Unpopular Opinions

[Ash-Pikachu]

I think Clemont should be the protag while Sawyer is his side-kick. Bye bye Ash.

 

[Epicocity]

Not sure if unpopular, but despite Brock not moving forward much, I think it was a great thing that he was a part of DP over a new character, simply because I thought it was important for Ash to have someone who knew him well and understood him and his past experiences when dealing with a character like Paul.

 

[Halolady]

This is more of a controversial opinion regarding the fandom than anything.

So here goes -- DP has the most volatile haters.

True, you don't see DP getting much hate around here, but whenever it does get it, hoo-boy does it get it. I mean, sure; other sagas have their fair share of haters, or at least, people who dislike them, too, but more often than not, they were never as volatile as most of the DP haters I've come across. People who dislike OS tend to criticize it for its' gym battles, bad handling of the Gary rivalry, and its' lightning-fast pacing. Otherwise, most of them seem to be fine with it for the most part despite not being very impressed by it. Now Johto gets a lot of hate, but at the same time, a lot of its 'haters' acknowledge the good in it too -- such as some of its enjoyable fillers, well-handled league etc. despite criticizing it for the huge amount of fillers. Advanced, on the other hand, gets little to no hate (from what I've seen, at least) -- at worst, people who aren't fond of it consider it 'meh' or 'just okay'. BW......well, I personally consider the hate it gets to be blown out of proportion as well, but at least a significant amount of its haters (as in, people who consider it the low-point) acknowledge the good it had, and if they're being polite, say that it was "wasted potential". XY, from what I've seen, gets criticized pretty fairly for the most part (mostly regarding the inaction during the first 40 episodes or so).

DP, on the other hand, gets no such luxury from its haters. DP haters, more often than not, tend to inflate the 'atrocity' of its flaws to an incredibly ridiculous scale, ie. "It was so boring I cried tears of joy when it finally ended", "it gave me frequent depressions for 4 years", "Dawn sucks cuz she took Brock's screen time/replaced May", "the trio was so dull that they put me to sleep", "way too serious and melodramatic", "no humor/lighthearted-ness at all", "I had to claw my ears out to tolerate the dub", "Paul sucks, Barry sucks, Dawn sucks"......and yeah, I think you get the point. They never seem to acknowledge whatever good it had either, and to make matters worse, they seem to deliberately hate on the things that are commonly considered its' best aspects, such as the villain plot, Paul rivalry, battles etc. without giving any sound reason as to why they do. Another thing that annoys me about them is that they seem to love to bash it at every opportunity they get. For instance, in a 'favorite saga' thread, one of the posters stated "AG is my favorite as it was actually fun to watch, unlike DP." Unlike DP. What on earth does that have to do with the topic? And don't get me wrong, I'm only this pissed about that because it was only one of the many examples I've come across.

Now, before I get flamed, I'm not saying that all of the DP haters are like that. I've come across some that actually make some very good points against that saga without coming off as if they had a personal vendetta against it themselves. I'm just saying that I tend to see much more of the former example rather than the latter. Which is quite sad, to be honest.

It's kinda funny when you think about it. DP either gets praised to high heaven or bashed into a bloody pulp. Poor Sinnoh just can't seem to get no middle ground, huh?

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

This is more of a controversial opinion regarding the fandom than anything.

So here goes -- DP has the most volatile haters.

True, you don't see DP getting much hate around here, but whenever it does get it, hoo-boy does it get it. I mean, sure; other sagas have their fair share of haters, or at least, people who dislike them, too, but more often than not, they were never as volatile as most of the DP haters I've come across. People who dislike OS tend to criticize it for its' gym battles, bad handling of the Gary rivalry, and its' lightning-fast pacing. Otherwise, most of them seem to be fine with it for the most part despite not being very impressed by it. Now Johto gets a lot of hate, but at the same time, a lot of its 'haters' acknowledge the good in it too -- such as some of its enjoyable fillers, well-handled league etc. despite criticizing it for the huge amount of fillers. Advanced, on the other hand, gets little to no hate (from what I've seen, at least) -- at worst, people who aren't fond of it consider it 'meh' or 'just okay'. BW......well, I personally consider the hate it gets to be blown out of proportion as well, but at least a significant amount of its haters (as in, people who consider it the low-point) acknowledge the good it had, and if they're being polite, say that it was "wasted potential". XY, from what I've seen, gets criticized pretty fairly for the most part (mostly regarding the inaction during the first 40 episodes or so).

DP, on the other hand, gets no such luxury from its haters. DP haters, more often than not, tend to inflate the 'atrocity' of its flaws to an incredibly ridiculous scale, ie. "It was so boring I cried tears of joy when it finally ended", "it gave me frequent depressions for 4 years", "Dawn sucks cuz she took Brock's screen time/replaced May", "the trio was so dull that they put me to sleep", "way too serious and melodramatic", "no humor/lighthearted-ness at all", "I had to claw my ears out to tolerate the dub", "Paul sucks, Barry sucks, Dawn sucks"......and yeah, I think you get the point. They never seem to acknowledge whatever good it had either, and to make matters worse, they seem to deliberately hate on the things that are commonly considered its' best aspects, such as the villain plot, Paul rivalry, battles etc. without giving any sound reason as to why they do. Another thing that annoys me about them is that they seem to love to bash it at every opportunity they get. For instance, in a 'favorite saga' thread, one of the posters stated "AG is my favorite as it was actually fun to watch, unlike DP." Unlike DP. What on earth does that have to do with the topic? And don't get me wrong, I'm only this pissed about that because it was only one of the many examples I've come across.

Now, before I get flamed, I'm not saying that all of the DP haters are like that. I've come across some that actually make some very good points against that saga without coming off as if they had a personal vendetta against it themselves. I'm just saying that I tend to see much more of the former example rather than the latter. Which is quite sad, to be honest.

It's kinda funny when you think about it. DP either gets praised to high heaven or bashed into a bloody pulp. Poor Sinnoh just can't seem to get no middle ground, huh?

Majority of the so called DP haters are nothing more than just 1st season casual fans,if you go out in public and ask people if they watched Diamond & Pearl they more than llikely wouldn't know about it and only say they only watched the 1st season and they don't know who this Paul person is they only know about Gary mutha f*@kin Oak.

 

[Frozocrone]

Is it wrong to think that I think the Kanto saga wasn't the best and hasn't aged well?

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Is it wrong to think that I think the Kanto saga wasn't the best and hasn't aged well?

I think that as well. The plots were sloppier and the battles were pretty mediocre compared to now.

 

[Janovy]

Is it wrong to think that I think the Kanto saga wasn't the best and hasn't aged well?

Here's the thing, it all depends on whether you're a child or an adult.

As a child I remember loving both Kanto and Johto and loving each episode because I just wanted to see more of Ash's adventures. Now that I'm older, I've obviously taken a different approach towards this anime, a more critical/analytical approach where I dissect the episode and analyze the writing itself.

So I would say, Kanto is an amazing series if you're just a kid wanting to enjoy some adventures, but an average series if you're watching it as an adult because you can analyze all the plot holes, inconsistency, etc.

A lot of people who enjoyed Kanto in the past may find themselves disillusioned watching it again in the present. Then again, Kanto still has its charm, so it is possible for you to like it even as an adult.

 

[Nerdy McNerdface]

Is it wrong to think that I think the Kanto saga wasn't the best and hasn't aged well?

Nah. From the footage I've seen of the episodes, the plots were mediocre, the animation was good for its time but doesn't look nearly as amazing as some of the more recent seasons, the dub replacements were smetimes quite stupid and Gary, despite meaning to be the main rival, never really did much to Ash. I think the animation one stands out most for me though, as I am quite picky and can't get into an anime that much if I dislike the style. And I happen to dislike the Kanto saga's animation style.

 

[snorlax512]

While I like that Ash's character develops over the years (excluding BW) the writers should have never got rid of certain traits (like his snarkiness from OS or his temerity from AG). There are flaws that contribute to development, and flaws which define a unique and interesting character. For example, you can't take away Brock's love for girls. He just wouldn't be Brock.

Ideally I would want the flaws of AG/OS Ash combined with the "badassery" of XY/DP. I think the writers are trying to achieve that balance in S&M, but imo it's not working that well for either department.

 

[phanpycross]

Unpopular opinion: Im fully expecting Rowlet to go through a "Grotle" situation when it loses it's flying type.

Popular opinion: I think it will be handled better than in DP, since Decidueye isnt a fundamentally slow pokemon like Torterra.

 

[DatsRight]

While Gyarados was an interesting Pokemon for Misty that added a little character development, I can't help but feel that if they wanted to do a 'overcoming your fear by owning one' plot, they should have given Misty a bug type rather than newly inventing a fear of Gyarados (that borderline contradicts previous episodes).

It would have also felt more effective because, unlike with Gyarados, Misty outright took her fear of bugs out on them and could be downright nasty and cruel (poor Caterpie), seeing her overcoming this to show sympathy towards one would have been way more effective. You wanna keep it within her gym specialty, just make it a water/bug dual type.

 

[Akashin]

While Gyarados was an interesting Pokemon for Misty that added a little character development, I can't help but feel that if they wanted to do a 'overcoming your fear by owning one' plot, they should have given Misty a bug type rather than newly inventing a fear of Gyarados (that borderline contradicts previous episodes).

It would have also felt more effective because, unlike with Gyarados, Misty outright took her fear of bugs out on them and could be downright nasty and cruel (poor Caterpie), seeing her overcoming this to show sympathy towards one would have been way more effective. You wanna keep it within her gym specialty, just make it a water/bug dual type.

I don't disagree, necessarily, but it should be noted that there weren't any Water/Bugs for her to do that with until Surskit.

 

[Grey Wind]

This is more of a controversial opinion regarding the fandom than anything.

So here goes -- DP has the most volatile haters.

I actually agree. I feel like when something gets popular people go out of their way to bash it, which gives you this weird, obsessive criticism and complaints about "fanboys". The same thing kind of happens with XY, oddly enough.

For my strictly show based opinions... Iris' Dragonite wasn't atrocious writing. It kind of came out of nowhere and I get some of the complaints, but she had been developing throughout BW to better connect with Dragon-types and she couldn't control it for ages. I also think Ash's Kalos league loss wasn't the worst thing that ever happened to the show like a lot of people seem to think. I've long since accepted that he's never actually gonna win a league, so for me it was probably my favourite defeat.

 

[p96822]

I think Paul and his rivalaiy with Ash is overrated and could have been more expanded on character and why he releases Pokemon. Or could have expanded on his relationship with his brother

 

[UltimateNinja]

Is it wrong to think that I think the Kanto saga wasn't the best and hasn't aged well?

>Wasn't the best

Should be obvious with these crap battles, crap plot, crap characters and crap pacing.

 

[Satomine Night]

Nah. From the footage I've seen of the episodes, the plots were mediocre, the animation was good for its time but doesn't look nearly as amazing as some of the more recent seasons, the dub replacements were smetimes quite stupid and Gary, despite meaning to be the main rival, never really did much to Ash. I think the animation one stands out most for me though, as I am quite picky and can't get into an anime that much if I dislike the style. And I happen to dislike the Kanto saga's animation style.

Well, what else do you expect from the butchers of anime, 4Kids Entertainment? >_> I agree that Gary didn't really do much to Ash on-screen, but I think most of his effect on Ash was psychological. Beating Gary was one of Ash's chief motivations, so I think it hit him emotionally and psychologically every time he learned Gary was one (or two or three) steps ahead of him. Wherever Ash had been or whatever he had done, Gary had been there and done that before him. There's a reason the kid is an internet meme.

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I actually like most of 4Kids' musical scores. In particular, I'm thinking of the second movie, The Power of One. I actually prefer 4Kids' version of "Lugia's Song" over the Japanese version.

Now here's an opinion of mine I know is rather unpopular: I really enjoyed XY and XY&Z, and I really enjoyed the Ash-Greninja arc. I liked seeing Ash's love for and bond with his Pokémon physically manifest itself in a new, powerful form, and I liked watching Ash and Greninja grow together as Trainer and Pokémon.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but I prefer the tpci English dub over 4kids, and the original Japanese dub

 

[Ash-Pikachu]

I'm not sure if this is an unpopular opinion but I prefer the tpci English dub over 4kids, and the original Japanese dub

You're not the only one.

 

[SkittleBox]

I don't know how unpopular this opinion is... but I like the English dub of the Diamond and Pearl series more than the Japanese version.

I also feel like I was the only one who really liked Clemont in XY(Z)

 

[JCW18]

I don't know how unpopular this opinion is... but I like the English dub of the Diamond and Pearl series more than the Japanese version.

I also feel like I was the only one who really liked Clemont in XY(Z)

Your not the only one, on both of those. Just wish Clemont got a bit more focus, instead of third wheeling around all the time.

Likewise, I thought that the XY dub wasn't all that bad (though by XYZ it got a bit stale)