Preview JN135: Pokémon! I'm Glad I Got to Meet You!!

[XavierAnime]

December 9th Amourshipping will become canon

Let's be real, that was a one-sided romantic relationship. Ash seemed to view her as just a friend more than a girlfriend. Ash never really showed any signs of returning the feelings.

Hopefully not likely. I like Ash and want to see his adventures continue!

I think the same, I think the same.

 

[Singaporean]

I think the same, I think the same.

Definitely will. I'll would love to see Geeta being the antagonist on the new series. Especially having both Chairwoman and Champion position. Where she demands Ash to hand over both the title of Alola and World Championship to her. If she didn't want to make an enemy to our forever 10 year old boy.

 

[hanecco]

I'm surprised that people are bringing up the argument that the anime promotes the games. If they were really focused on game sales, the anime would be closer to something like Origins - an adaptation of the games storyline using the player character as protagonist. It's possible to watch Ash's adventures without ever knowing that Pokémon games and Switch consoles are a thing. (And plenty of people do, in regions where TV is widespread but families don't have the disposable income to buy consoles, or Nintendo just doesn't distribute consoles there).

The anime only uses the current game generation's region so that it can tie in to merch/plushie sales and overall maintain a brand across all the things TPCI does.

If Ash leaves, I'll be excited to see what they come up with next. It's about time.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm surprised that people are bringing up the argument that the anime promotes the games. If they were really focused on game sales, the anime would be closer to something like Origins - an adaptation of the games storyline using the player character as protagonist. It's possible to watch Ash's adventures without ever knowing that Pokémon games and Switch consoles are a thing. (And plenty of people do, in regions where TV is widespread but families don't have the disposable income to buy consoles, or Nintendo just doesn't distribute consoles there).

The anime only uses the current game generation's region so that it can tie in to merch/plushie sales and overall maintain a brand across all the things TPCI does.

If Ash leaves, I'll be excited to see what they come up with next. It's about time.

To be fair, the anime has never been interested in being a faithful adaptation of the games, even with the original series. I don't think that means that the anime isn't a commercial for the games just because it's always done its own thing. Most series still adapt the storylines from the games, they give Ash a fresh team primarily on the then new Pokemon, most of his traveling companions have been characters from the games and they still focus on the new region. They obviously want to use the anime for merch and plush toys too, but they still use the anime to promote the games too.

At this point, I would assume that most people would have at least heard of Pokemon games. Even if they aren't able to get a video game system or that Nintendo doesn't distribute the games in their areas, the franchise is so huge that I think people who know of it only by the anime are a minority.

 

[Singaporean]

If Ash leaves, I'll be excited to see what they come up with next. It's about time.

Nah, Ash won't leave in very long time. Especially, the company will come out even more crazy idea to bring him back once more.

Also, I'll would love to see the next series, where the antagonist will be the champion of Paldea region since she also holds the title of Chairwoman like Chairman Rose. That is definitely up to no good only benefit for big corporation interest. Which she might saw all those event, the crisis, world tournament and etc. Which motivated her to do the same, which they all have fail, where she might success. Geeta, the main antagonist of Scarlet and Violet. Calling it.

 

[Broseph08]

This might be not a permanent goodbye but it might still be one. I feel like if there was a new anime coming soon, it would have been announced a while ago. It's possible that this episode will genuinely be a finale and the anime will go break/hiatus for a while

Thinking it through, I honestly feel like it should be. I get the arguments about him sticking around for brand awareness and whatnot, but this last episode really felt like the climax of his entire journey. I mean he is literally 'the strongest trainer in the world'

 

[Hidden Mew]

This might be not a permanent goodbye but it might still be one. I feel like if there was a new anime coming soon, it would have been announced a while ago. It's possible that this episode will genuinely be a finale and the anime will go break/hiatus for a while

Thinking it through, I honestly feel like it should be. I get the arguments about him sticking around for brand awareness and whatnot, but this last episode really felt like the climax of his entire journey. I mean he is literally 'the strongest trainer in the world'

While defeating Leon and becoming a World Champion are still noteworthy accomplishments, I don't it necessarily means Ash is now the strongest trainer in the world exactly, mainly because of how the anime always adds in new regions every generation. This is a necessity to promote the games, but it's hard to really see this as now Ash doesn't have any new challenges when no one from Paldea or any other future regions were understandably in the PWC.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

@CharizardFan7 we in the endgame now! Pray that Amourshipping becomes canon in this episode!

 

[XavierAnime]

While defeating Leon and becoming a World Champion are still noteworthy accomplishments, I don't it necessarily means Ash is now the strongest trainer in the world exactly, mainly because of how the anime always adds in new regions every generation. This is a necessity to promote the games, but it's hard to really see this as now Ash doesn't have any new challenges when no one from Paldea or any other future regions were understandably in the PWC.

But what about Ash defeating the Team Rocket boss and looking for Ash's father?

 

[Kurolegacy]

But what about Ash defeating the Team Rocket boss and looking for Ash's father?

Neither would ever happen since him defeating Giovanni means the end of TR which is the end of TRio and his father is such a nonentity that he’s only ever been mentioned in a single episode.

 

[Hidden Mew]

But what about Ash defeating the Team Rocket boss and looking for Ash's father?

Neither of those have been treated as key plot points though. They've never shown any interest in defeating the Team Rocket organization, in large part because they want to keep the Team Rocket trio around, and Ash's father was only brought up in one episode. Fans make a bigger deal about Ash's father than the anime ever did, so it wouldn't be something they're seriously interested in.

 

[XavierAnime]

@CharizardFan7 we in the endgame now! Pray that Amourshipping becomes canon in this episode!

I think the same, I think the same.

 

[Dorothy]

Nah, Ash won't leave in very long time.

He should. If I was a writer of the show I'd have no fucking idea where to possibly go with his character.

 

[nickdt]

He should. If I was a writer of the show I'd have no fucking idea where to possibly go with his character.

The problem her is:
Even if the writers wanted Ash to leave... he simply can't leave. Ash is the face of the franchise. Pikachu is the mascot. There simply wouldn't be a difference (Other than maybe personality and gender) in protagonist, since the new protag will also have a Pikachu as its main Pokemon.
The only thing i can see them doing is making Ash a mentor type character (Maybe he even gets invited to teach Pokemon Battling at one of the Paldea institutes, whichever they will go with), for a new protagonist (Which you can have for 2 or 3 series, then replace this one with a rookie... this way you don't have to give the new protagonist a Pikachu... while still keeping Ash on (And don't get me wrong, Ash doesn't need to appear in every episode, but regularly is required at least). But even this storyline will get repetitve after a while... since you also can have a sideplot title defense for Ash.

Another problem is that if Ash leaves, Jessie, James and Meowth leave and they are just as iconic as him at this point (And they are incredibly popular in Japan i believe), so writing them out is problematic as well, especially since they are just as much faces of the franchise than Ash is.

 

[Dorothy]

The problem her is:
Even if the writers wanted Ash to leave... he simply can't leave. Ash is the face of the franchise. Pikachu is the mascot. There simply wouldn't be a difference (Other than maybe personality and gender) in protagonist, since the new protag will also have a Pikachu as its main Pokemon.

Says who? Pikachu being the franchise mascot doesn't mean it has to be the main Pokemon of every protaganist. Undoubtedly there would be a role for a Pikachu to play in any soft or hard reboot of the anime but I think you're engaging in unnecessarily rigid thinking here. There is no reason that Ash has to stick around. Pokemon is a billion-dollar franchise. It can survive without him pretty easily, and I honestly think if anything a fresh start on the anime side of the franchise would be healthy for it.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Says who? Pikachu being the franchise mascot doesn't mean it has to be the main Pokemon of every protaganist. Undoubtedly there would be a role for a Pikachu to play in any soft or hard reboot of the anime but I think you're engaging in unnecessarily rigid thinking here. There is no reason that Ash has to stick around. Pokemon is a billion-dollar franchise. It can survive without him pretty easily, and I honestly think if anything a fresh start on the anime side of the franchise would be healthy for it.

The fact that Pikachu is the mascot of the franchise would mean that they'd want it to be featured in the anime. They wouldn't give it to a side character or something instead. It would most certainly be the main partner of a hypothetical new main character. I still think that having a new lead would at this point be more of an unnecessary risk. Ash has been the face of the anime for twenty five years. That isn't something that's easy to ignore or overlook. I still believe that it's far too late for him to be replaced and defeating Leon doesn't change that. He's too iconic and recognizable. I'm also not sure if they really worry about where to take his character when Ash can effectively be whatever they want in any given series. I wouldn't really say that he grew a lot in Journeys despite getting to defeat multiple Champions either.

Pokemon is a huge franchise and it isn't like it would all fall down if Ash wasn't the main character, but outside of the initial hype for a new main character, I don't think it would really make that huge of a difference. They effectively have a fresh start with each series even with Ash still being the main character.

 

[AshTheChamp]

Ash may be the face if the franchise for the last 25 years , it doesn’t mean he can’t be replaced . Yami Yugi in yugioh was the face of the franchise of the last 5 years before being replaced by Jaden however the card game still sells slot it units. The same with beyblade and other well know franchises . In my honest opinion , it won’t stifled growth of the franchise so replace the main character . NP go for it .

 

[flowerfun]

He should. If I was a writer of the show I'd have no fucking idea where to possibly go with his character.

It is worth pointing out that SV has other paths outside of gym battles, so they could make Ash do one of those so they can give him something to do without resetting him. SV also has a class for champion-level trainers so that could be another thing the anime can give Ash to do. SV does have a lot of things that the anime could do with Ash, so there are still some paths the anime can take with Ash's character.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

@CharizardFan7 we in the endgame now! Pray that Amourshipping becomes canon in this episode!

Well, I don't know about you, but if you ask me, it already is canon. Has been for the last 6 years. The kiss back at the end of XYZ already solidified its canonicity, and it probably had been for a while before that anyway. And Ash's reaction to that kiss told me all I needed to know in terms of whether or not he returned Serena's feelings. Those glimmering eyes of his in that scene were not the eyes of someone who didn't reciprocate her feelings, but the eyes of someone who finally understood, I think. Now we just need Ash and Serena to interact again in this episode (or another before series's end,) and I'll be good. (Big party at Pallet Town in this episode perhaps?)

 

[Hidden Mew]

Ash may be the face if the franchise for the last 25 years , it doesn’t mean he can’t be replaced . Yami Yugi in yugioh was the face of the franchise of the last 5 years before being replaced by Jaden however the card game still sells slot it units. The same with beyblade and other well know franchises . In my honest opinion , it won’t stifled growth of the franchise so replace the main character . NP go for it .

I'm not too familiar with the Beyblade franchise, but I am a huge Yu-Gi-Oh! fan and comparing it with Pokemon doesn't work for a lot of reasons. Replacing Yugi with Judai after five years is a lot more reasonable than replacing Ash after twenty five, especially when the Duel Monsters series was still ultimately an adaptation of the manga. They got to the end of the manga and given that they wanted to promote new card archetypes, it made more sense to create a new cast of characters. They don't tend to change out characters' decks in Yu-Gi-Oh! like they do with Ash getting a fresh team every series. Yugi suddenly starting to use Elemental Heroes wouldn't have made sense, but creating a brand new character that would be easier to associate with these then new cards was fine.

Other long running series have replaced their lead characters, but that is comparing apples with oranges. They didn't wait over two decades before replacing their leads and that is a huge difference. Ash and Pikachu have been the faces of the anime for twenty five years. Even after defeating Leon, I don't think that they'll retire Ash when he's too iconic and too connected to the anime.

It is worth pointing out that SV has other paths outside of gym battles, so they could make Ash do one of those so they can give him something to do without resetting him. SV also has a class for champion-level trainers so that could be another thing the anime can give Ash to do. SV does have a lot of things that the anime could do with Ash, so there are still some paths the anime can take with Ash's character.

Based on what little they've shown of the Path of Legends and Starfall Street storylines, I'm not sure if I could see Ash doing those over Gym battles. The Path of Legends might be a possibility since he could battle against some strong giant Pokemon, but I do not see how defeating a bunch of Team Star grunts and bosses would be better than battling Gym Leaders. If they want to adapt the three different storylines, I still think that Victory Road would make the most sense for Ash, especially when that would allow him to face off against Champion level trainers.