>>37771135That's a bit of a stretch. I think that anime surfing pikachu its more a reference/hint to the minigame in Yellow that you get from transferring the Pikachu that knows surf from Pokemon Stadium or from an event, (surfing Pikachu was obtianable in the original JP-only stadium also) which came out around the same time that name episode aired. There's also Pikachu surfing in Snap and in the Manga so I imagine the idea of Pikachu surfing was pushed around after the release of red/blue, inspired an episode of the anime, and finalised in Yellow.
Alolan Raichu is just a callback to all that and the fact the game is set in Alola which is like Hawaii.
