What do you feel Ash has achieved in the Unova region?

[Blazing Charmander]

With Ash's journey in Unova coming to an end after the N arc, I thought that it would be an appropriate time to discuss whether he has made any significant steps towards his goal of becoming a 'Pokemon Master' in this region.

For me, there has been little sense of achievement for Ash in Unova apart from acquiring a couple more powerhouses and a new set of badges. He didn't succeed in any of the various tournament arcs, which he could have done with being victorious in at least one to reassert himself as a strong trainer. In addition, he placed in the Top 8 of the Unova League having lost to a trainer that fought with one Pokemon less and monsters that were disadvantaged against his own (actually, Best Wishes in general has had this unhealthy obsession with turning the type chart upside down). This was in comparison to the Sinnoh League before it, which culminated in a Top 4 finish after losing to a trainer with at least two legendary Pokemon.

In my opinion, Ash has hardly covered himself in glory during his travels in Unova, and his journey there has felt like a waste of time compared to the others preceding it. Unless anything major occurs at the end of the Decolora arc, it will feel as if Ash has returned to Kanto with no new developments to speak of.

How much do you feel Ash has achieved in Unova? Just to avoid any huge overlaps in discussion, individual threads do already exist to discuss Ash's age, possible regression and replacement in more depth.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I feel like he hasn't achieved much of anything in Unova. He did get a couple of stronger Pokemon among the underdeveloped Unova Pokemon he caught and a new set of badges, even though a good portion of them were earned with cheap/unbelievable victories and last minute evolutions, but that really pales in comparison to both AG and DP. He was able to get new strong Pokemon and a new set of badges in those series while also making process in his skills as a trainer. He trained his Pokemon more often and used more strategy in his Gym battles to win, both of which have been lacking in BW as a whole, and his rank in both the Hoenn and Sinnoh League showed it. Even though he got to the Top 8 again after the Johto League, he did only use his Hoenn team, which made it feel a bit more like an accomplishment. Not to mention he did win the Battle Frontier, an accomplishment that I think is better than a region league just because of how few trainers are able to enter it in the first place. In DP, he was able to get to the Top 4, his highest rank yet, and be the only one who defeated Darkrai. It was a bit of a cheap win after they hyped it up so much, but Pikachu vs. Latios made up for it and it still make him look more like an unofficial second place winner in a way.

In BW, Ash just hasn't really made any progress. He trains few of his Unova Pokemon, the Gym battles are full of cheap wins and even his victory over Trip felt rather cheap after all the buildup they did give to that weak rivalry. He hasn't shown any new skills as a trainer in this journey and that feels especially jarring after DP. Plus, they've been showing him gradually improving since Johto, if not AG, and with his journey in Unova in mind, he just hasn't really earned any accomplishments or showcased any skills to makes me believe that they are keeping up with that progression of his skills. Instead of going forward, it feels more like a significant step backwards.

 

[Satoshi_Pikachu]

In a word, nothing.

 

[Cybersai]

He really didn't accomplish anything, unless you count capturing those 10 Unova pokemon. Even his rivalries were crap and went nowhere.

 

[Almonds]

Nothing except for fully evolveing some of his pokemons

 

[Jukain]

Two words: diddly squat, at least in reference to DP. In fact, even right now, he is still far behind that point, and it's heavily debatable whether he's better or worse than he was in Johto. I'd say worse on the virtue that if Gary came along right now, he would walk off in total disgust and never have anything to do with Ash ever again. In reference to the beginning of BW, there is vaguely improvement, but most of it has to do with the fact he does have fully evoed pokes. I have no respect for someone who'd rather play around than accomplish anything. This is an absolute travesty.

 

[Team Gaara]

With Ash's journey in Unova coming to an end after the N arc, I thought that it would be an appropriate time to discuss, whether he has made any significant steps towards his goal of becoming a 'Pokemon Master' in this region

In response to that specific statement, hell no he hasn't.

Ash has only achieved a new level of stupidity. I don't hate Ash or anything, but he's come no closer to becoming a Pokemon master this region. He's frankly gotten worse.

 

[WatcherMark]

Satoshi has acheived squat during BW. In fact, I think it's fair to say he's regressed from an experienced trainer to a struggling rookie.

 

[Cybersai]

Its really bizarre that Ash has no major accomplishments in BW at all. I hope to god there's something in Kanto waiting for him to "win" because we know in the islands arc there's no challenge.

What exactly did the writers expect us to look forward to in terms of Ash? They had him lose all 3 tournaments, then did horribly in the league by regressing to Top 8 and failing to a kid who was stupider than he is, and his Pokemon team this time around is lousy. Its almost as if BW was written in such a way to make Ash look as bad as possible.

Even Johto gave you the impression that Ash was improving and learning from his mistakes.

 

[Ashs Battle Coach]

ooo ooo ooo um he caught some dark types for the 1st time, both of whom don't have any dark type moves in their move pools. So, um, good going???

And a rock type. Who he kinda failed to make into a tank.

Yea Ash sucked this series.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

The only thing he's accomplished this saga is regaining his goofball, childish personality in my eyes. I liked that his personality is back, but I don't like that he's lost some maturity he gained in DP along the way, at the same time.

His dub voice actor since the dub switch finally found her stride and plays him well now, too, as compared to the previous voices she used in the BF and DP arcs. That's more the VA's accomplishment than Ash, though. XD.

Oh, and he's more tolerable than Team Rocket has been this saga. That's it. He's sucked in every other way to me, and achieved nothing but regaining his personality and making himself more likeable than TRio.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Its really bizarre that Ash has no major accomplishments in BW at all. I hope to god there's something in Kanto waiting for him to "win" because we know in the islands arc there's no challenge.

What exactly did the writers expect us to look forward to in terms of Ash? They had him lose all 3 tournaments, then did horribly in the league by regressing to Top 8 and failing to a kid who was stupider than he is, and his Pokemon team this time around is lousy. Its almost as if BW was written in such a way to make Ash look as bad as possible.

We don't know if there isn't any challenge on the islands for sure, even though it does look pretty likely that there isn't since they would have promoted it by now. Still, I'm not sure if they would reveal all of the episodes for the island arc through a few ads, so there could be something more there. Though, Ash's performance in BW does make me wonder where they're going with him. Even if he had won just one of those three tournaments, I don't think that would have been much of an accomplishment. It would have been nice to have him win something, but considering that they're all one-on-one tournaments, I don't think that would say a lot about Ash's skills had he won one of them anyway.

Even Johto gave you the impression that Ash was improving and learning from his mistakes.

That's because he was. While his Johto team was full of under developed Pokemon too, he actually earned nearly all of his Gym battles through actual victories, aside from the one with Pryce, and he actually got further in the Johto League. Admittedly, it was with the help of his Kanto Pokemon, but that still showed that he was making progress and becoming a better trainer. BW hasn't done anything like for Ash and that's just disappointing. Even with how great his skills were in DP, he could still improve, so I don't see why they made him regress so much.

 

[Sakuraa]

He added some more Pokemon to his collection, got some new badges, and worked on his Pokedex. In fact he worked on his Pokedex so much, he scanned multiple of the same species more than once.

Other than that he accomplished absolutely nothing.

 

[SammyW27]

Absolutely nuthin'

 

[Baby Seals]

[video=youtube;Cs57e-viIKw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs57e-viIKw[/video]

That is what Ash accomplished.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

He caught several more Pokemon than he usually does in any region, which ended up being more of a detriment than an achievement, because that just left less room for most of his new Pokes to develop properly.

Other than that...well, he collected eight Unova region badges - some of which he won due to one his Pokemon evolving during the battle and one he only managed to win when he used double the number of Pokemon the gym leader used - aaand that's all I can think of. I can't name a single thing he learned in Unova and he fared worse in the league than he did in the previous one. This is one journey he would probably want to exclude from his resume, if you ask me.

 

[Araragi-hakase]

At first, I thought Satoshi was off to a great start in Isshu. Captured a handful of pokemon rather quickly, some of which evolved (even if it did feel a bit...er, forced? None the less, they evolved), but nothing to really write home about. Didn't fair well in any of the (too many) tournaments, nor the league, nor did he meet any rivals that were all that exciting and memorable.

Fully evolving some of his Pokemon was impressive considering how many more he's never evolved, but that's about all.

 

[DracoMan]

Even Kanto Ash accomplished more--he won the P1 Grand Prix and that one Pokemon race (granted, he was using someone else's Ponyta/Rapidash, but he still handled it well), and his Pikachu and Bulbasaur helped Misty win the Princess Festival. And let's not forget about him beating Drake and winning the Orange league (which, although I consider it the minor leagues in comparison to the main regions, is still something). More proof that BW Ash pales in comparison to his past selves.

 

[Caseydia]

The only thing he's accomplished this saga is regaining his goofball, childish personality in my eyes. I liked that his personality is back, but I don't like that he's lost some maturity he gained in DP along the way, at the same time.

This is why I always rather a mature Ash than a childish, comedy relief type like he was before. It was okay but I can't deal with it anymore. Not when it come to leagues and other competitions. That's when the gags should draw a line.

As far as accomplishments are concerned, I thought the boy was going to atleast get to top 2 this time so that it would feel like he was going somewhere but, it just seemed that all of that hard work in Sinnoh was almost for nothing. It doesn't matter if Ash has newly caught pokemon, he can still do a good job with them with alittle good writing.

 

[John Understands]

Nothing. Zero. 0% accomplishment.

Unova Ash was too much of a downgrade, even from Kanto Ash - yes, Kanto Ash - that it makes your head ache. He won no leagues, no minileagues, all being reserved to someone like Stephan or Iris or Cameron.