The Unpopular Opinions Thread

[Soniman]

To change the subject from the incredibly boring same circle arguments of XY vs SM can I just ask what was the point in returning to Kanto in BF? They barely showed anything Kanto related nor did they visit that many points of interests. They could of just created anime exclusive towns in Hoenn and have May recompete for the Hoenn GF.

I guess they didn't want Ash just staying in Hoenn and have May do nothing. I agree though it didn't really feel like Kanto because besides Misty at the beginning and Gary at the end there wasn't much in the way of old characters and stuff

 

[Sham]

Probably has to do with kanto remake during that time, but yeah it was silly to transfer entire BF from hoenn to kanto, they should have just introduced leaf in anime just like lyra in DP during johto remakes. It was pointless we didn't see any kanto gym leaders like sabrina or erika.

Honestly it would be the perfect time to show Janine. Poor girl never got an appearance.

 

[Power Up]

You know an example of what I consider to be an incredibly inane type of criticism? Calling something edgy....

Anyway...

I don't have a problem with Ash looking cool. My problem with those shots is instead of looking cool, they look ugly. I actually like Ash's XY design/outfit for the most part, they give a more "casual" good look to him that these shots don't have.

There's also a limit before it just delves into blatant wish fulfillment. Ash is mostly supposed to just be a normal kid, making him this pinnacle of greatness and positivity was never what his character was about until XY.

Also I'm not huge on the Ash's SM redesign either ftr, but I think the SwSh design has done a good job at refining that

I'm not sure if you described exactly what made you believe him to be ugly, but why so? What specifically in those shots made Ash look " ugly " to you? How do you define ugly?

Why do people love making blanket statements? Do people like to forget that literally a couple episodes before this, Ash was down in the ditches? People would be all over me if I said SM Ash was always an idiot or always potrayed as the butt monkey when this is objectively not true. One of his best moments in the series was when he tackled someone(Faba I think?)

Either people are deliberately ignorant to add emphasis to their point(which is sad to say the least) or they must have not watched the series

 

[Blastmaster]

You know an example of what I consider to be an incredibly inane type of criticism? Calling something edgy....

Anyway...


I'm not sure if you described exactly what made you believe him to be ugly, but why so? What specifically in those shots made Ash look " ugly " to you? How do you define ugly?

Why do people love making blanket statements? Do people like to forget that literally a couple episodes before this, Ash was down in the ditches? People would be all over me if I said SM Ash was always an idiot or always potrayed as the butt monkey when this is objectively not true. One of his best moments in the series was when he tackled someone(Faba I think?)

Either people are deliberately ignorant to add emphasis to their point(which is sad to say the least) or they must have not watched the series

The detail is too much on all of them. The shading on the first picture + angry expression reeks of "cliche emo anime hero," and the other two just give Ash these weird uncanny "serious" facial expressions with grossly excessive detail on the mouth and teeth. I find that ugly. You don't have to, but I do.

Would you stop screaming about blanket statements? Every single praise anyone gives about XY is also a blanket statement but you're always fine with those because "XY is good." I'm aware my opinion that "Ash is too perfect in XY" has exceptions. Doesn't change my opinion. And I guess while we're at it, I think that snowball scene in hindsight just worsens the issue of Ash being perfect. Serena just yells at him to revert back to his previous self, because he was so perfect the way he was that he needs to stop changing. That scene could've led to a whole thing where the XY group actually realizes Ash's deeper flaws but chooses to like him regardless, but nope. He just needs to stop having flaws entirely.

Stop trying to boil everything about a piece of fiction to some scientific formula, dude. Also, assuming people didn't watch the series reeks of insecurity. You have to have watched the series to have such strong opinions.

 

[Soniman]

And I guess while we're at it, I think that snowball scene in hindsight just worsens the issue of Ash being perfect. Serena just yells at him to revert back to his previous self, because he was so perfect the way he was that he needs to stop changing. That scene could've led to a whole thing where the XY group actually realizes Ash's deeper flaws but chooses to like him regardless, but nope. He just needs to stop having flaws entirely.

How people continue read the scene like that I'll never understand. It's true Serena lashes out at Ash got acting uncharacteristically angry at her but it's pretty obvious how the scene was framed that wasn't the intent? In fact Serena went there with the sole purpose to cheer him up, she didn't go there being like "why aren't you yourself? Go back to that." She said all that stuff in a emotionally charged way and it's pretty obvious watching the episode she wasn't right and felt bad about her actions AND apologize for it and just happy he's better again. If a friend was depressed about something you'd try to help them not sit there and do nothing because "everyone has flaws and we should accept it". It's not like Ash made a conscious choice to be mopey and beside himself and his friends needed to learn to accept that.

 

[PorcelainVulpix]

I don’t really have many complaints about the different art styles, I just never did like Ash’s eyes from BW and onward.

 

[Sham]

How people continue read the scene like that I'll never understand. It's true Serena lashes out at Ash got acting uncharacteristically angry at her but it's pretty obvious how the scene was framed that wasn't the intent? In fact Serena went there with the sole purpose to cheer him up, she didn't go there being like "why aren't you yourself? Go back to that." She said all that stuff in a emotionally charged way and it's pretty obvious watching the episode she wasn't right and felt bad about her actions AND apologize for it and just happy he's better again. If a friend was depressed about something you'd try to hell them not do nothing because "everyone has flaws and we should accept it". It's not like Ash made a conscious choice to be mopey and beside himself and his friends needed to learn to accept that.

Since XY and DP are apparently the same. Let me go on a hill and say that Dawn handled Ash being depressed about the lake Variety battle than Serena did at Snowbelle.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I don’t really have many complaints about the different art styles, I just never did like Ash’s eyes from BW and onward.

I feel the same tbh

 

[Power Up]

The detail is too much on all of them. The shading on the first picture + angry expression reeks of "cliche emo anime hero," and the other two just give Ash these weird uncanny "serious" facial expressions with grossly excessive detail on the mouth and teeth. I find that ugly. You don't have to, but I do.

Would you stop screaming about blanket statements? Every single praise anyone gives about XY is also a blanket statement but you're always fine with those because "XY is good." I'm aware my opinion that "Ash is too perfect in XY" has exceptions. Doesn't change my opinion. And I guess while we're at it, I think that snowball scene in hindsight just worsens the issue of Ash being perfect. Serena just yells at him to revert back to his previous self, because he was so perfect the way he was that he needs to stop changing. That scene could've led to a whole thing where the XY group actually realizes Ash's deeper flaws but chooses to like him regardless, but nope. He just needs to stop having flaws entirely.

Stop trying to boil everything about a piece of fiction to some scientific formula, dude. Also, assuming people didn't watch the series reeks of insecurity. You have to have watched the series to have such strong opinions.

That's fine. I wanted to know what exactly you found ugly.

Yeah, I'm going to be as repetitive as need be when I see the same old repetitive criticism. It's the same old thing day in, day out. Screaming? Pretty sure I didn't capitalize anything in post, whatever though.

What kind of praise? If someone said, " all XY battles were animated better than SM's battles or even " all XY battles were amazingly, " I would take issue with that because it simply isn't true. If you're aware that your opinion is blatantly wrong, then you're admitting what I just accused people of doing lol.

What? That's literally not what happened. Are you aware that flaws are something one might try to work on fixing/addressing?

Where's the scientific formula dude? I have literally no idea what you're talking about.

Actually, assuming people haven't watched the series is a perfectly reasonable opinion to have. I've seen plenty of ignorant posts about XY. It's easy to believe people might decide to parrot the same talking points and repeat them ad nauseum.

 

[Soniman]

Since XY and DP are apparently the same. Let me go on a hill and say that Dawn handled Ash being depressed about the lake Variety battle than Serena did at Snowbelle.

What's with the strawman? I just said they have tonal similarities which they do you don't need to keep throwing it in my face that they're not 1:1 exactly the same because I already know

And of COURSE Dawn handled it better it was deliberately written that way while Serena's was deliberately written as a mistake lmao.

 

[Sham]

What's with the strawman? I just said they have tonal similarities which they do you don't need to keep throwing it in my face that they're not 1:1 exactly the same because I already know

And of COURSE Dawn handled it better it was deliberately written that way while Serena's was deliberately written as a mistake lmao.

You might want to hold on to the assumptions champ because I mostly joking. You aren't the first person to make that comparison nor the last. Just because the scene was meant to show a flaw of Serena doesn't mean it's exempt from criticism. Since you brought up having a depressed friend; Dawn's way is superior. Giving them time and space to digest things and allow them to come to you when they're ready to talk.

 

[Power Up]

You might want to hold on to the assumptions champ because I mostly joking. You aren't the first person to make that comparison nor the last. Just because the scene was meant to show a flaw of Serena doesn't mean it's exempt from criticism.

Pretty sure he didn't say that the scene was exempt from criticism? You quite literally ignored the obvious differences in what the two scenes were trying to do for a cheap point. Think you should be the one holding on to assumptions "champ"

 

[LilligantLewis]

the only "champ' is ash btw

 

[AshxSatoshi]

I seen the scene digested it and even watched it over. While I see where she was coming from it just came off wrong. It seemed like she was more focused on Ash getting back to his old self than actually trying emphasize what he’s going through. He barely got any time in that episode to brood. It was “Ash is upset that isn’t normal, go back to being the way you were to make ME comfortable”. I wish that scene was longer and or we got a bigger conversation betweenness Serena and Ash

 

[Soniman]

You might want to hold on to the assumptions champ because I mostly joking. You aren't the first person to make that comparison nor the last. Just because the scene was meant to show a flaw of Serena doesn't mean it's exempt from criticism. Since you brought up having a depressed friend; Dawn's way is superior. Giving them time and space to digest things and allow them to come to you when they're ready to talk.

Sorry. I tend to get a little heated because debates like these aren't really my forte, I'm too emotional for my own good sometimes.

But yes I agree but not everyone is going to know what to do in a situation like that and Serena just figured going to cheer up her friend was the best course of action. Obviously it wasn't things fell apart and she felt regret for the things she did. Dawn waited for him to cool off and come back on his own hence why there was no bad vibes associated with her attempt (probably because Dawn been where Ash had been with her losing streak and understood that he needed to be alone for a bit)

It seemed like she was more focused on Ash getting back to his old self than actually trying emphasize what he’s going through.

That's.... literally what Serena tried to do by relating Ash's loss with the Master Class loss in a effort to make him feel better.

 

[Power Up]

I seen the scene digested it and even watched it over. While I see where she was coming from it just came off wrong. It seemed like she was more focused on Ash getting back to his old self than actually trying emphasize what he’s going through. He barely got any time in that episode to brood. It was “Ash is upset that isn’t normal, go back to being the way you were to make ME comfortable”. I wish that scene was longer and or we got a bigger conversation betweenness Serena and Ash

I also wish the scene was longer and more focus was played on Ash's feelings and his depression

However, the idea that " he barely got any time to brood " might be forgetting that
- Didn't come back to the cabin that day and stayed the night in the forest
- Spent a while in the forest thinking about his actions and the whole snowstorm

I wish he had more time and the show delved into it a lot more, but in my opinion it was handled incredibly well since it was a great way to address Ash's arrogance and battle driven stance in XY

 

[Sham]

Sorry. I tend to get a little heated because debates like these aren't really my forte, I'm too emotional for my own good sometimes.

But yes I agree but not everyone is going to know what to do in a situation like that and Serena just figured going to cheer up her friend was the best course of action. Obviously it wasn't things fell apart and she felt regret for the things she did. Dawn waited for him to cool off and come back on his own hence why there was no bad vibes associated with her attempt (probably because Dawn been where Ash had been with her losing streak and understood that he needed to be alone for a bit)

It’s okay I can be way too sarcastic at times so I don’t blame people for assuming the worse. I actually think you provide good commentary on things, so my apologies if I came off as rude. I guess the fact the XY group was so inspired by Ash and looked up to him and when he finally showed emotions non “hero like” her reaction being negative was just a turn off. It just came off she had a fixed image of him and threw a fit when he wasn’t behaving like that image. Obviously as you explained she was just trying to be a good friend despite what that came off as.

 

[Power Up]

- Max wasn't as bad as people say he was, just annoying sometimes

 

[AshxSatoshi]

@Soniman She had her one attempt and when he didn’t respond the way she wanted she threw a fit.

 

[Blastmaster]

How people continue read the scene like that I'll never understand. It's true Serena lashes out at Ash got acting uncharacteristically angry at her but it's pretty obvious how the scene was framed that wasn't the intent? In fact Serena went there with the sole purpose to cheer him up, she didn't go there being like "why aren't you yourself? Go back to that." She said all that stuff in a emotionally charged way and it's pretty obvious watching the episode she wasn't right and felt bad about her actions AND apologize for it and just happy he's better again. If a friend was depressed about something you'd try to help them not sit there and do nothing because "everyone has flaws and we should accept it". It's not like Ash made a conscious choice to be mopey and beside himself and his friends needed to learn to accept that.

It wasn't the intent, but the implications are bleh. If XY Ash was more flawed in general, it would've worked far better. But since it's pretty much the only instance in the entire series where Serena is seriously upset with Ash, it makes it seem like she can't actually handle the idea of him being a flawed person.

I agree that friends should work to deal with each other's flaws, but they shouldn't ever 100% succeed because that's not how humanity works. By the end of the episode Ash is completely rid of his only real flaw in that series.

Yeah, I'm going to be as repetitive as need be when I see the same old repetitive criticism. It's the same old thing day in, day out. Screaming? Pretty sure I didn't capitalize anything in post, whatever though.

What kind of praise? If someone said, " all XY battles were animated better than SM's battles or even " all XY battles were amazingly, " I would take issue with that because it simply isn't true. If you're aware that your opinion is blatantly wrong, then you're admitting what I just accused people of doing lol.

Any broad statement of praise like "XY's battles were the best scripted! XY's battles were the best choreographed! Serena had the best development!" can be seen as a blanket statement. None of those things are 100% consistently true, but I know you believe all of them. And that's fine. If people can make broad statements of praise, they can make broad statements of criticism. Don't assume that I'm just ignoring the exceptions, they're just not enough to change my mind.

Where's the scientific formula dude? I have literally no idea what you're talking about.

I'm mostly bothered that you're always insisting your interpretation is "reality" while everyone who saw things differently are "ignoring" facts. Facts can be skewed in 9 million different ways, especially for a show as inconsistent as Pokemon. I don't (purposely) ignore anything, I simply find some "facts" more important than others.