How far out are we from the Alola League?

[KrspaceT]

This has popped up in the current opening, and I am definitely curious. With the current way things are going I expect us to see the Ash v Hapu fight in either the later weeks of February or early March, though with SM trying to predict anything is hard to say.

It is just as likely that we get a shorter league as we do an oddly longer one. SM's that sort of series....

It isn't helped that Skull is popping up again: it is just as possible that the Skull arc would predate the league as it would follow it like the Flare arc. Pokemon is not above doing that sort of thing.

That 130 joke that popped up a few times might give us some idea, but honestly a Gen 8 date would help us try and get a read on it. Especially as 130 actually puts the anime, without hiatuses, somewhere in the June/July range.

And that raises some serious alarm bells to me.

 

[Sriram Mannar]

For this we should figure out when SM will End, XY Had 4 1-Hour Specials and 20 Breaks, SM already has 4 1-Hour Specials and it has 14 Breaks. SM has hinted having 138 Main Series Episodes, so if we have all this to work our data on. Add Two More Episodes because we get those "Specials" at the end. With SM taking 6 More Breaks and airing 140 Episodes if this happens the Series will end at October 27, 2019 around the same time XYZ Ended. Now we have to see when the Alola League will take place, Ever since the Reboot aka Best Wishes Series aired, each anime has had a different pacing. SM's pacing itself is unique so its hard to predict. I myself think things will go down this way.

Poni Island Arc ( Current ), Lasts up until Episode 111
Team Skull Arc, tying into the Team Rocket Arc with the Final Ultra Necrozma Arc ( I'm predicting Giovanni will play the Role Lusamine Played in the Games in this Arc, Guzma and TS will Turn Good in the end, plus we have yet to see UN's Z-Move, this arc will also show the Final two UBs that have yet to appear and Mohn will also play a role since he was introduced, this arc will somehow also finish Lillie's Character Arc, Gladion will also be part of this arc with Hau appearing and battling Ash one more time ) Lasts Up Until Episode 127
League - Episode 128-Episode 136
Farewell Episodes - Episode 137 and Episode 138
Special Episodes - Episode 139 and Episode 140

The Reason I think they showed Kukui was since he is currently away from the group and to confirm that he wants to take part in the League as the Royal Mask. All Views expressed are my own.

 

[SammyW27]

We have about, oh...30 something episodes to go. So about 15-20 between Poni and the League.

Though I'm expecting it to be a short League. Maybe even the shortest ever. Heck, I'm surprised they're even having a League considering how little battling or training there's been in this series...

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Their spoiling it right now makes me think that we'll see the beginning of the league right after Poni Island arc. And there will be a post-league arc about TS/TR stuff.

 

[sc190191]

So even for those of you who like SM art style, you gotta admit nothing looks very good at a distance. Does anyone know what that Pokemon is and who that trainer is? I think its Incineroar, but if so that is interesting because it wouldn't be Kikui's and the trainer (although equally impossible to decipher) doesn't seem likely to be Ash. Color wise it kind of looks like Heatmor or Turtonator, but not body shape wise, I guess there are a lot of options of what it could be, but I would say more likely than not its an Incineroar.

Of course we have seen lots of openings with Pokemon that never showed up, even league-type footage, such as the last Sinnoh opening, but I just can't help but wonder what the Pokemon is, and if it is an Incineroar, why they would have one with yet another trainer.

 

[ZDaemon09]

So even for those of you who like SM art style, you gotta admit nothing looks very good at a distance. Does anyone know what that Pokemon is and who that trainer is? I think its Incineroar, but if so that is interesting because it wouldn't be Kikui's and the trainer (although equally impossible to decipher) doesn't seem likely to be Ash. Color wise it kind of looks like Heatmor or Turtonator, but not body shape wise, I guess there are a lot of options of what it could be, but I would say more likely than not its an Incineroar.

Of course we have seen lots of openings with Pokemon that never showed up, even league-type footage, such as the last Sinnoh opening, but I just can't help but wonder what the Pokemon is, and if it is an Incineroar, why they would have one with yet another trainer.

Dude, its the Kukui envisioning himself fighting Ash as the Mask Royal with his Incineroar.

 

[sc190191]

Dude, its the Kukui envisioning himself fighting Ash as the Mask Royal with his Incineroar, anyone with eyes can see that. I know you hate SM, so why do you care?

Well thanks for the rude answer, I did ask the question because I was curious, and I honestly can't see Kikui at all in that trainer. I still try to watch the series, so just not liking it shouldn't preclude me from being allowed to talk about it, although I do deliberately stay off the reviews because I don't want to bring negativity. Plenty of people talked about BW who hated it and what I said in that post wasn't very negative anyway.

 

[Hidden Mew]

We have about, oh...30 something episodes to go. So about 15-20 between Poni and the League.

Though I'm expecting it to be a short League. Maybe even the shortest ever. Heck, I'm surprised they're even having a League considering how little battling or training there's been in this series...

Well they did establish that the Alola League was going to happen awhile ago and despite how much of an afterthought the Island Challenge has been for this series, they probably didn't want to skip over the chance to showcase a new Pokemon League forming for the first time. It's hard to say how long the Alola League will be since Ash doesn't have a full team on him and we don't know how the League will be structured.

The chances of having some kind of post-League arc does sound plausible though. If they're already hinting at the Alola League in the opening, then it's probably going to happen sooner rather than later. They'd need to find someway to stretch out the series until the fall if that is the case, so focusing on Team Rocket and/or Team Skull might happen.

 

[ZDaemon09]

Well they did establish that the Alola League was going to happen awhile ago and despite how much of an afterthought the Island Challenge has been for this series, they probably didn't want to skip over the chance to showcase a new Pokemon League forming for the first time. It's hard to say how long the Alola League will be since Ash doesn't have a full team on him and we don't know how the League will be structured.

The chances of having some kind of post-League arc does sound plausible though. If they're already hinting at the Alola League in the opening, then it's probably going to happen sooner rather than later. They'd need to find someway to stretch out the series until the fall if that is the case, so focusing on Team Rocket and/or Team Skull might happen.

We just need to wait and see what happens. The Poni Island Arc seems to be trying to hint at more going on and if we are to find that answer, it will be during this arc! We also have two evolutions confirmed for Sophocles and Lana along with more plot involving Mohn, Team Skull now that Plumeria debuted etc.

 

[Nicolas721]

SM's pace is unpredictable. After the Akala and Ulaula arcs people thought things were starting to happen quicker, but no, both were followed by school stuff.

XYZ had a similar scene with Wulfric and it took almost 30 episodes for it to materialize.

My guess is that Meltan will go first as it has already appeared in previews.

 

[SammyW27]

My guess is that Meltan will go first as it has already appeared in previews.

Heck, some appeared in the last episode!

 

[sunsstone]

My bigger question is who are going to be the trainers joining the Alola league. Knowing that there are no badges to collect what are the qualifications for a trainer to join that league. I don't think it's the island grand trial just like in the game because only Ash have done that in the anime.

What if any trainer that has the Z-ring can join the first Alola league? Here are the possible trainers that I would like to see participate in the Alola league.

-We saw Masked Royale with his Incineroar in the opening preview.

• Kiawe fired up when he and Ash heard about the Alola league
• Gladion will join the league as Ash's rival (cross-reference to the game itself since he's one of the challengers of the Champion after beating the Elite Four)
• Hau as Ash's rival
• Hapu, Ash wants to have a battle with her but the anime seems to delay it.
• Lana and Sophocles (The anime bothered giving them an episode where their Pokemon evolved, even Lana got a Primarium Z same with Lilli having Icium Z)
• Team Rocket (They have a Z-ring and a competitive team, they legit joined Pokemon Contest before so why not?)

-Plumeria (cross-reference to the game as well, wish she could duke it out with Hapu or Team Rocket)


What do you guys think?

 

[KrspaceT]

My bigger question is who are going to be the trainers joining the Alola league. Knowing that there are no badges to collect what are the qualifications for a trainer to join that league. I don't think it's the island grand trial just like in the game because only Ash have done that in the anime.

What if any trainer that has the Z-ring can join the first Alola league? Here are the possible trainers that I would like to see participate in the Alola league.

-We saw Masked Royale with his Incineroar in the opening preview.

• Kiawe fired up when he and Ash heard about the Alola league
• Gladion will join the league as Ash's rival (cross-reference to the game itself since he's one of the challengers of the Champion after beating the Elite Four)
• Hau as Ash's rival
• Hapu, Ash wants to have a battle with her but the anime seems to delay it.
• Lana and Sophocles (The anime bothered giving them an episode where their Pokemon evolved, even Lana got a Primarium Z same with Lilli having Icium Z)
• Team Rocket (They have a Z-ring and a competitive team, they legit joined Pokemon Contest before so why not?)

-Plumeria (cross-reference to the game as well, wish she could duke it out with Hapu or Team Rocket)


What do you guys think?

I think Guma would pop in personally.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I don't think it's the island grand trial just like in the game because only Ash have done that in the anime.

As far I as I remember Kiawe cleared Olivia's trial to get his Firium Z.
Hau was training to defeat to defeat Hala in his first appearance.

I think Guma would pop in personally.

If he's the leader of Skull I doubt he'd be in the league. No other evil team leader has participated, and for good reason.
Kukui doesn’t seem like the type of person to allow the Skull leader to participate.

 

[Sriram Mannar]

The League itself may be different from how other leagues are structured, they may make it similar to an Anime Tournament Arc, you know where we have some slice-of-life challenges to qualify to the Last/Main Rounds where there will be 3 VS 3 or 1 VS 1 Battles. I really don't care whether the battles are 1 VS 1 or 3 VS 3, I've never really gotten into battles in Pokemon before. Since SM focuses more on bonding with trainers in different ways other than battling ( Whether you like THIS direction or not will decide whether you like the way the League is Written and SM as a whole ) such as going on Missions ( Ultra Guardians ), playing with Pokemon ( Lillie Jump Rope ), and heck Hala even mentioned in EP009 that trainers in the Alola Region battle to bond with their Pokemon and to protect Alola itself. But who knows ? It may be a regular league with Ash bringing his Pokemon from his previous series back. This series is unpredictable after all...

 

[Hidden Mew]

Given the focus on Lana lately, the idea that she would be in the Alola League sounds a bit more plausible. It still would be a bit weird since she hasn't shown interest in battling compared to Kiawe, but I could kind of see it happening just to showcase her Pokemon some more. I can't see Sophocles in the Alola League since his Pokemon don't really do much. I honestly keep forgetting that Charjabug even existed before it evolved. While Lillie is going to get a Z-Ring at some point, I'm not sure if I could see her in the Alola League. She hasn't really shown much interest in battling, Snowy's moves are mostly defensive and she doesn't have any more Pokemon on her.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

but I could kind of see it happening just to showcase her Pokemon some more. I can't see Sophocles in the Alola League since his Pokemon don't really do much. I honestly keep forgetting that Charjabug even existed before it evolved.

That seems to indicate that Sophocles' Pokemon need the showcasing at the league much more than Lana's...

 

[Nicolas721]

99% chance to join: Ash, Gladion, Hau, Kukui.
60% chance: Kiawe, Ilima (Both only have one scene in one episode that shows their interest, but with SM you never know).
40% chance: Lana, Lillie (They are interested in battling, could showcase their Z-moves and add gender diversity, but they haven't shown interest on the league at all and don't have the biggest team).
20% chance: Mallow, Sophocles (They aren't interested in battling but it would be a bit unfair to leave them out if the two girls above join).
10% chance: Dia (Kukui joining kills his purpose, but you never know, he could pull a Virgil and winning without beating anyone).

 

[SammyW27]

10% chance: Dia (Kukui joining kills his purpose, but you never know, he could pull a Virgil and winning without beating anyone).

Remember back when people thought he'd be the one to beat Ash in the League?
Good times
(Especially since without him this could be Ash's WORST League loss ever... )

 

[KrspaceT]

Remember back when people thought he'd be the one to beat Ash in the League?
Good times
(Especially since without him this could be Ash's WORST League loss ever... )

How would losing to Dia be worse than Cameron or Ritchie (which we can all agree are the worst losses, right?)