Thread: Do you feel that Ash/Satoshi's character has been reset?

Eh, kind of, but certainly not Kanto!Ash.
I mean, he acts in a maturer way to situations, he doesn't let things get to him as much compared to Kanto!Ash, he listens to advice with a more of an open-mind, and he seems like AG!Ash but with the maturity and skills of Johto!Ash. He's not quite DP Ash, who was so mature that he could've have braces (I always imagined Adolscent Ash with braces).

I've always seen Best Wishes as being an alternate timeline in which Ash never went to the Orange Islands, and I'm starting to think that's what the writers did...

I want to take this in a different direction.

Yes, Ash has been slightly reset (like others have said, he's not Kanto!Ash. More like mid-Johto) But do you know who's fault it is?

It's Iris' fault.

Let me explain as someone who enjoys Iris as a character.

Back in Kanto, Ash was the one making mistakes because he was new, right? In AG, we had May, a new trainer that was expressly less experienced than Ash. Ash, being the new 'experienced trainer' in the group was able to avoid the mistakes because May was around the make them. Same with Dawn in DP. She could be the inexperienced one and he could be the experienced one.

In Best Wishes, though, Iris (at least initially) was set up as the 'more experienced' member of the team (similar to Misty in the original series). Because Iris isn't going to make the same mistakes 'a kid' would, someone else has to. And that someone ends up being Ash.

Iris is experienced, yes, but whether or not she is as or more experienced than Ash is debatable. I will agree on the matter of simply being experienced. It's the same thing that happened to Ash's pokemon. Ash used to get all starters and lower forms for himself since there wasn't anyone around to feature said pokemon. Once we got coordinators, the cuter pokemon were shifted to them and Ash all of a sudden was allowed to have stronger and more evolved pokemon. Now that he is back to being the sole focus of the show, he has to be weighed down by a bunch of cute and unevolved pokemon again. It's the same flipping story. Now that he doesn't have anyone to better than by comparison, he is portrayed a little more scatterbrained.

Yup. He makes mistakes he has no business making. Why would he forget to weaken a pokemon after everything he's been though before, unless he's been rebooted? Not sure if he's back to where he was in Kanto, but he's definitely not where he was by the time of the Silver Conference.

Personally I wish they would completely reboot the series, since BW seems like its supposed to be in continuity with the previous series, but it doesn't really make any sense.

Yeah, I would say the Best Wishes Ash feels more similar to the early/mid Johto Ash to me.

He isn't as dumb as Kanto Ash was, but he only feels slightly better, kinda like Johto Ash was.

Now that I ignore my frustration with Best Wishes, I don't see Ash being reset. He seems like the same Ash from Diamond & Pearl and Advanced. It's enviroment that's been turned down a notch. =/

Ash is lingering in reset-limbo - the people currently in charge of the show know that they can't really win either way they go on it.

So there's meat on the side of scale that says Ash has not been reset; like him using String Shot to evade attacks (which could be taken as either learnt skill or beginner's intuition). But there's evidence for the opposite too, like forgetting to weaken the Pokemon (which cannot be seen as anything other than blatant inexperience).

Weighing both sides up, I think the scale tips to favour that Ash has indeed been reset. But it's a matter of opinion. It seems to be something made intentionally ambiguous.

I think that what I said in the animé complaints thread holds true here- Ash in BW is Kanto/Johto Ash with a Brock done right and a Misty whose charm lies in her hair.

Ash really does feel like he's been reset though. He's making elementary mistakes, he's losing to first-timers and gym leaders using unevolved Pokémon, and he's just so much more... less mature.

The reason Ash seemed so strong in DP saga was because he had retained all of the previous experience he had earned. Black and White's slogan was "start from a new beginning." So to me it kind of made sence that Ash has made beginner mistakes again ( I almost gave myself a concussion when he asked Nurse Joy if he had seen her before.) The writers wanted Ash to follow the video games in the beginning, but hopefully he will rise above his DP power level and at least make it to the finals (he doesn't have to win just top 2).

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

I've said many times that BW Ash feels a lot like Johto Ash. He hasn't been reset all the way to his Kanto days, but he definitely feels a lot like he was in Johto.

BW Ash feels a lot like Hoenn Ash. He hasn't been reset all the way to his OS days, but he definitely feels a lot like he was in Hoenn.

In Hoenn he was slightly better than he was in OS but still not a great trainer overall. That's what BW Ash feels like to me.

Originally Posted by martianmister

BW Ash feels a lot like Hoenn Ash. He hasn't been reset all the way to his OS days, but he definitely feels a lot like he was in Hoenn.

In Hoenn he was slightly better than he was in OS but still not a great trainer overall. That's what BW Ash feels like to me.

You're entitled to your opinion of course, but I personally disagree lol. As i've said at best he feels like Mid-Johto era Ash. Beating Gary was a big step in Ash's career as a trainer and I think that starting Hoenn alone, simply being on his own fo rthe first time, was another huge step. Let's remember, in Hoenn he caught and trained a completely new to league competing levels. He trained them so well that the only person who could defeat him was the kid who ended up winning the entire thing!

Originally Posted by Blue1225

He trained them so well that the only person who could defeat him was the kid who ended up winning the entire thing!

Same thing could happen in BW.

I remember all the way back from the beginning of Hoenn and I thought Ash was reset there. I mean he wanted to explore this new region with just himself and pikachu. I never even knew that brock was ever gonna come back until I saw him in the actual series. Having Max in there made Ash seem pretty dumb at times as well but he ended up becoming the more mature and smarter one like half way through in my opinion. Same thing is happening here, its not a true reboot because it was just Ash in a very far away region, very excited, and making dumb mistakes. But now He is becoming smarter, he did kick Elesa's butt for the most part and I think this is a start to something big.

Originally Posted by Masterge77

I've always seen Best Wishes as being an alternate timeline in which Ash never went to the Orange Islands, and I'm starting to think that's what the writers did...

Can't really agree with you there since Oak did bring up Tracey recently when Ash talked to him by video phone. And if you didn't see that episode, don't worry that was it... a tiny mention before the video phone got cut off.

Originally Posted by martianmister

Same thing could happen in BW.

See, by this time in Hoenn it was noticeable. They'd shown some general increase in abilities and had potential. In BW, i've seen no signs of that yet. No real signs of any extensive training. And considering everything thats come before training pokemon should be easier and go much qicker for him. I do think he'll win the League, however its more because of how fast the series is going and that his competition doesn't seem like it'll be as steep.