Alright. Time to break my silence again!
Hey guys!
So, the big episode is finally over. And it ended the way we should've expected it to! Am I disappointed? A bit. I'm a bit surprised myself that I'm not exceedingly disappointed. The loss was very well done. Don't ask me to explain that, because I don't know what was well done about it. But somehow, the loss didn't seem so horrible. He did go to the finals and all. And as some here are saying, this is probably a foreshadowing to something bigger that Ash would win. I believe a few people called it before too. That Ash would lose the finals, to win in a bigger stage.
I also side with
RobSp1derP1g in his statement- in that it is possible that the title is stripped off Alain for his involvement with Team Flare and given to the runner-up (Ash) instead. Will it happen like that? God knows. But that's not a major issue.
The major issue is this. What happens to AmourShipping? I had always mentioned this- that Ash's win or loss does not affect AmourShipping in any manner. Sure, a crazy defeat like him losing in the first round is pathetic. But he went to the finals! That's not bad at all to be honest. And even so, what relation does AmourShipping have with the league exactly? I'm not really sure why many seem to be clubbing the two entities together. Never did, nor will I ever. They are fully separate. And if you argue that Ash's loss means that past trends are being continued, and as a result, AmourShipping will be negative too, then you're just selectively extrapolating data.
Let's look at the status quos that
did change:
1. Water starter curse
2. Ash went to the final
3. He's a really powerful trainer
4. A canon crush by the lead girl.
and probably a couple of others.
What didn't change? The fact that he didn't win a league.
So you're telling me that you want to ignore every other "status quo" that was broken? Fine with me. I'm not gonna buy the argument though. Because fact is, there's no relation between the two.
The next episode seems amazing actually. The entire set of the past few episodes and heck, XY altogether was awesome! And when it is so close to the end, why jump ship? Might as well see it to the end. After all, evidence suggests that the issue will be addressed too! We didn't get any hints for the past few episodes (understandably). So I expect quite a burst of them in the next episode- particularly since it seems to be an extended episode. We're here at the end game. Why give up now?
I encountered a similar thing very recently with my exams that I just finished writing. There was a particularly nasty one, and I thought, "Why not just let it go and hope to get a first class?" But the other side of me refused to listen. I came this far. Why should I botch the last exam and maintain the eating doubt about whether or not I'll get it? I might as well give my best and fight through it to the very end. Even if it doesn't go the way I want it to, I know I tried my best! The same can be applied here and believe me, even if the worst happens and you have this attitude, you'll just be like, "Oh well. It happened. Never mind!"
It's not over yet guys. It's far from that. If you want to drop watching the show, or give up on the ship, by all means go ahead. But I, and by the looks of it, a good few others, haven't given up on it yet, and I even find that those who never held much hope for the ship are still here, being more optimistic than those who were all in for it.