>>23460877This is really the only reason. Being the creator's pet, it would annihilate everything in its path. By the end of the season, it would have to be a coin toss as to whether luke or Pika go with Ash to the next region, and unfortunately for Sugimori, Pikachu came first.
He'd never allow MaleRenamon to be booted off the team or to face something as humiliating as losing a battle, so to compensate he settles for hyping every single one of its appearances and giving it dedicated anime arcs.
