What are your hot takes on the anime?

[Sham]

Anybody who’s saying that “Lillie was disrespectful to Lusamine because she’s a spoiled brat” is ridiculous.

Just because Lusamine wasn’t actively being rude doesn’t mean she was faultless. Lillie can be privileged and still have issues. If a person is constantly belittling you and your feelings, it isn’t pleasant experience. Lusamine thought she knew what was best for Lillie despite barely being around. She didn’t even do enough research to find out exactly why Lillie was scared of Pokemon at all.

Why is it because she's rich that it somehow diminishes her issues? Oh yea because modern society has showed countless of times that having money means you have no issues and bam problem solved!

So no I don’t think Lusamine is blameless. She didn’t do this out of malice but she still was a bad parent in this aspect.

All that money and she couldn't afford a therapist?

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

I don't understand why people say that Dawn didn't had any growth during DP and that only her Contest arc was good but she stayed the same. And this is simply not true. Dawn started off the series extremely cocky and sure of her abilities (most likely because Joanna) and soon got humbled during both of her Contests that simply thinking you're good doesn't mean you are.

She basically pulled herself by the boot strap when she was depressed and realized she needs to overcome her loses. Dealing with this was able to help her deal with situations like Mamoswine. Additionally she became less superficial (and this is even shown in JN) and not caring so much about her appearance to an obsession point.

Every Pokemon had some sort of development personality wise.

Acting like Dawn had no personality and character growth is the biggest and dumbest revisionist history I've seen on this site honestly. The reason Dawn is loved so much is because BOTH her character and goal growth were stunning. People majorly love Dawn due to the depression arc and you're gonna go and claim she's liked only coz of her goal and had no growth? Give me a break

Anybody who’s saying that “Lillie was disrespectful to Lusamine because she’s a spoiled brat” is ridiculous.

Just because Lusamine wasn’t actively being rude doesn’t mean she was faultless. Lillie can be privileged and still have issues. If a person is constantly belittling you and your feelings, isn’t pleasant experience. Lusamine thought she knew what was best for Lillie despite barely being around. She didn’t even do enough research to find out exactly why Lillie was scared of Pokemon at all.

Why is it because she's rich does that somehow diminish her issues? Oh yea because modern society has showed countless of times that having money means you have no issues and bam problem solved!

So no I don’t Lusamine is not blameless. She didn’t do this out of malice but she still was a bad parent in this aspect. Oh yea because modern reality of course reaffirms that money somehow means you have no problems.

All that money and she couldn't afford a therapist?

Yeah that argument against Lillie was so stupid. Lillie doesn't need to be rich and have the privilege she enjoys to be happy, what she wanted was proper companionship and a family, instead of feeling lonely all the time. That was literally the point of Lillie's first focus episode and the underlying theme with her frustrations with her mother and the aether family conclusion in general.
Lusamine not being an evil wacko doesn't mean she was a good mom in the anime. Just because you have good intentions for your daughter doesn't mean they can't have problems with you or speak out at all, that's literally a toxic mentality
It's like people either watch SM with a blindfold or ignore the narrative with the bad faith takes you'll see against it

 

[Remix2]

The team flare arc was the last good arc in the anime to date imo and the ones afterward have been ether below average( first dp special Darkest days) or plan trash(dp winter special af and necrozma/ultra guardians).

 

[Ignition]

With how Emerald's Battle Frontier and Facilities literally have you hit confusions 3 times in a row only to get hit by a Fissure right after leaving it... Yeah, I don't blame her.

The amount of times I’ve lost a high win streak because of an unlucky string of events like that is too much

 

[Gingertail24]

The team flare arc was the last good arc in the anime to date imo and the ones afterward have been ether below average( first dp special Darkest days) or plan trash(dp winter special af and necrozma/ultra guardians).

What did you think of the aether and necrozma arc?

 

[Bortgreen]

Journeys has been really lacking on major emotional moments
Let's see what happens in the Mohn reunion but you know, that kind of stuff that makes Ash lower down his cap or things like that
I think the Raboot episode was an exception though, but there were also random moments like Goh remembering the deleted data

 

[DatsRight]

Team Flare was....okay, but still kinda grandoise and poor in agency.

A lot of the time the heroes still didn't feel that challenged. Again Lysandre was blanked by Ash who saw nothing valid in crazy wannabe-extremist, Alain lacked much of a powerful turn, he waited until Ash freed himself before choosing a side, Serena once again was kept out of any REAL battles despite a grand scale carnage going on around her, the elite Flare members went down like jobbers, and ultimately Zygarde pinky flicked Lysandre like nothing in the end, making clear the whole four episode climax relied solely on Z2 pulling a Charizard and being a stubborn jerk who wouldn't use his OP powers to save everyone in five seconds.

The later arcs are indeed pretty slapdash but I appreciate them trying to branch out of the usual formula a bit more. Not to mention I think making them more self contained means less of the series is capsized if they don't have a good pay off, as with what happened with all the league build up in XYZ.

 

[Gingertail24]

Team Flare was....okay, but still kinda grandoise and poor in agency.

A lot of the time the heroes still didn't feel that challenged. Again Lysandre was blanked by Ash who saw nothing valid in crazy wannabe-extremist, Alain lacked much of a powerful turn, he waited until Ash freed himself before choosing a side, Serena once again was kept out of any REAL battles, the elite Flare members went down like jobbers, and ultimately Zygarde pinky flicked Lysandre like nothing in the end, making clear the whole climax relied solely on Z2 pulling a Charizard and being a stubborn jerk who wouldn't use his OP powers to save everyone.

The later arcs are indeed pretty slapdash but I appreciate them trying to branch out of the usual formula a bit more.

Ik due to the nature of the anime and just the nature of the characters. But it was kinda a missed opportunity where the characters weren't at least a bit mad Alain was the cause of all this. Yeah he was tricked, but it would of been interesting to see them a bit mad at him. I noticed they did something similar with faba, but much worse

He captured Lillie, you know his boss's daughter. Tried to force her to erase her memory. And kindap and hurt nebby, an actual baby. And then blamed lusamine for everything. Yet they invite the guy to his wedding and automatically forgive him. Like come on. This is why I feel like the anime can't do complex or interesting villains sometimes. Because the characters reaction to it, feels so , idk boring and lifeless

What's worse is all he got was demoted? That's it? Does pokemon jail not exist? Is lusamine not even a bit angry at faba? Everyone is just fine with him being around the kids?

 

[DatsRight]

Ik due to the nature of the anime and just the nature of the characters. But it was kinda a missed opportunity where the characters weren't at least a bit mad Alain was the cause of all this. Yeah he was tricked, but it would of been interesting to see them a bit mad at him. I noticed they did something similar with faba, but much worse

He captured Lillie, you know his boss's daughter. Tried to force her to erase her memory. And kindap and hurt nebby, an actual baby. And then blamed lusamine for everything. Yet they invite the guy to his wedding and automatically forgive him. Like come on. This is why I feel like the anime can't do complex or interesting villains sometimes. Because the characters reaction to it, feels so , idk boring and lifeless

What's worse is all he got was demoted? That's it? Does pokemon jail not exist? Is lusamine not even a bit angry at faba? Everyone is just fine with him being around the kids?

It's a recurrent problem with nearly ALL the villains. They just....blank them. They feel totally ineffective to them on a personal level. They are blatantly there solely as plot devices.

Like they toyed with Meowth's BW scam and the XY wetlands' chessplaying cutting deep, but it quickly got forgotten about like everything else. TR, even at their most competent and cruel, were just as much an ignorable cockroach as they were as bunglers.

It says something that even Meowsie, whose whole arc is one episode and amounts to ending up an even bigger nothing cockroach than Meowth, feels far more signfiicant to one of the main characters' personalities than nearly all of the top villains.

 

[Sham]

It's a recurrent problem with nearly ALL the villains. They just....blank them. They feel totally ineffective to them on a personal level. They are blatantly there solely as plot devices.

Like they toyed with Meowth's BW scam and the XY wetlands' chessplaying cutting deep, but it quickly got forgotten about like everything else. TR, even at their most competent and cruel, were just as much an ignorable cockroach as they were as bunglers.

It says something that even Meowsie, whose whole arc is one episode and amounts to ending up an even bigger nothing cockroach than Meowth, feels far more signfiicant to one of the main characters' personalities than nearly all of the top villains.

This isn’t even a Pokémon problem really. Sasuke and Orchimaru practically tried to destroy the village multiple times but still are roaming free. If you’re a VILLIAN then typically they kill you off like Hunter J and Lysander or you get absolved of everything

 

[DatsRight]

This isn’t even a Pokémon problem really. Sasuke and Orchimaru practically tried to destroy the village multiple times but still are roaming free. If you’re a VILLIAN then typically they kill you off like Hunter J and Lysander or you get absolved of everything

Viren/Bourgain is actually the nearest I'd say to a villain feeling like an actual two-way arch rival for one of the main characters, especially since Kiawe boosted his Pokemon specifically to stop him, as in DIDN'T 'conviniently got plot armour against him', actually trained Marowak to thwart him.

He had a weird thing too though, where he got arrested then was back the next episode (granted he is rich and corrupt so that does kinda make sense).

 

[Gingertail24]

It's a recurrent problem with nearly ALL the villains. They just....blank them. They feel totally ineffective to them on a personal level. They are blatantly there solely as plot devices.

Like they toyed with Meowth's BW scam and the XY wetlands' chessplaying cutting deep, but it quickly got forgotten about like everything else. TR, even at their most competent and cruel, were just as much an ignorable cockroach as they were as bunglers.

It says something that even Meowsie, whose whole arc is one episode and amounts to ending up an even bigger nothing cockroach than Meowth, feels far more signfiicant to one of the main characters' personalities than nearly all of the top villains.

Honestly even when Meowth backstabbed the bw gang, I genuinely loved how pissed Pikachu was. I don't think you see that side of him often. But yet again as you said, they just don't really react to the villains on a personal level. Especially when TR has done some genuinely messed up things.

I loved how after the whole farm issue, kiawe still had some tension with Barrion. It was mostly played for laughs, but it was something.

Heck they could of done something similar to Pikachu with mimikyu. I think the whole rivalry felt kinda wasted because, they never explained why mimikyu hates Pikachu. And Pikachu never really had any reaction to it. Just treated him as any other generic tr pokemon

 

[DatsRight]

Honestly even when Meowth backstabbed the bw gang, I genuinely loved how pissed Pikachu was. I don't think you see that side of him often. But yet again as you said, they just don't really react to the villains on a personal level. Especially when TR has done some genuinely messed up things.

I loved how after the whole farm issue, kiawe still had some tension with Barrion. It was mostly played for laughs, but it was something.

Heck they could of done something similar to Pikachu with mimikyu. I think the whole rivalry felt kinda wasted because, they never explained why mimikyu hates Pikachu. And Pikachu never really had any reaction to it. Just treated him as any other generic tr pokemon

Really one interaction that stuck out was that early XY filler where Meowth gets stuck with the Kalos starters and he begs for help. Pikachu is blatantly aware what is gonna happen here, but decides to let him on anyway, even smiling and patting him on the back. It's an interesting take, he genuinely WANTS Meowth to change despite knowing better. A more interesting dynamic than Ash's usual aesop amnesia and gullibility.

Also kinda liked Froakie and Chespin playing 'Spock and McCoy' here with how they tried to convince Pikachu to take different directions. Could have been a lot cooler and deeper having them continue that dynamic later on than what they had for them afterwards.

And really, I get that Team Rocket being just forgettable nuisances as villains is kind of the whole gag, but I feel like for a mainstay, they don't really play off even that fact often enough for it to hold long term. Again it'd be cool if they still sucked as villains but were actually effective as foils on their off time, again the 'Jeeves' episode in XY.

 

[Gingertail24]

Really one interaction that stuck out was that early XY filler where Meowth gets stuck with the Kalos starters and he begs for help. Pikachu is blatantly aware what is gonna happen here, but decides to let him on anyway, even smiling and patting him on the back. It's an interesting take, he genuinely WANTS Meowth to change despite knowing better. A more interesting dynamic than Ash's usual aesop amnesia and gullibility.

Also kinda liked Froakie and Chespin playing 'Spock and McCoy' here with how they tried to convince Pikachu to take different directions. Could have been a lot cooler and deeper having them continue that dynamic later on than what they had for them afterwards.

And really, I get that Team Rocket being just forgettable nuisances as villains is kind of the whole gag, but I feel like for a mainstay, they don't really play off even that fact often enough for it to hold long term. Again it'd be cool if they still sucked as villains but were actually effective as foils on their off time, again the 'Jeeves' episode in XY.

It really does suck that Pikachu and Meowth dynamic is really underplayed. I feel like part of it is due to them refusing to really develop Meowth is any meaningful way. Like is giving him a second move really gonna hurt him?

 

[DatsRight]

It really does suck that Pikachu and Meowth dynamic is really underplayed. I feel like part of it is due to them refusing to really develop Meowth is any meaningful way. Like is giving him a second move really gonna hurt him?

I remember loving the Pokeball factory episode since it was just him ADAMANT on getting Pikachu to take him seriously for once, even if he's obviously outclassed, he tries to pull every dirty tactic in the book to get him and even demands a battle (if still largely to cheat).

Actually I think it's still the only time EVER Meowth has managed to hit Pikachu in a fight.

I agree that I tend to love those rare times where we get a more incensed and sneaky Meowth that will cheat and scheme his way to be something of a threat. We need more moments like "Who Gets To Keep Togepi", "The Grass Route", and "Frenzied Factory Fiasco" over just "Fury Swipes!" (instantly KOed) every single battle.

Meowth should get an underhanded moveset. What about stuff like him shining his coin in people's faces being Flash, or, perhaps the most fitting move for him of all, Thief.

 

[Sham]

Sun and Moon had the worst world building in the entire series. The fact that places like Po Town was never shown is wild. It’s probably by far the series that showed the least about the region is based in. Which is weird because Alola doesn’t have that many cities/towns to begin with

 

[RafaSceptile]

Sun and Moon had the worst world building in the entire series. The fact that places like Po Town was never shown is wild. It’s probably by far the series that showed the least about the region is based in. Which is weird because Alola doesn’t have that many cities/towns to begin with

I mean they showed it, for like 5 second, but they showed it!

 

[Sham]

I mean they showed it, for like 5 second, but they showed it!

Tragic

 

[Leonhart]

The team flare arc was the last good arc in the anime to date imo and the ones afterward have been ether below average( first dp special Darkest days) or plan trash(dp winter special af and necrozma/ultra guardians).

I personally didn't like the Flare-dan arc much. It did a few things right such as giving us a climactic finale for that villainous team, but mostly I thought the emphasis on Zygarde/Puni-chan was excessive to the point where I ended up not liking the species after the arc was over.

 

[DatsRight]

I feel like Goh's chaser competition has some solid ideas in there and is starting have some good episodes like the recent one. It's just, like Serena's showcase format, the whole thing kinda needs to be more cohesive.

I feel this is why it's a shame the games don't try adding more alternative missions akin to this. They play around with it, but it's usually tied to main gym/trial route, while some actual RPG/platformer puzzles could liven up some extra missions and also add some new brainstorms for the anime to work off of.