Pokemon Sun & Moon

I remember seeing the first few episodes of pokemon Black and White on TV when they were first coming out over here and I was rather upset about them. My biggest gripe was with Ash’s character design, which was made to look younger. So I can totally understand the mindset behind the people who are upset about the change in art style the show has made, which is much bigger in contrast than it was in Black and White. Yet I’m not on their side this time. In fact I really love the new art style and how colourful and round it is. In fact ... I love almost everything about the new Sun and Moon anime, so much so that it might be the most I’ve ever enjoyed pokemon. Even as a kid I wasn’t as entranced by pokemon as I am now; back then it was just day to day business. Yet despite how much I think it’s great, Pokemon Sun and Moon is very controversial amongst fans and there’s a lot of people who are very mad at it. Clearly these people, most of whom are certainly long term pokemon fans, have ideas about what a pokemon series should contain, that Sun and Moon isn’t living up to. So in this review I don’t just want to talk about all the things that I love about the anime, but I will occasionally also lightly touch up on some criticisms of the show and why I don’t share them. I’m hoping I can not only show people whether they fall into the group that would actually enjoy Sun and Moon or not, but also help some people to appreciate it, who didn’t already.

Naturally there is one aspect of the Sun and Moon anime that is immediately obviously different from the earlier installments of the show: the art style. Gone are the spiky haired shounen character designs of the original series, as they’re replaced by these new round and colourful ones. The water colour (or at least water-colour-looking) backgrounds of the original series are replaced by digital ones, that are even greener. Though that is an earlier innovation from long before Sun and Moon. The animation, too, has changed considerably. The animation is much more fluid now, with the animators having incorporated a lot more smear frames to make it more expressive. Everything about the look of Sun and Moon is much more poppy and expressive, which adds to the much more lighthearted tone of the show.

But why did Ash’s character design change so much? X and Y seemed to be going excellently, with lots of fans loving it and lots of people in the industry praising it. Why suddenly make such a big shift in such a big aspect of a show that’s going really well? Was it an evil scheme by the producers of the show to make pokemon look more like youkai watch so they can make more money? Well, no, not exactly. The thing you have to realize is that Ash’s character design has always been changing and it has always been changing too slowly. Even during the original series you saw his design slowly change and the makers of the show have always been very careful to implement new digital technology as gradually as possible, so that people wouldn’t notice. The difference here is that there is suddenly a big change, instead of a gradual one. An often noted fact about X and Y was that though the battle scenes were able to look really great due to all the innovations the team was already starting to make back then, Ash himself was rarely animated and the team even had a couple of stock animations of Ash throwing a pokeball, because no one wanted to animate him. The thing that pushed the team over the edge to change the character designs so drastically now, was that OLM was experimenting with more modern digital animation techniques and simpler, more rounded character designs are useful for that. The reason why pokemon now looks more like youkai watch, is because the character designs in youkai watch were also made to fit the same criteria. Though the fact that people unironically and without question put forth the idea that the character designs were made to match those of youkai watch, as if pokemon is some cheap cash grab that’s trying to leach off the popularity of that series, is some of the funniest stuff I’ve ever heard.

Despite that, I’m not actually a huge fan of Ash’s redesign. His original design came from a time of spiky haired shounen protagonists, animated with coloured cells. His design was made for a different era of animation and so when adapting his design for modern animation techniques, it’s impossible not to lose something along the way, especially if the priority was to make him easy to animate, rather than nice to look at. If you try to play a game of spot the main character in Sun and Moon, you wouldn’t be spotting Ash, as he just doesn’t look as well designed as the other major characters in the show. Then again, that might have more to do with the fantastic character designs the other characters in Sun and Moon have.

So what’s up with the rest of the Sun and Moon character designs? The original series started in the 90s, when it was very common for TV anime to make up for a lack of animation quantity, with beautiful and detailed character designs. And pokemon has always had great character designs, even if they didn’t always animate as well. Sun and Moon takes the opposite approach, using very simple character designs to have them animate better. What you have to consider, though, is that when you make a simple character design, you draw significantly fewer lines, and as such, every line becomes more important and has to be more carefully considered. As such, creating a simple character design, that’s also really good and very memorable, is a lot harder that it may seem at first. It’s incredible to see just how many unique and extremely memorable designs Sun and Moon manages to have and how many designs from the games were flawlessly adapted for 2d animation. And the games themselves had a different design focus as well, moving away from their more anime inspired character designs, giving them a much wider appeal. As a result, Pokemon Sun and Moon has a completely unique look within the wider anime landscape. What Sun and Moon has actually retained from older pokemon, however, is that the character designs of the girls tend to look better than that of the boys. Suiren is a very cute and unique looking tomboy and Moa looks very sweet, but Kaki and Maamane look pretty boring in comparison, though certainly not bad. On top of that, there’s the ever adorable Lillie, who seems to be the unanimous winner among all the Sun and Moon characters and has a genuine cult following behind her. Sure, not every design in Sun and Moon gets to be that unique, but there are a lot of great ones, even outside of the main characters, and I personally think this season of pokemon might have the largest quantity of great looking character designs yet.

So what about this animation that I keep mentioning? A lot of people didn’t just lament the character designs and the “graphics” of the new pokemon anime, when Sun and Moon was just announced, they also called out the animation of the show for being bad. Now, many of these people were the type of people who would pause on a smear frame and call it bad animation, completely negligent of the fact that animation only happens when you have multiple frames, or of the fact that the usage of smear frames is an industry standard, so don’t take them too seriously. But what would someone who actually knows anything about animation think about Sun and Moon? Well, mostly that it is extremely impressively well animated. You have to note, pokemon is a long running anime, so every episode has to be made, on average, in about a week. So the fact that it has been consistently one of the most impressively well, if not the most impressively well, animated anime of every season it has been a part of, is ludicrous. In fact, Sun and Moon might be the most animated long running TV anime of all time. And that is no exaggeration.

I think the big disconnect people have with Sun and Moon is in the animation style. The focus of previous seasons has always been on the pokemon. If you look at the pokemon from Sun and Moon and from the original show you can barely see the difference, where if you look at the character designs between those shows, or even between the original show and X and Y, you see a much bigger change. The pocketmonster designs have always remained relevant and animating them has always been easy. Or at least for the small ones. The reason why Ash’s pokemon rarely evolve might partially be caused by the fact that smaller pokemon are easier to animate. Though the more important reason is because those unevolved pokemon might simply have better designs than their evolved counterparts, and one of the main purposes of the pokemon anime has always been to sell merchandise. The fact that the people in pokemon were rarely animated in any interesting way was never a problem, because it was always about the pokemon, even (or maybe especially) in battle focused X and Y. But Sun and Moon puts a much larger focus on the characters and wants to express a lot more emotions and a lot fewer battles. As such, goofy faces and all kinds of expressions and animations that leave or bend the limitations of the original character models are everywhere. In a show like X and Y, the characters will rarely move much and will rarely go off model; and a lot of people are into that. I think a lot of people just want their anime characters to be on model all the time and be more serious, most of the time, like the characters in a show like Legend of the Galactic heroes. Sure, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get what I mean. But as much as I like that show, and as much as I think that style works for it, I would usually much rather see creative, goofy animation, than stiff animation that’s unwilling to bend it’s character models(even if the show has fantastic visual directing that makes it work). I just love anything that’s goofy and creative. Goofy faces and smeary animation are my bread and butter. I can’t get enough of them.

Naturally, if you have a lighthearted show like Sun and Moon, you need fun characters to populate that show. The main six at the pokemon school all have their goofs, at different levels. Ash himself is laid back at times, but easily excitable. Unlike Ash in the original show, he’s not very bratty and he seems to take life as it comes to him, not the other way around. He’s not as concerned about becoming a pokemon master, and really just wants to have fun and do a few island trials. I’ve seen a lot of people call him childish in comparison to his X and Y counterpart, but I think they might have the terms ‘serious’ and ‘mature’ confused. These two are not the same thing. I remember being a six year old, being annoyed at adults for acting in a goofy manner. Who do you think knew more about maturity? Six year old me, or actual adults, who thought it was perfectly fine to be an adult that still loves being silly? For the most part during the show Ash is understanding of people and pokemon and tries his best to make friends. This is a far cry from the stubborn Ash in season 1 who still has a lot of growth to do. If you compare Sun and Moon Ash to original Ash, he’s definitely grown a lot over the years and I personally even look up to his attitude. He’s really found his way and is enjoying the little things in life. He probably read all of “Á la recherche du temps perdu” on the boat over to Alola. And the way that he combines that attitude with him still being loud and funny and excitable is just really fun to watch.

Then there’s all these side characters. Lillie is the most popular and the most developed. She is initially scared of pokemon and has a bad relationship with her mother, but works through that. She’s very reserved but it becomes increasingly clear as the show goes on that she does actually want to be a part of the main group and be goofy right along with them. And seeing her pulling goofy faces or trying to be brave is just so cute. She’s adorable. I can definitely see why she has such a strong cult following. My personal favourite side character might be Suiren, though. She’s a tomboy who loves fishing, but she’s much more than that. She’s one of the funniest characters in the show. Sometimes she just does really funny things out of nowhere, just to mess with people, and she’s always up for whatever cool things the guys are doing. She’s the most surprising character out of all and you just never know when she will do something completely insane out of nowhere. Though her tomboyish nature doesn’t mean she can’t be girly. She and Mao are best friends and she can be just as girly as Mao when she wants. It’s nice to see a tomboy in media who hasn’t completely rejected femininity altogether. I think that’s more a stereotype than anything. The only downside to Suiren is that she isn’t always doing funny stuff or saying funny things. I think a more consolidated cast, where Suiren had more focus put on her, could have made her an incredibly fun character to watch. As she is right now she’s kind of inconsistent. Her friend Mao is a little more boring. She’s cute and fun, but not extremely memorable. She runs a restaurant with her dad and is overall a good, hardworking girl.

On the guy’s side there’s Kaki who is one of Ash’s rivals this season, though not his main one. Most of the time he’s acting more serious, but when the situation calls for it he can be the goofiest one of them all. There are lots of funny jokes and cool animation moments involving him and he becomes adorable when anything involves his little sister. Just like Suiren, he’s somewhat of a mixed bag, but I love him anyways. These characters make up the heart of what makes Sun and Moon so enjoyable. I’ve heard people complain that the characters in Sun and Moon don’t get enough development, but I have to disagree on that one. I don’t think developing a character significantly is necessary to create a fun and engaging piece of media. The fact that these characters are still making me laugh over 140 episodes in is a testament to how well they work. Though, sure, any character can always be better. I’m saying that these characters are vastly more than sufficient to make me thoroughly enjoy the show. Oh, also there’s Maamane. He’s fat. Also he likes tech. I think we can all agree that Maamane kinda sucks. Luckily there are enough other side characters that are fun to watch to make up for him.

Now it’s great and all that the show has so many fun characters, but what is the episode to episode experience of watching it like? What is it like structurally? What is the story about? Of course you likely have already noticed that this part isn’t as important to me, considering how much I’ve been gushing about all the other aspects of the show, but naturally the structure is important to any show. And it’s extremely interesting to look at what parts of the original show Sun and Moon decided to keep or emphasize and what parts to lessen. I’ve said that Sun and Moon has less battling and that’s true, but when it comes to important battles, like gym battles or league battles, it’s not actually that far behind it’s predecessors. What it does away with is actually mostly team rocket battles and battles between Ash and random people he encounters. There’s far less of that in Sun and Moon and I think that’s good. Even in the original show team Rocket’s spiel got tiresome pretty quickly, so seeing their episodes be replaced with creative episodic episodes and them being relegated to comedic relief is fantastic. And the fights that are still there, mostly island trial battles, rival battles or league battles, are generally pretty good. Though even in the original pokemon series it took until the Johto league, 270 episodes in, before I saw any battles that truly excited me, and Sun and Moon was a similar situation.

Sun and Moon got a lot of flak for focusing more on slice of life, rather than adventure, but I think that, in actuality, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, the gang can still go adventuring out in the woods or on other islands and is that really much different from the gang in the original getting lost in similar looking woods all the time? Structurally, all it really changes is that the main characters don’t sleep in the same location as each other and that they don’t have to go out looking for a pokemon center, every time they find a pokemon that’s hurt, which constantly happened in the original show. Really, it’s not even that much of a structural difference to the show. If the writers want the gang to go into some cave they go into some cave. It may be a slice of life show, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an adventure show. The only real fear is of the aesthetic, the idea of them being on an adventure, being lost. But I don’t think that’s even a problem, considering Ash is already far away from home here and the geography on the island seems to be much more varied than all those similar looking woods and plains from the original show. X and Y emphasized the battling aspect of the original show and tried to make it more exciting, but Sun and Moon emphasizes the episodic adventures and makes them funnier and more creative. It does focus a lot more on people than the original, though, which focused largely on pokemon and their relationship to human society, but other that that, it’s not even like Sun and Moon does a lot the original didn’t already. Sun and Moon and X and Y just emphasize different aspects of what made the original great. In that sense I think they are both great successors to the original pokemon series and should both have the right to exist.

Pokemon Sun and Moon puts a lot of emphasis on episodic episodes, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any story to it at all. The overall narrative is about Ash going to a new region and trying to beat all of this island’s versions of gym leaders with the new pokemon he’s caught over there. This is typical of pokemon series past the original, but there’s one key difference, which greatly affects the tone of the series. Ash rarely, mentions the idea of becoming a pokemon master, unlike his first season counterpart, who can’t shut up about becoming one. From the very beginning his journey to Alola is never about beating some pokemon league. It’s purely about experiencing local culture, meeting new people, catching new pokemon, and maybe challenging some tough trainers he meets along the way. Ash in Sun and Moon seems to have realized that the adventures he has and the people he meets along the way are much more important than the end goal of his journey itself. He’s excited about every new thing he gets to experience, and welcomes every distraction along the way. And the show itself is similar. The show wants to do as many different things as possible and will actively avoid the trap of centering an episode on team rocket stealing Pikachu or relegating a large chunk of almost every episode to that. But besides all kinds of creative episodes the show also has some story arcs that can get very exciting and emotional. The show does like to pack an emotional punch from time to time, which I appreciate, and it’s not scared to talk about death. Sun and Moon is a varied experience, and because of that, doesn’t get tiresome or monotonous very quickly.

Now, though these arcs and individual episodes can get very serious, for the most part Sun and Moon is still very lighthearted and casual. From the very beginning, Ash just wants to have fun and beat some island challenges. Participating in the pokemon league was never a part of the plan, because at the start of the show the pokemon league didn’t exist yet in Alola. In the original show Ash explicitly wants to go to Johto to participate in the league there. Ash’s focus has clearly changed and so has the show’s. To previous seasons the pokemon league was the goal and beating it the ultimate test. But in Alola, the league is a casual experience among friends and neighbors, likely a remnant of the earlier island trial tradition. So when the League in Sun and Moon came around and didn’t take itself as seriously as it had in previous seasons a lot of fans were upset. But I think this is a case of wrong expectations. The battles in the Alola league were good, even if they weren’t that big. There were a few comedy fights or fights with funny moments in them, and I can understand that someone who takes the league very seriously might be bothered by that, but those fights were all fun to watch either way. A show doesn’t need massive stakes for it to be enjoyable. It can just be about the personal stakes of a couple characters you care about. Ash facing off against his rivals this season wasn’t really any less exciting than it was in previous seasons, because rival battles have always been about personal stakes. The fact that the Alola league didn’t feel as grandiose and official points to the fact that this season of pokemon has a different appeal, and that’s really too bad for people who simply want out of pokemon what they got from X and Y. But the appeal that Sun and Moon is going for it’s doing fantastically.

And with that we finally reach the end. Ash has said that he wants to see the rest of the world, and the next pokemon series is going to be about him travelling the world. Team rocket finally answers the question “What even is this feeling?” with “what a great feeling”, yet they only realized this right as they had to leave. I’d love to see where these characters go next, however it seems that Sword and Shield might become a reboot instead of a sequel. Either way, it seems that Sword and shield is once again going for a slightly different appeal from the last two series, and I think it will be a little less controversial because the appeal might lie more in the middle and Ash’s design is more pleasing to look at. To someone who doesn’t like Sun and Moon it might seem that their nightmare is finally over. To me it’s just yet another opportunity for a unique, new pokemon anime. Though I am sad to have to say goodbye to my favourite season of pokemon and I’m unsure if the next season will truly live up to it, but considering I haven’t heard anything about significant staff changes, I’m not that scared.

You didn’t need to read all the way through this review to understand whether Sun and Moon was going to be your thing or not. You’d have seen whether you were on one line with me a few paragraphs in. If all that goofy fun stuff and those goofy faces and all that creative animation sounds great to you, you’re probably someone who is much more open about the fact that you like media that can just be fun and doesn’t need to be anything more. Otherwise if you still lament the fact that Sun and Moon doesn’t have as many battles, or if you want it to be more ‘serious’ and ‘adult’ you’ll probably dislike it. There’s a middle ground of people who think it’s just okay, but either way you can probably tell. But I’m not actually expecting many people to be reading this review to try and understand whether they’d like it or not. Most people have probably already seen it and made up their minds a long time ago. If you loved the show you probably wanted someone to talk about what you loved about it, in an endless sea of haters. And if you dislike it, you’re probably reading this review to discredit me. You probably, by now, think I’m a dipshit and this review is probably just making you angry. I just hope I got you to understand my perspective just a little bit.

If 4200 words of a glowing review didn’t already tell you, I love pokemon Sun and Moon. I just have so much fun watching it. And that one word, “fun” speaks to the core of the show for me. The animators and writers of the show turned pokemon into what it is because that would be fun. Industry professionals from all over the industry praise the hell out of the Sun and Moon anime, and considering the amount of anime references that are in it, you can clearly tell that the creators of Sun and Moon still have lots of passion for the medium of anime and still have lots of fun creating pokemon. And I still have lots of fun watching it. The older I get the more I realize that the main thing I’m looking to get out of anime is fun. I love media that gives me joy, because there is no feeling I’d rather feel than joy. Sun and Moon’s fun characters, their funny expressions, the expressive animation, the references to all kinds of anime I love and the occasional emotional punch the show still has the weight to throw around, I love it all so much. There are few things in life that give me so much joy as knowing that pokemon is still fun to watch, 15 years after I first started watching it. Sure it isn’t perfect. Every episodic show, even something as prolific as Bebop or space dandy, is going to have weaker episodes. In particular I’d say episode 26 is kinda trash, though I’ll forgive it for how great episode 28 is. Still, Sun and Moon might be the best kids anime I’ve ever seen, and that says a lot considering how much I love Ojamajo Doremi.

On that topic, If you loved Sun and Moon and you want to watch stuff like it, I’d highly recommend Ojamajo Doremi, which also has simpler more expressive character designs, with every facial reaction under the sun. You’ll probably also love Heartcatch precure and Sailor moon and you might even be into 100% Pascal sensei(and be a part of an exclusive club of like 3 people who like that show), and you’ll definitely be into Mahoujin Guruguru(2017). If you prefer X and Y, you’ll be delighted to know there’s an entire genre of anime that has the same appeal of that show. It’s called the “Shounen action” genre. You might have heard of it; it’s fairly popular. Of course that includes stuff like Hunter x Hunter(2011) and Fullmetal alchemist, that most people have already seen, but it’s a vast genre that you’re not going to watch all of anytime soon. If you somehow don’t know how to find that stuff, you can always PM me for recommendations. Anyways, I hope that regardless of whether you like Sun and Moon or not, we can all come to one agreement: Let’s hope Sword and Shield is going to be the best pokemon anime yet.

May contain very minor spoilers that won't affect your watching experience. If by any chance you didn't like it then message me and I will edit it out.

First up the Story is more or less the same, about a 10 year old boy named Satoshi aiming to be a Pokemon Master. Usually Satoshi collects gym badges and enters the league, but this time it's different . Satoshi's new adventure is on a island with new pokemon and new friends. I'm not going to explain the plot anymore because I don't want to ruin anyones experience. The story improves significantly in time, but you have to ... get used to the changes at your own pace. it look me 3 episodes to get used to for example.

The most noticeable change in Sun & Moon is the animation style. This change is the most criticized, after all Satoshi was starting to look much more mature in XYZ. Yes, he looks much more of a kid, but how old is he? 15? 16? No, he is 10. He's been 10 since 1997. This criticism is very annoying. Anyhow, the animation suits the setting very well and also makes it more funny.

The soundtracks suit the battling very well, not to mention the funny moments. The opening song is addicting and the ending song is amazing. For Pokemon you don't have to worry about the sound of the music or alike.

Every individual character has their own personality. Their personality is what makes the show entertaining. For example, Lillie is too afraid to touch Pokemon. The characters design works well with the plot and everything else.

I love Sun & Moon to bits. It's my life right now. #1 favourite anime at the moment and will stay that way. The reasons I love it is because of the comedy, animation, new pokemon and Z-Powers.

Satoshi going to school wasn't the anime fault, it's the game. If you don't like it then consult nintendo. A change is not always bad, in this case it is perfect. Seeing Satoshi Lose in the league again and again wasn't exactly the best anyway .

Thanks for reading and give Sun & Moon a try. I will prob edit in a few months. I haven't checked for errors.

Pokemon Sun & Moon is a weird story, its simultaneously widely hated and widely loved, so much so that its existence itself divided the Pokemon community into two halfs, "SM Stans" and "XY Stans".
Personally while I love and appreciate the XY Series as well, Sun and Moon is just on a whole another league for me.
After 20 long years of being on air, the Pokemon anime found itself a formula that it applied on every series, whenever the games came out, Ash went to the region said games are set and, traveled around the region, made friends, caught new Pokemon, collected badges and lost the ... league, this is the "basic plot" of Pokemon summed up in one sentence, even when this is done well as is the case in the XY Series, watching the same formula again and again got repetitive in my opinion.
Sun and Moon, while retaining the core themes and concepts of the previous seasons, took a very different approach, Ash didn't travel, he did make new friends but those were his "classmates", Yes, he went to School, he didn't collect gym badges as there are no gyms in the Alola Region but he did participate in the Island trials, so here are my thoughts.

Characters : 8/10
The Sun and Moon Series, despite having a way bigger cast than the previous seasons, developed each and every member in some way or another which I didn't think was possible for the Pokemon anime, Ash himself didn't get "reset" like he did in the Best Wishes series, he very much retained his skills which manifested in the XY Series, but one problem I had with XY's characterization of Ash is that outside of battles, he was quite stale. Sun and Moon fixed that, they made him childish and goofy while still badass and serious, a perfect mix.

Story : 9/10
The series has no "main story" all the small arcs and episodes build up to give us a really great Pokemon experience. Lillie's growth from a girl who is afraid of Pokemon and had problems with her family to battling her own brother in the Pokemon League and mastering a Z move was quite fascinating to see.
Other characters like Sophocles, Kiawe and Lana got growth as well, Mallow despite being a okay character didn't get much development but she got an amazing episode which was episode 108, what shined was how the stories were connected to the main cast, we already talked about Lillie's story, that same story developed Lusamine, Gladion in more ways than one, that story itself made Gladion Ash's rival.
Other small arcs like The Guzzlord and Zeraora mini arc or the return of Brock and Misty were really fun to see. It was really sweet to see all the interactions and relationship the characters shared, from the father and son dynamic Ash and Kukui had to Guzma who was sorta like a "dark version" of Ash, who quit his dreams after facing failures too many times.

Animation : 7/10
The new artstyle which cause a lot of controversy especially because of the look of Ash was implemented to enhance the character's movements by making the designs simplistic with less shading and details, the animators' job became a lot easier as opposed to the well detailed designs of XY, while this sounds good on paper and the character animation did factually improve a lot, the battles for some reason were lackluster in terms of animation, despite being well written if a battle looks boring, it loses a lot of points, why do you think people like Ash vs Kukui? it was well written AND well animated, the next series is also taking this simplistic artstyle approach but my only hope is the battles look as good as the character animation does which is honestly amazing and the best in Sun and Moon. The backgrounds too look the best out of any series prior to it.

Music : 10/10
Nothing to say, Pokemon, be it the anime or the games, never disappoints with music, from beautiful remixes of games' tracks to original tracks, Shinji Miyazaki is consistently amazing, this was his last series as the music scorer of Pokemon Anime, next series its Yuku Hayashi who is amazing as well (he did the score for My Hero Academia)

Overall : 9/10
Sun and Moon is just fun, it has a lot of ups and downs but which series doesn't? ignore the artstyle and give it a try, you won't be disappointed,

Man, this anime has been a fun ride for me. Initially, I hated the anime the moment I saw how Ash was designed which was like 3 years ago, then I thought let's give it a shot. After like 10-15 eps I gave up the anime for a really long time because at that time I was more into shonen anime and SuMo anime wasn't my cup of tea. I had questions also like why would Ash want to go POKEMON SCHOOL after travelling 6 REGIONS wherein he won 48 gym badges (8x6, do the math) and competed in 6 Pokemon Leagues and why wouldn't ... you go an adventure like you did for 6 regions?

So many questions, then after I heard that Gladion, Nebby made entries into the anime, I kinda kept up with it due to previews of next eps however slice of life still wasnt my cup of tea. Also I knew about these characters because I played the SuMo and USUM games and because of that I could watch the episodes here and there which contained some adventure, however thanks to their power ranger ripoff which was cringey to me I kinda narrowed down on eps to avoid thanks to people revealing the spoilers of next episodes on YT.

However, this Summer I kinda wanted to watch something light hearted cuz I watched a lot of heavy shonen anime and I don;t know I just wanted more variety so I decided let's watch SuMo anime without skipping this time that too during my rewatch which I started on October 4th and was also watching the Alola League side by side.

I am on the 22nd episode of my rewatch, and gotta say its been fun so far.....Oooof so many words dont want to be that other user who added 4200 words into it.....so will leave you to this that this pokemon series addresses a lot of deep themes on life for a kids anime like death (ep 21)


Overall, I'll say this that I will try to finish SuMo rewatch before Galar arc for sure because it's just 12 days away now at the time I write this review and Bye Bye Alola you were awesome ( I know that its just I need to see the missed eps)


Overall it's an 8.5/10 for me but here there's no 8.5/10 so the 0.5 is for Bewear who made chuckle EVERY DAMN TIME!

THANKS AGAIN ALOLA!!! HOPE TO SEE SOME OF THESE CHARACTERS IN GALAR TOO IN SOME FORM!

Gotta catch em all,

Let me just start the review by giving a very basic explaintion to the series. Ash goes to new region to become pokemon master...basically it’s the same as every other season except it’s in a new region!! AKA the Aloha Region

Now one thing I will say is the animation, this was a hard one for me at first because I hated how Ash looked but my final conclusion, it’s Refreshing with new animations. A lot of people hate it. I hated it. But after staring at new design in shock for a few hours, I got used to it. And honestly ... I like the new design for Ash.

Apart from ash the new Region and characters is simply beautiful, the animation really does bring it to life and it’s deserves all the praise it gets, all the Pokemon look the part and it keeps you invested to see more of the region.

Unfortunately the big down side to this anime is the plot, unfortunately for long stretches there is none and that’s a big problem in all of Pokemon not just this anime

BUT! any episode with plot is always great to watch and the ending of this anime is one of the best endings to Pokemon I have ever seen and it’s one of the big reasons that got me so hooked to the series/games again

My final conclusion is this, if this is the new direction they are taking Pokemon I cannot wait to see how Pokemon (2019) or Pokemon journeys (however you want to say it) turns out. This series is defiantly worth a watch and it’s a great way to get back into the world of Pokemon

[SPOILERS]

Wow, I did not expect this to make me nearly cry.

Better yet, at the time, this was my first time watching the Pokémon anime since 2014.

But, damn, is this show actually pretty fucking amazing. I’m surprised that this show- THIS show that was mocked by the community when it was announced... would become not only my favourite anime, but also win the hearts of many who previously despised it.

Let’s cut the shit: This is no way the best anime I’ve seen. But, it is my favourite. (If you watch Schaffrillas Productions’ Best Animated Feature video, he says that The Incredibles is a better film than ... Spirited Away, but the latter is his favourite.)

The cons are as follows:

- Inconsistent Pacing
- Some characters don’t get enough time in the spotlight
- Ash’s design

Pacing can honestly be a mixed bag. Sometimes, episodes can feel slow. Other times, they go too fast for your liking. Pacing does somewhat improve in the later episodes, but it can throw off your groove.

Seriously, some characters get thrown under the bus. Other than Ash, Pikachu, Team Rocket, and Professor Kukui, the classmates I found to be well-developed were Mallow and Kiawe. I like Lillie, but she got way too much development with no goal in the end. Lana is just eh, and don’t get me started on Sophocles (he’s not that good...)

Ash’s. Design. In. The. First. Half. Sucked. Although XYZ refined Ash’s appearance and honestly gave us his most impactful and memorable design (before Journeys), he looked kinda dumb and a bit of a goof. At least later on he looked way better and began to mesh well with the world more.

NOW ITS PRO TIME:

The animation IS AMAZING. OLM is honestly an underrated studio and should be respected more for their work. Sun and Moon did not hold back in the animation department. XYZ had 3-D Camera shit and CG backgrounds, but Sun and Moon said, “fuck that CG shit” and went mostly hand-drawn. There’s still some CG, but it’s not noticeable. The animation is smooth like butter and now, feels less stiff thanks to the art style change. Battles feel more lively and some ingenious camera work and character animation make it feel impactful. Even when the events are mundane, the animation still shows off the charm of life and breathes life into those scenes. Back to the battles, the final battle between Kukui and Ash offered THE single-best animated battle sequence in Pokémon’s 20-year history. But more on that later.

The story is surprisingly fun despite the earlier pacing issues. Once you get down to it, it’s pretty good. But, once you understand the underlying context behind it, it gets real good. You see, for most of the time Ash and Pikachu are in a region, they don’t really take a good look at all the sights and sounds. However, since they’re forced on a specific island, this allows them to fully take in the wonderful region that is Alola. Compared to XY’s I GOTTA WIN story, SM’s approach is to slow down in life. It focuses on world-building rather than battling and it gives off a Ghibli vibe. It’s about the bond you share not only with your friend’s but with nature and the environment itself. You meet all these characters and, unlike previous seasons, they aren’t one-offs. They leave a profound impact on Ash and help him along his eventual journey and goal to travel the world. Once you realize you’re at the endgame... you realize that Ash will say goodbye to everyone, and you probably wouldn’t want that.

Just like K-On told us that Graduation is not the end and Assassination Classroom told us to look towards the future, Pokemon Sun and Moon tell us that your family is closer than you think and will always stick by your side, even when you come back. This gives way to a finale that’ll rock you to the core and will likely make you shed a tear or two.

The music is BANGING. FEATURING SOME GREAT AND CATCHY OPENING SONGS AND SOME GOOD BOPS IN THE CLOSING, YOU’L BE BOPPING YOUR HEAD ALONG TO THE TUNES. Not only that, the background score by Shinji Miyazaki is excellent and a great send-off to his 20-year stint with Pokémon. Some highlights include Hau’oli City and Lillie’s Theme.

Then we get to Type:Wild and the Battle against Kukui. And OH MY IS THIS ONE OF THE GREATEST ANIME CLIMAXES. IM NOT CRAZY, YOU ARE.

The League in general was great at tying up arcs and made everyone (even Sophocles) grow as a character. However, the battle against Kukui is not only a culmination of the entire 146-episode show, but the show’s entire story up until that point.

Ash’s Pokémon get more highlights and give way to some great Arc conclusions for some, but the fight with Pikachu and Tapu Koko single-handedly may be one of the most impactful climaxes in anime.

For 20 years, Ash tried to win a league, but failed. It wasn’t until he beat Karma- I mean Gladion to secure the bag. He is the champion now, but this moment solidified why he’s the greatest trainer in history. To win the league, he used his Lycanroc, but to solidify himself as the strongest, he used his day-one buddy, Pikachu. To defeat the giant Tapu Koko, they used the memories they made over their time in Alola as a stepping stone into their untapped power. They culminate everything they learnt from studying Alola to this single Z-Move in order to overpower a god. In a Studio Trigger-esque sequence with ambitious panning shots, flashy visuals, guitar shredding, and a large focus of coming together as one, you could tell that the impact Ash and Pikachu made in not only in Alola, but anime in general was undeniable. He did not need a divine intervention. He did not need some flashy transformation. All Ash really needed was friends who would stick by him and a partner that created an everlasting bond with him. And most importantly, all he needed was just some fun under the sun.

And that’s what Sun and Moon is: a story about bonding with nature and people.
It has episodic arcs, it’s flashy, it’s wholesome, it’s a show that’s willing to tell stories that break the boundaries of Pokemon, it’s... fun.

Honestly, Assassination Classroom, Little Witch Academia, and K-On will be fighting over which one is better in my anime list, but it will never top the fun I had with Sun and Moon.

And that’s why i fucking love this show.

10/10

In the Pokemon anime series, it’s common among the fans about the quality of each series that varies and changes from each other, where it’s lowering from the Indigo season to the Johns season, starting picking up a little with Advance, goes higher with DP, dropping low in BW and then going back high with XY. So when I started watching Sun and Moon (SM for short) it’s inventible to ask if it continued XY quality, or dropped it. The answer Is kinda surprising: it’s neither.

To understand why I’m saying that, I will explain some introduction - Pokemon SM games were actually the first for ... a long time in the Pokemon franchise that tried to do something new - making “new” format with the games. New format doesn’t mean there’s no Pokemon training but spinoff kinda thing, but taking the games in another way of presenting the old familiar adventure - not only the region structure, but the game drastically changes the adventure. Instead of going from town X to town Y, the player needs to go through varies a variety of challenges and trials scattered along the islands, and though of course it's about Pokemon and battling, they present another way of handling our beloved creatures in more challenging and interesting ways presented in the trials, in other words: there are no gyms here, only “final boss” in the name of Kahuna of the island. In the map area, there are no more towns but 4 islands where the player is gonna play a full play time on them. So when OLM went to adapt the games, it was inventible to make a new format for the anime as well - Ash once again reaches our new region Alola which contains once again new Pokemon, new friends, new challenges and etc , but as the game map isn’t big as mentioned, you can’t handle the same way of travelling in SM but creating “new” format for the games. The producers of the anime probably were sitting hours in their planning meeting to know how to handle the less adventure “feel” and the smaller map of Alola to create a long-run Pokemon anime, and then they reached a kinda silly conclusion - why don’t we send Ash back to school?

Yeah, it’s just as you heard, now that the map isn’t big, and the same element of adventure can’t be done, there’s need to create a new format of Pokemon where Ash goes back and forth to the same place during the time he is supposed to train, catch, make new friends, and learn about the new generation of Pokemon. The only way they found how to make it works is getting him back to Pokemon school after he almost won the Galos league in XY, to learn about types, evolution and stuff that all of us know already from the age of 6 when we watched the Indigo season, and surely Ash does know already. Kinda ridiculous isn’t it?

But is this ruining Pokemon? It’s actually not, Ash is still training and catching some Pokemon, aiming to be Pokemon master by winning the challenges, battling the Kahunas, and spending his time with his Pokemon of course (how can Pokemon be without that?). Obviously Ash makes new friends. In fact, the main cast in SM is the biggest yet, if ‘till now he traveled with groups of 3-4 people now he have 5 new friends to the main cast besides the recurring returning characters, so there’s lot of room for character development for each of them. So though there’s a new kind of format for Pokemon episodes - Ash maybe stays in the same place and doesn’t have much of “Pokemon adventure”, but he still does his Pokemon training and catching thingy like all Pokemon series. So, what wrong with SM?

To explain it, I will start with what is good in SM - in fact, though the episodic format, SM have maybe more story arcs than most of Pokemon series, the first of them that features the legendaries Pokemon - Ultra Beasts in fact, was one of the best to my taste and made a really good impression, and there’s more of them, some of them maybe not in the level of the first one but still entertaining. Well, maybe except one which made me cringe so much. Ash still behaving as he should be after the XY series, though he kinda acts like he is in vacation from time to time, he still makes a good impression with creative training (literally) and variety of Pokemon that we haven’t seen him holding yet.

The problem is maybe the common episodes in every Pokemon series - the “fillers” of the Pokemon anime were never really good, they always had some formula of the same pattern, some trainer and his Pokemon, annoying team rocket and stuff, unless there were good events in those episodes that developed the characters or the story they were always average. You would say - in SM it would be the same, average episodes and all. But no, SM taking a new level in “filler” episodes, making the most bizarre and strange stories about what’s not. even in the lousy Johto season there wasn’t that low level of stories. There’s truly here and there some golden ones, and even in the strangest episodes there was one good cute or funny moment, but those episodes was my no.1 cause to watch SM in very long times with lots of breaks, mostly due the feeling I’m wasting my time. And I won’t even start talking about the Power Rangers thingy they made, true that the some stories of the Ultra Beasts were good but the Power Rangers approach was really annoying and pointless.

Thing is, those low level quality episodes don’t come at any specific time like they usually do, they are scattered all over the place, between the story arcs and sometimes even created long run of those episodes without stopping. This situation made me think that the writers of SM were not the same for the whole series. Unlike previous Pokemon series, yeah even the bad ones, had consecutive level of writing, SM doesn’t seem to have this, there’s some really good high level stories here and there, some good story arcs, there’s the usual average episodes, and there’s some really low written episodes like each writer took turns to write his own episode.

So the above question - is SM continuing the level of XY, or is it lowering it? Answer: neither, it has some really high peaks in the story with good training and battle episodes and some good story arcs, but some stories and even one arc that makes you cringe, SM truly has more ups and downs than most of Pokemon series.

But still, the good stories of SM are what is holding it so it won’t go down, whenever I remember the good character development and some arcs, and some of the battles that remind me of the XY battles, it makes me think good of SM. So though all the complaining, I still like SM story, though it's not one of my favourites for being inconsistent.

Final note: about the Z-rings in SM, though I really appreciate how OLM has done them, but they had the annoying thing of clashing moves together from the first seasons, and instead of using the Z-moves in interesting ways we would except, they are only doing them for the thrilling blasting and stuff and not for the real purpose, making Z-moves feel like useless addition and not tactical and powerful attacks. Some of the Z-moves battles were okay though and the problem is starting only little later on in the series. Still, the Mega-Evolution in XY was much better used than Z- moves, while in the games Z-moves are supposed to be a better upgrade than Mega-Evolution.

Story: 6/10

As I mentioned, Ash definitely doesn’t change a lot in SM from XY, his design maybe returned to be childish and caricature, and sometimes acting as he is in vacation, but he still has lots of confidence and love for his Pokemon, training and raising them with love and care, and aiming of course to be the strongest and the best. Maybe he’s not the same kind of mentor he was in XY, but he didn’t dropped to BW lvl1 trainer. The only complain on Ash is the usual complain of being corny and cringe, in XY since he had some “mentor” rule that characteristic kinda disappeared, OLM made sure In SM that we will remember he still has that.

Now, as I said, there’s a really big cast of characters, I will try to say the important stuff on the important characters, though there’s literally a lot, so I will mention only the regular ones.

Prof. Kukui - it might sound surprising, but yeah. Prof. Kukui is not only the professor in SM but he is regular and main character here, his part in the series is not that big but he’s interesting enough to steal the show from time to time. What’s making Kukui special In SM more is the fact that he’s kinda serving as father-model to Ash, which is adding quite a lot to the anime. (Especially for the fact that he doesn’t have a shirt...)

Lillie - Lillie is actually the only character in the anime that is actually based on her character from the game. The only difference is that they took her in some other way at the start of the series, at start it was a little strange but that direction actually made her character deeper than in the games, not only at the start of the series but also later on she has the most deep characteristic and the most development in SM, so I gotta give credit to OLM to how they handled her character, though I would love to see more closing to the game adaption than this (in terms of ideology), and maybe less annoying.

Gladion - Must say about Gladion, he makes the show pretty damn good, at least when he’s showing up and acting as Ash’s rival in SM. He is definitely raising the series level when he’s there with his style. But his uniqueness in the series kinda fades away toward the end, really too bad but still one of the good characters here.

With the follow characters, the anime took some of the anime characters from the trials and made them main characters, some of them were a hit-or-miss, some went pretty good. In the anime version they are acting as Ash’s classmates and friends to the region:

Mallow - Kinda good character, she has good development but not much along the series, and though to be non-annoying she’s my least favourite due to her very little role in the development of the anime.
Kiawe - Truly one of the annoying characters, but still better than the next one. Kiawe truly feels more like Ash’s rival in the series and still keeps being likeable unlike Ash’s previous rivals, he has development and golden moments here and there, but it felt as he had unused potential that turned into annoyance.
Sophocles - Yeah this one was totally pointless, had a kind of development along the series, but his childish behaviour and goals just doesn’t make sense to me in the Pokemon world. I understand the need to adapt his character, but OLM really failed in this one.
Lana -She’s actually my favourite character in SM, she had true goals, some good Pokemon battle scenes, good development, though not to be kinda deep as Lillie, she still was one of the best characters here.

Oh and I can’t forget - Team Rocket, Jessie and James and Mewoth feel much less annoying in SM, and have some serious comedy upgrade that ‘till the end made me laugh with tears. They might still wants Pikachu, still want to annoy anyone, but they are doing a much better job on that in SM that makes their appearance being comparable to their BW appearance, though I still like their BW role more. The annoying thing about Team Rocket in SM is their motto being replaced, wish they hadn't done that. I understand OLM needs to renew things but that was really pointless and not catchy.

Characters: 7/10

The art at the start might be intimidating, it’s not clear at first if they wanted higher animation and art quality or making it more childish. The truth is, after a couple of episodes you start to get why they chose this “light” art, though to stand out on the other Pokemon series it’s great and engaging, and though Ash looks again child and Team Rocket designs look weird, it has the best art the Pokemon series can offer (‘till SM at least, didn’t watched Journeys yet).

The animation get upgrade as well, there’s still some annoying reused frames, but some or even most of the battles are animated well enough to show how Pokemon anime adaption should be.

The OST is still great (to Pokemon), and even surprising at times. The openings were weird though, I understand the need to fit the “Alola” theme and all, but they didn’t feel as a Pokemon opening, it’s not making them less good though.
The voice cast was okay, except for Lillie’s English voice that was annoying (and maybe what made her annoying to me). Kinda weird at the start to hear Ash’s “mature” voice in his new design, but as I got used to the animation I got used to this as well.

Art & Animation - 8/10
OST & Voice cast: 7/10

Overall

SM is truly one of the good Pokemon series, it may have serious problems and have the most downhills and inconsistent story in the Pokemon long running series, but the good stories, the animation and the OST are making SM one of the good ones. For me at least it’s better than BW and Johto season, but it cannot be compared to XY/DP and even the Advance series where Ash is really developing, in SM he maybe still continues to get stronger as a trainer but he doesn’t develop much from when he was in XY and kinda feels stuck in a region of kids in school than taking challenges and forgetting his goal, even the Pokemon league wasn’t serious (in the term of league I mean, the battles were great). But after all, it’s Pokemon, and I’m fan of it and I enjoyed it, so who am I to complain? Those who love Pokemon have to watch SM, and even when strange and bizarre stories such as Power Rangers style gonna show up, true fans will stick to it ‘till the end where more good stuff are showing, it’s worth the effort of 146 episodes.

Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

I have to admit, when i first saw the artstyle change after xyz, and saw ash in the new school setting, i was furious. i thought it was the ultimate middle fingeer from the writers to long time fans of the show like me
"OH YOU THOUGHT HE WAS GONNA WIN THE KALOS LEAGUE? WELL GUESS WHAT? HE DIDNT AND NOW WE ARE GONNA TREAT HIM LIKE A STUPID BOY. AGAIN"
I wanted to leave the show and leave pokemon. i didnt want another BW

I'm SOOO happy i was wrong.
true, its filled with fillers, but sun and moon is at its core, a character based series. ... and thats what makes it special.
Mallow, lana, kiawe lillie saphocles and ash all grew along with the series. the things ash got from his time in alola are things he will never forget. its the first time he has a father figure! he raised and commanded a legendary, he was the commanderof the ultra squad (even tho i didnt like those episodes) he got his own exclusive z move that even defeated the legendary tapu's z move. he helped so many people and cherry on top was him becoming a champion. those are things no other pokemon series has ever done.
I even started to like the artstyle (but only by the kukui battle)
even though i thought the xy group was better as a group (and im an amourshipper) i smiled so hard in that final alola surprise scene in the last episode.
such a special series. (but be patient with it. its not gonna be easy if you came from xy)

Once you get used to the artstyle, you'll see a really great Pokémon series.

It sure is mostly comedy, a real change of pace compared to XY(&Z) Minus the pokémon names jokes, it's usually nice comedy.

Where Sun & Moon shines the most, it's through it's characters. The cast is vibrant, full of personality.

The show really shines when it tries to be serious; there's a whole episode dealing with death (which is something almost never talked in Pokémon) another one about family issues; and more recently, the episodes focusing on Lilly's trauma.

As of episode 50, lots of things actually happened, and it was by far the most ... shocking episode of the series, due to the way it ended.

As a Pokemon fan,i watched almost all the movies and some of the series.I love Sun and Moon because its different from the other Pokemon series.That's why some people don't like it and some people love it.Its not for all people,in my case,i just wanted something different from all the series.The story,is not the best, i liked it overrall but sometimes it doesnt make sense.The art is the best in my opinion,Alola has a very good design,a tropical beautiful region.The sound are also very good,in my opinion the best so far.The character is the thing i kind of dislike.There are too much characters.Some of them,just ... dont make sense,and they sounld'nt exist.Also,Ash is different,a more comedic appearance than the other series,where Ash was more competitive.As for enjoyment,i like it for most of the time,there are just some weird episodes but in rest i just love it.In my opinion the best pokemon series ever done.

I remember being really upset when I first saw this. XY and XYZ were amazing and I was just so attached to it. Sun and Moon proved me wrong and showed something else I failed to see.

The story is really good. I love how each episode is unique. Each episode shows the main focus of this anime: Alola. The region shines here and is just not "another" setting. No, my friends. This anime puts the region up front. Alola and its culture were amazing in the games but here we get to see it even closer. Each episode shows a cool new facet of ... it and it's a real living and breathing region. Plus it's fun. That describes the anime. Fun. Each episode is so much fun and brought a smile to my face! It's amazing the way it does it. There are no filler episodes because each serves a purpose to show Alola. Then there are the arcs. One time they went to another island, Akala and wow. Wow. It was amazing, the story was amazing and the visuals were amazing. One beautiful evolution with the sunset. I won't spoil but I almost shed tears on how beautiful that scene was. This Pokemon anime. story-wise it holds up and has its amazing moment. Just don't expect deep stuff and see the fun in it. It's worth it. 8/10

Now the characters, a major pillar of the show. I'll say right off the bat they deserve nothing less than a 10/10. Let me explain. Ash is as great as always, he's a bit more energetic and is very childish. It took a while to get used to, as he was the opposite in XY. I admit I miss the XY days of Ash but this ain't half bad. Actually not bad at all. I still enjoy Ash and he's the still the awesome protagonist. Then it's the supporting characters and they rule. Mallow is the more energetic and lovable person or Kiawe who's the more calm but powerful dude. Kukui is awesome. Straight up awesome dude. This show has the best supporting cast ever. Each is amazing in their own right. 10/10

Sound
Great music. The same ones you loved in the game are back and they give you the chills! Good stuff.

Overall
This show surpassed my expectations. I really do love it and it's a nice chill anime that can lighten up even the saddest of days. It may not reach the heights of XY but in its own right, it's amazing. I love the setting and each episode is amazing. I cannot wait for the future of this series but for gen 8, let's go back to more serious things ok?

My own review, since I'm enjoying it so much! Warning for sorta-ok English, since it's not my native tongue. I've only watched up to episode 22, so this review is relatively a work in progress.

I'm an avid fan of Pokemon, though I skipped out of the BW/XYZ seasons. That kind of flare wasn't for me, and I found the show rather lackluster and a little disappointing, and I just didn't really care about the show anymore at that point.

SM came along and blew my mind away. I got immersed in every aspect of the show! I haven't watch the dub (probably won't touch that at ... all lol), but I highly recommend the sub! Especially if you're looking for something with a lot of energy and a sort-of Hoenn-vibe.

STORY: 7-10
I'm very in love with Alola & the places Satoshi goes. They haven't gone to many places yet outside of short visits, but I'm excited to see more of Satoshi traveling with his friends soon!

ART: 10
I'm not sure where the sudden hate for this art style came from. It's very, very amazing if you give it a chance. The move from the very age-old anime style is a huge leap in improvement! It looks very modern and like Ken Sugimori's art in his official works. I'd even compare it to the ORAS anime commercial, and I know of many people who wished for it to become a legitimate series due to how attractive the visuals in it were.

Satoshi has never looked better. Pokemon has never looked better. It's a very beautiful show with smooth, fluid animations, and it makes me drool with how bright, fun, and full of energy the visuals lend to the show!

It's also a very expressive art style! Especially or both the Pokemons & human characters. I can't keep track of how many original facial expressions & animation I saw.The animation is so fluid and smooth. There were a few times where I recognize some small flop in animation, but it's nothing that will destroy the experience.

In addition, the rest of the visuals are gorgeous. Even though I wasn't very into BW/XYZ, I do recognize the gorgeous animations with the background art. SM still has all those things. Gorgeous Pokemon moves, background art, paneling, animations, and battles! The Z-Moves are executed with as much power and beauty in the animation as you'd expect.

Sound: 10
The sound was very good. In addition, I'm totally in love with the Japanese OP & ED songs!! (The English OP does not compare. At. All.)

Character: 10
Characters are fun and exciting! Satoshi seems so much more comfortable being himself. The way he's animated really allows him to be the fun, dorky kid with so much energy and love for Pokemon, and I feel like that really bounces off the screen & towards the audience to immerse them into the show.

SM has so much character. It's very expressive and energetic, and I love the entirely sincere tone with it's excitement and sunny atmosphere. When there's a tone or emotion being expressed in the show, it expresses it with full force & doesn't skip a beat. I haven't had this much fun since the Sinnoh season!

Pokemon's "freshest" reboot yet to date. Why did I use "fresh" to describe Sun and Moon? First, Sun and Moon completely removed the default concept of Ash's Traveling routine all throughout the past 6 Generations. Second, the supporting characters around Ash give the anime a new fresh feel, apart from the stereotypical feel that the past generations gave. Third, the new concept of Pokemon competition, where Gyms are removed and Trials are introduced, along with the concept of Z-Moves, all refurbished not only the anime, but the game too. Lastly, the ART, which triggered a lot of people, actually gave room for better facial reactions, ... conveyed better emotions, and overall made the anime a lot more fun in conjunction with the jokes utilized in Sun and Moon. In summary, this season focuses more on the substance of Pokemon Sun and Moon anime instead rather than the animation. If Pokemon XY&Z raised the bar on battle animations, Pokemon Sun and Moon will raise the content standards.

Watching it subbed.

Pokemon Sun and Moon is by far the most different Pokemon anime, unlike the rest of the seasons it went from the adventure genre to a more slice of life like show. Not only that but the art style changed drastically.

At the current moment (ep 34) we're not in the main story yet but we have quite a few characters introduced that seem important to the plot, mainly Gladion.

The art style, altough different, personally got quite better, it fits the overall theme of S&M way more than the static art style from the earlier seasons and it allows the characters to express ... themselves a lot more, which is important, as S&M added a lot of slapstick comedy.

Currently we have 2 openings and 1 ending, which are all above average and the OST mostly consists of game remixes and quite a few older soundtracks from X&Y. (as far I know)

The characters improved a lot as well. All the main characters get at least 1 or 2 episodes just for them and at the current state (ep34) we got a good amount of character development for a pokemon anime.

I only speak for myself but I enjoy S&M way more than any other season of pokemon but thats mostly me being a sucker for slice of life, not really liking the older art styles and 0815 adventure "hey lets get 8 badges" seasons.

Overall Sun and Moon is by far the easiest to enjoy season and has the most depth out of any pokemon show, as it doesnt hesitate to tackle more adult problems like dealing with the death of a loved one and the grieving that comes with it.

To start off before I get into my personal review; I think Sun and Moon gets a lot of hate for the wrong reasons. I personally believe that this show isn't given enough credit and that honestly bums me out. I'm gonna try to break it down nice and simple, to give you my thoughts of why I think this anime is actually quite good, and deserves a lot more praise. I put very little spoilers in here as I possibly could, so if you dont want ANY whatsoever. I suggest not to read.

Story - Honestly. It is so refreshing to see that Sun & ... Moon isn't the standard "copy & paste", linear story that a lot of the past ones were. Sun & Moon tries something different that we haven't really seen before in the past Pokemon anime.

Satoshi (Ash) arrives in the Alola region with his mom to deliver a Pokemon egg to Prof. Oak's cousin, Samson. During the one day that Satoshi was there, he of course had a great time that lead him to the decision that he wanted to stay and adventure the Alolan region. Now, at this point if you played the games, you would assume that Satoshi would go to each island right away to challenge all of the trails. Instead of doing that immediately, he is introduced as a new classmate in the Pokemon school, where he makes new friends that were actually challengers in the game. Already off the bat, this feels really weird and different. As time goes on, Satoshi goes on adventures with his new friends and classmates, and also does the island challenges when the opportunity arises. Something that is also new is that Satoshi and his friends become "Ultra Guardians". This in my opinion is kind of cringe and not that enjoyed for the most part. They basically go and fight any ultra beasts that come into the world through the portals, capture them, and send them back to where they came from. The way that they go about it, sending them off with their catch phrases and such, to me is pretty weird and not in a good way. Not that I hate it, but I personally could go without it. I do however like some of the episodes, and I love that they all have their own ride Pokemon, based on their personalities (or preferences). All in all, without going into too much more detail, I am seriously enjoying and having fun with this new story. Its really fresh and its a different approach from how all the other anime is. Go battle gyms, fight the league. Sure in the sense of this, it will end up that way as well. But there is no gyms, and as of right now in the current story, there is no league. But the professor is working on creating it. A lot of people don't like this and honestly I can understand why, but to me, as someone that used to watch the Pokemon anime and just got so bored of it since it was always the same thing, Sun & Moon got me back into it. I feel like I can actually sit and enjoy almost every episode and be amazed by it.

Art - Ok so, the art is probably also the biggest thing that people HATE. I get it. It's very different. It does seem that the quality has gone down in some aspects. I can admit that for sure. Although, I think why it seems that way, is just through the approach that they did. It looks more cartoon-y and does look like the same anime style it once had. Although, I love it. The animation is well done, and the character design has stayed true. Based on each characters personality, they animate them correctly with the ways that they walk, act, talk, etc. Personally I think it looks pretty good, and as i keep saying over and over again. Refreshing. X & Y they had great animation and art style, but it was the same old style that they've always had, just updated.

Sound - Wow. So the music in this show has been FANTASTIC so far. Most OP's and ED's have been amazing. Voice acting is very good and to a T. There isnt too much that I can think of that I can write more than that.

Character - The anime has stayed true to how the characters are in the game, and I think for the most part, the directors have usually done a good job with that. They haven't butchered any of the characters, and have done their best to flesh them out in the anime. I love how they all are. Honestly in the game, I didn't care for them at all. Besides Lily. The anime has honestly made me love each of them, and makes me always want to watch to see how they grow as trainers, and see what they do next!

Enjoyment - I have not been able to enjoy a pokemon anime in such a long time. X & Y was good. Also X Y & Z. That I didnt really have much problems with, it was really good! Although I didn't really care about it that much. However, Sun & Moon has honestly restored that fun for me. Everytime I watch an episode, I can seriously sit there and enjoy whatever the characters are doing, and seeing how Satoshi progresses in the Alolan region. I have recommended the show to a couple of my friends that like Pokemon, and they're having a great time watching it, and even they haven't enjoyed a Pokemon anime in a long time. I seriously think that Sun and Moon is perfect to sit down and relax to. It also has its time where it gets you really hyped up, and wanting to know whats next.

Overall I seriously love Sun and Moon. Is it perfect? Definitely not. Is it different? For sure. Does that make it bad? No. I seriously think people don't like change, but sometimes, its good. There are some things that, like I said, I dont like about the show. But that hasn't stopped me in the slightest from giving the show a chance and see where it went. It's been a great adventure so far and I cant wait to see where it goes. I think people just really need to give it the chance that it deserves, and try to enjoy something that's a bit different.

First Thoughts: Pokemon Sun & Moon is very different from original Pokemon. It is more sit-com type of show with less intense scenes. There are still fights but it feels different.

Story: The story of Sun & Moon isn't bad. It is just different. The story is still good because an episode can lead onto another episode but it doesn't feel as intense as earlier gens. It is just kind of boring and predictable.

Art: The one time I finally get to use the art column lol. The art in this anime is so much worse and Ash looks terrible and everything is just screwed up ... and I would give it a 1-2 if it wasn't for Tajiri saying he only changed the art because he could focus more on the intense fights and I definitely understand but the art is still very bad knowing that.

Sound: I have no idea what to put here. intros in english and japanese are decent to good and thunderbolt has a good sound. The fights have good sounds this is a hard one to answer.

Character: The characters in Pokemon Sun & Moon are incredible and in my opinion the best of any Pokemon series. there, I said it. They have good backstories, unique personalities, likeable traits it is all you could ever want. Take Gladion for example, (My Favourite Character) He is mostly mean, but stays mostly calm and can be nice some of the time. He had great development. And a good rival to Ash. Overall Sun & Moon has almost perfect characters.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed Sun & Moon most of the time even when repetitive and boring. The sitcom style was hard to get used to but I did eventually. I enjoyed Sun and Moon.

Overall:Overall Sun & Moon is very different and in my opinion a little more for kids than other Pokemon series. That aside the fights were incredible and next to XY&Z for me in fighting aspect.
That will be all for my review. I hope you understand Sun & Moon better after reading this.

If I am being honest, the show is actually pretty good. However I would prefer to start with the animation, a slightly over discussed topic I know.

The animation can be looked passed, although Ash's style is a bit more childish, it isn't all that bad. It can be looked past once you get in to the series a bit more, I don't like some of the faces Ash makes though, a few of them are gross in my opinion. However the Pokemon look great, and the 3d effects they seem to have added into the battles look really nice. The lines are a little soft ... however, they should be a little more rough in some areas, they have a lack of strait and hard lines, and everything seems a little soft on some of the characters. Ash's cheek marks and eyebrows seem a bit soft, along with the eyes and hair, this is a problem on many old characters which seem out of place with these changes, I mean James honestly looks worse than Ash in some situations. Again you can get used to these changes.

I would not consider this the kind of anime that is a action adventure anime, its more of a slice of life at this point. And along with that, there is a bit of character development. Ash begins to seem more in place, and Sophocles and Ash become better friends, as well as Lillie being able to touch the Pokemon egg, Ash however, seems a bit immature, he seems to be more of a school boy than the amazing trainer he truly is, he should be a little more mature, and independent, but that is my only problem there. Hopefully as we get further in he will begin to get closer to his Pokemon.

Not really much to complain about here, Lillie's voice gets a tad annoying when she gets fired up or battles, but other than that I don't see a problem.

If you would like some casual entertainment that's full of energy or just like seeing pokemons being cute, this is the anime for you!

STORY
While it doesn't follow the same plot as the other pokemon animes, it's still as entertaining or even more if you like an anime that focuses on the characters themselves more.
There's no more 'lets become a champion' or 'I want to catch them all!' It's just a group of friends doing lots of different activities, and there's also pokemons in it.

If you're wondering if there's any actual goal in this anime, the answer is that there is! Surprisingly!
But the show barely has ... any episodes related to it, so it's more of a side plot than anything else. Kinda disappointing.

ART
I'll be honest and say that I honestly dislike how ash looks and this just feels like an entirely different timeline than the rest of the pokemon animes.
The style here is much more simple and flat, VERY similar to the styles used in cartoons.
The animations and special effects are pretty good though, for the pokemon fights. Which really shows how much they've improved so far in the special effects department.

SOUND
Not much to say here. The sound effects are ok, the music is ok, the opening is good...
I do dislike ash and a few other characters voices. They shout too much and it's kind of irritating because it doesn't sound that good either.

As for the characters and my overall enjoyment of this?
The characters have their own charm, and different quirks that define them. I'll be biased and say that the only one I really like is Lily, she's the most developed character with the most interesting backstory. Everyone else is an average joe.
Regardless of everything I said, I did enjoy this anime. Mostly because I watched it without expecting anything from it, but it's still fun and has lots of pokemons in it. It's also not a very serious anime and caters more to kids I guess, but it does have its good moments!

I gave this a 7 overall because it really wasn't the best pokemon anime or just animes in general, but it also wasn't the most terrible and unwatchable show I've watched.

People are very harsh on this but usually it’s based on first impressions. I think if people gave this a solid chance they’d realize it has a lot to offer.

Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Yes, the animation quality took a hit. The animation is kind of underwhelming and choppy at many points. It’s probably the hardest part of this new generation to get over. But there is another angle to it, being that this is the first time the show hasn’t looked like a generic shonen and it feels like it has an actual identity of its own ... now.

Ash’s personality has been reworked in this generation like it has in every other generation. But honestly this is one of my favorite Ash personalities. This is the first time he’s behaved like an actual ten year old since the Indigo League but unlike then he has retained his competence from the Kalos League. This creates a real great balance to his character where back in Kanto Ash was massively incompetent and only won through flukes which made the series borderline unwatchable at times. But here he can capture the childlike naivety and wonder while not being a constant fuck up. If you want to see what I mean, check out Episode 10 for his competence and Episode 22 for his childlike behavior. You shouldn’t worry about spoiling anything for yourself, if you are even remotely familiar with the franchise then you should know how everything plays out.

Then there’s the Pokemon School element to the show. Now when I learned about this I was convinced I would HATE this. But actually it has given some variety to the previously tired formula. See instead of tracing the footsteps of the generation’s respective game Ash instead attends a “Pokemon School” that he goes to daily to receive lectures from Professor Kukui or Professor Oak’s cousin. If you played Sun and Moon you’d already know Alola is a small place so the usual “Go on a journey” thing wasn’t going to work anyway. Instead they use the school as Ash’s sort of central hub for his adventures and whenever he thinks he’s ready he will attempt a trial.

Most episodes have him hanging out with one of his friends who in the game are some of the trial captains but in the show are his classmates. I thought I’d hate them too by the way but each of them has real personality far beyond the one note personalities of all his previous companions making each of them endearing. This is made all the more amazing by the number of them. Usually when a show has a large cast all the characters feel malnourished since the writers ave to divide up attention but here they feel wholesome and amusing. This makes me think very poorly of whoever was writing the show before now because now I realize just how little effort they had been putting into Ash’s companions before this generation.

There’s a lot more humor involved in this generation which I’m not entirely opposed to. The previous generations had jokes in them but they were usually all just recurring gags that got beaten to death early in the series. There is no shortage of lame recurring gags here either but they are balanced out with REAL jokes this time which I appreciate.

Lastly I want to mention Team Rocket’s role in all of this. In previous generations they would harass Ash in every damn episode like fucking Swiper the Fox but this time around they usually only have a brief “meanwhile” sequence that shows us what they’re up to. I LOVE this. Since now when they actually do come to mess with Ash it actually feels special. I can not praise this choice enough. I love Jessie and James but they were downright mundane until now. Also they caught some really devastating Pokemon this time around. Jessie’s Mimikyu is a psychopath and is borderline unstoppable. It kicks Pikachu’s ass regularly, James’ Mareanie is nothing to sneeze at either.

Overall I think this is extremely underrated and if you were turned off by the animation I strongly urge you to give it another chance and see what it has to offer.

Watching the subbed version.

First off, I didn't really plan on watching this anime because of the sudden art change. Of course, its prequel left me disappointed. But then again I decided to give it a chance and I never regretted, first episode is hilarious, so I kept coming back for more.

Now, the anime has over 20 episodes and it kind of broke the typical storyline where Ash will lose his first battle against a gym leader or in this case the Kahuna. Strangely enough, this doesn't follow how the game went, seeing Satoshi's classmates are supposed to be the captains of the second island. ... So I am curious how the story will go.

It broke many traditional ways of the Pokemon where Team Rocket will always be defeated and such, there's this episode where you will need a tons of tissue because you will cry a lot.

The art style of this anime has really changed but I didn't mind because it is actually hilarious for me to watch even for that overreacting faces they make.

I hope for the haters out there will try watching the first episode and stop hating the art style. Because you will get to see why they did that.