>>50372844I think the ashnime's morale in that context is that there is no absolute key to victory since different league contenders who won against Ash all used very different strategies (Ritchie - insane luck, Harrison - a well balanced universal strategy, Tyson - actually well written frienderino power, Tobias - legendary power, Cameron - reliance on Aura with the whole Riolu thing, Alain - unironic power autism)
Ash's strategy is sporadic speed and the reason why he doesn't win is really spelt out as the fact that he just detracts way too much from actual training to hang out with his companions and solve their issues and the anime shows this as a GOOD thing since as a traveller you are bound to socialize, Alain's storyline with Mairin highlights this, there's no point in winning if nobody's cheering you on.
Ash is an amateur battler by heart, he does Pokemon League stuff for fun, to be the very best is a distant motivation that he doesn't spend too much time thinking upon, if anything, he just likes travelling and interacting with people and Pokemon more than anything else, Ash is the ultimate /padt/ tourist.
The ashnime's message is that without living a fun social life, the aim and journey to success and victory is not worth it, you have to balance this stuff out or sth like that.
Post XY though, I don't even know what it's about anymore since there's no leagues anymore
