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Fucking hell, the Orange Islands League counts. People just refuse to acknowledge it because it's a "filler season". He also won the Battle Frontier, which is no easy feat. Ash is a skilled trainer who doesn't have to win everything, the Pokemon fandom is just filled with entitled brats. I'm thinking the writers just didn't want a repeat of the Kalos League debacle, fucking cowards.

Now are we ever going to meet his father? If he's won a League, he needs to meet his dad. It's like with the GS Ball, writers, the fandom doesn't forget the stupid shit you say.

EDIT:


Two words: Thunder Armor.
I feel it’s more the methods in which he loses the tournament rather than the loss itself

The problem is that the Orange Island League finale was a Glorified Gym Contest, as was Battle Frontier, Ash always got blueballed in the actual tournament arcs, usually for no good reason like Charizard cucking out or (as I am told) some stupid plot hax happening in Kalos.
 
Agreed. He even had the offer to become a Frontier Brain. There's a theory that Giovanni is Ash's father. I wouldn't mind seeing that.

I honestly do not believe Giovanni's Ash's father. That only came to be because of the non-canon Pokemon Live! explicitly stating Giovanni and Delia knew each other. It's a fun theory, I'm not going to lie, I just don't see it coming to fruition. Best Wishes had them battle (Giovanni kicked his ass) and neither of them recognized each other. Shudo's novel apparently implied his father left when he was a baby, but I feel like Ash looks a bit like his dad. Weirdly enough, though, Silver hasn't shown up in the anime-proper.

The problem is that the Orange Island League finale was a Glorified Gym Contest, as was Battle Frontier, Ash always got blueballed in the actual tournament arcs, usually for no good reason like Charizard cucking out or (as I am told) some stupid plot hax happening in Kalos.

I still consider them victories imho, but yeah, the biggest complaints were always how the battles would go; I remember the shit-fit fans had over Tobias was the biggest before Kalos, but that one actually was a bunch of bullshit. I still think it's hilarious how Alain went from being a popular well-liked character (because of the Mega Evolution specials, which I thought were shit, personally, but that's an unpopular opinion in the fandom) to the most hated character in the series. The XY series produced some of the most obnoxious fans to date, though, so seeing them all have a meltdown over it was amazing.
 
I honestly do not believe Giovanni's Ash's father. That only came to be because of the non-canon Pokemon Live! explicitly stating Giovanni and Delia knew each other. It's a fun theory, I'm not going to lie, I just don't see it coming to fruition. Best Wishes had them battle (Giovanni kicked his ass) and neither of them recognized each other. Shudo's novel apparently implied his father left when he was a baby, but I feel like Ash looks a bit like his dad. Weirdly enough, though, Silver hasn't shown up in the anime-proper.

Yeah, I figure. It's fun to hope for it, though.
 
They are victories, but beating on a nobody on an island isn't the same as winning in the actually hyped up (in lore) tournaments.

That's why people overlooking his victory at the Battle Frontier is stupid. The Frontier Brains are supposed to be at the level of the Elite Four (recall that Ash never beat any of the Elite Four members he came across), so Ash beating the challenge is a legit big deal.

Honestly am disappointed the Sinnoh Battle Frontier never was in the anime, in that instance.
 
Battle Frontier is still a nothingburger though, it didn't help that the Anime Battle Frontier..was just a bunch of gym matches IIRC, the only thing of importance I recall from it is the guy Ash lost two twice..had The Legendary birds.
 
I dunno, I think outside of the anime just being nothing more than a long-ass advertisement for the games, Ash was always meant to show a gradual progression in skill. Nostalgia blinded fans for so long that the first season is still highly regarded, but Ash was fucking terrible when he started out. He never gave up, however, and in his determination he always managed to find a way to defeat his opponent in a rematch. Some of the tactics are questionable (such as when he super-powered Pikachu to face Brock a second time, and even then he only lucked out because the sprinklers got set off), and he didn't always earn his badges because Team Rocket intervened, but his Vermilion and Volcano badges were ones he earned fairly, and that's why those victories are still well-remembered. Ash was a cocky kid, however, and him losing the Indigo League may have come as a shocker for us kids at the time, but he had never put in the effort to train like he was supposed to. The seasons that followed were where he was shaping up to become a better trainer, although he still had to find humility such as when he let Charizard go for a while to train because he knew he wasn't skilled enough at that time to bring out Charizard's potential. Some fans take issue with that because "Bwaaaah he gave up his best Pokemon, what a moron!", but that was a smart move to make on Ash's part.

So as a result of him pushing himself to get better, he got recognition in-series, even from high-ranking trainers like the Elite Four members. Scott offering him a spot as a Frontier Brain may-or-may-not have been earned and he turned it down anyway, but the position is still open to him should he ever change his mind (although the writers might've forgotten this for all we know). Filler season or not, that's a big deal and shows just how far he had come from when he first started out. The anime's poorly-written, there's no questioning it, but it's still fascinating to see Ash progress in such a way that he could land himself such a respectful rank, and at a young age, too.

It's too bad that the team dropped the ball with Best Wishes and fucked all of that character progression up for whatever reason. I do think they were biting off more than they could chew by this point and needed some excuse to do a "soft reboot" or whatever, but they still kept making callbacks to previous seasons and the like which made everything confusing. Still, Ash sooner or later was going to win a League. Given that Sun & Moon appeared to have made the effort to change up the status quo, I don't think it's really all that shocking he won in Alola. Also, Alola's island challenges basically are just the Orange League but better fleshed out and with a recently implemented!!! conference.
 
I just got back from seeing Promare in theatres and wanted to tell you all need to see it on the big screen, it's the way this movie was meant to be watched and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
The MC is kind of a cringelord and there's not too much of a story to speak of but the entire movie is some of the most well-animated hype I've ever seen.
 
So, is it weebish to admit I absolutely adore Kaitou Joker? The anime dub is pretty bad, though, so I wouldn't recommend the dub. Something about the phantom thief concept is just so intriguing to me. Also, the description on Crunchyroll is hilariously messily translated.

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Oh shit Promare screened today and today only? Goddamn it!

Though after looking it up, I recognize none of the theaters it was only showing in. Feh.
 
Today for dubbed, 19th for subbed.

I'd have to check with my brothers to see if they're available for that night. The one wasn't available tonight anyway, but I don't know about Thursday. Odds are against me with it.

Even so, if it's that well-animated, it's gonna suck to have shitty Crunchyroll subtitles in front of it.
 
Promare is playing Sunday and Monday where I am. Alas, a very early morning class on Monday means I'm not inclined to see movies on Sunday.

The "mare" in the title makes it seem like it's something about horses even though I don't see any horses in the promo art.
 
It plays at least until Saturday (inclusive) in Moscow and costs $2.35. I'm definitely going.
(fwiw, I'm reading "mare" like "sea".)
 
I had checked with my brothers and nope, not gonna be able to make it. We go to movies like this together and the one twin would've loved to see this if he could, so I'm gonna be left out of the loop for a while 'til it comes out on Blu-Ray or a BD rip shows up on KissAnime.
 
Apparently Gintama released its final chapter three months ago- on an app. I remember reading something about a finale on one of the tankobon covers at Kinokuniya, but then they released another volume, so I was confused.
 
I saw Promare and it was one of the best well animated movies I've seen in a while. Like you need to watch this movie just for it's animation because it is god tier however...

The movie itself was honestly lacking everywhere else especially in it's story and characters (barring Galo, Lio, and Heris) are weak.

The story itself is really rushed as it keeps going from one point to another and changing the goalposts quickly that it changes the tone of the story. It doesn't help that later on, the story just recycles stuff from Gurren Lagann which is a homage but at the same time it feels lazy (considering it takes how the beastmen burnish had noble intentions all along, the main villain's plan is similar to Rossiu's plan in the timeskip half with the migration idea, and the climax felt similar to Gurren Lagann's climax) and doesn't really stand on it's own. The ending also felt a bit abrupt as it would've been nice to show what happens afterwards, and I didn't like how it seemed the villain was easily forgiven. Also many of the story beats seem to happen by luck or coincidence which the film relies on and it's self aware of it, even having the machine to help resolve the film being called "Deus X Machina" which was funny but it felt like an excuse.

As for the characters most of them felt underdeveloped and them being removed wouldn't have changed the plot at all. The only good characters unironically are the main leads as they had more development and more clear motives with both being really interesting to watch. Heris who is the scientist lady also was interesting as she had a good character arc and felt fairly fleshed out.

As for the main villain, he was honestly very hilarious unintentionally. The main villain is basically if Moviebob had a position of leadership and was muscular. Doesn't help he wants to move a minority of the human race to another planet via space travel, terraform a new planet for resources, and wants to kill most of his own race since he is a burnish himself. Doesn't help he goes on how he is better than everyone else. However, aside from the unintended comedy, the film keeps trying to make the villain look worse and worse throughout the movie but at the same time seems to try giving him forgiveness despite murdering a scientist to take all his work, wanting to start genocide on an entire race which is his own, and wants to leave most of the human race to die for his own ego. Usually I'd forgive this since villains are assholes but it seems the movie wants to paint him as a tragic character who was simply misguided despite the movie earlier trying to paint him as a super corrupt politician.

As for the music it is really good, and I would look forward to hearing the movie's soundtrack if it ever comes out since it is really good.

Despite my grievances with some things in the film, the film itself is still worth watching for it's animation which is beautiful. But it would've worked much better personally as a television series instead to fix up all the story and character issues I had with the film. So I implore to check it out but it's one of those movies you should really turn your brain off for.
 
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I'm in agreement with you for the most point. I have a few more grievances in regards to editing and shot composition of the animation at some points, but I'd still recommend watching it. The one thing I will say to anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet is that in a lot of ways it feels like a parody of Studio trigger projects.
 
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