(Disclaimer: This will be less of a review and more of an unfocused ramble, but I hope you like it anyway)

I'm left with a feeling of immeasurable disappointment. @OLM really dropped the ball on the conclusion of Ash's journey, snuffing out my renewed spark for the series I once adored as a young girl growing up in the 2000s.

Like many, I grew up on Pokemon and still religiously enjoy the games to this day thanks to the experience share (grinding will never not be obnoxious) but unlike many I jumped off the sitcom ship of loose unconnected stories surprisingly early on. Even before I reached my teens. It wasn't that I was going thorugh my early rebellious "cartoons are for children" stage because I still loved watching cartoons and anime alike. Recess, The Weekenders, As Told by Ginger, Beyblade, Ed, Edd n Eddy, 4Kids Shaman King and Sonic X are all many series I loved to bits even after I dropped Pokemon.

So, why did I stop watching Pokemon?

Well, through binge-watching the original and catching this weekly, I think I can confidently answer that now. My declining love for Pokemon can summed up in a word: Stagnation. Every episode featured the same old recycled plot points, rehashing the same dry villians, while rinsing-and-repeating the same methods of developing and evolving Ash's Pokemon: that being having Team Rocket attempt to steal them and evolve through the trial and error of escaping. It's a tedious setup that wore on my nerves, even 20 years ago as a kid.

Still, some part of me deep down, loves the Pokemon anime deeply for the childhood memories it gave me and so, I tried to get back into the series with the release of Gen 9, Pokemon Journeys. Needlessly to say, I was unimpressed and shortly dropped the series, planning never to return like ever. It wasn't until I heard they would be finally wrapping up Ash's adventures that it made me want to rewatch the series from scratch while catching weekly episodes of Pokemon Master.

Worse mistake I had ever made.

Pokemon Master turned out to be nothing but worthless nostalgia bait to draw in fans of the original and the other subsequent series that followed. They brought back Misty and Brock from the relegation zone for one last hoorah while rotating in many of the forgotten Pokemon Ash had benched with unintentional callousness. It didn't work out. The magic that made the original trio's chemistry so special throughout Kanto and Johto just wasn't there. Or maybe, I owed much of their dynamic to 4Kids' witty writing. The comedic banter Ash, Misty and Brock shared throughout the 4Kids dub of the original series is still a joy to watch even above the many writing issues plaguing the series.

Without that banter fuelling their chemistry, their interactions came across as remarkably dull, making me wonder what was even the point of even bringing them back. They ultimately don't do anything and barely even react when Latias scooped in camouflaged to rescue Ash and Pikachu from falling down a cliff, dropping him back up like nothing happened.

The "returning" Pokemon - alongside Journeys - highlight just why it was such a stupid idea to keep Ash as the protagonist for 26 years while resetting his progress. Pokemon - just like the humans of the show - are characters, with their own likes, dislikes, interests and personalities and so when you give Ash so many characters to squad up with each season before dropping most off at Oak's lab at the end you're relegating those characters to the storage, falling into the pit trap many other popular shounen had fallen into like Dragonball and Naruto, where you have so many characters and instead of doing anything with them, you just bench them to the reserves to almost never be seen or heard from again. (Think Yamcha and Kiba and Tien and Shino from the two aforementioned examples)

Much of this could've been avoided by appropriately ending Ash's journey and giving him the send off he deserved. Many fans feel Sinnoh was the right time was Ash to step down and I stand by them. Sinnoh had everything going for it. An interesting, colourful team full of diverse personalities and an godlike-written rival that not only antagonized Ash but also challenged his idealogy on raising Pokemon, contrasting Ash's warmth with cold, clinical pragmatism. It brilliantly comes full circle when Ash's infernape - abandoned by Paul for being "weak" - fulfills his potential under Ash's caring tutelage and helps his trainer beat the boy that turned his nose up at him for being "weak."

Where does one go after such a peak Gen?

Nowhere.

Nowhere but downhill.

And straight into stagnation.

And because of the excessive resets and failures, many fans feel his path to Galar region champion was sped through at two times the speed, leaving it feeling unawarding. This, again, could've been avoided just by having Ash conquer (arguably) the most appealling Generation in Sinnoh and win that league. There was no need to continue rehashing the same stuff because it eventually catches up on you. I'm a firm believer that you should always strive to evolve; (pun intended), and change. Better to change than risk becoming predictable and boring, after all.

One positive I can afford Pokemon Master is that the new artstyle and animation have been well defined and polished from the awkward mess it previously was in Sun and Moon. (Ash's and Pikachu's smiles on the promo picture will never not be creepy to me)

The sound design was a remix of the osts from the original series; just added bait to draw in the older fans.

In fact, most of the side stories Ash experienced this season were soullessly recycled from past gens just to play on your nostalgia. They even did another "Pikachu and Meowth get lost together" episode as if that wasn't old the first time it was used. That was the episode that almost made me just give up on Ash's swan song series altogether, and It wasn't until I saw spoliers on YouTube of Team Clown's alleged retirement that ignited my interest to power through it. I was delighted to see them split up and FINALLY give up the goose of capturing Pikachu, thinking "YES! Pokemon's finally gotten the message, that doing the same thing over and over again is super boring!"

...

How wrong I was to get my hopes up. After being defeated by the brief cameo of Pidgeot, the reunited Team Clown soar off into the distance, reaffirming their goal of taking Pikachu; as if their life now only amounts to stalking the Peter Pan of anime all across the world. The final episode then ends with them closely following Ash, as though to say, "Change is bad. We should strive to stay the same and not change in anyway." It really leaves a bitter, sour taste in my mouth.

I'm far less enthused for the new series now. The ending has told us all we need to know, that Ash won't grow up, he'll remain the forever 10-year-old kid and thus the new protagonists will probably remain 10, too.

And that's just incredibly boring.

Final score - 4.3/10