Pokémon (anime): Difference between revisions

* [[Harsh Life Revelation Aesop]]:

** The first season with the Kanto tournament shows that simply being a [[Determinator]] that befriends your Pokémon is not enough. You have to put in the work to roll with any punches, and even then you may fail due to extremely bad luck:

*** While Ash earns two badges by sheer dumb luck -- Brock accompanies Ash on his journey while Misty's sisters give Ash a badge-- he gets two [[Wake Up Call Boss]]es in Giovanni, whose Raichu proceeds to curbstomp Pikachu, as well as with the Fire Gym leader Blaine whose Magmar nearly roasts Pikachu alive. Ash has to take a step back, figure out what he did wrong, and try again with Giovanni; Blaine won't even give him that chance because he wants Ash to be worthy of another battle first. Blaine outright says that battles require caring for your Pokémon's well-being and knowing when to quit. And even then, Ash only defeats Blaine fairly because Charizard gets off his ass and decides to fight Magmar.

*** Ash does fairly well in the tournament despite his inconsistent training-- and even then we see he was busy doing other stuff like stopping two giant Pokémon from battling to the death-- to the point that he outranks Gary. Then, thanks to Team Rocket kidnapping him the day he fights Richie, he has fewer Pokémon to switch out in the battle, leading to Richie beating him. He knows it's not Richie's fault and gets even with Team Rocket in the next episode, but spends a few days moping that he didn't even get a fair chance. When Misty tries to cheer him up, she finally snaps at him that [[Life Isn't Fair]] and he can't spend his whole life in bed. The fight allows Ash to feel some catharsis, and he's able to accept an honorary trophy for his participation at the end of the episode.

** One episode that goes into Jessie's backstory shows that she wanted to be a nurse despite lacking the qualifications for regular nursing school. She opted to go to a school where Clefairies are taught instead, and put in the work. Jessie even helps out other students like Gloria with tightening bandages and caring for Pokémon. Unfortunately, despite Jessie's hard work, she still fails out because of one problem -- Clefairy songs put her to sleep and they're needed to heal patients. Cue her teacher getting mad at Jessie for falling asleep in class. As a result, Jessie acknowledges that her hard work isn't enough to fulfill her dream and decides to leave school to find another path.