Will Gou stick around?

[Ultra Beast Lover]

I'd prefer if Go doesn't stick around. Even ignoring that I don't like him, it'd be so boring having to sit through him capturing even more Pokemon and take time away from other characters' goals. And, frankly, I don't think they'll continue with the world tour.

Besides, he would probably have to get rid of his starter if he stuck around. I don't think anyone wants to see him leave Cinderace behind again.

 

[PsychoLogical]

I'd prefer if Go doesn't stick around. Even ignoring that I don't like him, it'd be so boring having to sit through him capturing even more Pokemon and take time away from other characters' goals. And, frankly, I don't think they'll continue with the world tour.

Besides, he would probably have to get rid of his starter if he stuck around. I don't think anyone wants to see him leave Cinderace behind again.

Ye tbh his starter being Cinderace is somewhat an almost dead giveaway that he isn't really meant to stick around.

 

[desdar300]

Full disclosure, I personally think Joe is going to get booted after this Saga is over.
With his main Pokemon being Ace along with his gimmick of capturing Pokemon nonstop not really mixing all that well with each new region getting less than a hundred Pokemon now. I personally think this is going to be a one-and-done deal but that's just me

 

[PsychoLogical]

Full disclosure, I personally think Joe is going to get booted after this Saga is over.
With his main Pokemon being Ace along with his gimmick of capturing Pokemon nonstop not really mixing all that well with each new region getting less than a hundred Pokemon now. I personally think this is going to be a one-and-done deal but that's just me

You ain't the only one. I pretty much expect him to be out like every other companion Ash has ever had. This will likely be no different.

 

[Xaby]

In my opinion, the reason why Goh's character is fleshed out that way is because honestly if there's nobody who's out to catch them all at this point it would be really hard to integrate all of the Pokémon so far into the anime into a seamless, plausible plot. Goh has the most Pokémon, yes, but many of those will have that most screentime and attention with that than they have had and could have had.

Because of that, it's highly unlikely that Goh will make it into the next series. Why? It's because he's probably going to catch most, if not all, of the regular Pokémon by the end of this series. If he's going to do it again in the next one, it'll be pretty redundant. On the other hand, his character is pretty much set on the catcher archetype, and him doing otherwise would be less logical than say create a new character.

My bet is by the end of the series he's going to say there's more to catch and that Mew is somewhere in this wide wide world of sports and continue on his search alone.

--------------------

Now in my opinion the reason why there is so much discussion about the carry over of characters is because of one and only reason alone.

Brock.

Brock has been one of the longest running characters appearing for 3.5 seasons and in 4 regions. Other than Ash himself and Team Rocket, he's got the third longest resume in the show.

The reason why he lasted that long is because Ash needed a mentor character until Generation 4. Brock could have continued in Generation 5 (and personally, I wish he did), but if he did they wouldn't be able to do a reboot of Ash's persona and knowledge since Brock has been with him and seen him in his peak condition in Sinnoh. So they replaced Brock with Cillan, who is a mentor-ish but also gives more leeway and sometimes appreciative of Ash's childish behavior in Unnova.

After that Ash has become the bonafide leader of the team in Gen 6 or 7. There is no need for another person to be the "wise man who holds knowledge from journeys past" because Ash already is that person.

That's why going forward we're probably not going to see another character join him from region to region. Goh is probably the most equal of Ash's newest companions, but we also know that Ash is still really the one who will get the job done. As such, even if he will be brought to a new region, Goh's still going to act the same and not really add anything new, making him redundant with any new character.

 

[SerGoldenhandtheJust]

Full disclosure, I personally think Joe is going to get booted after this Saga is over.
With his main Pokemon being Ace along with his gimmick of capturing Pokemon nonstop not really mixing all that well with each new region getting less than a hundred Pokemon now. I personally think this is going to be a one-and-done deal but that's just me

I hope Joe doesnt get booted, he does a fantastic job with this site

 

[RileyXY1]

I think that if Gou was sticking around he would have gotten an Eevee as his primary partner instead of Cinderace.

 

[Leonhart]

Even ignoring that I don't like him, it'd be so boring having to sit through him capturing even more Pokemon and take time away from other characters' goals.

That's assuming that there would be more cast members aside from just Satoshi and Gou later on, unless you're implying that Gou's taking time away from Satoshi's current goal at the moment. In which case I obviously disagree.

 

[desdar300]

That's assuming that there would be more cast members aside from just Satoshi and Gou later on, unless you're implying that Gou's taking time away from Satoshi's current goal at the moment. In which case I obviously disagree.

I think he means the idea that go pretty much capturing half of the new Pokemon in a hypothetical generation 9 series would kind of make most of the other characters moot.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

Well, to be fair, maybe the idea is having Goh getting the new starter as the shoulder mon while Ash gets hype/competitive mons. His starter being a Cinderace way does signal an early departure but then if SwSh is anything to go by, it's not like the bunny will be dexit'd on Gen 9. So I could see the staff giving Goh the new starter and sidelining Cinderace (release is kind out of question after that fakeout with Raboot).

But who knows... Considering they want surprise us what could end up happening is "releasing" Goh, keeping Chloe while promoting her to main cast member and then just adding a new boy.

Still kind wish Goh sticks around though. His goal just needs a bit of polish on the approach and then it can be expansive enough for him to stay longer.

 

[Ubermuk]

I'm kinda sick of his goal already both the Mew thing and the Dex thing so the sooner he leaves the better. Hope he at least gets a good final episode unlike the SuMo kids' quick shove out of the show.

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

I'm kinda sick of his goal already both the Mew thing and the Dex thing so the sooner he leaves the better. Hope he at least gets a good final episode unlike the SuMo kids' quick shove out of the show.

Anything's gotta be better than Mallow's farewell.

 

[desdar300]

Well, to be fair, maybe the idea is having Goh getting the new starter as the shoulder mon while Ash gets hype/competitive mons. His starter being a Cinderace way does signal an early departure but then if SwSh is anything to go by, it's not like the bunny will be dexit'd on Gen 9. So I could see the staff giving Goh the new starter and sidelining Cinderace (release is kind out of question after that fakeout with Raboot).

But who knows... Considering they want surprise us what could end up happening is "releasing" Goh, keeping Chloe while promoting her to main cast member and then just adding a new boy.

Still kind wish Goh sticks around though. His goal just needs a bit of polish on the approach and then it can be expansive enough for him to stay longer.

unpopular opinion for how this but I do hope that the journeys formula is kicked after this Saga because it hasn't been working out too well

 

[PsychoLogical]

unpopular opinion for how this but I do hope that the journeys formula is kicked after this Saga because it hasn't been working out too well

I assume the Journeys formula isn't really meant to carry on towards the next saga anyways due to how its setup. And the one thing I do want them to keep tho from the JN formula is that they never go back to the repetitive and stupid badge quests since it'll just be extremely regressive now.

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

unpopular opinion for how this but I do hope that the journeys formula is kicked after this Saga because it hasn't been working out too well

I don't think it's an unpopular opinion at all, SPECIALLY here lol

Anyway, while I like the concept and I think it just needs more polish to be really good, I kinda hope they kick it because I doubt the current staff would commit to such improvements.

 

[desdar300]

I don't think it's an unpopular opinion at all, SPECIALLY here lol

Anyway, while I like the concept and I think it just needs more polish to be really good, I kinda hope they kick it because I doubt the current staff would commit to such improvements.

It's an incredibly ambitious idea I'll give them that but I think from a writing standpoint it's a nightmare because of how much they have to juggle. It's like using time travel within a narrative it's almost impossible to pull off

 

[Ultra Beast Lover]

They should've done something like the contest format for the PWC. Have Ash take part in a competition every few episodes where the trainers compete for a certain rank, you have to at least get the bare minimum in order to win the... I don't know, badge equivalent. And make it five of them. This allows the viewer to count down and feel as though there's a sense of real progress without having to do the old badge quest. It won't be so writer dependent, it lets Ash lose once or twice, and will make us feel all the better when we're finally done and the pressure is released. I don't think they should do the badge quest again but rather have the tournaments be where the gyms are in the games. If they use all eight but have five collectibles this will let Ash lose at least three times.

As for Go, he should really be catching Pokemon after he befriends them. Makes his goal more interesting as it lets him fail.

 

[PAndrews]

Doubt he'll stick around. We're barely 50 episodes in and his goal is already getting boring. Its basically "Oh Goh caught this now, how nice, oh there it goes off to the lab of no return". Even his bonding episodes prior to a capture are pointless since that Pokemon is then either dumped at the lab and outside of being background filler never seen again or becomes the equivelent of TR's gatcha Pokemon and randomly used in one battle and then gone again. They basically repeated the Unova Ash mistake again, in which they gave him more then 6 Pokemon yet still focused almost entirely on the starters.

Not only have they made the same rotation blunder they originally did with Ash but even his goal feels as pointless as the last portion of BW's when it was basically nothing more then "travel back to Kanto with no actual goal or reason to get stronger" for several episodes. Unless his "catch em all" gains some kind of actual feasible and attainable goal for him to work towards with actual milestones and a finish line like contests, badges, the league and so on have (its not like he's going to catch all the legendaries, UB's, Mythicals and one of kind Pokemon anyway) then there really is no real reason to keep Go around in a next saga.

That said, Brock served no real purpose and he managed to hang around for 4 gens before the writers swtiched to the "new companions for Ash every region" formula, so who knows.

 

[Ignition]

I’m not going to make any definitive answers for now but I don’t think he’ll stay based on where we are currently. I wouldn’t feel anyway if he stays or goes but I do hope the current formula isn’t staying.

 

[PsychoLogical]

I’m not going to make any definitive answers for now but I don’t think he’ll stay based on where we are currently. I wouldn’t feel anyway if he stays or goes but I do hope the current formula isn’t staying.

From how it's setup, the JN formula doesn't really seem to be meant for more than one saga. The current formula is probably meant to be for the upcoming 25th anniversary of Pokemon and they wanted to do something special for it with the anime and thus the region hopping and PWC formula was born. However like I said, it's likely not meant to be last for more than one saga due to the setup where the PWC quest being quite Galar based where they have Leon being at the top and being an undefeated trainer like he is in the games and with Go... his first mon being a Galar mon is an almost dead giveaway that he's likely not meant to last despite his goal being very draggable and ongoing.