ok so without spoiling anything for me, are the main characters for the x/y anime already confirmed? because if not id like to speculate. obviously ash and pikachu will be there but i mean the other two. if they are confirmed, just say that they are, not their names or anything.
None of the few revealed gymleaders give me the impression that they would follow around Ash. Out of the characters currently released, I think the X/Y rivals are worthy of speculation. Trevor could fill the knowledgeable role that Brock, Cilan, and Max has filled. Shauna could fill the role of the female protagonist. As for Tierno, I could imagine him providing the comic relief that the Brock/Cilan role had, which Trevor probably could not.
We've had a group of 4 in the Advanced series, however it is a stretch considering that Max wasn't technically a "trainer." Also, the fact that the Best Wishes series chose not to use Cheren/Bianca for these roles, despite also fulfilling them kinda argues against this. At no point have in-game rivals been long-term anime companions. This is really just a guess with the information revealed thus far, as opposed to my strongest guess.
Man they just showed image of Ash arriving at Kalos alone. So this shows no Iris and Cilan in Kalos...
Not necessarily. In the Advanced/DP series, Ash went to the respective regions alone, only for Brock to reunite with Ash after he met up with a new female companion.
The entire reason why the female protagonist has been changing every region is because the writers wanted at least one of main characters to be relevant to the new games. (I heard this in some interview, but I can't be bothered to find the source.) Best Wishes was even more drastic with this approach, with 2 new relevant characters instead of 1. Given the increasing pattern of the protagonists being new characters, I think this is the strongest clue that they might change.
bluelatios said:
Imma just throw out a simple question; whose job is it to determine the target audience? Whose job is it to determine what are viable sources of marketing and revenue, which may include fans of all ages? The company. And unless they state otherwise, I believe they view anybody who watches their show as an asset. The result is that past characters may very well be implemented into the show in some way if they believe it would improve business. And it is reasonable to assume that demand would affect whether or not they think that way. What they have done already, who they've done it for, it matters not. The market is constantly changing along with Pokemon. Conjecture does not decide whom Ash may or may not travel with next.
In the Advanced series, Misty made a surprise visit, both in the
Master of Mirage Pokemon movie, and right before the Battle Frontier In the Diamond/Pearl series, May may a surprise visit. In the Best Wishes series, Dawn made a surprise visit, and both Dawn and Brock had their own chronicle-like episodes. Past characters
have been implemented in a certain way. And this pattern
for the last 3 series shows the trend that characters from only the directly previous series have made cameos, yet characters more than a series away wasn't mentioned in the slightest.
You believe that they view "anybody" who watches their show as an asset, but keep in mind that some viewer demographics outweigh others. Based on the pattern above, I believe that the writers are more concerned with stringing along the fans of the previous series than they are salvaging fans from 10 years ago.
As for your last statement, that our conjectures will not decide who Ash travels with: well, that's obvious, and I think you're missing the point of why fans like to speculate. I disagree with what you said, that what they have done in the past and for whom doesn't matter; the target audience isn't changing all-that-drastically.
The pokemon anime is
very predictable, and although many of our theories will end up wrong, it's fun to say "I guessed right" when the writers do reveal what they planned.
Does anyone think Ash will take any previous Pokémon. We don't often see him take old Pokémon on a journey in the region they weren't caught in but it has happened. Phanphy in Kanto, Aipom in Sinnoh, Charizard in Unova and obviously Pikachu everywhere. I can see Ash taking Scraggy with him to Kalos. Scraggy is Ash's first proper egg Pokémon who has had pretty much the most development out of his Unova Pokémon despite being classed as quite young. I could easily see Ash decide to take Scraggy to train him up more because he was only recently hatched (in the Pokémon world it is probably only a month ago if he is still classed as ten after all this time). I think this would also lead to a better reception for when Iris comes to visit as she undoubtedly will if she doesn't travel with him - seeing him arrive in a region alone isn't uncommon, he did the same in Hoenn and Sinnoh. I think seeing Scraggy and Axew reunite would be quite emotional due to how close they are and it could show some great development. It would also be interesting if one of them had evolved and the other was in awe of it and they battled away from the group (we know how they like to sneak off) and the other evolved. This is what I think could happen/would be great if it happened.
Both Phanpy and Aipom only had the opportunity to travel with Ash in the previous series for a short period of time. Although I love Ash's Scraggy, I believe that if Ash was to bring a new pokemon with him, it would be a pokemon that he caught near the end of the series, who didn't get as much screentime as the rest. That would be a pretty cool way for the duo to evolve, though.
