Pokemon (2019)

I mean, What is there to say... This is, this is a masterpiece!

Yeah, nah lovely pokemon anime. I love what they did with the soundtrack with the remixed sword and shield gym theme. Very nice. The animation is fluid, OSTs from previous pokemon games are making an appearance. As well as characters such as Leon and Lance. Ash is not an idiot. In fact, he can go toe to toe with the world champion with Pikachu alone.

A lot of good to come from this anime. They are visiting different pokemon regions as well. Ash is still 10 years old, and he's past ... achievements are accounted for. We can see in the first episode all he's trophies in his room and badges.

I am 23 years old and I have a big confession to make.

I love Pokémon. And not in the "I'm a big fan!" kind. I only just want to talk about it, this is hardly a review but I just want to tell you to watch this.

I am truly in love, infatuated, and addicted to the franchise as a whole. From the moment I first played Pokémon Crystal as a child, I was hooked.

Why is this a problem? Because of my HUGE bias with the anime. I will be the first to admit, that around the fifth generation, Black & White, I lost ... some interest for a while. And during Sun & Moon, the criticisms that people had for it wore me down and made me struggle to admit that I was still loving it.

For a while, I thought the anime peaked in the 2nd generation, until generation 6 hit. XY and XY&Z were fantastic. The movies not so much but the series was phenomenal. REALLY kindled my love for one of my all-time favorite legendary Pokémon - Zygarde.

But I'm not here to talk about a series I described as phenomenal.

I'm here to talk about a series I describe as a fucking masterpiece. And I do not CARE if anyone says I'm jumping the gun, or showing my bias.

In my eyes, this anime is perfect.

I'll start with something I'm not very good at putting into words.

The animation.

Everyone is aware of the art style that spanned across the first six generations, and although you can see the differences between the two, they never really evolved. Think about the difference between a Quilava and a Typhlosion. Generation six, being the typhlosion. A fully evolved season that had "cool" slapped all over it.

Then Sun & Moon came along. Suddenly, we no longer had a Typhlosion. We had.. a Litten! It initially looked like a completely different series. Ash, ironically, looked even younger, and it really did feel like it was marketed towards a younger audience. Remember that "younger audience" comment. It shall arise again.

Anyway. While the art style on it's own wasn't that same "Cool" vibe we originally had, what wasn't lacking was the animation front. It still had poorly animated episodes, but what really learned to shine was how expressive and free this new direction was. Suddenly, visually, the anime felt more "fun". Given the setting of the story, Alola, it was fitting. But not everyone grew to love it. And that's okay. It wasn't amazing. It was different.

So with this season, I was half expecting them to go back to a cool art style. But then the trailer hit.

It wasn't that classic art style. It wasn't the new Sun & Moon style. It was... More like a hybrid. It really made SM feel like a test, to see what people would enjoy.

Don't take my word for the animation - I'm not good at describing. Please see for yourself and make up your own decision. I promise the animation doesn't disappoint.


The Story

Each generation has really ONLY focused on it's own region - Apart from a few odd episodes, like when Ash returns to Kanto occasionally. Seriously it was ONLY ever Kanto.

It was only ever Kanto.

Which I really hope you like. They're living in Kanto again - More specifically, Vermillion City is their home base. Does that mean this anime takes place in Kanto?

No. This anime takes place in the world of Pokémon. No longer are we confined to the restraints of what the current video game is. They travel across the world - From Kanto to Galar. And the continuity is as great as ever because of it. Suddenly, we're able to see returning Pokémon we wouldn't usually get, or returning cities.

Or returning trainers. Something so rare for this franchise it's justified to think that every season is a hard ass reboot. For long term fans, I don't want to spoil which characters return, but so far it's been some good choices.

Everyone knows, and I mean EVERYONE knows, that Ash finally became a champion in Alola during Sun & Moon. But this isn't about becoming a champion, this is about becoming THE Pokémon master. And now he's facing a world championship, featuring trainers, gym leaders, and even champions from all around the world. With one goal - Slap the unbeatable bastard Leon off his throne.

And Ash isn't fucking around this season. He's getting a winning streak straight away. He has fan favorite Pokémon that people have been hoping he'd get for GENERATIONS.

His new companion this time is Goh - Which fulfills the "Gotta catch 'em all!" role. His goal is literally to catch them all and work his way to Mew. If I recall correctly this is the only time they've really delved too deep into a character actually doing the series' original goal in the first place.


The Music

For the first time in Pokémon's history, the main composer for the anime has been taken over. Goodbye Shinji Miyazaki. Hello Yuki Hayashi.

If that name rings a bell to you, that's because he's the main man behind the soundtrack of Boku No Hero Academia. And more than ever, the music shines. From the second episode, there's a scene that's pretty magical. And the music not only accompanies it, it MAKES it.

I also think it's one of the only anime where, 39 episodes in, I STILL haven't skipped the opening. There's been two versions of it so far - Both the same song, but different performers.


Anyway, all of this for my non-critical ass to say. I'm biased as shit and you should honestly watch this. It doesn't matter if you've never seen Pokémon before. You probably know the basics anyway - Is there a single person on the internet that doesn't know of Ash & Pikachu? I would be surprised if I ever met someone like that.


Thank you for reading me talk about the anime of one of my favorite franchises ever. It means a lot. Seriously all I actually wanted to do was talk about Pokémon.

See ya!

I love Pokemon. I love the Pokemon anime a lot. I personally enjoyed Pokemon Sun and Moon while it aired, and I think that this show takes the best elements from that season.

The animation is dynamic, the artstyle is cute and fun, the battles are gorgeous (though we haven't seen many so far), the music in this show is top notch, as expected of any Pokemon anime or game, and on a technical basis alone it's definitely a 10/10. Long gone are the stiff animations of basically anything prior to Sun and Moon, the nearly emotionless faces now gone as well. Finally a Pokemon series ... that looks as good as it's competitors in the anime market.

The story so far is simple: Ash becomes Professor Katsuragi's assistant, along with his new friend Gou. They go to different cities and regions to explore and discover new things about Pokemon. Simple premise, right? Well, I think it's far more interesting than the linear style of most other seasons, where you get the badges, battle in the league, lose, and move on to the next region. However, it also solves the problem many people had with Sun and Moon: the lack of adventure.
One of the biggest issues people had with Sun and Moon is that it lacked that adventurous atmosphere the Pokemon series is all about. Ash was basically stuck in one place the whole time, and the best episodes were the ones where the school traveled to different islands, or to Kanto, or when they went to solve the Necrozma issue. The writers must've heard the criticism, because now Ash explores some familiar (and less familiar) locations every episode! It makes every episode feel fresh and new, even if we've seen many of these places before, because now it's from the viewpoint of "What's that strange phenomenon?" or "What's that cool event they have there?" and it keeps things fresh.

That also brings me to another point: This show is accessible to newer fans. A kid who got introduced to Pokemon thanks to Pokemon Go or either or the Switch games, or heck maybe one of the more recent anime, will simply have no idea what Tangrowth or Alomamola are, and they definitely wouldn't wanna go through over 1000 episodes just to see what Ash has accomplished before this series. What the show does is make sure a kid who doesn't have any knowledge of any prior Pokemon series or game can get into this show and enjoy it! That doesn't mean the older fans are left hanging, Ash and Pikachu didn't seem to reset their abilities despite the reboot the series got. Ash's Orange Islands league trophy, along with his Alola league trophy and a Masked Royal action figure are displayed proudly in his room, and so far Ash seemed like a much more competent trainer than he was in the first few episodes of most seasons. Pikachu didn't reset either, defeating strong Pokemon early on in the series, unlike that one time it lost to a level 5 Snivy. The series is friendly to new and old fans alike.

Since the show has only started, I can't talk much about the characters, since they didn't have time to be fleshed out. As mentioned before, Ash appears to be more competent than you'd expect at this point in the series. However, he still acts like a kid or a preteen, unlike the more mature Ash we saw in X&Y. He's just a kid who likes Pokemon and is good at Pokemon battles and he's a blast to watch.
We also have Gou, a new character. What I like about this series is that instead of the main cast consisting of Ash, a cute girl and a guy who can cook, we just have two buddies going on adventures together. The Pokegirl of this region, Koharu, takes on a secondary role, and so we can focus on the bond between Ash and Gou, which is just wholesome. They're very similar in personality, with the main difference between them being that Gou is much less social than Ash, and has trouble making friends. Ash, as an extroverted trainer with experience, helps Gou, who has a lot of knowledge but lacks experience who also has some trust issues, open up and shows him all these pocket monsters have to offer, all the while becoming his first real friend. Their dynamics range from wholesome to hilarious, and I hope to see both of them help each other grow.
While Koharu isn't my favorite, she's definitely a lovely girl from the screentime she got, and I'm sure as the show progresses we'll get more of her. Professor Katsuragi is really sweet as well, I hope to see more of him. It's also important to mention that the Pokemon are brimming with personality, something which I felt was lacking in Sun and Moon. Gou's Scorbunny is energetic and has a kind heart, Mr. Mime is an actual troll and it's amazing, and the list goes on. I feel like it adds a lot of charm to the series.

overall, this show is really fun and really good, I wait for a new episode every week and I'd definitely recommend the series to people who dropped the Pokemon anime in the past. Why did I give it an 8? Because we're very early into the show, so I can't say it's perfect quite yet. Who knows, my opinion on it might change in the future, but right now it's a good and pretty show that will probably get even better as time goes on.

Pokemon has been an incredibly big part of my life and especially so during my childhood. I would wake up in the early hours of the morning and plant my backside right in front of our family TV, anticipating another new episode of Pokemon, wondering what new species I'll witness next. I would play my Gameboy Color that I got for Christmas in 1999 along with Pokemon Gold, under my blanket during bedtime, hiding it away from my parents as I relentlessly played it through the night. I would nag and nag at my Grandma the following year to buy me Pokemon Red, which was ... seemingly still on the shelves for sale, and eventually got what I so desired. I would collect Pokemon Trading cards, trade and battle with friends, buy figurines, I would eat, sleep and breathe Pokemon. Suffice to say, I was very addicted.

Twenty plus years later, I am caught up with the latest installment of the Pokemon anime, and while I still check out the newest games, I have only ever played through Gens 6-9 once over. Personally, it just doesn't hit the same. The previous series, Pokemon Sun and Moon was a highly controversial anime that split the fanbase with it's newly non linear story line and a lack of gyms, Pokemon Journeys follows suit as Ash does not travel a single region, collecting badges along the way. This was very refreshing to see after so many years, something different than the bog standard story and I enjoyed the change. Ash's homebase is in Pallet Town, Kanto, at the Sakuragi Institute where he works as a research assistant alongside new companion Goh, and travels to different regions investigating or simply observing Pokemon.

We can't talk about Ash and not talk about Goh, another controversial thing about this series. Goh is quite simply the co main character for the first half of the show, an energetic, emotional and sometimes naïve boy who's goal is to capture Mew. He spends all his time capturing anything he sees, wanting Mew to be the last Pokemon left for his Pokedex. A lot of people didn't like Goh stealing the limelight from Ash and also absolutely abhor some of the decisions made from the creators when it came to what Pokemon he captures (he's just doing what every little kid did, capture every single damn Pokemon). Purists. I had no problem with it and hoped to see more. His character develops as he deepens his bonds with his main Pokemon and finds courage in battle, something he lacked.

Another recurring character is Koharu, this seasons Misty, May, etc. She's a lot more laid back and her screen time or importance isn't as great as previous heroines, but she also gets some nice development. Struggling with an identity crisis, and the pressure of having a Pokemon Professor as a Father, she grew up not liking Pokemon at all, or at least indifferent to them. A chance meeting with an Eevee who cannot evolve leads to a significant relationship, and they both help each other understand their own predicaments and grow from it.

Now we have Ash. He's mostly along for the ride until the latter half of the show where the World Championships arc is in the forefront of the narrative. This arc is by far the most interesting arc of them all and has many older characters making small cameos and comebacks from time to time, quite a bit of fanservice for us older fans.

Ash's team is absolutely stacked in terms of popular Pokemon and even strength wise as well. There are many things to like and dislike about Ash's battles and his Pokemon this time around...

Strengths:

- The useage of abilities and in game mechanics and tactics are comfortably the best I've ever seen them used in a Pokemon series so far. A lot of first time plays as far as I'm aware.
- A lot of switching in and out Pokemon from Ash's rivals.
- Sublime soundtracks for stand out Pokemon.

Weaknesses:

- A complete lack of simple dodging, something that used to be a common occurrence.
- A lack of a sense of hard, episode to episode training, it never felt that Ash's team was the best it's ever been.
- Which in turn garnered a bit of disbelief as to who he was facing often times.
- Some Pokemon didn't really get their dues.

Look, it's something different. I'm well aware that this will definitely not be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed the ride and am excited for what's to come in the near future. There's already a few brilliant shorter series out there, released in the last 3-4 years, what I would give to a TV show in similar quality.

To describe the series in one word: Fresh.

After dropping out the anime since the sinnoh region, I started rewatching the anime again. I read on Serebii that the anime would feature different regions and this really gave a new setting, for the better. Ash helps a new professor in Kanto with his research, being some kind of field researcher. He does this together with Go, who starts without pokemon. And this is actually the better part of the series: Ash is teaching Go things about pokemon instead of heaving someone who teaches Ash, like Brock. Thus far, it is just the two boys as the ... main protagonists, lacking the typical poke girl. Personally, I really enjoy this, since they feel more "connected". As an example, Ash is more the pokemon expert, understanding them, while Go is more the general logic guy (even using survival of the fittest). This leaves room for Go to grow as a trainer/character.

Since the story is just starting, it is hard to give grades. But everyone who dropped out the anime should at least try to watch it. I really think it is your worth while. Overall, I would give a 8 for now, but at the end I would not be surprised if I change it to a higher grade.

By far the best Pokemon series to date! This is my first written review and will have some mild spoilers of what pokemon the main characters catch, if you care about that!

I realise that Pokemon as a series is one of those that can be quite difficult to get into if you're not hugely into Pokemon as a concept. Some people (like myself) have grown up with pokemon as a big part of their childhood and no matter what the series is like, if it's to do with pokemon, we'll love it. So understandably this series may not appeal to people who don't know an ... awful lot about the series already. However, I would argue this is one of the most accessible pokemon series of them all, largely due to the Pokemon Go game parallels. I am incredibly biased towards loving anything pokemon, so understand that going into my opinion.

Some may find the main cast formula change to the two male main protagonists to be either a positive or a negative depending on how you liked the larger main casts in the previous series. Everyone is familiar with Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu, but Gou is the character for newer pokemon fans or pokemon go players to see themselves in since his goal is similar to a casual pokemon Go player, catch everything you find. While Ash wants to battle to be considered the best, Gou wants to catch and collect every pokemon he sees, ideally without much resistance or battle, to eventually work his way up to catch Mew.
When I first heard of this concept I wasn't sure what to think but seeing it in action has confirmed that it was the right direction to go in for some freshness in this 2 decade long series. There are quite a few elements that have made this particular pokemon series feel like something new and not just a repeat of an old formula.
Because Gou looks for and catches so many different pokemon, each episode highlights brand new pokemon, giving us the sort of variety we need when there's almost 900 pokemon. Gou has the option to pick from his huge selection of caught pokemon for help to solve a problem, either a battle or physical help, such as using an Alolan Exeggcutor to get down out of a huge tree.

There's also the matter of Team Rocket, who are always one of my favourite elements of the show. Instead of catching their own pokemon, they summon a Team Rocket Gatcha machine from a delivery Pelipper, which they slot Meowth's forehead coin into and use just like a capsule machine to give them random Rocket trained pokemon with notes on their movesets included in the pokeballs. This means we see so many different combinations of pokemon battling, including different moves and typings each episode. It's a lot more refreshing than seeing thunderbolts every episode but that still has its fair share of screen time.

In comparison to every other pokemon series title, Pokemon 2019 isn't set in one specific current region. In this case, Ash and Go work for a research labratory in Kanto as a home base and make journeys (oh hey!) to every current pokemon region. This gives us pokemon and characters from every anime and game so far, such as an episode based in Sinnoh episode for a swimming race with an Empoleon and Croagunk, to then going to an episode in Johto looking into Ho-oh sightings.
All of these features make me greatly look forward to every new episode because I can never tell what the episode will be based on that week. I may be repeating the same words a lot but I simply love the variety in this.

The opening theme is amazingly catchy and is one of the only few that remixes the same song for different versions of the intro. I still think the first version was the best one but none of them are bad. (This is the japanese intro, not the biggest fan of the dub intro).

There is a clear case of what I call "secondary mascot syndrome", in that there are a lot of pokemon that are being pushed as a main focus above the one and only OG mascot, Pikachu. In later episodes there is a big focus on the Ash/Lucario and Gou/Cinderace pairing mostly for a lot of cool blue/red contrast imagery. After Go's Scorbunny evolves he soon gets a Sobble which takes up the position of small cute starter out it's pokeball a lot of the time. The main female character, Koharu, who plays a much more minor part than main female characters of the past, of course had to get an Eevee because there's been so much focus on Eevee as an equivalent to Pikachu in so many areas of Pokemon. All while Pikachu fades into the background and rarely does much outside of a move or two in some episodes.
I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing because as I've said I appreciate the variety and no doubt people are sick of seeing Pikachu in the spotlight. I just wish there was more of a balance since it's so obvious to see the push for more mascot pokemon.
Another ever so small complaint I'd mention is that the amount of variety also has its drawbacks. Specifically, that when the main characters catch super cool and powerful pokemon, such as Ash's Gengar and Dragonite, and Gou's Heracross and Flygon among many others, don't get seen as much as we'd wish since they're not always with Ash and Gou on their Journeys.

I do wish Ash's ranked competition battles happened more often since they're the closest thing Ash has to stakes and we can see his strong pokemon shine. The battles themselves are usually great and fairly engaging, they're just not that frequent.

I suppose the main reason I can't rate this a perfect 10 despite all my praise and general pokemon love, is that at its core it's still a usual pokemon show. The characters don't have much development or growth moments, there are fairly low stakes most of the time and there's a lot of playful, slice-of-life filler episodes. Not that these are totally bad points, of course, it just doesn't get much deeper than surface level with Pokemon.

TL;DR
In summary, I love this series to bits and believe it's the most varied and interesting Pokemon series to date. I think it's worth even casual pokemon fans diving into some episodes and enjoy some light-hearted Pokemon fun. This is the direction the Pokemon series has needed to go in for a long time.

I actually ended up watching this season all the way through twice. Which ended up being a good thing, because it really hit different the second time around. I wasn't that impressed with it during my first watch-through. What really made the difference was that, going into it the second time, I was already aware that this would be Ash's farewell season. That gave me a different opinion on the way Journeys is structured.

So to get some of the initially negative things out of the way first...
Pokemon Journeys can feel pretty disjointed at times. The idea of Ash and Goh being research fellows ... and going on a different adventure-- visiting a different region each time-- every episode or so sounds fun. And it was at times. But I've mentioned countless times before that I'm not really one for episodic storytelling. I miss the long continuous journey through a region.

Now I'm a little torn about this aspect. On the one hand, I can really appreciate the opportunity it afforded them-- to go back and revisit all the people Ash had traveled with before. That helped contribute to a really beautiful sendoff.
On the other, I can't help feeling that, because it had to share the season with all the other places in the Pokemon world, the Galar region wasn't really done justice in Pokemon Journeys. That was another big thing that changed for me. The first time around, I hadn't played Sword/Shield yet. The second time, I was already familiar with this region. But I'm a big believer in an adaptation being able to stand alone. I don't feel like you should have to play the games to feel like you got the full experience. And the first time around, I felt little to no connection to the episodes that went into the main storyline of the game with Eternatus and the Darkest Day. We'd just spent too little time in Galar up until that point. It definitely clicked better the second time, but I'm standing by my 'blind' opinion of that particular flaw.

But aside from that one aspect, I really have nothing but praise for this season. Particularly, Journeys crafted some of the best characters Pokemon has ever seen. Chloe's story was a little weak, but Goh really impressed me. I can't remember another time a Pokemon character's backstory held such a clear influence over who that person grew up to be. There is such a clear pipeline from: Lonely kid whose parents didn't have time for him, so he comforted himself with solitary research... to Know-it-all kid who couldn't make friends and learned to get defensive and combative at the slightest hint of judgment after the first few bad experiences. It really makes his character growth-- watching him make his very first friend in Ash and becoming the open, well-adjusted person he is today-- kind of beautiful. Especially because you really get to watch him grow over time. It is by no means effortless. I loved the little details they threw in along the way-- how awkward and on edge he'd get the first few times he met some of Ash's older friends, having to acknowledge that other people had a claim on his new friend too. For a character I initially found annoying, it was really great.

Similarly, there was a lot of depth to Leon. Even not having as much time to explore him, that's one place I felt the anime did one-up the game. I loved the episode where he spent one-on-one time with Ash and revealed that, as much as he loved being champion, that stress of being known as 'unbeatable' was starting to get to him. I don't feel like it's talked about enough that the Galar region's presentation of the Pokemon League is a very modern one. Its stars are celebrities in an age of social media. Their fans are constantly watching. They never get a break. There's this really great little scene, when our heroes first meet Sonia and she's talking about how she grew up with Leon and watched him become the star he is today. It's this still-shot of a much younger Leon, surrounded by adults aiming to capitalize on his early success, and just looking totally overwhelmed, almost fearful even. A picture is worth a thousand words, indeed. That really tells the whole story, right there.

Which all goes towards making it so satisfying to see him hand over the crown at the end. Those last few minutes of the Pikachu v. Charizard battle genuinely gave me chills. And overall, I think this was the best tournament arc Pokemon ever had. I don't think there's ever been another League where I felt connected to all of the competitors and everyone felt like real competition.

Pokemon Journeys got off to a questionable start but bloomed into something beautiful by the end. I thought I was ready to say goodbye to Ash years ago. Now I'm sad to see him go.

Here's my take:

Pokémon Journeys is an interesting anime, we still have Ash and Pikachu on their quest to become the very best like no one ever was. Ash has entered a lot of Pokémon Leagues, battled strong trainers, faced legendries, and cheated death like it's another day in the office. But during his journey, ever wondered what happens if the writers weren't actually biased against Ash?

Yep, Ash gets buffed. A LOT.

Here we take the review piece-by-piece:

Story: 9/10
The story is interesting given that I see it in a way that it caters to different Pokémon fans, those who want to see battles, and those who want ... to complete the Pokédex. Ash and his companion Goh fills the wants of each Pokémon fan. Ash's plot focuses on his (ongoing) journey to become the strongest trainer. Capturing all the powerful Pokémon the fans wanted him to catch. (Yes this isn't the same as in Unova where Ash's team is absolute garbage). Think of Ash's story arc to have the same feels of his time in the Sinnoh and Kalos regions. Goh's story on the other hand fills the niche of completing the Pokédex, a goal different from the usual companions Ash had. That it pretty much the story itself, Ash wants to battle while Goh wants to catch every single Pokémon, even legendries. Oh and after Sun and Moon, gyms aren't a thing now, but it's compensated for this huge tournament where every trainer (yes, EVERY trainer) is competing. So expect a few familiar faces to pop-up in and out of the story.

Art: 8/10
The art somewhat resembles the Alola anime, where it complements the goofy nature Ash's journey has. This isn't the same as X and Y where the tone of the art gives off a serious vibe. Aside from that, the Pokémon more or less looks amazing, the visuals of the Pokémon resemble their in-game art and the animation for their attacks looks real stunning. Not as beautiful as animated Pokémon shorts or any Pokémon film, but still, the art is amazing.

Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack is really nice given that you can hear some Generation 8 music remixed into the anime's soundtrack. The music itself helps give the scenes that special "magic" that gives you goosebumps each time you hear it.

Character: 8/10
Ash is pretty much Ash, there's nothing else to expect from him to be honest. If you already grew up with him throughout the years, you can see what kind of character he is. In the anime, Ash has pretty much grown, he is still a goofball from time to time, but his resolve to become the very best and desire to battle is still there. It's like seeing XY Ash but with the antics from the Sun and Moon Ash. For his companion, Goh is somewhat decent character. Despite his obsession of catching all the Pokémon and Mew. Goh for me is the anime equivalent of us when we were young, big fans of Pokémon. He may come off annoying, but his character improves overtime. Often learning from Ash that perhaps there's more to Pokémon than completing the Pokédex, and the episodes that focus around him do it so. Goh learns to battle, put trust into his Pokémon and etc.

Enjoyment: 10/10
The enjoyment is 10. Given that this anime is basically fan-service for Pokémon fans. You'll get to see some familiar faces return to the series, and you'll definitely enjoy the moment they appear in the show. Plus ASH GETS BUFFED. No longer will he be done dirty by the writers. They went all out for Ash and when you get deeper in the series, you'll see why. Also the filler episodes were fun as well.

Overall:
If you watched X and Y before and want the same kind of energy Ash has, this anime is for you. Everything in the series appears in this anime, from all the gimmicks to the characters. This anime is basically eye-candy and like what I've said, fan service for older Pokémon fans.

My thought about this season:

Story:(8/10) Ash travelling to the 8 regions made me feel like the regions are the gyms and the world championships looks like the Pokémon league, but Ash didn't recall the memories he have while travelling to the regions, but overall the series is fresh.

Art:(9/10) I did love the art of the Sun and Moon season and I'm not of those people who watched the Xyz series and hated the Sun and Moon season but on how they simplified the character design made me feel like Ash is a different person.

Sound:(7/10) I have problems with the sound especially with the sound effects. ... The sound effects made me feel like that Pokémon is legitimately for kids. The OP song, sounds like a legit Anime OP and the battle music matches with the Pokémon Game.

Character:(9/10) I don't have problems with Gou catching Pokémon in one hit, after playing the game Pokémon: Let's Go Eevee and Pokémon Go, the style on catching a Pokémon on the game is also similar on how Gou catches a Pokémon, you can also here the sound "Nice", "Great" or "Excellent" when Gou catches on one hit. Ash knowledge has increase after the Sun and Moon season knowing Pokémon Match-ups and Etc. and HE already caught a Pseudo-Legendary as his first Pokémon and HIS first Ghost Type Pokémon and Caught a Riolu which was my dream. And about Team Rocket, the Pokémon Vending Machine made me feel like the Team Rocket Trio had leveled up.

Enjoyment:(10/10) Form my ratings, of course this rated out of 10.

Ok, so the idea for the series is super fresh and interesting. a series that takes place over the entire world of pokemon is domething that i wanted for years.
But i dont think this seires lives up to its full potential. Yes, the PWC is a great idea but the numbers of people ash got to face in the competiton is too low.... there are trainers that should be a part of it but arent like tyson and barry.
the best thing about the series are the returning characters. My favorite is serena (obviously) but seeing dawn, clemont iris bonnie gary and even greninja is ... just pure hype.
the masters tournament is IMO great so far (even tho i wish we would have gotten ash greninja vs mega charizard again and a better steven battle)
I hope they stick the landing with the leon fight cuz that would be the deciding factor for this series. (serena needs to be in the stadiu, cheering for ash)
Overall, this seires is a good time and is recommended

edit: the leon battle was great. was disappointed that serena wasnt in the stadium

Growing up watching the Pokemon anime series I was quite disappointed in the direction they decided to take Pokemon Sun and Moon. Scrolling through my Youtube Home page I found a video about this new series and decided to give it a shot. I have to say I am quite impressed by the way the writers have changed the course of the show. Ash embarks on a new journey that is very new and clean to avid Pokefans. Something I was quite surprised about was the new character in "Go". Go Ashe's traveling companion is quite a unique character with a goal the pokemon anime ... world as not seen before. Watching this series makes me actually believe that the writers finally must have gotten some freedom and a raise. I am quite happy with the direction this show is going in a very short amount of time. I think that if you were like me and hated the Sun and Moon series you have to give "Pokemon 2019" as the show goes on I start to get more and more nostalgic and excited and I am sure you will too!

This is my favorite Pokémon series so far.
I´m a big fan of the games, but never really liked the anime.

Story- 8
Since the Sun and Moon series (I´m currently watching it), the anime has a more funny and cozy touch.
I think it was a great great idea making the main characters travel around different regions, which, given the currently large number of Pokémon, helps exploring this vast world and gives every Pokémon some screen time. This is also helped because of Gou, which catches almost every Pokémon he sees! and also because of Team Rocket having a new gatcha that lends them new Pokémon randomly.
Has ... this new season isn't focused in a region, the system of gym leaders wouldn't make sense, so I think it was a great idea creating the world championship, which also possibilities the appearance of old characters of the vast cast of the anime.
As of now (episode 38), there weren't situations like saving the world and antagonists very villainous, which was a major thing that I disliked in the Black and White series (and I think there was something like that at the end of the XY series)

Art- 7
Also since the Sun and Moon series, the art became more fluid, which added to the fun.

Sound- 7
It's not remarkable, but I noticed some tracks from the Sword and Shield games, which makes a better experience for who played that games

Characters- 8
I am a big fan of Gou, I think his addition contributed to creating more fun moments, due to his tendency to catch every Pokémon he sees, leaving Ash in his battles to do this. But the main reason that I´m liking him is due myself having also, nowadays, the objective of catching them all. His addition enables the anime focusing in the two major aspects of Pokémon- the battles (which honestly I'll never like in the anime, because they don't respect the rules of the games) and completing the Pokédex.
I´m also enjoying the evolution of Koharu´s feelings towards the Pokémon.
Ash keeps his dream of being the very best, and honestly, I'm liking his role of being more knowledgeable about battles than Gou, and remembering past anime characters, places and Pokémon, making him a little more mature.
Team Rocket is more funny that in older seasons, where I found them a little annoying.
Ahs and Gou make a great partnership, specially because they both feel like the main characters (which they are indeed! ahaha), which I think didn't happen in past seasons, were other main characters were only given protagonism sometimes.

Enjoyment- 9
For all I've said, I´m really enjoying this new season.

Overall- 8

Thanks for reading and I hope that I've been helpful!

By far the best pokemon season (Yes I said it pokemon stans). This season of the pokemon anime takes all of the things we've come to know and love and blends it to perfection. From ash being our lovable 10-year-old who still to this day wants to become "a pokemon master" (to much of his friends' confusion because nowhere in the pokemon universe is there the title of "pokemon master" and its made into a running joke and I love it but it's wholesome nonetheless) to his friend Goh, who, no pun intended wants to "Go" catch em all. Goh as a character is really ... good, the goal he stated from the end of episode 2 had me mindblown and at a loss for words from how badass it was (I'll leave it at that) and a little backstory on Goh, his character is inspired by the mobile game, Pokemon Go (which I personally found pretty cool as i've been playing Pokemon Go in quarantine), this can obviously be seen in his ambition to catch one kind of every pokemon and another cool thing they added in there is the fact that upon throws, in some occasions, the pokeballs themselves shows a "Great", "Nice" or "Excellent" message.

Compared to other pokemon seasons, this rendition, pokemon Journeys, is not exclusive to one region (chronologically it would be gen 8's galar) as it takes a complete 180, and takes place all over the pokemon universe and its setting is the various pokemon regions! Hence why the anime is called "Pokemon Journeys" and it capitalizes on the journey aspect rather masterfully from what ive seen, exploring different pokemon regions, lore and legends!

Another noteworthy thing that I found interesting is the fact that, for its pokemon tournament, the coronation tournament, it takes the official format (or something really similar) of competive play and implements it in its own format. As a competitive pokemon player (or trying/ alleged) I found this to be very interesting and good to look upon, the format im referring to is the standings, how in competitive play, there is a pokeball tier, great ball tier, ultra ball tier and master ball tier. Pokemon Journeys implements this and its great to see!

Finally the score, i haven't watched nor played gen 7 so I can't comment on that score however the english OP and the revamped sword and shield OP is to kill for. Hearing a new take on the already amazing themes was really fresh and well executed. For instance, the dynamax gym battle themes hearing the crowd roaring in the background and the iconic revamped sword and shield theme was like the young ones say "a bop".

Overall, I would rate this show an 8/10 as narratively, I am not a part of the target demographic obviously so can't have pokemon next to the likes of K-On or Keijo as a man of culture but I would rate it a 10/10 in the confines of the pokemon anime series.

Can't wait to watch more!

As many have already said, this is SUCH a welcome change for the Pokemon anime. Not that previous seasons weren't good or didn't try new things, but I think everything just managed to click for this season. This season has it all. Plenty of fun, comedic moments, action, and even some incredibly emotional scenes. (They hit you with it immediately from the very first episode.) I don't think I've ever cried while watching the Pokemon anime until now. This might be the first time I'm actively following Pokemon while it airs and watching it on a weekly basis, at least since I was a ... kid. I'm genuinely really excited to watch the new episode every Friday!

Quite possibly my favorite thing about this season is how the Pokemon truly shine. They feel less like animals/creatures and more like characters with actual personalities. Again, not to say that this wasn't evident in previous seasons, but I felt especially drawn to the Pokemon in this season. They're extremely expressive and compelling in the way they're animated - even Pikachu! A couple of filler episodes focused almost exclusively on the Pokemon and their antics, with minimal screentime from the trainers. These were by far some of the most hilarious and enjoyable episodes. I think it says a lot about a series as a whole when you actually enjoy the fillers and don't mind stepping away from the main storyline just for a bit.

Lastly, I adore the addition of Gou as a protagonist (voice actor Yamashita Daiki is KILLING it). Not much to say about him - he truly is a second protagonist, rather than a sidekick to Ash. The screentime is divided fairly evenly between the two. Some people might complain that the story lacks structure compared to earlier seasons since Ash isn't battling a series of gyms & Elite Four. He still has an end goal but the episodes and overall storyline aren't as formulaic/linear. I personally enjoy it since every episode is a pleasant surprise.

Trust me I wanted to hate this series so badly but what can I say it ACTUALLY WORKS. Where Go is focused on only catching and ASH is focused on battling.

Story: 7/10
Even though I love where its going I'm still disappointed that they don't recall Ash's past pokemons or his battle knowledge. Ash acts suprised seeing kanto pokemon like his seeing it for the first time. He even acts like he doesn't know what a snorlax is even though he has one like seriously WTF.

Art: 9/10
Love the pokemon designs as always but human designs went to the cleaners since sun and moon series. AND CHANGING ... ASH'S DESIGN WAS BORDERLINE STUPID.

Sound: 4/10
Nothing impressive like the first 5-7 seasons but OP was dope.

Character: 6/10
Even though Go is basically a game representation of the pokemon games catching a pokemon only by throwing the pokeball is bit too much. HE FUCKING CATCHED A Darmanitan USING A FUCKING POKEBALL ARE YOU KIDDING ME HERE. But they bit pulled it back in the Dragonite island episode when he threw all the balls in catching a certain pokemon and he was out of pokeballs or not he might have catched a fucking dragonite with throwing a ball. Also go is irritating know it nerd which I don't find charming at all.

Enjoyment: 10/10
Love the show don't have a reason for it but do anyways.

Overall: 9/10
Even though I complanied a lot its obvious that I care for it a lot. Its fun and it makes laugh and makes me happy. First childhood love for no reason.

Verdict: MUST WATCH

This is truly refreshing after all these years with series where Ash went to specific region and did something there. In my opinion when he is traveling across all the regions was good choice and even better is that the old characters will return someday what creates some sort of hype, or even the reason why you will watch this series, because you will wait for your fav character to return

Story 7/10
You can say that each episode has Its own story, sometimes stretched into more episodes. Ash is building his own pokemon team as always and I don't mind. I really like how the team ... rocket have their machine with pokeballs with different pokemon every battle ( even if they look much stronger that than the opponent, they still lose but that don't really matter).
But I don't really like the battles in this series. I spoke up more in this reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemonanime/comments/jyi6gq/the_battles_quality_in_pokemon_journeys/
but in short I think in many cases the are poorly made and not entertaining.
The next thing I find not so good is the alternative to the Kalos mega-evolve and Alola Z-move. the Dynamax. I don't know but I've seen something from the Dynamax and for me It's just weird and a little silly copmared to the mega evolution and Z-move.

Art 8/10
Still some signs from the sun and moon but a lot better for me.
Overall I have no problems with the animation so far

Sound 3/10
I don't have that sound problem like „ that cup just fell of the table and it sounded like someone just shoot from the machine gun“. But the soundtrack is what I am going to talk about. I mean the opening and ending is very good, but the music when fighing is like wtf? To me the soundtrack or whatever I should call it don't suits the situation in many cases, like in the middle of a battle, I don't wanna hear some 8-bit music or what is that...

Character 8/10
I didn't develop hate to any character in this show so far. Ashs companion is nice and I like him. Can't wait to see more of Sonia, Koharu and Dande...

Enjoyment 7/10
I'll be honest with ya, I enjoy this show, not like xy(z) that i would watch this 12 eps straight, but one episode in a week... It's good.

Overall 7/10 (so far)
Like It's Pokemon. I watch this because I grew up on this so It's kinda duty to watch when I can. I would really like to get the score even higher and maybe when this series finished airing I will be much more satisfied than now

Not my favorite Pokémon series but what a ride!

After winning his first regional Pokémon League and becoming the Alola Champion, Ash returns to Pallet Town. Eventually he goes to Vermillion City where he meets Gou and together they become a researcher duo.

Both Ash and Gou have different goals.
Ash eventually decides to participate in the PWC aka the Pokémon World Championships (which was teased in the Diamond & Pearl series, gotta love some forshadowing!) where Ash eventually wants to enter the Masters Eight, which are the eight strongest trainers in the world with Leon being the number 1.
Gou wants to meet Mew and does ... so by catching as many Pokémon as he can. Honestly, I needed some time to get used to him but I eventually learned to love him. At some point he also joins Project Mew which is a group of people that want to find Mew but not everyone is allowed to join. The people who want to join have to collect Mew tokens and only if you have the right amount of coins, you can join. Because of this Gou does have a few rivals like Tokio and even Gary, Ash's old rival.

Overall I loved the series. It's not like all the previous Pokémon series where Ash just stays in one region. Ash and Gou go to every region, including Galar, the only one of these regions that Ash has never fully discovered. Because of this we do see older characters returning like Iris, who now the Unova Champion (and member of the Masters 8), Dawn (who still does contests) and more.
Ash doesn't really have a rival like he usually has. His 'main rival' is basically Leon since that's the one he wants to beat. The only other trainer that comes close to being a rival is Bea.

There are a lot of things I didn't like. I didn't like how they didn't spent more time in Galar or how there weren't more two parters and the pacing felt very off too at times. Ash jumped many spots in his PWC ranking at once. I wanted more PWC battles. I hated Team Rocket's treatment.

Luckily there are more things that I did love. Ash and Gou are a great duo. Koharu is a great addition but she deserved better. Ash becoming the world champion was so satisfying and I cried when it happened. Ash vs Leon is the best battle in the entire history of the Pokémon anime and I don't think they'll ever be able to top this (to be fair, I did say this about Ash vs Kukui too....)

Seeing all the character returns and cameos was a blast. I grew up with this anime since 1999 and it means the world to me. It's clear that this series wasn't just catered towards kids but also to the adults who grew up with this show. This is the last full series with Ash as the main protagonist and it's clear they wanted to celebrate his past with this series.

Overall a great show, my second favorite Pokémon series.

Here is my review of this anime in 2022!

Story (9)
The story is about Ash after Aloha's journey. In this series, you can see that there is galar version of pokemon which is having different shapes and colors. Not only that, but later in middle to end of the story, there are Dynamax forms where pokemon become huge and have special skills like Z-Moves. Ash are having a new friend called Go with is his best friend but they are pursuing different dreams. Ash is more focused on battle and becoming a top champion, Go is more focused on catching all pokemon, especially Mew.

Art (9)
The ... art in this anime is very good! I love the color and vibes that they are using on this pokemon series!

Sound (9)
All the sounds that they used were suitable and adjusted to the animation.

Character (9)
The main and supporter character is memorable since the MC are the same character as other pokemon series. But in this series, Ash becomes smaller and looks like a child that is having fun with pokemon battles.

Enjoyment (9)
It's very enjoyable to watch this movie in 2022.

Overall (9)
It's recommended to those who love pokemon, journey, and kids' anime!

As much as I like and enjoy pokemon journeys, it doesn't make the least bit of sense in every aspect of it, it's quite enjoyable and I love the mysterious pokemon world, with the feel-good episodes, but I really need to turn my brain off during that, Maybe I'm not a kid anymore and it is just suitable for them but is it ​really suitable for kids?

Morally speaking, I don't think so, why?

It has a lot of stupid justifications and double standards
Why is catching pokemon and encaptivating them ok?
Why are some people allowed to do it while others are not?
Why pokemon fights are ... ok?

Then when it comes to the world build,
What's up with the power levels or limitations, I see none.
Flat storylines, mostly stupid fights and underutilized pokemon at the disposal of each trainer.
(Especially Goh, he has a huge number of them including ancient and legendary pokemon but for some unknown reason he keeps using his rabbit)
No governments, schools, parents (they are basically big children), or real-world shit.

Characters also feel very thin with no character development of what so ever, I then ask myself what the hell do you expect of 10 years old kids? then they go saving the world, and I'm like OK -_-
The only logical or real characters are mostly portrayed as evil.

My last question is pokemon bad? absolutely not, it just needs more depth of characters, a proper power level system, and world build.. it needs real suffering, real motives, proper use of the resources like the creatures called pokemon, with a real plot for a character that ages, maybe what we need is an adult version of pokemon suitable for people our age, who really still want to enjoy this without being brain dead :)

Gee, I don't even know where to begin. This is a series that is already many years old, and I believe that right from the start one of its strongest points is exactly that, the fact that there is a base. I watched the episodes as they were released and many times I found myself having memories and noticing details and references to the past, something that made the experience rather nostalgic fun! However, I must admit that at first I had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the focus given to the other characters as well, not even knowing them from the ... video games as they are completely original, nevertheless, as the episodes went by, I got used to them and became attached to them as well. And similarly to past series, the story shifts the stage to the three main characters, Satoshi, aiming to be Pokémon Master, Go, capturing all the pokémon until he reaches Mew, and Koharu, in order to find her purpose and truly know herself. These may be lines seen as cliché, but they were great experiences nonetheless, though I must admit I was left with the feeling that this was a story written without being planned out beforehand, as there are moments and processes that I wish they had given more time to, so that they could have been better developed. On the whole, it won't please everyone, and I understand why, but I can't help myself and be happy to see the triumphant end of a character I've held dear for many years! And I hope to see an interesting return of these three and more stories to come!