Pokémon: 10 Most Controversial Moments, Ranked

The anime has weathered its fair share of fan controversies.

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Controversy can strike just about any franchise, even one as beloved and as longrunning as Pokémon. The anime has been going strong for decades, but every now and then, the series has found itself in hot water for one reason or another.

Sometimes an episode ended up crossing a certain line in the real world, resulting in censorship or being banned altogether, while other times it came down to discourse or even backlash within the fan community. Whether it’s because a mistake was made, a certain story beat was divisive, or how a character was developed didn’t sit right, the anime has weathered its fair share of fan controversies.

10 Trainer Choice And All Its Wrong Answers

Pokémon has had quite a few mid-show question-and-answer segments over the years, the most popular being “Who’s That Pokémon?” The Advanced Generation had “Trainer’s Choice,” where Ash would ask the viewers at home some trivia questions before the commercial break. However, sometimes Ash’s answers would be flat-out wrong.

The Segment claimed several things that weren’t true, such as Arbok evolving into Seviper or Makuhita being a good choice to battle Spoink, and they even occasionally misspelled the names of the Pokémon too. As one can expect, these inaccuracies received criticism and even ridicule from fans.

9 Brock Is Replaced By Tracey

For a while, Pokémon’s main trio consisted of Ash, Misty, and Brock as they traveled through the Kanto Region and later the Johto Region. However, in between journeys, the cast got a little switch up. During the “Orange Islands” saga, Brock decides to stay at Professor Ivy’s lab, which leads to Ash meeting and befriending Tracey Sketchit, who joins them for the rest of the season.

Tracey was not well received by fans, who saw him as a boring character that made Brock’s absence more notable. Upon returning to Kanto, Tracey was swapped out for Brock again and has mostly been relegated to small cameos ever since.

8 Goh Catching Suicune Had Some Backlash

In the games, trainers catching Legendary Pokémon can be a challenge, but not exactly an uncommon occurrence. As for the anime, Legendaries are so revered and powerful that catching them is more of a pipedream. However, in the Journeys episode “Healing the Healer!,” Goh not only rescued Suicune but also caught it.

In truth, out of respect for what he did, Suicune allowed itself to be caught and continue being Goh’s Pokémon despite roaming the world. Sadly, not everyone saw things this way and criticized the episode for making it look like Suicune was caught too easily.

7 PokeShipping Vs. AmorShipping

Shipping can be a contentious topic among fans, and while romance is usually one of the rarest aspects of Pokémon’s anime, shipping still happens anyway. While Ash has been subject to a few pairings, the most popular and debated has always been between PokéShipping (Ash and Misty) and AmorShipping (Ash and Serena).

Some fans remain adamant that Ash and Misty are meant to be together due to some heavy implications between the two (and the fact Misty has traveled with Ash the longest). However, others believe Serena compliments Ash better. At the end of the day, love is probably the furthest thing from Ash’s mind, but it won’t stop fan debates from raging on.

6 Ash Loses The Kalos League

For a long time, Ash lost almost every Pokémon League he ever entered. However, there was a lot of hype surrounding his time in Kalos League. For a moment, it seemed like this would finally be the one where Ash wins it all, but it was sadly not meant to be.

After a tough battle with Alain, Ash loses the Kalos League as the runner-up. Ash was so close to becoming the champion, and his loss really upset fans who were just very tired of seeing the poor guy lose. Fortunately, Ash did go on to win the next Pokémon League he was in.

5 Ash’s Character Design In Sun & Moon Design Was Divisive

The Sun & Moon seasons took a very different approach to the anime – both in its story and animation. All the returning characters got some updated character designs, which departed from their familiar looks. Ash’s, in particular, wasn’t initially well-liked by fans.

Ash’s new design was a lot rounder and more expressive, which reflected the more comedic tone of the anime, but fans hated how different he looked and weren’t receptive to it. Eventually, Ash’s character design was updated again when Journeys came around.

4 Tobias Beats Ash With Two Legendaries

While it wasn’t nearly as close as the Kalos League, there was some hope that Ash was going to make it all the way in the Sinnoh League. However, he only placed fourth after being beaten by a trainer named Tobias. In their battle, Tobias won with only two Pokémon in his part,y and both of them were Legendaries: Darkrai and Latios.

This really ticked off fans, who saw Tobias as an overpowered trainer that robbed Ash from winning the League, practically calling his victory and use of Legendary Pokémon an act of cheating. Tobias also goes on to win the whole League after beating Ash, which didn’t help endear him either.

3 The Black & White Seasons Were A Sorta Soft-Reboot

With Pokémon running for as long as it has, it can be hard for newcomers to pick up the series without a good entry point. Ash’s trip to the Unova Region in the Black & White seasons sought to do just that while giving the series a kind of “soft reboot.” Sadly, this decision came with some unfortunate drawbacks.

Since it wasn’t a full-on reboot, nothing Ash did before was erased. However, the same couldn’t be said for his character development. Pikachu’s strength was nerfed early on, and not only did it seem like Ash was re-learning old lessons, but he made a lot of boneheaded mistakes that seemed unfitting at that stage of his Pokémon career.

2 All The Awkward Editing Choices From 4Kids

Some anime have to change a few things around to avoid western audiences being lost in translation – something Pokémon has done many times. The notorious 4Kids Entertainment was originally responsible for Pokémon’s English dub, and as one can expect from their reputation, quite a number of things were censored or heavily localized for one reason or another.

Entire scenes were either recontextualized or removed, riceballs were now “doughnuts” or “sandwiches,” and random cringeworthy humor was added. The changes were very noticeable at times, and as time went on, fans were bothered by 4Kids’ editing choices more and more.

1 Ash Is Apparently Still Ten After All These Years

There are a lot of things about Ash that have frustrated fans over the years – from his constant disregard for type matchups or general lack of common sense. However, the one thing that’s persisted in driving viewers insane after all these years is his age. Despite the actual decades the series has been airing for, Ash is still only ten years old. This has made less sense as the series has continued because, between every leg of Ash’s journey across every region under the sun, a year (if not several) should’ve passed by now. In response, fans have tried to determine Ash’s true age, and some have even created wild and occasionally dark theories to explain his eternal youth.

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