Why is Ash ALWAYS weak!?

[ButchTheCanadian]

Can someone PLEASE explain to me why with every new pokemon series, at the beginning, ash stay the SAME age and pikachu sucks soo much! I mean like come on!! Are we just going to pretend like NOTHING happened in frontiers when the new black and white series started..?

 

[Attribule]

The anime is aimed towards children; you want to make sense out of it?

If you're going to even bother with the anime you have to realize that it's aimed towards the kiddies, not the ''aging kids'' from the 90s anymore. If the kids don't care then we shouldn't care either.

Ash is dumbed down every season because if he wasn't then him and Pikachu would totally wreck shop in every season, and he would basically never lose. They also can't replace him since him and Pikachu are extremely iconic and what the anime is about.

 

[Kenshin5]

Essentially reiterating what is already said. The writers seem to assume to presume that a good chuck of the people watching have moved on after the saga is over so they start off fresh for kids. Starting off strong wouldn't be overly appealing if Pikachu could win every time, and Ash had no problem commanding any pokemon at his dispatch with no problem making it look like he is hand and shoulders above other trainers. For me it's kind of like with some games in a series. You play a previous installment you know how the game works, but the sequel still has a tutorial cause the makers assume not everyone is similar with how it works and want them to have just as easy chance getting into the game mechanics as the vets.

They showed Ash trophies at the beginning of Best Wishes, so it's not like they completely ignored it, they just didn't feel there would be a point to elaborate on his prior accomplishments.

tl;dr writers don't wish to progress Ash, they presume the fan base filter in and out upon the arrival of each generation, they don't want to over power Ash and Pikachu. And there are other reasons more then likely as well.

 

[Nagaraja]

He is also a 10 year old boy with no knowledge of the real world.
But yes, they can't keep him uber strong every time, that would get boring, and to be honest. I LOVE watching him fail. I've never liked him to be honest. But, if you get rid of Satoshi, you get rid of a franchise icon thats been around for almost 20 years. 1995.... Ash should have facial hair by now.

 

[Kirbychu]

In response to the thread title, Ash is kept relatively weak because watching him and Pikachu obliterate every Pokemon in one hit would get old fast. This comes with the writers insisting that Ash should continue to be the main character in an Anime series where the characters' progression is key.

 

[Railgun]

Its kinda obvious. Ash goes to a new region and catches new Pokemon who are at low levels due to being wild at the time. So by the time Ash gets to the league there at a good level. Not really hard to figure out.

 

[ButchTheCanadian]

All very true, I guess I never really thought about it like that... :P And yes, seeing Ash fail in the beginning is pretty amusing... Even taking account for everything that has been said, TO ME it still sucks because it feels like a whole 120+ episode series just vanished in thin air and feels a bit of a waste of time. But i have to agree with all of you and say you are right. :D

 

[Zythrone]

He mainly loses or almost loses against Gym Leaders or strong trainers...

I like to think that its not that he is weak, its just that everyone else gets stronger as he goes to different regions.

Especially the older trainers who probably have had a lot longer than Ash to get a lot stronger.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

It's because, like his game counterpart Red, he has not mastered the godly evolution tool known as the Thunderstone.

Oh, and the whole ditching his whole party and starting over thing. And trying to appeal to the kiddies. Best to think of it as there being multiple parallel universes, all with a trainer named Ash, and best not to think of each series having much continuity from the prior ones.

 

[Kenshin5]

He mainly loses or almost loses against Gym Leaders or strong trainers...

I like to think that its not that he is weak, its just that everyone else gets stronger as he goes to different regions.

Especially the older trainers who probably have had a lot longer than Ash to get a lot stronger.

This would be the case, but we have people like Trip who is a beginning trainer that still defeated Ash and with a newly obtained Snivy at that. Then following that he beat Ash in a 5 on 5 at the Battle Club.

I may seem like everyone is strong due to him starting out with new pokemon. I think it's more of a cause of the writers intentionally making him and Pikachu appearing nooby.

 

[Railgun]

This would be the case, but we have people like Trip who is a beginning trainer that still defeated Ash and with a newly obtained Snivy at that. Then following that he beat Ash in a 5 on 5 at the Battle Club.

I may seem like everyone is strong due to him starting out with new pokemon. I think it's more of a cause of the writers intentionally making him and Pikachu appearing nooby.

Plot Device FTW

It would be boring Ash winning with Pikachu 24/7

 

[XEL]

Honestly, I wish they would've just used the characters from the games for each new region. That way, we don't have this get super strong, then become hideously weak BS. It could be like the show Skins UK, which switches the cast every two series. After they follow a group of friends through college, they introduce a new generation of kids and follow that generations story from there on. Until, of course, that generation completes college as well. Pokemon could've try that, and introduce all the canon characters, including Red :P

 

[psyanic]

Honestly, I wish they would've just used the characters from the games for each new region. That way, we don't have this get super strong, then become hideously weak BS.

This is actually what I do. I imagine every Ash is different, because they are. Not exactly different, but you get the point. Same personality, just different plots and scenarios. I just learned to not care too much about it anyway. However, I'm all for using the game characters. That's way more interesting because that's actually fresh.

 

[Xander Olivieri]

They tried that with the Special series with the G/S character. It was an underwhelming failure.

 

[Lord_Sesshoumaru]

They tried that with the Special series with the G/S character. It was an underwhelming failure.

woah, I really enjoyed that! if only it was made into a true series from start to finish..

 

[Cosmotone8]

It's because, like his game counterpart Red, he has not mastered the godly evolution tool known as the Thunderstone.

Same thing happened to Piplup, sorta.
I remember watching an episode where Pikachu had the chance to evolve to beat a rival... Sadly we are still stuck with a Level 600000 Pikachu instead of a Level 600000 Raichu...

 

[Kenshin5]

They tried that with the Special series with the G/S character. It was an underwhelming failure.

If by Special you mean Pokemon Special corresponding to the Manga then Chronicles was not meant to go along with that. And I don't really see how a Three Episode snipit can be seen as a failure, unless it is a failure to lauch an alternative series to the current one were the protagonist actually make a meaningful impact instead of wondering aimlessly about wanting to become a "Master"

woah, I really enjoyed that! if only it was made into a true series from start to finish..

Inorite, it would have at least for me been a breath of fresh air. Actually give it more of a serious tone like omg they are going to capture Raikou and use it for their evil deeds and it may get killed/injured we got to save it. If they could keep a series were adventures were actually adventures and not "Got to get badges, catch starter, catch bird, catch generic mon. Wash rinse repeat.

<3 sig, I lol'd.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

I remember watching an episode where Pikachu had the chance to evolve to beat a rival... Sadly we are still stuck with a Level 600000 Pikachu instead of a Level 600000 Raichu...

Yeah, that was back in first season, and he's never tried to use one since... Come on, it's been over 400 episodes since then. It's time to evolve, whether the little baby rat wants to or not.

Be a man for once in your life, Ash. Step up to the plate. Don't let your Pokemon make your decisions for you and walk all over you, so to speak.

 

[Kenshin5]

Yeah, that was back in first season, and he's never tried to use one since... Come on, it's been over 400 episodes since then. It's time to evolve, whether the little baby rat wants to or not.

Be a man for once in your life, Ash. Step up to the plate. Don't let your Pokemon make your decisions for you and walk all over you, so to speak.

Actually he has, DP074 "Pika and Goliath!". Yeah cause Ash is really got to force an evolution on his pokemon... Not going to happen that isn't in his personality.

Him not evolving Pikachu has nothing to do with the weakness. It's the writing resetting him and Pikachu that is why they are weak. Or have reasons as to way Pikachu has it's energy drained or weak at the beginning.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Actually he has, DP074 "Pika and Goliath!". Yeah cause Ash is really got to force an evolution on his pokemon... Not going to happen that isn't in his personality.

Him not evolving Pikachu has nothing to do with the weakness. It's the writing resetting him and Pikachu that is why they are weak. Or have reasons as to way Pikachu has it's energy drained or weak at the beginning.

Wow, shows how long it's been since I've been able to stomach watching it... I knida figured it wasn't in him to evolve it, which is one of the things that annoys me about him.

But why does the idea of draining Pikachu's energy remind me of Sailor Moon?

Queen Beryl: Jadeite! Your mission is to drain Pikachu's energy! We need its energy, plus we need to make sure it doesn't pwn everyone in sight for the next season! Go, and don't let those twerps, or Sailor Moon, defeat you!