Why is it that Ash has only male companions that's also a mentor?

[Almonds]

Up to the season's so far, Ash had several male companions who also took the role of a mentor throughout the travels. Brock, for example, had a vast knowledge on Pokemon and advised Ash in most of his early journeys. Tracey, although he wasn't much of a mentor, still knew more about pokemon than Ash and had helped him on several occasions. Now we have Cilan who is obviously giving more advice and personal views with his tasting time.

Apart from Max, all of Ash's male companions were older than him, had a certain job (gym leader/pokemon watcher), knows more than him, and acts as a mentor.

Why did Ash never had a female mentor in that way?

 

[Cybersai]

Because there's only one female character allowed on the cast at a time and they have to be younger to go through development.

Even characters that start off as trainers like Iris and Misty are still largely inexperienced and need to go through the ropes.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Because formula of pokemon anime is focused on two boys and one girl with there always existing discrepancy between genders, with writers wanting to avoid having two girls at same time in cast. Since mentors are someone who are supposed to be more experienced from who Ash and younger trainers could learn, Brock and Cilan were most logical choices to choose from being older, having more experience and already being somewhat established as characters. Some could say how writers could have swapped things with female taking over role of older caretaker with male being portrayed as younger/inexperienced trainer. But i guess since Ash is male writers figured how it would fit better if female companions are closer to his age being easier to relate with them and provide some tension/clash in cast for comedy purposes, while male is portrayed as some sort of older brother figure to Ash and cast to who they could look up to and learn new things keeping everyone in charge.

Out of all female companions i guess Misty could be viewed as closest to Ash mentor already having some knowledge when they met not being beginner. Being like his coach who taught him about some pokemon basics, kept him in check when being full of himself and serving as some sort of push to try harder.

However she was showed to have long way to learn as well lacking knowledge in several areas, so she wasnt mentor in true sense either.

So unless writers decide to include older female in cast or bring back some of previous girl companions which are already developed to some extent(like May or Misty) from who he and new characters could learn some things while being developed more themselves too, i guess we will never have girl mentor in pokemon.

Because there's only one female character allowed on the cast at a time and they have to be younger to go through development.

That doesnt make any sense. Older characters can be developed too having their flaws and things to learn, regardless of having more experience.
I think it has to do more with fact of writers finding how since males always take over role of older caretaker, to balance things out having girl which is at same age to Ash is required to bring stability to cast and avoid main star seeming out of place .

 

[Cybersai]

Misty hardly acted as a mentor beyond the first few Kanto eps. It was all Brock.

 

[Piplup]

I'd say both Misty and Brock were kind of "mentors" for Ash, until AG where Brock continued his mentor role for Ash while Ash himself took the mentor role for May/Max
(but yeah, Brock is mostly "the mentor", with Cilan becoming the next big one... Tracey and Misty could be counted as "mentors" too but it wasn't really emphasized or a big part of the character in their case)

 

[Cybersai]

Cilan is not Ash's mention and neither was Tracey. Cilan admires Ash.

 

[DracoMan]

At this point, Ash should be the mentor.

 

[Cybersai]

At this point, Ash should be the mentor.

We saw that already.

 

[Piplup]

Cilan is not Ash's mention and neither was Tracey. Cilan admires Ash.

What? 0__o Cilan is playing the exact same role Brock did... just because Cilan likes to go fangirl over Ash (which didn't really happen so much since his introduction, not to mention Brock praised Ash's style a lot of times too just in a more relaxed manner which fitted his personality just like going sparkly and crazy is fitting for Cilan's personality) doesn't mean he's not a mentor for him
Cilan is the smart and mature one of the group who takes care of the "kids" and who Ash can look up to and learn from...

 

[Idon'tcare]

If anything:- Ash is more like Cilan's mentor without Ash doing any mentoring. The reason why Cilan decided to travel with Ash on his journey to become a better Pokémon Connoisseur is because Cilan wants to pick on Ash's different battle skills as Cilan admires them (plus Ash in general). In some episodes, we have seen Cilan using tactics Ash has used and it's from Ash that Cilan has learned type compatibilities don't matter in a Pokémon battle. Ash isn't learning things from Cilan, it's Cilan who has been learning things from Ash.

Sure Cilan offers advice from time, but most of the time Cilan lets Ash handle things in his own way as Cilan mostly believes in Ash's strategies even if they seem risky. There are some moments were he has seemed unsure, but the majority of Cilan has faith in Ash's abilities (even when Iris feels that their could be risks from them).

 

[Almonds]

Okay, so I guess I should ask why they always have to form a basic trio group of three - Ash, a girl the same as Ash, and a guy older than Ash.

Why couldn't they have introduced an older girl to be the mature one of the group? Is it just GameFreak wanting all the girls to be loud or something? We could've had someone like Hilda as the mature companion as well.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

Misty hardly acted as a mentor beyond the first few Kanto eps. It was all Brock.

Thats not true at all. She acted like his coach/mentor pretty much through whole OS. In OI and Johto less compared to Kanto but she often warned him about type advantage(like when he battled Blaine, Pryce, Drake etc), helping him about choosing right pokemon for battle(like she did in Kanto league suggesting him which water types to use, in Whirl Cup or Johto league with pokemon to use against Macy etc). Sh also helped him to get back on its feet ,serving as motivation and push to go forward on several occasions. Like when Ash lost to Ritchie in Kanto league,she criticized him to stop self pity himself and gave him encouragement to go forward and leave state of depression.

Brock was more of mentor without doubt, but Misty was to smaller extent Ash coach too admitting herself that in some episodes. Like in Johto league when they met Macy.

 

[Piplup]

We could've had someone like Hilda as the mature companion as well.

It seems like game heroes always play a starring role on the show (Ash, May, Dawn) but for BW, for whatever ridiculous reason, they decided to make the girl a sidekick again... so I think that kind of ruled out the option to have BW heroine in the main cast - they wouldn't make the player character a sidekick (or at least, so it seems to be...)
If anything, she should've been Ash's main rival to finally give him a female rival, and also make her as experienced as Ash or even more... that would certainly be more interesting than Trip (which is another formulatic thing to give Ash a male antagonistic rival as his main rival, rather than a nice/friendly or a girl)
Though I'd prefer her to get a starring role and either be a Coordinator, or do something else if they just HAD to get rid of Contests... which now brings us to ANOTHER formulatic thing - the girl stars were both Coordinators while all sidekicks had pretty random and basic goals that didn't let them really shine as much as they could since they were all overshadowed by Ash who got most of the focus...

I think this thread can just come to the conclusion that the anime writers rely a little too much on the same old formulatic things... though they do sometimes try to shake things up (TRio are an example to something totally formulatic that they sticked to for years, yet now changed in BW... guess we can always hope next gen will feature an older/mature girl in the group, a female rival to Ash, etc... but better not expect it...)

 

[Madame Pika]

Well, they've only really had one true mentor character on the show and that's Takeshi. With him on the show for most of the time, it made sence that the other's weren't mentors too. Plus by the end of Kanto, Satoshi had pretty much learned the important bits and didn't need a mentor nearly as much.

 

[El_]

The closest to a female mentor was Misty during Ash's early years, but aside from that the others were inexperienced and just starting out save for Iris.

Another reason why we haven't had a female mentor is also because Brock had been in the cast for so long, so there wasn't any point in having another mentor and since Ash was actually developing at the time into a very experienced trainer that left the female role to be the rookie that would learn from both Ash/Brock.

So, all in all it doesn't really bother me due to these circumstances which couldn't have been helped. We could of had one in this generation, but at this point whether male/female Ash should not need a mentor and like in AG should rather be the mentor himself.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Okay, so I guess I should ask why they always have to form a basic trio group of three - Ash, a girl the same as Ash, and a guy older than Ash.

Both Kasumi and Takeshi was Satoshi's mentors back then.
Dent isn't a mentor at all.
Masato is younger than Satoshi, and I don't see Kenji as much more older than him.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

since a lot of people see this anime as an extended tutorial including video game personel so the need someone to provide expesition the reason why it is not a girl is because there is only one girl and they want her to be a character with development also I agree with the brock been around forever but I don't think we need a mentor we can just have people commenting instead of giving advice.

 

[Cybersai]

Misty wasn't a real mentor. She helped him when he was a rookie but its not the same thing as someone you learn from steadily.

Besides Ash surpassed Misty as early as the 7th episode during the Gym battle, so there's not much to say after that.

 

[pokemon fan 132]

I wouldnt mind having for a change older, experienced female joining Ash group while male companion is for a change at same age as Ash. However since formula of Ash, 10 year old girl and older boy is being played out from very start going on for 15 years i doubt writers would all of sudden change entire concept and switch out roles between female and male roles as Ash traveling companions.

Im fairly certain one of reasons is because writers find character of opposite gender who is Ash peer brings more stability to group, with their mindset probably being along the lines how older male (because of being physically stronger) provides better security and balance to main cast.Since main star is boy they also probably find how older companion of same gender would give Ash someone to who he could relate more easily and see in him figure of older brother on which he can rely. More so than he could if older companion was girl being like older sister basically. You know typical opinion how in most cases boys would better understand each other and vice versa for girls, than opposite genders would.

We could've had someone like Hilda as the mature companion as well.

It seems like game heroes always play a starring role on the show (Ash, May, Dawn) but for BW, for whatever ridiculous reason, they decided to make the girl a sidekick again... so I think that kind of ruled out the option to have BW heroine in the main cast - they wouldn't make the player character a sidekick (or at least, so it seems to be...)

Personally i dont mind that they included sidekicks again, not finding anything wrong with it . I guess reason why writers changed formula back to what it used to be in OS was because of BW games revamp getting rid of contests and several previously existing things sending out vibe of "new start". With writers mirroring such message with anime changing things in Unova a lot more than it was case before.

Though I'd prefer her to get a starring role and either be a Coordinator, or do something else if they just HAD to get rid of Contests... which now brings us to ANOTHER formulatic thing - the girl stars were both Coordinators while all sidekicks had pretty random and basic goals that didn't let them really shine as much as they could since they were all overshadowed by Ash who got most of the focus...

I think most sidekicks had pretty unique goals. Granted they arent expected to be fleshed out to same extent like protagonist quests are but for good growth quantity isnt most impotant thing.

With Cilan and Iris i can say they at least did step forward defining their goals more, giving their pokemon better focus etc compared to previous sidekicks.

Misty wasn't a real mentor. She helped him when he was a rookie but its not the same thing as someone you learn from steadily.

Besides Ash surpassed Misty as early as the 7th episode during the Gym battle, so there's not much to say after that.

If you mean on consistent basis, than no because Brock had pretty much this job. But she definitely coached him at times(even in later seasons like Johto, i remember it clearly)giving tips about battles and what types to use, encouraging him and pushing to go forward serving as motivation when he was feeling down(aside from Kanto league there is battle vs Rudy, Gary,when entering contest to distinguish fire etc) and helped him with Brock at times about what pokemon and strategy to use when facing certaun opponents. More than later girls did which is understandable since Ash didnt needed mentoring as much anymore.

Also Ash definitely didnt surpassed her in 7th episode being completely tied up with Misty. Both trainers still had Pidgeotto and Staryu at their disposal.

In Johto we could say without doubt how Ash surpassed her but tbh Misty was never much behind him judging by their future clashes always having hard time against her,. In Totodile duel Ash was on ropes barely winning with Bulbasaur, in Whirl Cup she defeated him legitimely and when facing same trainers(like Dorian)Misty sometimes showed better knowledge and experience in some areas(like underwater matches, type advantage etc) with Ash learning new things both from her and Brock.

 

[Hurricane Kishore]

Why is it that Ash has only male companions that's also a mentor?

Ya , I'm getting tried of it too.
Now I wanna male cast who's imature , Native , Stupid , Hyper active & Same aged as Ash.
Or A male cast who's a mentor figure however he's not extra friendly with Ash. Instate He will be rube , calm , Arrogant , Egoistic and has a ''Love & Hate'' relation with Ash.
Just Imagine that Ash traveling with a Guy he doesn't get along and often fight with each other.
It will be refreshing to see Ash getting criticize by the Male cast rather then Female cast.
I really don't get why all the male cast has to be a Parental figure and Extra friendly with Ash. It was okay with Brock but following the same routine with all the male cast is Boring & Less refreshing !
May be , In next series We will have a gentle calm girl as Ash's mentor figure while a native boy as Ash new male traveling companion !