When past main characters leave the anime, does it feel like their impact is lost?

Yes, the impact is definitely lost..its as if may and misty never existed..till they suddenly reappear for a couple of episodes..

"Impact on Ash?" Well, that is very difficult to tell at this moment. To add to this heated debate, this thread also counted the rivals as part of the "main cast leaving." In my personal view, as far as the current anime is concerned, those characters who left at the end of DP are irrelevant in BW's overall plot. That is not to say that their achievements and progression throughout each of their story arcs are not worth watching in the end. There is some merit to the interactions between Ash and his "former" friends,. When when Ash briefly mentions his past experiences with those individuals to his current "circle of friends," it helps to strengthen their bond even further. It eases the viewer into thinking that their favorite character might make another appearance on-screen one day.

I feel that the fans want the simple validation that their favorite characters are not forgotten over time. This validation would best get across if former rivals or former travelling companions were seen and/or mentioned in the successor region.

In Best Wishes, a series whose regional setting is very distant from the other regions Ash had travelled to in the past, mentioning such events and people would appear to be a complete and utter waste of time on the writer'ss behalf. The writers may not feel that Ash mentioning Dawn or Brock would serve any benefit to him or the companions he is travelling with right now. It may be disappointing to some viewers that their favorite characters and their achievements are not expressly mentioned on-screen, but in a logical perspective, for what greater purpose would those past characters instill on to the present situation? Ash and his current companions are too focused on their own respective goals to really care about the endeavors and hardships of others.

Keep in mind that these things happen in real life as well. You invest the time to befriend one or a few people, be by their side if they are in trouble, and encourage them to follow their life's goals and passions. That friend (or friends) will eventually decide to go out on their own to better prepare themselves to reach that goal. You really cannot stop that friend from changing his or her mind, and you promise to keep in touch. That cycle will repeat again and again, and there may be a point in time when you completely ignore those requests to interact with the people that left your side because you are too focused on addressing your own issues. The cycle will repeat again and again.

This debate really is not going for either direction. In the fan's perspective, it depends on whether or not you were present for the past main character's adventure on-screen to really have a feel for his or her depature. If those characters were by any chance mentioned on-screen, you may be slightly confused because those events that are mentioned in the present occurred before you decided to watch the series. I'll just go with the theory that, in Ash's point of view, he has his own dream to accomplish and he won't stop anybody else from living their own lives as they see fit.

Ash was taken aback when his childhood rival, Gary, decided to quit pokemon battling to become a pokemon researcher. He didn't attempt to stop Gary from partaking in this goal, and wished his best regards. Even after Ash and Gary interacted with each other briefly in DP, they never really forgot who the other person was in relation to their own. Ash respected Gary for his skill, whereas Gary occassionally scolded Ash for being too reckless in battle. That was briefly touched upon in DP so their relationship still had some merit back then. It never seemed to bother Ash that he and Gary were not competitive rivals anymore. It never seemed to bother Ash that Dawn or Brock decided to leave his presence. He expressed some initial shock and surprise after the fact, but he didn't go out to stop them from pursuing their goals.

For the sake of the fans's entertainment, the writers will always spend a great amount of time with these departure scenarios. Ash may not appear to care one way or another, and he may promise that person to interact with him or her once again. Right now, the impact shouldn't be present since Ash is currently dealing with his own situation.

Keep in mind that I am using past events as a reference, because (as of Best Wishes's timeline), Ash has yet to interact with any former main characters or rivals whom he had regularly interacted with in the past.

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Originally Posted by Ampharos King

In Best Wishes, a series whose regional setting is very distant from the other regions Ash had travelled to in the past, mentioning such events and people would appear to be a complete and utter waste of time on the writer'ss behalf. The writers may not feel that Ash mentioning Dawn or Brock would serve any benefit to him or the companions he is travelling with right now. It may be disappointing to some viewers that their favorite characters and their achievements are not expressly mentioned on-screen, but in a logical perspective, for what greater purpose would those past characters instill on to the present situation? Ash and his current companions are too focused on their own respective goals to really care about the endeavors and hardships of others.

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I disagree,mentioning past characters which used to travel with Ash or having them back could benefit for current or any other region plot depending in what manner such thing is executed.Its always welcome to get little throwback in past showing characters who left impact on main hero.

Purpose behind this would not only be to give update about Ash previous traveling companions acknowledging their existence but it would also ultimately serve as bridge of connection to past sagas Ash traveled through strengthening bond between him and his past friends.Whether it was case about Brock who mentored Ash about battling and training helping him to grow as trainer,Misty who served as motivation in his career pushing him forward being sometimes his coach,May because of who Ash get out of his way becoming more mature and ready to take role of mentor to someone else etc,acknowledging in future how they mattered to Ash character and anime storyline at some point leaving influence on him would strengthen connection between Ash and previous regions helping viewers who werent present during that time to better understand what and who influenced Ash in growing in today person and trainer.

Just like return of older pokemon and flashbacks give insight in Ash past,giving reference to his previous traveling companions brings more continuity to this show treating it as entirety rather than individual fraction.
Similar to how return of May and Gary for example in Sinnoh reminded audience how they influenced Ash at one point or another playing important part on his life making it seem like they mattered writers also provided benefit to show plot too with May directly influencing Dawns story helping her to get over emotional issues.
Bringing any previous character back in Unova can serve purpose depending on how many connections they might have with Iris,Cilan or Ash in current region and in what way they could contribute to current plot.

Having them completely ignored with no references being provided now-days make it seem like they never mattered to this show and Ash character with everything he learned from them being portrayed like it was erased making their existence in anime kinda pointless in first place being disrespecting and ignorant imo.

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Originally Posted by pokemon fan 132

IPurpose behind this would not only be to give update about Ash previous traveling companions acknowledging their existence but it would also ultimately serve as bridge of connection to past sagas Ash traveled through strengthening bond between him and his past friends.Whether it was case about Brock who mentored Ash about battling and training helping him to grow as trainer,Misty who served as motivation in his career pushing him forward being sometimes his coach,May because of who Ash get out of his way becoming more mature and ready to take role of mentor to someone else etc,acknowledging in future how they mattered to Ash character and anime storyline at some point leaving influence on him would strengthen connection between Ash and previous regions helping viewers who werent present during that time to better understand what and who influenced Ash in growing in today person and trainer.

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Certain characters may help Ash mature as a trainer or as a person, but expressly mentioning those contributions on-screen in a new region where ash has a new support system in which he can rely on is a waste of time. Ash is largely motivated by what he chooses to do, not as much as the people who helped him along the way. Again, it depends on the context in which certain main characters were mentioned, but in this series, they bear little significance to referencing those things. Iris and Cilan have a strong enough foundation in this series as Ash's supporters that even a quick mention of a similarly niched character in the past will undermine their presence in the group.

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Originally Posted by pokemon fan 132

Just like return of older pokemon and flashbacks give insight in Ash past,giving reference to his previous traveling companions brings more continuity to this show treating it as entirety rather than individual fraction.

Similar to how return of May and Gary for example in Sinnoh reminded audience how they influenced Ash at one point or another playing important part on his life making it seem like they mattered writers also provided benefit to show plot too with May directly influencing Dawns story helping her to get over emotional issues.

Bringing any previous character back in Unova can serve purpose depending on how many connections they might have with Iris,Cilan or Ash in current region and in what way they could contribute to current plot.

Having them completely ignored with no references being provided now-days make it seem like they never mattered to this show and Ash character with everything he learned from them being portrayed like it was erased making their existence in anime kinda pointless in first place being disrespecting and ignorant imo.

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Those events happened in DP, the past series. As of BW, we have yet to see a direct mention of any past main characters in this series because their presence and roles have largely been overshadowed by newer characters.

Certain pokemon like Ash's Caterpie-Butterfree were mentioned as either Ash's "first pokemon" or Ash's "first Bug-type pokemon" in DP. It, more or less, depended on the context. Ash could have mentioned his Butterfree in the Sewaddle episode, but for the sake of time and relevancy, was not forced to do so by the writers.

The closest reference Ash would have made to Brock in Best Wishes! was that Ash failed to notice that there were numerous Nurse Joys in Unova just like in the other regions, and that he was unable to make such differences. Ash might had joked back then that Brock could have easily distinguished between each of the Joys, but that never happened. Such on-screen commentary never happened because that was irrelevant to the current storyline.

The impact of those main characters may not be lost "forever," in the real sense. The current writing style in Best Wishes as far as "continuity" goes. Certain minor characters such as Professor Oak and Giovanni will be kept around for plot significance, but characters whose "15 minutes of fame" had been largely overdone will not get a second calling. Those characters are being replaced by the characters that the writers will focus on right now.

Whatever Misty, May, or Dawn did in the past in Ash's eyes will not strengthen his relationship with Iris. Strictly mentioning Brock as a great chef in front of Cilan will not strengthen their relationship, either. Mentioning those past characters will serve to waste whatever little and precious amount of time reserved for each and every episode. Again, it depends on the context in which those characters will be mentioned, and right now there is no context that necessitates those references.

There are fans who want validation that their favorite characters were not forgotten over time, and there are writers who just want to focus on newer characters, newer situations, and newer pokemon to increase the vitality of this anime.

It probably feels this way because older characters are very rarely mentioned or referenced at all after they leave. Its kind of the same with Ash's older pokemon, it feels like they were never there when you watch the next saga.

When I watch Ash battle Trip, it honestly feels like the whole rivalry with Paul never happened. Any impact Paul had on Ash feels gone now.

No. Just because they leave, it doesn't mean that. Look at how May was doing so well when she came back. The same goes with Misty, Gary and even Ritchie got better than before. So it maybe be a good thing to get away for a minute to do somethings yourself on your own. It might make you a better person.

Yeah, their impact feels lost. Misty, May, Brock, Tracey, Gary, Max, Dawn, Paul, Rick the Adventure Core, etc. all feel like they don't exist once they leave. I mean, look at Hoenn. I'm pretty sure Tracey, Delia, and Professor Oak got more cameos than Misty ever did, excluding the Pokémon Chronicles stuff. Misty pretty much ceased to exist and had no impact until she suddenly would reappear and then disappear.

Or DP, and May. Who's May? Oh, we'll meet her again... in 70 episodes. Before then? No references. Dawn's like an all-new coordinator. Not to mention Misty pretty much vanished off the radar after that one episode with Buizel.

And then there's the current series. Ash has been reduced to an inexperienced trainer again, whose Pikachu somehow lost to an unevolved monkey. Dawn and Brock's contributions vanished. Trip is never compared to Paul at all. And TR keeps disappearing.

So you know what? In the next series, I bet Cilan, Iris, and Trip will stop being important and fall off of the face of the earth, whether by Snorlax attack or not. Ash will suddenly only have his Pikachu. Pikachu will lose again. And even possible rivals like N or villains like Gheetis or even J&J may disappear.

Well, Gary STILL motivated Ash to go to other regions. However, it was disappointing to see how the childhood friend and original rival can be so easily forgotten

Gary isn't forgotten. He lives in the same town as Ash. Plus Professor Oak is there. As far as a rivalry goes, he wasn't really around too much anyways. This is getting silly. The impacts of the character doesn't go away. Most left the show and has made a great impact. If that wasn't the case then we wouldn't have stuck around to see how BW would turn out. Could you imagine if Sinnoh was badly written that most of us would not even care to watch Best Wishes?

Again, Best Wishes seems like they tried to reboot the series. We didn't even see Kanto this time. The first episode already had Ash in Unova. Everything he learned from his experiences with those people and his pokemon seems to be gone. We have yet to see or hear of any of them. Even if was just a throwaway line about how Ash was Top 16 in The Indigo League (So he could shut Iris up).

The funny thing is its all true. While watching Best Wishes, the feeling that any of Ash's former companions had any long lasting impact on him is now gone. Someone made a comment where Ash said in a recent episode that Cilan makes the best food....which is hilarious because Brock wasn't even alluded to at all.

Back when we were in the DP series, May was not mentioned at all until she actually showed up. It almost felt like they were treating Dawn as if she was the first coordinator of the series. It wasn't until May did in fact return that they started referencing everything that happened in AG.

Then for the ones who are gone a really long time like Misty...well, there's nothing left to say there anymore. If it weren't for that ONE brief mention of Misty in the DP series when Ash used the lure for 1 episode, Misty wouldn't have been seen or mentioned at all since the very beginning of Battle Frontier.

This is a hard debate. Were talking about how much his friends and rivals have had an effect on him when currently it appears as if the writers have rebooted the entire anime.

If I were a new fan to the series and had only been watching B/W, then there would be absolutely any way to tell if ANYONE existed beforehand. At least D/P had Gary appear at times while he was absent in Hoenn, but B/W makes no mention nor care to any past characters (friends/rivals) at all.

So no. The only conclusion that I have to come to is that Ash is not really that affected by them, most especially not in B/W. He must have just given up caring about people since they get replaced so frequently anyways. The main way that we could tell that anybody like friends/rivals had any lasting effect on him before was by his maturity and battle tactics.

Now all that is out the window and so are the people that he learned it all from.

It all depends on what the writers do to Ash. He can go to another region and they can erase all past Pokemon and people references in a minute. However, we still know that they existed so I don't feel too bad as some people.

I guess we can tell whether or not the impact is strong depending on how the viewers react when they're brought back at certan times

Really its only with Best Wishes that it seems all the influence past characters had on Ash is gone. Before you could always see signs of it there.