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| XY Ash |
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| SM Ash |
I've been seeing a lot of discussion in the Pokeani community of late regarding the "personality" of Ash, our very famous protagonist. In particular, it's lead to the usual wars of Sun and Moon "Elitists" vs. XY "Circlejerks" over which series has the better character.
Here, I will take the chance to discuss exactly what this elusive "personality" is and how it applies to this argument, leaving behind the notion discussed in my last blog post.
Personality is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as: the complex of characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a nation or group; especially: the totality of an individual's behavioral and emotional characteristics.
What does this mean in essential layman's terms? Well, pretty much a personality means those traits that make you who you are. For example, I'm rather introverted unless with friends; I'm serious about my writing, helpful, but have a strong moral compass. These are my personality traits, and thus my personality.
"Epicocity, where are you going with this?"
Good question, and one with a shorter answer than my last post.
The recent argument in the Pokeani community, for those that have likely been living under a rock, is whether or not Ash has more personality in XY or SM. Most people seem to have this belief that he has more personality in SM because he makes funny faces, reacts to situations in all these hilarious ways, can still be badass, etc. The XY fans argue back that Ash has just as much personality as SM Ash.
Guess what? The XY fans are right. I'm not saying this because I think XY Ash is better (which he is, but I went into that on my last blog post; see above), but because those praising SM Ash and hating XY Ash are fundamentally misunderstanding the word "personality".
Personality isn't what makes people like you more. It isn't having funny faces or being able to show a wide spectrum of emotions. It's about what makes you who you are; components. To sum up in five words:
XY Ash: Driven, Brave, Badass, Helpful, and towards the end, Patient
SM Ash: Goofy, Brave, Friendly, Happy, Energetic
These are traits. Personality. Ash has just as much personality in XY as he does in SM, he is just more driven towards his goal than before, thanks to the promise made to his mother, something his friends engender in him. He's not sitting on a beach; he's moving forward.
Would you call Riza Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist a character with no personality just because she's very precise, a little cold and straightforward? Of course not. That's her personality. She has a stoic personality.
XY Ash has a driven personality.
SM Ash has a goofy personality.
"But Epicocity, Ash acts like a robot in XY! Clearly this means he's the inferior character."
But he didn't. He got embarrassed (giving a gift to Serena and asking her to join), shameful (when Serena slapped his hand), upset (when Greninja left), angry (with Lysandre), depressed (Winding Woods), happy, enthusiastic (with Clemont's inventions), silly (learning how to dance), and kind and perceptive (picking up on Serena's turmoil). Not to mention he'd become a mentor.
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| Chastised |
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| So many emotions Sad, pain, longing |
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| Embarrassed |
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| Broken and lost |
Tell me, are these the traits of robot character? Of course not!
Because a robot character would literally be indistinguishable from those around him. This would mean Serena (into fashion), Clemont (insecure and timid), Bonnie (overly energetic but naive), Alain (loner) and Mairin (depressed) all have the exact same traits that Ash has. Of course, they don't, as seen in the parentheses.
So, before you start calling a character as having no personality, be careful to know what you're saying. Because XY Ash has just as much as the one from SM.
Dare to Be Silly,
Epicocity
P R E A C H
ReplyDeleteTo the point bro ..perfect
ReplyDeleteXY Ash was never a "robot" but he was a generic shonen protagonist with no depth. Every time people talk about how "great" he was it's just about how "badass" he is and nothing else.
ReplyDeleteSM Ash is still badass as people like but there a lot more layers to him than just a good trainer.
Noooot exactly. To clarify I think both are poorly done versions of Ash but XY Ash lost heart is he driven? Sure But that's literally all he is in XY he had no personality with his POKEMON nor the personality we all know and love. Which is what matters. Do you seriously think his bond with Greninja is well done? Infernape was well done, Charizard was well done, because you could see both sides of the story. His pitiful one episode with Greninja doesn't even come close. He already has a more established relationship with his SM Pokemon. One thing SM does better is giving Ash personality around his Pokemon. Is he goofy? Yes far much so. But Ash is sassy, Ash is snarky you put the barebones example of personality on there. I'm pretty sure when people criticize XY Ash for not having a personality they don't mean he has none period. It's that you have to completely reach to find it. He i personalityless compared to past seasons while SM is a clown compared to past seasons. And sitting on the beach learning. Learning is still moving forward though yes it's very different from the learning he's done on a journey I want him to move already but he's learning
ReplyDeleteNeither are Ash's true personality which I'd argue existed from OS-BW. Yes even BW which everyone hates. We still had Ash. XY Ash is a shonen stereotype you could replace the guy with any other "badass" character and congrats you have XY. And THATS the problem. Ash has an established personality. Typical human emotions which is what you described yeah I'd be a little concerned if someone didn't show them.
BTW Badass isn't a personality and I wish people would stop using it as a trait. If you wanted to call a trait, say strong. He was stronger in XY and that's it he lost most of his basic, funloving, sassy, hardheaded and stubbornness. Ash had all those traits sucked out in XY and became a boring shonen protagonist
And that my friend is what people have a problem with
This isn't attacking your post btw it's providing clarification on what frankly neither side of the argument on Ash's character know how to do. But I saw this on my TL so I wanted to add my two cents on why this argument comes up so much
Thank you for your reply. Of course, while I admit that Greninja is lacking in terms of the relationship compared to Infernape, most certainly, I can't agree there was no focus on them together at all in their relationship, same with all of the others. It doesn't help that the comparisons you use are to series that had at least 50+ more episodes than XY did, which begins to make it unfair from the beginning.
DeleteWhat I do want to point out, however, is two things. 1) To say that XY strips him of former personality ignores character progression. From OS-DP, Ash was growing increasingly less silly outside of filler until BW threw a wrench in the works. To myself, at the very least, XY is a progression of that character with the added drive. 2) "Generic shonen protagonist" is something I've seen thrown around so much to say that he's bland, but...what does that even mean? I mean, everyone says it, but that doesn't make it bad or mean he's void of personality; rather that they don't like his personality or where it's gone, making it a little more subjective a lot of times.
You're free to have a problem with XY Ash, but I just dislike saying SM Ash is better because he has a "personality".
And as for badass, choose any word to replace it as you did and there's nothing to complain about.