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TV Series / My Big Problem with the Pokémon Anime - An Essay and a Rant

« on: January 26, 2017, 00:22 »

Contents

I. Introduction
II. I Wanna Be the Very Best, Like No One Ever Was
III. The Long and Winding Road
IV. His Name was Tobias
V. You're Such a Little Kid!
VI. You Really Are an Amazing Person
VII. “Kalos League Victory! Satoshi's Greatest Decisive Battle”
VIII. To Be Continued: The Cycle of Failure
IX. A Jobber in Alola
X. Closing Remarks

As this is a subforum for discussion of the Pokémon anime, I feel this is an appropriate place to make this thread, for discussion purposes. The following below is an incredibly long rant about the state of the Pokémon anime. I make no attempt to hide any salt and I have no intention of trolling anyone, only to narrate and tell from my heart my deepest feelings about the anime. Although it's 15 pages long, the message of this work is very simple. The essay was originally posted in unedited form at blocked Forums on December 31, 2016, where the thread was closed by a moderator hours later. So have some popcorn, sit back, and relax.

I. Introduction

My first foray into Pokémon was back in 1998, when I got the Game Boy Camera that summer (might've been my birthday, can't really remember). I had a ton of fun with that little thing—the games, the DJ, the photos, among other things. What was particularly cool was being able to place silly stamps on the photos. There were eyes, mouths, accessories, various Mario characters, and some creatures that my older brother referred to as generic “dinosaurs” or “monsters”, can't exactly remember which word he said. But I used them on my photos anyway, cause why not. Little did I know that wasn't going to be the last time I saw those critters, oh no.

Come Autumn later that year, my brother tells me all the neat things about a new craze going on in school called Pokémon. He introduced me to the TV show, where we watched it together. I, being but a young boy at the time, was hooked and completely loved every minute of it, and just wanted to watch more and more of it. I made sure to watch every new episode premiere to the best of my ability and was happy to watch the reruns. Around the same time, I saw the commercial to the games, and wanted to play them badly. Soon enough, I got the game, and was completely hooked to it, and became a young Pokémon fan.

Every Pokémon fan has likely heard of and watched the anime at some point in their lives. When we saw the anime for the first time, plenty of us found it exciting to see Ash and others traveling, battling with their critters and getting stronger, strengthening the bonds and friendships with each other and their Pokémon, helping out others, earning badges, fighting evil, and so forth. Many today still have nostalgia for those days. But today, the Pokémon anime is scorned by both Pokémon and anime fans, something that gives both the franchise and the medium a bad name. What went wrong? Let us review Ash's journey throughout the years.

II. I Wanna Be the Very Best, Like No One Ever Was

According to Wikipedia, the premise or synopsis of the entire anime is this: “After he turns 10 years old, Ash Ketchum (Satoshi in Japan) is allowed to start his journey in the world of Pokémon and dreams of becoming a Pokémon master.” Remember this carefully.

So our boy Ash, despite getting up late, manages to begin a brand new journey in a new region, with Pikachu by his side, in hopes of becoming a Pokémon Master. The Pikachu, given to him by Professor Oak, at first does not get along very well with the newbie trainer; but not long after they get along very well and become a strong team. They later get joined by Brock and Misty, two people who are in charge of Pokémon Gyms, a place where trainers are tested by battling such leaders in hopes of defeating them to obtain a Gym Badge, of which eight are required to enter the Pokémon League. As Ash desires to win the league he tries hard to get these badges, all while going through some extra battling, capturing more Pokémon, visiting places, helping out strangers, and stopping Team Rocket, a trio consisting of Jessie, James and Meowth, who hope to capture his Pikachu due to their impression of how strong he is. In addition, he hopes to win his rivalry against the snobby Gary, the grandson of Professor Oak. Misty herself desires to become a Water Pokémon Master, and Brock desires to become a Pokémon Breeder.

Ash manages to get all of the Gym Badges at Kanto, though sometimes by unconventional means (he was simply going to get the Cascade Badge without a battle, he got another by making its Gym Leader laugh, and yet another by not fighting the actual Gym Leader). Nonetheless he was happy with his badges, and went off to enter the Pokémon League. Ash had a bit of struggles with his opponents, among them a long green-haired weirdo and a woman in traditional Japanese clothing with an overpowered Bellsprout. But despite those, Ash manages to win four 3v3 Pokémon matches. Ash is now in the Sweet Sixteen!

So he faces off against a trainer that isn't so different from him—he is similar in personality and fights with similar Pokémon. His name is Ritchie. Like our boy Ash, Ritchie resembled and was loosely based on Red, the protagonist of the first Pokémon games. He marked his Poké Balls with stars and gave nicknames to each of his Pokémon. He similarly had a Pikachu that was always with him by his side. He too wanted to become a good trainer. Unsurprisingly, Ash and Ritchie became good pals and always want to see each other succeed. However, the time came where the two trainers had to face each other in the tournament. The two felt conflicted, and yet were ready to engage in a battle. The two fought valiantly, but thanks to some poor refereeing and the stupidity of Ash's Charizard, Ash loses the match. He is eliminated from the tournament. Unlike his game, manga, and Pokémon Origins counterparts, Ash does not become the Pokémon Champion. Ash does not obtain his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master.

While many of us were disappointed with the outcome, plenty of us also thought, “Well, losses happen. It's okay to lose.” 255 trainers had to lose the tournament, and Ash (and Ritchie) ended up becoming one of them. Losing is part of life. Time to move on.

Little did plenty of us know that this was just the beginning of would later be an awful predicament.

III. The Long and Winding Road

After the league ended, Ash decided to continue traveling. He and his companions enter a region called the Orange Islands. Brock was replaced by an artist named Tracey, while Misty continues traveling with our protagonist. We continue to see much of the same—battles, catching Pokémon, helping strangers, Team Rocket blasting off again, and so forth. Ash gains four more badges by doing non-battle challenges, which qualifies him to enter the Orange League.

The battle was Ash against Drake in a full 6v6 battle. It was quite exciting to watch, and the great highlight was seeing Ash's Pikachu take down a mighty Dragonite, giving Ash the victory. It was not a true league however, so Ash's journey is not quite over. But hey, it's something, right? Well, not really.

So off he goes to Johto. Brock returns and replaces Tracey, who didn't really get anywhere with his goal; we're back to the original team. Meanwhile, Team Rocket continues to attempt getting Pikachu but never succeeds. The Johto saga was notorious for its heavy amount of filler, yet despite that Ash manages to get eight more badges, qualifying him to enter into the Johto League. Misty also decided to do something with her goal as she and Ash enter the Whirl Cup, a tournament where trainers are only allowed to use water-type Pokémon. Despite Misty's apparent expertise at that kind of thing, she is defeated, and thus does not really fulfill her goal in becoming a Water Pokémon Master, whatever that is. Brock continues to tag along, flirting with women along with other activities.

Eventually Ash arrives to the Johto League. He defeats a good number of opponents, among those were a girl who was heavily infatuated with him and his biggest rival Gary. But despite this great accomplishment, he gets defeated by Harrison at the quarterfinals, in a match that unlike against Ritchie, turned out to be a good loss for our hero. He got further than he did before, and was finally able to overcome Gary, who reconciled with Ash and then quit becoming as a Pokémon Trainer, joining his grandfather in his research. But Ash's adventure is far from over.

So next he arrives to Hoenn. It wasn't without a bit of controversy—Misty fans were enraged as the tomboyish mermaid was getting written out and replaced by May, who was the female protagonist of the then new Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire games. With an emotional goodbye to Misty, Ash continues his adventure, catching all sorts of new Pokémon, meeting various people, engaging in many battles, fending off Team Rocket (who continues but fails to capture Ash's Pikachu), and winning another eight badges to enter the Hoenn League. Meanwhile, May finds her own goal—become a Master Coordinator. In her attempt to reach her dream, she entered so-called Pokémon Contests, which are more or less Pokémon pet shows plus some battling, in hopes of winning some ribbons. She manages to get the five ribbons required to enter the Grand Festival, where the winner will be donned Master Coordinator.

Despite her hard work however May is defeated in the quarterfinals of the tournament. Ash himself is yet again beaten, this time by eventual Champion Tyson and his Meowth at the Hoenn League quarterfinals, yet he was able to make it that far using only his Hoenn team. But that wasn't enough for our boy. He travels on, as the journey continues!