Was BW the Worst Season?

GenericBWHater2000

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YES IT WAS!!!

The characters were annoying, Ash was immature and weak when he used to be badass, Iris was such a negative nancy, they reset Ash just to make Iris look better and it didn't even work - Misty is this character done RIGHT - and Cilan's food puns were awful, they should have kept Brock. Brock never referenced food in every single sentence.

And then they had to use stock footage in every single battle, even in the league!

Team Rocket stopped appearing in every episode, so those w/out them were BORING.
 

ChiefLittleFish

Given Up on Collecting the TCG
Member
I actually saw very little of this series (like 5 minutes of 1 episode), but I absolutely could not stand it. From watching at least most of the previous anime, what I watched of BW was just so far from what I was accustomed to or something.

Sure Ash may have made some stupid decisions, but is it like he hasn't before, numerous times? However it has been mentioned that he has forgotten basic trainer tips, which I believe is unacceptable at this point, but being more focused on a younger audience who may not have been able to watch earlier seasons, they want to place an emphasis on those sorts of things. This is similar to him using his pokedex on Pokemon that he has even previously captured.

As for travel companions, Brock and Misty were definitely my favorites, and Tracey was pretty good, too. But Ash has always technically had 2 "experts" with him except for Gen. 4 (Brock/Tracey & Misty, Brock & Max, Brock, and Cilan & Iris). My main point here is, does he really still need people more knowledgable than him to continually watch over him?

The Pokemons personalities, like themselves, can only evolve so far, and I think that their max is never fully realized because often the simplest traits can be the most popular. Most everyone can relate to knowing an overconfident or stuck-up person, but when one tries to elaborate, many viewers lose that sense of relativity to the characters.

The main reason that I disliked this season is that there was no real set storyline, no common threat overarching the episodes. Team Rocket, though sometimes annoying, always entertained me by their catchy slogans and far fetched machines. And while Team Plasma may have stayed unreleased for obvious reasons, there is no saying that they can not return, say, to Castelia city and have that destruction wreaked at a later, more appropriate time.

In all, I was rather disappointed with this season, but I had thought that the series would come near that at some point.
 

vraieesprit

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I haven't watched pokemon seriously as a series since the Johto league episodes, but I have one series of the Hoenn eps on DVD somewhere, and so I watched some of Black and White. Largely because I was finding the game so hard to really get into and the pokemon hard to connect with.

Really, really felt they ruined Team Rocket. James/Kojirou was always my favourite character person-wise, and they just took all the good things out of the characters. Yeah, they may have been more dark and creepy, but they also lost their personalities and I didn't like that at all. I got to skipping their sections. Plus, no Wobbuffet.

Then I saw the first ep of Kalos(which seems to be the 2nd ep, actually, but whatever, my TV box may have got it wrong) and I saw Wobbuffet come out of the pokeball and them fall out of a tree and I thought...Team Rocket are back.

So...while I didn't hate Iris, Cilan was quite annoying and Team Rocket were not themselves. I think B/W was a poor comparison to the other series I know...and honestly, I wouldn't even know which bits were filler and which weren't. All seemed the same to me.

Plus, Ash/Satoshi and Pikachu - who must be like, level 600 by now - lost to a level 5 snivy in the hands of a very stuck on himself beginner trainer who needed a slap. Hate stuff like that. Ash has been collecting pokemon for ages. He should know better...
 

Mr.Muffin

Cooler than Everyone who is less Cool than Me!
Member
The Pokemon anime hasn't been able to hit that right note for me in a while. It just seems like a slog to watch most of these episodes. It isn't just the new episodes it is all of them. I could probably name about 6 or 7 episodes that I really like.from the whole series. I haven't really caught up with anything after Sinnoh started because there were other shows on then that I cared for more. I did happen to watch a couple episodes of Unova while it was around, and I can't really say it left an impression. Iris and Cilan were both characters that I couldn't really get to liking. The episodes weren't that good, and they were pretty unmemorable. I remember one were Accelgor was a super hero but that is about it.
 

Blob55

Aspiring Trainer
Member
GenericBWHater2000 said:
And then they had to use stock footage in every single battle, even in the league!

They even re-used the Purrloin animation for the unaired two-parter trailer.

http://dogasu.bulbagarden.net/comparisons/isshu/rocket_vs_plasma/timeline.html#Satoshi_vs_Kenyan
 

Leaf_Ranger

Knight of Nature and Pokémon
Member
Speaking of that unaired episodes, now I'm left wondering how different (and for the best) could it be Team Rocket's plans after reaching Nimbasa with Team Plasma appearing as their original selves. Team Rocket had a ver militarized look, with Plasma as medieval kngihts, so again it seems the idea of duality was present. Judging by one screenshot in the link in the above post, showing Plasma "looking" at Giovanni and other R. members, Plasma would indeed be opposing Rocket, also taking into account their philosophies. That said, in the end it would have been nice to see an actual meeting or face to face between Giovanni and Ghetsis.
In the end this wouldn't save the the Isshu arc since Ash would still forget that he met legendary Pokémon and would go on with his stupid goal of becoming Champion and Pokémon master, but it would made the series less dull.
 

precita

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I won't rate XY yet till its over, so excluding that:

Kanto/Orange > Hoenn/BF > DP > Johto > Unova.

I feel there are some things each saga does better than the others, so its hard to rate them entirely.
 

Tuoko

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Pikachu6319 said:
And I want to know why Ash never gets evolved water Pokemon, Kingler not withstanding. I mean Squirtle (future mega evolution), Totodile, Corphish (would have loved to see him evolve) Buizel (also would have been neat) Oshowatt (I know why they didn't do it here, I just don't agree). Even Brock got a Marshtomp and Ludicolo. I hope that Froake fully evolves. Part of me wishes that all of Ash's Pokemon (sans Pikachu) would fully evolve if possible but then again with his habit of leaving all of them behind it's almost kind of pointless.

Well, Froakie...

Is evolving into Frogadier

But I didn't like much of B/W. I especially dislike how they neglected Palpitoad, Woobat, Yamask, Amoongus, ans Frillish. And it was OOC for Team Rocket to give away their Unova Pokemon...
 

Dawn

Aspiring Trainer
Member
BW saga was not the worst saga but it was not up to the mark.
-Ash didn't show any development. Instead he went down. That shouldn't have been the case after the DP saga, especially because he was the only known trainer to defeat a Darkrai.
-Ash's pokemon were not used properly.
-Pikachu- nothing to say, retardation!
-Pidove/Tranquil/Unfezant- Nothing different than the other flying types.
-Oshawatt- It was largely meant for entertainment purpose
-Tepig/Pignite- Was good but only upto some extent
-Snivy had a lot of potential but it was hardly used.(Why didn't Ash ask Snivy to use Attract against Cameron's Lucario -.-??)
-Leavanny, Boldore, Palpitoad were only used for battling purposes
-Cilan was somewhat okay. We definitely needed a change but Iris was a poor replacement for Dawn.
-Wobbuffet was missing. How I missed him!! :(

BW saga wasnt absolutely bad. Tean plasma and the Team rocket arc were pretty good. Andso was the Junior cup. Ash's gym battles were somewhat silly but manageable. The whole idea of the team plasma arc coming after the unova league was something unique(in all the other regions the evil gang's arc always ended before the pokemon league iirc.)
Overall it was not the worst but not commendably good either.
 

Pikachu6319

Scooby
Member
Tuoko, Ash still needs to have a Greninja before I will even start to consider that balanced.

Again yes, It was ridiculous to have Ash regress the way he did. He's not a (total) amateur trainer after all. He defeated Darkrai, he defeated Articuno as well.

I for one like Pikachu though, so not going with that route. Likewise the Unfezant thing was a given, it's been that way since gen 1. All I can say so far is that at least Fletchinder (and I hope it becomes Talonflame) is a dual fire type.

I would have loved too see Oshawatt and Snivy get more time (and evolution). If these are the big mains (along with Pikachu, Pignite who should have evolved and a flyer) then they should be good and strong. On that end though, I have no problem with 'battling purposes' Pokémon. But they should have let Boldore and Palpitoad fully evolve to make that better, as they did with Krookodile and Leavanny...who did have a couple purposes outside of battle but not much. Oh, and I did not miss Wobbuffet. In part I'd just like to see Team Rocket not be around but that won't happen. In all fairness though for about half of the BW arc Team Rocket was actually kind of neat. Being more villainous is a lot better for them than being clowns.

I kind of wish that Team Plasma had shown up a bit more than they did though.

Again, not the best but I think it could have been worse.
 

thegrovylekid

Makes fake cards
Member
honestly, BW was just pretty bad. This was made even worse because DP [my favourite series] just ended.

- Ash's Pikachu goes from defeating a Latios [Sceptile and Swellow couldn't even touch it] to losing to a Snivy in the first battle it ever had. Why?!

- At the end of DP, Brock and Dawn both move on to chase their dreams. Iris's backstory was poorly handled and flat, and she herself was a bad character. "You're such a kid!" Was a horrendous catchphrase, and she's currently tied with Cilan for my least favourite travelling companion.

-Cilan didn't get any kind of backstory, I wish Brock could have stayed, Cilan was just there to cook.

- Team Plasma was barely there. Because the evil team that is a massive focal point of the video game counterparts and can just be written out until the end right?

- Boring filler after league. 20 episodes of it!

- Why on earth did they make Jessie, James, and Meowth competent? They ruined their entire character!

- Bianca, Trip, Luke, [I can't remember any other one] were bland. Also, why on earth did Ash lose to someone [Cameron?] with only 5 Pokémon?

-Virgil was pretty cool, though. I wish he'd return in X and Y with his Eevee evolving into a Sylveon.

- Speaking of which, why didn't Ash bring back any of his 40+ Pokémon from other series for the league?
 

Water Pokémon Master

I like Pokemon more than you! :p
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Whenever I watch Black & White on Netflix I want to gouge my eyes out. Cilan never says ANYTHING - it's like he's playing a game of "How many food puns can I make to describe the current situation?" It's even worse with the way the dub writers handle him. Iris is just annoying with her catchphrase and is generally unlikable. "Such a kid such a kid such a kid!" It's like if they didn't talk or weren't there the series would be 200x better.

I thought the beginning of B/W was pretty good, but it almost feels like they gave up on it after the earthquake happened and they couldn't air those Team Rocket episodes. I also liked Team Rocket being darker and not being in every episode. The writers have hung everything on them since this series started almost 20 years ago and it was so nice for them trying to come up with plots that didn't involve them. It feels like they chickened out when they brought their old personalities back.

I've only seen some of XY so far but I'm not sure I like it either. Maybe I'm too old for this show now. :p
 

TokenDuelist

YGO TCG is Cheaper. Fight me.
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Whenever I watch Black & White on Netflix I want to gouge my eyes out. Cilan never says ANYTHING - it's like he's playing a game of "How many food puns can I make to describe the current situation?" It's even worse with the way the dub writers handle him. Iris is just annoying with her catchphrase and is generally unlikable. "Such a kid such a kid such a kid!" It's like if they didn't talk or weren't there the series would be 200x better.

I thought the beginning of B/W was pretty good, but it almost feels like they gave up on it after the earthquake happened and they couldn't air those Team Rocket episodes. I also liked Team Rocket being darker and not being in every episode. The writers have hung everything on them since this series started almost 20 years ago and it was so nice for them trying to come up with plots that didn't involve them. It feels like they chickened out when they brought their old personalities back.

I've only seen some of XY so far but I'm not sure I like it either. Maybe I'm too old for this show now. :p

I felt the same way about Cilan. I definitely liked the Team Rocket break because whenever they DID appear they did something noteworthy and were actually very villainous.

As for XY there seems to be a few filler eps here and there but I'm liking the direction it's going. I don't say "I wish it was darker" because I KNOW it's a kid's show but at the same time, a kid's show CAN have deeper plot and character development. Which I think Pokemon's anime severely forgets sometimes. I guess they're playing it safe because parents these days still think it's bad/too violent for their kids.
 

Blob55

Aspiring Trainer
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Whenever I watch Black & White on Netflix I want to gouge my eyes out. Cilan never says ANYTHING - it's like he's playing a game of "How many food puns can I make to describe the current situation?" It's even worse with the way the dub writers handle him. Iris is just annoying with her catchphrase and is generally unlikable. "Such a kid such a kid such a kid!" It's like if they didn't talk or weren't there the series would be 200x better.

I thought the beginning of B/W was pretty good, but it almost feels like they gave up on it after the earthquake happened and they couldn't air those Team Rocket episodes. I also liked Team Rocket being darker and not being in every episode. The writers have hung everything on them since this series started almost 20 years ago and it was so nice for them trying to come up with plots that didn't involve them. It feels like they chickened out when they brought their old personalities back.

I've only seen some of XY so far but I'm not sure I like it either. Maybe I'm too old for this show now. :p
You should watch XY, as it's much, much better than BW and feels more like a proper continuation to DP than BW ever did.

BW also ended up having the worst Movies, so it didn't even get THAT right! Let's just all agree than BW never happened and the Pokémon he caught in that saga just magically appeared at Oak's.
 

Leaf_Ranger

Knight of Nature and Pokémon
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You should watch XY, as it's much, much better than BW and feels more like a proper continuation to DP than BW ever did.

BW also ended up having the worst Movies, so it didn't even get THAT right! Let's just all agree than BW never happened and the Pokémon he caught in that saga just magically appeared at Oak's.

I agree with agreeing but let's instead pretend that those Pokémon were donated to Ash by Juniper! BW was all but the result of Munna's dream mist because of some Team Rocket's plot that ended up bad, hence why they were portrayed as capable and evil!
 

Victorsaurus

Aspiring Trainer
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For me it was not that bad. I didn't like Cilan's catchphrase. I didn't like Ash's League performance. The N/Plasma arc could have been more story driven.

I liked that it had lots (for what I can remember) of tournament battles plus I enjoyed seeing Emolga and Oshawott, I also liked a little that Team Rocket showed more matureness/seriousness.
 

Pikachu6319

Scooby
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I have to say it was great to see Team Rocket being the more serious antagonists I think they should have always been. Too bad that didn't stick around. The plasma arc could have been a lot better, shall we say more emphasized than it was. Of course in general for all the focus the games put on stopping the respective teams that could be said for all of the anime.
 

Missingno. Master

Aspiring Trainer
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I don't hate the B/W series, but I do agree it's not the best the anime has to offer. That said, I wouldn't call it the worst- I just think it seems like that because it happened to come right after the perfection that was the Sinnoh arc. I mean, I'd pity anything that had to follow that act! The way I see it, Sinnoh got everybody's expectations higher than average, making Unova seem even worse than average by comparison.

Even so, I do agree- B/W could definitely have been handled better.
 

JoshB

The math didn't work out
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BW, was pretty bad. Iris was supposed to be like Misty, but guess how that worked out. Iris was even more annoying then Misty, and was too immature for anyone's liking. Cilan was supposed to be like Brock, guess how that turned out. Cilan was not as bad as Iris, but he was cheesy, and didn't have Brock's humor. Both characters failed to show the spirit, attitude, and humor of many characters before them. I have seen all the seasons multiple times, and BW is by far the worst. For sure!
 

crystal_pidgeot

Bird Trainer *Vaporeon on PokeGym*
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I think they all after like season 2 sucked. Its just all "Ash does this to help X Pokemon, Team Rocket tries to steal it and Pikachu, Ash wins" Its boring.
 
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