>>49984915Really there's 2 characterizations of Ash you can just about separate apart.
A. There's the character of him from OS to DP, then XY, where he starts as a dorky sassy kid and eventually matures into an experienced trainer and almost battle master mind, with his battle frontier win, Sinnoh league, and Kalos league tops bringing him closer and closer to his goal, with chunk of his initial childness draining away over time (which makes sense, if you ignore what the show tells you and just imagine Ash is about 15/16 when XY takes place).
B. Then there's the version of him from OS to DP + BW + SM where he doesn't really grow up as much, he's much more of a dork and comedy relief takes up a bigger portion of his character. He's still trying, but in terms of being powerful or cool, characterization A wins.
JN is where things get a big weird. It seems to be taking characterization A. the very skilled and powerful Ash with lots of experience and ability to win the league and applying the surface level character of B, which is still a dorky fun loving kid. Leaving neither characterization as fully realized. People who want shonen protag ash are gonna been put off by how much like a little kid he acts and people who want the lovable 10 year old just won't be interested when the show tries to be cool and make Ash cool.
