Most overrated series of the anime?

[janejane6178]

DP/XY are easily the most overrated seasons of the entire anime. While DP is my favorite the amount of praise it gets can be pretty toxic. People nowadays just classify OS as overrated despite the fact nobody ever talks positive of the series anymore. Can people seriously name anyone on Youtube, Twitter or any media site that actually has OS as their favorite season that isn't just an obvious sheep to their own tinted lens? People constantly throw around "well I've experienced rabid fans of OS, so therefore its overrated" so because a certain portion says so it needs that label? Even though these same comments are from people who treat XY/DP under the same scope by amplifying their pros while completely ignoring their cons entirely simply based on what positives aspects they have.

In fact name a single Poketuber or Twitter user who doesn't bash OS? (most of them will probably worship XY or Serena in relation) Its actually more rare to see someone who likes it nowadays. And using "sheep" fans as a validation doesn't work when it's basically just an obviously supplement. It's like saying "anyone who likes oldschool is a oldschool elitist" just because they are part of an association doesn't mean anything related to it will all think or act the same way, its a stupid way of thinking and is quite frankly a form of generalizing, something of which a majority of the Pokemon fandom does a lot. (along with nostalgia card being thrown and misused) Not everyone who likes the show only does so by necessity of "nostalgia" people are just generalizing in that case, by this logic people logically can't have a reason for liking anything related to it unless its associated by a label claim.

And unfortunately the OS gets it the most, everyone will say something as if they are afraid to offend OS fans or pay lip service to it being "overrated" yet who exactly is getting offended by it? It really feels as if people pull claims from long ago and apply it now as if it still the same standard. By extension anything that has to do with OS (namely Misty/Brock, but especially Misty) get backlash with the same criticisms repeated ad-naseum. In fact the only existing "series" on Youtube that talks about OS are people who namely review and point out their flaws. lol

Literally the only things seen from OS nowadays are people criticizing it. (The animation, lack of interactive battles, weak or sparse characterization etc) yet really I think only the Kanto/OA seasons of OS are the technically underwhelming ones. As Johto is really the only solid part of the OS I think is personally underrated minus the unbalanced pacing and loads of filler (even though filler in itself isn't completely bad if it serves a purpose) Johto even fixes many of the Kanto/OA problems (battles start being more interactive, though on an infancy level, Gary and Ash battle, Ash wins his gym battles etc) besides its not like the show ever "improved" on using plot armor or completely forgetting their own rules, even in later seasons the show will still have moments of ignoring blantant type ineffectiveness, OS only gets pointed out because its easy to spot. lol

It also doesn't help with the constant amount of "anti-genwunners" going around throwing out the term as a blind insult to the point just liking something in relation makes everything/everyone a "genwunner" completely staling the term and misusing it.

As for DP its a great season and I like it, but I hardly see people point out its issues (Team Rocket Trio being at their absolute worst with even their characters having little redeeming qualities or being horribly flanderized, being equally as filler heavy as Johto and not to mention DP series is the most guilty offender of plot recycling, as a majority of filler episodes recycle plots from OS/AG even down to the point where both of Ash's regional bird Pokemon evolve into their final stages in the exact same way with the same turn of events. The dialogue being a bit slow in areas, the fact Dawn's main rival is constantly getting one sided wins against her, Dawn's Pokemon being copies of Ash's Pokemon, The League having argubly the second worst "lets get Ash out of the league" armor. Brock serving literally no purpose etc) yet the fandom rarely brings up these claims.

As for XY it's treated in an even more higher regard to the point of messiah levels at times (might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point) yet most of the aspects constantly praised (Serena, showcases, amourshipping, Ash being competent etc) I find are the weakest parts of the season with Serena in particular being imo the worst female companion. (She has no personality outside of being a girly girl, which showcases do nothing but emphasize or being identified both in canon/not canon for her crush on Ash, name a single personality trait that doesn't have to do with "girl, Ash or lacking confidence" at least the other females had notable traits worth pointing out or remembering them for.) While Ash being the most competent in a battle sense is certainly admirable and does wash away some of the "loser" status he's been burdened with, he suffers in the character department and at times he seemed to have a bit to much plot armor, it even felt like a generic shoenen anime at times. Don't get me wrong XY is a good series, just not of to the same levels its put on.

Serena has no personality? Maybe her progression and change along the series were too deep for you to understand.
For the topic - SM is overared in this forum. Can’t seem to know what ppl find it it.

 

[Sham]

I usually agree with your posts but this is where we disagree. Yes I do agree that Serena's crush and Amourshipping in general is just fanservice for XY but Serena herself doesn't serve as a wanted love interest for Ash. If you erase her crush, there is still a character there. Remember she did have a strained relationship with her mother and wanted to find Ash just to give him back a used period pad as a token of her gratitude. I am quite disappointed about her goal since it really did feel like the writers didn't know what to do with her (it truly did show) but Serena didn't leave for Hoenn in the thought of finding Ash's past traveling companions just to tell them to stay away from her Naruto kun and killing them off. She left for her own good and knew her own weaknesses. Not to mention, her friendship with Ash became more natural as she finally became comfortable around him. But still, their relationship sucked. And I'm someone who doesn't care for Serena but I do like her.

Off topic but I would've loved for Serena to have a gag where she fell in love with anyone who saved her. It would've been a nice spin to the knight in shining armor fantasy going for her. Brock 2.0

Definitely agreed with her having a personality. It just felt like the writers over emphasized the crush. Like we know she likes Ash but what else? She has other humanizing characteristics but the writers always seemed to mash in her crush at times it really didn’t belong. Take her exit to Hoenn for example “the next time you see me, I’ll be more womenly (or something along those lines)”. The whole focus of going to Hoenn is to progress herself and her performance dream. The crush was just mentioned in way too many scenes it shouldn’t have. We don’t need to keep being reminded she likes Ash.

 

[horrahforyou]

Some says that XY Ash already fullfil his dream to become a Pokemon master, but sadly he didn't win the league. It is the better time to Ash to take a break and switch on with the new protagonist in SM. He didn't need to have a Happily ever After ending with Serena.

 

[FullmetalJackie]

XY definitely had cool moments but the fanbase overestimates the good things. Even Ash making top 2 at the Kalos League feels pointless since the Leagues only matter if you win the whole thing.

 

[Power Up]

Definitely agreed with her having a personality. It just felt like the writers over emphasized the crush. Like we know she likes Ash but what else? She has other humanizing characteristics but the writers always seemed to mash in her crush at times it really didn’t belong. Take her exit to Hoenn for example “the next time you see me, I’ll be more womenly (or something along those lines)”. The whole focus of going to Hoenn is to progress herself and her performance dream. The crush was just mentioned in way to many scenes it shouldn’t have. We don’t need to keep being reminded she likes Ash.

Ash was a big part of character... Not addressing that would be idiotic and would be bad writing.

Serena left to better herself and further her goals, but Ash is someone she admires and is a person who has character traits she wishes to emulate.

Writers didn't overemphasize anything, the viewers did. If you think 10 second blushing scenes = huge amounts of crush scenes, I don't know what's to tell you

People have this perception that somehow Amour was constantly referenced every time Serena and Ash were on screen together. No, it really wasn't lol, watch the series again

 

[Zoruagible]

SM and XY
XY in terms of the general fandom, I wouldn't say it's overrated on this site though
SM in terms of here and other sites, and their fans are far more outspoken than other saga fans.

I don't get the love for either, I just like small things about them like Ash's first fully evolved Water starter, Hawlucha, and Ash having a fully evolved team. Kiawe, Team Rocket being fixed, Mimikyu, Bewear, Mallow, and Ash having a legendary. And let's not forget 'Team Flare's better than Team Galactic' Um okay, a team that was built up since episode 40 and appeared various times, had numerous interactions with the twerps and Team Rocket, and had Cynthia and Gary freaking Oak involved wasn't as good as a team that didn't even appear until the last 30 episodes and had a rushed as heck finale? Not to mention the female operatives were as stale as the game counterparts, DP managed to give Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter character.
Showcases and Serena in general get way too much backing when people criticize their flaws. The flaws are genuine and true, Serena never lost because of her character.... it was all accidents. And showcases did have potential, but they were basically just beauty contests and hardly involved Pokemon at all. Plus that stupid 'only females can compete' rule, I never want a goal like that again. Some of the most interesting rivals have been of the opposite sex of the character; Drew and Harley, Burgundy...
And Goodra and Greninja's releases are just a result of bad writing, neither needed to leave. Goodra staying would have made the Fairy and Ice gyms very interesting, some of Ash's most impressive feats involved him overtaking type disadvantage! I'd have loved to see him have a Dragon slay a Fairy.... And Greninja needed to leave cause a legendary needed help..... excuse me? You hyped that legendary up like it was Arceus itself and it needs help?!
And also it genuinely felt like Ash was destined to fight Diantha, Greninja almost defeated her...... then he proceeded to lose with said Pokemon repeatedly. That isn't good writing either. Greninja was overhyped as hell
And I'm not even going to get started on the Stu.... it was just straight stupid Ash never beat him. Defeats the whole purpose of the term rival! And he had no reason for entering the League either; Sawer, Teirno, and Trevor did.

SM..... too much slapsticks and 'funny' faces. Barely any action. It would have been better if Ash had won Kalos League and gotten replaced, much like Best Wishes would have felt better with a new protagonist rather than holding onto Ash. Ash needs to go, here's hoping Galar can be his finale!
And also the Alola Pokemon themselves? Barely appear apart from the ones owned by the cast... instead you see older Pokemon appearing time and time again while some like the entire Jangmo-o species appear once...... even the Deino line got better than that!
Jigglypuff was literally brought back from the dead for no reason. Yet people try and defend it...
And yet again, no mention of the saga before it or return of a character from that saga. Serena got the short stick even worse than Iris did, at least she got a special! If Serena couldn't get a special, the least they could have done was scrap two fillers and give us a Hoenn field trip to show off Lisia and how Serena's currently doing in her contest campaign. While letting Ash compete along with the girls.
Team Skull had a rivalry built up with the TRio.... and it basically went nowhere.
Poipole's release was even worse than the XY releases, he didn't even come back! -.-
Classmates had their z-moves and second Pokemon for the girls rushed as heck, and outside of Kiawe all of them stupidly forced into the League worse than Alain was!
For some reason Torracat, a starter took over 100 episodes to use a z-move of his own.... and didn't evolve.
Oh yeah and despite how popular Decidueye is, once again the Grass starter evolutions drew the shortest of the sticks. Single appearance for Dartrix and Dedicidueye :/

DP used to be, but it's far from it now! I'd say the OS would be more overrated than DP currently is, sometimes I feel like I'm the only person left who loves DP and AG

 

[Leonhart]

XY&Z was more overrated than XY was from my perspective. I could easily tolerate the high expectations that fans had for XY back when it aired since that saga at least tried to offer variety when it came to character focus for the most part, but then once XY&Z began the focus was on Satoshi and Alain for like 90% of the arc. It wasn't fair to Serena or Citron or even the other recurring characters minus Shota to some extent.

 

[Ignition]

Never knew this thread existed. Surprised it’s still up

I honestly don’t think any series is overrated but if I had to order them by “overratedness” (god the word overrated has no meaning now):
XYZ>SM>XY>DP>OS>AG>BW

 

[Codebox]

Definitely agreed with her having a personality. It just felt like the writers over emphasized the crush. Like we know she likes Ash but what else? She has other humanizing characteristics but the writers always seemed to mash in her crush at times it really didn’t belong. Take her exit to Hoenn for example “the next time you see me, I’ll be more womenly (or something along those lines)”. The whole focus of going to Hoenn is to progress herself and her performance dream. The crush was just mentioned in way too many scenes it shouldn’t have. We don’t need to keep being reminded she likes Ash.

Maybe I did exaggerate the "no personality" flaw. However my main point still stands on how it takes a backseat a lot of the time to her crush on Ash, which leaves it hard to find her identity outside of the fact that she's notable for being a ship tease. Not only that the character traits that were shown outside of that just related to typical girly tropes. Unlike Misty, May and Dawn who all had a balance between their notable character traits and feminine interests.

 

[DatsRight]

XY&Z was more overrated than XY was from my perspective. I could easily tolerate the high expectations that fans had for XY back when it aired since that saga at least tried to offer variety when it came to character focus for the most part, but then once XY&Z began the focus was on Satoshi and Alain for like 90% of the arc. It wasn't fair to Serena or Citron or even the other recurring characters minus Shota to some extent.

Also XYZ was when everything became VERY linear and lop sided, and the main arc was getting attention in favour of everything else being utterly lethargic. Fillers or episodic plots were arguably at their blandest and most repetitive (which is saying a LOT considering the show's usual), early XY at least had half goofy/half threatening TR and the twerp gang having a bit more vibrant interaction or the odd episode they could hold on their own without TR or another plot device nulling out their need for agency, but by XYZ it felt like they weren't trying remotely anymore on the character driven side of things, banking EVERYTHING on the main arcs holding ground when they finally came. Even most of the Pokemon had lost their personalities and were mostly just demoted tools that supposedly had really deep bonds with their trainers like Greninja and Sylveon, who they bothered to make likeable in their earlier forms. It was especially annoying because it had more or less fizzled out any positive direction for the show BW had offered in its divisive experiments.

Concerning Serena, I think the crush will always be divisive due to how one sided it was. Serena didn't really interact with Ash as just vent emotions towards him from a distance with him stonewalling it. Hell most of the companions in the BW/XY era were crippled by this issue of Ash stonewalling their potential shtick. He was not very emotive then.

 

[Dream Lad]

People have this perception that somehow Amour was constantly referenced every time Serena and Ash were on screen together. No, it really wasn't lol, watch the series again

Perception is important though, and how XY presented Serena explains that perception. The first impressions of Serena were tied to the shipping. She didn't do that much in the first 40 episodes either, so the shipping perception became magnified in that void. I agree that it was second fiddle during her Showcase arc. However, the final impressions of her are the kiss/goodbye, again tied to the shipping. Furthermore, marketing played upon the shipping with the date and dance episodes teases and official artwork, etc. Combine that with her character being a standard girly personality (nothing wrong with this but it wasn't unique enough that it could stick out by itself), Showcases being unmemorable Contests Lite, and Kalos Queen being essentially the title of Best Waifu, the shipping really kept sticking out of proportion to its actual airtime.

 

[Doppelgänger]

SM..... too much slapsticks and 'funny' faces. Barely any action. It would have been better if Ash had won Kalos League and gotten replaced, much like Best Wishes would have felt better with a new protagonist rather than holding onto Ash. Ash needs to go, here's hoping Galar can be his finale!
And also the Alola Pokemon themselves? Barely appear apart from the ones owned by the cast... instead you see older Pokemon appearing time and time again while some like the entire Jangmo-o species appear once...... even the Deino line got better than that!
Jigglypuff was literally brought back from the dead for no reason. Yet people try and defend it...
And yet again, no mention of the saga before it or return of a character from that saga. Serena got the short stick even worse than Iris did, at least she got a special! If Serena couldn't get a special, the least they could have done was scrap two fillers and give us a Hoenn field trip to show off Lisia and how Serena's currently doing in her contest campaign. While letting Ash compete along with the girls.
Team Skull had a rivalry built up with the TRio.... and it basically went nowhere.
Poipole's release was even worse than the XY releases, he didn't even come back! -.-
Classmates had their z-moves and second Pokemon for the girls rushed as heck, and outside of Kiawe all of them stupidly forced into the League worse than Alain was!
For some reason Torracat, a starter took over 100 episodes to use a z-move of his own.... and didn't evolve.
Oh yeah and despite how popular Decidueye is, once again the Grass starter evolutions drew the shortest of the sticks. Single appearance for Dartrix and Dedicidueye :/

These are good points, but I don't think they move the needle away from SM in any major way (aside from Poipole). The anime tended to do something when it wasn't doing the things you listed, with very few truly pointless filler episodes. It might not be what people wanted, but SM has the least wasted screentime of any prior series.

 

[Epicocity]

These are good points, but I don't think they move the needle away from SM in any major way (aside from Poipole). The anime tended to do something when it wasn't doing the things you listed, with very few truly pointless filler episodes. It might not be what people wanted, but SM has the least wasted screentime of any prior series.

You're joking, right? Because if you visit a lot of episode threads here you'll notice how quite a few mention the plot not starting in episodes until halfway in, or after the commercial break. That's literally the opposite of "least wasted screentime". Besides, most fillers kinda veered into dishonest territory, where 30 seconds were important and needed for future episodes surrounded by pointless fluff.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

1.OS-Kanto
2.XY
3.DP
4.AG
5.BW
6.OS-Johto

Most Overrated Series of the Anime Greatest to Least

1.XY
-Ash-Serena Shipping
-Ash's Greninja
-Boring Filler

2.OS-Kanto
-Unwatchable battles

3.SM
-Boring Filler
-Bad Artstyle
-Mediocre battles
-Ash

4.DP/AG
-Boring filler

5.OS-Johto
-Long average filler
-Minimal amount of good battles

6.BW
-Average battles
-Ash
-Boring filler

 

[Doppelgänger]

You're joking, right? Because if you visit a lot of episode threads here you'll notice how quite a few mention the plot not starting in episodes until halfway in, or after the commercial break.

SM is a character-driven series, so what you're considering filler is, in fact, the main story. Watching the characters do mundane things is both worldbuilding and developing them as people, and not simply showing off caricatures with bright personalities.

When I say SM has the least wasted time, I mean that in spite of the character-focus, there's something plot related in every episode. Like,

-someone catches a Pokemon
-a Pokemon learns a new move
-someone accomplishes something

Episodes like this week's are the exception, but even then, there was something plot relevant.

 

[DatsRight]

The bigger problem with SM is juggling priorities and pacing. It does try to keep focus and charm on the characters, but at the cost of actual trainer and arc focus being all over the place. While I don't hate Ultra Adventures, it had some nicely written episodes, it did feel like it was severely wasting necessary time in hindsight, given how Ultra Legends rushed in new captures and story points that could have flowed more gradually in the previous season and allowed more development time. Sandy and Shaymin really should have been caught sooner for example, and the price for not doing that is only really having one limelight episode between them and barely any development with their trainer.

I do like it TRIES to be versatile, but it is still very arbitrary and undercooked in areas. It's the standard price of being a very experimental series.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

-someone catches a Pokemon
-a Pokemon learns a new move
-someone accomplishes something

SM126 meets none of those criteria

ergo, Filler

Same goes for every Ultra Guardians episode, hilariously enough

 

[DatsRight]

I kinda liked the Ultra Guardians episodes just for being sort of the being counter opposite of usual fillers, with the protagonists actually being humorous and entertaining as heroes tackling villains. And even then we got less of those than we did COTD/Team Rocket fillers every series.

Fillers aren't inherently bad, cool down periods where no key development occurs can be used to help broaden the cast's personalities, to give them a core characterisation and agency besides when something dynamic happens. A character can't only be fun when they're developing after all. The main problem is that besides odd series like Kanto and SM, the show is infamous for not utilising that very much at all. Often fillers are just bland padding until the main arcs happen, where the characters are just props with no agency.

 

[Doppelgänger]

You can have a filler episode where something major still happens. Like the Hypno episode in OS where Misty accidentally caught Psyduck right before the credits. I think many of the "fillers" in Best Wishes were like this. One filler did nothing but introduce the Sandlit who would one day be Ash's Unova ace.

The UB episodes weren't nearly as pointless as SM126, but they came close at times. I think the worst was probably Xukitree/Blacephalon, or Stakataka.

 

[Kuzehiko]

Can't decide between OS Kanto or XY. I like both but I feel they are strongly overrated in the fanbase. I think XY is a little bit more overrated than OS Kanto but I'll go with OS Kanto since I dislike when people gets blinded by nostalgia.