of course. it was the only time the anime had any artistic vision
>>51682757the entire point of the series was that ash was an impulsive, inexperienced 10 year old who, like most people in pokejapan, wasn't cut out to be a great trainer
his main roster is underpowered outside of pika, who's often just as impulsive and prone to fucking up. his only nukes are either disobedient or forgotten at oak's lab because he values hanging out with the pokemon he has real bonds with (starters and birds) over bumrushing gyms with muk/kingler/snorlax/2 tauros
he's doomed to failure; the real pokemon was the friends he made along the way
from the jp opening theme:
>we'll add some more companions... and we're off to the next city>succeeding forever and always... there's no guarantee about that [oak: indeed!]>but i will live true forever and always, with them herelosing the indigo league, having small victories in the orange islands, then losing the silver conference as well is perfect
