YMMV / Pokémon Heroes

• Americans Hate Tingle: The Ambiguous Ending of whether it was Bianca or Latias who kissed Ash is a rather infamous debacle among the Western fandom, mainly due to the latter carrying Squicky implications. In Japan, however, the ending is considered much more heartwarming, with various references to the ending still being shown in the main series anime long after the movie's release (including during the famous Kissing Discretion Shot from the end of XYZ). In general, Pokémon Heroes has a much better reception in Japan than it does in the West, with it having won 2nd place in a Japanese poll for the most popular Pokémon movie, only beaten out by Mewtwo Strikes Back.
  • To give a bigger picture on how much Japan enjoys Heroes: in 2017, it was voted the most popular in a fan poll hosted on the Pokémon films' official website. In 2021, the Pokémon Company released a poll in Japan asking them to pick their favorite one in each category of OS, AG, DP, BW, and XY, and the winner for the OS group was Heroes. Finally, for the 25th Anniversary Pokémon Film Festival in 2022, the Pokémon Company held a vote and re-released three of most popular Pokémon films in Japan that year and they were Heroes, Wish Maker, and Rise of Darkrai.
• Fanfic Fuel: Alto Mare is a pretty popular choice of places used in fanfics. Being based on Venice no doubt helps its cause.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Latias was originally supposed to become one of Ash's Pokémon. However, the staff decided against it because that would have meant that the rest of Ash's Pokémon would have been Overshadowed by Awesome and that the movie would break some non-written rule in the anime that movies have to be not canon to the main series. Needless to say, fans believe that Latias should have became one of Ash's Pokémon.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • My Best Friends being the film's end credits song, considering this was the final film with the original cast. It doesn't help that it caps off a medley with the prior song being The Time Has Come, which first played during Pikachu's Goodbye' and ends its section with "Somehow, someway, we'd have to say goodbye."
  • In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, we see both the Latios and Latias of that universe killed off and unable to protect each other from harm.
• It Was His Sled: Latios dies saving Alto Mare at the end. A lot of fan art of the two Eon Dragons gives this away.
• Les Yay: Annie and Oakley are the subject of a lot of shipping. Considering Jessie and James, and Butch and Cassidy are both popular ships due to their status as teammates with each other, this was hardly unexpected.
• Memetic Mutation: Summing the movie up as the one where "Ash kisses a Pokémon on the lips" is a popular joke among fans of the anime.
• Moe: Latias: in her human disguise she's a bonafide Mysterious Waif, and in her true form she's a cheerful, affectionate Genki Girl of a Pokémon. She racks up multiple Woobie points along the course of the movie for good measure.
• Narm: Near the end, when Ash and Bianca call out to Latias and Latios, respectively, and Pikachu calls out to them as well. Since he can only say his own name, it sounds like a Rocky Roll Call.
  Ash: Latias!
  Bianca: Latios!
  Pikachu: Pikachu!
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The zombie fossil Pokémon; blank-eyed Super Persistent Predators that, according to the dub at least, belonged to an evil Trainer in life and attacked innocent people at their command. The sight of Aerodactyl stalking Ash from a distance as he's paddling a gondola in particularly creepy, and Kabutops came frighteningly close to skewering him on one of its scythe blades.
  • The tidal wave; large enough to engulf the whole city and with enough force to shatter solid stone, as shown by an abandoned cathedral that happened to be in its path.
• Rooting for the Empire: Annie and Oakley's feats of athleticism, charisma and Humble Goal (as far as villains go) can make it easy to root for them for lots of the movie. This lessens once Oakley gets Drunk with Power and indirectly causes the death of Laitos, but they're still pretty popular villains.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: While not as highly regarded as the third movie or the original Japanese of the first, this is still regarded as one of the better movies of the original series, and at least often viewed as a good bit more enjoyable than its immediate predecessor (though how negatively the heavy editing of the dub affects that enjoyability is debated).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Latias is an adorable Pokémon with an... interesting relationship with Ash. However, she only appears in this movie and a cameo at the very end of the main series when Ash retires, and she doesn't even interact with him in the latter. Plenty of fans believe Ash should have caught Latias.
• Woolseyism: Some fans feel the Japanese ending song sounds a bit too cheery for one of the most emotional finales, with some liking the tone of the end credits more in the dub.

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