Which is better: DP or BW?

[Yankees4life]

I think it just proves that we're in the middle of this saga. Didn't somebody that works with the English dub say that BW was a 3 year saga? It's true that a little more than a year and a half passed, but that's counting the weeks with no episodes.

Yes and BW2 will be the concluding season in the BW saga, it seems...

 

[Masurao]

I think BW2 will be a major turn around for Best Wishes. Already the upcoming events sound like they're far better than anything in BW1.

There's other stuff coming up sure, but I don't see anything that would vastly improve BW.

 

[Cybersai]

I prefer DP but I like the characters of BW better.

For DP looking back, most of the rivals were duds. Only Paul and Barry were the stand out ones, and Ursula and Conway are too underused throughout the saga. Everyone else was either just OK or forgettable (like Kenny).

The DP trio bored me to death. I could never get into it. I knew right from the beginning it was going to be bland and I was right. I couldn't get into the DP coordinators much either, because Zoey and Kenny were too dull to hold my interest. Nando and Ursula could have been handled much better in terms of screentime.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I prefer DP but I like the characters of BW better.

For DP looking back, most of the rivals were duds. Only Paul and Barry were the stand out ones, and Ursula and Conway are too underused throughout the saga. Everyone else was either just OK or forgettable (like Kenny).

Aside from Kenny, Nando and maybe Conway, I still prefer the rivals in DP over BW. At least the rivals had some kind of impact in their rivalries with Ash and Dawn. Georgia and Burgundy are entertaining characters, but the rivalries themselves feel pretty weak to me.

The DP trio bored me to death. I could never get into it. I knew right from the beginning it was going to be bland and I was right. I couldn't get into the DP coordinators much either, because Zoey and Kenny were too dull to hold my interest. Nando and Ursula could have been handled much better in terms of screentime.

That sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. If you never were willing to give the DP trio a chance, no wonder you keep believing that it was bland. I still don't think the trio is nearly that bad. I've been rewatching the series and while the DP trio isn't perfect, I do see a fairly solid group dynamic between the three of them and it works for me. They could have done more with the Dawn and Brock interactions, but they're all clearly friends with each other. That's honestly a lot more than I can say about the BW trio when only Ash and Cilan are the only ones the feel like friends. Iris really doesn't feel like she works with the group and it doesn't help that she doesn't have a reason for traveling with Ash. Dawn's rivals were kind of dull, but I did end up growing to respect Zoey. Not so much for being a rival, although I thought that they handled the student-mentor relationship pretty well, but because of her skills as a Coordinator. Kenny was dull and I never cared for him either. Nando was wasted potential and Ursula, while the most interesting rival Dawn had, really should have had an on-screen victory at some point.

 

[Cybersai]

Oh please, when DP first started I was actually interested in Dawn and at the beginning at least Piplup was funny. Brock coming back again always felt strange to me, as even back in AG we were beginning to notice how Brock wasn't doing much. I actually remember some people being disappointed that Brock was returning at DP's start, particularly because we thought Paul would be on the cast due to that misleading DP poster from 2006.

The DP trio had no chemistry. Its actually hard to describe into words just how boring it was. Now I know why so many people got bored of the DP series somewhere around the middle, it wasn't that the episodes were bad, its just that the main cast became so dull and monotone that it made the episodes difficult to watch.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Oh please, when DP first started I was actually interested in Dawn and at the beginning at least Piplup was funny. Brock coming back again always felt strange to me, as even back in AG we were beginning to notice how Brock wasn't doing much. I actually remember some people being disappointed that Brock was returning at DP's start, particularly because we thought Paul would be on the cast due to that misleading DP poster from 2006.

Even though you said that you were interested in Dawn when the series first started, that doesn't make me think that you gave the trio a chance based on how you said that you believe it would be bland from the start. I remember people believing that Paul would be on the main cast due to that poster. I'm not sure if I ever believed that could happen due to how he didn't look particularly happy in that poster, but I didn't mind Brock coming back. I thought that he did get a decent amount of focus in DP and I still liked him.

The DP trio had no chemistry. Its actually hard to describe into words just how boring it was. Now I know why so many people got bored of the DP series somewhere around the middle, it wasn't that the episodes were bad, its just that the main cast became so dull and monotone that it made the episodes difficult to watch.

I still respectfully disagree. The DP trio had chemistry and I think that the hate towards that group is a bit much. They could have done more with it, specifically with the Dawn and Brock interactions, but I thought it was fine. There were boring moments in the series, but I wouldn't blame that on the the DP trio themselves. It was because of the episodes themselves from what I remember. I'm planning on watching the whole series once I buy the Galactic Battles and Sinnoh League Victors DVD box sets, but I'm currently rewatching Battle Dimensions and the DP trio still seems fine to me. They're all good friends that care about each other with their own roles in the series. I'd honestly take a group like the DP trio over the BW trio since there's at least a solid friendship between Ash, Dawn and Brock. There's a pretty good friendship between Ash and Cilan, but I still don't see Iris as a friend with either one of them and the fact that she just feels like she's there makes the BW trio worse for me.

 

[Masurao]

I, for one, wonder why the writing style changed for BW. Did the writers think DP was too serious?

 

[Cybersai]

I, for one, wonder why the writing style changed for BW. Did the writers think DP was too serious?

My guess is it went on too long and kids lost interest. I am actually curious as to how many kids who started watching back in 2006 made it to the end of the series in 2010...that is 4 years after all.

Stretching plotlines over 4 years probably confused little kids. More compact sagas like Kanto, Orange, Battle Frontier, BW and to a lesser extent Hoenn make the storylines flow faster.

After all it was the same problem with Johto, which is why all of us lost interest 10 years ago due to the endless fillers.

 

[투 애니원]

Best Wishes seriously need improvements.

The series had go on for one year and Iris achieved nothing. As for Dawn, she already had a few ribbons on hand by this time.

Wut? Iris has won the Don battle tournament and reached the top 8 in the donamite tournament.

 

[Cybersai]

Wut? Iris has one the Don battle tournament and reached the top 8 in the donamite tournament.

Well I guess because the Don battle tournaments don't seem all that important. All you win are feathers or vitamin drinks.

You also don't need to win any stuff beforehand like you would for a league or Grand Festival. But I do think the writers had Iris win one so she had SOME major accomplishment early on.

 

[Hidden Mew]

My guess is it went on too long and kids lost interest. I am actually curious as to how many kids who started watching back in 2006 made it to the end of the series in 2010...that is 4 years after all.

Stretching plotlines over 4 years probably confused little kids. More compact sagas like Kanto, Orange, Battle Frontier, BW and to a lesser extent Hoenn make the storylines flow faster.

I'm not sure if DP last for four years would confuse the audience. While the pacing was slow, there were still plenty of development with those storylines and battles to keep the kids interested. Plus, Hoenn only lasted about three years, so that's not significantly shorter than four years.

After all it was the same problem with Johto, which is why all of us lost interest 10 years ago due to the endless fillers.

I think that you're assuming that everyone felt the same way about the Johto saga when you know full well that not everyone hated it or lost interest in it. I certainly didn't and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. It was slow, but I honestly do think it offered some improvements over Kanto and the Orange Islands.

Well I guess because the Don battle tournaments don't seem all that important. All you win are feathers or vitamin drinks.

You also don't need to win any stuff beforehand like you would for a league or Grand Festival. But I do think the writers had Iris win one so she had SOME major accomplishment early on.

Iris didn't deserve to win the Club Battle Tournament. I wouldn't have had a problem with Iris winning that tournament if she actually earned it. Her victories before the finals were handed to her, especially Axew vs. Golett, and Excadrill vs. Pikachu wasn't really much of a satisfying victory because of how she won her previous matches. If they wanted to have Iris have some accomplishment early on, then they should have had her train for it, make some decent progression with Axew and actually have buildup to her victory like with Dawn in the Wallace Cup. Just having her win for the shake of giving her an accomplishment is just lazy and a poor excuse for giving Iris that victory.

 

[Masurao]

My guess is it went on too long and kids lost interest. I am actually curious as to how many kids who started watching back in 2006 made it to the end of the series in 2010...that is 4 years after all.

Still, they could have kept decent the character development they had in DP in tact though.

 

[Catspring]

I like DP better. It had funny, unique characters and a good plotline. I loved the filler sagas like the one with the Pokemon Summer Academy, and I loved Dawn, Brock, Paul, and Zoey. I think Contests were at their prime in DP, and now they aren't in the anime altogether. I loved the personalities of all of the main cast Pokemon, and the Chimchar/Paul plotline made everything even more interesting. DP had a great art style and even the fillers were fun to watch.

That being said, I also like BW, but not as much. I like the personalities of a few of the main cast Pokemon (Pikachu, Snivy, Oshawott, Emolga, Axew), but the art style seems too different for my taste (aesthetics are a big deal for me) and the fillers don't exactly cut it. The fillers are boring and repetitive - at least DP had a few interesting ones (A Maze-ing Race, the Mismagius one, Different Strokes for Different Blokes, and Keeping in Top Forme leap to mind). BW season 2 seems promising, though, and I'll be watching to see if things improve.

 

[Cybersai]

Just curious, did the DP trio leave any long lasting impact on anyone? It felt to me that that "trio" wound up being forgotten about entirely as soon as BW started. While some liked Dawn herself, they think of her as an individual, not with the DP trio.

I honestly think the DP trio will wind up being the least remembered group of them all once the show ends at some point.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

^ Not if we keep talking about them, they won't, and your reminding everyone how exaggeratingly disconnected they were doesn't help your case either.

 

[Cybersai]

I mean least memorable, not "totally forgotten."

 

[Hidden Mew]

Just curious, did the DP trio leave any long lasting impact on anyone? It felt to me that that "trio" wound up being forgotten about entirely as soon as BW started. While some liked Dawn herself, they think of her as an individual, not with the DP trio.

I honestly think the DP trio will wind up being the least remembered group of them all once the show ends at some point.

Considering how often the DP trio is up for discussion, especially when you keep reminding people of your opinion of their chemistry, I don't think that they'll be the least remembered group. It will probably come up just about as often as Johto at this rate. They weren't outstanding for me, but they were good friends and I liked how close they were as the series progressed. I think that people can think of a character as an individual and as part of the group. That doesn't really sound too hard to me, especially when they did put a lot of attention to her interactions with Ash. They could have done more with how she interacted with Brock, but they were good friends who cared about each other and Brock supported Dawn along with Ash during her Contest journey. Not to mention taught her how to treat injured Pokemon, which did play a significant role in getting Mamoswine to listen to Dawn. They were fun, likable characters that were clearly good friends and were pretty entertaining throughout the series, which is good enough for me.

 

[Chronos]

I may have posted on this thread before, but I don't care. I said it once, and I'll say it again; DP is way better than BW, and for many reasons:

- No dumb Ash
- No Iris
- No Trip
- Rivals were miles better (BW has a couple good rivals (Bianca, Burgundy, and I guess Georgia to an extent)
- Ash's team actually progressed throughout DP and you could tell that they were powerful and ready for the league towards the end; his Unova team is still bland after seven badges.

I feel bad for Cilan. He has to be associated with a lackluster saga. He should've been introduced in DP so he could travel with Ash and Dawn. Oh well, at least he'll still be meeting her in a few episodes.

 

[CrackFox]

Just curious, did the DP trio leave any long lasting impact on anyone? It felt to me that that "trio" wound up being forgotten about entirely as soon as BW started. While some liked Dawn herself, they think of her as an individual, not with the DP trio.

I honestly think the DP trio will wind up being the least remembered group of them all once the show ends at some point.

I totally agree. When I think DP I instantly think Ash and Dawn. Sometimes I forgot Brock was there when he actually was there during an episode.
They got the balance wrong and they will be forgotten as a trio. No one will forget about Dawn and Ash's relationship in a hurry, but that's not the point.

To give balance, because it might seem like I'm always knocking DP, there are some aspects of it which I truly enjoyed. I loved Paul's rivalry with Ash (admittedly much better than his rivalry with Shooti) I also loved his emotional connection with Chimchar. I feel like the writers have gone down that route again with Pokabu. That's an interesting pattern, since they also did the same thing with Charmander back in Kanto. It seems like every fire type starter has abandonment issues and Ash is there to save them. Anyway my point is, although I love Pokabu, it's my favorite Pokemon at the minute, I still feel like they handled Chimchar's back story better and it was a lot more interesting and emotional to watch. Generally I didn't care much for Ash's DP Pokemon except for Chimchar and obviously Gliscor, but I did love those two a lot. There was also some very entertaining Gym leaders that BW hasn't delivered.

On the flipside, I prefer BW. No more contests is a huge plus. I was getting very bored of them. I was ready to say goodbye to Dawn but not really because of any big dislike, I was mostly just happy that we wouldn't have to put up with Piplup anymore. Personally, I think the writing has regressed in some ways and improved in others. I find BW to be much more light hearted. The professor is lovely (Rowan was awful) and finally we get rivals for all! Not only that, but the rivals are actually interesting and down right hilarious. I like the fact that gender is being taken into account in the Pokemon World too. It adds another dimension. Snivy is so much more awesome because we know she's a diva with an attitude, Emolga too. Much more diverse, and the pacing is a big factor. DP really dragged and that's not coming from someone who isn't a fan, I felt that way about Johto even though it featured my favorite trio.

 

[Ampharos King]

DP > BW
- Battles
- Storyline (everything in DP was tied together; it wasn't just a loose string of random episodes in between a small number of important ones)
- Character development (both humans and Pokemon)
- Quality of filler episodes
- Handling of TRio (especially Jessie)
- Better rivals/recurring cast (although some characters like Zoey and Kenny didn't really have unique quirks that made them stand out in any way)

BW > DP
- Better male sidekick character (Cilan's unique quirks brought a lot of breathing room and new life to a series that had the same male sidekick for over a decade)
- Pacing was better (DP was very repetitive and it took over 160 episodes for Ash to get his final Sinnoh badge)
- Better character dynamics (especially BurgundyxCilan)
- Attack animations (finally Steel-type attacks actually look metallic and Hyper Beam finally resembles its game animation)

Just curious, did the DP trio leave any long lasting impact on anyone? It felt to me that that "trio" wound up being forgotten about entirely as soon as BW started.

I never really saw the DP main characters as part of a "trio" except for the events during the Team Galactic three-part finale. Perhaps it was because Dawn was so focused on raising her pokemon for contests, Ash was training his pokemon for gym battles, and Brock was simply preparing their meals and watching over them. There were moments when Ash and Dawn interacted with one another in DP outside of training battles (the most notable being DP029). Ash and Brock also had a few scenes here and there, mainly towards the beginning and end of the series.

There were hardly any moments when I saw the three interact with one another for more than a few seconds. Usually a fourth character had to be introduced into the mix in order for things to spice up during an episode.

While some liked Dawn herself, they think of her as an individual, not with the DP trio.

I got that impression for all of the main protagonists in DP. Ash was so focused on training his pokemon for gym battles and trying to live up to Paul's expectations that he wasn't interacting with Dawn or Brock that much. Meanwhile, Dawn was living up to her mother's reputation and focused most of her free time on contests. Brock hardly got much screentime in DP outside of his recurring gags, but he had a few starring episodes in which he interacted with another character outside of the main cast.

The BW main cast is seen interacting a lot more with one another. Ash and Cilan are usually the ones to strike up a conversation while Iris tries to insert her own opinion to validate her presence among them.