Pokémon - The Indigo League (01)

[Serebii]

Pokémon - The Indigo League (01)

The Indigo League!

Join Ash Ketchum as he leaves his home town of Pallet in order to start his Pokémon Journey and to beat his rival Gary. When he gets his first Pokémon Pikachu he starts collecting more Pokémon; Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Butterfree, Pidgeotto, Charizard and many more. With the guidance of the Pewter Gym Leader Brock and Cerulean Gym Leader Misty, Ash gets all 8 badges with the help of his Pokémon friends and partakes in the Pokémon League, thwarted by Team Rocket at every turn. Meeting a new friend whilst Battling, Richie. Ash loses Richie and gets placed in the Top 16 on the Indigo League!

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Discuss

 

[Kabuto]

I can't even describe how much I loved these sets of episodes. They had comedy, drama, culture, and character development. Each episode stood on its own instead of mirroring older episodes and a plot about Team Rocket.

 

[Geki]

I agree entirely with seizureman. This season is the best, period. It blended so many different types of genres like comedy, drama, action, etc. all in one, like seizureman also said.

 

[ChaosMage]

I don't really like this saga as much as the newer ones. Everything that ahyone complains about happened here- so why love it so much?

 

[Aptenodytes]

Ahh, the first season that started it all. I loved this season as it introduced Pokemon to everyone and all the episodes in it were great.

 

[Satoshi]

Ah. The good ol' original Kanto saga. The saga that started it all - It had great fillers, filler characters, interesting plot, decent Gym battles (IMO) and more culture. This was also the part of the anime that played one of the most enjoyable opening theme - Mezase Pokemon Master.

 

[CyberCubed]

A lot of battles in Kanto were pathetic one-hit KO fests.

Take Gary's battle against Giovanni in Viridian Gym for an example. Nidoking faints Gio's Kingler with one Tackle attack.

The writers didn't learn how to script proper battles until AG started. Some of the Kanto battles were very good, but when you compare them to their Hoenn counterparts, they're just lackluster with a few exceptions.

 

[Moonlight.]

Definately my favourite season - back then it was fresh, interesting, funny and each episode was memorable. The fillers actually varied and were mainly interesting and original.

 

[Cloud Strife]

By far the best season, just great.

I finally have somewhere where I can ask this question now though. Does anybody know (in the scene where Ash is in the grass crying, it is on the Best Friends video I think) why was Ash crying, I don't know what episode it was, and even if I did, I have no way of getting the ep to find out why, so this would be most appreciated.

 

[The Big Al]

The battles sucked, but the style, plot, characters, comedy, and other factors more than mad up for it. If only they could have make season with AG battles and Season 1 style. That would be Pokemon at its best.

 

[Heracross]

The writers didn't learn how to script proper battles until AG started.

Jouto would beg to differ. D:

And for the record, I didn't think all of Kanto's battles were that bad. The Guren gym rematch and Kaoruko's battle in the league were both quite enjoyable to watch, and I still consider them some of the best in the series.

I wouldn't exactly call the Kuchiba or Yamabuki gym battles shabby either.

 

[≈*Virulent Tsunami*≈]

I really didn't like Kanto =/ Go figure.

Yeah, the battles were terrible. I can't really recall a good battle that occurred in Kanto. And I doubt it's just the long period of time since I've seen a Kanto battle that's the problem there. I can list some of the failures, though Misty's battle, Erika's battle, and Blaine's battle(prominently the second one). And those are just the standout ones. None of the others were any good either, bar the Vermillion battle(s).

The characters didn't appeal to me much either. Everyone seemed annoyingly full of themselves in Kanto, Ash or filler characters. There was no subtlety at all, as far as I can remember ._. All the characters were pretty much LOLZ IN JO FACE XD. Even the Pokémon were like that(Primeape, Charizard, Squirtle) ¬_¬ It made Kanto seem like a terrible place to live.

And then there were the episodes. To be blunt, they weren't very good. Only a few actually strike me as interesting, like the Paras and the sweage-Bulbasaur one.

And by the way, did I mention the Titles? The puns of late Kanto to the BF aren't always good, but they can be clever. Back in Kanto, they just pointed out the obvious. Nothing witty or interesting about them. Ash Catchs A Pokémon!! Wow, wonder what'll happen in that episode?

As a season, I wouldn't want to rewatch it. The characters, the plots, and the Pokémon all coalesce to make one big failure ._.

~*CB*~
The 8th Champion​

 

[CyberCubed]

At least Misty and Brock were full of energy and fresh, lively characters back here. I re-watched a couple Kanto episodes the other day, and I remembered how great Misty and Brock could be.

It really is a shame what happens to them as the series continues. The difference between Kanto Misty/Brock and Johto and AG Misty/Brock is a lot.

To be fair though, there's only so much you can do with secondary characters without a tangible goal so to speak. Did I mention how cool it was to see Giovanni as an actual villain, instead of the dream sequence cliche he is nowadays?

Kanto is probably tied with Hoenn as my favorite saga, although the BF may surpass it depending on how it ends.

 

[Yamato-san]

And by the way, did I mention the Titles? The puns of late Kanto to the BF aren't always good, but they can be clever. Back in Kanto, they just pointed out the obvious. Nothing witty or interesting about them. Ash Catchs A Pokémon!! Wow, wonder what'll happen in that episode?

Actually, in the Japanese version, as you should probably know by now, pretty much all the titles are like that. The Pocket Monsters anime simply follows a formula for titling episodes that a good majority of other anime seem to follow as well: the title's not meant to be witty or punny most the time, it's just a simple statement relating to the events that occur in the episode. In the very early days of the 4kids dub, such titles were simply translated (most of them, anyway). This lasted up until the end of the 2nd American season, come to think of it. Anyway, punny titles are dub-only (with some exceptions, I say that so someone doesn't bring up "Do Coil Dream of Electric Mice?"), you shouldn't logically be comparing Kantou to other sagas based on this.

Now, if there is something comparable with the titles, which can be found in the original Japanese version, it's the fact that Kantou (and most of the first series) used single titles, while most of AG uses double titles, which are seen in quite a few anime. That, and Pocket Monsters titles used nothing but Hiragana, whilst Pocket Monsters AG titles use kanji (though, with furigana). The former's not worth throwing a p*ss-fit about, but the latter, as far as I'm aware, makes the first series look just a little bit more juvenile compared to AG (yeah, yeah, AG lacks weapons and Kojirou in a body suit, but those were to suit foreign standards, remember).

 

[The Big Al]

Well, Pokemon was at first aimed at little kids in Japan (and pulled a Dreamworked with plenty of humor above kids heads to interest the older viewers). However, now they appear to want to appeal to older viewers. (It's too bad 4Kids is deadset on dumbing it down for their target audiance).

Kanto and Orang Islands = plot rocked/battles sucked for the most part
Johto = both plot and battles sucking far too often
Hoenn = great battles but plot left far more to be desired.

When will we have a season when the battles and the plot are brilliant.

 

[Astinus]

I believe it was in episode thirteen, Bil's Lighthouse, that Misty and Brock first got shafted. They didn't speak much at all, and when they did, we got bizarre comments...and the famous first-ever Gymshipiping moment.

As for the rest of the season, I don't know yet. Haven't studyed it the rest of it...

But I like Kanto. The animation made Pikachu and the other Pokémon cuter and, well, fatter. Plus, the humans looked chil-like and immature, which changes in AG, when Ash has finally matured.

 

[Reece]

I love this series, in my opinion its easily the best. Its so nostalgic.

 

[Adam_stm]

The beggining of this season had glitches that messed up the whole Pokemon anime, espically in The Schoolof Hard Knocks. They showed animals, real places like Paris, and levels like in the games.

 

[Ashy Boy]

Even though the Indigo season is not my fav (save for some episodes such as The Misty Mermaid) I think it's considered a classic because this was the season that started it all.

 

[C.J. Ray]

The below is the honest opinion of the writer and not in any way, shape, or form meant to insult the anime or its characters. If you reply, please reserve any negative opinions of me to yourself. I would never flame you, don't flame me.

Looking back over all the episodes and seasons, I'd have to say that this season, the very one that started it all, had many flaws that the writers should have covered up better.

The Gyms: Don't even get me started! Ash didn't even earn half of his badges. Now, before you go and bash me for being an Ash-basher, let me say that, since it was Ash, he went with his instinct and luck. However, had it been me, I would have planned things out better. I know he was still green, but if he had stopped and did some decent training while traveling, like he did in Johto and Hoenn, he wouldn't have had these problems to begin with. I really thought he would have kept his Butterfree to use against Sabrina, knocking Kadabra out with Sleep Powder, or asked for a rematch with Erika or his companions(Brock and Misty), but sadly, the writers didn't think of this, and his lack of experience may have cost him in the Indigo League. I bet he was the least experienced of the trainers there!

The League: I didn't see 90% of this, but from what I discern, Ash really sucked at his first big tournament, relying on luck and his opponent's lack of skill to win each battle. Also, the fact that Team Rocket screwed his team over before he faced Richie meant nothing - he should have explained the whole thing to the judge and asked for a team switch instead of risking a win on Charizard. Thumbs down. (Of course, if I watch the episodes again, I might change my opinions on this.)

Fillers: Most of the plots were pretty good, but I wish Ash had trained more or caught more Pokemon(see above). The point is moot, though, since he's matured as a trainer. But this first season showed how naive and dumb he was, and this is what caused many people to hate him.

Conclusion: This season was bad, but then again, the writers were probably trying to make the games come alive as well as drive home certain points that the real Pokemon aren't tools to be exploited by forcing them to evolve to their final forms for power and suchnot. The way they did it, though, could have been improved on a little. Wasted potential, but they learned their lessons in the future regions.