Anime & Manga General Discussion

[Daren]

What if pregnancies in the pokemon world worked like breeding in game and Burnet just gave birth the day after getting pregnant after going out for a jog

Enjoy that mental image y’all

Thanks, I hate it.

 

[Eitarou]

Hm. If Ash is going to be receiving a Key Stone, where exactly do we think he’ll put the accessory? There’s been staff, gloves, keychains, necklaces…
I would like to see the Key Stone on his hat, seeing how he doesn’t have his gloves anymore.

If he's getting it from Korrina, he'll likely receive a glove. If not, just put it on the Z-Power Ring.

 

[Enzo]

What if pregnancies in the pokemon world worked like breeding in game and Burnet just gave birth the day after getting pregnant after going out for a jog

Enjoy that mental image y’all

I hate you lol

jk

 

[Enzo]

Imagine he puts it on the back of his hat and when he is gonna Mega Evolve his Lucario, he puts it on backwards like he used to in the earlier seasons, exposing the Mega Stone.

 

[Hey You Pikachu!]

Mark my words, Leon will conveniently have counters for all of Ash's battle gimmicks:

• Stoked Sparksurfer Alolan Raichu vs 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt Pikachu (I chose Stoked Sparksurfer because it's the only signature Z-Move that hasn't appeared in the anime and doesn't belong to a Legendary or Mythical Pokemon)
• Mega Swampert vs Mega Lucario (I chose Mega Swampert because the Mudkip line got the short end of the stick during the XY anime, so Leon using one would sorta make up for that. Plus, it'd serve as a great stand-in for the Seismitoad he uses in the games)
• and of course Gigantamax Charizard vs Gigantamax Gengar

it'll 100% be Pikachu vs Charizard

 

[PikachuSmasher]

So today is #WorldAshKetchumDay which celebrates not just two years since Ash won the Alola league but both Ash and my favourite Pokémon ever Pikachu.

I know this'll sound so cheesy and corny but...

Thanks for being part of my life for years Ash and Pikachu.

I can relate. Pokemon has been part of my life for 10 years. In the lockdown, Ash,Pikachu and Gou kept me happy. I'm never quitting Pokemon.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

it'll 100% be Pikachu vs Charizard

I know that, just let me dream dammit

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I really do feel like this will be Ash's last journey, though. I mean, if he beats Leon, and I have a strong hunch that he will, what'll possibly be next for him? You can't shoot much higher than the top.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

You can't shoot much higher than the top.

Laughs in Dragon Ball Z

 

[Rockapheller]

I really do feel like this will be Ash's last journey, though. I mean, if he beats Leon, and I have a strong hunch that he will, what'll possibly be next for him? You can't shoot much higher than the top.

To be frank, one could have said the same thing about Ash before he became a Champion, as well. There can always be a step forward for Ash to achieve, so long as being a "Pokémon Master" as a concept is not clear for what it is. Maybe a mentor to a rookie trainer, maybe another championship, maybe something to do with Pokémon rather than other trainers, or maybe nothing in particular like the beginning of Sun & Moon series, where Ash just goes somewhere to chill, and finds a purpose himself to achieve later on. You name it, the options are wide open.

 

[Daren]

I mean I think "it's hard to think of something higher than beating the world champion" is a better problem then when he was stuck on a treadmill for twenty years so I'd call it a win.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Honestly, I still think that they could easily have Ash do Gyms again or whatever is the main focus for the next generation. People could argue that's a step down, although I'd disagree with that to a point given how weak the structure for the PWC is, but I don't know how many options the writers have. Unless they do pull a DBZ level twist, they kind of have to scale things back down after Ash battles against Champion level trainers. Plus, they've done this before with Ash doing another Gym Challenge after being offered to become a Frontier Brain and he start over fresh in Alola after getting to the finals of the Kalos League. I don't think that would necessarily mean that they'd regress Ash's skills, but Ash is basically whatever the writers need him to be for any given series, so if they want him to start off fresh again to do whatever is going to be for the next generation, they can do it. It hasn't stopped them before. Ash is also far too iconic and marketable for the anime to get rid of at this point, so this being Ash's last journey is extremely unlikely to me.

I don't think that they'd ignore whatever the outcome of the PWC for Ash, but I also don't think it will play a major role in determining whatever he does next either. People have claimed that he's doing the PWC because of winning the Alola League, but that was never an in-universe reason. He just wants to battle Leon and the PWC is seemingly the fastest way to do that. They didn't even mention his Alola League title until around seventy episodes into Journeys' run, so that makes me less confident that the PWC will play a big role as to what he'll do in the next series.

I'm also still not confident that he'll beat Leon. Even with how Ash has been winning matches pretty consistently for awhile, I can't see him defeating the top ranked trainer in the world. I still remember watching Leon vs. Raihan and when Ash declares that he'll beat Leon, I immediately thought "No you won't" and that feeling has kind of stuck. I could easily be wrong. As much as I find the Alola League victory to be overrated, it does make it more plausible for Ash to win, but I just think that defeating the top ranked trainer might be a bit much. Plus, Ash's goal is to battle Leon, which could be achieved even without winning, so it could be something like a Dawn vs. Zoey situation.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Laughs in Dragon Ball Z

Hmmm, I guess that's true. Ash and Goku are extremely similar characters, after all.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Honestly, I still think that they could easily have Ash do Gyms again or whatever is the main focus for the next generation. People could argue that's a step down, although I'd disagree with that to a point given how weak the structure for the PWC is, but I don't know how many options the writers have. Unless they do pull a DBZ level twist, they kind of have to scale things back down after Ash battles against Champion level trainers. Plus, they've done this before with Ash doing another Gym Challenge after being offered to become a Frontier Brain and he start over fresh in Alola after getting to the finals of the Kalos League. I don't think that would necessarily mean that they'd regress Ash's skills, but Ash is basically whatever the writers need him to be for any given series, so if they want him to start off fresh again to do whatever is going to be for the next generation, they can do it. It hasn't stopped them before. Ash is also far too iconic and marketable for the anime to get rid of at this point, so this being Ash's last journey is extremely unlikely to me.

I don't think that they'd ignore whatever the outcome of the PWC for Ash, but I also don't think it will play a major role in determining whatever he does next either. People have claimed that he's doing the PWC because of winning the Alola League, but that was never an in-universe reason. He just wants to battle Leon and the PWC is seemingly the fastest way to do that. They didn't even mention his Alola League title until around seventy episodes into Journeys' run, so that makes me less confident that the PWC will play a big role as to what he'll do in the next series.

I'm also still not confident that he'll beat Leon. Even with how Ash has been winning matches pretty consistently for awhile, I can't see him defeating the top ranked trainer in the world. I still remember watching Leon vs. Raihan and when Ash declares that he'll beat Leon, I immediately thought "No you won't" and that feeling has kind of stuck. I could easily be wrong. As much as I find the Alola League victory to be overrated, it does make it more plausible for Ash to win, but I just think that defeating the top ranked trainer might be a bit much. Plus, Ash's goal is to battle Leon, which could be achieved even without winning, so it could be something like a Dawn vs. Zoey situation.

I still maintain my stance of Ash defeating Leon, though. I don't think they would have had him win in the Alola League if they didn't want him to go all the way. Plus, much as I will miss it, I think the age-old cycle of Ash going through a region and challenging its gyms is over. He only kept doing that because he kept losing in the leagues. But now that he's a champion, everything's different, for better or worse. They can't just have someone who'll be battling Cynthia (and defeating her too, can you believe it?) in the near future just revert to challenging gyms again. It wouldn't make any sense. I actually can see them pulling a DBZ level twist, because with this series, I feel like anything's possible at this point. The structure of the PWC has definitely been weak as all hell for the most part, I agree with you 100% there, but I still think they can really turn it around with the Ultra and then ultimately Master Class. If the battle Ash had with Volkner is any indication of what's to come, then I'm willing to give the writers a second chance with the PWC.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Hmmm, I guess that's true. Ash and Goku are extremely similar characters, after all.

To be fair, Goku is similar to just about every shonen protagonist ever. Largely because he's the one who codified all the popular shonen protagonist tropes: recklessness, airheadedness, big appetite, a love of fighting, determination, kindheartedness, being able to pull off seemingly impossible wins, etc. Shonen heroes will have at least a few of those, and Ash is one who happens to have everything.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I still maintain my stance of Ash defeating Leon, though. I don't think they would have had him win in the Alola League if they didn't want him to go all the way. Plus, much as I will miss it, I think the age-old cycle of Ash going through a region and challenging its gyms is over. He only kept doing that because he kept losing in the leagues. But now that he's a champion, everything's different, for better or worse. They can't just have someone who'll be battling Cynthia (and defeating her too, can you believe it?) in the near future just revert to challenging gyms again. It wouldn't make any sense. I actually can see them pulling a DBZ level twist, because with this series, I feel like anything's possible at this point. The structure of the PWC has definitely been weak as all hell for the most part, I agree with you 100% there, but I still think they can really turn it around with the Ultra and then ultimately Master Class. If the battle Ash had with Volkner is any indication of what's to come, then I'm willing to give the writers a second chance with the PWC.

I don't really see how winning the Alola League means that they'd want Ash to go all the way, especially when fans make a bigger deal about that victory than the anime generally does and that victory didn't have at least any in-universe justification for Ash taking part in the PWC. Not to mention I don't think that winning the Alola League was all that impressive to begin with. It's not nothing and Ash has needed a big victory for a long time, but it isn't te end all, be all of Ash's accomplishments either. Ash is the first Alola League Champion, but I don't think that puts him on the same level as other Champion characters like Leon and Cynthia. If that was the case, then I think he would have been more recognized by that title instead of waiting until the second Alola trip seventy episodes into Journeys' run to mention it. A part of me thought that they wouldn't bring it up for the entire series, which honestly would have been kind of funny to me.

To be fair, we don't know if he'll defeat Cynthia yet, but regardless, I know that going from battling Champion level trainers to challenging Gyms again would look weird on paper, but I don't think it's off the table necessarily. Perhaps not entirely likely, but not impossible. They've had Ash make huge accomplishments before only for him to start over fresh again in a new region. Despite the Champion level trainers involved, the PWC doesn't really make me think that they can't do it again. I'd also be really disappointed if they don't use the Gym format again, especially when it feels like such a waste to not make use of the new characters, Pokemon and settings in this generation. I wouldn't be upset if they somehow had another character take part in Gyms, but I'm not sure if there would be a good reason for Ash to not want to battle them as well.

When I'm talking about a DBZ like twist, I'm thinking more of Ash battling against alien trainers. People have jokingly brought it up before and I don't think that's likely to happen. It would be so out of place with the anime. As for the PWC, I've heard good things about the Volkner battle and I'll give it credit if it does improve with the later classes, but I don't know if the PWC can be an effective goal with all of the problems I've had with it from the very start.

 

[R1ke]

I think he'll win against Leon, especially after beating the likes of Korrina, Iris and Volkner on his first try. Despite being 2v2s and 3v3s these are all incredibly skilled opponents to say the least, hell Iris is legit a champion now. Not to mention him using gmax, z-moves and now megas altogether. They really are going all-out here and I can see him winning under these circumstances.

Also I think they learnt their lesson with Alain - in that they probably shouldn't hype up him defeating someone (he's already lost to) but then not have him win in the end. If it happens it Leon it'll be even worse imo since this has been teased from the start of the series altogether.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I think he'll win against Leon, especially after beating the likes of Korrina, Iris and Volkner on his first try. Despite being 2v2s and 3v3s these are all incredibly skilled opponents to say the least, hell Iris is legit a champion now. Not to mention him using gmax, z-moves and now megas altogether. They really are going all-out here and I can see him winning under these circumstances.

Also I think they learnt their lesson with Alain - in that they probably shouldn't hype up him defeating someone (he's already lost to) but then not have him win in the end. If it happens it Leon it'll be even worse imo since this has been teased from the start of the series altogether.

I'm not sure if Ash defeating any of these guys really means anything, though: two of them are Gym Leaders whom Ash already battled and defeated before, and one is a rookie Champion who was also a former companion. Remeber that we still got other challenges like the Masters Eight (which includes Cynthia and Raihan) coming up, and I very much doubt that Ash will beat all of those in his first try, I mean, just look at Bea: Ash is gonna take at least three tries to finally get a full win against her, and she's only a mid-tier Gym Leader by Galar's standards.

 

[Hey You Pikachu!]

I'm not sure if Ash defeating any of these guys really means anything, though: two of them are Gym Leaders whom Ash already battled and defeated before, and one is a rookie Champion who was also a former companion. Remeber that we still got other challenges like the Masters Eight (which includes Cynthia and Raihan) coming up, and I very much doubt that Ash will beat all of those in his first try, I mean, just look at Bea: Ash is gonna take at least three tries to finally get a full win against her, and she's only a mid-tier Gym Leader by Galar's standards.

he's gonna have to beat them first try or he'll be eliminated from the tournament

 

[R1ke]

I'm not sure if Ash defeating any of these guys really means anything, though: two of them are Gym Leaders whom Ash already battled and defeated before, and one is a rookie Champion who was also a former companion. Remeber that we still got other challenges like the Masters Eight (which includes Cynthia and Raihan) coming up, and I very much doubt that Ash will beat all of those in his first try, I mean, just look at Bea: Ash is gonna take at least three tries to finally get a full win against her, and she's only a mid-tier Gym Leader by Galar's standards.

What I meant is this series has a habit of making him win even when the odds are stacked against him. Like with Korrina and Iris his Dragonite was much less experienced and took a lot of hits from its opponents but it won anyway. With Volkner he was being outplayed but was able to pull through regardless. Yeah he lost against Bea but bounced back within a few episodes and drew with her (without much onscreen training).

It just feels like he has plot armour at some points and particularly now the writers are making him more overpowered. I just don't see him losing against Leon at this rate, especially if he's gonna beat other master class trainers.