This is one of biggest issue this anime has in my opinion. To have believable story, loyal fandom which is interested in being kept in anime until series ends. Preserve some franchise and series popularity and have credible, built with innovation and substance tory.
Its very importnt to have continuity in show you write for, pay attention to roots which started everything making your work popular and widely recognized in first place, with past characters and plots building pokemon storyliner and helping Ash develop as person.
To acknowledge past companions existence whether its Misty whose story and future as you said was unfinished having potential to do much more with her dreams, thoughts and interests. But May, Brock, Cilan, Tracey etc, etc.
Yeah, I agree. It would be one thing if Pokémon was intended to be something like Looney Tunes or the Simpsons (you know, not actually having an on-gong plot or even a constant timeline), but when the main crux of the goal involves leagues and actually improving, continuity is actually essential for a series like that. And it being an advertisement for the games is not an excuse, either. Just look at most of the Transformers shows up to at least Beast Machines (since that was the last Transformers Franchise to be developed in America until the Michael Bay films a decade later): The show was directly intended to be a commercial of sorts for the Transformers toys, yet they had much better continuity and development than, say, Pokémon does right now. I'd know, as I watched Beast Wars as a child. Heck, I even based part of one of my Pokémon fanfics on Beast Wars.
And I also agree regarding acknowledging past companions. It would be one thing if the characters were, say, dead, but they are not. Heck, even if it's just a few minutes of checking in on their status, that would be perfectly reasonable to actually introducing the characters. Probably the only old character we're practically guaranteed to get a reappearance is Tracey, and that's only because he's working with Professor Oak and thus we don't even have to look very far to find him (plus, technically, he's the only character who actually completed his goal: Basically working with Professor Oak). Though with May and Dawn, they'll have to be hard-pressed to actually have them appear since, well, the show abandoned Pokémon Contests since BW. They can at least be called, though.
Its only netting pokemon series bad reputation, lowering people appeal and appreciation for writers work given how they treat their own creations with no respect, acknowledgemernt of their importance in anime universe they write for as whole leaving their stories, started plots, goals and issues unresolved defeating point behind making them than in first place. If you only give to viewers introduction and tangle of his story, but never making sure to also provide culmination and denouement in their fictional work. Leaving us with unfinished and never fully explored product.
It damages continuity, contributes to shallow plot and discourage people from staying invested in characters with who they could associate tnemselves with prompting them to continue watching anime. Thus remaining loyal to it. Which is , very, very, very bad formula in developing loyalty and devotedness among your viewers, maintaining people interest and quality of story as whole. Formula which isn't sustainable and cannot last forever.
Yeah, it's extremely damaging, especially when said formula isn't even intended for a show where literally the entire point is to get better at something. That formula works for Bugs Bunny since there isn't any continuity or a cohesive timeline in those cartoons to begin with, but with Pokémon, it flat out doesn't work at all. And when most of the audience is exposed so much to characters barring Ash leaving (and it happening on such a frequency that, since AG, Ash and the regional group don't seem to be even remotely upset [heck, probably the only character to even be slightly upset about splitting up is Max].), and Ash himself very rarely, if at all, actually retaining his development from the previous region, there's little point to even watching it, and if they have younger siblings, heck, even cousins nearby or their friends have younger siblings, those younger kids will probably get the hint that its not going to be worth watching either before they come of age. Stories require some form of character development for the characters to actually mean something. When they stagnate, are replaced like cogs (especially when there is still a use for them), that is bound to backfire on the audience's receptions to the character.
This is one of biggest disappointments i have with formula pokemon anime promotes on daily basis because its outright not prductive if your aim is to increase popularity of your product and try to at least restore partially some of lost ratings returning back people hopes of anime they grew up with caring about its audience delivering more eventful story.
Definitely not productive, period, as even Japan's having a huge loss of ratings, to say nothing about Pokémon's ratings outside Japan.
As for Ash, well i dont know im not in favor of replacing him.
Because demanding character replacement when character itself still has many unexplored things about his past, dreams and story as whole i feel is disrespectful and inconsiderate toward that potential, value and positive impact his/her existence brought to some show in my opinion. Giving up on him and chance to be explored to full potential and depriving people which may actually enjoy in character froim opportunity to see where will started work, effort and his interest drive him in the end. Becauise of final destination, way to get there and progression never being revealed.
I guess you have a point there, though honestly, they were pretty geared towards having Ash win the league in Sinnoh (heck, they even explained what the requirements of becoming a Pokémon Master are, and even emphasized the E4 and champion in a way that not even the Elite 4 of Kanto emphasized), and probably would have done it if they literally didn't waste time before Black and White's release.
I still like Ash, feel he has too much potential to deprive character and fans from it not wanting to see him go.
Yeah, and I don't think its a good idea to kick him out before he won a league anyways. Unfortunately, having him continuously not win a league, or in the case of AG and BW, even get a better ranking, is even worse. How the heck can he even become a Pokémon Master, much less the world's greatest Pokémon Master, if he can't even improve his game?
Instead im more in favor of more effort put in his character development, break new frontiers in his quest of becoming master introducing missing links like father or his connections to guardian aura making some concrete story out of it bringing more depth to protagonist characterization. As well reveal new steps after he finally wins league in order to become master.
Yeah, they definitely needed to expand on those points. Probably the closest we've ever gotten to actually finding out about Ash's father was in Pokémon Live, and that's a non-canon stage production. Ash having aura (which is actually somewhat similar to Psychic abilities if you really think about it, especially Sabrina's line in the games about it being present in everyone and only a few are aware of it) also needs to be expanded upon rather than dropped. For the record, they should actually introduce Misty's parents (I heard on tumblr that they're still alive, though that wasn't exactly good news as the person who revealed this, who was an official on the show at the time, implied that her parents are deadbeats like Brock's parents).
Invest more in past companions and their unresolved plots increasing hype and excitement from fans of long gone favorites they grew up with becoming relevant again.
Delivering continuity based, on going stoiry which builds on itself through group of inseparable friends which explore world, go on more challenging tasks and stick together going through various exciting stages of life. Feeling like they are growing with us and keep us excited to see in what way long epic story is going to end with them. Rather than bringing one after another new character, yet at same time leaving so many great characters with unfinished stories and muddled down into the ground their impact on anime like they never existed.
Yeah, agreed. May and Dawn might be tricky, though, especially after contests were done away with in BW and XY, and unlike Misty for example (who, forced by her sisters to drop her goal or not, she at least didn't have a goal she was actually pursuing), I'm doubtful May and Dawn would just put their own goals on hold even if its to reunite with Ash. After all, Ash doesn't put his goals on hold to specifically reunite with his friends, so why should they? At least with Sinnoh, May actually had a reason why she would go there, due to a transregional contest ribbon. Dawn I can't even say she had an actual reason for going to Unova in the first place, especially when A. she was supposed to be going for contests in Hoenn by that time, and B., even if she managed to finish up contests in Hoenn by the time of her appearance, Unova lacks contests of any sort (they made a pretty big deal of it too in the ending of DP, even having Jessie retire from becoming a coordinator and having a long look at her discarded outfit), so her best bet is going for either Kanto or Johto for contests. And May, well, by this time she's probably done with all the contests that can be found, at least in the first four regions (yes, even Sinnoh, as that's probably the only contest area in Unova that May most likely hasn't gone for, as she most likely already competed Johto by that time anyways). They might try to make some references to the characters, maybe phoning them, but that's about it as far as I can tell. Probably the only real way they can get them to return is if the next region has Pokémon Contests. I think May's VA also retired from voice acting, so that's another reason why I'm doubtful May would return anyways. Misty and Iris are more likely to be returning than them anyways.
In sense of not neceesarily stopping adding new characters either as fourth companion or through recurring role?
But also not forgetting about past characters enjoying in their playful antics, flamboyant personalities and interesting traits going in new, fresh exciting adventures updated, renewed and enriched with new knowledge they accumulated before becoming more competent because of that, more selfreliant and ready to go on next level.
Yeah, I agree (though personally I'd rather forget May and Dawn, but if the ratings demand they return, might as well heed their return).
