Pokémon Animé > TV Series

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

<< < (2/3) > >>

_Dog:
The worst thing about all this is the fact that people are willing to go to far lengths to defend this tripe. I'll briefly counter a few common arguments:

1. It's a kids' show. Being a kids' show is no excuse for bad writing.

2. It's a 20-minute advertisement. Being an advertisement for the games is no excuse for a bad show. Pokémon Adventures alone disproves these first two excuses.

3. The anime is teaching kids it's okay to lose. Except I don't believe it ever actually did this. Even then, with a goal like Ash's, you're supposed to win after. Losing once for a protagonist is okay; losing twice is pushing it; losing six times is unacceptable.

4. The term “Pokémon Master” was never defined. While it's true that the anime hasn't exactly explained what a Pokémon Master really is, the fact that Ash is trying to win these leagues should give us a good idea, at least by the anime's definition. At the very least, winning a league is a step, and thus required, in his path to becoming a Pokémon Master. If you're telling me that's not the way to go and that the whole thing is a red herring instead, then that makes this show even worse than it already is.

5. If Ash won that finals match, then the anime would have to end. Have this quote:


--- Quote ---Yeah I'm sure everyone would have loved the ****ing Rocky movies if Rocky lost his rematch to Apollo, lost to Clubber Lang, and then lost to Drago. Winning is not the end. Winning is a new beginning. You guys think Alain is gonna stop trying to get stronger now that he won? Nope. When you get invested in a character whose sole goal is winning, eventually they need to ****ing WIN.

If there ever was a time, this would be the ideal time to make Ash win the Pokemon league.
--- End quote ---

And even if we granted this argument, is that really a problem? The status quo problem should've never existed in the first place, and should've been eliminated a long time ago.  Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket have all outstayed their welcome and should've been written out by now. Why does the anime still need them? Since the writers are willing to boot everyone else out, they may as well replace Ash with a new protagonist, give him/her a Pikachu or some other Pokémon, and replace Team Rocket with another comedic team. Plenty of other animes do something like that; no reason why Pokémon can't do the same.

6. It's all about the journey, not the destination. This one gets two quotes. Here's the first:


--- Quote ---I'm still trying to understand this 'true message of the anime' without remembering that Ash fought on so many leagues before with the sole intention of winning them, even the most recent one.
I don't see any problem in focusing on the 'journey', but...slapping your audience with wrong expectations is not the right way to do it, I don't blame the salty fans for this (the name of the episode, all the foreshadowing, character development, even the moves...).
--- End quote ---

And the second:


--- Quote ---The journey IS the destination, though. If they wanted to focus on the journey, they shouldn't have even BOTHERED giving Ash a goal in the first place. In fact, just have him say he doesn't care about winning or even having a goal, just having an adventure, like Sonic does, or even that old adage about how it doesn't matter if you win or lose, but just getting out there to play the game. Instead, Ash has an explicitly stated goal, and the entire point of even HAVING a goal is to achieve it. And in order to achieve it, one needs to actually REACH the destination.

If the journey was truly the true message of the anime, they should NEVER have given Ash a goal in the first place. I know if I were writing the series and that was the intended message of the anime, I'd make SURE Ash and the others NEVER give a goal other than 'hey, this sounds like fun' specifically to REINFORCE how it was never about the destination (no goal = no destination). Heck, even Dragon Ball doesn't have Goku having an explicit goal of becoming the absolute greatest Martial Arts Master, just the best he can be. Heck, considering that he constantly resets at the end of each region and doesn't seem to retain much of what he learned, we can't even say it follows through the intended theme anyways (if it did, Ash would have actually RETAINED what he had learned and not have his Pikachu especially undergo level resets), since even under the argument that it was the journey that matters, not the destination, he needs to actually RETAIN that knowledge he gained on the journey for the journey to truly matter.

Even ignoring all of that, however, it's not like if Ash actually beats Alain, he's finished. Remember, DP revealed that even if he won the Sinnoh League, he'd still need to challenge the Elite 4 and Champion before he can truly become Champion. They could have had him beat Alain, yet lose against an Elite 4 member, so that he technically beats a league, yet still has work to do before Ash truly manages to succeed in his goal.

Instead, we most likely have to wait until Generation VIII before he even HAS a chance to accomplish his goal.
--- End quote ---

X. Closing Remarks

Long ago I felt very underwhelmed about Pokémon Sun and Moon after seeing some early footage of it. Since then, I went from being underwhelmed to being on the fence when it came to getting the game. I determined that I would get the game if one of two conditions were fulfilled. One of them was to see Ash win the Kalos League. It would've been my way to thank the writers for giving my childhood hero the victory he finally deserves. But because that didn't happen, I will not get the game. (This may actually become a blessing in disguise if the Pokémon Stars rumor for the Nintendo Switch ends up being true; I'll just get that instead.) Unfortunate, but I want to stay true to my word.

I cannot in good conscience watch a show where there exists a premise of Ash desiring to reach his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master, yet instead we see him and Pikachu running around in circles, forever chased by Team Rocket, and where everyone else—from Gary, Butterfree and Duplica to Jessebelle, Greninja and Serena—all get axed out of the anime without making even a hint of a permanent dent. Seeing Ash lose over and over again is the opposite of what I and many others wanted from this anime. I hate it.

So if the anime tries to lure you with a premise about a kid hoping to reach his dreams of becoming a Pokémon Master, with little critters and legendary creatures, along with flashy battles, humorous scenes, worthy goals and cute girls, I implore you:
youtube.com/watch?v=OLKDV-_SCBs

Now that is one quality cartoon.

Now what was the other condition? I will confess it: It was to see Ash and Serena together in a romantic relationship. I am a so-called Amourshipper; however I concede that thanks to Serena getting axed out of the anime, where it continues Ash's adventure with Sun and Moon, Amourshipping is dead. You win, critics. But know that it came at a heavy, heavy cost.

However, allow me to close my post with this dialogue between Ash and Serena from the 40th episode of Pokémon XY. Regardless of what you may think of Serena and Amourshipping, please put your love or hatred for them aside and read the passage below:

Ash: I hope the PokéVision turns out good.
Serena: Yeah.
Ash: You see, I have a feeling that what I do at this camp might help me in my battles.
Serena: Yesterday's fishing tournament and today's PokéVision, too?
Ash: Of course! I don't think anything is pointless. Everything on our journey will lead up to victory at the Kalos League. That's why I need to work a lot harder.
Serena: You're already working hard, Satoshi. You do plenty enough.
Ash: Nah. I still have a long way to go. My dream won't come true like this.
Serena: Your dream is...
Ash: ...to become a Pokémon Master.
Serena: I see. You really are amazing, Satoshi.

I admit it, I thought all this really meant something when it was first aired. I really did. I sure was deceived.

TL;DR – Although the Pokémon anime's premise is to see Ash become a Pokémon Master, the writers have repeatedly failed to fulfill or make any progress towards it when there was ample opportunity to do so, instead making huge, lasting decisions in the story to ensure that premise doesn't happen. Ash's repeated failures and subsequent move to a new region renders everything he does pointless. None of Ash's actions ever amount to anything in the end.

Well, time for some eggnog. That's all, folks!

Lord Raven:
I think Pokemon in general was set up for failure. If Ash wins, then you can't really go up from there without changing the games (since this is an anime based on the games). Then it risks being formulaic afterwards after a quick shakeup. I think literally they just need to end the anime for Ash to win the Pokemon league.

The Hooded Trainer:
Okay, its 1 in the morning and im not going to read through this whole thing, but im going to assume from skimming that this whole thing is about ash never winning the championship and direct all my points at this:

"3. The anime is teaching kids it's okay to lose. Except I don't believe it ever actually did this. Even then, with a goal like Ash's, you're supposed to win after. Losing once for a protagonist is okay; losing twice is pushing it; losing six times is unacceptable."

What do you mean by that? That, after a while, it stops becoming okay to lose? I sort of get that from a storytelling perspective but, with a show like this thats meant to effectively run forever, it doesnt really hold up.

Look, if ash won and they continued without him, the show wouldnt be the same. People would be saying "hes won now, hes achieved his goal, why are we still watching?" If he won and they replaced him, people would be upset that the hero they grew up with is gone, and i doubt theyd be able to replace him with somebody better. (Look what happened to yugioh after yugi left - the show was never the same again. Obviously thats a little different, since the original series of that had a defined, planned ending, whereas pokemon is designed to go on forever, but still, i doubt continuing without ash would make the series any better).

But back to the original point. Why is losing six times such a bad thing? A lot of our culture is geared towards "aim towards your goal, and eventually youll succeed" but thats not quite accurate. Maybe im reading too much into it, but to me, ashs journey says, "aim towards your goal and, whether you succeed or not, keep trying and keep having fun" and thats pretty powerful. I guess what im saying is, do what you love, love doing it, and dont worry about success. Isnt that kind of a beautiful message, in its own way?

Oh, and, as far as ive seen, the sun and moon series doesnt have a league at all, so if this stuff really bothers you, at least hes not going to lose a 7th time.

(There is, of course, also the possibility that were a bunch of adults arguing about a show that we should have outgrown long ago and, while were getting angry, all the kids in the world are just enjoying the adventure.)

sans the skeleton:
i admire your dedication but honestly as much as i agree i tl'dr-d it immediately

sylar:
i mean it really is a 20 minute advertisement aimed at kids

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page