DP would grab me back, and I really wanted it to happen). I regained interest in XY but 20 episodes later I started feeling the same way again and dropped it, watching maybe 1 every 5 episodes while it aired, coming back for XYZ. Only after SM I started feeling as passionate about the Pokémon anime as I was when I was a kid. I still enjoyed my time with previous series, it just wasn't as fulfilling to me.

You don't have to think something's great to like it, either.
 
I personally couldn't get into the series at all. Never found the characters to be too interesting, and it has given me a maybe unreasonable hate for Greninja because I find the concept of Ash-Greninja to be really.. annoying. Mostly because of the over-used "Ash is the chosen one" and because I don't like it when a starter gets an unique form when the others don't (and dragging anime stuff into the games, bu they didn't really make it a plot point so w/e).

Sun and Moon is easier for me to like (at least a good chunk of episodes) because it has a similar silly energy I felt the original series had (I especially love the faces, actually), and the art style is pretty cute. I've never liked the more serious parts of the anime because that's never what I enjoyed. It's perfectly fine for others to be a fan of XY/XYZ saga, though. I can see why people like the series, even if I don't. It felt more serious and Ash started acting more knowledgeable (from what I got from the few episodes I saw, anyway) then in BW.
 
Personally I don't understand why people say XY is so serious, it was no more serious than DP was. It's almost like people think the Team Flare arc or Ash/Greninja represents all of XY, but XY was 143 episodes and those parts were only in the later half of the series. The shows original humor largely died down by late AG anyway (AG had similar type of humor to the OS), and it was basically the same as any other series pre-SM.
 
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