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Does anyone else feel like anime simply lost something over the years?

Psajdak

Well-Known Member
Even though, of course, animation and art evolved as time passed, and that is truly great, it seems to me like there was something genuinely simple, but beautiful in early seasons of the series.

Maybe it was the late 90s animation, and/or how characters looked back then...

Dunno, it is hard to put in words; like most episodes were simply memorable, and also did a great job with Pokemon and Characters of the Day.
 

Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
Its because BW happened and Ash became brain dead
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
It's been on a downward trend for a long time and it became more evident than ever around the time of BW and XY&Z [for me at least], although I've learned to tolerate it because clearly pointing out its many faults doesn't get us anywhere. I don't think there's one specific reason for why the anime has lost some of its luster, although the various animation style changes haven't exactly helped.
 

Sham

The Guardian of Ruin and Birth
This may be bias talking but I personally believe it went downhill after BW. Obviously BW started the trend of each series being treated individually instead of an on going thing but I think minus Ash’s mental reset it could of fitted in the OS-DP timeline. XY, SM and JN feel like three different shows. I think the biggest red flag was the switch between XY and SM. Why commit to having Ash having this “serious” persona only to emphasis his playfulness and childishness in SM? I couldn’t imagine XY Ash twerking during training because that’s that not the version of him they tried to portray in XY.
 

pacman000

On a quest to be the best...
Saw the 1st episode of Journeys. It was cute, but it didn’t catch my heart the same way the old Indigo League stuff did, & still does.

Having said that, it’s hard to know if I’m being objective. Perhaps my love for the old stuff is just nostalgia, & I’m seeing the new stuff from the same perspective my parents had in 1999.

Having said that, I did enjoy Pokemon 4Ever when I first saw it ~10 years ago, & I enjoyed finally finishing the Orange League about 3 years ago. Maybe I should go to Pokemon.com & compare episodes from different seasons, to see what’s changed.
 

Applecorp

Well-Known Member
It lost its soul. I know that sounds cliche af but it's true the show just isn't the same anymore. The main problem is Ash and how the writing staff can't seem to figure out what to do with him.

Also in the newer sagas starting with Kalos his group of friends bore me so much. I wish Ash had interesting pals like Misty, May, Dawn and Cilan again.
 

Spider-Phoenix

#ChespinGang
I think it has gained more than it lost over the years. The early years with Shudo had some interesting ideas but I really like what the show grow to become after the first series.

Either way, I'd say all the series so far had its strenghts and weakness but I still feel they made the show better.
 

Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of Jigglypuff Army
I think it is pretty balanced right now. Every new companion has something to offer for the most part and different goals and with the exception of BW, Ash has ranked pretty high in every League he enters since the OS with Alola being his high point. I just lost interest in the anime mostly due to the switching times and channels for new episodes and then I disconnected my cable service in favor of online streaming services. I know that I could catch up using Netflix but I missed a LOT of episodes that I don’t have time to watch XY and Alola in one weekend.
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
I mean for so long the show was afraid to make any big breakthroughs. It was consistent but to a fault. They wouldn't even think of having an episode without an obligatory Team Rocket appearance before BW. It was clear the formula was becoming very restrictive after a while.

I think a big era of experimenting and breaking lots of trends like what BW and SM did was kinda necessary in terms of adding more freedom and story material to work off in the long run, even if I agree it would be nice to have a point they try and dial back and make it more cohesive with everything they done thus far so the whole thing makes a big picture. Journeys DABBLES with that at times, having moments of feeling SORT OF like the next step, but is still kinda amorphous and seems unsure what to do with itself.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
Also in the newer sagas starting with Kalos his group of friends bore me so much. I wish Ash had interesting pals like Misty, May, Dawn and Cilan again.
I agree that his newer friends aren't as intriguing or charismatic as his older ones from my viewpoint. With a few exceptions like Iris, Lilie, and sometimes Citron depending on the situation, I can't say that I've been particularly fond of any of Satoshi's friends post-DP.
 

Dynamic_Fusion

HIKARI HYPE
I'll tell you what it has lost, the witty humor & dialogue. Both Original Series & Advanced Generation were perfect at humor. We had Savage Ash (roasting his Companions), Incredibly (actually) funny gags and even some mature moments Beauty & Beach, Safari Episode, then there is even that Kangaskhan Episode in which the Kangaskhan Kid jokes about nursing on Misty's Breast in the Original Japanese Version and when the kid meets his human parents again and gets confused, his dad just casually hits him with a branch on the head, hoping to bring back his memories and another funny moment is when Jenny pulls out a GUN and aims it point blank in Ash's face. Can you even imagine current Pokemon doing these sort of things? All of this was lost when DP began, as the anime decided to go on to a more Shonen-esque writing since the Anime was already getting too old by then and many people had already left to watch other things. This is clearly visible in DP, as the series takes on a much more plot-driven, less funny but violent direction, ex: Paul's treatment of Pokemon, Hunter J, Team Galactic and just in general if you look at the first few episode of DP, Ash also has a more aggressive & feisty personality, ex: the entire episode he had an argument with Dawn which was resolved by Nando. Many people think the Anime only tried new things from BW onwards but no, they started trying from DP itself. Then of course we had Best Wishes, where they decided to follow the games and refresh the things for the Anime. After that we had XY & SM, both were which wildly different. When XY started, I think the Staff (realized to an extent) that the Series' Glory Days were over and just tried their best doing the best they could.
 

U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
It's not that it lost anything. It's that it's attempts to constantly reinvent the wheel always brought more of its fundamental flaws to light. Then it tried to reinvent itself without much conviction.
 

mysticalglacia

Alola Shill
Yes. It’s lost good writing. After DP, the series fell into a rut with pretty aimless direction (though previous series’ did have a lot of these formative issues too, just not to that level). XY rectified a lot of this, though not perfectly, and even with all the anime has gained and lost since SM I still feel like there’s more wrong than right. I feel like the writers have a vision for this new direction the anime is going on, but they’re having trouble executing it in a satisfying way. It’s annoying because I can see all the potential Journeys has, but it’s just not being utilized in a better way.
 
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