>>50251552I know the XY league ending has been memed into infamy, but, honestly I can't help but find it the most thematically satisfying after the loss to Ritchie.
I say this because over the course of XY Ash has been emphasizing strength and winning, and his attracting of people that act as his groupies it gives the impression that Ash has been pushing himself to the point of exertion to earn their admiration. During the summer camp arc, in which Ash hurt his ankle because of Serena, and later did a dangerous stunt to save Bonnie, I thought that the writers wasted a chance to portray this theme by Ash doing all of this without a hitch or consequences, instead of having him fail and reconsider his heroics, but now I see that this was deliberate to have Ash never learn this lesson until his loss to Alain.
What furthers this idea is that after the loss he is left by Greninja and Serena, two of the characters that admired his heroics the most and having him start fresh in Alola. This made Ash drop the tryhard schtick and have fun in Alola without trying to look cool. This is emphasized with the Alola kids welcoming Ash by challenging and beating him in their competitions to show the viewers that these are characters that will stick by Ash even if he isn't the badass hero or "the person they admire", and by Ash winning the league.
In the end, I think the writers ultimately made XY to be a negative example and a how not to guide of Ash's journey.
