Well, one of the former head-writers of the anime actually told, that the girls are mostly there for fanservice, which would explain why all of them have a similar character design.
I do remember that comment from the article, but it was from over ten years ago and made from a former director. This is the same interview that stated that Ash winning a League would mean that the series is over, or something along those lines, which we obviously know now isn't true. My point is that I don't think that comment is necessarily accurate to how the female characters are treated/viewed by the current staff. It's also beyond ridiculous to claim that they all have similar character designs. None of them look alike with each other. They all have different outfits, hair styles, eye colors, etc.
Sure, Dawn and Lillie are two of the best-written characters of the anime, but they are both still mostly there for fanservice. People like cute girls after all and cute things in general.
What? So cute girls doing cute things is fanservice now? And saying that the girls are mostly there for fanservice is such a massive disservice to their characterizations and storylines. I also honestly don't see how Lillie is one of the best written characters in the anime. I don't think she's written horribly, but outside of a few episodes, I don't think that she stands out that much to me either. I'm still more shocked over the notion that cute girls doing cute things in general is now fanservice. Not to mention I still find this notion of brushing off all the previous female leads as just being the cute girls completely inaccurate with sexist implications to boot.
The point of my post was to point out that there will be no reason for this series to end UNTIL a potential reboot. Meaning this will be the final series for the time being. I definitely don't see a reboot happening any time soon, but it's presumptuous to assume that in 10-20 years things won't be a little different. Naruto was the protagonist of his series for 15 years before getting replaced by his son. Maybe there won't be a Pokemon anime in 10-20 years (nothing lasts forever) or maybe the series will actually change enough to warrant a new protagonist some day.
As for the title, I don't think people are actually reading enough into it. How can you call series 8 "Pocket Monsters" and then go back to the status quo for series 9? First of all that really would be giving Galar the shaft, and it just wouldn't make sense because this series is easily capable of showing off new regions and Pokemon as they come out without the need for obligatory soft-resets.
That's really looking way too much into the title. Even the original Pocket Monsters series lasted for about five years, so I can't imagine them keeping this series going until a potential reboot. I don't really see why they'd reboot the series anyway. The anime's continuity has never been much of an issue to attract new fans considering that each series is pretty much a stand alone series. Kids don't need to watch over a thousand episodes or even the most recent completed series before jumping into the newest one. That's a big reason why the notion of this series to keep going until a potential reboot doesn't make sense to me. This reminds me of another theory about Go being a potential replacement for Ash, which also just felt like reading into too much of the whole setup for this series.
The Naruto comparison doesn't really work when Naruto isn't a toyetic franchise like Pokemon is. Not to mention Naruto actually ages and Ash is an eternally ten year old boy. I sincerely doubt that there will be a big enough change to warrant a new protagonist some day, especially when Ash and Pikachu are practically co mascots for the anime. I don't think that going back to the status quo, in that giving the next series a different title, would necessarily give Galar the shaft. We don't know how much attention Galar will have here and giving the next series a different title is an easy way to make it marketable. Going back to the Pocket Monsters title, as well as the gimmick of traveling around the world for some reason, is a way to make this series stand out, but I don't know if they'll keep it indefinitely. It just seems like assuming way too much and already speculating about future series/generations when we haven't even started this one.
I'm also disappointed by Rica's comment about only two main characters. On one hand, at least it is actual confirmation instead of fan speculation. I hate it when people present their theories or speculations as facts. But on the other hand, possibly not having a female lead while Ash and Go are traveling through different regions is disappointing. Yeah, the screentime isn't shared equally even within a trio, but I don't think that the solution was to make the next group a duo. Maybe Koharu will eventually join them on their travels. Again, I don't see why she'd get a Yamper and a connection to Go if she was just going to be the schoolgirl friend they'd see at their home base, especially when I don't know how frequently they'll be there when the main gimmick seems to require them to travel around at least somewhat frequently.
