The Pokemon TV Show should Follow the Exploits of Red, not Ash

Rebuttals: "1. ) Red's battle with decomposing zombie Psyduck [2]. 2. ) Much of the dialogue is annoyingly corny (no, it isn't Pikachu, it's 'Pika'). 3. ) Furthermore, the plot line just reads like a story version of the Blue/Red/Yellow original games, leaving no room for storyline expansion- 4. ) they even find Mewtwo in Cerulean cave, (and defeat him ridiculously easily), 5. ) visit each of the same towns, defeat each of the same leaders, go on to win at Indigo Plateau. .. the main characters are called 'Red' 'Green' and 'Blue' which is weirdly unimaginative (perhaps some kind of bad slur on the original games). .. " [1. ) In this portion of the manga Red is in a cemetery that is being controlled by malevolent forces with telekinetic powers. It is hardly a stretch of the imagination that this force would resort to controlling corpses. This occurrence, though a bit odd, is not inappropriate given Red's situation. 2. ) Pika is the name of Red's Pikachu, not corny dialogue. All of Red's Pokemon have nicknames. 3. ) If all this manga did was tell the storyline of the original games then that's all that it would be. There would be nothing that allows the reader to like the characters as in the game the protagonist does not ever speak and develops few relationships with other characters. It would be very dull to read and a lot shorter. 4. ) I would hardly say that Mewtwo is a pushover, he single-handedly incapacitated most of Red's team with one attack. If in the manga they had to defeat Mewtwo instead of just incapacitate it I doubt that Red and his team could have done it. 5. ) I ask my opponent why differentiation from source material about basic elements is a good thing. There are many books that were adapted to movie format that are widely considered to be terrible because of too much differentiation. If I use the game as a baseline then Ash's exploits differ a considerable amount more than Red's. The names of characters and places do not make a good story. How the author/writer depicts the in-between moments and important events are what makes a story great. **** "1. ) Pro has aspirations about Pokemon broadening it's appeal to a larger market, but lets face it- the only substantial audience Pokemon is likely to ever get is the pre-teens market. ..2. ) I can't imagine an anime about kids with pocket monsters fighting each other for special badges pulling in a 'wide variety of audiences. ..3. ) If fact, the more violent overtones of the manga series would, I think, work against it's target market (Pokemon DIE in the manga). There isn't the cutesy fainting sequence when a Pokemon is defeated-sometimes they get sliced in half, or frozen and broken into pieces. This, amazingly enough for a manga based on Pokemon, isn't for children. " [1. ) This is a Facebook group that has nearly 80 thousand members as of this post, some of them may be prepubescent but many would qualify as being out of Nintendo's target market for Pokemon [1]. ] 2. ) Pokemon already pulls a "wide variety of audiences" as it is the second most successful video game franchise in history [2, 3]. My argument is that it could pull a wider one. 3. ) The manga is more violent than the anime; this is a fact. The occurrences of death that are referenced by my opponent are not at all common in the manga, I would go so far as to call them rare. the main point of that contention was to increase the size of their audience which an increase in the seriousness of subject matter would. I'm sure that this increase would cause some of the younger members of the current audience to cease watching the show. Though, this decrease would be overshadowed by an influx of older viewers that would watch the show due to the increased maturity level of it. **** "1. ) But nor, as Pro seems to think, is there a particularly deep message behind the series. It doesn't have any more lessons to teach to children than the anime- in fact, I think the anime has the edge in this regard. 2. ) In the manga, the protagonist easily defeats everyone, even the most powerful trainers and Pokemon in the world, whilst barely working for it. He's looks about eight. On the other hand, 3. ) Ash is thrust into a larger world, following his dreams but never managing to get to the top. He fails to win when he takes on Indigo Plateau, and learns a lesson about picking himself back up from defeat. 4. ) There is an emphasis on friendship and trust, while the manga is just about battling and getting stronger. " [1. ) I agree that in the manga there is no deep all encompassing message, but there isn't one in the anime either. My point merely was that the two have differing styles when it comes to taking more than just entertainment from them. Ash's story mainly focuses on teaching lessons to children while Red's focuses more on allowing the audience to think about a lesson. 2. ) In the manga Red defeats a majority of his opponents and these battles are not always easy. The fact that he wins is not even an issue either. Red is the strongest Pokemon Trainer in his storyline and he got that way through hard training with his Pokemon. That is the reason that he wins battles. 3. ) While the lesson that you should pick yourself up after suffering a defeat is a good lesson, I say that never accomplishing any of your major dreams/aspirations is a bad lesson to be giving kids. Ash has never accomplished a major predetermined goal. Red on the other hand completed his goal of becoming the Pokemon League Champion after facing many hardships along the way. ] 4. ) This is an incorrect statement that will be addressed a bit lower. **** "I should address Pro's point about the theme song here. .. " [This rebuttal applies to the whole of the quoted paragraph. My opponent's main point in this argument is that the manga is only about battling. This is a false statement because Red is also forms bonds with his Pokemon that are equal to, if not stranger than, the bonds that Ash makes with his Pokemon. The only difference is that Ash usually befriends first and then captures, whereas Red captures and then befriends. I am quite aware of the full text of the original theme and chose the portion that applied to my argument because in the rest of that contention I explain how the friendship aspect applies to the manga. My opponent took my argument out of context in order to give weight to his. ] **** "Should Ash's exploits in the movies be excluded? " [I still contend that they should. Ash's accomplishments in the movies are not important to the storyline of the anime and were made mainly as a cash-cow for Nintendo. I could watch the entire Pokemon anime and it would make sense. I would not even need to know that the movies existed. The difference between the two is that Red's accomplishes have, for the most part, plot significance. These events are important to the plot of the manga which is where the two differ. My opponent argues that if they were to follow the story of Red that Nintendo would have made all of his accomplishments into movies also. This would not be the case. As I explained above, Red's accomplishments have plot importance whereas Ash's accomplishments in the movie do not. This debate is about the idea that they should have followed Red's plot, not used the character, downplayed the achievements in the anime and make the major ones into movies. ] **** I look forward to my opponent's responses. [1] . http://www.facebook.com... [2] . http://en.wikipedia.org... [3] . http://www.gamasutra.com...