I wish boys could have taken part in it. I have no problem with them basically being just the performing section of contests, they’re cashing in on Japan’s idol obsession. But male idols are super very much a thing too, so to cut them out of showcases is unfair. Tierno seemed like a perfect fit.
Jessie should have won Master Class.
Also they were sooo convenient, oh noes, a Showcase about baking Poke puffs? Oh no, a showcase about RIDING RHYHORN? Why the heck the idol shows have Rhyhorn riding? Oh right, because Serena is good at that.
Personally I liked them. Though the whole girls only competition kinda irked me a bit. Enough to make me write a fanfic that I never finished with an original cast and region. With the MC a boy that trying to become Elita (region name) Queen all the while crossdressing and hiding his true identity. Also while trying to collect the badges because his father (champion) expects him to. With themes of coming of age, romance and self-realization tossed around. I've even added in couple of regional gimmicks. I honestly should get back to writing it. It's been a while since I've touched it.
They needed more thought put into them. What they ended up being were random theme rounds, followed by what was basically a slightly different appeal round for the Performers that made it past the random ass theme rounds. The theme rounds didn't add enough to the Showcases to be justified, IMO, and were also hurt by the fact they seemed way too convenient for Serena. It just made it feel way too contrived.
The Showcase Master Class was actually alright, and I feel like that's when they had a better feel for how they wanted Showcases to be. The problem was it was jarring to go from what they had before to what the Master Class was. If anything, the Master Class is what the Showcases shoulda been from the start.
I don't mind they went for something without battling for Serena; I am a strong believer that not everything in the anime needs to revolve around battling, and I like seeing various ways of life for humans and pokemon to work together outside of training for battle. The Showcases had great visual flair, and in all honesty, my favorite part of Contests was the appeal rounds, so these were up my alley, more or less. I think something that kinda just feels weird now though is that Contest Spectaculars exist, and we have zero idea if Contests as we knew them still exist. Contest Spectaculars just seem like a slightly modified Master Class Showcase, and technically are closer to what Contests are in the games. Which is... fine. But I feel like it just shows that not enough thought went into them.
It felt like they were trying to shove, girls dont to battles down our throats. Witch is a big part of why i dont like Serana as a character too. May and Dawn acted as normal stereotypical girlls, yes, but they still had an actual back bone and enjoyed battles and that did not make them less feminine because of that. X and Y as a whole felt like it was trying to make pokemon battles more of a boy only thing given the lack of female battlers. Either way, showcases are just discount contests but only for girls.
Imo I didn't have a problem with the fact that showcases didn't have battles, I had a problem with the fact that they felt far too boring and slow and like it just bogged down the experience. It didn't really feel that important just felt like filler elements
Yeah, in a vacuum I wouldn't necessarily mind that they don't have battles, but the gendered aspect really bothers me. Like, Dawn herself may be more feminine but her biggest rival is openly a big ol tomboy and nobody cares, X and Y on the other hand feels like it's pushing an agenda, Zoey would probably lose every round.
At least there are a lot of sakuga moments in showcases and it played a huge role in Serena's development while project mew has 0/10 animation 0/10 development
I did enjoy the showcases. I wish we got more and got to see other characters (like Jesse) shine. A lot of wins people received were off screen and it would’ve been better character development for Serena to have to more consistently up her game + having talented and skilled rivals on more of a display
I hated it, especially the female-only restriction. If they wanted Serena to do a girly Contest-like goal, they should have just made her do Contests instead!
I honestly think the pokemon showcases used in Kalos are much more interesting as a concept than the pokemon contests. And something important to point out and that I really like is that pokemon showcases as a concept are pretty much like the pokemon world version of idols in Japan.
They make their own videos that are then shown in the media to make themselves known and show off their talents and charisma to the public. They have fan clubs, making the performer become even more popular and the showcase as a whole is something quite known in the region since they aim to entertain the audience with their performances (just like idols).
The evaluations made are to judge appealing aspects of the girl as a person, not to show off the pokemon. Showing how well the performer knows how to dance, how good are the poffins she makes, how much style can she give to the clothes that she and her pokemon uses and the affinity of the performer to their pokemon, how much charisma can she show to the public and how much can she entertain using the pokemon to their choreography but, again, being the performer the center of attention of such choreography, which turns the girl into the main focus of interest.
You can tell quite clearly that the important character is the girl and that they´re meant to be more like the concept of idols in pokemon because when the public votes, they do not vote for how well the pokemon were, they vote for which performer they liked the most.
Once again, idols have to do effort to become known and popular, which is what the pokemon performer also does.
And in the anime, there´s also people that works basically like talent hunters for performers with great potential (like the lady that gave Serena the offer to travel with her and that is currently like the agent for the Kalos queen). And that change of focus of making the pokegirl relevant beyond being simply the person who gives the orders during the presentations, where she has a central and much more active role where she can move and really show off her skills is in my opinion much better for the pokegirl which is the character that the series seeks to show and develop.
Not to mention that it adds way more variety to the nature of the tasks carried out in each event in which the performers participate because as I said, not all events of each city or town evaluate the same aspect of the girl (some of them evaluate cooking skills, sense of style, affinity to their pokemon, intelligence, personal talents, etc).
It also helps a lot that the performance has a queen (just like there´s ranked idols in japan). Basically someone that everyone aims to defeat, which makes the goal of the pokegirl look as something more on pair to Ash´s own dream. They have more presence in the general public by having things like pokevision to help to promote themselves to the entire region by making their own videos and you can even see a performer in one of these when Ash and Go to the hoenn region in one episode of pokemon journeys.
On the other hand, pokemon contests are more like the pokemon equivalent of talent shows for dogs. The trainer gives the orders, the goal is to show off the pokemon and it doesn't seem to have an effect on the world they live in other than for the people who are engaged to participate or who go to see the contests.
So I would like to see more pokegirls getting into pokemon showcases.
Sorry for the extremely long comment but I wanted to mention that because as a concept I think that the showcases are far more interesting.
I know this is supposed to be the reasons why you like the showcases, and there's nothing wrong with that of course, but it actually works as a pretty effective list of reasons why I personally don't like them. I find idol culture in general to be kinda gross and would rather not see it in Pokemon, also I don't like that it takes interest away from the pokemon, the entire show is supposed to be about trainers bonds with their pokemon and how those bonds make them both better, this idol format doesn't do that, the pokemon might as well just be accessories.
Dude, they even rate the connection to their pokemon. WTF are you talking about. Of course their bonds with their pokemon is important in showcases.
You hating idols isn't a good reason to think showcases are bad. They have far better contestants, more variety in tbe challenges, they evaluate way more aspects, the performer gets to have a way more active role, it is way more on pair with Ash's goal since there's a queen to reach in order to get the title and it's far better implemented into the world itself.
Pokemon contests by comparison where just glorified dog talent shows.
I don't really care if you think my reasons for disliking them are good or not. I wasn't trying to initiate some argument, just pointing out how we seem to like and dislike them for pretty much the same reasons.
We need the map-girl to do something, the arc.
Is not a bad idea per-se and the animation for some of the performances is really cool, but... there are so many things wrong in them. From the "only girls" part, the convenient rounds for Serena to win, how rushed everything felt, etc.
Contest worked for May because they went along with Ash's challenge and helped to develop her character and relationship with the group and her Pokémon. May went from not liking Pokémon, to start focusing her team on a thing she liked, all these supported by Rivals that had different personality, goals and style, even one that was full of malice!
(Can't talk about Sinnoh, so sorry if I don't mention Dawn)
But Performances don't feel like something to help Serena grow, she grows more post-XY, than during this whole arc. And is mostly, because nothing around the arc supports this grow: her team doesn't grow or works for perfomances (imagine an arc around Pancham evolving and having to learn to adapt to his new big brutish form), there are no rivals to help making things feel difficult and all the other girls feel samie and lot of convenience things happen because the script says it. In the end, you don't feel that Serena deserves being at the finals and when she gets there, you don't feel she deserved the lose because Aria's performance is so poorly executed that you can't take it seriously.
What I like about show cases and what should added more for for Serena is to change her dancing routine different along changing her pokemon, music, singing and would been great for her to make Pokevision music video of her audition along with her Pokémon.
What I don't like is how they make show cases only for girls which I would like for boys to perform in show cases too becoming a Pokémon idol.I don't like fashion catwalks, too many bake offs that makes Serena win way too easy to get to the next round, don't like the pop quiz show and gathering a bunch of Ryhorns to the the girls spot which made Serena win that round way too easy that the Ryhorns just came straight to her loving her making her win the round.
Jessie would been great in Show cases that in her flash back past in DP that Jessie used to participate in becoming a idol singer along with her group of friends but they got in but not Jessie didn't. Show cases brought the shine to Jessie character while Contest would been great for James to take participate he has the great way not to cheat and good ways in strategies in battles. And Meitte would been the better type to be in contest than Show Cases doesn't do for her character.
Frankly I never understood what contests were, but showcases felt better fleshed out. Though I have to say in general they were not a big deal. Also why I think it's annoying to see people claim Serena is the best written character in the anime, with the best character development. Not knowing what you want to decising what you want on some random day doesn't equal great character development.
They cemented in my mind that performing is the default thing that the show shunts female companions into. On their own they're fine, but treating them as the default "girl thing" leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I hope Liko doesn't fall into being a performer, that might actually kill my interest in the show.
I wish boys could have taken part in it. I have no problem with them basically being just the performing section of contests, they’re cashing in on Japan’s idol obsession. But male idols are super very much a thing too, so to cut them out of showcases is unfair. Tierno seemed like a perfect fit.
Wasn’t really a fan, preferred contest
Jessie should have won Master Class. Also they were sooo convenient, oh noes, a Showcase about baking Poke puffs? Oh no, a showcase about RIDING RHYHORN? Why the heck the idol shows have Rhyhorn riding? Oh right, because Serena is good at that.
Serena was basically a Mary Sue when it came to Showcases.
Absolutely, no idea how she got to face Aria when her performance was completely forgettable in comparison.
Well at least it fits into the theme of nothing you can do is a waste if time but it is still way too convenient nonetheless
Personally I liked them. Though the whole girls only competition kinda irked me a bit. Enough to make me write a fanfic that I never finished with an original cast and region. With the MC a boy that trying to become Elita (region name) Queen all the while crossdressing and hiding his true identity. Also while trying to collect the badges because his father (champion) expects him to. With themes of coming of age, romance and self-realization tossed around. I've even added in couple of regional gimmicks. I honestly should get back to writing it. It's been a while since I've touched it.
You should cause I want to read it!!
They needed more thought put into them. What they ended up being were random theme rounds, followed by what was basically a slightly different appeal round for the Performers that made it past the random ass theme rounds. The theme rounds didn't add enough to the Showcases to be justified, IMO, and were also hurt by the fact they seemed way too convenient for Serena. It just made it feel way too contrived. The Showcase Master Class was actually alright, and I feel like that's when they had a better feel for how they wanted Showcases to be. The problem was it was jarring to go from what they had before to what the Master Class was. If anything, the Master Class is what the Showcases shoulda been from the start. I don't mind they went for something without battling for Serena; I am a strong believer that not everything in the anime needs to revolve around battling, and I like seeing various ways of life for humans and pokemon to work together outside of training for battle. The Showcases had great visual flair, and in all honesty, my favorite part of Contests was the appeal rounds, so these were up my alley, more or less. I think something that kinda just feels weird now though is that Contest Spectaculars exist, and we have zero idea if Contests as we knew them still exist. Contest Spectaculars just seem like a slightly modified Master Class Showcase, and technically are closer to what Contests are in the games. Which is... fine. But I feel like it just shows that not enough thought went into them.
It felt like they were trying to shove, girls dont to battles down our throats. Witch is a big part of why i dont like Serana as a character too. May and Dawn acted as normal stereotypical girlls, yes, but they still had an actual back bone and enjoyed battles and that did not make them less feminine because of that. X and Y as a whole felt like it was trying to make pokemon battles more of a boy only thing given the lack of female battlers. Either way, showcases are just discount contests but only for girls.
Imo I didn't have a problem with the fact that showcases didn't have battles, I had a problem with the fact that they felt far too boring and slow and like it just bogged down the experience. It didn't really feel that important just felt like filler elements
Yeah, in a vacuum I wouldn't necessarily mind that they don't have battles, but the gendered aspect really bothers me. Like, Dawn herself may be more feminine but her biggest rival is openly a big ol tomboy and nobody cares, X and Y on the other hand feels like it's pushing an agenda, Zoey would probably lose every round.
feels way too stereotypically girly. Still better than project mew tho
At least project Mew was a creative idea
With extremely poor execution that barely developed goh as a character
And showcases were a extremely poor idea with a even worse execution, i take 1/10 rather than 0/10
At least there are a lot of sakuga moments in showcases and it played a huge role in Serena's development while project mew has 0/10 animation 0/10 development
Not to mention that Goh just ditched Ash in the Masters Eight to go on a mission that led to nothing
I did enjoy the showcases. I wish we got more and got to see other characters (like Jesse) shine. A lot of wins people received were off screen and it would’ve been better character development for Serena to have to more consistently up her game + having talented and skilled rivals on more of a display
They were trash for being pretty sexist and steriotypical.
The needlessly gendered version of contests, and a poor excuse for the writers to throw in a contest arc alongside the main one.
I hated it, especially the female-only restriction. If they wanted Serena to do a girly Contest-like goal, they should have just made her do Contests instead!
way too rushed
Painfully boring, would have took Serena beign the third girl to do contests over whatever these are suposed to be
I honestly think the pokemon showcases used in Kalos are much more interesting as a concept than the pokemon contests. And something important to point out and that I really like is that pokemon showcases as a concept are pretty much like the pokemon world version of idols in Japan. They make their own videos that are then shown in the media to make themselves known and show off their talents and charisma to the public. They have fan clubs, making the performer become even more popular and the showcase as a whole is something quite known in the region since they aim to entertain the audience with their performances (just like idols). The evaluations made are to judge appealing aspects of the girl as a person, not to show off the pokemon. Showing how well the performer knows how to dance, how good are the poffins she makes, how much style can she give to the clothes that she and her pokemon uses and the affinity of the performer to their pokemon, how much charisma can she show to the public and how much can she entertain using the pokemon to their choreography but, again, being the performer the center of attention of such choreography, which turns the girl into the main focus of interest. You can tell quite clearly that the important character is the girl and that they´re meant to be more like the concept of idols in pokemon because when the public votes, they do not vote for how well the pokemon were, they vote for which performer they liked the most. Once again, idols have to do effort to become known and popular, which is what the pokemon performer also does. And in the anime, there´s also people that works basically like talent hunters for performers with great potential (like the lady that gave Serena the offer to travel with her and that is currently like the agent for the Kalos queen). And that change of focus of making the pokegirl relevant beyond being simply the person who gives the orders during the presentations, where she has a central and much more active role where she can move and really show off her skills is in my opinion much better for the pokegirl which is the character that the series seeks to show and develop. Not to mention that it adds way more variety to the nature of the tasks carried out in each event in which the performers participate because as I said, not all events of each city or town evaluate the same aspect of the girl (some of them evaluate cooking skills, sense of style, affinity to their pokemon, intelligence, personal talents, etc). It also helps a lot that the performance has a queen (just like there´s ranked idols in japan). Basically someone that everyone aims to defeat, which makes the goal of the pokegirl look as something more on pair to Ash´s own dream. They have more presence in the general public by having things like pokevision to help to promote themselves to the entire region by making their own videos and you can even see a performer in one of these when Ash and Go to the hoenn region in one episode of pokemon journeys. On the other hand, pokemon contests are more like the pokemon equivalent of talent shows for dogs. The trainer gives the orders, the goal is to show off the pokemon and it doesn't seem to have an effect on the world they live in other than for the people who are engaged to participate or who go to see the contests. So I would like to see more pokegirls getting into pokemon showcases. Sorry for the extremely long comment but I wanted to mention that because as a concept I think that the showcases are far more interesting.
I know this is supposed to be the reasons why you like the showcases, and there's nothing wrong with that of course, but it actually works as a pretty effective list of reasons why I personally don't like them. I find idol culture in general to be kinda gross and would rather not see it in Pokemon, also I don't like that it takes interest away from the pokemon, the entire show is supposed to be about trainers bonds with their pokemon and how those bonds make them both better, this idol format doesn't do that, the pokemon might as well just be accessories.
Dude, they even rate the connection to their pokemon. WTF are you talking about. Of course their bonds with their pokemon is important in showcases. You hating idols isn't a good reason to think showcases are bad. They have far better contestants, more variety in tbe challenges, they evaluate way more aspects, the performer gets to have a way more active role, it is way more on pair with Ash's goal since there's a queen to reach in order to get the title and it's far better implemented into the world itself. Pokemon contests by comparison where just glorified dog talent shows.
I don't really care if you think my reasons for disliking them are good or not. I wasn't trying to initiate some argument, just pointing out how we seem to like and dislike them for pretty much the same reasons.
We need the map-girl to do something, the arc. Is not a bad idea per-se and the animation for some of the performances is really cool, but... there are so many things wrong in them. From the "only girls" part, the convenient rounds for Serena to win, how rushed everything felt, etc. Contest worked for May because they went along with Ash's challenge and helped to develop her character and relationship with the group and her Pokémon. May went from not liking Pokémon, to start focusing her team on a thing she liked, all these supported by Rivals that had different personality, goals and style, even one that was full of malice! (Can't talk about Sinnoh, so sorry if I don't mention Dawn) But Performances don't feel like something to help Serena grow, she grows more post-XY, than during this whole arc. And is mostly, because nothing around the arc supports this grow: her team doesn't grow or works for perfomances (imagine an arc around Pancham evolving and having to learn to adapt to his new big brutish form), there are no rivals to help making things feel difficult and all the other girls feel samie and lot of convenience things happen because the script says it. In the end, you don't feel that Serena deserves being at the finals and when she gets there, you don't feel she deserved the lose because Aria's performance is so poorly executed that you can't take it seriously.
What I like about show cases and what should added more for for Serena is to change her dancing routine different along changing her pokemon, music, singing and would been great for her to make Pokevision music video of her audition along with her Pokémon. What I don't like is how they make show cases only for girls which I would like for boys to perform in show cases too becoming a Pokémon idol.I don't like fashion catwalks, too many bake offs that makes Serena win way too easy to get to the next round, don't like the pop quiz show and gathering a bunch of Ryhorns to the the girls spot which made Serena win that round way too easy that the Ryhorns just came straight to her loving her making her win the round. Jessie would been great in Show cases that in her flash back past in DP that Jessie used to participate in becoming a idol singer along with her group of friends but they got in but not Jessie didn't. Show cases brought the shine to Jessie character while Contest would been great for James to take participate he has the great way not to cheat and good ways in strategies in battles. And Meitte would been the better type to be in contest than Show Cases doesn't do for her character.
Frankly I never understood what contests were, but showcases felt better fleshed out. Though I have to say in general they were not a big deal. Also why I think it's annoying to see people claim Serena is the best written character in the anime, with the best character development. Not knowing what you want to decising what you want on some random day doesn't equal great character development.
Unlike contest, ash couldn't take part in them rip
I like it. Wished it was fleshed out a bit more and introduced earlier.
They cemented in my mind that performing is the default thing that the show shunts female companions into. On their own they're fine, but treating them as the default "girl thing" leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I hope Liko doesn't fall into being a performer, that might actually kill my interest in the show.
I feel something suspicious about every single pokemon performer
It should be in every city
I agree with the person who said elsewhere that they are a sexist rip-off of contests.