Do the writers have far too many main characters to work with now?

[Cybersai]

Each saga of the Pokemon anime, (with the exception of Johto) has introduced new main characters to the cast. My question is, do you think the writers now have too many former and current main characters to give meaningful endings to all of them?

I know many of us have tried to predict the ending to the anime many times over the years, and how the writers intend to give endings to all these characters, but do you think they have too many now to actually give proper endings to most of them?

In terms of all current and former main characters, we have Ash, Dawn, Brock, May, Max, Misty and Tracey. That's 7 characters.

In terms of rivals, we have Gary, Paul, Drew, Harley, Nozomi and Kengo. That's 6 major rivals over the years connected to Ash, May and Dawn.

In terms of Team Rocket, we have Jessie/James/Meowth who will presumedly stick together forever (its hard imagining them apart, and that Battle Frontier episode proved that they are inseperable), and you may also want to consider Giovanni and Butch/Cassidy here as well.

Altogether we have nearly 20 major characters over the course of the Pokemon anime. How many of these 20 characters will have proper endings?

Do you think the writers made a mistake by introducing too many new characters? Or do you think that they can find a way to properly resolve all these storylines over the years?

 

[Sunain]

There is currently 6 main characters: Ash, Dawn, Brock, Jessie, James, Meowth. Thats not very many main characters compared to a lot of other animes out there that often have 12+ characters.

There are a lot of reoccurring and secondary characters but that is to be expected with an anime that has gone this long. DP also seems to be focusing on reoccurring characters better then the previous series, with Cheryl and Nando.

Pokemon has hit it right on in terms of the amount of characters.

 

[Pie]

The writers are planning to resolve storylines?

 

[Cybersai]

The writers are planning to resolve storylines?

You don't expect JJM to leave TR by the end of the show? Most of us expect Ash to confront Giovanni someday and dissolve the organization as a whole like in the games.

I mean sure, you can argue that characters like Tracey or Misty already have resolved storylines for the most part, since they don't ever seem to be leaving where they are right now. And all they have to do for Max is just show him get his first Pokemon and that's about it.

Mostly I was thinking about those Pallet Town reunions, they have a lot of characters now.

 

[Pie]

Oh, yes, if the show ever comes to a full, conclusive end, I expect that all to happen.

But the if is what bugs me. It's been ten years and going stronger than most do in the first few. It's proven it's not just a fad at this point. You really think they're planning to end it anytime soon?

 

[Cybersai]

Oh, yes, if the show ever comes to a full, conclusive end, I expect that all to happen.

But the if is what bugs me. It's been ten years and going stronger than most do in the first few. It's proven it's not just a fad at this point. You really think they're planning to end it anytime soon?

I think that there will always be a Pokemon anime following the games, that's a given.

However Ash's story will probably have an ending at some point. And of course if Ash is wrapped up, all the characters connected to him will be wrapped up too. (which is essentially everyone in the current anime)

I find it hard pressed to imagine us being in the year 2020 and still watching Ash go on a badge quest in a new region. That's just unthinkable. With the foreshadowing of Ash challenging the Elite 4 if he wins the Sinnoh league, maybe the writers are doing this for a reason.

 

[Pie]

I don't see how it's implied Ash's story will be ending soon or how it's implied when he goes down everyone goes with him.

Really, this Ash's-journey-is-ending-forever-tomorrow speculation is getting out of hand. I pose this question: If Ash goes against Cynthia, who do you honestly think will win?

 

[mandoiVAGiona]

I can imagine us all in our 30's, running back to our houses screaming "Omgz. New episode of Pokemon coming on soon!!!" "Ash won his 200th badge. ....Wow." And having more arguments and fights over like 20 girls and which ones the best. Oh man, imagine that.

But yeah. I don't really like how they get rid of good characters and replace them with new characters. I mean, its so annoying. And there are too many main characters now.

 

[Cybersai]

I pose this question: If Ash goes against Cynthia, who do you honestly think will win?

I think it depends on how the Elite 4 are treated, how do we know you can't challenge them multiple times even if you lose?

It took Ash three tries to finally beat Brandon. The Elite 4 may not be treated like a tournament, it may instead be treated as simply 5 strong trainers that Ash can challenge a number of times even if he loses to them.

If Ash does go against Cynthia, I can see him losing a few times like Brandon, but winning against her afterward. There's no indication that Ash would be screwed if he loses to an E4 member, since we don't know how they work in the anime.

 

[Geoffrey]

Ash? Defeating Cynthia? lol I don't see that happening ever. I think you're overestimating him. Remember, he's lost EVERY battle in which he challenged an Elite Four member.

 

[Cybersai]

Ash is much stronger now than he ever was before, and obviously he wouldn't use just his D/P Pokemon.

Ash has powerhouses at Oak's lab, not to mention Charizard and Squirtle, etc.

I think a team of Charizard, Sceptile, Snorlax and Pikachu alone can cause some heavy damage to Cynthia's Pokemon.

 

[Geoffrey]

I really don't see that happening. Simply assuming Ash will defeat the Elite Four and Champion just because of a reference in the anime is just plain silly.

 

[Snake Bandage]

(its hard imagining them apart, and that Battle Frontier episode proved that they are inseperable), and you may also want to consider Giovanni and Butch/Cassidy here as well.

Jessie, James and Meowth are symbiotic beings. I was sure of that the moment I finished watching Meowth Rules for the first time seven years ago. It's only recently that I found the proper world. Inseparable doesn't even begin to describe what these guys are to each other.

And they'd better leave TR by the end of the series or I'll be sad.

Though, I have to admit. I'm really starting to wonder if this anime will ever get a proper ending. There's a ton of long anime that ended with "and their journeys continued..." Both Pocket Monsters and AG ended exactly like that, but carried on to the next series in line as a continuing storyline. Some day, the last series may end with "and their journeys continued" and they just... won't continue. I hope that won't be the case; it'll be nice if Ash got a proper conclusion. And if Ash gets a proper conclusion, Brock, JJ&M and New Main Female Character From Gen So-And-So's Games Who Does Contests (unless D/P is the last series and Dawn is it) get a proper conclusion too, which would make me happy. And by proper conclusion I mean that Ash wins something for crying out loud. At least give us that.

I think some of Ash's companions really got decent conclusions to their stories, actually. Misty is a Gym Leader, thus being officially acknowledged as one of the best Water Pokemon trainers in the world by the Pokemon League itself (being recognized as such was her goal before she met Ash, was it not?); Tracey is Oak's assistant, which is probably more than he was daring to imagine when he developed that admiration for Oak and his work; and Gary is a budding researcher and already made a cool discovery or two. May and Max's endings are more open, though we know what they're aiming for; May wants to win a Grand Festival, Max is planning to get his own Pokemon and tackle the Gym challenge. It's not entirely necessary to check up on how they did, though it would definitely be nice if the anime staff will cook up another Hoso-esque deal. Drew and Harley kind of go with May; for now, we know their rivalry continues, as they are all in Johto. It is yet to be seen what will become of Paul, Nozomi and Kengo, as D/P is just 30-something episodes in (already!!! Time flies, man).

If Ash beats Shirona? That would definitely be the end of the series. I mean, dude, beating the strongest Elite Four Champ in the history of everything? Srsly. That's big. Or they'll find him something bigger to do, like... I dunno. Catch Arceus. That's bigger.

 

[Gamma Akutabi]

Not really. There wouldn't be the Chronicles arc without Tracy and other main characters. Besides, we see more variety.

 

[Cybersai]

The writers must have wasted a lot of money on those Hoso's which is why they never made a second set of them in D/P.

I guess they realized there's no point wasting their time to produce and animate an episode about the likes of Richie or Casey.

 

[Habunake]

There is currently 6 main characters: Ash, Dawn, Brock, Jessie, James, Meowth. Thats not very many main characters compared to a lot of other animes out there that often have 12+ characters.

There are a lot of reoccurring and secondary characters but that is to be expected with an anime that has gone this long. DP also seems to be focusing on reoccurring characters better then the previous series, with Cheryl and Nando.

Pokemon has hit it right on in terms of the amount of characters.

True, Yugioh GX (since I like to draw comparisons) right now has...let's see...
Judai
Asuka
Manjyome
Jim
O'Brien
Kenzan
Sho
Fubuki
Edo
Hell Kaiser
Misawa
Chronos
Amon

And they've had trouble balancing the characters this season...such as Judai dueling all the time. Well, it was basically the Judai/Johan hour, but Johan is dead...and now it's the Jim/O'Brien/Evil Judai hour. And Asuka, and Fubuki haven't got a duel all season...and they're dead. Kenzan got one duel...and he's dead. Manjyome got three duels, and he's dead. Misawa is off having sex. Sho and Amon are missing. Chronos is probably relagated to comic relief. As you can see, certian characters (I expect Edo and Ryo to duel since they're so popular). Certain characters get priority

The main problem with Pokemon is each have the Pokemon, which suffer due to their owner. Right now, Mukku.JESUS, Sargeant Sudowoodo, Cacnea, and Buneary are suffering the...da-da-da, Goldeen Factor.

 

[Yamato-san]

The writers must have wasted a lot of money on those Hoso's which is why they never made a second set of them in D/P.

I guess they realized there's no point wasting their time to produce and animate an episode about the likes of Richie or Casey.

which was their own damn mistake. I don't see why the better characters should suffer and the stuff that seems important enough to Housou gets left out just because a few of the crappy writers thought it'd be a good idea to make an episode about Rocket Dan (now YamaKosa, who've become shallow clones of MusaKoji) trying to kidnap an Enekororo for no specific reason, among other crap.

Ash? Defeating Cynthia? lol I don't see that happening ever. I think you're overestimating him. Remember, he's lost EVERY battle in which he challenged an Elite Four member.

actually, he's been getting better each time. The first time he went against Kanna, he was fucking owned, no contest. He seemed to put up a bit more of a fight against Genji (and using a Pokemon he just caught that region instead of just Pikachu). Finally, it seemed like he had a very close match against Kikuko's Gengar. Overlooking that god damn power downgrade his Pikachu seems to have suddenly gotten at the beginning of Shin'ou (hopefully, and expecting absolutely no explanation from the writers, he'll suddenly become a major threat again near the end of the saga, when Satoshi's usually dealing with bulkier powerhouses), I wouldn't be surprised if he actually manages to at least knock out one of their Pokemon the next time around.

Though, I have to admit. I'm really starting to wonder if this anime will ever get a proper ending. There's a ton of long anime that ended with "and their journeys continued..." Both Pocket Monsters and AG ended exactly like that, but carried on to the next series in line as a continuing storyline. Some day, the last series may end with "and their journeys continued" and they just... won't continue. I hope that won't be the case; it'll be nice if Ash got a proper conclusion. And if Ash gets a proper conclusion, Brock, JJ&M and New Main Female Character From Gen So-And-So's Games Who Does Contests (unless D/P is the last series and Dawn is it) get a proper conclusion too, which would make me happy. And by proper conclusion I mean that Ash wins something for crying out loud. At least give us that.

if what we know about his father is any indication, he could start a family somewhere and still be traveling. But concerning a conclusion, winning something seems like the best way to go. The Dengeki! Pikachu manga ended with Satoshi defeating Yuuji at the Orange Island Winner's Cup (with one side-story and an epilogue to follow). Hell, I've said it many a time over on SPPF, but in spite of what many people are expecting out of it, both the Pokemon show and the main RPG series have a storyline that revolve around competition, trying to be the best, etcetera and all that nonsense. Saving the world from evil organizations, that's a side-quest at most. At the core, it's all about getting those badges, competing in that league, and getting to face the reigning champion. Thus, the games' credits role after you beat said champ, and each anime saga ends with Satoshi finishing off whatever tournament he spent all saga trying to compete in (with a couple epilogue episodes setting up for the next region). When the entirety of the anime comes to an eventual conclusion, there's no doubt in my mind that it's going to end with Satoshi winning something major, be it a league tournament or against the champion him/herself (let's hope whatever generation this occurs in has a champion that's as good as, if not better than, Shirona ^^... honestly, does anyone else think it'd suck if Satoshi's major opponent at the end was someone along the likes of Wataru?).

 

[Habunake]

And oh help me god if his final battle is Charizard vs. Super Powerful Pokemon.

(Hey Yamato, what's that comic of Charizard defeating the E4 on Pokesho about?_

Oh, and Hosos. Some were neat, like J+J's episodes....but...some of them felt like...Ritchie is Ash, Tracey is Brock, Misty...is, Misty, and Butch and Cassidy are Jessie and James. Some felt like glorified fillers, made simply to please fans of older characters (Casey? Sakura? Richie? Dudes, what about Samurai? A.J.? Giselle? The people that fans like?)

 

[Cybersai]

Cynthia would at least give us a kickass battle to look forward to. Her Pokemon in the game are great and translate well into the anime, and she's a joy to look at as well.

Here's hoping!

 

[Habunake]

Ooooh, agreed.

Lucairo proved to be a pretty neat fighter in Movie 8, when he fought those Houndoom (and I expect a great show from Maylene's).

Garchomp will be awesome, because I imagine him gliding through the sand and popping up with fans agape.

Roserade in next weeks episode looks like they are pretty sweet, and Milotic have had nice battles.

Toritodon...err, no comment. But it seems nice.

And Spiritomb, who I'm patiently awaiting to see how that thing battles, as I imagine it standing still yet using a barrage of attacks with great concentration.