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

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I think people are going to be really disappointed...

And I’m not even saying this in a smug “lol gotcha!” way some others seem to be doing. I think it sucks that, in a series that has marketing very clearly using nostalgia to get us hyped, we have to be like “oh don’t get your hopes up, there’s no way they’ll do anything interesting with it.”

This series is looking like it’s going to be one missed opportunity after the other. I’m not happy about it but the sooner people realize it the better off we all will be.
 
Kyriaki said:
I have a feeling the fans are just talking themselves into believing things the anime never even mentioned about.
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Panky.. said:
Pretty sure they're intentionally advertising these carefully placed tidbits (whether Pokemon, characters, locations, events .etc. in images or summaries with carefully selected words) to get fan discussion and theories ongoing in an attempt to hype the episode, it's all baiting. It's the opposite of how they did it for XY with the same intention.
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Kyriaki said:
Would Pokemon feel the need to do that, like, right now? This is only the seventh episode, not a later episode in the middle of a villain crisis arc or a league arc which would definitely profit from lighting the spark for a huge explosive excitement to result in "Best Chapter Ever!"
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They quite literally flat out stated in an interview that the theories, discussion and clickbait articles were the reason that episode 1 is Pikachu's backstory. It’s a deliberate strategy meant to get fans to speculate on the bait. I wouldn’t fault the fans for getting excited when the PR team clearly knows they’re baiting the fans.
 
kantoskies said:
I think people are going to be really disappointed...

And I’m not even saying this in a smug “lol gotcha!” way some others seem to be doing. I think it sucks that, in a series that has marketing very clearly using nostalgia to get us hyped, we have to be like “oh don’t get your hopes up, there’s no way they’ll do anything interesting with it.”

This series is looking like it’s going to be one missed opportunity after the other. I’m not happy about it but the sooner people realize it the better off we all will be.
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I suspected pretty much from the start the supposed appeal to older fans (does anyone remember where that came from though? There's been a lot of discussion about it but I don't remember the original source) could end up being shallow; I'm wise to the ways of hype marketing (where you hint without saying so the audience or target consumer will do the work for you), and don't really trust this show in particular after empty buildup in the past (Champion League, GS Ball...).

I'm going through the next few weeks fully expecting to see Mimey as the mystery Pokémon and the Ho-oh episode to go basically nowhere and fail to mention Ash's previous encounters.
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PkmnTrainerV said:
They quite literally flat out stated in an interview that the theories, discussion and clickbait articles were the reason that episode 1 is Pikachu's backstory.
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This, too. We know the anime is aware of and employs hype marketing.
 
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PkmnTrainerV said:
They quite literally flat out stated in an interview that the theories, discussion and clickbait articles were the reason that episode 1 is Pikachu's backstory.
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Is there a link to the interview? It would be surprising if they straight up said they were expecting clickbait articles. Even if they WERE expecting that to help their PR in their favor, imo they'd be, uh, subtle about that to keep up appearances?
 
PkmnTrainerV said:
They don’t exactly mention clickbait, but expected the episode to go "viral" because it’s the backstory of Ash's Pikachu.

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/DogasusBackpack/status/1190906860552851457
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Expecting something to go "viral" is clearly different from flat out expecting clickbait articles. They wanted the episode to get attention and spread far and wide so many people can see it and get hyped - that's it. The (click)bait is a different matter altogether.
 
Kyriaki said:
Expecting something to go "viral" is clearly different from flat out expecting clickbait articles. They wanted the episode to get attention and spread far and wide so many people can see it and get hyped - that's it. The (click)bait is a different matter altogether.
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You either don't get it at all or are just trying that much harder to defend TPC's underhanded actions for some unknown reason, despite evidence of them admitting to using the false hype advertising being shown...

It is a bait if they are advertising in a certain manner with carefully placed details and then delivering either underwhelming content, or no content related to the original bait advertising at all. They intend for it to go viral with the premise of a Pikachu backstory, which is only a half truth. What we got in the actual episode was screentime that focused a lot on Gou with a rushed third segment with Pikachu.
 
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Kyriaki said:
Expecting something to go "viral" is clearly different from flat out expecting clickbait articles. They wanted the episode to get attention and spread far and wide so many people can see it and get hyped - that's it. The (click)bait is a different matter altogether.
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Something going "viral" usually means abnormally widespread attention to the level of crazes.
The inference can be made pretty easily when you could replace Ash's Pikachu with any other Pikachu and the episode would be the same. It fails to address any of the issues specific to Pikachu's backstory, or has anything distinctive. I’d have assumed it to be a glorified Pikachu short if we hadn’t been told that it’s Ash's Pichu beforehand.
 
Kyriaki said:
They probably didn't mean for the old fans to take it THIS seriously.
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When you write an episode titled Fushigidane, Isn’t It Mysterious? and truly think fans *won’t* expect a connection to Fushigidane’s Mysterious Flower Garden then clearly something is wrong. Or when you have an episode about the Battle Frontier and go out of your way to make it a random tournament. They could have used any name for this tournament but they specifically chose “Battle Frontier” because they knew fans would make the connection. It’s certainly not game advertisement since we haven’t had one since HeartGold & SoulSilver. The fact that we have to look at anything that could be a tease of nostalgia as a red herring is ridiculous. This franchise loves shoving imagery of the past down our throats while simultaneously pretending it doesn’t exist and it’s baffling.

Plus there is the official twitter account that had been tweeting about random episodes from all previous sagas for weeks leading up to the series.

Was it foolish to assume this would be an all-star reunion series? Yes. But it’s clear they are going out of their way to remind us of nostalgic elements of the franchise and then very specifically aren’t using them. It’s M20 all over again. The Houou episode coming up is really the last bit of hope I have for this series to do anything meaningful, at least for the time being.
 
kantoskies said:
When you write an episode titled Fushigidane, Isn’t It Mysterious? and truly think fans *won’t* expect a connection to Fushigidane’s Mysterious Flower Garden then clearly something is wrong.
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Specially when the latter was about an evolution ceremony in a garden and the former too is about an evolution ceremony. One is about Bulbasaur evolving into Ivysaur, and the other is about Ivysaur evolving into Venusaur. At this point I don’t know how one does not make a connection.
 
PkmnTrainerV said:
Specially when the latter was about an evolution ceremony in a garden and the former too is about an evolution ceremony. One is about Bulbasaur evolving into Ivysaur, and the other is about Ivysaur evolving into Venusaur. At this point I don’t know how one does not make a connection.
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The former episode was about developing Bulbasaur's character and the reasons why it refuses to evolve, it was quite important imo. While the latter is... a waste and a pointless filler that uses bait advertising and contributes in no way to the series that couldn't have been done in any other episode... not to mention that it tries to be cheap copy of the original.
 
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If this keeps continuing to be a problem, then someone will eventually file a complaint like they did with the we-thought-Serena-and-Ash-were-going-to-dance-but-it-was-a-Sylveon-evolution-episode, and maybe we'll hear a response.
 
Just saying, but the Ivysaur episode foreshadowed a new gym and those Ivysaur/Venusaur could come back there once the gym has been built. And Pikachu could easily have a reunion with the Kangaskhan family.

There's an interview with Go's VA where he mentioned that the callbacks are meant for parents to talk about old episodes with their kids.
 
It's more about the Pokemon as species than anything specific. But there could be exceptions every now and then.
 
Here's the source. It's the third part of a very long interview with Daiki Yamashita. I used Google Translate and fixed the grammar:

Q: You've been familiar with Pokemon since you were a child. How do you feel now when you're an adult and have a deep relationship with it?

A: I think it's amazing that everyone, regardless of age or gender, can be so engrossed in Pokemon. What's the reason for that? I think it's because everyone is an adult with just the same [?]. I am exactly this type, and I can return to Pokemon in a good way, whether it is a TV anime or a game. Even now, I feel like I can enjoy it from the same perspective as children. If you are in contact with Pokemon, you will naturally be able to return to the child within you... because the memories of those who have grown up are still alive in the Pokemon world. If you look at Pokémon in this series, which has a lot of familiar Pokémon and locations from the past, I feel that this feeling seems to be more noticeable.

Q: [Something about talking to kids about Pokemon appearing in old episodes.]

A: It's nice to be able to talk to your child about your childhood memories. For example, the scene with impressive animation, the Pokemon that was caught for the first time in the game... If you go back and forth between the past and the present, it seems that you'll never run out of topics.
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