>>54847244But anyway let's get this out of the way now:
vs Tobias (DP): No, Ash was never going to win it here and I doubt he was ever allowed to win once they made Tobias. Sorry Daipababies. The central narrative of DP was his clash of ideals with Paul, which he won by beating him. Tobias was not the climax, and he was very much not meant to be beaten given how he sweeps everyone with a single Legendary.
vs Alain (XY): Looking back I can see why XYZoomers were so angry. Generally speaking, Ash usually beats his major rival in the series (Paul/Gladion). Once his grand finalist opponent was his rival he had a higher chance of winning. Every other League episode title was a generic reference to a fierce battle and didn't contain the word 'Victory' in the title. That was, until Alola, which was on the nose that someone was about to win. But, at the same time there is a lot that lends credence to the theory that the League was never planned to be the climax of the series, that it was gonna come down to a story that "Alain is strong but a fool who loves strength unlike the more morally pure Ash." Or some shit like that. Post-match Ash is surrounded by his friends. No-one goes to see Alain, not even Manon. And if you were watching carefully, there was a lot of foreboding interspersed with the fight scenes hinting that something was gonna happen. So, once the Writing Team made the Team Flare plot the emotional/narrative climax of the arc there was little room for any other emotional climax, like Ash finally winning.
Here's what they got wrong.
Very few care about the Villain plot, unless it is either Team Rocket (cause Zoomers want to see Ash finally defeat them) or Team Plasma (much subversion and dark). There would be more people interested in seeing Ash win rather than him defeat Team Who? Boomers certainly wouldn't care about a villain. Most fans tuned in to see a win and didn't watch the previous Alain eps besides the Mega specials.
