SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion

[Pikachu315111]

Admittedly, the backgrounds and the Pokémon themselves look better than the humans. I'm wondering if this movie is related to I Choose You! or Everyone's Story, though. It seems to be a completely different thing.

It looks to just be a 1:1 3D remake of the first movie. So part of the original anime but not the semi-movie reboot the've been doing. I don't get it. I can't even compare it to the Live Action remakes Disney has been doing with its movies as at least Disney is trying to do things differently with those movies (... and despite that the original animated movies are still better so maybe stop doing the remakes Disney and focus on original stuff? Also ease up on what Tetsuya Nomura can do with the Disney stuff in Kingdom Hearts. :P).

THAT SAID. Pokemon Company did recently put in a patent for "Armored Mewtwo". And for those paying attention to Gen 8 rumors, the newest mechanic is said to be "armored evolution". Yeah, take that for what you will... and with a grain of salt...

 

[Karxrida]

Admittedly, the backgrounds and the Pokémon themselves look better than the humans. I'm wondering if this movie is related to I Choose You! or Everyone's Story, though. It seems to be a completely different thing.

The Pokémon do look better, but something about the art style causes them to barely surpass TCG commercial quality.

 

[ZettaiRyouiki]

It looks to just be a 1:1 3D remake of the first movie. So part of the original anime but not the semi-movie reboot the've been doing. I don't get it.

There's this theory from Dogasu which claims this movie is made to pander to Americans: hence why it's on the 30th birthday of the movie over there and why it's on 3D since lately Americans don't like 2D that much. Of course it's just a theory but it makes sense.

 

[Karxrida]

There's this theory from Dogasu which claims this movie is made to pander to Americans: hence why it's on the 30th birthday of the movie over there and why it's on 3D since lately Americans don't like 2D that much. Of course it's just a theory but it makes sense.

The problem with this theory is that Pokémon movies only get fairly limited theatrical releases (if at all) in the US before being dumped on TV. They'd be better off just pandering to Japan to maximize the box office intake.

Like maybe they're pushing for Blu-Ray sales, but that's kind of a declining market.

 

[ZettaiRyouiki]

The problem with this theory is that Pokémon movies only get fairly limited theatrical releases (if at all) in the US before being dumped on TV. They'd be better off just pandering to Japan to maximize the box office intake.

Like maybe they're pushing for Blu-Ray sales, but that's kind of a declining market.

That's probably true, but Game Freak isn't known for critical decision making.

 

[Pikachu315111]

That's probably true, but Game Freak isn't known for critical decision making.

Except this isn't GF making the decision, it's The Pokemon Company. While GF owns a third of the Pokemon Company, they are two separate entities with the Pokemon Company in charge of handling the merchandising of the Pokemon brand which includes the anime. If anyone OKed a 3D remake of the first movie, it was the Pokemon Company with at most GF only being told the plan (and at most asked for permission to go ahead with the plan).

 

[ZettaiRyouiki]

Except this isn't GF making the decision, it's The Pokemon Company. While GF owns a third of the Pokemon Company, they are two separate entities with the Pokemon Company in charge of handling the merchandising of the Pokemon brand which includes the anime. If anyone OKed a 3D remake of the first movie, it was the Pokemon Company with at most GF only being told the plan (and at most asked for permission to go ahead with the plan).

My bad. TPC still makes weird decisions sometimes.

 

[Pikachu315111]

So that Magikarp episode trailer is up:

So, guessing Mallow, Lana, and Lillie signed up for a magical girl series and they're fighting a devil Gyarados...

Remember, they felt this episode had to air before the one where Kukui announces the Pokemon League and Guzma makes his debut appearance.

 

[11pikabro]

The last season of Sun & Moon, Ultra Legends appears in the U.S. pretty soon (the English already released in Canada), so I'll just drop some of my (many) thoughts and experiences on the SM anime so far.
__________

Alola's Different Style

Let me start with the animation. If you can’t get yourself to enjoy Sun and Moon’s animation, then you might be like my brother. He himself hasn’t felt compelled to follow SM partially because of how its animation contrasts to the “polish” that XY’s animation had. There was this distinct lighting to XY’s animation that just made everything glow beautifully, including the characters.
SM traded away some of that nice glow for the ability to model its characters better, to make them more dynamic in design and even go off model when desired. The rewards gained from doing so have publicly been noticed in SM’s light-hearted moments and punchlines. What has been understated by fans is that the changes did even more wonders for the anime’s serious moments, and I’ve gradually noticed their improvements to the battle choreography, too. I also can’t help but love the refreshing set of colors that SM brought in. It’s easier on the eyes and better fits with the kind of region you’d expect Alola to be like.

The pacing of the SM is different yet still familiar.
I know that most folks see Ash’s Island Challenge and creation of the Alolan Pokémon League as the main focus of the show, or at least these are what they look the most forward to. With respect to these goals, the show’s pacing plays out similarly to previous Pokémon series if you treat the Island Trials as gyms. There are relatively lengthy periods of filler, then it moves on to the short Trial arc for whichever island is relevant, and then the pattern repeats. Labeling the Nebby and Necrozma episode arcs as important parts to the show doesn’t interfere with this pacing, either. If anything, they further even it out the pacing so that the filler doesn’t stack up too much.
THEN AGAIN, this all implies that all the in-between episodes are less notable filler episodes, which simply isn’t the case for SM. Ash’s on-and-off of school adventures with his classmates make up most of the series, so it’s difficult to claim that they’re any less important, especially when most of the character growth come from these episodes. A bunch of these episodes are there just for amusement, but the rest are have been great stand-alone episodes that I’d likely rewatch for fun.

Older gen filler usually involved people you’ll see one time before Ash moves on and they’re “Never Seen Again LUL.” Here in Alola, Ash always being near the locals or finding them on field trips opens up multiple chances to view familiar faces and has allowed the show to develop more characters than previous series were able to do, even if their respective developments are rather unbalanced (e.g. Lillie gets her own story arc while Kukui is limited to being the Masked Royale—not that I’m complaining).
Episodes involving Team Rocket still follow their old meddlesome formula, but these episodes are seen less often than before. Bewear’s hilarious interferences and their own personal enjoyment of Alolan life have pulled them away from their usual Pokémon-abducting affairs. Plus, there’s Team Skull for the occasional change-up. This has helped increased the quality and variety of SM’s filler, which as a result makes all the “Pokémon-of-the-day” fillers that much more interesting, nice!

And for what I think of the show's content? Well, I probably should've posted sooner to get more thoughts in, but I'll go over these three subjects for now.

Ash's Alolan family

Ash and co. all have a home to go back to after school, so it makes sense that family as a theme plays a bigger role in SM than it did in previous generations. We get to meet the families of all of Ash’s friends early on in the show, which helped make this larger cast quickly more relatable and easier to distinguish from one another. Team Rocket also ends up with their own home base mostly due to being tied to Bewear, and it’s nice to see that they have an actual home base to fall back on for once.

Pokémon are actively together with people in Alola. Ash and co.’s Pokémon are usually seen outside of their Poké Balls, and they’re usually seen either playing with each other during class time or happily spending time with their Trainers. Most Alolan Trainers actively have their Pokémon out with them, whether they are rather in the office like with Lusamine or on a journey like with Gladion. Even Team Rocket keeps their Pokémon out when at home base or when selling their malasadas. The only ones who don’t usually have their Pokémon out are Team Skull, who are rather irresponsible at attending their own Pokémon, and Kukui, who obviously needs to keep his Masked Royal identity under wraps (I’m unsure why he withholds Braviary).

For Ash's current "family," it feels pretty good seeing it grow over time to what it is now. Over at Pallet Town, it’s just Ash himself, Pikachu, Delia, and Mr. Mime. At Kukui’s house, though, we get a lot of personality from Ash’s nice variety of pets delightful new team members, from Rotom-Dex, and a little from Burnett and Munchlax. Ash's team members are always interacting with each other too on an everyday basis, so to call his Alolan party a family feels more genuine than it ever did to call any other party he's had. Even his original Indigo team doesn't compare to them as a better family anymore, and SM hasn't even finished.

The Somber Moments

Anyone who’s been keeping up with SM knows exactly which episodes I’m referring to. My own opinion of these episodes is that they sit among Pokémon’s finest, topping even some of the most iconic moments recognized across the Pokémon fandom.

...I actually had a more to say for this subject.
I'll just say that SM has impressively jabbed me in the feels twice, and I know I'll probably get hit hard in the future, too (thanks, Serebii screen captures and previous thread posters). I'm also glad that the show spaced out the Litten episodes far enough from each other to keep me in a suspense for the eventual day that Ash would catch him. I didn't expect to get emotionally jabbed the same episode but in a later one.
Also, I've noticed that the animation and music improves drastically in the show's somber episodes. Studio OLM made sure these episodes would stick with us.

Good battles still exist? Well...

With the shift to Ash’s new less competitive battling life, this question is still worth asking. Overall, Pokémon battles in Alola have been a small step back from what we were treated to in Kalos.

If you’re worried about Ash’s ability, worry not! He’s about as strong as he was in XY. He’s also the spark that pushes Kukui to complete his Pokémon League dream. Kukui’s not used to Ash’s unusual set of tactics (more on this in a bit), so I guess Ash is just a breath of fresh air for him.
His team overall is good but still has plenty of room to grow. As for Pikachu, he’s arguably in the best state he’s ever been in the anime.

As of this point in SM, the two best battles Ash has had the pleasure of having involve him fighting non-Alolan Trainers (Misty, Jessie). While he’s had good battles against Alolan Trainers, these two are just better in my opinion.
Alola at the very least has decently strong Trainers. All of his Grand Trials up to Ultra Legends have been pretty fun to watch (and I assume his battle with Hapu will be the same). Gladion has enough reasons to be a good rival, with the Type:Null vs. Lycanroc battle being a good sample for might happen later. Kiawe has plenty of skill, too, and he already had a good battle versus Brock. The rest of Ash’s class are capable battlers, too, and they need to be as Ultra Guardians.

Visually speaking, battles have been about as good if not better than past Pokémon series. The updated animation enhances the scrappier nature of these battles and to the spectacles that are Z-Moves. They may have focused too much on the spectacle, though.
Many of Ash's Alolan battles don’t compare to his usual standard because of the fewer displays of any nifty tactics or improv. Alolan Trainers do a great job making the most of their Pokémon’s special traits (e.g. Popplio’s balloons), but they don’t improvise much further. Z-Power is something everyone in Alola relies on, but perhaps it’s relied too much on to the point where Alolan Trainers don’t consider more complex strategies. In addition, it’s unusual seeing most of Ash’s big official matches only on flat terrain.
SM also has a lot more team play involved in its battles, which unfortunately cuts into how much Ash can actually finesse with his individual battling style. The teamwork has compromised any chances of having grand battles with the Ultra Beasts, since it’d be dubious for the Ultra Guardians not to work together to secure them.

__________

Lastly, a few of the things that impressed me from these first two seasons.

Misc.

---Favorite episodes so far:
“A Battle Hand-Off!” — the much-anticipated Pikachu vs. Mimikyu duel is currently my favorite battle of SM. I can forgive the lack of special tactics because the episode shines in many other ways. The Ula’ula Trial arc in general has been the most fun arc to watch.

“The Shape of Love to Come!” — “Showering the World with Love!” really improved my opinion of Poipole (bless Poipole!), but that episode is hard to watch without getting emotionally jabbed. This episode, on the other hand, is much easier to rewatch with its focus on love and family, plus it has a lot of other things to it that I really enjoy.

“I Choose Paradise!” — I do love a relaxing spa, and the anime finally gets a wholesome episode where so many big, evolved Pokémon get to be playful and happy! Now all those times Bonnie had called even fearsome Pokémon cute made sense.

--- Top 5 Favorite Pokémon Battles:
1) Ula’ula Pre-Trial: Pikachu vs. Mimikyu
2) Field trip Gym battle: Ash vs. Misty
3) Akala Trial: Lana vs. Totem Wishiwashi (yes, actually)
4) Ula’ula Grand Trial: Ash vs. Nanu
5) Akala Grand Trial: Ash vs. Olivia

--- Most Impressive Z-Move: Extreme Evoboost
I thought the anime would have a more sensible way to show off Extreme Evoboost. The way the Eeveelutions get summoned is still absurd, though, and I love it.
Honorable mention to 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt for the colorful display.

---The way the show revamped a familiar move.
When Leafage was first shown off in the anime, it was very similar to the typical Razor Leaf attack but with the kind of flow you’d normally see from a Magical Leaf. It made me wonder how those two moves would be presented if Leafage already looked that good. Then, Rowlet got indirectly powered up by Tapu Bulu and performed…some sort of leafy green Air Cutter? Maybe a Sonic Boom? It blew me away that the Rowlet’s new move was indeed Razor Leaf, and it made me excited to see if other moves would also get revamped.

---We finally see Magic Guard in the anime.
It seems to follow the original Gen 4 mechanics, too, but from remembering how Toxic Spikes worked in the anime during Gen 4, it’s possible Clefable did actually get Poisoned and simply ignored the damage, as how Magic Guard works post-Gen 4.

--Every now and then, there are some short scene transitions of wild Pokémon doing whatever. They're just little bonuses, yet I'm glad they're a thing because of how they remind me of the transitions from "Pikachu's Vacation."

__________

For me, Sun and Moon is tied with XY for my 3rd favorite Pokémon anime series, behind DP and Indigo League. It has plenty of time to break ahead from XY, though it's up to this last Alolan season to make that happen.

 

[precita]

The SM saga did improve a lot after the first year, I'm not sure if it's because the writers learned how to write better for this tone/art style of the show or just got more used to it, but the saga had an upswing from around mid 2018's eps to now. I remember finding a lot of the early SM eps really boring besides a few, and a lot were still getting used to the new style after XY. However the later eps have been more amusing, with better focus on the supporting cast like Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, etc. and even Ash's design has improved.

It's still not my ideal saga but I can understand how some would really like it. I still place it on the lower end of the spectrum of my arcs (I prefer it over BW, Johto, etc but not so much over anything else), but to each their own. The good thing about the anime going on so long is everyone has a different favorite part of it.

 

[Karxrida]

New movie trailer.

 

[DreamPrince]

New movie trailer.

Wow, the people look awful. I think it’s because of the eyes. They seem so dull and dark. Even Misty’s hair seems to be a lot darker than the anime. All the characters give me the vibe that they are made of clay.

The Pokémon and background are acceptable though. Not outstanding to the point of Pixar or Disney. You know Pokémon company, if your going to do a 3D animated film, for Americans, it should at least rival our companies here.

 

[Karxrida]

All the characters give me the vibe that they are made of clay.

That's a huge disservice to claymation. At least claymation looks tangibly real while also having its own charm.

You know Pokémon company, if your going to do a 3D animated film, for Americans, it should at least rival our companies here.

Isn't the American pandering thing just a theory?

 

[Pikachu315111]

You know Pokémon company, if your going to do a 3D animated film, for Americans, it should at least rival our companies here.

I don't think this is pandering to the US, if anything it's pandering to the wider Gen Wunners which I think is a global group (or does Japan not have fans who think Gen 1 was the one and only best generation?).

Then again, I have no idea why they're even doing this. Already the Gen VII batch of movies have been strange as they're set in an alternate timeline starring a different Ash (was the anime formula and tone switch so drastic they didn't feel comfortable doing movies with Ash & the Alolan crew?). But now they're going back, WAY back.

Part of me wonders if they're doing this because they don't have a new mythical Pokemon to showcase so are taking the opportunity to experiment with a new style. Them remaking the first movie in this case is more of them making a "safe move", they'll know people will go see it anyway so even if the new art style doesn't work they'll probably make back their money.

And of course there's that nagging rumor of Armor Evolution and they made sure to showcase Mewtwo in his armor...

 

[DreamPrince]

That's a huge disservice to claymation. At least claymation looks tangibly real while also having its own charm.



Isn't the American pandering thing just a theory?

Sorry, claymation is probably closet thing I could relate too for this.

I don't think this is pandering to the US, if anything it's pandering to the wider Gen Wunners which I think is a global group (or does Japan not have fans who think Gen 1 was the one and only best generation?).

Then again, I have no idea why they're even doing this. Already the Gen VII batch of movies have been strange as they're set in an alternate timeline starring a different Ash (was the anime formula and tone switch so drastic they didn't feel comfortable doing movies with Ash & the Alolan crew?). But now they're going back, WAY back.

Part of me wonders if they're doing this because they don't have a new mythical Pokemon to showcase so are taking the opportunity to experiment with a new style. Them remaking the first movie in this case is more of them making a "safe move", they'll know people will go see it anyway so even if the new art style doesn't work they'll probably make back their money.

And of course there's that nagging rumor of Armor Evolution and they made sure to showcase Mewtwo in his armor...

Wasn't it Spirit Armor now?

 

[PsychicAcademic]

Long time no see the anime, but anyway....

That Magikarp episode? Too Precure lolw
Oh, GUZMA is back. And has a bone to pick with Kukui. This looks even more personal than in the games.

The Aether....

Looks Like this is going to be good (as long as we don't have too much filler episodes). And Faba's looking like young researchers, Wicke's thin. Lusamine really looked like Lillie.

There's an episode about Mohn after their confirmation of his apparently alive status. Looks like Lillie will get even more character development, which is a good thing since I was afraid after the end of Lusamine Rescue arc, Lillie would be forgotten, but nope.

On top of that, we learn much more about Mohn than we do in the games. He even have a Magearna, and while it couldn't be woken up, he actually kept the newly bought (from antique shop) Magearna for the recently born Lillie. And now Lillie inherited his Z-Ring (although still can't fully mastered Z-move).
Imagine that, if Lillie gets Magearna working. This ragtag school group has many kinds of Mythicals, from Shaymin, Meltan, and now Magearna.

Lillie better not forget her Ice Stone. Fairy Specialist Lillie is one sight to behold.

But most importantly, looks like this family has a lot to tell about and heartstrings to tug. Hopefully it is not amnesiac-bittersweet in the end like in USUM. Maybe it'll involve going through Ultra Wormhole again? And this even involves Lusamine and her grief over losing Mohn.
Do we know when Prof. Mohn was gone in the games? I don't recall so, while here, it seems the incident happened when Lillie's still a baby.

 

[Pikachu315111]

With all my complaints about the anime, one of the things I do like about it is when they expand on characters families and history. Like in the games we don't really get to see the Captain's families and when we do they use the generic NPCs models. But in the anime we not only see Kiawe's, Lana's, Mallow's, and Sophocles' family but they're given unique designs to show the family resemblance.

And then we have the above showing a younger Wicke, Lusamine, Mohn, and Faba and how they're not just smaller versions of themselves but some thought was put into how they would look and taking some fashion choices into consideration. We see maturity hit Wicke in a big way (if you know what I mean), Faba looks like he just got back from a disco, and most interestingly yet obvious is Lusamine looking like a taller Lillie. It's a good thing Lillie makes amends with her mother, cause genetics don't lie and Lillie looks to be on track of looking just like her mother (and I guess maybe the same is true for Gladion resembling Mohn? Never imagined Mohn being that tall, makes him a big guy).

Also calling it now: Mohn is in Ultra Megalopolis and working with the Ultra Recon Squad. They're the last Gen VII characters they have to introduce and this would be a pretty good way to do it. Maybe even have them be involved making a Soul-Heart to re-active Magearna.

Hmm, I just caught up on a batch of the anime episode maybe I should mention my thoughts on them this Sunday.

 

[PsychicAcademic]

It just dawned to me too. Mohn got Zoroark, but after the incident it ran away (at least it wasn't "frozen" like the main game Lusamine's "collection"; Luckily anime Lusamine isn't nuts). Calling it too, at some time Gladion gets him. That'd be the other mon aside his trademark Silvaddy that's consistent with his game counterpart. Especially that he's most likely going for the new Alola League.
And yeah, Gladion got his tics from Mohn. And interesting now, as I recall Lillie never even ever talked about Mohn in both games and Gladion only gets one line in U-SM scene. Mohn got a lot of personality than the bean addicted island keeper in games.
Dang, wish we get to see Mohn back as himself and even battle him (then again, we only get Lillie to battle with us twice including in Battle Tree, and only in U-SM). This family is currently the most interesting family in this Poke-universe (N only got the short end of stick called GCis/Dennis).

Then again, we have only seen Hau once here. He needs some screen time too. All we know is that he got a Dartrix and his stepford-smiling attitude in games (including when he lost), and only in one episode with no other signs to come yet.
This is while they're also expanding the friend cast by giving them all Z-Ring and crystals one by one (Soffy and Lillie just got theirs, now it's just Mallow). Those who want to join the League also need more 'mon unless it is not 6-on-6 battle or they get shafted before the main 6-on-6 tourney (which is why most likely, all of them friend casts will fall before it, leaving the rivals).

... I'm dreading the League and Ash losing again though. Either Hau or Gladion would be the one to defeat him, and that Alain and Kalos League controversy... brr... especially that I liked both the SM rivals. I imagine while Gladion would have the same Alain's spot, Hau winning the league will be even more awkward as while it also turn the fanbase's rage to him, it's the same boy many wanted to have won against us players who pulled Green freaking Oak on him in the games. Most likely be Gladion though.
And nah, Kiawe's pretty much hammy relief.

 

[Pikachu315111]

Hopefully the League will give us more Hau and also Guzma, wouldn't mind if final battles turned out to be like this:

Semi-Finals: Ash vs. Gladion, Hau vs. Guzma
Finals: Ash/Gladion vs. Hau
First Alolan Champion (In Anime): Hau

We need to have the final definitive Ash vs. Gladion battle where both are going full out against each other as at the moment Gladion could be considered Ash's main rival for SM. Who wins actually doesn't really matter, it would just be for the awesome battle and putting an end to the rivalry and whatever leftover character development they may have (or at least Gladion).
I would like to see Hau vs. Guzma as, though I know the anime has built some tension between Ash and Guzma, honestly the highest tension should be between Hau and Guzma if they kept Guzma's backstory. Guzma is Hala's former apprentice and Hau is Hala's grandson, and though the anime explain Hau has been with his father for the past few years I'd imagine there would be still some sort of rivalry between the two.
And, as PsychicAcademic said, I think it would make the most sense if Hau become Alola's first Champion. Unlike Alain, Hau is a known character from the game, a fan favorite, and is pretty much the runner-up Champion in the games. So it would make sense in the anime for him to be the one to take it.

But that all said, since we still got the Mohn mystery and they still have the Ultra Recon Squad to introduce, the Alolan League may be more complex then we may initially think it is.

 

[Vengeance417]

Similar Energy

 

[PsychicAcademic]

Well, one Rocket Filler, and then the gang's mastery of Z-Move. Of course, Z-Move requires some internal qualification to be usable, like how in XY trainers (like Corni) got to train to Mega-evolve. It seems that they also randomly skip some others too; Lillie invited the other girls to train for Z-move and had some snacks in her mansion and that's it. Looks like they're now trying to hurry up with the plot.

Anyway, next is what I've been waiting for, but somehow...

Oh Zinnia....

how come they sneak ORAS Delta Episode in the same episode with Kartana?... well, it seems like they'll have to chase this paper samurai and also face a meteor, although it looks small unlike the world-ending Delta meteors. Now, Deoxys... he should be dead by the paper katana unless it got Fire move....

Also, Kartana's the last UB, now? Well... I don't hold my hope highly for Ultra Recon Squad....

 

[Nelson Tangela]

Alola League Spoiler

Ash just used Counter to counter Counter and win the Alola League. Will we see him again in Galar or is his story now complete?

 

[Rapti]

Oh wow I can't believe the anime just ended !
guess Alola was the final region :D

 

[Pikachu315111]

Alola League Spoiler

Ash just used Counter to counter Counter and win the Alola League. Will we see him again in Galar or is his story now complete?

Going to keep this in spoiler tags even though I think the whole internet (that cares) already knows. Though I'm going to split this into two discussions and you'll see why:

Discussion 1: League Champion

Huh, so Ash finally won an official League (that was in the games). More than 20 years we began following a young trainer from Pallet Town and his partner Pikachu go on a quest to become a Pokemon Master. We followed him through 7 regions, caught all sorts of Pokemon, made many companions, friends & rivals, thwarted evil organizations, and saved the world probably once or twice a year. Of course when we reached an end a region he would always come up short, but slowly but surely he made his way up the ladder and finally, after getting to the top 2 last region, he done it. Ash is now a Champion.

... So why don't I feel any satisfaction from this?

In some ways you'd say that the Alola League is in a way the perfect League for Ash to win. It's a new League from a region that has close connections to Kanto and uses unconventional battling styles at times which Ash is best at. I always felt it would be odd if Ash won a League in another region that wasn't Kanto because that's where Ash lived an in all other regions he was simply a visitor. But Alola changed that by having him go to school there, he had a place of residence via Kukui's Lab. Ash essentially moved from Kanto to Alola, maybe at first in boarding school sort of way, but Ash would consider Alola a second home.

But, here's something to think about: when you imagined Ash winning the League, what Pokemon did you see him having? Obviously Pikachu, but likely you also probably saw an all-star team of not only new Pokemon he caught but maybe some of his reserves too like Charizard and Sceptile. Infact throughout the League he would probably be tapping into his reserves like he did in Sinnoh. And the final battle would be a 6-vs-6 of Ash's best of the best.

Now let's look at the state of Ash when he became Champion:
First, he only has FIVE Pokemon instead of a full six.
Second, disregarding Pikachu, only two of them are fully evolved (Lycanroc and Melmetal) while one is in its middle stage (Torracat) and the other can't even evolve anymore from its basic stage (Rowlet). Ash is also cut off from getting any of his reserves.
Third and because of the two above, his final battle to become Champion was 3v3 instead of 6v6 like all other previous leagues.
Fourth and final, a lot of the Alola League felt lackluster if not disappointing. There was a lot of "this trainer won because the writers said so" with Ash being an example of one of them (Ash vs Hau). Also note up till the final two matches all other battles were 1v1 and the start of the League was a free-for-all only so the League would just be the characters we had any interest in.

Also, question. Now there's a difference between League Champion and THE Champion. League Champion just means you won the tournament part of the Pokemon League. However it was mentioned a League Champion then got to battle the Elite Four to then have a chance to face the current Champion to become THE Champion. But with Alola being a new League, does that just mean Ash is THE Champion now? What about the Elite Four? Now it can't be the Elite Four from the games because Acerola and Kahili we normal participants, they would have to be the four Kahunas who were judging the matches: Hala, Olivia, Nanu (sorry man, blame the writers), and Hapu. So does that mean Ash has to defeat them again, or since Ash already defeated them (though that shouldn't count as it was for a different reason, these battles would be the Kahuna using at least 5 Pokemon) that he just bypasses the Elite Four stage and is THE Champion? As in, applying that Ash is now on par with Lance, Steven, Wallace, Cynthia, Alder, & Diantha. Something doesn't feel right here if Ash is now just THE Champion of Alola, he essentially skipped four steps all because Alola is a new League.

And to bring an end to this discussion thoughts, of all the regions for Ash to become Champion in, the one he puts the less effort into he won? Because aside from some battles here & there and when he was training for a battle with the Kahuna, Ash was just in a slice-of-life anime. Alola was the most departed from the games story because they had the school angle. Through Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova & Kalos he was on a journey of constant battles and training yet in the end he faced a trainer that was stronger than him. Now in Alola, where he spent a lot of the region sparsely battling (even when he was a Alolan Guardian they didn't really do battle against Ultra Beasts) and just hanging out going to school, that's the region he wins. If anything that more says Alola is filled with weak trainers than Ash has grown to become a strong trainer.

Of course, would you believe me if I said I possibly saw this coming?

Discussion 2: Next Season

When Ash lost to Alain many people were upset since Ash finally got to top 2 with a team of Pokemon a lot of people liked; some people even saying Alain should be disqualified as he was working with Team Flare. Now I have my problems with the XYZ series, but I did like the battles and how the Kalos League went. I did not for a second think Ash was going to win. Going back to Unova I was upset Ash lost to Cameron because he was an idiot... but I knew even had Ash won he would then have lost to Virgil. Heck, for a while I even though Ash was going to lose the Alola League to either Gladion or Hau.

But then an announcement was made: next season of the anime was an anthology series.

It all clicked into place. Ash didn't win the Alola League from hard work and relying on his past experiences. Ash won the Alola League because the writers got tired of him. Infact they've been tired of Ash for a long time. They've been tired of the Pokemon anime for a long time. Starting with Unova where they didn't follow the game's story, going into Kalos where they made it more shonen with a touch of shoujo via the Pokemon Showcases (which focused more on the cute female trainers than the Pokemon). Alola gave them a chance to move away the Pokemon Journey aspect (you know, the reason why we watch the show) to become a slice-of-like and then a sentai series.

But now Galar is going back to a traditional journey set-up, the writers don't want to. But their obligated to and saying no means no more easy paychecks halfassing the Pokemon anime. So instead they decided to sacrifice the one thing about the anime series which they kept using to push stories along: the main character himself, Ash. Now that their dumping Ash on an island in a middle of nowhere, they can do WHATEVER they want. Next season they don't need to have Ash go to Galar and focus on him on a battling journey, instead they can do an anthology series where they go to places all over the Pokemon world to do all sorts of stories (and maybe a few of them would have battles in them).

I can now only hope that the only reason these batch of writers we being kept on was just because Ash was their creation and the Pokemon Company didn't want to mess with that. But now that they concluded Ash's story then after this season Pokemon Company will conclude business with these writers and maybe we can get a Pokemon anime worth a damn. Would be neat if they maybe hired multiple studios to make an adaption of each gen to make up for the years we wasted, but probably not. Infact these hack writers we have now will continue being paid to horribly write the Pokemon anime.

Game of Thrones fans waited 8 years and 73 episodes for the writers to give them the middle finger. Pokemon fans waited 20+ years, over a thousand episodes, and over 20 movies.

 

[Zowayix]

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Do we have confirmation that Ash won't be the main character of the next anime series? I don't know anything more besides "Ash won the League"; did we get more solid info beyond "the next series will take place in multiple regions"?