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What if Ash had no traveling companions?

Would the anime be successful if Ash did not have traveling companions at all, starting with Kanto?

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Greninjaman

Greninjaman

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I've been thinking about this for a while now. Would the anime be successful if Ash did not have traveling companions at all, starting with Kanto? Honestly, if they didn't do traveling companions, the story would go a lot faster. If needed, they could just have Ash do contests in Hoenn and Sinnoh. What do you guys think?
 
Not really, it wouldn't. The anime is paced the way it is because it tries to keep a weekly schedule and match each journey with each new gen release. If anything it would feel slower because there would be a lot less going on.
 
No because the filler episodes will all be about Ash and there would be no good character development. Just Ash with some Pokemon. There needs to be dynamics and stories about everyone. Also, the anime will finish too quickly without these filler episodes.
 
I don't think it would. Maybe if the anime were similar to the manga, but I don't know how well that would translate on screen and if the impact would've been the same.

Ash without companions is like Goku with no friends or family or Sailor Moon without the sailor senshi. While it would certainly go faster, it would take away a lot of the charm of the series.
 
At the end of the day, I watch the journey for Ash and Pikachu mostly. Ash and his rest of Pokemon also do quite well for me in that I'm invested in their growth as a team. Now while I like nearly all of his companions to differing extents (Not Max), they're all there to add a bit of variance and some depth to the plot. I clicked yes though because while I believe companions are useful in their own rights, this is being done with me already knowing companions were necessary to Ash. If I take away this knowledge and solely consider Pokemon as it is, I think Ash and Pikachu alone from the get go would work because at the end of the day, I care about the boy who with his Pikachu, take on the world while building relationships with Pokemon in every region, saving the world, helping people, battling and overall just living a life that's pretty damn fun. An that is something I'd watch every single time.
 
That would be awful :sick:

It's been shown time and time again that Ash does NOT have what it takes to carry this show by himself, even with the help of his Pokemon posse. Like it or not, we NEED companions to keep things lively and interesting. Even if their reasons for staying with Ash can be flimsy, especially if they stick around a long time. (Right, Brock? :cautious:)

I do, however, wish they'd make it more interesting by mixing and matching companions. Like how DP and especially BW gave Ash-tachii a bunch of honorary members. Conversely, we've had people who overstayed their welcome and/or didn't really do much. I really wish they'd handle things better.
Like, oh--making it Ash, the Girl, and 3rd and/or 4th spot being a revolving door of recurring characters who come and go and come back to make things interesting.

So yeah, it's essential Ash have other characters around. I just wish they'd handle it differently/better. :unsure:
 
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I see that people are voting no more than yes. What if the writers didn't need to start and end the saga at the same time as each Generation starts and ends?
Example: Episode 1 would air at the start of the generation, while the last episode would be at the end.
 
Whilst, people do tune in for Ash and Pikachu, I think there would be no life to the anime and people will tune out because it's boring - it will be "noob at the start of the region" -> catch a 'mon -> badge/trial -> random filler etc. It wouldn't be new and the filler episodes focused on other characters are actually interesting sometimes.
 
Ash alone does not quite have what it takes to carry on a show for about 21 years (neither does any other character...), so yeah, the anime would have been pretty bland, from the original series itself, if Ash were the only one being focused on. His friends and his Pokémon play a great role in his character development, and vice versa, and that's what makes the anime interesting for me. ;):D
 
Yeah, it really wouldn't work with just Ash. Most series can't work with just one main character. Having a few characters on cast helps to provide different storylines and different personalities for the characters to bounce off of to make them more engaging/interesting. While I do think that Ash is likable, he isn't interesting enough to carry the show on his own, especially for over twenty years, and seeing him interact with different characters every series helps to keep the anime fresh.
 
I don’t think it would work out, to be honest. If all, I could see a huge spike in CotDs and recurring characters just to fill in the blank gaps and to try to keep Ash as occupied with other humans as possible.

So, at the end of the day, it’s better to have a group of characters that develop and add a bit of dynamism as a whole than a lone character forced into interactions with random strangers just to make things less boring.
 
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