History Anime / PokemonTheSeriesSunAndMoon

* Hi

* FiveStagesOfGrief: With regards to [[spoiler:her deceased mother]]. Mallow experiences these. To summarize, she starts out in both Denial and Anger at calling at [[spoiler:her mother]] for her constantly apologies. And following this she spent the next few years in Depression. Ulu helps her get to Acceptance by letting her Shaymin [[spoiler:go into Sky Forme to reunite with its friends]].

* SpiritAdvisor: The Poni Island guardian, Tapu Fini, possesses the power to generate images of the dead. This leads to several spirits channelling to their loved ones throughout their tenure on Poni Island. Hapu's late Grandfather allies with Tapu Fini to set up her trial to inherit the role of Kahuna, as well as with the spirit of Kiawe's Grandfather to set up a trial for him to earn Flyium Z. Torracat reunites with the Stoutland that cared for it as a Litten to be tutored Fire Blast, while Mallow gets closure from her late mother. It is tacitly implied the latter reincarnates into the Shaymin that Mallow cares for afterwards.

* RecapByAudit: A few episodes have Lilie recap the events of the previous one while writing in her diary.

** "Showering the World with Love!" reveals that Minior don't really last very long in their core form. [[spoiler:They [[DisappearIntoLight disintegrate into space dust]] a day or two after breaking out of their shell. The Minior dust becomes food for other Pokémon like Rayquaza]].

** The series occasionally depicts trials for Z-Crystals that are found as conventional items in the game. In cases such as Iceium-Z, this comes accompanied by large sized versions of Pokemon that didn't officially have Totem forms.

** Within just this series, Kiawe's Charizard was originally solely a Ride Pokemon, though as the series continued it began to find more and more use, culminating in Kiawe finally "un-retiring" it as a battler after it earned him Flyium-Z, and it becoming part of the main group in ''Ultra Legends''.

** Alola is also the first region main characters are allowed to [[OlympusMons capture and utilise Mythical or other special breed Pokemon]].

* EleventhHourRanger: Some main Pokemon appear jarringly late into the series. Sandy, Shaymin and Meltan don't appear until some time into ''Ultra Legends'' the final season. Magearna is the most egregious case, only reactivating and getting inducted into Lillie's team by the ''penultimate episode''.

* GuestStarPartyMember: Guest Pokemon appear as usual, though are allocated more cleanly to trainers this time round. Nebby and Poipole (later Naganadel) to Ash's team, Shaymin to Mallow's. The latter two even represent their trainers in the Alola League.

--->'''Lillie''': You treat me like...nothing more than a little baby! But ''you're'' acting like a baby! A selfish, totally immature ''child!'' ''That's'' why that Ultra Beast has taken control of you!
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: The Alolan Meowth in "Acting True To Form" gets away with trolling the Team Rocket trio, and ends up in a comfy position as Matori's Pokemon in headquarters. Unfortunately for it, this series marks the start of Matori taking a more active role, and thus the two end up subjected to the same IneffectualSympatheticVillain shtick as the trio in some later appearances.

** Most of the Ultra Beasts are quirky aliens that are either petty {{Jerkass}}es or {{Non Malicious Monster}}s. Nihilego and Guzzlord however are treated as ''much'' more dangerous and sinister creatures. Nihilego was directly responsible for [[spoiler: instilling Lillie's PSTD-formed phobia of Pokemon by almost abducting her at an early age]], while Guzzlord is a terrifying rampaging demon whose endless appetite apparently destroyed another dimension whereas the original version of the games simply ate the ruins of an already destroyed alternate universe.
* MandatoryUnretirement: Though Charizard itself doesn't seem to mind going into action, Kiawe preferred utilising Turtonator and Marowak for battling purposes initially, only using Charizard as a Ride Pokemon. After they are both captured by Tapu Fini however, he is forced to utilise Charizard in its SecretTestOfCharacter. Charizard's reliability and the reward of Flyium-Z is enough to convince Kiawe to put it in his main battle team full time.
* MinimalistCast: Zigzagged with the main cast's Pokemon. Only Ash and Kiawe have more than ''two'' Pokemon on their team the whole series. Since all of them are routinely out of their ball and interacting with each other however, it still gives the effect of a large cast.

** One of Ash's t-shirts has [[https://twitter.com/JoeMerrick/status/806800362397048832 the icon used for Water Pokémon in the first generation games.]] Another shirt has the flower icon for Grass Pokemon.

* OlympusMons: This is the first series in which main characters are allowed to officially capture Mythical or Legendary tier Pokemon. Ash captures the Ultra Beast Poipole, and later the Gen VII Mythical, Meltan. Mallow also unofficially captures the Gen IV Mythical, Shaymin, while Gladion has the man-made Legendary, Silvally in his team as in the games. Combined with cases such as Solgaleo and Lunala allying with Ash and Gladion in the Necrozma arc, or Tapu Koko inducting itself as Kukui's GuestStarPartyMember in the Alola League, there's a plentiful amount of times the main cast get to be armed with elusive tier Pokemon.
* OneOfTheKids: Compared to most previous series, the powerhouse Pokemon routinely take part in the antics and playful moments with the cuter ones. Evolved Pokemon also tend to retain their quirks from their younger forms. Even the later OlympusMons of the group retain childlike, approachable personalities.

* SequelEscalation: Played with. The Alola League is relatively more humble and less prestiged than the previous regions in general, but it is not only the first league where every main character takes part, as well as [[spoiler: the one Ash wins]], but also the first with actual stakes involved, since Guzma, one of the top competitors, intends to abolish the league upon becoming Champion. It also follows Kalos' trend of having a big Pokemon rampage as a climax afterwards.

* SkewedPriorities: In this series, the twerps captured ''mythical Pokemon''. While Team Rocket did make some ongoing attempts to steal them as well, Pikachu remained their top priority. Mimikyu in particular discards ''anything'' for Pikachu.

** Lana and Sophocles evolve from very niche trainers with little to no battle efficiency to decent tactical battlers by the time of the league. Especially the case for Sophocles' Vikavolt, who goes from PluckyComicRelief to being able to match Kiawe's Pokemon.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: This is the first series nearly every noteworthy character participates in the league. Most of the positions are expectant of their development the series. Though they all pass the preliminary match (a chaotic battle royal where they could work together), Lillie and Mallow, who only sporadically battled and trained, are rather easily eliminated the first time they fight an experienced opponent. Lana and Sophocles do better due to taking a crash course beforehand and imputing reasonable strategy to compensate for their low power, but still ultimately lose to a battler who is clever ''and'' strong. The trope favours the professional battlers of the team, with Kiawe making the semi-finals and Ash, with six regions of experience [[spoiler: finally winning a conference]].

** Unusually downplayed with Lillie and Mallow. Though they get token boosts and Z-Moves like everyone else, their lack of battle and training focus in their limelight means [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome they remain fairly stagnant otherwise]]. They become competent enough to stomp bungling villains and pass the preliminaries of the league, but not much else. Most effective CharacterDevelopment they do get is introspective instead.

* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Downplayed for once with Team Rocket. Though they remain a chaotic GoldfishPoopGang from start to finish, they do bother gaining access to the region's gimmick and trying to refine their schemes and artillery to the twerps' offences to maintain a slither of NotSoHarmless cred, along with Mimikyu remaining a threat to Pikachu the whole series.

* AdaptationExpansion: The series occasionally depicts trials for Z-Crystals that are found as conventional items in the game. In cases such as Iceium-Z, this comes accompanied by large sized versions of Pokemon that didn't officially have Totem forms.

** Ash's outfit is also different from all previous versions: shorter pants, no jacket/sweatshirt, and no FingerlessGloves.

** Most of the Ultra Beasts are quirky aliens that are either petty {{Jerkass}}es or {{Non Malicious Monster}}s. Nihilego and Guzzlord however are treated as ''much'' more dangerous and sinister creatures. Nihilego was directly responsible for [[spoiler: instilling Lillie's PSTD-formed phobia of Pokemon by almost abducting her at an early age]], while Guzzlord is a terrifying rampaging demon whose endless appetite apparently destroyed another dimension.

* RealityEnsues: This is the first series nearly every noteworthy character participates in the league. Most of the positions are expectant of their development the series. Though they all pass the preliminary match (a chaotic battle royal where they could work together), Lillie and Mallow, who only sporadically battled and trained, are rather easily eliminated the first time they fight an experienced opponent. Lana and Sophocles do better due to taking a crash course beforehand and imputing reasonable strategy to compensate for their low power, but still ultimately lose to a battler who is clever ''and'' strong. The trope favours the professional battlers of the team, with Kiawe making the semi-finals and Ash, with six regions of experience [[spoiler: finally winning a conference]].

''Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon'' (ポケットモンスター　サン＆ムーン ''Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon'') is the sixth ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime series that premiered on 2016 to 2019 in Japan and on 2017 to 2020 in America. This region has Ash going to a school in [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Alola]], with Lillie, a young girl; and Mallow, Lana, Sophocles and Kiawe, originally Trial Captains as his companions.