The Question of the Day is a way to facilitate community discussion to help members ponder the unanswered questions of the world that are somehow relating to the hobby. Questions are many times open ended and up to interpretation. Feel free to post your thoughts in as much or as little detail as you’d like.
Helpful Considerations may or may not help some people focus their answer, these are blurred to not bother those who have their own ideas.
I’m watching season 1 for the first time (I was surely exposed to the anime as a kid, but can’t remember anything besides some random episodes).
I have to say, I find the second half of indigo league incredibly charming.
The second movie is indeed the best imo. Although the first and seventh movies are among my favorites as well.
As for the anime series: gen 1 remains a classic; not just for nostalgia sake, but also because it’s the start of Ash’s journey. Although I like the intro songs and overall vibe of gen 2 the most, even though I can’t remember much of specific episodes tbch.
Crazy to think I’ve watched more than 30 full 24-hour days of Pokémon episodes and movies in my life.
My favorites regarding seasons are definitely Diamond & Pearl, XY(&Z) and Horizons as far as the regular anime goes. My favorite movies are the first movie, The Power Of One, The Rise of Darkrai and I choose you. Apart from that I also really like the Generations and Evolutions mini series.
I think the two best movies are The First Movie and Zoroark Master of Illusions. There are some real stinkers, but these two hold up incredibly well, even in 2025.
Best season of the anime is really tough. I still haven’t finished every episode of every season, so I might have to hold out my opinion until that day. It’s also tough to answer because the anime has improved considerably due to advances in technology affecting the animation / art, and obvious improvements in character and setting design, story telling, etc. Finding an objective “best” is difficult when nostalgia and consideration for technology at the time influence the choice.
All the pokemon movies have jaw dropping visuals, the quality bump from the regular anime is palpable. As far as any vestige of substance beyond that, the first 4 movies have some of it, some of the others too. 2000, Destiny Deoxys and The Spell of the Unown. In that order, probably.
The plot in Lucario and the mystery of Mew may be thinner than the thinnest turbomodern cardstock, but who needs a plot when you have Regi cryptmasters in a giant blinged out sentient tree filled with Fossil Pokemon?
I’ve watched some of the best battles throughout the series history in youtube and while the sheer quality of the anime may be higher in a lot of them i will never not answer indigo league as the most important series for me
I cant even really say as I havent seen them all, but man I have to admit the newer animation is beautiful. I dont think I can actually choose a single one. They all have their charm.
The entirety XY & Sun and moon, everything with Ash greninja, when rayquaza cam out of the ancient ball in pokemon horizons (top 3 peak rayquaza moments of all time), the dynamic between clemont and his little sister…probably more but I can’t remember.
I have, I stopped at aloha because I stopped liking it, I really didn’t enjoy it after sinnoh I liked it a little when greninja was introduced but after that I was like meh this is kind of getting boring. I came back to look at horizons and I think it’s way to cheezy, nothing beats ash calling misty ugly and the old animation, it’s to realistic now, I liked it better when you could see separate frames, it’s to smooth and colorful now and people are to sensitive so they don’t do funny roasts as much it’s just not the same
I liked gen 2,3,4 the islands (I feel like nobody remembers the islands) those were good, current Pokémon isn’t as good though
I just didn’t like how many main characters they introduced in gen 7 (it felt like ash was creating a harem and was really uncomfortable) also there were to many storylines I never watched SW/SH I watched the mewtwo encounter saw that goh was throwing balls at pokemon without battling them then gave up on the anime, I haven’t even watched the final episode of Ash’s journey
