1. Blue is the rival, Green is the female trainer, lets just stick to the english version and stay happy.
Ugh.
Anyways, regardless of the shit flunged at the R/S arc, I still find it to be one of my favorites, since the two main characters meshed well together and the dramatic irony behind their pasts fleshed in well with how the plot was progressing. Ruby's acceptance of who he was (from the hard superficial exterior to the caring individual he inwardly was) and his journey made it worthwhile, especially with using Feebas/Milotic as an excellent way to achieve that. His complicated relationships with his father and Sapphire enhanced the development and his true character, allowing the reader to catch glimpses of who he is in the inside from the beginning, until it's revealed in the end (seriously, wasn't I the only one who though that most sons go after their fathers, in this case, a monstrously strong trainer, and yet we see Ruby as some contest prissy? There was more to it than that, which is revealed in the end.) Other than Red, I think he was one of the strongest protagonists in the entire Pokemon Specials series.
The deus ex machina with Celebi was understandably disappointing, even with the foreshadowing with the Seviper in the beginning (which I didn't comprehend; I thought it was Ruby just demonstrating his trainer skills, not unleashing a legendary) and that was the only low point of the series, though since the Pokemon Special is supposed to cater to a younger audience (which I would argue against BUT whatever), death of a father figure and the previous champion isn't a very good way of accomplishing that. Plus, it allows the setup of my favorite arc, FRLG, so it's all good in the end.
I want to conclude with: DP was terrible until the very end, PT was disappointingly terrible with its rushed story and that nothing substantial happened in the arc and HGSS seems like it's on the same path unless the writers pull something out of their asses fast, which would be disappointing since I did have high hopes for the 4 generals. B/W seems promising but the characters don't have the flair that the earlier ones did and B/W2... I'm not even sure where they're going with that.
Edit: @above, not sure how you can say that the writers killed Red's character when the bulk of FRLG was devoted to Red developing into an adult and a greater indepth look at who he is, especially in the airship. His complicated relationship with Deoxys, Mewtwo and even Giovanni indicates that the writers didn't "kill" him but instead allowed him to grow. As for Emerald, you forget that the Frontier is based on skill alone, and not on levels or power; on an even playing field, I would guess that Emerald has an even better flair for battling than Red.