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Yes, you read that right, Ash is going to have his story come to an end next year with another anime having new protagonists. I'm expecting it to be more open ended in case they wish to bring back Ash.

Not going to lie though, while he's likely outstayed his welcome to many, I was hoping he'd stay for Paldea, mainly for an adaptation of Path of Legends and maybe also Starfall Street while another character did the Gym Challenge. Always thought having him help out Arven rather than do the Gym Challenge would be a fun direction seeing as he's world champion.

What's your thoughts on Ash leaving and what memories do you have of the anime growing up?

I personally remember waking up at 5 am to watch the X and Y anime because the people in charge of CN's scheduling were incompetent. Also watched Diamond and Pearl the most.

I also thought that had we gotten a Sword and Shield anime rather than Journeys, it would've been a fun surprise to have Hop and Marnie as travel companions. An idea I had was Eternatus being unleashed early and Ash aiding Hop, Marnie, and either Victor or Gloria across a still recovering Galar to help with relief efforts and to stop Eternatus.

I admit the majority of my memories from the Pokemon anime mainly come from the early days when we were still on gen 1, though I did see the third movie in theaters which was after gen 2 started. Got back into the anime for a while when the Black and White anime was starting (the period of time when Team Rocket was portrayed as more serious and competent), but I never kept up with it all that much to be honest.

Even so it is still surprising to see them finally retiring Ash as the main protagonist after so long. Like you said, they could always bring him back if the new protag ends up being really unpopular, but this could also act as a fresh start for the show and could bring in newer audiences who felt intimidated by the fact Ash had over 20+ years of backstory.

I see so ash finally broke his 10 or 11 forever curse by becoming champion. Of course this means the curse has passed on to the new protagonist. Hope she enjoys being stuck at her age for 30 years.

Although I haven't watched the anime in more than a decade, only keeping up with the highlights from each generation, I feel quite surprised about this. Thought for sure they'd keep going with this until the end of time but I see they went through the evolve or die route.

The introduction of the new protagonists is gonna get some time to get used to, but if they play their cards right, these new faces will be welcomed with open arms. In any case, I think it wouldn't hurt much if Ash is seen every now and then as cameos.

It would be fascinating to see Ash as the 36-year-old schmuck he would be now, were he to have aged normally. Of course, I still think the originally intended ending where he becomes a pathetic old man still wandering about is the most interesting. I guess it would be fine if he had a happy ending, though.