To continue this mini series of eras and Generations lets look at the Pokemon anime
To clarify were looking at Ash Ketchum, his companions, the defining moments and the what worked and what didn't.
Updated: Re-done the current anime season.
Kanto
Looking back, Kanto is kind of goofy, but among all the seasons you can pick more memorable episodes from this over the other seasons any day.
It is to the detriment of Ash who is woefully amateur as a trainer and gets away with way too much.
Brock and Misty are fairly down to Earth but I say Brock has the better personality while Misty more often than not feels like she is just "the girl" in the group.
Orange Islands
I found it interesting to go off on a non game world as it built in some fun battle dynamics that are now part of canon game mechanics and explored some of the more interesting parts of Pokemon history.
Ash is actually getting better showing that he is learning from his mistakes.
Misty barely improves while Tracy is so one dimensional that any character of the day could replace him.
Johto
Like Kanto but not as memorable, mostly because it fixed many of Kanto's short comings losing it's cheesy edge but the Pokemon league was something to behold finally settling the score with Gary.
Ash has kept steady progress but gave away wayyyyy too many pokemon.
Misty is still the same while Brock returning was very much welcomed and he came new and improved.
Hoenn
Hoenn felt like it hadn't learned much from Johto, it kept the same dynamics as Johto but it did give a more defined goal to the female lead, again the later part of the season was the strongest.
Ash leaving his Pokemon behind with Professor Oak was a much smarter decision than you think as he got to grips with newer Pokemon, Ash was starting to look like a better trainer.
Brock sticking around was welcomed and continued his goofy big brother role for Ash while we have a new female in May who I like for being on Ash's level as a second protagonist but I dislike walking dictionary Max for just being an annoying kid brother. This is also the first season where Team Rocket finally gets something other than incompetent villains.
Sinnoh
Sinnoh was incredible, it massively improved in quality and gave Ash and Dawn both top billing. This is Pokemon at it's best.
This is the strongest Ash will ever be as a Pokemon trainer.
Dawn's arrival is very much welcomed and something the series needed, a solid multi dimensional female lead. Misty was one note while May was copying notes from Ash, Dawn gave us the best girl. Brock is still there but was running out of steam by end of season and again I welcome Team Rocket being more than incompetent villains.
Unova
Oh no, ohhhhh noooooo, what happened? Quality just dive bombed and never recovered and it's mostly down to characters.
To be fair on Ash, this is the closest he will get to acting like his game counterpart as his training style reflects how the game is played.
Iris is trying to be Misty and fails, this would've been fine if she was only in a couple of episodes but no were stuck with her for a whole season. Don't get me started on Cilan, his deal is that he's a Pokemon Connoisseur which means he can identify how compatible Pokemon are with their trainers, so in short they made him the walking friendship rater from the games. It's a stupid idea, this is the worst season and I wish it never happened.
Kalos
Oh thank god you learned some lessons from the previous season; probably the best in quality animation and has a lot of set pieces and moments that create some spectacular scenes like in the finale.
Ash brought back some bad habits of freeing Pokemon and his team is unconventional to say the least.
Clemont is a welcome replacement to Cilan being a goofy inventor and works really well with little sister Bonnie as a foil who isn't annoying but the Zygarde plot dragged out too long and made Bonnie into a babysitter. Serena is at least better than Iris and Misty but somehow stands out even less than May and Dawn despite her contests being more about being an Idol which is about standing out. I also feel that her storyline is not terrible but I feel that her crush on Ash came to nothing.
Alola
Ummm, okay, that's a different approach. Let's be real the animation is really distracting as it seems more suited to slap stick, but I do give it props for using self aware humour and throwing in scenes that older seasons not even Kanto dare not try, so it's at least ambitious.
Ash kept much of his Kalos traits but seems to grow younger when entering the region and seems to forget all he learned previously.
There is now a group as opposed to two or three companions so to list.
I like Kiawe for his comically serious routine.
I find Sophocles okay, at least it's better than the game.
I like Lana, I feel she's the Misty we deserved.
I like Lillie as well as her character seems more believable than the game.
I never liked Mallow, I felt like I was watching Iris again.
Brief mention on Team Rocket, the whole Bewear adopting them was just weird.
Galar
Now the season is reaching it's climax I have to say that it's the weakest season.
A lot of good characters from the Galar region were done dirty in favour of a more open world narrative with the idea of the world championships.
It's great if you're Ash Ketchum as he finally got to show his full strength but not so good for anyone else.
Team Rocket were left with not much to do.
Chloe had nothing to do but watch an Eevee and take notes from previous female protagonists.
Goh can f**k right off, as his story about finding Mew and just randomly catching Pokemon didn't make for a good narrative in an anime adaption, I think I only remember four out of around 100 or so he captured.
I'm glad Ash is now a Pokemon master, I just wish the season reflected that achievement more.
Paldea
Nothing announced yet.
The game follows a three story structure.
The only way I see Ash going to Paldea is if he's personally invited by the Paldea Region's Chairwoman and Champion to compete in the Gym challenge.
There is room for Chloe to redeem herself should they choose to.
Go should never come back.
A different scenario is Ash goes it alone with Nemona, Arven and Penny in tow.
