In a personal level, how are you dealing with the end of Satoshi's adventures?

[Gehrigwrk2245]

Happy and content. When I first heard this was the end of him being the main protagonist with my girlfriend, I’m kinda embarrassed to admit I cried. I didn’t have high expectations, but learning that Ash would travel with his two best friends as companions again felt like I was finally coming home in this franchise. We never dreamed this would happen again…, but it did. I was upset at first; felt like there should’ve been a more meaningful ending, but I quickly became ashamed of that. Pokémon is for everyone, and the return of Brock and Misty showing that nothing had really changed the bond between them, as well as having fun helping others was more than I could’ve asked for. Felt like it’s not really the end, but just another day of assurance that all is well.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Honestly, I was happy since in so far as Ash/Satoshi's character goes, it's very arguable he not only looks quite different from how he did in EP001, but he acts differently too so there was a change in his personality (some call it maturity, others call it blandness/Gary Stuish, I call it just flat + in the middle on this debate). It's arguable OS Satoshi is not JN Satoshi at all, in fact, though he's meant to be the culmination of the story over all those Series he certainly has a different appearance and feel to him (Am I saying it's wrong or if you like his change more that's objectively bad? No. Is it necessarily the same, and is it wrong to prefer his prior incarnation? No, also possible.).

Add to that in the English dub, Natochenny's Ash is arguably an entirely different character than Taylor's was/is both in terms of vocal timbre as well as his dialogue/speech patterns (if you love the character to death, you will notice he changed in the English dub entirely over time)...so it won't hurt a bit there for me as in so far as dub! Ash goes in English, the character I had known and come to connect with left after AG145 so...? I have no true attachment to Natochenny's Ash etc. in the way I did to Taylor's Ash despite her doing the role for much longer + hearing her do so longer, so it makes it even easier for me to be happy Liko showed up because it'll also refresh everything blank-slate style dub VA wise too.

Finally, I thought he'd forever be doomed to go on an endless journey with never having any concrete ending: and in some ways, you could argue that's what happened, but they managed to at least in JN let him become a Champion of the Masters 8 at last & then have him do so off screen instead of having us follow him endlessly with nonstop losses outside of OI & BF that occurred all the way into XYZ, pre-SM. TR got a pretty terrible ending, though, and Brock's was not good either: Misty's was decent, though, like Ash's.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I personally accepted it as I have routinely criticised the direction taken by his final series, privately and publicly, for a significant majority of its existence. Ash Ketchum was a far more enjoyable character when he wasn't a sloppily written and shoehorned "Champion" undeservedly carried by his low-brow Alola victory as though that somehow made him Cynthia's rightful equal, and the individual that walked back into his endless journey by the very end of it all is absolutely not the same protagonist I enjoyed in the past.

If their aim was to make the departure hurt less by writing his character so badly that I wanted him dropped then I can say they succeeded with top marks. I wasn't gonna feel sad for the departure of that butchered shadow.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

I personally accepted it as I have routinely criticised the direction taken by his final series, privately and publicly, for a significant majority of its existence. Ash Ketchum was a far more enjoyable character when he wasn't a sloppily written and shoehorned "Champion" undeservedly carried by his low-brow Alola victory as though that somehow made him Cynthia's rightful equal, and the individual that walked back into his endless journey by the very end of it all is absolutely not the same protagonist I enjoyed in the past.

If their aim was to make the departure hurt less by writing his character so badly that I wanted him dropped then I can say they succeeded with top marks. I wasn't gonna feel sad for the departure of that butchered shadow.

I actually preferred Ash as the rash, hot headed, even sometimes immature underdog character myself.

I feel worse about Team Rocket since at least Ash had some achievements by the end, I think the problem is past XY(Z) in particular it just felt like his SM victory wasn't legitimate when compared to how hard he had to train in especially AG & DP on screen as well as all the buildup that happened in XY that went...yeah, Alain, that's all- TRio was a tragedy, just a tragedy, their ending was predictable and yet they achieved almost none of their goals or resolved their plot lines by the end.

 

[Hidden Mew]

While I think that Ash becoming the Alola League Champion was fine, I do think that it was a lot to expect that he was at Champion level strength afterwards, mainly because the Alola League was set on easy mode. Aside from Ash, Gladion, Guzma and maybe Kiawe, none of the other trainers would have lasted past the first round of any other League. Trying to avoid battling was actually a legit way to get through the Battle Royal opening match. I think it was a fitting accomplishment for Ash and I was happy that he won, but I think it was asking a lot for fans to believe he could go from that to going head to head with regional Champions. This probably could have been negated a bit by showing more more training with his Journeys team, but like I've mentioned before, I think that they were trying to rely on his team being full of fully evolved Pokemon and his experience to help justify his victories.

I think that's one of the reasons why the PWC never worked for me. Despite being such a huge tournament where Ash became a World Champion, it never really felt like he had much of a struggle to get to the Master Class. He had a brief losing streak early on that was dealt with quickly and he climbed up the ranks off-screen. I also think that Ash tends to work better as the underdog, or at least I'm more used to seeing him in that light, but just showing him working hard with his Pokemon would have gone a long way to make his victories in the PWC feel more satisfying. That was a big reason why most of his badge quests worked, even when he didn't have a main rival in series like AG and XY. Personality wise, I still think Ash was fine in Journeys. He was likable, had good chemistry with Goh and his bonds with his Pokemon shined nicely whenever they did get some focus, even if it felt more minimal than it really should. If the PWC had better structure, the battles were more consistently good and his Pokemon had more development, it probably would have felt like a more satisfying sendoff for Ash for me.

 

[Antiyonder]

I'd say for the best. Probably might miss Ash as a lead if the different cast sticks or they change casts from time to time.

I mean the general case especially with higher ups and/or writers is "playing it safe is basically keep the same story going with a floating timeline VS a cast change" when such is an option, I'd say the cast change is best cause while not full proof lessens the character decay.

Look at say Detective Conan for example. The lead character's predicament paved the way for him to grow as his intellect was a source of well arrogance, but now he tends to be a God Stu. And the Organization he opposes well it's threat level feels less so as the series became more comfortable with sticking around. Members that are legit evil and suppose to be threatening can't really do anything that would undermine the status quo.

So you either have to make the truly villainous ones well incompetent as a side effect or reveal that some are really just double agents.

 

[R.O.B.]

It still doesn't feel real to me. He's been a fixture for so long you expected him to be around long after you died.