So it's been awhile since Alola league in the anime.

[Peppermint Phoenix]

I figure it okay to talk about the result openly.

I remember back when I was really disappointed in Satoshi's Kalos league loss I said something to effect of "What really bothers me is that because the 90% chance that Ash would lose happened, people are going to refuse to admit the chance of him winning didn't exist". So since Satoshi won the Alola as much I disliked how it was handled and think that beating Alain would have been more satifying... it proves that it was possible for Ash to win the Kalos league. Can people admit that?

 

[Cybersai]

While I would have prefered him win the Kalos league, I'm glad he won at Alola. I mean sure beats yet another league loss, and the Alola league is the first thing he really truly won/completed since the Battle Frontier way back in the AG era. I think the problem with Alan isn't so much Ash lost, it's that Greninja already lost two times to Mega Charizard in previous episodes, and with all other rivalries Ash loses to while a series is airing (like Gary, Paul, Trip, etc.), he usually beats them in the league. So it felt odd to see Ash lost to Alan's Mega Charizard 3 times in a row.

I mean its been almost 5 years so I'm "over it" now, but yeah, either that or even the Sinnoh league is where I felt Ash should have won his first league. I was fine with Ash losing the Indigo/Johto/Hoenn leagues because he was starting off as a trainer and gradually improving each passing region, but by Sinnoh it felt like he was ready to win. Hence Tobias being a backlash back in 2010 too, but people don't talk about it anymore because it's a decade ago now