Which Characters Would You Like to See Return to the Anime?

For what it's worth, I actually mostly watch the show to see Pokémon in action. The human characters have always been of secondary importance to me.

NOTE: Team Rocket is an exception. I love Jessie and James more than I've ever loved Ash or any of his sidekicks.
 
Yeah, the Pokemon are a big reason why I watch the show. It's just so neat to see them in action.

For my part though, I would be perfectly okay without Jessie and James at least as the constant 'threat'. I think if they were replaced with some more competent villains the show might actually get better. I mean don't we have enough comedy from the main characters (Brock's rejections, Cilan's quirks, Bonnie trying to get someone to take care of Clemont for example) without Team Rocket being added to the list?

I want to see people a bit more like Hunter J that pose a real threat. Team Rocket was all 'fine and good' during the first two gen episodes but we should have more focus on the villainous teams past that. Aqua/Magma, Plamsa, or whatever it was for each generation.
 
Theoretically, I'd agree with you, except that Gen 5 had a more serious and evil Team Rocket and that was just boring. Legitimately bad threats seem to fit the series more when they're done sporadically, such as occasional episodes and/or movies. After all, can you see Ash and co. taking down actually competent villains every week? It would ruin any impact they'd have.

That said, I do wish TR weren't constantly present. Some episodes (the Spoink/Grumpig one as a recent example) really make TR felt like they were shoehorned in, and the plot could have worked just fine without them. They don't have to get blasted off, or even appear, every single episode.
 
That's true, despite how the Pokemon world works Ash and his companions really are supposed to be just kids. It would be weird to have them thwart competent opponents. Though really that's what happens in the games.

There are a lot of times I feel Team Rocket is just shoehorned in. Another good example would be Ash's gym battle against Korinna.

That might be when it's a good time to have the respective league champion make more appearances, to deal with serious threats.
 
Athena said:
NOTE: Team Rocket is an exception. I love Jessie and James more than I've ever loved Ash or any of his sidekicks.

I don't really think TR have been all that funny or memorable since the Johto/Hoenn eras of the anime. Much like Brock, by the time DP started their repetitive gags and characters had gotten beyond stale. They tried to freshen it up in BW but that didn't go over well so in XY they're sort of just there.

Team Rocket were very funny in the older seasons, and their humor continued throughout Hoenn. Around DP is when they started to get really repetitive for the first time, aside from when Jessie was doing contests.
 
I like them in XY much more than I liked them in BW. Like I said above, the idea of TR being a serious team is nice in theory, but it was just bland and boring in practice. To each their own, I suppose. :p I haven't actually seen any of the Johto/Hoenn/Sinnoh arcs, aside from bits of the movies here and there, so maybe that's colouring my opinion.
 
precita said:
Leaf_Ranger said:
About Dawn, what Pikachu6319. To me, Dawn seemed like another female Contest character that had annoying characters (thankfully less than that psycho Cacturne freak).

Harley was one of the best rivals of the entire series, and the Contests were made more interesting because of him. May had the best interactions with her rivals for a female in the series.

Also I find it baffling you think the Contests make the girls weak, since they battled far more in Contests than any other goal and coordinators were always shown to be just as powerful in normal battles whenever they battled outside of contests.

Don't understand what your problem is with interesting character with memorable rival interactions. What's the point of characters without conflict or development? What the hell do you watch the show for then?

Harley could be a good rival, one that gives a good challenge and his Pokémon were unusual by that point, but making him wear a Cacturne outfit and look like some guy with female issues while already having Drew as the girly boy seems strange. In the end, Harley was a dragqueen and Drew a sissy.

The battling side of Contests is fine, but having to come up with a pose and beautiful combinations is something linked to girls and one that shouldn't be there because sadly, like I've said, May ended up being a girl doing girly stuff.


Victorsaurus said:
Not in order.
1. Ritchie: He shows up with fully evolved Pokémon and more mature. He would give Ash some advice and make Ash a little better trainer in every way.

2. Larvitar: During a trip to Johto with Lyra, Ash finds a Tyranitar who is friendly to him, Ash realizes it was the Larvitar he cared for. Tyranitar joins his party.

3. Dawn: I like her character and I want her Pachirisu (my favorite Pokémon) to have more screen time.

4. Hunter J from Sinnoh: She was really violent, she/her Pokémon actually tried to kill Ash. Looking foward to some fierce battles with her.

I wouldn't mind seeing Ritchie if he were to make Ash look a bit more like Red from the games...
As for Larvitar, it sure would fit with Ash turning into Red.
I'm wondering when there'll be a special with all the Electric rodent!
Unfortunately, Hunter J is probably dead and won't return! :(


Pikachu6319 said:
That's true, despite how the Pokemon world works Ash and his companions really are supposed to be just kids. It would be weird to have them thwart competent opponents. Though really that's what happens in the games.

There are a lot of times I feel Team Rocket is just shoehorned in. Another good example would be Ash's gym battle against Korinna.

That might be when it's a good time to have the respective league champion make more appearances, to deal with serious threats.

If not the regional Champion, at least Lance, because he's a Champion and the one of the most badass Dragon trainers ever, perfect to bring a new take on tamers, since that stupid and loser Iris.
As for the Team Rocket and trio discussion, the trio should have a break and Butch and Cassidy should return as serious characters and a menace, even if with secondary goals in relation to the host evil team of each region. The trio has too much screen time for us to miss them!
 
See one kind of problem I had regarding Iris and Cilan (and so far with Clemont and Serena) is that they didn't get a full Pokemon group.

What's wrong with having less than six Pokémon? In the games, you rarely see any NPC trainers with a full team other than breeders, fisherman with six Magikarp, and bosses, so it makes sense that there aren't many full teams in the anime either. Tracey only has three, and although Brock has more than six, he's never had more than five on his team at the same time. Misty did have a full team of six, but she left two of them at the Cerulean Gym eleven episodes later. After that, it takes one hundred and two episodes for her to have a sixth Pokémon. Even Ash has a team of five from time to time!
 
Um, because this isn't the video game. Because the protagonists aren't NPC trainers. Because unlike the video game the anime can do more with the Pokémon. Because they can break the formula for only six Pokémon as they did with Ash in Unova.

I've already stated that I think Ash should get another Pokémon (preferably a grass type and ideally Skiddo) in Kalos, which is really the only time he's had a team of only five Pokémon for such a long time.

And really for the record I would really prefer that we ran into more NPC trainers with six Pokémon anyway. It's just more realistic in my mind. Assuming you face other trainers in real life (I don't admittedly) when was the last time you faced one with less than six Pokémon?

I realize it's just my opinion but I see no reason for any protagonist to have less than six Pokémon.
 
What's wrong with having less than six Pokémon? In the games, you rarely see any NPC trainers with a full team other than breeders, fisherman with six Magikarp, and bosses, so it makes sense that there aren't many full teams in the anime either. Tracey only has three, and although Brock has more than six, he's never had more than five on his team at the same time. Misty did have a full team of six, but she left two of them at the Cerulean Gym eleven episodes later. After that, it takes one hundred and two episodes for her to have a sixth Pokémon. Even Ash has a team of five from time to time!

Even in the games it is told that having a full team is better. The NPC teams aren't a good argument for the anime since the NPC are builded taking into account a game.
In my case I also like when Ash & Co. have full teams because the good thing of the anime is seeing Pokémon alive and not just sprites with sounds.
 
The only character I want to see return is Cassie and Butch.
Heh, that's ironic- usually it's Butch's name that gets said wrong. :) Anyway, here's the characters I'd like to see return:

*Anthony. Y'know how Ash was always able to call upon Charizard until he finally took it back permanently? Well, I want something similar to go on with his Primeape. Never understood why Primeape was just written off the show so soon after being caught, with no appearances between its catch episode and farewell episode beyond that brief flashback in Celadon Gym. Ash could start calling up Anthony to have Primeape sent to him for big battles, culminating in an episode where Ash is permanently reunited with Primeape. Primeape has potential, I think, and it's a shame it got written off the show the way it did. Honestly, though, I'm surprised Ash didn't opt for Primeape when he battled Tobias. Primeape had the type advantage against Darkrai and it could easily have been revealed to have Vital Spirit to counter Dark Void. On that note...

*Tobias. I can't be the only one who wants to see a rematch between him and Ash, possibly revealing more legendaries of his, and also to show just how much Ash has improved since they last battled.

*Roxie. Maybe it's just my preference for Poison-types, but I'd just love for her to appear again, maybe with her Koffing having evolved. Maybe she and Ash could even have a rematch, since she thoroughly owned him last time. I know Ash won, but think about it- he was allowed to use all six, while Roxie restricted herself to just three, and Ash still came down to his last Pokémon, and even then, only won because of Static hax. That was a proud day for Poison-types, as far as I'm concerned. She could even give Ash a Koffing Egg, culminating in my biggest yet most out-there want for the anime; Ash owning a Weezing.

*Alain. I'm certain we haven't seen the last of him yet, but I still wanna mention this. Should Ash get a Key Stone, I think we can all guess that it'll be Charizard that he Mega Evolves. And what would be a better battle in the Kalos League than some big six-on-six battle between Ash and Alain, culminating in an epic showdown between Alain's Mega Charizard X and Ash's Mega Charizard Y? And you want to know how I think it can be even better? Picture Ash fitting the Key Stone into the back of his hat. That way, whenever he goes to Mega Evolve Charizard, he has to turn his hat backwards. Don't tell me that isn't the most glorious mental picture you've ever gotten. :)
 
Kingler. Poor, poor Kingler.

That said it doesn't look like Ash will get the crustacean of this gen.

Lysandre and the rest of Team Flare in the main series. Wasted opportunity.
 
Funny I was thinking Ash should get a Clauncher to go with his Kingler and Corphish. In fact I think the latter is due for a brief league return and evolution to Crawdaunt.

I still think it's possible we could see Lysandre and Team Flare, but when one looks at how much of an appearance Team Galactic had in the last series, not to mention some of their higher ups, the odds of that happening might be slim.
 
Given that ORAS is almost a year old now I think May's time has passed, which is unfortunate because she could have had a good arc. I guess this proves the writers have no interest in bringing back an older female lead more than once after the following generation. For the same reason Misty hasn't gotten an appearance in 10 years since the end of Hoenn, May probably won't appear again either. We have probably seen the last of Dawn as well.

My guess is either Iris or Cilan will show up but nobody else.
 
I doubt we'll even see Cilan again. Once Brock left after DP, we never saw him in the main series again. At least the girls have gotten random appearances.

You know that's the catch. If they're unwilling to bring back past main characters like May or Dawn than it's a sure thing that some other really random character that Ash has come across has absolutely no chance, especially if they are not part of this current arc. I mean, we haven't seen Gary since the Sinnoh arc and he was the most important non main character in the series (and is theoretically do a return).
 
I want to see May/Max return, I wanna see how Max is doing with Munchlax plus seeing someone who does Pokemon Contests again would be cool. Hoenn always was my favorite region from the anime.
 
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