A Remix Of The OG PKMN Animé & The Best One Since 1996, XYZ fixes ~every flaw of B/W and the previous few generations of anipoké – the best new protagonist troupe in ages de/reconstructing and making us fall back in love w. Ash through the eyes of Greninja canon and [S-tier chemistry and butterfly-blush 10x amplified Misty ship] romance with #1-2 Female Protagonist: Serena and science-celebrating anti-Brock/Cilan & Max Bonnie-and-Clement alongside a mature demographic neo-Ash 2.0 in Alain, A+ new feature in showcases, vivid animation panache with fast-paced battle dynamicism and adv. VFX, resurgence of old-school Team Rocket, & jaw-droppingly epic Flare/Lysandre arc even > the X/Y video games in execution by Mega-Evolution Specials & an XYZ final 1/3 (finally) exhibiting the genius of what Anipoké could be sans the vexingly-overloaded filler otherwise plaguing the series. 8.7/10.

…

Plot Synopsis: Pokémon the Series: XY, Kalos Quest, and XYZ are the 17th, 18th, & 19th seasons of the Pocket Monsters anime.

*Possible Spoilers Ahead*

Best Episodes: 1. Mega Evolution Special III, 2. A Towering Takeover, 3. Forming A More Perfect Union, 4. Kalos: Where Dreams & Adventures Begin!, 5. The Legend Of X, Y, And Z, 6. Finals Not For The Faint-Hearted, 7. From A To Z, 8. Coming Apart At The Dreams, 9. A Conspiracy To Conquer!, 10. Lumiose City Pursuit, 11. Mega Evolution Special II, 12. Till We Compete Again, 13. A Meeting Of Two Journeys, 14. A League Of His Own, 15. Master Class Is In Session Pts. 1-2, 16. A Showcase Debut, 17. Mega Evolution Special I, 18. Rocking Kalos Defenses, 19. The Bonds Of Evolution, 20. Seeing The Forest For The Trees, 21. The Right Hero For The Right Job, 22. The Legend Of The Ninja Hero Pts 1-2, 23. An Explosive Operation, 24. Scary Hospitality, 25. Battling At Full Volume

…

Official CLC Review

The Death Of Anipoké. That’s what B/W – colloquially known as the Best Wishes animé by the fandom [ignominiously for how bad it was] – signified for the franchise, one whose TV and Movie counterparts gravely lacked in comparison to the masterpiece video games nowhere more obvious than Gen. V. Better-structured with more overarching multi-ep. plotlines, a Dawn-level new female protagonist duo in first-ever black canon legacy character Iris/Axew, animation vibrance injection, no previous gen. distractions (until the bad Kanto-knockoff Orange Islands post-series), breathtaking [though short/late] Plasma x N arc, and epic introduction arguably crownable the Best PKMN TV Episode Of All-Time.. color-mixed into a Black/White 50|50 mix & overall-failure by a continual purgatory of 120+ filler throwaway eps., *infuriating* hyper-nerf of Ash, clashingly-juvenile tone and poor characterization/storytelling in the gen with the best x darkest of each, complete retcon/dilution of Team Rocket’s personality and idiosyncrasy charm, & gratingly-pretentious Cilan amongst the worst characters of the series [bizarrely trio-chosen > Bianca, N, etc.], The Unova Chronicles were an epic failure.

Regardless, the fandom held out (flickering) hope – especially in the context of a great three musketeers x knights of the round table x grimm fairy tale trilogy ending film in Kyurem Vs. The Swords Of Justice & magnificence of new gen. video games bringing the franchise from 2->3D in X/Y (2013). That persistence and belief has finally paid off; The X/Y Animé is just as good – if not >>> [!] – than the video games: the first time in franchise history. A Remix Of The OG PKMN Animé & The Best One Since 1996, XYZ fixes ~every flaw of B/W and the previous few generations of anipoké – the best new protagonist troupe in ages de/reconstructing and making us fall back in love w. Ash through the eyes of Greninja canon and [S-tier chemistry and butterfly-blush 10x amplified Misty ship] romance with #1-2 Female Protagonist: Serena and science-celebrating anti-Brock/Cilan & Max Bonnie-and-Clement alongside a mature demographic neo-Ash 2.0 in Alain, A+ new feature in showcases, vivid animation panache with fast-paced battle dynamicism and adv. VFX, resurgence of old-school Team Rocket, & jaw-droppingly epic Flare/Lysandre arc even > the X/Y video games in execution by Mega-Evolution Specials & an XYZ final 1/3 (finally) exhibiting the genius of what Anipoké could be sans the vexingly-overloaded filler otherwise plaguing the series.

The Secret Sauce of what makes The X/Y Animé so damn good is the return to origins and self-de/reconstruction. Back to Kanto and Gen. I, the entire series references, challenges, and remixes the original adventures that first captured our hearts and set the world ablaze in 1996: Indigo League. From the verbatim all-time TV icon lyrics and legendary power-chord progression of Jason Paige’s original theme song x literal plot points like Ash taking an injured starter he meets in the very first episode to the PKMN Center in Ep. 2 x exact character archetypes/dynamics (the unsure-of-self secret gym leader, female protagonist in love with Ash, flirting and trying to find a GF/Wife for a guy in rando girls along the way by a character whose name begins with a B, etc.), XYZ hits you squarely in the nostalgia bone for the first major true legacy sequel the fandom has been waiting on for eons. This is nowhere more apparent than the face-of-the-franchise and star-protagonist avatar of the very creator of the greatest and biggest idea in the history of fiction: Satoshi Tajiri (JPN) aka Ash (USA/Worldwide).

The Biggest Failure & Fandom-Wide Malign of the B/W Animé was by how comprehensively they failed and ~ruined Ash. Gen. V Anipoké’s ‘Ash’ – without even the writing basicity to gimmickify a cliché amnesia or power-reversion or no team recurrence, etc. – lost to a damn Lv. 5 Snivy and badgeless nobody/passerby-trainers as a five-generation, 32-badge canon überveteran whom just managed to take down a Latios and Darkrai with the exact same Pikachu in The Sinnoh League. Wielding a joke team amongst the weakest and most laughably uncool ‘mons in the gen like Unfezant and Leavanny, the dude can’t even recognize PKMN he’s caught and owned for years over hundreds of episodes. The dude has to scramble to the pokédex to identify a KOFFING – one like, I don’t know he battled every single day of his life against OG Team Rocket. JFC. X/Y retcons every iota of sacrilege and contemptuous disgrace to remind us just why we first fell in love with the fiery perpetual-10-y.o. with a personality/spirit of passion, love, hunger, impatience, determination, fearlessness, bravery, leadership, hyperdrive morality, underdogisms, and heroicism. Kalos’ Ash is so resolute x obstinate, he runs directly to the first gym in the very first episode, recognizing and identifying dozens of PKMN from other regions and not even taking time to stop and smell the cheateau français roses of the Parisien masterclass of worldbuilding region the X/Y video games created as a big F U to the B/W showrunners instantaneously showing the neo-writers’ room isn’t playing around here.

OUR BOY IS BACK! This Ash actually feels like the character whose gone through six generations of development and experience – doing everything from remembering the basics of training and catching ‘mons in the overworld to strategizing and coming up with avant-garde, genius supereffective battle strategies to showing us glimpses/fractions of his backstory x childhood for the first-ever time in the animé for A+ character-development even (somehow) growing him as a young man after hundreds of episodes to challenging the champion 1v1 in pure fearlessness to jumping off the damn lumiose aka eiffel tower just to save a random garcomp because he loves pokémon so much (zenith reason he’s a perfect protagonist for the franchise). This Ash is powerful enough to (FINALLY) MAKE IT TO THE FINALS OF THE CHAMPION’S LEAGUE [though he should’ve finally won: our only problem with Ash’s arc in X/Y in what could’ve otherwise been the zenith height experience of Ash’s trajectory across all the animé szns) and the center of the universe so much so that every character [Alain, Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, Sawyer, Lysandre, etc.] follows and revolves around him as the apex.. yet so so damn loveable a protagonist, he actually gives up a devil’s offer by Lysandre to become a Neo-Jesus for The Entire New World Order just to save everyone and all Pokémon. Speaking of which, Kalos Ash is finally given a team worthy of the face-of-the-franchise – the coolest and most badass ‘mons of the new gen: Noivern, Talonflame, Goodra, Hawlucha, Pikachu, and The Big Kahuna Of Pokémon… Greninja.

The #1 Most Fandom-Beloved/Popular Pokémon Of All-Time C. 2020 & Quite Likely The Greatest Starter Ever Made, Greninja is a masterpiece water-type creation of stealth, grace, & quickness purely japanese-celebrational by 児雷也豪傑物語 Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari backstory: a famous culture-ionic folk story wherein ninjas can shapeshift into a toad for camouflage. To forever-canonize/synergize the literal zenith pocket monster voted worldwide by the fanbase of the biggest media franchise in the world by fusion with the protagonist-face of the series’ cinetization side is a stroke of genius – Ash *FINALLY* gets the video game celebration [well, literally speaking; Pokémon: Yellow (1996) was basically a pastiche-homage to Ash’s journey in the Indigo League animé w/o outright verbalization] he deserves by the pseudo-Mega Ev. x final-forme Anipoké 1-Ups the base Ninja-Grenouille with: Ash-Greninja. ~Impossibly improving upon an already-masterpiece, the Ash forme of Greninja gives it a new flavor while improving the headpiece design and giving more badass weaponry like a titanic-sized shuriken throwing star made of ionized water – all while feeling distinctly-Ash and honoring the ninja-toad Japanese origin story by literally basically making the most iconic and world-renowned JPN Animé character worldwide (only rivaled by Goku from Dragonball Z) in Ash a Pokémon and one of the best ones ever, utilizable in VG.

The Bond Phenomenon bleeds Da Vinci’s Virtuvian Man physiologically, while also highlighting the character-synergization they both share with Froakie -> Frogadier -> Greninja sharing many of Ash’s personality traits from the very fate fated meeting between the duo, and we could not be happier that the PKMN Animé finally got [& *earned*] its stamp on Canon and the Video Games! Redemption on par with the magnitude of Ash’s from B/W -> X/Y, Kalos finally brings The OG Team Rocket back! The goofy, classic, perpetually-blasting-off epic-fail all-time villain trio every iota as beloved and cherished as Ash, Misty, and Brock from Indigo League onward was ~ruined by The Unova Chronicles – making them a copy/paste blah evil organization devoid of personality x charm and far too clashingly-competent fundamentally misunderstanding what makes them so funny and idiosyncratic as characters and antagonists in the first place. From the second we first heard the wacky shrill awkward crazy-grandma cry of Wobbuffet, we knew the old-school hijinx were back – and, again, the writers obliterate the idiocy of B/W by having them use the Original Motto from the very beginning. They’re also perfectly-balanced in character presence, not becoming overloaded in presence and instead relegated to pepper in meta-comedy, goofy costume impersonation, hilarious juxtapositions with Team Flare [‘who are you guys?’, long introduction: ‘we’re Team Rocket!’, ‘..so?’], and tons of charming loserdom pika-nab failures throughout the adventures. Epic.

The Vocal Castings for Ash and Team Rocket are still godawful in a recast-decision we’ll never let go or let TPC ever live down, but it’s ~forgiveable in the context of everything else the series does right. First, the visuals. From the opening flickers of The X/Y Animé [another fantastic introduction episode summarizing ~everything Kalos has to offer], most jaw-dropping is the shiny new ocular palette. The colors are vivid, animation lush, textures of depth, aesthetic distinctive, worldbuilding detailed in every street corner and brick of the majesty of the palais-adorned français region (a very difficult one to paint adequately by its complex architecture and sheer magnificence of grandeur/scale), composition frames avant-garde, shots dynamic, and cuts/editing breathtaking: this is the most visually striking The Pokémon Filmography [as we’ve said many times before, always far more advanced in cinematography and ideas than given credit for and the vast majority of franchises, but soiled by choppy animation feeling ~low-budget in execution] has ever produced. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the PKMN battles – a breathtaking experience from the very first VS title screen preceding each fight night showdown (bonus exp. points for how beautifully the XY series synergizes with and celeberates the video games in minuitia details like this!) all the way to the Kalos League Finale and blockbuster XYZ Flare arc [we’ll definitely get to later] amongst the most visually stunning things we’ve ever seen. period.

The score is great as well; sans the Kalos Quest theme song being the only bad one, the best theme songs since Johto 2000 with a Top 2-3 one ever in the hard rock XYZ ballad alongside a cinematic-feeling soundtrack remixing original Indigo League songs, featuring exact themes from the X/Y video games, and frequently prioritizing real authentic symphony orchestration > computer-generated sounds to synergize with the old-school luxe rich classicism x history of the region. The A/V Landscape only plays backdrop to what really makes Kalos go: the characters. Though plotting and writing is of totalitarian importance [The XY Animé is continually plagued by the insane number of filler episodes as its only real flaw: 150+ episodes with ~100 sideline adventures skippable to the main arc], just as crucial is the characters executing them day in/out – and Kalos brings us the best new protagonist group in ages. First, Serena. Quite Arguably The Greatest Female Protagonist In The History Of Anipoké [minimum #2-3 rivaled only by Misty and Dawn], Serena is a masterclass of character development under an umbrella aesthetic of being – of celebration and importance in the modern landscape – unapologetically feminine/girly.

The Character-Growth of Serena is gracefully-executed from lost girl just wanting to get out of the house of her overbearing mother to finding her dream/passion in making people smile as a performer and pseudo-celebrity influencer [another huge prognostication Pokémon was way ahead of its time predicting just like the X/Y video games’ A.I., Data Privacy, Tech Conglomerates, and Climate Change themes were] in a new feature addition the PKMN Animé even 1-Ups The Video Games for the first-ever time in by its creation: Showcases. Like Real-World Beauty-Pageants, PKMN Showcases are 10x > Contests; glitter-blasted animé-exclusive live exhibitions of dazzlingly-fun activities like fashion stylization, baking, quizzes, herding, dance performances, etc. in a quest to collect 3 princess keys and move from the rookie contests to masterclass to become the new Kalos Queen. The Pokémon Showcases synergize brilliantly with what makes Serena such a definitive anipoké girl – she’s allowed to be just that. Serena exhibits every classically feminine archetype, personality trait, beauty characteristic, talent, aesthetic, etc. from her warm, soft, gentle, compassionate demeanor to cooking/childcare/cleaning ability to fashionista style to pokémon team demographic of cute, fairylicious, obvious girl-targeted, pretty-yet-powerful Kalos designs like Fennekin, Pancham, and [A+, another All-Time Cherished/Beloved ‘Mon By The Fandom given perfect animé canon importance/synergization] Sylveon.

Yet she’s not ashamed or afraid of them – she weaponizes them to her advantage as a protagonist whose authenticity is refreshing, especially in a landscape of confused, hypocritical, toxic, duncelike modern 21st Century ‘feminism’ that’s forgotten how to be feminine. The new wave of ‘feminists’ spews hate-speech against men no different than the type originally given to them the movement was originally founded to combat and has instead become the very same villain they once fought [with tragic effects, proven by the exponentially higher suicide rate in men > women the new feminists are largely responsible for], ignores the privileges girls have over boys like beauty/sex monetization x gold-digging x weaponized tears x divorce judicial-bias x emotional expression x military-pass x housewifedom while screaming how oppressed they are (even when there’s ~zero jobs or rights a man can get/has but a woman doesn’t today), and has hijacked media to malign historical feminism and perpetuate fascist ‘woke’ toxicity all must conform to like girls should think, act, talk, dress, etc. like boys and erase their feminine characteristics in shame/ignominy.. going so far as to say female characters today are unable to even be in a relationship with a man because it makes them.. checks notes.. “weaker”. And they wonder why hate, division, obesity, and loneliness has epidemically-risen in modern times? We love love LOVE how Serena is the antithesization of this mindset and sticks a big middle finger F U to it – proudly going back to classic feminine ideals to show there’s nothing wrong with being a girl: foremost obvious in her romance with Ash.

One of the best romances in the last few years of TV bar none [not just animé], Ash and Serena have effortless chemistry as a shippable couple on par with Pam + Jim from The Office (2005) – what the original showrunners teased and originally intended back with Misty in Indigo League, but 10x+ amplified. Indeed, their romance gives you butterflies and makes your heartstrings flutter by how perfect they are together: childhood sweethearts Serena has waited and dreamt her entire life to meet again but is unable to say how much she loves him, but given hilarious fakeouts to maliciously tease us like the dance at the ball’s music stopping just when it’s about to be their turn to slow dance and Ash collapsing with a fever into Serena’s arms saying ‘I- I-‘ making us think he’s about to fever-admit he loves her but instead just reveals what’s really on his mind: ‘Iron Tail, Pikachu’ [LMFAO, Ash is savage; being a Pokémon master > the b*tches]. Everything across the journey culminates in a breathtaking final goodbye scene now-famous in the fandom by Serena running back up the airport escalator [metaphorically-symbolizing how her journey and dreams/goals are taking her away from Ash even though she so depesreately wants to be together: genius] and gives Ash a kiss for the ages off-camerathat fits millions of words together and will leave you on cloud-nine as perhaps the purest one scene of romance we’ve seen in years on TV.

Sure, the vast majority of Serena’s general character arc/complexion copies from the past girls like Dawn and May just in a new context-remix in Showcases > Contests and Coordinators and, of course, Misty with a little too on-the-nose disrespect-moonlighting in the far-inferior second short hairstyle obviously meant to challenge and redo a Misty who was the classic archetype and a legendary character beloved by the fans for a reason (the only flaw with Serena), but she’s so damn lovable and well-executed [honestly probably the best-overall by that extra oomph the romance angle adds] a female protagonist it’s ~impossible to hate and not bow down to the (almost) Kalos Queen. Next, Bonnie and Clemont. A Poké Bonnie and Clyde remixed into proverbial bickering siblings, the duo of Lumiose gym-leader family is promoted from the video games to becoming all-time great traveling companions in the animé further showcasing its remarkable ability to turn one-dimensional sheer-cameo characters with nay but a few lines of dialogue in the video games into beloved main ones from Iris in B/W all the way back to Misty and Brock in Kanto. Clemont is more than just a charmingly-awkward, shy, timid presence – he’s a pure love-letter to the science Pokémon was built on the foundation of from its origins being originally dreamt of by an entomological youth whom just wanted to share his love for bio/zoology with the world and did just that only with 1,000x more interesting creature subjects in Satoshi Tajiri’s Pocket Monsters.

Clemont’s schtick about creating inventions [even though they do eventually go awry for good comedic relief] with his iconic catchphrase ‘the future is now thanks to science!’ – compounded by a genius decision to have Ash fanboy nerdgasm over them with encouraging remarks like ‘science is so amazing’ – is huge representational importance that will undoubtedly expose and inspire generations of kids watching [The PKMN Animé is, after all the most popular animé in world history and one of the biggest TV shows ever made] to fall in love with and pursue science as a career for the betterment of the world in the future! 1,000,000x > Cilan, he breathes absolutely zero pretentiousness even with a Genius IQ and is as charming a character as you can get. Clemont’s bromance with Ash is also fantastic: a Wizard Of Oz Cowardly Lion (brilliantly referenced by his major Pokémon being a literal one in Luxray) whom learns courage from Ash and finally gets his roar by the end of the season. Bonnie is a flip-side of the coin whom together with her ‘taking care of’ aka finding a wife schtick flips the dynamics while makes it more politically-correct/acceptable Brock’s gigachad flirtation comedy. Even though it’s slightly annoying and ~unrealistic for a kid that young to be thinking of this stuff, especially when it’s none of her business and embarrassing her brother (though she means well), she is so freaking cute and bubbly and pure, it’s impossible to do anything but forgive and adore her – again being a universally-despised character by the fandom this time in Max from the Ruby/Sapphire Animé and comprehensively fixing and correcting every flaw to make her a new-classic character.

Every character has a good synergy and motivation for why they’re traveling together unlike many previous generations (though it’s not a big deal), and there are plenty of great new characters as well. The VG counterparts of the X/Y protagonist friend group [complete with obvious Scooby-Doo references et. al) are great: from goofy falstaffian dancebro Tierno to cute girly fellow-performer Shawna [bonus: one of the best voices I’ve ever heard; I could listen to her voice actress talk 24/7.. God, what a voice!] to timid neo-Velma researcher kid Trevor. Prof. Sycamore is suave and charming, Sawyer is given a magnificent character-development arc all the way up to the Kalos League semifinals as a friend-turned-foe, Aria is a fitting undercover-celebrity-ducking-paparazzi Kalos Queen, the gym leaders are spot on, and Diantha is a badass champion so powerful she doesn’t even need to Mega-Evolve to win and can communicate telepathically or simply by head-nods and blinking to OHKO competitors with her Gardevoir. No character introduced the X/Y Animé, though, is as epic as the new rival good enough to be a new protagonist for the series: Alain. A Badass Devil’s Pawn Neo-Kalos-Champion Balanced In Personality/Depth: Ice Cool In Demeanor Yet Blue Hot In Flame As His Iconic Mega Charizard X, Alain and Ash share many similarities down to the black japa-appearance, blue-fringed outfit, and insatiable driving principle to get stronger and be the ‘greatest there ever was’. Alain, though, feels more.. grown-up; he’s like if The Pokémon Company – in genius synergization with the concept of Mega-Evolution – had gone for a mature-exclusive demographic back in ’96 ala the Yu-Gi-Oh! Animé [though, if they had, PKMN may not have become as world a phenomenon able to pave way for 6+ generations to be here].

Alain feels like Ash 2.0 and, though both great, a better one specifically gifted to the older OG fans watching that’s a herceulean pleasure to watch – especially in the jaw-dropping Kalos League (the dream experience of battling by 10x bigger scale of true sportsman crowds of thousands and payoff characterization juxtapositions), chemical opposites-attract pairing with the childlike Mairin of remarkable cute x cheerful adorability and zest joie-de-vivre energy [+ a fantastic vocal performance] that brings out a softer side of love/care in him he finds a weakness but drives his ambitions/goals, and the absolute masterpiece Mega-Evolution and XYZ arcs. The former was the biggest surprise to us watching the Kalos animé; it actually does Hoenn better than.. Hoenn. We finally get the dream Rayquaza x Groudon x Kyogre [all in Mega/Primal forme alongside ~every ORAS Mega Ev.s and fascinating canon exposition on the origins of the best new feature addition in the history of the franchise, basically attributing to the pleasure of Gen. 3 fans the genesis of Mega’s to ancient civilizations under godlike reign guardianship of Rayquaza to the original Mega-Stone] experience the fandom has waited generations and eons upon: one handled so magnificently and jaw-droppingly, it only further 100% proves what we’ve always said – Pokémon is the greatest fictional concept of all-time and would make billions at the box-office by sheer kaiju blockbuster magnitude grace/awe alone. Everything we said about Alain is proven true in the specials: he’s so damn good a protagonist, he actually holds his own as the singular major one without nary a sign or mention of Ash [his only flaw being (fitting since they’re both mysterious and strong-silent types) The N Paradox in all-time great character given a mixed team of ‘mons like Unfezant and Weavile] – proving the showrunners of X/Y are so at the top of their game, they could’ve remade the entire anime of world fame/renown/importance for ~20+ years and still made a great new one.

Ash x Alain’s two worlds collide in the XYZ arc, but before that, we must also recognize the many other dope episodes throughout The Kalos Animé. From Zombie Psychic Squids To Haunted House Tragedy To Hansel-And-Gretel To Multi Fairy-Tale Allegory/Romance Of Ancient Times To Royal Politics To Lost Boys Spoofs To Pika-CBM Meta-Filmmaking To Pure Nature Adventures To Two-Parter Ninja Hero Introductions, there are so many great adventures in X/Y – almost enough [just almost] to make you ~totalitarian forgive the Mt. Everest trek to get through the 100+ ep. excess of filler, made even more obvious how mythologically legendary Anipoké c/would be without it by by the final XYZ 1/3. We’ve always said that a Pokémon Z focusing on Zygarde is one of the biggest missed opportunities in the history of video games; a tragedy by how great, underappreciated, and revolutionary X/Y were to the franchise back in 2013 (human beings naturally incline to reject change, but it’s necessary to evolve artforms and IP’s – in Gen. VI’s case, literally, by the greatest feature addition in Mega-Evolution) and how breathtakingly genius Zygarde is as a Pokémon: Data x Biblical Eden x Comic Book Heroes x Rayquaza x Zorro x Gundam x Mecha Evangelion x Kaiju x Xenomorphs x Loki’s Children Norse Mythology x x Darwinian Evolution x Snakes x The Double-Edge Sword & Fundamental Blocks Of Life/Death In Cells For One Of The Top 7-10 Pokémon Of All-Time. The XYZ Animé only proves that 10x more so – finally given its chance to shine canonically by the execs’ decision to cancel the video games we’re~100% positive the crew leaked the plans to the anime so we coud basically get the Pokemon Z video game experience, just (geniusly and perhaps more epically) in TV forme.

XYZ features the biggest-ever dedication to a single legendary and villain team ever in the animé – hyperdiluting the filler to have Zygarde propagate the canvas ~every frame across the entire 47 episode arc as the TV show is able to play by its own rules bringing the lore and formes of the king of order to canonical revelation. It begins with cells and cores lurking throughout the overworld – one finding protection with our protagonists being given the cute (but ~cringe by its trillions of name repetitions clashing with the overall tone of XYZ) nickname Squishy but evermore mysterious in just what it is. We soon learn that Squishy is not as cute/weak and, well, squishy as it appears – as we gradually view its 10% (dog), 50% (snake), and 100% (humanoid/god) formes of pure design and complex metaphorical x analytical x scientific x allegorical exposition.. unveiled in the most epic way possible: Flare, Lysandre, and Apocalypse. Team Flare are god-tier villains – not by design (quite arguably the worst of the entire franchise in Flare’s Magma/Rocket/Galactic ripoff look) but by themes and layered meaning foremost obvious in their king of prismatic fascination and dark prognostication: Lysandre. A Bezos/Musk/Jobs/Gates/Zuckerberg Villain/Hero For The Ages: A Pride Of Lion Of Burning Flame Passion Yet Cool Autumnal Delicacy; A New-AZ Français-True Hopeless Romantic For A Better World Of Complex Analytical Themes x Allegory On Data Privacy, Natural Resources, Climate Change, Sin, Darwinism, Consumerism, Toxic Masculinity, Cold War, Marxism, Celebrity Worship, The Power of Tech Conglomerates, & The Future, Lysandre was already a masterpiece character in the X/Y video games.. but he and Team Flare are 1,000x better-executed here.

Team Flare feels more villainous, aggressive, and idiosyncratic – given more identity in the fleshing out of its hierarchy and character-execs like Xerosic, Aliana, Bryony, Mable, & Celosia hunting Z formes they must go into kaiju battles against enraged 50% and 100% formes and even able to capture some by competency. Lysandre is only but a flickering myth and mysterious shadowy figure puppeteer behind-the-scenes.. until the Pokémon League finale’s high note for Kalos is hijacked by a sci-fi apocalypse of nightmares for the ages. The XYZ Flare Apocalypse and Legendary Arc contrastively juxtaposing real jungles of nature with our concrete ones in cities [literally] taken back by trees in nature >>> X/Y’s of.. a flower cannon and big egg cocoon we see hatch the legendary we catch within five minutes to never see badass gods of life, death, and chaos order in action doing anything – even though the Gen. VI video games’ ‘ultimate weapon’ brilliantly symbolized nuclear warfare and the evils of mankind weaponizing the forces of nature back upon itself, the Animé’s finale is 1,000x more epic and cinematic navigating the streets of palpable danger under a blood red sky – yet every bit as IQ-heavy in themes. The Supremacy Of Nature outraged by the greed and disappreciation of mankind for it (taken back in the most epic of symbolism by its nexus being the very symbol of the region and humanity there: Lumiose Tower) is only one-upped by the fleshing-out of Lysandre as a character.

We finally get the backstory exposition we craved so much so in X/Y: just why Lysandre hates mankind, better explained and visualized by him going to the poverty-stricken streets of Kalos with his lab crew benevolence version of TF and trying to help people whom were at first grateful but soon became iconographical faceless-zombies taking it for granted and always wanting more to show it’s tough being God and maybe we deserve the floods the Old Testament one sent many of throughout the Bible. Not only brains but brawn, Lysandre is given a more badass team led by a Shiny Mega Gyarados for a [though the celebrity and data-privacy themes are here diluted compared to the games: only flaw but a tradeoff] jaw-droppingly epic execution of the character and brilliant villain for the animé culminating in a five-part finale that feels like a real blockbuster cinematic event movie teaming up everyone from the entire season and region to defeat Flare – a dream video game experience we endorse as one of the most batsh*t crazy and wild experiences of apocalyptica still intelligent in premise and significence/allegory, yet also delivering and balancing everything we go to the movies for: emotion, action, romance, a/v spectacle, ecstasy, tears, and advanced themes as Zygarde de/reconstructs mankind and just who, what, when, where, why, etc. we are.

Overall, XYZ might just be the Greatest Pokémon Animé Of All-Time – it just like the video games challenges and goes back to mega-evolve Gen. I origins with objectively better score, visuals, battles, villain, scale, romance, etc., by the freedom and technological advances over the last ~20+ years, and while we still prefer and rather watch the Indigo League Kanto anime we rank slightly above it by the underdog charm, revolutionary world-changing animé legacy, sharper writing/performances nary of filler and big franchiseisms, it’s damn close and almost-tied. A Remix Of The OG PKMN Animé & The Best One Since 1996, XYZ fixes ~every flaw of B/W and the previous few generations of anipoké – the best new protagonist troupe in ages de/reconstructing and making us fall back in love w. Ash through the eyes of Greninja canon and [S-tier chemistry and butterfly-blush 10x amplified Misty ship] romance with #1-2 Female Protagonist: Serena and science-celebrating anti-Brock/Cilan & Max Bonnie-and-Clement alongside a mature demographic neo-Ash 2.0 in Alain, A+ new feature in showcases, vivid animation panache with fast-paced battle dynamicism and adv. VFX, resurgence of old-school Team Rocket, & jaw-droppingly epic Flare/Lysandre arc even > the X/Y video games in execution by Mega-Evolution Specials & an XYZ final 1/3 (finally) exhibiting the genius of what Anipoké could be sans the vexingly-overloaded filler otherwise plaguing the series

…