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Dogasu's Backpack Discussion

That last interview was a lot better than the ones before it. I always hate reading voice actor interviews because alot of them contain the same things, like the voice actors telling people to keep watching the show because of the exciting things that will happen in the future or them talking about how they've been a Pokemon fan ever since they were kids.
 
That was a really interesting interview. I kind of love the answer the director got for what a Pokemon Master means. It was just surprisingly blunt about what has been a vague goal for ages that I laughed for a moment. It's interesting that they don't know if Ash battling Leon will happen yet, but I assume that they're not anywhere near close to planning on what would happen near the end of the series yet. The comment about Ash being a bit gloomy because he didn't have a title prior to SM seems kind of weird to me. SM Ash and Journeys Ash aren't really that different in terms of being upbeat and happy. Plus, aside from losing the Indigo League and maybe the Johto League, Ash was never that sad over not having his own title. It's also kind of annoying that even his Orange Island and Battle Frontier Champion titles apparently aren't counted either.

I do agree that episode five showed how good the teamwork is between Ash and Goh, as well as a good episode for Goh. I just watched it yesterday, as I'm still being too old fashioned for my own good with watching the dub one week at a time, but it was a really good episode that established a bond between Goh and Scorbunny quite nicely.

I'm also really happy that he did basically confirm that the other Galar Gym Leaders will show up in the anime at some point. That might have been obvious when they introduced Raihan, but confirmation is still nice. It's still a shame that Ash isn't going through Galar to do a proper Gym Challenge, but if the Gym Leaders show up for the World Championship and he ideally still gets to battle them, then that works too. Galar has the best set of Gym Leaders, at least in terms of overall designs, in my opinion, so it would be a shame if they never appeared in the anime. On the bright side, this format should make it easier to showcase the version exclusive Gym Leaders instead of sticking to just one set from the games.
 
It's interesting that they don't know if Ash battling Leon will happen yet, but I assume that they're not anywhere near close to planning on what would happen near the end of the series yet.
To be honest I think that was to avoid spoiling anything rather than an accurate statement that he doesn't know. Leon's being built up as the final boss way too much for me to think it's left up in the air.

The comment about Ash being a bit gloomy because he didn't have a title prior to SM seems kind of weird to me. SM Ash and Journeys Ash aren't really that different in terms of being upbeat and happy. Plus, aside from losing the Indigo League and maybe the Johto League, Ash was never that sad over not having his own title. It's also kind of annoying that even his Orange Island and Battle Frontier Champion titles apparently aren't counted either.
It felt a bit like an answer from nowhere to answer the interviewer's question rather than something that was ever being written into the show, especially with the "maybe" at the end. I can't really accept it without on-screen evidence.

I find it unfortunate the OI and Frontier get overlooked but it's increasingly clear neither really meant anything for Ash's story and were just intended as a way to close out an "in between" year (I think in the OI's case that may not have been intended at the time since they probably thought the show would end with Johto).
 
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To be honest I think that was to avoid spoiling anything rather than an accurate statement that he doesn't know. Leon's being built up as the final boss way too much for me to think it's left up in the air.

That's certainly possible. I just wouldn't be too shocked if Ash doesn't end up battling Leon in a way because of how much he's being built up.

Daren said:
It felt a bit like an answer from nowhere to answer the interviewer's question rather than something that was ever being written into the show, especially with the "maybe" at the end. I can't really accept it without on-screen evidence.

I find it unfortunate the OI and Frontier get overlooked but it's increasingly clear neither really meant anything for Ash's story and were just intended as a way to close out an "in between" year (I think in the OI's case that may not have been intended at the time since they probably thought the show would end with Johto).

I'm not sure how much the Alola League victory really means for Ash's story at this point either. I guess the production team, or at least this director, sees Ash getting a League title as a big deal, but how much that really affects Ash's story at this point is still kind of up in the air at this point. He's doing something different in Journeys, but it isn't because of his Alola League Champion title and I don't think it has been brough up aside from that shot of his bedroom full of his trophies and badges from previous series.
 
So the gym leaders will make his appearence sooner and later...

It's a good thing but compressing 10 - 12 gym battles may be hard so my idea if that instead of having Gym battles he might have tournament battles in back to back episodes.

The next galar episodes might show something about it.
 
That's certainly possible. I just wouldn't be too shocked if Ash doesn't end up battling Leon in a way because of how much he's being built up.
I think the show is putting too much focus on Ash wanting to battle Leon for it not to happen (a recent episode had a scene that'll be really pointless if they never have the big showdown)--that said after what happened (or rather didn't) with the GS ball who knows?


I'm not sure how much the Alola League victory really means for Ash's story at this point either. I guess the production team, or at least this director, sees Ash getting a League title as a big deal, but how much that really affects Ash's story at this point is still kind of up in the air at this point. He's doing something different in Journeys, but it isn't because of his Alola League Champion title and I don't think it has been brough up aside from that shot of his bedroom full of his trophies and badges from previous series.
In episode 2 Ash seems to call himself the "Alola champion" when arguing with Gou over the bunk (it's a bit tricky to make out since Gou's talking too, but I'm fairly sure I heard it when I checked a clip), but I read it was cut from the dub for some reason.

I don't think it'll be too important in-universe, but I don't think they'd have done the world championship storyline if Ash hadn't won the Alola league. While the OI and the Frontier had zero impact on the series going forward--he kept doing badge quests for a decade after.
 
The comment about Ash being a bit gloomy because he didn't have a title prior to SM seems kind of weird to me. SM Ash and Journeys Ash aren't really that different in terms of being upbeat and happy. Plus, aside from losing the Indigo League and maybe the Johto League, Ash was never that sad over not having his own title. It's also kind of annoying that even his Orange Island and Battle Frontier Champion titles apparently aren't counted either.
I didn't really take it mean that when I read it. My interpretation is that Ash was more focused on proving himself in previous series', but now he is more self-assured and relaxed after winning a league.
 
Gou's "I want to capture Mew" dream is similar in that the adults who make this show set up this big, ambiguous goal for him and then spend each episode working to fill in the gaps.
It seems like my theory of Go not actually getting Mew and getting a “its the friends we make along the way that matter” ending is going to be true.
 
In episode 2 Ash seems to call himself the "Alola champion" when arguing with Gou over the bunk (it's a bit tricky to make out since Gou's talking too, but I'm fairly sure I heard it when I checked a clip), but I read it was cut from the dub for some reason.

It was definitely cut from the dub. It seems like such a weird choice for Ash to just casually bring it up while he was arguing over the bunk.

Daren" said:
I don't think it'll be too important in-universe, but I don't think they'd have done the world championship storyline if Ash hadn't won the Alola league. While the OI and the Frontier had zero impact on the series going forward--he kept doing badge quests for a decade after.

I wouldn't say that that they had zero impact exactly, at least with the Orange Islands. Defeating the Champion made Ash overconfident and then losing to Gary made him more motivated to go onto the Johto League. He kept doing badge quests not because his other accomplishments didn't mean anything, but because Ash still wanted to explore new places, meet new Pokemon and make new friends. He still basically does that minus the focus on Gyms. I agree that they wouldn't have done the World Championship storyline if Ash hadn't won the Alola League. At the very least, I don't think anyone would believe he'd have a chance at getting to Leon, but I still feel like that's putting more out of universe significance on the tournament. From what I understand, anyone can enter the World Championship. It isn't limited to just trainers of certain achievements and Ash being the Alola Champion hasn't been brought up as to why he should enter it either.

I didn't really take it mean that when I read it. My interpretation is that Ash was more focused on proving himself in previous series', but now he is more self-assured and relaxed after winning a league.

That makes a bit more sense than just being sad or gloomy, but even that feels like a bit of a stretch to me. Ash obviously always wanted to win a Pokemon League, but outside of the OS, I don't think it really bothered him that much. Being the honorary runner up for the Sinnoh League and the actual runner up of the Kalos League are no small feats and he looked genuinely happy to get that medal from Professor Sycamore too. It especially doesn't work for me because SM Ash was really laid back. He'd work with his Pokemon to practice their moves and Z-Moves regularly enough, but he rarely brought up the Island Challenge and he wasn't even aware that the Alola League was even going to happen when he decided to stay there. It's really hard for me to see Journeys Ash being more self-assured and relaxed when his personality is pretty much the same from SM, at least from what I've seen of the series thus far. Plus, Ash always came off as pretty self-assured in most of the previous series, especially when it came to his skills as a trainer and his determination to work alongside his Pokemon.

It seems like my theory of Go not actually getting Mew and getting a “its the friends we make along the way that matter” ending is going to be true.

I almost forgot that they described Goh's goal in a similar vein to Ash's Pokemon Master dream in this interview. Honestly, that's even more fitting in this case since I don't know how they could make any main character getting Mew work. Mew has always been shown to be playful, mysterious and easily able to avoid people. Goh wants to catch Mew for some reason, but I don't think there was ever a really good chance of that to begin. I would kind of like to know why Mew is so important to Goh, but I assume it basically comes down to he saw a cool mysterious Pokemon he didn't know of when he was a little kid and now he wants it as a slightly bigger kid. Given that Goh is catching a lot of Pokemon, I wouldn't be shocked if they have him realize that making friends with his Pokemon is more important than just getting Mew or something like that.
 
That makes a bit more sense than just being sad or gloomy, but even that feels like a bit of a stretch to me. Ash obviously always wanted to win a Pokemon League, but outside of the OS, I don't think it really bothered him that much. Being the honorary runner up for the Sinnoh League and the actual runner up of the Kalos League are no small feats and he looked genuinely happy to get that medal from Professor Sycamore too. It especially doesn't work for me because SM Ash was really laid back. He'd work with his Pokemon to practice their moves and Z-Moves regularly enough, but he rarely brought up the Island Challenge and he wasn't even aware that the Alola League was even going to happen when he decided to stay there. It's really hard for me to see Journeys Ash being more self-assured and relaxed when his personality is pretty much the same from SM, at least from what I've seen of the series thus far. Plus, Ash always came off as pretty self-assured in most of the previous series, especially when it came to his skills as a trainer and his determination to work alongside his Pokemon.
Although I love SM, it certainly did throw a wrench into Ash's character arc by making him so passive. They tried their best to salvage that with the league, but I think his serious and competitive persona during that arc doesn't really fit with his carefree portrayal early on in the series. I imagine this is result of his Alola League win being sort of a last minute decision. It's funny because even Rica Matsumoto admitted his character had regressed dramatically and early on she even stated that her personal head-canon was that the series actually took place between the Kanto and Jhoto arcs.

I think the real change to his personality this series is that he is a more patient person, whereas in SM he comes off as quite restless and hyperactive. Many times in current series he is sidelined in order to help Gou with his goals and growth, and he is happy to just sit back and play the mentor role. In addition to that he is shown to be more responsible and self reliant by travelling around the world alone with Gou, compared to SM where he had a family unit and consistent adult supervision.
 
Although I love SM, it certainly did throw a wrench into Ash's character arc by making him so passive. They tried their best to salvage that with the league, but I think his serious and competitive persona during that arc doesn't really fit with his carefree portrayal early on in the series. I imagine this is result of his Alola League win being sort of a last minute decision. It's funny because even Rica Matsumoto admitted his character had regressed dramatically and early on she even stated that her personal head-canon was that the series actually took place between the Kanto and Jhoto arcs.

Honestly, ending SM with a relatively heavy battle arc when the bulk of the series was more laid back slice of life was kind of jarring in general, but especially for Ash given he was too passive during the vast majority of it run. Where did Rica Matsumoto mention that head canon? Maybe she stated that early on in the series, but that really doesn't make sense after Misty and Brock's appearances. Not to mention it wouldn't make any sense with how the transition from Kanto to Johto actually worked. Ash was only in Pallet Town for couple of episodes before going to Johto and he couldn't have gone to Alola right after the Orange Islands either, so how she thought that they could have fit in Ash going to Alola before going to Johto just sounds so weird to me.

Beatsy Ray said:
I think the real change to his personality this series is that he is a more patient person, whereas in SM he comes off as quite restless and hyperactive. Many times in current series he is sidelined in order to help Gou with his goals and growth, and he is happy to just sit back and play the mentor role. In addition to that he is shown to be more responsible and self reliant by travelling around the world alone with Gou, compared to SM where he had a family unit and consistent adult supervision.

He still seems pretty hyperactive to me, or at least not a huge noticeable difference thus far, but I'm also only five episodes into the series. Traveling around the world along with Goh seems less self reliant and more like the writers just don't want to justify having a third member of the team being there to cook for them at the moment, but that also might be putting too much of an out of universe explanation for that detail on my part.
 
Honestly, ending SM with a relatively heavy battle arc when the bulk of the series was more laid back slice of life was kind of jarring in general, but especially for Ash given he was too passive during the vast majority of it run. Where did Rica Matsumoto mention that head canon? Maybe she stated that early on in the series, but that really doesn't make sense after Misty and Brock's appearances. Not to mention it wouldn't make any sense with how the transition from Kanto to Johto actually worked. Ash was only in Pallet Town for couple of episodes before going to Johto and he couldn't have gone to Alola right after the Orange Islands either, so how she thought that they could have fit in Ash going to Alola before going to Johto just sounds so weird to me.
It was in one of the early translated SM interviews. It would probably take a minute to track down at this point, maybe someone has it saved. Of course it has been completely debunked, but I think head-canon by definition doesn't really have to line up with existing facts and evidence. I mostly mentioned this because I think it's cute that she had a head-canon in the first place, and also because it was obvious to everyone, even the staff, that Ash's characterization had been rebooted/retconned to a degree, even if his actions and achievements haven't.
He still seems pretty hyperactive to me, or at least not a huge noticeable difference thus far, but I'm also only five episodes into the series. Traveling around the world along with Goh seems less self reliant and more like the writers just don't want to justify having a third member of the team being there to cook for them at the moment, but that also might be putting too much of an out of universe explanation for that detail on my part.
Maybe you are too early in the series to pick up on the many of the subtle "mature" moments that he has had so far. To be honest, it may very well be Rica's performance that give Ash/Satoshi his more calm and learned demeanor in many scenes and that may not be translated into the dub.
 
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It was in one of the early translated SM interviews. It would probably take a minute to track down at this point, maybe someone has it saved. Of course it has been completely debunked, but I think head-canon by definition doesn't really have to line up with existing facts and evidence. I mostly mentioned this because I think it's cute that she had a head-canon in the first place, and also because it was obvious to everyone, even the staff, that Ash's characterization had been rebooted/retconned to a degree, even if his actions and achievements haven't.

A part of me does wonder how accurate that translation was, if only because it does remind me a lot of the whole "SM is in a different continuity" argument that went on until Misty and Brock appeared. Plus, I'm surprised I haven't heard of that information before or at least I don't remember hearing it since that would have been pretty huge fuel for that discussion. Head canons don't have to line up with existing facts and evidence, but ideally they shouldn't drastically contradict the source material, or at least that's how I feel about them. If it is an accurate translation, that would be interesting that even the staff noticed a pretty big difference in SM Ash's characterization.

Beatsy Ray said:
Maybe you are too early in the series to pick up on the many of the subtle "mature" moments that he has had so far. To be honest, it may very well be Rica's performance that give Ash/Satoshi his more calm and learned demeanor in many scenes and that may not be translated into the dub.

Those are both really good possibility. They established Ash and Goh's friendship nicely, but I don't quite get a mentor vibe from their dynamic just yet. It is still too early. I do like Goh so far, especially after he bonded with Scorbunny, so I'm kind of curious if that will continue the more I actually see how he catches Pokemon and behaves. The differences in the vocal performances could definitely be a big factor too. I've only heard a few clips of the Japanese version, so I can kind of notice a calmer tone in Rica's delivery, but Ash stil pretty much the same so far in terms of Sarah's vocal performance.
 
I've also never heard of Rica Matsumoto having any such headcanon.

In episode 2 Ash seems to call himself the "Alola champion" when arguing with Gou over the bunk (it's a bit tricky to make out since Gou's talking too, but I'm fairly sure I heard it when I checked a clip), but I read it was cut from the dub for some reason.

You might want to check that clip again. In the part where their dialogue is overlapping (when Satoshi's mom is on-screen) the conversation's about how they should play rock-paper-scissors to determine who gets the top bunk. No one mentions anything about Alola or its champion.
 
You might want to check that clip again. In the part where their dialogue is overlapping (when Satoshi's mom is on-screen) the conversation's about how they should play rock-paper-scissors to determine who gets the top bunk. No one mentions anything about Alola or its champion.
Huh. I could have sworn I heard that phrase but it's good to have confirmation either way.
 
Took a minute, but here you go.


Edit: Apparently the comment was made only 22-23 episodes into SM. Prior to the Brock/Misty reunion this head-canon would have been lot more believable, and I'm more than positive her views changed as the series progressed.
 
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