What was the biggest "wtf" moments in the anime for you?

[Almighty Zard]

I definitely think that Heracross's battle record is overrated. I've noticed that a lot of Satoshi's older Pokemon tend to be put on a pedestal as a result of nostalgia, and Heracross is one of the most blatant cases. Not that he's a bad Pokemon per se [although his sap gag irritated me a bit], it's just that as a battler he was rather average.

It was put into Storage too soon I think, then again pokemon that can't evolve at all tend to be hit or miss when it comes to development.

I mean Snorlax has one of the best win records out of all of Ash's pokemon, Hawlucha was handled pretty good...Torkoal(teeth clinching) clearly didn't need to be caught at all.

 

[Nikita Dracovish]

I definitely think that Heracross's battle record is overrated. I've noticed that a lot of Satoshi's older Pokemon tend to be put on a pedestal as a result of nostalgia, and Heracross is one of the most blatant cases. Not that he's a bad Pokemon per se [although his sap gag irritated me a bit], it's just that as a battler he was rather average.

Geewunning is alive and well in even the anime, basically. People still rag on about Charizard and cry over Butterfree.

 

[Leonhart]

I mean Snorlax has one of the best win records out of all of Ash's pokemon

I'm not really a big fan of Kabigon for reasons that even I don't quite understand. I suppose that part of it is that I just didn't like how it was handled since it was asleep for most of its time on Satoshi's team in the Orange Archipelago, and then it was sent to Okido-hakase's lab and only appeared for important battles.

 

[Applecorp]

People still rag on about Charizard and cry over Butterfree.

For good reason when it comes to Butterfree. I still can't believe that they had Butterfree leave I mean what was the point other than to make some fans sad?

I don't care that much about Butterfree himself it's just the fact that he was released so early in the show that bugs me.

 

[Leonhart]

For good reason when it comes to Butterfree. I still can't believe that they had Butterfree leave I mean what was the point other than to make some fans sad?

I don't care that much about Butterfree himself it's just the fact that he was released so early in the show that bugs me.

I was somewhat more surprised that they never replaced Butterfree in Kanto. Satoshi caught Okorizaru and Betbeton after he released Butterfree, but Okorizaru left the team a couple episodes later, and Betbeton stayed at Okido-hakase's lab and was never a permanent member of the team. I don't really understand why that last space on Satoshi's Kanto team was empty.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Ironic that he ditched his only Pokemon that could have been a blessing against Sabrina.

Then again, the Bug-type movepool was horrid back then.

 

[Leonhart]

Ironic that he ditched his only Pokemon that could have been a blessing against Sabrina.

Then again, the Bug-type movepool was horrid back then.

Knowing Satoshi's inexperience in early OS, he probably wouldn't have even thought to use Butterfree against Natsume's Yungerer, anyway. In any case, it's somewhat doubtful that Butterfree would've been able to make a difference in that Gym to begin with.

 

[neophenx]

I tried rewatching the gen 1 series again and literally rage quit. To everybody who says the Indigo League anime is the best... what is your standard of quality? The writing is BEYOND unbelievable and I'm not even talking about the localization issues. Ash starts out as a kid who GROWS UP in the Pokemon world and doesn't know the most basic of basic crap, like weakening Pokemon to catch them or what COMMON Pokemon like Pidgey and Spearow are capable of. The kid has Pokemon merch in his room and has trouble identifying Voltorb and Snorlax, WHICH HE HAS IN HIS ROOM. He spends time watching competitive battles on TV, showing he follows the competitive sport and can't get basic type matchups, taking on Brock with a butterfly, a bird and an electric mouse. This is a world where it is COMMONPLACE to send your ten-year-old into the wilderness, and this protagonist is incapable of making any good calls without handholding by a couple of tagalong characters who, by all logic, should have gotten sick of his crap after a week and ditched him.

Gen 1 Ash is a terrible protagonist who should have never been able to survive the start of his Pokemon journey. The fact he's as ignorant as he is, being a native of the Pokemon world, is unbelievable. Were it an Isekai scenario, his ignorance would have made sense, but that is not the case.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I tried rewatching the gen 1 series again and literally rage quit. To everybody who says the Indigo League anime is the best... what is your standard of quality? The writing is BEYOND unbelievable and I'm not even talking about the localization issues. Ash starts out as a kid who GROWS UP in the Pokemon world and doesn't know the most basic of basic crap, like weakening Pokemon to catch them or what COMMON Pokemon like Pidgey and Spearow are capable of. The kid has Pokemon merch in his room and has trouble identifying Voltorb and Snorlax, WHICH HE HAS IN HIS ROOM. He spends time watching competitive battles on TV, showing he follows the competitive sport and can't get basic type matchups, taking on Brock with a butterfly, a bird and an electric mouse. This is a world where it is COMMONPLACE to send your ten-year-old into the wilderness, and this protagonist is incapable of making any good calls without handholding by a couple of tagalong characters who, by all logic, should have gotten sick of his crap after a week and ditched him.

Gen 1 Ash is a terrible protagonist who should have never been able to survive the start of his Pokemon journey. The fact he's as ignorant as he is, being a native of the Pokemon world, is unbelievable. Were it an Isekai scenario, his ignorance would have made sense, but that is not the case.

Its probably because

Spoiler: Spoilers

Ash is in a never ending coma dream, cmon we all know its true lol

Seriously though, the writing gets worse from there, particularly after the DP series where the anime went in a freefall and never really recovered.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

I tried rewatching the gen 1 series again and literally rage quit. To everybody who says the Indigo League anime is the best... what is your standard of quality? The writing is BEYOND unbelievable and I'm not even talking about the localization issues. Ash starts out as a kid who GROWS UP in the Pokemon world and doesn't know the most basic of basic crap, like weakening Pokemon to catch them or what COMMON Pokemon like Pidgey and Spearow are capable of. The kid has Pokemon merch in his room and has trouble identifying Voltorb and Snorlax, WHICH HE HAS IN HIS ROOM. He spends time watching competitive battles on TV, showing he follows the competitive sport and can't get basic type matchups, taking on Brock with a butterfly, a bird and an electric mouse. This is a world where it is COMMONPLACE to send your ten-year-old into the wilderness, and this protagonist is incapable of making any good calls without handholding by a couple of tagalong characters who, by all logic, should have gotten sick of his crap after a week and ditched him.

Gen 1 Ash is a terrible protagonist who should have never been able to survive the start of his Pokemon journey. The fact he's as ignorant as he is, being a native of the Pokemon world, is unbelievable. Were it an Isekai scenario, his ignorance would have made sense, but that is not the case.

People like OG because the writing was more self-aware of stuff than how...basic it is nowadays, despite the fact OG!Ash was a rookie and stayed a rookie.

We had gems like the SS Anne arc, the absurdity that was Brock's family, Misty's constant bickering with her sisters and how she won an entire doll collection just to send it all home to piss them off, the friction between Ash and Misty, Pikachup, the hair salon feud, the school where they rely on video arcades to simulate battles, the crazy Gastly episode, the screwy Sabrina arc, hippie Blaine, James' hilarious abusive childhood (remember, his Growlithe's dog house was an entire mansion next door), etc.

 

[SerenaRulez]

I was somewhat more surprised that they never replaced Butterfree in Kanto. Satoshi caught Okorizaru and Betbeton after he released Butterfree, but Okorizaru left the team a couple episodes later, and Betbeton stayed at Okido-hakase's lab and was never a permanent member of the team. I don't really understand why that last space on Satoshi's Kanto team was empty.

I think maybe they had a capture planned for Ash that would have replaced Butterfree but maybe when the show went on break because of the Porygon situation the writing staff changed their minds.

 

[Leonhart]

I tried rewatching the gen 1 series again and literally rage quit. To everybody who says the Indigo League anime is the best... what is your standard of quality? The writing is BEYOND unbelievable and I'm not even talking about the localization issues. Ash starts out as a kid who GROWS UP in the Pokemon world and doesn't know the most basic of basic crap, like weakening Pokemon to catch them or what COMMON Pokemon like Pidgey and Spearow are capable of. The kid has Pokemon merch in his room and has trouble identifying Voltorb and Snorlax, WHICH HE HAS IN HIS ROOM. He spends time watching competitive battles on TV, showing he follows the competitive sport and can't get basic type matchups, taking on Brock with a butterfly, a bird and an electric mouse. This is a world where it is COMMONPLACE to send your ten-year-old into the wilderness, and this protagonist is incapable of making any good calls without handholding by a couple of tagalong characters who, by all logic, should have gotten sick of his crap after a week and ditched him.

Gen 1 Ash is a terrible protagonist who should have never been able to survive the start of his Pokemon journey. The fact he's as ignorant as he is, being a native of the Pokemon world, is unbelievable. Were it an Isekai scenario, his ignorance would have made sense, but that is not the case.

I think it's unfair to criticize Satoshi's lack of knowledge about certain Pokemon mechanics considering that in Kanto we were never really led to believe that Satoshi had any prior experience with Pokemon before he set off on his journey. Later sagas would retcon that by showing that he attended Okido-hakase's Pokemon Summer Camp and probably learned the basics about Pokemon there, but that was something that was thought of long after OS was established. It seems like you're judging him for being naive and incompetent in Kanto, but he was a rookie then, so there should be some leeway.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

A consistent trait of Ash across all those years is... He tends to be very forgetful with stuff. So he forgetting type match-ups, catching techniques and the like is par on the course for him.

Normally he only need some pushing to remember stuff. Like he remembering Serena.

 

[Applecorp]

A consistent trait of Ash across all those years is... He tends to be very forgetful with stuff. So he forgetting type match-ups, catching techniques and the like is par on the course for him.

Normally he only need some pushing to remember stuff. Like he remembering Serena.

I can forgive him for forgetting trivial stuff that only diehard fans care about but sometimes he acts really daft. I still remember how he forgot that Normal and Fighting type attacks don't affect Ghost types and this was in the BF series when he was usually smart in battles.

 

[Sham]

I can’t even fault Ash for forgetting type advantages when even the writers themselves ignore it when it’s convenient. Like when James Inkay used Pysbeam against a Weavile or when Ursula’s Plusle and Minun was able to damange Mamoswine.

 

[Ubermuk]

I can forgive him for forgetting trivial stuff that only diehard fans care about but sometimes he acts really daft. I still remember how he forgot that Normal and Fighting type attacks don't affect Ghost types and this was in the BF series when he was usually smart in battles.

Yeah that was total bs. If it had happened in the Kanto series then I would give it a pass because Ash was a newb back then but by AG he knew better than to make amateur errors...

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

I can forgive him for forgetting trivial stuff that only diehard fans care about but sometimes he acts really daft. I still remember how he forgot that Normal and Fighting type attacks don't affect Ghost types and this was in the BF series when he was usually smart in battles.

If you are mentioning Charizard vs Dusclops, I can let that one slide because Ash was clearly very into the thrill of battling and by that point was so used on having Seismic Toss as a finisher he probably forgot.

Also, I think that was the first time the show ever awknowledge ghost types immunity to normal and fighting type moves.

 

[LilligantLewis]

I was somewhat more surprised that they never replaced Butterfree in Kanto. Satoshi caught Okorizaru and Betbeton after he released Butterfree, but Okorizaru left the team a couple episodes later, and Betbeton stayed at Okido-hakase's lab and was never a permanent member of the team. I don't really understand why that last space on Satoshi's Kanto team was empty.

especially because that last slot being empty is the reason he lost to Ritchie

People like OG because the writing was more self-aware of stuff than how...basic it is nowadays, despite the fact OG!Ash was a rookie and stayed a rookie.

We had gems like the SS Anne arc, the absurdity that was Brock's family, Misty's constant bickering with her sisters and how she won an entire doll collection just to send it all home to piss them off, the friction between Ash and Misty, Pikachup, the hair salon feud, the school where they rely on video arcades to simulate battles, the crazy Gastly episode, the screwy Sabrina arc, hippie Blaine, James' hilarious abusive childhood (remember, his Growlithe's dog house was an entire mansion next door), etc.

What is OG?

 

[Kazuniya]

Recently?

A Trapinach nearly killing three people before Goh caught it.

 

[neophenx]

I think it's unfair to criticize Satoshi's lack of knowledge about certain Pokemon mechanics considering that in Kanto we were never really led to believe that Satoshi had any prior experience with Pokemon before he set off on his journey. Later sagas would retcon that by showing that he attended Okido-hakase's Pokemon Summer Camp and probably learned the basics about Pokemon there, but that was something that was thought of long after OS was established. It seems like you're judging him for being naive and incompetent in Kanto, but he was a rookie then, so there should be some leeway.

I understand the sentiment, but no. Ash's stupidity goes beyond the realm of "is new to adventuring" and goes into the realm of "lacks basic knowledge of the world he lives in that you would learn just by existing in that reality." Any 10 year old in the real world can identify common animal species and what they can generally do. A ten year old knows that wolves and lions hunt prey and kill things with teeth and claws. When a ten-year-old in the real world is interested in something, they tend to specifically try to learn as much as they can about that thing. Ash's analogous knowledge can't even identify COMMON Pokemon, despite the fact that we see tons of posters, toys and paraphernalia in his room. For someone who starts off wanting to be a "Pokemon Master," he as a character has no understanding of how his own world works or how the most common animals typically behave in his own backyard. If it was a matter of education, we'd see similar problems across all kids in the Pokemon world, but instead we see other characters, both as traveling companions and as rivals, who have a considerably more firm grasp on how to basically exist in the world. Some of those rivals even travel alone and seem to manage just fine, while Ash always travels in a group.

TL/DR: There's a difference between "naive" and "I don't understand anything about animals at all."