Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Pokémon Journeys: The Series
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Juno016
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"Canon" is a bit of a weird concept anyway. With the Reshiram/Zekrom films, the point isn't that one or the other actually happened, but that both are "canon" on the note that the differences between the two are insignificant. One of them happened, but it doesn't matter which one. |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1747 |
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I collect original production animation from several series including Pokemon. I am very familiar with terminology such as douga, genga, shuusei, etc as I own many such items. So, please, spare me the lecture about character designs and animation especially as, in many series, character designers often work on the show's animation as well. Same thing with animation directors. The character designs for the human characters reek of in-between animator quality. There are many key frames where I just shudder seeing the proportions given to the human characters. I blame the studio for selecting such a shabby character designer. I might understand if the property didn't have the funds to hire better animators, but this is Pokémon...at least do what several other series have done and have one character designer for the Pokémon and one for the humans. Ho-oh episode was pretty boring. I admit that I nodded off several times with just how slow it was going and how tired of I am of Goh throwing balls and catching things immediately. I did like the following episode more, mainly because it took Goh lots of Pokeballs to catch Dewgong and Dewgong's personality. I like Ash's new addition. |
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precita
Posts: 42 |
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Go is fine so far but he's a step down from most of the SM companions (besides Sophocles, lol), and Bonnie/Clemont.
Pokemon has actually done a great job with supporting characters after the neglect of the Johto portion of Misty/Brock. The writers actually learned how to give characters proper arcs, actual development, battles, etc. It's really only Misty/Brock that didn't really have much in the way of character arcs since until they left the show. I see this same thing every time a new gen of the anime starts. Everyone acts so "surprised" or says how all the characters and pokemon have personality now...people said the same exact thing back when BW, XY, SM, etc. all first started too. Then everyone "forgets" and then says the same thing when the next gen begins and the cycle begins again. As someone in the online fandom since the early 2000's, people do the same thing every new gen of the anime. Besides the usual people complaining Misty is gone for the millionth time. |
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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You aren't serious about BW, are you? BW is the most hated Pokémon series and part of that is its characterization. It had great battles, great tournaments and all that, but the characters just were there and that sadly goes even for Ash, who was severely downgraded for this series, much more than he was in any of the previous and succedeeng series. And Iris and Cilan felt like Misty and Brock copies in different bodies. Many of their character traits were the same.
And SM had another problem with characters: it had way too many. And that meant that creators weren't able to give them as much screentime as they deserved and in the end, it ended to be mostly about Ash, because the writers inevitably ended to ignore the others, just because they lost insight of them. Journeys is different so far. By reducing the characters to just two, writers can give both characters equal screentime and the show does not feel like it's about Ash at first and then about his friend. No. Goh is equal to Ash and that's really good thing. That's exactly the kind of fresh air this show needed after 13 years of concentrating mostly on Ash. It's Journeys where I finally feel that the writers really did learn from their mistakes. |
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precita
Posts: 42 |
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I mean when it first started in 2011. People forget this overtime but at least at first there was a lot of hype going into it. DP went on too long and people were tired of Brock and coordinators, at the time Iris/Cilan were a breath of fresh air. Also initially for serious Team Rocket although that backfired over time. You can even read the old posts on bulbagarden and serebii from when BW was first starting in late 2010/2011, there was actually a lot of excitement at first. People only turned on BW as it went on.
Yeah SM had a large main cast but they did a fairly decent job overall. Sophocles and Mallow got the least screentime but at least Mallow had her moments. Also Kukui and his wife were very well developed. Ash's pokemon team developed fairly well as well as the rivalry with Gladion. SM had a rough first year but it got better as it went on, which is why the saga is relatively well liked now. Ash's design is still kinda bad, but I got used to it.
Go was more interesting though before they just had him capture everything in sight as a Pokemon Go ad. But I'm willing to give him more time, it's just kinda sad his capturing every pokemon goal is kinda dull. Reminds me of Gary in Season 1 but Gary was off-screen most of the time so it didn't matter. |
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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I was part of community back when BW started and this is not what I saw back then. What I saw was split community. True there were some who were actually happy they finally got rid of Contests, but even then, there were many who weren't that happy with that move after two (well, technically three) sagas where Contests played such a big role and they made them equal goal to Gyms. Even then I saw people calling Iris another goalless Misty-wannabee. And serious Team Rocket wasn't accepted too well either. True, there were those who actually liked that change, me included, but many, I daresay majority, did not. Which, I believe, is also part of why the creators, sadly, backed up and capitulated to those who hated this change.
As for SM, I fail to see that "decent job overall". True, they did good job with character development eventually, but it also is the first series that had episodes that featured only Ash. And by that I don't mean episodes concentrated on Ash, with his friends put into backseats. I mean episodes where Ash's friends weren't even featured, like, at all. Episodes, where we only saw Ash and no one else for the whole 30 minutes. Before that, we had the rest of the team given at least small screentime, but not here. And that's were the series lost me. And Gladion was great rival, but he reminded me too much of Gary. He may be better rival if he did not have too big competition in previous series, especially with such fan-favourites like Paul or Alain. And sadly, in their light Gladion shades. And, once again, your assumption that the community likes SM is not what I see. What I see is once again split community where some like it and some hate it. And yes, I too could live without Goh's almost cheaty catch style, but his goal to catch all kind of Pokémon is new to the anime and that's where the creators caught me. Especially since that goal is close to many of us Pokémon games players. Much closer, actually, than Ash's fabricated Pokémon Master goal. And that makes Goh more relatable character to Pokémon gamers, no matter if Pokémon Go or mainline series. And that's another good thing. |
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precita
Posts: 42 |
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Usually in most eps Ash's companions are treated like background material in either the big Ash-centric eps, some fillers, or battle heavy eps. It was a good thing the SM characters weren't in every ep, because they didn't need to be. What I mean was even if there was a bloated cast, each of the 5 characters still got their focus episodes, obviously not to the extent of past characters, but every character had their moments and development. Like I don't care about Sophocles at all, but even he got at least 5+ focus episodes and battles in the league so he wasn't neglected. The entire cast got their focus, although Lillie, Kiawe and Lana got more than the other two, and if you count Kukui, he got a lot of focus as well.
And then Ash's pokemon team got the usual focus of the saga, with the starters and Lycanroc taking up the bulk and the other two being the typical late captures that every saga has (like Glalie, Gible, Noviern, Goodra, Gliscor, etc), so it's similar to past sagas how Melmetal and Naganadel were treated. The Torracat/Kukui rivalry was one of the best the series had done, and Gladion's rivalry with the Lycanrocs was well done too. Rowlett was the usual cute marketable starter that doesn't evolve but was still a good battler. As for BW, again, look through the archives for old posts. People had already gotten bored of Brock before DP even ended, Cilan was a breath of fresh air. Iris wasn't that hated at the start, it only began once she beat Ash in the first Don battle tournament. BW was a generally poor saga sure, but it still has some good things. I'd still place it above the Johto saga to be honest, because outside a few better eps here and there, most of Johto was too boring and Misty was beyond stale. |
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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As I said, I was there in the community when BW started. Yes, I agree that Brock was already quite, to put it nicely, overused, so the fandom, overall, liked his departure. That's true. But the hate towards the series started the moment Trip, total novice who just got his first Pokémon, beat Ash. It was at that point people started to hate how much Ash was reverted in BW and this sentiment carried over to the rest of the series. Iris started to be called Misty's clone the moment she called Ash little kid, which, for some, was too close to how Misty treated Ash. And once again, this sentiment carried over to the rest of the series. That beating of Ash did not start it, it just intensified it. As I said, I was there and I saw this sentiment.
As for SM, well, these characters are main characters for a reason. And that's why they should be there for all episodes, not being left. So yes, I have problem with this and I disagree with you here. But with such a big cast, it was inevitable that some characters will be left out in some episodes. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. So yeah, we obviously have different opinion here. |
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