Preview Ash's four Alola League opponents revealed

[Rath]

He'll be facing Ilima, Hau, Gladion, and Guzma. One of them in the Top 16, one in the Top 8 (Quarter-Finals), one in the Top 4 (Semi-Finals), and one in the Finals.

 

[BigDocFan]

Well here's hoping for battles that aren't one on one, three vs three would be good if we can't get a full battle

 

[Kurolegacy]

Not really a surprise considering that 3 of them were already set in the role of rival and Guzma is basically the villainous opponent of this.

 

[Rath]

This means that Ash won't fight Kiawe though, basically making Kiawe the Barry/Tierno of Alola

 

[Kurolegacy]

This means that Ash won't fight Kiawe though, basically making Kiawe the Barry/Tierno of Alola

It was pretty much an inevitability once they decided to skip all the way to the top 16 after the preliminaries.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Ilima- Top 16
Hau- Top 8
Gladion- Top 4
Guzma- Finals

This is how I think it’d go.

 

[Kurolegacy]

Ilima- Top 16
Hau- Top 8
Gladion- Top 4
Guzma- Finals

This is how I think it’d go.

Sounds about right in order of importance.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I could see Ash facing Gladion in the finals since he's met him more than once during the course of the series. There isn't a huge rivalry in SM regardless, but he has had two battles against Gladion, which is more than he's had with any of these other characters. Guzma being his final opponent wouldn't be a huge stretch though, especially if it does connect with whatever storyline they have planned for Team Skull.

It's just a shame that Hau and Guzma were introduced so late into SM and Ash barely had any interaction with them. More appearances would help to flesh them out and make their battles against Ash much more meaningful. As it stands, I kind of wonder why they bothered to include Hau this late into the game. They could have just as easily given another character a Dartrix and Decidudeye instead and the impact would have been about the same.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I could see Ash facing Gladion in the finals since he's met him more than once during the course of the series. There isn't a huge rivalry in SM regardless, but he has had two battles against Gladion, which is more than he's had with any of these other characters. Guzma being his final opponent wouldn't be a huge stretch though, especially if it does connect with whatever storyline they have planned for Team Skull.

I really hoped that Gladion was the finalist, Gladion and Guzma’s is the only order I’m not 100% convinced about. I put Guzma higher because he’d probably be closer to battling Masked Royal/Kukui due to their long standing rivalry and up the stakes a bit for him.

 

[Eeveely]

16:ash vs Illima 3v3
Hau and gladion and guzma and kiawe smash team rocket and shophocles and mallow
8 :ash vs hau 3v3
Gladion is sawyer and kiawe is tierno (every rival should defeat a fake rival) guzma and plumeria defeat lilie and lana
4 :ash vs gladion 6v6
Guzma vs plumeria
2 :ash vs guzma
And the exhibition match ash defeats MR, okay it's half impossible but who knows?
And since this series is ending soon , why not evolve rowlet against hau before stocking it proffessor Oak's lab

I really hoped that Gladion was the finalist, Gladion and Guzma’s is the only order I’m not 100% convinced about. I put Guzma higher because he’d probably be closer to battling Masked Royal/Kukui due to their long standing rivalry and up the stakes a bit for him.

As long as ash and gladion have a full 6 on 6 battle I am ok with it

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

As long as ash and gladion have a full 6 on 6 battle I am ok with it

There are probably no 6 vs 6 battles for this league. Literally no one has 6 confirmed Pokémon, and Ash has no plans to use reserves.

 

[Eeveely]

There are probably no 6 vs 6 battles for this league. Literally no one has 6 confirmed Pokémon, and Ash has no plans to use reserves.

You're destroying my last hopes of having an acceptable-good league , only the drops of rivarly ,guzma and kukui's past, and the fact that almost all 16 competitors are known (I'm predicting a longer league) are left
Also I'm sad because the one who did ash vs hapu and ash vs jessie when pikachu used electroweb, is still not fired and he will write the 151 battle royal thing

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Ya Boy Guzma for Alola League Champ!!

 

[Hidden Mew]

I really hoped that Gladion was the finalist, Gladion and Guzma’s is the only order I’m not 100% convinced about. I put Guzma higher because he’d probably be closer to battling Masked Royal/Kukui due to their long standing rivalry and up the stakes a bit for him.

I'd be kind of surprised if Ash doesn't battle the Masked Royal given the rivalry between his Torracat and Incineroar, but Guzma battling Professor Kukui would be pretty fitting too. I still wish that they introduced Guzma a lot sooner, but especially if the Alola League does come down to Guzma vs. Professor Kukui. There wouldn't be really enough time to buildup their rivalry when Guzma has only appeared once thus far.

To be fair, this certainly isn't the first time the anime has taken its sweet time introducing important video game characters, so this isn't an exclusive problem for SM. It just seems like they could have introduced both Hau and Guzma much earlier in the series if they are going to be Ash's opponents in the Alola League. Even Illima was featured in more episodes before the Alola League.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I'd be kind of surprised if Ash doesn't battle the Masked Royal given the rivalry between his Torracat and Incineroar, but Guzma battling Professor Kukui would be pretty fitting too. I still wish that they introduced Guzma a lot sooner, but especially if the Alola League does come down to Guzma vs. Professor Kukui. There wouldn't be really enough time to buildup their rivalry when Guzma has only appeared once thus far.

I didn’t mean to say Guzma would win in the finals. I actually think Ash has a chance. I simply thought Guzma would end up in the finals since it’s the closest he can get to battling the Masked Royal before losing the chance by a defeat at the finals- the chance to battle Kukui snatched away from him at the last second.

And in the (personally unlikely to me) scenario Ash loses, Guzma would be the second most fitting person to battle Kukui.

 

[mehmeh1]

F for kiawe

 

[Johtohfiller]

All of them but Gladion have barely gotten any screentime.

I know I've complained a lot about SM but pacing has to be its biggest weakness, even moreso than the lack of battles.

 

[Daenerys]

But where's Kiawe? I was told by his fans that he was Ash's equal and would be one of Ash's League opponents. What happened?

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

You know, I think its safe to say that if Ash loses, this is the first regional league in a while where there won't be significant backlash for it. People will probably still be disappointed if Ash loses, but this time it doesn't look like they're presenting a situation that is just ridiculous.

He's not facing an opponent who came out of nowhere with Legendary Pokemon. He's not facing a complete moron who only had 5 Pokemon and just got lucky, and he's not facing a complete Gary Stu who needed to be knocked down a few pegs(Especially when it looked like they were setting up for Ash beating him)

Unless he loses because of something stupid, the backlash might be little to none for once. I'll be celebrating if Guzma wins honestly.

 

[Eeveely]

But where's Kiawe? I was told by his fans that he was Ash's equal and would be one of Ash's League opponents. What happened?

He will end up as an alolan Tierno/Trevor and loses to alolan Alain(Gladion) or Alolan Sawyer(Hau)