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New 11 episode series, "Pocket Monsters: Mezase Pokemon Master", starts January 13th 2023

Dephender

Gizakawayusu
Staff member
Moderator
Man, I've been looking through a bunch of these comments about my paraphrasing of what Yuyama said in that recent interview and there's... quite some interesting takes there.

So here's the thing... that was not some post written in disgruntled anger over his direction. I'm NOT upset over his direction, hell, I said elsewhere that my impression is that he was never particularly on board with PM2019 making Satoshi suddenly get some absurd power boost and become the best trainer in the world, and that MPM was him steering the show back on track.

The post was also not an OPINION, it was some quick summarizing of what he was actually doing as opposed to what some people were assuming he was doing, in response to a post asking why we needed another Latias/Latios plot:

1) The reason we got a Latias/Latios plot is not because Yuyama felt we needed one. We got one because he wanted a running subplot about a Pokemon observing Satoshi throughout these episodes before eventually asking him for help. He picked Latias as this Pokemon not because he wanted to do something with Latias (and Latios) specifically. Not because he wanted another Latias/Latios plot. Not because of anything related to movie 5. But because of the specific qualities of Latias as a species (flight, invisibility, etc). And now that the series has ended, we know that nothing particularly important came of the entire Latias thing.

2) The reason Kasumi and Takeshi were in MPM was not because Yuyama had any specific plans for those two characters. It's not because he had any episodes in mind that necessitated them being there. It's because he felt Satoshi needed travelmates for these episodes. The specific characters were picked afterwards. He doesn't remember exactly why they went for those beyond "everyone just kinda agreed", but the reason they're in the show is ultimately because he didn't want Satoshi to travel alone, not because he wanted Satoshi to travel with Kasumi and Takeshi again or because he had some Kasumi- or Takeshi-specific plans in mind. And now that the series has ended, we know that nothing particularly important came of those two specific characters being there for another couple episodes.

3) The purpose of episode 9 was not to write out the Rocket trio or set up some big finale involving Satoshi taking out Sakaki or whatever else was being speculated. It was because Yuyama wanted to do an episode where the old Rocketmons came back. And now that the series has ended, we know that nothing particularly important came of anything that happened in that episode.

4) Most of the episodes in MPM were written because they needed more episodes in the show and came up with something they felt like doing. Yuyama spells out quite clearly in the comment for episode 8 that they came up with by essentially going "okay, we need another episode, any ideas?" "We didn't do an episode about Ghost types yet, we could do that." "Good idea. Hey, these zukan entries about Juppeta being a possessed puppet searching for its former owner are pretty interesting and we never did an episode about that concept. Let's do that." They weren't concluding dangling plot threads or setting up some sort of big finale that would relate back to plot points established throughout these episodes, they were just coming up with episodes until they had 11 of them. And now that the series has ended, we know that the final episode was pretty standalone and nothing particularly important came of anything that happened in any of the prior 10.

None of this is opinions, it's all straight facts from the interview that was right there for people to read.

Of course, I could've written this indepth breakdown of what I was actually trying to get across two weeks ago had people actually bothered asking instead of just having weird debates among themselves on other websites where all relevant context is ignored, but...
 

i2i

Big Bad Wolf
@Dephender So ultimately do you think the fact he wasn't particularly on board with some of the discussions for PM2019 was the reason he wasn't the head director for the series.
 

Dephender

Gizakawayusu
Staff member
Moderator
I’m curious on how Yuyama felt about Satoshi being the Alola champion.

I mean the issue wasn't really Satoshi winning some tournament in some tiny island region, he's done that before, it was more that the narrative started treating it as some absurdly big deal, that winning something called a "League" was an achievement on par with winning everything else called a "League", and that being "Champion" meant you were on par with everyone else that were a "Champion". This spiraled into all kinds of nonsense like how Satoshi going on another badge quest would be pointless because all that would lead to was entering a League and he's already won a League, or how it makes perfect sense for him to beat Shirona/Daigo/Dande in battle because they're all Champions so they're all equally strong. But that was all mostly PM2019's doing, and at that point Yuyama wasn't there to say "hold up".

But him winning a tournament? Winning something called a League? Being declared stronger than all the local trainers in some small archipelago? Nothing really wrong with that, he did all that in 1999 too.
 

santiagus

I watched Pokemon anime for 20 freaking years
I don't know

I'm cold....

This was so meh.....
 

Dephender

Gizakawayusu
Staff member
Moderator
By the way, speaking of people misinterpreting what I'm saying...


Yeah, I get that I should've written "might've made" instead of "might make", but... did any of you misinterpret this line this way too?

Just so that we're clear, Yuyama said he chose to make Satoshi's starter a different Pokemon from the three in-game starters because PICKING ONE OF THE IN-GAME STARTERS might have made some viewers sad he didn't pick the one they had picked in their game. Not because going with an entirely different Pokemon might make viewers sad, and those viewers being sad would be a good thing.
 

Ali.Frenstein

Well-Known Member
The final episode to me felt less like 'goodbye forever' and more like 'see ya later'.

So maybe that's why I didn't feel so emotional because I'm totally expecting Ash to return in some form.

Same here. I'm pretty sure Ash will return sometime in the future for at least one episode, but it's definitely not going to be anytime soon.
 

SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
I do agree that him becoming the strongest trainer in the world is a bit abrupt considering powerscaling, but I'm also SO glad it happened coz the powerscaling was so bad in the earlier series in regards to E4 and Champions always being way too OP, and to make it 100 percent believeable would have required dragging out Ash's journey SO many years more....which would be SO IRRITATING.

This way is so much better because aside from Unova we also see a proper progression of Ash as a trainer, and we saw him keeping up with champions in XY too.

Also, the fact how people tried to put down Alola league or equate it to the Orange league in terms of prestige were proven false and that Ash becoming the Champion in Alola actually meant something and meant something much more.

Now the execution could have been better in the sense maybe he should have trained his reserves only (personally I am glad we got another team, I just would have wanted reserves IN ADDITION for some matches of the PWC)
So even if the shift seems a bit sudden, it was years in the making and a logical progression from top 2, Champion and then world champion because, Alola is after all, a REAL league on par with the others and being it's champion MATTERS

What should have been done is making JN's team strength more believable by showing them training and having organic appearances in episodes instead of uneven sporadic appearances and battles throughout and so much offscreen stuff.
But Ash becoming the world's strongest was long overdue
 

AuraChannelerChris

Easygoing Luxray.
Y'know, as much as Yuyama seems like he doesn't really think that well about MPM...I would have liked him to stop Ash from becoming a World Champion. At the end of the day, being a Monarch is apparently filler to being a Pokemon Master.
By the way, speaking of people misinterpreting what I'm saying...


Yeah, I get that I should've written "might've made" instead of "might make", but... did any of you misinterpret this line this way too?

Just so that we're clear, Yuyama said he chose to make Satoshi's starter a different Pokemon from the three in-game starters because PICKING ONE OF THE IN-GAME STARTERS might have made some viewers sad he didn't pick the one they had picked in their game. Not because going with an entirely different Pokemon might make viewers sad, and those viewers being sad would be a good thing.
I mean...

All in all, Charizard got top billing as the three starters he got, anyway.

There was never a situation Bulbasaur or Squirtle was the final MVP of a league, and those two were given jobs rather than Charizard.
 

Dark_King25

Shillmon Defender
I mean...

All in all, Charizard got top billing as the three starters he got, anyway.

There was never a situation Bulbasaur or Squirtle was the final MVP of a league.
Damn Ash having a Charizard as a starter would've been a dream come true for me lol
 
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