What would Ash do next if he becomes a champion?

[ArvAl]

We've seen a lot of scenes of Ash battling all sorts out in the Pokéleague and then loses (biggest disappointment, dp eps where he make it into finals but then loses against Cynthia GODAMNIT!).

But here let me tell you something, what if he is the champion of a region and then his dream become a Pokemon Master succeeds?

Mine would be the season is finished and ends it the best way the writers do in the particular way. How about you? Any thoughts?

 

[CrystaI]

THE END of Pokemon Anime. Claimed by Junichi Masuda. Period.

====================================================

For my personal opinion, I don't know. Because after all being the Pokemon Master is Ash's goal, and his reason to start a journey. When that goal is reached, thrust another goal by the writer's side will just seems super unnatural from story plot flow perspective. So it is surely best to end Ash's story when his goal is reached.

But however, on another hand, I'm not really that satisfied of ending Ash's story by letting him winning a regional league then claiming Pokemon Master by being a champion. IMO become Champion of a regional league =/= become Pokemon Master. So winning a league is not the end. And especially after 17 years watching (Well, I really didn't watch any episodes pass AG. But I read most of the episode summaries and reviews after AG) the Pokemon anime and continuously seeing Ash failing regional leagues, winning one single regional league doesn't seems that much of an achievement in my personal opinion. It just doesn't feel satisfactory by letting Ash become Pokemon Master by just becoming a Champion of one single regional league.

But then, I don't want to see Ash aiming for another league because of the same Pokemon Master goal. That is just the exact same formula as it is currently, just with the difference that Ash did achieved something.
Until now we still don't know what is the criteria to become a Pokemon Master. So even if Ash wins not just one regional league, but continue to win every single league after then, it won't make a change that he is not approaching to his goal, not until the day the criteria of becoming Pokemon Master is clearly clarified.
Not yet to mentioned the criteria in here are all merely fans speculations, not canonically approved.

By the way, did any other character in the anime ever mentioned the word "Pokemon Master", except Ash Ketchum? More importantly if not Ash first mentioned such word, did any other characters knew there is such a title? Note: not to be confused with the word "Champion" or "Champion Master", where such word had manifest definition.
Because if no other people mentioned such word, "Pokemon Master" in that case will just becomes a title for personal self-definition. It is not a title given by the 3rd-party, but only by Ash himself. If he never ever get satisfied with his level of skills, then even if he managed to tame Arceus the Pokemon Alpha God, he is not Pokemon Master because he didn't claimed himself to be one.

Then, TV Tokyo will milk him even more......
Sorry, getting off-topic already.
But that is my two cents.

 

[Solayoh]

We've seen a lot of scenes of Ash battling all sorts out in the Pokéleague and then loses (biggest disappointment, dp eps where he make it into finals but then loses against Cynthia GODAMNIT!).

But here let me tell you something, what if he is the champion of a region and then his dream become a Pokemon Master succeeds?

Mine would be the season is finished and ends it the best way the writers do in the particular way. How about you? Any thoughts?

Um no, he never battled Cynthia in the finals.

Also I think if he won the league he'd go fight the e4 and champ as you said and lose to them, maybe if he ever beat them, he;d go to some facility where all the champs go etc and try to be the best of all them there.

 

[DracoMan]

I've answered this question in other threads. If Ash were to become a league champion, his next adventure could involve him becoming the mentor to a rookie trainer on his/her own badge-collecting journey.

 

[JacobYBM]

There's still plenty to do. League Champions are a dime a dozen. How many nations are there in the Pokémon world? At least as many as in ours, I would assume. How many of those nations have regions with Leagues? Many. Satoshi would have hundreds if not thousands of Leagues to conquer, to say nothing of then having to go through each region's Champion League to earn a chance to battle the region's champion. That's an entirely new major tournament for each region. Even if a ten year old boy was miraculously able to defeat all of those decades-plus experienced region champions like Shirona and Adeku what the heck are the chances they would not win a rematch? What if a new trainer rose to the top? Even if Satoshi were to take the crown of a 'World Champion' he would still face constant threats from trainers as strong if not increasingly stronger than Shirona and Adeku. Taking the castle is one war, maintaining the throne is another.

We don't even have to see Satoshi move that far up the ladder. Having Satoshi win a few League championships but fail early on in the Champion League would last a few regions. I assume the Champion League is a tournament only those who have become the yearly champion of that region's Pokemon League can enter. It would be a definite step-up, while also keeping him as relative chump change in relation to literally hundreds of other men and women in PokeJapan, let alone the entire planet.

 

[Klaud]

What "Yuugis Black Magician" said . For me , if Ash/Satoshi won a league , it would just add more things to it . If he gets to the League Championship , i'm almost 100% sure he won't win it in his first try , nor in the next couple. I could see him loosing it , and going to a new region , just to get "stronger" and trying again . It would just add something more to the plot(which is relatively simple still). Without that, there are other things you could move to .

And like "クリスタル" said the title "Pokemon master" isn't something you can define right now . It could be winning everything , or catching all the pokemon . In the end , you might never find out.

And right now , i cn't see a ending even close with so many things that could happen in the future.

 

[ArvAl]

I really doubt that they'll make the season go on. Something doesn't go live on forever. In the future we might going to see the anime will feature their last season of Pokémon

 

[Dark/Legendary Master]

If Ash won a League, he'd challenge the E4 and probably lose the first time around. Champions League will then be incorporated.
If he becomes a regional Champion, it has to be Kanto IMO, and it'd probably signal the end of Ash's journey. Basically how I'd do that is time skip (because the idea of a 10 year old becoming champion of a region doesn't sit right with me), then we have a quick recap on the events hat have occurred with Ash's companions and rivals, then we cut back to Ash vs. Lance both down to their last Pokemon. Epic 1 v 1 later and Ash wins and Lance congratulates him on becoming champion of Kanto and becoming a Pokemon master (his friends and family (if they want his dad could be there too) are seen in the crowd celebrating). Ash then thanks Lance but politely declines the title of champion saying he has a quest he has to fulfill. We then pan out to a 10 year old kid (new protagonist *cough*) watching the match/reruns on his TV claiming he wants to be a master just like Ash Ketchum before his mother tells him to go to bed. Then we end with Ash in a mountainous terrain with some of his Pokemon saying that the hunt for Ho-Oh continues (a goodbye scene with his friends and family would be done before this).
Voila, Ash written out well with a definite conclusion (with the potential for him to make a cameo) and a new protagonist set up.

 

[demonta4]

They could start anew, and not feature Ash.

 

[MrMeowPuss]

It could be interesting to see a league that's exclusive for regional champions and elite four. For that to happen, Ash would need to not be reset and probably stick to one team which I don't see happening.

 

[fidjnr]

It could be interesting to see a league that's exclusive for regional champions and elite four. For that to happen, Ash would need to not be reset and probably stick to one team which I don't see happening.

how about the world championships 256 trainers 6v6 full battle featuring all of the major characters from throughout the series including all the traveling companions, enemies, COTD. and... Even some movie characters

 

[King Robert]

Would the kids be happy at seeing their hero no longer on TV?

 

[BlackButterfree]

I think he will win the Kalos league. I don't think he ever said at the beginning of every other league "I want to win this time!" (he says it in XY001). This shows that he knows that he sucks and (more importantly) that the animators know that we think he sucks. I'd much rather the series have been like Yu-Gi-Oh! where the protagonist never loses because he's awesome, and he wins every competition. But, in YGO, Yugi entered competitions for reasons other than to win (save his grandpa, save the world, etc.)

So let Ash finally win a league. But don't let it be the goal, let it be how he gets to the goal. I don't know exactly how it'd work, but it needs to happen. Seeing him lose time after time is horrible.

 

[ArvAl]

Would the kids be happy at seeing their hero no longer on TV?

Not really. The kids wouldn't always get upset when Ash is out from the show, they always looking for another good hero to be a worth watching. Besides there's not just one anime that'd featuring an adventure series right?
Look at Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh, their MC always changes each generation but the young ones didn't felt really sad about it because they'll soon will be get used to it or maybe happy just like that.

 

[King Robert]

Would the kids be happy at seeing their hero no longer on TV?

Not really. The kids wouldn't always get upset when Ash is out from the show, they always looking for another good hero to be a worth watching. Besides there's not just one anime that'd featuring an adventure series right?
Look at Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh, their MC always changes each generation but the young ones didn't felt really sad about it because they'll soon will be get used to it or maybe happy just like that.

I stopped watching Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh after the MC changed.

 

[Darrman]

The six-year olds would forget about it. The sixteen-year olds would be annoyed.


Back on topic, he'd probably go back home, dump his Kalos Pokémon in the PC Oak's lab, and go to Gen 7. Or maybe he'd call himself a master and end his journey there and then and the show would go to someone else.

 

[Ambipom666]

If Ash wins a league tournament, then he'll just go on to the Champion League. If he wins in the Champion League, then he'll battle the Elite Four and Champion of whatever region that's in. Just getting up to the level where he's won the Champion League and can formally battle the Elite Four alone will probably take quite a while, but supposing he manages to beat the current regional champion, then he can still journey to new regions, maybe go into research, train in aura, anything.

 

[Muur]

Move onto the next region. "I want to be Champion of more than one region!"

Or he could just win it, then job to the first member of the E4.

 

[EliteTrainerXeos]

We already know that Gen VII is coming thanks to Ken Sugimori confirming it in an interview, we just don't know when that is. Also Ash is a homage to Satoshi Tajiri who created Pokemon, so it's not likely that they'll ever get rid of him. With those 2 facts in mind even if he does win the league, he definitely has another region to adventure after Kalos.

Also, if there ever was a Champions league (Which we've seen hints of), then why haven't we seen the people who became champion take it on after so many leagues? It'd be weird to introduce it after so long.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

If Ash becomes champion which would be working under presumption that he won regional league, defeated E4 members and champion that doesnt mean his journey would need to end.

On contrary winning champion league is one of steps on road of becoming pokemon master as explained by E4 Lucian in Sinnoh series, one laddle which brings you closer toward becoming renowned, famous and well versed in strategies, understanding of your pokemon feelings and innovativce abilities you are capable of presenting as trainer.

But just like concept of champion league was presented in pokemon anime i imagine there might exist other, more tougher, challengting and prestigue quests, steps to accomplish to gather such title. Maybe there exist some sort of master quest, league for champions from each and every region who defeated E4 and champion with only high class of trainers like them getting invitation to enter this new quest. Similar to Battle Frontier perhaps where there exist facilities with examinators who test out your strength and talent earning you qualification to compete in tournament where winner obtains title of master of all pokemon types.

Alternative is with Ash after becoming champion traveling to every other region he did or didnt visited in trying to defeat E4 and champions from there as well spreading out his name and recognition on global basis. Proving to be most powerrful trainer of not just one but all regions in pokemon world., Such type of task would make sense given Ash restless spirit and urge for adventure, challenging powerful trainers and becoming greatest battler there ever was in pokemon wrld(no pun intended but he stated this several times). Although in that case i believe he should win league of his hometown region first before going on other ones.

Which already was showed to be case with top coordinator of Kanto region Soledad which after winning Grand Festival didn't stopped competing. Deciding to go toward Johto in winning all 5 ribbons there as well and if possible win Johto Grand Festival and so on. Now why would you do that, unless her aim was to become top coordinator worldwide rather than of just one region? Being noticed, respected and titled as most powerful coordinator on global scale. Something i believe can be applied to Wallace who earned title of contest master.

In general it seems most titles involving word master in it draws with itself becoming best or one of best pokemon trainers in world. Another good example was Misty who dreamed of becoming strongest water trainer in world with Whirl islands even emphasizing on prestigue and fame on global scale which water masters from past had promoting themselves by winning such events showing no less but interest in becoming as powerful as E4 Lorelei. With E4 being top type trainers in world.

Further proving even more how in Ash case conquering just one region wouldn't cut it.

There is also ton of potential to further Ash story in emotional, character sense. One of examples could be in introducing his deadbeat father as major plot on his storyline. Leading to digging deeper in Ash past bringing more dimension to his character, potential fears and repressed resentment he may have felt for issues with past which he tried to forgett. Feeling pressure and need to defeat his dad in order to become truly best haviug clash between father and son as ultimate test and confirmation to Ash skills as trainer.

Its not outside realm of possibilities either if we take in account fact how according to interview with Masamitsu Hidaka(for those who dont know he was pokemon director until Battle Frontier later working as storyboard artist) from pokebeach in 2008,. Ash father was mentioned as option in appearing and developing character on more groundbreaking level.

Here is small passage from that interview:

Who is Ash’s father? This one made him laugh, since I asked it rather bluntly and simply. He explained Ash’s grandfather was a great Trainer who traveled the lands a long time ago, and Ash’s father followed in his footsteps and left. Then I asked if he would ever appear, and he responded that only if the writers felt a need to “grow” Ash as a character (personal note: we need some character development, please).

Amongside other things such as Ho Oh and whole Ash connection to it which was never really expanded upon and given more insight into its importance and implication of main protagonist being special kind, choosen one in pokemon world.

So from story standpoint there are multiple directions to take Ash story forward after winning league, but it seems writers are rather content with status quo not changing formula and bringing more depth to current storyline. As detrimental, and reckless this is to quality of narrative, in preserving fans insterested and overall anime identity(in sense of forgetting past and everyone from it who have their unfinished stories and impact left on Ash life leaving main hero stuck in endless loop) unfortunately.