>>53464114I get these feelings, and can relate a bit, although I honestly didn't set high expectations for MPM. It certainly seemed like they might be doing a lot of wish fulfillment for OS fans after MPM 2, but it became pretty clear by the 3rd of 4th episode that that's not what this was about.
Unlike Ash Ketchum, the people who watch the show are not frozen in time. They grow up and mature, and it's natural to want to see the character they related to do the same - I'd certainly love to find out what an adult Ash is doing. But for better or worse, the decision was made at some point 20+ years ago that all other considerations for the show should take a backseat to its role as a marketing vessel for the broader Pokemon empire. The type of character growth folks were hoping to see out of this, just don't fit within the limits that have been placed on the narrative.
FWIW, I think they could have actually done something a bit more compelling if they did actually acknowledge what a huge fucking thing winning the Masters 8 was supposed to be. Yuyama said that he wanted MPM to be a show about Ash having a chance to "just be a 10 year old again," or something along those lines. That seemed like a puzzling creative choice to me, because...well, that's basically what he did for the entire run of the show, and no one who achieves something like this would ever be able to go back to relative anonymity. But it also makes sense that they'd try to sidestep that issue, given how committed they've been over the past two decades to keeping him from actually having that "coming of age" moment. The actual changes that would be brought about by such an achievement don't mesh with someone being a kid in a neverending summer.