Any Companion You'd Like As Main Character Again?

[Leonhart]

I'll admit that I can't imagine any of the old companions holding my attention for long, with the possible exception of Dent or Hikari. Still, only the latter seems likely to show up in the next few years from my vantage point if we get Shinou remakes for the Switch.

 

[Slapstick-Olivia]

Well.... I kinda found my personal new favorite companion group for the next anime. This group idea will never happen, but I think it would actually be an interesting idea to be shown for once. Well...at least for me it would be a good idea.

My new main characters would be Ash, Lillie and Olivia.

Ash would be kinda the same as he is in Sun and Moon, but will have some trades from his DP era. Meaning he will be very goofy, silly, contacting and a bit naive, but will be a good trainer and will have some conflicts with his team mates, his Pokémon and his new rivals. For Lillie he will act like a big brother towards her and tries to cheer her up when she always feels very down.

Lillie would the new female lead and will act as the brains of the team and will try to find a new goal in her life where she can use her knowledge for good. I really do not want to see her as a performer like May, Dawn and Serena and I also do not want to see becoming a specialist in a specific type. I really want to see something new with her. In my own head cannon she will act towards Ash like an older sister. Always try to find a clever way in helping him achieve his goals as a trainer.

Olivia will be some sort of a spiritual successor to Brock. She is also very smart, but more street smart and tries to solve problems more of an emotional level, rather than a logical level like Lillie would do. Olivia will also be some sort of a mentor for Ash and will have a weird older and younger siblings relationship with Ash and Lillie. She will also have a similar running gag like Brock had back than where she tries to find herself a boyfriend but every single time some weird slapstick situation happens before she even can talk to the handsome guy of her dreams.

This would be the first time, we would see this character dynamic in a show. A young naive boy, a clever bookworm girl and a middle aged woman can not take a break from all the slapstick that happens in her life.

 

[LadyTriox]

Dawn 'cuz i've enjoyed being a part of the pearlshipping fandom (good friends of mine really like this ship and also sinnoh in general, so dawn easily gets my support).

EDIT: A friend of mine also wanted me to edit this post to mention that Dawn has good character develpment and personality too (and i defenetly agree with them).

 

[DatsRight]

I'm not sure about Olivia, if only because I don't like when a character absorbs all the slapstick and becomes a designated monkey. I like it when EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER gets a turn of humorous humiliation and pathos to make them fun and sympathetic. This is why too much Team Rocket can be a bad thing because they make them the comic relief bad guys and the protagonists the kinda dull invincible heroes.

This is also why I want them to downplay Ash a LITTLE with the slapstick next series, not entirely but just to make it so the whole cast gets their fair turn more (also only bring back Lillie if they revive this element about her, she's had it too easy in the recent episodes and that kinda dumbs down her adorkable character, I miss when the girls could be as pitiful and funny as the boys). Ash and Kiawe returning might have potential for example since their chemistry is two way humorous.

 

[DragonKahuna]

I want the SM cast to continue travelling with Ash on Gen 8 and complete their teams of 6.
Otherwise Bring Back Dawn!

 

[Deleted member 384931]

I think letting past companions show the students at the pokémon school what they can become, isnt a bad idea.

 

[DatsRight]

I think they should only invest in characters that can maintain a good chemistry with Ash and the others, especially since Ash has a tendency to get different traits exaggerated to make other companions work against him.

Again Ash and Kiawe works because they both balance out each others good and bad and bounce off of each other in a very funny and endearing way. They both work well with each other.

A smart intellectual character would need to be handled carefully for example. One that still has a good amount of flaws to counter Ash's personality would work since it allows him to stay three dimensional. Lillie worked well in this regard in earlier SM for example, since she was more educated and reserved than Ash, but incredibly sheltered and meek and had as much of a bumbling side as him, there was a good blend of book smarts vs street smarts going on. In current episodes however, Lillie's flawed side seems to be downplayed in favour of making her more of a dignified straight man, with Ash having to take the blundering goof role more often when they're together (a dynamic that was only circumstantial originally and could even completely reverse the roles at times). Having this sort of dynamic full time risks flanderizing Ash to just his negative qualities to make Lillie look important to the dynamic, or alternatively, reducing Lillie to a background character with no proper foibles or chemistry similar to Brock and Mallow most of the time.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

I think they should only invest in characters that can maintain a good chemistry with Ash and the others, especially since Ash has a tendency to get different traits exaggerated to make other companions work against him.

Again Ash and Kiawe works because they both balance out each others good and bad and bounce off of each other in a very funny and endearing way. They both work well with each other.

A smart intellectual character would need to be handled carefully for example. One that still has a good amount of flaws to counter Ash's personality would work since it allows him to stay three dimensional. Lillie worked well in this regard in earlier SM for example, since she was more educated and reserved than Ash, but incredibly sheltered and meek and had as much of a bumbling side as him, there was a good blend of book smarts vs street smarts going on. In current episodes however, Lillie's flawed side seems to be downplayed in favour of making her more of a dignified straight man, with Ash having to take the blundering goof role more often when they're together. Having this sort of dynamic full time risks flanderizing Ash to just his negative qualities to make Lillie look important to the dynamic, or alternatively, reducing Lillie to a background character with no proper foibles or chemistry similar to Brock and Mallow most of the time.

I feel like silent characters don't work well on Ash

 

[Mew2]

I wouldn't mind Lillie and Dawn being main characters again. Let's say that at the end of Sun and Moon, Lillie travels with Ash to try to decide what to do. He meets up with Dawn, who had recently won the Sinnoh Grand Festival and wishes to travel to find new Pokémon and possibly try to set up Contests/Super Contests in another region. Lillie could compare Ash and Dawn's training methods and how Battle Trainers and Coordinators train differently. There could also be other methods of Pokémon activity such as Pokéthalon or some other Gen 8. alternate Training style. The possibilities are endless. Perhaps we could also see some more cameos from previous companions as well.

 

[AznKei]

Any of them, if Ash isn't with the cast anymore. Otherwise, none of them because they're all going to be toned down to his expense.

 

[PorcelainVulpix]

If Ash is involved, Brock and Misty for the best group dynamic. However, I want a more developed Brock and Misty. Have episodes focus on Brock saving Pokemon or learning interesting things he needs to know for his goal. For Misty, explain to us exactly what a type master is and how to become one. Give her good water types and let her battle more.

As much as I love May and Dawn, I would not want them to return. I feel like they had the best stories of the Pokegirls and I wouldn’t want them to come back just for their goals to take a back seat to Ash’s. Where as, I feel like Misty or Iris deserve the development.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

To be fair every generation have regional characters and that is fine, what they should do is bring back old characters for short arc or have there special fillers, for example it would be great to see how lillie will do as a full fledged trainer or serena's progress in pokemon contests in hoenn or had may perfected her own battling style in johto (the reason she left the group), sameways it would be great to see what dawn and iris are up to the travelling companions who are on there own quest have far more potential to grow than the companions like brock, misty, cilan or clemont or evenunderage companions who are either settle at one place or already advanced much which lessen there potential.

 

[Zoruagible]

Brock and Dawn, both perfect characters that you can never have too much of.

Cilan, Connoisseur has such great potential and he's also a great character. His goal just needs fleshed out.

Mallow, she's so precious. And underused.... :/
She and Kiawe are the only ones I wanna see out of SM

 

[DatsRight]

Brock and Dawn, both perfect characters that you can never have too much of.

Cilan, Connoisseur has such great potential and he's also a great character. His goal just needs fleshed out.

Mallow, she's so precious. And underused.... :/
She and Kiawe are the only ones I wanna see out of SM

Mallow is tied to the restaurant. She barely gets development in it but still.

Mallow would also at least need some basic foibles and chemistries with the rest of the cast to work out, along with some vibrant Pokemon, otherwise I don't think she'd last at all if they went back to the travelling format. She's not a character you can put in any scenario and she makes it priceless like Ash or Kiawe right now.

 

[zdbz_sn]

Misty and Cilan. I love them as characters in their own right, they have among the best individual relationships with Ash ("best" here meaning both as friends and as a would-be writer looking for variety), I think they'd play off one another well, and in Misty's case, I think there's a lot of untapped potential for her as a traveling Trainer.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

The only character who deserves to be companion again is brock and no one else he is studying to be the doctor he could do the travelling and learn from different nurse joy's since they run into one every other episode, as for the rest there stories are concluded in there own series so no need to come back, instead they could have frequent cameo appearances (in about every 2 series not just once so that they are not forgotten).

 

[DatsRight]

I think a necessity is for the companions in question to be able to work just on their own character. If they have a backstory or agenda to closely tied to the original series and region they were in, they risk losing their relevance and motivations (see how TR and Brock slowly became irrelevant after Kanto, since their sympathetic backgrounds were mostly linked there and they didn't really integrate themselves within the new cast and premises that often, they just did their old skit in a new backdrop).

Also it is likely that as returning characters, they become a second priority at best compared to new additions (unless they take the role of the player character like Ash does, like so many hoped Serena would do for Moon). In that case it likely a necessity for them to be able to show their character off well in more limited screentime and still be able to shine in supporting roles. Again some aren't really capable of this, they need arcs or centre stage to really stand out (eg. Serena and Clemont traded being inactive depending on who got arc focus).

The Sun and Moon cast I consider a mixed bag in this area. Some like Kiawe are some of the best at maintaining presence in limited roles and limelight episodes, but nearly all of them have their agenda and backgrounds finely knit within Alola, something may be lost if they travelled to a new region where all that would be gone. Lillie I suppose at least has the excuse of following the games' epilogue, though her ability to keep personality and presence in limited or more episodic roles seems to be a case of 'depending on the writer'.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Not that itll ever happen, but I would like only Lillie to return as a main character again. I don't really want to see anyone else return.

 

[LilligantLewis]

Brock and Dawn, both perfect characters that you can never have too much of.

???

Brock is the definition of a character we had too much of.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Except Brock is not a character. He's an exposition device and one-note gag.