What if Ash had two permanent companions?

[Greninjaman]

This is something I have been thinking about over the weekend: What if Misty and Brock stayed with Ash from Kanto to Galar and beyond (no other companions, just those two)? How popular and successful would the anime be?

 

[yab]

I think most would have gotten bored of the anime a long time ago if that happened. Most people got bored of the Johto saga for that reason. The anime would have still remained on the air because the anime will always air as long as the games are out so it doesn't matter.

 

[p0pp1i0D3f3nd3r]

Only if it was serena. . .

 

[Nicolas721]

The anime would have changed a lot. It could have gone two ways: 1) The focus remains exclusively on Ash, like BW and early XY, and all Misty & Brock do is update their teams and participate in some fillers, or 2) They would have made Misty and Brock more marketable, Misty would resemble the girls from the games and would receive her own kind of water contest to participate on.

It's hard to say if the anime would be more popular, but I think most fans online have taken the changes well and are eager to see new companions, and the writers took note of that to the point we have 5 companions nowadays.

 

[Greninjaman]

Yeah, that is true. May work for fanfics, but the Pokemon anime? Possible not unless they made Misty and Brock more interesting and have better, more interesting goals.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don't think that this would have been good for the anime at all. Most fans were tired for Brock by around DP and that was after being in different casts with a few different characters. I don't think that the reception would have been much better for Brock or for Misty for that matter if they were in the main cast for over twenty years.

It would have made the anime feel much more stale. Say what you will about the cast for each series. Not all of them are great, but they do help make each series more distinct from each other and allow for the writers to tackle different concepts/storylines. It would have been so boring for the main cast to not even change once for so long and it would limit what they could promote from the new games. They certainly couldn't have had Misty become a Coordinator to showcase Contests, but introducing a new character who does become interested in Contests does make sense and feels much more natural than just forcing Misty into the role. Not to mention both Misty and Brock are able to do more for their goals in their own off-screen adventures that they would most likely be able to do while traveling with Ash.

 

[Battista]

The thing about switching partners - May, Dawn and Serena specifically - was that it moved Ash into a role of “mentor” (not necessarily as a teacher but a veteran compared to each of them just starting their journeys). It actually served to show his growth as a trainer in a new, interesting way. That wouldn’t have happened with Misty and Brock being his only companions.

 

[Islander Princess]

Don't get me wrong, I love both Brock and Misty. However, I don't think it's a good idea for Ash to have any permanent traveling companions.

People complain enough about Ash being in every series (which personally doesn't bother me; I love him as the protagonist and enjoy seeing him in different settings with different characters and Pokémon) so I can't imagine how much people would complain if three or more protagonists never changed as well. Plus, it is fun to see new characters and to have these different traveling groups. Sure, some are more dynamic and interesting than others, but I think it's refreshing every few years to get a new perspective.

Something I would not be against (and seriously wish the writers would do) is give old traveling companions more cameos/guest appearances. I'm really glad they picked it up again with Brock and Misty this series, but I have serious doubts they continue it in the next one. While I'm all for rotating traveling companions, it doesn't mean we have to totally ditch the former characters and never see them again. Even if they brought back something like Pokémon Chronicles (if they're really that set against injecting the older characters into Ash's current journey...) that'd be a nice way to revisit them and still incorporate them into the show.

 

[Shadao]

This is something I have been thinking about over the weekend: What if Misty and Brock stayed with Ash from Kanto to Galar and beyond (no other companions, just those two)? How popular and successful would the anime be?

When you boil the Pokémon Games to its very core, it's catching Pokémon and battling Gyms. Ash Ketchum's journey is essentially that, which allows the writers to go to auto-pilot if they can't think of anything creative for our main lead. That's how applicable Ash is. Team Rocket, by extension, has the role of being the antagonists who are trying to capture Ash's Pikachu and/or other Pokémon. This makes them easier to be placed on auto-pilot if the writers can't think of anything good for them (though it's clear in recent series that writers are finding it easier to not shoehorn Team Rocket into every single episode).

Misty and Brock do not really fit in the these basic roles. They are companions to Ash, but their goals are vague and have no direct path. Misty wants to be a Water Specialist and Brock wants to be a Pokémon Breeder/Doctor. Consequently, they tend to be stuck in the sidelines as coaches for Ash at best. And the status quo dynamic means that they cannot venture beyond what was already established. Misty's character, for example, would benefit well had she become a rival to Ash as opposed to just a companion. Her tsundere relationship with Ash, as well as their squabbles of who's a better trainer, can fill in the hole that Gary Oak would usually occupy (since he rarely appears) and perhaps even showcase an Ash-Ritchie rivalry done (in terms of best friends becoming rivals). However, this cannot work with the show's format (since it would be boring to repeat the Gym Battles twice at least). It's quite telling that most of Misty's character development happened in Pokémon Chronicles than in the main Pokémon anime (at least by Johto standards). Same thing with Brock.

However, I will say that having Misty and Brock sticking with Ash till Galar would destroy the fan myth that Ash is eternally 10-years old as if he's the only person who has that. No, Ash isn't forever 10-years old because he saw Ho-Oh. He's 10-years old because time itself in the Pokémon universe uses Comic Book Time. Superman and Batman have been around for over 75 years, and they still look like in their 30s.

 

[SerenaToAlola]

The two should be Serena and Lillie.

 

[Lillie]

I'm not sure. I'm guessing it would do well regardless since it seems to get new audiences every few years and it would probably still air because of the games selling pretty well.

I would like to see Lillie become a permanent third wheel, but it will probably never happen.

 

[yab]

In a more traditional saga Lillie would be yet another May/Dawn/Serena type character, and that's what she essentially already is if you remove the connections to Lusamine/Mohn and her backstory. So I don't think she would be interesting enough for a long period given she already re-treads the same lessons every girl went through before her.

 

[Hidden Mew]

In a more traditional saga Lillie would be yet another May/Dawn/Serena type character, and that's what she essentially already is if you remove the connections to Lusamine/Mohn and her backstory. So I don't think she would be interesting enough for a long period given she already re-treads the same lessons every girl went through before her.

I'm not sure how Lillie would be another May/Dawn/Serena. I guess she'd be a new trainer technically, but unlike those three, she doesn't really have a goal, so I'm not sure if she would be learning the same lessons every girl went before her. Not to mention May, Dawn and Serena have some significant differences despite starting off as rookie trainers in their respective series. Removing her connections to Lusamine/Mohn and her backstory is basically removing key parts of Lillie's characterization too.

Granted, I agree that Lillie wouldn't be interesting enough to last through multiple series. I like Lillie, but I don't think she's that interesting and most, if not all, of what they could do with her connects back to her storyline from the games/adapt elements from the seventh generation games, which wouldn't work for anything past SM. I just don't agree with the idea that she'd be a retread of previous female trainers.

 

[Gligarman]

He did have two permanent companions. But they they changed it up. I think that was for the better.

 

[yab]

He did have two permanent companions. But they they changed it up. I think that was for the better.

Who were they? Brock was replaced as early as Orange Islands, although he stayed for a decade after that. Misty was only in the anime for 5 years, she didn't even last long enough to even think she would be permanent. She was actually dropped when the anime was in its infancy.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Who were they? Brock was replaced as early as Orange Islands, although he stayed for a decade after that. Misty was only in the anime for 5 years, she didn't even last long enough to even think she would be permanent. She was actually dropped when the anime was in its infancy.

Since Misty was in every episode for those five years, that's long enough for people to think she would be permanent. No one expected the anime to have multiple series, so saying that she was dropped when the anime was in its infancy is a bit of an exaggeration. It's technically true in the sense that she was dropped at the end of the first series and they have been going on without her for multiple other series over the past couple of decades, but it always seemed like a way to downplay how much of a shake up Misty's departure was. Brock was already replaced once before, but Misty being around for three different journeys would easily give the impression that she'd stick around for good.

 

[Greninjaman]

That is true. Misty was there for Kanto, Orange Islands, and Johto.
Brock was there for the first four Regions.
Out of the girls, Misty was there the longest, while Brock was there the longest out of the guys.

 

[yab]

That's why hindsight exists, at the time the original seasons were airing people also didn't expect the show to go on for 20+ years or Ash to be around for an eternity.. Misty was just part of the cast back then, but nobody really assumed Ash would go on forever even when Johto was airing. But now looking back 22 years later, Misty was really only there for a short amount of time, regardless if she's still in more eps than the other girls. And also if you're saying Misty was there for "3 regions" you could say the same for May in Hoenn and Kanto, or even Iris/Cilan if you count the later part of BW as separate, but most just include it all in the same series. It's all semantics when all is said and done.

Brock did last an extremely long time and for awhile it did seem like he could have been permanent, but I can't say the same for Misty who was there for less than half the time he was, or Ash and Team Rocket.

 

[Greninjaman]

Speaking of Brock, didn’t they keep him after Sinnoh? They could change his goal to something interesting.

 

[Hidden Mew]

That's why hindsight exists, at the time the original seasons were airing people also didn't expect the show to go on for 20+ years or Ash to be around for an eternity.. Misty was just part of the cast back then, but nobody really assumed Ash would go on forever even when Johto was airing. But now looking back 22 years later, Misty was really only there for a short amount of time, regardless if she's still in more eps than the other girls. And also if you're saying Misty was there for "3 regions" you could say the same for May in Hoenn and Kanto, or even Iris/Cilan if you count the later part of BW as separate, but most just include it all in the same series. It's all semantics when all is said and done.

I wouldn't really consider five years to be a short amount of time. It's shorter compared to how long the anime has been going on, but Misty still technically had the longest run in the main cast out of all of the female leads and the only one to last through two generations. Granted, the latter is primarily because Johto was part of the original series instead of being its own series and there wasn't a female characters from G/S that could have joined the cast either, but I still think it counts for something. Neither May, Iris or Cilan traveled through as many regions as Misty did and I'm pretty sure hardly anyone considers the later part of BW as a separate series.

Brock did last an extremely long time and for awhile it did seem like he could have been permanent, but I can't say the same for Misty who was there for less than half the time he was, or Ash and Team Rocket.

I don't know how Brock could have seemed more likely to be permanent compared to Misty. He did last a lot longer in the anime than she did by comparison, but they already replaced Brock once before. Even with how long he stuck around, he didn't have the same kind of permanency compared to Ash and Team Rocket. Misty didn't last as long, but since she was there from the beginning and hadn't been replaced prior like Brock, I could see why people thought back in the day that she would be a permanent character in the cast.

Speaking of Brock,didn’t they keep him after Sinnoh? They could change his goal to something interesting.

No, Brock left after DP. He changed his goal to become a Pokemon Doctor, which was pretty fitting for him. He was always taking care of Pokemon and becoming a Pokemon Doctor gave him a more solid goal than the vagueness of becoming the world's greatest Pokemon Breeder.