Controversial opinions

[Sai]

Anyone think the sheer mass of companions Ash has now makes it harder to remember all of them and everything they did in the series? Ash has had 9 female companions now, about 7 male companions, etc. I know most people don't watch every series, but the sheer mass of characters now really does make it feel like some characters get lost in the shuffle. You can already see the generation gap in fans with older fans who grew up with say Misty, May or Dawn, and younger fans who grew up with Serena or the SM cast.

Now that there's been so many gens of the anime it feels like most companions just kinda get glossed over outside their core fan bases or whoever grew up with them.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

I don’t know if this is controversial, and I’ve said it before, but I’m tired of Ash staying eternally ten for 25 years which is why want him to age up and/or have a new protagonist. XYZ honestly seemed like the endgame for Ash. He didn’t look ten. He looked sixteen. The more mature and serious storyline. The connection and romantic hints between him and Serena. Ash-Greninja. Countless hints towards Ash winning the Kalos League. Tbh the XY finale felt unfinished for Ash, Serena, and Greninja and I would love to see a continuation of those three’s separate journeys and how the plot intertwines.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don’t know if this is controversial, and I’ve said it before, but I’m tired of Ash staying eternally ten for 25 years which is why want him to age up and/or have a new protagonist. XYZ honestly seemed like the endgame for Ash. He didn’t look ten. He looked sixteen. The more mature storyline. The connection and romantic hints between him and Serena. Ash-Greninja. Countless hints towards Ash winning the Kalos League. Tbh the XY finale felt unfinished for Ash, Serena, and Greninja and I would love to see a continuation of those three’s separate journeys and how the plot intertwines.

I honestly don't see how Ash looked like sixteen in XY. He certainly didn't act like a teenager. I wouldn't really call the storyline more mature either, or at least I don't think that is the most fitting way to describe it. It was more serious, especially during the Team Flare arc, but mature might be overselling it a bit.

 

[Eitarou]

People call him 16 because a concerning number of them have convinced themselves that XY is this dark, edgy, and mature show when in reality, it's no less kid-friendly than most other Pokemon shows.

 

[R1ke]

Tbh I never bought Ash and co being 10. Not cause they act more ‘mature’ but 10 just seems way too young for their designs. Like 10 year olds are tiny in real life lol. I always pictured them ~13-14, I think that’s closer to some of the in game protags as well. Like Bonnie and Max look like actual 10 year olds imo, as weird as that sounds

 

[SlyGecko]

Tbh I never bought Ash and co being 10. Not cause they act more ‘mature’ but 10 just seems way too young for their designs. Like 10 year olds are tiny in real life lol. I always pictured them ~13-14, I think that’s closer to some of the in game protags as well. Like Bonnie and Max look like actual 10 year olds imo, as weird as that sounds

The reason why is because the anime does age down characters to fit with the whole "trainers start their pokemon journey at 10" rule the anime came up with. For instance, May is 12 in the games, not 10. So they're basically taking characters who were designed to be older than 10, and making them 10

 

[Sai]

With the exception of characters who were a little older like Brock and Cilan, all the main characters have always looked 10 even in the original art styles. Only exception I'd give to is probably Mallow since in the game she was a teen but it was hard to de-age her design properly.

I never got the impression any of the girls looked older than 10, and Bonnie looked about 7 or 8. Whenever they stand next to adults everyone is short and tiny. Misty, May, Dawn, Iris, etc. definitely did not seem like they were any older than 10 years olds. They were all drawn age appropriate.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

Tbh I never bought Ash and co being 10. Not cause they act more ‘mature’ but 10 just seems way too young for their designs. Like 10 year olds are tiny in real life lol. I always pictured them ~13-14, I think that’s closer to some of the in game protags as well. Like Bonnie and Max look like actual 10 year olds imo, as weird as that sounds

I agree. Ash only started looking ten in SM. Even in OS he sounded and looked like a thirteen-fourteen year old. Especially in XY he could pass for even as old as 18.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I agree. Ash only started looking ten in SM. Even in OS he sounded and looked like a thirteen-fourteen year old. Especially in XY he could pass for even as old as 18.

Considering that he flat out said that he was ten at the start of the original series, I find it hard to believe that he looked and sounded like a teenager even back then. I can't say if he looked exactly like a ten year old boy, but he never looked or acted older than ten. The idea that Ash could pass as eighteen in XY is ridiculous to me. That is really overselling XY Ash. He isn't some serious mature character in that series. In the very first episode, he tripped on the stairs out of the airplane and threw a mini fit over not getting a Gym battle right away. Ash has always been a kid. He had his serious moments, but XY didn't make him a cool mature teenager. He could still be a goofy kid too focused on Pokemon to register anything else.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Considering that he flat out said that he was ten at the start of the original series, I find it hard to believe that he looked and sounded like a teenager even back then. I can't say if he looked exactly like a ten year old boy, but he never looked or acted older than ten. The idea that Ash could pass as eighteen in XY is ridiculous to me. That is really overselling XY Ash. He isn't some serious mature character in that series. In the very first episode, he tripped on the stairs out of the airplane and threw a mini fit over not getting a Gym battle right away. Ash has always been a kid. He had his serious moments, but XY didn't make him a cool mature teenager. He could still be a goofy kid too focused on Pokemon to register anything else.

True, but he definitely looked older than ten in the XY series.

 

[Eitarou]

Older? Maybe. 16? Definitely not. Like 13 at best.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Older? Maybe. 16? Definitely not. Like 13 at best.

Yeah, I can see that. He definitely had a teenager-type look about him.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

With the talks about Serena and her (possible) return, I want to say something: The kiss was an horrible choice.

I hate it, not because I don't like Ash x Serena, but because the writers wrote themselves into a corner by making it happen.

If they ignore it, or even go as far as like, idk, retconning the kiss out of existence (which, btw, I really don't think will happen buuuut is not impossible, let's be real), it's gonna rain hellfire. There's a very sizable, loud part of the fandom who will scream until the end of the times if they do.

But at the same time, they just can't do anything about it because that's not what Pokémon is about, and never was, and most likely than not won't ever be. It's not gonna go anywhere. Ash and Serena are not gonna date.

And this is yet another controversial opinion I have: I don't hate it, I swear, but Amourship was fated to fail imo.

They can't retcon the kiss. CAN'T. I would actually quit watching the Pokemon anime forever if they did that. At the very least, they have to bring up her feelings for him. It may not be the only facet of her personality, but it's too big to ignore.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I still feel like I'm one of the few people who don't think that the kiss is such a huge roadblock for Serena to comeback. Ignoring it would probably get fans of the ship upset, but since when have the writers cared that much about fan backlash to the point where that would be the main issue preventing a character from returning? Ash being clueless about Serena's feelings, if not just forgetting about the kiss completely, would be pretty fitting for his personality too. Even though I'm sure that they'd want have more ship teasing moments for Ash and Serena, there's still more that they could do with her beyond that.

More they could do with the ship too. If they get Yajima to write the episode with her returning, you better believe they'll mention the kiss, or just the ship in general.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Regardless of what they do with Serena it will be a shitstorm. And I’m one of those people who wants Amourshipping to happen and it was never destined to fail at the time because I thought Pokemon was turning a corner and going to age Ash and have him marry Serena... but that didn’t happen

It still can. I believe it in my heart, corny as that sounds. Don't forget, they've done a lot of things everyone thought they'd never do this series, so there's always hope.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I'm genuinely curious why you thought that Pokemon was going to have Ash age and marry Serena. I understand liking the pairing and wanting something like that to happen, but nothing about XY really made me think that it was building up to a huge timeskip with Ash and Serena married. Granted, I do remember a few people back in the day believing that Ash was to win the Kalos League and ride off into the sunset with Serena as his girlfriend too, but that also sounded pretty ridiculous to me back then.

Perhaps not in XY, but I still want those two to ride off into the sunset together. And is it really ridiculous, or romantic and adorable? (It's definitely the latter.)

 

[Hidden Mew]

True, but he definitely looked older than ten in the XY series.

Not really. I don't think he could have passed for anything much older than ten at least.

Perhaps not in XY, but I still want those two to ride off into the sunset together. And is it really ridiculous, or romantic and adorable? (It's definitely the latter.)

I can understand wanting to have them end up together, but the ridiculous part to me was more the notion that XY was building up to a timeskip with Ash and Serena married or that Ash and Serena would become a couple and travel off-screen together while a new lead took over for the following series. Neither idea was plausible and nothing about XY made me think that they were even remotely considering that.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I still find it upsetting that people dumb down Serena's character into nothing more than that stupid kiss and her crush on Ash. Absolutely nothing relating to her crush should be preventing her character from returning. There is a clear and obvious path for Serena to return in Journeys, but for some reason, it's always shot down because the kiss, for some reason, seems to be an impediment in her return. Journeys has made the promise of past companion returns and now we've gotten confirmation that Bonnie and Clemont are making a return. The only Eevee evolution that Chloe and her Eevee have yet to meet is Sylveon(and I think Leafeon as well, correct me if I'm wrong).

Serena not only has a Sylveon, but her entire story revolved around her figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. The main difference between her and Chloe is the Chloe has not even the slightest clue as to what she wants or is interested in, while Serena got into performing because it was surrounded by something that suited her interests(baking, performing, making things stylish, etc.). It would not only be interesting to draw the parallels between both girls(because I'm sure there are much, much more interesting dynamic than the one I mentioned), but their pokemon as well. Sylveon and Eevee have completely different personalities: it would be nice for Pokemon to emphasize how pokemon and humans work together as partners and as equals to help provide additional development for Eevee.

All her crush ever did for her character was give her an excuse to leave her house and go on her whole character journey in the first place. Hell, you could take out the crush aspect, say she only wanted to follow Ash because he was an old childhood friend, and nothing in the story would change. People bring up how that kiss was a re-affirmation of her newly gained confidence over the course of the saga, but it was really nothing more than a re-affirmation. It was also there to provide some semblance of closure to that minor quirk, but that's it.

Also, if Mimey can become Ash's pokemon just because the writers say so, then they can briefly gloss over the kiss to focus on more important things, like what Serena has been up to, how her team has been doing, how her old relationships with people like Palermo have influenced her even now, and how she will influence Chloe.

While I do respect what you're saying here, I think there are people out there who are indeed well aware that the crush was not the only aspect of Serena's character. That said, the crush was verrry prevelant throughout the entire XY series, you have to admit.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I can understand wanting to have them end up together, but the ridiculous part to me was more the notion that XY was building up to a timeskip with Ash and Serena married or that Ash and Serena would become a couple and travel off-screen together while a new lead took over for the following series. Neither idea was plausible and nothing about XY made me think that they were even remotely considering that.

Well, the finale of the Kalos League made it abudantly clear that wasn't going to happen. Don't forget, people thought Ash was going to win that league.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Well I just see the whole crush on Ash thing as being a part of Serena's character one the only part hell it isn't the main part but it is a part of her character.

Exactly. It may not be the all-encompassing trait that defines her very being, but it's still a major part of her character.