Who misses the traveling aspect of the series?

[BlueDragonfangirl]

If there's anything I miss from the Sun and Moon series its the traveling aspect. Meeting new characters exploring different areas. Staying in one spot pretty much with no rivals or new characters to interact with. Any one else miss this?

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I don't miss it especially since the series has been plagued with awful potd/cotd/Team Rocket fillers most of the time while using this 'traveling formula'. It has gotten way too stale and change was definitely needed imo

 

[BlueDragonfangirl]

I don't miss it especially since the series has been plagued with awful potd/cotd/Team Rocket fillers most of the time while using this 'traveling formula'. It has gotten way too stale and change was definitely needed imo

Team Rocket's still in the series though and do the same thing pretty much. Only difference is they stay put in one place.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Team Rocket's still in the series though and do the same thing pretty much. Only difference is they stay put in one place.

Which is better because they're not showing up in every damn episode to be plot devices

 

[Red and Blue]

Being stationary has its advantages. We get recurring characters/Pokemon such as that Oranguru and Market place lady. Honestly it's a nice change of pace.

 

[Navin]

If there's anything I miss from the Sun and Moon series its the traveling aspect. Meeting new characters exploring different areas. Staying in one spot pretty much with no rivals or new characters to interact with. Any one else miss this?

There's not that much of a difference. Most of the time, the traveling leads to some generic forest or village. SM offers unique locations from time to time as well. And Ash and co. still meet COTDs/POTDs in SM too. Well, if XY was any representation of rivals, then Serena simply didn't need any considering she pretty much Mary Sue'd hers. And Ash didn't have any rivals until Sawyer appeared in episode 73; at least in SM Ash has already met and battled Gladion, who at least poses a challenge.

 

[Leonhart]

I used to dislike watching Satoshi rush from city to city in the old sagas, although now I miss it. Watching Satoshi stay on one island in Alola for the most part feels unsettling. It's just such a drastic change from what we saw from OS to XY.

 

[Satomine Night]

Being stationary has its advantages. We get recurring characters/Pokemon such as that Oranguru and Market place lady. Honestly it's a nice change of pace.

This right here. Ash and his friends being stationary means we get recurring characters (both human and Pokémon), such as Oranguru and the marketplace fruit seller. Honestly, I think it's a nice change of pace from previous series, where we would get CotDs and PotDs whom we would never see again (and thus had no reason to care about). At least with SM, there's a chance we might see a character or Pokémon again in a future episode, even if only briefly.

Being stationary has not stopped Ash from meeting new people and exploring different areas, so in execution, SM is really no different from previous series. The main difference is that Ash has someplace to return to at the end of an episode's adventure. Being stationary has also not stopped Ash from gaining rivals (who I won't mention by name because I don't think the dub has gotten that far yet, and this thread isn't in the Spoilers section).

So do I miss the traveling aspect of the series? Not really, because the fact that Ash is stationary has not stopped him from exploring other places or having the same kind of adventures he had in previous series when he was traveling. In short, Ash being stationary has not really affected the "basic formula" of the series.

 

[DatsRight]

While it's not always executed great, I think SM's more stationary format is helpful in places, and one series with a change of pace doesn't hurt (maybe the next series could compromise with travelling but long arcs for different areas that each have a home base).

As mentioned, the use of one recurring spot allows for things to be more character driven and deviate from the formula that's been run to the ground for two decades, the protagonists can have plots related to their home turf such as the school or their professions, and there's far more room for recurring characters or COTD getting return appearances. Even for Team Rocket, the idea of them having an evil lair fits them so hilariously.

I think the fact that the companions don't HAVE to be around each other all the time also has it's effectiveness. We can have episodes revolved around just one or two of them, or when one goes out of their way to join the other it has more effectiveness and proactivity.

I think a key problem seen with this format is that a lot of key locations of the games don't get a lot of exposure, though as shown with Akala in the Battle Royal episode, they can still go back to them. As mentioned above, it's not like a lot of episodes of the travelling format didn't just use generic forests and villages anyway. SM does still try for world building here and there.

 

[ShadowForce720]

Well I think another advantage about SM's more stationary format is that we get to see all of the pokemon on the main cast that Ash and co currently own more often and get to see their personalities, where as in the other series we didn't see all the pokemon out that often unless they were needed as they were mainly in their pokeballs, and on top of that is that you had cases for instance I think BW had the problem and I think it had happen in other series as well but for instance in BW when Ash clearly already had 6 pokemon on his team with him at the time and Ash, Cilan, and Iris would say that there going to send out all of the pokemon that they currently have with them Ash would have a tendency that when he had a certain pokemon like for instance Unfezant then he would just send out 4 of his pokemon being Snivy, Tepig/Pignite, Oshawott, and Scraggy, and then he would leave the 6th pokemon trapped in it's ball and pretend like it doesn't exists for the entire episode only remembering it when he need it which was annoying, sure there were some cases where he would send the 6th out with his other pokemon but it was mainly when they were unevolved like when Unfezant was a Pidove and when Levanny was a Sewaddle/Swadloon.

This happened to a lot of his BW pokemon that were in the 6th slot. Where as in SM where getting to see all of the pokemon out, and if SM had been like the other series where Ash and the others are traveling then there are some pokemon that would rarely be seen as they would get left in their pokeball for most of the time.

 

[Satomine Night]

I think the fact that the companions don't HAVE to be around each other all the time also has it's effectiveness. We can have episodes revolved around just one or two of them, or when one goes out of their way to join the other it has more effectiveness and proactivity.

There's this, too. The fact that the main cast is stationary means we don't have to see every single one of them in every single episode—which means the writers aren't forced to give a character who would otherwise not contribute to the episode's plot relevance or screentime. One of the problems with the traveling formula and with Ash having traveling companions is that those companions appeared in every single episode, and thus had to get screentime in every single episode.

With the main cast being stationary, the writers are free to exclude characters who don't need to appear in an episode (except for Ash, because he is the protagonist and thus obligated by his role to appear in every single episode). If the writers want an episode to focus on the boys, for instance, then they can easily write out the girls just for that episode, as they did with the Charjabug race episode.

I think a key problem seen with this format is that a lot of key locations of the games don't get a lot of exposure, though as shown with Akala in the Battle Royal episode, they can still go back to them. As mentioned above, it's not like a lot of episodes of the travelling format didn't just use generic forests and villages anyway.

But that's the key—they can always return to locations. The fact that many of the islands aren't getting showcased as they should be isn't really due to Ash and his friends being stationary, but due to the writers not writing enough adventures outside of Melemele Island.

 

[Satoshi & Touko]

I don't miss it. That's not to say I'd be upset if we went back to it, but I like seeing things change with Pokemon and I hope traditions continue to be broken.

 

[TheWanderingMist]

Yeah, the ability to limit the cast is a good thing, but they're definitely underutilizing islands that aren't Melemele. Still, considering it's the first time they've tried it this way, I'd say they're doing a pretty good job.

 

[p96822]

The problem with Pokemon Sun and Moon not being a traveling series and a stationary one is that it takes away what made Pokemon good. I rather have see and experience Alola by traveling and growing as a trainer. Being stationary is boring and it doesn't do anything for Melemele. Also I think Ash's Pokemon would be way stronger if they traveled Alola instead of staying in one place.

 

[satopi]

If there's anything I miss from the Sun and Moon series its the traveling aspect. Meeting new characters exploring different areas. Staying in one spot pretty much with no rivals or new characters to interact with. Any one else miss this?

They're already doing that so what are you talking about?

They already do traveling so there isn't anything to miss. What I don't miss are the Flintstones-esque style of seeing mainly trees, a river, random cabin, or pissed off Pokémon to run from to serve the threat of the episode. Thank Arceus, they're doing something different in most episodes on Melemele Island.

 

[DatsRight]

They're already doing that so what are you talking about?

They already do traveling so there isn't anything to miss. What I don't miss are the Flintstones-esque style of seeing mainly trees, a river, random cabin, or pissed off Pokémon to run from to serve the threat of the episode. Thank Arceus, they're doing something different in most episodes on Melemele Island.

You forgot Team Rocket popping up somewhere along the line to steal Pikachu as the third act of every episode.

I don't know how much the actual format was at fault, but the travelling episodes eventually felt very empty because of this. The twerps started to feel like chess pieces doing the same thing every episode, mostly reacting to new stuff around them and the formula not allowing them to deal with anything differently. Formulas can work if you let the characters be versatile enough to make it fun and different every episode, but while the show started off like this, by parts of AG and DEFINITELY by XY the format was pretty much like trapping them in tiny boxes and forcing them to say the exact same lines over and over by gunpoint. Not even the most charismatic and multi faceted character can avoid looking bland and boring this way.

With the standstill format, it at least feels more often like the they're the driving force of everything, especially since the premise demands that THEY make it different, along with the fact they can have closer connection to the scenario (eg. their parents or guardians or homes).

 

[Mega Altaria]

Although I don't miss too much about the travelling aspect of the anime, it feels that Ash and his friends are going through a natural progression to higher levels of being a Pokémon Trainer. But removing the travelling aspect would allow Ash and his friends more freedom to be in whatever place they want and it feels good because it relaxes the nature of the Pokémon anime by exploring new formulae to how a series is run and it allows more room for recurring characters to appear throughout scattered episodes and also give them more freedom to appear in whatever episode they want.

 

[Leonhart]

Yeah, the ability to limit the cast is a good thing, but they're definitely underutilizing islands that aren't Melemele. Still, considering it's the first time they've tried it this way, I'd say they're doing a pretty good job.

I don't think that they're handling it well. I gave the writers the benefit of the doubt early in the SM saga, but now it feels as if they've wasted many opportunities to flesh out the other islands.

 

[AznKei]

I like traveling as it can be a fun and memorable experience to learn more about the culture, society, history of other places. So I would assume that the characters who travel would be able to learn more about the world than staying grounded to their hometown, region, country.

 

[satopi]

You forgot Team Rocket popping up somewhere along the line to steal Pikachu as the third act of every episode.

I don't know how much the actual format was at fault, but the travelling episodes eventually felt very empty because of this. The twerps started to feel like chess pieces doing the same thing every episode, mostly reacting to new stuff around them and the formula not allowing them to deal with anything differently. Formulas can work if you let the characters be versatile enough to make it fun and different every episode, but while the show started off like this, by parts of AG and DEFINITELY by XY the format was pretty much like trapping them in tiny boxes and forcing them to say the exact same lines over and over by gunpoint. Not even the most charismatic and multi faceted character can avoid looking bland and boring this way.

With the standstill format, it at least feels more often like the they're the driving force of everything, especially since the premise demands that THEY make it different, along with the fact they can have closer connection to the scenario (eg. their parents or guardians or homes).

Oh yeah, that's true. I have noticed the TRio not saying their catchphrase as much and they've so far have been used quite well. Even in episodes where they are listed in, they don't really interfere as often as they did in the past and aren't irritating annoying outside of a few moments like when they interrupted Ash and Gladion's first battle. I feel the TRio are handled at a healthy rate here like they're not as heavily relied on as threats anymore as they were in the past. (They're barely in the opening for pete's sake which rarely happens!)

They barely stay at a town you want to see in the anime for a few days while at least with the use of field trips and Ride Pokémon, they can visit these towns more often when it's needed. I like that there's a strong sense of community at Melemele Island.