What are your unpopular opinions about the anime?

[AuraChannelerChris]

Retcon controversy aside, ngl seeing them side by side reminds me of how much flatter shot composition has gotten for JN's fights. Not even just the 3D background, but the XY image feels deeper, with Charizard's head and Greninja's left leg being closer to the camera. Am I reading too much into a single frame vs a still shot? Probably, but still, most JN fights do feel as flat as the JN version of this

Why does JN Alainzard look less...dangerous.

 

[Gingertail24]

Even if this new series becomes a flop and even worst than BW, I still support the decision of ditching ash

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

eeh, them taking the effort to replace AG multiple times and pass off the whole thing as aura as a plot point, plus BB being retconned in the games (and as a sidenote wtf was that nature for raid greninja, especially after zard and ace got great ones), does feel more heavy than reused footage for an OP that feels like an AMV by a league bandwagoner that hopped off after OS (not saying that the person who made it is that, just saying that it's the vibe it ggives).

Yeah no. It's not like they retcon Bond phenomenon to be Aura, rather they link the likeness of it to help boost Ash and Lucario
Ash-Greninja again not being there was because he wasn't in the focus, similar to how Infernape's Blaze form wasn't showcased in the Gary episode as it wasn't relevant
The difference being Ash vs Paul had a lot of cool scenes with base Infernape compared to Ash vs Alain where that shot was too iconic
If they actually wanted to "retcon" Ash-Greninja as never having existed like some people believe, he would NEVER be in the OP

 

[mehmeh1]

Yeah no. It's not like they retcon Bond phenomenon to be Aura, rather they link the likeness of it to help boost Ash and Lucario
Ash-Greninja again not being there was because he wasn't in the focus, similar to how Infernape's Blaze form wasn't showcased in the Gary episode as it wasn't relevant
The difference being Ash vs Paul had a lot of cool scenes with base Infernape compared to Ash vs Alain where that shot was too iconic
If they actually wanted to "retcon" Ash-Greninja as never having existed like some people believe, he would NEVER be in the OP

I may be misremembering but didn't they basically confirm it was the same thing (and used the same visual effects for both of them). As for the rest, I have no issue with AG not being in the episode itself, but it being outright replaced in flashbacks multiple times just feels sketchy (and especially so knowing the games themselves changed Battle Bond). I'd say there are still many great shots with regular Greninja, like the scene in the tree in XYZ28, thay Cut/Leaf Blade clash at the beginning of its fight with Sceptile in the league, and that cut on base Charizard in the rain.

As for the AMV guess we'll just have to agree to disagree there, I just put more weight in actively doing something over just reused footage.

 

[YelST]

Pokémon never seems to place on anime polls. I imagine this is in part due to not being on Crunchyroll or a legal streaming service in the west, Urusei Yatsura is going through the same thing. Despite that I still think Pokémon is consistently a lot stronger than some of the anime that makes the top rankings and has always been one of the better anime of each season. This season (Winter 23) Pokémon is a top 5 anime for me at worst.

 

[Pokeshipper_]

legal streaming service in the west

Pokémon TV is literally a streaming service in the West. I don't know if all European countries have it and if US and UK use it as a well.

Also, Pokémon is one of the few anime dubbed in almost all the languages available.

 

[Ryker101]

Retcon controversy aside, ngl seeing them side by side reminds me of how much flatter shot composition has gotten for JN's fights. Not even just the 3D background, but the XY image feels deeper, with Charizard's head and Greninja's left leg being closer to the camera. Am I reading too much into a single frame vs a still shot? Probably, but still, most JN fights do feel as flat as the JN version of this

We need the 3D camera back. Also weird how they changed the battlefield

Like I've been saying this anime can't decide what it wants to be. It flaunts itself as a 'grand adventure' but has a pretty episodic narrative. And therein lies the problem. An adventure by definition, needs a definitive endpoint. The stakes, the climax, all of it only makes sense if the character has a destination they want to reach or a title they want to achieve. The path needs to be well defined.

Ash is basically just a hunter gatherer going wherever the wind blows. The "vagabond" archetype isn't exactly a bad thing but those kind of stories are usually short, like samurai champloo for example. You simply can't (shouldn't) write a 1000 episode narrative around a vagabond protagonist and expect it to be interesting.

Tbh it really shows when he changes his personality drastically between series. He can be so inconsistent. It’s weird how far they can change him for maintaining the status quo instead of just using a new protag

 

[YelST]

Pokémon TV is literally a streaming service in the West. I don't know if all European countries have it and if US and UK use it as a well.

Also, Pokémon is one of the few anime dubbed in almost all the languages available.

Pokémon TV is dub only though I thought? The polls don't count for when the dubs come out, popular as they are, I'm only on about the original. It's a globally recognised franchise and anime but doesn't get the credit I feel it deserves.

 

[Pokeshipper_]

Pokémon TV is dub only though I thought? The polls don't count for when the dubs come out, popular as they are, I'm only on about the original. It's a globally recognised franchise and anime but doesn't get the credit I feel it deserves.

Yes, it's dub only! Yes, it doesn't receive the credit it deserves.

 

[masdog]

a legal streaming service in the west

The Pokémon streaming rights are a mess. It is on legal streaming services, but it’s not all together on one service. It’s dub-only, and it varies a bit by country.

There is Pokémon TV, which only shows a limited selection of content for free. Prime Video seems to have most of Pokémon for the US, but they’re not always full seasons and some stuff is missing or not included with Prime (ie you have to pay more). Netflix has Season 1, all of JN, and Secrets of the Jungle.

That’s just for the US. Availability on streaming platforms will vary by country, so you may see something different on Netflix outside of the US.

And there are the movies distributed by Miramax that will probably never show up on a streaming service because of rights hell.

 

[SunGodNika1997]

The Pokémon streaming rights are a mess. It is on legal streaming services, but it’s not all together on one service. It’s dub-only, and it varies a bit by country.

There is Pokémon TV, which only shows a limited selection of content for free. Prime Video seems to have most of Pokémon for the US, but they’re not always full seasons and some stuff is missing or not included with Prime (ie you have to pay more). Netflix has Season 1, all of JN, and Secrets of the Jungle.

That’s just for the US. Availability on streaming platforms will vary by country, so you may see something different on Netflix outside of the US.

And there are the movies distributed by Miramax that will probably never show up on a streaming service because of rights hell.

Call me old fashioned, but man am I glad I still collect my favorite seasons on DVD. Streaming rights are horrendous when it comes to a long-running series like Pokemon.

 

[mehmeh1]

We need the 3D camera back. Also weird how they changed the battlefield

Probably changed it because the background was originally CGI. And yeah hoping the new series brings it back, though not holding my breath for it happening

 

[Veedramon]

Porygon should be allowed to make a reappearance in the anime.

It shouldn't be serving the time for Pikachu's crime!

 

[Dark_King25]

Porygon should be allowed to make a reappearance in the anime.

It shouldn't be serving the time for Pikachu's crime!

 

[Pokeshipper_]

Porygon should be allowed to make a reappearance in the anime.

The way it appeared in the introduction of the fourth movie, but it was like in a city and it seemed locked behind a jail... writers were sick for this!

 

[masdog]

Call me old fashioned, but man am I glad I still collect my favorite seasons on DVD. Streaming rights are horrendous when it comes to a long-running series like Pokemon.

The nice thing about owning the DVDs is that you can format shift them to digital and host them on your own Plex/Emby/Kodi/Jellyfin/etc server and make your own Pokemon TV.

(This is, AFAIK, legal in the US. YMMV in other countries. And this should not be construed as encouraging piracy)

 

[Pokeshipper_]

XY/XYZ was an horrible serie, full of fanservice and with no development or characterization for Ash's Pokémons. Sadly the worst serie, worse than SM or JN of course. 3D camera couldn't save it.

 

[SunGodNika1997]

XY/XYZ was an horrible serie, full of fanservice and with no development or characterization for Ash's Pokémons. Sadly the worst serie, worse than SM or JN of course. 3D camera couldn't save it.

Well at least XY wasn't fugly.

 

[Pokeshipper_]

Well at least XY wasn't fugly.

I don't know what fugly means and I don't care, but for sure there wasn't chemistry between the characters.

They were there only to praise Ash, nothing else. A boring and predictable shonen. I thought I didn't watch a Pokémon serie, but another boring shonen anime, with flat characters and random and annoying fillers.

 

[Sham]

Even if the anime does mess up some plot points, I'm so glad they never made a 1:1 plot line in this series and instead just gave y'all Evolutions and called it a day.

Yeah it would've been fun having evil Lusamine (just an example) or whatever but having different twists and turns like turning her story into an emotional neglectful parent was interesting to say the least.

Even if they do that, been there done that and judging by SV they might even start leaning into cut scenes with full on voice acting making it even less relevant. It's nice playing the games the first few weeks or so and breaking it then but I don't necessarily get excited about seeing the exact same thing I played just animated this time. Also sometimes they get things right like the Flare arc.

If the anime was exactly like the games verbatim and followed the full story, I might've lost interest