What is it about Ash Ketchum that makes people feel the need to constantly comment on his age remaining 10 years old?

Niklel · Mar 20, 2023

I doubt many people think less of the Pokemon anime because its characters are not growing older. It's just funny that they don't. It's fun to meme about it. Same way it's fun to meme about Ash effortlessly holding a Pokemon that weights 999.9kg in his hands.

With shows like Simpsons or South Park characters staying the same age is obviously less noticeable, since those shows don't tell a continuous story. Like, 90% of the Simpsons episodes might as well be non-canon.

DominicanPower · Mar 20, 2023

It would of been so dope if Ash actually aged and got at least 5 or 6 years older.

King Alamat · Mar 20, 2023

Even if each episode roughly took place over a day, Ash has gotta be in his teens by now.

lvl 99 Pixel · Mar 20, 2023

DominicanPower said:
It would of been so dope if Ash actually aged and got at least 5 or 6 years older.

I don't think it would bring anyone back and might have even alienated existing and new fans of the intended demographic. Having him win tournaments didn't seem to sway anyone, nor did concluding the whole anime. I think everyone anticipating the new series to be a completely different thing is probably in for a rude awakening. Its still going to be a perpetually running procedural aimed at a young audience.

Sanchoco · Mar 20, 2023

mrmoose said:
How do they do it in something like Detective Conan?

They don't, they just adapt to the current tech, but it applies to everything

Like in one chapter/episode, they do a flashback case (prior to shinichi becoming Conan) and by normal logic they would have flip phones, but they have smartphones. The smartphone is what helped the case get solved.

You got your multiple holidays, but there's always little drops of progress in between and some reveals here and there. There's even an episode where they celebrate Ran's mother's birthday. Other than that, they still don't age

Edit: on topic, people point it out because of the things that happen in the anime. Like people posted with Professor Kukui having a child within the Sun & moon season, but Ash stays 10. Narration at the beginning of some seasons also state his age as 10. Sometimes characters say how many days it would take to walk to the next town, seasons pass, but Ash manages to travel to all these regions in under a year supposedly.

It's just funny to me honestly.

Captain of Outer Space · Mar 20, 2023

It's more interesting when characters are allowed to age and not stay the same age to create the problems that The Simpsons deals with having to redo origin stories for Homer and Marge to recontextualize it for the new generation they'd have grown up in.

That's a cool part of the first half of King of the Hill's run, as things happen and they deal with some of the tragedies and accidents for multiple episodes as they do new things.

Doublethink · Mar 20, 2023

Most kids his age aren't elementary school dropouts.

milkyway · Mar 20, 2023

Doublethink said:
Most kids his age aren't elementary school dropouts.

Hey it only took Ash a year off school to become a Pokémon master, he has time to catch up on math now!

lvl 99 Pixel · Mar 20, 2023

Doublethink said:
Most kids his age aren't elementary school dropouts.

Schools in that world revolve entirely around Pokemon. He went to Pokemon school in Alola and all they did was field trips. The college in the latest Pokemon game is also entirely about Pokemon.... because that world is fucking unhinged and literally everything is Pokemon related.

King Alamat · Mar 20, 2023

Doublethink said:
Most kids his age aren't elementary school dropouts.

Hey, he was in school while he was in Alola, no need to get the truancy court involved!

Derbel McDillet · Mar 20, 2023

Doukou said:
I think a problem with that is these shows always have the main character win in the end, like Yugioh or Digimon, so it doesn't feel as bad to move on.

People keep saying this show is for 10 year olds as if doesn't constantly do callbacks that only make sense if an older generation is suppose to watch it

"It's for kids" is about the laziest goto to brush off criticism for anything.

Zeal543 · Mar 20, 2023

pokemon has a clear timeline of progression, shows like simpsons and family guy don't

mbpm · Mar 20, 2023

He's a brat.

monapon · Mar 20, 2023

Poltergust said:
I'm pretty sure each holiday has only been seen once ever when it comes to manga cases. Is there even a canon case involving Christmas yet? I can't remember off the top of my head.

Also, Detective Conan goes through the same shit the OP is complaining about too, and it's even worse since it's missing the entire point of the show. People don't seem to realize that the moment Conan is able to permanently go back to being Shinichi is the moment the show ends.

Off the top of my head the case where Amuro and Heiji meet for the first time is set around Christmas but it's not a focus of the case itself. Checking the wiki, it looks like there's been at least two other cases that take place around Christmas but one of them is close enough in serialization date to the one I mentioned earlier that you could argue it's the "same" Christmas and the other took place pretty early on in the series so maybe it's just been so long it doesn't count heh.

firehawk12 · Mar 20, 2023

I remember a jokey comic about a Misty who grew older while Ash was perpetually stuck as a kid. I think that was the first time I realized how weird it was. lol

danm999 · Mar 20, 2023

it's weird because the story is so heavily serialized and continuous. this character is doing something that takes decades of work and not aging.

It's less jarring with something like the Simpsons or Family Guy or Bob's Burgers because;

1) there's a ton less serialization between episodes and seasons.
2) the main characters are adults which takes the focus off the children.

I guess South Park is the obvious counter example to the above points you bring up, but South Park is so fundamentally weird in that it constantly plays with its lore and timeline that people accept it.

lvl 99 Pixel · Mar 21, 2023

danm999 said:
South Park is so fundamentally weird in that it constantly plays with its lore and timeline that people accept it.

Pokemon is fundamentally weird as fuck, even before the anime added its own brand of nonsense. Team Rocket are employed after their giant mecha robots fail every day and there are infinite nurse/officer clone ladies. It was Saturday morning cartoon type of structure for 99% of episodes.

Brickhunt · Mar 21, 2023

Sanchoco said:
They don't, they just adapt to the current tech, but it applies to everything

Like in one chapter/episode, they do a flashback case (prior to shinichi becoming Conan) and by normal logic they would have flip phones, but they have smartphones. The smartphone is what helped the case get solved.

You got your multiple holidays, but there's always little drops of progress in between and some reveals here and there. There's even an episode where they celebrate Ran's mother's birthday. Other than that, they still don't age

Edit: on topic, people point it out because of the things that happen in the anime. Like people posted with Professor Kukui having a child within the Sun & moon season, but Ash stays 10. Narration at the beginning of some seasons also state his age as 10. Sometimes characters say how many days it would take to walk to the next town, seasons pass, but Ash manages to travel to all these regions in under a year supposedly.

It's just funny to me honestly.

I would argue that Detective Conan is a even worse offender than Pokemon. At least Ash has the excuse of living in a universe in which there is more than one Pokemon capable to time travel/reality warping shenanigans. All it takes is one bored Arceus to justify all the weird stuff with Ash.

Conan has no such excuse and should had ended a long time.

danm999 · Mar 21, 2023

lvl 99 Pixel said:
Pokemon is fundamentally weird as fuck, even before the anime added its own brand of nonsense. Team Rocket are employed after their giant mecha robots fail every day and there are infinite nurse/officer clone ladies.

Neither of those things are terribly weird on South Park's level honestly. Recurring incompetent villains in particular, are super common in cartoons.

Contrast this to South Park; Kenny dies every episode and comes back to life, except when he doesn't and stays dead. Aliens, God, the Devil, magic and Santa all exist (and are also imaginary) and interact with the main characters. Time travel, parallel universes and different planes of existence are all possible and happen.

You just aren't looking for the same grounding in South Park. If the kids don't age (and tbh sometimes they do like that Post Covid movie they did) it's just easier to suspend your disbelief.

lvl 99 Pixel · Mar 21, 2023

danm999 said:
Neither of those things are terribly weird on South Park's level honestly. Recurring incompetent villains in particular, are super common in cartoons.

Contrast this to South Park; Kenny dies every episode and comes back to life, except when he doesn't and stays dead. Aliens, God, the Devil, magic and Santa all exist and interact with the main characters. Time travel, parallel universes and different planes of existence are all possible and happen.

You just aren't looking for the same grounding in South Park. If the kids don't age (and tbh sometimes they do like that Post Covid movie they did) it's just easier to suspend your disbelief.

Or it was always an episodic marketing tie in that consisted almost entirely of side stories. If that's not appealing then sure, its easy to disregard it.
Calling the Pokemon anime "heavily serialized" is some reality warping perspective. One of the most episodic series that aired.

Daysean · Mar 21, 2023

Considering the art style changes from OG to Sun/Moon, they couldve tossed him like 2-3 ages and used the variants in art style to to show/acknowledge growth while still being youthful

danm999 · Mar 21, 2023

lvl 99 Pixel said:
Or it was always an episodic marketing tie in that consisted almost entirely of side stories. If that's not appealing then sure, its easy to disregard it.
Calling the Pokemon anime "heavily serialized" is some reality warping perspective. One of the most episodic series that aired.

Pokemon is quite serialized actually.

Stuff like which region Ash is in, what his roster is, what badges he's got and what moves his Pokemon know have continuity.

Out of all the shows mentioned (The Simpsons, South Park, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy) it easily has the most serialization. All the other shows have effective reset buttons except in very specific circumstances (ie; Maude dying in the Simpsons, the South Park boys moving from 3rd to 4th grade, Peter changing his job from working in a toy factory to brewery).

lvl 99 Pixel · Mar 21, 2023

danm999 said:
Pokemon is quite serialized actually.

Stuff like which region Ash is in, what his roster is, what badges he's got and what moves his Pokemon know have continuity.

Out of all the shows mentioned (The Simpsons, South Park, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy) it easily has the most serialization. All the other shows have effective reset buttons except in very specific circumstances (ie; Maude dying in the Simpsons, the South Park boys moving from 3rd to 4th grade, Peter changing his job from working in a toy factory to brewery).

IDK why you keep bringing up South Park as if it makes Pokemon more serial by contrast. Majority of episodes are self contained and neatly wrap up their purpose by the end of their 20 minute runtime, generally ending with Team Rocket blasting off (they appear in almost every episode until Black and White's anime). Each of the regions hundreds of Pokemon get their own episodes and stories revolving around what they are, or characters (game canon or otherwise) get one off stories. The continuity regarding Ash's progression is only occasional, usually only having a serialized focus near the very end of a season.

It has some continuity per region, some of which is seemingly lost like resetting his teams and sometimes seemingly losing his talent back to being a scrub. They deliberately went out of their way to start over each time, until the most recent few generations. They kinda said "fuck continuinty" if anything lol. "heavily serialized and continuous" has to be a joke.

danm999 · Mar 21, 2023

lvl 99 Pixel said:
IDK why you keep bringing up South Park as if it makes Pokemon more serial by contrast. Majority of episodes are self contained and neatly wrap up their purpose by the end of their 20 minute runtime, generally ending with Team Rocket blasting off (they appear in almost every episode until Black and White's anime). Each of the regions hundreds of Pokemon get their own episodes and stories revolving around what they are, or characters (game canon or otherwise) get one off stories. The continuity regarding Ash's progression is only occasional, usually only having a serialized focus near the very end of a season.

It has some continuity per region, some of which is seemingly lost like resetting his teams and sometimes seemingly losing his talent back to being a scrub. They deliberately went out of their way to start over each time, until the most recent few generations. They kinda said "fuck continuinty" if anything lol. "heavily serialized and continuous" has to be a joke.

Cause South Park, Family Guy, the Simpsons are the examples the OP compared Pokémon to, asking why nobody complains the kids don't get older in those.

If you want to compare it to other long running popular serialised Anime though, Dragonball, One Piece etc, it still kinda sticks out because children and young people age in those series.

BoondockRiley · Mar 21, 2023

I'd actually argue that there is a lot of continuity in South Park, waaaaay more than any of the FX animated shows. In fact season 18, 19 and 20 are all told as one long arc with the finale of each wrapping up the storyline for that respective year. Sure, a lot of early South Park does follow the same reset, but later season did go more into the lore - like there is a significant reason as to why Kenny returns after each death. And as I mentioned in the OP, sooo much of South Park deals with current and trending affairs. Like in 2005 they made fun of Al Gore with his climate change activism, and then in 2018 they returned to this storyline and acknowledged the passage of time since then (and how everyone should've listened all those years ago). I know South Park is a comedy, so who cares, but it's one of those instances where I'd expect some commentary on how they're the same age, and that just doesn't happen.

LiS Matt · Mar 21, 2023

I think for a lot of people who mention it its because at one point they were the same age as ash as they watched it.

I definitely remember in the 90s people seeing the same thing about bart/lisa

Jubilant Duck · Mar 21, 2023

Simpsons comparison don't track. Simpsons doesn't have continuity for the most part. Pokémon does.

Jisgsaw · Mar 21, 2023

mrmoose said:
How do they do it in something like Detective Conan?

That's a funny one: the whole series happens in less than a year or something like that. Makes you wonder at the murder rate in Japan...

Rackham · Mar 21, 2023

At the end of the show they will have Ash's 11th birthday

Derbel McDillet · Mar 21, 2023

BoondockRiley said:
I'd actually argue that there is a lot of continuity in South Park, waaaaay more than any of the FX animated shows. In fact season 18, 19 and 20 are all told as one long arc with the finale of each wrapping up the storyline for that respective year. Sure, a lot of early South Park does follow the same reset, but later season did go more into the lore - like there is a significant reason as to why Kenny returns after each death. And as I mentioned in the OP, sooo much of South Park deals with current and trending affairs. Like in 2005 they made fun of Al Gore with his climate change activism, and then in 2018 they returned to this storyline and acknowledged the passage of time since then (and how everyone should've listened all those years ago). I know South Park is a comedy, so who cares, but it's one of those instances where I'd expect some commentary on how they're the same age, and that just doesn't happen.

south Park characters dont age reddit - Google Search

BoondockRiley · Mar 21, 2023

Derbel McDillet said:
south Park characters dont age reddit - Google Search

View: https://giphy.com/gifs/television-breaking-bad-serious-a8DfVAblirrOg

Thanks for another great nuanced conversation 👍

Derbel McDillet · Mar 21, 2023

BoondockRiley said:
View: https://giphy.com/gifs/television-breaking-bad-serious-a8DfVAblirrOg

Thanks for another great nuanced conversation 👍

Don't spin me giving you exactly what you asked for AGAIN into a bad thing.

Wouldn't have it made more sense to make a thread about South Park?

crimsonECHIDNA · Mar 21, 2023

I do notice there's a trend where people project hard on children's media and what the characters to age and mature so that they, as the viewer, can still enjoy it.

YourFriendLevi · Mar 21, 2023

If they age up Ash they gotta deal with Pokemon life expectancy, bro what if pikachus only live like 8 years

Derbel McDillet · Mar 21, 2023

crimsonECHIDNA said:
I do notice there's a trend where people project hard on children's media and what the characters to age and mature so that they, as the viewer, can still enjoy it.

I don't think that's the same as expecting a show to reflect the passage of time it regularly conveys.

BoondockRiley · Mar 21, 2023

Derbel McDillet said:
Don't spin me giving you exactly what you asked for AGAIN into a bad thing.

Wouldn't have it made more sense to make a thread about South Park?

I wasn't asking you for anything actually. But the passive aggressive linking of google searches and quoting other users leads me to believe you're more interested in 'ha gotcha!' than having a discussion about it.

South Park is having quite a resurgence in popularity on tiktok at the moment that a lot of younger people are discovering for the first time, and I'm yet to see any comments concerning their age on any of the clips floating around. I don't doubt in the history of the internet that it's never been brought up - clearly by just your Google Reddit search it in fact has, but it's not something I'd seen until now. Whereas on ANY Pokémon anime article at the moment it's basically guaranteed someone will mention it.

My original title for this thread was going to use a direct comparison between the two but the wording didn't fit and as the subject matter was Ash it made more sense to focus on that. And I'm only using South Park as a base for continuity, there are far better examples that could be used for comparison instead that I'll happily admit I haven't watched enough tv over the years to make that.

Derbel McDillet · Mar 21, 2023

BoondockRiley said:
I wasn't asking you for anything actually. But the passive aggressive linking of google searches and quoting other users leads me to believe you're more interested in 'ha gotcha!' than having a discussion about it.

I've made points. I've elaborated on those points thoroughly. I've given specific detailed examples when making those points. All to say "ha gotcha".

None of that showed interest in a conversation.

It's not like you've paid much attention to the MANY people that answered your question and continue to do so, but sheesh.

BoondockRiley · Mar 21, 2023

Derbel McDillet said:
I've made points. I've elaborated on those points thoroughly. I've given specific detailed examples when making those points. All to say "ha gotcha".

None of that showed interest in a conversation.

It's not like you've paid much attention to the MANY people that answered your question and continue to do so, but sheesh.

And yet you've conveniently snipped out the part of my previous post that was trying to engage in a conversation.

I've read every single post and taken it on board. I'm fully aware that the consensus is people think that a series that focuses on progression, travel and personal growth should acknowledge the passage of time, especially when there are characters that are pregnant and giving birth in this series. But what do you want me to do, reply to every single person and validate their opinion? If you actually read my original post you'd see that this was never something I was arguing against, i would've been all for a clear line being drawn where the characters are older and acknowledge how long the journey has taken them so far. I was just curious as to why this is something that is still joked about so much 25 years later. I really don't know where your hostility has come from on this when I haven't argued with anyone to say that they are wrong.

Rust · Mar 21, 2023

I think I'm actually sadder than no-one has celebrated Ash's birthday during the entire run.
(Maybe Ash was born on Feb 29? He's actually in his 40s when he starts off.)

RJWalker · Mar 21, 2023

Because it's a show with ongoing continuity. What a stupid question.

UberTag · Mar 21, 2023

Rust said:
I think I'm actually sadder than no-one has celebrated Ash's birthday during the entire run.

When you've spent decades at your current age, the prospect of actually getting older is a traumatic one. You can't even enjoy the experience.

View: https://streamable.com/z30d9n

Sketchsanchez · Mar 21, 2023

BoondockRiley said:
And yet you've conveniently snipped out the part of my previous post that was trying to engage in a conversation.

I've read every single post and taken it on board. I'm fully aware that the consensus is people think that a series that focuses on progression, travel and personal growth should acknowledge the passage of time, especially when there are characters that are pregnant and giving birth in this series. But what do you want me to do, reply to every single person and validate their opinion? If you actually read my original post you'd see that this was never something I was arguing against, i would've been all for a clear line being drawn where the characters are older and acknowledge how long the journey has taken them so far. I was just curious as to why this is something that is still joked about so much 25 years later. I really don't know where your hostility has come from on this when I haven't argued with anyone to say that they are wrong.

You've constantly snapped at this person. Like the only person trying to have a fight here and being passive aggressive is you tbh

Chumunga64 · Mar 21, 2023

it's weird for pokemon since there's an actual sense of palpable progression unlike Simpsons and south park

Ash went through a lot and accomplished so much so it's weird that he didn't age at least 2 years

BoondockRiley · Mar 21, 2023

Sketchsanchez said:
You've constantly snapped at this person. Like the only person trying to have a fight here and being passive aggressive is you tbh

When people reply to me with links to a google reddit search what do you want me to say? I've tried several times to have a discussion with people and I get comments like 'what a stupid question', surely if the subject matter offends you that much then why even open the thread. I really don't see how I've been passive aggressive without reason, and that certainly hasn't been my intention.

Aaron · Mar 21, 2023

Chumunga64 said:
it's weird for pokemon since there's an actual sense of palpable progression unlike Simpsons and south park

Ash went through a lot and accomplished so much so it's weird that he didn't age at least 2 years

This is the irony of people always complaining that Ash "always loses," he's an insanely accomplished trainer for someone who's only been at it for less than a year. Ash only sucks if you compare him to the games where you get your first Pokemon as a 10-year-old, and within like a week can become the Pokemon League Champion and caught every known species of Pokemon. You really think Red even coming close to beating people like Agatha or Bruno who've dedicated their lives to training is realistic?

Then again these are also the people who make memes about Gary being a better trainer because he got ten badges, when Ash not only beat him in the Johto League but outranked him in the Indigo League, and Gary straight up gave up battling/training after Johto to become a researcher. But hey, he got ten badges, when he only needed eight. Way to waste everyone's time, dick.

SilverX · Mar 21, 2023

Moara said:
sun and moon is significantly better than the original series

Highly doubt it. The original series had tons of memorable episodes and iconic moments. It also wasn´t written to be ¨baby proof¨ like the Pokemon seasons that came after the original which put the youngest viewers in mind.

ZeroX said:
yeah yeah it's all capitalism creativity is dead blah blah there's the door

You sound like you got more angry than Ash has been in the last 20 years.

ZeroX · Mar 21, 2023

SilverX said:
You sound like you got more angry than Ash has been in the last 20 years.

I don't think you understand how anger or creating television works

Moara · Mar 21, 2023

SilverX said:
Highly doubt it. The original series had tons of memorable episodes and iconic moments. It also wasn´t written to be ¨baby proof¨ like the Pokemon seasons that came after the original which put the youngest viewers in mind.

You sound like you got more angry than Ash has been in the last 20 years.

Why are you so confident about a series you haven't even seen lol. Sun and Moon is the most story focused season in the show with multiple long story arcs, and it easily tackled the most mature themes that the series would often skirt around like death. To say that it was just a soulless cash grab with no creativity is ignorant. How beautifully animated the whole series is alone would put that to bed.

King Alamat · Mar 21, 2023

Aaron said:
Then again these are also the people who make memes about Gary being a better trainer because he got ten badges, when Ash not only beat him in the Johto League but outranked him in the Indigo League, and Gary straight up gave up battling/training after Johto to become a researcher. But hey, he got ten badges, when he only needed eight. Way to waste everyone's time, dick.

At least Gary won those badges, almost all of Ash's were given out of pity.

*ignores every season after Indigo League*

SilverX · Mar 21, 2023

ZeroX said:
I don't think you understand how anger or creating television works

Boy was that a terrible response. We can just agree to disagree lol

Moara said:
Why are you so confident about a series you haven't even seen lol. Sun and Moon is the most story focused season in the show with multiple long story arcs, and it easily tackled the most mature themes that the series would often skirt around like death. To say that it was just a soulless cash grab with no creativity is ignorant. How beautifully animated the whole series is alone would put that to bed.

This is the ¨beautifully animated¨ one?

What is it about Ash Ketchum that makes people feel the need to constantly comment on his age remaining 10 years old?

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