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Old 05-09-2016, 03:17 AM   #251
precita
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
I've been enjoying XY&Z okay so far. As someone in the center, it feels like the two most vocal camps are the poles -- those who think it's the best season ever and those who think it's the worst season ever -- and that the rest of us are keeping quiet.
The XY anime as a whole is probably tied with DP as the strongest plot written arc of the show and the most impressive battles. Aside from the comical humor of the original Kanto season, its better than Johto/BW by miles, and a tad better than AG. Of course it all comes down to personal preference so it doesn't really matter, as some people like different main characters or pokemon on the group and it would make them like sagas more than others.

Quote:
I dunno ... I'm just unhappy that Serena is all but confirmed to be written out of the show come the end of the year. I was really hoping she'd be our first multi-region female traveling companion since Misty, and that ShoPro might quit teasing and actually turn this Ash x Serena pairing into something more. But I suppose that, having stubbornly decided that they're never having Ash grow up, they're doing the right thing here: they know that it's already starting to get old that Serena clearly likes Ash but Ash stupidly doesn't see or misinterprets the signs, and so they've decided to have her leave at the end of Kalos instead of having her become the next Brock, i.e. the next pony whose trick we all once loved but all grew tired of when it went on for too long.
I don't think anyone expected Serena to win her first competition. For the same reasons May and Dawn never won a Grand Festival and Ash didn't win a proper league, there's just no point to let a character win their goal on their first region attempt. Serena making it to the finals was impressive enough.

As for Serena's fate in the show, it could go either way, but knowing the animes track record and the fact that the anime is just intended to advertise the games rather than develop characters, well we know Serena might go the way of past female companions.

Quote:
Ash: AK2 is optimistic that he'll go as far as the finals this time. I don't think he'll make it past the quarterfinals; and given how Unova went, even that could be too optimistic. But we'll see.
Ash is most likely going to get very far in the league this time. He has a fully evolved pokemon team and is written as the most experienced he's ever been. BW Ash was purposely designed to be a rookie and to have a poor pokemon team battle wise. XY largely brings Ash back to what he was at the end of DP, so as long as they don't pull an all legendary user against him again he'll likely go far.

As for Bonnie's role with squishy, I think that's amazing. Bonnie is basically a co-lead female with Serena, not just a support character so she gets the plot/story eps while Serena gets the shipping eps or idol eps with Ash.

One good thing you can say about XY is nobody on the main cast is ignored. Given how poorly Brock was handled in the anime especially in DP, Misty being neglected to a Togepi holder in Johto, and Max not doing much in AG, this is the first time all of Ash's companions actually get things to do and aren't ignored. Even Clemont is mostly on par with Kanto-era Brock in terms of screentime.

On the other hand since the writers focused on Serena/Bonnie/Clemont evenly, there's no "lead character" like May and Dawn were treated in their sagas. Since May and Dawn got to be co-leads, and the writers could get away with neglecting Brock and Max, they were able to get more than Serena does currently. So it is a trade off. Do you prefer seeing ALL of Ash's companions get screentime, or just the female lead? Obviously now in XY its better to see them all get focus since they're all new characters, whereas in AG and DP Brock was already just an old tired dead weight character so the writers could get away with treating him like the bland exposition guy and nothing else.
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Old 05-25-2016, 07:30 AM   #252
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Through Episode 24 of XY&Z. It's the episode where (spoiler lite) Team Rocket steals food from a forest shrine.

I continue to enjoy the series okay but beneath the level of enjoyment I had several years ago when the XY series was fresh and brimming with potential. Now we're coming to a close and XY's been solidified as yet another Pokémon season with many of the same trappings and disappointments. To be expected, some will say, but I don't think so if you take a look back at Episodes 1-40. It's hard to pinpoint where the series "went wrong," if ever it did indeed go wrong, but early on the series was doing a number of bold things, from giving Ash a companion who canonically crushes on him to that unforgettable berserk Mega Lucario biting Pikachu's tail and swinging him around like a rag doll. XY&Z has felt much more ... "safe." Less bold. Less exciting. Much more familiar to viewers of previous seasons.

While the majority of the upcoming episodes seem like they're meant to be heavy hitters, the episode I just finished was yet another filler. And it's curious, that, because we're so close to the end now -- only 25 weeks until November 18, only 24 more episodes max before the Kalos anime draws to a close. Now hardly seems the time to be writing filler episodes. It bodes poorly for Ash's prospects at the Kalos League.

XY&Z Episode 024:

Spoiler: show
The episode did a really weird thing -- cruel, really, when we're talking the littler ones who couldn't have told things apart. The episode had Ash & Co. telling little Phantump all about the outside world, saying things like, "Let's make friends on the outside!" and "There's a whole world out there for you to explore!" Lines like these make it seem like the writers have planned for Phantump to leave the forest and to join Ash & Co. on their travels so that it can see so much of this outside world that Ash keeps talking about. Older viewers will know that a Phantump addition is unlikely at this stage, especially with the episode title leak that reveals:

Spoiler: show
Goodra is going to be back, for at least one episode, and so Goodra will occupy Ash's sixth slot

But as for younger viewers, and even this old man watching with half-bated breath, there's the cruel bait-and-switch of "You want Ash to get a new Pokémon to round out his Kalos team? WELL YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!"

I'm pretty glad that Ash didn't get the shiny Phantump, though. I'm not a big fan of most shinies, and the Phantump line is definitely one of those where I feel the original looks a hell of a lot better than the shiny. I'm also not a huge fan of Trevenant. I mean, it's okay, but it's just not one of my personal favorites.

The sneak peek had made this episode seem like it would be another Pokémon horror story. ShoPro tends to write these surprisingly well, so I was really excited for this episode, despite AK2's repeated warnings previously that this episode was a huge letdown. Well, AK2 was right. ^^; The episode was no Litwick (BW) or Espurr (XY) episode, that's for sure.

I honestly like the part in the first half where Phantump is meeting friendly wild Pokémon. While it felt like it was meant for a very young audience, it was still really cute and warm and friendly and yeah ... I just enjoyed it. I can see how it might've gotten old if they'd done an entire episode around it, but I'm still disappointed we cut this off in favor of more Idiot Team Rocket.

lol, though, at those Rockets wearing those Gallade and Gardevoir kigurumi. Not sure what the message here is but I'm sure there's an intended subtext re:kigurumi fetishists in the fandom.
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Old 05-26-2016, 08:46 PM   #253
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Through Episode 24 of XY&Z. It's the episode where (spoiler lite) Team Rocket steals food from a forest shrine.

I continue to enjoy the series okay but beneath the level of enjoyment I had several years ago when the XY series was fresh and brimming with potential. Now we're coming to a close and XY's been solidified as yet another Pokémon season with many of the same trappings and disappointments. To be expected, some will say, but I don't think so if you take a look back at Episodes 1-40. It's hard to pinpoint where the series "went wrong," if ever it did indeed go wrong, but early on the series was doing a number of bold things, from giving Ash a companion who canonically crushes on him to that unforgettable berserk Mega Lucario biting Pikachu's tail and swinging him around like a rag doll. XY&Z has felt much more ... "safe." Less bold. Less exciting. Much more familiar to viewers of previous seasons.

While the majority of the upcoming episodes seem like they're meant to be heavy hitters, the episode I just finished was yet another filler. And it's curious, that, because we're so close to the end now -- only 25 weeks until November 18, only 24 more episodes max before the Kalos anime draws to a close. Now hardly seems the time to be writing filler episodes. It bodes poorly for Ash's prospects at the Kalos League.

XY&Z Episode 024:

Spoiler: show
The episode did a really weird thing -- cruel, really, when we're talking the littler ones who couldn't have told things apart. The episode had Ash & Co. telling little Phantump all about the outside world, saying things like, "Let's make friends on the outside!" and "There's a whole world out there for you to explore!" Lines like these make it seem like the writers have planned for Phantump to leave the forest and to join Ash & Co. on their travels so that it can see so much of this outside world that Ash keeps talking about. Older viewers will know that a Phantump addition is unlikely at this stage, especially with the episode title leak that reveals:

Spoiler: show
Goodra is going to be back, for at least one episode, and so Goodra will occupy Ash's sixth slot

But as for younger viewers, and even this old man watching with half-bated breath, there's the cruel bait-and-switch of "You want Ash to get a new Pokémon to round out his Kalos team? WELL YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!"

I'm pretty glad that Ash didn't get the shiny Phantump, though. I'm not a big fan of most shinies, and the Phantump line is definitely one of those where I feel the original looks a hell of a lot better than the shiny. I'm also not a huge fan of Trevenant. I mean, it's okay, but it's just not one of my personal favorites.

The sneak peek had made this episode seem like it would be another Pokémon horror story. ShoPro tends to write these surprisingly well, so I was really excited for this episode, despite AK2's repeated warnings previously that this episode was a huge letdown. Well, AK2 was right. ^^; The episode was no Litwick (BW) or Espurr (XY) episode, that's for sure.

I honestly like the part in the first half where Phantump is meeting friendly wild Pokémon. While it felt like it was meant for a very young audience, it was still really cute and warm and friendly and yeah ... I just enjoyed it. I can see how it might've gotten old if they'd done an entire episode around it, but I'm still disappointed we cut this off in favor of more Idiot Team Rocket.

lol, though, at those Rockets wearing those Gallade and Gardevoir kigurumi. Not sure what the message here is but I'm sure there's an intended subtext re:kigurumi fetishists in the fandom.
1. I agree with the sentiment that the series plays it safe. I remember Kanto episodes where death may be not to far away (episode 1, with the Spearow, Snow Way Out, etc), severe injuries to a Pokemon's health happened or there were physical beatdowns (Lapras on the beach, Charmander in the rain, Pikachu with the fight against Kadabra or Raichu), and Ash himself died in the first movie!

The background music is a LOT less dramatic too and much more fluffy. What first drew me into the show (and Jaxel himself) was some of the drama found in episode 1, or the likes in Pikachu's Goodbye or Bye Bye Butterfree.

Maybe it's because it holds a place in my heart, the fact that it has been there for me on down days in the last few years, or the GOOD qualities about XY/XYZ that I enjoy, but with the negative out of the way...

2. I enjoy the story line. I think we all knew the writers would not do much more than tease about Serena's crush, but it's nice that it is cannon. In addition, although I feel they waited way too long to give her a goal (in response to complaints by fans?) I have enjoyed Serena as a character in herself as opposed to Ash's girlfriend.

I like Citron's bromance with Ash too. Ash never had such a thing. Brock was an older brother/mentor at best. Dent was the over-eccentric buddy... nothing more. Everyone else (Richie, Morrison, Cameron) were only around for a few episodes, so hold nothing to Ash-Citron-this goes for Shota and Alain too.

Eureka is a much more developed character than Max was, and I think she has had a lot of sad/cute episodes where she bonds with a Pokemon of the day. I enjoy Puni-Chan's character, and personally cant wait to see more interaction between it and "blueny-chan".

3. I concur. There is precious time left for pointless fillers like the Phantump episode. So the UPN community knows: Talon and I have weekly conversations going on for years now, and we discuss various anime/politics/current events/life events/ and literature or J-dramas, including classics like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dracula.

During these hundreds of conversations, Pokemon has been visitied a lot. This late hour Phantump filler got about five sentences of text messages between us.... this may have included opinions on the preview for the next episode.

I can only hope it was written before the studio was aware of the release date for Sun and Moon.

4. I am excited for the rest of the XYZ story, as the spoilers that I do know make everything here on out look like great story telling, and even further out, there is little time left for crappy filler.

I want to remark though that even if Ash doesnt win the League, which more fandom than any other series is counting on, I will still happily follow him into Hawaii. I have dropped the series before, for a five year period, and found plenty other anime and other forms of entertainment to keep me nice and content, but I have enjoyed the story enough (discussions with Talon and some VERY entertaining youtube fans help round-out things) to stay interested and always in a good mood after viewing.

Last edited by AK2; 05-26-2016 at 09:00 PM. Reason: Error
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Old 05-26-2016, 08:59 PM   #254
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I'm through Episode 020 of XY&Z now. I haven't posted here in a while, mostly due to lack of time and motivation. But with an ounce of each right now, I'll go ahead and offer a general status update from when we last talked.

I've been enjoying XY&Z okay so far. As someone in the center, it feels like the two most vocal camps are the poles -- those who think it's the best season ever and those who think it's the worst season ever -- and that the rest of us are keeping quiet. I would be lying if I claimed that my enjoyment of the series is as high as it was when I was regularly making weekly posts with pictures in the early days of XY. But I don't see the doom and gloom that so many apparently do. I think the season is overall stronger than Johto and (what I have seen of) Hoenn. I would compare it, both favorably and disfavorably, with the second half of Unova.

Serena: (spoilers through Episode 20 of XY&Z)

Spoiler: show
I'm pretty disappointed that ShoPro decided to go with Choice C:
  1. Serena becomes the Kalos Queen; she can't continue to journey with Ash because she has responsibilities as the Queen.
  2. Serena fails to become the Kalos Queen on this first attempt; she continues her journey with Ash, on into the next region. Especially if the new region is Kalos's next-door neighbor, and we're continuing to explore Kalos's history.
  3. Serena fails to become the Kalos Queen on this first attempt. She also discontinues her journey with Ash when it comes time for Ash to leave Kalos.
This entire time, I've been expecting it to be either A or B. C was always there as an option, of course, but I never really gave it much thought. Even now, I'm a little shocked that they decided to go with it. Serena is such a popular character with the anime's regular viewers that if you were to going to write her out of the show the most acceptable way would've been to have her be hog-tied to Kalos by social obligations as its new performance queen. Having her lose like this, only to make a promise to Yashio that {the specifics voiced in the episode} ... it just reeks of real-world, out-of-universe consequences for her and the other characters. "We're going to have Serena part ways with Ash at the end of Kalos because that's what we've done ever since Hoenn. But we're not going to give her the boot just yet, even though the timing would be pretty perfect right now for her in-universe character, because out-of-universe we want and need her to stick around to cheer Ash on at the league and have a tearful farewell as he heads out from France." It's like ... why would Serena not simply begin training with Yashio at this point? If she's willing to part ways with Ash ever, then she has no reason to not part now. If instead she's like, "No! Ash is my honey bunny and I'm not leaving his side!", then like ... how do you justify that she'd dump him just to train with an old bird for several months to years? She came this far through self-teaching alone. While I think she could use the help that Yashio has to offer, Serena is so attached to Ash that it's hard to imagine her not rationalizing that she can learn all she needs to learn by simply continuing on her journey with him. In fact, it's hard not to reason that Serena would find the idea of traveling with Ash to a new country irresistible. "Maybe there I can learn new techniques, meet new friends, hone my craft ..."

I dunno ... I'm just unhappy that Serena is all but confirmed to be written out of the show come the end of the year. I was really hoping she'd be our first multi-region female traveling companion since Misty, and that ShoPro might quit teasing and actually turn this Ash x Serena pairing into something more. But I suppose that, having stubbornly decided that they're never having Ash grow up, they're doing the right thing here: they know that it's already starting to get old that Serena clearly likes Ash but Ash stupidly doesn't see or misinterprets the signs, and so they've decided to have her leave at the end of Kalos instead of having her become the next Brock, i.e. the next pony whose trick we all once loved but all grew tired of when it went on for too long.

Ash: AK2 is optimistic that he'll go as far as the finals this time. I don't think he'll make it past the quarterfinals; and given how Unova went, even that could be too optimistic. But we'll see.

XY&Z's Zygarde plot: I'm honestly not too happy with this. The execution was poisoned from the start, I fear. I didn't like the differences between Anime Lysandre and Video Game Lysandre. I disliked (and now hate) Eureka's role in all of this. I don't think Squishy is an interesting character, and I'm not too interested in his greater forms either. It's kind of sad, but for me the best episodes in this story arc have typically been the ones farthest removed from the XY&Z plot. Like Serena's subplot with the Tripokalons. Or like a number of filler episodes that I enjoyed more than most.

XY&Z's Ash-Greninja plot: From where I am in the story, the jury is still too out on this one for me to be able to weigh in. I'm generally still not a fan, since I think it's silly that a Pokémon would take on the likeness of its human trainer whether undergoing normal evolution or mega evolution or burst evolution or what have you. But contradictorily I'm able to enjoy the idea of a Pokémon taking on the likeness of its trainer too. And I've always loved gijinkas, and the idea of Pokémon turning human, and the idea of humans turning into Pokémon, all sorts of ideas that relate somewhat to Ash-Greninja, so ... I guess you could sum it up by saying that 1) I'm conflicted ^^; and 2) my opinions are subject to change.

The fandom seems divided right now between those who think Sun and Moon will pursue burst evolution, which appears to be the manga-derived term for when a human mega evolves into a part-human part-Pokémon fusion, and those who do not. I'm mostly doubtful that Game Freak would do this, but as for whether I think it's a lovely or a horrible idea, again, my opinions seem to fluctuate. On the one hand I think it's silly and dumb and very Digimon-y, and I can understand the many fans who claim that they'll boycott Gen 7 if burst evolution becomes canon. But on the other hand I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested to see an exploration of the topic. I don't want it to be like what the manga was -- in the manga, actual Pokémon are trapped inside of crystals and doomed to spend the rest of their lives there as catalysts for a human to burst evolve -- but the idea of a human trainer and a max-happiness Pokémon undergoing a fusion mega evolution where they become half-human half-Pokémon ... I dunno, I simultaneously think it's stupid and exhilarating. We'll see.

I don't think it's the right fit for the canon games though, perhaps I can safely say. It feels like something best reserved for a fanfic or (at its most official) a spin-off game like Pokémon Ranger.

And the more the years pass, the more I find myself disliking that humans are even part of the discussion period with Pokémon. Which again is kinda contradictory to some of the thoughts and feelings expressed above. But like ... I really, really like how the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series handled it. I really wish that Pokémon were a world of magical creatures -- just magical creatures -- who could all talk, think, and behave like humans do. I realize it goes against a lot of fans' headcanons for the core franchise, and that a lot of people like the idea of Pokémon as being no more intelligent than house cats and other non-primates, but I dunno ... I really like PMD's take on things, and burst evolution would take us in the opposite direction of that, locking humans into the equation as being "ultimately important to the formation of the strongest warrior" instead of writing them out as completely unnecessary and quite frankly a nuisance that's in the way of good story writing.

If anyone would like to discuss episodes up through 21 (which I'll be watching shortly), feel free to engage me on those topics. I'm not going to provide essay-style posts for any of the episodes between last time and now, and going forward I can't promise more essay-style posts either. It's just going to be a lot more general and stream-of-consciousness, I think, like this post sort of was. I don't have the time to talk into the void and get no feedback, so if anyone here wants to know my thoughts on specific people, places, or events in the anime universe, you're going to have to be the one to bear the burden of initiating contact. Sorry not sorry.
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Double post. I had a few specific things I wanted to touch on, that felt like they didn't mesh with the more general discussion above.

1. I was really impressed by the depiction of Jessie's Gourgeist's Leech Seed. My impression of Leech Seed goes back to Bulbasaur vs. Venonat in Koga's gym, so to see a "leech seed" here that is more like a series of beanstalks from Jack & the Beanstalk ... it was pretty wild!

2. AK2 says that most of the people he's heard from on YouTube or elsewhere felt that (Episode 20 spoilers)

Spoiler: show
Serena got screwed out of a deserving win and that Elle turned in the inferior performance. I strongly disagree. Before I even talked with AK2 on the topic, I was strongly convinced by what we saw in XY&Z 020 that Elle deserved to hold onto her title as Kalos Queen. For me, the pinnacle of her performance -- and also one of the strongest counterarguments to the critics' reasoning -- is the part where she sort of dons Vivillon backpack-style and flies around the stage as though she is a gijinka Vivillon. She was gorgeous and the scene was spectacular. I could go into more depth but it's okay. For now, suffice it to say that I have always thought Elle did better than Serena in the finals.

3. I thought the Binacle episode was a pretty solid filler. Told AK2 I'd give it a 7 and maybe even an 8 out of 10. He informs me that the the fandom felt differently. He thought it was torture. Shrug. I liked it for what it was.

4. Pretty excited to see one of the upcoming episodes. (Without spoiling others who might not know of it, all I'll say is the codeword "clothes.")

5. Speaking of the Binacle episode -- 99% certain that the voice actor who voiced the old man is a really famous, established voice actor. I recognize his voice, I am positive of it. But I don't know his name. And have procrastinated looking back at the episode's credits to see who he is. Anyway, 99% certain that it was another awesome cameo from veteran voice actors.
1. I just dont GET people who think Kalos OR Sinnoh were the worst regions. I easily will hand that to Johto and then Unova. They both did some things right, but i definitely feel that Kalos was an upgrade from Unova:

A: Serena.
B: "Contests" are back
C. Ash isn't in reset mode anymore
D: His team is a lot more likable!
E: I enjoy the rivals more

2. I whole-heartedly feel the same way that you do about Serena's exit.

3. I'm actually feeling like im playing it TOO safe about the quarter finals, believe it or not! A LOT of people in the fandom feel Ash may win this time due to events in upcoming episodes, but we will see. Unova proved that nothing can be known for sure, but I know that the fan reaction was pretty bad. I will stick with top 4 at the least, will be very surprised if he goes below top 8 (the favorite rank of the writers, as Johto, Houen, and Unova showed)

4. I like the Ash-Greninja storyline because it's new and fresh, and things start to get bumpy from where PocketMonsters subs is at and moving forward.
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Old 06-03-2016, 12:54 PM   #255
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Watched Episode 25 of XY&Z several days ago. First 9/10 in a long while. The episode is held back by a couple things, but where it's good it's excellent. I appreciate that ShoPro is actually trying to write a character arc for Ash, something I feel like they've not done in years. And the animation between the return from commercial and the end of the battle was top notch for ShoPro, and even gave a few standard animes a run for their money in the "Yeah we can draw water pretty too" department.

I've tried finding the highlight of the episode for you guys to watch on YouTube, but it's either lo-res, has garbage audio, or has bad English subtitles that I know you won't be able to resist. So screw it: we'll settle for some slightly over-saturated animated gifs that one fan put on Tumblr:

Spoiler: show









Best Wishes and XY have taken different approaches to celebrating Ash's roster. In Unova, we had a team where lots of characters were celebrated, lots of characters had personality and history and some even had story arcs, but no one Pokémon was really Ash's "ace" or "main" for the region. Snivy was good, Oshawott was good, Pignite was fine, Unfezant won some battles ... no one really stood out at Pikachu or Charizard level. On the one hand this fits the "Unova is copying what Kanto did" theory nicely since Kanto gave us Squirtle and Charmander and Bulbasaur. But on the other hand, it's just as easy to point out how it doesn't quite fit the formula, how Charizard starts to peel away from the pack and that by the time we're in Johto it's very clear that Ash's team consists of Mascot Mouse, Charizard, and then everyone else in a very distant 3rd+ place. That appears to be the formula that Kalos has gone for here. Talonflame is sadly underdeveloped. Hawlucha had some great stuff written for him when he joined the team and then was forgotten. Noivern has no appeal. And Goodra's up in the air. But Greninja has been fashioned in the last thirty or so episodes to become sort of "the new Charizard," and while it doesn't tug on this viewer's heartstrings the way that Charizard did all through Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto, I can appreciate how what they're doing is probably working wonders for the newest generation of viewers. Greninja is really, really cool and episodes like XY&Z solidify that.
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Old 06-05-2016, 12:01 AM   #256
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Ash and Greninja are so great I get chills whenever I watch them.
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Old 07-09-2016, 06:40 AM   #257
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Anyone else really disappointed with how the league is being handled? I thought I liked the approach initially but they're just racing right through everything.
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Old 07-10-2016, 08:36 PM   #258
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Anyone else really disappointed with how the league is being handled? I thought I liked the approach initially but they're just racing right through everything.
I completely agree, I hope the upcoming matches make up for things. :/
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Old 07-10-2016, 11:28 PM   #259
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Ash's XY team is his best pokemon team he's had, with DP a close second. His Kanto and Hoenn teams were great too.

Also I'm not sure why it surprises some people that Ash usually has a "star" Pokemon each saga, usually whatever starter they're trying to promote. In the OS it was Charizard, in AG it was Sceptile, in DP Infernape, and now in XY Greninja. Johto didn't have one really because Charizard still came around, and Unova was well...Unova.

The anime is always going to have filler simply because each saga goes on for as long until the next set of games comes out, but its not like you have to watch every single filler episode. Its pretty obvious many episodes are made just to showcase a pokemon that hadn't appeared in the anime yet, and if you don't like those eps just skip over them.
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Old 07-11-2016, 07:05 AM   #260
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Ash's XY team is his best pokemon team he's had, with DP a close second. His Kanto and Hoenn teams were great too.

Also I'm not sure why it surprises some people that Ash usually has a "star" Pokemon each saga, usually whatever starter they're trying to promote. In the OS it was Charizard, in AG it was Sceptile, in DP Infernape, and now in XY Greninja. Johto didn't have one really because Charizard still came around, and Unova was well...Unova.

The anime is always going to have filler simply because each saga goes on for as long until the next set of games comes out, but its not like you have to watch every single filler episode. Its pretty obvious many episodes are made just to showcase a pokemon that hadn't appeared in the anime yet, and if you don't like those eps just skip over them.
That's true about regional stars, but with Charizard being a not too distant second place, I can honestly say they have never built up a regional Pokemon like they have with Greninja.

Second, dont get me wrong, fillers can be skipped, no problem, but as annoying as they can be, it wouldnt be as much as an experience (I love hearing commentaries by several youtubers, and my own discussions with Talon87 each week), even when the fillers are sub-par. I will certainly finish up Kalos, and depending on what happens with the League and Team Flare, Im sure I will watch Alola. However, if the fillers in it prove annoying.... well.... i may put it down for a year and binge watch for a day or two, or just.... skip crappy looking fillers and just tune in for major episodes.... I dont think I would be able to appreciate the characters as much though!
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Old 07-16-2016, 08:55 PM   #261
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Future new episode titles released...

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Episode 934: Kalos League Victory! Ash's Ultimate Match!!


will Ash actually win a league
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Old 08-01-2016, 11:24 PM   #262
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Will Ash Win Kalos League?

Hey guys sorry I haven't been on here lately! But I'm so excited for Ash to win the Kalos League! I mean he definitely will.

Anyway, if Ash wins then how do you want it to happen and do you want Ash's journey to end in Kalos? I mean I think it should, and then the new series Sun and Moon could be... Ash and Serena's kids??? ;) whatever. I won't go to far on that.

What do you think?
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Old 08-01-2016, 11:38 PM   #263
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Welcome back! Hope all has been well with you. Hope you don't mind, but I went ahead and merged your thread with the existing XY thread in an effort to keep everything categorized here in the Anime forum.

To answer your question though...

Spoiler: show
History has taught me not to believe, that they're setting this up to be another loss and have Ash come in second but... I want to believe. I really do. I'm just afraid they'll use Alain as an excuse to try to teachave another lesson. On top of that, the last few episodes has Ash so close to losing and the battle itself was so stretched out that it seemed to me that it might have been his last hurrah in Kalos... but, the episode title coming up seems to heavily imply he will win, so, we'll see.
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Old 08-02-2016, 12:13 AM   #264
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Thanks, deoxys. I should have posted that here in the first place oh well....

I mean the last battle was amazing. I was literally crying and I don't know why. It was that awesome.
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Old 08-02-2016, 01:12 AM   #265
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Guts got off the boat

Luffy will find One Piece

But I don't foresee Ash becoming a Pokemon Master.
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Old 08-02-2016, 09:12 AM   #266
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I'm 99% sure Alain's Charizard will kick his ass.
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Wins (DQ): 51 (5) Losses (DQ): 27 (6) Draws: 3
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Old 08-02-2016, 12:56 PM   #267
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I'm 99% sure Alain's Charizard will kick his ass.
Ugh.
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Old 08-02-2016, 01:13 PM   #268
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It's the sad truth, unfortunately. There's always that one asshole. Tyson, Tobias, Virgil... now it's Alain.
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Old 08-02-2016, 01:49 PM   #269
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I actually think he will. This Alain guy is too cliché even for the animé.
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Old 08-02-2016, 02:03 PM   #270
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Gen 7 is the generation of innovation, clearly Ash will win this time so we can finally be rid of him.
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Old 08-02-2016, 02:21 PM   #271
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NEW SEASON WITH MAX AS PROTAGONIST!?
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Old 08-02-2016, 11:10 PM   #272
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Gonna be Ash x Eureka's daughter.
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Old 08-03-2016, 10:16 PM   #273
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Gotta feeling that Ash is going to win the Kalos league, but the feeling isn't really justified. So far, we've only Alain's Charizard and Metang(which is most likely a metagross now), and in the league, he's only used his Charizard. In the final match, it'll obviously be Greninja v Charizard(even Ash isn't dumb enough to lose 3 or 4 pokemon to Charizard before bringing out Greninja later on). The problem will be with the rest of Alain's team. Since Alain is perceived to be a strong trainer, we have to assume that his team of 6 has got to be stacked(not on the same level as Charizard but close to). Let's just hope this isn't like the Sinnoh Semi-finals since both Tobias and Alain have defeated all opposition with only one pokemon.
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Old 08-03-2016, 11:06 PM   #274
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Ash was gimped when he faced Tobias. His team will be at full strength against Alain, so Alain would have to be significantly stronger to both overcome a full strength Ash team, and a lack of countermeasures.

Ash also got screwed against Tobias where Charizard was taken out, and he stupidly didn't bring Snorlax to the conference. There is also speculation that Latios/Darkrai were the only Pokemon Tobias had that were powerful, and the rest of his team was probably filler.

I mean in the games, that's no different from grinding your starter until it's fully evolved and riding it all the way to the Elite 4. I know some players did that. I did!

I would be surprised if Alain's entire team was strong. Though I'd be concerned if Ash doesn't bring out the big guns for his battle, and instead puts in filler Pokemon - that would suggest history repeats itself.
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Old 08-03-2016, 11:28 PM   #275
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Gonna be Ash x Eureka's daughter.
OH GOD PLEASE NO. NOOO!
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