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Which series was the worst one?

Which anime series was the worst one?

  • OS

    Votes: 8 11.0%
  • AG

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • DP

    Votes: 2 2.7%
  • BW

    Votes: 53 72.6%
  • XY

    Votes: 8 11.0%

  • Total voters
    73
I voted OS because of pity badges and how Johto was a filler hell instead of doing something with the GS ball they had, though personally I would pick just Johto discounting Kanto and the OI because they were actually quite good and no where near as bad as Johto.

DP>XY>AG=BW>OS
 
Meh, I never cared about the reset, as long as the series is enjoyable I couldn't care less what skill level Ash was at, Trip and Riolu-boy-who-I-forgot-the-name-of were dumb though, liked the Meloetta arc though.
 
BW because horrible balance in screentime for most of Ash's Pokemon, lack of Wobbuffet, wasted potential in TP (the producers could've aired the two parter right now instead of abandoning it), the fact he dexed a Koffing even though he's already seen one, unlikeable companions, and flanderizarion of TR.
 
BW because horrible balance in screentime for most of Ash's Pokemon, lack of Wobbuffet, wasted potential in TP (the producers could've aired the two parter right now instead of abandoning it), the fact he dexed a Koffing even though he's already seen one, unlikeable companions, and flanderizarion of TR.

To be fair, Ash hadn't seen a Koffing since the original series, which was well over a decade before that episode aired. The Pokedex entries are always being updated, both in-universe and in the games, and stuff like that is to help kids learn more about Pokemon if they're new to the franchise. I've honestly never understood this complaint about Ash using a Pokedex for something he's already seen. If it was just a few episodes in between with no reason why he needs to look up more information about them, that would be one thing, but if we're talking about Pokemon that he hasn't seen for years, then that just seems ridiculous to me.

Anyway, my least favorite series is still BW. Ash's skills hit a massive reset, there wasn't enough screentime for all of his new Pokemon and some of the Pokemon he captured felt borderline pointless with how little they battled. The battles were awful. There were so many cheap Gym battle wins, especially with sudden last minute evolutions. The pacing was way too fast for its own good and they even had to put a filler episode in the middle of the Unova League. The Unova League was lackluster regardless, but that just made the pacing all the more questionable given that they could have used that episode to provide some better battles. Ash's rivals were bad from Cameron, Bianca and Trip. While losing to Trip was a bad way for him to lose the Unova League, it was fitting that he only got to the Top 8. That was the highest rank Ash could have reasonably received given how he was throughout Unova. Iris was beyond unlikable and her character is easily the biggest problem I had with BW in general. At the very least, it was tied with Ash's regression in his skills.

While I agree that there was wasted potential with Team Plasma and making them into generically evil teams wanting to brainwash Pokemon was weak, I don't hold that against the show all that much. I don't think that they could have aired the two parter. By the time Team Plasma was brought into the series, the sixth generation was already on the way and they couldn't really adapt either Team Plasma storyline by that point. They still could have done more with Team Plasma and giving Episode N some more episodes would have been helpful, but the two parter being skipped wouldn't be even among my top five or possibly top ten issues with the series. Even if they had been able to air it and continue with their original plans for Team Plasma, I seriously doubt it would have drastically improved the series. It might have been a highlight at best, but I don't think it would have changed BW overall that much for me. Team Rocket being serious all of a sudden was also a terrible choice. They just lost all of their personalities and became generic Team Rocket grunts.

I think my problem with BW could be summed up by how nothing really goes anywhere. Ash doesn't really feel like a better trainer by the end of the series. Iris and Cilan are no where closer to their goals when they leave than they were at the beginning of the series. And in Cilan's case, the writers clearly gave up on his goal considering it wasn't even the reason why he left the group in the first place. There's no sense of progression. That might sound kind of weird because this is Pokemon, but with other series, I still felt like the journeys were having an impact on the characters. Even by the end of the original series, Ash felt like a stronger trainer than he was at the beginning. To a lesser extent, you could see how the journey affected Misty and Brock as well. Both May and Dawn especially felt like they grew a lot from their journeys too. But it doesn't feel like BW added a lot for Ash beyond some new Pokemon and badges and the journey didn't have any significant impact for Iris or Cilan. It just felt like none of the characters really went anywhere, even for a Pokemon series.

There were still good parts to BW. Cilan was entertaining most of the time despite not doing anything to really further his goal. His friendship with Ash felt genuine too. Most of the filler episodes were pretty decent at least and some of the capture episodes were good, even if some of the Pokemon barely did anything afterwards. Episode N was probably the best part of the series, but I'm biased since I just really like N and seeing him animated and staying within character, unlike with Bianca, was nice. If there was still some more entertainment value in spite of BW's flaws, it might have been a harder choice, but as things are, BW is still easily my least favorite series thus far.
 
SUN AND MOON!!!!!!! EVEN WORSE THAN BEST WISHES; SINCE:
A. THE ARTSTYLE SUCKS
B. ASH IS CONSTANTLY ABUSED BY POKEMON IN THE REGION
C. THEY TURNED THE MOST BELOVED OF GEN 7 POKEMON, AND TURNED IT INTO AN PIKACHU-CIDAL ABOMBINATION =
D. ASH LOST TO TEAM ROCKET(SOMETHING THAT NEVER E-V-E-N HAPPENED IN THE ORIGINAL SERIES, WHICH SPEAKS VOLUMES IF HE LOST TO A TRIO HE NEVER LOST TO BEFORE, MEANING HE'S WORSE NOW THAN WHEN HE STARTED 20 YEARS AGO)
 
BW without a question. I found very little enjoyment out of the series, and even now, I struggle to find positive things to say about it. I don't want to go on a rant, but I'll just highlight the things I hated the most.

Making Ash's personality do a complete 180 after he was at his best in DP, regressing his league position, giving Ash an extremely huge team with extremely unequal screen-time, Oshawott, Axew, extremely annoying and dull traveling companions with lame 'goals', boring and uninteresting rivals, mediocre battles with far too much repetition (ie: a Pokemon evolving, learning a new move, and subsequently winning), the entire Decelore (or however you spell it) Island arc, the pointless Dawn appearance, and crappy gym battles; the worst of all being the Elesa battle.

There are many many many more issues, but I'll just leave it at these.
 
BW, no contest. I'll summarize with the points mentioned by other people:

• Ash's skills regression;
• Too many reserve Pokémon with too little development;
• Starters' hogging screentime;
• Personality-less Team Rocket;
• Lackluster rivals (even though Georgia and Burgundy were quite funny at times);
• Iris's insufferable and poorly developed character;
• Lack of development for Cilan (but I still really liked him);
• Horrible League with terrible battles (only Stephan's match could be considered decent);
• Terrible Gym battles, with Elesa and Roxie being prime examples;
• Rushed pacing from the middle of the saga until the end of Episode N;
• Pointless Decolore arc.

The flaws of the saga heavily surpassed its good points, turning it into a forgettable series. I surely don't miss it at all.
 
Why did Iris and Cilan join Ash BTW?

Dawn should have stayed longer, not that it would have saved the series.

I remember that Cilan was impressed with how Ash was able to win his Gym battle and wanted to travel with him in order to improve his skills as Pokemon Connoisseur, despite how his goal never really went anywhere. I forgot what reason Iris had or if she really had a reason. I think she said something about wanting to help Ash at the beginning because he was new to the region, or something along those lines, but that never made much sense. She was there as the token female lead and they couldn't really find a reason for her to be in the group beyond that.

While I like Dawn, it wouldn't have made sense for her to stay in the cast. There were no Contests in Unova, so that wouldn't have helped with her goal. It's why her sudden appearance in the region felt really random. Plus, they needed to include characters from the then new games. Replacing Dawn with Cilan and Iris made sense and that wasn't the issue. The problem was just the writing all around BW, which included how both Cilan and Iris were handled.
 
For me, XY.

BW is a very close second, but I do have to say there were more episodes in BW that I enjoyed, and more characters I was invested in. A majority of the time, I didn't enjoy watching XY. It started off as a really great series that I had very high hopes for (especially after BW), but as it went on, it devolved into having everything I dislike about a series.

I had zero attachment to any of the characters. I really, honestly cannot name one character who I truly cared for during XY. Even Ash, who is my favorite character in the entire anime, I couldn't stand half the time. He felt so OOC, with the hero worshipping and whatnot. They set him up for some incredible league arc, and then not only does he lose the league to one of the blandest, least engaging characters the anime has ever produced, but it was quite possibly the worst league arc in the entire show.

It also just took itself way too seriously. I generally don't enjoy any very serious TV shows (I prefer lighter, funnier fare) and I feel like XY was just trying to take itself way too seriously, to the point where it came across as very forced and felt more cheesy than actually high stakes.

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but XY is the only series where I didn't watch every episode (I lost interest halfway through and reluctantly picked up again at the start of XYZ) and that was what really struck me. Even BW, which I really didn't like much either and definitely agree has flaws, I watched every episode. But with XY it got to a point where I just didn't care anymore and felt like I was wasting my time.
 
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