How well would the anime have done if Ash was swapped out early on (after Kanto/Orange Islands)?

[Greninjaman]

I don't see any reason Ash should be swapped that early on.

How so? Could you please explain?

 

[HiroHunter]

How so? Could you please explain?

I didn't feel like there was any closer at the end of Kanto or OI for Ash. I think that it add to the fact that one of the reasons that i'm still watching the anime is because of Ash.

 

[Nicolas721]

I think Johto fillers are also to blame for Pokemon's popularity decline, and seeing them combined with new characters would have made things worse. Maybe they would have turned out to be decent characters, but after seeing how they handled Casey, Gary, Misty and Brock in early Johto I wouldn't have much hopes.

 

[KrspaceT]

It would depend, I think, on at least a few factors. Among them is 4kids, oddly enough. A Ash replacement in Hoenn, for example, had a decent enough marketing push, but the GX/AD era is around the time 4Kids started to hit trouble. Not sure how it would have handled Yu-Gi-Oh level issues

 

[IncineROAR]

I feel like the show's producers constantly make poor choices in regards to Ash's development (he gets pretty stupid suddenly at the beginning of each generation), but he and Pikachu are the staples of the anime. Replacing Ash would probably cause the anime to drop in popularity. That said, I think the producers/writers can make better choices in terms of story development.

 

[Antiyonder]

Well as I stated, the numerous specials we got that didn't feature Ash whether in or out of continuity could be the occasional attempt to see if doing the anime without the lead characters could work, but only get low reception.

And again I'd argue that even the best Non-Ash stuff when all is said and done does have it's own creative problems, but the suits likely just assume that the lack of the lead characters are the only problem.

But looking again at Origins. Pays more tribute to the game than the Indigo Season, explained the workings of Gym Leaders by showing that they have different levels of Pokémon so that those who start from Celadon don't have to go all the way to Pewter to fight in a Gym with Level 10 Pokés only and letting it's lead character go from newb to Champ. Yet while there's room to argue on whether all aspects of Red's journey needed fleshing out, we definitely should have seen all Gym Matches and Team Rocket encounters especially since both aspects coincide with Giovanni.

I've gotten a response on another thread that yeah Origins didn't really out rank the main anime in Japan, which definitely aids the idea that there's a reason to believe that sticking with Ash & Pikachu is the way to play it safe. But how about the creative teams from say The Legend of Raikou to Origins? Any high profile talents/writers who been assigned to them or maybe they feel it's too much of a financial risk and put the second best on them?

 

[TheGoldenToon]

There may not be a definitive right answer. On one hand I like Ash a lot and he along with Pikachu never really got stale for me. One the other hand I enjoy seeing stories in the same universe from a different perceptive. I was thinking before that if Ash was replaced, I'd miss him being the main character, but at the same time they probably could just give the new protagonist a Pikachu and there problem solved. But then I thought, "It's not that simple". Reading the post here, my own perspective has been altered a bit. I can't just look at my own perspective, but other fans as well.

Having new protagonist with a Pikachu could be seen as awkward. Pikachu is the franchise's mascot and it would be wise from a marketing point of view to feature the species as often as possible in the anime. But who's the character that has been most prominently featured with Pikachu? Ash Ketchum. That is the face we see along side Pikachu's the most. While I would still like to see a separate anime with different protagonist in a different universe. The main anime with Ash should probably be left alone at all cost.

I would still like to see Ash succeed in his goals and still travel the world because I just think it fits his character to want to explore. He loves visiting new places and meeting new people and pokemon. Not to mention that he learns new things from some of them. I also don't believe it takes away anything to age Ash a little, but that's for another discussion. But I see why certain things with the anime are left the way it is. I'm open for change myself. I didn't mind when Misty was replaced with May because it felt fresh, so I won't say I myself would riot if Ash was replaced, but considering how others feel and how risky it might be, I can totally understand why they wouldn't want Ash replaced. I still like the idea of Ash achieving his dream because then we could see how Ash being the main character impacts the lives of other characters only accept now being a master that others come to. Again I should probably leave this for another discussion, so I'll just leave it at this: Ash can still achieve his dreams and remain the main character.

So I guess at this point I can say, Ash staying the protagonist is a good idea for both marketing and possible fan backlash they would prefer to avoid. I know how other fans felt about Tracey replacing Brock, even though I didn't mind the former all that much, I got how other fans felt, so I have to always remember to consider the feelings of other fans.

 

[Darthbane2007]

The best time to replace Ash would have been right after Johto....

 

[Antiyonder]

So I guess at this point I can say, Ash staying the protagonist is a good idea for both marketing and possible fan backlash they would prefer to avoid. I know how other fans felt about Tracey replacing Brock, even though I didn't mind the former all that much, I got how other fans felt, so I have to always remember to consider the feelings of other fans.

I used to think that keeping Ash for so long was a mistake. Bringing another protagonist in the show would have brought some fresh air and definitely gave opportunity the writers to be more creative. But something I read recently made me reconsider my opinion. Pokémon has the biggest income as a franchise in the history. It got me thinking, maybe, the writers were doing the right thing by keeping the mascot of the show and its trainer for good.

I don't know. Yeah I'll concede that Ash being removed could have or could be responded to with backlash and a financial suicide, but that's really still speculation. In fairness just as I speculate that specials lacking Ash failed because they didn't have their A Team of creative talents unless someone could inform me otherwise.

But to look at another kind of risk, I understand Akira Toriyama's editor voiced a similar concern when he wanted to age up Goku into an old teen and later adult. Going against said editor didn't seem to lead to backlash. And the series that resulted in the end of DB animation for a while tried to undo said aging.

 

[SeanWheeler]

At first I voted yes because the series could have the new male protagonists from the games, but as I read the comments, I realized Ash is doing fine as he is. Removing Ash after Johto would make Hoenn too different. It was bad enough at the time that Hoenn replaced Misty with May and the Hoenn games were missing a lot of old Pokémon. But I think I like what they are doing with Ash representing the veteran fans and the female trainer for the new fans. Though, I would like Ash to at least win a Pokémon League because losing constantly is getting boring. Unova shouldn't have depicted Ash as a noob, especially with Iris calling him a kid, with him later tell her that she's a kid too. And the narrator stating that Ash is still ten, despite how long the show has been going on with a few hints of years going by in-universe just raised a lot of questions. The whole school plot in Alola kind of betrays the whole thing about travelling through the region to collect gym badges. Some of the changes in the anime can be controversal, so we should be glad Ash is still around. I sure hope the Generation 8 anime could bring us back to the status quo of Ash travelling through the region with the female player from the games and collecting the gym badges. And then for once, Ash could win the Pokémon League.