My Thoughts On The Pokémon Anime XY English Trailer (WARNING – ANGRY RANT)
…So, the new english trailer for the XY season of the Pokémon anime came out, and I was asked to watch it, that I would not regret it. I didn’t know why someone would think I would care, I thought I established a long time ago that I wouldn’t. Well, I will grant them this much: They got me to care. They just didn’t get me to like it. Suffice to say, I am rather depressed now. If you haven’t seen the trailer, here it is:
And no, I’m not gonna do the evaluating time thing, I think most people are kinda sick of that. But yeah, I think I solved the mystery. The reason I’m supposed to care is because they brought back the old theme song with a new cover. Ooh. And y’know, this actually kinda reminds me of a similar situation with another show I loved as a kid that brought back its old theme song with a new cover. And I was informed that this and that are not the same thing…Yeah, it is. And I’ll tell you why: This is the producers of the show trying to get points with old-schoolers, like myself, and get us to give a damn, and to give the show another chance. It doesn’t work. Why? Because I would sit through the intro, and enjoy that part, and when it was over, so would my enjoyment.
Bringing back ‘Gotta Catch ‘Em All’ does not magically fix all the problems I have with the show. If fact, it actually makes the people making this show seem all the more pathetic for trying to divert my attention away with such an obvious attempt at misdirection. There’s a reason why, when Digimon came back with Digimon Fusion, that they didn’t go back to the old song: It’s a whole new series, the show is trying to move forward in a new direction instead of giving us season after season where the second verse is the same as the first, and the third, and the fourth, and so on. Now, granted, in Season 3 of Fusion, we will be getting the old characters back for a few eps, which might actually be a great time to bust out the old themes, but not for the intro, but for the most part, this is something new, and needs to have its own identity. Pokémon XY, however, is basically the same show we’ve been watching for years now, only with the side characters swapped out.
And y’know, them going back to the old song actually fits with my problems with the show. And I’ve said this before, but the reason the show stopped entertaining me and started pissing me off was because it refused to change and to grow, to let Ash become a fucking adult, and to let someone else take over. The only time anyone ever leaves the show is when their characters and their paths are developing in a direction that deviates away from Ash, and the producers of this show are too afraid to have anyone else be the protagonist. They’ve even thrown deus ex machina obstacles in his way to keep him from achieving his goals, just so the show never leaves the status quo.
But yeah, like I’ve said, if you want to watch and enjoy the show, fine. All power to you. In fact, I’m glad that someone is. But to anyone who dares to get on my case because I bitched about this, just remember that I was asked to take a look at this trailer, and as someone who owns a blog where they bitch about stuff on a daily basis, where the title of the blog even has the word RANT in it, I’M GOING TO BITCH. The animation is okay, and like I said, the cover is decent. That’s just enough for me. Next time, try selling me on a story with an actual conclusion. Until then, have a nice day.
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Posted on December 19, 2013, in Pokémon and tagged Animation, Anime, Ash, Gotta Catch 'Em All, Pokémon, pokémon anime, Pokémon XY, Theme music. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Well written and actually, very good point. Personally, when I saw that trailer, I was (deep down) more annoyed at the announcer telling us to join Ash as he finds the Megas. I know it’s an integral part of X/Y (I’ve been enjoying Pokemon X, training myself a proper team… Slowly…), but something really made me cringe about the announcer telling us about the Megas waiting to be found! Why not leave that out and let it be a great surprise? I’m sure there will be some people who’ll only watch the series and not play the games.
But hey, ranting about things is good – Shows the differences in the world and also, I didn’t even pick up on the fact it was a cover song until I read the article!
It’s the journey not the destination, at least that’s the mindset I have when watching it. I have no clue why people so much pressure on Ash to get older when a shit ton a media has character go through several character arcs yet STAY THE SAME AGE throughout, it’s like it’s impossible to have one without the other, which I don’t believe is true. Pokemon develop and Ash’s friends develop as well, it’s not like every main character in the show remains static throughout their tenure.