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Post by michael147 on Oct 6, 2020 14:35:11 GMT
Here will be my soul cry about what I don't like in Pokémon.
1. The thing I don't like most is the predictable main story. This concerns Satoshi and his female companions collecting trophies. By the end of the series they are bound to have sufficient amount of them to compete at the major events, and so do their main rivals. What would happen if Hikari was late for a contest? What would happen if Satoshi went home after giving up the Isshu League? What would happen if Serena failed to qualify for the Master Class?
2. I am also really upset that we never see Satoshi completely giving up the league qualification for a series, two or forever, and focusing his life on other things. Would you like to see Satoshi as a Top Coordinator, a First-Class breeder, a mayor that has lots of people and Pokémon to care about, a businessman that does great things for them, a researcher, a kahuna, a reporter, a gym leader or a teacher at the Pokémon school? I am pretty sure becoming a Pokémon master can be reached through each of the jobs above. I am also sure that pairings can help in defining his future - for example, with Mao Satoshi would run the Aina Cafeteria, with Serena he would be her personal trainer and manager, with Lillie he would run a care centre for Pokémon, with Hikari he would be two Top Coordinators who would earn a living by making burning performances outside the contest timetable.
3. The scores of Satoshi's gym and league matches is predictable as well. Usually it is 3-2 in gyms. We rarily see him winning 3-0 or 3-1. There is a tendency in full league battles which were won by Satoshi - the scores were 6-5 in his L16 match with Gary, in his QF match with Shinji, in SF with Shota, in F match with Kukui. I am upset with this still ongoing cliche that is ultimately a forced intrigue.
4. Satoshi is rarily seen at his own home and with all his caught Pokémon as if they no more exist. This comes from another upsetting thing which is the plot stem depending too much on the games. We don't know how he would relax if he had enough time at home, nor we don't know if he and his previous Pokémon don't forget each other. For comparison, real domestic animals are usually unhappy when their owners leave them even if they are given to people who care for them. It fits the game's structure but is really an inconsistency of Satoshi's character who loves Pokémon.
5. I also don't like inconsistencies. In the games you have the maximum of 6 Pokémon in party. Satoshi was limited to have 6 Pokémon too as it was seen at different times. But some trainers like Virgil had more than 6. I'll leave it to you to consider if it was dishonesty to Satoshi. I can also point to the fact that despite that he lives in Kuchiba City now, he still ignores his and Hikari's Eteboth...
This is all for now but I will add if I remember something else.
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Post by Pearlshipping4life on Oct 6, 2020 18:40:08 GMT
I like those things tbh. You’re thinking too much as if it’s real life. I like the sense of being a kid and chasing your dreams the only way you know how. It’s SO relaxing to come home after a stressful 14 hour day and taking an hour to watch some Pokémon. It reminds me that the fire I hide inside is born to burn. It’s not meant to be perfect, but it helps people keep the kid inside alive, it’s nostalgia. Predictable is fair, but it’s a kids show.
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Post by michael147 on Oct 6, 2020 22:51:45 GMT
Yeah, I know it's a kids show. But lots of its fans are older than 20, even 30. And since they didn't drop it, they can also be the target audience.  It would be unwise not to think of maintaining our interest. I mean like how it was done by the creators of "Naruto/Boruto", where older characters grew up with Shippuuden and later became adults, each finding their path and creating families. As for the Pokemonverse being closer to the real life, I can't see any problems with the kids. Having a dream is okay, but it depends on how possible is reaching it. Or maybe it is already reached when we talk about Satoshi. Anyway, sometimes you need to try something new and it can completely change the real human and character's path. Even if you are a kid, you can whenever do the same, change activities, hobbies and lifestyle. In Pokémon we have Takeshi who works hard to change occupation, we have Hikari who has a real alternative of becoming a Pokémon stylist and a model and we have Satoshi who can switch his occupation to coordinating or help Mao in the cafeteria where he contributed his time and efforts several times. We also have Naoshi and Melissa who combined their occupations. And the profession theme is quite actual for teens. Besides, I also don't see any problems of Satoshi returning home more often than it was before. It could show his training, his interactions with Pokémon, with Professor Okido and his Mom. If you remember DP series, something like this was covered in the Hikari - Ayako relationship and in the first special about Hikari. And as for the scores, when battles are intense, a 6-3 or 6-4 score is also possible but it wouldn't be a cliche any more. I just think it would help the anime to be more interesting and less stubborn, primarily because of the games' stuff. It is already partially moving that way |
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Post by michael147 on Oct 6, 2020 23:27:32 GMT
Now about a fire in a heart. Could you say what things do usually make you happy - expected or unexpected? Were you happy with the "Tanks for the Memories" and the recent episode where Pikachu travelled back to Masara Town? Do you like to eat one and the same food everyday or a variety of dishes? And as I say, doing different activities, including training his Pokémon at the Okido's lab doesn't contradict with Satoshi's dream - in fact, it can even help him to further enrich his experience with Pokémon. |
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Post by Pearlshipping4life on Oct 7, 2020 0:51:35 GMT
Well I think you’re forgetting, Satoshi’s dream of “Pokémon Master” isn’t just winning a league or catching all Pokémon. According to Satoshi himself it is much much more. And he has experimented many of lifestyles (stylist, coordinator, cooking, he is sort of a professors assistant now) and everything. He’s done a lot, but he still has one ultimate goal. For me it’s like my music. I love playing acoustic guitar and the country/pop sounds and yet I LOVE rock and r&b.
I wouldn’t say what I’m doing always makes me happy as you say though, but part of keeping the fire alive is pushing when the flame is low, aka the depression arcs when the characters think they should give up on their dreams. Notably Dawn comes to mind for obvious reasons.
A “Pokémon master”, a “Pokémon coordinator” I feel are more dreams than jobs. Yes they are definitely jobs, but when it’s a dream then it’s more a fairytale than work (ups and downs involved)
The whole point of them not always changing their path is to give the sense to a kid that no dream is unrealistic if you work hard enough. Hell I still try and be a musician even after my father told me I’m a .5/10 and got mocked for it. I’ve been beaten to the ground a lot, and so have the characters and everyone else in the world. I think people give up on dreams too easily, and Pokémon really backs the idea up to not stop chasing no matter what. I don’t want to see Ash switch or at least not till he truly has done what he needs to with traveling and all.
So many things happen day to day. Dreams come true, broken hearts heal, people make new friends, find new love, but only when the kid at heart stays and pushes. When adult life and stress starts to overshadow it’s when I take a break and they do that in the show too.
I don’t know, that’s just me. I just want to see all the goals they have come to fruition because it’s too common to see them not see the light of day
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Post by Pearlshipping4life on Oct 7, 2020 0:53:48 GMT
6/5 is cliche, but at least they switch it up every once in a while. 6/4 and 6/3 really aren’t intense in my opinion. But that’s me and we don’t really see full battles all too often
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Post by michael147 on Oct 7, 2020 7:25:42 GMT
About the "Pokémon master" goal. It's not about winning a league or catching all Pokémon (it's left to Gou ) I think it was partially uncovered by Professor Okido and Shirona who can be called the Pokémon masters. Professor Okido cared for an upset wild Hasubrero and Shirona cared for a sick wild Meloetta. The common feature between those two is not battling leagues - it is the deep knowledge of Pokémon and helping even wild of them in need. The way Satoshi helped a wild Hippopotas, a wild Fushide and a wild Caterpie has made me feel that Satoshi has reached this goal to some extent. The issue here is that he needs to improve himself where his expertise is lacking, but he is too focused on battles, so he really improves only where it is already good. If you play only one music style, how can you apply something new not trying the other styles? Hikari was the best girl for Satoshi in terms of getting the new experiences and applying them to his battle style, but aside from that, what are the other fields from where he took something from his companions? Take, for example, Takeshi or even Serena - have we ever seen Satoshi asking them to teach him about grooming his Pokémon or making food for them, while it is said that he loves Pokémon? He is an expert in battles but when it comes to care, his Pokémon may have messy fur and may often be hungry - this can be the quite possible output if he travels alone. It's the same as a musician that likes to play the instrument but doesn't care to maintain it in a good condition. And this is in the context of Satoshi's dream. |
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Post by michael147 on Oct 7, 2020 7:49:23 GMT
Of course, following a dream is good like Hikari following her quite obvious destination of becoming a Top Coordinator that is reached by winning one of Grand Festivals. Takeshi, Serena and other protagonists have precise paths too (Pokémon doctor, Kalos Queen, making the food that makes people and Pokémon smile). But when it comes to Satoshi, does he have a precise destination in his dream? Is it normal to pursuit something undefined? As for me, if it is not the goal I mentioned in the previous post, is it just a camouflage of battle dependability? I wonder who is Satoshi behind the constant battles.
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Post by Pearlshipping4life on Oct 8, 2020 6:47:33 GMT
You’re skipping over stuff being said. I play all forms of music like Satoshi has covered all sorts of things based around Pokémon. From the first episode to now he has become a better battler, a better caretaker, understands Pokémon deeper, and all of that. His first, most important goal is being a great battler with his friends and having that bond. And he states that the battle help him understand his Pokémon more and more. There’s a lot of context we are given to prove that he is more than a battler and is always improving towards “Pokémon master”. There’s a reason the professors are called “professors” and Satoshi is aiming to be a “Pokémon master”. They are different definitions in his book. Ash has learned basic cooking and care taking from Brock, Cilan, etc. notably after “Doc Brock”. You see him bathing his Pokémon and Dawn’s. He plays with them too. He takes everything about Pokémon to heart. If you are saying he hasn’t learned anything from each traveling companion then I think you need to rewatch. They all learn from one another, that’s the point of having other companions and friends Now I don’t expect him to be a great cook honestly. But it’s not like we are making our pets food so buying food premade or even him finding berries and fruits is good to see. The point is, yes there are many ways to reach a goal, but the end goal is that goal specifically and it seems like he has experience in many forms so he knows that the battle path is the one for him. Just like my music, I’ve tried other jobs and hobbies, nothing makes me as excited, but the dream is defined by the person chasing it. It doesn’t have to make sense to everyone for it to be a real dream that can be achieved. |
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Post by michael147 on Oct 8, 2020 11:38:45 GMT
"You're skipping over stuff being said"
I'm not. When I told about music, I didn't mean you, I meant it only as an example of how Satoshi behaved.
When you told me that he cares about his Pokémon, I agree. But the fact is that we usually see only physical contacts with him. The role of giving them food regularly was taken by Takeshi, Dent, Serena, Clemont and Mao, so was he really into it? Yes, there were rare cases that come to my mind when he directly gave food like yokan in DP, the yellow heart-shaped cookie and some poffin-like food in a plane and in all these cases it was only to Pikachu but he had a lot of other Pokémon. Washing was seen only on one occasion, right, in DP 094. He also hugged and tickled them. But I wonder how many cases are there of Satoshi brushing them? How many of them would you count through all the anime? Maybe I'm wrong, but either Dawn and Serena were seen doing it more often.
"Satoshi has covered all sorts of things based around Pokémon."
It's also debatable because of HOW he covered them. Let's start with contests - what did he say to Mikuri and Hikari when he was offered to participate in the Mikuri Cup? "But we forgot how to do burning perfomances pretty quickly". This is Satoshi's expertise in contests judged by him. The return of Pokémon ping-pong in SM was also notable in terms of how Satoshi covered things - what did he say? "It sounds kind of familiar", not "I remember it (how to play)." How easily does he forget some experiences he got before? Maybe because he wasn't practicing them for a long time?
"From the first episode to now he has become a better battler, a better caretaker, understands Pokémon deeper."
I agree but the progress would be much better if he wasn't so stubborn with battling so that poor Serena had to stop him from battling just before registering for the Lumiose Conference. Man, he could be late for it after all hard work of collecting badges. So his battle dependability could have prevented him from getting so desired yet vague Pokémon master thing. And this is Satoshi's problem.
"Ash has learned basic cooking and care taking from Brock, Cilan, etc. notably after âDoc Brock."
Also debatable. When Satoshi and Iris tried to help Dent with cooking, what result did he get and how he reacted to it? "This cooking stuff is harder than I thought". This means that he hasn't learned basic cooking from Brock or Cilan, he has just started to learn.
"Now I donât expect him to be a great cook honestly. But itâs not like we are making our pets food..."
If he starts to travel with a girl as old as him or even younger once he leaves the Sakuragi laboratory, do you think the girl would constantly make food for him and his Pokémon? This surely means that Satoshi must learn how to cook well, at least in order not to poison himself (like in the poffin creation episode). The circumstances may also require him to make special food for his Pokémon, like Hikari made for Pachirisu and Takeshi made for Pichu in DP 190.
My position is that Satoshi has to become a fully-fledged trainer and not just a keen battler.
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It would be unwise not to think of maintaining our interest. I mean like how it was done by the creators of "Naruto/Boruto", where older characters grew up with Shippuuden and later became adults, each finding their path and creating families.
need a break from that. I cannot express how much more I appreciate fan-translations of anything now