>>49620072Disagreed. While it's a good design in isolation and will always be super charming, Ash's design, specifically his eyes, were stuck in the 90s, when Sugimori was imitating popular art of the time. In the late 2000s, Sugimori adopted a more modern anime style. For a while, the anime's solution was to make all new characters fit in next to Ash by giving them the same dated 90s look. This decision made attractive and appealing characters like Iris, Clemont, and Serena look more plain and generic than they should have. Nowadays, they're adopting Sugimori's modern style, and continuing to fiddle with Ash's design.
Not that it's going perfect, mind you. I still think he looks weird. The best thing about his 2019 design is the way his hair is super spiky and upright, poking up past his hat. Given the fact that Ken Sugimori drew and created Goh, I think the anime staff also should have consulted with him on how to adapt Ash to his new style in a way that made the character still feel familiar. Classic Ash is super charming but he had to go.
