If someone an year ago said that Ash was to be leaving, would you have believed them?

[WaterTypeStarter]

Given how iconic he was and the anime having kept him the main character while others came and gone, would you an year ago have thought it possible for him to leave after the end of the current series?

 

[MattySadler]

Nah I would've thougt he would've kept doing the same **** over and over for as long as Pokemon kept making new generations.

 

[vondecayle]

No. I never thought he was leaving.

I mean, I don’t discard the idea of them trying to bring him back at some point in the future because of nostalgia.

 

[masdog]

Yes, because I would have been the one saying it.

 

[ZarudeSandstorm]

Nope, since I believed that he would've stuck with us for at least 2020's.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

No

 

[Red and Blue]

Probably not. Though when we found out Ash story was concluding in December I can't say I was really surprised.

 

[Ryker101]

Nah

 

[TheWanderingMist]

No, but while it was a surprise given the ubiquity of Pikachu as their mascot, it's not like it wasn't a realistic possibility.

 

[Psajdak]

That's the thing, one can never be sure until it is 100% confirmed.

 

[Ubermuk]

Nah because people had been saying that for years every single time a saga would end so the odds weren't in favor of him leaving. But I guess if you predict something often enough it will eventually happen lol.

 

[Dragonsoldier77]

Yes.

Quite a few people didn’t see how they could convincingly continue ash’s story after facing the ‘world champion’, myself included.

 

[BlueDragonfangirl]

No, it was a question that was beaten to death since DP, so.

Am I happy? Nope, I’ll miss him.

This just means my conclusion to the Pokémon fandom which is crazy as I’ve been apart of it since Kanto, even to the darker days such as BW series and SunMoon and Journey’s, I was a very supportive Ash fan though.

 

[Pokeshipper_]

No. And I was shocked. And I can't believe it yet.

 

[Leonhart]

I would've been highly skeptical given how many times I've heard theories about him leaving. Even in the case of recent events, I still find it hard to imagine him leaving for good since it seems quite likely to me that he could receive another mini-series in the future.

 

[keepitsimple]

Probably not because a year ago JN wasn't ending yet so they would've been lying to me lmao.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

I did think it was the perfect time to bring closure to Ash's story as there wasn't really anything for him to do but I was cynical enough after BW to see them still dragging on Ash so yeah didn't expect it

 

[Shadao]

I would consider the anime's depiction of Ash in Journeys and determine how willing are they to keep Ash as the lead AND the World Champion.

Because even a year ago, it became apparent that anime was going to make Ash vs Leon a thing, which placed Ash in an impossible situation.

Leon is the strongest trainer in the world, according to the anime. Cynthia just recently guest-starred in December 2021, and everyone knows her reputation as a formidable trainer. Naturally, we're going to need Cynthia in the World Tournament to showcase that Leon is indeed the strongest trainer in the world. But this would mean that if Ash gets to Leon in the World Tournament finals, he would have theoretically surpassed Cynthia, a feat that cannot be ignored. How could anyone believe that Ash would defeat Leon if he didn't defeat Cynthia?

Now, the anime could drag the world tournament for years or the Pokémon games could do something different for the typical Pokémon League. But when it became clear that Ash was narratively heading to Leon no matter what, and Leon's entire character arc is to be finally defeated (just like in the games), Ash becoming the World Champion was becoming more and more of a reality.

But Ash reaching at the top means something had to give way. I placed two scenarios before those skeptical of Ash retiring: Either the anime changes formula to accommodate Ash's new status as the world's strongest trainer... or Ash leaves. There can be no other path. You can't just have Ash lose to Leon because defeating Ash wouldn't help Leon become a better trainer. It just makes him stuck in an unchanging status quo that won't be revisited anytime soon. Ash has to win against Leon. He can't just lose to preserve the status quo. He's already breaking status quo with his new Pokémon and his new status as Alola Champion.

The writing was on the wall the moment they confirmed that Leon is the strongest trainer in the world, not just Galar, and Ash wants to beat him. If he had just been traveling the world with no clear goal in mind, then I would believe Ash stays forever. But since they gave him a goal in Journeys and its a status covers the entire world, suddenly I have to consider that maybe, just maybe this is the series where Ash and the audience part ways.

 

[doofinc]

Yes.

I think at the time my thoughts were pretty much "He's definitely getting to Leon at least, and making him lose to him is the writers writing themselves into a corner on how to even reset him, especially since he'd effectively be #2 in the PWC/world, good luck figuring out another 3 year story for that. So he'd have to win. But then what?" I've went more in depth on this a few times already but I think this summarizes my POV at the time.

Goal-stuff aside, the victory lap of older characters was also notable. Sure Dawn/Cynthia/Volkner can be filed under BDSP promotion, but Korrina/Gary/Iris & Drayden/Alola Crew/Butch & Cassidy/Erika/Brock all coming back was also a notable flag (pretty sure these were all the appearances as of a year ago?). And then of course 2 months later being Kalos month but that's beyond the 1 year mark. A victory lap like that can only be done once.

Also his team being straight out of fanfiction was another hint towards it. IMO there were enough signs of finality of his on-screen journey.

 

[geminisama]

Not at all. I think most of us expected him to stick around somehow even as just a mentor. So the news that he's leaving the series was a shock to me.