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Valuable Experience for All! (929)
- Thread starter Serebii
- Start date
hottom3rd
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure the Shota battle will be great to watch too. here's to hoping the writers have ash win.. Maybe a vacation in Hawaii with his bae Serena can do him some good.
Alexander18
Dragon Pokemon fan
This is a decent episode despite the dislike from others. I also liked the Charizard vs Charizard one. This league is alright by me but does need a slower pace in my opinion.
Mega Altaria
☆~Shiny hunter▢~
I watched this episode last Thursday and the battle between Sawyer and Tierno was pretty intense, but I wished that there could be more to Raichu vs Mega Sceptile. It's going to be one of the episodes I like from XYZ, despite the pretty short battle with Raichu and Mega Sceptile.
Joltik-Kid
Careful? Where's the fun in that?
Now we'll never get to see how Tierno would react to Ash's Totodile in battle...
Memories of past Leagues floor by. Previously, Ash would fight throughout the league and advance before his inevitable defeat - we would see his team and show how far they've gotten, how powerful they've grown - by pitting them against trainers who also went through the same journey.
Only now Ash is slicing through the matches like a hot knife through butter.
I get the idea some propose that Ash isn't meant to be in the spotlight for these episodes - that this was meant for the Rivals to gain some spotlight, but let's be real here: Tierno & Trevor don't really seem like real rivals in this series, their battles were to shill Alain and Sawyer, who are Ash's real competition. They're only here to give their characters some closure - and that's to be stomped and tossed away like the trash they are.
I don't like the fact that practically all of Ash's battles here are merely a few seconds. Sure, if you're going to put focus on the rivals, at least give Ash a bit more or eliminate a filler episode or two to give Ash some extra spotlight. Not everyone may be watching the show or even like Ash, but he is the main character of the series - when you're skipping out on showcasing your main protagonist because you want to showcase the rivals? I'd say that's more the reverse line of thinking here. Ash is the main character, we should be seeing more of his battles and seeing the rivals' fights be cut down to prove they're formidable opponents.
And the idea that 'Ash is just THAT strong now, we don't need to see his fights' - We need to see his fights because this is his show. Sure, skip out a few rounds, but even if Ash has grown as a trainer, he's still far from being the best.
Yes, Yes they did. The company has to show their hate for Raichu by making it useless, or for it to be a prick.
Only now Ash is slicing through the matches like a hot knife through butter.
I get the idea some propose that Ash isn't meant to be in the spotlight for these episodes - that this was meant for the Rivals to gain some spotlight, but let's be real here: Tierno & Trevor don't really seem like real rivals in this series, their battles were to shill Alain and Sawyer, who are Ash's real competition. They're only here to give their characters some closure - and that's to be stomped and tossed away like the trash they are.
I don't like the fact that practically all of Ash's battles here are merely a few seconds. Sure, if you're going to put focus on the rivals, at least give Ash a bit more or eliminate a filler episode or two to give Ash some extra spotlight. Not everyone may be watching the show or even like Ash, but he is the main character of the series - when you're skipping out on showcasing your main protagonist because you want to showcase the rivals? I'd say that's more the reverse line of thinking here. Ash is the main character, we should be seeing more of his battles and seeing the rivals' fights be cut down to prove they're formidable opponents.
And the idea that 'Ash is just THAT strong now, we don't need to see his fights' - We need to see his fights because this is his show. Sure, skip out a few rounds, but even if Ash has grown as a trainer, he's still far from being the best.
Yes, Yes they did. The company has to show their hate for Raichu by making it useless, or for it to be a prick.
PokemonBattleFanatic-
Hardcore Paul Fan
Can you name me any Kanto League battles that were more entertaining to watch compared to the Unova League battles?
AuraChannelerChris
Easygoing Luxray.
Unova had only one decent battle. No, I don't DEFINITELY mean the first OR the last one.
That's enough to make any league, even Kanto's, better.
PokemonBattleFanatic-
Hardcore Paul Fan
If that's the only reason then you're kidding yourself,everyone knows that the battles back then were not to par as they are now.There was no highlights coming out of the Indigo League at all,Ash vs Stephan Battle,Cameron vs Bianca,and Ash vs Cameron were all highlights regardless if Ash lost the League or not.
AuraChannelerChris
Easygoing Luxray.
Stephan was nice.
The other ones? I'm sure a lot of the people here would agree with me.
PokemonBattleFanatic-
Hardcore Paul Fan
Not if we're comparing the two leagues,it couldn't have been that good if the only thing we can look back on is Ash's Charizard taking a nap in the middle of a battle.
Ash vs. Ritchie is the only battle that's memorable in the Indigo League. There's a reason the Indigo League was considered the worst League until Unova.
PokemonBattleFanatic-
Hardcore Paul Fan
I still fail to see how one mediocre battle in one league makes it better than a few decent battles in the other league.
ShinyCharyZard
Too old for your rubbish..
Well that's completely untrue. The majority of people who think back to the Indigo League will find the battles involving Kingler and Muk just as memorable as the mess involving Ritchie..
PokemonBattleFanatic-
Hardcore Paul Fan
On a scale from 1 to 10 how many people do you think would consider rewatching OS(Season 1) because of the League?
ShinyCharyZard
Too old for your rubbish..
If you're trying to decide whether an entire series is worth rewatching based on only a handful of episodes at the end, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment anyway.
PokemonBattleFanatic-
Hardcore Paul Fan
No I'm saying it was mostly worth watching because of the COTD episodes they had,every plot was fun and interesting.
They're memorable because it was their last battle appearance of any importance. The battles themselves weren't that spectacular.
AuraKshatriya
Well-Known Member
I won't bother quoting all of your previous posts, but I did read them.
First, you make some valid points. And I would agree with you that COTD episodes and such felt more compelling back in the OS. However, an important reason for that is also the same reason why the Unova League may be seen as worse than the Indigo League by many: context.
The OS' purpose was to introduce people to the world of Pokemon, and how society and daily life would operate in a world filled with creatures that all have unique (and potentially dangerous powers). That raw sense of discovery lent itself to bolstering the COTD episodes because they greatly helped to flesh out the otherwise-unknown "Pokemon Universe".
But subsequent generations bear an additional responsibility: narrative and character development. Getting by on pure novelty isn't necessarily enough for a series as long-running as Pokemon. Yes, from an animation and screenwriting perspective the Unova League was more impressive (though I'd argue Ash's late arrival in the balloon added far more tension). However, Unova greatly betrayed peoples' expectations. If fans of the show are forced to compare the 5th saga of an anime to the 1st in order to make it look better, it's telling of just how poor the former is. The Unova League was a regression of Ash's competency, a commodification of his Pokemon, and perhaps the worst of all, explicitly wrote a character as buffoonish and yet gave him the victory over Ash. The Pokemon on both sides were also given a poor show of their abilities (I'd argue Sawk is one of the few Pokemon in the entire saga that was done justice).
The Sinnoh League showcased Ash powering through a Darkrai and drawing with a Latios, not to mention narrowly defeating Paul - objectively the most strategic and competent rival in the series. You can't raise the audience's expectations so high and then fail to deliver. So that's the problem with the Unova League. Not objective content, but what was delivered versus what was expected. And to your point regarding watching a series for a League - I'd agree that few would return to OS primarily for that purpose. But over the various sagas the League has adopted the position of a saga's apex, in terms of battling. If they're unable to innovate, the writers should at the very least respect the framework that has been working as the series has developed.
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