I know all of us OG fans always joke about Ash being around forever, but now that he's leaving I feel finality to childhood, lol. Now it's like "lol the protag you knew and followed since you were 8/9 is finally growing up so that means you finally have to as well" which is absolutely ridiculous considering I'm 33 now, but it feels like just that. Seeing him leave feels like that one tether left of a connection to childhood is finally being severed and it's heartbreaking, in a way. Like yeah - we knew it was going to happen and NEEDED to happen. He's just always been a consistency throughout life, and now that he's leaving it's quite bittersweet.