Ash's Replacement

[Hiatus]

At some point in future, let's say that they were to replace Ash as main character, whether it be temorary for expermintation or permanent--how would you feel? If fans were given an opportunity to choose, in what way would you have Ash depart from the anime? What kind of a person would you have replacing him, and how would their personality be like? What are some Pokémon you would expect them to catch? Also, what would be their background story?

 

[Elaitenstile]

I wouldn't feel all too surprised, although the old fandom will crumble, and we can only hope that they make a come back with this newbee. I, for one, would find it dang interesting if this certain replacement is a girl, accompanied by a male companion. Someone who's quite naive and is eager to try and do everything there is to do in the Pokémon world, although falling short a lot of times, and at times giving up. She would eventually gain self-confidence (much like Ash) and respect for herself as she goes through the journey. She would also be prone to straying away from her immediate goals by chasing after fashion and her desires and whatnot.

Her background should be much like Ash's: A completely normal kid with a completely normal mom living in a completely normal town. She'd go on an adventure after insisting for the professor's consent. She should have either Pichu, Riolu or Cleffa as her partner as those close into Pokémon's mascots. She'd try to catch every Pokémon she sees in sight, with very less/no success. She'd obviously get her Pokémon during special happenings in her journey, like a wounded bird or a haughty cat.

//here ends the ramble

 

[Tlachtli]

I wouldn't feel all too surprised, although the old fandom will crumble, and we can only hope that they make a come back with this newbee. I, for one, would find it dang interesting if this certain replacement is a girl, accompanied by a male companion. Someone who's quite naive and is eager to try and do everything there is to do in the Pokémon world, although falling short a lot of times, and at times giving up. She would eventually gain self-confidence (much like Ash) and respect for herself as she goes through the journey. She would also be prone to straying away from her immediate goals by chasing after fashion and her desires and whatnot.

Her background should be much like Ash's: A completely normal kid with a completely normal mom living in a completely normal town. She'd go on an adventure after insisting for the professor's consent. She should have either Pichu, Riolu or Cleffa as her partner as those close into Pokémon's mascots. She'd try to catch every Pokémon she sees in sight, with very less/no success. She'd obviously get her Pokémon during special happenings in her journey, like a wounded bird or a haughty cat.

//here ends the ramble

So a character kinda like May, but who likes Pokemon and prefers battling instead of contests? I could actually get behind that.

I would say they should replace Ash with Red, but that would bring the show to an early end. He'd have beaten every league within a season, and have caught every Pokemon (including legendaries) within two. Exaggeration aside, Ash does have his creative moments but it would be nice to see a protagonist who is a little more... competent at battling (and catching). It's ok to lose sometimes, but needing a rematch for just about every gym battle seems a little excessive.

 

[Yuuki_Asura]

At some point in future, let's say that they were to replace Ash as main character, whether it be temorary for expermintation or permanent--how would you feel? If fans were given an opportunity to choose, in what way would you have Ash depart from the anime? What kind of a person would you have replacing him, and how would their personality be like? What are some Pokémon you would expect them to catch? Also, what would be their background story?

well, in my Option if sometime in future they happen replace ash. that Would be a nightmare for old Pokemon fans Like Me. But still i agree with Elaitenstile if the replacment is a girl this time... She has to a bit similar like Ash, Like how he never gives up on a challenge no matter how Hard it is , and She'd try to catch every Pokémon she sees in sight, with 0% success. She'd obviously get her Pokémon during special happenings in her journey,
so in a way character like May, but who likes Pokemon and prefers battling instead of pokemon contests?

 

[Eevee3]

I would like them to follow the games more rather than make some random OC. For example, Pokemon Origins was really fun to watch and just about everyone knows who Red is. It would be nice to bring the manga or games into the anime more.

 

[Seth Rollins]

^ I 100% agree with the poster above.

I wouldn't be sad if Ash was replaced. 1st. He traveled in all regions. 2nd. He was a noob ,really, at least for me. 1 region with him already is enough for me. Never really liked the anime, to be honest. Moving on, I agree that we should have a manga/game anime. I watched Pokemon origins, and it was awesome. Too bad they couldn't show ALL of Red's adventure though. I would love a Pokemon Origins season 2 with Gold as the main character. And if that doesn't happen, they at least should make a anime that follows the manga Pokemon Adventures. I would be so awesome <3

Anyway, that's pretty much it, and Ash's adventure should really end. :/ We had him from, I dunno 10+ years?

 

[SnowpointQuincy]

I welcome any new protagonist. Switch it up every 700 episodes or so.

Pokemon anime really isn't the best it could be. It needs to just start from scratch from time to time. Like Digimon did.

 

[Jorah]

Nope. Not gonna happen. At all. One of the writers have already said that they are never going to change Ash and Pikachu, and that the anime would end before it did. The anime's target audience is younger children than Origins really was (which was more for nostalgia for older fans) to get younger children into the games, and something is obviously working for them after 17 years.

 

[Miau]

Like Jorah, I doubt it'll ever happen. I don't think he (or the show) needs a reboot, they kinda tried that in the Unova saga and it didn't go that well. Ash is fine the way he is, and despite all the hate he gets, he's already gone very far and is constantly proving himself as a trainer.

I guess at this point, the anime = Ash and Pikachu. I am glad though, that they're experimenting with new side series, each with their own character roster, like Origins and the new mega evolution one - what's it called?

And to be honest, lately I've been seeing Ash as the pretext that brings together the other characters. There are always new companions who join him whenever he goes to a new region, and they get their own goals and development. There's been more and more emphasis on them as the series matured, so at this point, Ash is just another one of the MCs to me.

 

[RoreyG]

I think that they should have gone with the protagonists of each generation of gaming and that the anime story itself should have been more closely adapted from the games/ manga.

Instead of even using Ash, They should have used Red like they did in Pokemon Origins in the Kanto Anime and I think that a character like Gold/ Ethan/ Jimmy from Pokemon Chronicles: The Legend of Thunder would have been great to base the Johto Adventures off of. May and Brendan should have been dual protagonists in Hoenn and should have been characterized more akin to the manga and so on and so forth.

That said, the people at Game Freak/ Nintendo have already committed to using Ash and when people get tired of his schtick after 2 regions of basically accomplishing nothing, there will be a younger generation to take over in watching the anime and the cycle will begin again.

 

[winterross38]

I personally think that the main character should go along with the games for example Lucas and Dawn traveling together while Diamond,Pearl,Platinum were out. That would also make the fans not get to attached to one character.These characters would change along with the releases of the games for example in Japan if Black and White came out on November 18 2010 the anime would be revealed that same time. Same with other countrys.

 

[Darthbane2007]

Like others have said, it would have made more sense for them to change the protagonists at the start of every region...

 

[Famon]

There only 2 option-

-1) Replace Ash with Better Protagonist

-2) Keep Ash But change the whole storyline,

Option 2 means that ash remain as a Protagonist But He goes to the new region to do something new instate of collecting Gym-badge .
Suppose Ash won the Kalo League and now he's the champion.
He goes to new region to learn about some mysterious Pokemon and meet the Gen VII Main girl who collect Gym-Badge .
Or ,
Ash joined international Police after becoming a champion . Now he goes to new region on every Generation to investigate the Evil team with the help of Gen 's Main PC character .

 

[antemortem]

There was already a brilliant chance to do so, what with the really creative experiment in that of Pokemon Origins but it was a hit or miss, and while it was a hit, it was a special and not an attempt to replace the current anime. The fact it was indeed a special writes it off as possible to become said replacement. :( I think it could be tried again with the next generation of protagonists or - OOOOH even better - the R/S/E remake protagonists! Honestly I would love an anime season with Brendan and May. ;o;

 

[Wobbu]

I've grown to like Ash so much over the years that I would definitely be upset if he was completely replaced. If it was a temporary decision, it wouldn't be that bad but I feel like it would be a waste of time since his replacement will likely not accomplish a lot. I believe that the only suitable way for Ash to depart the anime would be after becoming a Pokémon Master, which hopefully won't happen for a while.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

They really should have replaced Ash. I don't care if he has the name of the series creator in Japan or if he is the face of the series: So was Solid Snake for the Metal Gear/Metal Gear Solid franchise, yet he was replaced with Raiden and later Naked Snake/Big Boss. Plus, replacing Ash with the main male character of each region starting with AG would at least advertise the games in a far better manner. If they really needed to keep Ash, they should have done things like how NCIS does it: You know, create a sister show focusing on that region like how NCIS has NCIS:LA and the upcoming NCIS:NO (possibly NCIS:Red as well).

It's getting exceptionally painful constantly having to watch him lose leagues, especially when the Orange Islands and Battle Frontier (the latter being stated to be stronger than the Elite 4) conflict with the idea that Ash needs to win a league and beat the Elite Four, since he's still journeying through the regions despite winning against them. BW was the worst of it. At least AG had Ash maintaining his position, BW had him sinking to Kanto's rank, which is just bad. At least Kanto had an excuse as Ash was just starting out. In BW, Ash already had four regions under his belt (five if one counts the Orange Islands) not to mention is pretty much a vet, yet he did terribly in that region, and it doesn't help that he was making mistakes that a veteran like him shouldn't make (like mistaking Iris for a Pokémon).

And honestly, the show's dying as a result of the writers mistakes (the first of which was removing Misty). The ratings are constantly decreasing despite there being plenty of replacement children audiences in Japan (I know that was definitely the case with AG and DP, which did far worse in ratings than even Johto. Probably the only times ratings actually increased in AG was when Misty returned). When a show is losing ratings among the children's demographic/family demographic, that's a sign of very bad news for the show, so I doubt replacing Ash will even mean anything now. The writers really should have done what DiC did with the Super Mario shows: I.E., cancel them. The DiC shows were meant to advertise the Mario games to the audience, yet the shows cancellation did nothing to impact the Mario franchise. Cancelling Pokémon will yield the same results, no doubt about that.

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

I'd be devastated if they replaced Ash, for me personally he IS the anime in a way like he's the first person I think of when the anime is mentioned. I think if they did that, I'd want the replacement to follow the same goal as Ash (maybe have someone like Jimmy I wouldn't mind seeing him again) as I feel that formula works best.

 

[gigglegamer]

i think they should make origins a full anime that would be sick

 

[Videreludus]

Ash has visited al main games region as the main character until now, replacing him with a new characther would be strange. Also the anime would loose many old followers (I atleast would stop watching).

For example: I lost interest in Digimon after Tamers. There were no Tai, Sora, Matt or any other original character. 02 was good but I was a little dissapointed because the original characters didn't reprise their role as the lead characters.

I watched Beyblade, most of the V-force episodes and G-Revolution, but I only saw 1 episode of the Metal Fusion series.

Yu-Gi-Oh same.

Now don't think I am someone who accepts any story as long the main character is the same.

I loved the Kanto series, but I didn't liked the Orange Island and the Johto series missing most of the episodes of the latter between the Johto League Champions season . I begun then with the Ash against Gary episodes again. I liked the Hoenn series and the Sinnoh series were awesome. I hated the Unova series and the Kalos series are looking great until now.

By Beyblade I didn't liked the V-force series.

But enough of Off-topic.

The show would loose many fans if Ash would be replaced and why change what works well?

i think they should make origins a full anime that would be sick

A full origins anime would only make sense if they remake Red/Green- Red/Blue again.

 

[isthatyoudan]

If they did get rid of Ash as a protagonist, why not set an anime series in the future, with say... Ash's and [insert whichever female character you expected Ash to marry the most]'s kid? Maybe the kid could be reluctant to start the journey, but adult Ash shows him/her the wonder of Pokémon, and then he goes. The journey would be a different one because the regions would be the same, but it would be... y'know, the future. Different somehow. Jr. Ketchum could have new friends and new 'mons.