The Ash of Generations to come...

[yossarian]

Why fix something that isn't broken? I my opinion at least, I think things get boring increasingly quicker if you keep it exactly the same for year upon year. However, my opinion is invalid because I have been around for more than one generation. As Gamefreak (possible Nintendo as I don't know who controls this) has clearly shown that they have no interest in keeping old fans.

I'm not disagreeing with you personally regarding Nintendo's intentions and their reasoning but I just have to say that the whole "Don't fix it unless it's broken" cliche is pathetic. I cringe whenever I here someone try and use that to win an arguement. If we'd (humans) literally followed that we'd still be living in caves wallowing in our own faeces, having to hunt to eat every night - no technoligcal advacements, PC's, Circuits, Airplanes etc etc. It's all about progress and self improvement.


Anyway, I also get annoyed when Ash becomes a noob at the very start of a new series. It's frustrating to lose whatever progress and development he made up to that point. Even to the extent I do at times question my reasoning to watch the show - I mean the only reason I persist is to see what happens to Ash and to see if ever becomes a Pokemon master but when you see him completely forget everything, including the basics..... well it gets a bit depressing. The memory blank in Unova seems to be very significant, more so than usual. I can only attribute to this being a completey new country with different procedures and Ash unsure whether the same things in the past 4 regions would work here.

Also to those saying that keeping Ash is for the benefit of the younger generations. I disagree. To me it seems pointless to keep him for a new audience as there would be no emotional attachement to Ash from them; they haven't seen what he's gone through to be where he is now. You could easily stick another main protaganist in there and none of them would really care. It's more for the benefit of the older generations who have been watching the show for ages. From what I've read Pokemon is still "cool" in Japan, so I imagine there are lot more older people there who still watch it and know about Ash tribulations and adventures over the past 10 years so keeping Ash would be to appease them, more so then in the west where it's just a few people who haven't followed what 99% of our generation did and move on but still watch Pokemon weekly, usually covertly (well for me it is) in order to not get shunned by the rest of the population. :(


Nintendo are doing a half and half here, they want to attract new audience whilst not completely pissing of their older fans. I'm just resigned to fact that this will be the norm now until Pokemon loses popularity. I just hope when the time does come to end the show we do see some resolution to his charachter. As someone else also wisely said, hopefully before I die.

 

[Guest123_x1]

I think this series is going to follow Ash as being 10 years old all the way to the final episode, whenever that comes up. Just like, as I mentioned in another thread, Arthur Read (from the "Arthur" books and TV show) still being in 3rd grade in Mr. Ratburn's class after 14+ years. Also, as others mentioned here, the Simpsons characters not having aged much if at all after 20+ years.

This is not uncommon for animated TV shows. Ash has probably been traveling for the better part of 6 years, he just hasn't aged in that time.

From what I understand, this practice of animated characters not aging dates back to the Golden Age of theatrical animation, where characters in the stories have no defined age for the most part, and the storylines were all one-shot.

 

[Maelstromk]

I know this is slightly off topic, but I feel it must be said, but didn't they already try to make a spin off series with a different character besides Ash as the lead, I only vaguely remember it being advertised when I was much younger, and nothing must of been made out of it, for I don't remember even seeing as single episode. Maybe my memory is faulty, idk.
I just wish the series would have at the very least a bit of continuity. I don't really watch the series any more, but it always bugged me when I caught a random episode, and they would completely disregard older material, and write in whole new canon.

 

[WriteThemWrong]

I know this is slightly off topic, but I feel it must be said, but didn't they already try to make a spin off series with a different character besides Ash as the lead, I only vaguely remember it being advertised when I was much younger, and nothing must of been made out of it, for I don't remember even seeing as single episode. Maybe my memory is faulty, idk.
I just wish the series would have at the very least a bit of continuity. I don't really watch the series any more, but it always bugged me when I caught a random episode, and they would completely disregard older material, and write in whole new canon.

i think you're talking about that pokemon ranger series. i've seen a few episodes but only online so i'm not sure if they ever aired it. also, most of the movies have someone else share the limelight with ash

 

[firekid115]

I honestly thought ash was at least 14-16 untill i watched the first ep of Black and White, where the narrator said "10 year old pokemon trainer Ash Ketchum" and im like LOLWUT!? -_-

I do think eventually, hes gonna have to age. Unless gen 5 is the last gen. . . and they stop making the anime. If he ever does age in the anime, itll prolly be the last gen IMO.

 

[Spanner226]

I thought ash really did age; I thought he didn't grow and change in appearance because I never saw him drink milk EVER.

Except for a few episodes(including the miltank one).

 

[Meduza]

We have to understand age isn't the focus of the show.

The reason why Ash is still 10 is because Pokemon itself is target to people around 10 years old.

Ash would be 23 by now if we look at the time distance between the first and latest anime episode, and that is far from the target age.

So it's kinda obvious Ash wouldn't age for that reason alone.

 

[Arkywhitegirl]

Thing is, would you really WANT Ash to age? Would you still enjoy him as an adult?

 

[Spanner226]

Thing is, would you really WANT Ash to age? Would you still enjoy him as an adult?

He can be 23 and still look the same.

Maybe.

 

[The Noob Hacker]

Thing is, would you really WANT Ash to age? Would you still enjoy him as an adult?

I would say, most likely. However, at this point, I don't believe Ash would be quite an adult yet. I would say that if Ash aged in accordance with how much time it takes him to get across each region, I would say he would be around 16-17 area. Although he could be older or younger depending on the two seasons that really weren't regions: Battle Frontier and Orange Islands.

But, referring to the question, I still think I would enjoy him if he was in this age right now. Because, in all seriousness, being ten hasn't really benefited Ash in any way, asides from being a marketing technique to lure in smaller children of course. But any characteristics Ash has gotten from being a kid are forgetfulness (although that may be too light a term for the recent lapses of memory Ash has had.) overconfidence, and over enthusiasm. Now, if Ash was older this would do many things: One, it would be a nod to older fans, not to mention a nod to continuity. Two, it would allow Ash to formulate more sophisticated battling tactics (and aiming for the horn and attacking his own Pokemon are not what I consider sophisticated tactics, nor do I consider them tactics at all.) Lastly, it would allow Ash to face situations more maturely.

With that I would like to address a previous point I've made. I stated in the previous paragraph that Ash being younger is a marketing technique. But thinking about it more, I do think that Ash being older could possibly work to attract younger audiences. For you see, the younger people typically look up to the older generation, and sometimes will attempt to emulate them. Now a great deal of teenagers, or even adults who have grown up with the series or have at least seen it in their childhoods, may now dismiss it as childish. And with a cast made up of almost entirely kids, it is easy to see why. However, if the show's cast was older, and perhaps more mature, it is my belief that some people would stick with the show longer. Probably not a vast majority, but more than the show has now. So then the younger kids see that the older kids think that Pokemon is still cool, and they won't be inclined to think of Pokemon as childish, as some might when surrounded by people of that state of mind.

That is, not to say, that there wouldn't be problems with Ash aging. Now in general, I don't have much right to speak about what Pokemon's target demographic want, as I am not a part of it. And even when I was, I had very different interests than most others. So perhaps I am wrong, perhaps children don't care what the older people think, and perhaps they like Ash with his childish characteristics. Maybe seeing Ash not now how to catch a Pokemon is a major selling point to children, how should I know? In addition, having Ash older would probably mean more nods to continuity. (What I mean by that is, since Ash is reset at the beginning of each series, its like the previous one never existed, as it is rarely referred to ever again. But if Ash did age, it would imply that he has memories of his previous adventures, as such, they would probably be referred to much more often. For example, remember in whichever season of the D/P ark where Lyra and some other guy came in from Johto? I personally, was surprised that Ash never made reference to the fact that he had been to the region, had Pokemon from there, and beat its gyms. I at least expected him to transfer some of his Pokemon from Johto over, but he might have, as I didn't see the entirety of that subplot. Anyways, I bet if Ash did age he would have made reference to his days in Johto.)

The point I was trying to make with that is, that Ash aging would probably mean that some people who haven't seen previous episodes might not understand things as much as someone who has. Granted, I don't think that would be too much of a problem, I mean it is Pokemon not Lord of the Rings, so it's not like there's one huge continuous story to follow here.

But in conclusion, if Team Rocket is allowed to get serious, why isn't Ash?

 

[Hikamaru]

I would agree with most of you, I think Ash has been the lead for too long. They should give another character a chance.