>>54015074I wouldn't even say they allow Goh x Ash. People were very vocal from the start about Ash not being gay and were quick to call Goh a fag, and that anyone that liked the ship was either a filthy fujo or pedo that was sexualizing minors. Had Goh been a girl though, many of these same people would've been the biggest supporters of the ship and the ship would've been huge. Goh also would've been received far better and shipped with many more characters, imo. Girls get more of pass in the anime because a lot of the anons that post here/Poketubers/fans elsewhere are straight and get off on the pokegirls. That's not to say female Goh wouldn't have still gotten criticism (like Serena and Iris), but more people would've given her a pass due to her being cute/sexy, and they could still self-insert as Ash and fuck the girl.
When there were rumors going around that the PM19 trio would be going to Paldea and that Chloe would be playing a much bigger role, taking on gyms with Ash sort of mentoring her, that really fueled the Bloombolt craze, and it would've really started to blow up had that happened, I think. Even if Ash/Chloe didn't have half the shippy moments in Paldea Ash/Goh did in PM19, the fandom would've still embraced it far more and it would've been a bigger thing than Goh x Ash (or any Goh ship) ever was. For all the hate directed at Chloe, she still wasn't nearly as polarizing or disliked as Goh.
