Alola is based on Hawaii, a part of America, just like how Unova was based on New York.
The female protagonist's bag is similar to Hilda, the B/W female protagonist.
The mascot legendaries' main colour - Solgaleo is white, and Lunaala is mainly black.
And of course the starter popularity race, at least upon first reveal - Grass is the most popular and is winning over the entire fandom, Fire is second with Litten having black and red like Tepig did, and Water is least fave due to Popplio being the derp that's universally hated like Oshawott used to be. Things did get better for Oshawott when the evolutions were revealed, so that gives hope for Popplio to eventually gain a fanbase later on.