Are you happy they replace characters?

[Charbok]

Honestly I am, since the point of the anime is to promote the games for that generation. Why would they keep Misty around for DP when she's not a character in Gen 4? I like that they introduce new characters that are related to the games that they come from, and in some cases, like with Cilan, their anime counterparts have a much better and more interesting personality. Ash pretty much takes the place of the male protagonist in the games and I liked that May and Dawn got anime counterparts, especially since both these characters in the games aren't nearly as developed as Brendan or Lucas.

As much as I love a lot of the older characters, I like that they replace them with characters that belong with the current generation. Even with Brock you can argue that he's still a Gym Leader in Gen 2 (along with Misty), and in Gens 3 and 4 there were remakes that included him as a Gym Leader. Plus Team Rocket gets a mention at least once in the games. They only thing I really wish they did was make the evil organizations more involved in the anime. It was nice to see N and Team Plasma get their own arc but in the end it ended up being rushed.

 

[Magenta Fantasies]

Meh. I liked Brock in the original series, but as Spectrum Achromatic said, he was getting rather tiring by DP. I would flip if Iris was laid off (which she inevitably will be. Looks like I'm hiding in my depression corner come October.), so I like it when characters that have stuck around like gum on the roof of your mouth are laid off, but I don't mind when characters like Misty who was in it for 4 or so years are laid off and later return.

I agree completely. As much as I like Brock, I'm glad he was replaced. I was really starting to get tired of him by DP.
Likewise with Misty at the end of Johto. I like Misty more than Brock, but by the end of Johto, she was starting to lose her luster. If she had stayed all the way to the end of Sinnoh she would've become a terribly stale character.
I think May and Dawn each could've stuck around a bit longer-they both had more ways they could develop before reaching their entertainment limits.
However, I will be fairly happy to see Iris go. She's so cute, but her personality irritates me.

I love it when they revive characters from previous seasons for a few episodes (like Misty in Hoenn, May in Sinnoh and Dawn in Unova), but I don't think I'd want to see said characters traveling with Ash for seasons after their arcs ended.

 

[Madame Pika]

YES. Extremely happy. More so when it's a character that I like, that's being replaced.

I notice that some people are saying that the writers are using character replacing so as they don't have to develop the characters. I disagree. Takeshi for example received most of his development in DP and Kanto (though it's pretty hard to notice in DP because we were already sick of him.) Now why did Takeshi get an egg, career change foreshadowing, ect in DP? Because they knew they wouldn't have to keep the character going: and keep them going in such a way that makes them dull or bloated.

In my opinion the best characters tend to be the ones that last one generation: Kouhei, Harley, Shinji, Shuu, Jun, ect. Whilst theses characters aren't dead (pretty much the only way they can truly be over with no stories left), they do feel finished. I think that Haruka is the best example here. She left to have her own journey in Jouto. It was an ending and a happy ending. We're not worrying that she'll mess up because of the growth she got when she was on the show. Therefore there is no need for her to come back, other than that we enjoyed her.

For me an ending can say a lot about a character, almost as much as a start. With character replacement, comes endings. Therefore I like character replacement.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

I agree completely. As much as I like Brock, I'm glad he was replaced. I was really starting to get tired of him by DP.
Likewise with Misty at the end of Johto. I like Misty more than Brock, but by the end of Johto, she was starting to lose her luster. If she had stayed all the way to the end of Sinnoh she would've become a terribly stale character.

Only if she stayed in same position with nothing new being done about character. However seeing how writers expanded more on her goal through Whirl Islands revealing how there exist benchmarks and tasks which could explain more whole thing and bring her closer, diversified her team through new captures and evolutions and had her go through development becoming more mature and independent which brought fresh angle to character doing balance between her tomboyish and playful, more caring side makes me believe how that wouldn't be the case with new things they started to do with character and situations she was out in which could have continued if she stayed reinventing and adding new interesting note to character and story.

If you ask me keeping someone for longer period of time gives opportunity to learn more about characters we like,seeing other sides of them explored more giving more layers and depth to someone. And seeing characters going through new adventures and development enriching their storyline can never be a bad thing.

There are plenty anime which keep same cast for years without losing their appeal among fans, staying fresh. Since they refresh their characters through new designs, explore more on personality and past,introduce new subplots and actually do sequel/build up to already established storyline bringing new angle to it. Which means more continuity, better developed character and stable cast which goes through deeper growth.

Something i would appreciate much more than never ending cycle through new characters while leaving us with gazillion of unfinished, fun characters we used to like ending eventually erased and forgotten like they never mattered.Which already happened with Misty, May or Max and soon enough will happen with newer characters we got too.

I think May and Dawn each could've stuck around a bit longer-they both had more ways they could develop before reaching their entertainment limits.

I actually find Misty had much more room and potential left to develop than May or Dawn had in reality by end of their runs. Her goal of becoming water master was barely explored allowing to break new grounds after Whirl Cup. Such as entering chain of events which would serve as benchmarks to push her forward(i always thought concept of underwater battling would have been cool to see). Going way of experiencing intensive training in order to become E4 member or Wallace, Lorelei apprentice was possibility too since it draws links with her water goal offering fresh potential to do worthwhile story out of it and gain meaningful development. In firm of entering various tasks and battling evaluators tio determine if she has potential for such position with E4 being basically one type masters.

There were also other unexplored dreams Misty had like meeting legendary water type in person catching it or learning how to understand this type and extract their true potential on surface. Something they did skillfully in manga.

There was left a lot more to be done with er pokemon like Starmie, Horsea, Goldeen or Psyduck. We could have seen her learning how to develop her own battle style and overcome weakness of her water type to those they are weak against. Or teach her pokemon to battle and swim like duck

Find more about her past like family, why she fear bugs with Surskit back in day seeming like excellent way to dive more into her issues being bug/water. Find out what motivated her in wanting to become water master not being revealed like it was case with others with who we dived into their past and origins.

While maybe she couldn't had last forever i believe she had room left to grow more for at least one more region.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

There are some shows who can have the same cast for years without replacing characters, but most of those shows have better writing than Pokemon to pull that off.

Pokemon HAD good writing

Yup, when Takeshi Shudo wrote things so that there was some actual depth to them, instead of focusing on the battling aspect alone (DP) and also a lack of said aspect entirely (BW), as shown in more recent arcs of the anime.

There's a huge lack of any sort of medium between characters, character development, character chemistry, battles, and so on in later arcs of the anime. To me, the writers focus too much on one aspect while ignoring the other one entirely.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

I hate to be downer, but i cannot bring myself to be actually "happy" over characters i like enjoying in their personality and dynamic they bring to cast, pokemon, story and interesting premise behind their dreams ending replaced and abandoned. Let alone when they still have lot of untapped potential to be done more about their story,allowing in adding more to character filling his story with more substance, explore on different facets of characterization, learn new things and develop forward in more complex way experiencing build up on his/her story by doing continuation of what has been established before coming closer toward his dreams.

I met many people which were disappointed when May and Dawn left halfway unfinished never achieving their dreams, when Misty left cast without getting proper closure leaving her water master dream and various things about her unresolved and undefined after departure regarding future, when Max was just tacked at gym being doomed to stay forever and rot never starting journey and getting first pokemon etc.

Just to witness same scenery happening to every new companion filling up past with ton of unfinished characters which clearly had room to be done so much more continuing from what they achieved so far growing forward.
And i can thruthfully say how i share same sentiment as they do.

Having character stay for longer is more blessing than curse imo compared to their leaving ending up halfway developed,eventually forgotten and relegated to status of minor characters despite having juice to offer more.

Since longer they stay they can be explored more as persons, have us learn more about those we like, have other sides of them being developed along with going through new adventures and further development.

Thus making them more recognized and accepted among wider group of fans having time to build popularity among new generations of viewers too.

Another issue i have with this is writers practice of completely abandoning previous companions once they leave cast fading into oblivion never to be showed again.

Anime maybe doesn't need them in cast to go on, but trying to erase previous traveling companions from face of existence like they never existed or mattered is very bad decision hurting show credibility and reputation.

When was the last time we saw Misty, May or Max in person? Same faith is going to happen to Dawn, Iris, Cilan and just about any new character they continue to add.

Having them completely ignored with no references being provided make it seem like they never mattered to this show and Ash character with everything he learned from them being portrayed like it was erased making their existence in anime kinda pointless in first place being disrespecting and ignorant imo.

Yes, there are some anime which replace characters,but they actually bring back past members to give them more development or be relevant to current story not being forgotten. Like Bakugan, Inazuma Eleven go, Bleach, Naruto etc. In other words they aren't treated like garbage, once they leave.
And what Pokemon does?

Start story about certain character leaving things unfinished and any potential for expansion and build up on someone character threw aside in favor of getting replaced with new character which end up mishandled in same manner. Such approach only gives bad message out there and make it seem like moral values such as friendship and loyalty, as well hard work toward your dreams not giving up not mattering in longer run. Considering how every relationship and experiences Ash had with his friends is cut not staying in contact nor acknowledging impact they left on his story, along with habit of not finishing job they started with characters ending as wasted opportunity reflecting negatively on viewers, characters and message they are trying to bring across.

I surely don't see any point in this making me ask myself when its time to draw line and say stop?

Going by this rate as series continue on number will increase more and more and years from now in future we will have some unknown girl or guy number 15, 20 or 50 traveling around with Ash, starting out and joining rest of crew of long forgotten and abandoned characters . By than Misty,Brock,Cilan, May, Dawn etc will be long forgotten history, with unfinished stories and all potential which they might have to do more ending diminish making it unlikely of seeing them ever again with so many new characters joining main cast.
Leading to eventually ending forgotten from fans.

It seems im the only one who noticed something went terribly wrong with this not liking direction series are heading to at all.

 

[Caseydia]

There are some shows who can have the same cast for years without replacing characters, but most of those shows have better writing than Pokemon to pull that off.

Pokemon HAD good writing

It still has some even if it's a few here and there. I wish people would see that the first stuff wasn't all that was well written. The writers had surprised us from time to time. But you need to be willing to give the whole saga a chance and not just one or two parts of it.

And to answer the question, yes. It depends if they will be doing better than what was thrown at us before when they left.

 

[Misty Calls Masquerain]

How was the first stuff not well written? I've watched the originals multiple times, and I still see good writing. Newer sagas have good writing here and there, true, but for the most part it's not always greater than the sum of its parts, if that makes sense.

 

[Almonds]

There are some shows who can have the same cast for years without replacing characters, but most of those shows have better writing than Pokemon to pull that off.

Pokemon HAD good writing

It still has some even if it's a few here and there. I wish people would see that the first stuff wasn't all that was well written. The writers had surprised us from time to time. But you need to be willing to give the whole saga a chance and not just one or two parts of it.

And to answer the question, yes. It depends if they will be doing better than what was thrown at us before when they left.

It's been 15 years. Surely they would've learned at least something...

 

[Hoenn For Truvie]

Ash is somewhat of a "friend whore". He moves from friend to friend and even got bored of Brock after about 12 seasons.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Ash is somewhat of a "friend whore". He moves from friend to friend and even got bored of Brock after about 12 seasons.

I can tell that this is a joke, but it doesn't really make much sense to me. Ash has nothing to do with why his friends leave. It's usually because they choose to go or need to go and he just allows for other characters to travel around with him since he's a friendly and laid back kind of character. It wouldn't make sense for him to not want to travel around with new friends.

 

[HumanDawn]

Ash is somewhat of a "friend whore". He moves from friend to friend and even got bored of Brock after about 12 seasons.

I can tell that this is a joke, but it doesn't really make much sense to me. Ash has nothing to do with why his friends leave. It's usually because they choose to go or need to go and he just allows for other characters to travel around with him since he's a friendly and laid back kind of character. It wouldn't make sense for him to not want to travel around with new friends.

To add on that, I don't think Ash was ever really bored with his friends.

 

[Harryghost]

Honestly, I don't mind the character replacing at all.

 

[SolgaleoGX]

I'm cool with it. It makes the chances of nice characters growing stale diminish and keeps a sense of freshness to each season. But it bothers me when seasons go by and there is little to no acknowledgement of the various companions.

 

[Rentorar]

I wish Dent was not replaced...He was one of the BEST travel companions. Iris was just plain irritating..

 

[danh19]

that's a tough question to answer in some ways it would be great if say misty never left they kept developing her character but on the other hand she could have ended up becoming stale like brock either because the writers and producers lost interest or they run out of ideas for him or both which was a shame because whether because he was a part childhood or his just better his the best male companion ash has had

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

I am fine with it. Ash is the main character and the whole point of the show so that means he will stay on. New companions means a fresh cast. Plus the replacing of characters is great when there is someone that you disliked. I was glad to see Iris go due to the way the writers handled her but annoyed with Serena when they brought in the crush theme. I be glad when Lillie or whatever new character replaces Serena because Serena is likely to stick to Kalos to try to win the showcases again or go to some other region to win showcases.

 

[GurahkWeavile]

It depends on the characters. I do get sad most times, but it is understandable why they do it and I can be at peace knowing they may achieve their dream.

That being said, I shed no tears seeing Iris go away.

 

[danh19]

I think the main issue of replacing characters is that they don't bother following up on the character in any substantial way or don't bother having them back the only there was any real development was may for the most part who was shown to have been working hard and vastly improving as well as growing as a person

 

[lavandula]

I'd rather they change the full cast every generation-- including Ash.