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What is the series' goal here?

Soniman

Break the Limit
I know for a fact Gou will not catch Mew so watching him chuck balls at random Pokemon doesn't make me feel anything. Ash has no goal and no Pokemon and that apparently isn't changing in the near future. The initial appeal of going to old locations is gone when none of the characters associated with that location appears so the locations feel hollow and without any charm (looking at you Battle Frontier)

I know I'm told I shouldn't care about Continuity in this show and for the most part I accepted it as at least we got new characters to enjoy. But this is the first time where this archaic anti continuity stance actively HURTS the series because what your left with is a stupid small underdeveloped cast, no rivals, no other recurring characters because they refuse to show them because they met Ash that one time, God forbid we see Morty the tower gaurdian in a Ecruteak episode where they go through the tower. I'm going to REALLY hate this series when they go to Lumiose and Alola and they pull this crap again, I think that will be the moment I give up on this anime if nothing changes

So I'm just wondering what is the plan? Is what we have now really preferable than if you just had a Galar anime? You take this great idea of a world tour across the Pokemon world and use it as window dressing for the most banal fillers with nothing of substance to them. I really want to like this series but seeing it squander all of its potential everytime they go to an old location is maddening. I really hope this upcoming Lance episode is a precursor of greater things to come because a huge shake up is desperately needed
 
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Leonhart

Imagineer
The goal seems to be to promote the various Pokemon so that it'll impact merchandise sales, while also subtly promoting games like Pokemon GO, and telling an [argubly] entertaining story. So business as usual, just with a twist of having Satoshi visit more than one region.
 

Tsukuyomi56

Sky High Knight
Hopefully we will find out during the Lance vs Leon episode as the scattergun nature of the episodes may get old with Ash apparently doing nothing for the most part. Even if the anime’s aim was to include Pokémon Go mechanics Gou is verging on becoming a Gary Stu with the ease (bar Scyther) of his captures (don’t think real-life Go is the perfect capture paradise the anime portrays it to be).
 
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Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
It's goal is to waste our time.

Team Rocket finally got fixed after years and now they're worse than their XY and BW counterparts were. Ash doesn't have a goal and they're taking their sweet time introducing it along with his captures(And Sobble/Grookey too I might add!) while Go gets to 'progress' with his boring ass goal every damn episode.
Why should I care about Go's goal? He's not going to get Mew, and he just throws pokeballs and is done. No battling, no bonding with his Pokemon, his Pokemon have less personality than Brock's Geodude and that is saying something.
 

Kazuniya

read/watch dungeon meshi
I really hope this upcoming Lance episode is a precursor of greater things to come because a huge shake up is desperately needed
Don't worry, I'm sure the upcoming Lance episode will unfold in the following way:

1. Pre-OP: Ash and Go learn about championship, blah blah strong trainers, excited Ash wants to see
2. OP plays
3. Ash and Go travel to Galar, find the tournament, several minutes are spent as Ash and Go look at the crowd amazed by just how many people there are
4. Go spots some wild Pokemon and wants to catch them, Ash annoyed cuz he wants to watch the battle. Go catches some Pokemon then catches up with Ash.
5. Lance vs Leon gets like 3 minutes of screentime, poorly CGI'd Gigantamax Charizard, Ash is amazed by Leon's awesome Kanto starter
6. Team Rocket interrupts cuz we need some conflict
7. Commercial break
8. Ash and Go help defeat Team Rocket/save someone in trouble. Ash meets Lance and Leon for the first time (no, he doesn't know Lance sorry)
9. Leon says Ash has a lot of potential; talks about Galar gyms if we're lucky
10. Ash screams in excitement and once again reaffirms that he wants to be a Pokemon Master, followed by PI-PIKACHU!
 

Pokegirl Fan~

Liko>>>>>Ash
Don't worry, I'm sure the upcoming Lance episode will unfold in the following way:

1. Pre-OP: Ash and Go learn about championship, blah blah strong trainers, excited Ash wants to see
2. OP plays
3. Ash and Go travel to Galar, find the tournament, several minutes are spent as Ash and Go look at the crowd amazed by just how many people there are
4. Go spots some wild Pokemon and wants to catch them, Ash annoyed cuz he wants to watch the battle. Go catches some Pokemon then catches up with Ash.
5. Lance vs Leon gets like 3 minutes of screentime, poorly CGI'd Gigantamax Charizard, Ash is amazed by Leon's awesome Kanto starter
6. Team Rocket interrupts cuz we need some conflict
7. Commercial break
8. Ash and Go help defeat Team Rocket/save someone in trouble. Ash meets Lance and Leon for the first time (no, he doesn't know Lance sorry)
9. Leon says Ash has a lot of potential; talks about Galar gyms if we're lucky
10. Ash screams in excitement and once again reaffirms that he wants to be a Pokemon Master, followed by PI-PIKACHU!
This is pretty much what I'm expecting lol.
 

CupidKirby

Well-Known Member
I think they just really want to advertise Pokemon so to get those merch sales, but also got sick of trying to write an overarching story so went with this. At least that's my excuse until whenever the viewership drops and the writers start introducing a ton of things to try to get it back and that should've been introduced back in the first 10 episodes but they wait until a full year of airing to actually start. Cue the rushed story like we get every generation. It's pretty standard for Pokemon nowadays. I'm just along for the ride and want to see some Galar mons animated.

Don't worry, I'm sure the upcoming Lance episode will unfold in the following way:

1. Pre-OP: Ash and Go learn about championship, blah blah strong trainers, excited Ash wants to see
2. OP plays
3. Ash and Go travel to Galar, find the tournament, several minutes are spent as Ash and Go look at the crowd amazed by just how many people there are
4. Go spots some wild Pokemon and wants to catch them, Ash annoyed cuz he wants to watch the battle. Go catches some Pokemon then catches up with Ash.
5. Lance vs Leon gets like 3 minutes of screentime, poorly CGI'd Gigantamax Charizard, Ash is amazed by Leon's awesome Kanto starter
6. Team Rocket interrupts cuz we need some conflict
7. Commercial break
8. Ash and Go help defeat Team Rocket/save someone in trouble. Ash meets Lance and Leon for the first time (no, he doesn't know Lance sorry)
9. Leon says Ash has a lot of potential; talks about Galar gyms if we're lucky
10. Ash screams in excitement and once again reaffirms that he wants to be a Pokemon Master, followed by PI-PIKACHU!

I hate to say this but you might be high-balling a bit here. I don't think Ash will even get to meet Lance nor Leon in this episode. I agree about a good 5-10 minutes of this episode being wasted on Ash and Gou staring at a crowd and Gou catching another Pokemon though.
 

Bortgreen

Captain Pikachu is EPIC
The idea is good but the execution so far is disappointing, even if still somewhat entertaining(just because it's pokémon)

But about the main discussion:

The problem with Ash and Go's goals is that they are very long term and vague.

There are hundreds of pokémon to catch to even have a chance of meeting Mew

And becoming a pokémon master is something beyond even than winning the league, something that already would take all all series to maybe happen

We need more defined goals, like a Galar or World League for Ash, and more development on Gou's story instead of instacatching everything
 

Master Pikachu 11

Well-Known Member
I know for a fact Gou will not catch Mew so watching him chuck balls at random Pokemon doesn't make me feel anything. Ash has no goal and no Pokemon and that apparently isn't changing in the near future. The initial appeal of going to old locations is gone when none of the characters associated with that location appears so the locations feel hollow and without any charm (looking at you Battle Frontier)

I know I'm told I shouldn't care about Continuity in this show and for the most part I accepted it as we got new characters to enjoy. But this is the first time where this archaic anti continuity stance actively HURTS the series because what your left with is a stupid small underdeveloped cast, no rivals, no other recurring characters because they refuse to show them because they met Ash that one time, God forbid we see Morty the tower gaurdian in a Ecruteak episode where they go through the tower. I'm going to REALLY hate this series when they go to Lumiose and Alola and they pull this crap again, I think that will be the moment I give up on this anime if nothing changes

So I'm just wondering what is the plan? Is what we have now really preferable than if you just had a Galar anime? You take this great idea of a world tour across the Pokemon world and use it as window dressing for the most banal fillers with nothing of substance to them. I really want to like this series but seeing it squander all of its potential everytime they go to an old location is maddening. I really hope this upcoming Lance episode is a precursor of greater things to come because a huge shake up is desperately needed
Preach it! If they go to Alola and they don’t let Ash see his Pokémon and have them battle again especially Incineroar then I would drop this series faster then anybody could say supercalifragilisticeexpialidocious. I mean it would be really bad to return to Alola and not see your second family again and even worse to not tell them that you are coming back.
 

Bortgreen

Captain Pikachu is EPIC
They may forget even Charizard
Nothing would disappoint me more in this series than no continuity in Alola
 

Eddieursa

Marsh Trainer
I know for a fact Gou will not catch Mew so watching him chuck balls at random Pokemon doesn't make me feel anything. Ash has no goal and no Pokemon and that apparently isn't changing in the near future. The initial appeal of going to old locations is gone when none of the characters associated with that location appears so the locations feel hollow and without any charm (looking at you Battle Frontier)

I know I'm told I shouldn't care about Continuity in this show and for the most part I accepted it as we got new characters to enjoy. But this is the first time where this archaic anti continuity stance actively HURTS the series because what your left with is a stupid small underdeveloped cast, no rivals, no other recurring characters because they refuse to show them because they met Ash that one time, God forbid we see Morty the tower gaurdian in a Ecruteak episode where they go through the tower. I'm going to REALLY hate this series when they go to Lumiose and Alola and they pull this crap again, I think that will be the moment I give up on this anime if nothing changes

So I'm just wondering what is the plan? Is what we have now really preferable than if you just had a Galar anime? You take this great idea of a world tour across the Pokemon world and use it as window dressing for the most banal fillers with nothing of substance to them. I really want to like this series but seeing it squander all of its potential everytime they go to an old location is maddening. I really hope this upcoming Lance episode is a precursor of greater things to come because a huge shake up is desperately needed

Ash already won a Pokemon League. His next step should be the Leage of Champions, but he has to win the Pokemon League of her homeland first (Kanto). Also, as many people question if Ash really won those badges back then, maybe he should battle the Gym Leaders again to prove it. After that, he could challenge the Elite 4, just like in the games. Some of Ash's Pokemon could finally be at the same level of a Champion. (Greninja was close to defeat Kalos' Champion as "Greninja-Ash").
 

Zoruagible

Lover of underrated characters
The amount of times they recomfirmed their goals is ridiculous tbh

When it comes to Ash, yes.
"I want to become a Pokemon Master!"
Huh... sure doesn't look that way to me. He's not doing anything at all in the way of progress, no new Pokemon, not battling powerful trainers...
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
CupidKirby said:
I hate to say this but you might be high-balling a bit here. I don't think Ash will even get to meet Lance nor Leon in this episode. I agree about a good 5-10 minutes of this episode being wasted on Ash and Gou staring at a crowd and Gou catching another Pokemon though.

I'm fairly optimistic that Satoshi might meet Dande, but maybe not interact with Wataru since it'd be easier for the writers to avoid Satoshi and Wataru talking to each other if they want to save themselves the trouble of giving us a direct reference to Wataru's previous appearances.
 

redBadger22

Well-Known Member
This is one of the worst starts of any series so far. Honestly I'm amazed how low they've fallen after how good both XY and SM were.

Go is a terrible character. If he catches a Dragonite next week with no effort I'll probably be done and binge it in 3 years when it's all finished.

Ash being put to the wayside with little of nothing to do is also depressing. We got a tease of his skill in the Battle Frontier episode but that's all we got and so far it doesn't seem to be changing.

They need to Pokemon Let's Go get something interesting sometime this year.
 

Spider-Phoenix

#ChespinGang
I think it's kind of what Leonhart said. But to add to the point I'd say it also has to do with the producers' stand on what they think about how the audience work.

For them, kids - the target audience - wouldn't be interested/invested on serialized storytelling because the modern age, its wonder and technologies has them having shorter attention spams. This point is kind of supported by things Masuda and GF staff said when they were asked about the games and how they become more accessible (read: easy)

The ghost of Yokai Watch is still kind of haunting them as well. Even if YW seems to have lost steam, its impact certainly left a mark. It probably made them come to the conclusion that episodic/slice of life is the way to go. SM might have been an experiment to see what of YW works and what doesn't for the show.

As I said in the discussion thread, I feel like the series is on some form of crossroads. It needs to reinvent itself without diverging from its own identity AND attending corporate demands. The current setup seems an intermediary phase where they hope to figure everything out along the way.

The set up is not bad but it sure needs some form of compromise. Doesn't have to be Galar gyms - and please, anything but that - but I dunno, things such as Don George's tournaments can help a bit.

I feel like Pokémon needs to take a page out of the currently running Puzzles & Dragons anime. The show is mostly "by the books" and the characters check all boxes of the tropes' checklist but it dooes all this... Well. It creates a strong sense of progression and the cast ensemble does feel like a community. And that's the same target audience as Pokémon.

The amount of times they recomfirmed their goals is ridiculous tbh

I thought DP's whole "Ash does gyms and Dawn does contest" was kind of bad but... It's really worse here.
 
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