Okay.....we'll TRY and do this one without it devolving into a generic hate thread. We had the best of each series, what do you think was handled worst?
To try and maintain this as constructive, I'm going to put emphasis on only mentioning series that do an element WORST. So if there was a problem recurrent in many series, you can only state it for one particular series with reasoning why it suffered the most for it.
I'll start by listing down examples for one series, and then get back to others when I've thought them all through.
OS:
* Mean spirited characterisation. This mostly got refined after Kanto, but I feel like the early OS really suffered from trying to whitewash Shudo's far more cynical route for the show. In his original plans, a lot of characters and authority figures were frustrated, abrasive and insecure jerks, but often for sympathetic reasons that the Pokemon trainer occupation was a total lemon, while the show takes out a lot of these factors for obvious reasons, making a lot of characters rude and critical.....just because (eg. gym leaders got FIRED if they lost to too many trainers, in the show this stipulation is gone and they are just dismissive to competitors for no reason). The whitewashing also sometimes lends to broken morals or trying to skew the mean spirited supporting cast as being in right while Ash is wrong. Ash IS a bigger jerk in this series, but it's not like the not-Ash side isn't either. Misty in particular sometimes falls into rather unsympathetic territory due to rarely being made accountable for her hypocritical quirks, especially due to the factors stated below.
* Total repetition: While I think Kanto and Orange Islands do okay in spite of more random filler heavy plots, Johto is clearly where the main formula started to take over, and it had very few arcs or development moments to compensate for it compared to later series. Even worse it lasted a whole three years, as long as most full series do now.
* Worst for companion development: It goes without saying that Brock and Misty barely got ANYTHING in their original run, especially Johto. In fact they probably got MORE development in their handful of one off reappearances than the whole OS series. Their Pokemon are barely spotlighted compared to Ash's and they are rarely seen bonding or training them, lacking any particular ongoing activity to keep them proactive. Misty got the Whirl Cup, but a very brief last minute competition, and she still ended up relying on her old running gags like Psyduck over using the rest of her team properly. I think this ties especially bad for Misty due to the first factor I mentioned, Misty is Ash's biggest critic, and yet gets away with not training her own team AT ALL. They even make a point that she tried training them all of once and then rage quit.
It gets so bad in Johto that Brock and Misty are barely even involved in minor situations like Team Rocket or COTD dilemmas, basically being a greek chorus most of the time. It's like the writers want to forget they even exist (Ash in fact only does the bare minimum in some Johto episodes, the region almost runs like a Road Runner cartoon with Team Rocket a lot of the time).
To try and maintain this as constructive, I'm going to put emphasis on only mentioning series that do an element WORST. So if there was a problem recurrent in many series, you can only state it for one particular series with reasoning why it suffered the most for it.
I'll start by listing down examples for one series, and then get back to others when I've thought them all through.
OS:
* Mean spirited characterisation. This mostly got refined after Kanto, but I feel like the early OS really suffered from trying to whitewash Shudo's far more cynical route for the show. In his original plans, a lot of characters and authority figures were frustrated, abrasive and insecure jerks, but often for sympathetic reasons that the Pokemon trainer occupation was a total lemon, while the show takes out a lot of these factors for obvious reasons, making a lot of characters rude and critical.....just because (eg. gym leaders got FIRED if they lost to too many trainers, in the show this stipulation is gone and they are just dismissive to competitors for no reason). The whitewashing also sometimes lends to broken morals or trying to skew the mean spirited supporting cast as being in right while Ash is wrong. Ash IS a bigger jerk in this series, but it's not like the not-Ash side isn't either. Misty in particular sometimes falls into rather unsympathetic territory due to rarely being made accountable for her hypocritical quirks, especially due to the factors stated below.
* Total repetition: While I think Kanto and Orange Islands do okay in spite of more random filler heavy plots, Johto is clearly where the main formula started to take over, and it had very few arcs or development moments to compensate for it compared to later series. Even worse it lasted a whole three years, as long as most full series do now.
* Worst for companion development: It goes without saying that Brock and Misty barely got ANYTHING in their original run, especially Johto. In fact they probably got MORE development in their handful of one off reappearances than the whole OS series. Their Pokemon are barely spotlighted compared to Ash's and they are rarely seen bonding or training them, lacking any particular ongoing activity to keep them proactive. Misty got the Whirl Cup, but a very brief last minute competition, and she still ended up relying on her old running gags like Psyduck over using the rest of her team properly. I think this ties especially bad for Misty due to the first factor I mentioned, Misty is Ash's biggest critic, and yet gets away with not training her own team AT ALL. They even make a point that she tried training them all of once and then rage quit.
It gets so bad in Johto that Brock and Misty are barely even involved in minor situations like Team Rocket or COTD dilemmas, basically being a greek chorus most of the time. It's like the writers want to forget they even exist (Ash in fact only does the bare minimum in some Johto episodes, the region almost runs like a Road Runner cartoon with Team Rocket a lot of the time).
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