Pokemon - The Orange League (02)

[Serebii]

The Orange League!

After his loss in the Pokémon League, Ash, Brock and Misty head to the Orange Islands to run an errand for Professor Oak...to get the GS Ball and bring it back. Brock decides to stay with Professor Ivy, the Professor who discovered the GS Ball. Ash & Misty then meet a guy called Tracey, A Pokémon Watcher. With Tracey's help Ash catches a Baby Lapras who helps ferry him around the islands. Ash partakes in the 4 Pokémon Gyms in the Orange Islands and ends up beating the Orange League Champion and getting a Trophy proving it. Ash then heads back to Pallet Town to give Professor Oak the GS Ball only to be met by Brock who had some unpleasent business on Valencia Island. Tracey decides to stay with Professor Oak to help research

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Discuss

[Medea]

Haha! First post in this!

Well let me be the first to say that this season rocked out loud! It was just a shame that it was so short. But of course the best thing in the Orange Island saga was Tracey. Plus, I enjoyed the gym battles (more than the gym battles nowadays).

[Geki]

This is probably my all time favorite saga in the anime besides AG. I loved all the fillers and battles, especially the ending one with Drake.

[Aptenodytes]

This was one of my favorite seasons. All the episodes were pretty good, and the gyms there were all unique in their own little way. Plus, that guy with the Dragonite was awesome!

[Satoshi]

Even though this was the so-called "filler saga" - it was quite enjoyable. Esspecially the Gym Battles and the all the islands. One of the most nostalgic openings took place here - Rivals.

Kenji was sort of a good character, even though he was just a replacement for Takeshi after 4kids Entertainment got to Shogakukan Productions.

[Kabuto]

Tracey wasn't much of a character. He was a filler American man because the writers thought fans (mainly Americans) did not like Brock. When they were proved wrong, Brock came back and the writers seem too scared to take him off again. Tracey did have his moments, mainly with Scyther one of my favorites and his exploration. However, If that guy came to Johto, it would've been an even bigger disaster.

[Cloud Strife]

Though Kanto was better overall, this was better percentagewise. There were like 3 shows during the entire arc which do not deserve an 8 or above, near perfect.

[charizard trainer #1]

Orange islands were good because Ash got a lapras, charizard listened (surprising back then), gym battles were very different (first double battle i believe with the 4th gym) and the inclusion of Tracey. It was a refreshing break but i think if Tracey continued in Johto or Hoenn, it would've been a distaster. I remember the final battle with Drake the most (was that Ash's first 6 on 6 battle?)

[Ashy Boy]

The Orange Islands saga was one of the best, because not only was it the only saga where Ash actually won a trophy but there wasn't a single appearance of Brock (until A Tent Situation)

[dannyphantomhott]

Awe yes the Orange Islands, another favorite season of mine. One of my favorite episodes happens to be in this season, the one where Butch and Cassidy turn there Pokemon agaisnt Ash and crew, perfection. I also loved the gym battles, they were different. Plus Tracey was introduced, he happens to be one of my favorite characters, who I miss dearly =[

[Super-Staff]

This is my personal favorite season of the anime. There were many filler episodes that I found to be better than the first season. Tracey, my favorite character, was introduced during the Orange Islands. I always found him to be a refreshing change to the over-the-top, flirty Brock. And he actually worked toward the goal that he wanted. In a way, I felt sad to see him leave the group at the end of this season, but thankfully, he comes out often enough to keep me satasfied.

The Gyms were especially impressive. I liked how it was a match of skill rather than a straight out battle. Ash seemed to develop in his strength as a trainer during this season especially. I mean, he actually won the Orange League, which should have been more of an accomplishment than what the writers show. I enjoyed Ash's captures of a Snorlax and a Lapras. The episodes revolving around those two Pokemon were very nicely written.

I'm not sure why so many Pokeshippers hated this season since I think it had the most hints toward a blossoming relationship between the two. I don't even like that pairing, yet even I can see it in OI.

The theme music was also really great, both in Japanese and English. Plus, there was an improvement in the animation during this season, which seemed to take a bit of a nosedive at some point during Johto.

All in all, it was an excellent season. A real 10/10 for me!

[bubblybubbly-bubba]

Short and sweet.Apart from Tracy.I hate him.

[Knight_Ram]

This season was great, until Brock left, from then we found Tracy who was an OK character, nothing special. I thought that this was a good filler season. Good battles, descent fillers, descent Gym battles. Great battle between the Orange champion. 7.9/10

[scizor08]

Most of this season's episodes bored me....but in the orange league I liked it.

[GDE]

the gyms were so interesting in this season

[crawdauntpro]

It was great to see Charizard obeying Ash and the Gym battles and League battle were again unique but always pulled twists out of no-where to make it a success for Ash to win.
All in all; 9/10.

[Raikipper]

I've probably seen the Orange Island episodes more times than any other season of Pokemon, chiefly because they were the ones which happened to be airing during the peak of my Poke-fandom (which had gathered steam throughout Kanto and then started to wane around midway through Johto).

Orange League had its plus points, but on the whole I have to say that I prefer its predecessor. With apologies to his fanbase, I was never really able to warm to Tracey. The first time it aired, I'd actually missed the three or four episodes which encompassed the connective arc between Kanto and Orange, including Brock's departure, so when I was finally able to tune in again, I must admit that I was mildly shocked to see Brock (probably my favourite of Ash's team) gone and what had struck me as a rather arbitrary character in his place. Tracey wasn't exactly overtly unlikeable as a character, but I always found him to a bit bland and uninteresting - whereas Brock had carved out a nice little niche for himself as an older brother figure to Ash, Tracey felt more like this random guy who'd tagged along primarily for the sake of it. Which is pretty much what he was, for the most part.

Early on in the series, I was slightly disappointed with how the Gym battles in the Orange Island functioned. I appreciate that it came in the interests of variation, but having the challenges revolve around sports games rather than actual battles did remove a fair bit of the appeal for me. I was relieved, in the latter half of the season, when the challenges made an effort to return to the franchise's basic roots of Pokemon battling, with an interesting twist in either case (matched-elements and double battles). The final battle against Drake was easily the most exciting and dramatic battle we'd had up to that point, so no complaints there.

It was a curiously short season all-round, with only half the number of Gyms of Kanto, and only one big final challenge. Perhaps because, as a whole, it was something of a filler Season, to give Ash something to do between Kanto, which had followed the basic narrative of the original games, and Johto, which would tie-in with the next generation of games and introduce us to the eagerly-awaited new batch of Pokemon. The abrupt, but fortunately only temporary loss of Brock left me somewhat cold, but there were some good and interesting adventures therein, and it took Ash and his friends to a variety of colourful new locations.

[BM14murph]

I have to say i had quite a soft spot for this season although it was short it was still a good way to surprise us like Brock leaving wasn't something people expected and the fact that the orange islands weren't in the game.

Charizard obeying Ash was epic and the final battle the first 6 0n 6 pure brilliance

[Slowking[George]]

I have to say i had quite a soft spot for this season although it was short it was still a good way to surprise us like Brock leaving wasn't something people expected and the fact that the orange islands weren't in the game.

Charizard obeying Ash was epic and the final battle the first 6 0n 6 pure brilliance

Indeed, the bond that was built between Ash and Charizard was something that all the fandom hd been expecting for quite some time. The first 6 on 6 battle was indeed epic.
The season also had great gym battles, which escaped from the "3 on 3" or "1 on 1" standard gym battles. The actual gym challenges like the target shooting and the first double battle in the anime were simply amazing to watch.

[Sayho1234]

I love the Orange League season for many reasons. One of my main reasons being was not knowing what to expect next. This was the season that took place right after the Kanto season. Being that the Kanto season was based off of the RBY games, and after you beat the Indigo League in the RBY games the game is pretty much done & there's not much else left to do (besides catch all 151 pokemon) all of us Pokemon fans who were a part of the original generation of kids who were affected by the Pokemon phenomenon craze were wondering just what the hell Ash, Misty, and Brock were going to do next?

The Orange League wasn't based off of any games, so every episode (at least IMHO) that took place during that season after the end of the Indigo League was pretty much watchable just to see where the writers were going to take Ash's journey to next without a game to base it off of. In the RBY games & the sequel games of the generations that took place after it we all knew about all of the locations of where Ash and the gang were going to thus his journey was pretty much already mapped out & set in stone in those seasons since we all had the games to "follow along with Ash". This unique season however didn't have that to it at all thus the writers were allowed with a really rare opportunity for absolute creative freedom, and a chance to really satisfy us Pokemon fans from the original generation (& capture even more of our attention spans) who were practically already on the edge of our seats after the epic end of the Indigo League. That element of curiosity about the unknown future of Ash's pokemon journey very easily made this the best season of all IMHO.

Also another reason why this was the best season of all (which goes back to that unknown element that I was talking about) was checking out every week to see if anymore new pokemon from the upcoming generation were going to be seen or not. We saw a few Johto pokemon in the 1st movie Pikachu short, and the writers sorta teased us some more when Tracey had also revealed that he had a Johto pokemon on his team. The idea of the possibility of the writers leaking a few more new Johto pokemon here or there into the episodes was yet another reason not to miss an episode of the Orange League during the original airing of this season.