Why was Korrina's story arc subpar?

[chalkus]

I really like Korrina. In my opinion, she is the most likable of the gym leaders so far and has a personality outside of her gimmick unlike Viola and Grant. However, her story arc was really dumb, and in my opinion, her grandfather was the cause of it.

First he tells her to win a bunch of matches before looking for the lucariorite, so she does that. Then when she overcomes the trial against blaziken and she mega evolves lucario, it goes out of control and he scolds her for training him incorrectly. Now, if he knew that Korrina trained lucario incorrectly, why did he let her evolve him? Why even bother putting her through that trial?

Finally, when Korrina 'learns how to battle correctly,' she loses her very next match against Ash, who she defeated multiple times before. So when she battled her own way, she won. When she battled 'the right way,' her grandfather's way, she lost.

I felt that this storyline was just too dumb and inconsistent. Korrina is too good of a character to be wasted in such a way.

Anyway, what do you guys think.

 

[Janovy]

I disliked the arc. Waste of time and space for a character that's too plain and uninteresting IMO.

And I disliked how those four episodes were entirely about Korrina with zero contribution from Ash or his friends to her development. They were just there. She might as well have gotten her own special if the writers had no clue how to utilize other four characters in her story arc.

 

[CyberCubed]

It really was just an attempt to showcase Lucario as much as possible again. They did it better with Maylene back in DP.

Everytime a Lucario appears in the anime the writers try to glorify it and make as much a big deal out of it as possible. Of course any character attached to a Lucario would be treated as such.

 

[chalkus]

I disliked the arc. Waste of time and space for a character that's too plain and uninteresting IMO.

And I disliked how those four episodes were entirely about Korrina with zero contribution from Ash or his friends to her development. They were just there. She might as well have gotten her own special if the writers had no clue how to utilize other four characters in her story arc.

I think that she has plenty of personality, at least when compared to the other gym leaders so far. Outside of photography and rock climbing, there really wasn't anything else to Viola and Grant. They could have just made her a rollerblading nut but they didn't and there was so much more to her since her character was fleshed out. The problem with her arc had more to do with her ridiculous grandfather than Korrina herself.

And personally, I think getting a break from experiment explosions and the will they, won't they 'relationship' getting center attention was a breath of fresh air.

 

[Janovy]

I think that she has plenty of personality, at least when compared to the other gym leaders so far. Outside of photography and rock climbing, there really wasn't anything else to Viola and Grant. They could have just made her a rollerblading nut but they didn't and there was so much more to her since her character was fleshed out. The problem with her arc had more to do with her ridiculous grandfather than Korrina herself.

And personally, I think getting a break from experiment explosions and the will they, won't they 'relationship' getting center attention was a breath of fresh air.

She was a typical genki girl. I admit, she had more personality than Viola, but both Viola and Grant were interesting.

Grant had this weird obsession with climbing walls and Viola apparently had a history with Grant, judging by their interactions.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I disliked the arc. Waste of time and space for a character that's too plain and uninteresting IMO.

And I disliked how those four episodes were entirely about Korrina with zero contribution from Ash or his friends to her development. They were just there. She might as well have gotten her own special if the writers had no clue how to utilize other four characters in her story arc.

Pretty much this imo. I'd rather see Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont get some screentime and development rather than a gym leader with an insanely overrated Lucario hog all the screentime while she will probably never return afterwards. A special would have been more ideal in my honest opinion.

 

[Blue Saturday]

First he tells her to win a bunch of matches before looking for the lucariorite,

Actually, she won those matches on her own. She was just doing some training so decided to go for 100 straight wins and did that, we know she beat a Krookodile at some point according to her book. But Gurkinn didn't tell her to do that.

Then when she overcomes the trial against blaziken and she mega evolves lucario, it goes out of control and he scolds her for training him incorrectly.

He scolded her for taking their bond for granted, which was the source issue of the whole loss-of-control in the first place along with Lucario's warped Aura, not training him wrong.

Now, if he knew that Korrina trained lucario incorrectly, why did he let her evolve him? Why even bother putting her through that trial?

He didn't know anything, he only realized something was up after she Mega Evolved Lucario and it nearly killed Pikachu, the trial was because she was next in line to be Shalour Gym Leader and each Shalour Gym Leader has a Mega Evolution Pokemon partner. It's a tradition.

Finally, when Korrina 'learns how to battle correctly, she loses her very next match against Ash, who she defeated multiple times before. So when she battled her own way, she won. When she battled 'the right way,' her grandfather's way, she lost.

She lost that battle because Ash is destined to win every battle, whether he deserves the win are not. A large number of fans acknowledge the win as forced garbage so....eh...take it how you will. She didn't "learn how to battle correctly" but finally with Lucario and Maple's aid was able to get control of Lucario and understand their bond better and deepen it, which allowed Lucario to control itself.


That arc. slayed sooooo hard and it was engrossing from start to finish. Lucario/Korrina's characterization, growth, development, battles, character development, Mega Evolution overall entertaining aura and all was such a remember able part of it for me and I have to say it really showed what the writers are capable of with Korrina, so I never quite understood why the actual XY companions are so ignored. She truly was an Ensemble Darkhorse in the fandom and I really think her status was deserved. In my case, feel free to disagree, I care about character, especially female characters in this show showing me an authentic bond with Pokemon, constantly moving forward and battling in the Pokemon world and belonging. I guess that's why Korrina was such a savior for me and many others, she was flawed, she worked hard, she had been training since childhood, she developed, battled, she still had things to learn and places to go not just as a trainer or gym leader or Mega Evolution user but as a person as well. Yeah, she had to promote something(Lucario and dat Mega Evo merch along with Super Smash Bros

But that doesn't change the fact that she still shined hard. It's a strong example of how marketing doesn't have to do a character wrong, meanwhile XY had been marketing "Strong Shounen Hero, Ash" and "Cute, French Blonde, Serena" through Amourshipping and doing a pretty...uh unfavorable job with it from my POV. Korrina and how she got treated was something I wanted from Serena and Clemont above all else, consistently and from the beginning. She made mistakes, was fun, emotional, dynamic and totally invested in growing and those mistakes lead to consequences which required her to learn, that's Pokemon Anime written at its finest in a state for me. An endearing character had this brilliant arc and story deconstruction and came out a more founded, wiser, compelling and more balanced person and she didn’t change the substance, essence and heart of who she is and if you don’t think that someone with that much capability and agency over their story line, character and decisions isn’t phenomenal I don’t know what is. Her third episode was seriously the best thing of XY in my opinion, I was disappointed to her go. She would have fit right in as an MC. Oh well, there's always Mega Evolution Specials.

 

[Navin]

I really like Korrina. In my opinion, she is the most likable of the gym leaders so far and has a personality outside of her gimmick unlike Viola and Grant. However, her story arc was really dumb, and in my opinion, her grandfather was the cause of it. First he tells her to win a bunch of matches before looking for the lucariorite, so she does that. Then when she overcomes the trial against blaziken and she mega evolves lucario, it goes out of control and he scolds her for training him incorrectly. Now, if he knew that Korrina trained lucario incorrectly, why did he let her evolve him? Why even bother putting her through that trial?

It's the gym's tradition based on her family's past related to Mega Evolution.

Finally, when Korrina 'learns how to battle correctly,' she loses her very next match against Ash, who she defeated multiple times before. So when she battled her own way, she won. When she battled 'the right way,' her grandfather's way, she lost.

Well...that was the issue with the arc having Pikachu fight Lucario twice beforehand. It made Pikachu's win less 'realistic.' Then again, we're talking about Pikachu, who has an in-universe explanation behind any win or loss he gets.

I felt that this storyline was just too dumb and inconsistent. Korrina is too good of a character to be wasted in such a way. Anyway, what do you guys think.

Pros -

* I actually liked Korrina's personality at the time. I even remember stating that I already liked Korrina more from 1 (or 2) episode(s) than I did Serena and Bonnie (especially considering how little focus and development the latter two had gotten till that point).

* Episode 32, the third episode of the arc, was the standout. Easily one of the better XY episodes. It was intense and the battles were good.

* Provided several good battles.

Cons -

* At the time when it aired, Serena was in need of screentime and focus. It begged the question as to why a gym leader, who's going to be permanently gone from the show after her gym episode, was getting her own arc, while Serena and even Clemont lacked one.

* Except for maybe Ash, Korrina's arc relegated the rest of the group in the background.

* Too much Lucario. While episode 32 was quite good, the arc shouldn't have been only about Lucario. In the episode where the group gets separated, Clemont and Korrina were alone. Why not have a more human scene where they talk about being gym leaders and their own dream/goals, etc?

* Team Rocket appeared too much in the arc. Guess what episode didn't have them? Unsurprisingly episode 32, the best one. Why not create a unique arc where Korrina and Mega Lucario are able to bond through some actual antagonism? Like the gangster Malamar or Team Flare.

* Pikachu didn't need to battle that much in the arc. Fletchling and Froakie should have gotten the battles.



As a whole, the arc was decent. It was nowhere close to being as great as it could have been. But it wasn't terrible either. It provided some nice battles, and episode 42 was one of the better episodes of this series. Korrina's personality and character is underrated, but too much Lucario pandering brought down the arc.

 

[Red and Blue]

I actually loved korrina's arc. Sure it didn't contribute much for ash and the others, but I thought it did a great job fleshing out Korrina as a character. The history of mega evolution was interesting as well. Shame she couldn't join the group. I love her so much more that Serena

 

[Vernikova]

I liked what the arc did for Korrina. I agree that it could've been a lot better.

I actually loved korrina's arc. Sure it didn't contribute much for ash and the others, but I thought it did a great job fleshing out Korrina as a character. The history of mega evolution was interesting as well. Shame she couldn't join the group. I love her so much more that Serena

Basically this.

 

[Lorde]

Korrina's battling skills were inconsistent in my view, but it was her destiny to lose to Ash anyway, so I probably shouldn't be surprised. Her excessive screen-time is what made that mini-arc so tedious imo, plus Lucario.

 

[chalkus]

He didn't know anything, he only realized something was up after she Mega Evolved Lucario and it nearly killed Pikachu, the trial was because she was next in line to be Shalour Gym Leader and each Shalour Gym Leader has a Mega Evolution Pokemon partner. It's a tradition.

Are you suggesting that he never once saw Korrina battle or train? That seems extremely unlikely. She was succeeding the gym, after all. He must have known beforehand what her shortcomings were yet instead of correcting her then, he sent her on this ridiculous journey that was doomed to failure, and culminated in her losing once she changed her style to what he wanted her to.

It's the gym's tradition based on her family's past related to Mega Evolution.

I don't think setting her up to fail was also part of the tradition.

Cons -

* At the time when it aired, Serena was in need of screentime and focus. It begged the question as to why a gym leader, who's going to be permanently gone from the show after her gym episode, was getting her own arc, while Serena and even Clemont lacked one.

* Except for maybe Ash, Korrina's arc relegated the rest of the group in the background.

* Too much Lucario. While episode 32 was quite good, the arc shouldn't have been only about Lucario. In the episode where the group gets separated, Clemont and Korrina were alone. Why not have a more human scene where they talk about being gym leaders and their own dream/goals, etc?

* Team Rocket appeared too much in the arc. Guess what episode didn't have them? Unsurprisingly episode 32, the best one. Why not create a unique arc where Korrina and Mega Lucario are able to bond through some actual antagonism? Like the gangster Malamar or Team Flare.

* Pikachu didn't need to battle that much in the arc. Fletchling and Froakie should have gotten the battles.

Serena and Clemont will possibly be in over 190 episodes. For another character to get screen time for a few episodes is a drop in the bucket in comparison. There are plenty of anime that develop a cast of characters much better in a fraction of Pokemon's episode count so that's not a good reason either.

The rest of the group don't do much most of the time anyway except for when they are engaged in their shtick.

Lucario at this point is as much a darling of the anime as pikachu is so it cannot be helped.

Team Rocket antics also cannot be helped.

I suppose seeing his other pokemon battle would have been better but I guess they wanted to save at least fletchling for later with its eventual evolution.

 

[Mr. Reloaded]

I probably would have enjoyed it more had Korrina been saved as the final gym leader to really show off a stronger mega Lucario.

But the arc isn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be.

 

[Blue Saturday]

Are you suggesting that he never once saw Korrina battle or train? That seems extremely unlikely. She was succeeding the gym, after all. He must have known beforehand what her shortcomings were yet instead of correcting her then, he sent her on this ridiculous journey that was doomed to failure, and culminated in her losing once she changed her style to what he wanted her to.

No, he obviously saw the way she battled and never saw a problem with it. He only saw an error in the way she was handling herself as a trainer once Lucario went nuts against Pikachu, he got a deeper look into the issue once he used his own Mega Lucario to get a taste of what might have been causing the issue. Up until that point when she Mega Evolved Lucario, he was proud, bragging about how she was great and how the Shalour Gym would under great care because of everything she had achieved and all of her training. He sent her on the hunt for the Lucarionite because she wasn't just going to receive a Mega Stone without working for it, the cave of trials was meant to test her and Lucario's strength, training and resolve and she succeeded. He didn't tell her to change her battle style, but asked her to go see Maple at Must Mountains because she would help fix the problem but in the end it was Lucario and Korrina's job to change it for the better and continue going bravely in the right direction even after they left, which she did since she mentioned how she had gotten much better after leaving Maple and separating from Clemont and the others. In the end Korrina had her own agency from start to finish in everything she did, from every success to every mistake.

 

[nuzamaki90]

I liked the battles and I liked Maple because she's my waifu. Korrina was okay, her arc felt like a prolonged filler episode of when Ash and co. help a COTD with a problem.

I didn't like Lucario stuck on my screen for so long, and this is coming from a Lucario fanboy. It was ******** that every battle except the gym had Lucario fight on it's own and some people thinking it was justified cuz much strong bonds.

If Korrina ever appeared again I hope it'd be in the Mega special so she won't keep the peanut gallery from actually getting screentime.

 

[MattySadler]

Why? Because in the Pokemon Anime the majority of potentially good, exciting or interesting things turn out to be subpar.

 

[Janovy]

I liked the battles and I liked Maple because she's my waifu. Korrina was okay, her arc felt like a prolonged filler episode of when Ash and co. help a COTD with a problem.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Yeah, it really felt like that.

Except in such episodes, the main characters actually do stuff.

 

[Jangobadass]

I really liked it.

It was nice seeing a (non-companion) GL get the spotlight a lot. In fact, I liked seeing someone steal the spotlight from Ash-tachii. They have the rest of the series to get stories dedicated to them (which has happened quite a bit since then), so it won't hurt for someone else to get extra focus for a little bit. Heck, to be honest I really wish Korrina had gotten an ep or two to herself without them. (Dear writers: It will NOT hurt anything to have Ash-tachii absent for an episode outside of a special.)

Though I will agree that having Lucario defeat Pikachu multiple times before the gym battle was a bad move, though that was for dramatic effect and/or plot contrivance like almost all of Pikachu's losses and wins...

 

[Blue Saturday]

I really liked it.

It was nice seeing a (non-companion) GL get the spotlight a lot. In fact, I liked seeing someone steal the spotlight from Ash-tachii. They have the rest of the series to get stories dedicated to them (which has happened quite a bit since then), so it won't hurt for someone else to get extra focus for a little bit. Heck, to be honest I really wish Korrina had gotten an ep or two to herself without them. (Dear writers: It will NOT hurt anything to have Ash-tachii absent for an episode outside of a special.)

Though I will agree that having Lucario defeat Pikachu multiple times before the gym battle was a bad move, though that was for dramatic effect and/or plot contrivance like almost all of Pikachu's losses and wins...

I figured the battles for Clemont and Serena would have skyrocketed after the Korrina arc., but surprisingly they're both still are sitting on their hands most of the time. Serena has a goal in Performances but it involves zero battling and Clemont hasn't done much of note either, they both got Pancham and Luxio but haven't actually used either in official combat. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I just really liked the arc. for its development too, I can't say they've done much of that with Serena and Clemont outside of Serena's little Skiddo showcasing and Clemont's strife with Luxio, which both got overcome in one episode. It just reminds me if the writers can write Korrina so well as a companion and give her so much consistent focus and write her Lucario well, why can't we have the same for the actual XY companions?

Why can't we get those super authentic bonds? Why can't we see those flaws in their armor a lot, that suffering and getting punished by the narrative and coming out a better person as a result. They were doing so well with that with Clemont in the Delphox and Heliolisk episodes for example and after that they just tapped out until the Fakers!episode. If they can do it so well with Korrina, why not the companions? For example, why not have Clemont see Ash training(like Dawn in the Wallace debut episode or Delphox episode with Chespin losing) and show him feeling insecure about his own battling skills and wanting to improve them and feel like his gym job is important? He called Bunnelby inexperienced and said he was embarrassed for losing with Chespin so easily before. So he acknowledged his Pokemon not being super strong as they should be, why not follow up on it?

 

[Janovy]

Korrina's potential as a companion is limited.

Whereas characters like Serena and Clemont can develop in a variety of different ways, Korrina doesn't have places to go. She has a powerful mega, no real flaws whatsoever, nothing to develop on. All that would remain for her is trying to become stronger which sounds dull. If I had to make a choice between constant Mega Lucario glorification and Serena's performances, I'd go for performances anytime.