I saw this a while back, and figured I'd give my two cents, even if it is over a year old.
Pretty much agreed with you on all those points (though I personally wouldn't consider AG all that good, even ignoring Misty's removal, though it certainly didn't help its reputation. In fact, Ash staying the same rank is exactly why I thought his Hoenn excursion was pointless. Even if he didn't use his reserves unlike in Johto, if he doesn't advance in rank, he never actually improved).
In fact, of the main cast members, probably the only ones who got a raw deal besides Ash regarding their goals (or to-be-a-goal in one case) is Misty and Max. The former is because her sisters pretty much forced her out of her dream of becoming a Water Pok?mon Master by becoming a Gym Leader so they could go on a cruise, and thanks in large part to the appalling depiction of Gym Leaders in AG, and to a certain extent DP and BW, it creates the unwanted implication that Misty's going to become a punching bag and grow weaker as a result. Thankfully, the Kanto reunion arc for SM fixed this a bit by showing Misty to be virtually unbeatable with her Mega Gyarados, but still... And Max... honestly, the show's insistence that Ash not age at all pretty much screwed over any chance of Max ever becoming an actual legal trainer. Say what you will about the other traveling companions and their failed goals, at least they either were actually allowed to pursue their goals with implied strides (May, Dawn, Iris, Dent) or otherwise changed their goals of their own free will (Brock, Clemont, Serena to a certain extent). Heck, in Tracey's case, one can make the case that, if meeting Professor Oak was his life-long goal, he actually succeeded in that goal when he left the series.
And yes, Ash's constantly getting screwed over in regards to his goal is just disgusting (it also doesn't help that, since he technically WON an actual Pok?mon League in the form of the Orange Islands, not to mention in DP at least, there was an additional requirement for him to challenge the regional Elite 4 and Champion, which essentially meant that even IF Ash won the league, he still has a ways to go before he can formally become a Pok?mon Master, such screw overs were completely unnecessary). XY, even though it does feature a rank up, shows the absolute worst of the status quo elements of the show, especially when unlike with, say, the Sinnoh League, which can be excused with their literally procrastinating until the last minute to make any headway before Gen V was announced, they already had revealed there won't be any Gyms in Alola for Sun and Moon, meaning the whole "let's have Ash lose so he'd do the next region" was completely pointless knowing he'd literally have nothing to do. And they don't even have the decency to at least give him a consolation prize of actually helping the League committee form a Pok?mon League in Alola, oh no, he basically gets stuck as a student in a stupid school show, despite it being indicated as early as School of Hard Knocks in Kanto that Ash didn't even NEED school to be a good trainer, and we don't get any hints that he'll continue his goal until the Kanto reunion arc (one of the few good elements of Sun and Moon) where they revealed there WILL be an Alola league in the future. You know how horrible it had to be for Misty to be forced to give up her goal due to outside forces beyond her control? We have to see that with Ash literally every episode.
At this rate, I don't even CARE how it's done as long as Ash wins a stupid league already. He could win it cheaply and I'd accept it, that's how desperate I am for Ash to just win a league already, especially when the Kalos League already proved that inherent logical problems for even marketing the show and games by having Ash lose will not stop them from having Ash lose again, even when, like in DP, they strongly imply that Ash will win this time around.
Heck, going by the ratings, it's driving away even Japanese kids.
