The Unpopular Opinions Thread

[MusicFan22]

I believe it, I see a lot of people saying they love BW and grew up on it. The reason it gets “hate” is just because the older fans are typically the loudest. It had a lot of terrible ideas (like rushing the league) and terrible plot flow but the fillers and group chem were at it’s peak in BW. And I especially enjoyed Iris’ and Cilan’s nature vs science debates. Serena and Iris are both even to me in terms of goals (lackluster) but watching Serena sometimes felt watching paint dry however she did receive tons more focus than Iris. The things that weirded me out me about Serena was her display by the writers. Between the Fennekin outfit, claiming girls should always tend to their appearance and look cute (episode 21 of XY), baking for the group and competing in waifu contests (I mean showcases). Her character just gave odd signals.

Even my younger brother said he loved the Black & White series just as much as the others. I’m guessing because my bro doesn’t take the show nor the characters that seriously for him to hate it. I’m not gonna lie, I like BW, but it’s still one of my least favorites due to it having so many flaws (Ash losing to Trip at all, Iris calling Ash a kid for reasons that weren’t his fault & her getting a Dragonite when really she should have gotten a Dratini & evolved it , Cilan comparing everything to food, Ash losing to Cameron who was an idiot, etc). SM isn’t my fav either in the meantime because I just started watching it and I’m already bored with it.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I loved the Iris calling Ash a kid gag and I didn't mind that she beat him in one of the Don George Tournaments.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Here is an unpopular opinion, i feel like designs of pokemon in earlier generation especially first two gens were dull as compared to later generations like for example the dragons of gen3 nd 4 like garchomp and flygon had better designs than dragonite or kingra or starters like infernape or serperior had better design than charizard or venasaur. Earlier gens esign looked too much simple compared to later ones.

 

[MusicFan22]

I loved the Iris calling Ash a kid gag and I didn't mind that she beat him in one of the Don George Tournaments.

This is another one I agree with. I felt Iris beat Ash at the cup fair and square due to the simple fact that her Excadrill had the type advantage over Pikachu and it had a lot of wins under its belt. I also thought it’s Ash’s own fault for not choosing a Pokémon with an advantage (like Oshawott) to battle Excadrill. It sounds to me that some people were just being salty.

PS: I didn’t mind Iris calling him a kid when Ash did something legitimately stupid (like him intentionally choosing a Pokémon with a type disadvantage over his opponent’s, because even other characters criticize him for this).

 

[Xuxuba]

I feel like the XY group had the worst group chemistry and interactions, especially between 2 individual members of the group like Serena and Clemont.

IMO, the other interactions on the series were just fine, mainly Ash & Clemont, Ash & Serena's and Bonnie & Serena. Personally, i don't think the lack of focus on Serena/Clemont's relationship detracts from the other interactions in the series.

I also don't think Serena and Clemont interacting more as a group than just the two of them affected the plot or their character arcs negatively, just like Lillie and Sophocles not interacting all that much hardly had that big of an impact on the SM series or their characters as a whole.

Sure, it would have been nice to get an episode about their relationship, but we got focus on other ones instead, probably because they thought those would be more important to that character's arc or simply because they were more interesting.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the cast is not only restricted to humans, they still have to develop the relationship between pokémon/pokémon and trainer/pokémon too. So sometimes focusing more on certain relationships than others is kind of necessary.

However, if the series had less companions, pokémons and rivals to focus on and if other friendships that received little focus didn't exist in this show (like Dawn/DP Brock or Tracey/Ash for example), then i would've agreed with you.

This is another one I agree with. I felt Iris beat Ash at the cup fair and square due to the simple fact that her Excadrill had the type advantage over Pikachu and it had a lot of wins under its belt. I also thought it’s Ash’s own fault for not choosing a Pokémon with an advantage (like Oshawott) to battle Excadrill. It sounds to me that some people were just being salty.

I do agree, but to be honest, from what i remember from other people's reactions, that wasn't much of an unpopular opinion. I believe many people liked that Ash was beaten fair and square by one of it's companions for once. Maybe i am remembering things wrong...

I do remember May getting some flack for beating Ash tho, but i believe it was mainly because that battle was unfair cuz his pokémon was tired or something like that (which i didn't mind tbh, since that scene was more of a joke than anything else).

 

[Shadao]

An unpopular opinion? Well, it's far too easy to go with a negative opinion, so I'll challenge myself with a positive:

I see nothing wrong with the Alola League being presented the way it is. It's not like a Pokémon League would somehow make Ash a Pokémon Master and the show's over.

 

[satopi]

Unpopular opinion but looking at these SM girls, it makes you appreciate Serena just a tiny bit more.

I still love my girls but yeah, I agree.

Appologize now for this insulting reply. And whoever did “like” for his reply should too.

I apologized through PM but don’t make everyone else who liked my post apologize, they’ve done nothing wrong. And thanks for actually insulting me.

The thing is, Serena is very much well loved. Did you forget people wanting her to return and at the very least, having a special episode of her own like she should? There hasn’t been a SM circlejerk since the early days and just because people critiqued her, it doesn’t mean she isn’t liked. She’s a very popular and for the most part, well received character.

 

[Redstar45]

There is a my unpopular opinion........lot of os era randon and filled episodes easy replaced with rockets gang arc ep and whole thing about pity badges should have never been happened (i let Takeshi a slide as Satoshi was noob at time) and whole mewtwo strikes back as taking place in unknown cave like game counterparts not in new islands and Blue (Or at least Seiyo Yūtõ who has Satoshi actually flushed about it ) be in the kantou arc replace Kasumi and Shigeru should play his game counterpart and that should end Satoshi story then having him pass a hero role to gold in Pocket Monsters 02 then Haruka and Hikari and Serena in ag/dp/xy arc respective!

 

[Sham]

Idk how popular or how unpopular this is but Lana had today’s episode long coming and due.

 

[YoungJustice85]

Bonnie was the best main girl in the anime in years both personality wise and role wise, and Bonnie/Clemont in general are the best supporting characters in the 2010's. Secondly would be Kiawe and Lana I suppose. Iris/Cilan generally have mixed receptions, and the SM cast have some underdeveloped moments. Even characters I really wanted to like such as Mallow, outside of the ep with her mother, just did too little in the saga to really get behind her.

Bonnie remained consistently entertaining all throughout XY, she has funny and cute scenes/expressions even in episodes that don't focus on her, she has a role in most of the Clemont eps too, and then her own eps like the Tyrantrum ep and Squishy/Zygarde finale are some of the best in the animes history. Bonnie even felt like the main girl in XY at times when Serena was doing too little at the beginning, and Bonnie's role in the Team Flare finale was excellent. She was also the life of the group,

Although I didn't dislike Max like others did, the writers just didn't handle him well and ran out of things to do with him very quickly. Max really was treated like dead weight for most of AG, to the point where you could ignore him in most episodes, Bonnie never felt that way.

 

[MusicFan22]

I do agree, but to be honest, from what i remember from other people's reactions, that wasn't much of an unpopular opinion. I believe many people liked that Ash was beaten fair and square by one of it's companions for once. Maybe i am remembering things wrong...

I do remember May getting some flack for beating Ash tho, but i believe it was mainly because that battle was unfair cuz his pokémon was tired or something like that (which i didn't mind tbh, since that scene was more of a joke than anything else).

Okay. Maybe I said that because there was another forum (the Bulbagarden one) that had a lot of salty fans that claimed that Iris’ victory was ridiculous over Dawn’s victory towards May, ignoring the fact that Ash was the one who picked a Pokémon with a type disadvantage.

With May’s, she did have an unfair advantage due to Ash’s Pokémon being exhausted so I can see why it would rub fans the wrong way.

 

[MockingJ]

I loved the Iris calling Ash a kid gag and I didn't mind that she beat him in one of the Don George Tournaments.

I'll never get why so many people didn't like when Iris beat Ash. The tournament was minor and not even important in the grand scheme of things. Also she had a type advantage since she was using Excadrill, so it's not like her win was bullshit compared to what it could've been.

 

[MusicFan22]

I'll never get why so many people didn't like when Iris beat Ash. The tournament was minor and not even important in the grand scheme of things. Also she had a type advantage since she was using Excadrill, so it's not like her win was bullshit compared to what it could've been.

It’s because some fans just didn’t want Iris to win, simple. Some of them want her knocked down a peg & they usually do this “rooting for the empire” thing with her (before anyone thinks I’m making this up, this is what I observed on YouTube mostly, so please don’t flame me or think I’m starting sh*t.

The only battle that Iris didn’t win the right way was with Georgia when Dragonite was disobedient, IMO. Iris only deserved to lose when her Pokémon were disobedient, simply because she needed to learn to train her Pokémon better and that losing is a learning experience.

 

[Leonhart]

PS: I didn’t mind Iris calling him a kid when Ash did something legitimately stupid (like him intentionally choosing a Pokémon with a type disadvantage over his opponent’s, because even other characters criticize him for this).

Iris calling Satoshi a child didn't really bother me either since she usually used it in the correct context whenever Satoshi would do something immature or out of character. I've always found it ironic that she would often be criticized for those comments despite the fandom unanimously agreeing that Satoshi was too childish in Best Wishes.

 

[DatsRight]

I think it's for the simple fact that Iris was a smug, and smug characters usually warrant a comeuppance. Not to say Iris DIDN'T get her ego taken down a peg a good few times in BW, but I guess some thought she got it enabled a little too much, beating Ash, getting Axew by on plot armour or stories wavering whether or not she was immune to slapstick. Still I consider Charizard vs Dragonite Ash's 'revenge' on Iris, especially the way he points out her botched typing for Charizard.

 

[MusicFan22]

Another unpopular opinion I have is that Ash wasn’t as nice as people made him out to be in the Kanto region, especially with his interactions with Misty. People ship these two while ignoring the fact that Ash insults Misty’s looks. So I’m just sitting and wondering who Misty still had a crush on Ash =/. People say that Misty was being an asshole to Ash forget that Ash did some messed up things to her too (like stealing and destroying her bike, & bikes cost a fortune in the Pokémon world lol).

Also, while Erica’s employees were wrong to deny Ash a gym battle, Ash was being unnecessarily rude by insulting Erica’s perfume.

While Gary was a bigger asshole than Ash, both of them were equally immature. So that’s why it bugs me when people would root for Gary over Ash.

 

[Sham]

I didn’t like the “you’re such a kid” thing but the overall teasing didn’t bother me; especially when you watch the later episodes of BW he starts clapping back her.

While we’re on the topic of Ash and Misty. Pokeshipping>Amourshipping don’t @ me.

 

[MusicFan22]

I didn’t like the “you’re such a kid” thing but the overall teasing didn’t bother me; especially when you watch the later episodes of BW he starts clapping back her.

I felt like I was the only one who noticed that Ash clapped back at her. Even Cilan and Georgia called Iris a kid, so I don’t see why people think Iris is this Jerk Sue that gets away with things.

I think it's for the simple fact that Iris was a smug, and smug characters usually warrant a comeuppance. Not to say Iris DIDN'T get her ego taken down a peg a good few times in BW, but I guess some thought she got it enabled a little too much, beating Ash, getting Axew by on plot armour or stories wavering whether or not she was immune to slapstick. Still I consider Charizard vs Dragonite Ash's 'revenge' on Iris, especially the way he points out her botched typing for Charizard.

Iris losing to Ash‘s Krookodile came off as a better one to me because I think she realized how well skilled Ash really was as a trainer and he wasn’t a “kid” and she even asked why she lost.

 

[DatsRight]

Another unpopular opinion I have is that Ash wasn’t as nice as people made him out to be in the Kanto region, especially with his interactions with Misty. People ship these two while ignoring the fact that Ash insults Misty’s looks. So I’m just sitting and wondering who Misty still had a crush on Ash =/.

Also, while Erica’s employees were wrong to deny Ash a gym battle, Ash was being unnecessarily rude by insulting Erica’s perfume.

While Gary was a bigger asshole than Ash, both of them were equally immature. So that’s why it bugs me when people would root for Gary over Ash.

I think it's that Ash was often the target of disproportionate retribution from the other characters, though admittedly not always. Ash was pretty matter of fact about not liking perfume, and while that deserved a chiding, Ash got ten fold the amount of insults, violently kicked out the store and then violently refused entry into the gym, even as he pleaded forgiveness. Yeah there were times Ash was just a tool, but he often found himself out of his league in terms of pure vitriol, so it was easier to consider him the underdog in most spats.

I don't think people complain as much about the times Ash got his deserved comeuppance, but more the times the other side got enabled for being even worse or could have avoided an argument if they'd just pointed out Ash's error in a way that wasn't gratuitously arrogant or demeaning. "You've been a trainer for two days and you still don't know everything??? CAN'T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT???"

As for Misty, well imagine that stalking you your whole trip because you had the nerve to break their property rather than let your best friend die. Yeah Ash could be horrible too, but I think after a while anyone would be screaming at her to go away.

 

[MusicFan22]

I think it's that Ash was often the target of disproportionate retribution from the other characters, though admittedly not always. Ash was pretty matter of fact about not liking perfume, and while that deserved a chiding, Ash got ten fold the amount of insults, violently kicked out the store and then violently refused entry into the gym, even as he pleaded forgiveness. Yeah there were times Ash was just a tool, but he often found himself out of his league in terms of pure vitriol, so it was easier to consider him the underdog in most spats.

I don't think people complain as much about the times Ash got his deserved comeuppance, but more the times the other side got enabled for being even worse or could have avoided an argument if they'd just pointed out Ash's error in a way that wasn't excessively arrogant or demeaning.

Okay you got a point. Plus, Ash was still a rookie trainer so it would make sense that he would act bratty and immature. I remember that episode and I think the staff was wrong for even attacking him rather than asking him to leave. The only funny thing about that episode was when Ash dressed up like a girl and his disguise was ruined by Pikachu.