Reasons why Best Wishes is GREAT.
Just the greatness of the main trio deserves its own post tbh
SATOSHI, IRIS, AND DENT…. KINGS AND QUEEN OF CHILL
BUT ALSO KINGS AND QUEEN OF DORK
THe most beautiful team dynamics. But aha The teamwork permeates the action. Their closeness rarely gets spelt out – and it pretty much never gets spelt out in touching terms. Most of the times, we only know they like each other because (a) well they stuck together for a whole region i guess (b) the jokes (e.g. dent and his mentions of marriage here and there) © the natural synchronicity they grew to have (e.g synchronized excitement and glee, synchronized panic). They dont stop to tell each other ‘im glad youre here’ and they dont have touching episodes about friendships growing deeper and speeches about learning from each other — even iris and satoshi’s episode about fighting and making up was done in a light-hearted way with jokes throughout (all the zooms out with dent’s narration), and whenever dent talks about what he learned from the two others he has to add a bit of his sommelier air (which makes things naturally light)…..
but thats the whole charm of it! The beauty of Best Wishes is that the relationships speak for themselves, they speak through the fact that the jokes are thrown and hit back like ping pong in the dialogues, and they speak through the fact that despite all the natural clashes in their personalities, they wanted to and managed to stay together. which kind of leads to the next point:
They are three independent and self-reliant souls - meaning, the only reason they stay together is because they each looked at the other two and thought : ‘hey. im having a good time right now. i want to continue some more’. I think BW is a bit peculiar in the sense that this is the only time since OS that Satoshi travels with two companions that are experienced (e.g. Haruka, Hikari, and Serena started out as their respective series did) Iris is actually more experienced than Satoshi, considering how young she was when she started battling with Doryuzu. Dent is also a Gym Leader. From this perspective, Satoshi doesn’t have to mentor anyone in the BW3; at the same time, he’s seen his own fair share (and defo has the most experience in terms of travels) so he’s not getting mentored by anyone either (in OS, he was the newbie). This directly affects their dynamics as a team. Basically, No one puts anyone on a pedestal in this trio.
Sure, dent was a bit fascinated by satoshi in the beginning, but he’s definitely not getting mentored hahaha oh boy and there is no idolatry there. In fact, each of the 3 are painfully aware of the others’ quirks and shortcomings from the get-go. and moreover, they ALL HAVE AN EGO THAT HAS THINGS TO SAY.
It’s painfully clear from the very beginning that they ALL have very strongly anchored personalities and that these personalities are not a natural match. Dent and Iris are like a big bang of their own concerning this, with all their Truth vs Ideal representation and contrast galore…but that applies to all 3. All 3 have a strong sense of self, and this leads to a refreshing trio because in the end, none are depending on the other 2 to define themselves. They are more than willing to learn from each other, but they do so by observing things occasionally and internalizing them, while having fun on the outside. At the end of the day, Iris and Dent weren’t truly following Satoshi or enabling him. They were independent spirits on their own journey, and that became super clear in the way they separated at the end – relaxed, without drama, and without tears. In that sense, the trio never seemed to revolve around Satoshi, but was instead 3 free spirits sharing the same path for a while – which actually makes for a real trio, rather than two companions for Satoshi, with Satoshi as the centre piece.
EACH POKEMON HAS A PERSONALITY THAT HOLDS ITS OWN
My exposure to pokeani is limited tbh, but Best Wishes seems to have paid less attention to creating a storyline between mon and trainer (e.g Gekkouga in XY, Lizardon in OS, Hikozaru in DP)? There was a bit of stuff with Pokabu, a bit with Iris’ Doryuzu + Kairyu, but overall, not much is explored. In fact, Satoshi doesn’t really have a regional ace in BW (arguably Waruvile? although there’s not much storyline). NEVERTHELESS, there is a charm to this absence of special mon in the storyline.
Firstly, all the mons got a chance to let their personality shine (which they did). Secondly, in Best Wishes, the angst level in general is reduced to a minimal level….and so, this got heavily reflected in the dynamics between all the mons.
The mons in BW’s relationships all have very well-defined dynamics, but these relationships are all on the light-hearted side: Emonga and Tsutarja have frequent quarrels due to their contrasting personalities, Mijumaru and Pokabu too for different reasons, Zuruggu on its own…. Just like the main trio, the trio’s mons are a recipe for smiles/laughter, rather than being emotionally touching in the traditional sense. This whole thing makes the mon teams in Best Wishes especially charming, and fit perfectly into the general mood of the series! which leads to the next point.
Best Wishes is incredibly chill.
It’s dorky overall — not just in the sense of having dorky characters; the show as a whole is written and built in a dorky way so that it can at anytime walk into crack land and no one can ask any questions about it.
AND IT DOES. The fillers in BW are either full-on crack, or actually have a plot with an intrigue/mystery (still with, often, a touch of crack). One of the episodes was basically Inception in Pokeani. Even when the plot itself is not crack, the show makes it a point to keep humor high on the list of priorities…and boy it is high
Dent, on its own, invites crack. But there is something in the way the series is crafted that allows all the characters to hit you hard with the jokes and the punch lines. The jokes in BW don’t go stale, because they take unexpected turns at unexpected moments, and are delivered in refreshing ways. Characters like Dent (with his 300 hobbies and out-of-this-world speech pattern) are not stuck with the same kind of lines / jokes / reactions all the time. Even Iris’ “You’re such a child” line changes completely depending on her tone. She’s also very dynamic so she can easily alternate between making you laugh and making you cry.
Also, her facial expressions. Everyone’s facial expressions
Sometimes, there are running gags, like Bel crashing into Satoshi, or Kenyan’s name, but most of the time, there are more dynamic characters like Dent, Iris, Cabernet, or even one-time characters like Gothimu and her trainer, to keep things moving. The jokes are sometimes inappropriate, sometimes unexpected, sometimes both – so overall, BW rly let go of all inhibitions when it came down to humor (and made one question whether it was still a kid’s show sometimes), and that was one of the most refreshing parts of it.
The so-called “downside” to this is of course, since the whole series looks like a sitcom of sorts, the battles/league really arent the main point. But that’s it. They’re not the main point. The main point is to have a good time.
This is rather related to the technical side of it, but Best Wishes is great because it’s written in a way that flows smoothly.
The reason why the main trio’s dynamic speaks for itself, or why the jokes actually work for more than just kids, is that the dialogues flow and are interesting. They worked well with characterization and have a great sense of rhythm! Sometimes in pokeani, you get lines that are supposed to send a great message, or are meant to act as the punch line, but they are not delivered in a way that’s fitting for the rhythm of the conversation/scene. As a result, a scene ends up seeming like it’s plain, cheesy, or a little boring, even. BW nailed the dialogues throughout. It’s part of why the series could manage such a huge cast of characters without getting lost. The script was just well written.
The other great thing related about the writing + the humor is just…the storyboard and the directing, i mean…
There are just…comedic choices that were made and were golden in this series
This deserves its own point
Satoshi in Best Wishes is just the ultimately level of laid-back, forward-looking and sweet, because he combines the reasonableness and level-headedness of a trainer who’s already seen 4 regions before, with the liveliness and goofiness of the child that he is. He’s basically more laid-back/less competitive about battles than in DP, more lively and dynamic than XY, and more mature about misshaps and losses than in OS.
He was comfortable, relaxed, and having fun. And that made him adorable and endearing.
Best Wishes is amazing. If you need to destress and have a good time, watch it
kianamaiart
tangentwithtanner
annaxmalina
gummygunk
