What are you views about Lana from SM

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

She trained with Lana and Lillie

 

[Hanto]

She trained with Lana and Lillie

She just tried to perform Bloom Doom once in SM123, that is all. No any further training was shown or mentioned that she trained offscreen. Lillie at least trained for Subzero Slammer in the Zoroark episode.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I'm done here derailing this thread, you're just denying what's literally in the episodes. She trained with Lillie and Lana all the time from the moment she got her Z-Ring and Z-Crystal.

 

[DatsRight]

Mallow seems more like the character the writers can't really 'click' anything with. She struggles to find an agency and they tend to hide that with generic formula. Tsareena did feel like an undeserved powerhouse for a while, but the league made perfectly clear that was a relation only thing, there was a big difference between beating up jobbers like Meowth and actual competitors and they did let that bite Mallow HARD in the end. There seemed to be admittance there that they'd not really done enough with Mallow, they'd made it an in universe flaw that she's held herself back.

Lana on the other hand in that fight was treated as the trainer who HAD made all the right steps, who HAD gotten all the development to be a good battler. I won't doubt Lana has TRAINED, but she still never battled or went through the same trial and error Ash or Kiawe done, and while Mallow's problem is more failing to land a specific flaw consistently for more than one episode, Lana doesn't really feel hindered by a key foible at all. I'm not sure whether to call her a 'creator's pet' I still don't think she's really saturated or done earnestly enough for that, but it does feel like they took a big sneaky short cut with her.

Maybe Lana sticks out because SM seems to relish in making its protagonists more fallible than usual, it seems more open to the fact they can be 'losers' at some things, they don't have to be good at everything and there will naturally be some things they're not experienced with and will fail miserably at. Lana I don't feel has had that big moment of vulnerability yet. I wouldn't say specifically that's down to the writers 'glorifying' her though, maybe just that they haven't figured out how to make her that three dimensional, they haven't 'clicked' some sort of substance for a character arc yet. Most multi talent characters that have some larger degree of depth have that key moment they're NOT talented at something, otherwise they're usually best as gag characters or adversity for an underdog protagonist.

she obtained her Z-Crystal by the cheapest way among the classmates

Let's be fair, nearly all of them were a bit rushed and flimsy besides maybe Kiawe's. There was at least some sort of achievement/reward process for Mallow's, just not one really linked to either of her Pokemon, which again came back to bite her when she tried to use it.

Ash got his actual Z Ring from Tapu Koko as well, as well being traded the more useful Electrium Z, just Ash done things afterwards to prove he could earn that right.

 

[MockingJ]

Mallow is the one who is really should be considered as controversial character. People on Serebii constantly think that Lana is the writer's pet, however, Mallow is. She can't even cathc a single Pokemon (Bownsweet was caught by her mother, Shaymin... just happens), never was shown to be interested in training/battling, never really was shown to be interested in cooking as she could be (Serena did a single baking contest without even being a cook), she obtained her Z-Crystal by the cheapest way among the classmates, her episodes except Tapu Fini one were boring as hell and involved the Rocket Gang. I think Tsareena even battles a way better by herself without Mallow commanding her. She could have a rivalry with Team Rocket's donut business, she could have rivalry with her brother or that pancake girl with Alolan Raichu, but alas. Even shaymin looks like a bad Togepi carbon copy.
Lana, on the other hand, was flawless only for comic relief. She won one Island Trial and defeated a Totem Pokemon (only Ash and TR did that), she saved a freaking Kyogre, saved both her Pokemon from Team Skull. She constantly trained to improve the bubbles and Z-Moves (not a random success of Bloom Doom). Even Icy Wind thing is not that bad, because nobody was infuriated when Vikavolt learned Zap Cannon/Signal Beam out of blue or Rowlet obtained Razor Leaf without any proper training.

Mallow isn't the writer's pet because that implies that she gets preferential treatment when in reality she doesn't. All of her little sub-plots have been rushed and didn't really led to much other than her Bounsweet evolving twice, but the anime is lax when it comes to how much experience Pokemon need in order to evolve anyways, so I don't get why you'd hold that against Mallow.

 

[DatsRight]

The sad thing is that, as much as I like SM Ash, he is probably the nearest to a creator's pet right now, getting more limelight even by main character standards and the writers loving putting in his shtick everywhere, and being as much a fan base breaker as Mallow and Lana. Add to that all three characters got a 'special' Pokemon but only Ash's gets a reasonable amount of limelight.

 

[Nodame]

Best design
Best personality
Best voice
Simply the best.

I also think her personality is hilarious and unique compared to other poke girls.

 

[Sonnas]

The sad thing is that, as much as I like SM Ash, he is probably the nearest to a creator's pet right now, getting more limelight even by main character standards and the writers loving putting in his shtick everywhere, and being as much a fan base breaker as Mallow and Lana. Add to that all three characters got a 'special' Pokemon but only Ash's gets a reasonable amount of limelight.

I feel as though Lillie seems like a creator’s pet at times with her getting some limelight as well.

 

[Frozocrone]

She just tried to perform Bloom Doom once in SM123, that is all. No any further training was shown or mentioned that she trained offscreen. Lillie at least trained for Subzero Slammer in the Zoroark episode.

Uhh, she showed Ash how to do Bloom Doom back in SM036

 

[Leonhart]

I feel as though Lillie seems like a creator’s pet at times with her getting some limelight as well.

In terms of screen-time and overall character arcs, I do agree that Lilie gets a lot of attention, although Suiren seems to develop a lot quicker than Lilie. If I have one criticism of how Lilie's been handled it's that the writers have dragged some of her storylines for too long, but Suiren is refreshing because with her the writers don't just beat around the bush and actually have her develop faster, even if at times it comes off as rushed and poorly planned.

 

[SatoSereFan224888]

She is my second favorite girl just behind Mallow. I feel Lana didn't get as much attention which is a shame. She deserved more, much more than boring Lillie.

 

[Sonnas]

In terms of screen-time and overall character arcs, I do agree that Lilie gets a lot of attention, although Suiren seems to develop a lot quicker than Lilie. If I have one criticism of how Lilie's been handled it's that the writers have dragged some of her storylines for too long, but Suiren is refreshing because with her the writers don't just beat around the bush and actually have her develop faster, even if at times it comes off as rushed and poorly planned.

It certainly felt like it dragged since she got her Z-Crystal one episode and then like 50 or so episodes later it becomes important. Like why give it then instead of closer to the episode where she gets the Z-Ring.

 

[Emelie]

I think her goal involving the bubbles was too childish. Why not give her a cooler and more realistic goal like becoming a scuba diver or a lifeguard?

I also think they could have developed her relationship with Kasumi/Misty more. Mabye Misty could have inspired her in the same way Haruka/May inspired Hikari/Dawn?

And the backstory with Popplio being abused by Team Skull? What happened to that? Mabye Guzma could have been more important like in the games and Lana and Popplio would have to fight him while Lillie dealt with Lusamine.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

She's basically female Kiawe but less crazy except for the silly bubble dream.

 

[DatsRight]

I think her goal involving the bubbles was too childish. Why not give her a cooler and more realistic goal like becoming a scuba diver or a lifeguard?

I also think they could have developed her relationship with Kasumi/Misty more. Mabye Misty could have inspired her in the same way Haruka/May inspired Hikari/Dawn?

And the backstory with Popplio being abused by Team Skull? What happened to that? Mabye Guzma could have been more important like in the games and Lana and Popplio would have to fight him while Lillie dealt with Lusamine.

The bubble thing being silly I think could have worked if it had ultimately been given some sort of depth or twist to make it more than just a gag, but they never really went anywhere with it.

As for Team Skull, well keep in mind Primarina's seemingly in a VERY vicious battle with Guzma next episode.

 

[DatsRight]

The only thing I didn’t like about the bubble dream was that it was used as a catalyst for her Primarina getting stronger and replaced actual training and battles (the type we’ve seen prior to SM) and used as justification as to why “she’s so strong”. How is she going to get Eevee stronger? By having him blow bubbles too? It was fine as a gag but became a problem once they tried to take it serious.

Yeah, that's the recurring problem with Lana. A lot of key elements of her are gag based. I have no problem with humorous involvement, but they never really added an extra degree of depth to the whole thing to make it work better story wise. Like Sophocles' fly training and coordinating with Vikavolt obviously helped give him a technique in the league, but they were careful not to make that the entire mechanic and did bother to show him training and battling at least a little beforehand. Lana using the bubbles as a proper style was a valid idea, but it still wouldn't have hurt to show her doing at least a couple proper battles with it.

And Sandy kinda feels like a third wheel because of it like you say. Though truthfully SM feels oddly unfinished at this point, like the league has only OPENED more doors for development instead of culminating them.

 

[Leonhart]

She's basically female Kiawe but less crazy except for the silly bubble dream.

That's a good analogy and I've often thought that Kaki and Suiren were written similar to each other on purpose since they specialize in the opposite type of Pokemon and kind of balance each other out. I really would've liked to see more interactions between them and maybe even a rivalry.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I don't think Lana is all that similar to Kiawe to be honest. More like polar opposites. Kiawe is about honour, about giving it your all, aiming for the highest goals and ambition, and about showing yourself, having a presence, a bit flamboyant and very open with his emotions. Traits that also make him reckless or let him get carried away at times. Lana is a lot more restrained and more of a silent background character, she's nowhere near as extravagant with her emotions as Kiawe. Neither of them are bad people, but Lana cares about very different things compared to Kiawe. Lana values having fun in the moment a lot more than Kiawe does, and often values that over ambition, unless she's working on a goal that's very personal or close to her.

 

[MockingJ]

That's a good analogy and I've often thought that Kaki and Suiren were written similar to each other on purpose since they specialize in the opposite type of Pokemon and kind of balance each other out. I really would've liked to see more interactions between them and maybe even a rivalry.

Except for the fact that Kiawe isn't a compulsive liar and Lana's not as bland as cardboard. But other than that sure, they have some things in common. I wouldn't have wanted them to become rivals though because a rivalry in the Alola cast wouldn't have worked since they're all too close to each other.

 

[Emelie]

It's a shame that Eevee didn't get to evolve into a Vaporeon because of Let's go. There is a lot of in-your-face promotion in Sun and Moon which gets tiresome and sometimes hurt the story.