Pokemon season one a case of nostalgia goggles?

TLDR: So Ill just say this, your not wrong. Im pretty sure the whole aim of the second series (AG and beyond) was for it not to be as craptacular as the majority of the Original Series. But heres the thing, of the 270 or so episodes that make up the original series, the only thing that redeems it are the first 115 (Kanto and Orange IslanRAB). SO bascially your question has been answered throughly, season one isnt beloved because of nostalgia but because it actually was a pretty entertaining and fun show to watch. The fact that the show had to pretty much go back to its roots with AG and make itself more like the first season, only with more good then bad, should pretty much tell you all that you would want to know about season one.
 
But in essence, Pokemon is not a fighting franchise. Maybe that's why the overfocus on battles in the anime (and the fandom) dissapoints me.



Well watching someone train pokemon isn't nearly as fun as training them yourselves in the video games, so I can see why they wouldn't want to focus too much on training.



Villains:Team Rocket is still filler fodder for every episode and do nothing for the plots that actually matter.

Rivals: Only a matter of opinion really; and I don't think the D/P rivals have been as impressive as say, Drew and Harley.

Pokemon: Still being exposed and marketed like they always have been. No big deal.

Action: The battles have impressive animation but not so impressive pacing.

Comedy: This show barely has any funny characters left. The pokemon (like Brock's Crogunk) get the funniest moments.

Adventure: No fun at all. I can only hope the Team Galactic conclusion delivers.

Training: Again, who wants to watch too much training?

Drama: A bit lacking, though I hear some of the D/P stuff (usually with Dawn or Chimchar) have been decent. AGAIN, I hope the Team Galactic conclusion delivers.

Supporting Characters: Like....who?

Character Development: The longtime characters have gotten horribly bland and annoying. Only the new characters get any character development but it depenRAB on how it's written as to whether or not it's good or bad development.



If it's still big in Japan, then fine. Other cultures are not so accepting.



And that's fine for you to enjoy it how it is. I'd just like more people to acknowledge that the show has lost it's way from what it used to be or what it could have been, rather than have "improved" over the course of 600+ episodes. But everyone's going to have different opinions and these opinions seem pretty strong. Maybe it's best that this thread get left alone.



Thanks, I agree wholeheartedly. Though I don't get what you're saying about AG. IMO, between the first half of Hoenn and the Battle Frontier arc, it got pretty dull. Not as barley watchable as Johto or Sinnoh, but still dull.
 
I guess I'll throw in my quick two cents since I've been watching the show since '98.

The main reason I even watch the show is because it's the extremely rare case in the realm of videogame-based anime that actually remains solidly grounded to the content of the videogame that it's based on. This is not hard since the games always star "you" as the main Trainer, so the game itself has a somewhat open ended story although there is the main game to push through which is where much of the game's plot lies. As someone who's been playing the games hardcore since they came stateside in '98, it amuses me to watch this show because it actually fleshes out the games' world in a unique way, staying so very close to the games' original portrayal of its gameplay mechanics, characters, locales, etc. Where the games are the core canon material, the anime is a more fully-realized "real world" version of the game.

Reflecting on the original Kanto story arc, I guess I can look back on it nostalgically. But at the same time, I can see the major flaws - the animation was clearly not up to par, there was lots of lame filler episodes, and the plots for each episode were generally repetitive. But, like I said, it amused me to see the world in the games being fleshed out and I just kind of accepted it at face value. After all, the anime is just a big advertising vehicle for the games in the first place. But at the same time, the anime really complemented the games and really got you interested in playing. I guess in my head, as I played the games, I could pretend that I was another Trainer out there in the anime who could theoretically cross paths with Ash and co. or Team Rocket. And that's exactly what the game producers and the anime producers wanted you to think. I love that the games and the anime are produced in tandem like this. It perpetuates that thinking of being a Trainer in the game while experiencing it closer to home through the anime every week.

Watching it today, I'm glad that the anime has grown alongside the games, and in that vein the audience as well. While we still follow Ash's exploits (albeit the fact that he hasn't aged in over ten years), it's nice to see that they're challenging him with slightly fresher, more interesting story devices and characters, keeping the newer audience and longtime Pok
 
LEMON LEMON LEMON it goes to show you this Ash is a cub scout he's just Vanilla Ice Cream so what if he battles for Pokemon it goes to show how much personality they have. With Dawn this isn't some educational show oh you go first I have manners! no this is raw skill I mean if you saw Darkrai or Mew just sitting there would you let somebody you just met take it Hell no you say TADOW! who got the Mew Now?! that thing with Paul that's just a watered down Spongebob and Squidward Elementary be good to those that annoy you formula any real anime would have characters hate who they hate end of story not some BI-Polar flip-flop he's a jerk I kinda of like him just the same with Misty she loathed her sister's because that's real conflict how would it be now if they were all buddy buddy it wouldn't work because Misty's a hateful little witch. and the Gym leaders have no personality the gym leaders who used fossil pokemon one screamed what he loved all day and the other had Father Issues that never got resolved man what personality. you say his Pokemon aren't over powered but your old argument stated he was getting through the Gym leaders by luck so what he's lucky their strong? and Dawn and May aren't interesting they get into outfits and flut around Misty did that once in the Princess competition and the only reason they became interesting was because they found something in the game the girls could do that didn't upstage the boys. Paul and Barry aren't interesting their the same as Gary cheap shots at the trainers skill and their arrogance. the Only thing positive I can say about this season is Pokemon are getting more developed I can't tell how long I wanted Psyduck to show more Psychic powers aside from piplup those Pokemon have spirit
 
I have...but I saw the show first, and I played the games first when I was like four, so I knew less than Ash. Maybe that has something to do with it. I get a jolt occasionaly, watching Ash's mistakes now, but it doesn't bother me to the point where it hurts the first season.

Also, on the subject of the first season Gym Battles; yeah, him getting badges because of Team Rocket was cheap, but the Sabrina thing? I thought that was a great idea. It had Ash actually doing something, as opposed to them just having another battle. It may have been unfaithful to the games, but to me, it captured pretty well what I believe is the real theme of the first season; adventure, the thrill of exploring new places and discovering new creatures. I think that my be my real problem with most of the post-season 1 episodes- everything feels so... regulated.

And, c'mon, don't close the thread because of one bad post. I'll admit that this is a bit more heated than your average discussion (what is it about Pokemon that does that to people?), but aside from that one I think everyone is being reasonably civil.
 
I think that's also why they introduced Contests in AG. They needed to have some other quest going on so it wouldn't be just tons of episodes inbetween Ash's next badge. Plus, they wanted to promote Contests from the recent games and it also allowed them to have female characters more active in the series.

As for Team Galactic, I think that it can work since they're using more of the characters that appeared in the games much sooner than the Team Magma and Aqua characters did in AG. I think that they're also doing a better job with having Team Galactic appear in the series where they also appeared in the games. Other than the GS Ball, I can't think any other season long arcs that weren't in the games.



While I agree with you that the main point of Pokemon is not about fighting, I still think that battles are a key factor into the franchise. The anime series, video games and Adventure/Special, emphasis bonding with Pokemon through training and battles. They also focus on the adventure and enjoying the journey as well, though I think that the series focuses on that aspect the most.



While the show isn't as huge in the U.S. as it is in Japan, the fact that it has been on the air for about eleven years also says how it has been accepted by the general target audience.



I did like how Ash traveled to Lavender Town to try to defeat Sabrina since they did emphasis how his current team wasn't strong enough to handle Psychic types. However, I thought that the way he won the badge was like his cheapest win among all of the Kanto Gym Leaders. Haunter just made Sabrina laugh for the first time in ages and he got the badge for that. That just felt really weird.



Technically, Ash never caught Haunter as it was just following him for the heck of it and he never put it in a Pokeball, or even thought about it.
 
I agree, the 'Raikou! Legend Of Thunder!' special (Japanese version, not the terrible English dub) was good, and could have been used as a starting point for a new series. Using those characters, to explore the Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal areas.

Pokemon became only a commercial for the video games, in Johto League onwarRAB.
 
The show's ALWAYS been a commercial for the video games. Originally it was supposed to be just a compliment to the games like the manga were, but when Nintendo saw how popular the anime made the video games, they decided to extend it even further (hence we got stuff like Pok
 
Oh hey, I was looking for this thread.

I think it's moments like these that make me remeraber why I liked the first season more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYQk-QZUDRs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtHsEDNVM8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk1M8ffX9Jg

It's because I used to giggle more back then. Even when I didn't get the obvious sexual references from Brock . (God, I miss 4KiRAB Brock....)
 
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