XY ratings have been suggesting that the Kalos saga has been a flop in Japan, but I think SM will definitely be a flop for Western audiences since many Western fans don't like huge changes, plus this series I feel is an excuse to make Pokemon appeal to Japanese kids again because the writers have likely seen the terrible ratings for XY and said "right, we need to get the target audience watching again so we must copy our biggest rival Yo-Kai Watch and make Ash into a Keita/Nate clone, and that is having him in a Trainers School".