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

That time in Nimbasa when Ash called Prof Oak, there had been a slight mention of Tracey, but he never appeared. That's the same as losing their impact. Well, in the case of Tracey, he was kinda forgotten already every since the Johto adventures started..

Oddly enough Tracey still appeared more recently than Misty did. Tracey's last appearance was AG191, he refereed the match between Ash and Gary as most recall.

Meanwhile Misty hasn't been seen since the end of the Hoenn league, when she appeared at Pallet for those two episodes. AG134 was her last appearance in a regular episode...so even Tracey has a more recent appearance than her.

Not that eps that aired back in 2005/2006 are recent anymore...which just goes to show you how long its been since some old characters even showed up. The fact that 4kids still dubbed the anime when Misty last appeared really proves how long its been since she's been in an ep.

I suspect with Best Wishes not even Dawn or Brock will appear as they got specials.

They do lose their impact, i could watch a Black/White episode and enjoy even if i didnt know that, lets say, May or Dawn ever existed.That is why i think Diamond and Pearl is the best season.May reappeared in that season.

The problem is that the writers, after a certain point, began to see each series as interchangeable, more or less. Other than vague allusions to previous adventures, Johto Journeys doesn't matter to Advanced Generation doesn't matter to D/P doesn't matter to...you get the idea. Which is understandable: they're not really trying for serious character development. Their goal is not to establish a story arc, but to ensure that Ash Ketchum gets to have some adventures with his friends and meet a bunch of Pokemon.

I mean, it's pretty clearly based on game generations: when a new generation comes out, we set up a tale that takes place in that new region. This could be brilliant if, like the games, we introduced a new main character every time. This would lend itself to telling interesting self-contained stories for each game: we could meet a new set of heroes and learn their perspective on this Pokemon World. Instead, it seems mandatory to stick with Ash, which is rather disappointing.

This isn't necessarily the worst way of doing things, but it gets a bit old, particularly since you could do so much more with this wonderful setting than that. Personally I prefer to see character development. Up until a certain point that was a possibility, but now it seems to have faded away.

I realized it was this way when Misty left the show. We seemed to have been building up to something between her and Ash--that was vaguely addressed, and there were some nice touches in the episode regarding her feelings, but anything that could have happened there was cut short, because it was more important to get her off the set than to follow her arc to its conclusion. I have to say, I felt kind of left down when that happened.

*ducks and covers*

Kind of and sort of, I can watch the greatest AG/DP(were they're any?? :D)/BW eppy and wouldn't even THINK about Misty/May/Dawn(absolutely not for Dawn!!), of course when a Trip eppy is present, I think about Paul and Gary, but dats it!!

I don't think so. BW is still interesting without having Dawn appear. Plus, DP would have still be great if May didn't appear. So it doesn't really matter. We know they had existed. It's just that because BW is so far, they made it seem like Ash had just started his Pokemon journey when in fact he had been to five regions already.

Well, the impact is lost a little when Ash doesn't even MENTION past characters. I know he mentioned Tracy, but still. Would it kill Ash to mention Brock or Paul? It's like they disappeared off the face of the earth or Ash just up and forgot about them.

I don't think he needs to mention them out of the blue. What is he going to say, "Oh, I traveled with this girl named Misty over 3 generations ago...I never stop to visit her anymore though...I haven't seen her since I came home from the Hoenn league...somewhere around 6 seasons ago."

Do Iris and Cilan even need to know who Ash's past travel companions were?

Originally Posted by Gliscor'd

I don't think he needs to mention them out of the blue. What is he going to say, "Oh, I traveled with this girl named Misty over 3 generations ago...I never stop to visit her anymore though...I haven't seen her since I came home from the Hoenn league...somewhere around 6 seasons ago."

Do Iris and Cilan even need to know who Ash's past travel companions were?

If everything's all one big continuity (Altered that is) and they still exist I don't see a problem with them being mentioned. Of course, as you pointed out, mentioning them out of the Blue (lol) would be weird. But if say Iris did something that reminded Ash of one of his old friends or he was in a similar situation he could mention them. It sounds a little stupid when you type it out, but think about it. Everyone's done it before. They'll be hanging with a group of friends, something will happen or be brought up, they'll think about a friend that isn't there and mention them.

Basically they shouldn't be forced in and thrown in our faces, but it wouldn't hurt to get a few shout outs here and there.

Technically they did that in DP. In the episode Buizel was captured, Ash pulls out the Misty lure in which Dawn asks, "Who is Misty?"

Brock then quickly explains she's the Cerulean Gym leader and she used to travel with them. And...that was it. So that was a brief throw-away reference to Misty back in DP, which is kinda odd in retrospect because Dawn never meets Misty at all over the course of her run.

The only character I think should have been brought up in BW is Brock, simply because Ash should have said that Cilan's cooking reminds him of someone. Oh well.

No. I think each character will always have a significance if Ash is still on the show. If they change the main character, then everyone else will be forever lost. This is why I keep saying that Ash is somewhat of an importance for us. We will get to see older characters again sooner or later.

Ash did get impacted by Brock/Misty in Kanto, he impacted May (and to a lesser extent Max) in AG, and he and Dawn trained/battled together in DP.

So other than Tracey really, all his previous companions did learn from either him or each other. But Best Wishes makes it seem like none of it happened.

...Well, considering Iris and Dent are still in the anime it's a bit too early to judge their impact on the anime after their leave from the anime...

Originally Posted by Aestivate

...Well, considering Iris and Dent are still in the anime it's a bit too early to judge their impact on the anime after their leave from the anime...

LOL, as it stands, once Iris stops traveling with Ash what would Ash have actually gained from her? I honestly can't think of anything.

Not really. I find their impact is lost when they've overstayed their welcome on the anime only due to the ineptitude of the writers and dubbers, respectively, to keep them fresh and interesting. :P