He's not just becoming unbeatable, he's becoming even more unbeatable, whatever the heck that means! I hope they give Goh a bit more screen time though, he needs all the time he can get to become this new, unbeatable Ash's 'equal'...
There were quite some opportunities to finish the anime with Sinnoh and Kalos being the perfect moment to end his journey (maybe in OS too) with Kalos being the defining moment that he reached higher than past seasons back then.
If the writers cared to give Ash a proper satisfying conclusion during XY and not the "moral victor" over Alain that for a lot of people was still disapointed, it could be a good opportunity to end Ash's journeys. But seriously, the only character with a decent satisfying conclusion was Serena, and it was the best episode post Team Flare arc.
I guess fans demanding Alain to be in the league backfired so hard, it's a shame too because I like Alain but i hated how he was shove into the league with no real motive whatsoever because he had no intention on being there on the first place. Despite the red flags, I thought maybe the battle in the League would be epic and was a 50-50. Ash in the Kalos league hype was huge because this was probably the perfect time for him to win because he seemed really competitive and determined, he deserved it, but alas.
Looking back at XY, I'm now not sure if that was the series to end Ash's journey. Sure, he was at one of his best and deserved to win the Kalos League, but it was also a series with no continuity. None of Ash's past companions appeared, he didn't use his reserves, and none of his past accomplishments were brought up.
Alain was foreshadowed in the main anime after the Ash vs Clemont battle, however the execution of Ash and Alain's "rivalry" was very bad. Alain was introduced so late, and his only reason to be Ash's rival was Ash-Greninja (mostly), this was worse than Sawyer who at least had admiration for Ash because he was a experienced trainer and Sawyer an Amateur. The worst part is that Alain had zero interest in the league, he only wanted to battle with Ash, this is one of the reasons why I consider Ash vs Sawyer a much better battle than Ash vs Alain.
Alain's only motivation was Ash Greninja literally, that's it, their rivalry was never developed as good as it was with Sawyer, just maybe if the third time Alain fought Ash as a Team Flare member at the Lumiose Tower and the final battle of the League was Ash vs Sawyer maybe it could have saved it, key word, save. But indeed, Alain in the league felt forced, what was he gonna do after he won the League anyway?
I see why, it would have been kinda odd in a way since no past references were made if i'm not mistaken, hence why some people felt Kalos was like its own series rather than a continuation.
Another thing that I need to mention is that XYZ for moments feels more like the Ash-Greninja season more than Ash season. Like in the Team Flare Arc it seems like Ash and Greninja are in "equal" contribution to end with the crisis, however in the penultimate episode we see that Greninja is the special one, and it was used as an excuse to now having a unique form like Ash-Greninja to be with the other Ash's Pokémon.
Rather than the end, it should've been the beginning of the end. Kalos had an Elite Four, and you could write a whole mini-series with that as the focus. It'd be super-easy to have Ash interact with his old friends and traveling companions as he trains for the five toughest battles he'd ever have to face. They could've done the whole 'Pokémon School' thing with a new protagonist, while continuing Ash's story on the side for a short while. Maybe it would've also been a great way to test out which type of show people had more interest in.
Thinking about it, didn't a Gym Leader said when Greninja was a Frogadier that it was special? I think it was made clear from there that Ash's Greninja was a rather special one, though i can't discredit Ash, without him the transformation would never happen.
I don't think Haruka's case is a good example given that she still received far less development than Satoshi did in spite of her Contests. In fact, many of her Contest episodes doubled as Satoshi episodes since he used several of them as opportunities to train his Pokemon, which irked me personally since by comparison Haruka received little focus during Satoshi's Gym battle episodes, aside from her cheering for him of course.
OH WOAH OHHHHH IM UNBEATABLE
Exactly, Alain had nothing going for him. Ash had everything.
Greninja was Alain’s Charizard’s chew toy.
Look at what you did with SM, Pokemon. Missed opportunity right here.
Gou isn’t a battler and his screentime and story centers on his progression as a character hence the focus more so on his shillmon as progressing characters and their relationships and lore with him as species versus just “strength training” Messon has not been treated badly at all. It was established as a crybaby, hindrance and mostly Gou’s little thing needing protecting. They moved on with the Inteleon trainer to the lore/story about the Jimeleon species being lazy via a storyline about its own unhappiness with itself currently and how that mirrored Gou’s own turmoil as a kid.
Yes. This is about where I’m at tbh, I like Satoshi but his character has an array of screentime to last a lifetime. You could marathon one episode a day of three years and still not make it through all the episodes with Satoshi. I like him but if I’m hungry for some good old Satoshi focus I’ll go rewatch some of my fav episodes. I’m happy they prioritize the underdeveloped and temporary cast first this series.
I mean compared to Ace and even Grook it certainly has had the short end of the stick.
The complaint is less about how little he does with his Pokemon and how the PWC is a afterthought.
He lost to Bea, 2 random trainers and Rinto, thats 4 times. Idk why people want Ash to lose more, his win loss ratio is perfect atm and he deserves to have his status and strength properly shown then lose multiple times coz apparently every time Ash does something people want to discredit him
Ok i think after nearly 25 years of losing the important competition of the region and beign treated as a rookie, i prefer him winning and becoming unbeateable
I don't mind him becoming "unbeatable" as long as it's done properly and shows the cumulative growth as a trainer and his maturity over the years. But if it's done in a poor manner, the tell-don't-show and off-screen approach that Journeys prioritizes for some blasted reason, then it's a big problem and one that can potentially end up making Ash a Gary Stu. So unless they change that approach, the "unbeatable" part is definitely susceptible to skepticism and pessimism.