I confess I’m at a loss as to what you’re trying to get at with this post. Nothing I said has the slightest bit to do with anything you’ve said here, nor have I claimed to have answers for anything. I’m not even sure what questions I’m apparently making convenient answers for, honestly.
it's probably just me, but the way you responded to my post seemed like arrogance talking, for that I apologize.
There’s no convenience in pointing out that you don’t surpass people of equal skill level without bringing your a-game, at least not in a realistic manner. That’s not a statement being made about the show; that’s a broad statement about how comparing power, skill etc. between characters in any media works.
This is a mixed thing, because I've seen people use examples of other animes countless times, only for others to counter that it shouldn't apply since they want pokemon to be it's own thing.
in the end it comes down to personal preference I suppose on what people want to bring to the table, and what people will accept.
To use a slightly awkward comparison, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX had an episode where the main character lost to somebody using a deck he’d cobbled together on the spot.
Are you referring to Jaden's first Duel with Aster? you might want to go back and re-watch that because he lost that duel, even if he was told to do it.
And when it came time to use his true cards against Jaden, he won alright, but Jaden got him back not long after with a handful of new cards he had never used before himself, sure Aster knew how to use what he got out of those packs despite losing on purpose, but Jaden didn't even test his new cards before fighting him the third time, and still won despite that and Aster using a new boss monster at the same time.
in hindsight that's not much different than how things are with Ash and his current team.
And this isn’t a concept foreign to the anime, either. Deliberately or not, the anime up until DP showed a progression of Ash getting better when using his best, maintaining that progression with a freshly raised team in AG, and then breaking that limit with his A-game again in DP.
Then BW killed that by having him fall backwards, XY started a rebound, SM had him win a league, JN's...i guess only things could only go up?
I suppose the general point I was trying to make before was that it's pointless to question and demand answers from this show when the writers won't give them.
I can understand the fustration of the execution not being done well, but we're not in control of what we get.
I'd rather not debate this further with you, i'm not that type of person.
