I can't praise this arc enough. Before I get into my infinite praises I might as well start with what I didn't like since I don't have too many issues. Some of our main gang didn't get as much screen time as they deserved. This is a loose point however as by the end I didn't mind it and even though I feel like someone like Tierno was somewhat left behind he definetly still had his moments and had a cool special chapter after the main story which showed him well. But overall the main cast was INCREDIBLE. They had great and distinct personalities. It's surreal to see someone like Shauna be so wildly different yet it works due to how boring the characters were in the games. Back to negatives however, the third dex really confused me. Forgive if I missed something but nothing happened with the third dex right? Fennekin was also really left behind though by the end it was cool for Trevor to pick it up even if that didn't go anywhere due to there being no continuation. The whole third pokedex thing makes me think the creator wanted to do an emerald type thing and that was supposed to lead into the next arc but due to there being no Pokemon Z version that plot point was dropped... I don't know though. Honestly that's kind of it for negatives and these two points barely even bothered me so regardless to say I loved this arc. I don't think I can honestly say all that I love but for starters: X and Y are incredible, they rival the GSC and RS pokedex holders in terms of dynamics and they were always a joy to see develop. X looked like he could have been boring at the start but I never got tired of his whole thing. This arc seems to share alot of dna from RS but trust me that isn't a bad thing especially as this arc doesn't have a stupid ending like RS. The whole mega charizard stone reveal felt like celebi 2.0 to me for a second and I was scared but when I thought about it more it didn't come out of nowhere and was actually a well done reveal that gave me a shock factor while not destroying all previously built up tension. The returning characters unlike previous arcs didn't feel unnatural which is awesome, Blue I didn't see coming but it never felt cheap to me. That's true for all game elements this time around. For my FRLG review my main issue was how the arc felt more like an advertisement for the games rather than a story. That's fixed with XY, the plot is awesome and always moving and all elements are slowly and naturally added. Team Flare did their job well, I loved how they weren't just some secret organization we spend alot of the early story building NO they drop us right into the main story. Team Flare controlling everything and having our heroes always having to be ready to fight is really cool, it makes team flare unique and very opposing, it also keeps up engagement to the story as we start at an intense peak. Truly a well done change of pace for this manga and I am really impressed I don't think this review did the arc justice so please read or re-read it if you're seeing it. It's an awesome addition to the adventures world!
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