It never ceases to amaze me how practically everyone I’ve encountered from my generation who’s into anime, video games, or other branches of so-called “nerd” culture have, or at least did at one point, an affinity for Pokemon. It usually wasn’t just the Game Boy games that were a part of their childhood, but the Pokemon anime as well. A lot of them have played all the main series Pokemon games that have come out over the years, perhaps missing one or two due to temporary waning interest, but the Pokemon games have a way of bringing people back with new updates and features they add to each generation of games. But unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Pokemon anime series. Unlike the games that get more innovative while maintaining the same beloved premise, the Pokemon anime has stagnated over the years with the same unchanging characters, the same episodic style, and the same formulaic stories. While it has gotten a bit better recently, it still pales in comparison to other long-running kids anime in terms of storytelling quality. So why has the Pokemon anime remained so resistant to change, which has infuriated adult Pokemon players who want a decent show to go along with the games they love? Today I want to examine the reasons behind this…
Most adult fans of the Pokemon games who used to watch the anime agree that the early seasons of Pokemon – particularly the original Indigo League up to the early Johto episodes – were the best, and that the anime got increasingly worse in the later Johto and Advanced episodes, which was where they gave up on it. While nostalgia could play a role in this, as someone who’s seen every episode of the Pokemon anime, I agree that the early episodes had a certain charm to them that faded away as the years went by. I’ve noticed three major elements of “old school” Pokemon episodes that became more or less non-existent by the mid-2000s:
1) Intense pokemon battles: Anyone remember some of Ash’s early gym leader battles in the original Pokemon anime? His battles with Lt. Surge, Sabrina, and Blaine for instance? They were pretty serious in terms of making the violence believable; Raichu really laid the smack down on Pikachu in Ash’s battle with Lt. Surge, Whitney’s Miltank was merciless with its Rollout against Cyndaquil and Ash’s other pokes, and I won’t soon forget the Bellsprout in one of Ash’s Indigo League battles that was throwing Pikachu and Bulbasaur around. Starting from the late Johto episodes is when I noticed that the pokemon battles began to seem “toned down.” They could still be suspenseful and all, but I felt like the creators were consciously holding back on making the violence go beyond a low G-rating. Something that made this really obvious is that, 90% of the time that a pokemon faints in battle in the post-Johto episodes, they get the cliche anime “swirly eyes,” and after the trainer recalls them into their PokeBall, they say “Good work” or “Take a rest,” or something like that. These things happened occasionally in the old episodes, but became an all-the-time thing in later episodes and continue to this day. In general I don’t have a problem with less intense battles, pokemon getting “swirly eyes,” or trainers showing appreciation to their defeated pokemon, but a lot of the time it just feels so forced, especially when you’ve seen the old episodes and know that these things didn’t used to happen every single time.
2) Japanese cultural elements: While 4Kids edited so many Japanese references out of the English version of the original Pokemon anime, sometimes it was still quite obvious, and a bit of research into the comparisons between the Japanese and English versions (this site is a great source for that) reveal that Japanese text was all over the place in the original Pokemon anime, and it was always either erased or changed in the English version. And then there’s the words they used to refer to onigiri – donuts, eclairs, sandwiches, rice balls, etc,. But they couldn’t do much to change the episodes that had to do with Japanese holidays, such as the Children’s Day and Girls Day episodes. But again, as we got to the newer episodes, all hints that this show takes place in a Japan-inspired world is gone. There’s been no more episodes revolving around Japanese holidays, very little if any appearances of Japanese food, and most notably, the original Japanese creators just plain stopped using Japanese text in the Pokemon anime, and instead started using their own made-up scribble language in place of text.
3) Overall “campiness” and adult humor: The old episodes of Pokemon had a lot of “weirdness” that added to their charm and made them seem less “stale” than the post-Johto episodes. James’ crossdressing was a fan favorite, even getting so extreme in one episode that it ended up getting the episode banned outside Japan for a while before it was finally aired in a “censored” version. Then there was the time Ash had to crossdress…and the time Sabrina’s dad used his psychic powers to make him dance in his underwear. And how about the crazy episode where Brock and James fell in love with a ghost girl that was really a Gastly, or the episode where James’ parents tried to get him to marry a psychotic dominatrix? All this campy weirdness that existed in the old series has practically disappeared. I think James maybe crossdressed once or twice in the latter 13 years that Pokemon has aired, while he did it numerous times in the show’s first couple of years. I think back on some of the zany stories and scenarios in the old episodes and realize, “They’d never have an episode/scene like that in the anime nowadays.”
So why did the Pokemon anime do away with these three elements? Of course there’s been no official statement or acknowledgement about it, but it’s not hard for a speculating fan to figure what happened. As strange as it seems, us international fans are the reason the Pokemon anime became so sterile in its latter episodes. When the Pokemon games and anime first came out in Japan in the late-90s, the creators had no idea that the franchise would gain an audience beyond its country of origin. So the original episodes were made with only a Japanese audience in mind, hence all the Japanese cultural references and less restriction on depictions of violence and adult innuendos that are acceptable for Japanese family entertainment, but may not be for international audiences. They didn’t even intend for the anime to go beyond one season when it started. But after Pokemon was marketed overseas and became so successful, the Japanese creators must have realized that they could give their show even more worldwide appeal by making it less Japanese, since the companies that marketed the anime in the US were already editing out all the Japanese references and censoring certain questionable scenes. I’m sure the many parental outcries of Pokemon being too violent during the height of Poke-Mania didn’t help either. So by the mid-2000s, the Pokemon anime became pretty much what it’s been since then: clean, safe, predictable, and universally kid-friendly to audiences around the world…at the price of becoming utterly formulaic and repetitive to adults, especially ones who knew how memorable the episodes used to be.
After reading this, a few questions may come up, for example, why haven’t the Pokemon video games stagnated like the anime. The games and anime have a completely different goal and creative team behind them; the games were made first and the anime was made as a way to market the games and franchise in general. Nintendo and Game Freak have done well over the years with keeping the iconic Pokemon elements in the original Red and Blue games throughout all the proceeding games, while updating enough features to bring in new fans and satisfy old ones. So why doesn’t the Pokemon anime ever bring anything new and exciting like this? Well, one reason for that goes back to the fact that the anime only exists to market the franchise. Unlike other anime based on manga or novels that follow a linear, developing narrative, the Pokemon anime is made to flow with the trends of the games first and foremost. The games and other merchandise are the main sellers, so rather than put effort into making the anime episodes better, the creators would rather use it as an additional tool to market the more profitable aspects. Thus, the only changes we ever see in the anime is Ash traveling to a new region with new friends and finding new pokemon, around the same time new games for that region and those pokemon come out.
Still, you might say, “The creators must know that Pokemon has a lot of adult fans. So why can’t they make an anime for us? There’s a lot of kids anime that’s just as appealing to adults after all, like Naruto and One Piece.” Again, the reason goes back to the fact that the creators don’t seem to have any interest in the Pokemon anime besides using it as a way to market the franchise to a younger audience. Anime of popular manga series like Naruto and One Piece have a completely different purpose – to depict an anime version of the manga story they’re based on. Even though the original Pokemon fans like me from the late-90s are adults now, we still buy and play the games and support the franchise overall, despite the fact that the anime is still made for kids. Putting time and money into making a more “adult” Pokemon anime isn’t going to bring in a whole new wave of adult fans. The Pokemon creators, at least on the anime side, seem to go by the “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” rule. This formula for marketing Pokemon internationally has worked fine for them all these years, so why risk changing it? Some may say, “At least make Ash grow up,” but as I said, the anime is used to bring in new generations of young fans. By keeping Ash the same, and keeping the episodes episodic, it makes it very easy for a young kid to pick up watching the show anytime, being able to follow and understand it, and hopefully buy other merchandise. If they made Ash and friends grow up and develop backstories, or if the show had long and complicated story arcs, it wouldn’t be easy for young kids to start watching it at any time. Basically the purpose of the Pokemon anime is a gateway for new generations of kids from all over the world to get familiar with the franchise via safe and easily digestible entertainment, in the hopes that they’ll like it enough to buy the games, cards, and other merch.
With all this said, is there really no hope for a decent Pokemon anime? As far as a long-running series, it’s hard to say, but in recent years I feel like the creators are finally acknowledging that there are older fans who are interested in such a thing. The Pokemon Origin special from 2013 was well received by nostalgic adult Pokemon fans, and while I personally didn’t think it was that good, watching it was the first time in over a decade where I felt like I was watching a Pokemon anime that was made for an “everyone” audience rather than just a “childrens” audience, just like the games. But probably the best thing to come out of the Pokemon anime recently that many of you may not know about, is the Pokemon Mega Evolution specials.
These are a series of episodes that have been airing every several months since April of last year. There’s been three episodes so far and I think they’re great. They feature new characters, not Ash and co. from the regular anime, and like Origin, they have a slightly more mature feel to them. The pokemon battles in the Mega Evolution specials are very intense and well animated, the characters are interesting and likable, the stories are more serious and complex, and overall they just have better writing and direction than the main anime. I highly recommend them if you’re an adult Pokemon fan looking for a better anime. You can download good quality torrents of all the episodes here.
Pokemon, with its 700+ colorful creatures, various regions, and numerous ways pokemon interact with people and with each other, makes it the kind of universe that has infinite potential for good stories…which is why it’s even more of a shame that that potential is so horribly wasted on having an anime with the same unchanging characters and same formulaic episodes for almost 20 years. But while it’s unlikely the Pokemon anime will see a drastic change anytime soon, with the release of things like Origin and the Mega Evolution specials, perhaps the anime creators are ever so slightly taking notice of the significance of a new and improved Pokemon anime that can appeal to all fans, not just the young ones. And as I said in the first paragraph of this post, the regular Pokemon anime has actually gotten better in the past few years: the Black and White series had a handful of truly good episodes and even some ongoing story arcs, and the currently airing XY series has had even more episodes where I could actually feel effort and planning put into them. It may be a slow process, but a more mature Pokemon anime may not be an impossible feat. Whether they decide to place Ash and company in edgier adventures, or make a completely new Pokemon anime series with the same mature feel as the specials, I’d certainly welcome it. I hope to see the day when the Pokemon anime finally does “evolve.”
During the times of the first season, there was the main plotline of Ash becoming a pokemon master. Now I’m not really sure what becoming a pokemon master even means, but I’m quite sure Ash won’t be getting there anytime soon if he keeps reseting his team all the time (and forgetting lessons learned himself).
Yes, it seems that “Pokemon Master” has become more of a journey than an actual goal over the years. When the anime was first created, it was not intended to go for more than a season….until the Pokemon franchise became so popular that is. Ash resetting his team each generation and basically not developing as a character works in terms of getting new young viewers sucked into the Pokemon world whenever new games are released, but not in terms of making a worthwhile narrative series.
Nice article, made for a good read. Have previous series had as many several-episode stories, like when they travelled with Corni?
I liked the Corni/Korrina episodes now that you reminded me of them XD The battle between Pikachu and Lucario, when Lucario couldn’t control his Mega Evolution, was especially intense, and I liked that! There have been a few shorter story arcs since then; currently the episodes are concluding Ash’s Goodra’s backstory in a 2-part arc (though Ash got the pokemon several episodes ago), which has also turned out to be pretty good.
I guess they are playing it too safe… They could go the more complex route, and make anime that pleases both adults, and children at the same time. Something like Sakura Cardcaptor. The problem is that it is a lot harder to get it right, and if they mess up, it will be bad for both children and adults. As you mentioned, it simply is not their priority. The anime is still probably selling quite well as it is, so if it keeps with positive figures, and keep pulling children into the game, then it’s really serving its purpose.
Yes, I suspect the heads of all the different branches of the Pokemon franchise are afraid to make any drastic changes when the formulas they’ve been following, especially for the anime, have been working fine for them all these years. Sure, keeping the anime so kiddy-friendly may cause them to loose viewers when they grow up, but as I pointed out, most people who were really into Pokemon as kids still play the games nowadays even if they don’t watch the anime, so it’s not like they’re losing any fans, just fans of the anime, which doesn’t matter because it’s balanced out by new generations of kids who can get into the franchise through the easily accessible stories of the anime. This formula has worked fine for Pokemon all these years, so as you said, there’s really no point to not keep playing it safe.
I have wrote about the staleness of the Pokemon Anime if you recalled last summer and there are many points that I made previously that I agree with. I feel that trying to cater to everyone has caused the show to stagnate. I feel that having Satoshi as the main character and not aging is probably the cause… but of course, since Anime in general can be used for advertisement, of course it’s the main reason why the Pokemon anime haven’t been groundbreaking after the first few seasons.
I haven’t watched the Mega Evolution specials, but I think it’s a step in the right direction to bring something new to the table, even if it’s just a separate series.
I remember that post of yours…glad I’m not the only one who’s thought about this XD The anime is indeed used for advertising and selling merchandise first and foremost, unlike most other anime who’s purpose is to portray the story of the manga or novel they’re based on. As a fan of the Pokemon franchise in general, I’ve long since come to grips with this fact and enjoy the anime for what it is…but when things like the Mega Evolution special come out, it reminds me that there’s just so much more potential for a Pokemon animated series than what we have. So I hope specials like Origin and Mega Evolution become more prevalent, or even give way to their own separate series. An anime based on the Pokemon Adventures manga would be awesome too!
Great post. Every point you made his home with me as a fellow member of the generation who started with the beginning of Pokémon, especially dropping off from the anime around the Johto series. Although I bound back in every now and then and when they get to whatever region league championship towards the end. Even though you weren’t much of a fan of it, I was totally enamored with The Origin special. Sure it was old fan pandering but I enjoyed it and really hope the do more like that. Though that might be what we get with the Mega Evolution specials which I’ve also been liking.
And like you said at least we older fans always have the games to look forward to.
P.S. We gotta battle again sometime! ^_^
Glad you liked the post =) And yes, we need to battle again soon! Just drop me a message on Twitter any time~
I watched Kanto, Orange Islands, Hoenn and Sinnoh and loved them all. I’m “watching” Johto (it’s been on hold for a while… Felt rather boring in comparison, but I’ll get back to them), but just can’t progress past around the beginning of Best Wishes – I think I stopped watching around ep20. Allow me to praise what I love and complain about the rest a little:
Kanto was hilarious. It’s not the only thing I loved about it but it was so fun to watch.
Orange Islands was different and didn’t overstay its welcome so it kept me interested the whole time.
Hoenn had contests which I loved. I thought they would be boring because of the games but the anime’s approach to contests is much better and I liked Haruka’s rivals.
Sinnoh had many many characters that I loved, and Team Rocket were more fun than ever. Also Satoshi was getting smarter, it was fun watching him develop strategies and get stronger.
Johto, from what I’ve seen so far, has too many episodes with original characters. It needs more recurring characters and a little faster progress – which is difficult when Satoshi’s quest for the league is the only plot.
I can’t forgive Best Wishes for dumbing and powering Satoshi down to that extent. And Team Rocket’s all ~serious now – boring. I’ve no idea if these points change later but I can’t muster up the interest to resume watching.
(I’m not sure if I want to watch XY without getting through BW first, so I know nothing about it.)
So I can say this about your point on the creators catering to a young international audience: Hoenn and Sinnoh showed that it can be done well. Next, I don’t think the presence/absence of Japanese elements is as a big an issue as you’re making it out to be… Most people aren’t interested in Japanese culture, as in I doubt they care whether it’s there or not. I AM interested and even I don’t care :D And as for the battles, I agree, but again Sinnoh showed it can be done well.
All in all, that was an interesting read! You made me miss the anime :D
I agree with you about Kanto and Johto, and while I didn’t like Hoenn and Sinnoh as much, I remember them being alright (it’s been years since I watched them so maybe I would feel different now?)
I actually liked Best Wishes more because it had some memorable episodes, like the one that shows the relationship between Iris and her Excadrill, the one with the Gothitelle, and the whole saga with N at the end, which was an actual story arc and quite different from the typical episodic stories. I didn’t find anything that different about Ash/Satoshi in BW…but I definitely agree that I didn’t like the “serious” Team Rocket. But thankfully they went back to being their old selves in XY. Speaking of XY, I think it’s pretty good too.
And I agree that leaving out the Japanese elements in the Pokemon anime isn’t a big deal as far as international audiences are concerned – I was just pointing out that it was one of the notable things that changed in the series over the years.
Hi! I came across your blog sometime ago and I like the overall format and content presented. I started with this post as it caught my interest.
My thoughts concerning both the old and new anime the first two seasons of the first Pokémon anime were actually the worse while the later anime series, XY, is better, and this is coming from someone who was around at the very beginning when the franchise started (at least in the U.S). As an adaptation the early seasons didn’t do such a good job with following the outline the games had establish. These included having Ash not legitimately earning his badges but instead receiving them as thanks after dealing with a problem (usually involving Team Rocket), the show sometimes ignoring type strengths and weaknesses with having Pokémon earning fluke like victories as a result, and ignoring other stuff from the games such as Ash’s Charizard not listening to him despite him having earn all eight badges and to his rival, Gary, having gym badges that were nonexistent in the games to name a few examples. Looking at the original show as a story alone it doesn’t establish motivation reason why Ash wants to be a Pokémon Master nor the details of what it means to have the title. In fact the show doesn’t do much in explaining how the world works and that’s a crucial thing to go over in storytelling; especially when it comes to science fiction and fantasy stories (which in this case the show is a fantasy). Without doing this the writer(s) potentially risk leaving the audiences confuse, and it has (from my observation this seems to happen with people who were around before the 90s.)
The newer shows fix most of the problems I mention with additional ones that came about later on. Particularly they stop using those action backgrounds (or whatever they are called) that appear every time a pokémon is attacking (which got tiring to watch after a while. Plus occasionally making some scenes appear awkward), and having Team Rocket make an appearance once in a while instead of every single episode. From my experience sometime during Diamond and Pearl I was getting tired of seeing them (I could just feel they were running out of ideas for them). Oh and plus having their character more balance out with them being more competent while still being goofy. Also they mix things up a bit, especially in the case of XY (although I don’t feel the creators behind the anime are going to take those changes as far as others are hopping).
With that said while I do like the newer anime over the old one that doesn’t mean I would consider them a masterpiece; let alone an excellent show for that matter. (whether I would consider them great is left to be decided, but I doubt I would). They do have their flaws own set of flaws I have noticed, but at best I think they are highly average (think C+). They are shows that are fun and entertaining enough for me to watch. Also, being that I did grew up watching the first anime I do feel nostalgic when I watch it. Currently I’m interested in watching the original series in its original Japanese dub.
. . .
Concerning the points you made:
1 Intense pokemon battles:
The battles in XY seem intense enough for me, but I don’t remember how the other series between that and the original were. I’ll just take your word for it.
2 Japanese cultural elements:
I can understand this being the case with the recent anime, Best Wishes, Best Wishes 2, and XY, because they take place in areas that are not base on the regions of Japan, and even reference the culture that those particular areas on base on. In the case of XY for example that takes place in a region base around France you see characters mentioning and eating macarons, a common French pastry. However I do understand where you are coming from. The world of Pokemon is suppose to be this world where Japanese culture is more prevalent. But then when thinking about it while I can see Japanese culture having a huge influence in that world, I don’t think it means that every society there is going to be entirely Japanize. It’s like in our world where it seems that Western culture is having a huge influence around the world. You have people non-Western countries that are accepting or beginning to accept western views, clothing, religion, and the English language. However, despite this they still retain enough of their own culture and identity to the point if you were to visit while you might see some aspects from Western society it still feels like you are not in a western country.
But that’s me thinking in-world. I’m not bother by this since as I said the recent anime are taking place in non-Japanese like regions. However if this was a case during Advance and Diamond and Pearl (where the setting was a Japanese inspire place) then that would be a bit of a concern.
3 Overall “campiness” and adult humor:
But was that needed in a show aim mainly for kids? The adult humor that is? I’m not one of those people who get upset over stuff like that appearing in children’s shows unless it’s taken too far, which I don’t feel the original pokémon anime has done. It’s really tame in comparison to other claim family films that use adult humor for cheap humor (like the live-action Cat in the Hat film for example. Boy that was a horrible film from both a children and just in general). My main problem with adding adult humor into a children/family story (at least out in the open like that) is that there’s a chance children (in general) might not pick up on it. If adult humor is going to be added in those stories it should be done in a more settle way. Disney’s adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a perfect example of this as there is a couple of adult humor in the story but it’s well hidden enough to not attract too much attention.
As for the campiness aspect of the show when I think back on watching the original anime that was an aspect made the series funny at times. However it’s not something I personally miss.
. . .
Concerning your reasoning for why the anime has become stagnated your opinion seems possible. It is true that the anime (especially nowadays) is made to be further advertisement for the games as well as the reasoning for the continuity being less Japanese is largely due to how big the franchise has become worldwide and therefore accommodating for the fans outside of Japan. However I think it still doesn’t excuse them to make a quality good anime with each series starring different protagonists. There are other successful franchises that do just that without any problems. That and it wouldn’t make much if a difference advertisement wise if a show’s story falls way short (thankfully the Pokémon anime continuity doesn’t suffer from that at this time). It’s possible to have it both ways.
As for Pokémon Mega Evolution I’ve seen one episode of it and I enjoyed it. In fact it’s one of the anime shorts I would love to see turn into a TV series. I do agree that potential was wasted in the main anime continuity. In fact I feel that pokémon might have had the potential to be considered one of the greatest anime shows ever made. It had an original premise at the time that could of work if done right. Pokémon Origin to me was am ambridge of what we could have gotten years ago if the creators were more concern about making a quality show. Reading your final paragraph has given me some hope that perhaps change would begin to happen; especially the possibility of getting an anime spin off series.
PS I like the comic scene with Ash’s Pickachu telling Serena she is never going to get as close to Ash as he has. That was funny. ^_^
This is maybe not the place for me to comment much because I watched Pokemon a long time ago and never kept up with it. However, from friends I’m pretty well aware of it’s lack of progression. One way to solve these problems you’ve mentioned is to start an entirely new show similar to the approach Yu-Gi-Oh took, but that has its own problems such as the loss of character development/attachment. And well if it attracts new kids to the video games and card games then the anime has done it’s intended purpose. Us older folk will continue to purchase (or not) Pokemon games regardless. On another note, that new show with the black Charizard looks interesting.
The Japanese anime industry, in general, is in complete stagnation. Japan is still in an economic bubble, not likely to recover anytime soon. Those part of the industry would want to be cautious because right now, the JP anime industry is holding on to strings. Unfortunately, many anime viewers don’t want to see anything else but standard anime that consists of cheap plots and a majority of high school student antics. That’s why we see so much regurgitated garbage. Same case for Pokemon. Just keep churning out the toy advertisement show…
Interesting and thoughtful, article. However, there are a few areas I don’t quite agree with. I shall now express my thoughts.
1) The Pokemon anime was never good. Looking back at season 1, it also had sloppiness, poor writing, and just plain awkward moments such as abandoning Primeape, Pikachu’s electric attack vs Rhydon, and Ash’s undeserving badges. Misty was so rude to Ash and often put him dow and accomplished very little compared to her successors such as May and Dawn. While it has its perks, I really believe it’s mainly nostalgia kicking in for these fans.
2) Despite the flaws, Ash was really indeed making progress as a Pokemon Trainer, which continued through Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh. His skills had overall improved through the duration of the first four regions. Ash reached the quarter-finals in Johto and Hoenn, and the semi-finals in Sinnoh before losing in tremendous fashion against Tobias and his two legendaries. Ash was so much further at that episode than he was in the beginning of the anime.
What truly screwed all this up was just a few episodes later–at the beginning of Best Wishes, where Ash was retconned back to the age of ten and where Pikachu lost in what is now an infamous battle against a brand new Snivy against a brand new trainer. Ash continued to make ridiculous mistakes and actually regressed as a trainer and character. He also lost the Unova league in such a bullcrap manner to a trainer who didn’t even bring six Pokemon. And thus 13+ years of progression was utterly thrown out in the trash and the show gave a big middle finger to all those who had been watching it for years.
While people might enjoy individual episodes and Team Rocket’s improvement in BW, in the long run it was simply and tremendously bad writing, and led people to believe that the show truly was not going to go anywhere, and that Ash will never win a league, making him a grand failure at his goal of becoming a Pokemon Master. That is not what we wanted.
3) The battles were never a problem and had always been a strong point–I enjoy XY’s battles a whole lot, just as much if not more than Kanto’s. The Korrina battle for instance, was very enjoyable, particularly the Pikachu vs. Lucario match.
4) I don’t believe Japanese culture and whatnot improves or reduces the quality of the show. No offense, but this argument comes off as petty to me. As Joshquinn mentioned, Pokemon now takes place in region that isn’t based in Japan, and so it’s understandable that certain Japanese customs and writings are no longer in the show. I really don’t see how this makes the show better (or worse). In fact, Pokemon (and Nintendo in general) now strive to make their games/works appeal to everybody internationally, which I don’t find so bad.
5) Honestly, adult humor and whatnot is unnecessary to make a show good. Joshquinn already does a good job explaining this. Pokemon doesn’t need it to be enjoyable.
6) Being an advertisement to the games is not an excuse for making the show bad. Works such as Pokemon Adventures and Pokemon Origins show that you can still make a quality product while still advertizing the games. I believe they can easily do the same with the main anime if they felt like it.
7) The show being aimed at newer kids is also no excuse for the poor writing it suffers. Other shows aimed at kids are much more enjoyable. They should have done something that can satisfy older fans and attract young viewers at the same. Several TV shows such as Rugrats, Arthur, the Looney Tunes Show, Phineas & Ferb, and even Sesame Street to some extent, as well as movies from companies like Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli do a good job in that regard, making the shows/movies appeal to everyone, not just kids. I believe Pokemon is capable of doing such, but fails to do so.
And on the contrary, what the show’s producers have done in trying to solely aim at new younger viewers actually hurt the show in the long run, particularly BW. The series started with high ratings and then gradually sucked down until the end of that series, and now the Pokemon anime is in a dire situation.
8) Some of Pokemon’s problems are the problems anime has in general. aceace explains the situation very well, and I like to add that like other anime, Pokemon suffers from a lot of limited animation.
9) Finally, I admit I was brought back to the show thanks to Serena and Amourshipping, and even though the show is still not so good, it does give me hope that, as you have said, the show may indeed “evolve” out of its miserable cycle. However, if Ash neither wins the league nor gets the girl this time, then I’m done with the show for good. And knowing what has happened in the past, I have absolutely no faith in the writers and think that the status quo of making Ash losing, going to a new region, regressing him, and axing his companions will continue onward. *sigh*
I hope I am wrong.
Why on earth would you think the Hoenn or Sinnoh sagas aren’t good? The Hoenn saga was a vast improvement over Johto and it was mainly liked because May was one of the most popular and developed female leads of the series, along with the Contests being the most popular parts of the show. Ash also becoming a competent trainer and evolving his pokemon is also why it was liked.
DP also had tons of story arcs, real villains, and development. Its rather odd reading your review of the anime and claiming the show wasn’t doing this since the beginning of Hoenn.
The Japanese version of the anime has better writing and amazing vocal work. The dub is a bunch of kiddy BS. Terrible writing and terrible acting. I only watch fansubs by PocketMonsters Fansubs.
@Sakura Yakushi
Oh don’t be such a weeaboo. The dub is not a travesty. Get over yourself.
Don’t be a cunt. I usually love English dubbed Anime, The Pokémon dub is horrible however.. The voice actors don’t seem like they are trying all that hard. Hell even the director said that he does not care about the quality of the dub. So don’t start with that “OMG UR A WEEABOO!!!111” crap with me.
If you really wanted to see dubs where the actors don’t care, then Pokemon isn’t it. Most people who aren’t blinded by 4kids nostalgia are actually fine with it. The writing is just fine; in addition the dub is no longer subject to the ridiculous editing and lines that 4kids did, such as calling rice balls “donuts” or turning them into a sub sandwich. And where is the evidence of your claim?
The dub of Garzey’s Wing or the English dub of Dragon Ball Z from Malaysia are examples of truly bad dubs with bad acting. Watch those and you’ll never look at other dubs the same way again.
TPCi’s dub of Pokemon definitely is a case where the crew doesn’t care: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBnHSkTjXJQ. TPCi even hired an alleged rapist to voice direct their dub for 7 years.
Most people who aren’t blinded by 4Kids hatred aren’t fine with it.
The writing is horrendous: awful slang, rhymes, and alliterations tossed everywhere from Ash and Team Rocket.
In addition, the dub is now instead subject to the ridiculous editing TPCi does, such as calling apples “berries” or calling peas and carrots “veggies,” and here is the evidence of my claims:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBnHSkTjXJQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGgs4_8fu2U
The key word there being alleged. Was there actually any proof that he raped someone? Or was it another false rape accusation by a woman for whatever stupid reason she thought she should do it? I find it suspicious because there is no proof anywhere. And if he is in fact yet another victim of a false rape accusation then another innocent man had his life ruined and lost his job. It is sickening that a woman can falsely accuse a man of rape and just get away with it. Men are always guilty until proven innocent and women are always seen as innocent no matter what. Women get away with raping young boys for goodness sake…
The proof lies in the fact he was forced out of the dub soon after and on top of that, his wife supposedly divorced him. TPCi’s dub is garbage.
i think that the season when Ash was in Sinnoh was quite good. Ash battled in a more mature way and his battles where intense and with good music(the battle with Paul is one of my favourites). But in the next season there was a big change in Ash’s personality, as he became more childish and his battling skills deterorated. This continued ever since. Ever since i really cant watch a pokemon episode.
The good news is that XY has put Ash’s skills back to the levels of Hoenn and Sinnoh. Maybe you can give that a shot, because it’s a lot better than BW.
I feel the anime has always been a hit or miss show. There’s been Good, here’s been Bad, then there’s just meh:
Original Series:
Kanto – I found it alright, the humor was charming and refreshing, but it always kinda bugged me how Ash never earned any of his Gym Badges Legibly (Except Maybe 2 of them)
Orange Islands – Was actually the best of that series this saga, Ash and Misty got proper character development this time round, even if it was minimal
Johto – First Season was Alright, Other 2 were awful, and they were what made Johto the worse for me
Advance Generation:
Hoenn – Not that bad. They finally started to put more focus on Ash Companions (Well, Only May), and introduced new concepts, like Contests, which changed up the Dynamic of the Series, Better than Johto for me, and honestly the best
Kanto (Battle Frontier) – Again, Liked it
Diamond & Pearl
Sinnoh – It’s Alright, the Bigger Plot was welcomed and the league was good, but the characters were awful (Ash came off as stale, Brock and Team Rocket were annoying af, and Dawn was just boring)
Best Wishes:
Unova – Actually Pretty Good. Iris & Cilan were way more interesting character wise than DP Brock and Dawn, and character development was at it’s best since Hoenn
Decolore Islands – Filler, but still had some good episodes
XY:
Kalos – Also Pretty Good, Characters are Bland Personality Wise, but their character development makes up for it, plus we got some good episodes from it
Pokemon Indigo League and some first 250 pokemon were best. It was humorous, touching, sometimes spooky (sabrina), and some very interesting plots. Orange Islands could be the best if they had not stupidly replaced Brock :/
I gave up after saphire and ruby. The pokemon were simpler more tough looking and still had cute ones. Straight over kill theses days mega this or that over powered lame. now I’m 22 stop playing for years now (still look things up love what pkm was) just wish theyd make a more adult game of pokemon or maybe have a original red to silver feel fight 16 gyms two elite fours something fun again. And I’m an adult now seriously I don’t want a gameboy maybe make the game Xbox or consule maybe pc related ?
The closes we got to a more mature Pokemon game was gen 5 and 6 with Black/White, X/Y, and the Delta Episode of OmegaRuby/Aplha Sapphire (as well as Colossuem from the 3rd gen) but otherwise I kind of don’t get why people as for a more adult Pokemon game. Well I kind of get why (though I don’t know why you personally want a more adult Pokemon game), but what people need to understand is that Pokemon is first and foremost a franchise targeted to children. It’s apart of children literature. The Pokemon company is never going down that road, and I think that’s a good thing. Besides, the last time a gaming company decided to take a more “adult” route with one of their franchises it didn’t go so well. I’m referring to the Sonic Franchise with Shadow the Hedgehog. We don’t need something similar happen with Pokemon.
Another thing, there is no way Pokemon is going to be available for the Xbox, PC or Playstation (though recently seeing a Pokemon game on an iPhone is more of a possibility) as it’s apart of a first party company. Unless Nintendo goes 3rd party if you want to play a Pokemon game you would have to play them using one of Nintendo’s consoles. Also, I don’t see how you being an adult affects your choice of a console, and the game boy has long been obsolete.
I’m 22 years old and i stopped watching pokemon after Battle Frontier in Kanto and continue watching it back on XY for only 20 episodes and the stop watching again due to annoyed with Serena crybaby character.. My observation :
I miss how fantastic when Pokemon indigo league was. The first Pokemon anime is full of unexpected humor like Ash saying that Brock go over Misty than Gloom and than wild Misty appeared behind Ash at Xanadu Nursery episode, James big bewbs, the trio using Team Rocket Motto to insult Jessie and James and one episode i can’t forget where Misty get her head knock off by Brock twice for mocking him.. Beside that, Pokemon Indigo League interesting with unique character like Misty who is the only tomboyish character in Pokemon anime.. Misty reminds me of my wife now which my wife also have almost the same characteristic and also a tomboyish when i first met her at school, a hot-tempered, stubborn but sometimes sweet and sensitive person too ( she’s a Misty die-hard fan, no wonder and she’s also love to fishing more than me….. but after we’re married, she’s changed her appearance a little bit. My wife seems a little cooler now, could be because she’s a mother of our two child.. ) and also Brock who sometimes a smart and annoying person at first but in later series, Brock seems really useless in the anime where he does nothing except the cliche thing ( chasing after girls ).. Don’t forget about emotion and touching moments in Pokemon Indigo League where Ash got separated from it’s body and Misty almost crying for this ( she though Ash was dead already ) and in Johto episode “Gotta Catch Ya Later” where it’s getting touched to see the trio return to their home.. and don’t forget too the episode “Sick Daze” in Johto where Misty cooking is extremely terrible.. i laugh very hard to see her face when she taste her own cooking.. and also James and Meowth face too when later they taste the Misty cooking.
Later in Advance Generation, i don’t have too much to say.. the emotion element still exist in some episode ( can’t remember what it is ) where Misty got separated from her Togetic..
In Kanto Battle Frontier, nothing intense here but still acceptable for me to watch.. ( could be a little boring because the humor element is kind repetitive and everything seems like “no joking, serious only! ” ) and i stopped watching after Ash lose in the last Battle Pyramid ( i think so where the 7th Arena is )
Finally in XY, they introduced Serena which is Ash childhood friend . For me Serena is nothing but just like any other girl in anime except she’s goal is to become Kalos Queen, don’t know how to fishing and she’s also a crybaby!
True, true, true…
… that’s why sometimes I feel I love Digimon series more… it is a series on it’s own….
… their fault….
…. one day…. I hope they will come up with a storyline, similar to Pokemon but they will create it for a development later and make it stand on it’s own…. and it will be for adults who have grown up from the same thing over and over again…. and if it won’t be from that pokemon company someone else will do it anyway…
Indeed, however the answer for how to save the series lies right beneath the creator’s noses, the manga. If they made the anime like the Adventures Manga, it would increase the popularity of the franchise by making older fans come back and bring their friends along. I know several people who were hesitant to play the game because they thought it would be like the anime, but unlike the anime, the manga displays varying and entretaining stories, actually likeable characters and an actual plot.
Honestly, if they just used the content in the Manga, I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of fans in the franchise multiplied.
I’ll be honest. When I saw Pokemon XY, and the whole childhood romance story, and how they ACTUALLY DEVELOPED the beginnings of a real romance, and actually had hope for maybe someone traveling with Ash. Win or lose, on the tournament, it actually did not matter. These are two projected endings that the author COULD have written:
1. Serena gets the crown. She find it is lonely at the top. Meanwhile, Ash finally won a tournament, due to his awesome fusion ability. They are in fact apart for awhile, pursuing their separate dreams, but they do what they came to do. Years pass (somewhere from five to ten). Serena finally has the crown taken from her by some other promising candidate. SHe’s had a good run, but she doesn’t miss the limelight. She misses Ash (Ash is clueless, and barely interested in most girls that he doesn’t have a history with). She travels to Pallet town in her Rhyhorn. Ash is exploring as usual, despite having won a tournament, there are always places to explore and Pokemon to seek out. Being a big world out there, Serena is about to give up. But she meets Ash’s mother. Ash’s mom explains that there is “something waiting” for Ash at home. Ash heads home, expecting something Pokemon-related (again, Ash is canonically fleshed out as almost asexual). Serena is about to step outside for a bit, Ash enters. They have a Meet Cute (bump into each other), a few words, and a big kiss.
2. Ash fails the tournament. Serena fails to win the crown too. Like the Failure Heroes these two are, they just keep going. Only, unlike before, he doesn’t ditch everyone but Pikachu. He lets Serena keep traveling with him.
So, what about Pokemon Sun and Moon? You could honestly leave this as is (1) if this was a side story from Ash’s early childhood, or (2) this is not actually Ash but one of Ash/Serena’s children. Or grandchildren. As it stands, the story makes zero sense from a storytelling standpoint. It’s like the author of the series was autistic or… oh wait.