In a personal level, how are you dealing with the end of Satoshi's adventures?

[Rikki Kitsune]

Since the last episode aired, I've been very thoughtful and melancholic about that. I've been an anipoke fan since I understand myself as a person. It's being kinda hard to deal with those feelings. I think it ended in the right moment in a beautiful way, but still... It makes me sad we won't watch Satoshi every week again. How are y'all feeling about that?

 

[Okido]

I've been having lots of mixed feelings ever since the last episode aired.

For these past few months leading up to the finale, I will admit I was completely gutted and heartbroken about it. While I've been a fan of Pokeani for as long as I can really remember, what's always made it so important to me specifically was the characters. When I was younger, Ash was somebody that I really, genuinely looked up to! It was the adventures of him and his friends that made me want to be someone brave and kind, no matter what life threw my way — and as time went on, that sentiment forever stuck with me.
So when that news dropped... well, of course it hurt. I know that for a lot of us, it hadn't even really crossed our minds that all of that could just simply end one day. To me, at the time, it felt like all those years of memories were just suddenly being tossed aside and swept under the rug.

But last Friday, the final episode I'd been dreading so much finally arrived... and somehow, I felt okay.
Of course it's sad that we won't get to follow this story any longer — but I don't think they could have picked a better time or way to bring it to a close. We won't be seeing Ash every week anymore, but much like how there's no end to a rainbow, there could never be a real end to his journey. Even now that he's become the strongest Trainer in the world, he'll always be that same kid from Pallet Town, forever off on an adventure with big dreams. In my opinion, the finale did a perfect job of capturing that.

I don't quite feel hurt anymore, but moreso wistfully nostalgic, and happy that we all got to experience it in our own way.

 

[DawningWinds]

Honestly. I don't think it really hit me that it was real until the very last episode. I thought I was fine with it, I figured it was like, whatever, I barely keep up with it and the new anime would be a good chance to change that anyway. Then I saw clips, images, people talking about the last episode and I realized. "Holy shit. He's gone." And then. I was on the verge of tears. Like many, I grew up with the anime-- personally, I've kept up with it in what might be a bit of a weird way, kinda aware of whatever's going on when I'm not watching but mostly not really caring, and then I'd shift back and binge whatever I missed. Even though Ash had just won the PWC, I've kinda been in the former state for a while now. I think that's part of why it didn't hit me as much right away, and it just. Didn't feel real? It was hard to believe that that's really what was going to happen. And then it just. Really did? Honestly, all these words and I really don't even know how I feel anymore? It's. It's something.

 

[Area54]

Honestly, got nothing. I was sad about yesterday and on Friday. Sunday and now Monday: I am OK. Because in my headcanon Ash is still with us/me(On-screen)

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

Honestly, I'm pretty sad about it. There was still so much I wanted to see happen. I hope we'll see Ash again someday, because I just don't want to believe he's gone forever.

(I have much more to say about this, but I don't have the time to write it down right now.)

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

To be honest, I didn't even get sad. I think I was more emotional at the end of JN, and the last time I truly felt sad was when we had say good bye to XY gang.

 

[skynerel]

I didn’t felt anything because I have been disappointed with the anime for a long time. I do feel things when I see the goodbyes of XY/DP/AG.

 

[pharaohyami5000]

I'm proud. Ash has been through so much for these 26 years, it is time for him to rest and allow others to take their chances. His adventures has been questionably enjoyable to trek through, from the start of his journey, to many many MANY mindboggling decisions, to fantastic comebacks, and onwards to a slow relaxing end. I'm still hopeful he will be around, and when he reappears, they better be great to him.

 

[Islander Princess]

I touched on this in the review thread for the final episode, but I think I can elaborate on it here: I'm actually pretty at peace, which surprised me.

I think knowing that this has been coming for months helped soften the blow when the moment actually came. It's like I got to go through all the stages of grief over the past couple of months and by the time the last episode arrived, I had reached the point of acceptance. The little mini arc of episodes also helped me. I was someone who personally really enjoyed all of the episodes. I appreciated the simplicity of them. It was especially great to see the original gang back together. It really brought back memories of watching the anime as a kid, when everything seemed a lot simpler. Now as an adult, I really liked the laidback vibe of these final episodes and got to feel like a kid again at the end of every week for just a little while.

As someone who has loved Ash since she was a little girl, and him having remained my favorite TV character ever since, I've definitely felt such a flood of emotions over the past couple of months. I was expecting the kind of visceral, emotional reaction I had when SM ended (watching that finale in Japanese I sobbed, I teared up every time I saw something about the episode on social media for days afterwards, and I sobbed again when it aired in English) but it was such a different vibe. I cried a little the night before, and I cried seeing some clips that morning after the episode aired. But when I watched the episode myself, it was more of a bittersweet feeling. It made me feel like Ash, and by some extension myself, would be okay. Life would keep going on. Seeing Ash continue on his journey, and therefore the open endedness of his time as a character, softened the blow and made the finale feel less "final" so to speak. I didn't really want to view Ash in absolutes (I think that's best saved for headcanons and fanfictions, which I absolutely partake in) so I love that he can continue to be left open for everyone's interpretation.

At this point, I think the hardest part for me will be moving on from the anime as a whole. I always knew that if Ash ever left the show, I'd be done as well. As of Friday, I feel okay with that being the case. Like I said, the ending was satisfactory to me, and I feel at peace with no longer keeping up with the anime. I do think over time, it will feel weird not having new episodes to look forward to or trying to scope out the latest leaks from Japan, but it's a feeling I'll probably get used to once more time passes. Also knowing I can always go back and watch old episodes or continue to immerse myself in fan made content to keep Ash and his friends going in my life definitely helps.

I will still hope for future appearances from Ash, but it no longer feels as much as a "desperate need" like I thought it would. Now, if it happens, it'll just feel like a pleasant surprise. Like seeing an old friend again.

 

[Sakuraa]

I couldn't be happier. I've wanted Ash replaced with new protagonists for years now. It's almost unreal to think my childhood dreams will be coming true!

 

[Galar Adventurer]

I'm mostly okay with Ash leaving considering how long he's been around, he just deserved a better swan song than Journeys and MPM imo and I still think how TV Tokyo handled the lead up to Horizons' announcement was a little questionable at best.
While saying that "Ash's adventures will continue/aren't over yet" wasn't untrue,
them stating as much when they knew he'd only last for 11 more episodes is still a bit messed up.

I am looking forward to the future of the anime though as Horizons looks promising, but I still hope we'll see Ash and Pikachu again someday. But if we don't, there's always 1200+ episodes to go back and rewatch.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Personally speaking, I'm still pretty sad about it. The news really hit me hard back when it first came out. It was so strange to suddenly feel like twenty-five years of Ash content was suddenly not enough. Even after he became a World Champion, I just figured that they'd keep them around like always and the statement from TV Tokyo made it seem like it was the case too. I can't blame them for waiting until the end of Journeys to confirm Ash's sendoff since they didn't really have any other time to do it, but it still felt rather misleading and probably contributed to not being particularly excited about Horizons. Learning all of this at 4AM definitely did not help either. I must have made a wish on a monkey's paw because I wanted to wake up to new anime news for months and boy, did I wake up to new anime news that day. It does help that I've never really seen this as the end of the anime, largely because the anime has always been made up of various different series since AG. Plus, despite Ash being the lead protagonist and the dub numbering each season, I don't think the notion of the anime being one long 1,200+ episode series quite makes sense to me.

I've always found Ash to be pretty likable and despite how long fans have wanted him to be replaced, it always felt largely unnecessary to me, at least from a marketing perspective. Keeping Ash around didn't prevent them from featuring new Pokemon. Changing the cast with every series kind of felt like having their cake and eating it too. They could keep Ash around for his marketability, give him new Pokemon and have new characters from the games to tie in with them as well, even if Goh and Chloe's connections to the eighth generation were a lot more minimal. I don't think keeping Ash was a barrier for new fans when each series was pretty standalone too. You didn't need to watch the original series to understand what's going on in SM for example. I'm not sure how kids watching Journeys as their first Pokemon series would feel about it, but even with all of the callbacks and returning characters, I don't think kids would need to watch over a thousand episodes to understand everything in that series either. Plus, if Ash or the amount of episodes available were an issue for new fans, I imagine they would have made this change a long time ago instead of waiting twenty-five years with over 1,200 episodes.

I know that fans were focused on where they could go from here after Ash became a World Champion, but I'm not sure if that was as big of an issue in-universe, at least from Ash's perspective. He still saw himself as a challenger, not an unbeatable Champion with no where left to go. Even at the end of Journeys, he was shown battling a random nobody, so clearly he still would be willing to battle anyone regardless of his World Champion status. It just feels way too late to make this change feel natural for me. Most franchises don't wait decades to start changing their protagonists. The common theory now is that they'll start changing protagonists every generation and while that would make sense, even that feels a bit sad to me. It would make more sense to do that than to keep Liko and Roy around for decades since otherwise there wouldn't be any point of the change. It also can help to give more spotlight to the anime every few years and give the writers a clean slate to potentially keep it fresh. But at the same time, the thought of the anime doing that feels kind of sad to me. Plenty of other long running franchises do that, including ones that I'm a fan of, but they typically start changing the cast after the first series. While I don't think this approach is a bad thing, it just never felt like the Pokemon anime really needed to go that route. The anime potentially losing what made it stand out among other long running toyetic franchises, at least in my opinion, to follow that trend instead just feels kind of sad to me. Maybe it will work out better than I'm expecting, but it does just sound more sad than appealing or exciting to me at the moment.

That being said, I still think that the sendoff itself was fitting for Ash. I can't really judge much of the mini-series itself since I've only seen clips and gifs, but I think that the open ended vibe made the episode feel more hopeful. I know that people wanted more closure for Ash and Team Rocket, but for me, I think a more definitive ending would have been too depressing and it wouldn't really fit with the tone of the anime either. The most closure most main characters tend to get is that they're continuing to work towards their goal off-screen, so doing the same for Ash and Team Rocket makes sense. Ash and Pikachu continuing to travel off-screen fits so well with their personalities. While we might have more of Ash's idea of what a Pokemon Master is as opposed to a more clear definitive answer, I think the whole notion of making friends with every Pokemon works better as a definition than being a World Champion or catching every Pokemon in the world would. It certainly fits with how Ash treats Pokemon.

I also like that it makes it potentially easier for them to bring back Ash and Team Rocket in some degree down the road. Maybe it's just my way of handling the change, but I can't really picture them never using Ash again. It would feel like such a waste to not do anything else with your iconic protagonist after twenty five years. Plus, in our current media landscape that is full of so many reboots, revivals and general nostalgia marketing, I suspect that they'll do something with Ash to capitalize on his popularity and marketability at some point. I don't think any of the other future protagonists are going to attract the same kind of attention as Ash does. Whether it's getting more specials, appearances in the next series, movies or whatever remains to be seen. While it might be awhile before they feature Ash, if only to establish more of the new characters and status quo, I don't think he'll be gone forever.

 

[Daren]

To be honest, I figured the writing was pretty much on the wall after he won in Alola; I thought I recalled back in the AG or DP era someone claimed that the show would have to end if he won, so even though he continued into gen 8 I guessed he was closer to the end than the beginning, and various things throughout JN have made me suspicious, as other members may recall from previous posts.

Plus nowdays I've long felt that the post-OS status quo was just a poor fit for a single character, so in a lot of ways I'm happy he's not going to be having Pikachu go from beating Leon to losing to the first Paldean Gym Leader's Fidough.
(I haven't played S/V so I have no idea what the first Gym Leader's team is).

Sorta bummed the TRio didn't get an ending closer to Electric Tale, though.

 

[Rockapheller]

I'm not sure if that was as big of an issue in-universe, at least from Ash's perspective. He still saw himself as a challenger, not an unbeatable Champion with no where left to go. Even at the end of Journeys, he was shown battling a random nobody, so clearly he still would be willing to battle anyone regardless of his World Champion status.

That wasn't an issue at all, as we have witnessed. Winning the PWC against Leon would never be meant to end Ash's journey even the slightest. I even mentioned that winning the PWC would never be a "reason" on and in itself to write Ash off back then in the forums. The finale was pretty much a confirmation that the writers also do not consider the win as an end to his journeys, as he pretty much ran off to another one to continue off-screen.

If the writers wanted to, they could have found him a purpose to make him stay. Be it having a pupil for Ash, solving a mystery or something along these lines to discover something about the world of Pokémon, anything you could have thought of -- the possibilities are endless. And if I am being completely honest, I would rather have Ash go for a quest on its own while accompanying other protagonists such as Liko and Roy, and maybe not even be the main protagonist but still stick around.

But the directors' decision was to write him off completely and go for something fresh, for some reason. Maybe they thought other protagonists would not have a true chance to stand out with him around, maybe they just wanted Ash to retire from the show itself, or it could even be about the voice actress. It must be difficult to record a character weekly for 25 years if you think about it, so it may as well be that Rika Matsumoto wanted a break for herself. We haven't heard of anything concrete by the production or TV Tokyo to actually know the reason, but I can imagine it being a really difficult decision to be made even for them during the course of events. Given the fact that they kept the voice actress for Pikachu makes me think this could be actually the case.

Whatever it may be, though, I genuinely do not believe that Ash is gone forever. He and Pikachu will definitely make a return and appear somewhere along the way. Small or big, difficult to tell for now, but definitely somewhere along the way.

 

[Emelie]

I wasn't sad at first but then I watched an AMV with sad piano music that zoomed in on Ash's sneakers and his smiling face as he threw the stick and then I started crying lol. It's funny how the right music can sometimes make you feel the right emotions.

I think MPM as a whole doesn't want you to be sad but there are still some shots that get to you such when the Pidgey fly over the rainbow. Like many others I was surprised by the lack of Ho-oh but maybe that was the point, that Ash's happiness comes from the little things such as catching your first bird Pokémon on Route 1 in RBY (which is what the random wild Pidgey represents I would guess?).

The first episode I watched as a child wasn't the dramatic first two episodes but the more laid-back episode 3 when Ash catches Caterpie, his first Pokémon. I just wish Butterfree had been the cameo and not Pidgeot. Speaking of Butterfree I think music played a huge role here too since that is the reason why that farewell stood out and is still remembered as the most emotional episode even after all these years.

When it comes to closure I must admit that MPM is underwhelming. I remember the weird but still entertaining rumors back in the day about the trailer for the first movie which featured a character many fans mistook for an adult version of Misty. There was so much speculation about what a potential future would look like for our main characters, if they would grow up and have children one day, which pairing became canon etc.

I think the (now proven false) rumor about Ash being Liko's father and the speculation who would be the mother shows that just like back in the day when people speculated about "the mysterious Misty trailer" there is a desire for closure. Liko temporarily became what the girl with pink hair was back in the day.

 

[Alola]

It's still all surreal for me and not something I guess I have fully accepted or come to terms with. It hasn't hit me yet, despite the incredible place Ash and his adventures have had on my life. It's hard to accept something like this, well, ending.

 

[Hidden Mew]

That wasn't an issue at all, as we have witnessed. Winning the PWC against Leon would never be meant to end Ash's journey even the slightest. I even mentioned that winning the PWC would never be a "reason" on and in itself to write Ash off back then in the forums. The finale was pretty much a confirmation that the writers also do not consider the win as an end to his journeys, as he pretty much ran off to another one to continue off-screen.

A lot of fans did consider the PWC and becoming a World Champion the reason why they wanted to replace Ash though. I'm glad that the MPM finale does disprove that, at least from an in-universe perspective. Even after making such a huge accomplishment, Ash didn't think it meant he reached his goal, which I find kind of interesting given the discussions on the PWC here.

If the writers wanted to, they could have found him a purpose to make him stay. Be it having a pupil for Ash, solving a mystery or something along these lines to discover something about the world of Pokémon, anything you could have thought of -- the possibilities are endless. And if I am being completely honest, I would rather have Ash go for a quest on its own while accompanying other protagonists such as Liko and Roy, and maybe not even be the main protagonist but still stick around.

But the directors' decision was to write him off completely and go for something fresh, for some reason. Maybe they thought other protagonists would not have a true chance to stand out with him around, maybe they just wanted Ash to retire from the show itself, or it could even be about the voice actress. It must be difficult to record a character weekly for 25 years if you think about it, so it may as well be that Rika Matsumoto wanted a break for herself. We haven't heard of anything concrete by the production or TV Tokyo to actually know the reason, but I can imagine it being a really difficult decision to be made even for them during the course of events. Given the fact that they kept the voice actress for Pikachu makes me think this could be actually the case.

Whatever it may be, though, I genuinely do not believe that Ash is gone forever. He and Pikachu will definitely make a return and appear somewhere along the way. Small or big, difficult to tell for now, but definitely somewhere along the way.

I kind of like the idea of Ash sticking around with other protagonists becoming the new leads instead. It might have made the transition less of a risk or at least made it easier. I'm not sure if they'd be too worried about having the other protagonists standing out with Ash around, if only because plenty of his traveling companions are popular characters in their own rights. Aside from the original trio, they might not be as iconic as Ash, but plenty of characters across the various anime series are still popular, so I don't think Ash's presence would make it that much harder for the new characters to stand out.

While it's certainly possible that Rika Matsumoto wanted a break, I'm not sure if keeping Ikue Otani as Pikachu for Horizons necessarily means that was the case. Ikue Otani has voiced Pikachu outside of the anime for years in merchandise and games. She is basically the official voice of Pikachu, so they may have wanted to keep her around for consistency with Pikachu's voice. Plus, Rika is still relatively young, loves playing Satoshi, hasn't announced any health issues as far as I'm aware of and I believe was set to attend an event in New York last month but couldn't due to a COVID exposure. It doesn't necessarily mean that she wouldn't want to retire or feel the need to take a break after performing for a weekly series for twenty five years. I'm just not as confident about that being the reason, despite being one of the more plausible explanations out there. I would be curious if we do eventually get more concrete information from the higher ups. I don't know if they will for a few reasons, but learning more about the rationale behind this decision would be at least interesting.

 

[pharaohyami5000]

While it's certainly possible that Rika Matsumoto wanted a break, I'm not sure if keeping Ikue Otani as Pikachu for Horizons necessarily means that was the case. Ikue Otani has voiced Pikachu outside of the anime for years in merchandise and games. She is basically the official voice of Pikachu, so they may have wanted to keep her around for consistency with Pikachu's voice. Plus, Rika is still relatively young, loves playing Satoshi, hasn't announced any health issues as far as I'm aware of and I believe was set to attend an event in New York last month but couldn't due to a COVID exposure. It doesn't necessarily mean that she wouldn't want to retire or feel the need to take a break after performing for a weekly series for twenty five years. I'm just not as confident about that being the reason, despite being one of the more plausible explanations out there. I would be curious if we do eventually get more concrete information from the higher ups. I don't know if they will for a few reasons, but learning more about the rationale behind this decision would be at least interesting.

Well...

Satoshi/Ash’s voice actress almost couldn’t make it through final Pokémon anime recording session

”My chest tightened, and I couldn’t speak.”

soranews24.com

Pokémon: Ash's Japanese Actor's Emotions Almost Derailed Her Final Recording Session

Rika Matsumoto, who has spent more than 25 years voicing Satoshi in Pokémon, revealed how emotional she was during the final episode's recording.

www.cbr.com

...yeah. It seem to have started. Best we allow Ms. Matsumoto to relax and recover. At least for that conditional pest to stay dormant, if not out.

 

[FelipePR]

Since the last episode aired, I've been very thoughtful and melancholic about that.

I am not dealing with it, I've just been reluctant to watch the anime since the end of January.

Likewise, I am not reading posts, articles, watching videos, etc... related to this. Of this thread, I only read the title and first sentence of your post.

In short, I'm postponing the inevitable because I don't want to deal with it.

 

[Rikki Kitsune]

I am not dealing with it, I've just been reluctant to watch the anime since the end of January.

Likewise, I am not reading posts, articles, watching videos, etc... related to this. Of this thread, I only read the title and first sentence of your post.

In short, I'm postponing the inevitable because I don't want to deal with it.

Good luck with that.

I thought I was prepared because of the amount of preparation they gave us but I'm crying since last Friday. I can't get used to the idea we won't have weekly anipoke with Satoshi anymore. It's something which I've had all my life.