Favorite Saga/Series, V4

[Sushi]

Welcome to the new Favorite Series thread, which now includes SM as an option in the poll.

Talk about the sagas and seasons that you liked best here. Before you dive in though, please read the following:

• Nobody should be attacked, mocked or interrogated because of their choices. This thread is purely asking about personal preference, not objective analyses on which saga had the highest quality writing/animation. If you're seeking a debate, please go find another place. Nobody has to justify themselves here.

• That said, please list at least a couple of reasons why you chose a series as your favorite. Not just "DP, hands down".

• If you want to mention the new "Pocket Monsters" series here because you think it's shaping up to become your favorite, of course you can do that, but please hide spoilers (anything alluding to episodes that haven't aired outside of Japan yet) inside spoiler tags.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

My favorite is AG (particularly the Battle Frontier part of the series) because it was pretty balanced and it has really good continuity and such. It felt like a sequel to the Original Series and it felt like it could have been the finale of Ash's story imo.
I also like the Original Series (Kanto/Orange Islands) because it was pretty entertaining to watch.
SM and DP are tied for 3rd to me because they had Lillie and Dawn who are a couple of my favorite characters and SM had Rowlet and I also enjoyed seeing the Ash getting hit gag from the first half of SM.
I don't really care much for any of the other series.

 

[Krackochu]

Hard choice I mean sinnoh is where I started watching the anime and I still love almost every part of it but the fillers yeesh their bad but but I totally loved the Dynamics of sun and moon and the change of tone but xyz was so epic!this is hard

 

[J.Agera]

XY is still my favorite and I highly doubt any upcoming series is surpassing it anytime soon.
I think it had the best elements of any Pokemon series yet, with a few exceptions like League and main Rival which DP did better, which is probably why it's my 2nd favorite series.

 

[Venomshock]

The Johto arc is my favorite. I know that that's likely not the most popular opinion 'cause most fans seem to really hate everything having to do with Johto, but I'm different from most fans I guess. My favorite thing about Johto was the emphasis on tournaments and small competitions like the sumo tournament, the Whirl cup and the Seaking fishing competition. I also thought that Team Rocket had the best mini arcs like the one at the Lake of Rage and Whirl islands.

 

[Leonhart]

The Original Series [Kanto, the Orange Archipelago, and Jouto] is still my favorite saga because of how well in handled character interactions compared to the newer sagas of the anime. Jouto was probably the weakest part of that saga and many people will agree that the fillers there were monotonous, but even Jouto had some charming aspects like the Whirlpool Cup tournament and various Rocket-dan episodes.

 

[shoz999]

The XY series. Like the action, stories and setting.

 

[CMButch]

My favorite is DP. I really liked amazing and in-depth villain arc that it provided. Paul, as I mentioned is the best Ash's main rival and his story is simply astonishing in entire animeverse when it comes to rival stories. Ash's team was brilliant, not too OP like in XY and Buizel and Gible didn't evolve which I kinda like that they didn't evolve. Even though I prefer final stages in my playthroughs, it's kinda sweet to see 1 or two non evolved stage by Ash. Dawn's team and development are good. I liked many gym battles, league( which is still the best) and I liked other battles especially Ash vs Paul ones. Ash's and Dawn's rivals were great.
9/10

What I didn't like about DP is: Dawn's Piplup, fillers between: 7th and 8th gym, Brock's lack of development.

Second favorite is XY. I really liked Ash's team and I liked what they did with Greninja. Rivals were a little on side-note but it was fresh that Alain was introduced with different goal in hands than Ash. I liked villain team plan but IMO it's not as good as Team Galactic one. Still this is second best villain story in animeverse. I liked what they did with Serena and gave her some development. Clemont's story is also good especially with Clembot. I like fresh idea of preforming instead of contests but it kinda felt not for my taste. I liked animation and I don't know if they really gave all budget on this but it really felt way different than any Pokemon anime series. Fillers were good and enjoyable since TR has become more competent. Other rivals were kinda meh in comparison.
8.5/10

What I didn't like: Ash not getting Mega Stone, Kalos league could've been better, Sawyer's clingy attitude towards Ash, lack of captures for Serena, preforming could've evolved some Pokemon battles

My third favorite is AG + BF. I really liked Ash's team on here with great group dynamics but they fail to compare when it comes to his XY and DP teams. I liked how he used other Pokemon in BF. I found BF better than AG. Fast paced, more battle oriented and enjoyable filler. Sure, AG did have them too, but some of them were pain to watch. May's team is amazing I'd say even on par with Dawn's. Brock has some development there unlike in DP. I found Max better than Bonnie anyway. Hoenn League is second best and BF Frontier challenge are one of the best challenges Ash has even had. May's rivals were good, maybe on par with Dawn's.Honestly, if Team Aqua and Team Magma arc was much much better , AG would've been better than XY,IMO.
7.5/10

What I didn't like: some fillers were bad, Ash's lack of rivals, Ash not using reserves in Hoenn league, Villain team arc(Team Aqua/Team Magma) is really bad, the worst one so far.

My 4th favorite is BW + DI. I know this is really unpopular opinion when it comes around, but I can't help but to like it. I really liked how many Pokemon Ash captured but that pays the price sadly since writers could've easily made it work. I really liked Iris and Cilan as companions. I found Iris better than Misty,Bonnie, Clemont ,Mallow, Sophocles,Max and Brock(DP) when it comes in character development. Her attitude is kinda annoying together with the voice. Cilan is very likable, I don't know why his "It's tasting time" is worse than Clemont's "Clemontic Gear On", both are bad but have some charms in it.I really like tournaments in it. Rivals are good/ok since I like angry rivals more than calm ones. I liked Team Plasma and how TR got actually antagonistic in this series.Fillers were also kinda enjoyable except DI fillers.

6.5/10

What I didn't like: Iris being annoying, Ash's reset, lack of "evolving time", Unova league could've been better, DI could've had one tournament where Ash wins

Since we have OS, I am gonna split it into Red and Blue with OI and Gold and Silver since it's kinda unfair to compare 300 episodes with 200 and especially 140 ones...also, I would like to split OS into Japanese and English Dub since there's a difference in my liking.

My fifth favorite is R/B + OI ( English). I really liked comedy in here where Ash roasts everyone. This is the only time Pokemon was more sitcom-y and actually funny to me: non Japanese cultured guy.Part from that I liked how kinda serious TR was in here and it had some TR development. I liked Tracey aswell. Gary is IMO fourth in rank Ash's rival: first being Paul, second Alain, third Gladion and Gary comes in 4th. I liked how many Pokemon Ash caught and I liked Charizard's development.It was short and fillers were amazing.
6/10.

But here's what I didn't like which would justify the rating: Ash releasing everyone and not reuniting with them, Ash catching 30 Tauros, lack of battles and battles were really bad, Kanto league is the worst. Ash at most time had only 5 Pokemon in hand.. which made lack of development for Tauros, Muk or Kingler(Krabby).

Now I am getting in territory where remaining series are not my favorite but they go from ok, mediocre.and bad

Ok one is SM. What I liked about SM: Character development for Lillie,Lana and Kiawe, I really liked Kiawe's Charizard,Marowak and Turtonator, I liked some of Alola league's battles making SM series enjoyable only in the end but that's not enough to make my favorite. Ash vs Kukui is third best battle, first two being Ash vs Paul SL and Ash vs Alain KL. I liked Ash's Alolan team but I don't find them better than XY and DP teams. I like how competent TR was in here. I liked little sub plots that were going on ( Lusamine, Necrozma and Dia) but they lack to be better than BW's plots. If Necrozma's plot was better then it'd be better than BW's TR and TP plot.
5.5/10

What I didn't like: Oh boy, I didn't like first and foremost; lack of battles, they were mostly one shotters by Z move, that's why I enjoyed SM a lot more near the end where it's too late, I didn't like really bad slapstick comedy in making "funny faces", those faces are way different than PM faces if anyone seen those: PM faces were normal anime ones that occur in all anime series with little more detail added to it, still they're kinda passable or meh, but SM faces are what I, and probably others calling them: JoJo faces. Where they change the art-style of characters to be JoJo like. In PM they don't change the art-style to JoJo when changing the faces which is a plus. I am not hating on JoJo or anything but that's cringe-y( putting different art-style to add comedy effect). If SM's faces were like new PM faces( BTW, PM is my shortcut for new anime: Pocket Monsters), it'd be fine, still criticized-prone but not as cringe-y as JoJo faces. I disliked Mallow and Sophocles development they felt like supporting characters. I dislike that they made Lycanroc and Rowlet kinda overrated and I disliked that they didn't make Gen 8 Pokemon and gimmick in SM. Maybe Kukui to Dynamax a Pokemon.Alola league could've been much better,though. Many fillers were bad only a few ones were good.

Mediocre one is G/S(English). Comedy was still there which was good, Misty's development rocketed but Brock's kinda fell down a bit. Ash's team was really bad since almost no Pokemon evolved during Johto except Bayleef. Fillers are really atrocious. It lacked rivals, villain arc( TR fell down in Johto). Johto league and comedy were the only good thing about Johto arcs.
5/10

And finally bad ones are OS( Japanese). Reason why I found these bad is because: comedy that existed in OS ( while it faded in AG in both versions) were made for Japanese people which I of course, would find it weird. 4kids made it more for us to understand and made punchlines really stick. If we remove comedy from Red and Blue + OI (English), then that series would be as bad as Japanese OS is. Comedy really saved first series(English), IMO.
4/10
EDIT: Updated scores
DP: 9.5/10
XY: 9.3/10
AG:8/10
Kanto and OI:7/10
BW: 6.5/10
SM 6.3/10
Johto:6/10

 

[Leonhart]

The XY series. Like the action, stories and setting.

I thought that XY was pretty much perfect in terms of pacing and animation. I liked that the saga didn't waste that much time on fillers compared to some previous sagas, and I think that was because the writers worked hard to showcase practically every major in-game location and important character from the Kalos games in the anime.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Here's an updated list of how I rank the anime:
AG>OS>DP>SM>BW>XY>Pokemon 2019/Journeys (so far).
AG is my favorite since it felt like the most balanced series imo, and it had the Battle Frontier, which is my favorite season.

 

[RafaSceptile]

Great Tier:

-SM (8/10): SM is a series that gave anime a real change, in several good ways, and in other bad ways. For example, the characters are really close, and the interactions between them much more natural. It would not have been the most consistent in battles, but it was in terms of the personification of those who have the main role in the episodes. The animation was excellent, and it broke several of the anime's schemes, as Ash cannot win a Pokémon league or touch the subject of death on more than one occasion, and in a very good way. The series have some of the best characters interactions, such as Ash/Kukui/Burnet, Mallow/Lana and Gladio/Lillie.

-DP (7.8/10, too much water): Despite having a structure similar to OS and AG, DP had rivals very well, and although I do not like Paul as a character, he is the best rival he has had by far (only as a rival, as a character is Gladio). This is the series that has best developed jointly for Ash and his female companion. However, the year difference between the seventh and eighth medal and the way to finish the league against Tobias end up costing this series its first place. AG, XY and SM in this regard developed the events better in the last year.

-AG, Battle Frontier Arc (7.7/10): I honestly enjoyed this arc more than DP. The battles of this arc are different from the conventional in the Hoenn Arc and the use of reserves make it feel like Ash uses everything learned so far. It is also the first time that Ash has defeated two Legendary Pokémon during an arc (the second was in the Alola League). However, the lack of an opponent for Ash to try to make him outdo himself is what makes him consider DP slightly superior.

Good Tier:

-XY (7/10): The first series that returned to much more dynamic battles and greatly improved animation, in addition to trying to make a more serious antagonistic arc is a cool thing for anime. However, the fact that everyone loves Ash and that he is the best and the chosen one, that of the prophecy, etc. They make him feel unrealistic, plus in order to be all of that, he ended up doing the same thing: Losing the league, saving the world (did he really contribute much to that?), and traveling to the next region.

-OS, Orange Islands Arc: (6.5/10): Probably the most underrated part of the anime. The Orange Islands offered a different environment and we didn't see it again until the Decolora Islands, however, the most important thing was to see Ash finally mature as a trainer, getting Charizard to obey him and winning his first 6vs6 battle. Without this part of the anime, Ash probably wouldn't have accomplished what he did in Johto.

Decent Tier:

-AG, Hoenn League Arc (6/10): Although the change in the structure adding the contests as a May goal is interesting, this was not perfected until the next arc. Ash feels more confident during the series and his performance in the league is not memorable, to the point that the best battle was against a CotD, while May had the development with her rivalry with Drew, the Hoenn festival has several of the errors of the Kanto League, how to develop the battle with Harley for 2 episodes so that it is super rushed in 5 minutes.

-OS, Kanto League Arc (5.7/10): Despite the fact that many of the episodes were original and fun, there are not many things to rescue from the series. The interaction between Ash, Brock and Misty is some of the best to this day, however many of Ash's important moments are ruined, such as the various gym battles and his performance in the Pokémon League. However, this is the first arc of the anime, so you can't be overly reprimanding.

-OS, Johto League Arc (5.5/10): In some ways, this series improves on Kanto, such as Ash's (Gary / Harrison) rivals and major events, however the filler episodes are starting to get overused too, making them less fun and more generic.

-BW, Unova League Arc (5/10): BW really feels like OS Kanto 2.0, with some improvements but also many problems. There is no need to do battles like Ash VS Elesa for example. Still, I really like the way Iris is not the generic female lead with a female goal, as a recent theme here reminded me of that aspect of her personality, making her my favorite BW character.

"Don't do this again" Tier

-BW, Decolora Adventures Arc (2/10): Imagine the Orange Islands, without the Orange League and without Ash's progress in preparation for the next major region. That was this arc. The only redeemable thing is the introduction of Alexa as a linked character between BW and XY.

 

[mehmeh1]

Any Evidence of this happening on this thread or are you just making thing up again?

I'm guessing he's referring to PBF, who IIRC claimed a few times that he skipped SM (either that or he only watched a few episodes and dropped it)

 

[RafaSceptile]

That could be the case, but the way he posted it make it seem that he saying that everyone who trash sm haven’t watch it.

Probably any person that actually thing that whatever series is a 1/10, because no matter what series is, all series have some good parts and enjoyable things, yes, even BW that is the more consistent lower ranked, has some good things.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Any Evidence of this happening on this thread or are you just making thing up again?

Again? What the hell do you mean again? And you claiming that I'm quietening all SM criticism by saying people don't watch it when they rate it is wrong. SM can be criticised, like any other series, I myself have a lot of faults in it despite it being my fav anipoke series so far. As others have mentioned , there are people who do that, constantly saying they haven't watched Sun and Moon and don't care about it but then rating it low to try and mock it. So stop making it look like I lie and generalise. That *again* thing from you was so obnoxious.

That could be the case, but the way he posted it make it seem that he saying that everyone who trash sm haven’t watch it.

How does it seem that way? Where did I even generalise? Like seriously what the hell

 

[Ignition]

My favorite is DP. It has my favorite cast, rivals, Pokémon, region, storyline, arcs, music, and dynamics. The only complaint I have with it is the infamous one year gap but otherwise I think it's amazing. Runner ups would be AG and XY

 

[Aryash Bajaj]

My list goes as :-

XY > DP > AG > OS Kanto > BW > OS Johto > SM

1) XY is first on my list for a plethora of reasons. First of it is aesthetically pleasing so leaves a good first impression. And the first set of episodes were really good so it kept me interested. I like the characters and was probably the most developed cast till date. It was a tough challenge to establish 3 new characters and re - establish an old one in 140 episodes, while progressing them at the same time. They did a very fine job at it. Particularly Serena and Bonnie. I loved that the anime was fully willingly to actually make a character goal less for quite some time. When people say that she didn't do anything for the first 40 episodes, they are trying to deny what happened in the show. XY 07 was when Clemont asked her what she wanted to do and she was unsure. She also gained respect for Rhyhorn racing which she earlier despised. After that, she pondered on how happy her friends were with something to do in their life. In XY 21 she specifically talks to Shauna about having a goal. This episode also debuted Aria who is the Kalos Queen. In XY 26 she participates in the baking competition. Couple that with instances like the grooming episode where she actively searches for what she wants to do, it is very clear that the path for Serena's arc was very well planned. Of course, I have few problems with Showcases such as the downgraded premise compared to contests,her lack of good rivals and a showcase win that feel unearned. But her internal development throughout the entirety of XY makes her a perfectly valid candidate for the best companion in the anime.

Bonnie is said to have done nothing before XYZ but that is because people took the episodes like Flabebe, Lapras and Tyrantrum as fillers and didn't try to connect it with Squishy. All these episodes served well to show how she treats Pokemon around her and how her demeanor is that of a child who is said to say goodbye. Contrast it with Squishy in the end of Flare arc where she learnt that you have to say goodbye and seperated with Squishy.

Clemont is probably the best handled male companion along with Kiawe (maybe) as they both had a simple arc which was done in a consistent way and while it did went off the radar at times, they did their job well for a third wheel. Both managed to stay relevant in thier respective final arcs.

Ash was also a part I liked very much and this iteration is my second favourite version after AG. Something I really liked about Ash here was how he acted responsible around others, particularly near the AG mastery arc.

Then there is also the 'Bookending' that makes it my favorites climax. Many other reasons, too little time.

2) DP :- Ash vs Paul is GOAT Pokemon rivalry and GOAT Pokemon battle. What made it even better was how a rivalry was the main plot for the first time. Chimchar's arc being woven together with it makes it all the more impactful and the stakes more personal. I wouldn't be lying when I say that a reason I rewatched DP was just to experience Ash vs Paul with all the emotions.

Of course, the other reason is Dawn. I still hold that Dawn had the best characterisation. I have a few gripe with May's and Serena's was just as well but I think making a character consistent and believable for 190 episodes is an inherently more difficult job than doing the same for 140 episodes. Her contest arc was phenomenal and the best goal arc of a poke girl. Her rivals were solid and pushed her. Her being over confident and learning to accept loss and becoming humble was very well done and Dawn will always be a selling point of DP just as much as Ash vs Paul is.

Ash was also written very well. While I found him a bit less entertaining than his AG self, I think his interactions with his rivals and cast were good enough.

Another thing is how well the rivalries are written in DP. A major part of this is due the fact that rivals had just as much interactions with Ash and Dawn as they had with the other rivals. Whether it be Paul - Barry or Nando - Zoey, it made them more human than just a challenge for the protagonist.

3) AG :- AG harbours my favorites iteration of Ash with a prime contender of the best season (Battle Frontier). It was also the first time I felt that the writers put much effort into character arcs. Starting with May, god bless the writers for introducing contests. They are the best goals for a poke girl introduced till date. While I find the Hate Pokemon -> Like Pokemon process contrived, her contest arc and finding out her own battling style were still great. She also has the best rivals for a pokegirls in Drew and Harley who, also like DP rivals, were not one note. While I did wish that her wins in contests pre BF were less "Metronome and Assist", I still think they did a good job.

AG Ash is my favorites Ash because of his personality and personality changes. Much like Dawn in DP, Ash also had to learn to be humble. Getting shown by Gary right after the BF win let's him from getting over his head. He was also very aggressive in nature which I think is a good follow up from the only verbally rash Ash from OS. Brock was a little less entertaining than OS but he was still decent.

And Max, yeah. Screw Max

-- Gap --

4) OS Kanto :- The hilarity of OS will never be matched. The early installment wierdness allowed for actually humorous dialogue than the supposed humour we have had in the previous series. The cast chemistry is on point and still the best time we have had till date. While the characters weren't as likeable for me simply by themselves, the group as the whole elevated the enjoyment exponentially. Not much to say here other than Kanto serves well for what it's supposed to be, a truly amusing series that sets up Pokemon.

5) BW :- BW I think gets way too much flak. The reset was bad. Especially coming after Vs Tobias where Pikachu tied with Latios. But Iris and Cilantro weren't really all that bad. Granted, I don't feel so strongly towards this series so nothing much else to say.

6) OS Johto :- Master Quest was a really good season and it was wasted in Johto. That's all.

-- Gaaaaaaaaaaaaap --

7) SM :- The art style never bothered me. The animation was great. The writing, particularly Lillie and all the Aether stuff, is the worst part of the entire anime for me. I rewatched it, my opinion on it only decreased. Don't want to start a rant right now.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

My ranking of the series
1. XY
2. DP
3. AG
4. OS
5. BW
6. SM/JN

 

[NPT]

1. DP
2. SM
3. OS
4. XY
5. AG
6. BW

 

[ChampioN One]

For me XY is hands down the best series. The reasons being:-

1. Ash was at his best in terms of battling and also was cooler than ever. He never seemed to panic and handled everything calmly.
2. The battles were just amazing and battle animation was also top notch.
3. If team flare arc isn't the best evil organization arc in the anime then I don't know what is, I mean they did it a billion times better than in the games.

 

[Ragnarok4]

After rewatching AG and some episodes, this is my actual ranking

1. Kanto + OI
2. XY
3. DP
4. SM
5. AG
6. Johto
7. BW