Well don't get me wrong BW isn't all bad. I like that it gave Ash's sidekicks rivals which meant more reoccurring characters.
And Making Team rocket serious was a good twist since they'd gotten so stale I was lobbying for them to be thrown out entirely.
But It was entirely too rushed as is show by how much filler we're getting now. Decolora adventures is just a massive waste of time and even Episode N was pretty pointless in retrospect.
Of course it's biggest crime is how much damage it did to Ash's character. I know it's hard to advance much since their isn't room left for him to grow with out winning a league or something but they should have just actually let him win and then showed him dealing with the consequences of winning rather then having him backslide so much.
I wouldn't complain about them replacing Ash if they had at least resolved his story positively. If they had let him take down Darkrai and win the Sinnoh league that would have been the perfect way to say good buy. But letting him go now with him getting zero glory would just be such a massive cop-out that I'd never be able to forgive them for.
Character progression isn't only done by league winning. People argue that he should win and that's a sign of progression, and that is true in a way, but only if he was using the exact same Pokémon.
I have noticed a pattern with league matches, though it wasn't really the case with the Sinnoh League (but it still had a bit). The battle before the one he loses, he brings out his A team, they're almost all fully evolved and kick arse. Then, the battle he loses, he typically just uses his unevolved Pokémon...which is ridiculous that he still has a few
Johto:
VS Gary: Pikachu, Charizard, Muk, Snorlax, Bayleef, Heracross
VS Harrison: Pikachu, Charizard, Snorlax, Totodile, Noctowl
Hoenn (He only really used his Hoenn team here, no reserves):
VS Morrison: Pikachu, Grovyle, Swellow, Torkoal, Corphish, Glalie
VS Tyson: Pikachu, Grovyle, Swellow, Torkoal, Corphish, Glalie
Sinnoh
VS Paul: Pikachu, Torterra, Infernape, Staraptor, Buizel, Gliscor
VS Tobias (This was different as most of the ones he has used went against a legendary Pokémon in their history): Pikachu, Heracross (Massive type advantage and just conveniently learned Sleep Talk), Sceptile (Had faced Regirock), Swellow (Had faced Deoxys), Torkoal (Had faced Registeel), Gible (WTF)
Unova
VS Stephan (3 on 3): Palpitoad, Leavanny, Krookodile
VS Cameron: Pikachu, Snivy, Pignite, Oshawott, Unfezant, Boldore
Now it isn't as cut and dry, but there is a bit of a pattern. People also claim Ash has "regressed". This too, isn't true. While at the start of the saga, they make Ash go through some stuff to introduce new viewers to some concepts, he doesn't regress. People often use his first two battles against Trip as an example. I'm going to put things in game terms to help people.
The first battle, Pikachu had been severely weakened and couldn't use its Electric-type moves. Picture a Level 90 Pikachu VS a Level 5 Snivy. Pikachu has 1 HP, its moves keep missing. Snivy attacks, it knocks it out. This is how the games work in this scenario.
Second battle works similarly. Ash used Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott and Pidove. Trip used Servine, Frillish and Tranquill, presumably of higher levels.
No matter how skilled a trainer is, if they use weak/lower levelled Pokémon, they're more likely to lose.
I win most of my battles, I am a rather skilled battler. However, that does not mean I won't lose if I use Pokémon weaker/lower levelled to my opponents. Strategy only goes so far.
If anything, the character development with Ash's skills made him get cocky, as seen with the Nimbasa Gym, but that humbled him and with the Driftveil Gym, he got to a point where the Gym Leader wanted to throw in the towel.
Just so I can lodge this directly into my brain for future reference, there's a certain date each month where Pokemon Smash airs, and more info is released, correct?
Pokémon Smash airs at 7:30am JST every Sunday. It contains an XY segment each week, but just reiteration of CoroCoro stuff for the most part.
CoroCoro is released on the 15th every month (except August), and usually contains new information
