Ash's classmates/companions.

[Johtohfiller]

And I think, of all the directions they could have gone with his character, this was one of the best things they could have done. There's less focus so far on Ash the trainer and more on Ash the little boy, and he's suddenly becoming more endearing to me.

On this note the way they've portrayed him is close to my headcanons about what he's like when he's not doing adventure-y stuff.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Ash will no doubt have more pokemon than his classmates.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

They really downplayed Lillie's role, didn't they?

 

[RileyXY1]

I like the pacing of the character's development. It's not rushed at all.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Let's not forget that Ash's new friends will most likely get replaced and forgotten once Gen 8 hits.

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[SinnohEevee]

For now, there's probably not much character development.
I don't think the writers are trying. They will trash Ash's companions, replace them, and forget them by the next series.
And Ash now has 5 companions.

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[TouyaShiro]

They really downplayed Lillie's role, didn't they?

To be honest, after playing through Sun fully to know her game backstory... Let's just say

Spoiler: SM game plot spoilers!

I'm both nervous and excited about what they could do to represent this. Seems to be no secret at this point in time that Lillie is in a family with Gladion and Lusamine... I just hope they don't disappoint us with how they adapt the whole Ultra Beast scenario and the strained family relations that came with it. By all means I think it's probably the single most scary thing about this whole anime series - just knowing these plot points for perhaps close to 2 years before they start touching upon them in the anime itself.

 

[Jaye]

There needs to be patience with Lillie's potential storyline in the anime. Her story in the game was the main driving force but also very short when you lay out the key events. It wouldn't take many episodes to cover it entirely, so they're more likely to expand and draw things out. The key inciting incident of her story is her taking Nebby from the Aether Paradise which can happen at any time.

 

[Jaye]

In the other sagas the girls were traveling with Ash, hence any episode that had Ash in it would have to include his traveling companions as well, regardless of what role they had to play.

But this time Ash isn't traveling and doesn't have companions, so other characters appear as and when they're needed.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I saw the VA cast for next week and there is no Lillie , Lana , Mallow just like EP006 I believe ? I still don't get that , when Misty , May , Dawn , Serena and Iris were the Pokegirl they were in all episodes until their departure , I still found it weird that's the first time I see this in the Pokémon anime (maybe I'm wrong , but I don't think Misty/May/Dawn/Serena/Iris left for two episodes in their respective saga , and maybe the writers can even forget/cut the Alola girls more in the future)

Can anyone have a theory about that ? Maybe that's new and they want to work like that and don't include the girls in every episodes but it's still weird.

They aren't strictly travelling companions per say, these are his classmates. Ash isn't with those girls all the time like he was in every other series. He attends school with them and that's about it.

What they seem to be doing here is implementing a rotating cast to give all five friends enough individual focus. The fourth episode focused on Mallow more, the fifth episode had plenty of Lana, the sixth episode gave us Sophocles, the eighth episode was about Lillie, and the eleventh episode will have Kiawe. A six member travelling group would be hard to manage.