>>27907595>actually, if we flash back when AG was about to end, people were at maximum hype during those times, looking forward to DP because of how much of a high note it ends on.That's because we lost to Tyson in the Semi-Finals, who then went on to be the fucking winner. We had a clear sense of progression up until that point.
Seriously, the writers built up the first three leagues really well.
Ash lost to Ritchie in the Indigo League (his fault, he didn't train Charizard well and never earned his respect) who then went on to lose immediately afterwards, showing us that there's a lot more to aspire to.
Ash then lost to Harrison in the Silver Conference in the Quarter-Finals, who then went on to lose in the semi-finals to the person who became Champion, which showed us that though we had come far, we still had a ways to go.
Ash then lost to Tyson in the Evergrand Converense in the Semi-Finals, who then went on to actually BE the Champion - Ash at this point was essentially the 2nd runner up, which gave everyone a very large sense of progress from the beginning of the series. He had gone from losing to a random halfway through the tournament to nearly beating the eventual Champion in the Semi-Finals.
It was already shaping up to have Ash win the next one - there was only one other stop he could make, and that would be losing in the actual finals, but everyone hoped and thought he would skip that, though that would be acceptable.
Of course, Ash ended up remaining stagnant for the next two fucking conferences, with no progression to speak of, and then he got token progression in the final conference.
