Pokémon Strange Journeys

Pokémon Strange Journeys is a Japanese-American-British animated television series produced by Satsuki Film Company and distributed by 1happycats Productions. The series first aired on January 26, 2015, and ended on August 11, 2017.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) This show doesn't feel like Pokémon at times, as there doesn't seem to be many Pokémon battles or anything that you would expect from the anime. In fact, despite keeping the "Pokémon" part of the title, Pokémon barely even play a role in most of the series.
 * 2) *In the first episode, Pikachu gets captured by Team Rocket (which somehow made James sympathetic and therefore decides to join Ash, see WIS #2), only to come back in The Rise of Dr. Eggman.
 * 3) Most of the characters act nothing like themselves and are flanderized beyond belief and comprehension.
 * 4) *This is especially apparent with the show's first season, where Misty and May shout almost every word and throw tantrums for stupid reasons, James is on Ash's side rather than Team Rocket's, and Dawn is unable to walk (therefore having to use a wheelchair) or even open her mouth. See The Rise of Dr. Eggman for how they got back to normal.
 * 5) *In one episode of the first season, Misty and May drink from a shell filled with poison and seemingly die. (Un)fortunately, they are revealed to be alive in the end.
 * 6) *This is fortunately toned down in the second season and up, but there's still character problems there. Bonnie is even more annoying than she was in Pokémon The Series: XY, and let's not forget one of the show's original characters: Mash (see WIS #7), to the point where she even annoys Bonnie (as seen in the episode "Mash's Playdate with Bonnie").
 * 7) *Butch and Cassidy are now on-par with Bulk and Skull from the Power Rangers franchise, and barely contribute anything to the plot.
 * 8) For some reason, this show pointlessly mixes in characters from other franchises.
 * 9) *In the first season episode "James's New Home", James hires Cream the Rabbit as a slave.
 * 10) *The third season episode "Mash and the Supernanny" crosses over with Supernanny, where Jo Frost gives up for the first (and possibly only) time.
 * 11) *All three movies are crossovers. In The Rise of Dr. Eggman, Dr. Eggman and his robots appear. The second and third movies, Adventures in Minecraft and Mystery of the Missing Kid, are crossovers with Minecraft and My Neighbor Totoro respectively.
 * 12) Atrocious writing, with severe padding and tons of plot holes. Most episodes just have the characters dinking around. It's on par with Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation and Teen Titans Go!.
 * 13) Elements from other properties are commonly rehashed, with little to no subtlety.
 * 14) The narrator says obvious things or things characters are about to say or have already said.
 * 15) At the end of the show's second season, Ash and Misty give birth to a girl they call Mash (Katoshi in the Japanese version; name mixed with Misty and Ash). Not only is it illegal for underaged children (ages 0-10) to have children themselves, but she often acts like Misty and May do in the show's first season, probably even worse than that.
 * 16) *One episode explains that this was because Team Rocket captured her and forced her to behave this way, as she was slightly more better behaved when Ash and Misty first took care of her.
 * 17) *In another episode, Misty gets Entei to make baby Mash into the 6-year old she is for most of the series, and guess what? She is still as bratty as ever.
 * 18) *Not helping that in episode 22 of the third season, it is revealed that Bugsy is infatuated with Mash's legs, which could clearly take crurophilia as gore for the sake of comedy, sound familiar?
 * 19) *In the penultimate episode of the third season, Ash locks Mash in a safe and throws her into the ocean. Afterwards, he never got punished for what he did.
 * 20) **To add insult to injury, there is a disturbing scene where, in the second half of the last episode of season three, Mash returns from the ocean and suddenly transforms into a demon-like shark with red eyes, which is downright horrifying to look at. Not to mention that Mash's voice sounds disturbing when she's in this state.
 * 21) The fourth season crosses over with various Studio Ghibli films for no reason other than to tie into the third and final movie, Mystery of the Missing Kid (see WIS #3). In fact, this season even has a subtitle to the show's title: "The Ghibli Saga".
 * 22) *It doesn't help that it only had 15 episodes (which might be a good thing depending on your opinion), therefore the last pre-Missing Kid episode takes place in the From Up on Poppy Hill universe, meaning the characters never explore the universes in The Wind Rises and onwards.
 * 23) The fifth and final season has a darker and edgier atmosphere, which could work, but is executed poorly.
 * 24) *Near the end of the season, Ash somehow dies, and in the final episode, a volcano erupts and kills off the entire cast and all of Strangopolis (the show's setting).

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The art style and animation, while definitely inferior to the original Pokémon anime, are admittedly nice to look at.
 * 2) The voice acting for some characters is fairly decent. While this show was recorded at Studiopolis and therefore does not use the 4Kids or TPCi voice cast, the voices are spot-on (most of the time), with Johnny Yong Bosch as Ash Ketchum being a prime example.
 * 3) The music is actually well done, although the show's theme leaves many to be desired.
 * 4) There are some semi-decent episodes here and there, but barely any, especially in the first season. By the near end of the second season, the plots started to improve, but not by much.
 * 5) *One episode in particular from the first season, "The Legend of Missingno", actually has a humorous battle with Ash and Gary over who gets to catch Missingno, which at one point results in Gary catching it and causing everything to glitch up, resulting in a "PLEASE STAND BY" screen being displayed, and the battle starting over. This however ends with neither catching it and deciding not to do so, which is pretty stupid, but still funny and probably even justified.
 * 6) *There is a second season episode called "The Land of Handheld Gaming", in which Serena finds a replica of the Nintendo 3DS in her room, and when she turns it on, she, Ash, Clemont and Bonnie, as well as Strangopolis itself, get sucked into the console, causing Strangopolis to turn into a platformer-esque video game. Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island took the concept a lot better in the episode "Sir Nutalot", but this episode can still be enjoyable.
 * 7) *There is even a television special aired sometime during the second season that crosses over with Digimon, probably one of the best episodes yet.
 * 8) Brock does punish or scold Misty and May for their actions during the first season. Likewise, Ash and Misty do the same for Mash's actions in season three.

Reception
The show received mixed-to-negative reviews, mostly due to the quality of the writing which varied from episode to episode, as well as due to it barely focusing on any Pokémon, along with the many blatant references and severe padding.

The first and third seasons were notorious for the incredibly juvenile personalities of some of the characters (Misty and May in the first season, and Mash in the third season, being some of the worst offenders), while the second and fifth seasons were favored more positively. The fourth season was considered by many to be pointless and only acted as a way to neatly lead into Mystery of the Missing Kid (which is, in fact, the main reason why the decision to cross over with Studio Ghibli films was made).

Its lone TV special "Pokémon Vs. Digimon" was considered by many to be one of the best episodes of the series, due to its superior writing quality and actually feeling more like an episode from the regular Pokémon anime.

Trivia

 * This is Satsuki Film Company's first television series, and their first collaboration with 1happycats Productions, who would end up purchasing the former in 2018.
 * It was rumored that the show was rejected by most of the companies affiliated with the official Pokémon anime, and Satsuki Film Company only accepted in hopes of attempting to get into the TV show industry.
 * On October 7, 2021, an ex-1happycats Productions employee revealed that a revival of the series was in the works, which would have been co-produced by Yoshi Animation Studios, and featured the characters re-imagined in CGI form. However, it was cancelled due to the closure of 1happycats Productions in January 2022.

Episodes With Their Own Pages

 * "The Strangopolis Forest"
 * ”The Legend of Missingno"
 * "Misty and May Play Outside"
 * "Say Hello to Mash"