I'd have also liked to have seen the Gym have a longer arc. 1 episode for 3 Gym Leaders is clearly not enough to focus on all 3 of them enough.
These three gymleaders are a single identity.. They are poor developed ingame and each of their quirks (if you can call general characteristics a quirk) can be handled by their lines and general attitude. By just looking at them you can tell that Pod is the fiery hot head, Koon is the cool collected type and Dento is the middle brother, which will all be inducted into their narrative. They don't have any other thing going for them aside from being waiters, which is being handled by introducing Dento, then they can say: 'Yes, we all run this café together, as well as the gym!'.
These guys are essentially the same as the Cerulean Sisters..
Daisy -> Dento
Lily -> Pod (Lily plays male parts in their plays)
Violet -> Koon (Violet is the more feminine, and well Koon has long blue flowy hair like her)
I don't see how introducing three gymleaders who are basically the same entitity and three one on ones is going to be such a problem to handle in one episode. Remember the days where Ash battled Brock twice, introduced his father, his siblings, his backstory, Ash powering up Pikachu, and Brock joining up in the single same episode? As what I've seen from the preview, Dento has no such backstory at all.. Which took the most time in that episode..
They could do a filler saga I guess, I'd even like that, but even so, even Hoenn didn't have nearly such a fast pace.
A filler saga will probably be the best way to go.. They have to make this series last as long as DP, so if they want to pace up, they better bring in more material to fill the gap between generations.
Anyway.. There are however some concrete oppositions to BW and AG! xD
- In AG, Ash captured his
second pokemon in the
fourth episode.
-- In BW, Ash captured his
fourth pokemon in the
fourth episode.
- In AG, Ash captures his Grass type in the
seventh episode as the
third pokemon.
-- In BW, Ash captures his Grass type in the
seventh episode as the
fifth pokemon.
Just how crazy is that! xD
Did Ash really use Pidgeotto all that much early in the first season?
Time will tell what happens to Mamepato.
He used pidgeotto a lot actually..
Ep.3 - Caught and used against TR, but fainted due to just being caught.
Ep.4 - Fought against a Weedle that Ash tried to catch, and immediatly used afterwards against Samurai's Pinsir (fainted due to again overuse).
Ep.5 - Used against Brock's Geodude
Ep.7 - Used against Misty's Starmie
Ep.8 - Used against a random kid's Rattata at the start and later against AJ's Sandshrew.
That's eight battles since its debut and the five episodes thereafter.. While Mamepato has two.. Still who knows if it's going to be used in BW6/7? It would make sense for it to fight Tsutaja, but then again, I know that Pikachu and Mijumaru of all things are fighting that one, when Ash has two types that are super effective over it, he chooses the least useful...
Lets pray for Mamepato appearing in BW006...
It still saddens me that something as iconic as the Meowth hot air balloon has vanished, and thus the need of balloon popping as well.. Heck, when we have shell/shuriken throwing otters stealing jobs, the bird is even more made obsolete..
Yea... hmm, you sure did miss the Advanced Generation Saga. Ash battled the second gym leader, Brawly, in AG020 and lost. Ash didn't challenge Brawly until AG031.... 11 episodes. Sure 11 episodes would be a bit of a stretch from the first gym but a good 5 episodes could be enough, and like I said, in BW006, they are at the abandoned lot of dreams, which is right of Sanyou city, Shippou City is on the left of Sanyou City.
They have this gymbattle early so that Dento can join the cast when said cast is still being developed through the early stages.. I mean, it would look weird for a character to join when Ash already has a full team, or even five pokemon for that matter..
It doesn't matter exactly where next to Sanyou City the Abondoned Lot of Dreams is.. Remember that Rotom House in DP? That sure was right at the end of Eterna Forest iirc!