Pokemon Anime: Where did it go wrong?

[TheLastBlade]

I used to look forward to watching Pokemon episode... Now I just either go watch other stuff like phineas and Ferb or spongebob, or at least try the episode. Nowadays I'm only into the movies. For me, it got stale. No it's not because of the mirage Pokemon special (which at that point, no one in the world is used to the then new voices); I think it's when it was rescuing togepi or something, but it was around the honen saga. I guess it felt like they ran out of ideas to relate, be funny, and be good... Or I have an attention span of a fly.

[Broken_Cartridge]

The Pokemon anime's problems (at least when I watched it) were mainly that every episode reused the same ideas. All of the same jokes were constantly reused in every episode. Maybe not EVERY episode...but a lot of them. For example, what's Team Rocket going to try to do? Catch that Pikachu. How are they going to try and do it? With a new thing they purchased. How are Ash and co. going to get Pikachu back? With a new Pokemon they either met in the episode or caught recently. Every concept in the Pokemon anime, just like these, are reused throughout the entire series. After a while it just becomes boring and redundant.

[PaperLink64]

It was supposed to end during the first season with Ash winning the Indigo League and the first movie being the definitive end of the series. But of course, money and promotion of the later games in the series continue to serve as the reason the anime has continued for so long and basically reverting back to square one for each new region.

[Mirr0rR3flection]

For me, it went downhill the moment they got new voice actors for the main cast.

Its never felt the same since. . .

But at least they air the old Pokemon episodes on CN's Boomerang channel.

[ddddd]

To me, it simply lasted longer than my childhood XD. Like broken_cardtridge said, it had become quite stale even by the first season. I think I started to lose my interest sometime before both Misty and Brook got replaced. Ive seen some recent episodes but they are mostly the same as the old one but with new monsters and different clothing.

[TheLastBlade]

I think I finally deduced why it became less interesting:

1. Does the same thing: Focuses too much on ash, team rocket and other junk instead of being region specific like the games.
2. Too much of the same thing. Ash loses and decides to go to the next region, Team rocket still tries to get pikachu, and so on.
3. Had the directors had a brain at all, they would STOP using ash after the first season (with hm actually winning) and go on to do different main characters... Too late for that.

That's my 2cents.

[MoldyClay]

Nothing really went wrong.

The problem is, the series was designed to reboot for new fans every generation. That's why Ash always got a new female companion, always dumped his Pokemon off with Oak and got new Pokemon.

The series rehashes everything because the new kids and new fans have *not* seen most of the episodes that we *have* seen that they are rehashing. It's all new to them.

They tried to start changing things in Best Wishes, including, you know, making Team Rocket relevant and have a bigger agenda other than "BLASTING OFF AGAIN" and doing nothing, but apparently that was too big of a change for the younger crowd or something, because they went right back to failing, doing nothing and being unimportant after only a handful of episodes.

It sucks for us who would love to watch more episodes, but it's not made with us in mind, so I can't really blame them.

They really should've had like, a separate series for the fans that grew up with it, but I guess that's what the manga is for.

[GiriOni]

It really lost itself after the first series, it lost that 'new car' feel along with most of its humor. Nowadays it feels like the same stuff repeats itself and now it has that 'dilapidated car' feel, how the car just barely manages to keep moving.

[Mako]

I think the quality of the show has remained the same, or gotten even better. However, the repetitive story made it sort of hard to watch for me. When I was younger I absolutely loved the original series and to some extent the Jhoto series. If the show is on I'll watch it, but it isn't something I "have to watch" anymore. Different voices and different characters didn't help very much either. Gary was the best rival imo. Not to mention, the Pokemon get worse every gen. (Again, just my opinion) Not sure how they can bring back the older viewers, but they really don't have to because they get new ones every year. Pokemon is directed to younger audiences so it will be completely new for most of the viewers.

[Jack_Atlas]

For me it was when Max and May were introduced after a few episodes Max just got on my nerves but I can actually tolerate the new girl, I am waiting on Skyla's gym battle to air in America.

Another thing is the voice actors and the story. Ash sounds like a girl with a sore throat and how in the hell is he still 10 years old? I thought the indigo league took at least a year because of the journey to collect the badges and the transition time from getting the last badge to the actual event and let's not forget how Mankey slowed down this process because of Ash's hat and every other incident that happened.

[Serebii]

They tried to start changing things in Best Wishes, including, you know, making Team Rocket relevant and have a bigger agenda other than "BLASTING OFF AGAIN" and doing nothing, but apparently that was too big of a change for the younger crowd or something, because they went right back to failing, doing nothing and being unimportant after only a handful of episodes.

Not true. TR are still mega serious with their recent plotline involving Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus and they still never blast off. They even recently succeeded in mining Chargestone Cave for various rocks for a plot which has yet to show itself

[MasterofMonster]

I think Best Wishes is probably the best Season yet (though Season 1 will always be my favorite)~

The only thing i fear about it is Team Plasma. I really, really hope they haven't been removed... ;_;

[Ngamer01]

To me the retcons in B&W are getting to be so jarring with the worse yet happening in Ash's battle against Elesa.

Spoiler:

The writers regressed Ash's personality back to when he was a new trainer traveling around for the first time in the first season. First Ash decides to take on Elesa with only the Palpitoad he caught...but he didn't make a plan B or C in case Palpitoad fainted. Then after Palpitoad got KO'd, Ash had to pause the battle to go fetch Snivy from Prof. Juniper. He then forgot his Snivy is female after the battle of Attracts happened between Elesa's Emolga (female) and Ash's Snivy. Ash also forgot Emolga was part Flying-type.

Really this sounds like the writers should have written Ash out ages ago and have a new main character with a Pikachu.

[DeAngelo Guillory]

Say what you will about how your childhood memories but the battles are are handled a WHOLE lot better these days.

Seriously, look at a Kanto or Johto battle then go and watch any Sinnoh Gym or Paul battle. I suppose that's because the budget's gotten bigger.

There's really no reason to watch the series at this point except for battles, the "soul" of the series fans talk so fondly about receded around the end of Johto -- even then, things were getting kinda stale and tired. Ash is hard to keep fresh really. Legend of Thunder felt fresh because it was new personalities to deal with, same deal with the Mysterious Dungeon animated specials mostly for "TALKING POKEYMANS WORKING TOGETHER!" but it may remind some of another Monster Battling anime series *cough*Digimon*cough*

I mean we can hold out hope for the original trio and Gary to be a jerk again until the cows come home, but at this point they're being more blatant about selling the games and plugging events for 'em. Over 700 episodes now, this s#*!'s practically Doraemon with Monster Battles with SOME of the games' walk-ons at this point. Not that it's a bad thing, but hey that's business.

[led-naruto]

The anime isn't a stand alone series, it is mainly to introduce to new people to the Pokémon world, and that has been since the first season. Granted, for the audience to get hooked you need to have a story, and thus it becomes Ash/Satoshi/the Archtype of the Pokémon protagonist, going around the world to become a Pokémon master, also the main objective of the games. And of course, that doesn't mean the producers/storyboarders/animators/scriptwriters can't have fun with the plot: Team Rocket battling the main characters frequently, fun events like Misty's bike getting destroyed, Brock's falling for a cute girl, Gym Leaders having more in-depth personalities from the limited moments in the games, and so on. Also, the Pokémon League is their own creation.
Basically, if you look at it from a narrative perspective, it goes down to a cycle: protagonist starts adventure, finds new Pokémon, encounters a problem (may or may not have to be caused by Team Rocket/villain), struggles against the problem/villain, wins plus may get new befriended Pokémon. That is one way you can describe the storyboard of an episode. Now, you can also add new features, like the intervention of older or newer characters than fans may know, or Gym Leaders having their own problems that need to be solved (Flannery) in order for the plot to progress, or the events of Legendary Pokémon (Mewtwo escaping, Groudon and Kyogre battle). You can add those things to keep the audience content and the ratings would go up.
But you cannot deny the fact that the main reason of the anime is still commercial with the games. After a region is over you need to introduce the new one... from zero. So that means Ash HAS to go as a beginner once more in order for the new viewers not getting so lost in the story (remember Dragon Ball episode 455? Yeah me neither...) and aplying to the cycle or formula stated before the viewers will understand easily the plot and keep following it with a "To be Continued" ending. It is also important to note that the main audience is children, so the young audience needs to be attracted with something new every time... call it psychological if you want.

And that is mainly for the first 4 regions. I also know about the Pokémon Chronicles and that was by the luxury of the producers, so it's a half "we have to go with the formula" and half "we can still make things we love".

This is becoming a long post so I'll finish it with this: you find it that it went wrong there because you keep seeing the same cycle they have been using... for the past 4 regions. I have watched Best Wishes, and to me it feels like a new experience: Team Rocket has a new role, the characters have good background story and good personalities (Iris' past, Oshawott's acting), they keep using the formula but differently (villains may not be present, or can be present as Pokémon), it feels like a fresh start, keeps the attention of the viewer, introduces the world of Pokémon (Oak's Live Caster, Who's that Pokémon), and the plot grows as a narrative from beginning to end, with events such as the rival, Pokémon rivals (Sandile), Team Rocket events, unlike being a whole cycle like the past seasons.

[Blue_Falcon]

It all went downhill when Ash started ditching all his boss Pokémon. I mean seriously, who the hell gives away their Charizard, Primeape, Lapras, etc.?

[Poopaloop]

led_naruto said it very well, but I haven't seen Best Wishes yet so I'll just add my two cents.

Did it really go down hill? Or did you just outgrow it?
It's a show that has to start from new with every generation, so of course the generation that each person started with will be their favourite. My friends (and admittedly, myself before I gave it proper thought) have said 'Oh, man, the first season was so great, and after that they just milked it into nothing, I didn't even watch the Johto stuff'. But at the same time, just as many people swear by the Johto Seasons, or the Hoenn seasons, so it's much more likely to be a subjective thing than a quality issue. You like the season you started watching with.

That being said, it's nice to hear Best Wishes seems to have bucked their standard episode archetypes, and I'm probably going to look into it as a result.

[Steel Diver]

I just started watching the show and I don't think it is bad. Though it can be quite repetitive.

[DeAngelo Guillory]

It all went downhill when Ash started ditching all his boss Pokémon. I mean seriously, who the hell gives away their Charizard, Primeape, Lapras, etc.?

In all fairness, he's gotten better with the Pokemon he keeps. I mean he still has a Gible that could evolve at some point in the league episodes http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/ ... fessor_Oak

Lapras was lost from its pod, so it was temporary from the start and Charizard was given away to keep his Gym Battles in Johto from being broken one-sided battles on the writer's behalf. Primeape? Yeah he's not getting that back but he doesn't need it anymore.

[someone17]

I dont watch much anime at all, but I do watch a lot of pokemon just because its pokemon. for me my interests changed from "I gotta see the new episode asap" to "eh...I might get around to it" (I watch them online, hate me) when they changed the voice actors in the english dub. that is when ash truly turned into a beginner again. think about it, did ash ever felt like a noob trainer on his hoenn adventure? only when learning about a new pokemon. other than that he basically had to tutor may into being a pokemon trainer. it was no where along the lines of what happened recently (look at Ngamer01's spoiler post). he actually felt like a veteran trainer trying something new (like all of us when we play a new gen pokemon game)

with best wishes, I'm very happy that they did make a change to team rocket, they dont appear in every episode and they still dont blast off (well not the old way lol), and the pokemon personalities are more interesting (oshawott), but its still gets really bad whenever ash has the spotlight on him. I remember being more excited for gym battles as they come up but with ash's regressing age syndrome he makes some embarassing mistake and it turns gym episodes into another daily dose of fail. I understand why they do that to ash because of appealing to the new generation of kids these days, but I think they would have been better off having a brand new character take the lead role instead of ash. they did it for his compainions (especially the female ones) why not do that for ash?

[led-naruto]

I dont watch much anime at all, but I do watch a lot of pokemon just because its pokemon. for me my interests changed from "I gotta see the new episode asap" to "eh...I might get around to it" (I watch them online, hate me) when they changed the voice actors in the english dub. that is when ash truly turned into a beginner again. think about it, did ash ever felt like a noob trainer on his hoenn adventure? only when learning about a new pokemon. other than that he basically had to tutor may into being a pokemon trainer. it was no where along the lines of what happened recently (look at Ngamer01's spoiler post). he actually felt like a veteran trainer trying something new (like all of us when we play a new gen pokemon game)

with best wishes, I'm very happy that they did make a change to team rocket, they dont appear in every episode and they still dont blast off (well not the old way lol), and the pokemon personalities are more interesting (oshawott), but its still gets really bad whenever ash has the spotlight on him. I remember being more excited for gym battles as they come up but with ash's regressing age syndrome he makes some embarassing mistake and it turns gym episodes into another daily dose of fail. I understand why they do that to ash because of appealing to the new generation of kids these days, but I think they would have been better off having a brand new character take the lead role instead of ash. they did it for his compainions (especially the female ones) why not do that for ash?

Because he has "the" Pikachu, and Pikachu is the mascot of the series.

[Ragnarokstorymaker]

I've been watching the show since its premiere here in the U.S. Not old to me, still damn good, and enjoyable, and a great thing to watch while eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch/Lucky Charms. The few gripes I have are getting used to the new VA's, which I eventually did, and the new-er Pokemon designs, some of them look so, lazy. But its only so many animals you can use before you end up A) Re-using some or B) Making up some.

[DeAngelo Guillory]

I've been watching the show since its premiere here in the U.S. Not old to me, still damn good, and enjoyable, and a great thing to watch while eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch/Lucky Charms. The few gripes I have are getting used to the new VA's, which I eventually did, and the new-er Pokemon designs, some of them look so, lazy. But its only so many animals you can use before you end up A) Re-using some or B) Making up some.

>All Pokemon Are Supposed to be based on animals.

Except for the part where that's wrong.

[Broken_Cartridge]

All pokemon are based off of animals...like Geodude or, the more recent, Vannillux. Their animal counterparts are extinct though.

[DeAngelo Guillory]

All pokemon are based off of animals...like Geodude or, the more recent, Vannillux. Their animal counterparts are extinct though.

Dude, I remember hearing about the rock creatures of the middle ages. Boy, I'd love to live in that time ... if not for the slavery and black death that is.