Should Ash age or not ?

[Shinneth]

I could swear i heard sat beginning of DP how it was said Ash is still 10.

I remember the first few episodes of DP fairly well, and only Dawn's age was mentioned.

Its never too late to fix things.Writers tend to screw things up many times in past,but they always managed to prove how they have knowledge and skill to get characters and story back on right track fixing their misplays.

Yeah, writers make mistakes and rectify them in future series. That's been a trend that's been ongoing from series to series (I'd argue that Johto brought about more mistakes than improvements, but...). But... for whatever reason, BW has gone against this trend and very few things have improved from DP. It's been over a year now, so I think it's a fair assessment to make that BW thus far is a huge step backwards from DP, which obliterates the order this entire show had established. Could they rectify their mistakes? Maybe, but I certainly don't believe BW's going to suddenly get awesome in the middle of its tenure and start improving on everything again. For all the opportunities they've passed up, I think BW's going to stay the course and there's no telling if the Gen VI series will improve on that or not. Even if it does improve, it's got a lot of a mess to fix, so it'd be a stretch to say it's a logical progression.

Of course, for BW the writers have written themselves in a hole because they just had to go and outright state Ash's age at the very beginning. So if the next series does try to rectify this issue by making him older (assuming they still keep him on), it's still not going to fix the mess of the past 700+ episodes happening in the span of a year which means things still won't make any fucking sense.

Seriously, I view the Pokemon League as the Pokemon world's equivalent of our Superbowl. These things happen annually in my mind. The idea of all these mega-important Leagues and all the shit in between happening in the span of a year is just... no. Can't accept that as the truth. These writers can fuck off.

Really, they had the perfect thing by not outright mentioning Ash's age at all. Sure, there were debates, but everything in the anime is debated about at some point. And the ambiguity let us all believe what we wanted to believe. BW's robbed us of this, so unless the writers outright state next series "Yeeeeah, we realize how improbable and stupid it is that our entire series based on an ongoing journey that's spanned across over a decade in real time has all happened in the span of a year in the show's canon time. Sorry about that. We'll make Ash a more reasonable age next series and retcon what we said in the beginning of BW so everything makes sense again!"...

... As much as I would love for the writers to outright admit their fuck-up, I do not think they're going to do that. They dug their hole, and any attempt other than what I mentioned won't help matters.

Unless we just assume Ash died way back in Kanto, Pikachu keeps his bodily functions active by zapping him frequently, and he drains the youthful energy of every girl he travels with to maintain a constant state of age 10 without his body decomposing (i.e. Ash is a zombie).

Either way, it's full of shit. They should've kept this under wraps; there was no reason whatsoever to state Ash's age at BW's beginning as it is.

 

[FinalArcadia]

Either way, it's full of shit. They should've kept this under wraps; there was no reason whatsoever to state Ash's age at BW's beginning as it is.

I always thought of the League tournament-things as Super Bowl-type events as well. And there's no way somebody can travel through 4 entire regions (going on 5 now) and a set of islands AND IT STILL BE THE SAME YEAR. Just, NO.

But back to the quote above me, why was it necessary to state Ash's age again? To mess with everyone's minds? To try to "connect" with kids watching the show? Ash doesn't even look like he's 10, and he never has, so everything is wrong with this situation. Maybe Ash has the mental capabilities of a 10 year old in BW (his battles are atrocious in BW, and his strategies? What strategies?), but I'm not willing to accept that Ash is physically 10 years old right now.

 

[Blue Dragon]

No idea what the writers were doing when they stated Ash was 10. They just made him a noob again. In AG and DP Ash actually had proper character development, he actually learnt from his mistakes. He got to the semi-finals of the Sinnoh League and most of his pokemon reached their final form, I had actually begun to take Ash seriously as a trainer. But this "reboot" the writers have given the show just to try and recruit new fans is ridculous. Ash has gone back to Kanto levels of stupidity.

I agree this is what I was trying to say in my post XD

I can't keep things simple lol

 

[Caseydia]

I always thought of the League tournament-things as Super Bowl-type events as well. And there's no way somebody can travel through 4 entire regions (going on 5 now) and a set of islands AND IT STILL BE THE SAME YEAR. Just, NO.

But back to the quote above me, why was it necessary to state Ash's age again? To mess with everyone's minds? To try to "connect" with kids watching the show? Ash doesn't even look like he's 10, and he never has, so everything is wrong with this situation. Maybe Ash has the mental capabilities of a 10 year old in BW (his battles are atrocious in BW, and his strategies? What strategies?), but I'm not willing to accept that Ash is physically 10 years old right now.

Ash always looks like a kid but you're right. Having them say he was 10 was not necessary. However, I believed that someone thought that since no one had never could guess the boy's age from Orange Islands to Sinnoh, that they would give us an age after all these years.

 

[Blue1225]

D/P had MANY references to the past, from the thunderstone to that Blissey reference by TR, to Ash's Aura abilities, and likely various other things as well. This is stuff that hardly no one would remember anymore unless they were a die hard fan from the original series.



But why should we care? Whats to stop them from destroying his development all over again? This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, as it shows that they will screw continuity on a whim. I really don't understand because one series ago continuity and development was the main focus.

OH! Guess you haven't seen my post on the other thread. After he reaches a certain point he needs to be wrapped up and replaced this time.

 

[Almonds]

He should age. 14 seems reasonable by now.

And if it's too awkward to make Ash age while making the story popular, they should just switch protagonists. Hilbert would've been a wonderful choice - and at least HE doesn't look like 10.

 

[El_]

OH! Guess you haven't seen my post on the other thread. After he reaches a certain point he needs to be wrapped up and replaced this time.

Agreed. They definitely need to do that. I'm just afraid that they will literally start another 10 years of Ash having to grow.
(but never age lol)

It will be something if the Orange Islands are the next thing to be remade in the anime, but I won't touch on that here. If they are going to start his development all over and replace him, then hopefully they do it by gen 6.

Let gen 6 be like Johto where Ash matures and all that and reaches a milestone, and then replace him.

 

[Cybersai]

The sad thing is Ash should be Bianca's age now.

 

[Blazing Charmander]

Well, I was looking for more of an explanation for why anyone would think he physically looked older, but it's probably that I got the wrong meaning of "looked" from other people, in which case, yes, his development in AG and DP did make him seem more mature.

Ah. Well looking back at your prior post I should have actually realised that your original point was seeking an explanation about what physical attributes of Ash's character afftected people's perceptions of his age. In all honesty I don't think that many saw a difference in the character's design apart from new clothes in each region after Johto. The style of animation has obviously evolved over the course of the show's history, and I think that perhaps some had perceived a physical change in Ash which has led them to believe that he has aged due to that. I must admit that I first thought that Ash had aged due to looking older in AG, but in hindsight it was largely his character development and maturity in that saga which cast that impression on me.

 

[Dogasu]

I honestly don't see why this is even an issue at all. Time passes, but the characters don't age outside of what we see in flashbacks and whatnot. Why is that so freaking hard for people?

Also, you guys have to remember that it's actually extremely rare for a series to show its characters aging. It's easier to just keep everyone the same age than it is to have to redesign them every couple of years.

Not to mention he was almost 11 when the show started ten years ten months ten days.

What are you talking about?

It works for the Simpsons since it doesn't have a continuity

The Simpsons most certainly does have continuity.

Especially since there was an episode in Johto(?) that celebrated his meeting with Pikachu, which is also his birthday.

You're thinking of the third Pikachu short, Pichu and Pikachu. And in that, Satoshi says that the day in that short (which may or may not be canon, by the way) is the anniversary of the day they met. He never specifies which anniversary, though: that could have just been a six month anniversary.

The fact that at BW's start for the first time in 14 years, the writers actually had to re-instate the fact that Ash was 10, said a lot in itself. Its almost as if the writers did originally want him to age and mature.....but then came Best Wishes to reset everything.

Or, they got tired of all the fans acting like Satoshi was doing something he wasn't and wanted to set the record straight.

It's probably also the same reason they went ahead and confirmed Pikachu's gender.

3 years have pasted since he left. One in the return to Viridian City.

Dub-only, doesn't count.

Two in Pikachu and Pichu.

Never confirmed to be the one year anniversary.

And there was year between the kanto and Hoenn Grand festivals so he's at least thirteen.

I'm not sure where that was stated, but I'm going to guess that's also a dub-only line because the Japanese version has been avoiding mentioning specific lengths of time since Kanto.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

@Dogasu Okay I looked it up on bulbapedia again and apparently that only pertains to the novelizations but I remember it being said by Shudo in an interview but I guess it got taken off the wiki because that only pertained to novelizations and they didn't want to confuse people like I am confused now. But he got his Pikachu for a festival not his birthday and if I didn't imagine that interview there is a chance he wanted it to count towards the animes canon.

And it DOES MATTER because if he does age then it will have continuity if you take away his age then his journey seems pointless.

 

[Rex Kamex]

I've got plenty to say about this situation but I don't have time, so I'm just gonna start with this:

I honestly couldn't care less, and don't really understand the fandom's obsession with Satoshi being an ageless character.

Shin-Chan is still around the age of 5-7 after being around so long, so is Chibi Maruko-Chan, and Luffy just now aged into a 19 year-old after so long. So no prob here.

Pokemon has had waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more days than One Piece had in its present day before Luffy going from 17 to 19. There've been several times where a couple of manga volumes of One Piece took place in the same day. I'm pretty sure we can't pinpoint the entire manga timeline of Luffy as a 17-year-old, but it was much less than a year.

EDIT: Okay, I gotta say it- I still think that, generally speaking, the characters were supposed to age gradually in Kanto, with all the holiday specific episodes and the original plan to have the series be 80 episodes so then getting a year older wouldn't have been such a big deal. But I'm assuming that they got rid of the 80 episode limit sometime when making plans for the show during its hiatus after the Porygon episode incident.

 

[rkf]

If ash aged i think it would take a bit of the magic out of the show, Something special about a kid and his love for Pokemon.

 

[Rex Kamex]

If ash aged i think it would take a bit of the magic out of the show, Something special about a kid and his love for Pokemon.

I sort of get what you're going at, but I don't think it would be as much... magic... depending on how old he got and how he looked. That's part of what I plan to talk about later. How... with a timeskip Ash, I wouldn't want it to feel like he's a completely different person.

 

[Hurricane Kishore]

Where did writer got stupid idea that keeping Ash 10 & resetting his character gonna make kids more interested in watching pokemon
Pokemon Isn't super complex Card game like yugioh or Dual Master that Writer have to start from begining in order for little kids understand
And There are a lot of sport anime where the main character is older & experience from the start like ''Prince Of Tennis'' but kids still love them
If Writer wanna restart the show that match he should just make Ash a pokemon Master & replace him
There is no reason for keeping him 10 & resetting his character, Turning him a Trainer who's inferior to a Rocky like Trip
Those kids that writer wanna ''Connect'' loves strong & powerful main character . They don't like character who can't even beat a rocky with 4 year Experience
And I bet those kids already know's the Best wish isn't the 1st show of Pokemon
The Reason why Kids aren't interested in Pokemon cause Writer doesn't Show Ash a super strong trainer who is famous & well Respected in everywhere like how Drew was
Instate he show Ash as a nobody who just keep learning but can't teach

 

[Rex Kamex]

Okay, I guess I'll start adding more opinions now. First of all...

1) With a timeskipped Ash............ Keep the same Japanese voice actor. Don't get a manly man to man up Ash man voice to make Ash sound like a man. But the bigger thing is... This is a timeskip ASH. I do want him to mature, but I don't want him to seem like a completely different person. Wait I already said that.

2) No reason that the show suddenly has to turn dark just because he's older.

Oooh, also, if he never ages, that means that there's nothing stopping the writers from keeping him on the show for all eternity. This poses as a problem to me because the longer he stays on the show...the more of a meaningless marketable shell he becomes. I know that creating a new main character for the franchise may be a bit of a risk, but I would love to see Ash's journey reach a closure of some sort. Right now, his journey almost seems forced, his characterization is getting...ancient. I know that little kids won't care that much for it since they haven't stuck with Ash as long as some of the older fans have, but they probably equally wouldn't care if some shiny new hero replaced him.

I agree with you pretty much. Not that I have big expectations for the new trainer.

I do wish Ash was 15 by now. Gradual age...

But one beneficial thing to the writers about Ash not aging is that the writers can use him for however long they can get away with it. And I am glad we know Ash's age. While some moments are deeper than others, this isn't that complicated of a show- in my opinion, they might as well tell us. And they did.

Personally, I think Ash still being 10, though, is a sign that this series is endless (well, it's already been) so people wanting to see his journey end soon and have been watching from the beginning should be alarmed. I would rather see Ash's episodes through the end, though. Not quit on my own. Especially since I don't think there's been a decent enough ending since either D&P's ending or "Friends to the End" in KANTO.

Why did they age the characters in the B/W games and not in the anime if the anime is designed to advertise the games? Was it just to be different for the sake of being different? Unnh...

EDIT: But by this time, he hasn't aged... so in my opinion, he might as well not age until the end of his... episodes? Whenever that is... Or maybe they could age him to 12. I don't think that'd be bad. Maybe borderline pointless, but... yeah.

 

[Torterrius]

Yes. Ash needs to age. He should be...maybe 14 or 15 in Unova. It's so unreal to say he traversed all of those regions and islands and everything in...well, less than a year. I can't buy that at all. Not for one moment. When they said he was still ten I flipped out hardcore. And it's a poorly done reboot tactic if that, because in the opening scene, they left mementos of his previous journeys in his room for everyone to see, like Easter eggs. It makes no sense at all to leave him ten.

And it'll be like Ben 10. Having him age did him a lot of good. Ben matured, and so did the awesomeness. I think Ash, if he gets older, would not seem weird to age and actually keep the experience he has gained over the years.

 

[Almonds]

He should be at least 15 years old. Just look at how DP did so well making him seem more mature.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

In DP he was mature and everyone liked it. In BW he was declared ten and he is written pathetically and a lot of people hate it.

 

[Dr. Buni]

Nope.

I don't want to see Satoshi as a stupid teenager.