>>28562374First of all, that is not an concept art of Mallow. It was a concept art of the Starter Pokemon.
Second, that image is in REALLY low quality and, on top that, the image is really small. Getting all the details perfect would be impossible.
>Ponytail splits at shoulderNot true. Look again, it splits above shoulder, just a bit lower than her ear. The image is small and LQ, so I can understand not getting where her shoulder was supposed to be.
>No knot visibleCorrect. Nothing to say here.
>No visible headbandWrong. The place where the headband is supposed to be at is a lot darker. It isn't clear, but again, the image is too LQ for anything to be clear.
>Bangs do not splitAgain, correct.
>Ponytail swoops upCorrect again.
>No frillsCorrect.
Now, notice that all of these are small details. My argument would be that the image is way too small, and insignificant to get all the details right, considering it's supposed to be the Starters' concept art what has nothing to do with Mallow.
If you were to look again, you can even Pikachu is misshaped and lacks a lot of details, and Mallow doesn't even have fingers.
My point is, her overall clothing and hair resembles Mallow. That fact does not change, even if it lacks some details. It's also true that she seems to be Ash's traveling partner in Alola, and this image depicts them together. Finally, Riddler has confirmed them to be the actual starters. In front of all this, you argue that she isn't Mallow because she like "frills".
Here's a challenge for all the denialfags. Try drawing every detail you're claiming it lacks on the image. And not on a zoomed version, draw on the original version. See how that goes and post the image.
Pic unrelated.