>>26880086Despite all the shit, you can't deny Ash and Greninja's bond being more sudden than any other bond Ash has had with any other pokemon, Pikachu included.
Pokemon like Pikachu, Charizard (although this one at least makes sense since he hasn't seen Ash since so long and he merely didn't had the time to establish such bond) or any other pokemon from back in the hey days somehow just don't have the same "bond" Greninja has with Ash, despite Greninja himself only having been there for Ash in a quarter of the entire animation series. They certainly had their struggles which at least makes this bond just a little bit more believable, but it's still pretty much a sudden bond compared to any other pokemon Ash had.