Memory Loss and Unexplained knowledge in the anime

[Yamitora1]

So it seems that the characters from time to time have amnesia. Ash and/or his friends/TR forget a Pokémon or even an important person entirely (no not just forgetting their name, poor Stephan lol.)

Then there are instances where a character somehow knows about something they couldn't or shouldn't know at the time. Like a Pokémon or emerging trend, or some other trivial thing that momentarily gives them a sense of omniscience. Its usually the older travel companion like Brock or Cilan, but lately even Ash has done it once or twice with Kalos Pokémon he has had not encounter with.

so I thought it would be fun to cite some examples we remember and discuss how we felt (confused, frustrated, annoyed, other emotions that come and go depending on age, food, prescriptions and Blood Alcohol content) After almost 18 years of watching the anime, its all come to a blur for even myself (I swear its not because of anything I got behind a Pokémon Center from a Hiker, these mushrooms are purely culinary in use)

I know some of it comes down to the writers and staff of the anime (fact checkers, translators, the person in charge of keeping continuity) but still its strange when it happens.

I know most recently poor Steven was forgotten by both Ash and TR. This is the thanks he gets for helping them save the day and fuel an immeasurable amount of fanart and fiction? :nono: Like Rodney Dangerfield he gets no respect, respect at all.

 

[Piplup]

Steven wasn't "forgotten" because XY!Steven is not the same person as AG!Steven. Of course, people will try to argue about that, but I think it's pretty clear this is another Jimmy/Ethan case where two clones are running around the same world.
Other than the facts they look rather different (XY!Steven is obviously based on the ORAS design rather than the RS design) and that they have two different voice actors (Japan almost never replaces voice actors, and they made a point to use different VAs for the characters in Origins and the animated trailers to emphasize they're not the same people from the main show, so I beleive they're doing the same with Steven now) they also have different personalities (AG!Steven was very bland/kinda cold, while XY!Steven is WAY more lively) and it's only XY!Steven that was said to be the Hoenn Champion. As far as the anime is concerned, AG!Steven was just a random dude who likes stones.
So no, I'd say Ash didn't forget about AG!Steven, but he's just not the same person as XY!Steven, as crazy as that may be.
Also, a lot of cases people claim Ash "forgot" something they're just being dumb acting as if using the pokédex equals forgetting which is false. That said, there ARE some continuity issues in this show, most notably the TRio's past and how they met each other.

 

[ii kanji]

I'm with you OP!

When I heard that Satoshi had to dex Dogasu I nearly had a sudden cardiac arrest and died.

Also, remember when Musashi forgot who Rumika was at the beginning of DP??? Like really?!?!?!?!??!?!!

(I can't really blame anyone for forgetting AGDaigo though who was so boring )

 

[Muur]

You're allowed to forget things, people don't remember every little thing they've ever seen.

There's a difference between that and Dexing a Koffing though.

Also I disagree that that's not the same Steven.

 

[Necrozma]

A question: Did Ash actually say 'Who's that Pokemon?' when he saw Koffing?

Because Ash typically dexes a Pokémon even once he recognizes them.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don't think that Steven was forgotten per say, but rather they didn't want to bring up that episode when he came up. It was a pretty lackluster way of showcasing a Champion when he was more like a glorified character of the week and they never even confirmed whether or no he was the Hoenn Champion back in that episode. Considering that they wanted to make Steven more like his OR/AS counterpart in his appearances in XY, it made sense to not bring up that episode. I don't think that Ag Steven and XY Steven are two different people though. While having a different Japanese voice actor when they rarely do that is suspicious, I took it more like another way for the anime to distance themselves from that lackluster appearance instead of meaning that they're two different people completely.

As for Ash using the Pokedex on Pokemon he's already seen, that honestly never really bothered me that much. Aside from a few cases, he usually does that after not seeing a Pokemon for a long time. People got upset when he used his Pokedex on Koffing in BW, but I'm pretty sure that he hadn't encountered a Koffing since the original series. Having characters like May, Dawn and Serena use their Pokedex to get information on older Pokemon does work better, but Ash doing it instead doesn't mean that he's necessarily forgotten that he met that Pokemon before. Plus, since the Pokedex gets updated with new information, he could learn something new about that. Besides all that, using the Pokedex on older Pokemon that he has seen is for the kids watching the current series that might not have seen when those Pokemon appeared in the past anyway.

 

[dman_dustin]

I definitely agree that AG Steven Stone and Current Steven Stone are technically the same person.

It wouldn't make much sense to have TWO Steven Stone's in the anime, it would be like saying either THAT episode is non canon, or there are two Ash Ketchum's running around, and this Ash is identical to the Ash we know except he's voiced differently.

As for different VAs, isn't it as simple, as they asked the original VA if he wanted to reprise his role, and then refused to do so and therefore they had no choice but to recast the role? I mean it's hard for me to assume that all the past VAs of one off appearances who barely voice characters within the Pokemon anime series to just jump right back into a role that's 10 years old.

There actually might be examples of VAs returning even after longer, and only ever voiced one character that just suddenly made an appearance again, that's fine, but we'd have to assume that the recasting of the voice wasn't malicious in nature, as in, they didn't remember that this guy voiced Steven in that one single episode more than a decade ago, but rather he simply refused to return for the role.

Though I don't know if that's actually a thing, for a VA to refuse to come back, and their VA is recast.

You're allowed to forget things, people don't remember every little thing they've ever seen.

There's a difference between that and Dexing a Koffing though.

How? What do you make of Ash actually recognizing a Pokemon and yet he STILL Pokedexes it?

 

[Piplup]

I can't believe we're still talking about this whole dex thing these days...
Ash clearly recognizes the pkmn he has seen before. Dexing =/= not knowing what it is. Heck, he'd often say "it's a __!" before going ahead to dex it, like Charmander in BW. It's merely getting some more information. It's equal to going on Wikipedia. I can go on the Wikipedia page for "Dog" to learn more about dogs, that does not mean I don't know what a dog is.
Please let's get over this already...

 

[ii kanji]

I can't believe we're still talking about this whole dex thing these days...
Ash clearly recognizes the pkmn he has seen before. Dexing =/= not knowing what it is. Heck, he'd often say "it's a __!" before going ahead to dex it, like Charmander in BW. It's merely getting some more information. It's equal to going on Wikipedia. I can go on the Wikipedia page for "Dog" to learn more about dogs, that does not mean I don't know what a dog is.
Please let's get over this already...

But Dogasu! :bawl: Are you telling me he didn't know everything about that little guy by then?!

 

[PTOldMan]

I have always thought that the point of dexing a Pokémon was to inform the viewer, not Ash. That's way everytime he dexes a Pokémon everything stops, even if they are during a battle or running away from something. Not everyone knows every Pokémon by heart, and some people haven't seen the original series, that's why they dex old Pokémon, I think. It's not really to inform Ash.

 

[Necrozma]

Wait, are there people who still think that the dexing is done for Ash's sake? Because it clearly isn't, as Ash dexes the Pokemon he clearly recognizes. Most recent example: in his fight versus Sawyer, he recognizes and calls both Treecko and Bagon by their name and still proceeds to dex them.

 

[Hidden Mew]

But Dogasu! :bawl: Are you telling me he didn't know everything about that little guy by then?!

Ash wouldn't know everything about any Pokemon. He isn't particularly knowledgeable about Pokemon compared to say Brock who frequently demonstrated that he knew more facts about different Pokemon.

Besides that, it seems pretty ridiculous to expect him to know everything about Koffing when he hasn't encountered one for well over a decade. Koffing, along with Ekans, evolved I think about halfway through Kanto or less, and I'm pretty sure Ash never used the Pokedex on Koffing during the original series either. Battling against a Pokemon multiple times wouldn't mean that he knows everything about that Pokemon. The Pokedex gets updated with new information all the time and there are many professors and scientists studying Pokemon, both old ones and new ones, so new information can easily be obtain that Ash wouldn't be aware of without using his Pokedex. Like others have mentioned, the real reason he uses the Pokedex is for the audience, but that's the best in-universe reason I can come up with at the moment.

 

[Alola]

I don't understand why people get so upset when main characters dex Pokemon they've encountered before.

Hello, there is the possibility that new information may be accessed with each dex (which generally happens with each generation). Or in a meta-sense, Pokemon get dexed again for new viewers who may have not witnessed the first dex. Or simply yes-maybe Ash & Co forgot the main characteristic of the Pokemon being dexed in question, thus leading them to dex again.

Nobody is perfect. I've been a Pokemon fan since 1997 when I was two and have followed the entire franchise passionately. Yet the other day, I forgot Gorebyss is a particularly violent Pokemon that sucks out nutrients from its prey-yada yada yada. I only remembered by reading the its dex entries again while browsing the wiki.

I'm sure everyone does this in some way/shape/form when they look information to inform/re-inform themselves of something. So give the kid a break with "how could he "forget"" and the like.

 

[ii kanji]

I do repent for bringing the dex thing up at all as I know how divisive a topic this is...
However this aside I still think the OP has a point regarding other things which characters shouldn't have forgotten and have.

 

[Solar Beam]

I think the XY Steven and AG Steven are the same people if Ash can remember his name.

The only (possible) valid reason why people tend to forget is because of the anime staff. They make them forget just in case there are new people who are new to the show or if the people who always watched the show forgot who they are (people's memories aren't that great). Also, there are new writers all the time, so some writers are probably not familiar with the original series so they tend to write something new that makes it have continuity issues.