Question

Got a question about the anime? Got some gripe about how it's not logical? Here are some of the common questions concerning the game, and answer it here. If there's something incorrect with it, feel free to let me know, but please provide proof. Remember that the games and shows aren't there to make perfect sense. This is here to try and cut down on the anime questions that might come up. The anime is far from perfect and has its share of flaws, but try to remember that its first priority is showing off the pokemon for the games.

Almost every question here can be answered with one simple answer.
THE ANIME AND THE GAMES ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
The two share several similarities, but have different standards of what's a "good"
trainer. If you Use unevolved pokemon like Pikachu and Totodile in the games, that's
usually a bad idea-but only because the games are just statistics and equations to keep
things even. The anime is more about caring for your pokemon in addition to training,
since for the trainers, pokemon are like animals are to us in real life. You'd be a
terrible person for treating your pokemon the way you would competitively. Giving it a
life orb, which strips its health in exchange for power, would be outlandishly cruel. The
trainer should strive to be strong, but at the same time, not treat their pokemon like
tools.

The common Questions are posted below in the answers.

If you have any suggestions for additions to this, just add a comment.

Comments

Whoa, great post here! Are we still getting a lot of "Why did they do that" anime questions? And yes, 90% of the time the answer is "The writers chose to do it, dramatic license, etc etc". Although your answers here would make for great answers.

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The "why did they do that" is starting to die down a bit, but I noticed we were getting a lot of new users, many of whom probably watch the anime. So it was best to nip this in the bud before the questions came up.

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DT thanks for the Anime FAQ now i don't have to ask anymore questions. I hope you keep it up.

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The GS Ball is a popular question about the anime

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I has question Bout the anime XD
ANyway, I was watching the episode where Ash wants to fight Giovanni(8th Gym),and GAry Ends up doing it intead. Gary Pits Nidoking against Golem(G0l-um). First thing they both use tackle.WHY!?

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"Why do the pokemon have such bad movesets? It's not logical.
the anime is more about having moves that are visually appealing as opposed to fitting the
pokemon well. Once again, the anime and the games are two different things. A type
advantage won't always hurt you in the anime, where it usually does in the games. Is rock
slide a good coverage move for a sceptile? Yes. It can cover 4 weaknesses at once. Is it a
particularly cool looking move? Not so much. Plus, having rocks appear out of nowhere
wouldn't make a ton of sense. Having leaf storm and solarbeam on a pokemon might not be
good competitively, but they make for some nice visuals in the anime. Since you are
watching and not playing the anime, the visuals play a larger role. There's only so much
logic you can get from a show who's premise is a bunch of super powered animals being
controlled and forced into fights by little kids."

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**Why do the main Pokemon in the movies get close to dying! They are mostly Legendaries!**
Its Anime. No one wants to see the good guy always win easily. Even if they are legendaries, It adds suspense to it for more Appeal.

**Why does Ash risk his life for any endangered Pokemon? He is so retarded...**
Ash does it for morale. Teaching young children ethics and manners appeals to parents to allow their children to watch it. It appeals to young kids more than teens. Is Pokemon directed to teens? No.

**Why are some abilities commonly used, others not?**
Well, this isn't very clear, but some seem too powerful or too boring. Static is there for obvious reasons, while other abilities like Flash Fire aren't very necessary.

**Why are some Episodes missing?**
Some episodes are banned due to various reasons, like Stereotypical content or risks of seizures.
Electric Soldier Porygon was banned for giving 628 Japanese kids seizures.

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Why do the anime pokemon learn more than four moves? It breaks the rules of the game:

http://pokemondb.net/pokebase/66326/only-moves-pokemon-games-but-the-anime-they-get-more-than-that

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Why dosent Ash go with Brock in Unova?

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So, Ash met Pikachu (and started his journey) on his tenth birthday right? Well, then how come he's still ten after both: A one year anniversary episode of him knowing Pikachu, and all those times right after getting his eighth gym badge when somebody would say "but the league is still three months away"? Because I'm pretty sure that three months or one year isn't less than twenty to thirty minutes, (judging by what you said in the "Why isn't Ash any older?" question) so just answer this: If what you said is somehow true on Ash being ten because of how slow it goes in cartoon time, then how come after a one-year anniversary (not to mention all those times Team Rocket says "We've lost against those twerps for all these years...") and after obtaining the eighth gym badge in a league and somebody says how long it is until it starts (as well as other stuff like big contests) Ash is still ten even after all that time?

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Because it's a cartoon. I know there's continuity, but that's stretching out across several years, so most people watching wouldn't have seen those early epsiodes. It's supposed to be like the simpsons: several characters have had Birthdays, yet none of them age unless it's for a significant plot twist. If you age the characters, it's for a specific reason in writing. It doesn't have to be realistic because it's fiction.

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Why does the pokedex in the anime give Ash all the information about a pokemon he just sees? In the games, you have to catch a pokemon to obtain its pokemon data.

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Because it would be improbable for ash to catch Pokemon just to learn it's Data. In the games, one of the main goals is to fill up the Pokedex, but Ash never had any intentions of catching ALL the Pokemon despite the early theme song's suggestion. He catches the pokemon he needs. But for the viewrs sake, we need to be able to know the pokemon's features as many people would like to know, including Ash especially  in new regions with New Pokemon that may have not been seen before.

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"Why doesent (doesn't) Ash go With Brock (Brock go with Ash) in Unova?"
commented Mar 8 by pikaparty16
^Because maybe some people felt offended by is love of every "beautiful" woman he sees.

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Ash released Primeape!!!

Answer 1

Why does ash release his pokemon?
First, keep in mind Ash has only released three--count them--THREE pokemon. A Butterfree, Pidgeot, and a Lapras. Lapras was just a mode of transportation for Ash. Remember that when he met it, it was a young Lapras separated from its family, and Ash promised to help return it to its family. Until then, Lapras would help Ash any way it could, mainly by helping him across the Orange islands. Considering Lapras' fear of humans after being abused by trainers wanting it only for fighting, it is still close to ash for helping it recover. It was only actually used in roughly three battles. It does come back in the
episode "Lapras of Luxury." [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP257] Lapras was
mainly a mode of Transportation, so there weren't a lot of situations in which it could be
used well, Similar to Misty's Goldeen. He left Butterfree to go on with its own kind
because he thought it would be happier that way. Pidgeot was in an awkward place since
Charizard already provided a flying ability, not to mention that Noctowl, Swellow,
Staraptor and Tranquill all fill in the exact same role, so there wasn't much of a point
in keeping him. The writers knew this and didn't really know how to handle this, so they
released him under the situation that it became the leader and guardian of a bunch of
Pidgey. Ash thought their safety was more important that Pidgeot being called upon for
battles. Ash has gone back to Pallet several times, but hasn't come back to see it. Does
that mean we'll never see it again? We don't know. In some final fanservice season, we'll
probably see it, but that's still just a guess.

Why didn't ash take Larvitar or Haunter?
They don't want to give Ash an overly powerful pokemon like Gengar or Tyranitar. That
would not only eliminate a pokemon for him to be challenged by, but also takes out the
balance aspect. Larvitar was left with its family. Would it have been right to take a it
with him right after it was reunited with its mother (mind you it had been kidnapped by
poachers) Haunter was left with Sabrina to keep her cheered up, as her constant training
stripped her of her happiness and was what drove her into her psychological problem.

Why doesn't Ash evolve his pokemon?
Let's take this one by region.

Unova: Only three of his pokemon are in their base form: Snivy, Oshawott, and Scraggy. When the majority of his team has already evolved, some of them twice, not to mention the fact that the arc is not over and still open for evolution, it's not fair to say he's not doing anything.

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Sinnoh:
Gible didn't evovle, but remember that Dragon types take a very long time to evolve, and
Ash caught gible Fairly late in the show, so it didn't have much time to evolve fully.
Besides, Ash with a Garchomp in the pokemon league would have been extremely
uninteresting. If it was overpowered, there wouldn't be any challenge. If it was an even
match or even lost, people would think it's weak and he's a pathetic trainer for losing
with a dragon. It's a lose lose situation.

Buizel-didn't evolve; can't say much on this.

Hoenn:
Corphish was Ash's only unevolved pokemon. It didn't see as much use as say Sceptile, and was one of Ash's overlooked pokemon. so far, we're at three pokemon he hasn't evolved.

Kanto/Johto:

Totodile-there's not much to explain why this one happened. But a happy jumping totodile is far more appealing to children then an awkward croc thing that still has the same moves.

bayleef/quilava-Both of these have evolved, but not completely. Bayleef evolved rather
quickly, but hasn't seen use lately. Quilava on the other hand didn't evolve until he was
brought to sinnoh briefly. Does that mean Ash just now got him at level 14? No. There
aren't levels in the anime. Both of them were still very strong despite not being Meganium and Typhlosion. He didn't even use Bayleef as a wall/supporter like it's "supposed to be" in the games.

bulbasaur-He had the choice to evolve in the episode "Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden," but bulbasaur chose not to. This was his choice, not Ash's. It wanted to prove itself to the Ivysaur and Venusaur present that it wasn't weak, and didn't need to evolve to become strong. It's still taken out several pokemon that would be next to impossible to do in the video games. This proves that pokemon are able prevent their own evolution. The ones that don't want to evolve simply don't.

Squirtle-Remember that squirtle was part of the squirtle squad. It wouldn't have worked to have a wartortle or a Blastoise as part of the gang. He still held his own as one of Ash's
strongest water types without evolution.

Pikachu-Ash will not Evolve pikachu. Simple as that. Pikachu is the mascot of the whole
franchise. To do away with Pikachu is to do away with that. Pikachu, like bulbasaur,
chooses not to evolve for itself, not having anything to do with Ash. It lost to a Raichu
in "Electric Shock Showdown," and was given a chance to evolve into a Raichu. Ash didn't
force it to, and ultimately gave pikachu the choice. It saw the thunderstone and refused
to evolve, and later defeated raichu. it's still one of Ash's strongest pokemon, and since
this is the anime, it doesn't have to evolve to fit that spot.

buizel, Gible, Totodile, bulbasaur, squirtle, and pikachu are the only pokemon that didn't
evolve at all. quilava and Bayleef both evolved, but aren't fully evolved. 6-8 pokemon is
hardly a majority, especially considering that these are all very strong pokemon in their
own rights. Most of them choose not to evolve. Remember that unless it is something like
Pikachu's case, Ash cannot choose when his pokemon evolve. They do so whenever they're ready. It's marketing. Cooler/cuter pokemon= more money from more people getting drawn into the show.

"Pokémon are individuals; a
combination of trust, friendship and
hard work are needed to overcome
adversity. He is willing to work with
any Pokémon that comes into his care.
Ash's battle style is generally
spontaneous and fairly unorthoox, and
his Pokémon often reflect these
traits."

-Ash's philosiphy from bulbapedia

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Why doesn't Ash catch a lot of pokemon?
"Gotta catch em all" was not Ash's goal. Ash's Goal was to become a pokemon master. The
slogan was mainly put there as a ploy for people in the games, but Ash had no intention of
catching a ton of pokemon. If he caught every pokemon he saw, then we'd have tons of
pokemon we'd see for about one battle with no personality. Then people would complain that [pokemon] doesn't get enough screen time and how the pokemon are so bland. It's another lose lose situation for Ash.

Why isn't Ash any older?
Ash is still about 10 years old because Cartoon characters don't age unless the writers
want them to. Shows like the Simpsons also do the same. The show has been around for
years, but remember that Ash isn't living, and isn't affected by time the way we are. Even
if he did, the episodes aren't constantly happening, they usually came out once a week,
meaning that 1 week=20-30 minutes for Ash. That wouldn't make any sense. He's as old as the writers make him. It's a very common literary ploy.

Why doesn't ash catch any legendary pokemon he sees?
Many of the legendary pokemon serve a purpose like protecting areas and keeping peace. If Ash were to catch them, that would disrupt the ecosystem. The show would also be very boring with Ash carrying around a legendary everywhere. There would be no challenge, and there would be no reason to watch it. Also, if Ash had a legendary pokemon, what's to stop Team rocket/plasma/etc from ganging up on him and stealing it? You really think giovanni is gonna overlook that? Even if they fail, they're just gonna keep trying, making for an even more bland show.

Comments

Plus they`re super hard to catch, and Ash doesn`t have that kind of power.

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Ash also leaves behind Primeape...

Answer 2

Why did they bring May/Dawn instead of Misty?
Misty would have gotten old for a lot of people. she wouldn't have lasted forever without
her quirks getting old. They also wanted to start including the trainer from the games as
partners, as shown with Dawn/may. They wouldn't pick Brendan or Lucas since they already
have two males with Brock and Ash. They've started to go back to the old format with Iris
and the other gym leader in the group, but notice how they still fill in the same roles as
Brock (voice of reason, explanation, and advice) and misty (the female to help balance the
group out and give some contrast) If Misty stayed, then eventually her voice actor would have left, giving people yet another thing to complain about in the series. People would also complain that she doesn't use [pokemon] enough.

Ash Sucks, why do they continue with him?
They probably could have ended with him, but that would leave a lot of plot holes, such as
all the unresolved relationships with past trainers and pokemon, the fact that he hasn't
reached his goal, and the fact that the show is still popular. Making sudden changes could
screw over the audience, as shown with Misty leaving. It's a sad fact, but if you don't
like him, don't watch.

why did [move] affect [pokemon]? It doesn't affect that type.
It doesn't make perfect sense, but again, neither does the concept of super powered
animals. They like breaking logic to keep things interesting. A lot of these simply have
little to no explanation to them.

Why does Ash check his pokedex for Pokemon he's already seen? He's so stupid...
Checking a Pokedex reveals more than just its name, it reveals data about the species in
general as well as information about the individual being scanned. Paul was able to use it to compare different pokemont to see which one was the best (see "When Pokemon Worlds Combine") The professors are also able to use them to see what the trainer has seen/caught. In the case of Ash scanning a pokemon he's already seen, remember that those pokemon are more spread out for him. He doesn't see a gengar every three episodes. It'll be spread out, so it's bit harder for him to remember. Most of the big fans that would find fault in this probably play the games/analyze the games/show more, so they'll see pokemon like Gengar more than Ash. Is it odd that he hasn't realized that ground is immune to electric by now? Probably, but everyone has lapses in judgement from
time to time. The pokedex entries are there more to give the viewers a brief overview of
the pokemon. In sinnoh, Ash didn't really check his pokedex; it was usually done by dawn,
who hasn't traveled as much as Ash, and therefore hasn't seen the pokemon as much, so it's
perfectly understandable that she's not as familiar with all the pokemon. Since Ash is
currently in Unova, he hasn't seen the newer pokemon and isn't familiar with them. The
pokedex thing has been done since the beginning of the series, and likely won't stop.

why does Ash always fall for team rocket?
Team rocket also serves as the comic relief in addition to the antagonists. Dumb bad guys
are very common in cartoons. For example, If you ever watched "adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog," you'd
remember that Sonic would make disguises all the time, and easily trick Scratch and
Grounder. His job was to provide the humor. the characters don't have to be perfect in
predicting things all the time. It keeps it more interesting when we see the lighter side
of team rocket. If they were just trying to steal stuff ALL the time, there wouldn't be as
much to them. they're obvious to the viewer to add more humor.

How does Meowth Talk?

Meowth taught himself to speak English in the episode "Go West Young Meowth." He fell in love with a female meowth, and wanted to stand out from the rest. He ultimately lost her affection to a persian though.

Answer 3

The anime said that Arbok evolved into Seviper! Why?
This, like several other mistakes, were usually dubbing/animating errors, not the fault of the writers. Some lines and scenes are edited to fit with different cultures. Some things are also mistranslated. Most of the voice actors and animators aren't familiar with pokemon; it's just their job to read the lines they see. Can you finish it off with false swipe? No. Does Arbok evolve into seviper? No. If people weren't familiar with the series, how would they know that?

The new voice actors suck.
This happens with almost every animated TV show. People can't stay there forever, and they have to find a replacement. It's very difficult to find someone who sounds exactly the same as the original. If you don't like it, that's too bad. Nobody is forcing you to watch the show. If you're that bogged down on how a character sounds, your time is probably best spent on something else.

Is Ash in love with [girl]? and why don't they have more mature things like characters in
love and shipping?
No. Shipping is a bunch of crap. Ash is only 10 years old. It's possible for a guy to
simply be friends with a girl, and that's the case with Ash. They've hinted at small
things before, but these will probably not be explored any deeper. Pokemon appeals to
younger kids not the fans of the original, so they won't have more mature themes when
their current themes of friendship and kindness work. Are they a bit cheesy? Maybe to
someone who's expecting a bit more, but Pokemon isn't trying to do that. Will Ash have a
love life? Probably, but it's not something they'll really show for the program. Males aren't sexually interested in every female they encounter, despite what too many writers write about and tack on romance for the hell of it.

Why did Ash lose to a new trainer like Trip? He sucks!
while it doesn't make logical sense that Ash lost, remember that trip serves as a Rival.
If Ash had beaten the living crap out of him like we all expected, then there would be no
spark set for their next battle. Ash won this time, what motivation would there be? By
having Ash lose, it not only proves that Trip isn't a typical trainer (it's possible he's
been through something like a pokemon academy, he's related to an experienced trainer who has helped him, or something along that line, offering even more mystery) it also gives ash a reason to train against him for their next battle. Could it have been handled
better, such as the match ending in a draw? probably. Considering pikachu's electric and
steel attacks wouldn't do much against a Snivy, it was partly explainable. Ash will beat him by the end of the series just as he did with Paul. Also, remember that Pikachu's being around Zekrom prevented it from using electric moves properly. This is a basic writing technique, which is what the writers of the show are going for.

Why do the pokemon have such bad movesets? It's not logical.
the anime is more about having moves that are visually appealing as opposed to fitting the
pokemon well. Once again, the anime and the games are two different things. A type
advantage won't always hurt you in the anime, where it usually does in the games. Is rock
slide a good coverage move for a sceptile? Yes. It can cover 4 weaknesses at once. Is it a
particularly cool looking move? Not so much. Plus, having rocks appear out of nowhere
wouldn't make a ton of sense. Having leaf storm and solarbeam on a pokemon might not be good competitively, but they make for some nice visuals in the anime. Since you are
watching and not playing the anime, the visuals play a larger role. There's only so much
logic you can get from a show who's premise is a bunch of super powered animals being
controlled and forced into fights by little kids.

What's the point in pokemon contests? They're so useless.
Contests were mainly there to appeal to a wider audience. A larger net catches more fish
after all. They didn't take up the entire series; the battles and gyms were still the main
focus of the show. It also gave the characters more motivation to stick with Ash. Misty
only tagged along to get repaid for her bike. Why would May or Dawn follow Ash then? They might have had the same situation from their bikes, but it would get old quick. If you don't like the contest episodes, you can just skip them.

Why is the anime so repetitive?
It's an anime first off. Most of them tend to be very repetitive. The show is an
advertisement for the games at its core, so they want to show as many pokemon as possible. With over 600 pokemon to write about, it's very difficult to write an intricate story about each one. It's much easier to just have an episode focusing on a pokemon, then have something go wrong. If you watch just the significant episodes, such as gym battles and rival battles, the show feels like it has a lot more depth to it. But if they didn't
include all the extras, people would complain that other pokemon don't get enough screen time. You can only spread so much time among 600+ pokemon.

What level is [pokemon]
Levels don't exist in the anime. Not everything translates exactly from the game, and thus
the two are not comparable. Misty's poliwhirl evolved into politoed just from holding a
King's rock, even though you have to trade it while it's holding one in order for it to
evolve. If there were levels, then pikachu would already be nearly unstoppable. Levels are
put in the game to keep things balanced, like a game should be. The games do this so you
don't get killed by the first gym leader, then coast through the game until the next one.
Does it make sense for a gym leader to have level 10 pokemon, and are outclassed by the
regular trainers later on in the game? no. That's put in place to make the game transition
well. The anime doesn't have to worry about this, and has no need for levels.

Pikachu "reboot" in new regions is stupid.
It's probably still a bit worn out considering it's usually used in the pokemon league. It
took on things like Dragonite and Latios, so it's expected for it to be less than 100%.
It's also to keep it from being overpowered, as it just took on very tough opponents.

Are Ash and Red the same character?
No. Ash is in the anime, and Red is in the video games. As said before, the two cannot be
compared as they have different definitions of what is "good." By video game standards,
red is one of the strongest trainers, but if you compared him to competitive standards,
his team would be terrible. It's not fair to compare him to that, just as it isn't fair to
compare Ash using video game standards. They are in two different mediums and are both
powerful trainers in their own rights.

Why doesn't ash bring back charizard,Sceptile,etc.
It would get very old and unbalanced for him to dish out his strongest pokemon all the
time. He does bring them back for major battles, and they still hold their own as some of
his strongest pokemon, but his newer pokemon are also able to be strong this way too. By
keeping the old pokemon in storage, they are able to show off the new pokemon.

Is ash a pokemon Master?
there is no clear cut definition of pokemon master by anime
standards. It's possible that this is an unattainable goal you strive for, like being the
best. Ash will likely challenge members of the elite 4 to prove his worth. Others might
define it as unleashing the full potential of your pokemon, as he did with Infernape-
something even a trainer as skilled as Paul failed to do.

Comments

The Anime never said that Arbok evolved...

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"What's the point in pokemon contests? They're so useless.
Contests were mainly there to appeal to a wider audience. A larger net catches more fish
after all. They didn't take up the entire series; the battles and gyms were still the main
focus of the show."

^Actually, there are more Contests in Sinnoh than there are Gym Battles.
Thats the whole reason Dawn came along. They got a whole lot of plot off of Contests, such as Zoe and ?"Jessalina"?. It would be weird if there were as many Contests as there were Gym Battles. It's like: "Oh, hey, remember that whole Contest thing?" "Oh, yeah, isn't that why Dawn came along in the first place? They haven't done a Contest in a long time. There are only two more Gyms left. Dawn is going to have to go through three more Contests before she can enter the Grand Festival. She is going to have to do, let's see here, there are two more Gyms, she will probably get one more contest in before the last Gym, so she will have to do two more Contests after Ash finishes all his Gym Battles. Oh, and than she will have to do the Grand Festival. Oh boy, what a drag." <I don't think Pokemon would want that, so they had to do Contests to keep the whole Dawn thing alive. Also, I actually like seeing Pokemon look cool than watching them Battle. One last thing: What (the crap) is "Pikachu reboot"?