Does evolution even mean anything in the anime? Torterra did better pre evovoled
Exactly, a Pokemon becomes more powerful when the writers want it to.
Besides that evolutions are rarely pivoted through hard work by the trainer in the anime anyway, they're DEM power boosts. Did Mallow have to train Bounsweet remotely for her to evolve, BOTH TIMES? While Ash can at least sometimes earn new moves and Z Crystals, evolutions tend to just be something he GETS.