Oh boy here's a paragraph which states more than I really needed. I apologize if this comes out ranty, but that wasn't my intent xP
I needed somewhere that isn't a small 140 character message like Twitter, and this is the best place I could find.
As a fan of the on going Pokemon anime, I agree it's rather decent but worse than most cartoons you'd find (however as I don't watch it as much, I still try to keep up to date with it, I was never able to let go of it), and I don't think Pokemon the Series: XY and Pokemon the Series: XYZ should be an exception to that. However I do think it's a huge improvement compared to other sagas and seasons Pokemon has done, even coming after the poorly created Pokemon Black and White (Pokemon Best Wishes) saga. The animation is nominal compared to the others, however it lost it's touch in humor, which I think was one of Pokemon's key factors, Pokemon is still enjoyable as it was for the most part but it took a different turn this time around and focuses more on story (which didn't really seem relevant until XYZ with the whole Team Flare and Zygarde stuff.)
My biggest problem with the series, however, is the character known as Serena. She's a rather popular character and I don't really understand why, aside from the fact that she seems to be shipping material. However I feel like she lacks personality, with only playing two different types of personality traits: "I love Ash" and "I must be girly and pretty at all times." Even after she cut her hair to signify change, she still only has these two traits, despite the meaning of cutting and changing your hair in any other areas of the world, this change never happened. Sure it has meaning, but said change doesn't mean anything if it's never done. She also cried because of losing, not saying this is bad as I would cry too on my first time trying on opening day and messing up. She didn't really care for how her Pokemon felt, despite saying "oh it's my fault", the other characters, like May, felt like they let their Pokemon down, not because they lost. in the showcase which is literally a female-only padgent show, treating Pokemon more as props as opposed to the pet show based Pokemon contests, where Pokemon are the main attraction and the trainers guide them through. Before then she didn't really seem to understand what she wanted to do and followed Ash like a lemming, so she didn't even have a use until the showcase stuff. I don't really mind Serena at all but I find her rather annoying when she dresses up and tries to be pretty (which affected Fenniken's personality traits until evolution), although characters like Dawn have down something similar before, she sorta improved upon them and realized that was a flaw while Serena had not. You're a Pokemon Trainer, at least act like it. As stated, it's not that I don't like Serena, because I do think she's a cool character, but I find her presence unneeded and a waste of potential. I don't mind her having a crush on Ash either, but when it takes away from character traits that could also be improved, I think there is a problem. I just don't understand what makes her a popular character when I feel like she's just a mary-su with several flaws.