A look back at Ash's travel companions in the anime

[precita]

Over the last 15 years there have been 8 characters that have traveled with Ash, what did you think of them all?

Misty: I liked her originally, but like most people once Johto rolled along and she got stuck with Togepi it all went downhill from there. Looking back, the writers really screwed her over with a lack of character development and battles. I am not sure why the didn't utilize her better back in the day. Of course now it really doesn't matter, she's been gone for 10 years and hasn't had any type of appearance in the show since the AG series.

Brock: I really enjoyed him originally, but there's no denying how stale and repetitive his gag became over 13 years.

Tracey; Pretty much the guy who replaced Brock...meh.

May: First new girl and coordinator of the show, I liked that she had a more active role than Misty did and went through more character development. She also arguably had some of the best battles in the show.

Max: Pretty much introduced to give May someone to interact with

Dawn: Second female coordinator, she had some nice moments in the series overall. I think at this point though people found sitting through yet another new girl who was also a coordinator to be a bit too repetitive.

Iris: Feels like a second attempt of Misty's character. I like her design, but there's not much else to be said. Axew is cute.

Cilan: First real Brock replacement, he seems to be a more flamboyant character and fills in Brock's role nicely.


Its kinda funny for those of us who followed the show since the beginning. This year actually marks the 10th anniversary of Misty's departure from the series, my my, how time flies.

[Absoltrainer]

Ash never did pay for that bike.....

[Marril]

Did the bike subject ever actually come up past a certain point? I think it'd be hilarious if someone had brought it up out of the blue and Misty was all, "Wait, bike what?" Still, as heretical as it is, I do have to say I liked May more than Misty overall (they're actually my two favourite Pokemon anime characters). I haven't seen the anime in several seasons, but I remember reading that Cilan is like... some kind of "Pokemon Connoisseur" or something, which, uh, I have no words for that. Brock is always going to be superior to Cilan no matter how stale he gets just because Cilan's concept aggravates me so much.

I think it's a testament to just how old I am that I remember liking Tracey back when he was first introduced because he had a Marril and I'd already been using this name for a while by then (back before "Marill" was the official spelling, actually).

[bullados]

Misty's bike was brought up. Once. I believe it was around the time of the Blaine episode. Or possibly the Earth Badge episode. One of them. But around that general area of the show.

[JewelQuest]

Originally Posted by bullados

Misty's bike was brought up. Once. I believe it was around the time of the Blaine episode. Or possibly the Earth Badge episode. One of them. But around that general area of the show.

Yeah, I think Misty was like, "Why did I end up coming with you again?"

Brock: "Don't you remember? It was-"
Ash: "Uh, that doesn't really matter, right?" *Runs ahead*
Misty: "That's right! You still owe me for my bike Ash Ketchem!" *Begins chasing Ash*

Yeah, that probably isn't what they really said, but I think it was the general conversation.

[Absoltrainer]

Pokemon tends to forget important things....

My favorite is that Ash has made Top 16/8/4/Won every major tournament in every major region and no one recogonizes him? The exception being one of my favorite moments where he meets Max (is it Maxx?) and Max determines that since Ash didn't actually win anything except the Orange Island League, he isn't really that good of a trainer anyways.

[PMysterious]

There was one episode where they try to cross a bridge but had no bicycles. Then Misty was like, "If you didn't mess up my bike, we could have crossed" or something like that. Haven't watched the anime in a while. If you don't know which episode I'm talking about, this is the one where Ash had to bring some medicine on the other side of the bridge for a Shellder. I don't know why but I've always loved Dawn. I don't really know why, I just do.

[Marril]

Originally Posted by Absoltrainer

My favorite is that Ash has made Top 16/8/4/Won every major tournament in every major region and no one recogonizes him? The exception being one of my favorite moments where he meets Max (is it Maxx?) and Max determines that since Ash didn't actually win anything except the Orange Island League, he isn't really that good of a trainer anyways.

Didn't Ash turn down the opportunity to be a Frontier Brain at some point? Personally, I think that kind of thing proves that his "to be a master" goal is aimless nonsense and that he doesn't want to be a master so much as he just wants to want to be a master.

[Sandslash7]

Haha. I like that post Marril.

Its kind of like how Ash has been 10 for 10+ years. Continuity shmontinuity.

[TheRolesWePlay]

Originally Posted by Sandslash7

Haha. I like that post Marril.

Its kind of like how Ash has been 10 for 10+ years. Continuity shmontinuity.

I'm not sure about the Japanese version, but Ash was confirmed to be at least 11 by the third movie.

I never really enjoyed any of the other characters after Misty and Brock, while Brock got a little repetitive it was better than having inexperienced characters being the only ones present. May and Dawn became the go to characters for question asking, and the contests didn't really have an impact outside of the actual events.

I don't really know much of Cilan and Iris, but Iris was a little on the annoying side in the first episodes though.

[Sandslash7]

Originally Posted by TheRolesWePlay

I'm not sure about the Japanese version, but Ash was confirmed to be at least 11 by the third movie.

I never really enjoyed any of the other characters after Misty and Brock, while Brock got a little repetitive it was better than having inexperienced characters being the only ones present. May and Dawn became the go to characters for question asking, and the contests didn't really have an impact outside of the actual events.

I don't really know much of Cilan and Iris, but Iris was a little on the annoying side in the first episodes though.

Although, Ash is confirmed as 10 in the first Episode of Black and White...

It just proves they don't care about continuity.

[Marril]

If you think about it, that's further evidence for the "Ash is actually in a coma" theory. His brain refuses to acknowledge him aging, so he constantly stays 10 in this extended dream of his.

[Regis_Neo]

Definitely liked Misty the best, and I thought Ash did eventually give Misty a bike when they finally split? But yeah, her character kinda suffered and died when they lumped that piece of junk egg called Togepi with her...

May was meh, I liked Dawn a bit more but still boring. Max was horrible, Brock's gag got stale, Tracey wasn't too bad for a temp replacement...think that sums up my thoughts pretty much. Haven't seen any BW ones, but I personally hate Iris' design (wtf is up with that hair?) and I think my dislike of the elemental monkies in general is working against any acceptance of one of the trio of gym leaders (Cilian) that goes with Ash.

I think what best sums up my thoughts is that nothing beyond the 4th season or so really matters, and this is ignoring the whole Orange Islands thing as well. I think the last battle I actually liked watching was Ash and Gary's one matchup in whatever the season's "indego plateau" was. After that, pretty much gave up.

[precita]

I still remember when AG started as if it was only yesterday. Its hard to believe its not only been 10 years since Misty left, but now May has also been gone for a long time as well.

It really makes you realize how long this show has been going on.

I think it was around the time Dawn was brought in that everyone realized they were just going to keep bringing in new characters every saga. Not sure why Brock lasted as long as he did though, especially since they did practically nothing with him.

The only other thing to say is Misty really did stay gone permanently from the show ever since 2002. Other than those few cameos she had in the AG series she pretty much faded away into oblivion. If you could go back in time and tell everyone back in 2002/2003 that Misty would remain off the show for 10 entire years, nobody would ever believe you. Kinda ironic looking back now in the year 2012.

[Benzo]

I think after so many thundershocks Ash and Jessi/James/Meowth have a lot of short circuitry going on for them.

There should be a "split" for the series. Ash should grow up and the series should mature with his age.
They should have a second anime to cater to the new audiences, while the original branches on to a mature level.

I like characters who stick around long enough to fulfill a certain area of the show. Where would we be without Meowth to translate gibberish/repetitive name repeats with a different tone to know what is going on?

I think they should start off the new spin-off with Ash actually having some sort of Gym of his own or have a spot at the Elite Four or something. Pretty sure the writers can spin-off just fine and bring back Ash's Charizard or something. There is plenty to build off for a spin-off for Ash to be mature.

Instead of just reintroducing Pokémon, they can do that with a compliment show for the newer Pokémon fans, and build on a more mature show for Ash and his old crew.

My thoughts is all........

[bullados]

Or, y'know, just animate the Pokemon Adventures manga.

[PMysterious]

Both will work. I can't think of anything else except for them bringing back Charizard in the Unova Championships.

[desufnoc]

I just wish ash fulfilled his promises.

[precita]

I would have liked to see each series star the leads of that generation.

AG should have been about Brendan and May.

DP would be about Lucas and Dawn

BW about Hilbert/Hilda


And so on. By keeping Ash, and to a lesser extent Brock, through 3 series it pretty much wound up wearing down their characters and making the show long and drawn out.

[Marril]

Originally Posted by precita

And so on. By keeping Ash, and to a lesser extent Brock, through 3 series it pretty much wound up wearing down their characters and making the show long and drawn out.

For long-time fans. But a lot of the younger fans watching the show weren't actually alive back when Misty left the team. They didn't watch the first few seasons and haven't experienced the repetitive nature of the anime firsthand. BW might be old to people who grew up on the first season, but when it's the first one you've seen, it's new and exciting.

You see the same marketing strategy all over the place in long-running media. It's just really bad with Pokemon.

[Cool_Porygonz]

Originally Posted by PMysterious

There was one episode where they try to cross a bridge but had no bicycles. Then Misty was like, "If you didn't mess up my bike, we could have crossed" or something like that. Haven't watched the anime in a while. If you don't know which episode I'm talking about, this is the one where Ash had to bring some medicine on the other side of the bridge for a Shellder. I don't know why but I've always loved Dawn. I don't really know why, I just do.

I have this one on VHS (wow), they need to cross the bridge but they can't because they don't have bikes, and then Team Rocket gets across because they were formerly part of a biker group and the bikers recognized them and gave them a lift. I think in the end Ash tries running across the bridge but it was really windy and he got blown off into the water and Misty's Staryu saves him and brings him to the Pokemon center. Don't quote me though.

---------- Post added 06/10/2012 at 07:33 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Marril

For long-time fans. But a lot of the younger fans watching the show weren't actually alive back when Misty left the team. They didn't watch the first few seasons and haven't experienced the repetitive nature of the anime firsthand. BW might be old to people who grew up on the first season, but when it's the first one you've seen, it's new and exciting.

You see the same marketing strategy all over the place in long-running media. It's just really bad with Pokemon.

Even though I was only a couple years old when the first 5 seasons (the only ones with Misty) ended, I still watch mainly those. And I still do, but i started getting sick of the show mid-Johto because Team Rocket was getting tackier and less funny.

[precita]

Most of the Johto saga is fairly bad due to the terrible fillers coming in, Ash getting rid of Charizard and Squirtle, the GS ball being abandoned, and its the start of where TR become repetitive and Misty loses her temper. Ash's Johto team is also fairly terrible, being his worst pokemon team of the entire anime.

I wish Johto could have been written more like Kanto, then most of the original series would have been enjoyable. I remember most people gave up on Johto right after the 3rd movie came out, as that's when the fad of pokemon was dying anyway.

[Pikamaster]

Originally Posted by bullados

Or, y'know, just animate the Pokemon Adventures manga.

Why does Pokemon never listen to the good ideas?

[JewelQuest]

Originally Posted by Pikamaster

Why does Pokemon never listen to the good ideas?

*Nods in agreement* I would love to see it on TV.

[Benzo]

Isn't there like some sort of "dinosuar" show that mimcs Pokemon? I swear the chacture has the same voice as Ash-

Pokemon could keep that as "the old" series, and work on something more advanced with Ash. Like Ash actually does become a master and really does not remian so "ditzy" and under-skilled. His early adult hood could bring the level up so much. If the series grows up with the viewers, the series would have more to them then the same old-same old.
It is one thing to go on a quest/advanture, it is another to remain in the same spot you began at to relive the experiance with the same expectations ahead.