Tetsuo Yajima Interview on XY

[Almonds]

Nice to know that Amourshipping is canon and confirmed by the staff

 

[Rath]

Nice to know that Amourshipping is canon and confirmed by the staff

It's not.

 

[Almonds]

It's not.

*The kiss scene is indeed meant to be Serena kissing Satoshi, and his reaction to it is surprised awe, any ambiguity the scene has is so they could get it on TV in the first place.
*Likewise, you're meant to hope and assume the two of them are going to become a couple later.
*The idea to have a romance subplot apparently came from producer Shukichi Kanda, who came up with the idea of portraying things through a female lead's admiration for Satoshi, which then led to the suggestion that they'd have a flashback to a childhood meeting with romantic implications.

> interview with the XY director confirms the kiss and the romantic implications ever since their childhood
> none of the bold had ever been mentioned with Misty, May, Dawn, or Iris. The other girls had their share of episodes that arguably hint at their respective ship being possible, but none has been stated by their series' director (or any staff member) that they were written with the intention to be viewed as being a couple with Ash in the future.
> romance subplot is confirmed.
> "Amourshipping is not canon"
> ???

 

[Gabo2oo]

So far, it's still canon only on Serena's side, which has been pretty much shown since the beginning of the series.
I think this interview, while really interesting, changes very little in regards to Amourshipping's status as canon, other than the implication that it may become canon on Ash's side in the future (likely outside of the show's time frame).

 

[Almonds]

So far, it's still canon only on Serena's side, which has been pretty much shown since the beginning of the series.
I think this interview, while really interesting, changes very little in regards to Amourshipping's status as canon, other than the implication that it may become canon on Ash's side in the future (likely outside of the show's time frame).

The interview still says that the staff had set up Amourshipping with the intention to let the viewers assume they are going to be a couple in the future. If 'staff confirmation' - and from the director, no less - isn't canon, then idk.

 

[ii kanji]

The interview still says that the staff had set up Amourshipping with the intention to let the viewers assume they are going to be a couple in the future. If 'staff confirmation' - and from the director, no less - isn't canon, then idk.

That's not exactly what the OP said:

*Likewise, you're meant to hope and assume the two of them are going to become a couple later.

Where is the original source btw? Did anyone ever do a full translation?

 

[Likeitornot.]

In fairness, the original post does say "hope and assume" so, yes we're supposed to expect that it will happen when they're older (that doesn't mean it necessarily will or we as the audience will ever see it - considering a recent interview is stating Ash to be perpetually 10, I somewhat doubt we will - but that it was written with the intention of making it come true - so, it depends on your definition of canon really, where you stand with that).

@ii kanji this is the original post that I could find. It was Dephender's translation, but in his translation it is only the tidbits as well - not a full transcript.

 

[SinnohEevee]

But Ash just was confirmed to be forever 10.

 

[Cresselia92]

But Ash just was confirmed to be forever 10.

Just like Nobita from "Doraemon", who is doomed to stay a child forever. And yet, there is the implication that he will get married with Shizuka in an hypothetical future that may never be shown on TV.

So, nothing would stop Serena from being Ash's future soulmate, even if said scenario would never be broadcast on TV.

 

[kantoskies]

I don't think him saying "assume" means it's absolutely canon, just that the kiss could be used to argue it may happen in the future.

It's like how Pokeshippers are convinced Ash and Misty got together years later. Is it canon? No. But they assume the two of them are to become a couple later.

Also in my experience with translated-from-Japanese interviews and comments such as these it's not wise to take the exact wording literally.

 

[Likeitornot.]

The interview really highlights their prerogative to advertise Serena's crush and feed into shipping culture, which in my opinion is rather unfortunate, since I feel this came at the expense the development of Serena and Ash's friendship, and sometimes tied into problematic romance tropes (Serena's final declaration to Ash always makes me feel uncomfortable).

However, there's something else:

*Alan was always meant to be part of the main series. The reason the four Mega specials were made was because it would be difficult to set up his backstory and development in the series itself, so he came up with the idea of giving him his own episodes that could establish his character.

(emphasis added, mine)

This bothers me - I had thought before this, that Alain was brought in largely as a last-minute decision and that this was the rationale behind how abrupt as well as random his rivalry with Ash seemed, how his character felt juxtaposed into the XY (I personally felt the narrative of the main anime doesn't suit his character well), as well as his move to enter the Pokemon League. Now, however, I see that this was all planned. I feel like this was rather cavalier, and with this information, I feel much less forgiving about it than I was before. However, I'm glad they did choose to develop him alone in the Strongest Mega Evolution instead of bleeding it into XY immediately - that was a smart decision, I feel that he is one of the best characters in the entire series in terms of character development.

 

[Saizo]

I don't think him saying "assume" means it's absolutely canon, just that the kiss could be used to argue it may happen in the future.

It's like how Pokeshippers are convinced Ash and Misty got together years later. Is it canon? No. But they assume the two of them are to become a couple later.

Also in my experience with translated-from-Japanese interviews and comments such as these it's not wise to take the exact wording literally.

The difference here is that it's a director saying this about Ash and Serena while nobody said that Ash and Misty got together, people just saw a trailer where Misty was with a little girl and they assumed that she was related to Ash but nobody from the staffs said that Ash and Misty would be together, it's in Misty fans's minds while for Ash and Serena it's the words of a director of the anime , that's the difference and no offense, even if it doesn't happen in the future (which is most likely what is going to happen) the words will still be there.

People really need to chill when it comes to the word "canon" , it can mean a lot of things and a director saying that a pairing might be together can be labeled as "canon" but if for you it's not that's fine, you don't even need to be mad about it.

 

[SinnohEevee]

By the time the show ends, Serena would be long forgotten by the staff.
It's semi-canon, but it's not a guarantee.

 

[Saizo]

By the time the show ends, Serena would be long forgotten by the staff.
It's semi-canon, but it's not a guarantee.

She's already forgotten.
It's "canon" in a way because the staff confirmed that the hints weren't only speculations by fans like all the others shipping + the kiss that's what I meant but at the end Serena left like all the others characters and got the worst treatment ever for a travelling companion (for now) even her popularity didn't help since she didn't get a special episode.
We'll see what the future brings but for now , this interview is irrelevant even if it's still words of the staff (don't forget that a producer of the anime was with Yajima during this interview).

 

[Hidden Mew]

She's already forgotten.
It's "canon" in a way because the staff confirmed that the hints weren't only speculations by fans like all the others shipping + the kiss that's what I meant but at the end Serena left like all the others characters and got the worst treatment ever for a travelling companion (for now) even her popularity didn't help since she didn't get a special episode.
We'll see what the future brings but for now , this interview is irrelevant even if it's still words of the staff (don't forget that a producer of the anime was with Yajima during this interview).

I don't see how Serena not getting a special yet means that she has the worst treatment ever for a traveling companion. That seems like jumping to conclusions there when XY hasn't even been over for a year yet. If she doesn't get anything by the time SM ends, then that would be something, but calling it the worst when she hasn't gotten a special yet seems a bit much to me.

As far as the canon issue, I see it as the most canon an Ash pairing can potentially be, for what that is worth given that we aren't going to see Ash age. Even before that interview, he wasn't going to age outside of a time skip, which would also be out of place. Serena obviously likes Ash and based on his reaction to the kiss, he likes her too, so I think you could make a decent claim that they could become a couple in a hypothetical future. Granted, most canon Ash pairing doesn't really mean much when he'll be ten forever and romance is never going to be a huge deal in Pokemon, but that's how I take it.

I'm not surprised that Alain was always planned to be in XY. His involvement with Team Flare and the Mega Evolution specials made sense. What does surprise me is the notion that they planned for Alain to be Ash's rival from the start. That and especially his inclusion in the Kalos League felt like a last minute decision, so if they planned that from the start, they really could have established more of a rivalry between them earlier. Or at least show Alain going after Gym badges during the Mega Evolution specials.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Do you think Ash being confirmed to be forever 10 means he will never progress?

 

[Shadao]

Do you think Ash being confirmed to be forever 10 means he will never progress?

No, not really. Simply by the nature of the Pokémon games. And considering that the director of M20 stated he wanted to showcase Ash's immaturity as a ten year old kid in the early days suggest to me that they couldn't bring Ash back to his debut personality in the OS. Meaning that he has progressed and matured.

I do say that making the Pokémon anime akin to something like Doraemon or Detective Conan is kinda faulty in hindsight. In fact, I wonder if GameFreak itself is debating if it should have gone with static time or a continuing timeline since they have been using alternate universes and remakes quite a lot for Pokémon these days.

 

[SinnohEevee]

No, not really. Simply by the nature of the Pokémon games. And considering that the director of M20 stated he wanted to showcase Ash's immaturity as a ten year old kid in the early days suggest to me that they couldn't bring Ash back to his debut personality in the OS. Meaning that he has progressed and matured.

I do say that making the Pokémon anime akin to something like Doraemon or Detective Conan is kinda faulty in hindsight. In fact, I wonder if GameFreak itself is debating if it should have gone with static time or a continuing timeline since they have been using alternate universes and remakes quite a lot for Pokémon these days.

Gen 1/3/ORAS occur at the same time.
Gen 2/4 are 3 years later.
BW occurs some years after Gen 4.
B2W2/XY occur 2 years after B1W1.
SM occurs 2 years after that.

But time is not much referenced. Ash started his journey in April 1997 (?). It was either his 10th birthday (opening of M04 and M05) or he was 10 years, 10 months, and 10 days old (did Shudo say that in the Japanese version of his novelization?). We don't even know when Ash's birthday even is or how much time has elapsed since he started (they spent at least one year in Sinnoh, it was mentioned in a clip episode that was only aired in Japan).

 

[Shadao]

Gen 1/3/ORAS occur at the same time.
Gen 2/4 are 3 years later.
BW occurs some years after Gen 4.
B2W2/XY occur 2 years after B1W1.
SM occurs 2 years after that.

But time is not much referenced. Ash started his journey in April 1997 (?). It was either his 10th birthday (opening of M04 and M05) or he was 10 years, 10 months, and 10 days old (did Shudo say that in the Japanese version of his novelization?). We don't even know when Ash's birthday even is or how much time has elapsed since he started (they spent at least one year in Sinnoh, it was mentioned in a clip episode that was only aired in Japan).

Oh, I know the timeline but when it starts opening up alternative universes, age progression no longer matters. No one could really know if Red from SM is the same Red from FRLG. And so on and so forth. With games going forward and backwards in time, it creates problems for the anime to follow if the games involve returning characters at different age.

Going on-topic, I always felt that Alain would fight Ash and would fight him in the Pokémon League. Ash is pretty powerful in XY, and the Mega Evolution Specials are clearly in continuity with the anime. Thus it stands to reason that Alain and Ash will battle and if Alain is that powerful in the Mega Evolution Specials, then the best way to showcase the clash of the titans is the Kalos League itself.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Oh, I know the timeline but when it starts opening up alternative universes, age progression no longer matters. No one could really know if Red from SM is the same Red from FRLG. And so on and so forth. With games going forward and backwards in time, it creates problems for the anime to follow if the games involve returning characters at different age.

Going on-topic, I always felt that Alain would fight Ash and would fight him in the Pokémon League. Ash is pretty powerful in XY, and the Mega Evolution Specials are clearly in continuity with the anime. Thus it stands to reason that Alain and Ash will battle and if Alain is that powerful in the Mega Evolution Specials, then the best way to showcase the clash of the titans is the Kalos League itself.

It seems to be a different Red because of Mega Evolution. Yes, they are starting with the parallel universes stuff, and it could get confusing. As for the anime, we had two versions for M14 and now we have M20.