I'm not very good at writing professional looking reviews. But I like this season because this is the season that made me get into Pokemon again. When I was very young. I like many kids watched Pokemon. But over the years, I didn't watch it anymore. At age 21 or 22, I decided to look up Pokemon online. One of the 1st eps I watched was from Diamond & Pearl. I did get confused cause I saw Dawn. And I knew that I missed alot. So I started from ep 1 of the Pokemon series. And watched every show and movie. And ever since Ivebeen hooked!

I'm going to start off my review by stating that I will treat Pokemon D&P as a full flege anime and negate from the games and other chilhood influences. At this point it should be noted that Pokemon D&P is apart of the long running Pokemon FRANCHISE. A franchise that has a basic formula. That formula is aimed towards kids so there will be a lot childlike situations and themes. It just so happens that that formula continues to be reused time after time again. Its old to a lot of veteran viewers but new to the younger and newer generations. However, despite D&P beinga "rehash", it still finds it's place amongst the other series. Story: Satoshi or Ash for us American viewers is traveling by himself as he makes his way to the Sinnoh region. He eventully meets up with his long time traveling friend Takeshi/Brock and a new friend Hikari/Dawn. Like the other series, Ash along with his friends explore the area they are currently in while seeing and capturing new Pokemon, participate in Gym battles, make new friends and rivals, battle Team Rocket all while learning about growing up, friendship and other themes of such nature. Art: Compared to the older series, D&P is a step up in the art department. Of course the original has a nostalgic touch to it and Advance Generation has that sequal value but D&P is very vibrant in color. The environment is abosulutely beautiful and the way that some of the attcks look are perfect! It appears as if some of the attacks have texture to them. Somthing the recent series have picked up and started doing. the characters are drawn well. Although Ash and Dawn are 10 they very well look like they are at least 13 giving off a more mature appeal. Sound: The music is good. It's not "rock your socks off" good but for its target audience, it gets the job done. A lot of the battle and travel music returns from the previous shows so if your a fan of those, you're in for a treat. The sound effects are good like the colision of attacks or something simple like the characters walking. Character: Out of all the catergories in this review, the character catergory got the lowest rate. Ash and Brock are pretty much the same. They don't develop much however the introduction of the Sinnoh rival Shinji/Paul does add a bit of flare to something that was very well missing in Ash's life after the absence of Gary. Paul did in fact challenge Ash. I won't say that he helped Ash develop his style of battling. That actually came over the course of the series but Paul was serious about his job as a trainer. He was a tad bit cliche with the whole "pokemon are tools" outlook but nonetheless he gave Ash a run for his money. I was a bit disappointed with Dawn. Despite being the female lead to level out the male ratio, she didn't do much for team development and was a bit of a wasted character. Like her previous female lead, Haruka/May, Dawn is a Pokemon Coordinator. The main difference is that Dawn starts off as a coordinator while May grew into it. Also Dawn is the child of a famous coordinator. But that's really it. Dawn isn't that great at coordinating (at first) and the series introduces her as a rookie. She pretty much was in the same spot as May. When it comes to the overall character of Dawn, she felt forced. Forced to be liked because she was a good guy. Forced because she had a dream to be a coordinator. Forced because when she felt sad, the viewers ahd to feel sad as well. Honestly, I would've liked Dawn more if she was already somewhat advanced in her craft similar to Misty. The dynamic would've changed greatly if Dawn wasn't your avergae Pokemon rookie. The coordinator thing has already been done and it doesn't help that the previous female lead was more profound in the skill than the current. The rest of the characters were either short lived or not memorable. Did I mention that Team Rocket is still trying to capture Pikachu? Enjoyment: I enjoyed D&P fairly well. As expected, things have changed but it's a new enviornment with the same fundamentals. Overall: Pokemon D&P is an upgrade in the battle sequences, the story and is overall is visually stunning. Unfortunately the characters were lacking. Paul was an interesting add to the series but Dawn was a step backwards from the other two female leads especailly since she gave no reason to be liked or rooted for other than the fact that the audience is SUPPOSE to like and root for her. However if you've been riding the Pokemon train this long, why stop here? It's a decent addition to the series and it came at a good time where things were getting stale. Pokemon D&P defintely holds a place in the Pokemon family tree and is sure to be liked by the younger generations and the veterans who know how the Pokemon formula goes.

Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl anime was definitely an enjoyable series for me. I liked all the new Pokemon introduced in Sinnoh with appearances from some of the more classics too. This is the one series where I felt Ash/Satoshi did his best battling wise. A great aspect to this was his rival, Paul/Shinji. The two had completely different views on how they were training their Pokemon and battling. It led to a great strong rivalry and was the main reason he did so well. The gym battles were great, team rocket was still funny as ever although i wish they didn't always appear in everyepisode. The plot with Team Galactic was entertaining. Now for my favorite part, the Sinnoh league. This was by far the best league Ash battled well in, and it's also the first league where most of his Pokemon team was fully evolved with the exception of Buizel and Gibble but they were still awesome. The strategies used were amazing especially on Ash's part. The final battle with Paul was simply great! the one thing I didn't like was how the league ended. In my opinion, I believe the anime should have ended with this series because of good things were with it. Overall an enjoyable series for me.

Truly enough, the Pokemon anime franchise has a lot of uphills and downhills, starting with the Original series with the Johto season to the Advance that considered average, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl or for short DP is definitely one big uphill before the Black and White downhill, and DP is a good one especially because it's originality and maturity. Ash (or Satoshi in the Jap ver.) starts a brand new journey in the Sinnoh region who - as the other regions - include new generation species of Pokemon and Pokemon League of its own with 8 gyms scattered around the region, there he meets Dawn, anew trainer who aims to be a Pokemon Coordinator and his old friend Brock, he also meets a new rival called Paul (Shinji in the jap ver.) and the rest is pretty known... so what is new and different that make DP maybe the best series in the anime franchise? Well, let's start with Dawn, that though she came to replace May, she is much more girlish and more ambitious to be coordinator from the start of her journey, especially since her mother was top coordinator, unlike Misty and more unlike May who both had a bit of tomboy personality Dawn from the start showing much more girlish side than Misty and May together, so though she wants to become a top coordinator she has some issues of her own. As a male though its can be annoying its actually makes her a really interesting character that adding interesting and important side to DP. the main reason for that - unlike the Advance series that May's coordinator journey feels like "side story" (as in the game the contests are a side game) Dawn's contests journey is much more involves in the story and feels canon, Ash is much more involves with Dawn journey, especially since Dawn knows much less than May about Pokemon that Ash influence Dawn in more than several ways. and even the opposite - Dawn influence Ash's journey, both with character development and in Pokemon training. And that only Dawn little part in the anime, much larger part of the anime is about Paul, who from that start becomes reason for Ash to get stronger - not to beat the league but to beat Paul, their rivalry seems not just important but making the Pokemon League story much more minor and their rivalry the main story. it might be needs more expanding to understand but the main reason for their rivalry is training-point-of-view, which makes Ash more determined to prove himself to be worthy trainer by beating Paul - an actual goal that makes sense considering his journey to become "Pokemon Master", and so their rivalry taking huge place in DP as their encounters in DP are making the waypoints along the series. Except for those points there are also Team Galactic, who in some ways might be the best villain team adaption in the whole Pokemon anime merchandise, their story involving Ash the gang are so mature at times you forget it's the same Pokemon anime. Some of the story have some corny points that brings you back to the Pokemon you know but it's not making the story of Team Galactic less interesting. And that is not only what's new on DP, compared to the other series as Ash's Pokemon league journey might not changed much but feels much more sequel to the Advance series - if in the Advance series Ash had much more confidence and some Pokemon battle strategy, in DP this is entirely different case - strategy is not anymore "Get out of a close fight״ but literally strategy: calculating damage and moves, creating situations for winning and more than once using other advantages than types. and as I said earlier, Ash is influenced a lot from Dawn contest battling styles to use in battles, adding a lot to his battle style and dedicating himself much more to train his Pokemon than battling them only in gym battles. You might say - so what? DP containing 4 full seasons, it sure have a lot of boring and predicted story episodes that filling the gaps, while it might true but less than you think, the above points rules a lot on the series than you think, either it's Ash's VS Paul episodes, contests episodes, Galactic Episodes, gym battles and league episodes, it seems that the writers created whole new series fixing not only Johto episodes but created whole new style. But... and that's not a big but, there's some minor episodes who really can be boring and some even worse than the Johto episodes, for those come much rare and not often that you can count them in one hand per season, and some forced changes that the writers brought to make some team change or other story, and more than that,showing a lot of Pokemon we saw already, but again, it's really not that bad to make the DP series bad and even when they come they are easily forgotten (though some may really bothered me at time watching them, such as older Pokemon episodes). Story - 9.5 Character As I said earlier, Ash written better than ever, he may have sometimes his regular reckless and corny character, but in DP he's not just more confidence and calculated but more mature, if I might say Ash is not just designed in DP older than 10 years old but also acts more mature than the Advance series. And more than that his point of view as a Pokemon trainer is more essential in DP in his rivalry with Paul - his love for Pokemon, but not just love but his belief that once the trainer believes in his Pokemon they can do better than their usual powers, the interesting part is that Ash combines it with his calculating mind - once he thinks on strategy his straight solution is definitely believe in his Pokemon and no more, and this solid fact is what deepen the rivalry with Paul. Paul on the other hand, not only doesn't believe in his Pokemon but have more strict approach not only in his Pokemon training but also in catching - if the Pokedex says the Pokemon isn't high level and doesn't have powerful moves - he won't use it but release it. More than that, if while training the Pokemon he doesn't seems to be levelling up well - he will release it, this main approach is what make most of his rivalry with as I explained Ash's training point-of-view. What interesting is, that in the games Paul approaching isn't wrong, in the contrast - usually you will want to find more high level Pokemon with good stats than raise a weak Pokemon, but since we know Ash already from previous seasons that Ash' approach is good and useful you won't only cheer for Ash but also be interested in Paul's development through the series to see their ideals clashing. Dawn on the other hand makes much more rivals than Ash (though Ash meets Barry later, Dawn still have much more), starting with Zoey, to her Childhood friend and more rivals that keeps coming along the series. but that's not the only thing about Dawn, though she sure in her own way she still have a lot of downhills along the way, even some you won't even except. And since she's written more girlish than other heroins in the Pokemon series she wants you to cry with her, be excited with her, be interest in her journey. Though some of those seems forced Dawn still makes a really good and interesting character, it can be noticed that when May make her comeback in the series you can really see how much May is flatten character than Dawn's deep character, sure she's not the perfect character as I said but she still have much more to offer than May. Brock on the other hand feels much more necessary in this series than in the Advance series and its seems the writers have much more leads to his character along the journey, leading to Brock's own solution at the end of the series. Barry is a new rivalry character to Ash presented at some point in the series, and though he is much unlike Paul he can steal the show at times. Team Rocket at the other hand, have interesting change through the series, in the start of DP it may seems like they were forced to be in the episodes only to justify their existence, but as the series continue they seems to change to their old-indigo-arc character, not only in their role but even to be funny and original than annoying. Not only that but even Jessie has her own rule in the series performing in the contests to makes things little more interesting, both in her appearance and her contest battle style. There are a lot more to say about the character in DP series and that's says a lot about DP - unlike the previous seasons there is a lot of Character development in DP, not only between Ash and Paul but also in Dawn, her rivals and Brock, the gym leaders is introduced and well written, but I won't extend more than that since the general idea cleared already. Character - 9 Art - 7 Though the Art doesn't change much or even a all through the series, it's still better than the Advance series and is more permanent and can really be good at times, especially in some main battles. though one main problem is the backgrounds the may doesn't seem anymore like child play but still seems as drawn bad. Sound - 8 For some reason, DP have a better OST than the others Pokemon series, and it's shown well in battles, while talking, walking, winning or losing, it may still sound kinda old and mechanic but way better than the Advance series. Enjoyment/Overall - 9/9 DP feels as sequel to Advance than any other Pokemon series, Ash's journey may be long but still fun to watch and wait for more Ash VS Paul than gym battles, their rivalry is really much more central than Ash ambition to be a Pokemon Master or win the league, and that's make one really good memorable Pokemon series. too bad to see something equal to DP only after the BW in XY, DP is truly one of the best series in the Pokemon franchise.

STORYTELLING: The plot and the storytelling is probably the highlight of DP. Coupled with some fantastic arcs, DP successfully remained thrilling throughout for me. PACE: Pacing was one issue that was well managed in the first two seasons. Third season, however, was a complete disappointment in terms of direction with bunch of fillers. On top, the spread was horrible. Fourth season somehow regained the pace back after the initial episodes though. CHARACTERS: Characters were another highlight of the series with Dawn, Ash & Paul being the most remarkable characters. It felt as if I'm witnessing three seperate journeys correlated to one another. I loved how Dawn neverfelt like a 'companion' but rather a lead character. Bond between Ash, Dawn & Brock were entirely on a different level making them the most lively trio in my opinion! The arcs that provided some natural development to the characters were unique and solidified the path to conclusion! Ash's growth as a trainer and Dawn's rising confidence were so pleasingly evident. Besides, even the minor and side characters had a lot of impact, influence and relevance on the plot, making DP a fantastic experience overall. The designs however were only decent but the artstyle was still good! POKÉMON: Lots of Sinnoh as well as Pokémon from other regions were shown providing the perfect balance the series needed. But what stood out is the most is the Pokémon partners of the main characters! The chemistry, the bond, the determination & everything were perfect reflection of their owners making the "Pokémon cast" very memorable! REGION PORTRAYAL: This is another weak-point of DP as it failed to showcase the beauty of Sinnoh. The region, throughout the series, looked extremely one dimensional and boring to some extent. Hoenn or Johto, in that regard, were much better. TEAM ROCKET: Many complaint about the 100% appearance rate of Team Rocket in the series but I actually found them to be as good as ever! In my opinion, the portrayal of Team Rocket in DP has been the most hilarious till the date! TEAM GALACTIC: Team Galactic showed a lot of promises initially. Every arcs carried a tensed atmosphere and promised us of something huge. Even the last arc was extremely good. But only if the conclusion was as good. GYM BATTLES: With the limited animation DP had, I loved how the battles still managed to be extremely intense. Credits to the buildup and the choreography. But what I liked the most about the battles were the showcases of stats moves, hazard setters, fusion moves & counter shield. They were amazingly done making DP the closest series to the games! CONTESTS: Contests were one aspect I found tremendously boring in AG. Although, the experience was totally different when it came to DP as time kept on going, I actually ended up liking 'em (possibly due to slightly better animation comparatively)! The extravagant moves and chemistry shown by the trainers and their Pokémon with some intense yet so elegant battles were just amazing to see. LEAGUE: The Sinnoh League is probably the most well-written league till the date. Lots of emotions were put in as numerous characters got their conclusions. Battles, too, were a delight to watch. Although, Tobias vs. Ash could've been a much better battle (though, I don't mind Ash losing out. OVERALL ANIMATION: Other than battles where a lot of efforts were put in with whatever the resources were, the animation overall was a disappointment. There were hardly any upgrades evident post the AG saga initially. But once the series started to adapt 16:9 resolution, the animation too somehow got much better. Color palette, however, seemed dull throughout but not one-dimensional. THEME SONGS: Pretty much all the theme songs were good enough. Especially the 2nd & 3rd season's themes. Although, they weren't anywhere near the predecessor (a.k.a. AG). VOICE ACTING: Sarah Natochenny did a fantastic job in voicing Ash. The emotions during his highs and lows were captured so well. I feel like her voice acting skills played a key role. Other than her, everyone else were as good too, which was a surprising element! OVERALL DIRECTION: The direction overall has been just 'good' with the sky-high potential it had for a Pokémon series. Had the fillers been spread with a proper balance, the series would've turned much better than what it was. Although, that said, DP is still a GREAT series nevertheless! FINAL RATING: Rating DP is very difficult with the highs and lows it has. The flaws were very trivial but evident at the same time. But the positives were everywhere, that managed to overshadow the production issues and whatever flaws it had! The stortelling process was a delight to witness. 192 episodes might seem bit too much, but trust me, it's worth it if you're a Pokémon fan! And therefore, I believe giving it a 8/10 is absolutely fair! That said, DP is surely my most favourite Pokémon Series alongside XY now!

A repeated plot but a more serious tone has been added in DP. Some 'violence' has been added, the new villain for example doesn't seem to care to much what happens to Ash (main character) The art is sometimes very good (movies, special episodes etc.) but it can also really suck. It just depends what team does the episode (check bulbapedia) Sounds alright, good background music in japanese version. The characters are more developped and they're not all 'black and white' like they used to be. Nice anime to watch, not too serious but can be when needed to. Overall nice, no real action, the plot is spreadover 200+ episodes with mostly fillers. Art's not always the best but major episodes are mostly done nicely. Pokemon USA doesn't edit episodes any more so there isn't that much difference in dialogue and plot. I personally watch mostly the more serious episodes but the fillers are more humourous. Give it a try, it's worth it.

Alright, let me start off by saying, the Diamond and Pearl Saga, with full honesty, was the best developed and most promising series of all of its previous titles. Don't really depend on those nostalgic views of "the original being best" and all, all Pokemon Sagas were awesome, all in different ways. For me however, Diamond and Pearl ranks #1. For the story element, Pokemon still sticks with the repetitive pattern except for some minor diversions. That is to say, if I would rate the story, I would down rate it for the repetition BUT I would still over rate it for the enjoyment. Imean, everyone else is demanding the same old classic Pokemon...and well...it is still here, and still delivers. It is still enjoyable and never gets old (to certain extents. So, 8/10 its pretty decent backed up with furthermore awesome elements. I didn't notice A HUGE and Dramatic difference in the art since the advanced generation, but that doesn't mean the art is bad. In the contrary, it's just perfect as always. Pokemons look great and so does the characters and that is a 10 Sounds as well never lets you down. I don't see getting rid of the 4Kids Dub as a wrong approach. In fact, the new dubbing group are doing pretty well, the sounds were just great and so were the music. Rating it 9 though since some Pokemon voices...were really disturbing... Characters are definitely the reason I am urging people to watch the DP saga over all the others. The characters were well made. We finally get to see a well developed Ash, just look at him at the Sinnoh League! He has never done better. He might have been notched down a bit but he recovered very soon and went on as a really cool experienced trainer. Besides Ash we have his female companion Dawn. And trust me, she is one of the most lovable characters you are gonna meet. She receives a huge spot light and she gets tons of development. The interaction between both Ash and Dawn is what makes their character quite lively. Brock thankfully stuck with Ash with his usual funny thoughts. Never gets old, in fact, he always gets new ways of being handled by the girls. Team Rocket were funny as hell as well so..can't really comment more on these guys. But most importantly, we get to witness a ferocious rival. And extremely well handled rival. Basically, a meanie, he is a skilled trainer who gained much of experience. His background story also is revealed, allowing us to witness more of his depth. He was literary the toughest and thorough of all rivals. Pure excellence, and the best rivalry ever. As for the Enjoyment: I personally couldn't wait to watch every single episode of the series. I loved every single one of them and juiced out all the enjoyment out of them. Such an Enjoyable show backed up amazing characters and decent storyboard. Never seen better. As overall, I give it 9/10, however I am probably rating this relative to all Pokemon Generations rather than Animes in general. Diamond and Pearl, a good story, EXCELLENT characters, Great sounds as always..and the result: Another promising generation with a different flavor, Huge thanks to the developers of this series and for the effort they have put on it.

Contains spoilers but I am keeping the major ones aside. I will be focusing on the characters and story as a whole, not stuffs like the arts or the music in any kind. This is clearly the best Pokemon series story wise. This series takes the best things from the previous regions and evolves one step further. The story now introduces us to the Sinnoh region and Hikari as the main heroine. Here, the things are kept really simple with goals set to the both characters Satoshi and Hikari from the get go. All of the episodes are about Sinnoh region and so this is the longest regionepisode wise till this day. Because of this, it succeeds in giving time to develop not just Satoshi and each of his pokemons but also Hikari and her contest battles. Satoshi in this region is already self-flourished and knows what he can accomplish unlike before with a winning habit developed. He already was a mature and composed trainer but also learns to battle in an adaptive way giving him the freedom in his battles and imaginations. Hikari on the other hand isn’t as experienced as Satoshi, so she learns through her journey and mistakes. The contest battles here are so much better visually and tactically which are now equally interesting as Satoshi’s battles. Hikari has her rivals to grow as a contest trainer with new tricks every now and then. Her wins and losses are carefully explained with valid reasons and solutions are also presented and are agreeable. The contest battles are now focused on the visual representation which wasn’t always the case before. Pocchama (Piplup) made this series many times better. The best thing from this series is introduction of a genuine rival for Satoshi. Satoshi had some rivals in the past trips but none of them really convinced to be one. We get Shinji in this series who gets introduced in first few episodes and plays a big part in the journey of Satoshi throughout the whole series. There also is the story of Shinji and Chimchar that left a good mark on the journey. There are rival battles here and there some with 3-on-3 and some with full battles. There is a huge involvement of the enemy team (team galactic) and the champion, Shirona across the episodes. The legendries in this series are well explained of their capacities and origins. All of the elite fours also make their appearance with quite enough screen time. The league battles were also executed well than before. To decorate the masterpiece with a cherry on top, the movies of Sinnoh regions are by far the best ones. Not only they are great individually, the movies are connected to each other forming a story on its own. Not gonna lie but there are surely episodes that you get bored with and better off sleep but when you look at the whole journey, it's different than the others in a good way. Overall, the series focuses on the story as a whole unlike before so they seem logical as well without much of plot armor or plot holes. The seriousness in the story keeps this region ahead of the other regions.

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl is my favourite pokemon series. Its story is directly taken from the games. Lore from the games is present. Each town is given a personality just like the game. But routes still don't have a personality and feels like generic jungles. Concept of pokemon ability is introduced, late but still appreciated. Team rocket interrupted many important battles. Happiny's egg hatch was way too dramatic. All of the elite four and champion were part of the story. Only the Sinnoh League victor can challenge them, but they made Ash lose in the League. It would've been great if Ash fought Cynthia in afull battle and then lost. Pokedex is used too much that it started to annoy. There were many fun fillers in "Galactic Battles" and "Sinnoh League Victors". Except for the Shaymin episode, they included it because it happens in the game, but they also made a movie on similar ideas, so another episode where they are finding the flower garden for Shaymin felt redundant to me. Art and sound are always great in every pokemon media. The intro songs from this series are excellent. They are on par with the first one. They improved a lot on characters from the previous series. Paul is the best character introduced because he plays a significant role in motivating ash. Also his relationship with chimchar and how ash handled chimchar shows us a lot about abusive relationships. Chimchar gets PTSD, but he overcame it because of the love and support he got from Ash and his crew. I found May's rivals annoying in the Advanced Generation whereas Dawn's rivals are fun to watch and none of them is annoying.

A little late for the review for this series? No? "When every life meets another lifes, something will be born" Tbh, I watched this one occasionally when it was just released, mostly only for the league. Now I watched the whole series and tried to watch the filler too. Before, I like this series because of Paul (Shinji) and Ash (Satoshi)'s chemistry, but now I like it more and more. And the quote above is really the whole plot of this series. I am a Pokemon fan for a long time, frankly speaking it would be my whole life, I'm now 18 and I watched it when Iwas 3. When I grow up I meet lots of friends thanks to this, but a bit lonely since I'm the only girl in the group, ha ha. Diamond and Pearl surely has improment in the art, but probably nothing compare to other series that time. I watched the sub so the musis is really brilliant, not because of the Op and Ed but because they offen used songs from past series in battle, in training, and it gets you really hyped! I'm not even kidding, the battle with Volkner or Paul, they were so beautifully done with the music. However, the one scene I like was when Grotel just evolved and the song "because the sky was there" started playing when it crying, like, I was almost crying for it too. I think the more interesting and makes DP unique is Ash and Paul' rivalry. While Gary is also really strong and a jerk, Paul is helly strong and a complete nemesis of Ash. In fact, Paul is a representation of all the gamers who release weak pokemon and catches the strong one, considering IVs and Moves, etc. Paul is trong, but the most interesting thing is his ideal clashes with Ash's. Ironically, his Japanese name means "believe", haha. This is not the battle between weak and strong like Gary and Ash, but a battle of ideals. Also, the fact that Shirona (Cynthia) and Reiji (Paul's brother) comments on their relationship with the phase I quoted makes it even more meaningful. Until now, even with XY, I still love their rivalry the most. The fillers are also fun, I really like Brock and his Croagust, and LOL at them many times. People say those gags and cliche and boring, but I pwrsonally still like them, though I really hate how Team Rocket just interfere in the battle and stuff, though they make me laugh. And Dawn, oh boy she is the best, I like her even more than Misty - whole existence is for nothing, or May - who sometimes too emotional. Dawn tries her best, and even fight outside the contest many times. I also like how they portrayed Brock as a brother figure, he takes care of the group. Remember the Pachirisu episode? He went to buy medicine and Dawn together with Ash didn't know how to cure the fever and realized they were too dependent on Brock. That was lacking in the recent series with Dento and Clemont. Also, Ash has so many powerhouses in this series! All of his pokemon evolved except Pikachu and Buizel! I almost thought Buizel would also evolve, but it already breaks the record! That was his most powerful team in the history until now. And with that he meets the plot device Tobia, but who cares? He makes it to the semi final for the first time! Ash is the most mature in this series with all the interesting strategies. There is also a little plot with Galactic Team with better build up than AquaMagma thing back then, but the ending is kinda unsatisfied. Overall, as a Pokemon fans I like it the best.

First of all, here are two rules to understand the Pokemon anime : 1) If you watched the dub, you did NOT truly watch the anime. 2) Each Pokemon "cycle" is a different style of anime : different narrative, and different art style. Pokemon Diamond&Pearl is an excellent anime. It has deep stories, it has great fights, and it has even less fillers than Naruto or Bleach. STORY DP starts by introducing Hikari, who wants to become a Top Coordinator as her mother was. But as she starts her journey, she'll realize she may not have the guts to succeed. Indeed, she will often fail, which will make her wonderif she is fit to be a Coordinator. Ash and Pikachu, of course, come back as the MCs. Ash still aims to win a Pokemon League, only this time, he has a lot of experience: in this series, Ash does feel strong. He knows what he's doing, doesn't do much mistakes, knows how to raise his Pokemon. However, he will be facing someone even more skilled as him: Shinji, who quickly appears to be an utter assh*le, even with his own Pokemon. Through the whole season, Ash and Shinji will fight whenever they come across each other. But everytime they clash, they learn from each other, and with time they learn to respect each other despite each's flaws. Aside from that, the story has a perfect narrative: it has a lot of different stories (Ash's League, Hikari's Contests, Team Galactic's plot, and plenty others), and each story progresses constantly, which makes them interesting to follow. But more importantly, the series is deep. It develops a very philosophical theme : the question of identity. Yes, you heard right. Because all the characters (including human AND Pokemon) have a story that revolves around the idea of discovering one's self. Ash and Shinji wonder what a true Trainer is ; Hikari wonders if she's fit for the role of Coordinator ; Brock (finally) wonders what job he should take ; Pikachu is once again faced with the idea of evolving to become stronger ; ... ALL the characters' stories go in the same direction: they are all faced with an identity crisis. ART Pokemon DP didn't start really good. It was better than the previous Pokemon anime, but still not very good. Luckily, in the middle, they went HD ; starting from then, it became way more amazing. The animation was cool, although not excellent. At least it was dynamic, which made for very good fights. SOUND The OST in the original version is awesome. It takes the themes of the games, but make an orchestral version of them, which sounds way better. It also creates its own themes, which are very cool. The openings are also great, especially the first one, which I can't even describe, it's just... unique. CHARACTERS The characters are what makes this series stand out. Ash has finally become an expert in Pokemon. While he does do some mistakes, they are now very rare, and he makes up for it with brillant and creative tactics. Shinji was an absolute delight, as he is a complete assh*le, which makes him really stand out as a character in this show. He is also god damn powerful, which makes him the perfect rival. While Ash makes friendship a priority, Shinji only cares about winning and doesn't care about his Pokemon. Two opposite philosophies. Of course, Shinji will learn that he is wrong, right? WELL, NO! Ash and Shinji's relationship is called a DUALITY: their visions, although opposite, are actually complementary. While they can't stand each other because of their opposite points of view, each will learn from the other and each will grow stronger thanks to the other. Long story short, their relationship was so damn interesting to follow! Aside from these two, I also loved Hikari. The fact that she keeps losing in Contests makes her really interesting, as she has a lot of room for progress (and she does progress across this series). ENJOYMENT Pokemon DP is an absolute delight. This show is deep (RIP to all those who couldn't even understand that), the characters are very interesting (especially Shinji and his relationship with Ash), the fights were very cool (the Sinnoh League is full of memorable battles), the show is very serious and not that cheesy.

let me be frank, this is the ONLY anime of the pokemon series that comes close to the spirit of the games its the definitive series as far 8 gym badges a rival you want to beat. it is everything the first 3 series's should have been Ash'es ideaology combining with paul's calculative ideaology is delightful Paul is a utalitarian in every sense of the word which conflicts with the gary stu -ness of ash which i cant stand i fucking hate ash Dawn i like tho pipplup is an excellent character im admitdely bias but as some one who had been watching the seriesand playing the games since 1997 i NEVER thought we were gonna get an adaptation that even remotley resembled a what i would consider to be an authentic and genuine pokemon quest through a region. this is the closest they ever come to fufilling that traditional formula and yes you still have to deal with BS you would never see in the game yes team rocket is there being team rocket yes its flawed but it is the best representation of pokemon imho pre Pokemon Sun and moon which changeed up the formula consideribly

For starters, as a Pokemon series, it had a lot to live up to. It had to be more developed than the previous two series that came before it. It had to have its own identity. It also had to have its own look. To be honest, this series did the most right. In fact, I would go and say THIS is the series to study if you're going to make subsequent shows. AVOID BEST WISHES LIKE THE PLAGUE! (Okay, watch the highlights, but that's all, to get some continuity.) Despite a dash of forced mascot syndrome, see Piplup for that, the characters chosen for thecast were overall very charming and lovable. Two established characters of the series got very satisfying character development, new characters proved their worth on many occasions, and EVERY significant human character in the games were showcased here with the exception of Lucas and key Frontier Brains. Ash and Dawn - our stars this time - in this particular iteration demonstrate a connection that benefit the other almost symbiotically where in the other series it was one-sided (May) or not at all (Iris). The pokemon of the show had their share of nuanced character development as well which some had extraordinary results (Chimchar, without a doubt) and some not so much (a certain Grass type which will not be named). You'll have to see for yourself. So as for my scores, I gave this show a 9 in story because of its consistency and polish, though I'm not happy that some pokemon got the shaft in the long run. The obstacles in the story and the battles were all top notch though. The first gym battle was actually pretty awesome for starters and each of the contests have merit in their own right. The fact this series ties BEAUTIFULLY into a narrative for a Johto reunion of sorts is also pretty awesome. It got 9 in art because the battles are gorgeous! But the animation can be inconsistent at times. 9, if you're watching the Sub, for the music - it's fantastic! The dub's music, however, is rather cumbersome considering how some tracks just don't mesh well in the overall scene. The characters got a 9, because their representation on screen were VERY faithful to the in-game counterparts if they had one. Plus, they were not completely annoying like in other generations. Some characters were enhanced like Gligar and Plusle/Minun who had incredible spirit and flexibility. I can say that each pokemon got a fair and just amount of screen time. My enjoyment was a 9, because of how everything just fit together so nicely and how memorable the battles were as a whole. My overall was a 9, you'll never see a Pokemon series that used what its games had to this degree possibly ever again.

I can say this for Pokémon, at least. It has gotten continually better with each season. I have no qualms about calling Diamond and Pearl my favorite season of Pokémon thus far. To get my main concern going into it out of the way... The voice acting has improved since Battle Frontier. There were still a few instances where he sounded a little off-- particularly wherever laughter was required-- but Ash sounded perfectly listenable for the duration of Diamond and Pearl. But the improvements I really took note of had nothing to do with the voice acting... My main praise for Advanced was the writers' timemanagement skills. Having a main character participating in contests on top of Ash competing for his gym badges did a lot to keep me invested. I understand that early on, each Pokémon got its own feature episode as a way to show them off to the fans, but frankly, mini plot after mini plot with only the rare gym battle or serious competition scattered in between got boring really quickly. I want the anime to be able to stand on its own and have its own goals, not serve as a functional Pokedex. I understand that this hasn't exactly changed in Diamond and Pearl, but they had a more creative way of doing it most of the time, weaving new Pokémon into plots or conflicts that were already important for other reasons. Along those lines, I think they did a great job with incorporating Team Galactic into the story. Their organization's goals somehow managed to be more extreme and less ridiculous than the Hoenn villains. And the episodes where that conflict reaches its climax were great. Honestly, they almost felt like a movie rather than just another string of episodes in the middle of the series. At the end of 191 episodes, I'm left feeling like there's just so much to discuss, but Diamond and Pearl tried to do it all. Correcting all my complaints about the original series, it would seem. There were contests and gym battles and more actual legendaries and faux-legendary Pokémon than I could count. But most of all, there are so many characters in this season. And they may be minor characters, but they all recur often enough to feel important, and I really liked that. (As well as bringing back plenty of characters from past seasons, which helped to give some of those little mini adventure episodes more to feel invested in.) The Grand Festival and the Sinnoh League felt like full-fledged tournament arcs. (Very brief tournament arcs, but all the same.) I liked that our protagonists' major opponents were all people that we already knew and cared about. We already know Ash isn't going to go all the way, (because where is the story going to go if he ever succeeds in becoming a master?) but it was great to see him come out on top against all these other trainers that we've watched grow over the course of the series. Though I will say that his fight against his final opponent was bullshit... I don't mind that Ash lost, but Tobias was overpowered to hell and back, and it just wasn't satisfying to watch. But speaking of satisfying victories... Paul was their next great improvement on the series. I have something to admit... I love Gary Oak as a character, but I was never able to take their 'rivalry' seriously, for a lot of reasons. For one... what reason did Ash really have to set his sights on Gary? Gary was the spoiled, arrogant jerk from his hometown. I get that... But, even though Gary does recur quite a bit throughout the original series, he doesn't often do much of importance. It kind of just felt like a reminder that his character was still there. And then, by the time Ash and Gary do finally face off, Gary already seems resigned to the idea that he might lose. And that it won't be a major thing if he does. I loved seeing Gary's character progress throughout the series, but he never felt like much of a rival. Which is not something I had to worry about with Paul. He and Ash had a very clear conflict-- two trainers with differing ideologies about how best to train their Pokémon and constantly going at each other to try and prove that their way is best. That's a proper rivalry to me. And, as frustrating as it was to see Ash repeatedly lose his head during their battles, I did like that they battled more than once before the final conflict in the Sinnoh League. I wish we got to see even more of Paul than we did... He grew a lot near the end too, and it's never exactly spelled out what really changed his mind. (After all, he still won all of his fights against Ash before that, and remained comfortably ahead throughout their respective journeys.) But if it wasn't clear in the little things-- no longer insulting his Pokémon when they failed-- it became obvious to me that he'd grown up a lot when he thanked Barry for a good battle. Considering Barry lost, that's something early-season Paul never would have acknowledged. Which I guess leaves us with Dawn. I found the newest edition to Ash's traveling companions to be perfectly likable... She just didn't really bring anything new to the table. We've seen the journey of a contest coordinator before, although Dawn is competing for different reasons-- wanting to follow in her mother's footsteps. Personality-wise, Dawn felt like a female Ash. A perfectly likeable protagonist... she just doesn't really add anything to the group. She was, at least, the most active of all of Ash's friends so far-- always right there in the middle of the action with him, so I'll give her that. And finally Brock who, if I remember correctly, has finally left the series for good. All I have to say... is that he better get a damn good replacement. It occurred to me somewhere around the middle of the season that Brock is in charge of literally all the practical aspects of traveling. He's their navigator, their chef, their doctor whenever one of the Pokémon gets sick, and it's implied that a lot of their everyday care is left up to him in general. I know even less about the next season and the new characters than I did going into this one, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Ash manages to function without him. Huh. Never thought I'd leave a Pokémon review as a string of gushing praises. But, as far as shows that I use to kill time go, Diamond and Pearl was really good. I can only hope Best Wishes (which feels really out of place as the name of a Pokémon season...) can keep this train moving along.

Pros: - Pokemon anime took everything best and put it up to the next level in this anime, - Ash got really good Rival in this generation, - The new characters in the main cast develpment, - Gym, and final rival battles. Cons: - Ash don't win Sinnoh League, - Some battles are ridiculous, - Team Rocket appearance annoyance is at it's top,- The story development is being held up by corporations policy (here they have crossed the line), - the final battle with Tobias is the biggest mistake in this generation, guy is literally using cheats to get mythical/legendary Pokemon, and then beat Ash with just 2 Pokemon Overoll this generation is one of the best on in this franchise were we can see really good storytelling (for Pokemon anime standards), and character development. They might have missed the opportunity were Ash not only started to pursue getting gym badges but also contest ribbons. However big letdown in this series is a final Sinnoh League battle with Tobias, guy was solely introduce to stop him from getting a chance to advance further. I am still wondering who was the genius that felt it was right to create an artificial character without any backstory with the sole purpose to stop Ash from advancing, and getting Generation 5 rolling.

Pokémon Diamond & Pearl is the third series of the Pokémon anime, following Pokémon Advanced Generation. It spans episodes 469 to 660 and features the Pokémon of the fourth generation. Overall, there are a lot of similarities with Advanced Generation: the pacing is generally the same, alternating between Ash’s battles and the Pokémon Contests—not with May (Haruka) this time, but with Dawn (Hikari). I admit I was a little disappointed that this new series didn’t introduce anything innovative, but instead simply reused the Pokémon Coordinator concept, which we already had plenty of time to explore with May. I would have preferred if Dawn had broughtalong a new way of battling, just as May introduced us to Coordinators in AG. That said, I still think Dawn was used better as a character than May—whether in terms of humor, her goals, or even her design, she was more engaging than May, whom I sometimes found rather flat. Still, in my opinion, neither of them compares to Misty, the girl who traveled with Ash in the very first series. Unfortunately, I feel like May and Dawn were created mainly to “play the girl role.” They embody a lot of clichés: they spend time on their looks, don’t like getting dirty, need to have cute Pokémon, and are expected to behave gently. Misty, with her stronger personality, was capable of delivering both funny and heartfelt moments. And then we still have Brock (Takeshi), who has been around for over 600 episodes, and honestly I don’t really understand why the series insists on keeping him. He brings almost nothing to the table—sure, he can cook and take care of Pokémon, but beyond that…? Nearly every episode just gives us the same tired gag where he falls in love with a random girl, and that’s it. I sincerely hope that in the next series, Brock will finally be replaced by a character who can actually contribute something to the story—just like the female companions have always done for Ash. As for the series overall, there’s a slight improvement in visual quality, but a much bigger evolution in the way episodes are handled. The “filler” type of episodes are gradually disappearing, leaving more room for multi-episode storylines. That being said, filler episodes still play a big role in developing the bonds between the main characters and their Pokémon. I’m thinking in particular of Ash’s relationship with his Chimchar: we didn’t just see Chimchar evolve genetically, but also mentally. I especially loved the rivalry between Ash and Paul; I thought it was brilliantly executed, showing real development throughout the series. Ash kept trying to change Paul’s mindset—Paul trained his Pokémon harshly, focusing only on efficiency, even abandoning weaker ones. That’s how Ash ended up taking in Paul’s former Chimchar. Together, Ash and Chimchar worked to prove their worth to Paul, growing side by side until they gave us an incredible battle against him at the Sinnoh League, a true clash between two opposing training philosophies! As with the previous series, here’s a quick recap of the movies to watch during this series: Movie 10: Between episodes 39 and 40 of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Movie 11: Between episodes 85 and 86 of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Movie 12: Between episodes 133 and 134 of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Movie 13: Between episodes 176 and 177 of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl I always repeat this in my Pokémon reviews, but the content of the movies should really be part of the main series. Discovering Legendary Pokémon through multi-episode arcs, or even dozens of episodes, would be incredible. Sadly, that will probably never happen. The flaws of the Pokémon anime remain, and for me will always remain, the same: it constantly sticks to the bare minimum. The storylines aren’t very deep, everything stays simple and basic, following a very familiar formula (even if this has improved a little). The humor and life lessons are always very childlike, aiming more at keeping kids around the world glued to their TV screens than at moving adults with a powerful storyline. That’s why, objectively speaking, I’ll always struggle to give the Pokémon anime a higher score. Still, I do recognize that this series shows some evolution—so instead of not recommending it at all, I’ll admit I feel more mixed this time.

***This is a spoiler free review*** If any series has been done to death, Pokemon is usually one to come up. While I grew up watching the original Pokemon as a kid and have dabbed in Pokemon Advanced, I found myself wondering if anyone still likes the series for what it made its name for. I enjoyed Pokemon as a kid because it offered something I inspired; adventure. Ash as a main protagonist is not very appealing except for the fact that he never gives up and he can be too kind to others. That being said, someone told me that Diamond and Pearl is muchdifferent than the previous installments and that I should give it a try. So join me for a review that will help you figure out if Pokemon really needs to die. Story: 7/10 So as I stated before Pokemon has been around for a very long time and with time comes boredom if not done correctly. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl like the other series takes place in a whole new region with different Pokemon monsters and a new addition to the cast. With returning characters Ash and Brock, we see our first new character, Dawn who I surprisingly take a liking to. Put the characters off to side for now, the story is structured very similarly to the previous installments. The main goal for Ash is to get all the gym badges and challenge the Pokemon League. Dawn provides us with her goal of become a top coordinator in the Pokemon Contests which I actually liked watching. There is one very annoying thing that Pokemon unfortunately carries with itself at the start of every series. Ash always becomes and seems very week even though he emerges from the previous season a very strong trainer and with Pikachu at an unparallelled power level. He for some reason always gets owned by someone in the beginning of every season (Gary and Paul in this case) and becomes very weak. Thank god he soon gets his balls back and starts on his journey with Dawn and Brock. I am going to skip over all the gym and contest stuff as they are somewhat the same from previous series. The story (as in what is affecting the Pokemon world as a whole) is actually interesting as the new "Bad Guys" are Team Galactic. Unlike Team Rocket they harm others and have truly evil goals. The Team Rocket trio return with their comic relieve that I am to be honest a little bored of. The overall conflict between Ash and company versus Team Galactic is interesting when it happens and it doesn't affect the overall pace of the show. There is also the back and forth battles between Paul (the new rival) and Ash which become interesting as it shows the drastic difference between the personalities of Paul and Ash. We see Paul change due to his time around Ash as well as become a better person. Animation: 6/10 Although the animation has become better than the previous installments, it's still nothing to brag about. There are some beautiful scenes and spectacular battles but in some areas of the show its just barely passable. It's enough to keep you interested in the characters and the show but it won't pull over gorgeous scenes like in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It does what it's supposed to do, get the point across and help progress the series. Sound: 7/10 *Reviewed watching the English Dub* Sound is very important in the Pokemon series as each Pokemon has a distinctive cry and vocal mannerisms. The new Pokemon sound decent but some variations between different Pokemon of the same species would of been nice as every Pidgy sounds like every other Pidgy. The main characters are voiced by pretty good voice actors epically Dawn. The dialog matches the mood of the scenes quite well and provides a good experience. Characters: 9/10 What has every Pokemon series done right especially in this series? The characters have always been spot on for Pokemon and it doesn't disappoint here. Ash is still rash and doesn't let up for any challenges. Brock is still his pervy self and when needed, provides help and inspiration. Dawn is a lot like Ash in the sense that she doesn't back down and conquers everything she faces. One reason why the characters had such an impact on me is because I started to noticed that there was a very strong connection between Ash and Dawn. Not so much in a romantic sense but in many scenes there are sparks between them that make for some amazing moments. Dawn and Ash work so well with each other that at the moment at the end of the series where Ash and Brock leave to go back to Kanto, I genuinely felt sad for Dawn. Out of all the main female leads for Pokemon, I had the strongest liking for Dawn (even more so than May). Where Dawn shines the most is the movies related to this series as the same connection you see in the show translate to the movies. Overall: 7.3/10 So Pokemon has been going on FOREVER and all I see from people on various forums is that it needs to end soon. I haven't watched the newest season (biased off of the Black and White games) but what I can tell you about Diamond and Pearl is that it does not disappoint in the slightest. It keeps the same formula of 'gotta catch 'em all' while showing us some great character connection. The story between Ash and Team Galactic was interesting and fulfilling. Dawn surprises us with some spectacular character progression to become top coordinator while giving Ash some great memories. The series in some ways cuts back on the concept of battling and focuses on the relationship between the main characters. I cannot recommend Pokemon as a whole to everyone but I can without a doubt say that if you invest some time into this series, you might find yourself eating up your free time. This is one exciting, long, and fun to watch series that everyone should give a shot. Enjoyment: 7.3/10 **To Pokemon Lovers: If you are craving a different take on Pokemon, I strongly encourage you start reading the manga Pokemon Adventures as it follows the games and has a very different view of the Pokemon Universe. The manga faithfully follow the games and at the moment has +500 chapters to enjoy.** Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page! Sincerely, Awesome Drummer