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What's your opinion on the Manalo Conference? (Alola league)

How good/bad was Alola league overall?


  • Total voters
    81

Kuzehiko

That moment I found a lifetime treasure
Took the idea to make this thread from MetaMantis' threads. What's your thought on the Alola league? Personally in my opinion I have it top bottom barrel right there with the Unova League, and potentially M8.

Also adding a poll. Feel free to explain your opinion if you want ~
 
Trash.
 

JustAStatistic

Super Casual Trainer
Somewhere between Good and Excellent. I like that we got to see the whole tournament, all the companions + TR got to participate, and all the battles were enjoyable. And while the Rowlet fakeout in Ash vs Hau was the only truly bad part, the lack of a 6v6 battle wasn't exactly ideal.
 

Almighty Zard

He has returned.
all leagues gotta start somewhere, it wasn't perfect but it wasn't terrible either.

There were a few negative moments (such as Rowlet's sleeping gag going too far, and Gladion cheating especially against Kiawe) but I generally found it enjoyable personally.
 
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Pokemonfan5

Well-Known Member
Easily the best pokemon league, anyone can enter is big strength of this league which give way more great/amazing moments than any other leagues and even than the opponents Ash defeated was more powerful than past leagues, it's about all the major characters not just about Ash and one or two of his rivals, almost all the battles has some strong narrative, all of Ash's pokemons got to shine here instead of overshadowed by one ace and it give Ash his biggest achievement of his life and leave the region first time as winner

Writing and pacing of this league is easily better than others, only con for me is Guzzlord part was rushed and Ash vs Gladion wasn't 6vs6
 
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DankOverlord

Komodo Dragons Rule!
Considering the disaster that is the PWC, I look fondly at Manalo Conference for the gradual increase in stakes in each battle and letting every major battler have a shot.

Plus the clever battles made up for the amount of 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 battles. Watching things like abilities, strategies and the likes overcoming Z-Moves, Megas, Mythicals and even Legendaries like Silvally was cool
 
I’ve already stated my problems with the Alola League before. This is why I dislike the Alola League:
The Alola League was awful. First off, anyone could compete, which makes it a joke of a league. Secondly, the league goes from 151 to top 16 immediately and has only 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 battles, which aren’t entertaining in a league. I have so many problems with this league. Everyone in this league sucked except for Ash, Gladion, Guzma, and Kiawe. First Ash beats ****ING FABA in the top 16 and then meets Hau in which the plot armor ensues. There is so much bullshit in this series and so much that happens without explanation. ROWLET FALLS ASLEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BATTLE, Hau wins but is called off because of said Rowlet, and then Rowlet somehow beats Decidueye, WTF. The whole league was plagued with gags. The semifinals and finals were fine, but it feels wrong that Ash won because he should have won in Kalos. At least Ash vs Kukui was great, but that’s not part of the league.
Also Ash vs Gladion was dull (counter counter with counter is stupid, but Pikachu vs Zoroark was the best 1v1 in the entire tournament). Guzma vs Ash was the best Ash battle. Loved watching Greedy Rapooh vs Marowak as well.
 

RafaSceptile

Well-Known Member
Took the idea to make this thread from MetaMantis' threads. What's your thought on the Alola league? Personally in my opinion I have it top bottom barrel right there with the Unova League, and potentially M8.

Also adding a poll. Feel free to explain your opinion if you want ~
Imo, it depends on how you measure it.

For example, if you consider how good is the average episode, then the League is alright, it has a decent number of very good episodes but also a decent number of bad ones.
On the other hand, it is the league that offered the most variety in comparison to any previous league. For example, since the semifinals until the last episode of Ash vs Kukui, all but the Guzzlords episode were at least good, that is already 10 good episodes, which is obviously bigger than any other Pokémon League to date.

For me, it is the league that I enjoyed the most, but I think is the second best league very close to Johto, and below the Sinnoh League which is the best league overall.
 

Ryker101

Well-Known Member
Tbh I had no idea it was controversial cause I loved it. It waa refreshing having classmates or known side characters participate instead of just cotds. You could argue ppl aren’t as impressive as other leagues, but everything felt more personal b/w the matchups. That’s more important imo cause the stakes are higher and it suits the characters more

Initially 1v1s seemed like a downgrade but since we got so many it actually had more battles. Ash vs Kukui made up for it too. And Ash winning is amazing, finally it makes sense for the story and it doesn’t feel like Ash is being held back for no reason
 

MetaMantis

Offline until Ash vs Leon
Took the idea to make this thread from MetaMantis' threads. What's your thought on the Alola league? Personally in my opinion I have it top bottom barrel right there with the Unova League, and potentially M8.

Also adding a poll. Feel free to explain your opinion if you want ~
Aw... I was gonna ask them. pff. But I suppose I get answers no matter who asks them, so it doesn't really matter lol.
 

janejane6178

Kaleido Star FOREVER in my heart <3
Personally in my opinion I have it top bottom barrel right
It's nothing new that you have a refined and wonderful taste.
I dont see this "league" as the others, hence I cant compare it to them.
If I would, it would be bottom bottom indeed.
Any child with no battle experience and 1-2 Pokemon could enter and even advance to the next level. It was horrible. The league "final boss" didnt even have official battle qualifications. All he did was battle random ppl in a battle royal in a region that is not very competitive. No gyms in that regions, nothing. Since the ppl in this region don't battle, they do other things like cooking and just resting w/e
Meanwhile, you needed to achieve 8 gyms in order to enter the other leagues.
 

SoraFan23

Generation 4 was how I got into Pokémon
It was okay. The idea of getting every single trainer to battle in the league felt rushed and the battles didn't feel all that interesting. However, I am happy that Ash FINALLY won in the Alola league after so many times of losing in the past 6 regions and the battle with Gladion was pretty good.
 

Kuzehiko

That moment I found a lifetime treasure
I think I've changed my mind a bit about the Alola league. It's definitely not the worst league like I used to think. Unova and Indigo leagues sucked so much more. Indigo and Unova were such a disrespect to Ash. Alola league did have some good battles. Gladion and Guzma were definitely good characters and their respective battle were pretty decent. It has a lot of unnecessary stuff that doesn't contribute to the league itself but definitely not the worst for a league that had been created recently.
 

mehmeh1

Not thinking twice!
I'd say it works as a way to bring SM itself full circle, but it didn't really feel like it had the weight of it being the big win. Not even really for the whole "Everyone can join" thing, but like, Ash's first fight was a gag stomp, the next one........we don't talk about it, the semi finals was basically his opponent beating himself (works for SM's story, but not for the big win), and while the finals were fine, Melmetal's evolution was way too last minute and disconnected from Ash (plus the animation left a lot to be desired). Vs Kukui works, but still everything else makes it considering it worthy of being the big win pretty hard to do.
 

SerGoldenhandtheJust

Deluded Dreamer
The Alola league, like much of SM, for better or worse, stuck to the theme of being different and really it's own thing and style
If SM's style was for you, you'd likely love the league and enjoy it. If it wasn't, you are more prone to dislike it considering it's too different
One thing I hate is the people who had a sudden turn around and only love the Alola league because 'Ash won'. For me that just feels like such a superficial reason disregarding what the league arc was for and did. Sure, it's nice to get more people like it because of that but I much prefer people who like the Alola league because of the way it approached character and storytelling rather just because Ash won

Anyway, Alola league differentiates itself from other leagues because it pays more emphasis and priority to characters, and not just Ash but everyone. To that end they make it as long as it needed to be, show EVERY battle and feature major character moments for everyone. You really wont enjoy the Alola league as much if you're not invested in all the characters/series since the beginning, because it does a wonderful job of bringing things full circle and wrapping them up

Mallow, Lana, Sophocles, Kiawe, Gladion, Guzma, Ash, even James and ofc Kukui all have major storylines that receive good payoff or have major character moments. Guzma's story is my personal favourite out of the bunch

Also, the 'entry requirements' and no '6v6s', the major complaints of Alola league were always such a non issue to me. It's the first league meant to promote the culture of battling in Alola, of course it's not going to have entry requirements. And the main reason of there not being entry requirements was to have the amount of character stories and growth they wanted to showcase for all the characters. Ukw sure, have entry requirements in form of trials or something so only Ash, Illima, Guzma probably will find a way, Kiawe, Lana maybe, Hau and Kukui participate. Sure have some nameless trainers like Katie come in too. That would satisfy the 'oh alola trainers are so weak no entry requirements ' whiners, but man it would be SO UNSATISFACTORY to get results and conclusions from characters in which there is ZERO investment, esp with how SM's main liking point is how you like the characters. So yeah, no entry requirements for the win for the story they wanted to tell!! It serviced and made the arc richer rather than conforming to whining power scalers

As for 6v6, I consider Kukui when I talk about Alola league. For me it's still the same arc, the main battle that cements Ash as the champion of Alola in everyone's eyes, as we see in JN as too, and the culmination of it. It felt like the culmination of it too, not Gladion. You don't wanna consider it, fine upto you. I will consider it though because it is THAT story only. And my, 4 episodes for 6v6 is as much as every other series usually had on average for 6v6s in leagues, and we got a flashy and amazing battle. And heck, for only those people who care about battles, sure it may not have been always so flashy but genuinely ignoring Jessie vs James and Ash vs Hau, I found every battle good, with some true standouts like Kiawe vs Acerola, Sophocles vs Kiawe and Lana vs Guzma being so damn fun, the semi finals being hype, the finals being really well done and ofc the stellar Kukui battle which many long term fans consider the best of the best of the series!!!

So yeah, I liked how the league was different , how it serviced the story but still provided the battles albeit in a different format, and ofc while I hate Ash winning being the only reason some people like it, one can't deny Ash winning is hella satisfying not for his character but for his story in alola as a whole. All in all, really strong writing throughout!!

Definitely my second favourite league after Sinnoh, tied with Johto
 
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