It might also be because their original fan-base matured so they changed the show to reflect their changing tastes.
Not sure if you're being serious, but no. The Pokemon anime doesn't tune itself to the now 20-30 years old original fans, all anime staffs had made it perfectly clear multiple times that Pokemon anime had always and will forever be aimed for children. The "older fans" are meant to "grow out" of the animes in a few years and just make do with the games, Origins, Generations, Special, or any other non-Ash Pokemon medias. That's why they can afford to blatantly recycle previous plots over and over, because no one is meant to watch Ash travel for over 5 years.
The "harem" thing is merely a side effect of this, with how the anime recycles Ash's half-assed romantic relations over and over. And like how Ash will never win a Pokemon league, he will never settle with any specific girl, because that would prevent them from wiping the slate clean in the next generation. That's why the amount of unresolved suitors simply stacked up over the years that now Ash has a "harem".
The current state of Pokemon Sun and Moon anime having a more blatant "harem" also isn't to appease the so called "older fans" but merely the fact that this is the only natural option they could do at this point.
Serena was the biggest character the anime ever canonically ship with Ash, and that gained quite a positive response to the general audience(regardless of age).
That's why abandoning the romance route right away could turn away fans who watched from XY, fans who are interested in the shipping game. But this time if they simply try to shove a certain specific girl down Ash's throat, then that would also be a massive middle finger to all Serena fans. A "harem" that goes only ever so far as to drop hints here and there is a route taken out of necessity. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" kinda way.
Also before anyone tries to bring up "but harem fans otas are the ones with the big wallets!" No, harem animes are among the lowest selling genre, actually. Mostly because there's already a goddamn ocean of bland harem animes going around with about 3 more harem animes coming out every season, the industry had already diluted the hell out of whatever profit they may seek to gain from this genre.
Not sure if you're being serious, but no. The Pokemon anime doesn't tune itself to the now 20-30 years old original fans, all anime staffs had made it perfectly clear multiple times that Pokemon anime had always and will forever be aimed for children. The "older fans" are meant to "grow out" of the animes in a few years and just make do with the games, Origins, Generations, Special, or any other non-Ash Pokemon medias. That's why they can afford to blatantly recycle previous plots over and over, because no one is meant to watch Ash travel for over 5 years.
The "harem" thing is merely a side effect of this, with how the anime recycles Ash's half-assed romantic relations over and over. And like how Ash will never win a Pokemon league, he will never settle with any specific girl, because that would prevent them from wiping the slate clean in the next generation. That's why the amount of unresolved suitors simply stacked up over the years that now Ash has a "harem".
The current state of Pokemon Sun and Moon anime having a more blatant "harem" also isn't to appease the so called "older fans" but merely the fact that this is the only natural option they could do at this point.
Serena was the biggest character the anime ever canonically ship with Ash, and that gained quite a positive response to the general audience(regardless of age).
That's why abandoning the romance route right away could turn away fans who watched from XY, fans who are interested in the shipping game. But this time if they simply try to shove a certain specific girl down Ash's throat, then that would also be a massive middle finger to all Serena fans. A "harem" that goes only ever so far as to drop hints here and there is a route taken out of necessity. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" kinda way.
Also before anyone tries to bring up "but harem fans otas are the ones with the big wallets!" No, harem animes are among the lowest selling genre, actually. Mostly because there's already a goddamn ocean of bland harem animes going around with about 3 more harem animes coming out every season, the industry had already diluted the hell out of whatever profit they may seek to gain from this genre.
