Out of the iterations of Ash, DP gave us the best in his character growth

[pickapika]

Paul literally changes when he comes back in Journeys.....

no. Paul is different. How or why he became different is never shown.

Paul going out of his way to catch specific pokemon just to wan to help ash just coz is just **** writing lol.

NVM, that those battles ended up doing diddly squat for ash in the final battle

 

[game3524]

Eh not really.

Ash stopped growing as a character once he regained Charizard’s trust. He has largely been static ever since.

 

[Krackochu]

Eh not really.

Ash stopped growing as a character once he regained Charizard’s trust. He has largely been static ever since.

Truthfully I agree and disagree

 

[Ash Ketchum!]

no. Paul is different. How or why he became different is never shown.

Paul going out of his way to catch specific pokemon just to wan to help ash just coz is just **** writing lol.

NVM, that those battles ended up doing diddly squat for ash in the final battle

it's implied that time has passed and the events of DP caused a shift in Paul.

I agree those specific pokemon felt like fanservice, but that's what you are going to get in Journeys, so idk what to tell you. If they weren't going to have him participate in the PWC, I think it was a fine trade-off to have him interact with Ash before the big event.

Gary and Paul had the best returns of prior characters IMO.

 

[Sceptile_LeafBlade]

Eh not really.

Ash stopped growing as a character once he regained Charizard’s trust. He has largely been static ever since

Honestly for the majority of the original series after that moment, he is pretty much the same until the aftermath of the Johto league and his entrance into the Hoenn region. His arrogance for example starts to grow to the point where he had to learn a lesson about controlling that trait and staying more humble in Hoenn. In the DP series, he had to learn to control his childish and hot-headed tendencies through his rivalry with Paul which at the end of the series he becomes a fully-fledged character, but BW's soft reset pulled up out of nowhere and...

 

[TheWanderingMist]

In the DP series, he had to learn to control his childish and hot-headed tendencies through his rivalry with Chimchar's original owner which at the end of the series he becomes a fully-fledged character

Because it's totally "childish and hot-headed" to be livid with someone for abusing their Pokemon and seeing no one do anything about it, having to be actively held back from doing something about it by your friends who should be equally livid but for some reason refuse to treat it as anything other than "different training methods". No, Ash was a fully-fledged character before he was forced into DP's hypocritical "every Trainer has different methods" mindset.

 

[Gingertail24]

Because it's totally "childish and hot-headed" to be livid with someone for abusing their Pokemon and seeing no one do anything about it, having to be actively held back from doing something about it by your friends who should be equally livid but for some reason refuse to treat it as anything other than "different training methods". No, Ash was a fully-fledged character before he was forced into DP's hypocritical "every Trainer has different methods" mindset.

Yeah this is my biggest gripe with Paul. Favorite rival, but it's absolutely baffling how some didn't see his **** as abusive and coined it different methods. Wtf was that about???

 

[Ash Ketchum!]

Because it's totally "childish and hot-headed" to be livid with someone for abusing their Pokemon and seeing no one do anything about it, having to be actively held back from doing something about it by your friends who should be equally livid but for some reason refuse to treat it as anything other than "different training methods". No, Ash was a fully-fledged character before he was forced into DP's hypocritical "every Trainer has different methods" mindset.

Who else saw Paul's methods? And it's shown that Paul's other Pokemon didn't mind the harsh treatment in the pursuit of strength.

 

[Ryker101]

It helps that this happened before BW reset him, so his character felt consistent

 

[game3524]

Honestly for the majority of the original series after that moment, he is pretty much the same until the aftermath of the Johto league and his entrance into the Hoenn region. His arrogance for example starts to grow to the point where he had to learn a lesson about controlling that trait and staying more humble in Hoenn. In the DP series, he had to learn to control his childish and hot-headed tendencies through his rivalry with Paul which at the end of the series he becomes a fully-fledged character, but BW's soft reset pulled up out of nowhere and...

Ash was a fully-fledged character by the end of the OS. Your AG example was essentially the Drake episode in which Ash was cocky all of sudden and that goes away once he loses to Drake. But other than that, he is largely the same as he was in Johto. Your DP example didn’t even happen. Ash just doubles down on his beliefs. There is no real growth here.

I think fans are looking for deeper meaning in Ash’s character in some of these post OS series because they like those series personally. But really he is quite static and not that different from where things ended in Johto.

 

[Flashyspark]

The best growth for him maybe but a lot of the best moments in that saga were times when Ash talked with Dawn or a rival like Paul or Barry. Every other time except those times Ash just bored me. And don't get me started on his team. Seriously, Buizel and Gible left unevolved even during the League?

 

[Damerdal]

The most significant character development happens series to series. From a macro perspective, it is obvious that Ash grew as both a person and as a trainer from OS to DP. It wasn't an entirely smooth transition, and often much of the transition happened at the start of each series, where the writers decided from the get-go that this version of Ash was going to be more mellow, mature, and skillful as a trainer.

However, stuff like Ash no longer taking badge handouts, his rise in maturity throughout Charizard's arc, his change in demeanor after losing in the leagues, and looking past the crushing defeat at Lake Acuity all point to ongoing growth. I actually don't think there's tremendous change within a series, but more so his character development should be viewed holistically.

Again though, this is more fitting of OS-DP.

BW entirely 'reset' Ash as we all know. XY made him 'mature', but I don't think he was any more mature than he was in DP. It felt like a DP Ash if he didn't have a rival like Paul to challenge him, or companions like Misty/May/Dawn/Iris with whom he could banter.

SM Ash turned him into more so of a character concept that can be shifted to whatever series tone, which in SM's instance, was tropical light-hearted slice-of-life and humor. Yet, he still retained a lot of his skill and experience. Lastly, JN is this smorgasbord of different Ashs.

At the end of the day however, nobody looks at the Pokemon anime as a paragon of writing and character development. It's more or less a big advertisement for the games and toys. Half the episodes in this series are formulaic COTD/POTD episodes versus Team Rocket. And Ash's journey should have ended by a post-DP finale arc.