How about the female hero being a lead again?

[Somari]

In Kanto through Johto Ash was traveling with Misty and Brock, two gym leaders. The next two regions had Ash being with Brock and the female protagonist for the gens first game. With Best Wishes Hilda did not pop up, instead Ash traveled with two gym leaders again. I've heard people say that, as the games have several allusions to the first two generations, the anime was trying to be similar to the original generations. But that's besides the point..

Would you prefer Ash travel with two gym leaders again or do you want them to go back to using the protagonists counterpart?

 

[Cybersai]

If the next game has a new sidequest that the writers want to heavily promote alongside Ash's Gyms, they'll probably bring in the next female lead character. If not, it'll probably just be another female Gym leader. I notice they only use the female protagonists from the games if they have a major sidequest like Contests in the anime.

But look at how the writers treated the Pokeathlon, Musicals, Pokewood, etc....and just gave them one-off filler episodes. Depends if the next game-side event can be important enough to be used.

 

[Karamazov]

I hope we don't get another lead. Sure, with Ash sharing a role, we can have the girl getting more spotlight and playing a larger role. But with two sidekicks, both the boy and the girl could share the spotlight a little more. DP showed that two leads would screw the third person over royally.

And I like Iris. But to give her a leading role? Bleh. I'd like Dawn more, too, if she wasn't shoved down my throat so much.

 

[Hidden Mew]

If the next game has a new sidequest that the writers want to heavily promote alongside Ash's Gyms, they'll probably bring in the next female lead character. If not, it'll probably just be another female Gym leader. I notice they only use the female protagonists from the games if they have a major sidequest like Contests in the anime.

But look at how the writers treated the Pokeathlon, Musicals, Pokewood, etc....and just gave them one-off filler episodes. Depends if the next game-side event can be important enough to be used.

To be fair, there wasn't much room to make those events from the games into a sidequest, especially when the Pokeathlon was introduced in the middle of DP. At least there was room in Contests to incorporate a battle phase.

Anyway, I definitely hope that there's another female lead in the next series. Both Misty and Iris didn't really do much for me while May and to a lesser extent Dawn were more interesting because the writers actually had to do something with them on a regular basis. Having two sidekick characters didn't really benefit Iris or Cilan development wise. I'd prefer seeing a more active female character in the cast, even if it does cause the third person to get less screentime as a result. We would potentially get more development from the female lead and we have more battles to showcase different Pokemon and both the female leads' and and Ash's progress over the course of a region.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I hope we don't get another lead. Sure, with Ash sharing a role, we can have the girl getting more spotlight and playing a larger role. But with two sidekicks, both the boy and the girl could share the spotlight a little more. DP showed that two leads would screw the third person over royally.

And I like Iris. But to give her a leading role? Bleh. I'd like Dawn more, too, if she wasn't shoved down my throat so much.

Can I give you a medal? I agree 100% with this.

 

[BugMite]

If it means the next girl not getting the Iris treatment then I'd welcome it - even it meant another coordinator (not that that will happen, I'm just saying).

Otherwise, I'm rather indifferent either way.

 

[Mikuri]

Yes, definitely. I would love to see the next games' heroine playing a lead role in the anime. I loved May and Dawn and I think their journeys were well written and fun to follow. I also think the writers work best with a quest to collect tokens than with a passive goal like Water Master/Dragon Master. Unfortunately, I don't see the Contests coming back in the sixth generation, and without them in the games we'll probably see another girl with an anime-exclusive career.

But look at how the writers treated the Pokeathlon, Musicals, Pokewood, etc....and just gave them one-off filler episodes. Depends if the next game-side event can be important enough to be used.

In the games, the Pokéathlon, the Musicals, and the Pokéstar Studios are as important as the Contests, the writers just didn't feel inclined to turn them into a career to follow in the anime.

 

[Cybersai]

I hope we don't get another lead. Sure, with Ash sharing a role, we can have the girl getting more spotlight and playing a larger role. But with two sidekicks, both the boy and the girl could share the spotlight a little more. DP showed that two leads would screw the third person over royally.

And I like Iris. But to give her a leading role? Bleh. I'd like Dawn more, too, if she wasn't shoved down my throat so much.

She doesn't have to be a full co-star.

She can have May's type of screentime. May got more focus than the other travel companions without being a full co-star like Dawn. She felt like she was inbetween the two extremes.

Just because the female has a quest doesn't mean she's going to be shoved down our throats.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

I hope we don't get another lead. Sure, with Ash sharing a role, we can have the girl getting more spotlight and playing a larger role. But with two sidekicks, both the boy and the girl could share the spotlight a little more. DP showed that two leads would screw the third person over royally.

And I like Iris. But to give her a leading role? Bleh. I'd like Dawn more, too, if she wasn't shoved down my throat so much.

She doesn't have to be a full co-star.

She can have May's type of screentime. May got more focus than the other travel companions without being a full co-star like Dawn. She felt like she was inbetween the two extremes.

Just because the female has a quest doesn't mean she's going to be shoved down our throats.

This would work a lot better. So long as she isn't a FULL co-star, it's fine with me.

Don't get me wrong. Initially, I liked the idea. I like Dawn, but I feel it was at the cost of sacrificing much of Brock's spotlight. That wasn't worth it to me.

 

[Karpi]

Well, if they brought back the Ruby/Sapphire style contests in the games (which they should!), then the writers could have "new may" again, or god forbid, even old may or dawn could come back. I don't think people would have THAT big of a problem with Ash having an eternally present contest partner.

What about May/Dawn's already-developed team, you say? Just turn Blaziken into the next Ash's Bulbasaur and dump it off somewhere. That seems to work. Beautifly (or Togekiss, or whatever) as a sort of "contest mascot" doesn't seem too farfetched.

 

[Hidden Mew]

While Dawn did get more screentime at the expense of Brock and I wasn't a huge fan of Dawn to begin with, I'd still prefer another female lead getting that much screentime over another Misty or Iris kind of female character. At least Dawn actually deserved the majority of her accomplishments and her progress in DP was pretty believable. Plus, they could try it again to get a better balance of screentime among the main leads than they did in DP while still doing more with the female lead. I'd still love for Contests to return, although I'm not sure how likely it is that they'll be used in X/Y, but at this point, I'd be happy with just about any kind of sidequest for the female lead to participate in so that they have a chance for decent development.

 

[Winterdaze]

I'd like another girl with May's kind of screentime, provided they actually give her some kind of coherent thing to work towards (not a co-ordinator quest though, those have been done to death).

Whether a full co-star would be better this time I can't really say. Dawn's blandness and the fact she was retreading May's ground is probably what turned people off the co-star thing, a more original co-star might have been more interesting. On the other hand, the way her story kind of fell flat after the Wallace cup made it seem like they'd billed her with all this screentime and didn't really know what else to do with it.

Of course, the length of the series is going to be important for deciding how much screentime the new girl gets. With an AG or DP length series, there's room for devoting more screentime to the girl. But if we have another BW length series, a sidekick would be best to give more of that limited screentime to Ash.

 

[97SaturnSL1]

If its Hilda or Rosa fine. But NO Id rather have CIlan and Iris instead of the gen six female protagonist. I think the key thing is going to be what type of "Bonus features" Such as the contests, ect. would greatly depend on how much and the importance of a new female role would be

 

[Cybersai]

They're not going to keep Iris and Cilan next gen, the writers won't repeat what they did with Misty and Brock. They're learned from their mistakes.

 

[AlphaMouse]

I think that a France-based region is the perfect place to restart Contests, and maybe also Sommeliers can become an in-game feature in the same way that Brock was a breeder before the class or Daycares were introduced in the anime. I would love a Burgundy-esque Sommelier female lead who also indulged in contests, although she would not be as exaggerated. In the same way I wouldn't mind Cilan staying on into Gen VI.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

If she isn't a coordinator hells yeah

 

[pokemon fan 132]

How big role next girl will have depends on what quest 6th generation might have aside from gyms, in which female protagonist could participate. Since as representatives of region they originate from and main playable characters from games, writers tend to include them in anime only if there is suitable enough quest for them to do and properly advertize era from which they originated from.

Otherwise they'll most likely than not just use another gym leader girl or some other character with smaller role since they are more flexible in case of games lacking meaningful sidequest to include them in cast.

Either way im indifferent on who we are going to get, since i don't mind both female leads with big on going quests, but also sidekick girls too.

Who can often be depicted in more imperfect manner having many flaws, not falling under typical stereotype genre main heroes usually fall into, making them more interesting.

That and i don't think its quantity which matters in long run, but quality with characters which receive less focus often ending better developed than those who were blessed with huge arcs.

For same reason i preferred Misty over May and Dawn because she didn't need big on going quest and lot of focus to feel her presence even when she wasn't center of attention. Such as strengthening group chemistry and contributing to resolution of plots on daily basis, while regardless of all its flaws managing to develop more as person than Dawn did despite ending with less focus.

And while development wasn't one of stronger points in BW thanks to sidekick status, everyone in main cast whether its Iris, Cilan or Ash are more active with no one being left out and interaction between Bw trio is better imo with everyone feeling like friends, as opposite to Sinnoh where due to equal promotion of male and female protagonist as equal co-stars showing them down our throats all other characters, side plots etc were left out fading in background(like coughBrockcough).

In my book supporting character isn't ungrateful and degrading position and while they wont be exposed as much like protagonists are, they can be vital part of story having their benefits.

Either way whoever we get in end, be it sidekick or protagonist i hope we will get female which will follow some different career for change than what we usually got chance to follow. Such as young apprentice trying to become E4 or gym leader, ranger, researcher which is trying to learn more about mysteries and new legendary pokemon etc.

p.s. That aside i would much rather have writers for change start reusing some of previous companions(like May, Misty, Max) we grew to like going in new, fresh directions developing further instead of getting constantly new ones being deprived of chances to ever get stable cast. Its pointless to do this constantly, and highly predictable at this point.

They're not going to keep Iris and Cilan next gen, the writers won't repeat what they did with Misty and Brock. They're learned from their mistakes.

How exactly keeping them for more than one region was mistake?

Because of longer stay we were able to learn more about their past and motives getting to know them better,we were able to see them progress further both in character and trainer sense getting some great and significant development in end being given more layers.

I don't know about others but i enjoyed in Misty character in Orange Islands and Johto as well bringing lot of appeal, appreciating character growth myself and to what person and trainer she developed in Hoenn and chronicles.
Same applies to Brock having good role for supporting cast until DP growing as breeder, adding more seasoning to group dynamic having many memorable moments.

None of this things would have been possible if they were kept for only one region.
Which was one of main reasons why Tracey ended underdeveloped due to short stay not giving enough time to flesh out someone.

Personally while they aren't my cup of team i wouldn't mind Iris or Cilan continuing on next generation to learn new things and be more fleshed out if anything than at least to break down rut and predictable pattern this series follow for once. And lack of imagination of being possible to keep someone worthwhile for longer period of time deeply concerns me.

Longer stay allows adding more to character filling his story with more substance, and explore on different sides of characterization.While keeping enjoyable traits about him/her, going in correlation with message this show promotes of being about journey where companions explore new pokemon and regions, learn new things and build up their friendship.
If anything because of getting rid of characters constantly we don't have groundwork to create stable established cast which can receive build up, writers aren't forced to write more creatively and find things through which they could keep cast interesting, develop them in different way and create brand and solid continuity to keep anime successful for many more years to come.

 

[Pokemaster97]

Bringing Cilan into the new generation would be a poor move on the writer's part. His goal is too ambiguous which will lead to fillers and pretty much the writers running out for things for Cilan to do (it seems like they already have). Notice how all the characters with open-ended goals usually ran out of steam or ran out of things to do at the half way point, Misty with "Water type master" Brock with "Pokemon Breeder/Doctor", Iris with "Dragon Master" and Cilan with "Top Sommelier". They've made virtually no progress at all to achieving those goals, except starring in odd fillers. When they bring in a new female hero, she needs to have a goal that's close-enough in reach that she can be seen visually progressing in as the series goes on, much like Ash and his collecting Gym badges. While we're on the subject, I think having the male hero be Ash's male sidekick could be a welcome change, but I digress.

 

[Shinneth]

Personally I would be all for having another female lead (though I'll admit I preferred the more passive take on it with May opposed to Dawn), assuming said female lead is an appealing character in her own right that warrants getting shared limelight with Ash and won't irritate the shit out of me with all of that screentime. Of course, for any chance in this happening, there has to be a consistent quest for the female lead that's featured in X/Y - which will be almost impossible to figure out for ourselves until we get some info on who will actually be in the anime and what distractions X/Y offer from the main story, as Contests were every bit as optional as the Pokeathlon, Musicals, and Pokewood, yet Contests were a major fixture in the series for 8 years whilst the other 3 only got a filler episode or two to feature in.

Even so, I think I would rather have a third redux of a Coordinator's story over another pitiful attempt at having 2 sidekick characters of dubious worth and/or entertainment value. I'm not sure if it's coincidental or not that I've notably disliked the two female sidekicks of the series while thoroughly enjoying the two female co-stars. I'm inclined to believe because my feelings on the past four female twerps have been divided as such (though it's always more the personality of the character that matters to me, the role or lack thereof has factored in on whether or not I see them as good long-term fixtures in the series which does factor in on how much I tolerate them), that it would be in my best interest to want another female co-star again.

Besides that, I've come to realize how much duller the series tends to feel without the female lead's sidequest. How much emptier it is. The fact that BW isn't even managing Ash's time well even though there's no one to really share his spotlight with this time around just tells me I've grown spoiled to the fun, distracting and usually entertaining portion of the series that went to the female leads for 8 years.

Really, more than anything I don't want another Iris again. Both in terms of personality and story-handling/writing. Much less having Iris stay on past Best Wishes... though I highly doubt she will. I just don't need another female character that I not only dislike, but am constantly questioning why she's even in the show even years past her debut. Even being spared of that from the new female character, whether she's a co-star or a sidekick, would be greatly appreciated. What I really liked the most about May and Dawn was how they not only had their own stories going on independent from Ash's, but they were still a great influence on Ash's story and vice-versa, and I would love to have such a dynamic back in the series.

I'm just... being careful for what I'm wishing for right now, though. Best Wishes has made me pretty wary of what I want out of the series, since there's no way of knowing whether or not the X/Y anime will make up for or continue all of the horrible steps back that Best Wishes cranked the series down to. The idea of a co-star version of Iris is horrifying... though I guess it would be unlikely for the anime to use the exact same type of female main character twice in a row. Whooooo knows.

 

[Cybersai]

I don't really care what the new female lead does to be honest, just that she's likeable.

Although I'm really passed the point of caring for female leads to be honest. The mere fact that Ash will soon to have 5 female travel companions really makes you realize there's no reason to get attached to them anymore.