SPOILERS! General Pokémon Anime Discussion

Well, Frozocrone, the fully evolved starter tends to appear in the first movie of each generation to promote their existence and merch. That doesn't stop Ash from receiving at least one fully-evolved starter each time, such as Infernape.

EDIT: Then there are Johto and Unova, in which none of the starters have fully evolved.
 
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Gladion will be making his appearance, though he owns a Midnight Lycanroc in the anime:
Scans translation for those who haven't seen it yet:
"Opponent 3: A mysterious Lugarugan Trainer: His name is Gladio!
A mysterious Trainer that uses a Lugarugan and a Blacky arrives in town! What is this Trainer with the black Z-Ring capable of?!

The lump of rock bathed in the Z of the blue moon will now... seal off the collapsing world!

"Come Forth, Lugarugan with the Crimson Look!!" airs May 18th!"

"Lugarugan's Z-Move is super strong!!
Lugarugan uses the Rock type Z-Move! The other half of this duo, Gladio, is tough as well!!

The Rock type Z-Move, "World's End Fall"
Enormous rocks strikes the opponent from the air!!

Gladio is super skilled as well!!
Gladio is so strong there's been talk about it in town, so Satoshi immediately challenges him to a battle! How will Satoshi go up against the Rock type Z-Move, which he has never seen before?!

What are Gladio and Lugarugan's secrets?!
Let's take a look at the powerful Gladio's secrets:
Secret 1: Lugarugan is Iwanko's goal!!
Lugarugan is the form Iwanko takes after evolving. Satoshi's Iwanko is training to become stronger, and this is the goal it aims for!
There's also a Midday Form: Which form will Satoshi's Iwanko eventually evolve into?!
Secret 2: Gladio is Lilie's brother!!
Even though they are siblings, it has apparently been a long time since Gladio and Lilie last met. Just why is it that Gladio is traveling...?

(Satoshi: I'll become much stronger too!!)"

So, they did address the question: "Which Lycanrock will Ash's Rockruff evolve into?". Well, given how Midnight-Form Lycanrock is seemingly Gladion's signature pokemon at this point of the anime, I just cannot see Ash getting one as well since he's never had the same pokemon as his rivals/partners simultaneously. And to top it off, that would mean 3 different major characters would have the exact same pokemon. Nope, can't see it happening.

Also...

"Even though they are siblings, it has apparently been a long time since Gladio and Lilie last met. Just why is it that Gladio is traveling...?"

The plot finally thickens.
 

Codraroll

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As to the Lycanroc question, I think I've got an answer for Ash:

His Rockruff won't evolve.

Lycanroc-midday is edgy enough, but not cozy and fluffy. It does not have the "main character" quality. Lycanroc-midnight just looks insane. But Rockruff sells plushies and has that adorable puppy face. They're going to milk that adorable little doggy for as long as they can, which, given the status of Pikachu, can apparently be for as long as they wish. As noted elsewhere, other characters will get to fill the Lycanroc quota, so that Ash will never have to evolve his.
 
His Rockruff wants to evolve, though. The scan explicitly states that so in all likelihood it will, just definitely not now. You're thinking of Rowlet, that's the one pokemon I think will not evolve and get the Oshawott treatment because it is all cute, fluffy and thus easily merchantable.
 
It's hard to know if any of Ash's pokemon are going to evolve at this point. We could end up with another Johto situation where most of his pokemon stay young and marketable.


I mean, sure there was Noctowl and Bayleaf eventually evolved (and Quilava much much later), but for the most of the journey Ash had a baby team.

I don't think we're seeing another Kalos or Sinnoh where they aggressively evolve every one of Ash's pokemon. I just don't see that happening. But I have been wrong before.

Still, a bit sad to sidestep Type: Null like that. I know the anime characters are essentially completely different people, but Gladion's relationship with Null was the most interesting part of his character in my opinion.
 
Was ever explained why Pikachu lost VOLTEKKAAAAAAAA Volt Tackle for Electro Ball?
Well, other than the anime studio's collective bias for projectile attacks...
 

Pikachu315111

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Was ever explained why Pikachu lost VOLTEKKAAAAAAAA Volt Tackle for Electro Ball?
Well, other than the anime studio's collective bias for projectile attacks...
It was weird how it happened in the episode. In episode BW020 "Dancing with the Ducklett Trio", Ash & the Unova crew encounter a trio of trouble making Ducklett who steals some of their stuff. Going after them, Ash tells Pikachu to use a Thunderbolt. However one of the Ducklett had flown over them with an umbrella and drops it on Pikachu, it closing and causing Pikachu to shock itself. At the climax of the episode, Sandile (who had its glasses stolen) is being attacked by the Ducklett Trio as Pikachu struggles with its electrical attack, Ash thinking the umbrella did something. Just then Pikachu uses Electro Ball, sending the Ducklett Trio blasting off.

And that's how Pikachu lost Volt Tackle and got Electro Ball, apparently Thunderbolt + trapping Pikachu to shock itself = Electro Ball replacing Volt Tackle. Like at least make it so Pikachu was using Volt Tackle when it got trapped, because if anything that more sounds like Thunderbolt should have been replaced. But they can't do that because that's pretty much Ash's Pikachu's signature move (even the Ash Cap Pikachu has it using Thunderbolt to use 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt), Quick Attack and Iron Tail are useful utility, so guess its Volt Tackle that gets the boot.

If you want a non-anime reason, I guess they just wanted to give Pikachu a new move from the current generation at the time. I would also maybe suggest Electro Ball was easier to animate than Volt Tackle but I don't know how true that is.

That all said, the Pikachu species does have its own Z-Crystal that requires Volt Tackle and they do have it so in the game you can teach it via tutor. I can maybe see Ash being given the Pikanium Z, told he needs Pikachu to know Volt Tackle, and they go through a training montage to re-teach Pikachu Volt Tackle (probably replacing Electro Ball). Then again, if they really don't want Pikachu having Volt Tackle, they could just have Pikachu use Thunderbolt/Electro Ball. Maybe I can also see them having a rival trainer with a Pikachu that uses Catastropika, Ash tries to figure out a way they can match that power (maybe having gotten a Pikanium Z but realizing they can't use it and don't know how/unable to reteach Volt Tackle), and they somehow get/create the Pikashunium Z (possibly from the Pikanium Z). Would also be a way they could introduce Hau, have him be the trainer with Pikachu who later evolves into an Alolan Raichu that uses Stoked Sparksurfer.
 
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Sometimes I miss when the anime just ignored the 4-move limit the games have. Always seemed like an artifact.

That and I can't even tell when they began to enforce it. Or if Pikachu is the only one, or just the only one with enough history to notice.
 

Karxrida

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I think it was broken once or twice in the OS outside of Drake. They probably should have just ignored it completely since it's something that doesn't make sense outside of the context of a video game.
 
Cilan's Pansage used five moves throughout BW: Bullet Seed, Bite, Dig, Rock Tomb and Solar Beam. It never gave the impression of "forgetting" one move or another, even though Bite was the least used move.

So, a sort of unspoken rule of "Pokémon can have more than four moves, but can only reveal four for each match" may be likely.
 
Cilan's Pansage used five moves throughout BW: Bullet Seed, Bite, Dig, Rock Tomb and Solar Beam. It never gave the impression of "forgetting" one move or another, even though Bite was the least used move.

So, a sort of unspoken rule of "Pokémon can have more than four moves, but can only reveal four for each match" may be likely.
Probably learned their lesson when Snorlax used six moves in the same match against Greta.
 
Latest episode was awesome. Team Rocket now has their own Z-Crystal, a dark-type one. I'm in love with the possible plot from that.

Also, next week's episode is Sophocles' Goodbye. Will he disappear from the series, just to come back later a Captain in another island?
 
SM started off refreshing enough, but now it's starting to settle into the usual lull of episodes every new saga has after its first 20ish episodes along with the fillers. Also Ash's lack of progression toward his goal is really jarring, I know they're subtly focusing on it, but it really does put into perspective how the lack of traveling makes it feel like nothing is really happening.

The SM cast, bar Sophocles is likeable, but there's no real growth or change for any of them. They're all essentially exactly the same as they were since their first episode, with the only exception being Lillie getting over her fear of pokemon. The lack of any real goals or stories for them is going to be taxing in the long run, aside from Lillie since they'll likely do a loose adaption of her game story as we continue.

It basically feels like first year XY Serena where she wasn't really doing anything, but this time for everyone. I really can't imagine Mallow, Kiawe or Lana especially getting any type of major growth over the course of the saga, they're basically just all support characters. Also the lack of any type of battling type goal for the last few female companions has always been a bummer, I'd much rather watch the girls battle than barely battle at all besides blasting off Team Rocket every so often.
 
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Karxrida

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Disney XD is finally airing Sun and Moon. I was originally going to post a mini rant about the anime (tl;dr for that rant: it's been 6 months since the games came out, I don't get why they're still bothering to dub the show when its purpose as an advertisement is pretty much moot), but I decided to just post my thoughts from the first(?) episode.

The animation is pretty good... for the most part. They did didn't even bother trying with some background Luvdisc in an underwater shot (I'm not holding this against the animators, but the Luvdisc were so big it was hard to miss), the "comedic" faces that Ash makes are either really ugly or really dumb, and Ash's Z-Ring (when Tapu Koko gave it to him) was pretty obviously CGI.

Ash's design is definitely ass. Most everybody else looks fine.

The script is still really patronizing and clumsy even when its exposition dumps are justified.

I feel like this might have been a better show if Ash wasn't part of it at all and they just made Lillie the protagonist. Her phobia is ripe for character development and a focus on that would have been a nice change of pace, but the show's too busy following Ash's journey of perpetual failure.
 

Pikachu315111

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I feel like this might have been a better show if Ash wasn't part of it at all and they just made Lillie the protagonist. Her phobia is ripe for character development and a focus on that would have been a nice change of pace, but the show's too busy following Ash's journey of perpetual failure.
Ignoring the "use the current playable characters as the main character" suggestion (since that ship has long sailed across the globe enough times if the distance was laid out you could reach the moon), with how much of Alola seems to mirror Kanto (right down to having an Alolan Oak) maybe they could have "started fresh" with an Alolan Ash. Heck, maybe for a twist use Hau since his main Pokemon aside from his starter is the Pikachu family and his personality isn't that far off from Ash's.

But focusing on what we have now, well, maybe he won't be a failure in Alola. If the anime doesn't do the "building a league" plot point and it's just Ash's eventual journey to completing the Island Challenge, could be one of the seasons he gets something accomplished. They have no problem on making Ash win non-Pokemon League tournaments: he's a Champion of the Orange League and Kanto Battle Frontier. Island Challenge Champion is right up Ash's ally, especially since that challenge just requires participants to beat officials running it, they don't have to battle other participants to complete it. Oh, and there can be multiple Island Challenge Champions since that's just a title and not a job.
 
Even though the Detective Pikachu movie is live action instead of animated, does it count as the 21st Movie (assuming it's released in 2018), or is the film just its own unrelated thing? I'm looking forward to Movie 20 if it's the alternate universe the official media claim that is is, even if it doesn't necessarily foreshadow any upcoming games.
 

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