The Power of Pika

p.s. About Misty eh i guess it depends from place to place. On bulbagarden Misty was never much popular and it saddens me to see how view toward original female is usually disrespecting and full of contemn. And i really don't know what warranted to create such negativity and hate?

Everywhere else i have been Misty is liked and popular though, whether its serebii, pokecommunity, tumblr, deviantart, youtube, facebook, pokeelite forums etc. On some of this sites even extremely liked with biggest demand out of all past companions being for her showing she is still missed by many.

Its just bulbagarden where this character has very disreputable reputation.

Personally i don't care what some say because Misty is great character having endearing, full of spark and unique traits personality which brought lot of spice, charisma and fun dynamic in cast with her strong presence,. Certain charm and type of chemistry which others couldn't replicate imo.
Along with having her motives and desires, quest of becoming water master, versatile and interesting line up of pokemon she collected during travels,sad and easy to relate background which greatly shaped in what person she became and development .

I will always have soft place for her and appreciate all those great things she brought to anime, and i wish we see her again because she knew how to spice things up and had lot of untapped potential to be done more.

Haha i can definitely catch your drift about Team Rocket, because they were one of vital source of comedy back in original series.
It was fun to see Jessie dominant personality and fierce temper getting into play being boss of group. James insecurity and submissive attitude not being able to stand up for himself gave unique spin to character and was nice contrast to Jessie attitude while Meowth with his conniving, sometimes contemplative persona trying to impress Giovanni completed chemistry between Rocket trio giving it extra flavor and identity. Although i felt things got a bit old during Johto repetitively trying to catch Pikachu, but still not to the point that i stopped enjoying.

Sad to hear that your country is so behind with N episodes, yea it can take sometime months before some countries air new episodes due to other parts of world having so called priority in getting them first. Like USA, but that0s fine. In my country pokemon barely airs anymore lol, though thanks to internet and satellite there are ways to follow new episodes. So im thankful for that.

Yep, comedy is often one of primary sources of entertainment needed in show to keep people interested and have them laugh, be amused because of various antics and outbursts they can produce. To me what matters the most about character is his personality and attitude which is one of most crucial ingredients required to make series enjoyable and appeal their dreams bring with themselves.

Same here, i liked main cast dynamic in Kanto being awesome and their progression and build on friendship was interesting to watch when carried over to Johto showing how close as friends they became still arguing, getting on their nerves but also being more understanding and familiar with their flaws giving lot of moral support and encouragement to each other.Ash, Misty and Brock had best dynamic as characters imo bringing overall more drama, conflict and lighthearted humor in this show. They all complimented each other well having excellent chemistry and interaction which was natural and unforced feeling like genuine group of friends pursuing different dreams while developing strong bond with each other feeling like family. In fact in Johto Misty mentioned to some characters like Sakura how Ash and Brock are her new family appreciating that she met them.

Although i can see your point about DP cast with Ash and Dawn forming sweet, full of mutual understand and encouragement friendship serving as inspiration to each other, while Brock was guiding them over as parental figure being "voice of reason"which made sure to bring sense into group and prevent them from rushing of in trouble.

I guess i liked BW cast and their dynamics with Iris ad Cilan working out well with Ash feeling like genuine group of friends.
Revival of Giovanni and TR organization with Jessie, James and Meowth being entrusted important missions not being used mainly as comic relief fodder which always gets blasted off was pretty refreshing change as well although i missed their goofiness being glad they are becoming more like their older selves.

I guess i liked introduction of Don George tournament too allowing that all main characters remain active, and have outlets through which they can improve not being reserved only on Ash.

And N arc was for most part enjoyable to me being one of better done things about BW. Especially his fleshed out backstoiy staying faithful to good degree to his past and motive of breaking pokemon free from human influence. N is one of BW series highlights for sure imo.

I see, feeling is mutual.

I have been thinking about some of my viewing habits lately too and im debating over myself whether to make small break from show or not. Since BW disappointed me in several ways resulting in lot of wasted potential.

Although flashbacks of Ash traveling companions in Charizard return episode, upcoming revival of Ash Butterfree and scene with all Ash older friends showed in new ending holding hands somewhat raised up my interest for show giving small tray of hope that we see more of previous companions coming back later down the road injecting more continuity in this show and rather inadequate and damaging approach writers had been using in first half of Unova having almost non existent continuation pretending like past never happened.

It sure did. Sorry for being so inactive and feckless lately but real life obligations and work took lot of my free time and when i did come in here i guess i forgot to keep in touch. Ill try to change that in future though.

So how have you been lately?

Situation seems certainly better over there compared to what its like in my country. Interest for pokemon is so low nowadays that sales barely manage to keep things staying at "positive zero", ratings for BW are very low(though its like that in whole world) and in general people are much less interested in pokemon nowadays compared to few years ago when everything was still going strong. Sad but i guess it was inevitable to happen, sooner or later.

Going by word of mouth, fan reactions online and in place where i live there were several factors made over the years which caused decline in pokemon popularity. Such as lack of interest, less viewers following series in regular way, fan disappointment over some unpopular decisions made from writer side(like replace of popular characters like Misty, change of voice actors which caused massive complaints) and quality of writing itself. How successful ratings will be depends on efficiency of marketing, how loyal fandom is toward show and through word of mouth. Which has been to my sadness highly negative over last few years.

And it doesn't surprise me why are writers starting to pay more attention to past reusing popular old classics like Charizard, listening to people demand for N and airing of Team Plasma making anime better structured plot wise. As disappointment increases this only accelerates process toward changes and getting out of current "status quo" if writers want to maintain viewer interest.

So after they wrap up Iris and Cilan(unless he stays), who knows maybe we see some other popular older faces too like Misty, May etc to bring boost to ratings and overall popularity.

Reason why i listed Australia is because i heard from some who live there how almost everyone they knew in areas they live lost interest in pokemon series mainly following reruns of older seasons, or buying DVd when pokemon was better to them, transferring more to other media such as pokemon games, cards, manga etc.

I could be wrong but judging by reactions i encountered make it seem like people over there are losing interest in new pokemon seasons too.

Either way even if ratings are in constant decline pokemon franchise as whole is hardly jeopardized. Since main reason behind pokemon long success is mostly because of games and successful sales of merchandize, rather than quality of series itself. Series stopped playing main factor in this long time ago.

That doesnp' explain other Japanese anime having higher ratings than pokemon does though. And its not only in Japan but other parts of world like USA, Europe, Australia etc too. And judging by massive amount of negative word of mouth coming from fans, negative reception and lot of complaining and criticism for today series make it seem like quality and some of unpopular decision made in past by writers had effect on drop of popularity in pokemon case more than we would expect.

If your product have good quality satisfying viewer needs , your effort is going to pay of making people hooked on some show. And over the years writing staff failed in doing so.

Usually ratings of some TV show never drop only because of one, but multiple factors leading gradually toward its drop.

Hehe, i bet you would.

Maybe its just me, but it seems like whole N arc seems like desperate attempt from writer side to boost ratings and attract more fans toward show. Not sure if your familiar with this but for first time in history of series between 21 and 27th Janury of 2013 didn't reached top 10, and in 2012 BW had lowest ratings ever going between 2.2 and 3.7.
For same reason they bringing Charizard back.

Im not surprised because disrespect toward past and previous companions people grew to like, scarse continuity, lack of cohesive story and repetitive formula with no real going forward is eroding foundations on which series popularity was build damaging anime popularity.
Hopefully this might be indication of writing staff starting to reconsider their current approach deciding to change something and open door toward new, untried ideas. Such as revival of popular previous characters taking advantage of their popularity and iconic status they already established around themselves.

p.s. I hope so too, i miss that mood and excitement when pokemon movies used to air in theaters being truly memorable and singularly experience.

Hi, sorry for being so inactive lately. Sometimes i got occupied with other things and obligations that i forget about everything else.

Doing fine, watching TV at moment and surfing on net at same time. Crazy i know, lol. Also for third time in year snow fall over here which is record, because in place where i live mostly prevails Mediterranean clime being rarity if we even see snow once. Let alone three times, so you could say it was pleasant surprise having fun with my friends.

p.s. So it seems climax of N and Team Plasma saga is building up toward its culmination. But after that it will be left time worth of around 35 additional episodes before BW saga truly ends and 6th gen begins. Any expectations for this?

Im hoping for expansion of world tournament, something like Senior Cup being sequel to Junior Cup bringing back some of older characters for it. Preferably Misty, its been way too long last time we saw her.

Oh they're airing movies in theaters again in your country? That's awesome. Over here after 5th movie , they stopped releasing it only through DVd's or airing on TV.

I have pretty boring life lately lol. You know usual same old routine. Working, watching TV, reading books etc. Summer and Spring are much more exciting periods, but winter eh its pretty quiet and repetitive at this year period.

Aww, really? That's a bummer, where do you come from again?
Sorry i forgot. Australia?

Sad to hear about all those spurious fires just so sick people (pyromans)could have "spectacle" for their sick pleasure. They don't have any respect for nature,, forest, people safety and their lives etc only inseminating destruction.

Hi, been awhile i heard from you. Doing fine, just enjoying in winter charms you could say. Yesterday it started snowing so im just having fun with friends haha. Over here where i live it rarely snows, so most people don't mind when we get some of it regardless of negative things it can sometime bring with itself.

Merry Christmas. I hope you have a great one.

Oh i see, well over here its rather strange. Pokemon started to lose its steam after fad died out too, though most people in area where i live started massively quitting at start of Hoenn when Misty left cast not seeing point to continue when characters started to be replaced.Situation online at that time was horrible too with complaints about Misty leaving being all over the place(God i still remember all those flamewars on forums). Than after first season of Hoenn for some reason TV companies stopped buying rights to air rest of Hoenn and DP and it stayed that way until BW started. With Bw it started to air in my country again, weird isn't it that whole Hoenn and Sinnoh was skipped? Either there wasn't money or interest was too low for Hoenn, not really sure.

Yeah change can sometime be good, i know what you mean. If you have opportunity to find job which is better payed, has better terms and is more enjoyable i say definitely go for it.

Sad to hear you were sick, and im wishing you speedy recovery. Cold viruses can be bitch to deal with absorbing lot of your energy and enthusiasm sometimes. So make sure to rest as much as you can before you get fully recovered.

Hehe it seems were on same ground because im watching several anime too. Currently im most into Pokemon, Yugioh(though i don't like Zexal much), Bakugan and occasionally One Piece and Naruto. I got into Monsuno lately too, though im still at beginning falling a bit behind.
Out of games i play sometime Yugioh online, but that's about that.

It must be great to own almost all pokemon seasons on DVD, in my country its hard to come across of some of them. Bad supply and interest in my country dwindled ever since Johto ended, though with BW it seems people became abit more interested.

With me im currently looking for new job too, with economy and global crisis which affected country not giving much prospect to get full time permanent job. Mot employers don't want to risk offering you only seasonal jobs, but i guess that's better than nothing ad it gives you just enough money to survive until you find something else.

In other news my brother only has one more year until he finish college and gets master degree in English and Croatian language(study is long 5 years), so you could say im happy for him.

p.s. Oh and, weather is commutable over here being kinda bleak and rainy. You know typical Autumn.

Hi, nice to see you again. You could say last few days were very busy and hectic for me, but worse is now behind. How has life been treating you?

Hi Pika.

I'm doing okay too. Sounds fun.

But anyway i think DP and Johto cast were most underrated groups this show had, with people only paying attention to bad things and ignoring anything good which happened there.

p.s. Thanks for such detailed and well thought out response explaining your preference toward certain regions. And yes i share same sentiment about Gary too.

Out of Kanto trio my favorite is Misty, second would be Ash and third Brock.