I really didn't feel like Alola made everything Ash revolved aside from the fact he got furthest, which in fairness made sense by that point after six regions of experience. The league at least tried to be a swan song for the entire Alola region before Ash left again.My problem is the anime doesn't give me a reason to root for ash. Why should i cheer for him? Because he's the main character? Literally every trainer who participates wants to win it, so what makes ash special?
Unless there are stakes involved or he's got something to prove like in Ash vs Paul and Ash vs Guzma, every league has been plot armor galore ( especially kalos and alola ).
I love that XY kept Team flare for the finale because not only did it make everybody relevant again but it also tells you that Ash and Pikachu are not the centre of the universe.And alola made everything seem about ash all over again
It helps that Alola was a clear cut region where battling wasn't the be all end all agenda for Pokemon trainers and Ash had spent a lot of the time sucking miserably at whatever the other students were good at.
Hell even the Guzzlord invasion, though kinda tacked on, I feel arguably did a better job than the Flare plot in that regard since it didn't feel like everyone's contributions were made null by the OP as hell legendary Pokemon appearing and flicking the villain away effortlessly. We got stuff like the Kahunas teaming up with the Tapu guardians, Lillie getting to save her big brother for once, Ash and Kukui teaming up, Naganadel returning and getting to use a Z Move (through Kukui instead of Ash I might add), Team Rocket rescuing Bewear after she finally meets her match, and Kiawe and Gladion's newfound respect continuing development, all ridiculously compressed but still some nice moments that weren't just all about Ash being the main hero.
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