>>49896808The things you listed are surface level positives to the SM League, but that's not the core problem with the arc. Having a league arc last like 15 episodes and showing non-Ash battles are positives, but the execution left a lot to be desired.
>>49897278It doesn't have to be either/or, but even ignoring that having Ash's friends all in it wouldn't be an issue if all of them were shown to be good battlers throughout the show. It makes no sense that Mallow or Lillie would make it into Top 16 of a tournament like this over someone like Kahili when Mallow barely battled during the show, and Lillie was actually scared of touching Pokemon half the time.
