History Anime / PokemonTheSeries

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption. The writers have ''never allowed'' Ash to win a ''regional'' tournament (with the exception of the Orange League, which doesn't exist in the games). He'll always lose no matter what. Their logic behind this thinking is that if he wins one single tournament, from one single area of the world, his entire journey ends. [[spoiler: Mercifully averted at long last with Ash's much-celebrated victory in the Alola League.]]

* LongRunnerCastTurnover: Only Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket remained main characters for the whole show ([[InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny]] don't count), while Brock is the only one who served as Ash's companion for more than two eras (Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh).

* GullibleLemmings: As often as the heroes outmatch Team Rocket, you can almost always expect them to fall hook, line and sinker for a booby trap or PaperThinDisguise beforehand. Played with for Meowth's HeelFaceMole stunts, since the heroes have become increasingly suspicious and prone to LampshadeHanging as they've continued. Even then though, he usually still manages to wheedle his way in eventually.

* NonDubbedGrunts: Some Pokémon, mostly the ones who kept their Japanese names.

* SingleMindedTwins: In the Alola arc, Lana's little things sisters Harper and Sara fit this trope.

* ClipShow: Three of them (one in Hoenn, two in Sinnoh), all skipped in the dub.

* BilingualAnimal: Meowth of Team Rocket can speak to both humans and Pokémon, making him useful for [[MrExposition relaying information]] to the characters and audience.

** Burgundy in the ''Black and White'' series got a bit of slapstick and humiliation. In her debut episode she inadvertently insulted each of Ash's Pokémon, and each [[BerserkButton responded by attacking her.]]

* CooldownHug: Several examples, but one notable instance is in "Glory Blaze", when Ash's Chimchar went berserk with rage after its ability Blaze activated. In spite of Chimchar's rampaging, it biting Ash, and being ''surrounded by fire'', Ash hugged it and begged it to stop until Chimchar finally regained itself and calmed down.

%%* HexagonalSpeechBalloon

* BlueandOrangeMorality: A Pokémon's moral code seems to be based on the level of trust they have in their trainer. If the trainer has earned their Pokémon's trust, the Pokeémon obeys them without question, assuming their trainer's judgment cannot err. This would explain why we see Pokémon happily battling for villainous people and organizations such as Team Rocket.

*** Previously, the Pokémon League Conference were held in locations that existed in the game. For the Kanto and Hoenn Leagues, they were in the locations where the player fought the EliteFour and the Champion. For Johto, it was held on Mt. Silver, where the BonusBoss battle against Red was. For Sinnoh however, it was an anime original location and no where near where the EliteFour and Champion were fought in the games. In fact, future league tournaments never took place where the final battles of the game's main storyline took place.

* UnrelatedEffects: The show likes to use the [[PowerGlows "shining light"]] variety of effects. Any attack involving a body part causes that part to glow, beam attacks charge by SuckingInLines, and anything that's about to explode [[PreExplosionGlow shoots out rays of light]].

* LiterallyPrizedPossession: It's revealed in a Kanto episode that Ash's NiceHat is an official Pokémon League hat he won by sending in hundreds of entries to a sweepstakes (making it clear that he's wanted ToBeAMaster for a very long time).

* BlindingBangs: The ghost-girl in "Ghoul Daze!"

* AmbiguouslyBrown: As the series (and franchise as a whole) experienced an EarthDrift over the years, it's hard to apply what ethnicity the human characters are:

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome/{{Pokemon}} Has its own page]].

** The ''Sun and Moon'' anime has quite a few characters with varying skin tones, such as Professor Kukui, Kiawe, Mallow and Olivia. However, this is a subversion since Alola is a region based on the tropical Hawaii, characters with darker skin tones actually aren't out of place here at all.

* VileVillainLaughableLackey: While Team Rocket members aren't always competent, only the TerribleTrio, and later Butch and Cassidy due to VillainDecay, are actually [[GoldfishPoopGang goofy]]. Most more elite members are some level of dangerous with only moderate comical qualities. Their boss Giovanni has a case of AdaptationalVillainy as he is more sinister and vicious than in the games, especially in earlier appearances.

** The female companions also get this often. Misty [[SheCleansUpNicely cleans up nicely]] while May and Dawn have this as a side-effect of their Contest arcs. Among other things...
*** Word of God has pointed out that this was Misty's entire reason for being on the show in the first place, not anticipating how popular she'd become with fans, especially in the west.