>>54907924It's completely genuine vitriol every single time because they're experiencing actual dissonance with the Pokemon franchise.
Ash is the sole reason they got into Pokemon and became a consumer of its media because he was a relatable, self-insertable protagonist, thus their perception of Pokemon was defined by the anime and the presence of Ash as the human face of Pokemon.
But now that he's been retired, they no longer see anything of why they got into Pokemon in the first place, and are now confused, upset, and most importantly, because of how deeply their connection is to the brand, they perceive the retiring of Ash as a message that says "We no longer want or need you, please go away." and feel utterly betrayed after over 20 long years of loyalty.
They're quite literally furious that they're not Pokemon's target demographic anymore, it just took the removal of Ash to finally make them wake the fuck up despite multiple statements from the showrunners themselves over the years that Pokemon was only meant to be consumed by a generation of kids for one or two regions before they were supposed to grow up and moved the fuck on instead of becoming unhealthily obsessed.
