IMO...
But seriously, in the anime, pikachu DESTROYS fully evolved pokemon with thunderbolt, and then gets beaten by unevolved/baby pokemon. 1st gen anime was the best imo, battle quality and animations improved over new seasons, but everything else pretty much degraded. But yes, overall the main story is crap compared the game ones...
One more thing, misty is classic, may is hot, and dawn is that little girl you wanna corrupt.