>>32167716The anime is mainly directed at little boys, and the last time Ash had a feminine starter was several gens ago. Giving Popplio to a female trainer was the only choice in the writers' eyes, as it's already being marketed as the starter for little girls.
And the manga is a case of Kusaka using giving starters to the male and female protags based on a pattern of Grass -> Fire -> Water for the boy, while the the girl gets the starter weak to the boy's. Red had grass, Gold, had fire, Ruby had water, Dia had grass, Black had fire, Lack- 2 had water, X had grass, and now Sun has fire.
