Pokemon‘s anime is now enjoying a new generation of the series without Ash Ketchum as the center of the adventure, but the franchise never should have let him go because it’s just not the same. The Pokemon anime celebrated its 25th anniversary with a final goodbye series for Ash. Following him as he eschewed a traditional gym challenge in favor of taking on all sorts of opponents across the Pokemon world, Ash ended his long run in the anime as the champion of the world. It was a fitting send off for the fan favorite Pokemon Master to be, but perhaps too early of a goodbye.
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Without Ash, the Pokemon anime just doesn’t seem to be reaching the same heights as it used to. With a little over a year’s worth of episodes for the latest incarnation of the series, Pokemon Horizons: The Series, and a few arcs under its belt, fans have gotten to meet the two new characters at the center of it all. As Riko and Roy kicked off their journey from the very beginning, they’re missing that element that made such a special character. They’re missing that bit of edge from Ash’s rougher days that took him a few years to grow out of.
Pokemon: Why Ash Is So Special
Pokemon’s anime first introduced to Ash with the very first episode of its run in Japan back in 1997 (and in the United States a year later), and started him on his journey to becoming a Pokemon Master. He was a unique protagonist for the time because it was also many fans’ first introduction to the idea of Pokemon overall. Just as Ash was learning more about the little monsters around his world, fans in our world were doing the same through the video games, trading card game and more. And just like many ten years olds, Ash was an imperfect kind of protagonist.
Ash wasn’t the best trainer, nor was he that great at getting off the ground floor. He had some unique battle strategies that helped him clinch some victories, but he ultimately got his first two badges thanks to the friends he made along the way. But in seeing him taking on these challenges through his journey to get to the top of the Indigo League, fans also spent more time with Ash and saw him grow to becoming the more well rounded trainer we’d see later. Then as the series continued through the years, Ash’s development admittedly stagnated.
Why Ash Needs to Return to the Pokemon Anime
Ash’s growth might have been reset with each new region of the Pokemon anime he traveled through, but it’s a shame that the real potential for him as a character didn’t really come to fruition until he reached the Alola League. After finally winning his first League Championship in the long run of the anime, his final anime series is when we got to see a fully realized Ash follow a new kind of dream. He was now seeking to reach the top of the world, and this opened him up to exploring the entire Pokemon world as a fully accomplished trainer.
This was a level to Ash fans had never seen before, and it was taken away before the anime got to really show off how this new Ash could travel even further. Yes, by the end of his journey he was able to win the biggest accomplishment he could, but it’s never been truly about becoming a champion on that level. Ash was always seeking to become a Pokemon Master, and being a champion was really only the first real step to actually making that dream happen. His final episodes were the only time fans got to see what a Pokemon anime evolution could truly be like, and it was just taken away.
While it’s certainly admirable, and ultimately the right move, to start a new era of the Pokemon anime for a new generation of fans who don’t have as big of an attachment to Ash, Pokemon removing him from the equation completely wasn’t the right move at all. Ash had the potential to showcase all kinds of new stories after becoming the World Champion, and it could have opened up a whole new side of this world. It would have been a whole new world to live in, a whole new way to see. A whole new place with a brand new attitude. But Ash would still have to catch them all to be the best he can be.
