Real question here, was it ever established that "pokemon master" = Catching all the pokemon outside of Japan? Seems like an invention of the west, Ash never seemed to give a shit about catching them all, which just made people hate him for boasting about catching them and taking a pass on a ton of wild pokemon he encountered. The show didn't make Ash feel obligated to catch them either since their version of the pokedex already had pokemon data on it instead of needing to catch them first.
I know "gotta catch em all" was at least a slogan they invented for the west. But Pokemon Master always seemed ambiguous to me, especially in the games where Lance calls you a Pokemon Master simply for beating him,
