CyberCubed
Yeah, ok!
People probably read this post of mine before, but I am going to re-post it here as I clearly explain everything that went wrong with Johto:
I think the initial problem with Johto is we all thought it was going to keep Kanto's sense of adventure, humor and slight darkness. But it didn't. Johto was clearly toned down from what had come before it, and everything that people loved about Kanto felt like it was being eradicated over the course of the Johto arc. I suppose the problem with Johto is the writers didn't exactly know what they wanted to do with it. It was only the second full region they ever did, not counting Orange Islands, and the only thing on their mind at the time was, "OK Tracey is gone and we brought Brock back, that's all we needed to do."
So the original trio was reunited...for what? A boring adventure where Ash mostly helped COTD's with their problems?
There was also many what I consider, "jump the shark" moments:
1. The abrupt departures of Charizard and Squirtle, yet keeping Bulbasaur through the 6th Gym. They should have either left them all behind at once or gradually phased them out closer together. Of course at the time it seemed like Charizard and Squirtle were released like Pidgeot, thank god that didn't happen.
2. The dropping of the GS ball. Yes we know why they did it, but it was still horrible.
3. Poor handing of Ash's Johto team. Only Bayleef was really handled decently. Cyndaquil and Totodile both deserved to evolve but never did, Noctowl/Heracross/Phanpy didn't get much proper screentime.
4. Too many fillers. Johto has more filler than any other arc, and almost ALL OF IT is exactly the same. This is where Ash started helping COTD's non-stop and TR just stole Pikachu in every episode.
5. Misty and Brock were mishandled. If you watch Best Wishes, you know exactly what they should have done with Misty and Brock:
- Misty and Brock had no rivals
- They rarely engaged in battle
- Their pokemon teams remained stagnant, because they kept their Kanto pokemon
- The new Pokemon they did get, like Crobat and Politoed, felt like it meant so little because they were hardly used
- Their storylines felt like they were put on the backburner for Ash's quest
That being said Brock was still funny in Johto, so I'll cut him some slack. The original trio didn't have as good chemistry as in kanto, but it was overall decent.
6. The Gym battles were better than Kanto's. Nothing too amazing. Whitney's Gym was just ridiculous though.
7. No new characters. We got Casey...um, OK? Where was Silver? Where were the new recurring characters?
8. Gary was mishandled. This is the last time Gary was the main rival, and we only see him 3 times before the league? Really, writers?
9. Although this is minor, Ash keeping his Kanto clothes. They got old by this point.
10. Almost 60-70% of the saga is skippable and you won't miss anything important. If I can skip that many episodes and I feel like I'm not missing anything story wise or development wise, then there is a problem.
11. Too damn long. Why did Johto need 3 years? Why not make it shorter and give us a filler arc afterward?
12. Misty holding Togepi for the entire span of Johto was the worst mistake the writers made with the character. It limited Misty's involvement in the saga and Togepi itself just became boring and pointless. Can you believe a female protagonist basically held an egg all saga? Why didn't we get Togetic back here?
13. Team Rocket. They adapted a few TR parts from the games, but not all of them. Giovanni should have had a bigger role in this saga.
Johto had some good points, like Wobbufett and some funny episodes here and there, but these 13 "Jump the shark" moments ruined it for me.
Thanks to all the complaining and Shudo's departure and Tomioka taking over, the writers revamped the anime afterward and never looked back.
I think the initial problem with Johto is we all thought it was going to keep Kanto's sense of adventure, humor and slight darkness. But it didn't. Johto was clearly toned down from what had come before it, and everything that people loved about Kanto felt like it was being eradicated over the course of the Johto arc. I suppose the problem with Johto is the writers didn't exactly know what they wanted to do with it. It was only the second full region they ever did, not counting Orange Islands, and the only thing on their mind at the time was, "OK Tracey is gone and we brought Brock back, that's all we needed to do."
So the original trio was reunited...for what? A boring adventure where Ash mostly helped COTD's with their problems?
There was also many what I consider, "jump the shark" moments:
1. The abrupt departures of Charizard and Squirtle, yet keeping Bulbasaur through the 6th Gym. They should have either left them all behind at once or gradually phased them out closer together. Of course at the time it seemed like Charizard and Squirtle were released like Pidgeot, thank god that didn't happen.
2. The dropping of the GS ball. Yes we know why they did it, but it was still horrible.
3. Poor handing of Ash's Johto team. Only Bayleef was really handled decently. Cyndaquil and Totodile both deserved to evolve but never did, Noctowl/Heracross/Phanpy didn't get much proper screentime.
4. Too many fillers. Johto has more filler than any other arc, and almost ALL OF IT is exactly the same. This is where Ash started helping COTD's non-stop and TR just stole Pikachu in every episode.
5. Misty and Brock were mishandled. If you watch Best Wishes, you know exactly what they should have done with Misty and Brock:
- Misty and Brock had no rivals
- They rarely engaged in battle
- Their pokemon teams remained stagnant, because they kept their Kanto pokemon
- The new Pokemon they did get, like Crobat and Politoed, felt like it meant so little because they were hardly used
- Their storylines felt like they were put on the backburner for Ash's quest
That being said Brock was still funny in Johto, so I'll cut him some slack. The original trio didn't have as good chemistry as in kanto, but it was overall decent.
6. The Gym battles were better than Kanto's. Nothing too amazing. Whitney's Gym was just ridiculous though.
7. No new characters. We got Casey...um, OK? Where was Silver? Where were the new recurring characters?
8. Gary was mishandled. This is the last time Gary was the main rival, and we only see him 3 times before the league? Really, writers?
9. Although this is minor, Ash keeping his Kanto clothes. They got old by this point.
10. Almost 60-70% of the saga is skippable and you won't miss anything important. If I can skip that many episodes and I feel like I'm not missing anything story wise or development wise, then there is a problem.
11. Too damn long. Why did Johto need 3 years? Why not make it shorter and give us a filler arc afterward?
12. Misty holding Togepi for the entire span of Johto was the worst mistake the writers made with the character. It limited Misty's involvement in the saga and Togepi itself just became boring and pointless. Can you believe a female protagonist basically held an egg all saga? Why didn't we get Togetic back here?
13. Team Rocket. They adapted a few TR parts from the games, but not all of them. Giovanni should have had a bigger role in this saga.
Johto had some good points, like Wobbufett and some funny episodes here and there, but these 13 "Jump the shark" moments ruined it for me.
Thanks to all the complaining and Shudo's departure and Tomioka taking over, the writers revamped the anime afterward and never looked back.