Should Ash age or not ?

[Ranger Jack Walker]

I'd rather he keep the maturity he aquires towards the end of a series instead of rebooting it and have him be a complete noob in the next series.

 

[Duckgon Z]

It honestly doesn't matter, but I did like the ambiguous age thing they were doing for AG and DP. Now with BW stating he's 10 and how they're writing him, it just makes you feel like you wasted a bunch of time watching him grow and the writers basically went "Fuck you the entire franchise is going to Kanto style basic shit, including most of the writing of this show."

 

[FinalArcadia]

Eh, they never should have given Ash an age in the first place.
I'd prefer him not to age. It would just feel... weird if he was 15 or something. :|

I don't think it would be weird if it had been happening gradually over the course of the series. But now that BW came out and said that Ash is 10, that puts a monkey wrench in things. Personally, I thought Ash looked older in DP than he did in the Indigo League. But now, I guess due to the change in animation/character design style in BW, Ash looks the same, if not younger, than he did in Kanto. And that's just weird and not right.

I'd love to see Ash age, maybe it'd add some freshness to his long stagnated character, but I don't think it'll ever happen. Sadly.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

While im definitely against having Ash age to some exaggerating degree,like turning 16 or even worse( becoming adult).I dont think it would have been harmful if writers aged Ash a bit,like becoming 12 or 13 to better reflect and justify his on screen growth and development going in correlation with time passage.

Already skilled and experienced characters can certainly be developed further as we get to see in various other shows and by aging characters this provides new window of opportunities through which thy can develop someone easier.Likewise this allows for some deeper character growth through which Ash or any character couldnt go as kid along with new obstacles and struggles being put in front of him now that he is older having to cope with new situations developing further with story being enriched and more complex.

Aging even to small degree often helps and allows character to grow forward and advance skills with new things being done with them which isnt possible if they are kept forever in same role.

EDIT:Im not sure from where people get idea how Ash age was left unclear in Hoenn and DP,when as a matter of fact it wasnt.In DP in one of episodes im pretty sure it was stated how Ash is still 10 and in interview with ex pokemon director Masamitsu Hidaka it was officially confirmed how Ash will never age.

So why statement of Ash being 10 in BW is all of sudden shocking is beyond me.

The mention of Ash being 10 as of the beginning of Best Wishes and the overall writing of his character in the saga - a mellowed version of his Kanto self, is just so disappointing after feeling as if his character and story was finally reaching some form of satisfying closure. The Ash of old was literally ready to take on the so-called "Champion League", but the Best Wishes Ash is resigned to being one badge behind his newbie rival and being called a kid by his traveling companion who only had experience of playing in the woods. Depressing.

To be fair,hasnt Ash always been referred as 10 year old long before BW even existed?

Also i dont think Ash regressed back to Kanto self being rather big exaggeration.He is more experienced in BW compared to Kanto days which can be evidenced when battling Elesa and others as well showing signs of maturity not responding to Trip or Iris provocations so impulsively and recklessly like it was case when he was complete rookie just starting out.
Ash was toned down,but definitely not that much.

While i agree how Ash seemed experienced more mature than it was case before in DP reflecting better character growth making him seem "older"(well not literally),i dont really think he had what it takes to win against champion or E4 even if he won tournament.He lost every single match in history with E4 members or champions and easy defeats against Bertha and Flint cleared that up with writers leaving kind of message how Ash still isnt ready having to learn more.
At that point with current development Ash got his story didnt really allowed for proper closure.Trying to wrap it at that point would only bring rushed and badly done work.

 

[Blazing Charmander]

EDIT:Im not sure from where people get idea how Ash age was left unclear in Hoenn and DP,when as a matter of fact it wasnt.In DP in one of episodes im pretty sure it was stated how Ash is still 10 and in interview with ex pokemon director Masamitsu Hidaka it was officially confirmed how Ash will never age.

So why statement of Ash being 10 in BW is all of sudden shocking is beyond me.

To be fair,hasnt Ash always been referred as 10 year old long before BW even existed?

Also i dont think Ash regressed back to Kanto self being rather big exaggeration.He is more experienced in BW compared to Kanto days which can be evidenced when battling Elesa and others as well showing signs of maturity not responding to Trip or Iris provocations so impulsively and recklessly like it was case when he was complete rookie just starting out.
Ash was toned down,but definitely not that much.

While i agree how Ash seemed experienced more mature than it was case before in DP reflecting better character growth making him seem "older"(well not literally),i dont really think he had what it takes to win against champion or E4 even if he won tournament.He lost every single match in history with E4 members or champions and easy defeats against Bertha and Flint cleared that up with writers leaving kind of message how Ash still isnt ready having to learn more.
At that point with current development Ash got his story didnt really allowed for proper closure.Trying to wrap it at that point would only bring rushed and badly done work.

Oh... I guess that that's what I get for only watching very few of DP's episodes dubbed. *le blush* The fact that I never heard Ash being explicitly mentioned as still being 10 on the show or by fans on forums during the saga meant that I sided with those who used the 'ambiguity' of his age in this debate. I must admit though - apart from the first episode I don't recall having heard his age referred to while I consistently watched the dub from the OS through to the Battle Frontier saga. That said, perhaps your persistence in watching the dub faithfully after that point gives you a better grounding in this debate.

My embarrassment aside though, I still stand by my argument that given the nature of the show and its plot, it would be better if Ash's age was left open to interpretation in order to give logic to his obvious character development and resulting maturity (prior to Best Wishes, anyway).

 

[Shinneth]

To be fair,hasnt Ash always been referred as 10 year old long before BW even existed?

No. Ash's age has not been outright stated since the beginning of the Kanto series. Additionally, if we're gonna consider the novelization canon to the anime, Ash was already pretty damn close to being 11 just as he was starting his journey as it is. Passage of time has been mentioned now and then; most frequently in Kanto, but beyond that there were statements of "years" that have passed and I'm pretty sure there was an anniversary for when Ash got Pikachu somewhere, which would HAVE to make Ash 1 year older by default.

So, no. The others here are right; Ash's age has been left ambiguous for years upon years. That left people to decide for themselves whether or not Ash was truly aging.

Then BW took that away from us. Its first offense of a string of horrible writing and disregarding continuity that continues to this day. I really, really, really hate it when canon takes my freedom to assume whatever I want about something. It's just horrible.

And yes, of course I think Ash should be aging, but obviously not in real time. I always strictly followed a formula that one full region equals one year. Half-regions like the Orange Islands and the Battle Frontier I considered a matter of a few months or so, no more than six. That would make him around 15 in BW, and it would've been a good fit considering the notably older game characters we got for the games. But why do a silly thing like coincide with your source material when you can just give a middle finger to continuity and be lazy by repeating all the mistakes of Kanto that you learned not to do in the past, right?

But I was happy enough with his age just not being stated at all. That was the happy medium; the way we could all assume one way or another and it wouldn't become bothersome. Now we're expected to believe Ash traveled four and a half regions and a Battle Frontier all within a year's time despite the past evidence suggesting otherwise.

And honestly, it's stupid. I understand wanting to keep Ash young to be relatable to kids, but there's plenty of main characters in shounen anime and manga that age to varying degrees, and they become no less relatable or fun despite that. So I think it wouldn't be the end of the world to put a few years on Ash. He can still be his same ol' self even as a teenager because he'll always be an idiot, and we can all rest easy knowing there's an actual, sensible passage of time going on in the show.

Because this is a journey show. Time tends to be a big element in ongoing journey shows. There's progression shown in everything... except the matter of aging. Why? Because the writers are dicks.

Basically what I'm saying is that BW ruined everything and I hate it for doing that.

 

[Jukain]

Well, I was looking for more of an explanation for why anyone would think he physically looked older, but it's probably that I got the wrong meaning of "looked" from other people, in which case, yes, his development in AG and DP did make him seem more mature.

I think we all agree we hate that they apparently wanted us to forget there was any form of continuity, even though we had just come off Ash's highest point ever when this began. Ash has always been something of a dunce, but not this much of a dunce for years. He does still have his moments of thinking outside the box that he is known for, though. However, I am starting to get a sense of "Is that all he's going to be known for?". I guess DP really did give me a sense that Ash knew more than that, now he's practically a one trick pony. What's more concerning is that they have implied that he could actually succeed with that. (Alder) I may even agree that this reset is more troublesome than the others, which could be attributed to the fact that Ash was training inexperienced pokes, but they eventually got better. While the BW crew is slowly getting better, Ash himself is still making stupid mistakes. I guess we just took May and Dawn for granted in that regard, because I've always said that it was only because of them that we got to see Ash truly shine. They took all the cute pokemon and all the noob "how to play pokemon" lessons. Now that there is no one to put all of that on, Ash has to take the full brunt of it.

In all, yes, this was a bad idea, but I'm still not totally offended by it for some reason. Ash still has a chance to redeem himself, but we'll need DP style junk soon or there'll be trouble. If they attempt to do this again, though, then I may consider leaving, since then I'll know that they absolutely don't care.

 

[Aestivate]

I'm the opposite then, because I find it offensive. And a waste of time. I'd rather the matter be left ambiguous as it was rather than taking all of that progression and turning int into something meaningless. Am I and other viewers just going to be following this 10-year-old kid and his rat around forever while the writing continues to acknowledge that all of their past progression and continuity essentially means NOTHING? It's simply because the nature of the show as a journey show that I am aghast that the writers had to go as far as to acknowledge an age-reset.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

I'm not really sure. I have a hard time picturing him being a teenager but at the same time, the fact that he's still ten kinda screws up continuity big time. Maybe aging him incredibly slowly or keeping his age ambiguous is the best thing to do, as everyone else seems to agree. Now I kinda wish they did just do the latter so we wouldn't have to think about this matter.

But I'm just not sure.

Though I will say this: the one good thing that came out of confirming his current age is that it put years of endless debates about what age all of the main characters were to rest. Some of us were convinced that they were still the same ages, and now we all know for sure.

 

[Cybersai]

Though I will say this: the one good thing that came out of confirming his current age is that it ended years of pointless debates about what age all of the main characters were. Some of us were convinced that they were still the same ages, and now we all know for sure.

Well the fact that Max never became 10 pretty much already proved they weren't aging. If Max was around 7-8 at the beginning of Hoenn we should have definitely seen him become a trainer sometime in late DP if there WAS aging.

Likewise May should be at least 1 year older than Dawn, given May turned 10 while Dawn was still a 9 year old in a skirt in Twinleaf town....as bizarre as this sounds.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

Which just further proves how pointless the debates really were, and that the only ones who argued that they do age were those who had a hard time grasping that idea, or were simply in denial. Maybe I should actually be glad that this case has finally been settled, even if I may not agree with the decision.

Though, ultimately, I just want Ash to be treated as an experienced trainer instead of a noob, regardless of his age. Then nothing else would matter to me.

 

[Cybersai]

Which just further proves how pointless the debates really were, and that the only ones who argued that they do age were those who had a hard time grasping that idea, or were simply in denial. Maybe I should actually be glad that this case has finally been settled, even if I may not agree with the decision.

Well the writers finally confirmed outright that Pikachu was male in DP, so maybe they're finally putting all these conspiracy theories to rest.

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

Well the writers finally confirmed outright that Pikachu was male in DP, so maybe they're finally putting all these conspiracy theories to rest.

Heh. Yeah, maybe that is the reason. Especially considering Pikachu's gender also should have been obvious. But now it's impossible to deny.

And for the record, I just voted for the second option because it only asks if Ash should still be a kid. I'd be okay if he were a tween, but a teen? Just doesn't feel right to me somehow.

 

[El_]

Him being 14-15 in BW wouldn't be bad though. Like said before, the BW games pushed the ages up by 6 years, so it wouldn't be out of place. Leaving his age ambiguous would be the safe option, and I have nothing against it.

Either way is better than what we got. This wasn't just an age reset afterall, but theres another thread for that. Basically I'm starting to feel that what Shinneh has been saying is unfortunately true: They basically said FU to the older fanbase in nearly everything regarding B/W.

On the other hand, maybe the Pokemon World is suffering from the same problem as the plot of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2. When the time gears were stolen time stood still, so maybe thats whats happening here? Would make for an epic plot lol

 

[Leonardo10]

No idea what the writers were doing when they stated Ash was 10. They just made him a noob again. In AG and DP Ash actually had proper character development, he actually learnt from his mistakes. He got to the semi-finals of the Sinnoh League and most of his pokemon reached their final form, I had actually begun to take Ash seriously as a trainer. But this "reboot" the writers have given the show just to try and recruit new fans is ridculous. Ash has gone back to Kanto levels of stupidity.

 

[Blue Dragon]

Yes he should I'm tired of the same old 10 year old Ash Ketchum. The plot holes because of this is ridiculous and it's like he starts over again and again in every series.

What annoys me the most is when he encounters a Pokemon he has seen before in the previous series and acts like he has amnesia, or something by using the pokedex and saying "wow" (ooooh like I have never seen this Pokemon before), when he clearly has encountered the Pokemon before!

Also the only time I have heard a real reference to a previous series was in the DP series, when Paul finds out that Ash defeated Brandon in the Advance series. But again the reasons for this were probably because Brandon plays a role in the DP series.

So I say "Grow up!" to Ash Ketchum and sort out that Amnesia lol

 

[Blue1225]

Really the only thing that can be done now is the same thing that was done before, for Ash to slowly age and mature as he goes through different regions.

 

[El_]

Also the only time I have heard a real reference to a previous series was in the DP series, when Paul finds out that Ash defeated Brandon in the Advance series. But again the reasons for this were probably because Brandon plays a role in the DP series.

D/P had MANY references to the past, from the thunderstone to that Blissey reference by TR, to Ash's Aura abilities, and likely various other things as well. This is stuff that hardly no one would remember anymore unless they were a die hard fan from the original series.

Really the only thing that can be done now is the same thing that was done before, for Ash to slowly age and mature as he goes through different regions.

But why should we care? Whats to stop them from destroying his development all over again? This was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, as it shows that they will screw continuity on a whim. I really don't understand because one series ago continuity and development was the main focus.

 

[King Robert]

Of course not, this isn't "For Better or For Worse".

 

[pokemon fan 132]

No. Ash's age has not been outright stated since the beginning of the Kanto series. Additionally, if we're gonna consider the novelization canon to the anime, Ash was already pretty damn close to being 11 just as he was starting his journey as it is. Passage of time has been mentioned now and then; most frequently in Kanto, but beyond that there were statements of "years" that have passed and I'm pretty sure there was an anniversary for when Ash got Pikachu somewhere, which would HAVE to make Ash 1 year older by default.

So, no. The others here are right; Ash's age has been left ambiguous for years upon years. That left people to decide for themselves whether or not Ash was truly aging.

I could swear i heard sat beginning of DP how it was said Ash is still 10.Either than or in episode "Ash and Dawn!Head for a new adventure!".However ill need to check this,because im not completely sure.

Regardless while passage of time has been mentioned with references of year passing being provided,it seems how Ash and every character is stuck in some sort of never aging loop,with writers keeping on purpose Ash 10 with cheap excuse of character that way being more relatable to target audience.

Which is just bull,because i can count some other kids TV shows which go through small time skip or age characters a but still being largely accepted among young viewers going good.Shame pokemon wont do such thing because this could allow for characters being taken in new directions doing some intriguing things development wise which arent possible at current moment.

Likewise this would make Ash journey much more realistic going in correlation with time passing, giving new dimension to his character.

That being said im not sure how much argument of writers leaving Ash age ambiguous can be applied,when it was stated in interview with ex pokemon director(Masamitsu Hidaka)who stepped out of this position during Battle Frontier being now storyboard artist,how Ash will never age.

That right there implies how Ash never aged being 10 in previous sagas too.

Basically what I'm saying is that BW ruined everything and I hate it for doing that.

Its never too late to fix things.Writers tend to screw things up many times in past,but they always managed to prove how they have knowledge and skill to get characters and story back on right track fixing their misplays.