Quote Originally Posted by Neo Emolga View Post
I tried watching a few episodes of the SuMo style Pokemon anime (the Alolan Raichu pancake race and that one where Mudbrey appears on a farm or something) and the whole time, it felt like I was watching a totally different anime.

Ash doesn't look the same, certainly doesn't sound the same, none of the characters are familiar, it just felt disconnected from it's roots to the point where I was wondering what was left to hold this series together. What's really left to this story that needs to be told? Yeah, I read in a news blip that Ash finally wins the league, and that's great, but I'm not feeling like I have to go back in there to see how it all happened.

I can't say it was BAD (although the ending of the Alolan Raichu pancake race episode was lame and made it feel like I wasted my time watching), but like I said, totally seemed different. None of the characters seemed recognizable save for Pikachu, although even he still feels a bit disconnected from how he used to be in previous seasons.

I dunno what to say about it. I wasn't happy but I didn't hate what I saw. I just can't say what I saw drove me to feel "holy crap, I've got to go back to watch everything I've missed because this is great and I need to get caught up to speed like everyone else!" It wasn't like Game of Thrones where falling behind was a bad spot to be in and you were missing out on all the buzz that everyone else was talking about, so you drove yourself to get caught up and connect all the sub-plots together.

But if you enjoyed it, that's cool and I'm glad you did. But it's still just one of those things I drifted out of and never got back into.
In regards to him not sounding the same, when was the last time you watched the anime? They changed VAs back in the Hoenn arc iirc so if that was when you dropped off then that's why. Otherwise it's all just in your head since it's the same VA.

Either way I'm disappointed to hear you felt that way, but unfortunately for me, that's the general consensus across the internet communities I'm in. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only person who still likes the show no matter what changes come its way. Pokecommunity is thus far the only place I've been that still has a decent chunk of anime fans. It's great to be able to talk with them about each episode since it really does feel like the only place where people still like it.

The only other time I've felt like people have come together to celebrate the anime was when he finally won the Alolan League. But even then I saw a bunch of haters saying this is his weakest team yet, he doesn't deserve it, etc. which sorta made it less fun for me.