Having just finished Black and White, today I review the series. This series is often regarded as the worst one in the anime, but is it really bad as everyone says it is?
Theme Songs
The theme songs were bland in both versions. Best Wishes and Be an Arrow were good but not great. Rival Destinies and It’s Always You and Me sucked and both suffered from being repetitive duets, but Rival Destinies was worse and it is one of the worst dub openings. Black and White was a good song and I like the inspirational message that it has. The only standout opening was Summerly Slope, and despite the Decolore Island arc being bad, this romantic opening was the best thing about it as it was so soothing to listen too.
Characters
Ash in BW was not that bad; however, it still is one of the worst iterations of Ash. The soft reboot kind of bugged me because they definitely nerfed Ash and it was annoying that he forgot some things. I didn’t like Ash’s power level either, as Pikachu struggled early on, losing to Trip’s Snivy and Cress’s Panpour, both Pokémon which he should have beaten. Ash also lost to Cameron, an idiot trainer who brought only five Pokémon to a six on six battle, and that was embarrassing. Part of the reason why he lost was because Ash made some head-scratching decisions like having Unfezant and Oshawott over Krookodile and Leavanny. However, Ash also has some good moments in this series too, and I like how he still wants to inspire others and he still has his love of Pokémon. One of my favorite moments of Ash in this series was him telling N to “never give up until the very end”, a line that foreshadowed Ash’s catchphrase in XY. Ash also realizes that he didn’t meet his expectations and promises to get stronger in the region that he goes to next, which is exactly what he does.
I think that both Iris and Cilan are hated on way too much, yet there are still better characters out there. I actually liked Iris more than Cilan albeit barely mainly because she had a great backstory with Excadrill, plus I liked her Pokémon better than Cilan’s. I did find Iris annoying with how she blabbed at Ash, though I found her catchphrase of “you’re such a kid” to be amusing. I just wish she had more Dragon types and more development with Axew, because having him evolve during the series would have made both of them better characters.
Cilan was also funny, but the connoisseur goal wasn’t really explained in too much detail. There were a few episodes that were focused on him but his rivalry with Burgundy felt more to be desired. It seemed like at times that Iris and Cilan didn’t care for Ash as much as his other companions did, and that was clearly evident.
Rivals
Oh boy, Black and White had a lot of rivals and they were a pretty average group overall.
Trip was not a good rival as he mostly just beat Ash a lot and he felt a lot like Paul, but worse. I liked his past with Alder but after Alder beat him it seemed like Trip’s personality changed too drastically. What really put this rivalry down was that Trip battled Ash in the first round of the league, which Ash won. This should not be a sendoff for a rival battle, and it brings down both the rivalry and the league as a result.
Bianca really got on my nerves as in her debut episode she was kind of a *****, plus she was weird as she was obsessed with cute Pokémon and Sawk’s muscles for some reason. As you can tell I hate Bianca. I liked her strategy to beat Trip at one of the tournaments though and it was nice to see Ash replicate that with Krokorok against Brycen. I wish her relationship with her father would have been expanded on more.
Stephan was my favorite rival in the whole series. I loved the running gag with everyone mispronouncing his name and I thought that was really funny, poor guy. At least everyone started pronouncing his name right during the league. His battle vs Ash at the league was great and I wish we could have seen them battle more.
Now onto Iris’s and Cilan’s rivals. It is nice that the whole main cast had a rival for this series. I liked how Georgia and Iris kept getting on each other’s nerves and I also like the role that Georgia had in Excadrill's development, but aside from that first battle I didn’t like how it was so one sided on Iris’s side.
I didn’t like Burgundy at first but her snooty personality grew on me. I like how she uses French alot, she must be from Kalos. Her and Cilan’s interactions were cute and it’s a shame that she only battled him once. It was funny seeing her cheer for Cilan to lose.
Cameron is awful and I hated him because he was a complete idiot. Thinking that the Unova League was in Johto, bringing five Pokémon to a full battle. How did this dude make it to the semifinals? He had a good team but he made bad decisions like bringing out Ferrothorn and Swanna against Pignite and Pikachu. Then his Riolu evolves and Lucario goes full DEM on Pikachu. And Ash lost to him, somehow. Ash should have been much stronger and been wiser in this series.
Pokémon
Pikachu in this series is underwhelming to me. He lost to some pretty weak Pokémon such as Snivy and Panpour, and yet he still was one of the strongest on Ash’s team.
Oshawott is god. He is my favorite of all of Ash’s Pokémon and I love his excitable and hilarious personality. I loved him and Dawn’s Piplup’s interactions which were hilarious, especially the one where Piplup trolls Oshawott over Meloetta. I just wish Oshawott won more, he was done so dirty. But let’s face it, sadly he is very weak. Oshawott is a cutie and I love him.
Unfezant, ugh. She was cute as a Pidove but was severely underused, and when she was used she would lose most of the time. There’s a reason why this Pokémon is hated. I feel kind of bad for Unfezant though, and I wish she got more screen time because for a regional bird, she was treated like ****.
Pignite is alright, I just wish he fully evolved to Emboar. I liked its backstory as a Tepig with him getting abandoned which was just cruel, but it felt like a rehash of Charmander and Infernape. I also liked how he evolved against its old trainer who treated him so inhumane, but it should have happened sooner so that there would be time for it to evolve again.
Snivy, another Pokémon that should have evolved. She really surprised me as before watching BW I didn’t like the Snivy species in general because its smug face creeped me out. However, Ash’s Snivy is great and I love her personality and dynamic with the other Pokémon.
Scraggy really bothered me when he first hatched because of his rude attitude towards the others but after a while I started to warm up to him. He was decent in battle and his brotherly relationship with Axew is cute.
Leavanny is cool but underused. As a Sewaddle he was so cute but unfortunately he stayed a Sewaddle too short and a Swadloon for too long, barely appearing in between his first and second evolutions. I love Leavanny’s caring personality and how it made clothes for everyone, and this stick bug is an under-the-radar powerhouse.
Boldore, who? So forgettable. At least it’s battle against Clay was cool and it performed well there.
Palpitoad is a meme. I like him as a species but he mostly sucked in battle. He fell victim to the Elesa gym battle disaster.
Krookodile is awesome, and it is one of Ash’s best Unova Pokémon. It started out as a Sandile that would follow Ash and co. around. Ash eventually caught it as a Krokorok. Its evolution against Iris’s Dragonite was epic and I love its swag sunglasses. Krookodile should have been used way more as it is one of Ash’s strongest Pokémon.
Axew is cute and funny but he should have evolved at least once. He was annoying at times and he would mess stuff up a lot.
Excadrill is badass. I love Excadrill so much. I love his backstory and how he bonded with Iris but he started disobeying her after evolving not because of spite, it was because he was mad at losing and he thought that he had lost her respect. The episode where Iris gains back Excadrill’s trust is one of the best in the series. Excadrill is pretty powerful too, even defeating Ash’s Pikachu once and going toe-to-toe with Drayden.
I love Emolga, she is such a troll.
Dragonite is ok, he felt too OP at times and it was weird to see yet another disobedience arc. I like his personality though.
I love Pansage. He is such a cute monkey.
Crustle is cool too, and it was Cilan’s most powerful Pokémon in battle.
Stunfisk is Stunfisk, and it is a derp.
Gym Battles
The gym battles were pretty mediocre, but they weren’t as bad as Kanto’s. The best gym battle was Ash vs Clay because of the way the battle flowed, plus it was a good gym battle with an evolution.
Tournaments
I didn’t really like the tournaments that much. They just were okay to me. I did like seeing all of Ash’s rivals compete, but I didn’t like how Ash never won one. The Junior Cup sucked, but it at least had the best tournament battle, that being Iris vs Ash.
Team Plasma
The Team Plasma arc was alright. As some know, the original plans for Plasma were postponed due to natural disasters in Japan. It seemed weird how they wanted to control Pokémon instead of trying to liberate them like in the original Black and White games. N is an awesome character and his backstory is great, plus his dynamic with Ash is interesting. I just wish we got to see Zekrom. Team Rocket’s involvement was good but I feel like they could have done more. It was nice to see Looker again but he didn’t really feel at place here.
The Best
Oshawott
Ash’s Oshawott is god. That is all. (He is not my all time favorite Pokémon character though).
Transition to the Next Series (XY)
I think that the transition from Black and White to XY was done really well. For starters, Alexa was introduced, a journalist that was from Kalos (and is also the sister of Viola, the first Kalos gym leader) and her Kalos Pokémon that were shown off to promote the XY games and serve as the catalyst for Ash going to Kalos. In the last episode, Ash decides that he wants to go to Kalos, and because of his “slump” in Unova, he says that he wants to become stronger and declares that he will win next time, showcasing his growth. (Ugh, we were so close, and he had to lose the Kalos League, the foreshadowing was all there that he would win it ****)
Team Rocket
It was nice to see Team Rocket be serious and be an actual threat for a change, but it was also weird seeing them not act like their goofy selves. The original plans for Team Rocket were scrapped, but they still were good in this series. Seeing Ash finally face off against Giovanni was awesome. Team Rocket’s Pokémon weren’t that memorable as they didn’t really do much. It was nice not to see them in every single episode, a trend which continues to this day. I think a serious Team Rocket was a nice change of pace. No Wobbuffet makes me sad however.
Best Episode: A Maractus Musical! (BW053)
Yes, the best episode of Black and White was a filler about dancing Maractus. This episode was so beautiful and wholesome and I love the Maractus trio of Marra, Racca, and Tussy. I am so happy that they won the competition. I feel bad for Tussy messing up but eventually he got it right and I’m so proud of my little bandana-wearing maraca shaking cactus runt.
The Worst
Decolore Islands Arc
This was just pointless. To fill time in between the XY’s anime release, Pokémon thought it was a good idea to do an island saga based entirely around filler for twenty episodes, and that’s way too long. Most of these filler episodes were mediocre to awful. However, the arc did pick up pace when Alexa showed up, and almost every episode with her was much more enjoyable than the previous one. Ten episodes for Decolore is fine but twenty is outrageous. This is where the rushed aspect of the show comes back to bite them. They should have spent that time on XY instead of wasting it with filler not even in Unova. What a waste. At least the ending was good.
Unova League
After the amazing Sinnoh League, the Unova League was an utter dumpster fire. Ash faces off against Trip, HIS MAIN RIVAL, in the first round. What were the writers thinking? That is a bad sign off the bat. On top of that Pikachu is barely able to defeat Serperior and manages to ass pull a win. We then have a filler episode about Axew getting lost for no reason, save that for before or after the league. In the quarter finals, Ash faces off against Cameron, and like the idiot he is, Cameron only brings five Pokémon. Instead of using Krookodile and Leavanny who performed stellar against Stephan, Ash decided to use Oshawott and Unfezant. Cameron had a good team but he brought out Ferrothorn against Pignite and Swanna against Pikachu. When Riolu comes out, Unfezant faints like always, and then Riolu evolves into Lucario and proceeds to DEM the **** out of Snivy and Pikachu. I know Ash’s Unova team sucked but this loss was just bad. The most controversial Ash lost until Ash vs Alain happened. The only good part of this league was Ash vs Stephan, which was a good battle where Krookodile shined. At least the Unova League isn’t as bad as Alola’s.
Ash’s Team
Ash’s Unova team sucked, I’m going to say it. He had way too many Pokémon. Krookodile, Leavanny, and Pignite were good but Pignite should have fully evolved. Snivy should have evolved at least once. Scraggy just is there and wasn’t really a good battler. Boldore and Palpitoad were useless and are pretty forgettable. Unfezant straight up sucks. Oshawott was bad too, I’m so sorry but it’s true. It felt like the starters and Scraggy were shoved into our face and the rest were forgotten. This team could have been a lot better. Oh yeah and they brought back Charizard and he didn’t even do anything.
Worst Episode: Dazzling the Nimbasa Gym! (BW050)
Surprise, surprise, it’s this episode. Ash just acts so OOC here it bothers me, plus he acts like a complete noob even though he clearly isn’t. I feel like BW Ash is overrated because of this, but this battle was just bad and one of the worst Ash moments ever.
Finale (The Dream Continues!)
First off, the way they sent Iris and Cilan packing was lame. They spent most of the second-to-last episode dealing with Team Rocket and then Iris and Cilan straight up leave. I know they were unpopular but that’s just cruel. Worst goodbye ever.
This finale was nice. We got to see Ash’s old Pokémon and we got to say a final goodbye to his Unova team. WOBBUFFET IS BACK!!!!!! The thing that I love most is Ash declaring that he wants to become stronger, foreshadowing the character growth in XY and how he will influence others. He knows that he did not do as well as he hoped and he wants to do better and strengthen the bonds with people and Pokémon (hehehe you will reuninte with your future wife in Kalos Ash). Delia saying goodbye to Ash was emotional and we have a KALOS CLOTHES SIGHTING. KALOS HERE WE COME, the region of fateful encounters!
Seasons Ranked
- Black and White (14) This season had some good episodes and battles, but it was still mediocre.
- Rival Destinies (15) This season was worse than season 14 as it had some bad episodes, but it had its fair share of good ones too.
- Adventures in Unova (16) The Unova League and Decolore Islands were in this season, need I say more? At least the Team Plasma arc was decent.
Conclusion
In conclusion, despite being hated by many, I thought Black and White wasn’t a bad series, it was just a mediocre one. I found both good things and bad in this series, and this series didn’t have as big of flaws as say, Sun and Moon. I found this series better than I thought. Despite this, Black and White is still the worst series out of the “original five”.