This faggot has got to go and losing this League proved it.

>Timeskip
>New protagonist
>Makes it to the finals
>His opponent is an older Ash who's won multiple championships
>Ash wins and gives the new protagonist reason to continue on his journey

I feel Ash's problem with this League was the same problem he suffered while having Charizard in his team during the Kanto and Orange Islands - he relied too heavily on Pikachu and his main power house (Greninja in this case), causing him to neglect training his other Pokémon.

Talonflame was lucky to be as strong as Staraptor and didn't end up being another disappointment like Unfezzant, and Hawlucha managed to get by with what it could do. But Noivern and Goodra just didn't have enough training under their belts to really get anywhere. Worse when it became apparent that Ash was considering bringing in another Pokémon from Prof. Oak's before deciding on calling in Goodra.

In all honesty, if he had trained those two a bit more or called in Infernape or even his own Charizard, he may have had a chance at winning the Kalos League.

>>27986604
Ash's issues can't be explained in universe, his skills as a trainer are not quantifiable.
He's a tool, an object, no amount of "skill" will allow him to become successful.
This series did not establish that effort brings power, it established a bunch of contradicting things because its goal isn't to tell a story, it's to let us see a version of the pokemon universe in real time and hopefully convince us to buy toys.

And yet changing him at this point would be suicide because he is an icon

Every other anime that tops the ratings in Japan has had the same protag since their inceptions decades ago whether it makes sense or not, and the newest to join those ranks, Yo-kai Watch, dropped a lot once they introduced a deuteragonist who sometimes takes the spotlight

Meanwhile Yu-Gi-Oh which regularly replaces its MC is currently at an all time ratings low and Digimon has largely become irrelevant as an anime except the Adventure Tri movies are quite popular because they went back to the original characters, whether their new characterization makes sense or not

>>27986540
>implying target audience gives a shit about what can be added to his character

>>27986685
>Arc V low ratings
Good.

>>27986573
>Ash finally wins a League
>Using Pikachu, Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, Krookodile and Greninja
>People are pissed because the new protagonist didn't win