do you think the anime will extend ash's retirement for another generation?

[Ethan17961]

when i read the manga "pocket monsters adventure" i liked the fact that every time a generation and launch of a new game they changed the protagonist, i support this idea of always rolling something new in the course of each ending. before ash left, i imagined myself the feeling of having ended a cycle and starting a new adventure with new people in the anime, as in the manga. now that the franchise has finally let him go for a rest, do you think the Pokemon Company will back down?

 

[UxieLover1994]

It kinda depends on if Horizons manages to be popular on its own terms, especially for western audiences. Ash and Pikachu's adventures were left open-ended with no real changes to the status quo as a fail-safe, after all. I wouldn't really be surprised if they returned as the main characters even before Generation X around 2025-2026.

 

[Rockapheller]

It kinda depends on if Horizons manages to be popular on its own terms, especially for western audiences. Ash and Pikachu's adventures were left open-ended with no real changes to the status quo as a fail-safe, after all. I wouldn't really be surprised if they returned as the main characters even before Generation X around 2025-2026.

The anime has already been in a decline every new series with Ash and Pikachu starring. I would not think that the lower ratings than Journeys series, if it were to happen, would have any influence on this decision alone.

 

[snowmint]

It's too early to tell.

 

[Pasio]

I think they're done with Ash being the main protagonist but will be sure to include him in future episodes every now and again, maybe even have an entire arc specializing in him or with him being in it. He left but they left all their windows open with the potential of how they could keep using him. Honestly anything could happen at this point. I'm just glad the anime has started to shift to focusing on its own route. Ash's own purpose has been burned out for a while because he's technically done just about everything critical to his own goals as the main protagonist. With new characters they can always give them a separate purpose from Ash, giving them a unique role that allows the directors to be much more creative with what they do and who they become as a person. They'll have a more difficult time figuring out how to make a proper return for Ash than on how to flesh out new characters.

 

[Jacob Barbale]

like ummmm? errobus

 

[Hidden Mew]

The anime has already been in a decline every new series with Ash and Pikachu starring. I would not think that the lower ratings than Journeys series, if it were to happen, would have any influence on this decision alone.

A part of me wonders if they would be more focused on the ratings this time around. Ratings in general aren't that important for a toyetic series like Pokemon and there would still be other factors for lower ratings, but if having new lead characters, something that both fans and non-fans have wanted for a long time, doesn't lead to better ratings, it would make me wonder what they were hoping to achieve with this change or how successful they were expecting Horizons to be.

As for the question at hand, I'm still positive that we'll see Ash again. He's too iconic and recognizable for them to not bring him back. The MPM finale being so open ended also made it pretty clear. I wouldn't expect him to get an appearance in Horizons for at least another year so that they have more time fleshing out its own status quo, but I could easily see him meeting Liko and Roy for a few episodes. I don't think it would be impossible for Ash to become the lead again either. Whether it would be main series Ash or AU Ash is up in the air, but I don't think it would be a stretch. A lot of it depends on how well Horizons does. The series seems to be well received so far, but it is still early in its run, so it's hard to tell for sure just yet, especially with western fans waiting for the dub.

 

[Sakuraa]

I think he's gone forever.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

The anime has already been in a decline every new series with Ash and Pikachu starring. I would not think that the lower ratings than Journeys series, if it were to happen, would have any influence on this decision alone.

Correct. OS had higher ratings than AG, AG had higher than DP, DP higher than BW, BW higher than XY, etc. even in Japan.

The dub's ratings also fell with each Series in the USA/Canada/Australia/UK etc, it used to get millions of viewers but before it went off the TV airwaves in the US on Disney XD for SM it was lucky to get 600k & it's unpopular in the United States nowadays, now a Netflix Exclusive in JN (imagine having to PAY money to watch it dubbed the way it is these days, no thanks).

Canada still has it on TV, funnily enough, but we don't anymore.

I'll say this, to answer TC's question, they'll bring back (cash cows) Ash & Pikachu if the ratings fall low enough IMO with Liko & Roy- if not, will continue the Yu-Gi-Oh/Beyblade/Digimon pre-Reboot route of new protagonists every Generation every 3-4 years to me.

 

[UxieLover1994]

The anime's decreasing popularity in the west could be due to being an emulation of 90s Saturday morning cartoons, and it never underwent modernization in its 26-year run even as arc-based shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, RWBY, and Star Wars Rebels became popular and mainstream. Even with this show's seasons/arcs, most of them never went anywhere because of the status quo, rendering them pointless in the end. Audiences would become disillusioned and discourage the next potential demographic from getting involved, decreasing ratings.

Although the franchise in general remains highly popular in Australia, the anime's popularity has collapsed. It doesn't even air on ABC's two child-dedicated channels anymore, and all merchandise with Ash on them is sold at very low price in discount retail stores because nobody will buy them.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The anime's decreasing popularity in the west could be due to being an emulation of 90s Saturday morning cartoons, and it never underwent modernization in its 26-year run even as arc-based shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, RWBY, and Star Wars Rebels became popular and mainstream. Even with this show's seasons/arcs, most of them never went anywhere because of the status quo, rendering them pointless in the end. Audiences would become disillusioned and discourage the next potential demographic from getting involved, decreasing ratings.

I think calling them pointless is pretty harsh. I have my doubts about the whole discouraging the next potential demographic from getting involved in the show too. If that was the case, I don't think that they would have waited so long to replace Ash. Besides that, I think that there would be other reasons for the decreased ratings, such as moving to different channels/timeslots and anime just not being as popular as it used to be in the west. People would often grow out of the anime, but I don't think that would lead them into telling kids to not bother watching it, or at least I don't think that would be typical enough to affect the ratings in the grand scheme of things.

 

[snowmint]

I'm sure there's barely any older people watching the current dub or hankering for a sub in the US at the moment with the way the anime has been presented for years in the US

 

[R.O.B.]

It's possible but I also see him relegating him to side stories/specials/movies. How are the Horizons ratings so far?

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

It's possible but I also see him relegating him to side stories/specials/movies. How are the Horizons ratings so far?

Supposedly above Journeys, but below OS-SM, last I heard on ANN: if they fall low enough, I think they’ll return back to form, but if they stay a bit above JN he’ll be done save cameos to me.

 

[Emelie]

If they wanted to they certainly could because there are a lot of unanswered questions such as what happened with the romance with Serena/Misty, if he ever defeated Tobias or took down Team Rocket etc.

But they didn't do any of that in Journeys or Aim to be a Pokémon Master. Much of it was filler and Go catching random Pokemon while the M8 was rushed and badly planned. I think they honestly stopped caring about Ash at the end.

 

[Hidden Mew]

If they wanted to they certainly could because there are a lot of unanswered questions such as what happened with the romance with Serena/Misty, if he ever defeated Tobias or took down Team Rocket etc.

I think that those were stuff that fans wanted, but those were never really the priority of the anime itself. Fans wanted a definitive answer for Ash's romance, but that was never going to go anywhere simply because these are ten year old characters. They weren't going to give Ash a girlfriend or a time skip where he's married with kids because that was never the point of his story. It's understandable why fans wanted that, but I think it's a bit much to say that the romance was an unanswered question.

Aside from people still being upset over the Sinnoh League, who cares if Ash ever defeated Tobias? He was never seen or mentioned again after the Sinnoh League, so I don't see how that was ever a question to bring up in the first place. It seems especially moot when Ash is a World Champion trainer, so whether or not he defeated Tobias, who was more of a plot device than an actual character, doesn't really matter. Defeating the Team Rocket organization was also never really treated as an objective. I'm sure at least part of it was so that they could keep the Team Rocket trio around, but I think that there was just a benefit of keeping one evil organization around just as a easy means of creating conflict or new antagonists if they wanted. It probably doesn't hurt that Team Rocket is the most iconic evil team in the franchise too.

These are less unanswered questions or unresolved plot points and more like want fans just wanted to see when they were never the main objective or priority for the anime.

But they didn't do any of that in Journeys or Aim to be a Pokémon Master. Much of it was filler and Go catching random Pokemon while the M8 was rushed and badly planned. I think they honestly stopped caring about Ash at the end.

While I have my fair share of issues with Journeys, I wouldn't go as far as to say that they stopped caring about Ash by the end. If that was the case, I don't think we would have gotten Aim to be a Pokemon Master or that they wouldn't have made a big deal about Ash's sendoff.

 

[Nichole the Otter]

The anime's decreasing popularity in the west could be due to being an emulation of 90s Saturday morning cartoons, and it never underwent modernization in its 26-year run even as arc-based shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, RWBY, and Star Wars Rebels became popular and mainstream. Even with this show's seasons/arcs, most of them never went anywhere because of the status quo, rendering them pointless in the end. Audiences would become disillusioned and discourage the next potential demographic from getting involved, decreasing ratings.

Although the franchise in general remains highly popular in Australia, the anime's popularity has collapsed. It doesn't even air on ABC's two child-dedicated channels anymore, and all merchandise with Ash on them is sold at very low price in discount retail stores because nobody will buy them.

Pokémon never aired on ABC here. It was originally on Ten but later moved to Nine in 2017, with BW, XY, SM, JN and OS Kanto/Orange Islands all having aired on 9Go!. They’ll probably pick up HZ as well.

(Australian speaking here BTW)

 

[DigitalGen6]

I watch Pokémon Journeys on Netflix and since the final(?) episodes are coming in less than a week, I can clarify that Ash’s journey in the West is almost over (and yet we still have Aim to Be A Pokémon Master, and thank Arceus that’s going to be dubbed and brought to the West)

 

[Nichole the Otter]

I watch Pokémon Journeys on Netflix and since the final(?) episodes are coming in less than a week, I can clarify that Ash’s journey in the West is almost over (and yet we still have Aim to Be A Pokémon Master, and thank Arceus that’s going to be dubbed and brought to the West)

It was definitely going to come to the US anyway. It’s just that Canada is so far ahead because they still air it on television rather than wait for Netflix to specifically release it.

 

[DigitalGen6]

It was definitely going to come to the US anyway. It’s just that Canada is so far ahead because they still air it on television rather than wait for Netflix to specifically release it.

IKR? This is why I want to go to Canada so I can watch the dubbed episodes and not have to wait a bazillion years (sarcasm) to watch them
I know where you can watch them without having to wait for them to get on Netflix (it’s a streaming website, I don’t think I should link it because I don’t want to get banned, but it has lots of episodes on there, even the ones that haven’t made it to Netflix yet, that’s where I watched a lot of the episodes before they went to Netflix)