November 11th: SM96 - The Rocket Gang and Nuikoguma!

[Lucario At Service]

the recent episode has convinced me they're struggling with the girls.

Not the first time that have happened.

Even with Misty, the writers struggled, and eventually had to write-off her from the main story.

But, the 3rd and 4th Gen did help somewhat with the plot aspect for the girls (because of "Contest" for May and Dawn).

Then they went back to the old aspect, with Iris (which went even worse than Misty's time).

They also struggled with Serena for nearly half of the course of XY Saga, and introduced the "Showcase" to somewhat mitigate that problem, but didn't really help much (since she had a late start and early finish).
Bonnie being young, and the way she interacted with others made up for her presence. Plus she didn't really need any plot for handling, but the writers still game her good amount of interaction (even better than Serena). If i have to say, Bonnie until now has been the best handled female character in the show.

But in SM, they not only have one, but 3 girls to handle around. So, its going to be much harder than before.

 

[DatsRight]

I guess it's the fact that even in those cases, they at least took part in some gags and 'antics' fillers and got to catch at least a couple memorable Pokemon, while with the SM girls, despite that series actually revolving a lot around such things, actually don't even do much of that. Only Lillie's had something nearing the same involvement as the boys, otherwise Mallow and Lana are lucky to do much even in terms of comic relief. Also one Pokemon would be forgivable if that one was developed well, but again only Lillie's has done much and even then Snowy's kinda bland compared to the boy's teams.

It's also annoying because SM has way more flexibility in that regard, fillers are allowed to be character driven, compared to previous series where they were often castrated by formulas like COTD and Team Rocket. Sophocles for example is stagnant but he gets fun episodes and bits of comedy. He does okay as the comic relief companion. Mallow doesn't even get that most of the time. Add to that they're using the more flexible limelight to sometimes omit some characters from plots this series, and it's usually the girls. The boy trio have had a few episodes now focused near entirely on them with the girl trio doing next to nothing. Vice versa has yet to happen even once. It feels awkwardly gender restricted, which the anime wasn't really known for originally (I mean no matter how bad Misty was handled, she still usually got more than Brock).

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

I'm still waiting for Lusamine to show love for the Pokemon in the building.

 

[345ash-greninja]

Only Ash and Lillie here. Quite ridiculous that Faba is bothered least about TR's antics here since it was Faba last time who temporarily hired TR during the Aether arc. Stufful seems to be pretty cute and funny itself though.

 

[Zoruagible]

At least something will happen here, we know Stufful will be a recurring Pokemon. Hopefully he can fight the twerps as just Mimikyu and Mareanie are getting so boring.... they really need more fighters, not just one each!

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Ah this already just looks boring like today's episode.

Nah not really

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Lets face it: six people is too many. And I dont get why the girls dont get so many focus? Like Lana, poor Lana...

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Lets face it: six people is too many. And I dont get why the girls dont get so many focus? Like Lana, poor Lana...

Especially lana, since at first it was supposed to be a lana focussed episode going by the earlier title of the episode, now she even doesn't got to appear in here.

 

[Golden_Latias]

Lets face it: six people is too many. And I dont get why the girls dont get so many focus? Like Lana, poor Lana...

First season of Digimon had a main cast of 8 and only 50 or so episodes. Only character who felt underdeveloped at least had the excuse of not showing up until later.

It's not how many characters you have, it's what you do with those characters. The problem is that there's too much focus on Ash and not enough on the classmates.

 

[DatsRight]

The problem is even when the girls DO get limelight, we don't get much out of them.

Last week's episode I suppose was meant to be a Lana story, but it was complete randomness and Popplio had next to no role in it. Her previous one was a vehicle for a Pokemon of the Week. Not to say those were bad episodes but they weren't exactly good LANA EPISODES. She got a Z Ring and Waterium Z but they haven't found any use for it, unlike Ash, Kiawe and even Team Rocket that have done something unique with their's according to their ambitions.

Mallow has had only one episode TR didn't hijack, which her brother did instead. Her Pokemon is fully evolved, but she played almost zero part in either stages and like Lana, has done next to nothing with this boost except supply the odd one sided beating.

Lillie thus far is about the only one who has agency and can hold episodes on her own (though if the play episode was supposed to be her's I wouldn't credit her for that) and even get a few good side roles like being the strategist/cowardly lion/comic relief/damsel in distress (okay that last one isn't really flattering, but it shows the writers haven't forgotten about her at least).

It's not how many characters you have, it's what you do with those characters. The problem is that there's too much focus on Ash and not enough on the classmates.

I dunno, while Ash is used better, even he has a dumbed down progression from previous series, and the last few episodes didn't really have him do anything exceptional. Hell in some episodes the ancillary cast have been getting more limelight.

He has by far the most developed team however, though that's as much personality as numbers (again the girls having one Pokemon could work if they were as developed as Pikachu).

 

[ash&charizardfan]

First season of Digimon had a main cast of 8 and only 50 or so episodes. Only character who felt underdeveloped at least had the excuse of not showing up until later.

It's not how many characters you have, it's what you do with those characters. The problem is that there's too much focus on Ash and not enough on the classmates.

That would be the case for previous series but not for this one, SM emphasize too much on humour and fun over individual characters. Except for lillie, gladion and somewhat kiawe the remaining cast is not being utilized properly.

 

[DatsRight]

That would be the case for previous series but not for this one, SM emphasize too much on humour and fun over individual characters. Except for lillie, gladion and somewhat kiawe the remaining cast is not being utilized properly.

I don't mind the progression being more lax and taking their time to actually let us actually breathe in and appreciate the characters how they are, we don't need every single story having the characters learn a miracle move learn/evolution or catch a Pokemon we barely see afterwards.

The problem is that they're not even doing the bare minimum for some of the characters, and are even turning down ideal opportunities to grow the teams and cast (not that previous series weren't guilty of this too however). Even in a more episodic setup, you need to give characters the basics for proper agency and role. It's obvious some of them need more resources and direction than one Pokemon.

Ash, Kiawe and Lillie could use another Pokemon or two but do okay in terms of character role, and Sophocles does okay as the comic relief male companion, but Lana and Mallow are two of the worst handled companions so far. Barely anything they've done strikes as memorable. It's annoying because it feels like the only way it could be this level is if they didn't try at all with these two.

 

[playerking]

Wobbuffet leaning on that fence is so cute. I'm glad it still shows off its personality every now and again. And with the preview narration, I think Jessie might eventually catch it.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

First season of Digimon had a main cast of 8 and only 50 or so episodes. Only character who felt underdeveloped at least had the excuse of not showing up until later.

Problem is the Pokemon anime gives too much focus to the expendable and useless COTDs or comedy that no one in the main cast gets developed much. In Digimon, the main characters always had development even with the MOTD.

 

[Henry's Journey]

Ah this already just looks boring like today's episode.

Ikr? this is not a waste of time filler like the previous 5 where nothing of relevance happened but at least TR is successfully "stealing" a Pokemon thanks to Bewear, lol.

Problem is the Pokemon anime gives too much focus to the expendable and useless COTDs or comedy that no one in the main cast gets developed much. In Digimon, the main characters always had development even with the MOTD.

Exactly, they could have used all these fillers to develop Ash's classmates but they didn't, ugh.

 

[Mega Altaria]

oh well at least TR is successfully "stealing" a Pokemon thanks to Bewear, lol.

Well technically it is after a long time of failing to do so successfully. It should be the one they’ll hold onto the longest.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Ikr? this is not a waste of time filler like the previous 5 where nothing of relevance happened but at least TR is successfully "stealing" a Pokemon thanks to Bewear, lol.



Exactly, they could have used all these fillers to develop Ash's classmates but they didn't, ugh.

This has been the problem with pokemon anime from the begining in OS, this is not something new, the term third wheel companions was basically coined for this reason.

 

[DatsRight]

I'll give SM credit for the fact that it tries to make the filler entertaining and have the cast shine even when they're not developing, but the skimming down on development is done to the point some characters are at too basic a stance to even have filler material to work with. As mentioned while the boys have enough of a core so they can at least make fillers fun just through their chemistry and the use of their Pokemon, the girls are just too bland and bare to hold episodes on their own.

I'm interested to how this episode might chart out however. If Stufful indeed ends up a recurring character, I'm guessing that will mean TR officially captures it, otherwise it would likely still be defined as 'stolen' by the heroes and begin a long running pursuit to try get it back (the only other option is them just forgetting about it, which Ash has never done with a TR kidnapping besides Yanmega who again was officially caught by Jessie, and would otherwise make them look like horrible heroes).

 

[Swift4Sweeper]

Honestly SM is just overall very bland. Mallow and Sophocles could not exist and all that would be affected are two evolutions and one capture not taking place. Other than that, they've been completely useless. Lana and Kiawe have not done much recently, and Lillie is getting blander with no Z-Ring for the Icium Z she got months ago. Ash is underdeveloped in terms of his team: yes they've had lots of episodes but at this point in every prior series (minus AG), he's had six Pokémon. We're nearing the end of the series (probably about 50 episodes left at this point if Gen 8 does end up releasing late 2019) and we still have yet to introduce Hau and his Dartrix, Guzma, and Hapu, Ash's two remaining team members (assuming Poipole doesn't return, Nebby doesn't battle with Ash at the League, and Scruff-vee just ends up being a tag-along for a few episodes instead of a team member) have the Poni Trials, do the Alola League, and have Pokémon School graduation.

When SM first came out it was the art style alone that bothered me. Now, it's all of the above and then some. This rushed, force-fed "comedy" generation can't seem to end quickly enough. I just pray that they recognize their major mistakes with Gen 7 and hopefully fix them for Gen 8.

 

[DatsRight]

The problem is that the anime struggles to get a balance of goal and character focus. I mean Ash was at his tops last series in terms of bulking up his team, but in terms of personality he was completely vanilla, constantly needing old plot devices like Team Rocket and COTD to pad out everything and make something of a plot, sometimes even in the continuity episodes (any reason TR were put into the Florges vs Goodra arc?). His team also got increasingly lost any sort of characterisation to just be about 'battle battle battle'. If you took out his goal focus Ash would probably have been a very empty character. This is likely also why Serena and Clemont struggled for must investment in the story unless they had some sort of main agenda.

SM resolves that, but now it's the goal focus they seldom look into. He and his team have a great personality that hold lots of screentime and filler material, but they now treat battling and goal development like this rare treat you should only get every once in a while. The companions are even worse, despite some of them even have already set agendas and even full on employment (it's even more annoying since some like cooking and farming were actually story focus with COTD in previous series and actually done more creatively in those single stories than the SM companions have their whole tenure).

I'd really love if the next series got a happy medium but the show doesn't have the best track record for that. Something always gets the chop with every series, even if they got it running okay last series. In order for something to work and get the writers' attention they have to completely and utterly ignore something else, even in circumstances it could have ideally and naturally been improved upon.