Should the anime have had a new protagonist?

[5qwerty]

Do you think that some time in the past, Ash should have ended his journey and that the series should have had a new protagonist for whatever new region?

On one hand you could do Ash some justice by having him finally win a league and settle down, and continue on with a kind of soft reboot every generation. On the other hand, we won't have that steady protagonist to look to - we wouldn't be as familiar with his Pokémon, personality etc. I'll definitely post more detailed thoughts on this later, but what do you guys feel in this? What are the pros and cons of possibly having had a new protagonist?

Also disclaimer I don't watch that much of the anime now - watched mostly from Gens 1-4.

 

[strangerhypno]

It'd be refreshing but a new protagonist will not fix the writer's incompetence.

 

[Percy]

yes. a protagonist switch is long overdue. honestly, im just tired how child friendly the anime is. its fun at times but would love to see a more mature and enjoyable protagonist and anime.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Well, it would at least work in motivating the writers to actually LET Ash succeed in his goal rather than constantly have him fail multiple times, not to mention get stuck in a school environment now.

But it also needs to be done right, as well. If they screw up new protagonists each time, we're back at square one.

 

[Kuzehiko]

Nah.
I want Ash's journey to have a proper ending by him becoming a Pokemon master. It doesn't matter how long it takes, I don't want a new protagonist till Ash's story comes to an end.

 

[CidHazard]

Yep They should've retired him. Rather than having an inconsistent Satoshi/Ash personality through the Era's of the anime, we should've gotten different protagonists. It would've been way more interesting.

 

[BH]

Yes, i hate looking at ash ketchup ( :P ), he treats his pokemon with care but is still worthless

 

[Acrozz]

Yes! Ash should've won the Sinnoh League tbh. We need a new protagonist with a different personality, the anime is getting a bit repetitive. They could've done what the manga did, having a different protagonist for every region.

 

[weedle_mchairybug]

Nah.
I want Ash's journey to have a proper ending by him becoming a Pokemon master. It doesn't matter how long it takes, I don't want a new protagonist till Ash's story comes to an end.

To be fair, they could replace him by actually letting him get the dang goal of Pokémon Master. I am personally annoyed that the writers are constantly having him lose. Sure, Johto, Sinnoh, and Kalos have him doing a bit better than before, but Hoenn and Unova either have him doing the same rank as before or doing even worse (and even in Johto, Sinnoh, and Kalos, they have him lose in a cheap manner), and to make matters worse, there's no gyms in Alola, and until SM043, Ash was pretty much a sitting duck regarding his goal. They'd better have Ash win Alola, especially considering that the only reason why we're even stuck in Alola is because those (bleep) writers screwed up in Kalos, insisted on going through with the status quo of Ash losing the league despite heavy foreshadowing otherwise, to say little about how preliminary reports for Gen VII made clear there weren't any gyms and left it ambiguous as to whether there was even going to be a Pokémon league. Heck, even the closest things Ash has to actual successes, which is winning the Orange League and beating the Battle Frontier, they treated those wins as jokes.

 

[Noblejanobii]

Personally I think they should've switched around the Gen 4 or 5 time period. That being said, from what I've watched in the Kalos and Alolan arcs, I've kinda rewarmed to Ash as our protagonist. That being said, with all the call backs in the recent games and anime arcs (with the Rainbow Rocket arc in the games and reappearances from old characters in Alola), I feel like it might be time for a clean slate and to have a new character.

 

[Noblejanobii]

If anything, the nostalgia baiting angle in SuMo lately shows that having Ash around still is a good thing, because the nostalgia gimmicks wouldn't have been quite as effective if the anime had gotten a fresh start with a new protagonist years ago.

Very true! It's definitely helped to redeem the anime in many ways. I still say when they got rid of Brock in gen 4 it might've been a good time to transition protagonists. But also they seem to pulling on those nostalgia ties pretty hard. Makes me think they might be getting ready to transition. Who knows.