Pokemon Best Wishes! (Pokémon: Black & White)

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Alternative Titles

English: Pokémon: Black & White

Synonyms: Pocket Monsters: Best Wishes!, Black & White, BW: Rival Destinies

Japanese: ポケットモンスターベストウイッシュ

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 84

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Sep 23, 2010 to Jun 14, 2012

Premiered: Fall 2010

Broadcast: Thursdays at 19:00 (JST)

Producers: TV Tokyo, MediaNet, Half H.P Studio, Studio Jack

Licensors: Viz Media, The Pokemon Company International

Studios: OLM

Source: Game

Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Kids

Duration: 22 min. per ep.

Rating: PG - Children

Statistics

Score: 6.60¹ (scored by 25,271 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score. Please note that 'Not yet aired' titles are excluded.

Ranked: #5367²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1694

Members: 49,707

Favorites: 142

6.60

Ranked #5367Popularity #1694Members 49,707

Fall 2010TVOLM

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Episodes: /84

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Synopsis

As with both the Advanced Generation and Diamond & Pearl series before it, the Best Wishes! series begins with only Satoshi, headed off to the Isshu region, located far away from Kanto, Johto, Houen, and Sinnoh, with his Pikachu. After he meets up with the new trainer and rival Shooty and the region's Professor Araragi, he gains traveling companions in Iris, a girl from a town known for its Dragon Pokémon, and Dent, Pokémon Connoisseur and the Grass Pokémon specialist of the three Sanyou City Gym Leaders.

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Background

No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.

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Related Anime

Prequel:	Pokemon Diamond & Pearl
Side story:	Pokemon Movie 14 White: Victini to Kuroki Eiyuu Zekrom, Pokemon Movie 14 Black: Victini to Shiroki Eiyuu Reshiram, Pokemon: Pikachu no Summer Bridge Story
Sequel:	Pokemon Best Wishes! Season 2
Alternative setting:	Pokemon Black and White 2: Introduction Movie, Pokemon Generations

More characters
Characters & Voice Actors

Pikachu

Main

Ootani, Ikue
Japanese

Satoshi

Main

Matsumoto, Rica
Japanese

Dent

Main

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

Iris

Main

Yuuki, Aoi
Japanese

Kojirou

Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro
Japanese

Musashi

Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi
Japanese

Nyarth

Supporting

Inuyama, Inuko
Japanese

Sakaki

Supporting

Miyake, Kenta
Japanese

Ookido, Yukinari

Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou
Japanese

Bel

Supporting

Itou, Shizuka
Japanese

More staff
Staff

Yuyama, Kunihiko

Director

Mima, Masafumi

Sound Director

Tomioka, Atsuhiro

Script, Series Composition

Yonemura, Shouji

Script

Edit Opening Theme

"Best Wishes! (ベストウイッシュ！)" by Rica Matsumoto

Edit Ending Theme

#1: "Fanfare of the Heart 「心のファンファーレ」" by Aki Okui (eps 1-25)
#2: "Can You Say the Pokémon? BW (ポケモン言えるかな？ＢＷ)" by Shougo Toda (eps 25-60)
#3: "Nanairo Arch (七色アーチ)" by Pokemon BW Choral Gang (eps 61-78)
#4: "Mite Mite ☆ Kocchicchi (みてみて☆こっちっち)" by Momoiro Clover Z (eps 79-84)

More reviewsReviews

Jan 29, 2018

84 of 84 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

LSSJ_Gaming (All reviews)

6 people found this review helpful

Just like my Citrus review this is a comedic take on my actual opinions so some jokes will be thrown in.

OH BOY WHO REMEMBERS WHEN GEN 5 CAME OUT. I was only 8 when Pokemon Black and White launched in Japan back in 2010. A year later we got the games here and it was a blast. I fondly remember that In mid 2010 I like annoyed my parents so much with Pokemon that I wasn't allowed to consume any Pokemon media until Black and White came out. I ATE ALL THE BW SHIT UP LIKE THOSE 10 YEAR OLDS ON XBOXLIVE EAT UR MOMS ASS. Why am i saying all this memory bullcrap. Its because I can go back on the games again, in fact Generation 5 is my favorite Pokemon games. But the anime I can't go back to at all.

So this season of Pokemon was something I got up to watch every Saturday morning on CARTOON NETWORK to watch. I was only 9 and due to finally getting to see the new weird Chinese looking cartoon (i was 9 i didn't know much about anime and Japan and used to think they were synonyms for each other, I was a stupid kid) and I loved it. But now going back as a more grown and developed human being, it was as Danny Devito puts it best T R A S H

So the art is your generic pre gen 7 Pokemon style except ther are some weird quirks, Satoshi/ Ash has darker skin than in the past 4 generations, just like later Gen 3 and Gen 4 there are weird symbols replacing Japanese characters, and there is some questionable CG in some rare scenes. Thats it.Notthin Special

Sound is good, the music is still the amazing remixes of the game OST with some trash generic music thrown in. The voice acting is tolerable in the Japanese version. It isn't like as good as GEN 1-3 but thats kind of because they had crap scripts. THE DUB WAS ASS. OMFG EVERY SINGLE PERSON WONT SHUT THE FUCK UP AND IS SUPER FUCKING ANNOYING. I HAVE ALWAYS HAD A PROBLEM WITH ANNOYING DUB VOICES BUT GEN 5 HAD IT WORSE THAN WHEN FRICKEN 4KIDS HAD POKEMON. JUST WOW DON'T WATCH IT DUBBED.

The characters suck. I will use the dub names for the main characters besides Satoshi as i haven't played the games in Japanese yet and dont give one single care to remember their names from the anime since every single person sucks. Satoshi/ Ash Ketchum/Ass Ketchup is still fucking ten and as annoying and stupid as ever. He releases Pokemon and doesn't catch the OBVIOUSLY GOOD POKEMON LIKE THE LEGENDARY POKEMON HE BEFRIENDS IN THE MOVIES HMMMMMMM. He also keeps all his Pokemon at home which is stupid but hey gotta show the new pokeymanz. Pikachu is Pikachu. AMAZING NO CHANGES NEEDED EXCEPT MORE KETCHUP. Iris is an annoying dragon girl who just fucking argues with Ass Ketchup so much its not funny. A good style of argument would be that of Satoshi and Kasumi/Misty. It was more played for laughs, and Kasumi was actually likeable so yeah. Iris also has Axew her Pokemon and its a good choice. Haxorus is amazing. Then we got the trashiest of the trash tier Cilan. THIS FUCKIN FUCKBOI IS SO ANNOYING SAYS HE IS AMAZING AT LIKE FUCKEN EVERYTHING AND HE USES A SHIT POKEMON. Pansage is trash. Cool design, horrible in battle. Musashii/Jessie Kojiro/James and Meowth all return which is amazing as always. But now they have to listen to this DR. I DONT REMEMBER HIS NAME guy and its just not very good. Why did they do this to some of the funniest yet stupid and incompetent characters.

You know the story. Asshat GottaCatchémAll leaves all his pokemon but Pikachu with Okido, leaves to the next region, and some fucken electric accident causes Pikachu to become weaker than when I Eat Ass first got the little mouse. Then he catches like 5 pokemon over the course of the show releasing some and evolving some, fighting gyms, and losing the Pokemon league again. And the filler hell is just as bad as the other seasons if not worse since it isn't enjoyable at all unlike earlier generations filler.(Gen 1 had some of the funniest filler scenes such as VENUSTOISE, what do we get here in Gen 5, Fake Nimbassa City). At least in the shitty filler season with the Decalore Island it smoothly transitions to the XY show which was fuckin amazing. But still that season was filler shit so just skip on Gen 5. Maybe just read up on the important events on Bulbapedia otherwise skip it.

ALSO WTF THEY GOT RID OF TAKESHI/ BROCK.

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Jun 13, 2014

84 of 84 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 3

abhinaVADAR42 (All reviews)

8 people found this review helpful

I actually can't believe that anyone would give this a rating above 5.
I actually wanted to watch it after playing my Pokemon Black, however to say that I was disappointed would be a major understatement.

With that said let me get down to the review part.

Story : 5

The usual fail-safe Pokemon story, so can't really complaint about anything here.
However, I just couldn't understand one thing, HOW CAN ASH's PIKACHU LOSE TO A LEVEL 5 SNIVY ?!?

Art : 4

The art was let down. It broke the tradition and did not seem right.

Character : 2.5

I was not against getting new characters in the series but the read more

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Nov 14, 2015

84 of 84 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

DarkRaven804 (All reviews)

5 people found this review helpful

Pokemon is one of my favorite video game series of all time. I also a huge fan of the movies,anime,etc. I love anything pokemon. Pokemon Best Wishes! is a very boring series. In my opinion, it ruined pokemon. Like a Ice Cream Cone pokemon? Thats stupid. I can't stand it. I wish pokemon will be like what it used to be.

Storyline3/10-Ash Ketchum, a 10 year old kid now going to the Unova region to catch em' all. I wouldn't hate the storyline to much if it wasn't so dumb. I don't hate the pokemon storyline. From Indigo Leauge, to Dimaond and Pearl, it was amazing. Black and White ruined it. Its so boring now. It got less interning because of the fillers. Like one fill about Ash helping some little kids with some thing. I really don't care because its boring. Pokemon used to have good fillers like Meowth's backstory. The fillers here suck. Also, the storyline gets less enjoyable. The only good thing is that pokemon still has its charm with the storyline. But the charm here is very little.

Characters3/10-This is the worst part. Iris is worst then Dawn. All she says is "Your such a little kid"! I can't stand that. Ash seems more childish now too. It seems like he just got less mature. Ash was always a idiot, but not like this. I mean, no trainer uses a water type pokemon against a grass type pokemon. It just doesn't work. Ash should know that by now if he's been a trainer for almost 20 years now. Cilian is the new character that replaced Brock. Even if he's strange, no character can replace Brock. Team Rocket isn't funny no more. WHY?! Team Rocket was so funny. There aren't many good characters, only Snivy(the grass starter pokemon).,and that otter pokemon that Ash caught are the characters are good.

Soundtrack5/10-Pokemon always had great music. The wild pokemon battle theme and the trainer theme are the best. Sadly, Best Wishes! fails with the soundtrack. Its okay, its not the worst, not the best. Its in between. The Black and White video game had this really sad music that was beautiful. However, the anime didn't have the music. Why does the soundtrack have to be worst then the other soundtracks from the anime? Its not even close to being horrible, but that doesn't mean its great. I never really thought of the OST because its unmemorable. (the opening theme songs are good,but the OST is still decent).

Art4/10-Best Wishes! has new art, but its not good. The new looks for the characters are just plain bad. Ash has a very bad look now. He used to have black hair and black eyes. Now he has blueish hair with big brown eyes. The new look just isn't that good. The characters looks just feels sloppy. The pokemon attacks has bright colors, and the opening theme songs has a lot of bright colors, but it just not as good as the other art.

Enjoyment4/10-There where times when I did enjoy this anime, in a way,but the overall anime is a let down. It is bad. Nothing will change that. Pokemon used to be great,now its bad. There isnt a lot of enjoyment,so it gets a 4.

Overall4/10-Pokemon Best Wishes! is still boring, and is one of the pokemon series so far. I barely enjoyed it. The pokemon looks, candles, ice cream, steel ants, what is this? DO NOT WATCH THIS ITS POORLY MADE.

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Sep 21, 2017

84 of 84 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

Duckielover151 (All reviews)

2 people found this review helpful

(As a little side note: I'm writing this review after the episode where Ash wins his eighth badge for this region. The episode list on Wikipedia doesn't match up with the number of episodes on this site. In the past keeping track was easy. Even if I lost track on my episode count, the series ended when Ash moved on to the next region. Best Wishes ends a little past mid-Unova, it seems. But, reading the synopsis for the next season, it looks like I've reached the end of the series as far as MAL counts it. Now that that's out of the way...)

So, Pokémon quickly went from reaching its highest point to hitting its lowest point, but this wasn't immediately apparent. At the start of episode one, I was really optimistic. Best Wishes starts out with Ash accompanying his mother and Prof. Oak on a vacation to a region so far away, there are no Pokémon from any of the regions he's traveled through so far. In a very quintessential Ash move, he becomes enthralled with the few new Pokémon he does see and decides he's going to start over again in Unova and collect eight badges to enter their Pokémon League. And at this point, I thought Best Wishes was gearing up to be something really good. This felt like a really original start and was in keeping with Ash as a character.

And then things started to go downhill...

Much has been said about the introduction of Ash's new rival and their first battle. And I've seen quite a few excuses for why things went down the way they did-- their encounter with one of this region's legendaries left Pikachu temporarily unable to use any electric-type moves-- but I still say Ash's loss to Trip was bullshit. I don't care if Pikachu was limited to only a few moves. Trip met his Snivy literally five minutes earlier. The difference in experience alone should have more than made up for any handicap Pikachu was suffering from. But I soon realized that this first fight was indicative of a much bigger problem this series had.

It feels like the writers tried to hit the reset button without explicitly saying it and with no real good reason to. I understand that the start of each new season is a chance to bring a whole new generation of kids into the fanbase, but setting Ash back like this really does a disservice to the older fans who've been watching from the beginning. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. The point is, it felt like they were following a formula that just doesn't suit Ash anymore. Case in point with Trip: Ash does not always have to be the underdog. Maybe they were trying to ride the coattails of Ash's rivalry with Paul in the last season, which was the best yet. But recreating Paul just doesn't work with Trip. What reason does Trip have to be so arrogant? Paul had experience-- arguably just as much as Ash as it is stated that he had also journeyed through other regions-- Trip is just starting out. And I find it ironic, all the little remarks he makes about Kanto being such an off the map, backwater little place considering Unova is the region that's established to be so disconnected from everywhere else. But its not Trip himself that I dislike. At this point, I'm reserving judgment for Trip. I feel like he still has room to grow. In their last encounter, he doesn't seem to have changed much, but I was really optimistic about the one before that. Trip's backstory so far is that he met this region's champion, Alder, when he was very young and, being ambitious even back then, swore to one day defeat him. When he asked for advice, he was basically told to do whatever he had to in order to become as strong as possible. Except... our heroes meet Alder and he's nothing like Trip remembered. Skilled and powerful but also laid-back and goofy. And most importantly, he doesn't remember giving Trip the advice that shaped his entire life, nor does he seem to agree with that line of thinking now. It was a really interesting episode, and Trip seemed really shaken by this, but I'm still waiting to see how that's resolved.

So in short, it's not Trip himself, but the way Trip is written that I have a problem with. (Like in their most recent encounter, Trip seeming to fall back into the way he was before they met Alder.) But any problems with Trip's writing doesn't hold a candle to Ash. I've really liked seeing Ash continue to grow as we continue to move from one series to the next. He started out as an enthusiastic but really dumb little kid. Then we got to see him be the experienced one for a change in Advanced, where May learned a lot from him. And even Dawn, who was more experienced to start with, did a lot of learning alongside him. And don't get me wrong, Ash has always had his moments, but it's held true that he's gotten a little better each season. So there is no excuse for him suddenly seeming to have no recollection of things like strategy or type advantages upon reaching Unova. And it was even more baffling for him to suddenly forget basic Pokémon world lore, like the fact that all the Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys are identical. (And yes, those two both got a design change this season, but he had no trouble recognizing who they were.) Like I said, it felt like the writers tried to hit the reset button and there was no reason for it. I mean, Ash has always been very formulaic as to what he's going to do in each region, but if the writers are totally lost trying to do something new... Well, that's the biggest problem so far.

Which leaves us with the new characters. Well, to start with Ash's Pokémon, who are always a little hit or miss when it comes to personality, it's been another longrunning complaint from fans that Ash doesn't catch enough Pokémon in each region. But l've never minded him only having just enough to fill up his team with a few substitutions. Most of them barely have any character as it is, which is really showcased in this season where Ash does catch quite a few more Pokémon than usual... and most of them are really forgettable. The bird in this region in particular seems really bland, and it's really implied that Ash only caught Pidove for the convenience of having a flying type whenever someone is lost. (Seriously, there's an episode where every other one of his Pokémon is sleeping outside of their Pokeballs with the kids, but when they realize a few of them have run off, Ash has to get his bird out of its Pokeball to go look for them. I think what's not explicitly stated in that scene says a lot...) And his other Pokémon are just kind of... there. I mean, I guess Oshawott is cute, as far as Piplup knockoffs go, but none of his other Pokémon really stand out in this season.
In general, this is the season people like to cite when they talk about Pokémon running out of ideas. This was the season where they made the Pokémon based off of an ice cream cone... and the Pokémon based off of a refrigerator and a coffin. But personally, I only reached my breaking point when I reached the episode with the buffalo-themed Pokémon that would leave our heroes alone... just as long as they were wearing afro wigs.

And then we have his new companions. I just cannot seem to grow attached to Iris for some reason. She's just really annoying... (Though I think what's more irritating than her constantly telling Ash that he's acting like a little kid is that he's usually earned it.) I'm pretty sure Axew was supposed to be cute. Yeah, he never grew on me either. But I think the main problem is that Iris's goal of being a dragon master really doesn't mean anything. She doesn't seem to really know herself how to go about dong that, so really she's just another companion. I think her only saving grace is that she practically grew up in the wild and has great survival skills.
And then we come across the gym-leader-turned-companion who constantly compares Pokémon and strategy to food. Why, hello, replacement Brock. Actually, you know what, Cilan? I take back any sass. You ended up being the most likable one in the group.
And then we reach the minor characters. As with Diamond and Pearl, there are an abundance of minor characters, but I'm a little on the fence about them. Well, Bianca sums up herself pretty well: "Dodging is for cowards!" As for the other three... Well, it is kind of cool that all three of our heroes have their own rivals. (For Ash, it was more like a less serious rival.) But, though we see quite a lot of each of them, none of them grow past their initial gimmick. No one pronounces Stefan's name correctly. Georgia hates dragon types. Burgundy lost to Cilan's gym and aims to humiliate him the same way she felt humiliated. And that's really all there is to any of them.

Past that, it's Pokémon. A million mini adventures with a few gym battles or other mini tournaments thrown in between. Which doesn't mean it was unenjoyable. A lot of those episodes were fun, even if there was no real consequence to a lot of those plots. But if there was one thing I really liked about this season, it was that they tried to make Team Rocket threatening again. For the first time since their introduction in Kanto. And, while their master plan hasn't been fully explained yet, I like that they're no longer simply the comic relief villains. They feel like actual villains. Which means this region's final conflict with them, whatever that's going to be, has the potential to be really good.

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	Poll: Pokemon Best Wishes! Episode 22 Discussion __Luka-Chan - Mar 10, 2011	9 replies	by TheBlackHeart »» Feb 12, 2018 2:51 PM
	Poll: Pokemon Best Wishes! Episode 85 & 86 Discussion Rayyy - Jun 14, 2012	14 replies	by Lararin »» Sep 24, 2016 1:56 AM

Pokemon Best Wishes!

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Pokemon Best Wishes!

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