Blue Saturday
Unfurl your Blessed Wings!
The Alola League is a newly-established thing and Professor Kukui did it because he wanted the chance to bring his region into the league world. He was planning to establish it back during the Kanto episodes. As a result there’s no criteria to enter the league and any trainer that wants to enter can do so. So it’s a free-for-all between characters we’ve consistently seen throughout the series versus literal-who’s and a clean adaptation of the game-verse version. This league is about Alola and not Satoshi and as a result they had to spread the focus between multiple characters.
The Kalos League showed off Satoshi v. Alan, Satoshi v. Shouta, and Shouta v. Tierno in full iirc. So only three battles and only two being narratively defined fights. The Alola League had Mao, Lillie’s sibling battle, Mukuroh/Junaiper rivalry, Kaki/Gladion’s brother battle, Guzma/Satoshi’s fight for the league. This competition is clearly more focused on the agency and fidelity of the characters alongside the battles. The point is that the Alola League is the Alola League not the Kalos, Jouto or whatever league people want it to be. If you wanted high-level stakes and earth-shattering, blood thirsty fights for the crown you were never going to like this league.
The Kalos League showed off Satoshi v. Alan, Satoshi v. Shouta, and Shouta v. Tierno in full iirc. So only three battles and only two being narratively defined fights. The Alola League had Mao, Lillie’s sibling battle, Mukuroh/Junaiper rivalry, Kaki/Gladion’s brother battle, Guzma/Satoshi’s fight for the league. This competition is clearly more focused on the agency and fidelity of the characters alongside the battles. The point is that the Alola League is the Alola League not the Kalos, Jouto or whatever league people want it to be. If you wanted high-level stakes and earth-shattering, blood thirsty fights for the crown you were never going to like this league.