>>35580736>>35580758Yeah, Ash tends to lose from now and then and fail to win the Pokemon League, but he's a different character from how he was in Kanto and even into Johto. He was treated as very much a rookie who didn't have much idea of what he was doing. In the early series, Brock and Misty keep reminding him that he didn't earn his first two gym badges in a battle, and he isn't given much respect by anyone. In later series (mostly starting with AG), Ash takes on a more mature personality and gradually becomes almost a mentor to other characters. He may fail from time to time, but his character isn't that he's a failure, he's a hardworking Pokemon Master who doesn't always win, but will always come back from a loss.
My point in all this is that the first episode acts as a deconstruction of Pokemon since it shows that Ash is a rookie and screws up a lot. In the games (and in the imaginations of the children playing the games), the protagonist easily bests the early game and continues on, eventually becoming a Pokemon Master. Ash in the first episode is the reality, where the fledgling Pokemon trainer would be way in over his head and make grave mistakes that results in ROUTE ONE acting as a giant hurdle to overcome.
