If people hate the Pokémon anime so much, why do they keep watching it?

[Treadshot]

I see a lot of Pokémon fans complaining in the comment sections of videos such as these

And I notice a lot of people saying that Ash needs to be replaced, he needs to age, and that the anime is ****. I myself dislike it as well and quit watching years ago.

But if these people hate the anime so much, why are they subjecting themselves to watching something that they don’t like?

 

[SH65]

For me its to see how deep the rabbit hole goes and the time Ash leaves is when I leave.

 

[VoltTacklingPika]

But if these people hate the anime so much, why are they subjecting themselves to watching something that they don’t like?

Take your pick of any one of multiple reasons:

• Habit. If you watch a new episode every week for several years it becomes part of the routine, even if you hate it. Even if you're concious of hating it, breaking a habit is difficult.
• People love to complain. It's just human nature. We all like having something to moan about.
• Ever heard the phrase, "so bad it's good?" Sometimes, people will watch something that they think is bad because they find it funny or they like making fun of it. I've done it plenty of times with the show. I recently watched the I Choose You! movie with my brother and we had a blast taking the piss out of every line (the movie itself wasn't all that bad, fwiw).
• Attachment. You'll probably find that a lot of these people are still attached to the show, and that they're unhappiness comes from a place of love rather than one of spite. There's a yearning for the show to become what they want it to be to justify their continued or previous investment. Link this with habit.
• They don't actually hate it. A lot of criticism for anything is passed around without thought and becomes accepted wisdom even when that criticism is over-exaggerated, unsubstantiated and easily debunked. Say something enough times and it'll become truth even if it isn't. What I believe is that people don't so much as hate the show as they are just parroting a criticism from somewhere else to explain a vague feeling of dissatisfaction.

In the case of the example your provided, I think it's a combination of a few things. One is that people want a Pokemon anime but not one that is as inherently childish and desensitised as the current one is. Another is that the subject of the video is Black and White, which has become more appreciated over the years for being a bit different to other instalments in the franchise (particularly it's story and themes). If Black and White satisfied those fans who wanted a better story and a "deeper" game, then it stands to reason that they'd want every Pokemon product to do the same, including the current anime. I believe you'll see the exact same thing if you look at the reactions to Colosseum, Origins, and Generations.

 

[martianmister]

Most of them don't even watch the show anymore.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

For what it's worth, I actually like the anime. I don't like every season, and Sun and Moon also has episodes there that I don't like much, but overall I think the current anime a lot and I think it does a lot of things well.

 

[Mr. Reloaded]

Obligation.

These are generally people who obviously should just drop the show like they do any other anime they don't like, but just can't. And it creates this mentality that the anime has to be this edgy and mature series that appeals to me.

As stated above, some of these people don't even watch the anime and probably haven't in at least 15 years. But because everyone blindly hates Ash and the everything about the anime they just want to be apart of it.

 

[lemoncatpower]

Sometimes the stories suck and the characters aren't very deep, but seeing your favorite little monsters running around in real anime time and beating each other up in ways you don't see in the games are just so magical.

 

[Kuzehiko]

Because that's what's called being a true fan. Just because you hate S&M or XY, doesn't mean you hate the Pokemon anime as a whole.

 

[AznKei]

Because that's what's called being a true fan. Just because you hate S&M or XY, doesn't mean you hate the Pokemon anime as a whole.

I think people are abusing the words "true fan" a little bit too much. Whenever I watched the raw SM episodes on YouTube, there's some notorious users that like to write a long list or rants on every SM episode, saying that XY(Z) fans are true fans and SM are fake fans. Those same users that some Poketubers are banning them because they always make their comment sections chaotic. I don't really get involved in those arguments, but it gaves the impression that the fanbase are tense in general.

 

[MidnightMelody]

Same reason people hate on certain singers but listen to the songs a lot. People are annoying

 

[Ashton Ketchum]

About SM - I just keeping point of PokemonRangerBoy, as he said own reason in one of the latests videos.

 

[U.N. Owen]

Then there are those Who want to know if it gets any better

 

[pokedigijedi]

90% of the time I can't really say I watch it I just look at the episode pictures on Serebii, but I also read the synopsis and people's opinions to get an idea as to whats going on. The remaining 10% of the time when I do watch it, its usually out of A. boredom B. nostalgia C. to see if it gets better or D. to make fun of it, but its usually a mix of the four and even then I usually only watch clips on Youtube.

I am however considering about watching the Subs because Dub doesn't feel like it has aged well in my opinion

 

[Zhydra]

I only watch the SM anime if there is an episode or list of episodes catching my interest.

I generally like it save for when I know we are getting a long filler time segment (Then it just bores me and I do something else). For the people that do nothing but complain about SM and praise X/Y.... if they really hate it so much then don't watch and leave the rest of us alone.

 

[Remix2]

Simply put people have been watching this series for so long That even when it bad you can't just drop it because you invested so much time into it.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Because that's what's called being a true fan. Just because you hate S&M or XY, doesn't mean you hate the Pokemon anime as a whole.

Sorry, but the notion of a ' true fan' is just bullshit. At least in my opinion. If you like pokémon, you are a fan of pokémon. If you like the S&M anime, you're a fan of the S&M anime. If you like XY, you are a fan of the XY anime. Separating between that is nothing more than messed up bullshit justification that says nothing more than 'my opinion is superior to yours'.

Simply put people have been watching this series for so long That even when it bad you can't just drop it because you invested so much time into it.

As Rotom would say, 'does not compute'. You can always drop it. You can just not watch. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to watch it. Nobody tied you to a chair facing a screen showing the anime. The reasoning that you can't just drop it because you already invested so much time into it is just weird and self-destructive (as in, I already invested too much time into this thing I don't like anymore, let's invest even more time in it). This might come across as harsh, and it's not meant to be condescending or cruel, but if you're somehow addicted to the show to the point that you keep on watching it week after week even though you seriously don't like it, you should really consider finding some help because that's just unhealthy. And calling yourself a 'true fan' is nothing more than a really weird and nonsensical excuse for that behaviour.

 

[Remix2]

Sorry, but the notion of a ' true fan' is just bullshit. At least in my opinion. If you like pokémon, you are a fan of pokémon. If you like the S&M anime, you're a fan of the S&M anime. If you like XY, you are a fan of the XY anime. Separating between that is nothing more than messed up bullshit justification that says nothing more than 'my opinion is superior to yours'.



As Rotom would say, 'does not compute'. You can always drop it. You can just not watch. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to watch it. Nobody tied you to a chair facing a screen showing the anime. The reasoning that you can't just drop it because you already invested so much time into it is just weird and self-destructive (as in, I already invested too much time into this thing I don't like anymore, let's invest even more time in it). This might come across as harsh, and it's not meant to be condescending or cruel, but if you're somehow addicted to the show to the point that you keep on watching it week after week even though you seriously don't like it, you should really consider finding some help because that's just unhealthy. And calling yourself a 'true fan' is nothing more than a really weird and nonsensical excuse for that behaviour.

Dude chill i only give a reason for it, don't have to get so angry about it.

Beside by this point I'm only look at screenshot for sun and moon and only watch it if i hear that the episode is good.

 

[Xenon Blue]

There's a couple reasons:
1. There's always a chance that some sort of continuity gets shoved in, which is something to look forward to personally.
2. Most of the battles, especially for this season, is outright terrible and has little to no substance to it, but some of the battles, specifically from AG, DP and XY, are magically well done. One can only hope we get better battles later on as well.
3. Sometimes it's just satisfying to make fun of a show you used to love but grew to care less about.

I'm not invested at all in the SM anime currently, but if the anime were to go back to it's old root (nothing complicated, just good'ol adventure and battles) or reboot completely then certainly I will at least give it another chance.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

There's also the faction that watches the version they don't like just to arbitrarily waste their time by ragging on it. Tons of people do that for the dub, and there was a point where I considered doing that for the sub considering, well, itself.

But yes, it's really not hard to stop watching something you don't like. The purple cloud of hot air saw fit to stop watching the dub, and nearly a year ago was when I saw the sub cross the moral event horizon and inspire me to quit watching it and go completely dub-only. Stick with what you like.

 

[Yukidoh]

Morbid curiosity.