Since Ash stopped being the main character in the anime, I’ve been feeling pretty distant from the Pokemon series. Something about it just doesn’t feel as engaging anymore. I think it’s because there’s barely anything that reminds me of the older stuff I loved about Pokemon.
The recent games like Scarlet and Violet don’t really reference or connect to previous generations much. Without Ash around, I’m having trouble getting excited about where the franchise is heading. Pokemon used to be really good at mixing new content with callbacks to earlier games and characters.
The new regions also seem kind of generic to me. They don’t have that special vibe that made each area feel unique when Ash was traveling through them. Back then, every region had its own culture and personality that made it memorable.
Ash was like the anchor that kept everything together even when Pokemon kept changing every few years. Part of what made new generations exciting was seeing him with different outfits and meeting new friends. Now that’s gone.
I tried watching Pokemon Horizons but couldn’t get into it. These new characters don’t mean anything to me, and there’s no familiar faces from previous seasons to help me connect.
Now I mostly just play the competitive online battles, which is okay but doesn’t give me that same feeling I used to get from Pokemon.