Thoughts on Continuity in Journeys?

[Spider-Phoenix]

Besides, have you seen kids toys these days? Except for Legos, they kind of suck. My kids would rather play with my old toys than buy something new.

When I have kids, I won't let them get anywhere close to my Ultraman figuarts

Either way, I'd say it's that way because back then, toys were meant to be durable and more of a complement to the what was most important (ratings). Now, they are the main driving force thus they are made with a more "disposable" nature so parents would need to buy more if their kids' was broken.

 

[nuzamaki90]

The continuity this series has literally been the best it ever has. Not even AG was this good with it. You still get those small mentions of past events like Ash and Pikachu reminiscing about their battle with Tobias, or Lance being a member of the G-Men, but now we get characters actually appearing and adding to the development of the current cast, including Ash.

With the Alola gang we learned Lillie is still traveling, Burnett had the baby, and Kiawe helping with Goh’s development. I really disliked the Alola crew, but I really liked Kiawe’s portrayal in that episode because you could really see the results of his Kahuna training with Olivia. The guy was confident, powerful, and did well testing Goh’s resolves as a trainer. Exactly how a Kahuna/Gym Leader should be portrayed.

Iris not only showed the fruits of her labor, but inadvertently helped Ash and his bond with Dragonite. Gary continued to show his constantly improving work as a researcher, his amazing skills as a trainer, and pushed Goh to further himself with his own goal. And Dawn is literally the reason why Koharu is becoming one of my favorite characters this series, showing her the joys of adventuring and bonding with Pokémon.

I could go on and on but you get the drift. The continuity isn’t used for just shameless marketing like some users would make you believe, they are used to add on to the development of the existing cast, which is what character returns should be used for.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Continuity is rather selective in this saga, making stupid moments like Ash never mentioning how his Bulbasaur didn't want to evolve when dealing with a very similar plot in Journeys, or how he never brings up Infernape once against Volkner (or the universe never making it so Flint gets a mention or reappears).

 

[Soniman]

The continuity this series has literally been the best it ever has. Not even AG was this good with it. You still get those small mentions of past events like Ash and Pikachu reminiscing about their battle with Tobias, or Lance being a member of the G-Men, but now we get characters actually appearing and adding to the development of the current cast, including Ash.

With the Alola gang we learned Lillie is still traveling, Burnett had the baby, and Kiawe helping with Goh’s development. I really disliked the Alola crew, but I really liked Kiawe’s portrayal in that episode because you could really see the results of his Kahuna training with Olivia. The guy was confident, powerful, and did well testing Goh’s resolves as a trainer. Exactly how a Kahuna/Gym Leader should be portrayed.

Iris not only showed the fruits of her labor, but inadvertently helped Ash and his bond with Dragonite. Gary continued to show his constantly improving work as a researcher, his amazing skills as a trainer, and pushed Goh to further himself with his own goal. And Dawn is literally the reason why Koharu is becoming one of my favorite characters this series, showing her the joys of adventuring and bonding with Pokémon.

I could go on and on but you get the drift. The continuity isn’t used for just shameless marketing like some users would make you believe, they are used to add on to the development of the existing cast, which is what character returns should be used for.

This is why the Wallace Cup is a great arc because it showed the past characters growth that facilitated the current character's growth. Dawn's depression arc climaxing with a battle with May who brings her out of that funk is such a smart move and a while JN definitely doesn't meet those heights it at least attempts to honor those same ideas. I'll gladly take that over something like Misty's AG return which was monopolized by that damn Togepi and this random kingdom no one cares about or Dawn's BW return where she just sat on the sidelines for 8 episodes and jobbed in a contrived way at the Junior Cup

 

[mehmeh1]

With the Alola gang we learned Lillie is still traveling, Burnett had the baby, and Kiawe helping with Goh’s development. I really disliked the Alola crew, but I really liked Kiawe’s portrayal in that episode because you could really see the results of his Kahuna training with Olivia. The guy was confident, powerful, and did well testing Goh’s resolves as a trainer. Exactly how a Kahuna/Gym Leader should be portrayed.

Meanwhile his portrayal was the thing I really took issue about in that episode, since it felt like he had reverted to how he was in the first few SM episodes

 

[Ignition]

Meanwhile his portrayal was the thing I really took issue about in that episode, since it felt like he had reverted to how he was in the first few SM episodes

That was the one issue I had with that episode as well. I don’t understand why he felt the need to see if Go was a good rival for Ash when nothing suggested their friendship was built upon that. It’d be different if Goh didn’t have a goal at this point as it’d be a natural contrast to Kiawe’s goal oriented personality. If any of the Alola classmates had to be used for Goh’s development, it should’ve been Sophocles who also had issues with socializing with people.

 

[nuzamaki90]

This is why the Wallace Cup is a great arc because it showed the past characters growth that facilitated the current chsrscter's growth. Dawn's depression arc climaxing with a battle with May who brings her out of that funk is such a smart move and a while JN definitely doesn't meet those heights it at least attempts to honor those same ideas. I'll gladly take that over something like Misty's AG return which was monopolized by that damn Togepi and this random kingdom no one cares aboutir Dawn's BW return where she just sat on the sidelines for 8 episodes a jobbed in a contrived way at the Junior Cup

Exactly. We don’t need characters just appearing for the sake of because then people are gonna get all up in arms about them not doing anything. I just found out from this thread itself that somehow someway people took issue with Cynthia’s return.

It’s all just so tiresome. These already established characters had their stories told already, and should only be used to move the story forward. Yu-Gi-Oh is a perfect example of this, as it’s done character returns in a couple of its own series and they were all used as either development for another character or to usher in a new story arc.

I’ve honestly enjoyed every character return so far, as I think for the most part all of them have been handled pretty well. The absolute worst one I can think of would be Mewtwo, and that’s just because the interactions with him and Ash fell flat, but again he was used as development for Ash and Goh, and we got a great battle out of it. I think we should wait until the end of the series to make a verdict because we don’t know if these characters will appear again later in the series or not.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Who made Kiawe a friendship cop all of a sudden.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

The continuity this series has literally been the best it ever has. Not even AG was this good with it. You still get those small mentions of past events like Ash and Pikachu reminiscing about their battle with Tobias, or Lance being a member of the G-Men, but now we get characters actually appearing and adding to the development of the current cast, including Ash.

With the Alola gang we learned Lillie is still traveling, Burnett had the baby, and Kiawe helping with Goh’s development. I really disliked the Alola crew, but I really liked Kiawe’s portrayal in that episode because you could really see the results of his Kahuna training with Olivia. The guy was confident, powerful, and did well testing Goh’s resolves as a trainer. Exactly how a Kahuna/Gym Leader should be portrayed.

Iris not only showed the fruits of her labor, but inadvertently helped Ash and his bond with Dragonite. Gary continued to show his constantly improving work as a researcher, his amazing skills as a trainer, and pushed Goh to further himself with his own goal. And Dawn is literally the reason why Koharu is becoming one of my favorite characters this series, showing her the joys of adventuring and bonding with Pokémon.

I could go on and on but you get the drift. The continuity isn’t used for just shameless marketing like some users would make you believe, they are used to add on to the development of the existing cast, which is what character returns should be used for.

Exactly. We don’t need characters just appearing for the sake of because then people are gonna get all up in arms about them not doing anything. I just found out from this thread itself that somehow someway people took issue with Cynthia’s return.

It’s all just so tiresome. These already established characters had their stories told already, and should only be used to move the story forward. Yu-Gi-Oh is a perfect example of this, as it’s done character returns in a couple of its own series and they were all used as either development for another character or to usher in a new story arc.

I’ve honestly enjoyed every character return so far, as I think for the most part all of them have been handled pretty well. The absolute worst one I can think of would be Mewtwo, and that’s just because the interactions with him and Ash fell flat, but again he was used as development for Ash and Goh, and we got a great battle out of it. I think we should wait until the end of the series to make a verdict because we don’t know if these characters will appear again later in the series or not.

Thank you! Nicely put why continuity in JN has been enjoyable no matter how much people push their opinion of the continuity being bad as 'objective'

 

[Blue Saturday]

About other children’s media, most of them happen to be slice of life( Chibi maruko chan, doraemon or Sazae-san for example ). Pokemon is a traditional hero’s journey, it’s very shounen at its core and the problem with that kind of plot is you need to give the protagonist a closure.

Detective Conan is a kids mystery manga that is about to hit the 1000 episode mark it received similar complaints to Pokémon anime. This formula is a pretty marketable concept is all.

 

[UnovaMaster]

People are mad that every episode of Journeys isn't an episode of Pokemon Chronicles, logic be darned on how they'd do that weekly with the entire selection of former characters

 

[santiagus]

People are mad that every episode of Journeys isn't an episode of Pokemon Chronicles, logic be darned on how they'd do that weekly with the entire selection of former characters

You know that Pokémon Chronicles episodes were on Sunday I think, and the anime was on Thursday? Well now you do.

It was a spinoff for something...

And was Pokémon Chronicles a negative, except for the Pichu Bros ones were pretty good. Showing more stories of the Pokémon world can never be bad.

Do people really compare this returns to the May one in DP? Some compare that to the Iris one? You cannot compare a well done arc with a well done episode. That is the main problem, there is no time and no effort put on these returns. Why was she champion , how she managed it? Who was defeated? No answer questions. In that arc we did even know how May Eevee evolved and even where.

So no it is not good continuity if you rescue characters from the past, and you put them in a new status without an explanation. All the returns could have been handled much better.


And to the magnificent dudes who had the idea of make Team Rocket trio not interact with the returns:

 

[mehmeh1]

Thinking about it, I think a good example of a long merch-driven kids show that keeps the same characters and continuity would be Lego Ninjago, though there it helps that each season is relatively self-contained and after season 2 (which IIRC was originally planned to be the last one) there really isn't one big series-long goal, so it doesn't really need to soft reset itself too much.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Pokemon Chronicles (or at least the episodes not focused on Ash back then) were simply great world building because it wasn't about one stinking kid barely developing as a character.

 

[Morax]

Detective Conan is a kids mystery manga that is about to hit the 1000 episode mark it received similar complaints to Pokémon anime. This formula is a pretty marketable concept is all.

Detective conan once again sufferes from the same hero’s journey syndrome. It has been running for long, but it’s not something you can keep around forever (unlike sazae-san or doraemon which you drag out for eternity). You might not want it but Shinichi will eventually have to take down the black organization and grow up, it’s an inevitable part of the story and it’s coming sooner or later.

 

[Morax]

The continuity this series has literally been the best it ever has. Not even AG was this good with it. You still get those small mentions of past events like Ash and Pikachu reminiscing about their battle with Tobias, or Lance being a member of the G-Men, but now we get characters actually appearing and adding to the development of the current cast, including Ash.

With the Alola gang we learned Lillie is still traveling, Burnett had the baby, and Kiawe helping with Goh’s development. I really disliked the Alola crew, but I really liked Kiawe’s portrayal in that episode because you could really see the results of his Kahuna training with Olivia. The guy was confident, powerful, and did well testing Goh’s resolves as a trainer. Exactly how a Kahuna/Gym Leader should be portrayed.

Iris not only showed the fruits of her labor, but inadvertently helped Ash and his bond with Dragonite. Gary continued to show his constantly improving work as a researcher, his amazing skills as a trainer, and pushed Goh to further himself with his own goal. And Dawn is literally the reason why Koharu is becoming one of my favorite characters this series, showing her the joys of adventuring and bonding with Pokémon.

I could go on and on but you get the drift. The continuity isn’t used for just shameless marketing like some users would make you believe, they are used to add on to the development of the existing cast, which is what character returns should be used for.

My problem with continuity in this anime is that it does nothing for the returning character. They progress a bit offscreen and come back only to get their ass kicked by the new guy. I hated wallace cup because may got done dirty only to further dawn’s career.

The worst part of it all is that these characters aren’t allowed to achieve their dreams. If you give someone a closure and then bring ‘em back to be the fall guy i got no problem with it, but when the returning character is on a journey of their own and you make them lose pathetically to a rookie, that’s an insult to their development and progress.

 

[Morax]

It was another one of the anime's no win situations, but they did as best they could to lessen the impact

Why does it have to be a no win situation in the first place? Why defend sh.it writing?

 

[janejane6178]

Iris return was nice and her face didnt even look distorted like happened with Misty and Brock, which had their design ruined with the ew SM artstyle
But I would rather they dedicated another episode for her, to interact with Ash

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Pokemon isnt really a continuity driven series. I think due the world visiting concept, they dont really have a choice

 

[nuzamaki90]

My problem with continuity in this anime is that it does nothing for the returning character. They progress a bit offscreen and come back only to get their ass kicked by the new guy. I hated wallace cup because may got done dirty only to further dawn’s career.

The worst part of it all is that these characters aren’t allowed to achieve their dreams. If you give someone a closure and then bring ‘em back to be the fall guy i got no problem with it, but when the returning character is on a journey of their own and you make them lose pathetically to a rookie, that’s an insult to their development and progress.

Yeah but like when has that happened in Journeys? Korrina, Volkner, and Iris all came back and lost to Ash because they are all in the same competition. Kiawe beat Goh, Mewtwo beat the both of them, and Ash and Gary teamed up to defeat Moltres. The whole newbie beats rookie was exclusive to the poke girls in the past seasons, and they probably dropped it because they realized it was only ever executed well once which was May VS Dawn.

I think Journeys has been very respectful to the legacy characters.