Controversial opinions

[Hidden Mew]

I still don't see them bringing back Ash's reserves for the Master Class. It is entirely possible and it would be a natural way to include his older Pokemon, but if Ash's current team gets him to the Master Class and they've already reached the Hyper Class together, I don't really see why he'd rely on his older Pokemon for the last stretch of the tournament. I just don't think it's particularly likely given how they've handled his current team and haven't used Ash's reserves since DP.

 

[PikachuSmasher]

I fully believe we’ll see Ash use older Pokemon when we hit Master Class. The season has been reminding us of Ash’s old Pokémon regularly with the Oak’s lab ep, Alola lab ep, Infernape, Bayleef during the Chuck flashback, Torterra during the Volkner flashback, and I think we’ll see Greninja at some point. The writers wouldn’t be bothering to bring them up and would just ignore them if they didn’t want to remind kids Ash has an arsenal of old Pokémon.

I don’t believe at all his current team will be used only at the end. It’s happening now because they never have Ash use old Pokémon as a series is going on. Remember this season isn’t locked into any generation, so to show Pokémon from all gens he’ll use some old ones.

The only surefire thing so far is Pikachu vs Leon’s Charizard will likely be the final climatic match of the series.

As much as I would like it, it is unlikely. Ash came to the Hyper Class relying on this team and in the Master Class, he just needs to send a message to Leon challenging him for the Monarch Title. If Ash was to use his old team, it would’ve been in the Hyper Class, but since Ash is rank 64, there are at least 2 more battles left for him in this class, one will be Bea’s and the other is currently unknown. Ash isn’t getting to Leon anytime soon unless the Bea battle is the deciding match and even if he does, they won’t give him the battle until at least mid 2022 since the series is slated to end in 2023. Plus, there’d be a lot of controversy. Ash’s Lucario is getting Mega evolution, a controversy itself, but Ash not using it in the Leon match and just for Bea will be a waste of the whole thing. Same for other members like Gengar who probably won’t be winning much, him not being used will show how much the writers cared about this team.

 

[Hidden Mew]

As much as I would like it, it is unlikely. Ash came to the Hyper Class relying on this team and in the Master Class, he just needs to send a message to Leon challenging him for the Monarch Title. If Ash was to use his old team, it would’ve been in the Hyper Class, but since Ash is rank 64, there are at least 2 more battles left for him in this class, one will be Bea’s and the other is currently unknown. Ash isn’t getting to Leon anytime soon unless the Bea battle is the deciding match and even if he does, they won’t give him the battle until at least mid 2022 since the series is slated to end in 2023. Plus, there’d be a lot of controversy. Ash’s Lucario is getting Mega evolution, a controversy itself, but Ash not using it in the Leon match and just for Bea will be a waste of the whole thing. Same for other members like Gengar who probably won’t be winning much, him not being used will show how much the writers cared about this team.

There hasn't been any confirmation on when Journeys is going to end, so it isn't slated to end in 2023. It's certainly possible, but it is far from confirmed. I can still see the series ending next year quite easily. I don't think that they'll wait that long for Ash to get into the Master Class or get his battle with Leon. He's already in the Hyper Class and that happened roughly in the middle of Journeys' second year. I have my doubts that they're going to take more time with the Hyper and Master Class when Journeys is way too fast paced for its own good. A lot of this also depends on when we get the next generation, but I can't really see them stretching out the PWC for that long.

 

[Enzo]

I feel like the JN team faces a very difficult dilemma:

Yes, bringing reserves back would take away screen time from the JN team away and these guys cannot afford to not have their time on the screen. They are already being poorly used and there's a chance the reserves would suffer the same treatment, especially considering Infernape was marketed to Hell and back and some older fans came back just to see it and yet it didn't to anything and was pretty much pointless besides cheap nostalgia for the views.

But on the other hand tho... I for one cannot possibly see this team winning battles for Ash on the higher tiers (read- Elite 4 members and Champions such as Cynthia). I'm sorry, but this team doesn't have a shot against Cynthia and/or Leon. No way in hell Lucario, or Sirfetch'd, or Gengar, or anyone on this team can take Garchomp or Charizard or any of their Pokémon down in a belivable way. Sorry not sorry. Nothing in the canon text can convince me this team is Champion-level.

It's just... it's such a complicated situation, really. Ugh.

 

[Sai]

It’s not that complicated, Ash can use a mix of older Pokémon and current ones later in the tournament. They did the same in the Sinnoh league, where most of Ash’s DP pokemon only got 1 battle each besides a few. Did anyone really care that his DP team didn’t get all the Sinnoh league battles? Because I didn’t.

Infernape was only used in the Paul match. Torterra as well where it lost with no win. Gliscor and Buizel only got 1 battle in the league. Only Gible and oddly Staraptor were used twice. If anything most people don’t seem to care Ash’s Sinnoh Pokemon hardly got battles in their own league so I don’t see what the issue is.

 

[Enzo]

It’s not that complicated, Ash can use a mix of older Pokémon and current ones later in the tournament. They did the same in the Sinnoh league, where most of Ash’s DP pokemon only got 1 battle each besides a few. Did anyone really care that his DP team didn’t get all the Sinnoh league battles? Because I didn’t.

Infernape was only used in the Paul match. Torterra as well where it lost with no win. Gliscor and Buizel only got 1 battle in the league. Only Gible and oddly Staraptor were used twice. If anything most people don’t seem to care Ash’s Sinnoh Pokemon hardly got battles in their own league so I don’t see what the issue is.

I feel like the only issue with that argument is that, unlike the JN team, the DP team got development. They had arcs, motives, they battled the whole series, even poor Torterra got something. His current team doesn't simply because the writers refuse to do so.

So the DP team sharing the spotlight with Ash's reserves didn't hurt them. At all. While that would be very cool to see in the current series and probably the safest option, I'm not exactly sure it would go down as smoothly.

 

[Sai]

Yes that’s true, but it’s obvious the writers don’t intend Ash’s current team to get much screentime outside of select battles anyway. So nothing will change by the end of the series most likely. Also next year is the 25th anniversary of the anime, it would be fitting to see a lot of Ash’s old Pokémon return.

I honestly believe Infernape will be used in the inevitable Cynthia match so I believe we’ll be seeing some old Pokémon used regardless.

 

[Hidden Mew]

It’s not that complicated, Ash can use a mix of older Pokémon and current ones later in the tournament. They did the same in the Sinnoh league, where most of Ash’s DP pokemon only got 1 battle each besides a few. Did anyone really care that his DP team didn’t get all the Sinnoh league battles? Because I didn’t.

Infernape was only used in the Paul match. Torterra as well where it lost with no win. Gliscor and Buizel only got 1 battle in the league. Only Gible and oddly Staraptor were used twice. If anything most people don’t seem to care Ash’s Sinnoh Pokemon hardly got battles in their own league so I don’t see what the issue is.

I think that there's a big difference considering that Ash's DP team had a lot more consistent focus prior to the Sinnoh League. Plus, even with using his reserves, most of his DP team got a chance to shine during the Sinnoh League too. They weren't used a lot, but given their focus throughout DP and they were still used in the battle against Paul, the most important battle of the Sinnoh League, I don't think most fans were upset with their minimal amount of battles during that League. With Ash's Journeys team not getting much attention outside of battles, they kind of need as much screentime as they can get, so sharing it with Ash's reserves would kind of make the problem worse, not better.

If they didn't rush through Ash getting to the Hyper Class with off-screen matches, maybe I'd find the idea of Ash using reserves more believable. I should also be clear that I'm not against the idea or find it impossible. I just can't really see why he'd need to do that when his current team already got him to the Hyper Class and I assume they'll get him to the Master Class too. It just feels unlikely to me with how his current team has been handled and how they haven't used his reserves in ages. I could be wrong, but showcasing some of Ash's older Pokemon simply for fanservice and nothing more would also really fit.

 

[Daren]

I could be wrong, but showcasing some of Ash's older Pokemon simply for fanservice and nothing more would also really fit.

I think using his reserves would have strong thematic connection with a world tour series and would not just be fanservice.
And as I've argued before it would be nice to give them another shot when a bunch of them ended their story by losing soley because they were born in the wrong generation, regardless of how hard they trained.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think using his reserves would have strong thematic connection with a world tour series and would not just be fanservice.
And as I've argued before it would be nice to give them another shot when a bunch of them ended their story by losing soley because they were born in the wrong generation, regardless of how hard they trained.

I can understand that thematic connection, but at the same time, Journeys doesn't particularly handle the world tour aspect particularly well, so I'm not sure if they'd be really interested in doing that. It would be nice to give some of his older Pokemon a chance to shine. I'd be thrilled if Ash's Quilava could actually get a good battle or even evolve into a Typhlosion, but I'm not betting any money for anything like that to happen with any of his reserves.

 

[Enzo]

This is more of a controversial confession rather than a controversial opinion, but I feel like it fits here too.

I'm so divided because in one hand I'm like ''I hope JN is Ash's last series so I have an excuse not to watch future series if they are bad" and on the other I'm like ''Please, I'm begging whatever powerful force is out there: Don't let this trainwreck of a series be Ash's finale. He deserves more than this."

 

[Sai]

While I don’t think this is the end, the saga works well for an Ash sendoff. As long as the Master Class battles are handled well I’m be content with the saga overall. The only thing they really need to do is focus on Ash’s Pokémon outside of battles more. I’m mixed on Go’s goal but I can tolerate it so it doesn’t matter to me what they do with him. They’ve handled everyone else fine and I do believe we’ll see the other Galar Gym leaders at some point, even if they’re outside the PWC and in other roles like Opal is which is fine by me.

 

[Blob]

Considering that we've had two episodes that featured Ash's older Pokemon, mainly the first Alola trip and the Infernape episode, saying that they want to erase his reserves from existence doesn't make sense. I can understand the relevance issue since the chances are pretty good that he isn't going to use them for any PWC match, but they aren't ignored completely either.

As much as I can understand and agree with the issues on Ash's team, I don't see how binging in his reserves would be necessarily better or an improvement, especially for new fans watching Journeys who don't have the emotional attachment to those reserves. It wouldn't really fix the issues people have with Ash's Journeys team either. The solution should ideally be to give Ash's current team something to do. I understand why people are frustrated when they seemingly aren't interested in doing that and to be fair, this issue is related to all of the Pokemon in the series, not just Ash's team. Unless Pokemon are captured or evolving, they don't usually get much focus, but I think that hoping for Ash to just use his older Pokemon isn't really a good solution to this problem either.

Not all of Ash's older Pokémon were SEEN in the Infernape episode though. Poor Torkoal and Torterra didn't show up at all and as far as we know, they moved to join the turtle race.

The World Coronation will also only have 3 3 Vs. 3 matches (as long as Ash wins his first 2), which just feels like an excuse to not bring back his older Pokémon. It's even SHORTER than regional league battles and I can see there being a total of 0 6 Vs. 6 battles in Journies. This is really dumb considering this is meant to be the "big leagues".

 

[Blob]

I fully believe we’ll see Ash use older Pokemon when we hit Master Class. The season has been reminding us of Ash’s old Pokémon regularly with the Oak’s lab ep, Alola lab ep, Infernape, Bayleef during the Chuck flashback, Torterra during the Volkner flashback, and I think we’ll see Greninja at some point. The writers wouldn’t be bothering to bring them up and would just ignore them if they didn’t want to remind kids Ash has an arsenal of old Pokémon.

I don’t believe at all his current team will be used only at the end. It’s happening now because they never have Ash use old Pokémon as a series is going on. Remember this season isn’t locked into any generation, so to show Pokémon from all gens he’ll use some old ones.

The only surefire thing so far is Pikachu vs Leon’s Charizard will likely be the final climatic match of the series.

In that case why did he need to catch any new Pokémon for Journies at all? He could have exclusively used reserves which would make the lack of development and screen time make more sense.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Not all of Ash's older Pokémon were SEEN in the Infernape episode though. Poor Torkoal and Torterra didn't show up at all and as far as we know, they moved to join the turtle race.

That's a fair point. My main focus was how the idea that they're erasing Ash's older Pokemon doesn't make sense when we've had two episodes where most of them have been featured. Just because some of his older Pokemon didn't show up doesn't mean that they're erased from existence either

The World Coronation will also only have 3 3 Vs. 3 matches (as long as Ash wins his first 2), which just feels like an excuse to not bring back his older Pokémon. It's even SHORTER than regional league battles and I can see there being a total of 0 6 Vs. 6 battles in Journies. This is really dumb considering this is meant to be the "big leagues".

For me, the shorter matches in the first half of the tournament felt more like an excuse to make the battles short enough to where they aren't the main focus of an episode or that they could cram in as many battles as they could. I still wouldn't be shocked if Ash vs. Leon is just Pikachu vs. Charizard. Even with the trainers in the Hyper and Master class in mind, it's hard for me to see the PWC as the "big leagues" in a way given how most of Ash's opponents in the first half were random one-shot trainers. Not to mention all of the off-screen battles. The PWC still has plenty of time to improve, but it had a rocky start for me to say the least.

I also highly doubt that Journeys is going to be Ash's last series. I can't really imagine them replacing their iconic lead character after over twenty years. Besides that, people have been saying that every series will be Ash's last series for decades. That's been a common topic of conversation, particularly during the announcement of a new generation, for a long time. I even remember people speculating that Ash would be on Mt. Silver like Red early on in Johto. After seeing people speculate that Ash will be replaced with every series since the original one, it's harder for me to really buy into the notion that he could be gone after Journeys, even with the PWC and giving him a Mega Lucario.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I’m not a fan about how Ash gets all these gimmicks. It seems like they are making him too OP too drastically as in Kalos the status quo said you lose even though he had Ash Greninja, which was fine.
Now they are giving him a Mega, two dynamax, and an overpowered Nuke.
Like a gimmick couldn’t help him win the Kalos League.

 

[Sai]

The World Coronation will also only have 3 3 Vs. 3 matches (as long as Ash wins his first 2), which just feels like an excuse to not bring back his older Pokémon. It's even SHORTER than regional league battles and I can see there being a total of 0 6 Vs. 6 battles in Journies. This is really dumb considering this is meant to be the "big leagues".

Where did you get this from? We have no idea how many matches we’re getting going forward, and Hyper Class was confirmed in the Volkner episode to all be 3 on 3’s. Master Class will likely be an increase over this, and again we don’t know who Ash will be facing or if things will change. The 1 on 1’s with the champions we had is because there’s obviously not going to be long 6 on 6 battles early in the series without Ash participating.

I don’t know why you think we’re going to get less battles than a standard league since Ash usually only has 4 on-screen battles each league anyway. Hell the Kalos league only showed us 2 full battles after the preliminaries, and Sinnoh only had 4 battles on-screen for Ash (Nando, Conway, Paul and Tobias).

 

[Blob]

For me, the shorter matches in the first half of the tournament felt more like an excuse to make the battles short enough to where they aren't the main focus of an episode or that they could cram in as many battles as they could. I still wouldn't be shocked if Ash vs. Leon is just Pikachu vs. Charizard. Even with the trainers in the Hyper and Master class in mind, it's hard for me to see the PWC as the "big leagues" in a way given how most of Ash's opponents in the first half were random one-shot trainers. Not to mention all of the off-screen battles. The PWC still has plenty of time to improve, but it had a rocky start for me to say the least.

I also highly doubt that Journeys is going to be Ash's last series. I can't really imagine them replacing their iconic lead character after over twenty years. Besides that, people have been saying that every series will be Ash's last series for decades. That's been a common topic of conversation, particularly during the announcement of a new generation, for a long time. I even remember people speculating that Ash would be on Mt. Silver like Red early on in Johto. After seeing people speculate that Ash will be replaced with every series since the original one, it's harder for me to really buy into the notion that he could be gone after Journeys, even with the PWC and giving him a Mega Lucario.

I think you misunderstood my point. 3 Vs. 3 is 3 Pokémon Vs. 3 Pokémon per match. My problem is it should all be 6 Vs. 6 fights.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think you misunderstood my point. 3 Vs. 3 is 3 Pokémon Vs. 3 Pokémon per match. My problem is it should all be 6 Vs. 6 fights.

Aside from Volkner, I don't think we've had any other three-on-three matches in the PWC. If we had more three-on-three from the start, that would have potentially improved the PWC for me. I can understand wanting every match to be a full battle when the PWC is supposed to be a big deal and having full battles would be a better indication of a trainer's strength than a one-on-one or two-on-two match would. However, I think that's a bit too much. As cool as the idea of a series full of six-on-six matches sounds, it wouldn't really work. I doubt that the writers have enough time and more importantly budget to make that many full battles look good. Given the rush pacing of Journeys, I don't think that they'd have the patience for multiple full battles. Plus, it would be better to save that for the end of the PWC to give it a more climatic finish.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Honestly, the events that have occurred and have been revealed over the last week (mainly today) have disgusted me. I hate how Ash is given a Mega, G-Max, and the Nuke all within the span of ten episodes, it’s a ploy. I could write a 30 page essay on how the Pokémon anime is so deeply in shit that it may be best to cancel it and start from scratch.