This was incredibly obvious given how the last series was structured, even more so with how it ended and the cameos. I even said in the last Pokmon Anime topic that there was no place for them to go with Ash from there, so my thought was that after voicing him for over half her life that Rica Matsumoto (Ash's Japanese VA) was ready to retire. Because of how long it's been, they had to send Ash off with a bang.
I don't really care for anything new they're doing at this point. The story of Ash going from inept and inconsistent to
the very best that no one ever was
amounted to the only thing keeping me interested in even following it.
Come check out my movie watchthrough topic:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80167031