>>50959975I've been mostly out of the loop with the anime ever since BW aside from a few key moments.
He wasn't really that bad of a character during the generation 1 anime. Rather immature and novice, but
I don't remember much of generation 2 or 3, but from what I can gauge from the movies, he was alright enough, but after generation 3, they really should've given him a rest.
Generation 4 I don't remember either, but his league battle with Paul is where he absolutely peaked, showcasing his strengths as a trainer.
Now as someone who watched most episodes of generation 5 and actually enjoys it, I can tell you that it's mainly to do with Ash's companions and not Ash himself. For the most part, though, he's rather insignificant, a character that I can shrug off in most cases. But oftentimes I'm thinking, wouldn't it be cool if he was actually replaced? With Brock gone, it would be the ideal opportunity to do the same with Ash. That being said, I cannot deny the sheer embarrassment I felt watching Ash's battle with Elesa or how his Pikachu, which took down a Latios a few episodes prior got beaten by a stupid water monkey that hasn't even evolved.
Now ideally, Ash would've been replaced in generation 3 or 5, but because we know the Pokemon Company is never going to let Ash go, no matter what, I feel like what they could've done with Ash in generation 5 is actually acknowledge that Ash's intelligence has been nerfed. Maybe ever since Pikachu went through that level reset with Zekrom, Ash has been losing his edge since maybe Pikachu's capabilities are linked with Ash, and that fight with Elesa could've been his point of realizing how bad he's gotten since even Pikachu yelled at him for how incompetent he was. From there, he would strive to improve himself which would transition to how much more capable he's gotten in generation 6.
TL;DR: Ash started out as a good character, but generation 5 was just wasted potential for Ash. I don't really know what happens after that.
