Preview Ash's four Alola League opponents revealed

[Rath]

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

Most likely scenario I see for Kiawe is him beating Lana (so the gag of Lana being better than Kiawe at everything comes full circle), and then losing to either Gladion or Guzma

 

[Hidden Mew]

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.

Even Gladion's screentime kind of feels inconsistent, at least when it comes to his connection with Ash. Most of his screentime has been related towards his family and the Ultra Beasts. Even though he has battled Ash twice, I think it would be a stretch to call Gladion Ash's rival. They don't really interact that much to where I think Ash would have a believable influence on Gladion.

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.

I still wouldn't be too shocked if there was some controversial way to have As lose the Alola League considering that they've done that for the past three Leagues. Granted, with this setup for the Alola League and Ash's team, I'm not sure if they could find a really terrible reason for him to lose, but it wouldn't be impossible either.

Most likely scenario I see for Kiawe is him beating Lana (so the gag of Lana being better than Kiawe at everything comes full circle), and then losing to either Gladion or Guzma

I'd be genuinely shocked and happy if Kiawe defeats Lana. Given how much attention Lana has gotten over the course of the series and her Popplio fully evolved primarily through the power of blowing bubbles, I could see her getting a high rank in the Alola League just because of how much the writers seem to favor her over everyone else in the cast. Kiawe is really the only main character apart from Ash whose participation in the Alola League makes sense and he is the only classmate with a battle active goal. It would be fitting if he lasted longer than the other classmates in the Alola League. I don't expect that for a few reasons, but I'd be happy if he did.

I'm also hoping that Ash vs. Kiawe doesn't happen. As much as I like Kiawe and his friendship with Ash, I don't think that having a battle in the Alola League would really stand out when they've been shown having practice matches throughout SM.

 

[Silktree]

I'd rather that Ash lose to a "villain" than Kukui again.

Oh, and let's not pretend that Ash only having two notable opponents in the Kalos League was better than this. It depends on the execution, of course.

 

[ii kanji]

I'd be happy with either result of a Satoshi vs Guzma final.

Does that scan definitely confirm that those are Satoshi's match-ups though?

 

[SammyW27]

Yeah, Ilima's going first so they don't have to keep his special guest VA around

Though I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess this means another 4-6 episodes for the Alola League, depending on if there's a 2 episode battle or 2 (though that's a bit hard to expect this saga...)

Though yeah, I really wish they'd more with Hau and Guzma. Heck, even Gladion.

The fact there have barely been in any rivals is bad enough without the ones we have getting precious little development. I know the screenwriters have less interest in a plot or story than ever before, but they still could've done a better job developing characters...

 

[Rath]

Corocoro also highlighted the exact same opponents

 

[Nicolas721]

Hau: After the foreshadowing in the most recent episode I'm sure he's going to be battled first or second. Either a 1vs1 or a 2vs2.

Ilima: Well, I guess the writers couldn't resist a Pikachu vs Eevee battle. Or maybe it's just taking advantage of his popularity and Ash is actually battling Kiawe. Either way, this could last only a couple of minutes while the rest of the episode focuses on Axew getting lost Lana/Lillie/Kiawe vs Gladion.

Gladion: This is gonna be one of the final rounds for sure, either a 4vs4 or a 5vs5 so Gladion can showcase all of his Pokemon (but if somehow the writers choose a 3vs3, expect Umbreon to be benched). I think Ash will win.

Guzma: Well, we've received hints that Guzma vs Ash, Guzma vs Kukui and Ash vs Kukui ALL need to happen, and Kukui's status as a prize prevents that from happening during the league. Bad writing or actual suspense? We'll know in a couple of months. However, Guzma is definitely a villain who's meant to be hated by the audience, he literally says he hates Alola so he's more dangerous than Alain. That would leave a bad message to kids, but...as shown by the Kanto, Unova and Kalos leagues the anime isn't a stranger to those messed up messages. They could have Guzma beating Ash using cheap tactics, Masked Royal exposing Guzma on their battle, and Kukui battling Ash later on one of the final episodes. Whatever happens, I'm already disappointed that a key component of the league was only brought up once in 127 episodes.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

A battle between Hau and Satoshi seems pointless in this point. If there is no clear confirmation in that scan, I'm not seeing it happening.

 

[Daenerys]

Corocoro also highlighted the exact same opponents

Is Kiawe crying? Did he finally realize that he's the most superfluous Ash "rival" of the saga?

 

[Rath]

A battle between Hau and Satoshi seems pointless in this point. If there is no clear confirmation in that scan, I'm not seeing it happening.

Decidueye and Rowlet have a rivalry to settle. And considering that Hau only made one appearance prior to this, him fighting Ash is the only reason to bring him back for the League.

Plus, they said in Hau's last episode that they'd battle again after Hau got his own Z-Ring.

 

[Silktree]

Kiawe and Ilima should be dog food for Gladion and Guzma if the writers want us to view the latter as threats.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Decidueye and Rowlet have a rivalry to settle.

They already settled that rivalry with Rowlet's victory. Another victory doesn't add or change anything.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I really can't see how there's a rivalry between Ash's Rowlet and Hau's Decidueye. They've only battle each other twice in the same episode. At least Torracat's desire to defeat the Masked Royal's Incineroar has been pretty consistent ever since it evolved. Ash's Rowlet is too busy sleeping to really care about defeating Decidueye or any other Pokemon for that matter. If they have a battle, it will most likely because the writers want to showcase Decidueye in battle.

 

[Galactic_V]

For the first time I can see Satoshi win. Now with the revelation he's going to the finals again (it's never happened before, right? We'd always find out by the names of the new episodes) and with the exibhition match, I believe OLM can make him win to then lose in this special battle.

Also, reading through comments and watching the last episode aired I really believe the finals'll be Satoshi vs. Guzma.

 

[sc190191]

Plus, they said in Hau's last episode that they'd battle again after Hau got his own Z-Ring.

If that meant anything we have about 200 more battles we're still waiting for that have previously been promised

 

[Cresselia92]

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if Ash lost at the finals against Guzma and Guzma ended up fighting Kukui, as a nod toward their "rivalry" in the games. It could be an interesting matchup.

 

[JFrombaugh]

Why do I have a bad feeling that Guzma will be the one who curbstomps Lillie and she'll have a breakdown similar to Ash in DP133 after he lost to Paul?

 

[ii kanji]

Why do I have a bad feeling that Guzma will be the one who curbstomps Lillie and she'll have a breakdown similar to Ash in DP133 after he lost to Paul?

If it's not her, it ought to be Mao or Maamane. I like them all, but if you enter the League with 1-2 mons you haven't trained all that much you're asking for an arse-kicking from ya boi.

(Not gonna be thrilled if any of them have breakdowns though, has anyone in this series expressed enough interest in battling to warrant that? Maybe Gladio but that's it!)

 

[thomaswiencek]

I would think that Guzma will be booed off the stage over Ash's defeat, what do you think?

 

[Yami-no-Game]

I would think that Guzma will be booed off the stage over Ash's defeat, what do you think?

Why do you keep posting, then deleting, and then re-posting the same thing? This is like the third time you've posted this in the past 12 hours. If no one answered your question before it's probably because no one cares about this hypothetical scenario since it likely won't even happen.