Pokemon XY

A fans memory is very important one judging anime. However, memory is not always shed of the true subjective, but more of what the fans remember fondly. Pokemon XY is one good example of that. Fans considering the XY series as one of the best in the longtime Pokemon anime, and I did too. However, when I rewatched the series, there were parts where my memory failed me. Were this series were THAT half baked? People tends to remember the good stuff, and that’s why fans might not remember the half baked parts of the XY series. It also can be that they remember moreof the XY-Z series, which is another case. Do not get me wrong, XY series did a lot of things RIGHT. But it doesn’t mean it was perfect one hundred precent all the way through. In this review, I will try to pinpoint where XY succeeded, where it failed, or wether, it was just half baked. Let’s start with: Plot. The plot of Pokemon XY is the same as almost most of Pokemon anime - Ash starts his journey in a brand new region, Kalos, which inspired by France. It doesn’t take so much time to see, though, how XY differs from other seasons. Already on the first episode, you can see how XY try to renew things. As a matter of characters and plot, XY presenting more mature and different line of story. Not THAT different, but enough so it will make Ash journey in beating gyms and collecting badges a unique experience. With that being said, I’m referring to more character development stories, as Ash, once again, feels much more like the senior trainer in his group. Much like his treatment from DP. And there’s also a great story of Ash and his Froakie, which takes much more room than even Pikachu in the series plot. But all that doesn’t remove some bad stories that XY have. While the pace is essentially better than other seasons, the quality dropping a lot when fillers starting to appear. And it seems that the creators really had bad time thinking of those. Do not get me wrong, I do not think there’s “good” fillers on Pokemon, last time I watched the Johto season, it was dreadful watching. The whole format of “Ash and gang meeting a Pokemon and its trainer” had lost its taste long time ago. But in previous seasons, you could still feel there’s some creativity in them. in XY you can feel how the creators lost its creativity and struggle making those. That’s actually where fans memory is bad on, mostly because Pokemon is not used for rewatching. But when rewatching the series, when I got into those episodes, I felt cheated by my good first impression of the series. While those fillers ARE common, the plot of the canon episodes is just BETTER, and that’s probably the cause for the XY fillers to be forgotten from people hearts. Truly enough, the story is getting better as the series is coming to its last third. Mostly it’s due giving Serena a plot to revolve on. And also for giving more themes and plot for the series to rely on. You can really feel how the writers change of heart toward the last third of XY. But utterly, this gave XY the half baked definition. The ups and hills of XY feels like a game of minds of the writers, as you can really feel how the canon episodes are much better, and maybe the best in the Pokemon overall anime. While the fillers feels like an afterthought, losing any creativity the writers ever had in previous seasons. But then, closing to its end, the plot quality getting a real 90 degrees change. Next is the character. To be honest, some the characters in XY could be hit or miss, and mostly, it’s hit. Ash returned from its infamous childish nature in BW to it mature nature of DP. His confident coming alone with great ideas for pokemon battling, and his bond with his Pokemons are one of the greatest. With almost any Pokemon he catch in this series he have great plot and theme, and the one most importantly is Froakie, who leaves Pikachu in much more side character than main one. Ash and Froakie plot can be felt as a reminder of Ash and Chimchar for the most part, but toward the end of XY, their relation feels like entire different story of trust and bond. Clemont is probably the best Brock replacement up to date. Where Cilan tried to copy Brock girls thingy to other area of expertise, and Brock with his girls stuff, were anime original, Clemont gimmick is game original materials. Yes, he can annoy sometimes with his inventions, but those can be much more fresh than what Cilan or even Brock could offer. The hit or miss character is probably Bonnie, Clemont’s little sister. Last time we had fourth character for the gang, and also in the shape of child and sister/brother, was Max in the Advance series. At that time Max felt fresh at start, but his affection over the series had been fading slowly into being side walk character. Now, it’s not only because Max was filler character, while Bonnie is actually based on her game appearance, that her character succeeds in the series. But in the way of her introduction and characteristic, she were much more fitting into the group. Truly enough, you can feel how this was hit or miss, but in the overall she’s just a hit. It’s something about how - even in the episodes the focus is away from her - she felt much more natural. Truly she can be pushover sometimes, but unlike Max, where I just wanted to punch him in the face sometimes, Bonnie was more native. This great and delicate balance the writers gave her, that makes Bonnie little more memorable. The half baked character in XY, is actually Serena. Truly enough, Serena is another Misty replacement, and the writers seems to push her in a different way to makeover that rule in a brand new way. And so, Serena is much more like May in the sense that she didn’t went out to her Pokemon journey due her love for Pokemon or something. However Serena had been given a twist - she wanted to take that route because of Ash. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m one of Serena X Ash shippers as well. But in the long time test, you can feel how her character falling apart slowly. Where the writers gave a lot for her to follow Ash as a fellow trainer, something that resembled Misty, it fails where they wanted her to shine. Her emptiness in that area lead the writers, only in the last third of the series, to give her a gimmick similar to May and Dawn, in the shape of Showcase. No, you didn’t got it wrong, Showcase, not contests. While it felt once again more like a side story, as much as May’s contest, than Dawn’s. It did gave Serena the right push to her development, even to change her design and characteristic a bit. While this change was lovable to see in her, the fact the it took her so much time to get there, is enough for criticism. Truly, the writers gave her a lot of depth at the start, but until they didn’t fully used it in the last third, her character were just that, half baked character. And also where fans memory might failed them, as they remember Serena fondly due to her start and end of the series attitude, but forgotten most of her middle one. But that’s not all where fans remember fondly the XY series, and that is coming to this review last part - Art and animation. Truly enough, the animation in the XY was probably one of the bestest the Pokemon anime could provide. Finally gym battles felt realistic and freely, and maybe even more shounen’ish. Despite trying to fit the game mechanic, this is truly where XY series got lot better. While it’s not “too bad”, this animation improvement wasn’t through the whole series, but in the important battles. This isn’t making the animation of XY anyway wrong, but it’s also support why fans may remember more of those parts better than other. The art, on the other hand, is probably between BW to SM treatment. I won’t deny that XY had good art, but compare to the BW more “round” design, XY feeling little more “square”. That’s probably what OLM tried to fix in SM designs, only to squashing the design to feel not square at all, and where SM art felt lacking. And where XY succeeded little more in that area than SM, though the more fresh and stylish designs - square design isn’t necessarily bad. And as I could think of, XY art is Probably the best the series had ever was before going Journeys style (where it fixed SM art. but on that, in future review). While all that being said, it’s only for the XY series. The XYZ series, on the other hand, is entirely different issue, because it improved and fixed a lot of where XY hadn’t fixed, as I mentioned in this review. So as for XYZ, it deserves its own special review in the XYZ entry. On that note, see you in the XYZ review. To be continue.

Pokémon the Series: XY&Z Review (CONTAINS SPOILERS) It's not every day, I get to write a Pokemon review. It's always bittersweet, having a new generation of Pokemon come to an end. In the games department, X and Y was absolutely revolutionary for the Pokemon franchise. As for the anime, well... we just came off of the Black and White anime, which is widely considered to be the worst of the Pokemon anime. So X and Y had a lot of fixing to do? Does it succeed? Well, let's talk about that. First off, I don't know how they keep doing it, but the Pokemon anime just keepsgetting better and better, in terms of animation. That's undeniable. Right from the get go, the new art palette (teehee) is a huge step up from the already amazing looking Black and White (which is the only amazing thing about that season). Not only to the colors look improved, but Ash looks significantly older in this series. Of course he's still in 10 year old limbo, but we can at least pretend that he's aged over time, with this one. I get that they want to have a 10 year old protagonist so that the majority of the Pokemon anime audience can have a character that they can relate to, but I think it'd be even more impactful to have that protagonist grow up, along with its audience. While he may not be doing that in the age department, he definitely did that in the personality department. So in Black and White, Ash had completely lost and and all knowledge and skill he ever had, throughout the entirety of Diamond and Pearl. And considering D&P has an INCREDIBLY smart and deep Ash in it, Black and White back peddled like nobody's business! So when X and Y roles around and introduces this new, more confident Ash, I was really impressed. This Ash is more confident, courageous, intelligent, and acts as a mentor to his traveling companions. Usually that honor belongs to the older male traveling companion. But Ash does a really good job with this role, while also continuing to have growth and struggles of his own. It's by far the best Ash Ketchum in the Pokemon anime, and I'm REALLY sad that the small bits of the Sun and Moon anime that I've seen so far seem to completely erase that personality and rewrite Ash from the ground up, once again. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's entirely true. Speaking of starting from the ground up, like always, Ash has an entirely new traveling party in this new region. And for the first time since the Hoenn generation, Ash is traveling in a party of FOUR this time, as opposed to three. First off, we have the female playable character in X and Y, Serena. Right from the beginning, Serena is a very interesting character. When we get to see her and personal life, she seems very atypical, compared to all the other female traveling companions that Ash has had, in the past. First off, she doesn't start off with any Pokemon, or even with any plans to get one and go on a journey. She's just a girl living at home, who doesn't seem to be really involved in anything related to Pokemon. But the reason she has for going on a journey is actually REALLY interesting. You immediately become interested in her story and hope to see it go somewhere that Pokemon has never really gone, before. Unfortunately, this big suspenseful journey gets wrapped up pretty quickly and anticlimactically. But that doesn't stop Serena from being an absolute joy to have on screen. Serena reminds me a lot of Dawn, in which she's a character that continuously grows in both victory and failure. She has her victories like every main character always gets. But it's not always like that. A lot of her victories involve overcoming obstacles such as people and past events that tell her she's not good enough. And I'm not just talking about jerkish rivals. I'm talking about parents who paved a predetermined path for her. I'm talking about legends in the industry of her dreams that tell her she has no hope of succeeding, simply because the great classics that came before her already set the bar and nobody will ever be able to top it, simply because it isn't a classic. Not only that, she has a lot of times where she DOES fail and it breaks her up. Seeing her in those darker states is one of the more emotional things to witness in the Pokemon series. But what's even more powerful is seeing her recovery from those moments. Serena goes through more growth and development in her journey than Ash was able to do in the first THREE generations of Pokemon! They didn't treat Serena like a side character. They made her important and an equal to Ash in the story. And not only does she look up to him for inspiration and admire him more than any other traveling companion in the past, but Ash also looks up to her, as well. We're always gonna have a soft spot in our hearts for Misty and I absolutely loved Dawn as a character in Diamond and Pearl. But I can easily say that Serena is the BEST female protagonist in the Pokemon anime's history! And I'm happy to say that the great characters don't stop there! Ash's next traveling companion is the 5th gym leader in X and Y, Clemont. Who I constantly refer to as Clementine, because reasons. My favorite character in the Pokemon anime has always been Brock. He's both incredibly hilarious and he's also been such a great role model to the other members of the group. But throughout all the time we spent with Brock over the years, he never had a journey of growth in the anime. At least not one that was very prominent. The reason for that is because he didn't really ever need one. Being a well seasoned gym leader, he was incredibly smart and focused more on helping others, due to him kinda already having his life plan all figured out. But as soon as he discovered a desire to start something new, he went and did it, alone. So we never saw any of the struggles he may have had. So now we switch over to Clemont, who is a gym leader just like Brock and also INCREDIBLY intelligent. But he isn't nearly as confident in where his life is headed and finds the desire to go on a journey to develop his skills and expand his horizons. And he gets that ambition from meeting Ash. Being a gym leader makes Ash look up to him, but Clemont returns those exact feelings in this random trainer that he just met. So they end up traveling together with a promise to help one another in improving themselves. Just like Serena, this made Clemont a lot more enjoyable to watch, since we get to see him grow, as opposed to just being the voice of reason. And while I still say Brock will always be my favorite, I can say that Clemont is the BEST male traveling companion that Ash has ever had. While his journey isn't as grand as Serena's, we still see a lot of growth that we've never seen in any male traveling companion before him. Something I'm really glad about is that he wasn't as super nerdy as I initially thought he was gonna be. Ya, he's a sciencey inventor type of guy, but he's not really nerdy about it. The only thing I really didn't like is that his new inventions that got introduced almost every episode ALWAYS came with an overly detailed explanation on what they did and how they worked. And they were always followed up with Ash saying "WOW! SCIENCE IS SO AMAZING!" It was like having 2 Team Rocket mottos in every episode, and it just took up too much time, on top of it being super cheesy and not nearly as cool as the Team Rocket motto. But still, he has a ton of kick butt, awesome moments that make him seem really cool and not at all like your typical nerd trope. I also like how he's the first of Ash's traveling companions to actually get tired from all that walking and running around that they always do. I mean seriously! Ash and company have traveled the world by foot for over 20 years, and we JUST NOW get a character whose like "I'm too old for this!" Granted, it's probably cuz he's always lugging around a giant metal backpack, but still. It was a funny addition to his character. Now like I said, this generation of the anime actually had FOUR traveling companions! The final member of Ash's group is Clemont's younger sister, Bonnie. Right off the bat, you're reminded of Max from the Hoenn anime. I actually like Max a lot more than most people do. I found him more interesting than May and he's also the main focus of my favorite episode in the entire Pokemon anime, "Do I Hear A Ralts?". So I was actually really excited to see another younger, non-trainer character join Ash's group. Bonnie is both absolutely hilarious and extremely adorable. At first, she does seem a bit much, with how she thinks every single Pokemon is "SOOOO CUUUUTE!". But she plays off of Clemont really well and has a lot of cute moments, herself. One thing she does is that she tends to go to every attractive girl she sees and asks them to "Take care of" her brother. Which then results in Clemont pulling her away, super embarrassed. Obviously this is just a re-skin of the Brock gag that we all know and some of us love. While it's not as funny as watching Brock's ear getting ripped off or getting poisoned to death but miraculously recovering from it, it's still funny to see. Bonnie actually plays a really important role in the anime, despite not being a trainer and thus not really being able to start a journey of her own, yet. She has a lot of episodes centered around her that range from cute to funny to "OH MY GOD IT'S SO SAD!!!!! ESPURR WHY!?!?!?!?!?" She gets even more important in the show's second half, known as XY&Z. First off, as if the jump from Black and White to X and Y wasn't impress enough, in terms of animation, the animation jump from XY to XY&Z is EVEN MORE mindblowingly amazing! Honestly, the episodes in XY&Z look up to par with the Pokemon MOVIES! And I don't mean the old ones, I mean the ones getting released right now! Seriously, this show is stinkin gorgeous and deserves respect for not only seeing how far the Pokemon anime has come, but also for simply being one of the best looking anime I've seen. But ya. Back to Bonnie. In XY&Z, we find a mysterious, unknown Pokemon. Bonnie takes it upon herself to take care of it and give it the name "Squishy". Now Squishy actually plays a very important role in the show's story. But honestly, having a name like Squishy makes it VERY hard for me to take a lot of those intense moments at the end of the show very seriously. Regardless, Bonnie is thankfully never pushed to the side or treated too much as a mascot character. She plays a very important role and she's an absolute joy to watch. All 4 of the main human characters play off of each other so well. I can easily say that this is my favorite group of human characters in any Pokemon anime generation. They were all fantastic and I very much enjoyed going on a journey with each and every one of them. And of course, Team Rocket. Unfortunately, they don't get NEARLY as much screen time and emotional episodes all to themselves as they did in Diamond and Pearl, but they still had a ton of great moments and were 1000 times better than they were in Black and White. As for the Pokemon characters... again, Diamond and Pearl has this show beat. Those of you who have seen Diamond and Pearl will probably understand and agree with me when saying that they had the BEST Pokemon characters in the history of the show. X and Y had some Pokemon that stood out more than others, but Diamond and Pearl made EVERY Pokemon important and likable. This show did not. Probably the most prominent one is Ash's Greninja. They tried REALLY hard to make Greninja the next Charizard. They REALLY wanted you to like this Pokemon. Did they succeed? Well... sort of? Greninja actually does a lot to make Ash more likable, as weird as that sounds. It's sorta hard to explain it all briefly, but you'll understand when you see the show for yourself, how Greninja makes Ash more involved in battles, as well as more deep of a character. The music is classic Pokemon style. It's good, but nothing super memorable. The 3 opening theme songs are all great, however. The 1st one is just a remix of the original theme song that we all know and love, so that may turn some people on, right off the bat. The other 2 are really good and also really different, compared to the theme the past couple of openings seemed to have. I just REALLY wish they made the english openings longer than 30 seconds. I mean, come on! Kids aren't THAT impatient! Especially at 8:00 in the morning. I promise you! Now, like every generation of Pokemon, there's a butt load of cash cow movies, trailing behind it. X and Y has 3 movies attached to it, which I'll go over very briefly. The Diancie movie has an ending that'll probably scare some kids who are new to Pokemon. But if you've seen the first Pokemon movie, you know EXACTLY how the "BIG PROBLEM" at the end of this movie is going to get resolved. All in all, not worth the watch. The second movie stars Hoopa, who is one of the most annoying talking legendaries in Pokemon movie history. Not nearly as bad as Keldeo, thankfully. But still incredibly annoying to where I'll tell you to avoid this movie, simply because Hoopa is in it. The last movie stars both Volcanion and Magearna, and I gotta be honest. This is the first Pokemon movie in OVER A DECADE that I can actually say wasn't absolutely terrible! It's still not as great as the oldies, but it was ACTUALLY fun to watch, which is something I can't say about any other Pokemon movie that was released within the past 10 years! Magearna is the best part of this movie. It's just a really cool Pokemon to look at. This movie made me love a legendary I probably never would've cared about, otherwise. They had moments that made me happy and sad, as well as whimsical and entranced in their story and just overall design. I would seriously recommend watching this movie just to see Magearna. This movie won't blow you away in the story department, but it's got SOMETHING, at least. So that alone is worth the watch, when compared to the past 10 years of shovelware Pokemon movies. Back to the anime, the XY&Z portion of the show is sort of a movie, itself. I may just think that because of how deep these characters are, but the final episodes at the Pokemon League, onward are actually really intense. Now, I'm gonna start talking about the outcome of the Pokemon League and what happens after that. So if you don't wanna be spoiled, I'd recommend skipping to the final paragraph. So with all the growing Ash had in this journey, and with these specific Pokemon on his team being SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful than teams he's had in the past. I truly believed that this would finally be the generation that has Ash win the Pokemon League! I thought it was finally time! However, he had some tough competition. There's this SUPER FRIENDLY rival of his named Sawyer, who is honestly one of the more annoying characters in this show (and voiced by Pikachu in the Japanese version). And there's also a character named Alain. Alain actually has his own series of spin off episodes that got released throughout the X and Y anime. I won't spoil what they're about, but it's pretty interesting stuff and gives you an idea of what a Pokemon anime without Ash would be like. Honestly, it was cool. And as much as I liked Ash in X and Y, I wouldn't mind seeing the world of Pokemon through someone else's eyes. But throughout that side series, you see that Alain is a ridiculously powerful trainer. He eventually meets Ash in XY&Z and the two of them become friends and wish to battle each other in the Pokemon League. Ash gets his wish when he goes up against Alain in the FINALS! This is the first time in Pokemon HISTORY that Ash has made it to the FINALS in the Pokemon League! I truly believed that this would be the time that Ash would come out on top. And throughout the whole battle between him and Alain, they make it all seem like it's going to come true. Ash and Greninja are in COMPLETE control of the battlefield, whenever they're working together. They make Greninja INTENSE and you just KNOW that they're gonna win and Ash is FINALLY going to win! .........but he doesn't. As ends up losing to Alain, even though the final attack is done by Greninja, who ends up fainting from exhaustion. This was the most frustrating part of the entire show. This was the PERFECT time for Ash to finally come out on top! I know the show creators have said that if Ash ever won the Pokemon League, his journey would be over. But I KNOW that's not true! Ash wouldn't just go home and stare as his 1st place trophy for the rest of his life, whenever he won it. He would go out to a new region to find new Pokemon and go to new places and take on a new challenge. He would NEVER end his journey, as long as there's still new places to explore in the world of Pokemon. He won 1st place in the Orange League! Did he stop his journey, then? Nope! He became king of the Battle Frontier and was even offered a position as one of the Frontier Brains! Did he take the position? Nope! He continued his journey around the world! So ya. It's nonsense to say that Ash isn't allowed to win, or else his journey would be over. He DESERVED to win here and it would've been a perfect end to an incredible journey with a character we all grew up with. But whatever. Alain wins the Pokemon League. But the show actually doesn't stop there. Out of nowhere, the final battle with Team Flare begins. And it's one of the most epic battles with an evil team in Pokemon history! Team Flare's ambitions are explained in a way that makes them seem a lot more intense and fierce, as opposed to how they were explained in the games. They made Team Flare both incredibly evil and genuinely frightening. So it's up to not only Ash, but Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and the unsung heroes of Pokemon, Team Rocker, to stop Team Flare and save the Kalos region. All of them play a huge role in this final battle. Clemont and Bonnie have very deep and emotional moments that were both very sad and incredibly dark for Pokemon standards. Serena didn't stand out as much as they did, but considering how much her character rocked the rest of the show, I say she gets a pass. As for Ash... Let me just say this. The voice actors of both Ash and his traveling companions deserve recognition for how stinkin awesomely they voiced these last couple of episodes. It's honestly some of, if not the BEST moments of voice acting in the Pokemon anime's history. Ash sounds truly intense and is able to send chills down your spine with his words, alone. Clemont does just as good of a job as Ash with that, and Bonnie goes from cute mascot, to downright heartbreaking. Seriously. I know a lot of us were real uppity when the Pokemon dub got handed over to a new company and all the voices got changed. But I loved their work in Diamond and Pearl, onward. And now that they've been doing the dub LONGER than the original dub, and seeing the performances they gave with these last few episodes of XY&Z, I applaud the heck out of every single person who worked on this show. You all seriously did an amazing job and you should be truly proud of your stellar performances. In conclusion, Pokemon X and Y is FANTASTIC. It was a million times better than Black and White, the animation is the best it's ever been, the main human characters are absolutely incredible, and the ending of this series was everything that the ending of Black and White should've been. I still think that Diamond and Pearl wins by a hair, in terms of story and overall cast, however. Both of them are fantastic and the absolute highlights of the Pokemon anime. If you've been out of the Pokemon anime for a long time and don't really think it's worth returning to, I can tell you with total confidence that you WILL like X and Y. As long as you can accept that all the Pokemon and characters and their voice actors from your childhood aren't there anymore, X and Y will prove to be something truly special and something that can be enjoyed by every Pokemon fan, as well as fans of anime, as a whole. Pokemon The Series: XY&Z gets a 9/10

Many people will disagree with my low rating, but the fact is - when you watch too much of an anime (this anime has 93 episodes, and still has an XYZ season after it) it becomes it really boring, especially when there's a formula to an episode. I remember dropping on this anime at about episode 60, then a few months ago I went so far as to watch the XYZ version. The reason for all of this is because every episode, while they do something new, team rocket comes and annoys the hell out of them, then they get their Pokemon back, beat thehell out of them, and finally - continue whatever they were gonna do. It gets really repetitive as episodes go by. That's the reason behind my low rating on the show, even though when I was first watching it I thought it was amazing. You can't deny the great animation and sound, which carries the anime to 4. Without them I wouldn't have it at more than 2, or at most - 3.

When it comes to the Pokemon anime, many people make the mistake to assume it can be taken as a single anime. Each "cycle" is very different from the others, whether that be the narrative or the art style. As such, it must always be taken as several shows. If some of them are really bad (especially the first one and Best Wishes), some of them are absolutely amazing, for various reasons. Pokemon XY is an awesome shônen, with epic fights, a decent story (although not flawless), and an excellent art style. STORY The story in Pokemon evolved a lot. After 15 seasons, they learned to create deeper characterswith decent stories. They also made a very respectable Ash. Pokemon XY is still about Ash and Pikachu on their way to become a Pokemon Master. But now, they are at a whole different level than they were in the beginning. They have several Leagues of experience, which serve them a lot as they often defeat their opponents hands down. Aside from Ash, the story introduces Serena (who first follows Ash only by love, but then finds her way thanks to the Tripokalon, a contest show), and Citron and Eureka (a Gym Leader and his little sister, who travel across the region for fun). If these companions don't tell much story in the beginning, Serena's character becomes way more interesting when she starts practicing for Tripokalon. But for now, all that is quite basic in Pokemon. Luckily, XY also has a lot of other stories revolving around several other characters. In fact, it is divided into small arcs (which makes this show look much more like a shônen, Naruto style). Long story short, this anime tells decent stories, sadly they are quite independent from each other, which makes it feel a little broken. ART Pokemon XY is simply amazing. The drawings and environments are stunning, and the light effects are absolutely wonderful. The second opening starts with a view during dawn, and it is definitely the BEST dawn I've ever seen in japanimation, the colors really catch up the feels of a true dawn. The animation is also excellent. It is among the best we can find in japanimation, AND it's also way less rare than in other anime. My point is, in an anime, we often have to wait for around 5 episodes before we get one cool action scene, and that usually lasts only a few minutes. Do you see what I mean? That's not the case in Pokemon XY. ALL the fights have an excellent animation, and this show is all about fights. Finally, the show is very dynamic. The battles feel intense thanks to that. SOUND Pokemon has always had an excellent OST (in the original version, of course ; in dubs, the OST has been ruined a lot). Imo, this series has the best openings of the whole show (Volt is epic, Get Ban Ban feels very good to hear, and XYZ is pure rock). The music themes are memorable, especially Ash-Greninja's theme. Finally, the seiyuus do a wonderful job, as usual. Note that Citron is voiced by Yuki Kaji, the same as Eren in AoT. CHARACTERS Across the seasons (except BW), Ash became strong, learned a lot, and now in XY, he is BADASS and hardly defeatable. Yes, you heard right. While they do sometimes make him lose for the sake of suspense, in this series Ash is a beast in Pokemon Battles, he often one shots his opponents and is even considered a mentor by many other characters. While Ash is often criticized as a character, his XY version is mature and badass, and is a real fighter. Ash's new friends are charming, but it takes time before they tell decent stories. In fact, their characters really stand out only in the second half, particularly in the last season, XYZ. Eureka befriends a Legendary Pokemon, Citron prepares for his Gym Battle against Ash and also has to degend his City against Team Flare. But the secondary characters are really what makes XY stand out as a Pokemon anime. Many of them have a very interesting and progressive story. Among them: - Corni, a Gym Leader owner of a Lucario, must learn to control the Mega-Evolution to become stronger ; - Allan, who first wants to defeat all the Mega-Evolution, then has to fight with Team Flare to save his friend's Pokemon (which fell into a coma) ; - the star of this show : Greninja, who first evolves to his final stage and then reveals a whole new evolution called Battle Bond. It's always hard to describe the characters in a Pokemon show, because there's plenty of them. Long story short : in Pokemon XY, many characters stand out thanks to their interesting story. The way things keep progressing is really worth it, and watching this series it really feels like everyone grows up and evolves. ENJOYMENT There are two Pokemon anime that I find excellent: DP and XY. The reasons are different, though. While the story in XY is not flawless, it makes up for it with very interesting characters, very cool story arcs, and an excellent art style. It's definitely worth watching, if you skip the fillers.

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