Pocket Monsters 2019 Anime: Thoughts before anime started vs thoughts now!

[PsychoLogical]

Why not just give him a Lucario right off the bat then?
No need to even bother going through the Riolu stage to even begin with

I assume it’s because of them not wanting him to just go with a fully evolved team right off the bat most of the time and since they’re no longer restricted to one region for captures, I guess they just decided to just go with a Riolu for personal preference along with marketing.

 

[Master Pikachu 11]

I assume it’s because of them not wanting him to just go with a fully evolved team right off the bat most of the time and since they’re no longer restricted to one region for captures, I guess they just decided to just go with a Riolu for personal preference along with marketing.

I also think that another reason they did that was they knew that they were going bring back Korrina so they probably didn’t want there to be two Lucarios in that episode so they went with Riolu and since the series is trying to promote all Pokémon then what better way to promote the Lucario Line by having Ash get a Riolu and then evolving it that way they could promote Riolu and Lucario instead of having another character show up with a Riolu in a filler episode.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Before this started: Um, okay. Two guys + a Pikachu on multiple road trips. Already this is looking a bit homo.

Midway, after it started: Okay, seriously, when is Ash beating a Galar Gym Leader?

Midway, after the "main" group has refused to add a single female Pokemon: Welp, those fan fic writers sure will be thirsty.

Midway, after Ash has yet to beat Bea: ...Where's Milo?

Now, after several dubious hype arcs and episodes that don't involve the PWC at all: My god, when is Ash even beating a single Galar Gym Leader? At this rate, he'd save the world from exploding before he knows Milo is a dude!

Anyways, I'm getting some "Decolore Islands but the group actually gets something out of them instead of other side characters" vibe.

 

[Almighty Zard]

Before this started: Um, okay. Two guys + a Pikachu on multiple road trips. Already this is looking a bit homo.

Midway, after it started: Okay, seriously, when is Ash beating a Galar Gym Leader?

Midway, after the "main" group has refused to add a single female Pokemon: Welp, those fan fic writers sure will be thirsty.

Midway, after Ash has yet to beat Bea: ...Where's Milo?

Now, after several dubious hype arcs and episodes that don't involve the PWC at all: My god, when is Ash even beating a single Galar Gym Leader? At this rate, he'd save the world from exploding before he knows Milo is a dude!

Anyways, I'm getting some "Decolore Islands but the group actually gets something out of them instead of other side characters" vibe.

this series isn't playing out like previous ones so expecting it to be treated the same makes no sense.

Once the concept of the PWC became a thing, it was obvious that even if Ash does face the Galar gym leaders, it's likely not going to be for badges at this point either so it doesn't matter if he faces them at all.

I enjoy this series greatly for breaking the "mold" we've been forced to adhere to for 5 regions straight, allowing Ash to get whatever he wants and not being forced to be a promo tool like he's always been, and actually allow him to fight at a level that reflects his trainer status instead of force regressing him to train newbies from the ground up.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

this series isn't playing out like previous ones so expecting it to be treated the same makes no sense.

Once the concept of the PWC became a thing, it was obvious that even if Ash does face the Galar gym leaders, it's likely not going to be for badges at this point either so it doesn't matter if he faces them at all.

I enjoy this series greatly for breaking the "mold" we've been forced to adhere to for 5 regions straight, allowing Ash to get whatever he wants and not being forced to be a promo tool like he's always been, and actually allow him to fight at a level that reflects his trainer status instead of force regressing him to train newbies from the ground up.

The problem is that leaves us with a bunch of uninteresting CotDs while Ash and Goh fool around the globe in 80 minutes.

 

[Almighty Zard]

The problem is that leaves us with a bunch of uninteresting CotDs while Ash and Goh fool around the globe in 80 minutes.

CoTD's have never been interesting to me to begin with.

My main interest in this show is watching pokemon fight.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

My main interest in this show is watching pokemon fight.

Which...has been below-average outside of Ash's fights with Bea.

 

[Almighty Zard]

Which...has been below-average outside of Ash's fights with Bea.

Some of them have but not all of them.

I guess it depends on different standards from person to person

 

[Leonhart]

Why not just give him a Lucario right off the bat then?
No need to even bother going through the Riolu stage to even begin with

I do think that Satoshi getting Lucario right off the bat would've been better. Then again, maybe it wouldn't have changed anything since Lucario probably would've received just as much screen-time as Riolu did because of its popularity, only maybe with less emphasis on training.

 

[Ragnarok4]

7/10, Until now

 

[Tabasco Boshi]

Before it started: this has a lot of potential

Now: what a waste of potential

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Before it started: this has a lot of potential

Now: what a waste of potential

That is actually true. It feels so mediocre and why to hype up events each 10 ep or so with a trailer? Previous series didnt need that.

 

[Lord Starfish]

Before it started: I was excited to see where they were going with it.
Like a month after it started: I was getting increasingly annoyed at its overwhelming lack of anything justifying them not just doing a straight Sword & Shield anime.
After episode 10: Starting to get more hopeful again.
Now: ...I think I can safely say that at this point, Pocket Monsters 2019 is an okay series. There haven't been many episodes I would consider total duds, but it does feel like every time I'm particularly looking forward to an episode, it ends up underdelivering. Comparing the climax of the Sword & Shield arc to... well I think the most apt comparison timing-wise would be Sun & Moon episode 43, which is just the most hideously unfair comparison ever for PM19 as Sun & Moon 43 is straight-up one of my favorite episodes in the franchise, whereas PM1945 was just... decent. Then if I were to instead just compare the Sword & Shield arc as a whole to Sun & Moon's Aether Foundation arc... Well both of them do sort of reinterpret aspects of the game and improve upon them in some areas, but I do think Sun & Moon did this much better. The fact that the entire arc wasn't a mere four episodes long also helped. Granted at least in Sword & Shield they ended the arc on a relative high note whereas the climax of the Aether arc was honestly kind of underwhelming, but I would still rate Aether as a stronger arc overall.
...Sorry what was I talking about? Oh right. PM19 being strictly okay. Like, Go's catches are still largely uninteresting though at least they have made some strides towards fixing this, by giving him more 'mons he actively has to work for and/or that have more development after being caught, Satoshi actually losing a fight was kinda way overdue though I worry about the long-term ramifications of this whole World Championship plotline, (like, this isn't really the kind of thing where they can feasibly "reset" him for the next series, and I struggle to see any reason why he would stop participating in this) and the fact that it's just "Oh hey there's a challenger nearby let's fight" leads to a distinct lack of momentum compared to the old formula of "I know exactly where I'm going and it might take me several months to get there but once I do, I am going to fight this specific strong trainer whom we can now build up over tile!" And Koharu... is in the weird spot where I actively do not want her to get any more development because I legit like the character she was in episode 2 more than the character she seems to be turning into :|

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Tbh I feel like the whole PWC is based on luck to find a trainer to battle. And Gou how can he get some decent development if his goal doesnt seem to get harder or change?

 

[Almighty Zard]

That is actually true. It feels so mediocre and why to hype up events each 10 ep or so with a trailer? Previous series didnt need that.

different series, different rules, that's not hard to understand.

if you want to get technical, Alola already started changing the anime by using a base format (the school) and not sticking to the games plotline.

the fact that this series expanded on that, and is allowing Ash to capture whatever they feel like instead of forced promotional tools is awesome.

Tbh I feel like the whole PWC is based on luck to find a trainer to battle. And Gou how can he get some decent development if his goal doesnt seem to get harder or change?

given Ash's skill level getting through the normal class shouldn't have been hard at all, and as soon as he hit the great/super tier that's when things started getting tougher as it should be.

Now as far as Go well goes, perhaps they need to give him a rival, someone who looks to capture Mew as well, but for different reasons, since that would make things harder if he knew someone else was after Mew.

Of course i still want someone to ask Gou what he intends to do with it, if he was to capture it, simply owning it is not a good enough answer, as it's one of the two progenitors of them all.

because his answer could lead to some very interesting scenarios.

 

[Red and Blue]

I like it so far. My only major gripe is how they are handling Ash's captures. It would have been nice if he caught at least one Pokemon from the other five regions in order to give him a team reflective on the world tour. At this rate I doubt it's happening.


Also his current team minus Lucario and Pikachunare getting shafted hard. It's been a year and both Gengar and Dragonite only got two battles each. I'm hoping that changes the higher he rises in the PWC

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

I think someone mentioned this before but I think I know my main issue with this saga, and it's actually not quite because they aren't travelling or because of Go. I know the badge quest was repetitive but hear me out. When Ash was collecting badges there was a slow buildup to the excitement. I remember that whenever Ash got a badge I'd be like, "Ok just seven more," or, "wow, just three more." As we got closer and closer to eight badges the feeling of excitement for the league yet dread for the parting got stronger and stronger, it was fun even if I knew Ash wouldn't win. And you would think that last saga had this issue to but no we had trials and Kahuna battles.

Here though, there's not the same kind of excitement. Ash's rank will raise and lower based on what the writers want. There's no counting down to the big event, no sense of pride or excitement when Ash ranks up because it can lower if the writers want it lowered. I guess it adds intensity but I don't feel it.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

I think someone mentioned this before but I think I know my main issue with this saga, and it's actually not quite because they aren't travelling or because of Go. I know the badge quest was repetitive but hear me out. When Ash was collecting badges there was a slow buildup to the excitement. I remember that whenever Ash got a badge I'd be like, "Ok just seven more," or, "wow, just three more." As we got closer and closer to eight badges the feeling of excitement for the league yet dread for the parting got stronger and stronger, it was fun even if I knew Ash wouldn't win. And you would think that last saga had this issue to but no we had trials and Kahuna battles.

Here though, there's not the same kind of excitement. Ash's rank will raise and lower based on what the writers want. There's no counting down to the big event, no sense of pride or excitement when Ash ranks up because it can lower if the writers want it lowered. I guess it adds intensity but I don't feel it.

It does not help Pikachu has hogged all the one-minute battles. And whenever someone else takes part of these, the episode ironically enough revolves around said winner (which was Riolu, but then again, said episodes were much more about Ash than Riolu).

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

It does not help Pikachu has hogged all the one-minute battles. And whenever someone else takes part of these, the episode ironically enough revolves around said winner (which was Riolu, but then again, said episodes were much more about Ash than Riolu).

Yeah, that just makes the problem even worse

 

[Blue Saturday]

I’m honestly super indifferent about Pokémon captures at this point; the writers have made to painfully obvious most of these captures were mandated things. I’m uninterested because the Pokémon we do have just don’t do much of anything anyway. I’m just not sure if that would change if Satoshi got one of the fossils here.

The PWC has been feeling a tad overlooked as of late as well; as time passes it feels more like Satoshi’s goal is stated to be a Pokémon Master rather than PWC and battling Dande? (Writers probably trying not to write themselves into a hole, I get it.) I just wish the captures and his goal didn’t feel so inconsequential.

Region-hopping itself is cool but feels pointless when every location functions in a cookie-cutter fashion. The episode in Isshu could have taken place in Kibana City or any other location with a city for example. Makes the concept feel more novelty than substance. I think these are really my only two big crits at PM.

Kind of takes away a bit of stakes/energy when the writers seemingly handicap the MCs for no reason. Gou’s Golugh probably could have beaten and caught Thunder, even his Flygon seemed much weaker and actively hurt by Electric-type moves. Then we have Satoshi’s Gengar getting smoked by Corni’s Fighting-type Pokémon or knowing he could just squash Saito with Kairyu’s Hurricane but acting like Saito was unbeatable. Pikachu easily took care of her Pokémon compared to Kamonegi, for ex.