Should they bring contests back to the anime?

[Leonhart]

Contests were so much fun so yes please bring them back. We could have the new girl compete in them and maybe she could meet Dawn later on and get pointers from her on how to be a better Pokemon co-ordinator.

While I do think that Hikari returning could happen assuming that the new Pokemon series follows the continuity of the current series, I still think that having Contests return as a full-time hobby for one of the new cast members sounds too monotonous. The new Contests would have to branch out and offer something different this time around in order for them to work as solid entertainment from my perspective.

 

[PokemonKnight]

No thanks. I had enough of glorified battles decided by a convoluted process of three judges, of which was a local Nurse Joy, inconsistent scoring, and a timer. Sure, audience voting has its drawbacks, but it never gave us such awful outcomes as May vs Brock, Zoey vs Nando, half of May's Contests, Jessie somehow beating trainers, and other miscellaneous results.

 

[Tabasco Boshi]

Of course. We need Mr. Sukizo to return.

 

[MockingJ]

Of course. We need Mr. Sukizo to return.

The remarkable guy? I hated his character since he never gave constructive criticism unlike Joy and Contesta. I mean not that they were amazing judges as a whole anyways, but at least those two made an effort and didn't just say the same thing over and over.

 

[mysticalglacia]

I don’t really get why some people considered Contests “glorified” Gym Battles, especially when everything about Contest Battles are so different; I guess every other battling competition are Gym ripoffs as well. The points deduction system was wildly inconsistent, but imo it was much more interesting to watch than the typical KO-and-done; it added unpredictability and suspense. The only things they’d really have to do to tweak Contests would be to get rid of the random Nurse Joy and have a Top Coordinator (or some form of Contest veteran) take her place on the judging panel, and stick to a more consistent timer/points system.

 

[PokemonKnight]

I don’t really get why some people considered Contests “glorified” Gym Battles, especially when everything about Contest Battles are so different; I guess every other battling competition are Gym ripoffs as well. The points deduction system was wildly inconsistent, but imo it was much more interesting to watch than the typical KO-and-done; it added unpredictability and suspense. The only things they’d really have to do to tweak Contests would be to get rid of the random Nurse Joy and have a Top Coordinator (or some form of Contest veteran) take her place on the judging panel, and stick to a more consistent timer/points system.

Well, I said battles not Gym Battles which are a whole different beast in intensity.

The argument could be made that other battling competitions are ripoffs but no one really praises Sky Battles like they do about Contests.

Wild and inconsistent should not be considered interesting because of suspense. Suspense can be crafted without blatant disregard of previous standards. It was lazy and obvious contrived writing.

Contests allowed for the knockout which is why I used the term, glorified battles.

I would dump Joy and Mr. Remarkable. Inserting a Contest veteran is a stellar idea. A more consistent points system is a must.

 

[Sham]

I don’t see how Contests would/got boring when get Gym battles year after year (minus Alola). I’m rewatching AG now and it just makes me wish Contests lasted a bit longer. They were unique, interesting and a decent goal.

 

[UltimateNinja]

Looking at the curry dex having spicy curry, sour curry etc. actually gives me some hope that we'll indeed get contest back for gen 8.

 

[mysticalglacia]

Well, I said battles not Gym Battles which are a whole different beast in intensity.

The argument could be made that other battling competitions are ripoffs but no one really praises Sky Battles like they do about Contests.

Wild and inconsistent should not be considered interesting because of suspense. Suspense can be crafted without blatant disregard of previous standards. It was lazy and obvious contrived writing.

Contests allowed for the knockout which is why I used the term, glorified battles.

I would dump Joy and Mr. Remarkable. Inserting a Contest veteran is a stellar idea. A more consistent points system is a must.

Nobody praises Sky Battles because they were relegated to one episode and then never mentioned again. Contests were a consistent thing spanning two series’; quite a wide difference.

The problem with the points system is that the deduction of points was so different every time. It was especially annoying in May’s Hoenn Contests; someone would hit her once and she’d lose like half of her points, but retaliating multiple times successfully would reduce the same amount for them what she lost in one hit. It was BS; obviously there to create tension, but it made no sense, and was quite frustrating to watch.

As for allowing knockouts, I don’t see what the issue is there. Contests are meant to show the beauty in Pokémon, but they were still battles at the end of the day. Though I would really like to see Contests where KO’ing was strictly prohibited, and if you did you automatically lost; could make for interesting strategies and and move usage. It would also be more in-line with the theme of showing off Pokémon and the creative flashiness that comes with it- potential move combos for that kind of situation could be amazing.

I agree with you that Joy and Mr. Sukizo need to go. They really had no purpose being there. Replacing them with a Contest veteran and someone like a Pokéblock/Poffin/Poképuff/Curry expert (like Kelly from the Lilycove Contest) would be much better. The points system needs a reworking, and tweaking the Battle rounds would be nice.

 

[Leonhart]

Looking at the curry dex having spicy curry, sour curry etc. actually gives me some hope that we'll indeed get contest back for gen 8.

I doubt that the curry flavors are meant to imply that Contests are returning in Gen VIII however, otherwise we probably would've known by now. Judging from Galar's map, none of the buildings on there look remotely like a Contest building to me, anyway.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Wouldn't they need a 4 year series to make Contests viable?

No. May went through 2 whole separate contest arcs in her 4-year arc, so I don't think 4 years are needed just for one contest arc just because Dawn's went that way.

 

[mysticalglacia]

No. May went through 2 whole separate contest arcs in her 4-year arc, so I don't think 4 years are needed just for one contest arc just because Dawn's went that way.

I think Dawn had the best Contest arc overall because of its length, but both of May’s runs were great. She lost appropriately, but also got in solid development because of it; I think the pacing of each Contest was perfectly fine.

 

[Leonhart]

I think Dawn had the best Contest arc overall because of its length, but both of May’s runs were great. She lost appropriately, but also got in solid development because of it; I think the pacing of each Contest was perfectly fine.

I agree that Hikari's Contest circuit was the better Contest arc overall, at least from my viewpoint. Haruka's two attempts to win the Grand Festival on-screen were enjoyable for sure, but I was more invested in Hikari's journey because she was more charismatic as a character to me. I wouldn't necessarily want to see Hikari return and do Contests again though if that were a possibility, mainly because at this point I think that watching her attempt to win another Grand Festival would just come off as repetitive and not as interesting as her first attempt was.

 

[mysticalglacia]

I agree that Hikari's Contest circuit was the better Contest arc overall, at least from my viewpoint. Haruka's two attempts to win the Grand Festival on-screen were enjoyable for sure, but I was more invested in Hikari's journey because she was more charismatic as a character to me. I wouldn't necessarily want to see Hikari return and do Contests again though if that were a possibility, mainly because at this point I think that watching her attempt to win another Grand Festival would just come off as repetitive and not as interesting as her first attempt was.

May was a super enjoyable character to watch progress, but I agree that when it came to Contests (and pretty much everything else, tbh), Dawn was much more charismatic and likable because she actually put the work into it. May definitely worked hard, but she seemed to have natural talent at Contests and didn’t practice nearly as much as Dawn. Contests in general were just a lot better in Sinnoh; in AG they were decent but were definitely a side thing, and it showed. If Contests ever come back though, a new character doing them is the only thing that makes sense. May & Dawn already had their time in the limelight, and like you said it’d just get repetitive. A new character with a new team and new strategies would make it seem just a little bit fresher, at least to me.

 

[LilligantLewis]

May was a super enjoyable character to watch progress, but I agree that when it came to Contests (and pretty much everything else, tbh), Dawn was much more charismatic and likable because she actually put the work into it. May definitely worked hard, but she seemed to have natural talent at Contests and don’t practice nearly as much as Dawn. Contests in general were just a lot better in Sinnoh; in AG they were decent but were definitely a side thing, and it showed. If Contests ever come back though, a new character doing them is the only thing that makes sense. May & Dawn already had their time in the limelight, and like you said it’d just get repetitive. A new character with a new team and new strategies would make it seem just a little bit fresher, at least to me.

Yeah the problem with contests is that unlike gyms, where every region's gyms are going to be different, so it makes sense for Ash to be unfamiliar with them each time he enters a new region, on contests, once you've literally come a few pixels away (on the point-meter) from winning a Grand Festival, it's hard to make it interesting for you to compete against scrubs all over again in regular-tier contests.

 

[mysticalglacia]

Yeah the problem with contests is that unlike gyms, where every region's gyms are going to be different, so it makes sense for Ash to be unfamiliar with them each time he enters a new region, on contests, once you've literally come a few pixels away (on the point-meter) from winning a Grand Festival, it's hard to make it interesting for you to compete against scrubs all over again in regular-tier contests.

Yeah, exactly. It’d be like watching Serena and Shauna go up against complete newbies in Showcases when they’ve already made it to the finals of the Master Class. It worked with May because she was still inexperienced by the Hoenn GF (and because Kanto Contests, being better-written, helped her develop more), but pitting Dawn- being Top Coordinator-tier (she should’ve won against Zoey, period)- against your random COTD with one Ribbon wouldn’t be very engaging.

 

[Jangobadass]

With the next anime having episode in all regions, that opens the door for contests in Hoenn or Sinnoh set episodes.

 

[mysticalglacia]

I want Vivian/Lillian/Marian to make their return; Monsieur Pierre just did not cut it in the role of overly excitable MC.

 

[AznKei]

I do remember finding the HP bar-like counter to be really unfair in most Contest battles, although it still beats the judging method used in TryPokaron from my perspective, which was even more unfair since it was based entirely on performer popularity.

I think it's unfair for any competitions in the anime in general, seeing how it is scripted with the plot armors factoring in. It's not like in the games where there's statistic programmings put in place depending how well you did.

 

[LilligantLewis]

I want Vivian/Lillian/Marian to make their return; Monsieur Pierre just did not cut it in the role of overly excitable MC.

Lilian had the best outfit