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Pokémon master wannabe Ash Ketchum is a loser

T

TheVampire

Banned
So recently I got back into playing Pokémon games and went though Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

While I was still enjoying it I also got back into watching the anime TV series.

I skipped ALOT of episodes because there is a shitload of filler so I mainly just watched all the important episodes and the championship episodes.

But I have to say Ash Ketchum is such a fucking loser and it's painful.

He loses every Pokemon League and it's pathetic!

I watched the Lily of the Valley Conference championship which is based on the games before B&W and he loses yet again because they introduce some trainer who is packing legendary Pokemon in his team. That's just cheap after Ash was doing so well.

Well I was pretty pissed off about that and looked up the wiki page and he also loses the next Pokemon League championship as well. But apparently for that one he didn't even bother to use his Pokemon he got from his previous travels. I mean WTF? He is going into his 5th Pokémon League Championship after loosing all the previous ones and instead of using his absolute best Pokemon he sticks with the ones he got from this new region?

Whats the deal with this show? And I haven't even covered the fact that Ash is immortal and doesn't age. And shouldn't his Pikachu be level 9000 by now?

The games are good but I hate this anime.

Also:
http://atthebuzzershow.com/2013/01/14/ash-ketchum-is-the-worst-trainer-ever/
and
http://mandemolition.tumblr.com/post/34667958888/everyone-knows-how-ash-is-immortal-but-for-those
 
D

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
Someone draw out the 'Ash is in a coma, and he can never win the League until he can face up to it and thus can never win," crackpot fan theory.
 
R

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
HenryGale said:
Would be good if they had a Manga based anime. I would watch the fuck out of that.
Click to expand...

I remember reading the manga back in the day and it was pretty solid. A bit darker and more realistic but still kept the spirit of adventure. Good art too.
 
V

Volotaire

Member
The anime was the bees knees during Kanto Johto and Hoenn.

The they switched the dubber.

Loved the anime, I haven't caught up with stuff after the 4th gen.
 
Lynd7

Lynd7

Member
I don't get how the Pokémon anime can have filler, the whole show is. Unless you only count major battles as non-filler, it doesn't make much sense.
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
The Best Wishes dub is a lot better than the DP one imo. The opening themes also got good again after We Will Be Heroes. Just about every song from Black and White and Battle Cry are pretty addicting, agh. Also, Black and White actually has a storyline for the most part now! It's weird... it feels like each arc could be a movie on its own compared to earlier seasons.
 
R

RAWi

Member
Pokemon Adventures/Special (manga) aaaaall the way!

The story created by Satoshi, and the one that should have become anime.

Red >>>>>>>>>xInfinite Ash
 
V

Volotaire

Member
zeopower6 said:
The Best Wishes dub is a lot better than the DP one imo. The opening themes also got good again after We Will Be Heroes. Just about every song from Black and White and Battle Cry are pretty addicting, agh.
Click to expand...

I might go back to it then. One thing that has put me off Gen 4 and after was the pokemon design though :/
 
D

Dion Blaster

Member
Did you say
lily-of-the-valley-breaking-bad-425x239.jpg

?
 
M

MechaX

Member
Say what you will about Ash's skill, the dude got fucking robbed in the Shinnoh League championship. He probably actually could have won that tournament if the writers didn't pull a "lol god trainer that uses all legendaries" out of their ass.
And Ash still managed to be the only person that actually took down that invincible Darkrai.
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
Volotaire said:
I might go back to it then. One thing that has put me off Gen 4 and after was the pokemon design though :/
Click to expand...

A lot of old voices came back and the new dub cast are all pretty settled in. Sarah Natochenny no longer sounds like a horrible Ash! You have to get used to it though after years of Veronica Taylor and Rachel Lillis though. :x

Oh, just once, Ash needs to make it to the final two at least. So far he's been top 16/8/4 but never in the finals, lol. He won in the Battle Frontier and Orange League but those don't count at all. :/
 
M

Manu

Member
He's not a loser because he always loses the League battles.

He's not a loser because he starts over with weak ass pokemon every new region.

He's not a loser because he almost never catches new pokemon.

He's a loser because Misty wanted to tap that and he never made a move. I'd be all over that shit in a heartbeat.
 
T

Toxi

Banned
Lynd7 said:
I don't get how the Pokémon anime can have filler, the whole show is. Unless you only count major battles as non-filler, it doesn't make much sense.
Click to expand...
From what I can tell, it did start to have way more episodes between gym battles when Johto started, so you could say the filler increased there.

MechaX said:
Say what you will about Ash's skill, the dude got fucking robbed in the Shinnoh League championship. He probably actually could have won that tournament if the writers didn't pull a "lol god trainer that uses all legendaries" out of their ass.
And Ash still managed to be the only person that actually took down that invincible Darkrai.
Click to expand...
I remember hearing about that.

Sounds stupid as hell. "Hey kids, it doesn't matter how hard you work, some asshole who got lucky will kick your ass!"
 
J

jayfrontz08

Banned
what Pokemon animation needs to do is imo is to have ash and pikachu call it a career in one big movie special he goes as the best pokemon master ever and have a new hero rise and starts a new journey in the new generation now this is my opinion but we all know Pokemon wont ever do that but it would be a interesting idea
 
M

Mr. MondayNight

Member
HenryGale said:
Would be good if they had a Manga based anime. I would watch the fuck out of that.
Click to expand...
You mean an anime based on the manga and I agree it would be absolute beast to watch it go down like the manga with pokemon dying and being dismembered all that good stuff but it wouldn't be right for American audiences especially the kiddies the show is aimed at.
 
R

razgriz417

Member
Doesn't help that Pikachu somehow loses to chump scrubs at the beginning of every region, you'd think after battling for so long he'd be lvl 100 by now
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
Toxi said:
I remember hearing about that.

Sounds stupid as hell. "Hey kids, it doesn't matter how hard you work, some asshole who got lucky will kick your ass!"
Click to expand...

It really was stupid.
He beat the Darkrai and then well...the guy took out a Latios and wrecked Ash. We don't even know what other legendaries he had, lol. Apparently the same guy won every single one of this matches with Darkrai and every gym battle too. So messed up.

nintendoman58 said:
I stopped watching the anime after the Diamond and Pearl saga. Sorry, but there's only so much pathetic repetition that I can take.
Click to expand...

You should have started again after DP. The anime had a pretty big reboot after that and now it's been pretty narrative driven without TOO much filler and Team Rocket for the most part became no-longer-incompetent-idiots until about halfway through the season where they only become KIND OF incompetent. Black and White has had some pretty big story arcs that would normally be movies... tbh I'm surprised at how much better the anime got after Diamond and Pearl.
 
S

shakin_haitian

Banned
Toxi said:
..."Hey kids, it doesn't matter how hard you work, some asshole who got lucky will kick your ass!"
Click to expand...

That's pretty much life. Some higher ups screwed up in my company and 30 people were laid off with literally zero warning and through no fault of their own. A manager called a meeting and some of the people walked out crying. Needless to say, that did wonders for morale.
 
H

harmonize

Member
Manu said:
He's not a loser because he always loses the League battles.

He's not a loser because he starts over with weak ass pokemon every new region.

He's not a loser because he almost never catches new pokemon.

He's a loser because Misty wanted to tap that and he never made a move. I'd be all over that shit in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
He's had, like, five girl clearly fall for him; I'm convinced he's just zoning them for the benefit of Brock's sanity at this point. Imagine trying so hard to win the hearts of pretty much every woman you meet and get shot down subsequently nearly every time, just to have some ten year old kid get more kisses than you. Shit is demoralizing, yo.

And yes, Action Replay at the Sinnoh conference really killed the momentum that the league had. I mean, of course Ash wasn't going to win for obvious reasons, but at least pit him against a fair and realistic opponent like in Johto.
 
J

J-Tier

Member
Man, lose - loose misspelling is one that actually bugs me haha.

Anyways, yeah, after S1, the trend kept happening for every series so I gave up. I understand that they're resetting things for the "next generation" of fans, but give me a break. What a way to push away the old fans.
 
D

Deleted member 13876

Unconfirmed Member
He has to be commended for his ability to warp time though. 700 episodes and he hasn't aged a year.
 
E

Evilisk

Member
jtir123 said:
Anyways, yeah, after S1, the trend kept happening for every series so I gave up. I understand that they're resetting things for the "next generation" of fans, but give me a break. What a way to push away the old fans.
Click to expand...

Yep. It's just painful to watch the start of a new region, or even new episodes when Pickachu is jobbing to all of these weak ass Pokemon.
 
B

Brickhunt

Member
I give Ash a pass on Sinnoh, because he was clearly a top trainer there that only failed to win because of a trainer of legendaries. He hit a power level ceiling that he just can't pass without capturing at least a lesser legendary. Good luck with that when writers reserve legendaries to non-canon movies. That said, it's inexcusable that he didn't bring his reserves in Black/White,

Dreamcast said:
The anime is basically a 24 minute advertisement.
Click to expand...
So it was the Digimon anime series, didn't stop the writers from putting actual effort. Transformers is a great example of a franchise that the cartoon brand is clearly a 24 minute commercial for toys, but it still has a huge amount of effort put it in, like Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime.

The problem with Pokémon anime is that the writers simply just don't care. Also, people asking for Pokémon Adventures adaptation should be more specific, the manga has lots of flaws too and, personally, it became a piece if crap to me after the Ruby and Sapphire saga.
 
M

MarkusRJR

Member
How is the Kanto series? I haven't seen the original episodes in sooo long, and my nostalgia for them makes me want to watch them again. I just don't want to go through another Power Ranger's situation, where I ended up being super disappointed and learning it was shit.
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
Nils said:
He has to be commended for his ability to warp time though. 700 episodes and he hasn't aged a year.
Click to expand...

He's actually de-aged if you look at the art... lol. In the first episode of BW, they mention he's still 10, so I imagine he hasn't aged even a single day since the anime started. :( However, he still has all of his old Pokemon so something must be going on....

jtir123 said:
Man, lose - loose misspelling is one that actually bugs me haha.

Anyways, yeah, after S1, the trend kept happening for every series so I gave up. I understand that they're resetting things for the "next generation" of fans, but give me a break. What a way to push away the old fans.
Click to expand...

He seems to be getting closer and closer to actually winning something as the seasons go by. I don't really get why they don't allow him past the quarter finals though. :/

Kopyii said:
He's had, like, five girl clearly fall for him; I'm convinced he's just zoning them for the benefit of Brock's sanity at this point. Imagine trying so hard to win the hearts of pretty much every woman you meet and get shot down subsequently nearly every time, just to have some ten year old kid get more kisses than you. Shit is demoralizing, yo.
Click to expand...

Well, to be fair, Brock/Takeshi would pretty much get googly eyes for anyone who was remotely pretty even if they were a dude that looked pretty as a woman. With Ash, he's still in that "What? Girls? People like me? I like you (as a friend) too Misty!" phase and will probably never get out of it.

Brock also had the recent development of having to get dragged off or Poison Jabbed any time he remotely showed affection for anyone... :( Kinda felt bad for him after a hundred (or was it 200?) episodes of getting dragged off by some brat or his Croagunk.

MarkusRJR said:
How is the Kanto series? I haven't seen the original episodes in sooo long, and my nostalgia for them makes me want to watch them again. I just don't want to go through another Power Ranger's situation, where I ended up being super disappointed and learning it was shit.
Click to expand...

They actually have a selection of 10 episodes up at any given time from Kanto to Unova on the Pokemon.com site and the Pokemon TV app. (they update every Thursday with 5 new episodes rotating out 5 older episodes) If you want to jump in to check out some episodes from the past, you can do so right now. However... I think Kanto aged pretty badly. The animation was pretty rough looking and the 'edits' to any signs were just... horrible. I love the new Pokenese symbols they use so they avoid having to paint English logos onto everything.
 
A

ArchangelWest

Member
It's just a cartoon, yes. But when I think about it seriously, all I can say is that with every new game, there is an influx of new and young players. For the purposes of the anime, Ash is the main character for those new people to identify with. Yes he's experienced, and has a bunch of pokemon from other regions that are strong. But Nintendo wants the anime, in whatever its current incarnation is, to push the current game. So unfortunately, Ash 'chooses' to honor each region by starting fresh with the new pokemon, and Pikachu always has some excuse as to why he is for some reason garbage again early on, but by the pokemon league can hold its own against a Latios...

I think we all wish they'd just let Ash win it all, retire him out and then they can start fresh with all new characters. But Ash isn't really the star. Pikachu is, and it's bond with Ash is a big part of what has built and maintained that stardom.
 
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