Pokemon Anime vs. Manga (PokeSpe, DPA, anything)

[Izanagi]

Well, the Pokemon anime is for children like it or not and it is a toyetic franchise first and foremost. However, I don't want to see a story that never ends and I know they do this on purpose and the show no longer for me anymore but they could at last end Ash's story and tell the story of a new journey. That would be preferable to resetting every 3-4 years.

[matt0044]

With the Pokemon anime, It's easy to start off literally anywhere in the series and follow it along. While yes, Ash has had his own pokemon teams previously and it is annoying to see him go from a veteran trainer who has participated in a previous pokemon league to a rookie over and over again, there is good reason for it, and it's because you always get new audiences for the show. The audience for the show are mainly children, and unless they want to look through the internet, it's difficult to try to go back over 300 episodes to watch Pokemon from season 1. By starting off a new season of Pokemon with Ash having no other Pokemon except Pikachu (and maybe one more Pokemon) and getting a starter pokemon from the region's professor, it gives the children something to relate to, since they have probably played pokemon before and want to see Ash get new pokemon and battle new people.

Fair enough but why keep Ash in this case? Keeping Ash and even referencing his past insinuates a linear story feel yet it's not suppose to be. And with Ash's regression in BW, it really shows the flaws of this plan. Why not do what PokeSpe and the games do and change the protagonists with each new region for each new audience? Wouldn't that be a better idea?

I mean, take how Ash's previous female companions return to the show. Wouldn't these newer viewers feel the effects of a Continuity Lockout? For example:

Me watching BW when Dawn returns (hypothetically): Who is this girl? And how does she know Ash? What's this Counter Shield? WHAT IS GOING ON?

Right there, the whole new audience ploy falls apart when Ash is forced to stay. Why not go the Power Rangers/Super Sentai route?

[Izanagi]

Fair enough but why keep Ash in this case? Keeping Ash and even referencing his past insinuates a linear story feel yet it's not suppose to be. And with Ash's regression in BW, it really shows the flaws of this plan. Why not do what PokeSpe and the games do and change the protagonists with each new region for each new audience? Wouldn't that be a better idea?

I mean, take how Ash's previous female companions return to the show. Wouldn't these newer viewers feel the effects of a Continuity Lockout? For example:

Me watching BW when Dawn returns (hypothetically): Who is this girl? And how does she know Ash? What's this Counter Shield? WHAT IS GOING ON?

Right there, the whole new audience ploy falls apart when Ash is forced to stay. Why not go the Power Rangers/Super Sentai route?

I agree they should simply end Ash's story and tell the journey of a new protagonist. They reset every 3-4 year right? That is the perfect time to tell the story of a new character then trying the retell the story of the same character with new Pokemon.

[Rio!]

I agree they should simply end Ash's story and tell the journey of a new protagonist. They reset every 3-4 year right? That is the perfect time to tell the story of a new character then trying the retell the story of the same character with new Pokemon.

The unfortunate thing is, the producers are so far down the series in the first place, that it's pretty much moot for them at this point. I don't even watch it unless a movie/particular episodes vaguely interest me...and most of the time, it's just the pretty, pretty animation itself. xd

Needless to say though, I MUCH prefer the manga over the anime.
The fact that it doesn't follow the same protagonist ALL the time helps too.

[EmphaticPikachu]

Fair enough but why keep Ash in this case? Keeping Ash and even referencing his past insinuates a linear story feel yet it's not suppose to be. And with Ash's regression in BW, it really shows the flaws of this plan. Why not do what PokeSpe and the games do and change the protagonists with each new region for each new audience? Wouldn't that be a better idea?

I mean, take how Ash's previous female companions return to the show. Wouldn't these newer viewers feel the effects of a Continuity Lockout? For example:

Me watching BW when Dawn returns (hypothetically): Who is this girl? And how does she know Ash? What's this Counter Shield? WHAT IS GOING ON?

Right there, the whole new audience ploy falls apart when Ash is forced to stay. Why not go the Power Rangers/Super Sentai route?

But to be honest, that never bothered me as a child ._...characters coming in that he knew before hand never bothered me. hell, even now, older characters returning, even if you don't even remember them that well, STILL feel new and refreshing. Despite being a Dawn fanboy, I distinctly remember being relatively sad and upset with the pokemon anime when I found out May was going to be replaced. I didn't wanna see her go. Granted, I saw Dawn and the new region (I just hit puberty around that time, don't attack me. @.@), and I got back into it.

Still, the impact of a character leaving who has long overstayed his welcome may not seem like much to us, in fact, many of us would prefer it...but to children, it may or may not matter. And to say that the feeling of not knowing a certain character destroys the new auidence ploy is ridiculous.

[matt0044]

But to be honest, that never bothered me as a child ._...characters coming in that he knew before hand never bothered me. hell, even now, older characters returning, even if you don't even remember them that well, STILL feel new and refreshing. Despite being a Dawn fanboy, I distinctly remember being relatively sad and upset with the pokemon anime when I found out May was going to be replaced. I didn't wanna see her go. Granted, I saw Dawn and the new region (I just hit puberty around that time, don't attack me. @.@), and I got back into it.

Still, the impact of a character leaving who has long overstayed his welcome may not seem like much to us, in fact, many of us would prefer it...but to children, it may or may not matter. And to say that the feeling of not knowing a certain character destroys the new auidence ploy is ridiculous.

Okay, it doesn't destroy it but it kinda goes against their intentions in a way. I just can't help but scratch my head and ask "why?"

[Bolt the Cat]

I think keeping Ash throughout the series has to do with marketing IIRC. Put Ash and Pikachu on anything and it'll sell like hotcakes.

[EmphaticPikachu]

Okay, it doesn't destroy it but it kinda goes against their intentions in a way. I just can't help but scratch my head and ask "why?"

Because people still like to see SOME canoness I guess. I'm sure the animators/writers have some desire to show off older characters eventually, I don't think them not appearing again is not possible. ._... I dunno, but characters coming back always felt good for noglasticness. Look at the N episode...despite the fact N is main star, you wanna know what half the fanbase is screaming about? The fact that there a charizard on the poster ._....Immeidate Hype. I assume older characters temporarily brings older fans back (some...defiantly not all), and the kids are interested in who these people ash seems to know are. Even if they don't usually get a full explaination, I'm pretty sure they can figure out pokemon's been going on for a while...xD

I think keeping Ash throughout the series has to do with marketing IIRC. Put Ash and Pikachu on anything and it'll sell like hotcakes.

If I may say so, half the pokemon shiz that don't make sense is thoroughly a marketing ploy. Two games with exclusive pokemon? Marketing. Trading to evolve pokemon? Marketing. (How does trading pokemon make them evolve without a man made item? ._...you can speculate all you want...but I don't think they really ever had a REAL reason.) In a sense, being portable and encouraged battling? Marketing. I say that because they distinctively knew that those things would raise sales and increase the overall fanbase for the series...(Well, they thought it would...and boy did it. ._.). You wanna know the best thing though? We all loved it and ate it up. There was a reason it was a fad ._... And Marketing ideas for anything don't necessarily mean its bad, just making sure. ._....

So yeah, Ash is a marketing thing I guess, but it doesn't mean its truly horrible...nor does it mean its good. But Best wishes still stays in the top ten shows on Tv tokyo...And most of the ones that beat it are family shows if I remember correctly.

[Bolt the Cat]

If I may say so, half the pokemon shiz that don't make sense is thoroughly a marketing ploy. Two games with exclusive pokemon? Marketing. Trading to evolve pokemon? Marketing. (How does trading pokemon make them evolve without a man made item? ._...you can speculate all you want...but I don't think they really ever had a REAL reason.) In a sense, being portable and encouraged battling? Marketing. I say that because they distinctively knew that those things would raise sales and increase the overall fanbase for the series...(Well, they thought it would...and boy did it. ._.). You wanna know the best thing though? We all loved it and ate it up. There was a reason it was a fad ._... And Marketing ideas for anything don't necessarily mean its bad, just making sure. ._....

So yeah, Ash is a marketing thing I guess, but it doesn't mean its truly horrible...nor does it mean its good. But Best wishes still stays in the top ten shows on Tv tokyo...And most of the ones that beat it are family shows if I remember correctly.

Well I didn't say that excuses the bad writing.

[Thomas Elliot]

My introduction to Pokemon was through the anime and when I watched the first few seasons I enjoyed them. For the most part my friends and I were into all things Pokemon (games, cards, TV, movies) so we consumed all of it. If it was Pokemon related we were there.

The anime became this repetitive cycle and very quickly (around Orange Islands) I realized that unless Ash was battling I did not really care to watch it. Eventually unless Gary was in the episode or Ash was battling in a tournament I didn't tune in. When Ash battled Drake for that two part episode was probably my favorite since Drake had so many Pokemon that I had not seen a trainer use.

I remember being introduced to the magna with the Electric Tale of Pikachu and Pokemon Adventures and found they were able to keep my attention for much longer than the anime. When Gary unleashed his Nidoking, Arcanine and Gyarados, they were just plain scary looking to me. It was my first time I saw Pokemon portrayed in a different light that was not the cutesy anime perspective I was introduced to. Going back to the Drake story arc in the anime, the confrontation also took place in the magna and I realized how much better it was handled in the manga as well.
Pokemon Adventures in my mind successfully captured what type of story the anime would have been better suited for while continuing to portray the characters in a way that children could have enjoyed it too. Seeing Red actually get hurt, and revealing that there were truly evil characters in this world, not just bumbling idiots, went a long way towards solidifying my enjoyment of the manga.

For me the manga will always be the better of the two.

[Dwail8023]

I agree they should simply end Ash's story and tell the journey of a new protagonist. They reset every 3-4 year right? That is the perfect time to tell the story of a new character then trying the retell the story of the same character with new Pokemon.

Agreed. Also, love the Ginyu force-esque you have for the Pokemon evil group leaders.

[matt0044]

One thing about Pokemon Manga overall is that (and this is a personal theory of mine) the various Manga are usually written and drawn by one guy, the Mangaka, who have more creative liberty (though their editors may object to somethings) and the chance to really tell a story unlike the Anime which is pretty much one huge commercial riddled with filler or just overall dull moments. The Anime has this vibe that the writers just have no idea what they're doing or where this "story" is heading.