Pokémon Anime Why isn't Ash recognized more?

Huh, I haven't seen the latest anime, was waiting for it to be made into dub, since I prefer watching it dubbed (Latin American Spanish). That's a shame indeed. It does seem like the Alolan League is pretty new, though, so probably that's the case. Also the fact that since Ash is still 10 years old, he's a kid. People like Cynthia or Lance are old and mentor-like, so they are renowned. I guess this ties back to the fact that they never made Ash grow up, which is a shame.

 

first off: serena doesnt count thats just cheating

i do wanna bring up two outliers: advanced generation!! the only episode i know for sure was ag003 where max actually recognized ash from the silver league conference (then proceeded to berate ash, this is why nobody likes you max) and i cant remember the other episode but there was a character later in the series had had an album book of ash and may iirc?? so people do recognize ash but its a very small sample size and basically amounts to nothing in the long run but hey thats two!!

also wanna back up a point said before: the manalo conference was the first ever in alola!! so its a very new league and i can only assume that not many people outside alola know of it. might also be the fact that ash doesnt introduce himself as a champion. hence why goh doesnt even know about it which is slightly annoying, and he doesnt actually stay in alola but hes back wandering around (and by that i mean leaving kanto once in a while despite saying he wants to travel the world, my MANY issues with journeys are for another day though)

regardless its probably a situation we've all faced: we watch some dumb talent show on tv and see some kid win, we go "wow what a talented kid!!" and we forget all about them a week later. ppl like cynthia and steven and lance are adults and have had years of experience, while ash is just a kid still. maybe getting farther into the world coronation will give our boy some fame and respect he deserves!!

 

Plus Ash is underage yeah right, so probably privacy rights; and Kukui becomes the de facto Champion while the bloke be too young? That be what I often see in FanFics in sooth~

 

I really do not understand the concept of champion in the Pokémon anime. Is it just for the people that won the league. If so what are the elite four doing? Like Bruno, Lance, Malva.

 

I always thought it was because champions are, for the most part, mostly just recognized in their own regions. Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I thought that Ash hadn't known who Cynthia and Diantha were at first, because he's not from Sinnoh or Kalos.
And Alola has only had a single league. I bet most people not from Alola don't even know that there was a league at all, let alone who the champion of it was.

 

a few points in regards to some above replies, might get long i just love talking about the anime sorry

in the anime, the Pokémon league of a region is made up of ppl who have won the region's corresponding league CONFERENCE and you become champion by killing the e4 and then the champion. we get infodumped about champions a bit but not much on the e4?? i'd think it would be a case where if an e4 member lost to a conference winner theyd get ousted and replaced with the 10 year old who beat them but thats merely speculation based on what we've been given on my part. what does the champion do?? more than they do in the games thats for sure lol!! and really given that dp was the only series to feature all their e4 members even the writers cant be bothered to give our four heavenly kings any purpose

i dont think champions are only recognized in their own regions either. for context of what im about to say, xy shoved some oras promotion in the form of my husband steven into both the mega evolution specials and the main series later. lysandre knew steven was the champion of hoenn. JAMES knew steven was the champion of hoenn!! hahah wallace sucks but the fact that these two non hoenn ppl knew about steven being champion makes me think that champions arent just a big deal in their own region. ash not knowing 99% serves as the catalyst to explain who the champion is so i dont think much on it

looking back at some episodes in dp, cynthia (and even wallace at the time before he got curbstomped by the clearly superior hoenn champion) are introduced as champions. people are like "CHAMPION CYNTHIA IS HERE!!!" and then you realize that nobody has EVER said "CHAMPION ASH KETCHUM IS HERE!!!" hes simply not introduced as a champion, he never says hes champion, so nobody knows outside a tiny new league. its just my names ash ketchum im from pallet town in the kanto region i wanna be a Pokémon master