Pinsirius
Sentimental Fool ;)
Is it really appropriate when the point of a show is to see Ash become truly great? In the end, if as a character we are supposed to believe that he will someday be great, you have the two approaches, build up a head of steam and vow to crush his opposition, or take that more pragmatic approach you highlighted, and tbh, the former is probably better. I want to see a kid with burning desires to win, not patience.
Ash has been shot down four times now, the fourth time after being unfairly slaughtered by someone who frankly should not have been allowed to compete. If Ash couldn't take losses in stride, he would have stopped at Johto, given that he knew what he was doing by then and gave what remains one of his best efforts.
Notice that Ash doesn't really encounter wall bangers that remind him to be serious anymore, instead he gets legitimate opponents (Paul) and plot hax (Tobias, Trip). Either the writers noticed that those experiences would only highlight Ash's inability to win at the leagues, or Ash, who still has plenty of fire left, if I recall Best Wishes 1 correctly, realized that he can in fact lose.
Well, Ash is a lot more goody goody in Unova than Kanto. He isn't as much fun as he used to be, which disappoints me.
That is certainly there; I recall my younger brother, also a fan back in the day, noticed that everyone seemed to act stupid in Hoenn. How much nostalgia goggles factors into that assessment I have yet to determine, as he did play Sapphire, but has mostly stuck to the remakes. The show doesn't really have the nerve it used to.