Ash's future after Journeys

[Hidden Mew]

They showed us enough of Ash battling one off characters at the beginning of a saga because quite frankly those matches are fodder and not that important. We saw them to see how Ash rose to Super rank but seeing Ash battle one off filler characters isn’t that compelling.

Treating most of his matches as fodder is the problem though. I agree that battling one shot characters isn't compelling, but the solution should have been to have Ash battle against noteworthy trainers more frequently instead. The Gym Leader battles should have been the standard kind of quality for his PWC matches as opposed to being the highlights. Skipping a bunch of his battles in basically the first half of the tournament doesn't really help to make it compelling or look particularly challenging, at least for me.

That's a big reason why even having longer battles going forward doesn't do much for me. It is a potentially good sign, but it also feels too little, too late at the same time. Instead of waiting until Hyper Class to give potentially give Ash three-on-three matches, that should have been the case from the start to make the battles more engaging and interesting, especially when winning a one-on-one battle doesn't really mean much in terms of a trainer's skills.

My point was all battles against established Gym leaders or game characters have been 2 on 2 so far, like Korrina, the Bea matches, the Vermilion Gym, Iris, etc. And now in Hyper class we’re getting 3 on 3’s for each match. As he progresses the matches will continue like this.

I thought that your point was more on how his matches have increased as he rises in the ranks, not that his matches against Gym Leaders or video game based characters have been two-on-two so far.

 

[Sai]

The 1 on 1 battles were all against filler characters or one-offs. I can’t remember if Korrina took place in the bottom rank or Super rank, but for example the writers made her battle 2 on 2 because she was an established Gym leader and game character. And the same happened with both Bea matches, the Vermilion gym ep, Iris, etc. The 1 on 1’s at the beginning of the series is to show Ash climb the ranks and how experienced a trainer he was. Could we have seen more of them? Sure, but ultimately outside of the Gallade trainer none of them were important. The Pikachu vs Meganium trainer was my favorite 1 on 1 and it proved how experienced Ash is.

The Hyper Class is confirmed to take place in stadiums and be 3 on 3, so it should be the norm going forward. If you watch all of Ash’s battles in a row from this series, and remember we’re only 80 eps into the saga, he’s had more battles than Gyms in most previous series (not counting the kanto saga) at this point in time. And with a long ways to go before the end as well. As long as we get at least 5 hyper class battles and more gym leaders or game characters I’ll be satisfied with this ranking.

 

[Blob]

What I want to happen:
Ash's Pokémon revolt because they're sick of barely being used. Dracovish and Kingler vote to cause havoc until Ash uses them more or they get a trainer who actually wants to hang out with them. Sirfetch'd, despite barely being used remains loyal to Ash along with Infernape, Bulbasaur and Charizard.

 

[snowmint]

At least they aren't running the series into the ground like the yugioh anime.

 

[KirbyBulba737]

At least they aren't running the series into the ground like the yugioh anime.

It's definetely close.

 

[Greninjaman]

At least they aren't running the series into the ground like the yugioh anime.

It's definetely close.

How so?

 

[KirbyBulba737]

How so?

Pretty bad writing during Journeys.

 

[Unireon]

Pretty bad writing during Journeys.

Torch the Franchise and Run.

 

[Hidden Mew]

At least they aren't running the series into the ground like the yugioh anime.

I'm not really sure what that has to do with this topic. They basically have to change the cast with each Yu-Gi-Oh! series to promote the newest cards. The possibility of replacing Ash sailed away at least a couple of decades ago.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

At least they aren't running the series into the ground like the yugioh anime.

Cough that’s what SM did with Ash cough

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Cough that’s what SM did with Ash cough

I wouldn't say that SM Ash was run into the ground, since he was decent at the end, but I will say he was a definite downgrade from XY Ash (my personal favorite version of him so far.) But you could definitely tell that Ash was a better battler in SM than in, say BW? The experience he gained was definitely there.

 

[RubySapphire]

Honestly because his goal is to be the very best if he wins the tournament he will leave and the show will star Goh until he catches mew and then it will star the person he’s traveling with at the time.

 

[SlyGecko]

Honestly because his goal is to be the very best if he wins the tournament he will leave and the show will star Goh until he catches mew and then it will star the person he’s traveling with at the time.

That is unlikely to happen. Ash will simply remain the main protagonist until the entire the final episode of Pokemon as a whole. When journeys ends and there is a gen 9, Ash and Goh will most likely go their separate way to continue their own goals. If not, then the series simply end with both archiving the goals.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Honestly because his goal is to be the very best if he wins the tournament he will leave and the show will star Goh until he catches mew and then it will star the person he’s traveling with at the time.

I think people are putting a bit too much stock in the PWC being Ash’s endgame. It’s especially strange when Ash himself has even stated that the PWC is only a step towards being a Pokémon Master. His goal isn’t to be the best trainer, his goal is the vaguely defined goal of being a Pokémon Master, which they leave vague as a means of keeping Ash around whether he wins or not.

 

[Unireon]

Satoshi is far too iconic, and most people equate the anime with him and Pikachu.
That idea is so ingrained that at this point it won't change.
There are some people that would complain, and then drop, if he leaves. Making it a very bad choice.

Keeping the goal as vague as possible tend to work for Long-runners.
The writers can add more things for a character to do, and treat them as the next step.

Leaving Gou as the sole star, he has a concrete goal and adding new steps can come out as forced.
That's without saying that seeing him catch something in every episode, with Mew nowhere in sight....
It would get old and very repetitive rather quickly. More formulaic than now.

 

[isrrael120]

The old question of "Ash will leave the show after", I see it a lot usually it seems impossible to me and it is usually the case although now with Journeys I am not 100% sure if the status quo with Ash will continue as in previous series !

Maybe the way Journeys is handled is what makes me doubt the perpetuity of Ash and Pikachu which I always thought was eternal before Journeys although almost anything can happen now!

 

[CyberMonsterTrainer]

I hope he sticks with us, cause JN has just been the worst.

 

[Konja7]

Honestly because his goal is to be the very best if he wins the tournament he will leave and the show will star Goh until he catches mew and then it will star the person he’s traveling with at the time.

Even if Ash left the anime, I don't think Go will be his replacement. After all, Go was created to be the co-protagonist in Journeys.

The most likely is that a totally new character will be the replacement. That way, they could start the character's story from the beginning.

 

[Hey You Pikachu!]

I think people are putting a bit too much stock in the PWC being Ash’s endgame. It’s especially strange when Ash himself has even stated that the PWC is only a step towards being a Pokémon Master. His goal isn’t to be the best trainer, his goal is the vaguely defined goal of being a Pokémon Master, which they leave vague as a means of keeping Ash around whether he wins or not.

It's because there wouldn't really be a obvious next step after that. Sure, he still wouldn't be a Pokemon Master, but what would he even do after winning the PWC?

 

[Kurolegacy]

It's because there wouldn't really be a obvious next step after that. Sure, he still wouldn't be a Pokemon Master, but what would he even do after winning the PWC?

There wasn’t an obvious step after they finally stopped with the carrot and stick that was the leagues and yet they came up with this. Hell, given that the Pokémon world is ever expanding, even Ash winning here doesn’t mean that he’s met the best the world has to offer, only the best that that section of the world that was involved had.