In BW's first episode the narrator says Ash is still 10, which is completely unbelieveable. They also redesigned Ash's character to make him look younger again, unlike in the AG and DP series where he actually looked older and more mature.

My guess is now that the anime has gone on for 15 years, the writers feel most of the original fans have moved on from the show and no longer watch, so they're doing this "soft reboot" of the series where it almost makes it feel like BW is a remake of the original series.

I think the reason Iris and Cilan are so similar to Misty/Brock is this is intended to be a new take on Kanto, almost as if the previous sagas never happened. Ash never brings up old friends or his old pokemon, and older characters have been disappearing for good.

Just look at what happened to Misty and Tracey, they no longer apppear anymore whatsoever, and I think the same is going to happen to everyone else.

Best Wishes tries to be like the original series and DP at the same time, but I don't think it's succeeding in either form.

Iris and Cilan feel like the writers second attempt on Misty and Brock. Makes you wonder why they didn't just use the original trio instead of such similar characters. I guess now we know why Misty has been ignored and forgotten, we have Iris now.

Aside from the 2-parter they were supposed to be in, Team Plasma haven't appeared at ALL in BW so far.

Looks like one of Cilan's Pokemon evolves, that is good.

Yes yes, I do like Cilan. It did seem like Brock was going to leave the show here too at the end of Johto, but I already knew about him returning for AG so his return was spoiled for me.

I suppose Misty was never brought back because May was just too popular, and they didn't want to go back to an older character. So May replacing Misty became permanent, even if it might not have been intended at first.

Its been a while since I've seen this episode so I watched it again recently. As a goodbye episode it was fairly well done. Its kind of ironic looking back at this episode now, knowing that Misty never does come back to the show in any of the following arcs. Her departure from the series was quite permanent and she has remained off the series for 9 years.

Did the writers originally plan to have Misty leave for good, or was she originally intended to come back like when Tracey replaced Brock, but then they brought Brock back? I always assumed she stayed gone because May was more popular and everyone liked the Contests, so they had no reason to bring her back. I wasn't online when AG was airing back in 2003-2006, but from what I've read online May was the most popular character in the series at the time so the writers decided not to bring Misty back. Its also why May came back for Battle Frontier and the DP saga's Wallace Cup and Misty didn't appear at all. I would have liked to see Misty still appear in the series, but I know she's probably not going to.

I suppose if we see anyone in Best Wishes it'll be Dawn though if the pattern holds.

Dento is the most popular character in Best Wishes at the moment, why must you put him down? The majority of the fandom, especially in Japan, loves the character and he's more popular than Iris is currently.

Anyway I love episodes that focus on either Axew or Scraggy. I love how they've become a pair in a way and look after one another. Also I never thought that garbage-bag pokemon's evo would look good in the anime.

Pikachu is still the mascot of the franchise, which is why it still has to be used in most battles even though it constantly loses to pokemon it shouldn't. Its been like this for the last few generations.

Even in the AG and DP episodes, Pikachu would lose to a random wild pokemon or some "weaker" trainer. It isn't just Best Wishes that has done this with Pikachu.

Is it possible to say that Iris is the strongest female trainer at only 45 eps into her respective series?

At this point in other sagas, May and Dawn were still beginning trainers, and Misty was losing battles right and left and more or less lost to Ash in Cerulean.

Excadrill alone seems much stronger than any pokemon Misty/May/Dawn ever had.

While I liked Totodile with Ash, its because of this that Misty never gets a starter pokemon in the history of the series.

Ash, May, Dawn and Brock all received starter pokemon at some point, but since Ash got both Squirtle and Totodile, Misty never got any water starter.

Come to think of it, Misty only makes one capture over the entire span of Johto, which is her Corsola. Its really odd that the writers never bothered developing Misty's team much, not to mention her Horsea that was just left behind and never amounted to anything.

Its a shame when you think of all the wasted potential from the earlier seasons of the anime, especially in regards to the lack of screentime for Misty in general.

It wasn't really a Brock episode, it was mostly Ash and Dawn taking care of their pokemon without him. Brock only shows up toward the end for some last medical help.

Kind of a shame, really, Brock was in the entire DP series yet only like 10 episodes focus on him in some form. DP really wasn't a good series for Brock at all, they also only had him with 3 Pokemon the entire saga.