I recently got into a rather heated discussion about the way that Ash doesn't age in the anime. I don't personally care. I enjoy Ash as a character, and even though he doesn't age I do think that he has grown as a character. He may still jump into situations without thinking them through entirely, and he still loses Pokémon battles, sometimes for silly reasons (though that's actually been happening a lot less in the Sun/Moon series), but Ash has changed. In the first few seasons he's extremely hot-headed and arrogant. His own ambitions put the kind-naturedness that I love most about Ash on the backburner. In the Sun/Moon series, Ash is actually a lot more soft spoken and patient. He's still extremely passionate, but in a more enthusiastic and pure kind of way (how much he has changed is most clear to me in the episode where he goes back in time and meets young Kukui, who reminded me a lot about how Ash used to be). In the argument I had about this, I was really confused by the other person's two main arguments. When I pointed out that Ash isn't the only main character in a long running anime who doesn't age, even twenty years later (I used Conan from Detective Conan/Case Closed as an example), they said that it's different for Ash because he's in a more mainstream and popular show. I just don't understand what this has to do with anything. Just because Detective Conan isn't as popular a show doesn't mean that the show has had, like, a dozen valentine's day episodes (which one would think would be evidence of a passage of time within the show itself), and yet Conan is still a six year old child. What makes the Conan example okay, while the Ash one is apparently unforgivable? And it's not because Conan still gets character development, because he hasn't really changed much in his show either. Their other complaint was about how Ash doesn't grow as a character (I've heard that argument, I understand it, I just so happen to disagree with it for the reasons seen above). Just because Ash doesn't age doesn't mean he doesn't grow as a character. Anyways, there's my rant on the subject.
I don't mind if ash ages physically because its never about the physical age to me, but the emotional age. Its not about whether they age or not but if the character learns and grows like real people. The idea that a character doesn't age is never a bad thing in my mind. I can't really say if ash as a character is good or has grown at all because I haven't been keeping up with the anime (writing is just too kiddish for me), but I can say that he is a lot better than he was in season 1. One argument one might pose is that we don't see ash grow, that the writings just flip a switch and suddenly he's different and all growth is off screen. I don't know if this is true or not (again not keeping up) but if it is, I would have a problem with it. Saying something happens off screen is the same as saying that it never happened at all, especially in a show that will last till the end of time. The guy saying that Pokémon is inexcusable because its main stream is just blowing hot air. Popularity has nothing to do with the quality of the show, from Firefly to Game of thrones.
I’m not sure how I feel about it tbh.... but... I have to suppress a giggle thinking about a 49 year old ash riding on a drifblim
I honestly don't care that Ash doesn't age? He's not real, and since anime don't follow the convention of reality, obvious he isn't going to age.
I just don't like the continuity errors associated with it. There was a short where he and Pikachu celebrated their one year anniversary together. Presumably the Pokémon league is an annual event so between Kanto and Johto, which share a Pokémon league, at least a year must have passed between seasons. So if a year passed between the first and second Pokémon league, I find it hard to believe that 5 more Pokémon leagues later with side adventures like the Orange Islands and Battle Frontier, even if they were in other regions, less than a year has passed. Even if less than a year has passed somehow, he'd need to be at least 11, not 10 like it says in the anime.
I really don't care. I like Ash the way he is, and I think it would be really odd to see an older Ash in the Pokémon world.
I don't care either. It does seem weird but at the end, it's up to the director. Well, Ash is a good character and his character development in the anime is amazing. So that's the main thing right
Ash is immortal, that's why~! Anyway, I pay no mind to Ash's not aging because he won't be the character we all know and love if he does. Ash represents an eternal adventure, the sense of feeling excited about exploring and discovering. He inspires us to find again our inner child, and maturity would kinda take that away, no~?
I would have liked Ash to have grown up and pass on the role of protagonist onto someone else. Unfortunately, the time for that has long since past and we're now stuck with Ash until the series dies out. My personal headcanon for why Ash doesn't age is that the anime's timeline is being messed up by a Primal Dialga.
