Wanting to finally satisfy my curiosity after skipping it while it was airing, I started the first part of the XY anime two weeks ago now to learn just what made this part of the series so beloved by many fans. So ninety three episodes later plus the Mega Specials, and wow this entire first season is just a build up to XYZ huh. Far from a bad thing, I'm mostly just caught by surprise by it.
Though after finishing this part, I one hundred percent agree with the other reviews title in that this is the most refined the typical Pokémon formula has ever been. There's no big changes like future generations, but XY is the original Pokémon formula basically perfected.
The new group are all a joy to watch, Bonnie surprisingly being my favorite throughout the whole run. She doesn't really provide anything to the little story their is here, but she was hilarious from the start and only grew on me more whenever an episode focused on her. And her trying to find woman for her brother to marry is a fun spin on Brocks gag.
She also has a great dynamic with Serena sometimes acting like her older sister. Despite how little she provides, I wouldn't like XY as much without Bonnie. Clemont is a very close second though, and despite his gag never once making me laugh. I found him to be pretty enjoyable, I might get some looks for this but I kinda just view him as a better Brock. I don't know why exactly I prefer him over Brock to be honest, maybe it's the Luxray.
Serena was the one I was most looking forward to learning about going into XY, she's by far the most popular female companion Ash has ever had. And while theirs hints of as to why early on, Serena doesn't really have anything going for her until halfway through the series where she learns of contest. Now usually I'd say this as a negative but I think it works in Serena's favor here going off of how Pokémon anime works. She started off leaving home to met her childhood crush, to then simply tagging alongside him and the others. She had no goal in mind and for a while it was fine, she tried out things outside of gym battles like with PokeVisions and then discovered contests.
My point here is that with all the non and filler episodes it helps out in making the episodes where Serena starts doing something hit more. I don't mind how long it took her to start moving because it's probably how most people would be in that position, and even us in the real world. It takes a lot of time to decide on something and I think the show conveyed that well, but to Serena's determent too as she only has three contest she partook in while Ash got to get seven gym badges. While I personally don't mind how long Serena took to start, it wouldn't of hurt to also start her character arc earlier for the sake of this season specifically. Though I don't doubt that XYZ will treat her better there.
I can't say much on Ash since I stopped caring for his character years ago, he's a finished character who isn't allowed to change much and even with how much more shounen like they made him this season. No amount of jumping off buildings or into an active volcano will make me care even a little for him, I always watch the anime for literally everything but him. I'm also writing this coming from a Pokémon Horizons era and I love that series way more so that also probably has something to do with it. To clarify I don't say this as a negative, I understand with a series going on for this long you just can't avoid something like this. And Ash this season is fine, If you loved him before, you'll love him here. I love seeing the unique tactics he comes up with to best the gym leaders and its done very well here.
Most of the gym battles were entertaining my favorite still being Ash vs Clemont. Getting to finally see more characters from the XY gym leaders was great since all I really knew of them was their dialogue in game, and you only see I believe three outside of the gym so most of the leaders felt bland to me. I don't even recall how many of them were shown in the adventures manga honestly. I knew going into this Korrina had the most focus outside of Clemont, and she definitely did. Korrina and her Lucario really just feel like a more fun Ash, I enjoyed the time she spent with the group. I unfortunately cannot say the same about the gym battle which I'll get to later.
It was nice to finally watch a contest again after over ten years, though to be fully honest I can see why I barely remember the ones from back then. That or the contest here just never fully hit that mark, I enjoyed Serena's character but even then the contest here still felt dull. Maybe I'm just way past the demographic for contest in general, but I don't recall feeling this way when I was younger. But again, that was over 10 years ago so I've probably just forgotten. On a smaller note too, a lot of the background characters in contest have amazing designs. I wish we got a better look at them.
The filler episodes were pretty good overall, eighty four specifically being my favorite. I complained a lot about Pokémon Journeys not representing much of Galar and thankfully I didn't find that to be an issue here. All of the filler episodes showed off a healthy amount of Kalos Pokémon, I wish more got some spotlight but I'm pretty sure we got majority of the Kalos dex with just this season alone so I can't complain much there. I also appreciate how some of them gave some extra lore to the region of Kalos such as the reason why Wigglytuff are the PokéCenter assistances, it doesn't happen much I think about twice but its still nice touches.
The groups teams were all very fun. Chespin and all of Goomy tying for first they got the most laughs out of me. For some bite sized comments. The OST and remixes here we're all pretty damn good, I also love the third opening that one is very catchy. This season had a lot of CGI usage for the camera movements and I thought it looked great. It's not the smoothest but it definitely enhanced the battles it was in. Serena's romance moments were very fun to watch, I hope we get more of them in XYZ outside of the big one. I wish we got a couple more megas but it probably would've been a little hard squish them all into this one season so its fine. The XY rivals are fine, though I'm just happy they're aren't as insufferable as they are in game. I'm excited to see Sawyers progression in XYZ, he has a good dynamic going on with Ash right now. Serena's other two rivals are kinda meh honestly, they only show up two to three times and they feel as if they're just their to fill in for Shauna.
Now for my issues with this season and honestly, there's not much to say here. I thought majority of this season was very solid. Not much to really complain about, battles were engaging and unpredictable, no character felt boring and unfinished (Journeys), I prefer how the anime looks after XYZ but the animation is very good here. My main issue is Team Rocket, big surprise I know. To give more context from earlier, I watched majority of the gen four and five anime as a kid but I skipped all of XY and XYZ and hopped back on the anime with Sun & Moon when that first started airing and I've been watching ever since.
So I was a bit surprised to I guess remember how often they show up, and it quickly just became a drag to go through their sequences in episodes because it always plays out the same pretty much every time. I even started skipping their intro because I just didn't care to sit through it, I wasn't enjoying myself whenever they were on screen doing their usual stuff. The episodes dedicated to them are an exception because those are always a good time. But every time I found myself enjoying one of the filler episodes they'd pop up just to make me roll my eyes and remind me that they're going to make it more dull and repetitive then needed. And from what friends told me, this is the least they've shown up in the first six generations of the anime and I still don't know what to make of that information.
But eventually I did somewhat adjust, I still dislike how much they appear and especially how repetitive it all is but I got used to it. What I can't get over is how they interrupted a gym battle for literally less then five minutes probably even three. That was a giant waste of time and left sour taste in my mouth even after the battle resumed. That to me just is horrible writing no matter how you look at it, thankfully it was just one time but it was on one of the more important gym battles which honestly just makes them being their worse.
Outside of that my only other complaint would be how they handled Ash's Goodra. But being fully honest, I only dislike him releasing it only cause Goodra is one of my favorite Pokémon so it just hurts seeing it leave. Writing wise it all makes sense besides that stupid ranger guy whatever he is. And thats about it, any other issue I'd have would just be a nitpick and even then I can't think of any. Considering how much I complained in my Journeys review, yeah this season alone definitely does not have as much things holding it back as previous and future seasons do.
Their is a very big lack of anything story related here, but the Mega Specials while not completely filling the role does its job well of showing more story then the main series in just four episodes. Both do hint towards the big event that takes place in XYZ and honestly just make me wish I watched XY while it was airing to be apart of discussions and hype when it finally did get to those big moments. Overall while playing it very safe the XY anime manages to be a great time. It's got everything fans loved from previous seasons and refines them to its absolute best here. Definitely a must watch for any Pokémon fan of the anime. Very excited to see what XYZ has to offer.
