What are your hot takes on the anime?

[MetaMantis]

Project Mew makes no sense and was a last minute thought.

How exactly does it make no sense?

 

[Sonnas]

Pretty much “just being helpful and showing you around” really

Really?

 

[Sham]

Really?

Mhm, she kind of picked up he was a foreigner and decided to show him around the region

 

[pickapika]

Does it explain why Iris goes with Ash on this journey?

i haven't gotten far enough to see whether there are deep-rested underlying motivations/moments for iris's behavior but
-> episode 3 iris is constantly babying ash with cracks of her own imaturity breaking through
-> In episode 4 iris denies following ash and ash and iris outwalk each other for 20 seconds, claiming they're not following the other.
-> Later on insists that Ash "needs her help" finding oshawatt
-> Tries to berate ash on being a kid

So, 4 episodes in
-> Iris likes ash(platonically) but isn't willing to admit it(maybe there are trust issues we're going to learn about?)
-> Iris mommies ash("if you apoligize we're good") to mask her own insecurities

Also doens't hurt that iris finds ash's pokemon extremely cute(and

Maybe it'll be developed further to make iris a genuinely interesing character, or maybe she'll stay as a more effiecient and well-rounded version of serena. Too early to tell 4 episodes in

 

[Kazuniya]

I always found Iris and Ash to have a sibling-like dynamic in BW with Cilan being like their weirdo uncle.

So this accusation that Iris was bullying Ash always comes out of left field for me.

 

[Septilefan]

What's odd to me is I always see Misty fans bashing Iris. In the other thread I saw the person with the Misty Mermaid avatar claim Iris has an annoying and unlikeable personality. She then berated Iris for the same things she praised Misty for. Makes no sense to me.

 

[Sonic Boom]

Oh, hi Scott.

Long and short of it is that while Iris took elements from Misty, BW Ash is not OS Ash. It takes two to tango, and OS Ash’s personality has the right amount of abrasiveness, snark, and heart to make the interplay with Misty work, that’s not present when it comes to Iris.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

"Iris is a bully" LMFAOOO
Please, rewatch BW without your head stuck in Ash's ass, I'm begging most of Iris haters at this point

 

[DatsRight]

Oh, hi Scott.

Long and short of it is that while Iris took elements from Misty, BW Ash is not OS Ash. It takes two to tango, and OS Ash’s personality has the right amount of abrasiveness, snark, and heart to make the interplay with Misty work, that’s not present when it comes to Iris.

It varies, I think there's only so much leeway a character should get for being a 'jerk because another character was just as bad, they're still a jerk. Misty still had plenty individual vices that weren't developed properly, especially since Misty mostly got away with being stagnant and falling upwards while criticising Ash all the while and yet Iris was at least forced to develop and back up her bluster more often.

 

[Sham]

Not really “hot” but I actually didn’t mind that Ash + friends were there during Lillie’s episode. It was nice having Ash reunite with Lillie and Gladion along with having Chloe travel with the boys which she rarely does. And nonetheless it’s still great episode aesthetically and story telling wise

Also it’s not like they took up that much space/time tbh

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Not really “hot” but I actually didn’t mind that Ash + friends were there during Lillie’s episode. It was nice having Ash reunite with Lillie and Gladion along with having Chloe travel with the boys which she rarely does. And nonetheless it’s still great episode aesthetically and story telling wise

Also it’s not like they took up that much space/time tbh

Plus anyone who watched SM knows how important Ash was to Lillie's storyline and how he paralleled Gladion well and was another big brother to Lillie. He was important to the Aether family, so he needed to be there for the reunion and they did it in a perfect manner where they used him in the bare minimum way they could

 

[pickapika]

Plus anyone who watched SM knows how important Ash was to Lillie's storyline and how he paralleled Gladion well and was another big brother to Lillie. He was important to the Aether family, so he needed to be there for the reunion and they did it in a perfect manner where they used him in the bare minimum way they could

lille's storyline was xy-level horrible tho

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

lille's storyline was xy-level horrible tho

That's a difference in opinion, and doesn't change the fact that Ash was still important to Lillie and therefore should be in the Aether reunion episode

 

[Septilefan]

lille's storyline was xy-level horrible tho

Why do you have this thing with comparing everything to XY and finding it horrible? What do you want out of the Pokemon anime then?

 

[Sham]

Serena crying because she lost her first Showcase was stupid not gonna lie. Iirc that was a Showcase for beginners and the entire reason why she lost was Fennekin tripping and not because of something she did really

If she had lost during the Master Class or something that would have been warranted but it felt weird crying after losing your first competition as a newbie.

 

[Otto's]

Serena crying because she lost her first Showcase was stupid not gonna lie. Iirc that was a Showcase for beginners and the entire reason why she lost was Fennekin tripping and not because of something she did really

If she had lost during the Master Class or something that would have been warranted but it felt weird crying after losing your first competition as a newbie.

I kinda understand her getting upset over that. Failing your first time can sometimes be a pill hard to swallow, regardless of it not being rational. My biggest gripe about the whole thing is Serena's reaction on stage, it felt pretty over dramatic for such a fluke.

 

[Kazuniya]

Serena crying because she lost her first Showcase was stupid not gonna lie. Iirc that was a Showcase for beginners and the entire reason why she lost was Fennekin tripping and not because of something she did really

A lot of people fail to take into account that this was Serena's first time partaking in something that was really important to her, finding something she really cherished after a long time. So losing RIGHT AWAY, because of a dumb reason like that, is a good reason to cry. At least if she was able to go all the way to the end of the competition, she would have probably felt much better. But being eliminated right away for a dumb reason like that stings.

Also there is a lot of room to argue Serena is responsible for the loss due to making the ribbons too long which is the reason why Fennekin ended up tripping in the first place. If the ribbons were shorter, that probably wouldn't have happened. So part of it is also Serena blaming herself.

I don't get people who say it's stupid. I genuinely don't.

A character having an emotional outburst, after bottling up their emotions for the whole day and pretending they're fine, is a very natural reaction.

 

[Sham]

A lot of people fail to take into account that this was Serena's first time partaking in something that was really important to her, finding something she really cherished after a long time. So losing RIGHT AWAY, because of a dumb reason like that, is a good reason to cry. At least if she was able to go all the way to the end of the competition, she would have probably felt much better. But being eliminated right away for a dumb reason like that stings.

Also there is a lot of room to argue Serena is responsible for the loss due to making the ribbons too long which is the reason why Fennekin ended up tripping in the first place. If the ribbons were shorter, that probably wouldn't have happened. So part of it is also Serena blaming herself.

I don't get people who say it's stupid. I genuinely don't.

A character having an emotional outburst, after bottling up their emotions for the whole day and pretending they're fine, is a very natural reaction.

When I’m saying it’s “stupid” I’m not saying it to invalid Serena’s feelings but instead from a story telling perspective it was sloppy.

I don’t think saying cherished is accurate because she only just recently found about them in episode 40 and competed in them in 60. She was novice and not really experienced so it’s not really surprising she lost. It feel like the writers tried rushing in development that should have occurred 40 episodes ago especially when she never lost after that.

The dumb reason speaks more about Showcases if anything. What was the take away? What was her resolve so it never happens again? Be a better tailor in a competition that changes in the first round anyway? What were the writers trying to say?

 

[Kazuniya]

It goes into the same development that Dawn had. Dawn expected to win Contests just because she tried and entered them and then her arc was about actually played on that.

I'm not sure why you're mentioning Dawn all of a sudden. This topic was about Serena's reaction to her first loss, not Dawn's arc.

Yes, Dawn had a better arc than Serena (and all of Pokegirls), but I'm not sure how that supports your argument that Serena shouldn't have cried.

Being a novice with barely any training (unlike Shauna) and entering a competition for the first time and losing isn’t that bizarre.

Again, unsure why you're mentioning Dawn here. Dawn and Serena come from 2 different backgrounds with 2 different backstories.

Also, what does being novice have to do with anything? A character being a novice doesn't mean they're not allowed to get emotional about their loss. You're not making much sense.

After she had that scene she continued to do excellent in Showcases and never blamed herself again.

Yeah, so? She got upset over a dumb loss, then she was able to get over it and find new determination.

You're still not explaining why Serena wasn't supposed to cry over her loss.

And then even then if she blamed herself. What was the lesson? Practice cutting better and making sure you have a better estimate with tailoring?

What lesson? What lesson was she supposed to learn? I feel like you're being intentionally dense here.

Please to watch the episode.

She blamed herself for the loss, let her emotions out after bottling them up for the whole day, then calmed down and recognized that she is now a challenger and cut her hair to signify her official start as a competitor in Showcases. That's about it.

As for you, you still haven't explained why Serena, a novice, is not allowed to be emotional and cry about her first loss. All I can is see some vague comparisons to Dawn's storyline and saying how "oh well she's a novice, she should expect to lose", like what the f*ck, lmao.

 

[Sham]

I'm not sure why you're mentioning Dawn all of a sudden. This topic was about Serena's reaction to her first loss, not Dawn's arc.


Again, unsure why you're mentioning Dawn here. Dawn and Serena come from 2 different backgrounds with 2 different backstories.

Also, what does being novice have to do with anything? A character being a novice doesn't mean they're not allowed to get emotional about their loss. You're not making much sense.



Yeah, so? She got upset over a dumb loss, then she was able to get over it and find new determination.

You're still not explaining why Serena wasn't supposed to cry over her loss.


What lesson? What lesson was she supposed to learn? I feel like you're being intentionally dense here.

Please to watch the episode.

She blamed herself for the lesson, let her emotions out after bottling them up for the whole, then calmed down and recognized that she is now a challenger and cut her hair to signify her official start as a competitor in Showcases. That's about it.

As for you, you still haven't explained why Serena, a novice, is not allowed to be emotional and cry about her first loss.

I actually just went over the episode to prepare my response. I already changed the post slightly because Dawn is an entirely different character with a different story

The dumb reason speaks more about Showcases if anything. What was the take away? What was her resolve so it never happens again? Be a better tailor in a competition that changes in the first round anyway? What were the writers trying to say?

When I’m saying it’s “stupid” I’m not saying it to invalid Serena’s feelings but instead from a story telling perspective it was sloppy.

I already said I’m critiquing from the writers perspective instead of actually attacking Serena’s feelings. Anyways I give up and you win. You’re trying to have an argument and it’s just not that serious.