Ash's future after Journeys

[Sai]

A lot of DP's Gym battles suffer from really dated animation now like Crasher Wake's especially, and the fact that most of them are nearly 15 years old now so it makes sense the animation is dated.

But besides that you have Turtwig and Chimchar in their base forms taking out fully evolved Pokemon so late in the series, and I know this happens every series, but Ash would always beat pokemon with starters that should have been far weaker.

 

[Hidden Mew]

A lot of DP's Gym battles suffer from really dated animation now like Crasher Wake's especially, and the fact that most of them are nearly 15 years old now so it makes sense the animation is dated.

The animation doesn't really affect the quality of the battles, at least in my opinion. Yeah, it may look dated, but if the battles themselves are still good, which I think they are, then that doesn't really matter that much.

But besides that you have Turtwig and Chimchar in their base forms taking out fully evolved Pokemon so late in the series, and I know this happens every series, but Ash would always beat pokemon with starters that should have been far weaker.

Ash's Turtwig evolved into Grotle after Ash got four Gym badges, so it wasn't unevolved late into DP. They did take awhile to evolve Chimchar, but I think that they were set on having its evolutions connect back to the rivalry with Paul, especially with evolving into Monferno. As for Ash beating Pokemon with starters, that never really bothered me to be honest. It generally worked since Pokemon are treated as living creatures in the anime. They wouldn't have the same kind of limitations as they would in the games and being more experienced doesn't make a Pokemon unbeatable either.

Besides all that, most series were more than willing to evolve Ash's starters. Aside from the original series and BW, Ash's starters were allowed to fully evolve. They'd want to showcase the base forms in a good light since they're arguably more marketable than their evolved forms, but this idea that Ash relied on unevolved starters really doesn't apply to most of the previous series.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

And even if Ash doesn't win, the damage is already done. People will remember that Ash took down two Champions and if one of them is Cynthia, then he took down one of the most powerful and iconic Champions in the history of the franchise.

I know this will probably be inevitable and so I've already been preparing myself for that day, a very very sad day... My only wish is it'll be the most epic battle the Pokemon Anime has ever seen! This is the only way that could make up a little bit for our beloved Queen and Master Cynthia having to lose to Ash (....because the writers want it that way)

It's really just the DP fans that still remember the Paul vs. Cynthia episode, which wasn't even well written.

Whaaat? You must be joking


Anyways, reading all your opinions I'm conviced the current situation is kind of a muddle for Ash. Either he loses, in which case I can't see how the writers would continue with the PWC in the new series or he wins, in which case we need an absolutely creative solution concerning Ash's future goals, like time travelling etc. (Provided of course that the writers want to keep him in the show, which I think is pretty likely)

 

[Silktree]

I see him losing and restarting the PWC with a different set of opponents, probably focusing more on the new region this time. Let's face it, he hasn't earned the "world's strongest trainer" title yet, or he wouldn't need to get advice from Paul.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

WCS and Journeys format was likely built around the 25th anniversary of the entire franchise. Since SV is not tied to a milestone anniversary, I doubt they’ll do Journeys format again.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I can't really see them restarting the PWC again or how that could be engaging given how they handled it the first time around.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

I can't really see them restarting the PWC again or how that could be engaging given how they handled it the first time around.

I agree. Can’t see them doing it again given the lukewarm reception towards its execution. Certain regions were left with barely any representation in regards to characters Ash battled, not to mention too many Electric, Fighting and Dragon specialists to serve as mirror-match rivals to Pikachu, Lucario/Sirfetch’d and Dragonite/Dracovish. I’m not particularly fond of this mirror-match rivalry in the battles as a whole, so I hope the writers learn not to do it again in SV.

 

[Sai]

I can see the PWC continuing and the world tour format. As said there's still tons of Elite 4 and Champions Ash hasn't beat so it'd not like they run out of characters for a second arc.

if most of the next game is open world and features time travel with exclusive characters I can't see Ash being adapted to that. Most likely he'll visit the new region off and on like they did with Galar. The bland protagonists downplayed for customization makes it obvious they'll create OC's like Koharu again.

Also willing to bet the new rival Nemona is just ignored or gets 1 episode like Marnie, Hop, Hau, etc.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I can see the PWC continuing and the world tour format. As said there's still tons of Elite 4 and Champions Ash hasn't beat so it'd not like they run out of characters for a second arc.

if most of the next game is open world and features time travel with exclusive characters I can't see Ash being adapted to that. Most likely he'll visit the new region off and on like they did with Galar. The bland protagonists downplayed for customization makes it obvious they'll create OC's like Koharu again.

Also willing to bet the new rival Nemona is just ignored or gets 1 episode like Marnie, Hop, Hau, etc.

Oh please no.

No.

No.

No.

And again for very obligatory and unexplained reasons...

No.

The OC's I can deal with, but everything else, nope.

 

[Emelie]

I hope they won't create another Koharu. I want better female representation than a character who only shows up sometimes to advertise Eevee.

The new games seem to feature many strong women like Professor Sada and Nemona so it would just feel wrong. Maybe they can do a similar plot to Serena cutting her hair if they find the SV female protagonist's design to be too bland.

 

[Sai]

Oh please no.

No.

No.

No.

And again for very obligatory and unexplained reasons...

No.

The OC's I can deal with, but everything else, nope.

I just can't see Ash being in a game set mostly in open world. It also seems like the professors are exclusive to what game you buy, and the anime never takes sides and having Ash aligned with past or future ideals makes no sense for him.

I also figure the PWC is an easier way to keep Ash battling strong opponents so we don't have another BW-style reset coming. Ash days of battling normal Gyms, assuming the new game even has them, is probably over.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I just can't see Ash being in a game set mostly in open world. It also seems like the professors are exclusive to what game you buy, and the anime never takes sides and having Ash aligned with past or future ideals makes no sense for him.

I also figure the PWC is an easier way to keep Ash battling strong opponents so we don't have another BW-style reset coming. Ash days of battling normal Gyms, assuming the new game even has them, is probably over.

We barely even know much of what the new region has in store yet in terms of battles so I wouldn't exactly jump to conclusions just yet.

 

[Beatsy Ray]

I just can't see Ash being in a game set mostly in open world. It also seems like the professors are exclusive to what game you buy, and the anime never takes sides and having Ash aligned with past or future ideals makes no sense for him.

I also figure the PWC is an easier way to keep Ash battling strong opponents so we don't have another BW-style reset coming. Ash days of battling normal Gyms, assuming the new game even has them, is probably over.

I'm not sure how SV being open world would effect the anime in any way. It's not like the series has ever focused extensively on routes before. Ash and friends have mostly just traveled through ambiguous terrains to get from one town to the next. You could say the anime has always depicted the regions as "open world".

They could have easily stretched the PWC out for as long as they wanted, but the fact that they rushed through it in order to reach the climax at this point means they probably have no interest in continuing it.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The fact that they rushed through the first two classes of the PWC alone makes me doubt that they could just restart it. It wouldn't be impossible, but I don't think it's really that likely. I also still don't think doing the PWC on an endless loop would be any better than Gyms. If they didn't make use of the Galar Gym Leaders in the PWC or have Ash battle more consistently against strong established trainers until the Hyper Class, I don't think they'd do a better job with incorporating any new characters from Scarlet/Violet in another PWC.

As far as the Professors go, the anime will probably include both of them. They're version exclusives, but I don't think that would mean that the anime can only feature one or that Ash can't interact with one of them.

 

[Emmy]

The Professors being Version exclusives doesn’t strike me as a barrier given that both Bea and Alister showed up in Journeys.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

Also have said new characters appear MORE frequently as well cause Journeys has been bloody terrible with Galar. It's like a poor dog that got kicked to the side and left all alone.

Most of the gym leaders have no chance of appearing, Professor Magnolia hasn't been seen since the Darkest Day, Sonia's barely appeared (until JN100) and both Rose and Oleana must have gone off on an all paid once in a lifetime vacation for two at this rate.

 

[Sai]

Open world areas are hard to write stories around since they're basically about catching pokemon. Ash would have little reason to stick around and we have no idea if the game even has Gyms. We know Alola didn't and they didn't bother exploring half the islands outside a few eps.

I don't see Ash doing traditional Gyms ever again, so they'll have to do something new.

 

[isrrael120]

I can't really see them restarting the PWC again or how that could be engaging given how they handled it the first time around.

Journeys being the way it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it was totally ignored for the new series!

I can see Ash coming back with the gym challenges with no problem! -w-

 

[Hidden Mew]

Open world areas are hard to write stories around since they're basically about catching pokemon. Ash would have little reason to stick around and we have no idea if the game even has Gyms. We know Alola didn't and they didn't bother exploring half the islands outside a few eps.

I don't see Ash doing traditional Gyms ever again, so they'll have to do something new.

We don't know what the storyline is yet though. They've been focused on the open world aspect of the games, but I assume that there will be more to do than catching Pokemon. Legends Arceus still had a storyline even though the majority of the marketing was focused more on the open world and catching Pokemon and we still know extremely little about Scarlet/Violet.

The Island Trials weren't even the reason why Ash stayed Alola. He just liked the Pokemon School, seeing new Pokemon and making new friends. I don't think it would be that hard for them to figure out why Ash would want to stay in a new region.