Old Characters in Pocket Monster 2019

[XavierAnime]

May's VA retired for good so she's not returning.

Even if her voice actor retired for good, that doesn't necessarily mean that May can't return. Replacing voice actors doesn't happen that often in Japan, but it's definitely not unheard of either. Granted, I don't think May has the biggest chances to return anyway, even though I'd love to see her again, but I don't think that the voice actor issue is nearly as big of a roadblock as people make it out to be.

I know Japan usually doesn’t replace VAs, but if they literally can’t bring May’s back, I don’t see the issue.

We already know about May never return in series to make nine years of sad, disappointment returns and it never worked.
I will tell you something sad, the disappointment returns and it never worked. Nine years ago, we remember we hope that May will return with Ash and his new friends in any all episodes of Pokémon the Series: XY until the last episode that was announced eight years ago, the video games of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire to guide in anime but it does not work and disappoints. And another about Serena goes back with Ash in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon we are hoping that she will appear the same as May in Diamond and Pearl and Dawn in Black & White but they were disappointed that they are not the same as before and that made us sad.

Let's accept it, the idea of video game from Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl never can guide anime for Dawn to return and reunite with Ash and Goh, I think Dawn so it won't work in the future the same as May.

Thanks for reminding me.

 

[cricketlaxwolvesbandy]

One character I'd like to see return is #1 Kanto bae Dupilca.

YES I NEED TO SEE MY DITTO AND MINI DIT

 

[Johtohfiller]

I'm thinking that if they bring back Alan it might be as a researcher instead of as a battler. People want to see his Charizard get beaten but with Leon in the mix that would open up the possibility of TWO powerful Charizards getting beaten, and I don't know if they'd be willing to go there.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

I'm thinking that if they bring back Alan it might be as a researcher instead of as a battler. People want to see his Charizard get beaten but with Leon in the mix that would open up the possibility of TWO powerful Charizards getting beaten, and I don't know if they'd be willing to go there.

To be fair, that's only assuming that Ash will even get to rematch Leon in the PWC, which if he doesn't then I can 100% guarantee you that Leon's Charizard isn't getting beaten by anything.

 

[SammyW27]

To be fair, that's only assuming that Ash will even get to rematch Leon in the PWC, which if he doesn't then I can 100% guarantee you that Leon's Charizard isn't getting beaten by anything.

Oh, it's a given that Ash & Leon will have a climactic battle, preferably near the end of the series.
(Though if it happens earlier like in AG and BW, so help me...)

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

Oh, it's a given that Ash & Leon will have a climactic battle, preferably near the end of the series.
(Though if it happens earlier like in AG and BW, so help me...)

I mean, even if they do have a rematch, it's very unlikely that Ash will beat Leon, because if our boy becomes the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world, then there's nowhere for him to go, and since he can't really be retired from his position as the Pokemon anime's protagonist, well... yeah. And since Charizard is Leon's strongest Pokemon, then no way it's going down against Ash. The rest of Leon's team, yes, but not Charizard.

 

[Daren]

I'm thinking that if they bring back Alan it might be as a researcher instead of as a battler. People want to see his Charizard get beaten but with Leon in the mix that would open up the possibility of TWO powerful Charizards getting beaten, and I don't know if they'd be willing to go there.

Honestly I'm not sure what bringing Alain back would be worth for the series at this point. With Greninja gone Ash getting a win over him would be hollow and if they just want to promote XY it would make more sense to use Serena or Clemont, who were more prominent in XY. He's also not a game character so that hurts.

It's kind of funny that "two powerful Charizard getting defeated" could actually be a problem, though. Remember when AG was willing to have three different Charizard lose, including the popular one?

Pepperidge farm remembers.

I mean, even if they do have a rematch, it's very unlikely that Ash will beat Leon, because if our boy becomes the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world, then there's nowhere for him to go, and since he can't really be retired from his position as the Pokemon anime's protagonist, well... yeah. And since Charizard is Leon's strongest Pokemon, then no way it's going down against Ash. The rest of Leon's team, yes, but not Charizard.

Honestly at this point I can easily see them having Ash beat Leon then go back to losing to random scrubs in the next series.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

It's kind of funny that "two powerful Charizard getting defeated" could actually be a problem, though. Remember when AG was willing to have three different Charizard lose, including the popular one?

Pepperidge farm remembers.

Don't forget the Johto saga, where that popular Charizard was defeated by a Blaziken, and a different one lost to Ash's Totodile. Charizard as a species would then go on to be portrayed as higher-than-pseudo-legendary-tier ever since Hoenn ended, with the only two exceptions being Trevor's Mega Charizard Y and Kiawe's Charizard (and even then, the former's only loss as a Charizard came from battling Alain's infamous one, while the latter is confirmed to be elderly, so for all we know the only reason it doesn't steamroll everything by sole virtue of being a Charizard is because it's way past its prime)

Honestly at this point I can easily see them having Ash beat Leon then go back to losing to random scrubs in the next series.

It hurts how true this is, though.

 

[Daren]

Ah, I was going to mention this but forgot in my previous post; I wonder if the flashback in episode 68 makes an in-the-flesh appearance of previous anime only characters more likely? I feel it probably helps at least a little.

Charizard as a species would then go on to be portrayed as higher-than-pseudo-legendary-tier ever since Hoenn ended

To be fair I don't recall Charizard as a species doing anything big in DP and a quick check on Bulbapedia seems to agree. I think it may have been Ash's coming back in BW and overwhelming Iris' Dragonite that heralded things to come.
In retrospect, it's funny how Alain's uberzard appeared in the generation where the games decided to buff Charizard like crazy as he went from a severely flawed Pokémon to getting two OU Mega forms.

 

[SammyW27]

He's also not a game character so that hurts.

Gary's Cheerleaders, Tracey, and Paul say Hi. (even if they're saying it from flashbacks and thought balloons)

 

[Daren]

Gary's Cheerleaders, Tracey, and Paul say Hi. (even if they're saying it from flashbacks and thought balloons)

Yeah, we know anime only characters can get at least small appearances, but I think game characters are generally going to be more likely to appear.
Edit: For comparison, we still haven't seen an OI episode and I'm not expecting one.

 

[Ghost Diplocaulus]

To be fair I don't recall Charizard as a species doing anything big in DP and a quick check on Bulbapedia seems to agree. I think it may have been Ash's coming back in BW and overwhelming Iris' Dragonite that heralded things to come.

True, but then again, I don't think Charizard as a species had any major appearances in DPP at all outside maybe some background cameos, and you can't exactly have a godlike portrayal if you don't even have a role to begin with

In retrospect, it's funny how Alain's uberzard appeared in the generation where the games decided to buff Charizard like crazy as he went from a severely flawed Pokémon to getting two OU Mega forms.

Granted, I'm pretty sure that Charizard's buff was completely intentional, since like you said, it had a ton of issues in past Gens, and being a fan-favorite meant there was a lot of begging for it to be buffed, and honestly, controversy about it getting two Megas aside, imo Charizard was among the Pokemon receiving a Mega who actually warranted it. What's really funny is that Leon's Charizard is hyped as possibly the strongest of its kind on the planet... in the same Generation that took away its Megas, sending Charizard right back to where it was prior to Gen 6 (outside of a small niche that requires it to be in a Sun Team. Also, yes, I do know that Gigantamax Charizard is technically in Ubers, but that has more to do with the Dynamax/Gigantamax mechanic as a whole being deemed broken than any inherent merits on G-Max Zard itself)

 

[swiftgallade46]

we still haven't seen an OI episode

What do you mean?

 

[Daren]

What do you mean?

Oops, I really should have been more specific there!

Basically, unless my memory has completely failed me Journeys hasn't visited the Orange Islands yet, but we've seen all the mainline game regions at least once (I think we've been everywhere except Alola at least twice?). I was just comparing how even though the show spent a good time in the Orange Islands and it had some important plot developments it hasn't reappeared yet, and I think that's simply because it wasn't from the games.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Oops, I really should have been more specific there!

Basically, unless my memory has completely failed me Journeys hasn't visited the Orange Islands yet, but we've seen all the mainline game regions at least once (I think we've been everywhere except Alola at least twice?). I was just comparing how even though the show spent a good time in the Orange Islands and it had some important plot developments it hasn't reappeared yet, and I think that's simply because it wasn't from the games.

Oh you meant like they haven’t physically gone there. Yeah, nah, definitely not. And I don’t expect them to. Nor do I expect any trips to the Decolore Islands either. They have soft-referenced the former, however, with Snorlax and Tracy. And more unofficially, with Snorlax’s description during the promo for the recent episode.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect a trip to the Orange Islands either. It would be interesting to see the area again, but they've barely referred to that portion of the original series for years. I'm still shocked that they remember that Tracey exists, but I think that's probably the most we can expect as a nod to the Orange Islands at this point.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Japan doesn't often replace voice actors unless they're actually dead, from what I understand.

If the story needs May in some fashion or the other, I don't see them discarding the plan due to a retired VA.

I mean, even if they do have a rematch, it's very unlikely that Ash will beat Leon, because if our boy becomes the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the world, then there's nowhere for him to go, and since he can't really be retired from his position as the Pokemon anime's protagonist, well... yeah. And since Charizard is Leon's strongest Pokemon, then no way it's going down against Ash. The rest of Leon's team, yes, but not Charizard.

It could be possible that Ash defeats Leon before the finale and loses to another one of the Masters 8 later. Or his match with Leon is something that occurs outside of the PWC.

 

[SammyW27]

Yeah, they are DONE with the Orange Islands. All they were was busy work to kill time between Generations 1 & 2 after the plan to end the Show was scrapped. Oh sure, some significant events happened, but they were few, far in between, and even then they didn't leave much of an impact.

 

[Jewel the Quaxly]

Yeah, they are DONE with the Orange Islands. All they were was busy work to kill time between Generations 1 & 2 after the plan to end the Show was scrapped. Oh sure, some significant events happened, but they were few, far in between, and even then they didn't leave much of an impact.

Well, other than Charizard development, the 2000 movie, Ash winning his first league, Pikachu finishing his development arc, Ash catching Snorlax, Pikachu and Meowth starting their series long weird like/hate relationship, and giving us the first full six on six in the anime, yeah.

 

[swiftgallade46]

The OI were pretty significant. Maybe they were initially just intended to fill time, but so many important things happened throughout that it became an actual arc with consequential canon.

Decolore on the other hand…we don’t even see Oak’s Rotom anymore. That was it.