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Do you think Journeys is Ash's Swan Song?

Leon is the reigning champion, so he likely gets to keep his position. But random Joes like Ash would likely start from the bottom again.
The anime would basically become formulaic and stale again like it was several years ago. I don't think that the execs want that again after the failure of the XY movies.
 
The anime would basically become formulaic and stale again like it was several years ago. I don't think that the execs want that again after the failure of the XY movies.

It doesn’t have to be formulaic at all. Ash would fight new people and since they aren’t bound to any region, they have more then enough material to craft new and interesting storylines.

The current template gives them a lot of flexibility.
 
It doesn’t have to be formulaic at all. Ash would fight new people and since they aren’t bound to any region, they have more then enough material to craft new and interesting storylines.

The current template gives them a lot of flexibility.
It would pretty much be the same as the previous saga only with a new region thrown in to the mix.
 
The anime would basically become formulaic and stale again like it was several years ago. I don't think that the execs want that again after the failure of the XY movies.

I don't think that the failure of the XY movies have anything to do with the direction of the anime itself. They most likely were at least a factor as to why they've been doing something different with the movies since I Choose You, but I don't think that the box office results would necessarily indicate how people felt about the anime itself, especially when I think that the box offices results for the BW movies weren't that much better either. I can understand thinking that the anime was too formulaic before, although the franchise in general is formulaic by nature, but I don't see how it was stale exactly. Even with Ash starting from scratch every time, each series still felt pretty distinct to me with different ideas, characters and conflicts to deal with. Maybe it's just because I've never really lost interest in the anime, but I just have a hard time seeing the anime being stale exactly. It isn't like SM was the first time they tried doing something different with the anime.

I really can't see Ash being replaced. If they were going to do that, they should have done it by Johto or by AG at the latest. Ash has been the protagonist for well over twenty years. It is far too late to even consider replacing him by this point. Ash and Pikachu are well too iconic and marketable to be replaced. Replacing Ash would also get rid of Team Rocket. Even with their reduced screentime in mind, I don't think that they'd want to get rid of Team Rocket either. Given that they've recently been featured in two mobile games, one of which being a tie in to the upcoming movie, they're still popular too. I like Goh, but I don't think he could carry the show as the main lead and I don't really see them making a new character to take Ash's place down the road instead. I think people might be reading too much into the upcoming episode just because Ash and Pikachu aren't in the voice cast. It's a pretty strange sight to see them even getting a line, but it also sounds more like an exception than anything else to me given that it's a flashback episode.

As for the whole World Championship, while they could still find some different kind of goal for Ash to do in the next series, I honestly don't think it would be that strange for Ash to go back to regular Gym battles. It isn't just because I'd like the return to the more traditional journey format, but because they've kind of done it before. Ash won the Battle Frontier, which I'd still argue is his biggest accomplishment thus far, and was offered to become a Frontier Brain himself, but he turned it down in favor of continuing to travel and he went back to square one in DP. He defeated Darkrai in the Sinnoh League to become the honorary runner up and then an official runner up in the Kalos League only for him to start back with a fresh team right afterwards. To be fair, they are handling his team different this time around and aiming for the World Championship is a pretty noticeable difference than a new set of Gyms too, so I can see why people are wondering where Ash could go after the World Championship, but it just wouldn't surprised me if the writers aren't really concerned about that for a few reasons. There wasn't really a probelm with putting Ash on such a high peak at the end of one series only to have him a fresh start with a new series before.
 
There's going to be an episode where Ash is full blown absent, along with Gou possibly catching a Pikachu for himself. It's possible that Gou might take over as the anime's new main protagonist after Journeys.
Not gonna lie, I can’t really think of anything more boring happening. We’re over 30 episodes in and the writers just haven’t done anything to make Go all that interesting. Pokémon Go capture mechanics and spam catches don’t make for entertaining episodes to watch and the Pokémon he catches barely doing anything makes it hard to care about any of them since at that point they’re just moving background 95% of the time. At that point, what do they have to actually make Go interesting as a protagonist?
 
The anime is in a very unique situation right now:

1. A quantitative way of becoming the best one in the world has been introduced.
2. The person in the top is a character from the current generation of games, which going by history has low chances of being relevant next generation (Only Blue and Cynthia were, and neither were the champion of the next region).
3. That person already as a rival-like relationship with Ash.

So logic would say that Ash would beat Leon in the finals, but I don't think the writers would be that predictable and there's probably some kind of twist we can't see yet. And even if Ash won, it's possible that his champion status could be twisted to do something different with him like it has happened for two series in a row.

It's hard to talk about Goh having his own adventures and his own Pikachu, because those episodes haven't even aired. But it's clear that he's more important than other companions and it's certainly possible that the staff will do more with him in the future if the app keeps its popularity.
 
So logic would say that Ash would beat Leon in the finals, but I don't think the writers would be that predictable and there's probably some kind of twist we can't see yet.
Ash beating Leon is expected by most shows logic, but I think a lot of us are going into this expecting him to either lose to some random guy in the round after Leon because of series precedent or for Leon to be Alain 2.0.

To be honest a real twist would be to introduce some rando who isn't from the games right before the tournament, put him on the other side of the bracket from Ash in the tournament, make him the last opponent after Leon and then Ash wins anyways. I think that would genuinely be the most unexpected outcome.

It's hard to talk about Goh having his own adventures and his own Pikachu, because those episodes haven't even aired. But it's clear that he's more important than other companions and it's certainly possible that the staff will do more with him in the future if the app keeps its popularity.
I'm basically convinced now that Gou is intended to last several serieses, regardless of whether or not Ash is leaving.
 
I'm basically convinced now that Gou is intended to last several serieses, regardless of whether or not Ash is leaving.

I really can't see that. It's more plausible than replacing Ash, but I don't know if I could see Goh lasting for multiple series. While he isn't an eighth generation character from the games, his main partner is Raboot and Sobble might be featured more frequently as well, so he is still tied to the current generation, even if it is more minor compared to other companions. Granted, it's really early to say where they're going with Goh for sure either way. It hasn't even been a full year since Journeys started, but based on what I've seen and heard, I don't think I could see Goh lasting through multiple series.

I also think fans might be reading too much into Goh getting his own Pikachu. His goal is to capture every Pokemon in order to find Mew. Putting aside how I feel about the goal for the moment, he'd eventually end up getting a popular and marketable Pokemon like Pikachu with that kind of setup. Now I don't think that he'll actually capture every Pokemon and I wouldn't be surprised if they have Goh's Pikachu evolve into Raichu just to make it more distinct from Ash's Pikachu, but I don't think that's an indication of Goh becoming the new main lead.
 
I saw this thread title and laughed like 'Hah, every series...'

Then I read next week's cast list.

I know only this: the TRio appeared in every episode until BW and episodes without them were a trial for them being removed from the show.

Of course, even if they planned to eradicate the TRio in BW they decided against it so I don't think Satoshi is quite on the cliff edge yet but...

Rica and Ikue's very first absence from a regular episode's cast list is alarming.
 
Gou's goal is endless. He can keep chasing Mew

I saw this thread title and laughed like 'Hah, every series...'

Then I read next week's cast list.

I know only this: the TRio appeared in every episode until BW and episodes without them were a trial for them being removed from the show.

Of course, even if they planned to eradicate the TRio in BW they decided against it so I don't think Satoshi is quite on the cliff edge yet but...

Rica and Ikue's very first absence from a regular episode's cast list is alarming.
Its just odd. And he getting his own Pikachu alarms me even more
 
While Go’s goal of catching every Pokémon is endless until Pokémon ends for real, it only really works in the region-traveling fashion that this series follows because he catches Pokémon from all regions and he won’t be able to complete his current Poke Dex in just 3 seasons. We’ll most likely return to focusing on the new region again next series.
 
While Go’s goal of catching every Pokémon is endless until Pokémon ends for real, it only really works in the region-traveling fashion that this series follows because he catches Pokémon from all regions and he won’t be able to complete his current Poke Dex in just 3 seasons. We’ll most likely return to focusing on the new region again next series.

And he doesn't have lead material at all, hard to get excited for anything he catches as it immediately gets boxed. While Ash will at least use it until the saga ends and will appear again unless stricken with Kingler/Noctowl level of luck when Ash digs out his reserves
 
Pokemon without Ash is like DB without Goku or Naruto without... Naruto, or OPM without Saitama and so on. You can't replace the literal face of the anime.

There's no way they'll drop him, at most they'll give him a role like Naruto does to Boruto. Imposing, strong and ever present, and at the same time paving the way for another protagonist.
It's not like it would ever happen but I could see them pulling a Yu-Gi-Oh GX where we still have new characters but we would still get Ash, Pikachu, Jessie, James and Meowth every now and then much like how Yugi, Seto Kaiba, the Paradox brothers and a couple of others were treated, which speaking of which...
No.

But I can see the series becoming less Ash-centric. I would not be surprised if they revisit the school setting from SM in the future, but expand on it. Maybe for the next series Ash enters a Battle Academy?
Pokémon GX: "Get your game on!"
 
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Leon is the reigning champion, so he likely gets to keep his position. But random Joes like Ash would likely start from the bottom again.
I don't think so. Lance lost in the finals but he is still in the Master Class. The same would happen to Ash if he lost.
 
I don't think so. Lance lost in the finals but he is still in the Master Class. The same would happen to Ash if he lost.
You know, that plot point really makes you realize how poorly they’ve explained this competition. How exactly does one actually win it overall because it just kinda seems like once you’re in the Master Class, the various members can just challenge the top brass as much as they like. Is there some time limit to the competition itself or does it just literally go on forever?
 
You know, that plot point really makes you realize how poorly they’ve explained this competition. How exactly does one actually win it overall because it just kinda seems like once you’re in the Master Class, the various members can just challenge the top brass as much as they like. Is there some time limit to the competition itself or does it just literally go on forever?
They said that at the end of each championship season, there is an 8-way tournament between each trainer in the Master Class. Based off that, I think that even if someone beats Leon outside of the tournament, they will take the #1 slot but won't have earned the "world champion" title. You need to win the actual tournament for that.

That's all well and good, but that doesn't explain why someone already in the master class, like Raihan, would have anything to gain from challenging another master class trainer outside of the tournament. Unless you get some sort of bonus depending on your rank, like in Mario Kart where the previous winner gets the advantage of starting in front of everyone else during the next race.
 
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That's all well and good, but that doesn't explain why someone already in the master class, like Raihan, would have anything to gain from challenging another master class trainer outside of the tournament. Unless you get some sort of bonus depending on your rank, like in Mario Kart where the previous winner gets the advantage of starting in front of everyone else during the next race.
The bonus for your rank might be like real tournaments and use a seeding technique.

As I understand, the "best" (highest ranked) contestant is pitted against the lowest, the second highest against the second lowest, and so on. The idea is to hopefully end strong with the final being between the two best, and to reward the highest scores by putting them against worse opponents early on to increase their chance of getting further.
Defeating another Master-class is probably worth a lot of points, so it can improve your seeding placement.
 
I don't think so but this series would be perfect for that. Satoshi could beat the champions with both his new and old Pokémon, revist past locations and maybe even Cotd and old companions. I think it's possible to give him a satisfying ending in this series if they wanted to. Maybe all the nostalgiabait could actually lead to something plot-relevant eventually.

There could even be some romance if they wanted to make the shippers hyped since Amourshipping /Serena is still popular or maybe Pokeshipping/Kasumi since it appeals to older nostalgic fans since they seem to be the target audience (along with younger kids).

I could also imagine Satoshi going on a journey with his kid in the next series. Lately they seem to advertise a lot to nostalgic parents and their kids like Pokémon Smile and that feature in Let's Go where you can team up with another player (and make the game even easier than it already is :p ) which was intended for younger kids who needed help by their parents.

They seem to be focusing less on female characters so my guess is that Satoshi's kid/the new protagonist would be a boy. Hopefully not a clone of Satoshi though. If they want a sad/angsty plot they could focus on how Satoshi never knew his own dad which might affect how he interacts with his kid (SM focused a lot on sad stuff while Journeys seems to be focusing on family drama/jealousy a lot - this plot would combine these themes).
 
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