How much does Ash affect your enjoyment of a series?

[AuraChannelerChris]

When Yugi left, only the "Oh!" remained, to which then it was reduced to just "oh."

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Yusei Fudo could make a case for being just as impactful if not more popular than Yugi if he was introduced earlier or came first during a time when it was more liked in mainstream.

 

[AuraChannelerChris]

Besides, it's not smart to have the show's title named after one character if you're suddenly going to replace that main character with someone else that has a different name in a brand new continuation. See, at least "Naruto" changed to "Boruto" when his son took the field. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure keeps the JoJo-theme naming with any first name starting with "Jo-" and then adding the "Joestar" last name's first syllable.

So Ash can be readily replaced because the title of this anime is way too generic to care that much about him, just like Digimon and other generic titles.

 

[satopi]

Yusei Fudo could make a case for being just as impactful if not more popular than Yugi if he was introduced earlier or came first during a time when it was more liked in mainstream.

I agree with this. Yusei had quite the story and I really enjoyed his character a lot more than Yugi.

 

[cmarston1]

At this point I am just really apathetic towards Ash and have resigned myself to the fact that he is going to stay in the anime forever and not really be allowed to evolve as a character.
I watch the show for the main traveling companions who actually are allowed to have character arcs that last and don't get reset. They affect my enjoyment of a series more than Ash at this point. If I don't care for at least one of his friends, such as how I didn't care for any of the main trio in DP, than the saga will be at a major disadvantage.

 

[ash&charizardfan]

Yusei Fudo could make a case for being just as impactful if not more popular than Yugi if he was introduced earlier or came first during a time when it was more liked in mainstream.

Jaden yuki was also an impactfull hero and out of all yugioh heroes he did go most personality change from a cheerfull guy to a serious and responsible person. As for popular and impactfull neither yusei fudo nor jaden yuki were near to yugi muto (yami yugi) as he is the poster boy of yugioh.

I agree with this. Yusei had quite the story and I really enjoyed his character a lot more than Yugi.

Yeah yusei was personal favurite of mine as well. Jaden yuki comes close second. I kind of stopped watching yugioh after 5ds was over. Vtrans is somewhat similar to 5ds and hero is similar to yusei.

 

[satopi]

Yeah yusei was personal favurite of mine as well. Jaden yuki comes close second. I kind of stopped watching yugioh after 5ds was over. Vtrans is somewhat similar to 5ds and hero is similar to yusei.

I didn't really catch up with Yugi oh anyway but 5Ds was fun to catch an episode on when I did. I heard of ZEXAL but not Vtrans... I'm not caught up with anything and it doesn't interest me to be honest. I heard the former (Zexal) is terrible.

I'll stop it with the Yugi oh talk since it's getting off topic.

 

[PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Jaden yuki was also an impactfull hero and out of all yugioh heroes he did go most personality change from a cheerfull guy to a serious and responsible person

Jaden Yuki from season 4 is the only version of Jaden that I like from GX.Jaden made an impact in his own series but not in the same light as Yugi and Yusei who were facing much bigger problems.

As for popular and impactfull neither yusei fudo nor jaden yuki were near to yugi muto (yami yugi) as he is the poster boy of yugioh.

I think that had to do with it being the first series around a time where the card game was more popular and Yami having the ability to a** pull any card he wants to win any duel via Heart Of The Cards,Yugi did little to no dueling in the first series,was pretty much letting Yami do most of the work.

Jaden and Yusei didn't rely on spirits to win duels for them.Yusei showed lot of versatility in the series,he is a skilled duelist the most skilled out of all the main protagonists,a skilled fighter,an expert at riding Duel Runners,a skilled mechanic,and a scientist.

 

[U.N. Owen]

The fact is that Ash's story is an unstructured mess. His story has no backbone. Sure, there is a goal, but there are no checkpoints to the goal. In Avatar, Aang had to master the four elements and gain the mindset of the Avatar in order to end the 100 Year War. In any Sentai series, the goal is to stop the goal of the villains which falls under the category of destroying the world/hostile terraforming/taking over the world. Ash's goal is to become a pokemon master, something so undefined that all we can really agree upon is that it has something to do with leagues. This is why its hard to get invested in his story.

 

[satopi]

The fact is that Ash's story is an unstructured mess. His story has no backbone. Sure, there is a goal, but there are no checkpoints to the goal. In Avatar, Aang had to master the four elements and gain the mindset of the Avatar in order to end the 100 Year War. In any Sentai series, the goal is to stop the goal of the villains which falls under the category of destroying the world/hostile terraforming/taking over the world. Ash's goal is to become a pokemon master, something so undefined that all we can really agree upon is that it has something to do with leagues. This is why its hard to get invested in his story.

I can agree with this despite being invested in his character and story. Ignoring the obvious differences from your examples, I honestly feel like there's an endless debate on how or what a Pokémon Master is since they don't give out specific checkpoints on how to accomplish the dream goal unlike his traveling companions. At first, we all thought to be a Pokémon Master, that meant catching all 151 Pokémon. But in actuality, there isn't really an official definition of what a Pokémon Master is. Is it catching all Pokémon? Winning the regional League and defending the Elite Four? All the above? Being the strongest Trainer? Or could it be understanding the importance of bonds with Pokémon and learning about the world they live in? I'm neutral about their choice of letting the viewer use their imagination to define what Pokémon Master means but lets look at Ash. Ash says he competes in Leagues to battle strong Pokémon and Trainers. Yeah he wants to win a League (and over time, he has became apathetic over his losing result) but is winning the regional League necessary to become a Pokémon Master? We don't know and based on Ash's decisions, he must have his own definition on what a Pokémon Master consists of.

 

[Caseydia]

It depends on how the writing of him is I guess. I don't like how he is written in Alola so far. It's not that he is childish or anything, he just seems like he is there. The other series he seems more focus on his next area of work. Whatever that was. But since Alola doesn't really have a direction or know what it wants to be, it makes it rough for him.

 

[SH65]

Do to the fact that Ash is the MC and I like him if he's bad then slowly stop caring about that season of pokemon, and i'm feeling that way about Alola.

 

[oshawott7]

Ash's existence or nonexistance in the show has no impact on my enjoyment whatsoever. He died to me after Indigo Plateau and I only pay attention to his companions. Every battle with him and any screentime with him feels like a void of unimportance.

 

[Navin]

The fact is that Ash's story is an unstructured mess. His story has no backbone. Sure, there is a goal, but there are no checkpoints to the goal. In Avatar, Aang had to master the four elements and gain the mindset of the Avatar in order to end the 100 Year War. In any Sentai series, the goal is to stop the goal of the villains which falls under the category of destroying the world/hostile terraforming/taking over the world. Ash's goal is to become a pokemon master, something so undefined that all we can really agree upon is that it has something to do with leagues. This is why its hard to get invested in his story.

I disagree.

I think it's fair to say that any Elite 4 or Champion is a 'Master' trainer; the Elite 4 are literally masters of a type.

The league placements are clear checkpoints though that demonstrate progression. Ash also completed the Orange Islands and Battle Frontier as obvious checkpoints too.

 

[Kuzehiko]

It does affect me very much as he is one of the reasons that I have watched this show. I don't currently watch SM because I do not like the current Ash at all. I like seeing Ash struggling to reach his goal even if he loses, this is something that I haven't seen since BW. Ash's character has suffered a lot of changes ini recent years since BW and that wasn't good to me.

 

[Champion Jared 14]

Not very much. I can take him or leave him, I’m rather ambivalent towards the character. I don’t really watch for him anymore. I watch pretty much for everything going on around him.

 

[SH65]

To me if Ash is bad then the season has to gave me a very good reason to watch it. The only reason i'm watching SM that this point is to see if it building up to something and if not then i'm calling this season a watse of time.