[Spoilers] I think it is pretty much confirmed that series is set in a different universe

I rewatched the first two times Ash saw a Joy in BW, and he wasn't confused about the difference.

Unown Lord said:

I rewatched the first two times Ash saw a Joy in BW, and he wasn't confused about the difference.

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BW Episode 6 - Dreams by the Yard Full

"We met in Accumula Town didn't we?"

Fair enough; I missed that for some reason. So that particular argument doesn't work, but it wasn't the main argument to begin with.

Alexander18 said:

No such thing as real world championship. And no, ash doesn't need to have amnesia to forget joys and jennys but he could have. SM ash is gonna be the same and lose the league as usual. Nothing new apart from trials instead of gyms and grand trials.

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You do know that people use their Game Boys and Nintendo DSs to participate in Tournaments right?
If there will be a Pokémon League, which I doubt since Ash already battled against one of the Kahunas, he would lose.

Frozocrone said:

They did the same thing in BW, Ash gets confused over meeting a different Nurse Joy.

In addition the Nurse Joys from OS to DP were largely the same outside some obvious differences such as OI.

There is nothing wrong with getting confused about Nurse Joy being different in each city when he goes to a new region (specifically those based off countries that are not named Japan).

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Ok I take back what I said, but it is still strange that he didn't recognised them, in Sun and Moon even more because of how confused he was.

But still there are other things, like his personality and new design.

Everyone is allowed to have an opinion, I too believe that this is not alternate universe. Be more nice to other members who have a different opinion please

Alexander18 said:

No such thing as real world championship. And no, ash doesn't need to have amnesia to forget joys and jennys but he could have. SM ash is gonna be the same and lose the league as usual. Nothing new apart from trials instead of gyms and grand trials.

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SM Ash is the same character from the OS,AG,DP,BW,XY, He hasn't change at all.

I also doubt the SM Movie 20 will be canon to the SM anime.

Piii said:

SM Ash is the same character from the OS,AG,DP,BW,XY, He hasn't change at all.

I also doubt the SM Movie 20 will be canon to the SM anime.

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Well ash has a design change for SM but he is basically the same as past seasons.

Just for the record, I couldn't care less about the league loss.

Unown Lord said:

Just for the record, I couldn't care less about the league loss.

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Well, I'd care, but I'd even forgive that if they at least had Ash going over to Alola to oversee the development of the Alola league and even test out the trials. Would go a long way regarding development. Instead, we got an Emperor's New School clone.

But not even my (fairly justified) gripe about that is what's driving me to conclude it may in fact be an AU, it's the 20th movie, the tie-in Manga, and Rica's own words (and apparently something the Sound Director stated that she vouched for). The only way to avert that theory at this point is if Ash explicitly makes a reference to Misty and Brock at the very least.

weedle_mchairybug said:

Well, I'd care, but I'd even forgive that if they at least had Ash going over to Alola to oversee the development of the Alola league and even test out the trials. Would go a long way regarding development. Instead, we got an Emperor's New School clone.

But not even my (fairly justified) gripe about that is what's driving me to conclude it may in fact be an AU, it's the 20th movie, the tie-in Manga, and Rica's own words (and apparently something the Sound Director stated that she vouched for). The only way to avert that theory at this point is if Ash explicitly makes a reference to Misty and Brock at the very least.

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Again movie is not canon to the tv series. Rica is probably just joking or speculating. Nothing to be taken seriously. Ash doesn't have to do anything. He is the same ash as the past.

Alexander18 said:

Well ash has a design change for SM but he is basically the same as past seasons.

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That's correct Ash is the same person that we saw in the last past regions. M20 is not going to be canon to the anime anyways.

Piii said:

That's correct Ash is the same person that we saw in the last past regions. M20 is not going to be canon to the anime anyways.

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I hope you actually are agreeing with me and not telling me what i want to hear as some joke.

I am just not convince of these rumors going around.

Kunihiko Yuyama, director of Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You, recently did an interview with Pokemon Matome talking about the new movie. One interesting question in particular discussed how the plot of the movie came to be (translations by Dephender):

Q: Why did this movie end up beginning with a depiction of Satoshi and Pikachu's encounter?

A: Since "Sun and Moon" is currently airing on TV, we thought of doing a "Sun and Moon" movie, and we also thought of potentially doing a story where the entire all star cast comes together, one that would fit a 20th anniversary. However, partially because every movie has a different, unique style to it, and partially because that didn't feel like exactly what we wanted, we instead tried going back to the basics and thinking about what "Pokemon" really is. "Pokemon" started with Satoshi and Pikachu meeting each other, and now that it's been 20 years there are people out there that aren't familiar with this origin. And that's why we decided to "depict Satoshi and Pikachu's first meeting once again, from scratch".

Once again, no mention of the movie being an AU. It's a straight-up retelling of Ash and Pikachu's first meeting, for newer fans who haven't seen the original series.

No official source has ever said it's an AU. It's always been described as a retelling of Ash and Pikachu's origin story.

I wish Kunihiko would've said something about why Brock and Misty were replaced. They want to retell the original story of Ash and Pikachu coming together, but they replace his two companions and clearly people aren't happy about it. If you're going to show the newer audience how it all got started, do it right.

jjc927 said:

I wish Kunihiko would've said something about why Brock and Misty were replaced. They want to retell the original story of Ash and Pikachu coming together, but they replace his two companions and clearly people aren't happy about it. If you're going to show the newer audience how it all got started, do it right.

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Yeah, like for example, Dragon Ball: The Path to Power. That did the concept FAR better than this movie did. And quite frankly, if it wasn't even meant to be an AU, why didn't they include Misty and Brock? They played a huge role in Ash's journey, about as much as Pikachu himself. I'm not even asking that they include ALL the former cast members, just Misty and Brock.

Alexander18 said:

I hope you actually are agreeing with me and not telling me what i want to hear as some joke.

I am just not convince of these rumors going around.

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Is not a joke. I'm pretty sure Pokemon I Choose You M20 won't be canon to the anime. If they want to do a remake of how Ash first meet Pikachu, then they need to do it the right way.

Piii said:

Is not a joke. I'm pretty sure Pokemon I Choose You M20 won't be canon to the anime. If they want to do a remake of how Ash first meet Pikachu, then they need to do it the right way.

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Yeah, like Path to Power. And I don't care what the writers say: Any movie that neglects to have Misty and Brock in it at all, much less as major characters despite being set in Kanto is most certainly AU.

Arguing over whether it is a reboot or an AU is silly if none of the old characters are going to be seen again.

Technically, a reboot is an AU that is simply never distinguished from the original story due to lack of any meaningful references. I'm pretty sure that this is what the staff want for the show going forward - to keep Ash's past as simple as possible so that only Pikachu matters and occasionally Charizard. But the old universe lives on via headcanon.

Ash's Tauros also apparently mattered enough for him to mention them to Lillie in SM001.

But yeah, at the least I'd say it's open for interpretation.

You can choose to either view SM as a follow-up to XY in the continuity or as taking place after M20.

Old characters don't need to return or be heard of or spoken about again. It is not mandatory and writers don't owe the fans anyway. SM anime series is canon to XY and the others. To believe it is not is just plain sad and false.